own passions is not the least glorious conquest one may obtaine as it is not the easiest Confesse as well as I that beauty is no real good and reject it as an evil Doe not listen either to pitty or inclination which never counsel faithfully and do but flatter to deceive Follow follow that severe beauty I mean reason and preferre it to that of my face Hearken to Priam hearken to Hecuba hearken to all the Trojans nay hearken to the very Greeks and hearken no more to love which speaks to you in favour of this beauty Helena who knowes it and ought to know it does once more protest to you that she is nothing lesse than what she is believed to be that she hath nothing precious but in appearance and that she is of too small value to be preferred to Crownes or to sacrifice your quiet to her Loose her then to conserve your self that fatal beauty and if Troy will make an ominous present to the Greeks let her make no other than what themselves demand Of all those flames which from the battlements of your ramparts you shall cast into their Camp I dare say that those of my eyes will be the most hurtfull to them and if they knew what 't is they desired they would give as many battells not to have it as they give to obtain it Believe me then and do not believe your selfe ô my deare deare Paris and expose not either your State nor your Parents nor your quiet for a thing which cannot be esteemed a reall good no not in the very minds of those which do possess it But when you have followed my counsell and reasons remember at least that Helena hath spoken against her selfe to speak for you and that it is no slight act for a woman to avouch ingenuously that beauty is not a reall good Remember I say that Helena hath more than once preferred your satisfaction before her own glory and that the same cause which obliged her to follow you does now oblige her to leave you Never forget this last testimony of my affection I conjure you since it is the most difficult I can give you and how low soever the price is that I set on this beauty which I will loose with my life to preserve you remember that your self have often esteemed it beyond Thrones Scepters and that in this manner though I bestow on you but little according to my owne judgment I give you very much according to yours FINIS The effect of this HARANGUE PAris was perswaded enough of the love that Helena had for him but he was not so of the disesteeme of her Beauty He hearkened to this reason as a Paradox and judged without doubt that this fair Grecian spake of her going but only to oblige him the more to keep her For mine own part I who have made her speake no lesse against my own thoughts than against beauty I acknowledge that since I have finished this hard taske for which I have had so much repugnance I beleeve that now when I list I may maintain that snow is black and that Mores are white so true it is that what I have said has little truth in it and is so little consonant to my belief ANGELICA TO MEDORO The Second HARANGUE The Argument ANGELICA that faire Indian queen who made so many generous lovers run after her and disdain'd their affections could not in fine hinder but that the beauty of a simple Souldier triumphed over hers her pride and revenged the unjust disdain that proud one had made of the loves of so many kings and of the vowes of so many Hero's whom she had scoffed and never truly loved Now we suppose that after the happy Medoro had subdued her heart she had some shame for her defeat and judging that so extraordinary a passion would be condemned of all the World seeing the inequality of their conditions one day when they were under the pleasant shades where they passed so many sweet moments she undertooke to maintain through a desire of glory with her usual Eloquence That love proceeds only from inclination ANGELICA TO MEDORO WHen ever lovely Medoro you shall undertake to entertain me with the grandeur of your affection never speak to me neither of my birth nor of my merit nor of my obligations nor of the glory you meet in serving me nor the advantages nature has bestowed on me nor those I enjoy by fortune but to satisfy me in this occasion say only to me that you love me because your inclination prompts you on to it and because you cannot hinder it your selfe Believe me Medoro 't is neither to my birth nor to my merit nor to the obligations you have nor to the glory you finde in serving me nor the advantage I have received from nature nor to those I hold by fortune that I will owe all that tendernesse which I expect from you and to say all it is not neither from your reason nor from your acknowledgment nor likewise from your will that I accept of the love which you have for Angelica If the chains which I have given you were no stronger than those I should believe you capable to break them easily and should think my selfe but ill assured of my conquest But for my own satisfaction I am perswaded of the contrary and I verily believe that though I should not re-ascend the Throne again whereon I was borne that although I had fewer good qualities than I have though you were not obliged to me though there were no glory in being my slave and though neither Nature nor Fortune had given me neither beauty nor riches yet you would not cease to love me as perfectly as you now do provided that your Inclination did prompt you as I now know it compells you 'T is an errour to think that love can be an effect of the Reason or the Will No Medoro that passion would cease being a passion if it were bred â—n our souls by knowledge and judgment One may and one ought to chuse their friend but one cannot nor ought not to chuse a Lover We must love them almost without knowing them the first instant of their sight must be the first of our servitude where we engage our selves we must find our selves quite laden with chains before we have had the leasure to examine whether or no it be glorious to receive them the Judgment must be blinde Reason must be banished the Will must be enchained and in fine the Inclination we have for the person beloved must triumph imperiously over all the powers of a soul which is touched as it should be with a sincere tru passion 'T is from that alone that love must take its birth and not from that great number of things where a particular interest would sway us sooner than Inclination And truly I can assure you that in the mind I am in I should rather receive a Crown from your hand than
destinies do chuse him for her beloved whose power is inevitable and as the moone governes the Sea the north attracts the loadstone and the sun formes the metals in the bowels of the earth by means which are unknowne to us so does the inclination conduct our judgment attract our will and formes the love in our soules by waies of which we are utterly ignorant She makes that wee often love that which we do not know and oftentimes to that which is not very lovely and which we would not love if we could help it From whence thinke you does arrive so many strange events in the world of which Histories are filled if it be not from that puissant Tyrany which surmounts all others If Anthonies Galley whose adventures I have told you and whose amours I learned since I left Asia and since my being in Europe could have I say been govern'd by reason and that it had not beene whirled away with violence by the inclination that that Roman had for the faire Egiptian whose charmes hee did adore do you believe he would not have stay'd in his army at the battel he lost or that at least he would not have disputed that victory with his enemy Yes Medoro he was too wise and too valiant not to endeavour to winne or to fly ignobly before those whose conquerour he might have been Neverthelesse though he were ambitious though he were almost assured to have all the advantage of that day and though it concern'd and stood upon the Empire of the whole World his inclination was more puissant in him than the desire of glory or of dominion One may say moreover besides the illustrious example that 't is by the power of this inclination that so many brothers have become enemies when they became Rivals that so many subjects have revolted against their Princes that so many Citizens have betrayed their Country and that so many Hero's have committed faults of judgement or done actions which were unworthy of them All those people Medoro had not lost their reason in the things which did not concerne their loves they spake after the same manner as they were wont before they were tainted with so great a malady they acted in the same sort they thought of their owne affaires and of their friends with the same prudence wherefore then should not the same reason be found in their love if there had not been something in them more powerfull than that was Ha no no Medoro this truth cannot be doubtfull and though I seeme to prejudice my self in perswading my selfe in satisfaction that I finde neverthelesse so much satisfaction that I cannot omit For as I think I am certain that you love me in the same manner as I would be I hold my selfe more assured of your affection than I should be if I believed that I held it by your acknowledgment rather than from your inclination I love rather that you should love my person than the throne whereto I wil lead you and I had rather you should esteeme the tendernesse of my amity than the conquest of my kingdome which I call no more so but only to let you see that I can bestow it on you But may one say perhaps this same inclination which makes you love to day may also make you love no more too morrow since in fine you have been seen to love and hate Renaldo successively and that Renaldo hath likewise been seen both to love and hate Angelica I acknowledge ingeniously that this objection is stronger than the other and I confesse likewise that this thought has given me some trouble in the first dayes of our amity What said I in my selfe sometimes when I considered the power of this inclination which caused me to love you should it be possible that one day I should no more love Medoro Should it be possible that Medoro one day should love Angelica no more and that this same inclination which unites our hearts and wills should disunite them for ever After so troublesome a meditation there succeeded a more pleasing thought for coming to consider that all those that love do not change their inclinations alwaies I perswaded my selfe that we should be of those chosen lovers to serve as an example to posterity Yes Medoro I beleeved that our affection never should diminish and I beleeve at present that in making you King I do but only augment the number of my subjects that by bestowing my Crowne on you I gain a faithfull slave and in giving you my heart I receive yours never to be disposed of again 'T is in this manner Medoro that we must at least flatter our selves in such things to which we cannot absolutely answer for if it happens as we wish it it were a wrong to afflict our selves without cause and if it happen that the inclination do change its object there is no need of being comforted for the losse of that which we do no longer esteeme to be worth our love Le ts then enjoy in peace the present felicity without putting our selves in trouble for the future let us leave the knowledge of things to come to destiny since as well we cannot prevent them neither by our fears or endeavours le ts imploy all the moments of our lives to speake advantageously of the power of this inclination which has created all our felicity since it hath created our love let us leave some marke of it in all places we passe by le ts make all the trees which lend us their shade lend us likewise their barks to engrave the names of Medoro and Angelica that all those which see it may admire and envy our happines and to be short never let us speake but of the pleasure there is in hearts thus united which inclination alone does beget in comparison of that where reason or interest do mingle themselves or contribute any thing Such who love only by those two sentiments do not at all know the sweets of love reason is too sage to suffer any of her subjects to set all their joy in the possession of a mistres how perfect soever she may be interest is too mercenary to suffer any one to make his greatest treasures consist in the least favour that can come from a Lady If I were beloved by any of those sage lovers who alwayes consult with their judgments and who oppose their inclination as much as they possibly can whithout doubt they would love my Crowne rather than a bracelet of my haire and would preferre the luster of my throne before that of my lookes O Medoro how little do those people know the nature of love and indeed to speake rationally they ought not to be put amongst the number of true lovers All men are ot always equally touched with all passions those which are borne covetuous and who sometimes thinke they love do wrong themselves for if we examine the thing well we shall finde that they love their Mistresses mony and not
Shepherds Children we will be only that and can be no more Our desire having no object we wish for nothing we live without disquietnesse as without pride and seeing nothing beneath us nor nothing above our heads but the Heavens we are free from anger as frō insolence nor would we exchange our sheephooks for all the Scepters in the world It is easie for you to judg that not being ambitious we know not either avarice nor envy since these are two passions which are almost inseparable from the other Choler is but little more acquainted with us nor does hatred finde any entrance in a Country where all deserves to be loved But you will aske me what is then that passion which useth to produce such strange disorders in the Cities and makes known no other than pleasing effects in your Campaniaes For as for me 't is so long that I have not lived there that I have lost the remembrance It is Tityrus the most powerfull and noblest of all 't is that which made Hercules spin which fired Troy which hath r'enversed so many Empires which hath caused so many ruins in all the corners of the world which hath made so many warres which gave Antony to Cleopatra Augustus to Livia and 't is in fine that passion which is borne amidst delights flowers woods brooks meads Shepherds and Shepherdesses with more innocency and lesse bitternesse than on the Throne and in the Palaces of great Kings 'T is in those elevated places that this passion which they call love is almost always dangerous a lover that gives law to all the world is not very fit to receive it from a mistress He will have the things which he desires more magistically than others and when he encounters any obstacle in his designe that crowned slave that is not accustomed to obey and is wont to be obeyed of all that approach him that slave I say quits his chains revolts remounts the throne and becoming a Tyrant to her whose captive he was he oftentimes makes her suffer sad and funest adventures But amongst us on the contrary that little god whose puissance hath no limits never appears in our woods but with the society of his Mothers graces he inspires none but reasonable desires in the hearts of our Shepherds we see them kisse their chains even when the rigour of their mistresses makes them seeme most heavy to them they receive their favours with ravishment and when they are ill entertained their discretion and patience does oblige them to undergoe that misfortune with respect and submission They are alwayes our slaves and by consequence they never are our Tyrants We have Shepherdesses which are rigorous but we have no Shepherds which are indiscreet they dare hardly proclaime their complaints with their bagpipes and on their reeds their verses their songs and their entertainments are filled onely with our praises all our trees are engraved with their inscriptions and ours mixed together and all their speeches gives us every day new marks either of their esteeme or of their affection Constancy that vertue which so few practice in the Cities is most commonly found amongst us the equality of our conditions and of our riches makes that the weakest do remain constant there is neither scepter nor gold nor diamonds which can dazle or bribe them the wise amongst us despise them and the rest do not know what they are We doe not see a husband here repudiate many wines as at Rome the lovers do not cease to be such even after marriage they will not obtain us to slight us afterwards they take a care of the conquest they have made and think themselves glorious to wear but one chaine in all their lives Nor are our Shepherdesses likewise more unfaithfull their simplicity and their freenesse is the cause they do not disguise their thoughts They are modest and sincere and if a little jealousie in spight of so many vertues which should hinder it from springing did not disturb the tranquility of our meadowes all our Roses would be without prickles al our pleasures would be without mixture and without bitternesse This passion neverthelesse does not act here as at Rome in that place they have recourse to violence The poysons and ponyards are put in use and sometimes serve equally against the Rivall and against the Mistress also But here the greatest hurt which happens to us is that we perceive the complexion of the fairest maids to become pale and the flocks of our carefullest Shepherds to feele the trouble of their Master who passing away their sorrow in the darkest forests abandon them to the care of their friends Yet how-ever this retreat does not make us see many mournfull events and for the most part some complaint some song and fome few Poems is all the revenge and the reconcilement of the most jealous If it be the Shepherdesse that 's displeased her lover is again brought to her feet sad and changed as he is She hears him receives his justification if he be innocent and pardons him if he be guilty if so be he repents and implores his pardon hadsomely and with a good grace And if on the contrary she be in the wrong we condemne her to make with her own hands a garland of flowers for him and sometimes also we consent that he should robb her of a bracelet of her hair after that their felicity is founded more solidly then before and the innocency of their life justifying all their pleasures they remain the happiest in the world The Shepherd takes care of his Mistresses flock they go almost still together on the same pastures they seeke out the same shades and the same fountaines their sheephooks have the same devices painted their baskets tyed with the same ribons their sheep adorned with the same colours and their very doggs seeme to have contracted together a particular amity This happy state considered as it should be is it not true shepherd that the love of Rome ought to be portray'd otherwise than ours it should be represented like a fury he should have more than one bow and more than one torch given him seing the disorders he causes he ought to beare a Scythe as well as Saturne and death since he destroyes all that time and death destroy He orethrowes all as well as they he never inspires the desires of love in a heart but that hatred jealousie and anger steps in presently after But for that love which inhabits our woods he never must be represented but upon flowers his wings must be enamel'd with the same colours of the Rainbow and his eyes should be hoodwinkt with a very thin vail his shafts and quiver adorned with roses and pesseminds his skin must be white and incarnadine the pleasures and graces must not abandon him his innocency must appear in all his actions and his torch seem to be in his hands rather to lighten than to annoy us Judge Shepherd after all this which I have said
before the ghost or shadow of Clorinda It is likewise necessary for my own glory that you should know that without ceasing to be vertuous reasonable I could begin to love Tancred though he were my Fathers conquerour that I might continue to wish him well though he have not answered my amity and that I am in the right at present to wish from him that he would be content onely to honour the memory of Clorinda and begin to love Erminia You must know then sage and wise Arsetes that when the Christians had pull'd down Antiochus his throne and that they had taken away both his scepter and life who gave me life you may know I say that by the fortune of war I fell into the hands of the Conquerour who as you cannot but know was the same Tancred of whom we now speak But alas why was it that the Conquerour was not more rigorous to me at that time since he will not be merciful now wherefore was it that he did not treat me like a slave then if it be true that he will not treat me like a Mistris now Wherefore was it that he rendred me all the treasures of the King my father then if he will not now render me my own heart again or give me his in exchange and why did he give me my liberty so freely and graciously since he now refuses so cruelly to accept these chains which are less â—ude and heavy Yes faithful Arsetes I acknowledge with some confusion I began to love Tancred then when in appearance I should have begun to hate him His vertue his moderation and his clemency touched my heart sensibly I was his Captain and he respected me as a Queen by the right that Conquerors have over the conquered all our treasures were his and he restored them to me or rather gave them I was his prisoner and he restored me to liberty 't is true that loosening those chains which I wore he put me on some others more strong than those which I was freed from I beheld my liberty as an evil and regreted my servitude as a great good and though I did not know my self in those times wherefore I had such thoughts which seemed so void of reason I know now that the extraordinary generosity of Tancred had already usher'd love into my heart although I were then of an age in which love is unknown Since that what have I not done sometimes to love him no more somtimes to love him dearlier I have beheld him somtimes as an usurper I have considered him as an enemy who had taken away Antiochus's Crown and which is more who had taken away all the quiet of my life by a passion which his generosity had bred in my soul and which I could not overcome But shall I tell it faithful Arsetes after I had beheld him as an usurper and an enemy I always loved him because he was both vertuous and my deliverer and my beloved I have seen him from the walls of Jerusalem shedding the blood of our souldiers without shedding a tear my self I desired the victory but however would not have Tancred be conquered I had found him too mercifull a Conquerour not to desire to have him still in a condition to make known his vertue by doing good rather then in suffering evil Nor could I hear of the peril he was in by reason of his hurts without having a design to save his life who had saved my honour and had given me my liberty You know as well as my selfe that I made use of the valiant Clorinda's armes to get out from Jerusalem and to execute my enterprize But in taking her armes and weapons I did not put on her courage so that I was quickly forced to quit my sword and betake me to the sheep-hook to secure my selfe I have then been Cavalier and Shepherdesse for the insensible Tancred I was also Armida's prisoner in his consideration and that which I finde to be more happy for me is that by that marvellous art which all the Kings my Predecessors have left me in possession I have had the satissaction to render and save the life of my deliverer to dresse his wounds and to heal him in such a time when none but ERMINIA could relieve him You see then Arsetes that the birth of my affection is not criminal since Tancreds sole vertue did breed it You may judge likewise that its continuation is excusable and the design of saving him did contribute much to it and you should also know that Clorinda not living any longer he is obliged to recompence my amity with his owne Clorinda who at this present causes all his grief and possesses all his thoughts had never imployed her armes but to assault him and to pursue him and I stole the armour of Clorinda but onely to save his life Clorinda from whom he had taken neither Crown nor Scepter has alwayes beheld him as an enemy and I from whom he had ravished all even to my very liberty I have alwayes beheld him as a Prince which could and should be my lover I have already told you Arsetes that if your illustrious Mistris did live yet I would not so much as have a thought to dispute her conquest but her misfortune having laid her in her grave you may judge after all that I have said whether it be reasonable to prefer the sepulchre of Clorinda before Erminia for in fine t is not unfaithfulness to abandon those which do abandon us for ever What Arsetes can you apprehend that one may keep a love for that which cannot receive it any more That pleasing interchange of will and desires which is made betwixt lovers can that be made between Clorinda's Tomb and the Prince Tancred No Arsetes that cannot be so all things in the world have their limits so long as the beloved person is living we must follow her over all the earth we must partake of her fortune how unhappy so'ere it be nay we must even die for her if there be occasioÌ„ but if it happens that she dies we must as I have already said either cease to live or cease to love her 't is so absolute a necessity that nothing can oppose it all the ages have shewed us examples of what I say all that despaired have kill'd themselves with their own hands and those that were wise have comforted themselves with their own reason In effect there would be great injustice in the order and course of nature if every time that death does cast one person into the Grave there should be another that must renounce intirely all the society of the living and pass the remainer of his dayes in shedding of fruitless tears and vainly walking about the margent of the grave for truly to speak with sincerity there are scarce any people that die which should not expect those last devoirs either from their friends or from those for whom they had any affection if it were true
my own part at least I had rather be his Victime than to have been his Mistris Polixena's eyes would be guilty if they could have infused love into her brothers murtherer and she would esteem her self very unhappy if any could suspect her to have contributed any thing to such a kind of conquest I have wish'd to pierce his heart I confess but never to subdue it to me I have desired his death but not his love and I in fine have had all the hatred that one can have for the enemy of ones blood the destroyer of ones Countrey and for Hectors murderer That if nevertheless you will publish to all the world that the great Hectors vanquisher has been vanquished not by the beauty of Polixena bu◠by her sorrow only proclaim also that Polixena has not been orecome by the submissions of Achilles that the tears he has shed hath not washed off the blood her brother lost by his hand and that when Priam and all the Trojan Princes would for the publick good have immolated her to Achilles passion thereby to obtain a peace proclaim I say that she did oppose it with all her strength that she never consented and that the death she prepares her self to receive this day is the only complacence she hath ever had for Achilles passion O gods who ever beheld such a token of love as that I shall presently receive Achilles as t is said was Polixena's lover but let us see a little what testimonies he has given her of that passion and respect he hath had for her So long as he lived he has imployed his valour onely against all whom she did love and against all those whom she ought to love I have seen him that cruel Achilles pursue all my friends with such spleen that it had more of fury than of true courage I have seen him an hundred times from the top of our Rampiers bathe his hands in my blood But ô pitiful spectacle I have seen him fight the valiant Hector or to say better I have beheld all the gods incens'd against us making use of his arm to surmount him who surmounted all others Yes I have seen the invincible Hector fall to the dust by the will of heaven only and by the only cruelty of Achilles I have seen that Achilles not only sight my brother not only make him lose his life but I have seen him by an inhumanity which never could be parallel'd use many outrages on that body of his enemy quite dead as it was I have seen him load himself with his spoils I have seen him give him several wounds when he had no more sence of feeling I have seen him tie him to his Chariot he who should never have gone but in a Chariot of triumph I have seen him compass our wals about three times dragging that illustrious Hero bound by the feet his head hanging in the dust blood But what do I say could Polixena behold all these things without dying or that which is most strange could Polixena cause any love in the cruellest of her enemies Yes Polixena has lived and her tears as t is said have softned the heart of the pitilesse Achilles he wept with her at Hectors funeral he desired a peace with Priam and demanded his daughter of him But at the same time ô prodigie of extravagance as well as cruelty he did yet once more wash his hands in that unfortunate womans own brothers blood whom he intended to make his wife he hath slain Troilus with the same hand with which he slew Hector and with that same hand he would afterwards have taken Polixena for his spouse if she had been so unworthy as to consent to it Are those the marks of love or of hatred Is it a lover or an enemy that acts in this manner Or to speak more truly are not those the actions of a man furious and distracted For my part I confess to you all these things are incomprehensible to me for if Achilles were but my enemy why should he weep at Hectors funeral and if he were become my lover why did he yet tear in pieces one of my brothers with a Tygers cruelty But that which astonishes me and wrongs me most is that he could imagine that I was capable to hearken to his complaints and sighs to forget the deaths of my brothers to be their enemies Mistris and their murderers wife This thought is so injurious to Polixena that she cannot possibly comprehend it should ever enter into the heart of Achilles how inhumane so'ere he was She cannot imagine I say that he could have believed that Hectors sister were so unworthy to do it for had he been but her adversary as all other Greeks are she would not easily have believed that he had any love for her nor would ever have consented to his unjust passion Judge then if after that which I have told you she could have been perswaded that Achilles was her lover and far lesse consent to his affection But let 's see a little the sentiments he preserves for her in his grave t is there that the Grecians and the Trojans should end their differences t is in the grave that all the world becomes of one party that love and hatred ought to cease Notwithstanding it seems that Achilles is not satisfied with the utter ruine of Priams whole Empire The burning of Troy is not a sufficient pile for his funeral nor is his ghost contented with all the blood the Trojans have lost His ashes must be sprinkled with Polixena's and for a token of the love he had for her his son must needs become her executioner and since he could not have her for his wife she must now become his victime Truly to love in this manner one must be both a Grecian and Achilles together Do not think how'ere that I complain of this cruel proceeding on the contrary I render thanks to the gods for their bounty in shortning my thrid by this means in the condition of my present fortune death cannot but be advantageous to me and to make it welcome they could not choose better than to make me lose my life on the tomb of Achilles To die in this manner is to die triumphant 't is to behold ones enemy at ones feet 't is to be revenged for all the outrages and affronts one hath received and t is to climb the Throne when we descend thus into the Grave and if against my will you perceive some marks of sorrow in my countenance do not believe it is any effect of my fear or of the trouble I have in losing my life on the contrary I feel joy in it But if it be permitted me to express all that I feel the onely thought of the affliction which the unhappy Hecuba will receive is that which causes all my grief She brought me forth on the Throne and I leave her to die in chains I goe to regain my liberty and I leave
torments I had yet rather fuffer than deserve them What Achilles doe you remember no more already that I have seen you kiss my chains with respect and not dare to kiss the hand that ware them that I have known you think it a glory to obey her whom you might have commanded that I have found you entertaining her as a Queen whom now you use as a Slave and finally that I have beheld you captivated by your own captive whence comes then so strange an alteration was I more at freedome than I am or am I more a slave than I was were you lesse Soveraign than you at present are or are you more absolute than you were then have we interchanged our conditions one with another or have I changed my vifage were you blinde barbarous Achilles or are you now become so did you want judgment at that time when you adored me or do you want it now since you adore me no more In a word were you an Idolater then or are you impious now Ha! no no neither of all these things hath happened so I am still what I was you are still the same you were at least for your fortune and if there had happened no more change in your heart than in my face and in your condition I should yet behold him at my feet who would hardly suffer me to cast my self at his I should yet hear him make his Petitions who now pronounces nought but injuries against me I should yet receive submissions from him from whom I now receive affronts I should yet behold his humility and not perceive his pride and briefly I should yet have in you a respectful lover and not a vaunting Tyrant You believe then as I comprehend by your pitiless and haughty answer which you have made me you believe I say that command and servitude are things incompatible in love as well as they are in war that one cannot give lawes and receive them and that one cannot serve and raign together But how you are abused if you have that belief and how little do you know the power of love if you make it to rise from the power of fortune if those from whom I had my birth had onely carried sheephooks and never seen the scepter but in anothers hand if I had been born in a Cottage and not within a Palace yea more had I been born with these chains on me in which you will make me die if I were not only a slave but the daughter of a father that had been such himself and on the contrary though your Empire were as great as the whole Earth though your Province were the Mistris of the whole Universe and that Peleus or Achilles himself did command all men as they do the Mirmydons that could not hinder but that Briseis would be Soveraign if Briseis were beloved and Achilles would obey her if Achilles could truly love 'T is one of the most illustrious marks of love puissance to abase Thrones and elevate Shepherdesses to place the Crown upon a fair head whose temples never kissed but onely garlands of flowers and in a word to make us behold Queens in fetters as well as Kings in chains when two amiable persons are truly touched with this noble passion neither the one nor other has any thing which does not become common to both they make a glorious exchange of the marks of the ones misfortune and the others grandeur that so nothing may be separated nor any thing render them different The lover takes his Mistresses fetters the Mistris takes her lovers scepter he who commanded obeys and she that obeyed commands and as the obedience is voluntary the command is not rigorous He trembles now himself that Conquerour that made whole Provinces tremble he observes the least glances of this elective Queen he is complacent he is humble yea even respectful he fears to offend her he seeks to please her and as he loves so he desires onely to be rewarded with love again He prefers the least of her favours above the gold of his Scepter and the jewels of his Crown he believes himself rich when he bestowes all and briefly he thinks he raignes when he thus serves Thus proud and haughty Achilles thus do true lovers live and such as are truly generous They never let fall any reproaches no aigreur ever mingles with their discourses on the contrary the least injury would seem blasphemy unto them and the least insolence a sacriledge beyond all pardon and worthy of death and if any other had the boldnesse to dare to anger their Mistris far from offering it themselves one passion would excite another love would lead them to hatred hatred would draw them unto fury fury would prompt them to revenge they would be prodigal of their dearest blood as they had been of their greatest riches they would expose themselves for her glory and believe they ventured for their own and though they should lose both their Scepter and life to defend her they would yet believe they gained by that loss and triumph in their overthrow as having done what they could and ought so true it is that love renders those equals that were different and confounds particular interests In effect as wise persons should nor cherish a blind affection but ever love with knowledge as well as inclination the beauty of vertue should ravish them as well as the beauty of a lovely face and the perfections of the mind charm them as powerfully as the perfections of the bodie their hearts should be touched more by the qualities of the soul than by the gifts of fortune wherefore then after they have loved that which they judged worthy of their love should they cease from loving her still wherefore do we see them change since vertue changes not and wherefore should they lose even their respect since that same beautie which made them respectful hath lost nothing of its lustre believe me Achilles whether vertue either reign or obey whether she be on the throne or in fetters or whether it have its birth in the purple or in rags it is alwaies alike lovely and alwaies equally worthie of respect and veneration None but the dull and stupid multitude will iudg of things by the lustre that invirons them and dazles the sight or will make the difference of persons according to their different conditions All those borrowed ornaments have nothing that is either essential or solid if it be only the gold or diamonds in the Crown that renders one esteemable we should rather esteem the Goldsmiths or Lapidaries which make them so glistering or at least the earth which produces them Ha! no no all those things which the vulgar call precious are too poor to be the objects of a great and reasonable understanding and that which comes from fortune is too low of value to make vertue be less esteem'd though she be no longer adorned with it or with anie justice to hinder but
give it you as I do intend I should rather see you despise all the Princesses in the world for love of me than to despise as I my selfe doe all the greatest Princes of the Earth for love of you since in fine if things were thus I could never doubt but that your amity were rather an effect of your Inclination than of your Choise Neverthelesse since that cannot be I am not unwilling to let you see that my own cannot be for by-interests but that it is voluntary in effect if reason might freely have counselled in this busines Medoro had not found Angelica's heart in a condition to receive now his Image so many Illustrious Captives which her beauty or her good destiny had bestowed on her would without doubt have engaged her soul before Yes of so many Princes of so many Kings of so many Heroe's which have loved her and which have followed her there would have been found some which her reason would not have judg'd unworthy of her If ambition could be a path for love I should reign over the Tartarian Empire if valour could subject the spirit Orlando would be the Conquerour of Angelica if wisdome virtue birth and courage could suffice to inspire that ardour or to maintain and preserve it I should yet love Renaldo more than my own self if the testimonies of a violent affection were powerfull enough to produce its semblable I should not have resisted my brother when he would have made me accept of that of Ferragus the King of Spains son in fine if this passion came into ones heart without fear and with judgment the Circassion King had not left mine in a condition to be given you now it would have been almost impossible that of so many Crowns which have been laid down at my feet I should not have found some which I had thought faire enough to have suffer'd them to set it on my head notwithstanding because all those princes all those Kings and all those Hero's have only satisfied my judgment have not touched my inclination I have despised them all and the only Medoro without Crowne without Kingdome all cover'd with wounds and extended almost dead upon the earth has had more power ore my soul than all those who by their riches by their birth or by their courage have endeavoured to conquer me 'T is true that one may perhaps tell me that I have found more merit in you than in all the others and that he who came from shedding his blood and exposing his life to give burial to the body of his King deserved to be King himselfe and to inspire such sentiments into the heart of Angelica which others could not infuse However to tell things as they are that Heroick vertue which you testified in that occasion did not give you the Empire of my soul and if that puissant inclination of which I speake and which is the mother of all loves had not constrained me to affect you I should only have had compassion esteem for you But that superiour power which inclines us or rather which forces us to doe what it pleases made that without knowing you and without hardly having seen you I had mrore care for your life than for my own and did beleeve I found in your person that which I had not found in any other All that you at the first instant called compassion and generosity in me was already an effect of love I did not that which I would but that which I could not forbear to do I sought the herbs which should heale your wounds with too much earnestnesse and care to believe that I had no other interest in your life but only for compassion and generosity No Medoro it was not so I had no sooner seene you but without the help of my judgment I loved you as much as one can love although I my selfe knew not whether that which I felt in my soul for you were love And in effect reason is rather wont to warre against love than to beget it or to cherish it when it is borne That severe and imperious Queen farre from approving the bonds the chains and the follies of lovers speaks nothing but of liberty of our franchises and wisdome She will have all our senses subjected to her and our wills follow her intentions our memory must receive nothing in store but what she judges worthy to be preserved and the imagination must present her with things only that are serious and very solid A lover at his Mistresses feet is to her an object worthy of laughter and pitty she scoffs at his weaknesse she condemns all he does and in fine she would were it in her power destroy all the Lawes of Nature banish all passions from mens hearts and reign She alone over all the Universe Judge after this Medoro whether reason can introduce love in a soul and whether I have not reason to say that there is something in us more powerfull than she is that attracts us sInce in spight both of her counsels and power we often act quite contrary to what she would have us there is this difference betwixt reason and inclination that one for the most part will oblige us to do things that displeaseth us this later never tempts us to any thing but what is gratefull to us 'T is that without doubt which makes its power so great that the other cannot resist it she must needs yeild how clear sighted so ere she is to this amiable blinde guide which leads and conducts us as she pleases who makes us love and hate according to her fancy and who alone inspires love in the hearts of all men When reason would sway us to any thing though she be so imperious as I have said yet she must imploy both time and artifice to persuade us to obey her she shews those whom she will expose to great perills the glory they shall meet with she represents to those who find an occasion to be liberal that to give to ones friends is to put ones treasure in security in fine she discourses the ill favourdnesse of vice and the amability of vertue that we may shun the one and follow the other with the more ardour She does not therefore act with so absolute a power as the inclination which without pointing out to us either the good or the evil which can happen by those things whereto she leads us presses us on or to say better constrains us with such violence that we cannot resist Those natural aversions which we see amongst reasonable persons testifies sufficiently that our judgment is not absolute master of our actions those that hate roses acknowledge that their colour is faire and that the smell it selfe is sweet and yet for all the knowledge they have of their beauty they turne away their sight with care fly from them as another would from some fearfull object This imbecillity of their temperature is the same thing with
that which is found in our soul when the inclination constrains it to do what she will and not that which its selfe pleases When I ceased to love Renaldo I did cease knowing that he was yet worthy of my esteeme and when 't was his turne to cease from loving me yet I believe he did acknowledge that Angelica had some beauty Notwithstanding because it is not the judgment that begets affection we know one another to bee lovely and yet love not and perhaps wee did love without knowing whether we had any lovely qualities or not So true it is that reason acts but weakly and so certain is it that inclination is altogether powerful The first makes us obey only by the same means legitimate Monarchs imploy against their subjects but the other makes her self to feared and followed as victorious Tyrants use to do She imployes nought but force against us but as that force and violence is almost inevitable and that she hath no lesse sweetnesse than power there is hardly any thing which resists but she overcomes it Honour glory private interest and vertue it selfe are many times too weak an obstacle to hinder her designes she makes Kings love shepherdesses and that shepherds raise their looks even up to their Sovereigns Thrones and without distinction either of qualities or of merit She makes a mixture of Scepters and sheephooks of Crowns and chains of free persons and slaves and by these extraordinary effects sufficiently testifies that we are not masters of our own will of affections or that our reason is not alwayes so strong as to overcome her In effect should we act but by her counsells should our love follow only our knowledge and were it by her consent only that we should weare our fetters it is certain that we should weare but one in all our lives That which we had once found faire would alwayes be so to us we should love till death what we once thought lovely and inconstancy in fine would never be found amongst lovers Since the beginning of the World the Sun hath given admiration to all men gold pearls and diamonds have never found any that questioned their beauty briefly all things universally known remain constant why then if love took birth from perfect knowledge and by the operations of the judgement should it not alwaies remain in the hearts that possesse it Ha no no Medoro that cannot be so and therefore 't is that all those that are unfaithfull are not so worthy of blame as is beleeved nor those that are constant merit so much praise as is bestowed upon them The one and the other do what they are forced to do some break their bands and others preserve theirs because they are constrained to it You see some who after they have broken their chains do rivet them together again with care and binde themselves again more closely than they were before There are some others even weighed downe by their burden who sigh under the load that presses them and who might neverthelesse disengage themselves but will not preferring their servitude above liberty Do you beleeve Medoro that these bizare effects can proceed from a clear-sighted reason and a free will Or do you not believe on the contrary that the sole inclination is that which unchains us or unties us which makes us inconstant or faithfull and that which makes us either love or hate Let none wonder than any more if we behold queens descending from their Thrones to place their Lovers there though they be not of a royall birth Let none wonder then any more to see Princes despised Crowns rejected and Hero's unfortunate in their amours since 't is not neither from reason nor from interest nor from ambition nor from glory that this noble ardour derives its birth But you will aske what obligation has a lover to his Mistres if it be true that she loves him only because she is constrained cannot chuse but love him None my dear Medoro none 't is for that in my opinion that love passes for the most noble of all passions because it is not mercinary In common friendship and amity it is permitted to count the services we render or receive and to name a thing that we do willingly an obligation but in the actions of lovers there should be no such thing The persons which love owing all things there are no thanks owing in returne again so that though I had given you my Crowne as I have already given you my heart I do not pretend you should be the more obliged to me since amongst those that know how to love who ever bestowes their affections do at the same instant bestow both their Scepters and Kingdomes and to be short all that they possess And if by misfortune it had hapned that your inclination had been contrary to mine that you had hated me as much as I have and do love you do you thinke my dear Medoro that I should have blamed you No I would have bemoaned my self without accusing you and as by my own experience I know one cannot love through reason I would not have murmured against you though you had refused Angelica's love with as much rigour as she has refused the services of all the Kings in the world to accept those of the amiable and generous Medoro Some might perhaps say to me that I am not very ingenious but rather very ill advised to entertaine you with these discourses that I take off your fetters by perswading you that you may leave them without a crime and that I instruct you in ingratitude when I avouch my selfe that you owe me no obligation although for the love of you I have done all what I was capable to do in giving you my kingdome and which is more my affection which I preferre before the Scepter that I mean to give into your hands But to answer that objection I must tell you that seeing the condition wherein I found you and the difference of your birth from mine if I could have hindred my love to you I should be guilty if I had not done it and being so rational as I know you to be you would your selfe secretly have condemned my affection though it were advantageous to you You would have more esteemed in me the quality of Queen than that of Lover and have rejoyced more for conquering my kingdome than my person So that to perswade you all at once both of the greatnesse of this affection and that I am not unworthy of your esteeme no more than of your love I shall never be weary with telling you that 't is a superiour power that causes us to love that all the wisdome and all the human prudence cannot bring any obstacle and that in fine 't is only the inclination alone which may bee said the true mother of all loves There is I know not what secret charme which passes from the eyes of the lover into the heart of her whom the
that reason did authorize such a strange proceeding by this means such a thrid of sorrows would run through all the world as would render the lives of all men unhappy and destroy the Universe Or else we must not to be exposed to such troublesome adventures refuse the amity of all honest men never have any love for any nor be obliged to any but take all care to make our selves become hated and rather look to the health of those for whom we have any good wil than to their deserts or worth for fear lest their constitutions being weak the end of their dayes happening it may be before old age should oblige those which love them to spend the rest of their dayes in mourning about their graves Seriously Arsetes it is not to be easily imagined that there are rational souls which believe that death does not destroy love time and absence which have nor so much power as that do every day make too many become constant to leave a belief that after death hath ravished the object away which gave birth to that passion we should yet preserve a love for it We cannot continue to love that object since it is destroyed nor ought we to do it since we should equally resist both Reason and Nature which will not have it so Those who are said to have been in love with a fair Statua or a Picture are more excusable than those that love a grave or the ashes which it incloses the eyes which are wont to seduce the imagination and will by the advantage of all fair objects betray them and gives them some kind of delight in sweetly deceiving them but to preserve a love for an object that is so horrid for that which can never behold without tears and affright nay for that which we shall never behold again t is that which cannot which ought not to be and t is that which makes me with boldness maintain That the love ought not to last but to the grave All men that have not lost their judgements neither do nor ought to do any thing without a design T is so general a rule that there are hardly any which misse it the covetous know wherefore they guard their treasures all the ambitious know whither they would climb all that are of vindicative spirits know for what end they molest their enemies nor are the lovers ignorant what they intend when they weep and sigh at the feet of their Mistresses They know I say that love is the price of love and that in fine we love to be beloved again But should we ask the Prince Tancred what he pretends by continuing to love the ghost of Clorinda as much as he love her person I believe he would be somewhat troubled for an answer To say that his tears and sighes have for their principall design to touch and move her heart would not be believed since t is impossible it should be so Or else to think that he preserves his first flames to animate the ashes of his Mistris he is too wise to have such a thought or again to imagine that he has no other end in what he does but to make himself unhappy needlesly is a thing without all appearance Neverthelesse it is certain that the love which you so much praise in this Prince can produce no more advantage to him nor to me but either my own death or his Ha! if it were possible that the illustrious Clorinda could hear his moanes and my reasons and that from the midst of her grave she could make him hear her commands how she would blame his proceedings and mourn my unhappinesse she was other-while too generous to think it now just that Tancred being no longer obliged to be faithful to her should be still ingrateful towards me You may tell me perhaps that her last desires were not as I perswade But Arsetes she then lived yet when she declared them to Tancred That imbecillity which is common to all those that are dying is not to be found in them after they are dead all their passions become tranquil in the grave the deceased desire neither the love nor the constancy of any they have no share in our fortunes they do not care whether others meddle with their destiny and as they are separated from all things they do not trouble themselves whether we separate also from them or yet still follow them Believe me Arsetes t is enough to be constant during our lives without being so after death t is I say enough to do what we ought without doing what we ought not and then to say things as they are so long as we are alive we are obliged to serve to the publick society it is not permitted us to be ingratefull it is not permitted us to be unjust and this being so it is not permitted to Tancred to love Erminia no more and to love Clorinda still though Clorinda be no more and that Erminia be in a condition to love him to his grave Besides if we do likewise but rightly expound the last desires and will of your illustrious Mistris one shall finde that they were ill understood by this Prince for whatso'ere commands she gave him to reverence her memory she made him none more pressing than those by which she injoyn'd him to be comforted Now what means is there for this Prince to be ever comforted if he retain the love he had for her What Arsetes can a true lover live happily and know that he can never be seen nor be beloved by his Lady Ha! no no let 's not abuse our selves in expounding Clorinda's last speeches for without doubt she is agreed to what I say she will willingly remain in Tancreds memory but she will not be angry if I reign in his heart she will be willing to have him respect her name but she will not be displeased if he love my person she was willing that he should shed some tears upon her grave but she will not murmur if reason time and Erminia dries them up againe she has consented that her death should make him unhappy for some few dayes but she will consent likewise that he should make me happy for all my life Do not therefore Arsetes resist Clorinda's will perswade the Prince her lover that which I would perswade you tell him he disobeys his Mistris and yours in not comforting himself and that if it be permitted for any one to pretend a part in his affection it can be onely to me As a friend to Clorinda I have some right to the amity he had for her as his slave which I have been he should let me wear his fetters as a Queen which I ought to be he should give me the Empire of his heart instead of the Crowne which he hath made me lose and as his lover he ought to leave Clorinda's grave to follow me even till my death That is the term that I prescribe to the love which I will have him
hands upon her lower garments for fear lest after her death some indecent action should offend her modesty PENELOPE TO LAERTES The Eighth HARANGUE The Argument PENELOPE that vertuous wife to ULISSES whose reputation yet lives after so many ages past and who from the borders of that seldome frequented Island where she lived has made her renown spread over the whole world finding her self one day extreamly afflicted for the absence of her Husband who after the siege of Troy had strayed almost ten years at the mercy of the windes and waves without possibility of seeing his Countrey would ease her sorrowes by her plaints and make her dear Husbands Father acknowledge by the discourse you are now going to see That absence is worse than death PENELOPE TO LAERTES HE that undertakes to maintain that death is the most sensible and greatest of all evils is surely such a one as either never loved at all or at least hath never under one the unhappinesse of being absent from the person beloved No my Lord that monster which desolates all the earth who by the succession of time changes the face of the whole Universe who treats alike both vice and vertue who strikes with the same fatal dart the Kings and Shepherds and whose very portraiture alone fills the stoutest soul with horrour and amazement is not yet that thing which I believe we ought the most to apprehend Absence which we may truly say is the commencement of all sorrowes and the end of all joyes hath in it somewhat that is more harsh and insupportable for if the first be that which destroyes our prosperity the second is that which makes us unhappy even in the midst of abundance yea on the Throne it self There is neverthelesse a great deal of difference betwixt them for death ravishes equally from us both our felicities and misfortunes if it rob us of any flowers it does not leave us the prickles behind them it crushes with the same hand both our Crowns and fetters and in a word when it deprives us of life it likewise utterly extinguishes in our hearts all the flames of love and anger all the resentments of hatred vengeance and in fine all other passions It causes I say both our joy and trouble to expire together at the same moment whereas absence not onely robs us of all the good that ever death deprives us of but likewise causes all those evils to fall on â—s to which the other puts a sudden period Our life it self in this occasion is left us but onely to make us the more sensible of the most piercing pain that can be felt and if there be sometimes such people who prefer the absence of the beloved person rather than death 't is because they suffer themselves to be deluded by false appearances t is because that mournful dress in which it is represented affrights them t is because they contemplate it more with their bodily sight than the eyes of the soul t is because they only consider it in what is most terrible and t is in fine because they love themselves better than they doe their Mistresses and prefer the rayes of the Sun above the lustre of her eyes and had rather not see her at all than be deprived of their sight Ha! how ignorant those people are of the true sentiments which love inspires But you will say to me my Lord perhaps you do not seriously consider how great that violence must needs be which separates so close an union as that of soul and body But I shall answer you you do not truly consider your self what a greater violence that must be which for a long season separates that which love reason and inclination seem to have joyned with an eternal and immortal chain Death sage Laertes as you know better than my self is as natural to us as life if it be an evil 't is at least an evil that should not surprize us as soon as we begin to live we ought to begin to learn to die at the first opening of our eyes we should already look on the opening of our graves and every Monarch in the world that hath not renounced common sence cannot be ignorant that as he mounts up to his Throne so he shall once descend into his sepulchre 'T is not thus in the things of love that passion being altogether divine seizes so imperiously on those whom she possesses and the sight of the beloved person does so absolutely fill all the soul of her adorer that this absence is an evil which still surprizes him and comes so unawares that by consequence it renders him more unhappy than death can which we ought alwayes to expect That amazing instant which parts two persons perfectly loving one another is a sadnesse beyond my expression though I have proved it more cruelly than any other but to make you in some manner comprehend it Imagine to your self my Lord that you were ambitious and that your Crown were torn from you imagine your self were extreamly coverous and that your treasures were all stolâ— from you imagine you were victorious and that your victory were ravished out of your hands imagine you were shakled with chains whose very weight were insupportable imagine you lost all that is dear to you in the world imagine you were deprived of the light of the day and that you remained in horrid darknesse imagine your heart were torn forth of your bosome and you not yet dead and imagine in fine that I not onely suffered all these pains but that even death how terrible so'ere it be was the utmost of all my wishes at that sad moment of Ulisses departure Ha! my Lord yet once more how grievous that funest minute was to me death is rather the lulling asleep of all our troubles than any sensible evil and it has nothing troublesome but the way that leads to it But absence is a chain of misfortunes which finds no end but at the end of our lives or the return of the beloved person The first sigh which death does make us breath hath alwayes the advantage of being the last but the first which absence obliges us unto is followed with so many others and accompanied with so many tears so many disturbances so many torments or to speak better so many deaths that its evill suffers no comparison and then to speak rationally death and absence may be taken for one another since both the one and the other equally deprives us of all that we can love but as t is impossible that the loss of all the riches in the world can be so sensible to us as the absence of the person whom we dearly love since she is in the stead of all unto us so also it is impossible but that that which deprives us of it must be more harsh than death it self which can only take away that good from us which we esteem farre lesse than she But you will say again that death which snatches