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 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 more 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 illfavourdnesse 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
power over you as your tears seem to perswade me do not abandon me I conjure you to the insolence of your souldiers at this time when the miserable Clorinda hath no other arms to defend her self than her complaints and sighs Also the wounds I have received are such that there is no share in life more for me Ha! would the heavens yet once more prolong it in me a little for some instants that I might testifie my acknowledgment It seems to me my prayer is heard for although I feel that the hour of my death is neer it seems to me I say if I deceive not my self that I have cause to believe I shall not expire till I have related to you a part of those thoughts that are in me Do not fear that I shall complain of you or of fate I have too great a soul too firm and too reasonable to have a ressentment so vulgar so weak and so unjust I know that in Battels one finds as often death as victory that one must equally prepare for the one and the other and that if so be we be overcome without shame or basenesse we should lose such a victorie without despair die without murmuring I do not then regret the portion of life which I might yet have had mine hath been long enough since it hath been unspotted I have lived little I confess but I have lived with glory and I die with honour If Clorinda must be vanquished it must needs have been by him who uses to overcome all others 't is no small thing for her to have disputed with him for that illustrious prize as she hath done and not to have yielded but onlie because nothing can resist him Do not mourn for me then more than I mourn for my self rule your ressentments by mine comfort your self as I am comforted and be not more sensible of my misfortune than your own interest If you behold me as your enemy you will rejoice at my loss all Godfreys armie will give you thanks for this action for though I be of that sex from which ordinarily men can draw no advantage to fight and overcome us I think nevertheless without vanitie that Clorinda's name is famous enough to dare believe as I do that all your Knights would think themselves fortunate not onlie to be her conquerers but even to be cōquered by her Do not therefore cast that crown upon my Tomb which you have acquired by my defeat as if unworthy of your temples do not disdain the victory if you will not disgrace me On the contrary proclaim it to all the world let all the world know what it hath cost you do not hide the blood which you have lost onlie hide your tears from Clorinda that her death may be more quiet since it cannot be more honourable And to testifie that she pardons it with a willing heart to you she conjures you if it be true that you have any affection for her to conserve it even after she is dead let not her ashes extinguish that noble ardour which her Heroick actions have kindled in your soul you have loved her an enemy love her in the grave you have loved her when she was armed against you love her when she shall be dead by your hands you have loved her even when she hated you love her also when she shal have ended her days in assuring you that she hath esteemed your valour and your vertue even so far as to suffer her death without murmuring and to think it a glory to lose her life by the same hand that had preserved it for her I die nevertheless with the sorrow of not having implied it for the service of my deliverer but as that ingratitude is not voluntary so let it not hinder you to look upon my death as if I suffered it to save you though I suffer it because I would have lost yours Imagine that all the blowes I made at you were directed against your enemies and not against your person let the blood which I lose serve for a price for the tears which you shed and in fine believe that seeing the generosity I have found in your soul if Clorinda had lived she would have testified to you by her actions that she could no longer reckon you amongst her enemies But since things past cannot be revoked and that shortly there will no more remain of Clorinda but her name her ashes and her Monuments if you have the goodness to afford her one have a care of all those heighten her reputation if you can that so yours may increase and that you may also justifie at the same time your affection and your sufferings Be not so weak as those persons unworthy the light of the day which cease from loving their friends as soon as ere they are uncapable or not in a condition to acknowledge their amity Be not I say of those in whom the grave strikes an horrour who dare not follow the persons they love into the shades of death Those that are so weakly interested they seek onlie but for the recompence of their affections and who loves onelie pleasing things are not worthy the light of the Sun the great and generous souls are not wont to do thus and to tell things as they are t is onely within the grave and 'twixt the very armes of death that we can assure our selves certainty of the good will any hath for us all the services which are rendred to the living may be suspected of self-interest the honours done to the dead cannot be ill interpreted but merit to live eternally in the memory of all men This is the true mark of Heroick love and of true vertue t is as I have said the infallible Character of a soul great noble and generous t is loving for love and not for the reward and 't is in fine the right means as I have also said to become worthy of all imaginable honours to honour the memory of those who during their lives have merited to be esteemed by us in a particular manner Is it not enough that we lose a person so dear to us unlesse we blot her Image from our memory Ha! no no too generous Prince you will not do thus you will visit her Tomb with respect and her name becomming inseparable from yours by her deplorable adventures shall fly 'ore all the world with luster and glory you will conserve this love which was so pure that hope it self hath had no share for truly it would not be just that Clorinda ceasing to hate when she descends into the grave you should begin to wish her ill when she ceases to live and when she begins to know you and by consequence to esteem you very much After you have been my enemy be my Champion I conjure you defend against all the world the beauty of those advantageous Pourtraits which fame hath made of me over all the earth maintain that she hath not flattered Clorinda speak
me of that thought and since I have no more than a few minutes to live I must wholly give them to him who otherwhile did save my life to him who at this time does weep my death although it hath hindred his and to him whose cares should immortalize me As well I do not think that my silence would stop your moans and I also believe that you will never be more afflicted than when this silence shall become eternal Prepare your self however for it for I feel my fatal hour approaches my strength diminishes my voice fails and I shall hardly have the time to tell you that Clorinda dies without any other sorrow than that which yours does cause in her That she esteems the end of her dayes for the most glorious of all her adventures that being born upon the Throne she does not care though she dies on the dust since 't is with honour that having lived with innocency and reputation without stain she regrets nothing in the world but onely that she cannot retaliate that which she owes to you and that in fine she esteems her self happy to have found in the same person an enemy so courteous as even to save her life a Knight so valiant as to make her death illustrious a Conquerour so compassionate as to weep at his own Victories and a lover so passionate and so heroick as to make her hope that he will conserve that affection very pure even to his last breath Adiew then Prince too unfortunate to be so generous My voice fails me I lose my sight and breath But if it be possible forget not this remembrance That the Love ought not to die with the Beloved The effect of this HARANGUE THe ressentments that a like Discourse might have inspir'd did not miss of finding place in the afflicted spirit of Tancred he wept and wept a long time for so extraordinary a misfortune and for so fearful an adventure and we may believe that he wept ever Since Erminia how lovely how much a lover so'ere she was could never comfort him for the death of Clorinda Nevertheless be not you perswaded that he was so That the affection ought not to die with the beloved but suspend at least your judgment since this other Princesse hath somewhat to say thereon Hearken better to her than Tancred did hearken for in truth she is too worthy of compassion to be suffered to die for a dead one or at least for not hearing of her ERMINIA TO ARSETES The Fifth HARANGUE The Argument AFter that Tancred had killed Clorinda as you have seene before the Prince appeared inconsolable and hardly could that famous Hermit which followes Godfreys army separate him from that fair body whose soul himself had separated so that Erminia daughter to the King of Antioch who had a long time loved that generous but affllicted Prince despaired of ever seeing her affection recompenced I was in that unhappy condition that meeting one of Clorinda's Domesticks who maintained that Tancred had reason to do so she ende avoured to make him confesse to ease her sorrow That the affection ought not to go beyond the grave ERMINIA TO ARSETES THose which say as you say that the power of death ought not to destroy love that one must love in the dark regions of the air those whom we lov'd whilst they enjoy'd the light of the Sun that not to conserve our affections very pure towards them is to be unfaithful that 't is inconstancy to be capable of any other flames after they are separated from the living and that in fine whoever is so unhappy as to see his Mistris enter into the Monument never ought to have any thoughts of making any other conquest Those people I say are equally ignorant both how far the power of death and the power of love do extend They know not what that is which we call love they know neither fidelity nor constancy and judge of things either by their own capritious fancies or for their own interest As for you sage and faithful Arsetes I have no reason to find it ill that you bestow your tears to the memory of the valiant Clorinda I consent likewise that the generous Tancred mingle his with yours and I shall further testifie to you by my sighes that the destiny of that illustrious person hath caus'd grief in me and that I was her Rival but not her enemy But I will also perswade you that without being either inconstant or unfaithful that Prince who loved her during her life might now recompence my affection by his own since she does cease to live Death that fearful monster that destroys all that breaths upon earth wil not that love should enterprize any thing against his power those which he once bears away are no longer obliged to any thing he separates those amities that are the closest united and unties the strongest alliances In making Kings to tumble from the Throne into the Sepulchre he dispences their subjects from all obedience their power ends with their life and there remains no more of those Monarchs but the memory of their vices or of their vertues If they have been evil they are blamed with boldnesse and if they have been good they are praised without suspition of flattery their Tombs are carefully looked to their names are immortaliz'd by the Histories which are made of their Reigns and their Heroick actions but the services which they were wont to require of their subjects are not rendered to them So true it is that death brings a change in all things That which I say of Kings may be said of those whom love had made Queens over their Lovers and whom death hath subjected also to its Empire as they are not in a condition to command any more we are dispensed from obeying them the lawes of Reason and Nature will have us weep their loss and cherish their memory that we never forget them that we raise stately Tombs for them and that we forget not any thing which may adde to their glory but Reason and Nature will likewise tell us that time cures the sharpest sorrowes that the deepest spring of tears must be dried up at length and that all afflictions must diminish In effect there is no means to be found in these occasions we must enter into the grave with the beloved person or we must keep within the limits which wisdome prescribes to the most violent griefs All the ornaments of the proudest Mausoleums are but extinguish'd torches and sad marks and tokens that those that rest in them have now no share in the light and that by consequence the living should have no share in their ashes and urnes That eternall sleep which reigns in the graves and which the tears and the sighes of the most passionare lovers cannot dispell evidences enough that 't is not to the deceased we owe our love and constancy The change which happens in them justifies that which happens to others and then
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 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 inconstant 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 be pleasing for that which we could 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 loved 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
to disdain that you should reproach me of my chains which onely your cruelty makes me wear and that you should treat me unworthily because I am not free because you are not generous and because I am unfortunate No I tell it you once more and shall tell it you more than a thousand times I cannot suffer that baseness and though your inhumanity should condemn me to torments I had yet rather suffer 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 visage 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 loves 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
feare her sweetnesse inspires love she is pleasing to those whom she murders she findes all submitted to her will her imperious looks makes a thousand illustrious slaves to tremble she imposes laws and receives none in short she sees nothing above her selfe but heaven Do not however judge I conjure you by these false marks of greatness beleeve that this queen elective is not without trouble and on the contrary the least of her subjects is more happy than she is Yes Paris it is with her domination as 't is with those great Empires which are only compounded of Conquests and of usurped promises and which for this reason require so much care to keepe them that their Conquerour becomes a slave as soone as ever he makes himself King In all other states few rebells are founde and in this of beauty all aspire to tyrany all will from subjects become masters and not one resolves to serve but with the unjust designe of commanding I know lovely Paris that you are the exception to this rule that I should be unjust my selfe if I complained of your respect and that in you a shepheard worthy to command Monarchs hath alwayes taken a glory in obeying me But as you are incomparable do not draw any consequence from your selfe of others and without opposing your selfe against reason or my discourse suffer me to continue it As the Planets shine as well upon the dunghill as upon Jewels and the most stupid see the sun as well as others so beauty makes shamefull conquests as well as honourable and its power extends sometimes farther than she desires a thousand importunate people persecute it a thousand displeas'd assasinate it and all oppose its good One comes and praises it unhandsomly the other comes and rather extolls himselfe the one is alwaies musing by her the other is so gay that he hath lost his wits the one is jealous another is desperate one laughs at what the other sighes one comes and sings her praises another powres forth injury the one calls her divine the other sayes she is a tygresse the one offers her incense the other if he durst would throw durt at her one raises an Altar to her and sets her up an Image the other afterwards endeavours to raze both the Altar and the statua in fine to consider these things well hell it self hath not a greater nor more strange torment than beauty which so many enemies besiege Nevertheless can you believe it these enemies are not the most to be feared if they assault the quiet there are others which assault the honour and by an unexampled cruelty beauty it selfe endeavours to destroy beauty O Paris you will easily expound this riddle and will easily know my thoughts if you observe what envy makes my sex to do for the interest of this unhappy beauty As soone as ere a woman considers this shee no more considers any body else the most holy amity is not inviolable with her the bonds of consanguinity are not strong enough to hold her and of all the devoirs which binde us to one another and which makes society there is not one which she does not despise slander that poison as secret as dangerous expands its selfe insensibly on the reputation of a person who hath no other defect than that she hath none than that of being too handsome She receives a thousand wounds which she feeles not they ruine her when she cannot perceive it they strike her when she cannot see the arme nor the blow and all these disasters happen to her only because of her beauty From thence more tragicall events yet draw their detestable source from thence proceeds the quarrels of rivals the division of families irreconcilable hatred bloody and wofull cumbats and the utter desolation of houses But my dear and as I have already said my too deare Paris you and likewise my selfe know it but too well what the effects are of this fatal beauty you cannot cast your eyes from this very place towards the sigean gate nor towards the banks of Xanthus without beholding the deplorable works of those evils it can cause 'T is this alone to speake rationally which covers this sea with the enemies gallies 't is this alone which pitches so many tents and pavilions about this famous City 't is this alone which diggs the deep trenches that begirt her and which robs her of her liberty and 't is this alone which raises to an equal height with our walls the proud and high ramparts which cover the Grecians Camp Yes Paris 't is this alone which hath caused the first blood to be spilt with which the fields are died which hath disturbed the quiet and the old age of Priam which hath caused the affliction of Hecuba which hath engaged the valiant Hector in the perills of combats and to say somewhat yet more sensible to my heart which hath endangered Paris 'T is from this alone that the Mycenian Mothers and that the Trojan Women will equally demand their children and their husbands and by an unhappiness as strange as particular 't is this alone on which both the parties will look as an enemy whether the rashnesse of a Grecian or the inconsideratenesse of a Trojan makes them perish amidst the armies the beauty of Helena if it be true that Helena have any beauty will alwayes be the only cause of it She shall answer for all the events of the warre and as if she made the destiny both of the one and the other the one and the other Nation will alwayes demand satisfaction of her for the calamities they have suffered Yes the Trojan people murmur against her those of Argos curse her offended Menelaus threatens Cassandra calls her the fatal torch of Illium and to ruine this unfortunate beauty those people which are at variance in all other things agree in this Nay I fear and this is the greatest of my fears I say I fear ô my dear Paris least the disgrace become contagious and that you be accused of its crime and that in fine they may hate you because you love it Nature will complain of you and of love the interest of your Country will strive to oversway that of your passion Priam will demand obedience of you Hecuba will claim your tendernesse Cassandra will ask for observance from you the people will desire your compliance and the very Greekes will demand Helena of you to be revenged and to punish her Well then content all the world in her losse and content even her own selfe if so bee her losse may serve any way to content you Extinguish this fatal torch which may inflame your City reduce your Palaces to cinders and r'anverse your walls this so flourishing an Empire at least if you will beleeve the predictions of Cassandra and the dream your mother hath had render to Menelaus who does desire it a guest which is so dangerous follow no longer what you ought to fly look on the perilous luster of
this beauty as on those false lights which lead into precipices and be no longer dazled with such obnoxious beams Consider that its most resplendent lights may perhaps prove to you the shining of a Comet which do threaten Princes and their States with disorders and misfortunes Consider that all that pleases should not please and that the victory of ones 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 in 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
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 re-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 Letnone 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 youwill aske what obligation has a lover to his Mistres if it be true that sheloves 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 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 the charms of her person They follow their inclination I confesse but that which that inclination regards is not love but 't is avarice An ambitious man acts in the same manner a valiant man will wish for many rivals thereby to have the glory of fighting and overcoming them and briefly all those which are beleeved to be lovers are not so ordinarily but in appearance and 't is this without doubt which makes so many be inconstant and faithlesse For as their strongest inclination is not that which makes them love there may happen a hundred things which satisfying their covetousnesse their ambition and their vanity by other means makes them forsake their Mistresses as uselesse to their felicity But those who above all passions are strongly inclined to love are more assured of the duration of their affections and more happy in their service They part neither their cares nor their hearts Scepters and Crownes are not the ends of their desires but the certainty of being perfectly loved is the only thing they pretend to Think a little lovely Medoro on the happy life that we have led in these woods ever since that by the force of our inclination we began to love This cottage has serv'd me in lieu of a Palace the freshnesse of this grasse has seemed more convenient to me than the magnificence of the Throne and the melody of these birds more charming than all the musick that ever I heard in Europe I have preferred the sands of these rivulets which environ us before the mines of Gold in our Country and the dew which we behold on these flowers before the fairest pearls that ere the Orient did produce And all this Medoro because I love you because we see together all these things and because both my inclination and that which you have for me makes me that I can see nothing with you which does not please and which does not produce some joy 'T is that is my dear Medoro the true marke of an ardent passion whoever can finde any part of his pleasure elsewhere than in the person he adores is not at all capable of this noble weaknesse and whoere is beloved and not being absent from what he loves does not think himself happy ought to be blotted out from the number of lovers For to speak of things as they indeed are those that be lovers after the manner as I understand it I mean in spight of their reason and wills can never do so where-ever they find their Mistresses they have nothing to desire and where-ever she is not all is wanting and nothing satisfies them They would be weary in the greatest and most splendid Courts although they were even seated on the Throne and would esteeme themselves happy in a horrid desert were they but blessed by the light of those eyes they adore Now as the object of their content is more limited than that of others it is likewise more facile to content them but for the rest of men which cannot love whose minds are a prey to so many passions they need almost that every part of this world should contribute something to satisfie them fully The Covetous would have in their disposing all the gold which the sun has produced since the beginning of Age the Courageous would have overcome all the Hero's that nature ever brought forth in all the world nor would ambitious Conquerours have lesser then the Empire of the whole Universe To satisfie the people there must be very much or to say better they must have either inchantments or miracles to make them become happy But as for those that know to love and who lock up all their felicity in the hearts of a servant or a Mistres they never have nothing to fear but themselves For provided their Inclination do not destroy their felicity by changing its object they neither fear the malice of men nor the capricio's of Fortune nor any other of those misfortunes which may happen in the course of their lives so true it is that their minds are disintangled from all other thoughts but such as directly concerne their love By this you may see my dear Medoro of what nature that is which I have for you and that which I beleeve you have for me You are to me instead of Parents of Kingdome and Crowne and if I had not a designe to place it on your head I think that without any desire of re-ascending the Throne I should oblige you to passe the rest of our dayes in this pleasing solitude But since I am confident you will more esteeme the hand that shall crowne you than the Crown it selfe how glorious soere it may be we must think of leaving this lovely desert we must return to the Kingdom of Cataya we must make all the earth to see what the power of this Inclination can do we must shew it what that is which ought to be called love and make it behold in you a lover without ambition which this love has made a King and in my person a Queen not imprudent which yet this same love has made to become a subject FINIS The effect of this HARANGUE ANgelica was too witty not to perswade and Medoro too Amorous not to bee persuaded So that although Ariosto hath not told us what happened to them in the Indies and though he have hardly mentioned that they Imbarked to goe we may believe that the power of Inclination rendered their love eternal and as that alone had given it birth so that alone made it last ever after AMARILLIS TO TITYRUS The Third HARANGUE The Argument THe great Virgil introducing himselfe in the Eclogues of his Bucolicks under the name of a Shepherd called Tityrus does regret Rome and the Court of Augustus from whence he was absent and testifies he is little pleased with the woods and plaines That hath given me place to introduce likewise the shepherdesse Amarillis his Mistres who surprising him in this thought reproches him of the disesteeme he makes of their abode represents its beauties to him and comparing them to the defects of what he regrets strives to make him acknowledge that the Country life is preferrable before that of Cities AMARILLIS TO TITYRUS CEase Illustrious Shepherd cease to regret the magnificence of Rome do not disturbe the tranquility of our woods by unjust and inutile complaints and be perswaded that whether for the pleasingnesse of persons for the purity of manners for the innocency of pleasures for the felicity of life or for true vertue our villages ought to be preferred before the pompe of the fairest Cities and the simplicity of our Cottages to the
to speak truly the most despairing do abuse themselves when they think yet to love the ghosts of their Mistresses as if they were still alive That which can cause no longer neither desire nor hope nor disquiet nor jealousie cannot be called love They cease to love therefore and yet do not apprehend it and mistake an effect of their grief and sometimes of their temperature for a mark of passion Notwithstanding it is absolutely impossible that love and death can ever reign together they think to love their Mistresses and indeed they love only their memory they say they are faithful and constant and yet all their sentiments are changed for of all the tendernesses which true affection inspires there remains nothing in portion to them but grief besides that with time does ordinarily become onely a melancholy habit rather than an effect of their losse or the ressentment they have of it they accustome themselves to sadnesse as to joy their sighes do ease them their tears fall without bitternesse and the recital of their ill fortunes instead of increasing their torments and renewing their displeasures serves them for a pastime and a pleasing divertisement Believe me Arsetes those are not the signs of a violent passion Neverthelesse it is certain that the wisdome of nature works in us whether we will or not this advantageous change Death is an evil too inevitable and too common amongst men to be left without a consolation for the losses it brings and indeed we finde it to be so and reason hath not left us without giving the just limits to the greatest sorrow Ever since the beginning of ages death hath made men shed tears which time hath wiped off again all the children have been comforted for the death of their fathers all the fathers have not despaired at the death of their children the most faithful husbands have attended their wives to their graves without descending therein themselves and the most constant women have buried their husbands and yet did not lie down with them in the same bed of earth In fine Arsetes as there is no joy permanent in this life there ought to be no eternal affection You will tell me that the bands of blood and those of love are things very different and that for the most part the interest of the person beloved has more power in our hearts than any other consideration You will adde to this that we would forsake our Countrey and all our Parents to serve her and that likewise when it happens that we lose her she causes as much affliction she alone as if we lost all together both our Parents that gave us birth and our fortunes and in short all that is left us to lose in the world Though I should agree touching that yet we must still come to my argument which is that either we must comfort our selves after the death of the person whom we love or we must die with her For to think that love is a thing compatible with the darknesse of the grave is a belief of small appearance 't is a thing without reason and without example and which can never happen unless they lose their sence and understanding with their Mistresses As we do not affect what we never see neither ought we to love what we shall never behold more one may preserve the remembrance but we cannot love the beauties since they are no longer in being one may still love the chains and shakels which they wore but as these chains and bands are broken for ever we may without inconstancy or infidelity retake some others provided they be not unworthy of the first We must not break down a golden Statua to put a brass one in the place But amongst some Christians it is usual to adorn the place with more than one Image I do not therefore desire that Tancred should raze out that of his Clorinda intirely from his heart I have more respect to her and more complacence for him I would only have him since he has not renounced all humane society for we know he does both give and receive Orders go to the wars defend his life and imploy the same hand with which he cut the bands that tied him to the service of Clorinda against those whom Clorinda has alwayes served I would I say that having never ceased to be faithfull to his party having never ceased to be valiant in battels and having never forgotten to be generous he may not now omit to be an acknowledger of my affections In the state as things now are he owes nothing but compassion to Clorinda but he owes love to Erminia Clorinda can now no more either love or hate him and Erminia has not only lov'd him before he knew Clorinda but she loves him still even whilst he prefers Clorinda's ashes before Erminia's chaste flames Heavens be my witnesse if I nourish the least thought of hatred against that illustrious person as long as she lived I held as great an esteem of her vertue as I had affection for the Prince whom I loved no Arsetes her death did not rejoyce me on the contrary it did grieve me I honour'd her enough to weep her loss and I loved Tancred enough to desire almost that he might not have such a sad misfortune although according to appearance it might be advantageous to me and if after their interest I may have leave to think of my own I dare avouch again that I believe that I should be less unhappy if Clorinda were not dead than I am now though she be equally incapable to give either love or jealousie Did she yet live I should not take it ill if Tancred would give me but his esteem and friendship and preserved his intire love and passion for her I would say in his defence he loves that which cannot be beloved too much Clorinda is young fair vertuous and valiant and his inclination does prompt him to adore her let us bemoan our fortune then without accusing her that causes it since we can finde nothing to object against his choice But now that Clorinda is no more but a little dust that her youth does subsist no more that her beauty is destroyed that her vertue cannot appear but only by the relations of those that know her that her valour can be no more either useful or hurtful to her friends or enemies and that in fine she is as far distant from us as if she had never been It is not just that Tancred should have more fidelity for the ashes of his enemy than acknowledgment and regard for her who began to love him from the first instant she ever beheld him although that first instant cast her from the Throne to slavery and that the hands which enchained her had torne a Crown from off her Fathers head yea a Crown which should have been placed upon her own temples But perhaps generous Arsetes you do not know all the rights which I have in Tancreds affection
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 her in slavery and even now whilst I am to her in lieu of Husband Children and Empire I deprive her of all things in depriving her of the consolation she found alone in me and which she can find no where else Ah! would the Heavens measure out her constancy to her sufferings or shorten her dayes to shorten her misfortunes Alas is it possible that I can wish no better advantage for her that brought me into the world but to see her in her grave No there is no power on earth that can make her less unhappy and the Gods themselves since they cannot recall things past cannot afford her a more favourable destiny than to give her her death before she hears of mine For I do not doubt though I were assured to passe my life in slavery but that unfortunate Princess will regret me with as much affliction as if in losing the light I lost all the diadems of the world The sentiments of nature will be more prevalent in her than the power of reason and the desire to increase her sorrow will make her that she will find nothing which may comfort her for my loss but the hope of her own At least Prince to whom I speak be not so inhumane to refuse her the body of her daughter or not to let her have it without paying a ransome For what can a Queen give you whose Empire is destroyed whose City is consumed and to whom there is onely left in possession the ashes of her children So long as she had treasures she has bestowed them prodigally to redeem the bodies of her sons from the hands of the cruel Achilles but now that she hath nothing remaining of all what she hath had but onely the remembrance of her pass'd happiness thereby to encrease her present misery be satisfied with her tears 'T is the only ransome you should exact from her and that onely which she can give you So that if all compassion be not intirely extinguish'd in your soul you will esteem the tears of an unhappy Princess to be inestimable you will think the prayers they make when they are even loaden with fetters ought not to be refus'd when they are not injust and those slaves who have worn Crowns ought not to be treated with inhumanity Suffer then the unhappy Hecuba to put all those in their graves whom she hath brought forth into the world return Polixena's corps to her when Polixena shall be no more and do not refuse this sad courtesie and grace to her whose Kingdome you have invaded slain her children and stabb'd her husband Have a care lest abusing of your Victories you one day merit to find as harsh Conquerours as your selves have been The gods who oppress us at this time will be perhaps awearied of protecting you and punishing us and it may be also that the blood which I am going to lose may be more favourable to the Trojans than to the Grecians Do not therefore despise the counsels which I give you although I be your enemy and respect in the persons of those whom you have vanquished those who assuredly had been your Conquerours if the Heavens had seconded their courage For my self who have no longer portion in this life but onely to die with constancy and in a manner not unworthy of so many illustrious Hero's from whom I am descended I ask you wherefore you do not suddenly finish that which you intend to execute Do you wait till the Ghost of cruell Achilles come once more forth from Hell to redemand Polixena or do you think to make my death the more cruell in making me expect it a long time whatever it be hasten you to satisfie both Achilles and Polixena together If you stay longer perhaps pity may surprize you perhaps all the Trojan slaves may break their chams to deliver me perhaps also that the Grecians will love rather to see me captive than to see me die life up your arm therefore and plunge your ponyard into my heart I present my brest to you and without fear as without regret I am resolved for my loss Do not prepare therefore neither irons nor cords to hold me I shall not surely fly that which I would goe to seek for nor is it difficult to sacrifice a Victime which willingly offers it self and which would sacrifice her self if she had the power 'T is the least favour which you can grant to a Princess to die freely As daughter to Priam and as Hectors sister I ought to obtain this which I demand for what avails it Achilles Ghost whether I have any bonds or whether I have none if so be I lose all my blood if so be I expire on his ashes and that in fine I remain in the power of death But let not that cruel ghost imagine that mine shall be his companion in the dark regions of the grave No I shall alwayes be his most mortal enemy I le goe if the Gods will permit it from grave to grave about the ruines of Troy to seek the sepulchres of my parents and uniting my self inseparably to Hectors ghost Achilles shall then know whether Polixena's heart were generous or not whether it were capable to listen to his complaints and to answer to his passion or if rather she were not a worthy sister to Hector and a worthy daughter to Priam. Alas why must Illium's ashes cover the ashes of so many illustrious persons O would the immortals that the blood which Polixena is going to shed could withdraw them from underneath those famous ruines and that her death could give them life again But 't is no time now to make these fruitless wishes the Gods change not their resolutions nor can the fate of Troy be revoked It belongs to us onely to submit to what our destiny ordains and whether we be conquered or conquerours we are equally obliged to obey without murmuring and with an equal visage to receive either happinesse or misfortune T is by these sentiments ô Prince and Priest together that I remain so tranquil at the approaches of death and if I do not deceive my selfe I discover more trouble in your looks than you can behold in mine For there is this difference betwixt what you are going to do and what I do now that I obey Heaven and you obey the Ghost of the cruel Achilles who will have her sacrificed to him whom he pretended he loved during his life But O Gods what could his hatred be since even his love produces the death of her whom he loved Was ever such a thing heard of before without
doubt 't is if not a generous yet at least an ordinary and natural sentiment not to be sorry for the death of an enemy but to desire it to those whom we love that 's a thing against both reason and nature and a thing which no age nor people ever saw and indeed I am strongly perswaded that 't is more thorow hatred than love that I am sent to my grave So long as Achilles lived he hath desired that I should be his slave and now he ceases to live he will have me for his victime Le ts satisfie this last desire since we may do it without shame and le ts rejoyce that we have neither been his wife nor his Mistris hor his slave Whoever goes out of this life with glory ought ever to esteem themselves happy principally if we leave a chain in leaving this world what matter is it whether they unlose the chains that binds us or whether they break them however it is t is still to set us at liberty Be then my deliverer and fear not for your particular that I shall wish you any hurt The hand that frees me cannot but be grateful to me and he that hinders me from being a captive cannot be hated by me But what do I and what is' t I say unhappy that I am I do not think to whom I speak He whom I behold is not onely a Grecian not only my enemy not onely my sacrifier but he was likewise the executioner of my father No Pyrrhus 't is neither as Grecian nor as my enemy nor as Achilles son nor as my sacrifier that I look on you even when I change my thoughts and that I make imprecations against you but t is because you were my fathers murtherer What Pyrrhus could you so hatefully pursue that venerable old man to the very feet of the altar where his sought his refuge to thrust a dagger even into his heart Did your hand not tremble at the aspect of that great Prince Father of so many Heroes truly it should have done so but those that do not revere the gods have no reason to respect men Ha! truly that act hath acquired you a great deal of glory and t is a difficult thing to kill a Prince worn out with age feeblenesse and misery and who seeks his defence onely by the protection of those sacred places which ought to be inviolable Methinks there was no need of staining your arm and name by so barbarous an action the flames which have consumed our City would have sufficed to take away the life of that deplorable King and the least you could do was to let his Palace be his Funeral-pile to be consumed in But you are too nice an observer of Achilles his cruelties not to observe them exactly 'T was not enough to have usurped an Empire and to set Illium all in one flame the altars must be prophan'd they must be sprinkled with humane blood and that not onely with the blood of vulgar ones It must be the noblest blood in all the earth that must be spilt it must be a royall person that must be trampled under foot despising in him and with him all that was holy or sacred in our Palaces and in our Temples after such an unnatural action I was in the wrong to fear lest any pity should enter your soul and defer my death that 's a sentiment which the Grecians in general are unacquainted with and of which the son of Achilles cannot be capable possibly That dagger which I behold in your hand and with which you are a going to pierce my heart is perhaps the same which hath gone through the King my Fathers heart O sad spectacle O too cruel torment why is it that I did not perish in the flames which have devoured so many illustrious persons and that I have been reserved to behold such horrid things am I guilty of Helena's crimes or of Paris his failings No Polixena is innocent and if she have outlived so many misfortunes t is to die with more constancy and with more glory also t is to let the Grecians which did not come to this siege know what the sons of Priam might be since even his daughter dare encounter and confront death without any the least fear If those flames which consum'd Troy had put a period to my destiny I should have had no witnesses of these last sentiments of my soul Posterity might have doubted of Polixena's vertue and might have believed that since Achilles had had the temerity after he had made her Countrey desolate and slain her brothers to demand her for his wife and to say that he was in love with her that she had not done as she should in so strange a business But as things are now I die in publishing that I am an utter enemy to Achilles that I have ever been so and that I shall be so eternally let the ghost of that cruel one come once more forth of his sepulchre let it appear to all the Grecians and let it declare whether Polixena does erre from the truth To justifie what she sayes you need but consider the animosity which he retains for her even after his death and one may easily know that which she had for him so long as he lived For although what ever comes from the Grecians ought to be suspected by the Trojans this apparition of Achilles is not one of Ulisses deceits as that was whereby our City was betrayed No t is a perfect hatred which makes him come forth of his grave to make me enter into mine and this sanguinary ghost did re-behold the day onely to make me lose the light for ever Why do you stay then O Prince unworthy of that title and why do not you end this woful sacrifice Do you respect the daughter more than you have done the Father and does your hand rather tremble to stab Polixena than when you massacred the deplorable Priam hearken to that subterranean voice which issues from the hollownesse of that grand sepulchre with an horrid sound and which with threats commands you to immolate me to his fury Behold that earth which opens it self behold the ghost of Achilles which appears to me or rather Achilles himself who is leaving his grave He is pale and disfigured a terrour inflames his eyes even dead as they are and I behold him just such as he appeared to me on the sad day when he fought with Hector unlesse death or perhaps the remorse for his crimes have changed his skinne and colour Behold Phyrrus behold that hideous spirit which arises little by little and who to his threatening actions joyning his horrid voice does for the last time ordain you to sacrifice Polixena to him Make this Ghost to vanish by obeying it the Victime is ready prepared the poyniard is in your hand and you are accustomed to shed the Blood Royall Strike then as your Slave I conjure you and as the Daughter of a King I
command you The effect of this HARANGUE THis fair and unhappy Princesse drew the tears of all the Grecians Pyrrhus himself was moved nor could his eyes behold the crime which his hand committed He struck her nevertheless barbarous man that he was and that young and deplorable creature had so much modesty that even in falling struck with the deadly blow she was careful to lay her 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 undergone 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 us 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 covetous and that your treasures were all stoln 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 trouble some 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 away a Crown which puls down your Throne which deprives you of the light does also rob you from the person whom you love she does not forsake you t is true but you leave her and in this manner you do as well lose the sight of her as in absence and likewise lose her for ever I acknowledge sage Laertes that this objection is strong nevertheless it is not impossible to clear it To die before the eyes of those we love is somewhat more comfortable than to remain alive separated from ones lover and husband together to mingle our last tears together with his is less insupportable than to be left alone to weep continually and to leave ones soul betwixt those armes is rather a stricter union with him than a separation In fine to say all in a word after the having given him the last adiew after the having had the satisfaction of knowing the greatnesse of his amour by the greatnesse of his sorrowes after the having if it be permitted to speak so resigned our soul into his hands we have alwayes this advantage to cease to live in ceasing to see him losing the light for ever with his presence and to become insensible of grief as well as of joy The repose and obscurity of the grave are better in this occasion than life the light of day that funest and mortal Lethargy which for ever rocks all our sences into a deep sleep in the cradle of the Tomb is the only remedy which could charm all the evils I now suffer for the absence of my dear Ulisses and as sleep does every night make the happy and miserable to become equall and alike as it does the greatest-Princes and the meanest Subjects So death likewise places in the same rank those lovers which injoy the presence of their Mistresses with those which are deprived of it The thicknesse of those shades we meet withal in the grave hinders us for evermore from distinguishing any of the things of this world and death how pitiless so'ere t is described to us is not so cruel but that it promptly heals us of all the evils it causes If it make an ambitious man lose his Crown it deprives him at the same instant both of the diadem and the ambition which rendered it so pleasing to him if it rob the treasures from the possession of the covetous it likewise steals away that avarice from his heart which made him cherish wealth so much and if it dis-unite two persons dearly loving the least unhappy is he without doubt who loses his life since in losing that he loses both his sence knowledge and memory at the same moment It is not thus in absence we die thereby indeed unto all pleasures but it is only to live unto all pains As soon as ere we lose the sight of the person that reigns in our souls all other passions throng in to tear and torture it Love Hatred Anger Vengeance Jealousie Fear and Hope it self does persecute and war against us We never love more than when we lose the sight of the object of our affection we never hate any thing with so much violence as that which robs us of our beloved we are never more irritated than when our felicity is destroyed we never wish more ardently to revenge our selves than when we are reduced to the terms of despair we are never more jealous than when we cannot be the witnesses of their actions who owe all their fidelity to us we never deserve so much to be pitied as when we fear the death of our lovers and one may likewise say that we are never more unhappy than when we are reduced to that point of having no other consolation than an uncertain and doleful hope which ordinarily serves rather to increase our miseries than to asswage them so true it is that absence is a terrible and fearful evil and so true it is that it converts all the remedies which are presented to it into poyson Do not you imagine my Lord that I have learn'd what I now say either from the example of others or from reason which oft-times teaches us many things which we have never experienced No my Lord I tell you nothing but what my own trial hath verified and would to heaven I were yet ignorant of such sad truths and that death were the only evil which I might apprehend When my dear dear Ulisses was resolved to part and that overswayed by the power of his destiny he separated himself from me love to render this separation the more cruel to me represented him more lovely to me than ever I had beheld him his sorrow augmenting his charmes his silence caused by the affliction he indured in leaving me rendered him more grateful to me than his sweetest eloquence had ever done although that eloquence have inchanted all the earth in fine sage Laertes I then know better than ever I had known till then the price and value of what I had possessed and of what I was then ready to be dispossessed of My love increased I acknowledge it and though I had believed all my life that I could not possibly love my husband more ardently and tenderly than I did love yet neverthelesse I cannot deny but that I found my affection redoubled in that sad instant But when after I had lost his fight the Image of Menelaus presented it self to my mind who had caused his departure hatred seized so powerfully on me that there are no unjust wishes which I made not for him Anger followed hatred and the desire of revenge immediatly stept in after hatred I desired he might not regain Helena I wished he might suffer all his life-time that which I now suffered by his means and I think likewise that in the heat of my resentment I should have made prayers to obtain from heaven that he might have been beaten and his army defeated by the Trojans had I not remembred that he could not be vanquished but that my dear Ulysses must be so to since he was ingaged in the quarrel But my Lord will you think it well that I should shew you all my troubles and discover all my imbecilitâ—es Yes since it is onely by that means that I can prove to you that absence is worse than death After then that I had resented all the most violent effects of love anger hatred I found my self again assaulted by Jealousie Ulysses went to a place where they might take such prisoners as were capable to enchain their vanquishers and masters as the examples of Agamemnon and Achilles has since taught us
command can accustome her self to obey Do you believe when you treat me thus that I can see it and live Do you believe I am destitute of courage as you are of reason and pitie Do you believe your fetters can enchain the soul as they do the bodie or that a generous stab cannot free me from this slaverie and your Tyrannie Ha! if you believe thus how little do you know your own cruelties and how ill are you acquainted with Briseis how little do you conceive what death is or how little do you confider what I suffer Though it should present it self to my sight in all that funest bloudie equipage which the most barbarous Tyrant can dress it withall though I should meet it accompanied with executioners with scourges and with flames though there were new tortures invented to please you and to afflict me withall I should yet prefer all these before the miserable condition I am now in and should sooner resolve to suffer them all than to suffer your outrages and disdain for in fine one may be both Captive and Mistris bur one cannot remain a captive without being Mistris after the once having had the glorie of being so I could have lived without that glorie but I cannot live and lose it I could have resolved to have lived in your chains but I cannot resolve now to return to them again I could have indured the anger of my Conquerour but I cannot indure the disdain of my lover I could then have remembred that I was your slave but now I cannot forget that you have mine in a word you may be barbarous and inconstant but I cannot be insensible and have no resentment O cruel and unreasonable Achilles are you not also cruel enough to believe that I should be yet too much honoured in serving the new and fairer object of your flames have you not so much blindness as to hope that I shall become her captive as you say I am yours do you not expect from my complacence and willingnesse that I should take the care to chuse her an habit that may adorn her and the pains to curl her hair to imbroider her head-attire with jewels and to indeavour besides to adde new graces to those she received at her birth that thereby art may finish in her that which nature has so gloriously begun will you not have me extol her perfections tell you of her charmes make you remark the lustre of her eies the pureness of her skin and beauteous face thereby to increase your affection and your delight together will you not afterwards make me goe and entertain that faire Phrigian of the rare qualities that are in you must I not vaunt of your courage and speak to her of your skill and above all value your constancy which I know so well that so I may inkindle her soule with the bright flame which consumes yours But will you not have me tell her to prove your valour that you have besieged Troy that you have vanquisht the Trojans a thousand times and that you took away her brothers life Will you not have me declare aloud your liberality when you took money for Hectors corps and your civility when you threatened Priam who came to your Tents to demand it of you O barbarous man that you are are those your intents but ô faint-hearted as I am my selfe am I not ashamed of what I do and should I not blush since contrary to my designe and first dicourse my verie anger it selfe is become a token of my passion or rather of my errour No no do not listen to me any more neither listen to love who speaks to you even as I do nor to reason which sayes the same that love does Be gone since you will goe and passe from this Camp to the other where glorie waits for you as well as Polixena Leave your ancient friends and runne to the imbraces of those whom you have fought withall and whom you ought to fight withall again forget the interest of your own Nation and lose all even to your very honour to behold your Mistris againe look upon Briseis tears with smiles and scoffe at her troubles if at least her troubles doe not provoke your anger Joyn her chains to Hectors armes and carry both the one and the others to that Trojans feet and in fine goe and marrie an unworthie sister upon the tombe of her most generous brother You will have it so and Fate will have it so likewise and although I would not if I could help it yet I must needs consent to it for who can withstand Fate and Achilles his obstinacy But remember cruel and blinde as you are that a God hath told you by my mouth yes I swear that I feel a God inspiring what I now tell you that you shall finde hatred where you hope to meet with love that you shall have nothing but regret where you expected nothing but pleasure that you shall be betrayed by the Trojans as you now betray the Grecians that they shall have as much craft as you have simplicity that if Polixena do wait for you death does wait for you also neer her that if you approach neer Troy your fatal houre does approach likewise that the first day of that fatall Marriage shall be the last of your dayes and that your death must quickly make me die Behold what Heaven has inspir'd me with and this is that which you ought to believe this is that which you will not believe and this is that insensible and mad man which will be the cause both of your ruine and mine Just Gods he hears me no more he is going the power of his destiny drags him away I shall behold him no more nor shall he ' ere see me again he leaves me he is going to die and I my self am going to die likewise The effect of this HARANGUE THe unfortunate Briseis obtained nothing of the pitilesse Achilles but her prediction was not untrue He went to see Polixena that he might see the day no longer and every one knows that one of Paris's arrows sent him to his grave for not having believed this lovely slave who without doubt deserved to be together both Slave and Mistris FINIS