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 of the grandeur of her courage of her experience in her youth of her success in combats of the purity of her soul of the innocency of her life and of the glory of her death It concerns me little that you should publish how I was born upon the throne it suffices that you perswade them I was worthy and that
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 disunite 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 sight 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 Ulisses must be so to since he was ingaged in the quarrel But my Lord will you think is well that I should shew you all my troubles and discover all my imbecilities 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 Ulisses 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 Imagine then the trouble that this thought excited in my heart it was so great that if the fear of Ulisses death in so dangerous a voyage had not moderated its violence I believe I should have accused him in my thoughts as if he had been already guilty I should have made him some reproaches and perhaps for some instants should have hated him But the consideration of
torments I had yet rather fuffer than deserve them What Achilles doe you remember no more already that I have seen you kiss my chains with respect and not dare to kiss the hand that ware them that I have known you think it a glory to obey her whom you might have commanded that I have found you entertaining her as a Queen whom now you use as a Slave and finally that I have beheld you captivated by your own captive whence comes then so strange an alteration was I more at freedome than I am or am I more a slave than I was were you lesse Soveraign than you at present are or are you more absolute than you were then have we interchanged our conditions one with another or have I changed my vifage were you blinde barbarous Achilles or are you now become so did you want judgment at that time when you adored me or do you want it now since you adore me no more In a word were you an Idolater then or are you impious now Ha! no no neither of all these things hath happened so I am still what I was you are still the same you were at least for your fortune and if there had happened no more change in your heart than in my face and in your condition I should yet behold him at my feet who would hardly suffer me to cast my self at his I should yet hear him make his Petitions who now pronounces nought but injuries against me I should yet receive submissions from him from whom I now receive affronts I should yet behold his humility and not perceive his pride and briefly I should yet have in you a respectful lover and not a vaunting Tyrant You believe then as I comprehend by your pitiless and haughty answer which you have made me you believe I say that command and servitude are things incompatible in love as well as they are in war that one cannot give lawes and receive them and that one cannot serve and raign together But how you are abused if you have that belief and how little do you know the power of love if you make it to rise from the power of fortune if those from whom I had my birth had onely carried sheephooks and never seen the scepter but in anothers hand if I had been born in a Cottage and not within a Palace yea more had I been born with these chains on me in which you will make me die if I were not only a slave but the daughter of a father that had been such himself and on the contrary though your Empire were as great as the whole Earth though your Province were the Mistris of the whole Universe and that Peleus or Achilles himself did command all men as they do the Mirmydons that could not hinder but that Briseis would be Soveraign if Briseis were beloved and Achilles would obey her if Achilles could truly love 'T is one of the most illustrious marks of love puissance to abase Thrones and elevate Shepherdesses to place the Crown upon a fair head whose temples never kissed but onely garlands of flowers and in a word to make us behold Queens in fetters as well as Kings in chains when two amiable persons are truly touched with this noble passion neither the one nor other has any thing which does not become common to both they make a glorious exchange of the marks of the ones misfortune and the others grandeur that so nothing may be separated nor any thing render them different The lover takes his Mistresses fetters the Mistris takes her lovers scepter he who commanded obeys and she that obeyed commands and as the obedience is voluntary the command is not rigorous He trembles now himself that Conquerour that made whole Provinces tremble he observes the least glances of this elective Queen he is complacent he is humble yea even respectful he fears to offend her he seeks to please her and as he loves so he desires onely to be rewarded with love again He prefers the least of her favours above the gold of his Scepter and the jewels of his Crown he believes himself rich when he bestowes all and briefly he thinks he raignes when he thus serves Thus proud and haughty Achilles thus do true lovers live and such as are truly generous They never let fall any reproaches no aigreur ever mingles with their discourses on the contrary the least injury would seem blasphemy unto them and the least insolence a sacriledge beyond all pardon and worthy of death and if any other had the boldnesse to dare to anger their Mistris far from offering it themselves one passion would excite another love would lead them to hatred hatred would draw them unto fury fury would prompt them to revenge they would be prodigal of their dearest blood as they had been of their greatest riches they would expose themselves for her glory and believe they ventured for their own and though they should lose both their Scepter and life to defend her they would yet believe they gained by that loss and triumph in their overthrow as having done what they could and ought so true it is that love renders those equals that were different and confounds particular interests In effect as wise persons should nor cherish a blind affection but ever love with knowledge as well as inclination the beauty of vertue should ravish them as well as the beauty of a lovely face and the perfections of the mind charm them as powerfully as the perfections of the bodie their hearts should be touched more by the qualities of the soul than by the gifts of fortune wherefore then after they have loved that which they judged worthy of their love should they cease from loving her still wherefore do we see them change since vertue changes not and wherefore should they lose even their respect since that same beautie which made them respectful hath lost nothing of its lustre believe me Achilles whether vertue either reign or obey whether she be on the throne or in fetters or whether it have its birth in the purple or in rags it is alwaies alike lovely and alwaies equally worthie of respect and veneration None but the dull and stupid multitude will iudg of things by the lustre that invirons them and dazles the sight or will make the difference of persons according to their different conditions All those borrowed ornaments have nothing that is either essential or solid if it be only the gold or diamonds in the Crown that renders one esteemable we should rather esteem the Goldsmiths or Lapidaries which make them so glistering or at least the earth which produces them Ha! no no all those things which the vulgar call precious are too poor to be the objects of a great and reasonable understanding and that which comes from fortune is too low of value to make vertue be less esteem'd though she be no longer adorned with it or with anie justice to hinder but
give it you as I do intend I should rather see you despise all the Princesses in the world for love of me than to despise as I my selfe doe all the greatest Princes of the Earth for love of you since in fine if things were thus I could never doubt but that your amity were rather an effect of your Inclination than of your Choise Neverthelesse since that cannot be I am not unwilling to let you see that my own cannot be for by-interests but that it is voluntary in effect if reason might freely have counselled in this busines Medoro had not found Angelica's heart in a condition to receive now his Image so many Illustrious Captives which her beauty or her good destiny had bestowed on her would without doubt have engaged her soul before Yes of so many Princes of so many Kings of so many Heroe's which have loved her and which have followed her there would have been found some which her reason would not have judg'd unworthy of her If ambition could be a path for love I should reign over the Tartarian Empire if valour could subject the spirit Orlando would be the Conquerour of Angelica if wisdome virtue birth and courage could suffice to inspire that ardour or to maintain and preserve it I should yet love Renaldo more than my own self if the testimonies of a violent affection were powerfull enough to produce its semblable I should not have resisted my brother when he would have made me accept of that of Ferragus the King of Spains son in fine if this passion came into ones heart without fear and with judgment the Circassion King had not left mine in a condition to be given you now it would have been almost impossible that of so many Crowns which have been laid down at my feet I should not have found some which I had thought faire enough to have suffer'd them to set it on my head notwithstanding because all those princes all those Kings and all those Hero's have only satisfied my judgment have not touched my inclination I have despised them all and the only Medoro without Crowne without Kingdome all cover'd with wounds and extended almost dead upon the earth has had more power ore my soul than all those who by their riches by their birth or by their courage have endeavoured to conquer me 'T is true that one may perhaps tell me that I have found more merit in you than in all the others and that he who came from shedding his blood and exposing his life to give burial to the body of his King deserved to be King himselfe and to inspire such sentiments into the heart of Angelica which others could not infuse However to tell things as they are that Heroick vertue which you testified in that occasion did not give you the Empire of my soul and if that puissant inclination of which I speake and which is the mother of all loves had not constrained me to affect you I should only have had compassion esteem for you But that superiour power which inclines us or rather which forces us to doe what it pleases made that without knowing you and without hardly having seen you I had mrore care for your life than for my own and did beleeve I found in your person that which I had not found in any other All that you at the first instant called compassion and generosity in me was already an effect of love I did not that which I would but that which I could not forbear to do I sought the herbs which should heale your wounds with too much earnestnesse and care to believe that I had no other interest in your life but only for compassion and generosity No Medoro it was not so I had no sooner seene you but without the help of my judgment I loved you as much as one can love although I my selfe knew not whether that which I felt in my soul for you were love And in effect reason is rather wont to warre against love than to beget it or to cherish it when it is borne That severe and imperious Queen farre from approving the bonds the chains and the follies of lovers speaks nothing but of liberty of our franchises and wisdome She will have all our senses subjected to her and our wills follow her intentions our memory must receive nothing in store but what she judges worthy to be preserved and the imagination must present her with things only that are serious and very solid A lover at his Mistresses feet is to her an object worthy of laughter and pitty she scoffs at his weaknesse she condemns all he does and in fine she would were it in her power destroy all the Lawes of Nature banish all passions from mens hearts and reign She alone over all the Universe Judge after this Medoro whether reason can introduce love in a soul and whether I have not reason to say that there is something in us more powerfull than she is that attracts us sInce in spight both of her counsels and power we often act quite contrary to what she would have us there is this difference betwixt reason and inclination that one for the most part will oblige us to do things that displeaseth us this later never tempts us to any thing but what is gratefull to us 'T is that without doubt which makes its power so great that the other cannot resist it she must needs yeild how clear sighted so ere she is to this amiable blinde guide which leads and conducts us as she pleases who makes us love and hate according to her fancy and who alone inspires love in the hearts of all men When reason would sway us to any thing though she be so imperious as I have said yet she must imploy both time and artifice to persuade us to obey her she shews those whom she will expose to great perills the glory they shall meet with she represents to those who find an occasion to be liberal that to give to ones friends is to put ones treasure in security in fine she discourses the ill favourdnesse of vice and the amability of vertue that we may shun the one and follow the other with the more ardour She does not therefore act with so absolute a power as the inclination which without pointing out to us either the good or the evil which can happen by those things whereto she leads us presses us on or to say better constrains us with such violence that we cannot resist Those natural aversions which we see amongst reasonable persons testifies sufficiently that our judgment is not absolute master of our actions those that hate roses acknowledge that their colour is faire and that the smell it selfe is sweet and yet for all the knowledge they have of their beauty they turne away their sight with care fly from them as another would from some fearfull object This imbecillity of their temperature is the same thing with
that which is found in our soul when the inclination constrains it to do what she will and not that which its selfe pleases When I ceased to love Renaldo I did cease knowing that he was yet worthy of my esteeme and when 't was his turne to cease from loving me yet I believe he did acknowledge that Angelica had some beauty Notwithstanding because it is not the judgment that begets affection we know one another to bee lovely and yet love not and perhaps wee did love without knowing whether we had any lovely qualities or not So true it is that reason acts but weakly and so certain is it that inclination is altogether powerful The first makes us obey only by the same means legitimate Monarchs imploy against their subjects but the other makes her self to feared and followed as victorious Tyrants use to do She imployes nought but force against us but as that force and violence is almost inevitable and that she hath no lesse sweetnesse than power there is hardly any thing which resists but she overcomes it Honour glory private interest and vertue it selfe are many times too weak an obstacle to hinder her designes she makes Kings love shepherdesses and that shepherds raise their looks even up to their Sovereigns Thrones and without distinction either of qualities or of merit She makes a mixture of Scepters and sheephooks of Crowns and chains of free persons and slaves and by these extraordinary effects sufficiently testifies that we are not masters of our own will of affections or that our reason is not alwayes so strong as to overcome her In effect should we act but by her counsells should our love follow only our knowledge and were it by her consent only that we should weare our fetters it is certain that we should weare but one in all our lives That which we had once found faire would alwayes be so to us we should love till death what we once thought lovely and inconstancy in fine would never be found amongst lovers Since the beginning of the World the Sun hath given admiration to all men gold pearls and diamonds have never found any that questioned their beauty briefly all things universally known remain constant why then if love took birth from perfect knowledge and by the operations of the judgement should it not alwaies remain in the hearts that possesse it Ha no no Medoro that cannot be so and therefore 't is that all those that are unfaithfull are not so worthy of blame as is beleeved nor those that are constant merit so much praise as is bestowed upon them The one and the other do what they are forced to do some break their bands and others preserve theirs because they are constrained to it You see some who after they have broken their chains do rivet them together again with care and binde themselves again more closely than they were before There are some others even weighed downe by their burden who sigh under the load that presses them and who might neverthelesse disengage themselves but will not preferring their servitude above liberty Do you beleeve Medoro that these bizare effects can proceed from a clear-sighted reason and a free will Or do you not believe on the contrary that the sole inclination is that which unchains us or unties us which makes us inconstant or faithfull and that which makes us either love or hate Let none wonder than any more if we behold queens descending from their Thrones to place their Lovers there though they be not of a royall birth Let none wonder then any more to see Princes despised Crowns rejected and Hero's unfortunate in their amours since 't is not neither from reason nor from interest nor from ambition nor from glory that this noble ardour derives its birth But you will aske what obligation has a lover to his Mistres if it be true that she loves him only because she is constrained cannot chuse but love him None my dear Medoro none 't is for that in my opinion that love passes for the most noble of all passions because it is not mercinary In common friendship and amity it is permitted to count the services we render or receive and to name a thing that we do willingly an obligation but in the actions of lovers there should be no such thing The persons which love owing all things there are no thanks owing in returne again so that though I had given you my Crowne as I have already given you my heart I do not pretend you should be the more obliged to me since amongst those that know how to love who ever bestowes their affections do at the same instant bestow both their Scepters and Kingdomes and to be short all that they possess And if by misfortune it had hapned that your inclination had been contrary to mine that you had hated me as much as I have and do love you do you thinke my dear Medoro that I should have blamed you No I would have bemoaned my self without accusing you and as by my own experience I know one cannot love through reason I would not have murmured against you though you had refused Angelica's love with as much rigour as she has refused the services of all the Kings in the world to accept those of the amiable and generous Medoro Some might perhaps say to me that I am not very ingenious but rather very ill advised to entertaine you with these discourses that I take off your fetters by perswading you that you may leave them without a crime and that I instruct you in ingratitude when I avouch my selfe that you owe me no obligation although for the love of you I have done all what I was capable to do in giving you my kingdome and which is more my affection which I preferre before the Scepter that I mean to give into your hands But to answer that objection I must tell you that seeing the condition wherein I found you and the difference of your birth from mine if I could have hindred my love to you I should be guilty if I had not done it and being so rational as I know you to be you would your selfe secretly have condemned my affection though it were advantageous to you You would have more esteemed in me the quality of Queen than that of Lover and have rejoyced more for conquering my kingdome than my person So that to perswade you all at once both of the greatnesse of this affection and that I am not unworthy of your esteeme no more than of your love I shall never be weary with telling you that 't is a superiour power that causes us to love that all the wisdome and all the human prudence cannot bring any obstacle and that in fine 't is only the inclination alone which may bee said the true mother of all loves There is I know not what secret charme which passes from the eyes of the lover into the heart of her whom the
own passions is not the least glorious conquest one may obtaine as it is not the easiest Confesse as well as I that beauty is no real good and reject it as an evil Doe not listen either to pitty or inclination which never counsel faithfully and do but flatter to deceive Follow follow that severe beauty I mean reason and preferre it to that of my face Hearken to Priam hearken to Hecuba hearken to all the Trojans nay hearken to the very Greeks and hearken no more to love which speaks to you in favour of this beauty Helena who knowes it and ought to know it does once more protest to you that she is nothing lesse than what she is believed to be that she hath nothing precious but in appearance and that she is of too small value to be preferred to Crownes or to sacrifice your quiet to her Loose her then to conserve your self that fatal beauty and if Troy will make an ominous present to the Greeks let her make no other than what themselves demand Of all those flames which from the battlements of your ramparts you shall cast into their Camp I dare say that those of my eyes will be the most hurtfull to them and if they knew what 't is they desired they would give as many battells not to have it as they give to obtain it Believe me then and do not believe your selfe ô my deare deare Paris and expose not either your State nor your Parents nor your quiet for a thing which cannot be esteemed a reall good no not in the very minds of those which do possess it But when you have followed my counsell and reasons remember at least that Helena hath spoken against her selfe to speak for you and that it is no slight act for a woman to avouch ingenuously that beauty is not a reall good Remember I say that Helena hath more than once preferred your satisfaction before her own glory and that the same cause which obliged her to follow you does now oblige her to leave you Never forget this last testimony of my affection I conjure you since it is the most difficult I can give you and how low soever the price is that I set on this beauty which I will loose with my life to preserve you remember that your self have often esteemed it beyond Thrones Scepters and that in this manner though I bestow on you but little according to my owne judgment I give you very much according to yours FINIS The effect of this HARANGUE PAris was perswaded enough of the love that Helena had for him but he was not so of the disesteeme of her Beauty He hearkened to this reason as a Paradox and judged without doubt that this fair Grecian spake of her going but only to oblige him the more to keep her For mine own part I who have made her speake no lesse against my own thoughts than against beauty I acknowledge that since I have finished this hard taske for which I have had so much repugnance I beleeve that now when I list I may maintain that snow is black and that Mores are white so true it is that what I have said has little truth in it and is so little consonant to my belief ANGELICA TO MEDORO The Second HARANGUE The Argument ANGELICA that faire Indian queen who made so many generous lovers run after her and disdain'd their affections could not in fine hinder but that the beauty of a simple Souldier triumphed over hers her pride and revenged the unjust disdain that proud one had made of the loves of so many kings and of the vowes of so many Hero's whom she had scoffed and never truly loved Now we suppose that after the happy Medoro had subdued her heart she had some shame for her defeat and judging that so extraordinary a passion would be condemned of all the World seeing the inequality of their conditions one day when they were under the pleasant shades where they passed so many sweet moments she undertooke to maintain through a desire of glory with her usual Eloquence That love proceeds only from inclination ANGELICA TO MEDORO WHen ever lovely Medoro you shall undertake to entertain me with the grandeur of your affection never speak to me neither of my birth nor of my merit nor of my obligations nor of the glory you meet in serving me nor the advantages nature has bestowed on me nor those I enjoy by fortune but to satisfy me in this occasion say only to me that you love me because your inclination prompts you on to it and because you cannot hinder it your selfe Believe me Medoro 't is neither to my birth nor to my merit nor to the obligations you have nor to the glory you finde in serving me nor the advantage I have received from nature nor to those I hold by fortune that I will owe all that tendernesse which I expect from you and to say all it is not neither from your reason nor from your acknowledgment nor likewise from your will that I accept of the love which you have for Angelica If the chains which I have given you were no stronger than those I should believe you capable to break them easily and should think my selfe but ill assured of my conquest But for my own satisfaction I am perswaded of the contrary and I verily believe that though I should not re-ascend the Throne again whereon I was borne that although I had fewer good qualities than I have though you were not obliged to me though there were no glory in being my slave and though neither Nature nor Fortune had given me neither beauty nor riches yet you would not cease to love me as perfectly as you now do provided that your Inclination did prompt you as I now know it compells you 'T is an errour to think that love can be an effect of the Reason or the Will No Medoro that passion would cease being a passion if it were bred â—n our souls by knowledge and judgment One may and one ought to chuse their friend but one cannot nor ought not to chuse a Lover We must love them almost without knowing them the first instant of their sight must be the first of our servitude where we engage our selves we must find our selves quite laden with chains before we have had the leasure to examine whether or no it be glorious to receive them the Judgment must be blinde Reason must be banished the Will must be enchained and in fine the Inclination we have for the person beloved must triumph imperiously over all the powers of a soul which is touched as it should be with a sincere tru passion 'T is from that alone that love must take its birth and not from that great number of things where a particular interest would sway us sooner than Inclination And truly I can assure you that in the mind I am in I should rather receive a Crown from your hand than
destinies do chuse him for her beloved whose power is inevitable and as the moone governes the Sea the north attracts the loadstone and the sun formes the metals in the bowels of the earth by means which are unknowne to us so does the inclination conduct our judgment attract our will and formes the love in our soules by waies of which we are utterly ignorant She makes that wee often love that which we do not know and oftentimes to that which is not very lovely and which we would not love if we could help it From whence thinke you does arrive so many strange events in the world of which Histories are filled if it be not from that puissant Tyrany which surmounts all others If Anthonies Galley whose adventures I have told you and whose amours I learned since I left Asia and since my being in Europe could have I say been govern'd by reason and that it had not beene whirled away with violence by the inclination that that Roman had for the faire Egiptian whose charmes hee did adore do you believe he would not have stay'd in his army at the battel he lost or that at least he would not have disputed that victory with his enemy Yes Medoro he was too wise and too valiant not to endeavour to winne or to fly ignobly before those whose conquerour he might have been Neverthelesse though he were ambitious though he were almost assured to have all the advantage of that day and though it concern'd and stood upon the Empire of the whole World his inclination was more puissant in him than the desire of glory or of dominion One may say moreover besides the illustrious example that 't is by the power of this inclination that so many brothers have become enemies when they became Rivals that so many subjects have revolted against their Princes that so many Citizens have betrayed their Country and that so many Hero's have committed faults of judgement or done actions which were unworthy of them All those people Medoro had not lost their reason in the things which did not concerne their loves they spake after the same manner as they were wont before they were tainted with so great a malady they acted in the same sort they thought of their owne affaires and of their friends with the same prudence wherefore then should not the same reason be found in their love if there had not been something in them more powerfull than that was Ha no no Medoro this truth cannot be doubtfull and though I seeme to prejudice my self in perswading my selfe in satisfaction that I finde neverthelesse so much satisfaction that I cannot omit For as I think I am certain that you love me in the same manner as I would be I hold my selfe more assured of your affection than I should be if I believed that I held it by your acknowledgment rather than from your inclination I love rather that you should love my person than the throne whereto I wil lead you and I had rather you should esteeme the tendernesse of my amity than the conquest of my kingdome which I call no more so but only to let you see that I can bestow it on you But may one say perhaps this same inclination which makes you love to day may also make you love no more too morrow since in fine you have been seen to love and hate Renaldo successively and that Renaldo hath likewise been seen both to love and hate Angelica I acknowledge ingeniously that this objection is stronger than the other and I confesse likewise that this thought has given me some trouble in the first dayes of our amity What said I in my selfe sometimes when I considered the power of this inclination which caused me to love you should it be possible that one day I should no more love Medoro Should it be possible that Medoro one day should love Angelica no more and that this same inclination which unites our hearts and wills should disunite them for ever After so troublesome a meditation there succeeded a more pleasing thought for coming to consider that all those that love do not change their inclinations alwaies I perswaded my selfe that we should be of those chosen lovers to serve as an example to posterity Yes Medoro I beleeved that our affection never should diminish and I beleeve at present that in making you King I do but only augment the number of my subjects that by bestowing my Crowne on you I gain a faithfull slave and in giving you my heart I receive yours never to be disposed of again 'T is in this manner Medoro that we must at least flatter our selves in such things to which we cannot absolutely answer for if it happens as we wish it it were a wrong to afflict our selves without cause and if it happen that the inclination do change its object there is no need of being comforted for the losse of that which we do no longer esteeme to be worth our love Le ts then enjoy in peace the present felicity without putting our selves in trouble for the future let us leave the knowledge of things to come to destiny since as well we cannot prevent them neither by our fears or endeavours le ts imploy all the moments of our lives to speake advantageously of the power of this inclination which has created all our felicity since it hath created our love let us leave some marke of it in all places we passe by le ts make all the trees which lend us their shade lend us likewise their barks to engrave the names of Medoro and Angelica that all those which see it may admire and envy our happines and to be short never let us speake but of the pleasure there is in hearts thus united which inclination alone does beget in comparison of that where reason or interest do mingle themselves or contribute any thing Such who love only by those two sentiments do not at all know the sweets of love reason is too sage to suffer any of her subjects to set all their joy in the possession of a mistres how perfect soever she may be interest is too mercenary to suffer any one to make his greatest treasures consist in the least favour that can come from a Lady If I were beloved by any of those sage lovers who alwayes consult with their judgments and who oppose their inclination as much as they possibly can whithout doubt they would love my Crowne rather than a bracelet of my haire and would preferre the luster of my throne before that of my lookes O Medoro how little do those people know the nature of love and indeed to speake rationally they ought not to be put amongst the number of true lovers All men are ot always equally touched with all passions those which are borne covetuous and who sometimes thinke they love do wrong themselves for if we examine the thing well we shall finde that they love their Mistresses mony and not
your self be perswaded that my defeat is honourable to you I perceive that this discourse redoubles your anguish and that you had rather not have vanquish'd than buy the victory by my loss Do not however regret so much an unhappy person neither accuse your self to have cōmitted so great a crime The Clorinda whom you fought is not she whō you behold The other was an infidel an enemy of all Christians by consequence yours and this on the contrary is at present better instructed more enlightened and more rational since she dies with a great esteem and acknowledgment for Tancred But however you will tell me she dies by the hand of that Tanered it is true I shall answer but she dies for her glory None amongst mortals ought to have been her conqueror but him that was so generous as to weep for his victory The blood she should have lost in any other encounter would have sullied her reputation it must needs be then for the honour of her arms that she lose her life by your hand that so she might live eternally and then illustrious Prince if the hazard of the war had not made us meet and chance your valour had not brought me to these conditions I am in never had Clorinda given you any marks of her acknowledgments she had an austere vertue which would alwayes have obliged her to treat you like an enemy you have sweetned the haughtiness of her soul by overcoming her her pride hath been weaker than your civility and the death which she receives from your hands causes her to entertain your love without anger and hatred which she would never have done at any other time Do not then complain of the rigour of the adventure since to it you owe a part of my esteem I had admired your courage in battels but I confesse that I had not so perfectly known your generosity after the victory There be more valiant souldiers than merciful and debonair Conquerours and more men that are able to spill the blood of their enemies than to shed tear upon their graves Cease then cease from afflicting your self and complaining for me death not being harsh to me methinks you should comfort your self like me and in fine you ought to resolve to that which you cannot possible shun If I had lived longer what happiness more could you have expected you should never have seen Clorinda but with her weapons in hand is not it better since heaven will have it so that you never see her more her Idea will be more pleasing to you than she her self would have been in such a posture and in the humour she is of she is content you should love her memory but perhaps she would not have had you love her person otherwise Acknowledge with me therefore the advantages that this victory gives you and do not murmur inconsiderately for that which you cannot hinder Moderate your sorrow that it may last the longer I receive my death with tranquility suffer my losse with patience but never lose the memory of what I was You will restore my life in preserving my image in your heart but a life more noble and more glorious and for the which I have so often hazarded the other All that Clorinda hath done hath been but to immortalize her name hinder then by your cares that it be not buried in oblivion and if it be true as I cannot doubt it that your soul is altogether generous do not change your minde since I am going to be in an estate which suffers no more change I die with much admiration for your vertue live with a great esteem of my courage bear even from my grave to your owne the affection which you say you have for me and when misfortune will have you quit this life let it be ordained that an Image of Clorinda be inclosed in your Tomb let her be yet found imprinted in your heart and that nothing be so puissant as to deface and blot it out 'T is in vulgar souls that time and absence destroyes the fair opinions which vertue alone had impressed but amongst Heroick persons time absence nor death it self are not able to change their inclinations They love in the grave that which they loved in the world the remembrance of that pleasing object serves in lieu of their persons and as they have loved without hope and interest they preserve without infidelity and without trouble the amity which they had promised Certainly there would be somewhat of cruel and unjust to lose together the life the light and the affection of our friends we do revive again if we live in their memory raise up therefore your Clorinda in this manner and do not make her die yet once more in so cruel a manner far worse than the former The first is an effect of your skill of your courage and of her fate and the second would be one of your forgetfulness of your indifferency and if I may speak so of your ingratitude Yes generous Prince I may make use of those terms and I dare believe that you will not think it ill if Clorinda believes she obliges you sensibly when even she imploys the last moments of her life to testifie to you the true esteem she hath conceived of your extream vertue Do not then be wanting of acknowledgment since you see I am not wanting in it receive the regret I have for not having served you as an undubitable proof that I should have done it had I lived longer But render also to my ashes and to my name the honours and the cares which you would have rendered to Clorinda had she survived longer Do not fear that her ghost shall affright you when you shall visit her grave nor that with a querulous and moaning voice she will reproach you for her death No Tancred you shall behold no more neither Clorinda nor her shadow you shall hear no more neither her voice nor her plaints But alas I know I increase your sorrow in thinking to cure it that the testimonies of amity which I render you do cause more affliction than they bring joy that I am so far unhappy as to trouble you even when I would serve you that I pierce your heart when my own is readie to expire and that I am more dreadful to you dying and dis-armed than I was to you in the midst of Combats I shall therefore tell you nothing more that may augment your tears I will hide a part of my mind from you for fear of stirring yours and for fear likewise lest your imbecility should take hold of me Ha! no no I repent 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 suspiâ—ion 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 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
before the ghost or shadow of Clorinda It is likewise necessary for my own glory that you should know that without ceasing to be vertuous reasonable I could begin to love Tancred though he were my Fathers conquerour that I might continue to wish him well though he have not answered my amity and that I am in the right at present to wish from him that he would be content onely to honour the memory of Clorinda and begin to love Erminia You must know then sage and wise Arsetes that when the Christians had pull'd down Antiochus his throne and that they had taken away both his scepter and life who gave me life you may know I say that by the fortune of war I fell into the hands of the Conquerour who as you cannot but know was the same Tancred of whom we now speak But alas why was it that the Conquerour was not more rigorous to me at that time since he will not be merciful now wherefore was it that he did not treat me like a slave then if it be true that he will not treat me like a Mistris now Wherefore was it that he rendred me all the treasures of the King my father then if he will not now render me my own heart again or give me his in exchange and why did he give me my liberty so freely and graciously since he now refuses so cruelly to accept these chains which are less â—ude and heavy Yes faithful Arsetes I acknowledge with some confusion I began to love Tancred then when in appearance I should have begun to hate him His vertue his moderation and his clemency touched my heart sensibly I was his Captain and he respected me as a Queen by the right that Conquerors have over the conquered all our treasures were his and he restored them to me or rather gave them I was his prisoner and he restored me to liberty 't is true that loosening those chains which I wore he put me on some others more strong than those which I was freed from I beheld my liberty as an evil and regreted my servitude as a great good and though I did not know my self in those times wherefore I had such thoughts which seemed so void of reason I know now that the extraordinary generosity of Tancred had already usher'd love into my heart although I were then of an age in which love is unknown Since that what have I not done sometimes to love him no more somtimes to love him dearlier I have beheld him somtimes as an usurper I have considered him as an enemy who had taken away Antiochus's Crown and which is more who had taken away all the quiet of my life by a passion which his generosity had bred in my soul and which I could not overcome But shall I tell it faithful Arsetes after I had beheld him as an usurper and an enemy I always loved him because he was both vertuous and my deliverer and my beloved I have seen him from the walls of Jerusalem shedding the blood of our souldiers without shedding a tear my self I desired the victory but however would not have Tancred be conquered I had found him too mercifull a Conquerour not to desire to have him still in a condition to make known his vertue by doing good rather then in suffering evil Nor could I hear of the peril he was in by reason of his hurts without having a design to save his life who had saved my honour and had given me my liberty You know as well as my selfe that I made use of the valiant Clorinda's armes to get out from Jerusalem and to execute my enterprize But in taking her armes and weapons I did not put on her courage so that I was quickly forced to quit my sword and betake me to the sheep-hook to secure my selfe I have then been Cavalier and Shepherdesse for the insensible Tancred I was also Armida's prisoner in his consideration and that which I finde to be more happy for me is that by that marvellous art which all the Kings my Predecessors have left me in possession I have had the satissaction to render and save the life of my deliverer to dresse his wounds and to heal him in such a time when none but ERMINIA could relieve him You see then Arsetes that the birth of my affection is not criminal since Tancreds sole vertue did breed it You may judge likewise that its continuation is excusable and the design of saving him did contribute much to it and you should also know that Clorinda not living any longer he is obliged to recompence my amity with his owne Clorinda who at this present causes all his grief and possesses all his thoughts had never imployed her armes but to assault him and to pursue him and I stole the armour of Clorinda but onely to save his life Clorinda from whom he had taken neither Crown nor Scepter has alwayes beheld him as an enemy and I from whom he had ravished all even to my very liberty I have alwayes beheld him as a Prince which could and should be my lover I have already told you Arsetes that if your illustrious Mistris did live yet I would not so much as have a thought to dispute her conquest but her misfortune having laid her in her grave you may judge after all that I have said whether it be reasonable to prefer the sepulchre of Clorinda before Erminia for in fine t is not unfaithfulness to abandon those which do abandon us for ever What Arsetes can you apprehend that one may keep a love for that which cannot receive it any more That pleasing interchange of will and desires which is made betwixt lovers can that be made between Clorinda's Tomb and the Prince Tancred No Arsetes that cannot be so all things in the world have their limits so long as the beloved person is living we must follow her over all the earth we must partake of her fortune how unhappy so'ere it be nay we must even die for her if there be occasioÌ„ but if it happens that she dies we must as I have already said either cease to live or cease to love her 't is so absolute a necessity that nothing can oppose it all the ages have shewed us examples of what I say all that despaired have kill'd themselves with their own hands and those that were wise have comforted themselves with their own reason In effect there would be great injustice in the order and course of nature if every time that death does cast one person into the Grave there should be another that must renounce intirely all the society of the living and pass the remainer of his dayes in shedding of fruitless tears and vainly walking about the margent of the grave for truly to speak with sincerity there are scarce any people that die which should not expect those last devoirs either from their friends or from those for whom they had any affection if it were true
hands upon her lower garments for fear lest after her death some indecent action should offend her modesty PENELOPE TO LAERTES The Eighth HARANGUE The Argument PENELOPE that vertuous wife to ULISSES whose reputation yet lives after so many ages past and who from the borders of that seldome frequented Island where she lived has made her renown spread over the whole world finding her self one day extreamly afflicted for the absence of her Husband who after the siege of Troy had strayed almost ten years at the mercy of the windes and waves without possibility of seeing his Countrey would ease her sorrowes by her plaints and make her dear Husbands Father acknowledge by the discourse you are now going to see That absence is worse than death PENELOPE TO LAERTES HE that undertakes to maintain that death is the most sensible and greatest of all evils is surely such a one as either never loved at all or at least hath never under one the unhappinesse of being absent from the person beloved No my Lord that monster which desolates all the earth who by the succession of time changes the face of the whole Universe who treats alike both vice and vertue who strikes with the same fatal dart the Kings and Shepherds and whose very portraiture alone fills the stoutest soul with horrour and amazement is not yet that thing which I believe we ought the most to apprehend Absence which we may truly say is the commencement of all sorrowes and the end of all joyes hath in it somewhat that is more harsh and insupportable for if the first be that which destroyes our prosperity the second is that which makes us unhappy even in the midst of abundance yea on the Throne it self There is neverthelesse a great deal of difference betwixt them for death ravishes equally from us both our felicities and misfortunes if it rob us of any flowers it does not leave us the prickles behind them it crushes with the same hand both our Crowns and fetters and in a word when it deprives us of life it likewise utterly extinguishes in our hearts all the flames of love and anger all the resentments of hatred vengeance and in fine all other passions It causes I say both our joy and trouble to expire together at the same moment whereas absence not onely robs us of all the good that ever death deprives us of but likewise causes all those evils to fall on â—s to which the other puts a sudden period Our life it self in this occasion is left us but onely to make us the more sensible of the most piercing pain that can be felt and if there be sometimes such people who prefer the absence of the beloved person rather than death 't is because they suffer themselves to be deluded by false appearances t is because that mournful dress in which it is represented affrights them t is because they contemplate it more with their bodily sight than the eyes of the soul t is because they only consider it in what is most terrible and t is in fine because they love themselves better than they doe their Mistresses and prefer the rayes of the Sun above the lustre of her eyes and had rather not see her at all than be deprived of their sight Ha! how ignorant those people are of the true sentiments which love inspires But you will say to me my Lord perhaps you do not seriously consider how great that violence must needs be which separates so close an union as that of soul and body But I shall answer you you do not truly consider your self what a greater violence that must be which for a long season separates that which love reason and inclination seem to have joyned with an eternal and immortal chain Death sage Laertes as you know better than my self is as natural to us as life if it be an evil 't is at least an evil that should not surprize us as soon as we begin to live we ought to begin to learn to die at the first opening of our eyes we should already look on the opening of our graves and every Monarch in the world that hath not renounced common sence cannot be ignorant that as he mounts up to his Throne so he shall once descend into his sepulchre 'T is not thus in the things of love that passion being altogether divine seizes so imperiously on those whom she possesses and the sight of the beloved person does so absolutely fill all the soul of her adorer that this absence is an evil which still surprizes him and comes so unawares that by consequence it renders him more unhappy than death can which we ought alwayes to expect That amazing instant which parts two persons perfectly loving one another is a sadnesse beyond my expression though I have proved it more cruelly than any other but to make you in some manner comprehend it Imagine to your self my Lord that you were ambitious and that your Crown were torn from you imagine your self were extreamly coverous and that your treasures were all stolâ— from you imagine you were victorious and that your victory were ravished out of your hands imagine you were shakled with chains whose very weight were insupportable imagine you lost all that is dear to you in the world imagine you were deprived of the light of the day and that you remained in horrid darknesse imagine your heart were torn forth of your bosome and you not yet dead and imagine in fine that I not onely suffered all these pains but that even death how terrible so'ere it be was the utmost of all my wishes at that sad moment of Ulisses departure Ha! my Lord yet once more how grievous that funest minute was to me death is rather the lulling asleep of all our troubles than any sensible evil and it has nothing troublesome but the way that leads to it But absence is a chain of misfortunes which finds no end but at the end of our lives or the return of the beloved person The first sigh which death does make us breath hath alwayes the advantage of being the last but the first which absence obliges us unto is followed with so many others and accompanied with so many tears so many disturbances so many torments or to speak better so many deaths that its evill suffers no comparison and then to speak rationally death and absence may be taken for one another since both the one and the other equally deprives us of all that we can love but as t is impossible that the loss of all the riches in the world can be so sensible to us as the absence of the person whom we dearly love since she is in the stead of all unto us so also it is impossible but that that which deprives us of it must be more harsh than death it self which can only take away that good from us which we esteem farre lesse than she But you will say again that death which snatches