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<DATE>2013-04-02</DATE>
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<NAME>Sarah Wingo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>LA STRATONICA OR The Unfortunate QUEEN. A NEW ROMANCE</P>
<P>Written in <HI>Italian</HI> by <HI>Luke A&s;&s;arino,</HI> and now Engli&s;hed By <HI>J. B.</HI> Gent.</P>
<P>LONDON: Printed by <HI>J.F.</HI> for <HI>Humphrey Mo&s;eley</HI> and are to be &s;old at his &s;hop at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard. <HI>MDCLI.</HI></P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">o the Right Honorable and mo&s;t Vertuous Lady, my Lady Katherine Howard, Elde&s;t Daughter to the Right Honor|able and my mo&s;t Noble Lord, THE Earl of <HI>Arundel</HI> and <HI>Surrey.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>MADAM,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_BEing to Sacrifice <HI>Strato|nica,</HI> I humbly beg your Pardon if I do it on the Altar of your Ladi&s;hips Perfections and Patron|age, where I hope I may take Sanctua|ry, and holding on my cour&s;e (&s;ince
<PB REF="3" MS="y">your Honor's at the Helm) have a favorable Pa&s;&s;age through the World of Mens Opinions. To you therefore Madam (who&s;e delicate Compo&s;ition can be equalled onely by the Beauty of your Minde) I offer up and con&s;ecrate the&s;e my Fir&s;t-Fruits in this kinde. And though the little Brook (which re|turning to the Sea, and there gratefully emptying it &s;elf) may as well make the Ocean overflow, as this Tribute of Gratitude expre&s;s my Devotions to your Ladi&s;hip, yet be plea&s;ed (Madam) to accept of this little Oblation from the Hands and Heart of</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>MADAM</SALUTE>
<SIGNED>Your Ladi&s;hips mo&s;t humble and mo&s;t devoted Servant, <HI>John Burbery.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="book">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD><HI>LA STRATONICA;</HI> OR The Unfortunate QUEEN.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="book">
<HEAD>The Fir&s;t Book.</HEAD>
<P>_WHen <HI>Alexander</HI> was dead, his Commanders who then num|bered more Victories then days of his Life, like Stars at the &s;etting of the Sun, made them|&s;elves con&s;picuous with the Rayes of Regal Power; for, di|viding that great Empire among&s;t them, every one of them became a King.</P>
<P>By one of them which was called <HI>Antigonus, Demetrius</HI> was begotten, a Prince no le&s;s famous for the greatne&s;s of his Minde, then the hand&s;om|ne&s;s of his Body.</P>
<P>To him alone it appeared, That Heaven with a hand rather Prodigal then Liberal, would give what it had of mo&s;t value in the Rich Trea&s;ury of Nature. <HI>Demetrius</HI> was ob&s;erved by all as a Pro|digy
<PB N="2" REF="4">of that Age: Not Vertue, but Fortune onely was wanting to him, to equal him to <HI>Alexander.</HI></P>
<P>When he was plea&s;ed to be &s;een in the Camp, and gloriou&s;ly to appear among&s;t his Soldiers, he made all that beheld him, to think of an <HI>Adonis</HI> in the habit of <HI>Mars.</HI></P>
<P>This Prince then and <HI>Fila</HI> his wife were <HI>Strato|nica</HI>'s Parents.</P>
<P>She was pre&s;ented to the World in that time, when the Stars were mo&s;t active to Characterize a Womans Nativity with the gentlene&s;s of their In|fluences. The <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">hilde grew apace, and her Here|ditary Beauty di&s;playing it &s;elf (which, re&s;trained in the narrow confines of that &s;o tender Age, was not fit yet to rai&s;e up with a Grace the appetite of Sen&s;e) arrived at that height, That po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the Mindes of all her beholders with a &s;udden admira|tion, gave occa&s;ion to men of doubting, whether &s;he was Mortal or no.</P>
<P>I would willingly draw here to the life the pour|traicture of this Queen, if my black Ink were not too unfit a colour to &s;et forth a Cele&s;tial Beauty.</P>
<P>Let the Reader therefore imagine a Face, and a Body &s;haped with the mo&s;t exqui&s;ite proportion, of a hew as white as the driven Snow, and cloathed with the be&s;t Grace. Let him conceive in his fancy &s;uch a Readine&s;s in her, as is mo&s;t commended in Speaking; &s;uch a Mode&s;ty, as is mo&s;t approved in Conver&s;ation; and &s;uch Courte&s;ie, as is mo&s;t de&s;ired in Court&s;hip; and of all the&s;e particulars, let him finally beleeve <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Compo&s;ition. Nature left her nothing to de&s;ire, but bright &s;hining Hair;
<PB N="3" REF="4">for hers was neither yellow, nor black, but of a middle colour; but the brownne&s;s of her Che&s;tnut coloured Hair, together with the whitene&s;s of her Face and black Eyes, without doubt repre&s;ented her more beautiful.</P>
<P>Now <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Fame grown greater then Be|lief, though not the Truth, flew with mo&s;t glorious applau&s;e through the remote&s;t Provinces of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> and <HI>Europe.</HI></P>
<P>Its flight was &s;o fortunate, that where by it &s;elf it could not arrive, it came driven by the &s;ound of her Fathers Martial Trumpets; &s;o as where they recounted <HI>Demetrius</HI> his Victories, they likewi&s;e made mention of <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Beauty.</P>
<P>The Pri&s;oners which were brought from the Camp to the Court where &s;he was, having frequent occa&s;ions of &s;eeing her, took it for a very great happine&s;s that they had been overcome; for they knew it was not lawful for any to &s;ee &s;o much Beauty, without the lo&s;s of his Liberty.</P>
<P><HI>Apelles</HI> lived in that time. His age, though then great, yet was not at that pa&s;s to dimini&s;h one jot the force of his Body, or the vigor of his Minde. He no le&s;s famous for his Pen&s;il in the Excellency of his Art, then bold of Spirit in the variety of his De&s;igns, made it appear to the World for an un|doubted Maxime, That the greate&s;t Wits are more violent and hardy in their Affections then others. He hearing <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Beauty much com|mended, de&s;ired extreamly to draw her Picture. He &s;uppo&s;ed that the Glories of his Pen&s;il could no where receive greater honor, then from that Prin|ce&s;&s;es
<PB N="4" REF="5">Fame. Being then re&s;olved for &s;uch an enter|pri&s;e, he &s;tole away from <HI>Corinth,</HI> the place of his abode, and in few days arrived at <HI>Bur&s;ia,</HI> a City &s;eated at the foot of the Mountain <HI>Olympus,</HI> where <HI>Demetrius</HI> had his re&s;idence.</P>
<P>The Cu&s;tom of the Queens in never &s;hewing them&s;elves publiquely, unle&s;s on Solemn days, for &s;ome Moneths would have retarded the execution of <HI>Apelles</HI> his de&s;ign, if his Fortune had not brought him to that place in a time, that was near a noble Sacrifice, which they every year u&s;ed to celebrate for three days together in the Temple of the Idol <HI>Baal.</HI></P>
<P>All beginnings do concur in order to the end, when the end crowns the Work.</P>
<P>Among&s;t the rare&s;t Fabricks of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> that Temple was e&s;teemed as the greate&s;t. It had four Fronti&s;pieces of the fine&s;t poli&s;hed Marble, and as many great Gates. In the middle of the Temple was erected a proud Altar, very ea&s;ie to be &s;een from all the four doors.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t of the days (which were de&s;tined to the Sacrifice) being come, and the greater part of the Nobility and People gathered together with &s;olemn pomp within the Court, <HI>Apelles</HI> (who had with anticipated time made choice of a very fit place behinde a Pillar) as &s;oon as he &s;aw among the wa|ving multitude the longed for <HI>Stratonica,</HI> with her Mother the Queen, to enter into the Temple, I know not by what cau&s;e (being overcome with wonder) remained not &s;en&s;ele&s;s. That pillar per|adventure (which he u&s;ed as a wall to &s;tand be|fore
<PB N="5" REF="5">him) bequeathed to him its qualities; if we may not rather &s;ay, That he needed much a pillar to keep him on his legs, at the fir&s;t encounter of that faire&s;t &s;ight.</P>
<P>She, with her Mother, being &s;eated near the Altar on a Throne, which they u&s;ed to prepare for their Maje&s;ties on &s;uch days, &s;eemed a Godde&s;s worthy to be bowed to by the Idol it &s;elf, whom all bow|ed to.</P>
<P><HI>Demetrius</HI> was not pre&s;ent with the&s;e Queens, for he was engaged in the war he had made again&s;t <HI>Pto|lomy.</HI> His ab&s;ence eclip&s;ed the rayes of <HI>Apelles</HI> his glory. He, after he had for a good while (while the Prie&s;ts were expected at the Ceremonies) fed the fir&s;t hunger of his eyes, with the &s;ight of an object &s;o rare, began (as if come to him&s;elf) to think of his Pen&s;il, and De&s;igning. To that end &s;natching &s;uddenly a Black-lead Pen with &s;ome Pa|per, he de&s;igned in ha&s;te the lineaments onely of her face, to be able better afterwards in his lodging, to colour with his Pen&s;ils her Image &s;o lively im|printed in his minde.</P>
<P>The good old man (while he formed his de&s;ign in that maner behinde the pillar) re&s;embled ano|ther <HI>Prometheus,</HI> &s;tealing the beams from the Sphaer of the Sun.</P>
<P>That would certainly have happened to him, which befel him in the painting of <HI>Campa&s;pe,</HI> if the fro&s;t of his &s;nowy age had not kept his heart un|hurt from the flames, which were breathed by that countenance.</P>
<P>So in tho&s;e three days of the Sacrifice, he having
<PB N="6" REF="6">the opportunity of beholding <HI>Stratonica</HI> at his plea|&s;ure, &s;o happily fini&s;hed her Picture, that in nothing but &s;ilence it differed from the original.</P>
<P>The joy he had that the Picture was well done, exceeded far <HI>Pigmalions</HI> for the beauty of his &s;ta|tue.</P>
<P>Being therefore ready to go homewards, he &s;eem|ed a proud <HI>Ja&s;on,</HI> returning from the conque&s;t of the golden Fleece. He found no opportunity of re|turning to <HI>Corinth,</HI> to adorn with that Picture his Cabinet, where he kept the deare&s;t pieces he had, but forced to deviate from the &s;horte&s;t way (by rea&s;on of the wars of the adjacent Countries) he arrived at <HI>Nicomedia:</HI> Finding there a Galley that was bound for <HI>Corinth,</HI> he embarqued him&s;elf very gladly, and began his journey.</P>
<P>The Sea &s;hewing its beauty in a calm, and the Wind in that &s;erenity its faith, enticed all the pa&s;|&s;engers to be enamored of their voyage; but their con&s;tancy la&s;ted but a day.</P>
<P>The Sun did &s;et that Evening, covered over with clouds; and the Heavens, by the colour of that fu|neral habit, &s;eemed to repre&s;ent to the Saylors the horror of an approaching death.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t hours of the night, a&s;&s;embled together all the breath of the Wind, which blew from the land; and they went not much farther, but by little and little they heard the North-wind blow fre&s;h a far off.</P>
<P>As the waves grew bigger and bigger, &s;o the clouds in like maner were conden&s;ed, as if that the Stars had procured them to hide all their faces, be|cau&s;e
<PB N="7" REF="6">they wanted courage to look on the de&s;tru|ction which the &s;ea was about to commit.</P>
<P>Now the wind, grown impetuous, roar'd aloud among the Ma&s;ts and the Sayl-yards, which beaten by the Ropes, &s;eemed in a maner to inform them by a doleful whi&s;tling, That the Sayls being too big with wind, were &s;traight to be delivered by the death of the Galley.</P>
<P>It rained without end, and lightned mo&s;t horri|bly. 'Twas fearful to &s;ee by the light of the Lamps, the huge height of the waves, which (re&s;embling &s;nowy mountains, by the foam which grew white on their backs) came rowling all along to bury the unfortunate Ve&s;&s;el.</P>
<P>The Marriners therefore turning all pale, fell ha|&s;tily to ea&s;ing of their Galley, by throwing into the Sea all the Fardels and Che&s;ts which came next to their hands.</P>
<P><HI>Apelles</HI> in &s;o great a confu&s;ion, having nothing but a Hamper, in which were lockt &s;ome cloaths, together with <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Picture, was not want|ing to conceal it for &s;ome time; but &s;eeing that they continued ca&s;ting overboard, knew not how longer to pre&s;erve it.</P>
<P>What wilt thou do unhappy <HI>Apelles,</HI> now that thy life and thy glory depend (to &s;peak &s;o) on the will of a mad Sea? If with drowning thy &s;elf, thou wert &s;ure to keep thy Picture, I beleeve thou would&s;t gladly lo&s;e thy life to &s;ave that, which would make thy life eternal; but the evil of it is, that thy lo&s;s both in this and in that is the &s;ame.</P>
<P>O Gods, if any one could have &s;een what varie|ty
<PB N="8" REF="7">of things in a moment, that Wit then thought of, who &s;hewed him&s;elf always co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">tagious in his actions!</P>
<P>When he had been for a while &s;o ambiguous, he &s;uddenly &s;natcht the Hamper, and &s;eeing that the Rain was gone by break of day, which though dusky, yet came on apace, he took out <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Picture, and expo&s;ing it in ha&s;te to the eyes of the Marriners, cryed out,</P>
<P>Behold, O Friends, behold her Picture, who now can onely &s;ave us! Behold, O Sacred Godde&s;s, be|hold our Dangers, hear our Lamentations, &s;uffer not the Waves to drown the devoted to that Deity which is born of the Sea.</P>
<P>Every one being &s;tupid and dazled at the Beauty of that Face (which they certainly beleeved was the Picture of <HI>Venus</HI>) made &s;o doleful a noi&s;e, and wept in that maner, as it would have moved to pity any other thing but the Sea.</P>
<P>While they &s;o prayed, were it by chance, or diabolical operation, the Galley arrived in a Neigh|boring Creek, where the Sea with a great deal le&s;s noi&s;e did beat the &s;andy pavement of the &s;hore.</P>
<P>The wretched &s;hipwrack'd-men had now &s;ome time to breathe, but they breathed in that maner, as if they had been doubtful of their &s;afety, &s;o &s;udden a change of Fortune had a&s;toni&s;hed them &s;o much: But a&s;&s;ured that they were &s;afe, they went a&s;hore, and although they were far off from all Humane commerce and habitation, yet in touching that barren Coa&s;t, they had all the plea&s;ures which
<PB N="9" REF="7">the greate&s;t and mo&s;t flouri&s;hing City could afford them.</P>
<P>They &s;tayed there two days, till the Sea was ap|pea&s;ed, to recover them&s;elves of the di&s;a&s;ters they had &s;uffered. Thence putting again to Sea, they landed in a little time after at the much de&s;ired Haven of <HI>Corinth.</HI></P>
<P>Certain Amba&s;&s;adors of <HI>Seleucus</HI> (driven by the &s;ame tempe&s;t) arrived al&s;o there, who returned for &s;ome Affairs from <HI>Ca&s;&s;ander</HI> then reigning in <HI>Caria.</HI> They de&s;irous to &s;ee a City renowned for many things, after they had vi&s;ited the principal places, came to <HI>Apelles</HI> his hou&s;e.</P>
<P>There he (in the middle of a very great Hall) &s;tood with his miraculous Pen&s;il, di&s;tingui&s;hing from the <HI>Chaos</HI> of colours, &s;o many Worlds as he had Pictures at hand.</P>
<P>The Figures then fini&s;hed, &s;eemed as if they gloried in their Being; and on the contrary &s;ide, to de&s;ire their perfection, who had not then obtained it. The Skin and the Fle&s;h grew vi&s;ibly on tho&s;e Mu&s;cles, which had nothing that was faigned but Opinion. The Figures would have &s;poken, if <HI>Apel|les,</HI> like another <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> had not fir&s;t of all taught them to be &s;ilent in his School.</P>
<P>The Amba&s;&s;adors were amazed, and &s;eemed no le&s;s Figures, then the Figures them&s;elves. Be|ing at la&s;t in his Cabinet, where his perfecte&s;t things were, they pre&s;ently fixt their eyes on <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Picture. They would have kneeled to it, for the maje&s;ty of that Countenance would not let them beleeve it was a Picture. They could not under|&s;tand
<PB N="10" REF="8">how tho&s;e Eyes and that Mouth had not life; and they &s;tood with &s;o much reverence contemplat|ing it, that they blu&s;hed.</P>
<P>They thought that <HI>Stratonica</HI> &s;aid, I boa&s;t of two Forms, the one from <HI>Jupiter,</HI> the other from <HI>Apelles:</HI> If I had not had the fir&s;t, it had been no matter, provided that I had not wanted the &s;econd. To be born in <HI>Apelles</HI> his time, and painted by him, is to have (as it were) the priviledge of being twice born. That Being which <HI>Apelles</HI> hath given me, envies that of <HI>Jupiter,</HI> becau&s;e it hath no life; that envies this, becau&s;e it is not &s;ubject to death.</P>
<P>The Amba&s;&s;adors (taken up with &s;uch like thoughts) &s;aid, 'Twas happier to be a Picture, and have always the &s;ight of <HI>Stratonica,</HI> then a man, and not pre&s;ent in that place.</P>
<P>Man hath no happier Deceit to feign him&s;elf a Deity, then the Art of Painting.</P>
<P>It is a glorious thing to know how to make a Body, it would be more glorious to know how to form a Soul; but if the Soul were a vi&s;ible Object (&s;o much imitation hath intrenched on &s;acred things) the Painter would give life to his Pictures.</P>
<P>But the Amba&s;&s;adors returned to <HI>Seleucus</HI> (a|mong the mo&s;t memorable things they had &s;een in their journey) related to him the &s;tory of that Picture.</P>
<P>The King beleeving what they &s;aid in the prai&s;e of <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Beauty, and enticed with the Fame of <HI>Apelles</HI> his Art, was pre&s;ently on fire for the &s;ame. A Gentleman to that end was di&s;patcht to the Painter, with order to pay him for that piece
<PB N="11" REF="8">any &s;um he &s;hould demand; provided he would part with it.</P>
<P><HI>Apelles</HI> (as &s;oon as he had heard what <HI>Seleucus</HI> de&s;ired) much lamented his ill fortune, which al|ways endeavored to deprive him of &s;o precious a Jewel. In the end, having very well con&s;idered what was be&s;t to be done, he refu&s;ed the Money and delivered the Picture.</P>
<P>It is needful to &s;ell dearly to Princes, or to give freely to them; the fir&s;t is more &s;ecure, the latter would be Nobler, if many great per&s;ons hated not the actions in private men, which (having more of greatne&s;s then the &s;tate of a private life requires) re&s;emble the actions of a Princely Minde.</P>
<P>The Picture being come to <HI>Seleucus</HI> his hands, it is impo&s;&s;ible to de&s;cribe his a&s;toni&s;hment at it. Tho&s;e Eyes and that Face (which were nothing but &s;hadows joyned together) darted &s;uch a light on the old mans Minde, that they dazled his Rea&s;on, and inflamed his Heart.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> grown a Lover, what childi&s;h things fell not he into? what indignities did he not com|mit? Made an Idolater of a Godde&s;s more con|ceived in Opinion then E&s;&s;ence; while he adored the Copy, he &s;ighed for the Original. He &s;pake to him|&s;elf, and had no Body with him at that time, when his bu&s;ine&s;s gave him leave to be alone, he beheld it, reverenced it, ki&s;&s;ed it, being onely &s;o happy in his unhappine&s;s, as he could, when he plea&s;ed, &s;atisfie him&s;elf with tho&s;e &s;hadows of Beauty, which in being onely &s;hadows, were extreamly like Beauty.</P>
<PB N="12" REF="9">
<P>Having thus, with the memory of <HI>Stratonica,</HI> oftentimes an occa&s;ion of remembring <HI>Demetrius,</HI> and thinking very &s;eriou&s;ly on the credit and glory he had purcha&s;ed in the Wars, he re&s;olved for the love of his Daughter, or as <HI>Plutarch</HI> rather &s;ayes, (to &s;trengthen him&s;elf with a potent Kings friend|&s;hip) To reque&s;t her in Marriage.</P>
<P>Amba&s;&s;adors being therefore di&s;patcht to <HI>De|metrius,</HI> he expected the i&s;&s;ue of the Emba&s;&s;ie with great uncertainty of Minde.</P>
<P><HI>Demetrius</HI> was a very wi&s;e Prince, though la&s;ci|vious: And though he was then in that condition, that it &s;eemed ea&s;ie to him to a&s;pire to the Empire of all <HI>A&s;ia;</HI> yet, con&s;idering that nothing was le&s;s certain then Martial Expeditions, he neglected not the means to fortifie him&s;elf with that a&s;&s;i&s;tance, which he judged to be be&s;t again&s;t the a&s;&s;aults of all &s;udden Accidents what&s;oever.</P>
<P>Having therefore under&s;tood the Kings minde, he not onely was well plea&s;ed with the offer of his Alliance, but likewi&s;e re&s;olved to conduct the Bride him&s;elf into his Kingdom.</P>
<P>The Amba&s;&s;adors returning to <HI>Seleucus</HI> with &s;o fortunate an An&s;wer, &s;o tran&s;ported him with joy, that he was almo&s;t di&s;tracted.</P>
<P>He no &s;ooner had heard that news, but he was all a fire to celebrate the Nuptials.</P>
<P>He therefore gave order to <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Son, to prepare him&s;elf &s;peedily (with the greate&s;t Prin|ces and Lords of the Court) to be gone towards <HI>Bur&s;ia,</HI> and from thence to accompany <HI>Demetrius,</HI> and the de&s;ired <HI>Stratonica.</HI></P>
<PB N="13" REF="9">
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> (who was a youth of great hopes, and of an age ripe for marriage) without doubt &s;eemed fitter for that match then <HI>Seleucus;</HI> but he that with the colour of his hair had not changed yet the vigor of his minde (being &s;till in an age that could command in Loves a&s;&s;aults, and preferring his own plea&s;ure before his Sons) would have her for him|&s;elf.</P>
<P>All things being ready, <HI>Antiochus</HI> departed with a very good attendance of the noble&s;t of the King|dom, and carrying with him very fair Pre&s;ents, in le&s;s then eight days arrived in <HI>Bur&s;ia.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Demetrius</HI> (who then was come back from the Expedition again&s;t <HI>Ptolomy</HI>) there received him with great Demon&s;trations of kindne&s;s, and pre&s;ented him to <HI>Stratonica,</HI> who was lodged in the end of the Pallace.</P>
<P>His Reception was glorious, and the Comple|ments which pa&s;&s;ed between them, confirmed their affection and mutual Devotion.</P>
<P>The eyes of the Prince (which were eager in gazing on <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s face) &s;hould in rea&s;on have cau&s;ed a &s;udden fainting in his heart, yet his in|ward alteration was not great; were it that <HI>Antio|chus</HI> being yong, and not knowing the true value of Beauty, was not ripe yet for Love; or were it (as 'tis more credible) that Love being to win him by little and little, could not with tho&s;e fir&s;t fla&s;hes kindle a fire which could be perceived.</P>
<P>All <HI>Demetrius</HI> his Court was full of joy for &s;o great a Per&s;ons coming, and many Shows and Fea&s;ts were ordained in the City to entertain him the more honorably.</P>
<PB N="14" REF="10">
<P>While they were thus employed in <HI>Bur&s;ia, Se|leucus</HI> (who had no other life, but what the hope gave him of &s;oon being in his Mi&s;tri&s;&s;es arms) &s;oli|cited with frequent and indefatigable Po&s;ts, <HI>Antio|chus</HI> his return.</P>
<P>The hours of the day (too too fleet and &s;oon gone) &s;eemed Ages to him. He was offended with him|&s;elf, that his Scepter wanted Power to invert the Motions of the Cele&s;tial Machines, to make that Day in&s;tantly come, which was to illuminate his Nuptials.</P>
<P>They are extream in their affections, who are in the extremity of fortune. A Prince (that re&s;em|bles a God) is angry to do things like a man. He thinks it a defect, if his Power be not as ready in performing, as his Will is in de&s;iring; whence run|ning to the end of his de&s;ires the &s;horte&s;t way, he invades and overthrows oftentimes all the humane and &s;acred re&s;pects which do thwart him.</P>
<P>In the end after three Moneths, which were &s;pent by <HI>Demetrius</HI> in preparing all things needful for the Voyage, and expecting a time fit to &s;ayl in, he de|parted with <HI>Fila</HI> his wife, <HI>Stratonica</HI> and <HI>Antio|chus,</HI> and arriving at <HI>Nicomedia,</HI> where a gallant Navy was in order for that purpo&s;e, he embarqued him&s;elf for the coa&s;t of <HI>Soria.</HI></P>
<P>'Twas then the Moneth of <HI>June,</HI> from who&s;e &s;e|rene Maje&s;ty the fearful Winds flying, dur&s;t build no more clouds in the Heavens, nor erect any Waves in the Sea. The Fleet &s;ayled on a Plain of moving Chri&s;tal, having onely &s;o much wind in their Sails, as &s;erved to make peaceably their way.</P>
<PB N="15" REF="10">
<P>'Twas a very fine &s;ight to &s;ee the huge Galley (which carried the three Princes) flame all of Gold, and draw after it for bravery its Streamers of Purple along the contiguous &s;hore.</P>
<P>The proud Ornaments that deckt it, were a Patern perhaps to <HI>Cleopatra's</HI> Ship, which was af|terwards &s;een to ride in &s;uch Pomp upon <HI>Nilus.</HI></P>
<P>It was &s;o capacious, that it held two thou&s;and of the Guard, and be&s;ides many very u&s;eful Cham|bers, had a Piazza and Gardens proudly compa&s;|&s;ing the Prore and the Poupe.</P>
<P>The Pride of the Kings of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> was not onely not content to tame the Sea with the weight of &s;uch prodigious Fabricks, but would al&s;o (inverting the Order of Nature) have Trees &s;een to blo&s;&s;om, and fruit ripen too in tho&s;e Barren and Salt Plains.</P>
<P>Among&s;t other Maids of Honor which <HI>Strato|nica</HI> had brought with her, was by chance <HI>Sopho|nisba,</HI> the daughter of <HI>Fau&s;tus, Demetrius</HI> his kin&s;|man. She had (to accompany the Noblene&s;s of her Blood) a mo&s;t beautiful Body, and as fair a Minde.</P>
<P>She was skilful in Rhetorique, and very well learned; She had good skill in Mu&s;ick, and made as good Ver&s;es as any of the Poets of her time. She was infinitely well Fa&s;hioned, but humorous; and all her Actions &s;hewed a kinde of Greatne&s;s and Spirit, which made her much admired.</P>
<P>She was for tho&s;e qualities, not onely well be|loved and e&s;teemed by <HI>Stratonica,</HI> but likewi&s;e of all the Court. <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Gemus re&s;embling <HI>Sophonisba</HI>'s both in Mu&s;ick and Poetry, he took
<PB N="16" REF="11">delight to be every day in her Company, to Sing and make Ver&s;es.</P>
<P>This Recreation encrea&s;ing with Plea&s;ure, was a little while after the cau&s;e of great Amity be|tween them; but the friend&s;hip &s;o augmented in <HI>Sophonisba</HI> (who was very full of life) that it quickly turned to love.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> at that time was but &s;eventeen years of age. He was tall of &s;tature, and very finely &s;haped, though &s;till growing. His Ma&s;culine gravi|ty (encrea&s;ing with his age) began then to bud in the full blown Beauty of his Face. He looked and &s;pake &s;o &s;weetly, that all &s;wore the Graces had their re&s;idence in his Eyes and in his Mouth. His Minde was as Re&s;olute as Gallant; and though he was young, yet he always &s;hewed great Con&s;tancy in his Re&s;olutions.</P>
<P>The now Love-&s;ick <HI>Sophonisba</HI> felt therefore her Bowels to burn with more violence, by how much &s;he endeavored to conceal with greater &s;e|crecy her flame.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e amorous fits would have &s;hortly come to dotage, if &s;he had not very wi&s;ely u&s;ed means to help decaying Nature.</P>
<P>To be often in the &s;ight of her beloved, was the way to feed in her a great part of that de&s;ire, which was nouri&s;hed by nothing but <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Pre&s;ence. But the Waters of tho&s;e Vi&s;its &s;erved for no other end to her Amorous Drop&s;ie, but to make her thir&s;t the greater. All the ea&s;e &s;he had (if it be credible that a &s;ecret Lover can have any ea&s;e) con&s;i&s;ted not in any thing, but in mentioning
<PB N="17" REF="11">him often, and prai&s;ing him to <HI>Stratonica</HI> her Mi|&s;tre&s;s.</P>
<P>She di&s;guized her Prai&s;es of affection in the ha|bit of Duty, adventuring to hide with &s;ome pre|text that which no pretext could do her the favor to reveal.</P>
<P>But the Sentinels now began to di&s;cover <HI>Deme|trius</HI> his Navy from the Mountains of <HI>Soria. Se|leucus</HI> (who two days before was come with a rea|&s;onable Army to <HI>Tripolis</HI> to meet with his Bride) as &s;oon as he knew it, gave orders to his Soldiers to be ready, and he with the Flower of his Court very gloriou&s;ly Adorned, went aboard certain <HI>Bucen|tori</HI> of the nature of Galleys, to go meet with his heart which was coming to him in his Mi&s;tre&s;&s;es Bo&s;om.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Salutations in the approaching of the Fleet, were artificial Sounds, pa&s;&s;ing through the holes of a thou&s;and hollow in&s;truments of Box.</P>
<P>Perhaps they joyned to <HI>Seleucus</HI> his Sighs, form|ed an equal Wind, either to refrigerate his Flames, or to blow them with more Violence.</P>
<P>As &s;oon as they had Boarded one another, 'twas a Sight (that de&s;erved to be &s;een by all the World) to &s;ee with what Maje&s;ty and Ceremony the two Kings received one another, at who&s;e onely Names the remote&s;t Confines of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> trembled.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> beheld <HI>Demetrius</HI> and admired him. The Beauty of his Body and the Gallantry of his Minde repre&s;ented him to <HI>Seleucus</HI> for more then a Man.</P>
<P><HI>Demetrius</HI> on the other &s;ide reverenced <HI>Seleucus</HI>
<PB N="18" REF="12">as a Relick of <HI>Alexanders</HI> Glories, and as a Ca|ptain who had been a Soldier under the Command of a Man, to whom the Command of one World &s;eemed too little.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> was tall of Stature and &s;trong of Body, in &s;o much that on a time when <HI>Alexander</HI> was a &s;acrificing, by chance a wilde Bull having fled from the Altar, was by him caught again, and held fa&s;t.</P>
<P>He was clad that day in a sky-coloured Armor &s;parkling with pieces of poli&s;hed Silver. He had on the &s;ide of his Heart (&s;et in his Cor&s;let) a heart of fine Corral, near which a Sun of Gold was re|pre&s;ented darting its Beams on it.</P>
<P>The extravagant wearing of his Crown, which (re&s;ting on a Rowl of fine Bi&s;&s;e, woven with divers colours) gilded his temples, and the wanton neg|ligence of his regal Mantle falling from his right &s;houlder, and hanging on the &s;ide he wore his Sword, were an alluring Habit, which though they were fitter for a man of fifty years, misbecame him not at all.</P>
<P>Having ended their Complements, and rejoy|cing much together for their new made Alliance, <HI>Antiochus</HI> (who had at the fir&s;t done his Duty to his Father) bowed to him again, and <HI>Seleucus</HI> (ha|ving quitted <HI>Demetrius</HI>) embraced him with great kindne&s;s.</P>
<P>Thence going all three towards the Chambers of the Queens, they were very well &s;een by the Gentlemen and Soldiers there pre&s;ent of both Crowns.</P>
<P>The Sea groaned quietly under the &s;troaks of the
<PB N="19" REF="12">Oars of &s;o many Galleys, and the Air being bea|ten with Millions of Sounds of Drums and Trum|pets, made &s;o great a noi&s;e, that it wearied the Eccho's of the neighboring Shores.</P>
<P>The three Princes (being come to the Anti|chamber of the Poupe) heard them&s;elves wel|comed on the &s;udden by a Con&s;ort of Viols, who&s;e &s;trings without doubt would have played away <HI>Se|leucus</HI> his Heart, if the hand that toucht them had plaid more then once.</P>
<P>But no &s;ooner they had begun, but the door was opened to them.</P>
<P>I want a Similitude to expre&s;s with it the won|der that by drawing of that Curtain was pre&s;ented to the eyes of <HI>Seleucus.</HI> The removing of a Vail, which &s;hews in the night the Glory of a Scene beau|tified with innumerable Lights, is a vile Compari|&s;on.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> re&s;embled a man, who departing this life opens his eyes in another world.</P>
<P>The Chamber was all covered with Mother of Pearl: The Conjunctions of Gold which held them together, were wrought with fine Figures. <HI>Stratonica</HI> with <HI>Fila</HI> her Mother &s;ate on a Couch of cloth of Silver on Cu&s;hions of the &s;ame. Eight or ten Children cloathed like little Cupids with a Bow and a Quiver at their flanks, plaid up and down. More below in a circle &s;ate twelve beautiful Maids of Honor, among which <HI>Sophonisba</HI> appear|ed no le&s;s eminent in Beauty then in Dignity.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> was habited like a Nymph; the Gold and Jewels &s;he wore, exceeded much the value of a
<PB N="20" REF="13">Kingdom. But <HI>Fila</HI> &s;eated with a Crown on her head, was Maje&s;tick and Grave.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e amorous Archers had a cu&s;tom (when any went in to the Queens) to &s;hoot at them (for Ornament) with their Bows. Were it by Chance, or by Art, one of the Arrows (gilded and blunt) as <HI>Seleucus</HI> entered in, hit him on the heart, which we &s;pake of before.</P>
<P>He was &s;o tran&s;ported in that his fir&s;t appearance, that by his di&s;order his good grace was in danger of mi&s;carrying. All his life was reduced into a look, and the Queens onely knew he was a live by his looks.</P>
<P>The admiration in &s;eeing one another was reci|procal in all.</P>
<P>The Queens had heard often of <HI>Seleucus</HI> his Fame, and de&s;ired as much to &s;ee him, as he to &s;ee them.</P>
<P>The good King kneeled as they ro&s;e up, and with a &s;tammering tongue de&s;ired to ki&s;s their hands. They forcing him to ri&s;e, would by no means permit him to do them that &s;ervice. At la&s;t being gently reproved by <HI>Demetrius,</HI> he ro&s;e up and &s;aid to them,</P>
<P>I &s;hould rejoyce with you (my Ladies) if in ha|ving acquired a Son in Law and a Husband &s;o un|equal to your merits, you could &s;ay you had gain|ed by the Purcha&s;e. My Crown (though e&s;teemed by the world) de&s;erves not to be valued by you, but for this, that 'tis rich in incomparable Devotion and Affection to your Maje&s;ties. It belongs then to you (O my Queens) to rejoyce with me. I onely
<PB N="21" REF="13">(among all that are this day alive in the World) have more obligation to the Stars, then any man be&s;ides. To live when <HI>Stratonica</HI> lives, to be the Companion of her Fortune, and the end of her Thoughts, are &s;uch Graces, as Heaven never gives, but when it intends perfect Happine&s;s. To make me very fortunate, be plea&s;ed, O <HI>Stratonica,</HI> my Mi&s;tre&s;s, to accept of me readily for your Servant, and give me &s;ome a&s;&s;urance of it, that my Happi|ne&s;s being known to the World, every one may &s;wear, I no longer am Mortal.</P>
<P>Having &s;aid &s;o, he embraced her with much re|verence, and ki&s;&s;ed her.</P>
<P>Thou died&s;t not <HI>Seleucus</HI> of plea&s;ure, becau&s;e it was impo&s;&s;ible for thee to die in the mouth of thy life. Thy Soul in that ki&s;s had contracted all the plea&s;ures which Love hath to give. If thou had&s;t not loved <HI>Stratonica</HI> in that maner, that thy pa&s;&s;ionate Affection made thee cha&s;te, that &s;weet Pov&s;on would not doubtle&s;s have found an Anti|dote again&s;t it.</P>
<P>The Queens were well &s;atisfied with <HI>Seleucus</HI> his Behavior and Expre&s;&s;ions, and an&s;wered him with that courte&s;ie, which is due in like ca&s;es.</P>
<P>In the mean time all the Courtiers there pre&s;ent, hung at the mouth of the Princes, ob&s;erving their Maje&s;ties, and admiring their carriage.</P>
<P>Having ended their Ceremonies, they di&s;cour&s;ed of other matters; in the progre&s;s of which, <HI>Seleu|cus</HI> &s;tealing often his Soul from his words, gave it to his looks.</P>
<P>His eyes were &s;o eager in beholding <HI>Stratonica,</HI>
<PB N="22" REF="14">that they were like the eyes of the Bird that hatches her Eggs with her looks.</P>
<P>O what immen&s;ity of Beauty, re&s;trained in the narrow confines of a Face, pre&s;ents it &s;elf, <HI>Seleucus,</HI> to thy view? Why &s;ee&s;t thou it, and die&s;t not, &s;ince Seeing and Dying deprive alike of life an enamored Heart? It perhaps pre&s;erves thy life to think, that tho&s;e animated Alaba&s;ters live not, and &s;often not for any but thy &s;elf.</P>
<P>The po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of a Happine&s;s &s;o great, is cer|tainly able to give life; but if the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of Beauty be not otherwi&s;e enjoyed, then by looking upon it, That po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion is unprofitable which hath no longer plea&s;ure then the la&s;ting of a look.</P>
<P>By that time the Navy (&s;lowly &s;ailing on to|wards the Haven) arrived.</P>
<P>They di&s;-imbarked with that greatne&s;s and pomp, which became well the Maje&s;ty of a King, and a Lovers fir&s;t de&s;ire.</P>
<P>But among the &s;tatelie&s;t things which were &s;een in <HI>Seleucus</HI> his Delights, was a very great Pal|lace, made all of Wood in that maner, that Two thou&s;and men hired for that purpo&s;e, could in&s;tant|ly &s;et it together. It was rarely well built, all gilded, and curiou&s;ly Painted: When it was taken a&s;under, they carried it conveniently on Carts in the journey.</P>
<P>In this Pallace, every night (while they travel|led from <HI>Tripolis</HI> to <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI>) the Princes were &s;o gallantly lodged, that <HI>Lucullus</HI> his Apolline, and the Delights of <HI>Heliogabalus</HI> (which followed after) in compari&s;on of them, might be ju&s;tly called Shadows.</P>
<PB N="23" REF="14">
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> rode in a Chariot drawn by four Birds of that bigne&s;s, that it is liker a fable then the truth to relate it.</P>
<P>They breed in the Inho&s;pitable Mountains of <HI>Giava</HI> the greater; and it is written of them, that they carried with &s;uch ea&s;e through the Air a Calf, fa&s;tned to their Talons, as a Falcon would a Spar|row.</P>
<P>By the Winged Cour&s;ers, we may judge of the re&s;t of the Chariot.</P>
<P>The Armies of both Crowns went before, and Fifty other Chariots followed after; in which were the Princes, the Ladies, and chief Officers of the Court.</P>
<P>It was Maje&s;tick to &s;ee with what Military Rule and good Order they travelled. The Pioneers joyn|ed in two Legions, levelled the Hills, removed the Woods, and dryed up the Rivers, if need &s;o re|quired.</P>
<P>The power of Kings can do the&s;e wonders, and it is not a wonder that it can do &s;o much. If man be the King of Animals, to be King of many Men, is to be King of many Kings; and who wonders, that the Actions of a King &s;hould be great, &s;ince in them the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of &s;o many Kings concurs.</P>
<P>All Ages envyed the Plains which <HI>Stratonica</HI> pa&s;&s;ed over, being the Scene of &s;o beautiful a &s;ight.</P>
<P>Let the Reader imagine, That the Soul of <HI>Se|leucus</HI> was di&s;tributed among all his Soldiers. E|very one of them co-operated with that diligence to his end, that the new Lover had nothing el&s;e to do but to de&s;ire. The &s;lowne&s;s of their march one|ly
<PB N="24" REF="15">vexed him: He de&s;ired that <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Chariot would have flown, and perhaps to that end he put the Birds in it; but who knows that tho&s;e Birds were not <HI>Seleucus</HI> his winged De&s;ires? They doubtle&s;s would have flown in my Opinion, if the Bridle of Re&s;pect, due to his Queen, had not checkt them.</P>
<P>But being near <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> they were met, and received by the City, with the greate&s;t &s;igns of Loyalty, that faithful Subjects could demon&s;trate to their Prince.</P>
<P>The Arch-Triumphals and Altars were erected, the &s;treets hung with Tapi&s;try, and the Playes and Balls which that day were &s;een, would weary any Tongue, and any Pen.</P>
<P>The concour&s;e of people was &s;o great, that be|&s;ides the Inhabitants of <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> torrents of per|&s;ons came tumbling from the neighboring Cities. The Galleries, the Balcones and Windows were all filled; and the re&s;t of the people, not knowing which way el&s;e to come to &s;ee, hung on the ridges of the hou&s;es, and kept them&s;elves from falling, by leaning on the Walls.</P>
<P>The huge throng of people would have doubt|le&s;s &s;tifled thou&s;ands of the Curious, if a Ma&s;que recreating their &s;pirits, had not kept them alive.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> u&s;ed always to go masked; were it that the World was unworthy to &s;ee her Face, or were it, that &s;he feared le&s;t her Face might occa&s;i|on &s;ome ruine to the World. How&s;oever it was, a little piece of Velvet, or Black-Taffaty, hid from the eyes of <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI> that Beauty, which neither
<PB N="25" REF="15">high Mountains, nor va&s;t Seas could conceal from the eyes of <HI>Seleucus.</HI></P>
<P>Being arrived at the Pallace (which &s;tood at the head of a very large Piazza) and weary of their journey, they repo&s;ed four days, and the Sacrifices in the mean time, and nuptial Magnificence, were prepared.</P>
<P>In the end, the day being come that was ap|pointed, <HI>Seleucus</HI> (after he had &s;olemnly Sacrificed) e&s;pou&s;ed his dear <HI>Stratonica</HI> by the hands of the high Prie&s;t. Having afterwards cau&s;ed her to &s;it down on the right hand of his Throne, he made all his Lords &s;wear Loyalty to her, and acknowledge her for their Queen.</P>
<P>The Fea&s;ts that then followed, and the Banquets which were made, are far beyond all imagination.</P>
<P>No Plea&s;ure was omitted, nor Show laid a&s;ide: But that which had power above every thing el&s;e, to tran&s;port the hearts of all with a wonder, was a very va&s;t Theater, which the Engineer of the port|able Pallace, that we &s;pake of before, had built on that &s;pacious Piazza.</P>
<P>It was (like a Geryon) compo&s;ed of tho&s;e three Bodies which make <HI>Architecture</HI> admired. The great Pillars, the beautiful Statues, the maje&s;tick va&s;t Beams, the curious Pictures, the various De|vices, and quaint Motto's, made a heap of Wonders able to amu&s;e the cleare&s;t under&s;tanding.</P>
<P>It contained Twenty thou&s;and Spectators, and had Six moving Machines in its va&s;t hollow bulk, every one of which made a Scene. In them <HI>Or|pheus</HI> was repre&s;ented in Hell, playing on his Harp
<PB N="26" REF="16">for <HI>Euridices</HI> recovery; <HI>The&s;eus</HI> in the labyrinth when he killed the Minotaure; The &s;ame when he de&s;erted <HI>Ariana</HI> in the I&s;land; <HI>Circes</HI> transforming her Lovers into Bea&s;ts; <HI>Uly&s;&s;es</HI> retreating from the Mu&s;ick of the <HI>Syrens;</HI> and <HI>Arion</HI> &s;aving him&s;elf on the back of the Dolphin.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e Acts were &s;econded with mo&s;t excellent enterludes of Mu&s;ick. The Spectators were amazed in that maner, that many learned men thought it nece&s;&s;ary to deliver them to po&s;terity in Books.</P>
<P>The patern of tho&s;e Repre&s;entations (being afterwards by tho&s;e ancient times, delivered from one another, to our days) was la&s;tly &s;een to flouri&s;h in the Fea&s;ts of the Princes of <HI>Italy,</HI> and particular|ly in his Highne&s;&s;es of <HI>Parma;</HI> the Machines of who&s;e Nuptials, if they wholly exceeded not tho&s;e of <HI>Seleucus,</HI> exceeded them at lea&s;t in having there pre&s;ent one <HI>Claudio Achillini,</HI> who&s;e admirable in|vention, not onely with the harmony of Order, but likewi&s;e the de&s;ign of the Carpenters work, perpetually made them famous.</P>
<P>Other plea&s;ant Shows &s;ucceeded the former, and <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI> for the &s;pace of a moneth appeared the Worlds delight.</P>
<P>When that time was expired, <HI>Demetrius</HI> (to ea&s;e <HI>Seleucus</HI> his Country of the inconveniencies cau&s;ed by his Army, and to carry back his Navy to the Havens of his Kingdom) took his leave of his dear Daughter, and his new Son-in-law, and returned with <HI>Fila</HI> to <HI>Tripolis,</HI> where he embarked him|&s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> felt their departure with that grief,
<PB N="27" REF="16">which was taught her by the Law of filial affection. And while &s;he was alone in her Chamber, to ac|company their voyage with her &s;orrow, <HI>Antiochus</HI> came to &s;ee her.</P>
<P>He &s;aw her (ah &s;ight!) he &s;aw her in that po&s;ture, which would have mollified a Flint.</P>
<P>Her Face was &s;o &s;weetly full of pity, that even &s;orrow it &s;elf looked well in tho&s;e Cheeks. The fire of her looks, though bathed in &s;adne&s;s, was not le&s;&s;ened at all; but albeit it burned in the water, yet it could not be &s;aid to be artificial fire. It was too natural to <HI>Stratonica</HI> to burn him with her looks.</P>
<P>It is hard to de&s;cribe with what affection tho&s;e eyes big with grief brought forth tears. The fair Queen in that act re&s;embled <HI>Aurora</HI> in travel of the day. Her tears much exceeded the morning dew in Beauty.</P>
<P>To hear her name pitifully her Father, &s;o wound|ed the heart of the Prince, that the hurt was incu|rable.</P>
<P>He beholding &s;o plea&s;ing a &s;ight, was wholly tran&s;ported with her Face, and began to con&s;ider more &s;eriou&s;ly <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s great Beauty.</P>
<P>That his pity (which he felt pierce his heart) was the Embryo, of which, by little and little, Love afterwards came to be formed.</P>
<P>It was but Rea&s;on, that what began of Pity, &s;hould make an end in Love. And it was a lucky &s;ign to <HI>Antiochus</HI> his love, that it began of grief.</P>
<P>Joy and Sorrow are the two Centers of all humane
<PB N="28" REF="17">Actions. He that begins with the one, ends nece&s;|&s;arily in the other.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> undertook to comfort the Queen, and &s;o affectionately comforted her, that he even kept her company in weeping.</P>
<P>His Compa&s;&s;ion a&s;&s;ured her of his Love, and her Sympathy and Affection to him from thence increa&s;ed infinitely.</P>
<P>The remembrance of that afflicted Beauty was a Key, which opened to <HI>Antiochus</HI> the door of ac|quaintance. From that time, ever after, when he looked on <HI>Stratonica,</HI> her Beauty &s;eemed greater to him, and her Behavior more plea&s;ing. He delight|ed in nothing but her Conver&s;ation. To be the mark of her Looks, and the eccho of her words, repre&s;ented to him the felicities of Paradi&s;e. Now <HI>Antiochus</HI> was grown almo&s;t a Lover, but per|ceived not that he loved.</P>
<P>On the other &s;ide <HI>Stratonica,</HI> who &s;aw that in all Fea&s;ts, and particularly in the Balls, and in Tilt|ing, <HI>Antiochus</HI> alone was reputed the mo&s;t valiant, and e&s;teemed the mo&s;t hand&s;om; con&s;idering too no le&s;s, the mo&s;t plea&s;ing and amorous di&s;po&s;itions of his nature, was by little and little &s;o enamored of him, that &s;he acted more the part of a Lover then a Friend.</P>
<P>Reputation in Arms, is a very great motive to Love.</P>
<P>Women, as deprived of that excellency (in this unlike them&s;elves) envy not Valor, but admire it in Men.</P>
<P>They hate &s;o much Feminine weakne&s;s, that
<PB N="29" REF="17">they cannot love the man that is Effeminate; or be|ing to be &s;ubject to man, they cannot without blu&s;hing endure to be commanded by him, who cannot &s;hew him&s;elf to be more then a woman.</P>
<P>So by little and little, the Fire fortified it &s;elf in the two Princes hearts.</P>
<P>But the flames were &s;o great in <HI>Sophonisba</HI>'s be|yond mea&s;ure, that there was no hope of remedy, unle&s;s &s;he would di&s;cover them. If either Love &s;hewed her <HI>Antiochus</HI> in Armor in the Field, to &s;hew his Valor, or if he pre&s;ented him to her un|armed in the middle of a Ball, to make a new Conque&s;t with his Graces, his pre&s;ence had &s;till the &s;ame power, either this way or that to unbowel her.</P>
<P>The Unfortunate Lady &s;ang frequently with him, and perhaps compo&s;ed the Songs in order to her Pa&s;&s;ion; but Art could do nothing where Na|ture would not help.</P>
<P>She was now &s;o far gone in her Love, that it either would have &s;hortly cau&s;ed her death, or forced her to &s;peak; but Love very &s;trangely de|livered her from the danger &s;he was in.</P>
<P>She received advice, That <HI>Fau&s;tus</HI> her Father was dead, and that &s;he as his &s;ole Daughter, was left Heir of a large Country; that therefore it con|cerned her (in the company of her Co&s;en <HI>Periander,</HI> who was come to convey her from the Court) to re&s;olve to depart.</P>
<P>She retired into her Chamber at that news, be|ing invaded in a moment with a Million of thoughts tormenting her Minde. Her &s;erene Brow was un|calmed,
<PB N="30" REF="18">the colour of her Face turned Pale, her Eyes wept abundantly, her Brea&s;t &s;ighed aloud, and &s;he in an in&s;tant was made an unfortunate Winter of Affliction.</P>
<P>She felt her Fathers death by the ab&s;ence of her Lover; &s;he felt her Lovers ab&s;ence by the death of her Father: One grief encrea&s;ed with the memory of another, and in the A&s;hes of that, the Fire of this kindled apace.</P>
<P>It is no little Happine&s;s to one that is unhappy, to vent without &s;candal his Torments, when his Torments are derived from a Cau&s;e, which may occa&s;ion Scandal.</P>
<P>The Minde of <HI>Sophonisba</HI> (over-flown with the torrent of &s;uch Sorrows) could not choo&s;e but tran&s;port her to a firm Re&s;olution of di&s;covering her &s;elf to <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;tate of that Lover &s;eems to her too unfor|tunate, who is &s;ilent and far off. She therefore &s;ought occa&s;ion to be with him alone; but when &s;he is beginning to &s;peak, affrighted with the Ma|je&s;ty of the Face &s;he adores, little more then half alive &s;he congeals and grows mute.</P>
<P>The Prince took no notice of her Pa&s;&s;ions, be|cau&s;e &s;he was &s;till to be unhappy. She &s;eeing &s;he had lo&s;t &s;o fit an opportunity, knew not how with any thing to puni&s;h more her &s;elf, then by going away pre&s;ently.</P>
<P>'Twas now night when &s;he began to take her leave of all.</P>
<P>'Twas fit a black Licence &s;hould forerun &s;o dark a Voyage.</P>
<PB N="31" REF="18">
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> having given her a very rich Jewel, ki&s;|&s;ed her on the fore-head.</P>
<P>All happine&s;s go with thee <HI>Sophonisba.</HI> The Gods know (he &s;aid to her) what a lo&s;s my Court hath of thy Pre&s;ence.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> wept, and embraced her oftentimes; onely <HI>Antiochus</HI> wi&s;hed her a good journey, and took his leave of her without much alteration.</P>
<P>That was very good luck for <HI>Sophonisba:</HI> one pale look of his would have made her dye of wan|ne&s;s.</P>
<P>Having ended her Ceremonies with all, &s;he locked her &s;elf in her Chamber. She went not to bed to take re&s;t; but after much uncertainty of minde, wrote a Letter to <HI>Antiochus,</HI> and delivered it to one &s;he loved well in the Court called <HI>Eleuteria,</HI> entreating her to give it into his hands, when &s;he gue&s;&s;ed &s;he might be a little way off from <HI>Dama&s;cus.</HI></P>
<P>The morning being come, <HI>Aurora</HI> &s;carce blu&s;h|ed when &s;he with her Company took Coach, and &s;et forwards on their journey.</P>
<P>The di&s;con&s;olate Lady was glad, that then all the Court was a&s;leep, that &s;he might meet no more of tho&s;e Objects, which would cau&s;e her to weep. She concealed her &s;elf in her funeral Coach, le&s;t the Objects &s;he might &s;ee, &s;hould &s;eem to re|prove her of her di&s;tance from <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Eleuteria</HI> about noon &s;uppo&s;ing <HI>Sophonisba</HI> was far enough off, found <HI>Antiochus,</HI> and pre&s;ented him with the Letter. He blu&s;hed a little at it, yet thank|ed <HI>Eleuteria,</HI> and locking him&s;elf in his Chamber, opened it, and read as here followeth:</P>
<PB N="32" REF="19">
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<P>I <HI>Am too bold, O</HI> Antiochus. <HI>To write then to you when I may &s;peak, is not always a &s;ign of Mode&s;ty. If the&s;e Characters (in which my mourn|ing thoughts like a Serpent move hither and thi|ther) had the force to make you penetrate what I fain would have you know, how your vertues have had the Power to make me feel what I would con|ceal from all but your &s;elf, I &s;hould live more content|ed, you remain better &s;atisfied. But what do you expect that I &s;hould tell you? In what an ocean of thoughts waves your Minde while you read? Where think you will the&s;e rows of Words, or rather the&s;e Lines finde an End, which are drawn from the Cen|tre of my Brea&s;t? Alas, I want Power to expre&s;s it. My</HI> Antiochus, <HI>who truly art not mine, but as I re|pre&s;ent you to my &s;elf. Since it was my fortune to contemplate your Vertues, and receive your Favors, Love &s;o invaded me, that I could not re&s;i&s;t him by forbearing to be yours. Many Moneths are now pa&s;t, &s;ince my heart hath encrea&s;ed the number of your Va&s;&s;als. You have commanded one Soul more then you knew of, and &s;till are Lord of it. My Acti|ons, my Looks and my Words would have well in|formed you of it, if you had made reflection on them. But I have been either too fearful, or you too negli|gent. Being content how&s;oever with my Fortune, which was carele&s;s in acquainting you with it, I re|joyced as much in loving you, as another would per+haps have rejoyced in being loved again. I was to my &s;elf (as I may &s;ay) both the Idol and Idolater too. The Sphaer of my Fire had no greater Circumference,
<PB N="33" REF="19">then what was turned about by the Circuit of a Heart. To &s;ee you, to &s;peak to you, and to be in your Company, were the greate&s;t rewards I could de&s;ire for my Love. That Lady &s;eemed too happy to me, who had leave to lay her heart in the bo&s;om of a King. But &s;ince the death of</HI> Fau&s;tus <HI>my Father hath made unhappy the happine&s;s of my life, by forcing me to go from your Court, I (wounded pa&s;t all Cure) knew not what o|ther remedy to have recour&s;e to (to pre&s;erve me a|live) but this of informing you, That I love you more then my &s;elf. To love you at a di&s;tance, and without your knowledge, were too cruel Conditions to the Fortune of one &s;o unhappy as I am. I mu&s;t either have died, or informed you of it. To have done it with my tongue, would have been more plea&s;ing to me, with my Pen it hath been &s;afer. If you &s;hould have refu&s;ed me, I &s;hould have died of grief; if ac|cepted of me, of delight. Either this way or that I mu&s;t have died, if &s;he be &s;aid to dye, who is Crowned with a triumph or Martyrdom. Be not &s;candalized my King. A woman that &s;o long hath known how to be &s;ilent, would have known ne'er to Love, if it had been in her Power.</HI></P>
<P><HI>I am &s;ure that you will not condemn in your Ser|vant, the Flames which your own Rayes have kind|led. Pity my &s;orrows, which onely are mine, be|cau&s;e I am exce&s;sively yours. And remember, that I (turning &s;ometimes to the Heaven, under which you take your breath) will invoke that name often, which would onely make me happy if I had not occa&s;ion to invoke it. I de&s;ire you not to Love me, for it would be temerity to de&s;ire &s;o great a thing. I onely be&s;eech
<PB N="34" REF="20">you to pardon me, if tho&s;e offences be worthy of par|don, which in nothing el&s;e have Wronged you but in Loving you.</HI></P>
</LETTER>
<P>Amazement &s;eized <HI>Antiochus,</HI> as &s;oon as he had read over the Places, which had Power to make him wonder; and, as if his Soul from that Letter had drunk &s;ome liquid Poy&s;on, he began to perceive a &s;udden fire in his Bowels.</P>
<P>An amorous Letter to a youthful Heart is a learned Enchantment. The Hooks of tho&s;e Cha|racters are artificial pick-lock-tools to open the &s;e|cret Bolt of a Heart. To &s;ee a Leaf written, is like &s;eeing an Army in the Field; Every Line is a File of Men. Words give Battel to the Minde and overcome it, for there is no force more powerful then that of Words to batter a Minde.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> read over the Letter once or twice, which was a Compo&s;ition too plea&s;ing to uncalm the tranquillity of his Thoughts; and cau&s;ing <HI>E|leuteria</HI> to come to him, que&s;tioned her earne&s;tly to &s;ee what &s;he knew el&s;e of <HI>Sophonisba.</HI> Thinking then again on the accident, and Love making in the Field of his Memory a Mu&s;ter of the Vertues of that Lady, he lamented much her ab&s;ence, and &s;o violently fell in Love with her, as he would have repaired all his pa&s;t negligence, if what is once pa&s;t could ever become pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>He omitted not to an&s;wer her Letter, and ming|led in his an&s;wer many amorous Conceits, to a&s;|&s;ure <HI>Sophonisba</HI> that he loved her again. But his an&s;wer come to <HI>Bur&s;ia,</HI> was returned with this an|&s;wer,
<PB N="35" REF="20">That the mi&s;erable Lady was dead.</P>
<P>The &s;orrow &s;he had for leaving her <HI>Antiochus,</HI> was the cau&s;e of her death. And who wonders that &s;he died leaving him, if <HI>Antiochus</HI> was her life?</P>
<P>The Fame of her Death being &s;pread through <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> all that had known her, wept for her. Every one bewayled the too untimely death of <HI>So|phonisba,</HI> the Sun of who&s;e Vertue had given &s;o much Lu&s;tre to that Court.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> above all (cloathing in Black his deare&s;t Thoughts) erected in the Temple of his Heart, a Monument of Tears to his decea&s;ed Mi|&s;tris.</P>
<P>His &s;orrows were the greater, in order to the &s;trife within him&s;elf to conceal them.</P>
<P>But all he could do, could not hinder the Marks of his grief from appearing with &s;tate on his Coun|tenance.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e Remembrances are &s;orrowful, which cal|led to the Heart make the Eccho of a Tomb. They have &s;omething of poy&s;on, which fuming to the face, makes it pale. Sepulchers contain onely a&s;hes, and can give no other colour to him that thinks on them, but what is of a&s;hes.</P>
<P>But the Mark being removed towards which the de&s;ires of <HI>Antiochus</HI> began to run, he remained as deprived of &s;en&s;e, becau&s;e he could no longer be &s;en&s;ual.</P>
<P>The man that applies not him&s;elf to &s;ome Love, is like a Body without Life.</P>
<P>The good Prince is un&s;atisfied, till he fill afre&s;h his heart with &s;ome other Affection.</P>
<PB N="36" REF="21">
<P>Humane Condition is of &s;uch a con&s;titution, that if once it lo&s;e its mode&s;ty in de&s;iring, it pre|&s;ently becomes di&s;hone&s;t in its De&s;ires.</P>
<P>He waving up and down in the&s;e irre&s;olutions, Love pre&s;ents before him <HI>Stratonica.</HI> He before having carele&s;ly de&s;igned the fir&s;t Draughts of a Love more then filial towards her, thinks it ea&s;ie to pur&s;ue it, until it degenerate into lu&s;t. He therefore begins to wi&s;h to &s;ee her, and is plea&s;ed with her favors. But return'd to him&s;elf, it is probable that he &s;aid oftentimes to him&s;elf,</P>
<P>What ways are the&s;e? Whither runne&s;t &s;o <HI>An|tiochus?</HI> Do&s;t thou invent Trea&s;ons? Trea&s;on's the more hainous, &s;ince they are again&s;t Honor? Can thy Heart have a corner where a Thought may hide it &s;elf; a Thought that is &s;o foul to be an A|dulterer to thy Father? And live&s;t thou, and breathe&s;t? And ha&s;t the impudence (wicked wretch) to endure the others looks? And on what are founded all thy Hopes, though they are ju&s;t Hopes? Perhaps on <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s allurements? And thinke&s;t thou that &s;he flatters thee la&s;civiou&s;ly? Mad-man that thou art, can&s;t not be faithle&s;s enough thy &s;elf, unle&s;s thou likewi&s;e thinke&s;t Fidelity it &s;elf faithle&s;s?</P>
<P>With the&s;e or the like internal Motions, <HI>An|tiochus</HI> mortifying his Sen&s;es, &s;topt the cour&s;e of his Affection to the Queen, and was afterwards more cautious, and le&s;s careful to pre&s;erve it.</P>
<P>She &s;eeing him grown tepid and &s;ad, was not wanting to make u&s;e of all occa&s;ions to rekindle his Affection.</P>
<PB N="37" REF="21">
<P>And he (after &s;ome little re&s;i&s;tance) returned to the Happine&s;s of her Favors, and began to de&s;ire them afre&s;h very pa&s;&s;ionately.</P>
<P>So the cour&s;e of his Affections altered by turn, till after &s;ome days <HI>Antiochus</HI> arrived at that point of his Life, in which a Change of Fortune was de|creed him by his Fate.</P>
<P>On the &s;ide of the Pallace, <HI>Seleucus</HI> had a Garden no le&s;s &s;pacious then beautiful: In it, as in a leavy <HI>Lycaeum,</HI> or an Academy of Plants well looked to, the vegetative Creatures taught men the Sciences of the mo&s;t learned Beauties. There in the Sum|mer the King u&s;ed to walk in the Evening, and to Sup oftentimes.</P>
<P>One Evening therefore among the re&s;t, being there at Table with the Queen and the Prince, they were infinitely merry.</P>
<P>It was in that part of the year, when the World (become yong again) u&s;es with flowry Hair to array his naked Face. To &s;ee <HI>Stratonica</HI> in a Garden, was to &s;ee the Sun in his Sphaer. That Garden &s;eem|ed the Epitome of all the Worlds Beauty, and <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s face the Epitome of that Garden.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> (grown drunk with the plea&s;ure of a thou&s;and little flatteries of the Queen) was no &s;ooner a Bed, but di&s;ordered his minde with a Chaos of Thoughts now unquiet, now calm, and penetrating into the Contemplation of what had pa&s;&s;ed that day, &s;ighed to him&s;elf through a|bundance of Compa&s;&s;ion, and cryed out often|times.</P>
<P>Sweete&s;t <HI>Stratonica!</HI> And who would be happier
<PB N="38" REF="22">then I am, if what thou do&s;t to me as a Mother-in-law, thou would&s;t do as a Lover?</P>
<P>In the&s;e or &s;uch like words he continued, and his Sen&s;es being fettered with the &s;oft &s;nares of &s;leep, he dreamed in the night, That pa&s;&s;ing through the Garden, he had found <HI>Stratonica</HI> all alone in a labyrinth of Mirtles, which grew there in the middle. The afflicted Queen being &s;eated (as he thought) in tho&s;e &s;hady retreats, immode|rately wept.</P>
<P>What ails you Madam? Why weep you &s;o di&s;|con&s;olately?</P>
<P>She then looking on <HI>Antiochus</HI> with a counte|nance between angry and plea&s;ed, &s;eemed thus to an&s;wer him,</P>
<P>Cruel man! Art &s;till &s;o inhumane to ask me why I weep? I &s;o long have been dying for thy love, and thou returne&s;t not my kindne&s;s, nor make&s;t account of it, and yet thou aske&s;t me why I weep?</P>
<P>The Prince (congealing at tho&s;e words) was in|moveable and &s;en&s;le&s;s. Having afterwards by little and little recovered his &s;pirits, he endeavored to mitigate her Sorrow, by a&s;&s;uring her, That he &s;uffered as much for her &s;ake.</P>
<P>The Dream wrought &s;o powerfully, that <HI>Antio|chus</HI> awaked. Being come to him&s;elf, O Gods (&s;aid he) who can tell if <HI>Stratonica</HI> loves thee not unfeignedly? who can tell? But Fool, what &s;ay I? Is <HI>Stratonica</HI> fal&s;e to my Father? Ah! the&s;e are di&s;tempers of a youthful Brain, they are di&s;tempers.</P>
<P>So he rea&s;oned with him&s;elf, and leaping out of
<PB N="39" REF="22">his Bed (when the Sun had now gilded the Win|dows) came into the Room, where he u&s;ed every morning to do his duty to the Queen.</P>
<P>Poor <HI>Antiochus,</HI> how near is thy Liberty to an end?</P>
<P>Round that Pre&s;ence-Chamber, from the top, hung rich imbroidered Cloth, the height of which (being adorned with a circle of Pictures done by rare Ma&s;ters) entertained the Eyes of all the Be|holders with a very &s;tately Sight. On one of the four &s;ides, on a Table of Silver, was erected to the middle of the Wall, a very great and clear four-&s;quare Looking-gla&s;s, which re&s;embling a calm Sea, bounded with the <HI>Ethiopian</HI> &s;hore of a tran&s;|parent Ebony, invited all the Faces and Species of near Objects to fail on its Bo&s;om.</P>
<P>Now while <HI>Stratonica,</HI> the King, and many other dome&s;ticks (which coming from their Chambers, had a&s;&s;embled there them&s;elves) &s;tood di&s;cour&s;ing on the re&s;t they had taken the night pa&s;t; the Queen (who was afraid to be ob&s;erved by her Husband, if too often, as &s;he otherwi&s;e would have done, &s;he had fixed her Eyes on her beloved) learned to look kindly upon him by &s;tealth in the Image, which the Gla&s;s reflected of him: &s;o while &s;he was &s;ecret|ly delighted with his &s;ight, <HI>Antiochus</HI> by chance ca&s;ting his eyes up and down, found the Queens fixed on him.</P>
<P>But who can now repeat the great force of that encounter of their looks? And how &s;ignificant was that &s;udden corre&s;pondence of their eyes? It was the Work of an Angel, that &s;he in an in&s;tant
<PB N="40" REF="23">a&s;&s;ured, reproved, and encouraged the enamored Prince.</P>
<P>If thou doubte&s;t that I love thee (he thought that tho&s;e Eyes &s;aid to him) if thou doubte&s;t that I love thee, O <HI>Antiochus,</HI> behold this my Soul, which wholly contracted in the little circle of a co|vetous Apple of the Eye, hopes onely to be helped by a dying A&s;pect. To a&s;&s;ure thee of my Love, me-thinks the many &s;igns thou ha&s;t had of my Affection, &s;hould &s;uffice thee. But &s;ince thou would&s;t never credit them, nor beleeve the la&s;t Nights Vi&s;ion, wilt thou credit this Gla&s;s? Ah, &s;ee <HI>Antiochus,</HI> &s;ee that I love thee.</P>
<P>The Eyes are the Wonders of the Face, and dark Figures of Divinity. We may call them too the Dyals of Love, which fa&s;tned on the Wall of a Countenance, &s;hew with the Style of their Looks, the minutes of hours, either happy or unhappy to Lovers. They &s;hewed Love-&s;ick <HI>Antiochus</HI> that infallibly from that Moment, by a&s;&s;uring him&s;elf of <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Affection, he burnt in that maner, that his Flame was almo&s;t after pa&s;t extingui&s;hing.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="book">
<PB N="41" REF="23">
<HEAD>The &s;econd Book.</HEAD>
<P>_NOw the Heart of <HI>Antiochus</HI> was combu&s;tible Matter. The form of that Look &s;o kindled the Fire in his Bowels, that he being unable to contain it in|tirely in his Bo&s;om, it likewi&s;e fell to flaming in his Face.</P>
<P>Philo&s;ophy hath no Secret that is able to re|pre&s;s the fir&s;t Pa&s;&s;ions of the Minde. They invade with that violence, that they tyrannize.</P>
<P>Poor Lovers among&s;t their Mi&s;eries, count not for the lea&s;t, that of Blu&s;hing, and frequently grow|ing Pale, becau&s;e in the colours di&s;played on their Cheeks by their Minde, they cannot help declaring tho&s;e Affections, which they would mo&s;t conceal.</P>
<P>But Nature that hath contracted the univer&s;e in man, hath placed in his Face the eccho of his Heart.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> his blu&s;hing, made <HI>Stratonica</HI> blu&s;h too; for &s;he could have no &s;ign that he was aware of her Affection without being a&s;hamed.</P>
<PB N="42" REF="24">
<P>The Prince therefore taking notice, that his &s;tay there was dangerous to that Secre&s;ie, which he too much had profe&s;&s;ed in all his Actions; he took his leave of her, and (running like a wounded Stag) took covert again in tho&s;e Chambers, which (con|&s;idering the green Pictures and Tapi&s;tries) differed in nothing from Fore&s;ts, but in that they were Painted.</P>
<P>There tran&s;ported in an amorous Exta&s;ie, he frequently lay in the trance of a thou&s;and Delights. Between him alone, and his heart, was the Con|ference, which in ca&s;es like this, is ea&s;ier phan&s;ied then de&s;cribed. He was &s;o well plea&s;ed with him|&s;elf, that he &s;eemed a Courtier complementing with a Friend.</P>
<P>All that while his fair Mother-in-law was no le&s;s plea&s;ed then he, onely &s;he could not have the liber|ty to perfect her Joy, by rea&s;on of her Ladies at|tendance, who were always waiting on her.</P>
<P>But they limited the Violence of their Joy, with a reciprocal De&s;ire of re&s;eeing one another that Morning, before they went to Dinner, to return to the Cement of tho&s;e Looks, with which their Souls had begun to be acquainted.</P>
<P>So when the inundation of Blu&s;hing had cea&s;ed in <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Face, he went out well compo&s;ed, and being come thither where he had left <HI>Stratoni|ca</HI> before, he found her &s;tanding there, and reading certain Letters from her Father, which &s;he newly had received.</P>
<P>Days which begin luckily, &s;eldom end unhappi|ly: Di&s;a&s;ters and Joyes u&s;e commonly to come
<PB N="43" REF="24">&s;ingle. The beginning it &s;eems infu&s;es certain Qua|lities into things, with which it does either vivifi|cate or infect them.</P>
<P>It was a day of Felicity to the two enamored Princes. It began with the Private, and was to con|clude with the publike Joy.</P>
<P>The &s;aid Letters brought advice, That <HI>De|metrius</HI> having cau&s;ed <HI>Alexander,</HI> the Brother of <HI>Antipater</HI> to be &s;lain, who lay in wait for his life, was by the <HI>Macedonians</HI> (the decea&s;eds Subjects) &s;aluted for their King, and conducted into <HI>Mace|donia.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> very glad of the news, gave order that <HI>Seleucus</HI> &s;hould be called in all ha&s;te, and in the mean time communicated it to <HI>Antiochus</HI> with &s;o plea&s;ing a Countenance, that in it he had more things to read then in the Paper.</P>
<P>The yong Prince tran&s;ported with the joy of that plea&s;ant ge&s;ture, if once he looked down on the Letter, often lifted up his eyes to look the Queen in the Face. In the end, having heard what the Letters contained, he cryed out, and expre&s;&s;ing great contentment, &s;aid to her,</P>
<P>I wonder not (Madam) that Kingdoms owe their Being to the valor of your Father; I wonder that the Subjects of &s;lain <HI>Alexander</HI> knew not how to revenge their Kings death, but by giving the Crown of his Kingdom to his Murtherer.</P>
<P>Indeed, I confe&s;s (deare&s;t Prince) an&s;wered <HI>Stratonica,</HI> That if this news had not been written to me by my Fathers own hand, I &s;hould not have beleeved it; how&s;oever, the &s;tranger it is,
<PB N="44" REF="25">the more it hath repleni&s;hed me with Joy.</P>
<P>From whence (replyed <HI>Antiochus</HI>) we onely may argue, That King <HI>Demetrius</HI> his Merits are &s;o emi|nent, that Fortune afraid of their greatne&s;s, hath turned into peaceable Scepters their vindicative Swords, and changed Blood-thir&s;ty Wars into Va&s;&s;allages full of Devotion. If therefore his Friends and his Servants are bound to rejoyce for his Victories, I (among&s;t them all who am the mo&s;t obliged to him, as well for his Valor, as the Intere&s;ts (Madam) which I have in your per&s;on) cannot do le&s;s then ki&s;s your Hand to &s;hew you my Gladne&s;s:</P>
<P>And bowing him&s;elf, he de&s;ired to ki&s;s it. But <HI>Stratonica</HI> making a plea&s;ing re&s;i&s;tance, very cheer|ful and &s;miling, returned him this An&s;wer;</P>
<P>Prince, I will never permit you to be &s;o ob&s;e|quious to me, I am very &s;ure that your Joy for my Fathers pro&s;perity equals mine; wherefore it is un|nece&s;&s;ary for you to a&s;&s;ure me of it otherwi&s;e then you do by your Countenance.</P>
<P>But <HI>Antiochus</HI> per&s;i&s;ting in his de&s;ire to ki&s;s her Hand, at la&s;t overcoming her, ki&s;&s;ed it.</P>
<P>I beleeve (O <HI>Antiochus</HI>) the Repul&s;es of thy beautiful Queen, were the u&s;ual tricks of witty wo|men. Peradventure for the &s;weetne&s;s of thy ki&s;s, &s;he wi&s;hed then her mouth on her hand.</P>
<P>But thou would&s;t have been certainly very hap|py, if thou could&s;t with that ki&s;s have buried thy life in one of tho&s;e fair little Graves.</P>
<P>While they were &s;o di&s;cour&s;ing, <HI>Seleucus</HI> came to them, and informed with emulation now by
<PB N="45" REF="25"><HI>Stratonica,</HI> now by <HI>Antiochus</HI> of <HI>Demetrius</HI> his good fortune, he &s;eemed externally to be very glad of it, but really within him&s;elf he was very &s;orry for it.</P>
<P>Men applaud, but fear his Greatne&s;s, who is able to &s;uppre&s;s them. Princes like Plants cannot endure the height of tho&s;e Trees which can &s;hade them. Every one hates in his Companion that happine&s;s, which he fain would have him&s;elf, and continually &s;eeking to ballance anothers power, comes many times to lo&s;e his own.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> how&s;oever to conceal his own re&s;ent|ments, gave order the &s;ame morning for the ma|king of a very Solemn Fea&s;t, where by the number of the Lords which were to be pre&s;ent, the quality of his Love (which he fained to his Father in law) might appear the more Glorious.</P>
<P>Tables (like Tragical Scenes) u&s;e oftentimes to kill noy&s;om Thoughts with the death of Meats. And tho&s;e cares which (&s;ayling on the Ocean of the Minde) are affraid to lo&s;e them&s;elves, being plung|ed in the little Lake of a foaming Chri&s;tal, &s;uffer often Shipwrack.</P>
<P>Man hath no Theater more delightful to enter|tain all his Sen&s;es then a Table, and nothing more hurtful to his health, or more &s;candalous to his be|havior.</P>
<P>The Fame of <HI>Demetrius</HI> his good Fortune, and the order for the Banquet being &s;pread through the Court, the joy was univer&s;al in all Hearts, e&s;pecial|ly in theirs, who profe&s;&s;ed them&s;elves the Subjects and Dependants of that King. Among them <HI>Li|cofronia</HI>
<PB N="46" REF="26">a Lady well in years, and <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s nur&s;e, made &s;hew of great contentment.</P>
<P>She was at that time the greate&s;t among tho&s;e near the Queen. <HI>Stratonica,</HI> who had &s;ucked her Milk, had likewi&s;e &s;ucked the Cu&s;tom of re&s;pecting her as a Mother. The Authority in her Face e|qualled that of her State. No Lady &s;pake more eloquently, and none led a more unblemi&s;hed Life.</P>
<P>In tho&s;e joyes (which were the cau&s;e of Con|fu&s;ions and Whi&s;perings) the two enamored Prin|ces could very well mingle their plea&s;ures, without running the hazard of being ob&s;erved; for the Ladies, the Pages, and other Dome&s;ticks of the Court, being bu&s;ie about one thing or other, had no time to &s;tand &s;till, and take notice of the Acti|ons of their Patrons.</P>
<P>But <HI>Seleucus</HI> (when he had conferred &s;ome time with the Queen about the news of his Father-in|law, and the preparations for the Fea&s;t) retired into his u&s;ual Lodgings, the better to attend the Affairs of his Kingdom.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> (to give no &s;u&s;pition of him&s;elf, with his being continually with his Mother-in-law) did the &s;ame; The Gods know with what Minde. Be|ing come to the Thre&s;hold of the Door, which locked his Heart from him, he turned him&s;elf to &s;ee his Life which remained there within, and he &s;aw her &s;tand looking on him.</P>
<P>Farewel they &s;aid, in that encounter of their Looks. Heaven knows how I depart, Love knows how I &s;tay here.</P>
<PB N="47" REF="26">
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> went away full of Joy, but what cau&s;ed his Affliction to depart from his Happine&s;s. He goes through tho&s;e Rooms, he wanders through the Galleries of the Pallace &s;o tran&s;ported; that &s;aluted, he returns not the Civility; that met with, he is ignorant of the Per&s;on: He an&s;wers when he is not &s;poken to, and asks Que&s;tions when alone.</P>
<P>Love is the Wine of the Soul. He mu&s;es on the world of the Looks he had received: He repeats the words that followed, and his de&s;tiny la&s;tly (whether to make him turn Phy&s;itian, or to di&s;tem|per him, I know not) makes him a careful Anato|mi&s;t of the Body of every little Favor.</P>
<P>When he had mu&s;ed enough, and concluded with him&s;elf, that he was very much in <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Favor, he was plea&s;ed to &s;peak to &s;ome of his Fa|vorites, to pa&s;s with the Di&s;cour&s;e of divers things that &s;hort morning, which before dinner came, &s;eemed to him an Age.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> in the mean time (who raved in her Thoughts no le&s;s then he) re&s;olved to appear to <HI>Antiochus</HI> more glorious that morning, and (to honor the Fea&s;t with the &s;tatelie&s;t &s;how which &s;he could repre&s;ent of her &s;elf) to be regally adorned.</P>
<P>To that end, being gone into her Cabinet with two diligent Chamber-Maids, &s;he &s;ate down by a Table the Pedi&s;tal of a Looking-gla&s;s, which within the Frame of enamelled Silver, &s;eemed as if it came to beatifie that Face, in which there is not a Heart that feels not a thou&s;and Beatitudes.</P>
<P>But here I confe&s;s, I would fain know how to de&s;cribe her. The dalliances of a Pen which are
<PB N="48" REF="27">delightful, would not be ingrateful to me in this occa&s;ion. It was too &s;trange to the World, to &s;ee a Looking-gla&s;s look in a face, and a Woman run no le&s;s the danger of Idolizing then Deifying her &s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> could in nothing &s;hew more her Af|fection to <HI>Antiochus,</HI> then in looking on her &s;elf at that time. Being ready to be enamored of her &s;elf, &s;he omitted to do it, becau&s;e &s;he would not be a ri|val of her &s;elf to her Dear.</P>
<P>The Queen (though &s;he had no need to in&s;truct in any Action her Countenance, to &s;et out her Graces more lively) yet &s;tudied how her laughter might be plea&s;inger, her looks more compa&s;&s;ionate, and her face more attractive.</P>
<P>It is the di&s;ea&s;e of all hand&s;om Women (though Nature hath enriched them with her gifts) to be begging &s;till of Art tho&s;e Affectations which infect their Beauties often.</P>
<P>Looking-gla&s;&s;es are Magick Books to Wo|men; They learn in them tho&s;e Spells, which (to charm a man) become &s;weetly cruel. A Looking|gla&s;s hath the Quality of a Coun&s;ellor, and a Pri|viledge granted to no Coun&s;ellor, and a Pri|viledge granted to no Coun&s;ellor, it &s;peaks always the truth, and is always beloved.</P>
<P>While therefore <HI>Stratonica</HI> was either the Gla&s;s, or looked in it, the Chamber Maids began to un|pin her Head, and untangle the Knots of Ribbands, which rowled up together in the folds of her Hair, &s;erved either to bridle their Boldne&s;s, or bury their Errors, their Boldne&s;s or Errors committed in en|&s;naring Lovers Souls.</P>
<PB N="49" REF="27">
<P>The Queens Hair like a deluge over-flowed her Neck and her Face, to hinder peradventure with their inundation the Looking-gla&s;s from &s;ilvering its Chry&s;tal in the whitene&s;s of that fle&s;h.</P>
<P>As &s;oon as &s;he was combed, &s;he wa&s;hed her Face with a Water, which di&s;tilled from many Herbs, was in opinion with tho&s;e Chamber-Maids, of ha|ving the Vertue to make fairer the skin. I &s;ay in Opinion, becau&s;e in reality though its Vertue had been &s;uch, yet it could not do any thing in her Beauty, which (an infinity having filled all places) had rendered incapable of any Augmentation. How&s;oever, they began with this Water, and they ended with this Water all their Painting in <HI>Strato|nica</HI>'s face.</P>
<P>She to &s;o many Prerogatives had from Heaven, added that of not being an Alchymi&s;t. Who&s;o|ever went to &s;py in the &s;ecrete&s;t Repo&s;itory of her Cabinet, found not there a world of little Boxes (not to &s;ay Crucibles) in which mo&s;t Women think to finde the Stone of Beauty.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> knew very well, that in the elabora|tory of tho&s;e di&s;tilled Labyrinths, nothing would be gotten in the end, but the colour of Coals on the Teeth, and the wrinkles of burning on the Skin.</P>
<P>When the Chamber-Maids had done wa&s;hing her Face, they fell to ordering her Hair. Its trim|ing at that time was as &s;tately as it was new.</P>
<P>On the Crown of her Head, like a glorious Diadem, was a circle of Tre&s;&s;es of Hair adorned with Diamonds; in the middle of which (looking towards the height of her forehead) was placed a
<PB N="50" REF="28">Jewel of an extravagant fa&s;hion, the greate&s;t Gem of which, was a very large Carbuncle reduced into the Figure of a wounded Heart. Two thick Locks of curled Hair hung on her Temples, within which (as it were in living Cages) the &s;oft Thoughts of Lovers played like little Birds. She had for her Pendants two little clu&s;ters of Grapes, which (to a|gree with the Jewel) had &s;parkling Stones. Then from the top of the plaited Rowl, hung loo&s;e a fine Vail inter-woven with Silver, which &s;woln with the Air of Ambition, that it had in &s;erving for &s;o No|ble a u&s;e, fell waving to hide the hinder part of her Head, and came down to the back of the Queen.</P>
<P>Being adorned in this maner, &s;he from the Neck upwards, re&s;embled very well a Spring full of Flow|ers, when in a clear Morning it is &s;een overca&s;t with a little thin cloud.</P>
<P>When her Head was artificially dre&s;&s;ed, they brought her a Silk Gown from the Wardrobe, in which the Weavers Shittle had mo&s;t fortunately a&s;&s;embled all the Colours and Figures of the Wheel, in which the &s;tately Peacock turns about the pride of his Feathered Beauty. The Gold mingled with the Jewels (with which &s;he was richly adorned) fell &s;hort of the fir&s;t Quality of its worth. She, perfumed with Amber and Musk, had taken &s;uch deep &s;cent, that for a good &s;pace breathing fine fragrancies on the circuit about her, &s;he made every breath of air of incomparable value. Moreover, the fa&s;hion u&s;ed then by the Queens was &s;o proper to make them &s;eem hand&s;om, that &s;he could not
<PB N="51" REF="28">de&s;ire more of Art, who&s;e end is to further di&s;|hone&s;ty.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> being dre&s;&s;ed, and tho&s;e Jewels di&s;tri|buted, &s;ome to her Brea&s;t, and others to her Neck, to make all that &s;aw her more dearly prize her &s;ight, &s;he attentively &s;tood to &s;ee what opinion of her dre&s;&s;ing the Looking-gla&s;s would have.</P>
<P>What would&s;t thou have el&s;e, O <HI>Stratonica,</HI> of Nature and Art? See freely with all diligence, if by chance this or that have been wanting in any thing that you can de&s;ire. The miracle of Per|fection which no where el&s;e is &s;een, with what a miracle now may be &s;een in you alone? What is this heap of Beauty like, with which in an in&s;tant you affront &s;o the weakne&s;s of a Chry&s;tal? It is comelier, and more terrible then an Army &s;hining all in Steel. Poor Lovers, why do ye not rather beleeve it then die?</P>
<P>So it &s;eemed that in <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Brea&s;t a Thought &s;aid to her, which &s;he her &s;elf knew not if it was hers, or of her <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>To be armed in that maner with Ornaments, that her Beauty was about to be Cruel, &s;eemed to her a &s;in of Homicide. She con&s;idered, that the Bowels of a Lover were too weak to re&s;i&s;t that in|va&s;ion of Joy, which a pre&s;ence of that nature mu&s;t occa&s;ion; and that man u&s;ed no le&s;s to die of Joy then of Sorrow. To have &s;o much Authority in her Face, and &s;o much grace in her Looks to offer violence to Affections, &s;eemed not fit Qualities for her, who de&s;ired to be rather a Queen then a Tyrant. She knew very well that the Soul of her
<PB N="52" REF="29">Dear had &s;worn voluntary &s;ubjection to her, and that to compel his Affection (which was not be|hinde-hand of it &s;elf) was to hazard him to a pre|cipice, or condemn him to die quickly.</P>
<P>The&s;e Con&s;iderations could not be debated in the minde of <HI>Stratonica,</HI> without cau&s;ing her to alter. The Alteration dy'd her with a Blu&s;hing, which was cau&s;ed by pity. She who in the Gla&s;s de&s;ires to be le&s;s Fair, the le&s;s to afflict him that loves her, when by her new colour &s;he perceives her De&s;ire is derided, with an Alas full of Anger, throws away the Chry&s;tal far from her, and turns her back on the Cabinet.</P>
<P>A Womans condition would be too di&s;propor|tioned, if &s;he had not &s;ome natural gift to ballance the endowments of man. Nature therefore gave her Beauty, that it might be as u&s;eful to her, as Strength is to a man. But becau&s;e to be Fair, im|ported too much to the Nature of Man, and to be &s;trong, to that of Woman; &s;he &s;o tempered the&s;e two Qualities, that changing the colour, &s;he made the Strong &s;eem Fair, and the Fair Strong; Strength that is not Beautiful to allure, and Beauty that is not &s;trong to overcome; neither truly can we &s;ay it is Beautiful, nor with Rea&s;on affirm it is Strong.</P>
<P>Now the Ladies that were invited beginning to appear, the Queen gloriou&s;ly Adorned, went out of her own into the Pre&s;ence-chamber to receive them; and being &s;eated under a very rich Cloth of State, with a Circle about her of her Noble&s;t Maids of Honor, cau&s;ed all that were then come to enter in.</P>
<PB N="53" REF="29">
<P>The Ladies from one to another were amazed to &s;ee, that thinking to do their Duties to a Queen, they were encountered with the Maje&s;ty of a God|de&s;s there &s;eated. The fear and alteration in their Ceremonies made it very con&s;picuous, that the Soul affrighted with the &s;ight of &s;o much Beauty, abandoning onely all the parts of the Body, was in the little Circle of the Apple of the Eye weakly fortified.</P>
<P>The u&s;ual &s;igns of Reverence and Affection be|ing made and received, all of them &s;ate down in order to their Condition and Quality.</P>
<P>They &s;pake not at fir&s;t, for the Spirits which (to manife&s;t their joy for <HI>Demetrius</HI> his encrea&s;e of good Fortune &s;hould have run to the tongue) were all employed in their eyes, in gazing with delight on the wonders of <HI>Stratonica.</HI></P>
<P>Silence too augmented the qualities of that Beauty, who&s;e fir&s;t Quality was to infu&s;e a Silence.</P>
<P>The Ladies beheld <HI>Stratonica,</HI> and having be|held her, beheld one another. The amazement which every one &s;hewed, &s;erved to her Compani|on for a Te&s;timony, to a&s;&s;ure her that &s;he &s;aw no illu&s;ion.</P>
<P>Every thing was admirable in the Queen; but that was mo&s;t admirable, that her Beauty &s;erved not, but commanded the Beauty of Art. That rule failed in her of beautified Arts, That the more they are Adorned, the le&s;s they Delight.</P>
<P>The artificial Lights could not be &s;o powerful as to darken the Rayes of natural Brightne&s;s. In vain the Stars in a &s;erene Night put them&s;elves in order to dazle the Moon.</P>
<PB N="54" REF="30">
<P>At la&s;t the Bridle of their Tongue being given them, an Encomium with a very low humming be|gan to &s;ound among them, which (re&s;embling an amorous Bee) went about, producing in the ears of this and that Lady an Affection of Honey. They contended all gladly in exerci&s;ing their Fancies on that Beauty, who&s;e Fancies by too Fatal a Decree were onely re&s;erved for <HI>Seleucus.</HI></P>
<P>They &s;aid <HI>Demetrius</HI> was Happy, becau&s;e he was Father to &s;o fair a Prince&s;s; they &s;aid <HI>Strato|nica</HI> was Glorious, becau&s;e &s;he was daughter to &s;o renowned a King.</P>
<P>Her Beauty added Splendor to his Arms, and his Arms augmented the Fame of her Beauty.</P>
<P><HI>Fila</HI> was invoked and envied together for the Fortunat'&s;t Woman then living, and onely was pitied for her dear Daughters di&s;tance.</P>
<P>The&s;e and &s;uch like things were quietly mut|tered and thought on by the Ladies; when the Queen aware of their Conceits, and unwilling to hear her &s;elf prai&s;ed (though it were but with a thought) broke the thread of their di&s;cour&s;e, and began now with one, now with another, to &s;peak of &s;everal things.</P>
<P>In the mean time the Sergeants which a&s;&s;i&s;ted at the Banquet, came in to inform them that all things were ready. At that &s;aying the Queen ro&s;e up, de&s;irous peradventure now at la&s;t to feed her amorous eyes with the dear &s;ight of her beloved <HI>Antiochus.</HI> All the Ladies ro&s;e up with her, and while they were Complementing together about precedence in going, a Page came to the Queen to
<PB N="55" REF="30">give her notice, that <HI>Seleucus</HI> &s;taid to &s;peak with her in the Chamber. <HI>Stratonica</HI> fained to go away about &s;ome other occa&s;ion, and &s;uddenly went thi|ther, where her old husband like a yong Lover at|tended her.</P>
<P>So fine without telling me any thing? So Glo|rious without fir&s;t of all acquainting your <HI>Seleucus</HI> with your Bravery? Ah! what &s;ee I? What Deity tran&s;ports me? And here making of his Arms an animated Chain about the Neck of his beloved, he ki&s;&s;ed her with &s;uch ardency, that the ki&s;s (as it were changing Nature) &s;eemed an offence. <HI>Stra|tonica</HI> reki&s;&s;ed him many times, more moved I be|lieve with Compa&s;&s;ion then Love, and gave him this an&s;wer: My Beauty (my Lord, if it be &s;o that I am beautiful) aims at nothing el&s;e but your Plea&s;ure. The&s;e gay Dre&s;&s;ings (who&s;e greate&s;t Art is Negligence) may onely call happy the Day that they are not neglected by you. If I had dared to have called you this morning a &s;pectator to that Theater, where your Maje&s;ty (it &s;eems) is plea&s;ed to be Conquered by my Weakne&s;s, my Joy would have been much more plea&s;ing to me then any till now I have felt.</P>
<P>The&s;e words &s;he intermingled with ki&s;&s;es, per|haps with them as with &s;o many Seals to authenti|cate her &s;ayings, or to equal with number what &s;he failed of in the quality of her ki&s;&s;es to her hu&s;|band.</P>
<P>He thinking of no other Contentment, would have willingly entertained him&s;elf with that Plea|&s;ure, if <HI>Stratonica</HI> telling him that the Ladies &s;taid
<PB N="56" REF="31">for him, had not ha&s;tned him to dinner.</P>
<P>The Room appointed for the Fea&s;t was very large: the Roof glittering with leave-works of Gold, lo&s;t its e&s;teem in the value of the Mettle, be|cau&s;e it &s;urpa&s;&s;ed it in the richne&s;s of the work.</P>
<P>The Furniture was &s;o Stately, that the Walls in a maner grew proud, that on them hung the Pen|&s;ils greate&s;t Glories, and the famou&s;e&s;t Labors of the Shittle. The Eye dazled with the Ti&s;&s;ues, and amazed with the Silks, knew not which Beau|ty fir&s;t to admire. The doors at which they went in, and were two, were &s;een guarded by two Wings of Halbardiers very proudly apparelled. The &s;hi|ning Irons which they brandi&s;hed in their hands, were &s;o many glittering Tongues, giving notice with terror that there was the Maje&s;ty of a King.</P>
<P><HI>Selencus</HI> and <HI>Stratonica</HI> entered in &s;everally, and almo&s;t together; he accompanied by <HI>Antiochus,</HI> and his Courtiers, &s;he attended by the Ladies, and her own Maids of Honor.</P>
<P>The Provi&s;ion, the Mu&s;ick and Odours, &s;o &s;ub|verted the Sen&s;es of all that went in with a three|fold Confu&s;ion of Plea&s;ure, that every one was du|bious for a time, and unable to determine if what he &s;aw and heard was a Dream or a Truth.</P>
<P>Unhappy <HI>Antiochus;</HI> and what a Glorious Scene is prepared thee by Fortune, to exerci&s;e the Acts of thy unfortunate Love?</P>
<P>When <HI>Seleucus</HI> had &s;aluted all the Ladies, and the Queen, and ended his Ceremonies with the Lords, who received one another with various demon&s;tra|tions of affection, he commanding a Silence in all, began thus to &s;peak.</P>
<PB N="57" REF="31">
<P>Princes, Ye cannot be ignorant of the News &s;pread this morning in this Court, of the fortunate &s;ucce&s;&s;es of the King my Father-in-law. I unable by the &s;hortne&s;s of a morning to demon&s;trate grea|ter joy, have invited you all to dine with me, that ye rejoycing with me for the growth of that Crown, we may drink to his health.</P>
<P><HI>May it encrea&s;e,</HI> an&s;wered all; and with that they heard a harmony of mu&s;ical In&s;truments, which beginning a rare Tune, they &s;ang a certain Song u&s;ed at the triumphs of Princes.</P>
<P>In the mean time a deluge of Di&s;hes overflowed the Table, in which, as in &s;o many Silver Sepul|chers the Meats were brought interred, which had for their Sawces exhau&s;ted <HI>Arabia</HI> and the <HI>India</HI>'s of their Spices.</P>
<P>He that knows not the Delights of the &s;umptu|ous Fea&s;ts of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> which boa&s;t to devour in a Bit the value of a Kingdom, cannot conceive in his minde the lea&s;t part of the greatne&s;s of this Fea&s;t.</P>
<P>In &s;uch a rejoycing, who is able to imagine with what &s;oftne&s;s the Hearts of the two enamored Princes di&s;&s;olved? They, divided by their old Ri|val (who loved no le&s;s pa&s;&s;ionately then they did) beheld one another, and di&s;cour&s;ed together, be|ing &s;o much the le&s;s taken notice of, by how much the more they &s;aw them&s;elves a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the Kings continual Pre&s;ence.</P>
<P>Love is the greate&s;t Philo&s;opher in the world; He can tran&s;mute Sub&s;tances without altering the Accidents. The&s;e two Lovers change Subjection into Liberty, and no body perceives it, becau&s;e
<PB N="58" REF="32">no body can believe &s;o bold a Change.</P>
<P>Man &s;ecurely makes u&s;e of Exce&s;s, when the Exce&s;s is come to a certain kinde of Eminence, which makes it incredible.</P>
<P>The Plea&s;ures of <HI>Antiochus</HI> would have been more delicious, if his Father had been ab&s;ent; but his Father being pre&s;ent, if they were not more de|licious, they were at lea&s;t more frequent: What they wanted in the Quality, they could make up with Number, &s;ince it is fatal in this world to have any thing perfect.</P>
<P>While the glad Gue&s;ts in that maner expected to &s;atisfie them&s;elves with all the Plea&s;ures which could be admini&s;tred to them by the delights of a Royal Fea&s;t, one of the Princes (turning his looks by accident, to behold a Picture done by <HI>Apelles,</HI> where <HI>Tereus</HI> cut out the Tongue of <HI>Philomene</HI>) gave occa&s;ion to the King of commending it great|ly. Thence pa&s;&s;ing from the di&s;cour&s;e of the Pi|cture to <HI>Philomenes</HI> &s;inging, and from one Song going to another, the King commanded <HI>Gelmindo</HI> to &s;ing.</P>
<P><HI>Gelmindo</HI> was then the famou&s;e&s;t Mu&s;itian of that Age. As &s;oon as he had heard the Kings com|mand, he &s;tood thinking what to &s;ing to plea&s;e them mo&s;t; when a very fair Lady called <HI>Aurinda,</HI> one of the Gue&s;ts, &s;aid, <HI>Gelmindo</HI> knew &s;ome Ver|&s;es made by I know not what Poet, in order to <HI>Apelles,</HI> when he was in love with <HI>Campa&s;pe.</HI> The King hearing of it (and all being curious to hear them) commanded they &s;hould be &s;ung pre&s;ently.</P>
<P>Every one being &s;ilent, <HI>Gelmindo</HI> began to pre|pare
<PB N="59" REF="32">the attention of their mindes by tuning the Strings of an <HI>Arabian</HI> Cittern. Then drawing from the bottom of his Brea&s;t, a long but &s;weet Voyce, he cau&s;ed a chilne&s;s to run up and down in the bones of the Auditors, which making their hair &s;tand an end, and uncolouring their Cheeks, drew tears in many to the Confines of their Eyes.</P>
<P>The <HI>Preludium</HI> repre&s;ented the gu&s;hing of a Wave, which carrying on its back the &s;oul of him that heard it, while it ran now high, now low, now &s;wift, now &s;low, made it really appear that even in Mu&s;ick Tempe&s;ts are not wanting to Shipwrack a Heart.</P>
<P>The Ver&s;es were the&s;e. They were admirable in their own language, but being transformed, have lo&s;t very much by the traduction of their own na|tive beauty.</P>
<Q><L>Burn, and con&s;ume, burn wretched Heart,</L>
<L>Unhappy in extreams thou art:</L>
<L>If dying looks &s;erve not thy turn,</L>
<L>To &s;ay, I for <HI>Campa&s;pe</HI> burn.</L>
<L>From thoughts enflam'd pale Colours fume</L>
<L>Into the face, and it con&s;ume.</L>
<L>O my poor heart, what charms thee &s;o,</L>
<L>That thy afflicted face can't &s;hew</L>
<L>Thy death, nor tell who murthers thee?</L>
<L>Yet wilt thou &s;till a Lover be?</L>
<L>Who hides <HI>Campa&s;pes</HI> eyes, that &s;he</L>
<L>(Whom I adore thus) cannot &s;ee</L>
<L>How thou for her art made a prey</L>
<L>To &s;orrow, and do&s;t pine away?</L>
<PB N="60" REF="33">
<L>O fooli&s;h cu&s;tome, and vile u&s;e</L>
<L>Of Silence! he de&s;erves no truce,</L>
<L>Nor peace to his ju&s;t grief, who is</L>
<L>In pain, and will not &s;ay 'tis his.</L>
<L>Apelles <HI>&s;o (who for love groan'd)</HI></L>
<L>Him&s;elf unto him&s;elf bemoan'd,</L>
<L>But dur&s;t not practi&s;e what he thought</L>
<L>In his conceit fit to be taught.</L></Q>
<P><HI>Gelmindo</HI> went on, and at la&s;t concluded his Song by telling them, That <HI>Alexander</HI> pitying <HI>Apelles,</HI> with an inimitable act of Liberality, depri|ving him&s;elf of her gave him <HI>Campa&s;pe.</HI></P>
<P>The Lovers beheld one another many times, and blu&s;hed at the Sen&s;e of tho&s;e Ver&s;es. The Sig|nification of what he &s;ung was as admirable as the Song it &s;elf. A thou&s;and times both the one and the other reproved with their Eyes the cowardize of their Hearts. And lamenting much the time, which they had &s;o unprofitably let &s;lip, they encouraged them&s;elves to perform with all &s;tudy, what the mu|&s;ical Orator without any &s;tudy had per&s;waded them to.</P>
<P>When the Fea&s;t was ended, divers &s;orts of Games and Pa&s;times (agreeing with the Maje&s;ty of a King) were introduced for the entertainment of the Gue&s;ts. With the&s;e and the Mu&s;ick, which played from time to time, they at la&s;t brought that day to a period, which for the many accidents that happened to <HI>Stratonica</HI> and <HI>Antiochus</HI> was eternally Memorable.</P>
<P>Leave being given to the Ladies and Lords to
<PB N="61" REF="33">go away, every one retired to bed. <HI>Antiochus,</HI> like one pa&s;&s;ing from the Active to the Contempla|tive life, began there to ruminate on the whole or|der of the Plea&s;ures he had enjoyed. The &s;ighs which intermi&s;&s;ively came from his &s;oul, and the &s;oftne&s;s into which he felt his heart di&s;&s;olve, can onely be de&s;cribed by him, who is as he was, A pa&s;|&s;ionate Lover.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> did the &s;ame, and perhaps with more piercing re&s;entments, as &s;he who more &s;en&s;ibly then <HI>Antiochus</HI> was acquainted with amorous Delights.</P>
<P>The Hearts of the&s;e two Lovers were united, their bodies disjoyned. The walls of the Cham|bers too far di&s;tant the one from the other, were the cau&s;e of this bitter divorce. Their nocturnal &s;tudies aimed at nothing el&s;e but to joyn too their bodies. To &s;ee that both the one and the other &s;hewed the &s;ame de&s;ire in the actions of the day, made them both hope that the effect would &s;hortly follow. But many days pa&s;&s;ing away (though in them many fair opportunities were offered them) they never di&s;covered their Pa&s;&s;ions.</P>
<P>Fortune and Chance (e&s;teemed by the Ancients as Gods) playing with the&s;e two Lovers, gave them occa&s;ion of crediting more their Deities. They of|ten reduced the Prince and the Queen to that con|dition, that one moment onely was wanting to them to render them happy.</P>
<P>Of what great importance is a Moment? <HI>Stra|tonica</HI> expected, and with rea&s;on, that <HI>Antiochus</HI> would have begun. <HI>Antiochus</HI> not daring &s;o much, thought <HI>Stratonica</HI> would have &s;poken the fir&s;t.
<PB N="62" REF="34">Lo&s;ing in this maner their time, and driven back with that extream, which onely with a word they could have overcome, they precipitated them&s;elves into a Sea of a thou&s;and &s;trange Misfortunes.</P>
<P>The lamentations (which one without the knowledge of the other made of his condition) are incredible to him who is not a Lover.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> now accu&s;tomed to bewail her unfor|tunate love, u&s;ed often to retire into her Chamber, to extingui&s;h that Fire with her Tears, which (be|cau&s;e it was concealed) &s;eemed to her the more vio|lent.</P>
<P><HI>Licofronia</HI> had fir&s;t noted many days the pale|ne&s;s of her Queen, and argued with her &s;elf, that tho&s;e colours could proceed from nothing el&s;e but an amorous Feaver. She therefore ob&s;erved her proceedings, and perceived at la&s;t that &s;he was in love with <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;trangene&s;s of the Ca&s;e &s;eemed no le&s;s te|merarious then horrible to her. How&s;oever, being wi&s;e &s;he would not believe it, till &s;he fir&s;t had had &s;uch a counter&s;ign as was capable of freeing her from all doubt. It &s;eemed to her no little offence again&s;t the hone&s;ty of a Prince&s;s, but to think her di&s;hone&s;t.</P>
<P>Great Per&s;ons have always advantage in the e&s;teem of being good, as if the opinion of men was affraid to mea&s;ure the height of their Fortune, with any other rule but that of Goodne&s;s.</P>
<P>One day in the end as Fortune would have it, <HI>Licofronia</HI> hapned unawares to hear behinde a Hanging, a very &s;ad complaint made by <HI>Stratonica.</HI>
<PB N="63" REF="34">She was about to go help her, being unable to en|dure, to &s;ee her own Heart di&s;til in flowing Tears at the Eyes of the Queen. But &s;he heard a low voice pronounce twice the name of <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>At that &s;aying, the wi&s;e Matron li&s;tned more at|tentively, and &s;tood a while fixed, to &s;ee if &s;he could under&s;tand the &s;en&s;e of the words which the afflicted Queen uttered. But her Sorrow occa|&s;ioning an alternate change in her voice, which &s;ometimes was low, and &s;ometimes clear, her words (ere they came to <HI>Licofronia</HI>'s Ears) died among the multitude of her Sobs. She perceived how|&s;oever that <HI>Stratonica</HI> lamented <HI>Antiochus</HI> his cruelty, in that he complied not with her Love in the maner &s;he de&s;ired.</P>
<P><HI>Licofronia</HI>'s amazement was &s;o great, that it al|mo&s;t made her &s;woon. Being a little returned to her &s;elf, &s;he was about to run di&s;tracted into the Chamber, to reprove the Queen &s;harply, and tell her how much &s;he had degenerated from the Ver|tue of that Blood which (when &s;he was a Childe) &s;he had &s;ucked from her Brea&s;ts. But remembring her &s;elf, that the Remedies of the Minde were not to be applied in the fervor of Pa&s;&s;ion, &s;he forbore then that Office, which onely to her as to a Mother was due in all Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>She therefore retired to bewail the di&s;a&s;ters of a Daughter, in whom an amorous flame had ob&s;cured all the &s;plendor &s;he had formerly purcha&s;ed in the time of her breeding.</P>
<P>The Water of tho&s;e Tears quenched not the De&s;ire of correcting her, but &s;welled and encrea&s;ed
<PB N="64" REF="35">it in that maner, that &s;he re&s;olved to do it with all &s;peed.</P>
<P>Having therefore one day found a fit opportuni|ty, and gotten <HI>Stratonica</HI> into a Chamber, &s;he be|gan fir&s;t of all to &s;peak gently unto her, by putting her in minde with what diligence &s;he had always &s;erved her, and how affectionately loved her. Then &s;he &s;hewed unto her, that as the Affection and Ser|vice &s;he profe&s;&s;ed to her, obliged her to be glad for the excellent Qualities, and gallant Behavior that &s;he &s;aw in her; &s;o on the other &s;ide they forced her to mourn, and reprove her, in ca&s;e &s;he had com|mitted any fault. Then &s;peaking more plainly un|to her, &s;he told her (and not without anger) what &s;he had di&s;covered concerning her love to <HI>Antio|chus;</HI> and raging as &s;he &s;pake, repre&s;ented to her how enormous it was in a Woman, to have her Heart revolt to any Love, but what was pre&s;cribed her by Cha&s;tity. Deploring at la&s;t her own evil fortune, &s;he a thou&s;and times cur&s;ed that De&s;tiny, which had brought her to &s;ee &s;o much &s;hame in a Daughter, whom rather then her life &s;he had pre|&s;erved.</P>
<P>While <HI>Licofronia</HI> &s;pake, The Authority of her Rea&s;on, and the Force of Mode&s;ty (which lightned in her Countenance with the brightne&s;s of Terror) made her appear in the Eyes of the Queen more then a Woman.</P>
<P>She pre&s;ented before the Tribunal of her own Con&s;cience, and feeling her &s;elf accu&s;ed as guilty of Ince&s;t, had no cloak but that of Shame to cover her Defects.</P>
<PB N="65" REF="35">
<P>Her Sorrow was the greater in the act of her Repentance, in order to its &s;malne&s;s in the time that &s;he had committed the Errors.</P>
<P>When the good Nur&s;e had ended, <HI>Stratonica</HI> (who had tryed with how many Stings a Heart is transfixed, that is not armed with the Brea&s;t-plate of Innocence) an&s;wered her droopingly, and half dejected in this maner:</P>
<P>Mother, the love you bear me, needs no te&s;ti|mony. Any notice of it is too much, &s;ince the length of time, and variety of Occa&s;ions in which it hath been exerci&s;ed, have had the power to au|thenticate it &s;o, that there is no doubt of it. I know that this Love, and the Milk you have given me, give you a priviledge to treat me in this maner, otherwi&s;e neither you, nor any in the World dur&s;t have had &s;o much boldne&s;s. But alas, what an&s;wer &s;hall I give thee? To remember my &s;elf I am a Queen, makes me not forget, that a lye mu&s;t not be found in the tongue of Princes. If I &s;hould deny to thee my Love to <HI>Antiochus,</HI> I &s;hould injure my Condition, and deride thy Prudence. I confe&s;s my Error; for I confe&s;s it, I know, not to a Judge that hath Authority to judge me, but to a Ma&s;ter that hath power to correct me. I will not excu&s;e my fault, by attributing that to the force of the Stars, which hath been the meer election of my Will. It is true, that (I know not by what power) I have felt my &s;elf often inclined to this Love, but if I had re&s;i&s;ted it, what could have tyrannized over my Will? The fault is wholly mine, I alone have made the Net, in which my Reputation and Honor
<PB N="66" REF="36">have been caught in the Pa&s;&s;age. The&s;e Tears which I &s;hed (though they dropped from my Eyes for the &s;pace of an Age) would not have water enough to clean&s;e my Offence. The Stains of Honor can onely be wa&s;hed with blood. I know I de&s;erve all correction; I know that none living &s;hould to me be a crueller tormentor then my &s;elf: But &s;ince (to &s;ave my Honor) no other cha&s;ti&s;e|ment is expedient to my Per&s;on, but what my own Sorrow does give me, be contented, O <HI>Licofronia.</HI> Leave me not a prey to my Sen&s;e in that maner, le&s;t falling into de&s;pair I lo&s;e all my Sen&s;es. Permit me to &s;ay (to pre&s;erve me alive) That the Age of <HI>Antiochus,</HI> the Prince, is more &s;uitable to mine, then the Kings my Husband. The Comeline&s;s of his Pre&s;ence, his Lovely Behavior, and Courteous Conver&s;ation, would have had the power to inflame the cha&s;te&s;t Brea&s;t. Let this be of Comfort to me (though a weak one) That &s;ince I have known him, and loved him, never any word (but what was hone&s;t) pa&s;&s;ed between us, nor act, but what was decent. He rather &s;till carried him&s;elf &s;o &s;evere and even towards me, that ever &s;ince I loved him (cruel as he was) I could never come to know if he loves me or no.</P>
<P>The&s;e la&s;t words of <HI>Stratonica</HI> were expre&s;&s;ed with a Countenance, which (even in the mid&s;t of her Torments) had the power to &s;parkle a bright|ne&s;s of amorous fire towards her <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>When Women once come to a certain height in Love or Di&s;dain, which &s;urpa&s;&s;es their Rea&s;on, they no longer are able to verifie the &s;aying, That
<PB N="67" REF="36">they are more &s;ubtile then men in concealing their Affections.</P>
<P><HI>Licofronia</HI> a&s;&s;ured by &s;o great a Contrition, that <HI>Stratonica</HI> would no more relap&s;e into &s;in, wept pitifully at her Sorrow. She comforted her as a Mother, and encouraged her as a Nur&s;e. She gave her much Advice, but de&s;ired her above all things, to avoid as much as po&s;&s;ibly &s;he could the Con|ver&s;ation and Pre&s;ence of <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>Love is, my Daughter (&s;he &s;aid) among other Vices, as the Lyon among &s;alvage Bea&s;ts. All others are conquered by encountring and re&s;i&s;ting them, this onely is conquered by flying either from it, or throwing our &s;elves on the Earth. Man, like <HI>Antaeus</HI> in wre&s;tling with this &s;trong <HI>Hercules,</HI> while with the memory of his own vilene&s;s, he touches the Earth, is never overcome; but as &s;oon as he &s;uffers him&s;elf to be exalted by vanity, is choaked.</P>
<P>The Queen admoni&s;hed and encouraged, went to her u&s;ual Lodgings with &s;ome black and blew prints in her Eyes cau&s;ed by weeping.</P>
<P>Many hours had not pa&s;&s;ed, but it being to|wards the Evening, <HI>Antiochus</HI> (who longed to &s;ee her) according to his cu&s;tom came to vi&s;it her.</P>
<P>That trouble (I know not how to call it) which he was aware of in her Countenance, was a Proeme to the approaching Di&s;a&s;ters which invaded him fir&s;t. Being before her, and bowing unto her, the Queen did &s;alute him with &s;o langui&s;hing a &s;mile, that &s;he in its weakne&s;s expre&s;&s;ed the &s;ickne&s;s &s;he had &s;uffered.</P>
<P>The Prince a&s;toni&s;hed at tho&s;e alterations, and
<PB N="68" REF="37">feeling his &s;pirits fail him, &s;ate down, not as he u&s;ed to do at other times, but out of nece&s;&s;ity. And when he had rallied together &s;ome reliques of that Spirit which before had de&s;erted him, he &s;aid &s;omething to her, rather to &s;ound the Foard of <HI>Stra|tonica</HI>'s Favor, then out of a de&s;ire (by rea&s;on of his Grief) to di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>The Queen an&s;wered him as &s;everely as &s;he could, without offending the re&s;pect that was due to the Prince, and &s;werving from her promi&s;es made to <HI>Licofronia.</HI></P>
<P>To hear her &s;peak without her accu&s;tomed &s;weet|ne&s;s, and &s;ee her look without her u&s;ual Affection, &s;o affrighted the heart of <HI>Antiochus,</HI> that he was about to cry out aloud; but the violence of his Sorrow (which was ready to &s;peak) was entertained with the pre&s;ence of <HI>Licofronia,</HI> who came thither on the &s;udden.</P>
<P>When the good Lover had bethought him&s;elf, and a&s;&s;embled &s;ome &s;trength from his generous Minde (which accompanies &s;till royal Blood) he looked cheerfully, and compo&s;ed &s;o his Counte|nance, that no body perceived his alteration.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> no le&s;s &s;ubtile then he in concealing her Pa&s;&s;ions, at the coming of the Nur&s;e (to cau&s;e no admiration in her) di&s;arrayed her &s;elf of that rigor with which &s;he was apparrel'd, while &s;he was with <HI>Antiochus</HI> alone, and began to di&s;cour&s;e now with him, now with her, with her u&s;ual Sweetne&s;s and Courte&s;ie.</P>
<P>The Prince perceived tho&s;e Arts, and was very glad of them, hoping that the cruelty which his
<PB N="69" REF="37">Queen had expre&s;&s;ed to him, either proceeded from meer Capriciou&s;ne&s;s, or was bred of a De&s;ire to make tryal of his Con&s;tancy.</P>
<P>Being afterwards departed with her u&s;ual Li|cen&s;e, he employed him&s;elf in thinking, if by chance he had any ways de&s;erved the di&s;dain which his Queen &s;hewed to him. His Sighs were many, his Compunctions great, and his Di&s;cour&s;es to him&s;elf not conci&s;e. But afterwards finding for many days together, that when <HI>Stratonica</HI> was a|lone, &s;he &s;till kept her &s;elf on her guard, but when they were in company, &s;he u&s;ed the forementioned dexterity, the unfortunate Prince began to lo&s;e all hope.</P>
<P>His &s;orrows become Gyants, &s;o tyrannized over his minde, that he &s;ometimes was almo&s;t di&s;tracted. Knowing therefore the imminent danger not onely of his Life, but his Honor, he re&s;olved to provide for him&s;elf all the remedies which &s;eemed to him the be&s;t to remove <HI>Stratonica</HI> from his Heart.</P>
<P>He fir&s;t of all therefore fell to reading certain Books of <HI>Cali&s;thenes</HI> of the Contempt of the World, that by them, as by &s;o many Coun&s;ellors (becau&s;e he was diffident to di&s;cover his pa&s;&s;ions to any) he might receive adverti&s;ements and means to de&s;pi&s;e all terre&s;trial affections, and u&s;e contem|plation, by help of which onely a man may make him&s;elf very happy on earth.</P>
<P>His Minde being plunged in this kinde of read|ing, he con&s;idered oftentimes the Nature of a Wo|man, and how &s;ubject to frailty; why the intellect of man (that is of &s;o noble and &s;o &s;ublime a Na|ture)
<PB N="70" REF="38">&s;hould abandon it &s;elf in that maner, as to lo&s;e the be&s;t operations of its faculty in tracing a Woman.</P>
<P>Being encouraged many times with &s;uch like thoughts, he fell (in <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s ab&s;ence) to neg|lecting of her Qualities and Beauty; &s;o fortifying him&s;elf in tho&s;e Speculations, that he thought he then had courage enough to oppo&s;e the power of her Pre&s;ence.</P>
<P>But afterwards having occa&s;ion of &s;eeing her, in order to the accidents of the Day, the unfortunate Prince ravi&s;ht with beholding the Maje&s;ty of that Face, and the lightning of tho&s;e Eyes, changing him&s;elf wholly in a moment, &s;aid aloud to him&s;elf,</P>
<P>Alas, who would not under&s;tand it for a happi|ne&s;s, to lo&s;e his life for one of thy looks? Who onely to &s;ee thee (deare&s;t &s;oul) would not adventure all Fortune, and hazard all danger? O <HI>Antiochus!</HI> and ha&s;t thou the heart to neglect her? ha&s;t thou a minde that can form a thought that is not hers? ignorant man that thou art, and what torment de|&s;erves not an ingratitude like thine?</P>
<P>His Soul (which within him dictated tho&s;e thoughts) made the Queen very fully under&s;tand his re&s;entments by the force of his looks. But &s;he (though &s;he pitied him) was more &s;en&s;ible of her own Honor. To that end neglecting all tho&s;e actions, which might &s;eem to mollifie her towards her <HI>Antiochus,</HI> &s;he &s;ought too to make her &s;elf in|exorable by Cu&s;tom, where &s;he had begun by Choice.</P>
<P>The Prince by this maner di&s;con&s;olately living,
<PB N="71" REF="38">&s;tudied how to cure the di&s;a&s;ters of his minde (be|&s;ides by the reading of Books) with much Playing and Hunting.</P>
<P>It is hard to relate, how plea&s;ing he was to the company of the Courtiers, how lovely, and how much de&s;ired. He played to lo&s;e, becau&s;e all gain, but that of the favor of the Queen, would have been ingrateful to him. The greate&s;t plea&s;ure he had in tho&s;e pa&s;times, was to &s;igh. His friends &s;up|po&s;ed that he &s;ighed for his ill Fortune, and he one|ly fighed for Love; the effects of his cruel con|dition, which while he was a Lover, made him thought avaricious.</P>
<P>Sometimes in the middle of the thicke&s;t Woods, which <HI>Libanus</HI> backs, &s;traying from the company that followed him, and lighting at the foot of a Tree, to which he ty'd his hor&s;e, he &s;ate on the gra&s;s, and leaning his &s;ad head on the Trunk, which doubtle&s;s was &s;ofter then <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Heart, wa&s;h|ing his Cheeks with Tears, &s;oon after he eccho'd forth Accents, which would have mov'd to pity the mo&s;t pityle&s;s Tygers.</P>
<P>One time then among the re&s;t, after he had wept a good while in tho&s;e uncouth &s;olitudes, he was invaded by a thought, which &s;aid thus unto him,</P>
<P>To what purpo&s;e bewail&s;t &s;o thy Fortune, and <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s Favor, if thou know&s;t not by how ma|ny ways Love compa&s;&s;es his ends? Who a&s;&s;ures thee that <HI>Stratonica</HI> &s;hews not her &s;elf &s;o rigid to thee, that by forcing thee to tell her what kind|ne&s;s &s;he hath ever received from thee, thou may&s;t have the occa&s;ion to engrave thy Love in her? and
<PB N="72" REF="39">why lo&s;e&s;t &s;o unprofitably thy time, and &s;eeke&s;t the mo&s;t &s;olitary Woods to di&s;&s;olve thy &s;elf with Weeping? O fooli&s;h, O carele&s;s man! Ri&s;e, com|fort thy &s;elf, take Courage, encounter the Oppor|tunity.</P>
<P>O ye Gods, which inhabit hereabouts, if there be any among you that hear my complaints, and pity my di&s;a&s;ters, now &s;hew your gentlene&s;s in pro&s;pering my De&s;ires. Deny me not your help, O Sacred <HI>Napeae;</HI> ye happy <HI>Oreades</HI> infu&s;e boldne&s;s into this Heart, which onely is too Timerous, be|cau&s;e too Amorous. I go to end my Woes, or to begin them for ever.</P>
<P>He had &s;carce &s;aid that, but leaping on his Hor&s;e, he impatiently rode through tho&s;e leavy ob&s;curi|ties to finde out his attendance, and return with all &s;peed to the City, and di&s;cover him&s;elf to his Queen.</P>
<P>And behold, turning by the corner of a High and Precipitious heap of Stones, which made as it were the Fronti&s;piece of a Landskip-work at the foot of a great Mountain, he &s;aw in the mid&s;t of &s;ome bu&s;hes a Bear fly &s;lowly away. <HI>Antiochus</HI> follows him, and when he came near him, &s;aw by his hair that was bloody, that he's hurt. He &s;traightways throws at him a Dart, which he had in his hand, with great force, and wounds him be|neath the neck: The Bear groans and roars in that maner, that the eccho's thereabouts of tho&s;e &s;ilent De&s;erts repeat them. His roaring was a kinde of wilde Trumpet, which called from a Grot a She|bear of that infinite greatne&s;s, that &s;he &s;eemed a hai|ry mountain.</P>
<PB N="73" REF="39">
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> had an occa&s;ion to &s;hew there, that his &s;word could wound as well as his heart was wounded. He employed all the valor he had, for the two enemies before him omitted no means with their Tusks and their Paws to rob him of his life; but Sweating and Panting often hard for the victo|ry, he at la&s;t overcame them.</P>
<P>The two Bea&s;ts lying pro&s;trate on the Earth, were a horrible Spectacle to the Eyes of all the Court, which pre&s;ently came together in defence of their Lord.</P>
<P>The She-bear was there known by many Coun|try people for the terror of tho&s;e Woods, and the &s;courge of tho&s;e Countreys. They related many murthers done by her, they recounted many &s;laughters of herds of Cattel. Every one ble&s;&s;ed the wounding Hand, and cur&s;ed a thou&s;and times the unlucky Bea&s;ts.</P>
<P>The bravery of <HI>Antiochus</HI> was &s;poken of by all, and in&s;erted in their hearts a wonderful reve|rence.</P>
<P>He commanding a fre&s;h Hor&s;e to be brought him (after he had ordered &s;ome hor&s;e-loads of his game to be carried along) &s;et on towards <HI>Dama&s;cus.</HI></P>
<P>Sighs were the Heralds of his coming, and Fears the companions of his journey. The unfor|tunate Prince rode perpending, if by Fortune his Queen were to be appea&s;ed by the Pre&s;ent of tho&s;e Bea&s;ts. He &s;tudied what means would be the fitte&s;t to pre&s;ent them unto her.</P>
<P>O Gods! What does not an enamored Heart ruminate?</P>
<PB N="74" REF="40">
<P>When he arrived at the City, the Di&s;cour&s;es were great about the danger and the prey. The King embracing his Son, prai&s;ed him mode&s;tly, and heard with much plea&s;ure of the Lords that were with him, the Courage and Bravery he had &s;hewn.</P>
<P>Great Actions have more lu&s;tre in yong men then old. To be greater in Age, is to be le&s;s in Ad|miration, for a great Age obliges to grave Things. Youth is &s;o Beautiful, that even the Actions it does, learn of it beautiful Qualities.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> being come to behold <HI>Antiochus</HI> his game, &s;hewed very much joy in commending him highly, and was glad on his behalf, that he had without harm e&s;caped &s;uch a danger. Her &s;erene Countenance, and &s;weet Pre&s;ence, had the power to deceive a &s;econd time the unfortunate Prince. He (when he had pre&s;ented her with the prey, and pa&s;&s;ed &s;ome fine Complements with her) had no opportunity of finding her alone by him&s;elf, to a&s;&s;ure him&s;elf if truly &s;he had left her fir&s;t rigor.</P>
<P>But when he had a time very fit for this tryal, the Queen &s;hewed her &s;elf to him very &s;evere and re&s;erved, as if that &s;he had not been the Woman that had courted him before in that maner.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> would have &s;poken, and put in exe|cution his de&s;ign determined in the Wood, but had not the courage to do it. He knew very well the cruelty of his Fate, and had not the power to defend him&s;elf from it with any thing but &s;ilence.</P>
<P>Lovers re&s;olutions are Mi&s;ts; They conden&s;e in the ab&s;ence of the party beloved, but vani&s;h at her pre&s;ence, as at the Suns rayes. The will of a Lover,
<PB N="75" REF="40">like one that is bound, may move, but not deter|mine actions.</P>
<P>The unfortunate Youth departed from his Mi&s;tre&s;s in that maner, as if his departure had been liker a flight, then a going away. He wept not, he no longer bewailed his ill fortune; his grief was &s;o great, that it found no more tears nor words.</P>
<P>Now he took a plea&s;ure in being de&s;perate, for onely in de&s;pair he had placed all his hopes. He de&s;ired to die; and the &s;ooner to die, he &s;tudied how he might leave the Court. He feared that a look of <HI>Stratonica,</HI> would one day or other, by a&s;&s;waging his torments, make them longer-lived. The&s;e things de&s;igned in his minde, made him &s;eem pen|&s;ive in the eyes of his acquaintance. His conceits and witty mirth in Conver&s;ation, for&s;ook him, and every day they &s;aw him more &s;olitary and retired.</P>
<P>Melancholly now encamping it &s;elf in his Face, painted in his Eyes a Lead-colour, and a palene&s;s in his Cheeks. He no longer lifted up his &s;ight to|wards his cruel Mi&s;tre&s;s, for Nature had taught him not to look on what had killed him. Having lo&s;t the plea&s;ure of Eating, and the ca&s;e of Sleep, Lean|ne&s;s with a horrible extenuation began to con&s;ume all his Fle&s;h. Onely broken &s;ighs were heard to come from him, which re&s;embling Musket-noi&s;es, informed them with a &s;mall report, that Death now made a breach in the Rock of his Heart.</P>
<P>The&s;e Mutations being noted by the Court, gave matter to various Di&s;cour&s;es and Whi&s;perings. Every one pitied the di&s;a&s;ters of that <HI>Antiochus,</HI> who not onely for being their Prince, but for being
<PB N="76" REF="41">&s;o good and &s;o ju&s;t, to the va&s;&s;allages of their Bodies, had the power to joyn that of their Mindes.</P>
<P>They attributed to &s;everal Cau&s;es, the Effect of this his Indi&s;po&s;ition. Some &s;aid it proceeded from wearine&s;s and di&s;order, cau&s;ed by Hunting; others affirmed, that it grew of &s;ome &s;ecret Witchcraft: This &s;wore it came from his own Saturnine Com|plexion, and Melancholly, which in the flower of Youth u&s;es to turn to a hectique Feaver.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica,</HI> who faw in his &s;ad Face, the Effects of an unknown di&s;ea&s;e to encrea&s;e every day, could do no le&s;s but bewail with the Tears of Affection more then Maternal, the lo&s;t Health of &s;o dear a Son-in-law. Though &s;he (as obliged by the Laws of Hone&s;ty) appeared externally rigorous, yet in|ternally loved her deare&s;t Prince more then her &s;elf.</P>
<P>And how could &s;he ever hate him, who had not offended her in any thing, but in &s;erving her too much. The amorous Queen remembred point by point all the Favors which the courteous Youth had ever done her.</P>
<P>O barking Remembrances (&s;he &s;aid) ye truly upbraid my Ingratitudes to me with an eternal Re|proach! But alas, what &s;hould I do? Heaven for|bids me to love him as a Lover; my Honor inter|dicts it. I would do it how&s;oever, but what avails it me, if when I have done it, he hath not returned my Love? What can I expect from one who com|plies not with me? Ye &s;ee well, O Heavens, if I have not given him occa&s;ions, with what prejudice too to my decorum.</P>
<PB N="77" REF="41">
<P>So <HI>Stratonica</HI> &s;pake to her &s;elf, and bewailed her &s;elf. But <HI>Seleucus</HI> above all as a Father (to whom the Intere&s;t of an only Son imported the whole &s;um of his happine&s;s) was afflicted in that maner, that little le&s;s then <HI>Antiochus</HI> he was pitied of the Court.</P>
<P>The good King was di&s;tracted in thinking what it was that could ever have reduced to that &s;tate his dear Son. He con&s;ulted his wi&s;e&s;t Coun&s;ellors, he asked <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s opinion, and above all he en|quired with all diligence of the Troop of Dome|&s;tiques which attended his Per&s;on, if by chance the yong Youth had committed any di&s;order, of which might be bred this indi&s;po&s;ition. He would not ask him him&s;elf of it, for fear of di&s;plea&s;ing him. He onely asked him what he had a minde to.</P>
<P>Every thing (my Son) is obedient to thy beck, &s;o that thou be merry, &s;o that thou tell me if any thing di&s;contents thee, wherein I may give thee con&s;olation; this Scepter can have no greater Glory, then to be employed for thee. And of what u&s;e would this Scepter be to me without thee? Alas, it can do me no plea&s;ure, unle&s;s it be &s;upported by thy right hand. All my hopes hang on the thrid of thy life; Have then a care of thy &s;elf, O deare&s;t <HI>Antiochus!</HI> Thou &s;ee&s;t that at the very &s;ame time thou ha&s;t a care of me too.</P>
<P>So &s;pake the di&s;con&s;olate <HI>Seleucus,</HI> and could hardly forbear weeping.</P>
<P>The Prince, who long had de&s;ired occa&s;ion to beg leave of his Father to depart from the Court, having the opportunity to effect his de&s;ire, returned this an&s;wer:</P>
<PB N="78" REF="42">
<P>Sir, What it is that I feel, I know not. I know very well that I am not the cau&s;e of this my di&s;|ea&s;es Effect. No di&s;content afflicts me, but that which proceeds from your Maje&s;ties Affliction. My indi&s;po&s;ition I hope will not encrea&s;e, and per|haps the change of Air would do me much good, if your Maje&s;ty were &s;o plea&s;ed. I am of opinion, that the Air of <HI>Laodicea</HI> would help me very much, as well for the beauty of the Scituation, as the Cu|rio&s;ity I have to &s;ee a City built after your minde, of which I hear wonders. But I would not have with me there the Court; My plea&s;ure would be to go thither onely with tho&s;e Lords which would plea&s;e mo&s;t your Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P>I am mo&s;t willing (replyed <HI>Seleucus</HI>) to let thee go to <HI>Laodicea,</HI> and I will &s;end thee with that Ho|nor that is fit for thy Per&s;on. But why (deare&s;t Son) art unwilling to have me go with thee? Who better then I can have a care of thy ea&s;e, and pro|vide for thy nece&s;&s;ities? And why would&s;t thou at any time de&s;ire me to &s;uffer by &s;taying far from thee when thou art &s;ick? I will come then like|wi&s;e, and my coming &s;hall not di&s;plea&s;e thee.</P>
<P>But <HI>Antiochus</HI> replying (that he reque&s;ted him to let him go alone, and that there was no &s;uch danger in his &s;ickne&s;s, that required the Per&s;on of his Maje&s;ty; and that if he went, he would con&s;e|quently draw after him all the di&s;patches and af|fairs of the Kingdom, &s;o that in &s;tead of enjoying a calm tranquillity, he &s;hould be &s;ubject to the Tu|mults of that concour&s;e of People which always the Court carries with it) &s;o prevailed, that the
<PB N="79" REF="42">King was &s;omewhat &s;atisfied, and &s;aid he would con&s;ider a little of this re&s;olution, and do afterwards what he &s;hould be advi&s;ed to for the be&s;t.</P>
<P>So they continued, and <HI>Seleucus</HI> fell pre&s;ently to ordering tho&s;e things which &s;eemed to him ne|ce&s;&s;ary, not onely for the conveniency, but the de|light of a voyage, and his abode in the City.</P>
<P>He fir&s;t of all ordained &s;o ample and numerous a Court, that it envyed not the greate&s;t Ea&s;tern Kings. He allowed the Prince Gentlemen, Over|&s;eers and Coun&s;ellors. He declared him &s;upream Governor of the Province and City of <HI>Laodicea.</HI> He &s;ent Letters to <HI>Doride,</HI> a Ca&s;tle &s;eated on the bank of the River <HI>Licus,</HI> That they &s;hould have in readine&s;s with all &s;peed five and twenty convenient &s;hips, for from thence to <HI>Laodicea</HI> they were to &s;ail on the &s;aid River. He then &s;elected forty men famous in all Profe&s;&s;ions to give him entertainment, and cau&s;e him to &s;pend vertuou&s;ly his time. He gave him <HI>Hermogenes</HI> and <HI>Carneades</HI> the be&s;t Phy|&s;icians of the Kingdom, to the end that they &s;hould be continually a&s;&s;i&s;tant to his Per&s;on; and la&s;tly he made him a &s;tately and an abundant pro|vi&s;ion of Moveables and Moneys.</P>
<P>He then frequently con&s;ulted the chiefe&s;t of the Court, if he &s;hould let <HI>Antiochus</HI> go alone, or ra|ther accompany him and a&s;&s;i&s;t him. It was de|creed that &s;ince <HI>Antiochus</HI> de&s;ired to go alone, his de&s;ire &s;hould not be cro&s;t, le&s;t his &s;ickne&s;s &s;hould grow wor&s;e. That therefore two Po&s;ts &s;hould al|ways be kept going to give the lea&s;t notice of his health.</P>
<PB N="80" REF="43">
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> in the mean time (like one that is condemned to dye) when he heard any noy&s;e in order to his journey, felt his blood freize, and his Vital &s;trength fail him. He would have departed alone with his Fancy, and willingly have &s;taid with his Body to adore Her that hated Him.</P>
<P>The&s;e de&s;ires pa&s;&s;ed through his minde, but made no &s;tay there. As &s;oon as he perceived them, he did a thou&s;and contrary actions, and compel|ling the very &s;ame de&s;ire, reduced it to de&s;ire his de|parture with violence.</P>
<P>O Tumults, &s;o much the fiercer and more to be deplored, by how much they are heard to make a noy&s;e in the Republick of the Heart! So it comes to pa&s;s, that he makes a War with his Sen&s;es to tame them, who becau&s;e he hath been too indul|gent to them, comes to lo&s;e the dominion he had over them.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> looked &s;ometimes in the gla&s;s, not to court his Face, but to &s;ee in his Countenance, as it were in a living Dyal, what Figure the hours of his Life were &s;till at.</P>
<P>To &s;ee buried his lively Looks in the double grave of his concenter'd Eyes, and perceive in the barrenne&s;s of the mountainous place of his meager Jaws the fre&s;hne&s;s of his Cheeks, cau&s;ed (it cannot be denied) in the unfortunate Lover tho&s;e Motives of &s;orrow which Nature cannot choo&s;e but be &s;en|&s;ible of, when &s;he &s;ees her &s;elf decay by little and little. But drawing from the centre of weakne&s;s that force, which is the in&s;eperable companion of a generous Minde, he joyfully &s;miled at the &s;ight
<PB N="81" REF="43">of his mi&s;erable Image, comforting him&s;elf not a little, that from the yellow colour of his face, he argued that his Death began to vary.</P>
<P>The Phy&s;icians ha&s;tned his departure to change Air, for they every day &s;aw him irrecoverably grow wor&s;e. He him&s;elf (becau&s;e he knew he went to die, and de&s;irous to die as &s;oon as he could) &s;oli|cited the nece&s;&s;ary things, though he could &s;carce &s;tand on his Legs.</P>
<P>At la&s;t the day before that of his journey being come, he was not wanting to di&s;quiet him&s;elf at the ri&s;ing of the Sun, which enlightned (to &s;peak &s;o) the vigil of his death.</P>
<P>He made him&s;elf remember, how that Light was the la&s;t which he &s;hould ever &s;ee under his Fathers roof. And as one who was &s;en&s;ible in his Heart that he was dying, he called all the Family to him, which &s;erved him in the Court, to every one of whom (as it were in the nature of a Will) he began to bequeath Moneys and give Rewards.</P>
<P>Both Sexes wept bitterly with a melting Af|fection, to &s;ee with what love their afflicted Prince, by di&s;pencing his gifts, took his leave of them.</P>
<P>That day all the Court was as &s;ad, as if one of the greate&s;t of the Kingdom had been dead.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus,</HI> the poor King (although it mi&s;-became his royal Grace) could not forbear weeping in that common Affliction.</P>
<P>The Cup of an Eye is too narrow a Ve&s;&s;el to re|tain the Tears which the grief for a Son does afford.</P>
<P>His Phy&s;icians and Friends were not wanting to
<PB N="82" REF="44">comfort him, and per&s;wade him to the hopes of his recovery and welfare; but he either re&s;olved not to give credit to their Promi&s;es, or had not the patience to expect the Fruits of them.</P>
<P>Now the amorous Prince had &s;pent all the day in taking his leave of his Friends, and the Ladies. He was onely to be di&s;mi&s;&s;ed by his Father, and his fair cruel Mother. But knowing that both the one and other would accompany him the day following a little way out of <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> he retired into his Lodgings no le&s;s weary of what he had done, then dejected with melancholly.</P>
<P>There the unfortunate Prince recollecting well him&s;elf, fell a thinking in what a &s;ad condition he was; and when he had been a good while immove|able, he brake out &s;ighing:</P>
<P>Go to poor <HI>Antiochus,</HI> this is the la&s;t Evening; Be thankful to the Gods for all the favors they have done thee. The continuation of thy life hath been an effect of their Clemency, not the fruit of thy Merit. Be glad that thou art born a Prince, that thou ha&s;t been the Son of <HI>Seleucus,</HI> that to in|herit his Crown, Heaven had made thee onely. Rejoyce that thou ha&s;t lived in <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s time, that &s;he hath been thy Mother, that thou ha&s;t &s;erved her as a Mi&s;tre&s;s; &s;uch happine&s;&s;es could never con|tinue in any &s;uppo&s;ed mortal. It is no wonder there|fore that thou art dying &s;o opportunely. Thou die&s;t beloved of all but <HI>Stratonica;</HI> and thou die&s;t innocent, unle&s;s for the offence committed again&s;t thy Father. How&s;oever it is no little Con&s;olation to a pious Son, to purge with death a fault done
<PB N="83" REF="44">onely in Thought. Go to Walls, farewel; farewel paternal Roofs, I &s;hall never more &s;ee you again.</P>
<P>When he had &s;aid &s;o, feeling his Eyes fill with tears, to deprive him&s;elf likewi&s;e of the comfort which weeping might afford him, he took a Harp into his hands, on who&s;e &s;trings (&s;inging &s;o often with <HI>Stratonica</HI>) he had woven the Net for his own dear Liberty.</P>
<P>The Strings &s;ounded &s;o &s;adly at the touch of his Fingers, that it &s;eemed (they mourning too) were de&s;irous to &s;ing the Ob&s;equies of their Princes dead Felicities.</P>
<P>Even in tho&s;e dry Nerves of the re&s;ounding Wood, <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Di&s;a&s;ters had the power to infu&s;e a mourning Quality.</P>
<P>When he &s;aw he no longer was able to &s;truggle with Nature, he looked up towards Heaven, and with an Action, even comely in Sorrow, let fall &s;ome tears &s;o great and heavy, that it &s;eemed they came from a Countrey where Grief was in abun|dance. Thence allured with the plea&s;ure that is found in weeping, he fell to &s;inging in this maner:
<Q><L>POur out, pour out &s;ad Eyes your tears</L>
<L>By hundreds, and by thou&s;ands too,</L>
<L>To the la&s;t torments all th' arrears</L>
<L>Of every drop of Sorrow's due.</L>
<L>Now &s;ince the haughty &s;parks of Fire</L>
<L>Mu&s;t cover'd with the A&s;hes be</L>
<L>Of Death; Eyes ere ye have de&s;ire</L>
<L>To die, and hence depart, fir&s;t &s;ee</L>
<L>That ye at la&s;t your old cour&s;e take,</L>
<L>And of your &s;elves two Rivers make.</L></Q></P>
<PB N="84" REF="45">
<P>When he had ended his Song, and recovered his Bed, he was invaded in the night by a gentle Feaver. Behold unhappy <HI>Antiochus</HI> the beginning of thy death. The Phy&s;icians which thought in the Morning to cau&s;e him to be gone, finding him &s;o altered, changed pre&s;ently opinion, and informing the King of it, his departure was deferred till a better opportunity.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="book">
<PB N="85" REF="45">
<HEAD>The third Book.</HEAD>
<P><HI>_ANtiochus</HI> by this Feaver felt no le&s;s his de&s;ire to inflame to|wards Death, then his Blood to Corruption. As many &s;trokes of his Pul&s;e as he ob&s;erved to reverberate on his Arm, &s;o many advices he &s;eemed to re|ceive of the ruine of his own <HI>individuum.</HI> The wretched Prince remembered not him&s;elf to be Feaveri&s;h without Joy, becau&s;e his Mi&s;eries were at that pa&s;s, as they made even his Feaver &s;eem a Hap|pine&s;s to him. <HI>Seleucus</HI> therefore &s;eeing the dangers to encrea&s;e, and the hopes of his Sons health to fail him, found no courage in his Brea&s;t to manage the re&s;entments he had of them.</P>
<P>The unfortunate King &s;ate like an aged <HI>Heracli|tus,</HI> to bewail in the dark corner of a Chamber the Mi&s;eries of humane Mutability. His tears were witne&s;&s;es of that Sorrow, which made an Artificer in his Minde, cau&s;ed him to &s;ee a Crown turned into a Coffin. Poor <HI>Seleucus,</HI> and who would not
<PB N="86" REF="46">have pitied the Tears in the Eyes of a King, while he mourned for the greate&s;t occa&s;ion that can be mourned for.</P>
<P>Tears mi&s;-become the face of a man, for they being the &s;weat of the Heart, a man &s;hould not &s;eem to have &s;o &s;oft a Heart, that can thaw it &s;elf into Water. But if ever we may weep, we can never weep better then for that life's lo&s;s, on who&s;e being depends the Command of a Kingdom. It is a &s;weet thing to live, and by living to reign.</P>
<P>The Grief of the Courtiers receiving its nou|ri&s;hment from Di&s;a&s;ters of that kinde, many of them &s;eemed &s;o concerned in the King his Misfor|tunes, that affecting a Sorrow in their Faces, they forced them&s;elves in a maner to vanqui&s;h <HI>Seleucus</HI> in Tears.</P>
<P>It is truly deplorable in a Prince, to &s;ee that in a time of his Adver&s;ity, he hath not a Countenance about him, with who&s;e &s;erenity he may chear up in &s;ome &s;ort his own Sadne&s;s. It &s;eems fatal in a kinde for all to &s;eem feignedly &s;ad, becau&s;e that adulation which makes him proud in Joy, increa&s;es his tor|ment when he is in Affliction.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica,</HI> who had by <HI>Licofronia</HI>'s per&s;wa&s;ions (&s;o frequently as afore&s;aid retreating from Love) been cruel to her <HI>Antiochus,</HI> when &s;he &s;aw him ex|tended on a Bed, and langui&s;hing among the flames of a gentle Feaver, thought her &s;elf mo&s;t &s;urely the Murtherer of her Dear. Thence often repent|ing her &s;elf, that &s;he had with too much Obedience ob&s;erved the Precepts of a barbarous old Woman, cur&s;ing her own Credulity, and the others Severity,
<PB N="87" REF="46">&s;he bewailed with Tears &s;urpa&s;&s;ing Bitterne&s;s, the di&s;gu&s;ts &s;he had cau&s;ed to her Prince, and &s;wore to her &s;elf to omit no occa&s;ion, whereby &s;he might a&s;&s;ure him of her Love, which mi&s;&s;ed of its pur|po&s;e. But &s;eeing that the Sorrow which had not joyned to it &s;ome means of a&s;&s;i&s;tance, was too bit|ter of it &s;elf, and too unprofitable to the &s;ick Prince, forbearing her Tears, &s;he fell with a courage derived from <HI>Demetrius,</HI> to &s;eeking of Comforts for her Husband, and finding out Remedies for her Son-in-law. It is impo&s;&s;ible to de&s;cribe the &s;weet words, the lovely Countenance, and compa&s;&s;ionate Looks, with which I imagine to my &s;elf &s;he &s;ought to en|courage <HI>Seleucus</HI> at that time: Fortunate King, to who&s;e Con&s;olations were de&s;igned the fine&s;t Plea|&s;ures which the Loves of a <HI>Stratonica</HI> had the power to in&s;til. How much envied would he have been, if at a le&s;s rate then <HI>Antiochus</HI> his &s;ickne&s;s, he could have bought the pity of &s;o beautiful a Queen?</P>
<P>The Phy&s;icians called together to a Con&s;ult, their Opinions were as various as their Di&s;cour&s;es. Their difference in the knowledge of the Quality, made infinitely increa&s;e the quantity of Cau&s;es, to which they did attribute the di&s;ea&s;e of <HI>Antiochus.</HI> Every one of them &s;tudied to overcome his Com|panion in Opinion, becau&s;e by this means he hoped to overcome him in E&s;&s;ence; but they were not a|ware that on the Being of the Phy&s;ician, the Prince his not Being depended.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> and her Husband a&s;&s;i&s;ted at this kinde of inquiry, not as Kings, but guilty Per&s;ons; be|cau&s;e
<PB N="88" REF="47">for their love to <HI>Antiochus,</HI> they might &s;ay they a&s;&s;i&s;ted at the tryal of their lives. And indeed, as guilty, they grew pale at every &s;aying, and blu&s;h|ed at every motion of that Colledge, which (re|&s;embling a criminal Wheel) was come to that pa&s;s, to have even Authority over the life of the Prince.</P>
<P>No man more participates of extreams then a Phy&s;ician; He (if we may &s;peak like a meer Philo|&s;opher) is a God or a Devil. If he cures with Foun|dation, and makes well, the World is not able to reward him; if he kills temerariou&s;ly, it cannot enough puni&s;h him. When he gives an a&s;&s;urance of Life, every one cryes up his Fame; when he happens to kill, even the Earth hides his faults. He can never want Happine&s;s, for either as Vertuous he's exalted, or as Vicious not &s;uppre&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P>After long debates, <HI>Hermogenes</HI> and <HI>Carneades</HI> di&s;&s;enting the one from the other, di&s;puted it fierce|ly. This would have <HI>Antiochus</HI> to be &s;ick of a Hectique Feaver, that to be Bewitched.</P>
<P>This di&s;cord of the Phy&s;icians being divulged through <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> gave matter of Di&s;cour&s;e to the Idle, and of Revenge to the Malicious.</P>
<P>The Reader may imagine what health that mu&s;t be, poor <HI>Seleucus</HI> hoped for to the Prince his di&s;ea&s;e, while by the Phy&s;icians uncertain Con|tention, he fore&s;aw the &s;ick Princes certain death. His condition &s;eemed the more deplorable, by how much being forced to endure his Sons Murther, he was to approve of his intention that killed him.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> in the mean time, watching like an <HI>Argos</HI> how to comfort her beloved &s;ick Prince,
<PB N="89" REF="47">coun&s;elled the King to have him removed to a Pal|lace without the City called <HI>Ely&s;ium.</HI> She (though &s;he did not fully comprehend the quality of his &s;ickne&s;s) perceived that <HI>Antiochus</HI> was mortally Melancholly, and that therefore that Pallaces &s;ci|tuation could not choo&s;e but give great ea&s;e to his &s;orrows.</P>
<P><HI>Ely&s;ium</HI> is a Place, which now humbling it &s;elf in fallowed Plains, now proud in well husbanded Hills, marries barren Woods to cultivated Villa's, and joyns neat Gardens to elaborated Fountains. There, as in a Fra&s;cati at <HI>Rome,</HI> or a Sampierdare|na at <HI>Genoa,</HI> the greate&s;t Rulers of <HI>Soria</HI> dwelling in the Country in the Summer, Pallaces are &s;een, which re&s;embling the talle&s;t &s;ons of Architecture, with their Gyant-like Roofs wage an innocent war with the Stars, and cau&s;ing Admiration to tumble down headlong from the height of their Fabricks, make dreadful in a maner their Beauty.</P>
<P>Nature, that hath con&s;tituted an Air to this place where the Spring is perpetual, &s;eems that with rea&s;on &s;he will always have that &s;oyl enamell'd with flowers, which is de&s;tined for the Garden of the world. Now there on a hill covered with the plea|&s;ante&s;t verdure that can be repre&s;ented in any Dutch Tapi&s;try, the Kings hou&s;e was built.</P>
<P>To de&s;cribe a Pallace is to petrifie a Pen. Let it therefore &s;uffice to &s;ay of it, That Nature hath not hardned any Marble, nor refined Jewels, nor bur|ni&s;hed Gold, but for this hou&s;e's Structure. The Pillars &s;eem onely to be made to cau&s;e Admiration, the open Galleries to a&s;&s;emble Magnificence, and
<PB N="90" REF="48">the Statues to civilize the Stones. The Halls eccho for their va&s;tne&s;s, the Chambers gli&s;ter with Riches, the Cabinets are proud of the Ornaments they have, and every thing in fine is Maje&s;tick, every thing infu&s;es a reverence.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> being removed to this Place, the King delayed not to come thither with all the Court. There was a Gentleman lately arrived in <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> who boa&s;ted of <HI>Cyprus</HI> for his Coun|try, and was called <HI>Climenes.</HI> He, ver&s;ed in many Tongues, and experienced in the Cu&s;toms of &s;e|veral Nations, &s;eemed to have travelled a great part of <HI>A&s;ia</HI> and <HI>Europe,</HI> and to have &s;een the Courts of all the greate&s;t Princes then living. Whereupon being infinitely capable of any imploy|ment, he was valued by all for a man of extraor|dinary Parts, and invincible dexterity in the affairs of the World. But as Nature had enrich'd him with the gifts of the Minde, &s;o &s;he had made him very incon&s;iderable in the qualities of the Body. For being Squint-ey'd, Toothle&s;s, and Flat-nos'd, he would doubtle&s;s have offended the eyes of all that beheld him, if the garb of a &s;trong and well proportioned Stature, and the cheerfulne&s;s and vi|vacity of a Noble deportment, had not almo&s;t quite concealed in him the Deformity of his Counte|nance.</P>
<P>But he having brought &s;ome Letters to <HI>Licofro|nia</HI> from her onely Son <HI>Alce&s;tes,</HI> for who&s;e ab&s;ence the poor Matron lived di&s;con&s;olately, began on that account to in&s;inuate him&s;elf into the favor of the greate&s;t at Court; and being extreamly com|mended
<PB N="91" REF="48">by <HI>Licofronia,</HI> who profe&s;&s;ed her &s;elf ve|ry much obliged to him, he came &s;o to be ma&s;ter of <HI>Antiochus</HI> his affection, that he being greatly taken with this Gentlemans conver&s;ation, admitted none but him into the mo&s;t intrin&s;ecal and free&s;t familiarity in his Chamber. The Prince therefore one day much de&s;iring to hear of &s;ome di&s;a&s;ter in anothers affections, to &s;ee if the torments of others were comparable to, or &s;urpa&s;&s;ed his torments, &s;pake to <HI>Climenes</HI> to relate &s;omething to him, in order to his love; for as much as that he being (for ought he could &s;ee) placed under a great, but not altogether fortunate condition, he imagined that his adventures could not without wonder be heard, nor pitied without plea&s;ure.</P>
<P><HI>Climenes,</HI> who encountered with all earne&s;tne&s;s the de&s;ires of the Prince, to fa&s;ten the &s;urer him&s;elf in his Favor, returned him this an&s;wer, That he re|fu&s;ed not to obey him in this, as he had always done in every thing el&s;e; he onely con&s;idered, that the accidents of his love (although they exceeded the limits of an ordinary Fortune) were not &s;o con|&s;iderable to de&s;erve a Princes hearing. That there|fore the Relation which his Highne&s;s &s;uppo&s;ed might occa&s;ion him half an hours pa&s;time, would doubtle&s;s prove to him a day of vexation. But <HI>Antiochus</HI> renewing his in&s;tance, made <HI>Climenes</HI> be|gin in this maner:</P>
<P>Since your Highne&s;s will have me relate the greate&s;t torment that ever I have &s;uffered for Love, you mu&s;t know, that &s;carce I had entered into the fourth lu&s;tre of my Age, but a malignant Feaver (I
<PB N="92" REF="49">know not by what means) having &s;eized upon me, had almo&s;t epitomized my life in a &s;igh. My Fa|ther (who onely in me numbered all his Progeny) being in&s;eperable from tho&s;e Feathers, of which he thought my breath could make it &s;elf Wings to fly to the other World, made his &s;orrow the more to be pitied, by how much my di&s;ea&s;e was e&s;teemed the more dangerous.</P>
<P>But the flame now burning within all my bowels, had &s;o dried up my Palate, that my Tongue de|prived too of that little humidity which makes it fit for motion, was not onely unable to &s;peak, but inflexible likewi&s;e. I was more oppre&s;&s;ed with Thir&s;t then the Feaver; and my Fortune to make me &s;uf|ficiently unhappy, when it had painted in my Fancy all the cool Waters that I had ever &s;een to gu&s;h out of the earth, offered me to drink in the Cup of two weeping Eyes, the Tears which my old Father &s;hed.</P>
<P>While I burned in this maner (the hopes of my health being abandoned before by the Phy&s;icians) a Matron, called <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> who dwelt near our hou&s;e, &s;hewed &s;uch skill in preparing me a Potion, that (my Thir&s;t and Feaver being drowned in that draught) I found my &s;elf wholly recovered. This Favor (then which there could be none greater done to me) &s;o obliged me to <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> that to vi&s;it her almo&s;t every day, and &s;erve her in all her occa&s;ions, &s;eemed to me very &s;lender demon&s;trations of that Love which I owed her. But alas, many days had not pa&s;&s;ed, but I perceived that the drink which had plainly refre&s;hed my body, had with all burnt &s;ecret|ly my heart.</P>
<PB N="93" REF="49">
<P>I felt by little and little a Thought ri&s;ing in my Minde, which continually repre&s;ented to my me|mory the re&s;emblance of this Lady, who was not very hand&s;om; and joyned to the Thought I found grown a De&s;ire, which forced me to &s;pend the greate&s;t part of my time in her fruitle&s;s Conver&s;a|tion, which I could not el&s;e endure. This Lady was a Widow, who be&s;ides her Riches and noble Birth, had an excellent Wit, which had dedicated her to the Science of Phy&s;ick and Magick from her Childhood. She therefore accu&s;tomed to phan|ta&s;tical Humors, &s;urmounting her Sex, and well plea&s;ed with my Shape, was very much enamored of me. And encountering an occa&s;ion by that my di&s;ea&s;e, to introduce into my Bowels with &s;ome &s;pe|cious pretext, the tyranny of her De&s;ires, &s;he rai&s;ed in the Calm of that Potion a boi&s;terous Tem|pe&s;t to my life. I had not long been well, but a Son of hers died, called <HI>Sylvio;</HI> to the Tears of who&s;e Funeral, the eyes of her Si&s;ter, named <HI>Glori|cia,</HI> came running.</P>
<P>I, who had often heard commended this Maid for a very great Beauty, in whom Nature had a&s;|&s;embled her utmo&s;t Ability, de&s;ired much to &s;ee her. But becau&s;e it is a cu&s;tom among the Gentle|women of <HI>Cyprus,</HI> to appear in no Company but their Friends, my Curio&s;ity was un&s;atisfied till &s;he came to behold the dead Body of dear <HI>Sylvio.</HI> Who is able to relate what a wound that weeping Beauty then made in my Heart? Perhaps it was the pity of Love to bring it &s;o about, that the fir&s;t time I contemplated tho&s;e Eyes, I &s;hould contem|plate
<PB N="94" REF="50">them weeping. What would not that fire have cau&s;ed in me, if as it was dimini&s;hed by the moi&s;ture of her Tears, it had been augmented by the rayes of her Smiling? Her Hair being &s;pread on the bewailed Body, &s;hewed either that &s;he had &s;et at liberty the Souls &s;he had tyed there, to the end they &s;hould run to revive him, or had offered up a trea&s;ure to Death, to the end it &s;hould not be any hinderance to his Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>But what need is there of this relation? Even the mourning attire which &s;he had on her fair &s;uit|able Limbs, concurred in declaring <HI>Gloricia</HI> Beau|ties Queen.</P>
<P>I on the one &s;ide finding my &s;elf naturally in|clined to love <HI>Gloricia,</HI> on the other knowing I was forced by a &s;upernatural Power to wait on <HI>Mirte|nia,</HI> was the mo&s;t afflicted, and mo&s;t troubled man in the World. Having therefore one day cho&s;en a fit opportunity, I &s;aid to <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> That I knew very well, how &s;he had by her Charms made me a Ser|vant to her, to whom my Obligations, and the Fa|vors &s;he had fir&s;t of all done me, di&s;po&s;ed me; that it therefore &s;eemed needle&s;s to me for her to make u&s;e of Compul&s;ion, where my Will &s;o many ways concurred without Artifice. And that if Loves true Happine&s;s con&s;i&s;ted in nothing but a natural Sympathy, how could &s;he ever be &s;ure to enjoy my Affection, if &s;he could not come to know whe|ther I freely complied with her, or by force? The&s;e Rea&s;ons, together with tho&s;e Prayers which every one knows how powerful they are in his Mouth who pretends to be a Lover, &s;o wrought in the
<PB N="95" REF="50">Minde of <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> that &s;he was content to di&s;|engage me from her Charms, and entreated me to promi&s;e her, to be wholly hers willingly. I an|&s;wered her, That I u&s;ed not by way of an Oath to binde my Will, how&s;oever that &s;he might be a&s;&s;ured, that I would not be ingrateful for the Love which &s;he bare me.</P>
<P>Being freed in this maner from her Bonds, many days had not pa&s;&s;ed, but I con&s;ecrated wholly my &s;elf to the love of <HI>Gloricia,</HI> and pre&s;ently after had the means to di&s;cover my &s;elf to be a Lover. She who had a very good Opinion of me, expected not that I &s;hould be lavi&s;h in be&s;eeching her Favor, but granted it me at my fir&s;t entreaty, and &s;wore unto me a reciprocal good Will. <HI>Mirtenia</HI> was aware of our Love, in&s;omuch, that being de&s;perately jealous of what I had done, &s;he endeavored by all po&s;&s;ible means to allure me to her Love, and divert me from her Si&s;ters.</P>
<P>This Gentlewoman was Lady of a Countrey called <HI>Feacide,</HI> in which there is a Mountain of Wonders. This dreadful for its Nature and Form, a&s;cends (all Spungy with Rocks) &s;o high towards Heaven, that the Eye being weary of &s;o &s;teepy an A&s;cent, abandons it often before it arrives at the top. There the horrors of Winter (as it were in their own Ne&s;t) perpetually hatching Snow, Arm with &s;harp Ice ga&s;ping Rocks, and cloathing (to &s;peak &s;o) their backs with white Weapons, with their &s;tony points defie the Airs &s;harpne&s;s. Nothing el&s;e is to be &s;een on all the Mountain, but cru&s;ty rugged Stones, clear Stones, and precipices of
<PB N="96" REF="51">Rocks, among which grow thin and &s;cattered &s;oli|tary Fir-trees. Rivelets of Water run tumbling down from the &s;nowy Summit, which foaming among the Stones by their Fraction, &s;eem afar off to be &s;o many Silver Selvages, which with barba|rous Pomp are de&s;irous to beautifie the rugged Mountain; at the foot of which a troubled River running, enters into a narrow pa&s;&s;age, which runs afterwards emptying it &s;elf into a woody Plain. The noi&s;e of the Wind that lies in this Straight, together with the roaring of the Water, which breaks among the Caverns of the Channel, &s;o fill every Heart with a&s;toni&s;hment, that they make this place thought the habitation of Hell. Thither I was brought by <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> under pretence to go vi&s;it her Lands. When we were come to the Moun|tain, and had left the Servants we had there at the mouth of a craggy Grot, onely &s;he and I went pa&s;&s;ing through the Straights of the Cave, into the Court of an enchanted Pallace, where I &s;aw incre|dible things. When &s;he there had refre&s;hed me with Dainties, and mo&s;t excellent Mu&s;ick, &s;he &s;hewed me in a Room adorned all with Pictures, the re&s;em|blance of my Progeny, who being to be tran&s;|planted (as &s;he did a&s;&s;ure me) from <HI>Cyprus</HI> into the City of <HI>Giano,</HI> the Metropolis of <HI>Liguria,</HI> &s;he de|&s;ired that I &s;hould entertain my &s;elf a while in be|holding the <HI>Heroes</HI> of that Nation, among whom I remember &s;he commended one much, who was to be the famou&s;e&s;t Warrier that ever &s;hould be &s;een; and he had the&s;e Letters engraven at his feet, <HI>The Marque&s;s</HI> AMBROSE SPINOLA. More below
<PB N="97" REF="51">among men of a different Condition, though known well by Fame, &s;he cau&s;ed me to write in a little Book, the names of three Poets and three Painters, &s;ome of which &s;he &s;aid would be very great Lovers of one of my Lineage. The Poets were called <HI>Ceba, Chiabreta</HI> and <HI>Cavallo:</HI> The Painters <HI>Paggi, Borzone</HI> and <HI>Sarzana.</HI></P>
<P>All the&s;e things, which I thought the greate&s;t Wonders that ever could be &s;een in the World, &s;o obliged me to the love of <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> that albeit naturally I found not my &s;elf inclined to affect her, yet forgetting now <HI>Gloricia,</HI> I was willing to di&s;po&s;e my &s;elf openly to love her. She, who by mine Eyes, and my Countenance, began to perceive my good liking of her, continuing her kindne&s;&s;es to me, con|ducted me into another Room, where the Pictures of all the hand&s;ome&s;t Women (that had been or were to be in the World) were expo&s;ed to view. Among them by chance turning my eye, I per|ceived a Ladies Picture, who was and &s;hall be the fir&s;t and la&s;t flame of my Heart, who&s;e Eyes (al|though they were painted) being fa&s;tned on mine, I thought &s;aid to me, Behold me, O <HI>Climenes,</HI> thou knowe&s;t in what maner I was killed, and I know how much my Death hath been pitied by thee. Be confident, That albeit I am in the other World, I will not fail to love thee, as long as I &s;hall have my Being.</P>
<P>How &s;en&s;le&s;s I was at the Sen&s;e of tho&s;e words, your Highne&s;s may imagine. My Heart had not a Vein, which converting it &s;elf into a River of Tears, ran not emptying it &s;elf at the Flood-gate
<PB N="98" REF="52">of tho&s;e Eyes. <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> who &s;aw me on the &s;ud|den become all a Deluge, being unable to penetrate the cau&s;e of &s;o &s;trange a Sorrow, anxiou&s;ly asked me, What Accident had the power to alter me in that maner. But the frequent Sobs not permitting me to &s;peak a whole word, I informed her as well as I could, That I de&s;ired to go out of that Room as &s;oon as was po&s;&s;ible, and out of the whole Pal|lace likewi&s;e. I had &s;carce &s;aid that, but I was I know not how at the mouth of the Cave where we had left the Servants.</P>
<P><HI>Mirtenia</HI> there asking me again, very earne&s;tly, of the cau&s;e of my Weeping, I an&s;wered her one|ly, That this was a Di&s;a&s;ter, which u&s;ed to befal me, &s;ince I had had a very great Misfortune at the time my Mother died.</P>
<P>She falling to comfort me as well as &s;he po&s;&s;ibly could, endeavored to make me merry, and drew all her Lines to this Centre to gain my Affection. I who had engraven in the &s;en&s;ible&s;t part of my Heart, the Looks of that Picture, which had re|pre&s;ented to my memory the Being of my Mi&s;tre&s;s, the more I &s;aw my &s;elf made much of by <HI>Mirtenia,</HI> the more loathed her Love. Whereupon &s;he per|ceiving my Ingratitude, when we were returned to the City, and being per&s;waded that all did pro|ceed from my Love to <HI>Gloricia,</HI> bewitched her to Death, then killed my Father, and confined me to the &s;traights of a Bed, where I endured &s;uch di&s;ea&s;es both in Minde and Body, that it was an Exce&s;s of Heavens Miracles to pre&s;erve me alive.</P>
<PB N="99" REF="52">
<P>At la&s;t when <HI>Mirtenia</HI> had &s;een, that I could by no means be induced to love her, &s;he &s;ickning of Madne&s;s, died de&s;perately &s;oon after: So after many Troubles and many Moneths being recover|ed of my di&s;ea&s;e, hating that Climate under who&s;e Influences &s;o many Di&s;a&s;ters had befaln me, I re|&s;olved to leave <HI>Cyprus;</HI> and when I long had wan|dered through &s;everal Kingdoms, I came la&s;tly to this Court.</P>
<P>This Relation was a Lecture to the Prince of the Calamities of this World. He repondering to what Mi&s;eries his Condition was &s;ubject, who&s;e Ruines were de&s;igned by Fortune and Love, bewailed his own Di&s;a&s;ters in the Misfortunes of <HI>Climenes.</HI> And when he had expre&s;&s;ed the Con&s;olation he had felt by knowing &s;ome &s;ucce&s;s of his Life: Since (he &s;aid to him&s;elf) we mu&s;t live, if Life be an ho&s;tage, why tru&s;t we Fortune with it, to give her a&s;&s;urance of all that which her Cruelties will have? I be|fore was re&s;olved to die, to free my &s;elf from the Torments of a de&s;perate Love: Now I am re|&s;olved not to live, to be quit of the Troubles of a pitile&s;s Fortune. Lets die, O <HI>Antiochus!</HI> what can at all adventures be hoped for of a Womans Incon&s;tancies? And if the flames of a gentle Feaver, and the weakne&s;s of a long Extenuation, are unable to kill us, let us adde a forbearance of Meat.</P>
<P>So &s;pake <HI>Antiochus;</HI> and &s;o cunningly he pre|pared him&s;elf to perform his Re&s;olutions, that hiding his determined Fa&s;t under the pretext of having no Appetite, he &s;eemed to be plea&s;ed with
<PB N="100" REF="53">nothing, becau&s;e he would not be con&s;trained to eat any thing.</P>
<P>It was then the Moneth of <HI>January</HI> masked like <HI>April;</HI> whereupon all the Lords of the neighbor|ing Pallaces, being per&s;waded no le&s;s by the Beauty of the Sea&s;on then <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s commands, came to dwell in <HI>Ely&s;ium.</HI> The Court and Conver&s;ation being multiplyed by that means, the Nobility &s;tudied nothing el&s;e, but the inventing of ways to recreate the Prince. Every one &s;uppo&s;ed that &s;ome &s;udden Pa&s;time would more vigorou&s;ly awake in <HI>Antiochus</HI> his lull'd-a&s;leep Mirth; and that a Ball, which owed its beginning to nothing but Harmony, might mitigate with its Motions, a di&s;ea&s;ed Hearts Sorrows. But yet this Re&s;olution was not &s;o con|cealed, but it came to the Ears of the di&s;con&s;olate <HI>Stratonica.</HI> When &s;he heard of the leave which the Gentlemen asked him to bring their Ladies thither, going together with the King to <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Bed, &s;he conferred with him about the bu&s;ine&s;s, and de&s;ired him to be plea&s;ed, that the Banquet might be kept in his Chamber.</P>
<P>He, who by the greatne&s;s of his &s;ickne&s;s, was not &s;o e&s;tranged from him&s;elf, as not to compre|hend what degree of malignity his condition was arrived at, which made u&s;e even of Fea&s;ts for the in|crea&s;e of his Melancholly, when he &s;aw that to deny his Con&s;ent was to di&s;plea&s;e his Friends, &s;hrugged patiently his Shoulders, and intimated to the Queen, That they might do there what &s;he plea&s;ed. Leave being obtained in this maner, the jolly A&s;|&s;embly delayed not to crowd them&s;elves together
<PB N="101" REF="53">within the Princes Room. The Ladies appeared in the mo&s;t extravagant Fa&s;hion that their Gla&s;&s;es could advi&s;e them unto. The Gold and Gems, which by rea&s;on of the Torches blazed within their Cloaths, increa&s;ed the &s;plendor of their Faces, and took away the light from others Eyes. A &s;ight mi&s;erably fortunate, to who&s;e te&s;timony even the brightne&s;s of the Lights was a Lyar. And who could with rea&s;on commend that Pomp for Beautiful, which judged to be guilty by it &s;elf, they &s;aw tyed in Chains, and &s;toned with Jewels? Many of the Ladies, as enemies to mankinde, being an|gry that Nature had not imparted that Beauty to them which they would have had, martyrizing with Curling-Irons their Hair, and poy&s;oning with Sublimate their Cheeks, had re&s;olved to kill who&s;oever beheld them. Now when they had taken their places in order to their Quality, they heard the Air beaten with very plea&s;ant Mu&s;ick, by a regulated Confu&s;ion of &s;everal In&s;tru|ments.</P>
<P>A Ball is the Feets &s;en&s;uality. It is rai&s;ed with noi&s;e, and evaporates with wearine&s;s. Nature (that is the beginning of Motion) would not enrich the Head &s;o with Sen&s;e, as to leave the Foot quite de|prived of it. Even this takes its time to be Luxu|rious; neither is there any Itch that more foments Luxury then a Ball. It can confirm Love with a fortunate Madne&s;s among its changing Motions, and unite the Will with the mea&s;ure of &s;hort Di&s;tances.</P>
<P>The Lovers danced, being onely then happy
<PB N="102" REF="54">with their Mi&s;tre&s;&s;es, becau&s;e they did exerci&s;e the Acts of Incon&s;tancy. They might call the Dance their Benefactor, for they received not greater fa|vors of any other action then that. To have the means of &s;eeing, of &s;peaking to, and touching the hand of their Mi&s;tre&s;s, they could not but e&s;teem a great happine&s;s; but to be bowed to by her, and invited to move to the very &s;ame Motion with her, they could not but e&s;teem the greate&s;t happine&s;s.</P>
<P>But the Queen (who together with the King was expo&s;ed to a tryal, by &s;itting over again&s;t her <HI>Antiochus</HI>) being much more ob&s;erved by <HI>Licofro|nia,</HI> then &s;he willingly would have been, could not feed her Eyes at Plea&s;ure with that palene&s;s, which rendring compa&s;&s;ionate the Countenance of the Prince, was made the deare&s;t Mark of her looks. Yet who can relate with what affection &s;he &s;ent out at that time a &s;prightly look, to di&s;cover by &s;tealth in <HI>Antiochus,</HI> if he yet was aware, that &s;he would not any longer make u&s;e of that &s;everity, which for the rigid Nur&s;es con&s;ideration, &s;he had many times practi&s;ed again&s;t him? The poor &s;ick Prince reduced on the one &s;ide to behold him&s;elf before that Beauty, which always with too eloquent a Tongue did dictate tacite per&s;wa&s;ions to his heart, on the other nece&s;&s;itated to contemplate the Countenance of his Father, who with very great compa&s;&s;ion of his &s;ickne&s;s, informed him how un|willing he was to offend him, did not know (though he was re&s;olved to dye) to what determination to revolve the &s;um of his re&s;olutions.</P>
<P><HI>Climenes</HI> the &s;tranger was &s;eated at the Fea&s;t
<PB N="103" REF="54">near <HI>Hermogenes.</HI> He, whether it were by the power of Sympathy, or de&s;ire (for &s;ome &s;ecret end of his) to intrin&s;ecate him&s;elf in the Phy&s;icians affections, had before laid with him the foundation of a very firm friend&s;hip. Being therefore asked by him, whom he &s;aw in a brown &s;tudy, What think you on (he &s;aid unto him) O <HI>Climenes!</HI> are Fea&s;ts further|ed with thoughts? I thought (an&s;wered the Gen|tleman) that he who would aptly repre&s;ent this No|ble A&s;&s;embly, could compare it to nothing but a perfect Sphaer. Behold the <HI>Primum mobile,</HI> which as neare&s;t Eternity, is con&s;tituted of a Circle of the olde&s;t. If you ask for the Heaven of fixed Stars, &s;ee the Ring of the Yong men; If that of the Pla|nets, behold the Orb of the Ladies. If the Earth, behold the &s;pace where they Dance; If the Chan|ges of Fortune, &s;ee the Ball. And if la&s;tly, O <HI>Her|mogenes,</HI> you de&s;ire to &s;ee Mirth there, look on <HI>Stratonica;</HI> If &s;orrow, behold <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>Indeed to have Conceits of the Stars (replied <HI>Hermogenes</HI>) you could not choo&s;e any other Sub|ject but Heaven. How&s;oever I wonder not, That he who has a Chry&s;talline Sky in his Brain, &s;hould di&s;cour&s;e of the Sphaers as of things which he well under&s;tands.</P>
<P>I allow, replyed the other, That I have a Chry|&s;talline Sky in my Brain, if it be true, that the Chry&s;talline Sky being a Place repleni&s;hed with Divinity, hath nothing for its Object but Beauty. And how is it po&s;&s;ible for me to have no Conceits of the Stars in the Pre&s;ence of &s;o many Suns? And when he had made here a beautiful Catalogue of
<PB N="104" REF="55">all tho&s;e Ladies, which &s;eemed to him to be admi|red above the re&s;t, he canonized with the Authori|ty of his own Eloquence the other Beauty's Mira|cles.</P>
<P>So they di&s;cour&s;ed together; when a Tumult on the &s;udden aro&s;e which was not under&s;tood, and di&s;ordered the Fea&s;t. Every one being amazed, looked &s;tedfa&s;tly towards the place from whence the noi&s;e came, and they &s;aw that the Gentlemen confu&s;edly ri&s;ing up, ran towards the Bed of <HI>Antio|chus.</HI> The Multitude encrea&s;ed out of curio&s;ity, and they asking one another what the matter was there, many knew it not, and many dur&s;t not an|&s;wer them. The melodious Sounds cea&s;ed, the Ladies were affrighted, and the Hall which but new|ly was not capable of holding them for their Jollity and Laughing, became in an in&s;tant a De&s;ert full of Solitude and Terror.</P>
<P>A Curtain was drawn, within which the King and the Queen were concealed, &s;o as it was impo&s;&s;i|ble for <HI>Antiochus</HI> (although he were near) to di&s;|cover what it was; and &s;oon after a &s;ad voyce i&s;&s;ued forth, commanding every one to go home.</P>
<P>So worldly Joys end. The company went away mute, Terrified and Cautious. The hours of the Night (it being then the deade&s;t time of Silence and Ob&s;curity) encrea&s;ed &s;o the horror in their Mindes, that many of them thought that they &s;hould not get alive to their hou&s;es. Fear is then the greate&s;t, when we know not what to fear.</P>
<P>The good &s;ick Prince called aloud to tho&s;e of his Chamber, de&s;iring them earne&s;tly to tell him
<PB N="105" REF="55">what had happened; whereupon to content him, they an&s;wered him at la&s;t, That <HI>Stratonica</HI> had been a little while in a &s;woon.</P>
<P>What News is this, O <HI>Antiochus?</HI> thy Godde&s;s di&s;covers her &s;elf to be Mortal, and runne&s;t thou not to behold this Miracle? Thy Life langui&s;hes near death, and lye&s;t thou Stupid in a lazy bed in the Arms of the Thoughts of thy frivolous Sor|rows? Who's there? help to dre&s;s me. When the Soul is about to free it &s;elf from the Bo&s;om where Love hath impri&s;oned it, it is not good to keep its Body far from it. Go to, go to, O <HI>Antio|chus,</HI> lets ha&s;ten to our dangers. But mad Man, what do&s;t thou? Heaven pitying thy Mi&s;eries, o|pens a way for thee to happine&s;s without injuring thy Re&s;olutions, and thou Ignorant of thy own good, precipitate&s;t thy &s;elf into tho&s;e Impatiences, which are undoubted prejudices to thy Mode&s;ty. Thou ha&s;t re&s;olved to dye, to behold no more <HI>Stra|tonica,</HI> and can'&s;t thou not endure that <HI>Stratonica</HI> &s;hould dye, to obtain without thy hurt the &s;ame end? Ah dear one, too well beloved! Ah dear one, too much abhorred!</P>
<P>So the poor Prince's Minde was di&s;quieted at the news, which could not &s;trike his Ear without pa&s;&s;ing to his Heart. In the mean time the rumor encrea&s;ed in the Court. The Guards in the Pal|lace were doubled. They &s;ent ha&s;tily to <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI> for Soldiers, and gave many other &s;ecret Orders.</P>
<P>In the Morning about break of Day <HI>Clitarcus</HI> was carried to Pri&s;on. He next to <HI>Antiochus</HI> was the neare&s;t of kin to the King, &s;o as if he dyed with|out
<PB N="106" REF="56">out I&s;&s;ue, <HI>Clitarcus</HI> &s;ucceeded in the Kingdom. This his &s;udden impri&s;onment being divulged, cau&s;ed various admiration and &s;orrow in all. Yet all were of a minde that it was by <HI>Ar&s;inda</HI>'s per&s;ecution.</P>
<P><HI>Ar&s;inda</HI> was a Prince&s;s of the Blood, rich in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions and Opinion. Being left a Widow without any I&s;&s;ue but a Daughter, &s;he re&s;olved to live near the King, as under the &s;hadow of a Kin&s;|man, who could on all occa&s;ions a&s;&s;i&s;t her. Her Daughter grew apace, who was called <HI>Euripia,</HI> but grew with very little Obligation to Nature; for &s;he had neither Beauty of Body, nor endowment of the Minde. But the Mother, who by rea&s;on of the greatne&s;s of her Birth, was extreamly Ambi|tious, being infinitely proud in her expre&s;&s;ions, and of a fiery behavior, had directed her Thoughts to too &s;ublime Marks. She knowing that <HI>Clitar|cus</HI> might &s;ucceed to the Crown, had fooli&s;hly de|&s;igned <HI>Euripia</HI> for his Wife; and intended &s;o to operate in the end, that he by the death of <HI>Antio|chus</HI> &s;hould be &s;ure of the Kingdom.</P>
<P>This her de&s;ign was favored, by &s;eeing that the Gentleman in&s;inuated him&s;elf &s;o much into her friend&s;hip, that he almo&s;t &s;eemed to &s;ue for her al|liance. But their ends being di&s;covered to them both, they began to hate mortally one another. Now when Noon was pa&s;t, and that the Changes at Court had been &s;ettled as well as they could, <HI>Stratonica</HI> came to vi&s;it <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>The fair Queen went in; but before &s;he went in, what reflections made &s;he not? The &s;ad Queen remembred her &s;elf, that &s;he went in to vi&s;it that
<PB N="107" REF="56">&s;ick man, in who&s;e Bo&s;om her own Soul was Fea|veri&s;h. She cared not for repre&s;&s;ing her Pa&s;&s;ions, as &s;he had done &s;o many other times, becau&s;e &s;he was not fearful of her husbands arrival who kept then his bed. The Colours in her face (the lights of the Tempe&s;ts in the Minde) appeared &s;ometimes kindled, &s;ometimes ga&s;tly, in order to the &s;everal affections with which &s;he felt her &s;elf to be in|wardly agitated. Hope taught her to make u&s;e of the opportunity of time, to di&s;cover once that Fire, which at la&s;t had reduced into A&s;hes her Lifes mo&s;t dear Delights. Fear on the other &s;ide &s;et before her the danger of the Action, and the Obligations of Honor. What wilt thou do, poor <HI>Stratonica,</HI> &s;ince the con&s;equences of a &s;udden op|portunity have placed thee in a &s;traight of this na|ture? Shut the Eyes of thy Minde, and go as it were into the Dark, to run that hazard which Hea|ven hath decreed thee. So rea&s;oning with her &s;elf, neither re&s;olved nor yet wavering, the unfortunate Queen at la&s;t urged her &s;elf to &s;alute her adored Prince.</P>
<P>What appears to thy Eyes from the &s;pace of the door, O <HI>Antiochus?</HI> What Sun of Beauty comes, O happy unfortunate Prince, to clear up the darkne&s;s of thy Sorrows? Thy weakne&s;s will never be able to endure the force of &s;o many Lights.</P>
<P>The encounter of tho&s;e fir&s;t Looks cau&s;ed a fainting to them both. <HI>Antiochus</HI> congealed not, for the heat of his Feaver did not yield to a contra|ry quality. Yet his forehead was be&s;prinkled with
<PB N="108" REF="57">a cold &s;weat, and the Pul&s;e of his Hand grown &s;tu|pid, remained without Motion. He blu&s;hed, he be|came mute.</P>
<P>How do you Prince, began the Queen. Ah Madam, do you couzen &s;o the &s;ick? There's no deceit at all, be merry, replyed <HI>Stratonica,</HI> I have great things to tell you, but alter not, all hath gone well. Its no longer in my power not to alter, O Madam. And when <HI>Antiochus</HI> haid &s;aid &s;o, fix|ing his Eyes langui&s;hingly on the Eyes of his Life, he remained a little while without &s;peaking. Then taking a little breath, I cannot deny (he added) but that &s;ince ye&s;ternight till this time, I have been in a continual Agony; for albeit by all which were &s;ent to &s;ee your Maje&s;ty, I was always informed you were better, yet I overcharged with too much fear, could not be induced to believe them en|tirely. But now to my great con&s;olation, I perceive by your Countenance, that they told me even le&s;s then the truth.</P>
<P>Pardon a Lye in your Servants, O Prince, &s;ince they &s;aid &s;o to make you overcome a Di&s;gu&s;t. Not I, but the King was troubled the la&s;t night with an Accident which &s;till keeps him a Bed, though without any danger by the Favor of Hea|ven.</P>
<P>Alas &s;aid the anxious &s;ick Prince, was my Father de&s;tempered? I, my Dear; but alter not at it, re|plyed <HI>Stratonica.</HI> I perceiving the Accident ran quickly to help <HI>Seleucus,</HI> and &s;ome Gentlemen &s;ee|ing me &s;tir, &s;tirred likewi&s;e, among whom <HI>Antipa|ter</HI> and <HI>Cimones</HI> taking him up between their Arms,
<PB N="109" REF="57">carried him unto the fir&s;t Bed that they came to. When the Phy&s;icians were come and found the King Pul&s;ele&s;s, one of them was not wanting to &s;ay &s;oftly, He was dead. This report being &s;pread through the Pallace, the tumults it cau&s;ed are not ea&s;ie to be told. The Captain of the Guard re|inforced him&s;elf with men. They &s;ent away the Gue&s;ts from the Fea&s;t. A Pre&s;ident made ha&s;te to levy Soldiers in <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> and every thing in fine was Deplorable and Dreadful. His Swooning la&s;ted almo&s;t an hour, of which being recovered at la&s;t, I comforted him with &s;ome Remedies; and when every one was commanded away, I asked him, if he could not imagine the cau&s;e, that had the power to di&s;temper him &s;o grievou&s;ly. He taking my hand between his, after he had been a while &s;ilent, an&s;wered me Sighing, that being at the Fea&s;t, and beholding how every one was merry and laugh|ing, and that onely among them all his beloved <HI>Antiochus</HI> extended on a Bed, abounded with Sor|row in the Arms of a de&s;perate Melancholly, he had by that reflection &s;o contracted his heart, that unable to &s;way longer him&s;elf, he cea&s;ed to live, and fainted under his Sorrow.</P>
<P>Unadvi&s;ed <HI>Stratonica!</HI> If thou aime&s;t at all <HI>An|tiochus</HI> his Love, why do&s;t turn with that relation the &s;tream of his Affections to the duty of his Fa|ther? Knowe&s;t thou not that onely the Love of his Father oppo&s;es thy love?</P>
<P>With what pity was the Prince not wounded, hearing of his Fathers &s;o tender, &s;o humane an Affection? He in&s;tantly pondered his Merits in
<PB N="110" REF="58">the &s;pace of a moment: So afterwards he &s;aid to him&s;elf, For a Father like mine, I rather &s;hould die, rather be annihilated, then come to have a Thought that might offend him. And here being unable to contain his Tears, he &s;oftly brake forth, Ah mo&s;t dear Father, mo&s;t Beloved!</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica,</HI> who though late, yet knew that to mollifie the Rigors of her Dear with other pity but that, which &s;he of her &s;elf could awaken in his Heart, was to prejudice her Pretences, attended to draw away his Minde to other Thoughts, and &s;pinning out the Relation, went on:</P>
<P>While I &s;tood &s;o di&s;cour&s;ing with the King, a Page came to tell us, That <HI>Terpandius</HI> the Prie&s;t demanded Audience for &s;ome very earne&s;t bu&s;ine&s;s. He was brought in unto us, and we ea&s;ily read in his Countenance, the Characters of ill News. When he had done his accu&s;tomed Duty, he began in this maner:</P>
<P>Sir, my de&s;ire to &s;ave your Life, urges me at this &s;o un&s;ea&s;onable a time to trouble your repo&s;e. Your Maje&s;ty is to know, That <HI>Hermogenes</HI> died ju&s;t now, who was killed in going home. Before he had breathed out his Soul (I being his Neighbor and in|trin&s;ecal Friend) he &s;ent for me to him, and &s;ob|ing (having wallowed up and down in his Blood) &s;aid to me, <HI>Terpandius,</HI> go to the King, and inform him, That I &s;educed by <HI>Clitarcus,</HI> have poy&s;oned the Drink which his Maje&s;ty u&s;es to take every morning; and that <HI>Clitarcus</HI> &s;eeing that the King did not die of his &s;wooning, being doubtful that I either deluded him, or di&s;covered it, hath cau&s;ed
<PB N="111" REF="58">me to be &s;lain. Entreat him to beware of the Trea|cheries of others, and to pardon my Trea&s;on. I de&s;ired to ask him more Que&s;tions to di&s;cover &s;omething el&s;e, but the Fro&s;t of Death beginning at that time to &s;tiffen his Tongue, he could not re|turn me any An&s;wer. May, O King, this advice be as u&s;eful to you, as my Affection pre&s;ents it; and be plea&s;ed not to mention who truly adverti&s;es you of it, le&s;t <HI>Clitarcus</HI> fall foul on me likewi&s;e.</P>
<P>When we had heard that &s;o Tragical &s;tory, we could not leave wondering, that a Prince &s;o near unto us in Blood, and a Phy&s;ician of that credit for his Faithfulne&s;s, would have ever undertaken &s;o enormous a deed: Yet when we had made &s;ome re|flection, in order to &s;omething that was noted here|tofore in the Actions of the&s;e two wicked men, the King had &s;ome Foundation on which to build his Doubt. To that end he con&s;ulting long with me, we re&s;olved at la&s;t to impri&s;on <HI>Clitarcus.</HI> The thing now done, and break of day not yet peeping, imagine dear <HI>Antiochus</HI> if we re&s;ted that night. But I think|ing again on the cour&s;e of things which &s;ucceeded, was doubtful le&s;t <HI>Seleucus,</HI> who had drunk the Poy&s;on, albeit his fir&s;t &s;wooning was over, might again be &s;urprized. But <HI>Carneades</HI> not delaying to arm him with &s;trong Antidotes, did free me in part from that Doubt. That which &s;ince wholly hath a&s;&s;ured his Life, and rid me of my Fear, was the knowledge I had, That the Cup-bearer putting the poy&s;oned Drink into a little Va&s;e of Pur&s;lain, it no &s;ooner was full, but the Va&s;e breaking to pieces, &s;pilt all the Liquor; whereupon without
<PB N="112" REF="59">&s;peaking a word, as &s;oon as he had mixed a new Draught, he brought it to <HI>Seleucus</HI> in another Cup to drink. Behold, O Prince, if Fortune hath done miracles for us.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> his Wonder and Sorrow in hearing of Succe&s;&s;es &s;o &s;trange, were &s;uch as may well be beleeved of &s;o pious a Son. He an&s;wered and asked the Queen many Que&s;tions; and &s;he in this occa&s;i|on, &s;peaking more with her Eyes then her Tongue, omitted no means to inform her Beloved, That if others did de&s;ign Conjurations again&s;t the Life of the Father, &s;he contrived Snares again&s;t the Liber|ty of the Son.</P>
<P>While they two &s;o rea&s;oned together, behold a Gentlewoman asks in all ha&s;te for <HI>Stratonica;</HI> Madam, the King &s;tayes expecting you. The fair Queen took her leave: The Gods know with what Heart. The Remembrance of her coming to di&s;|cover her &s;elf to her Dear, and departing before &s;he had done any thing, awaked &s;uch Re&s;entments in her Minde, as cannot be otherwi&s;e expre&s;&s;ed, but with a weeping &s;ilence.</P>
<P>Go thy ways, O unfortunate Queen, to reward the mo&s;t cruel Repul&s;es of thy Lover, with the &s;weet Embraces with which thy Husband hath always received thee. La&s;tly, though he is old, <HI>Seleucus</HI> alone is he that adores thee.</P>
<P>But being come to her Husband, &s;he was &s;hot with the Arrow of Terror, by the Bow of an angry Eye-brow. Alas, to what Di&s;a&s;ter are &s;uch Mor|tal &s;igns the Prologue?</P>
<P>Know you this hand, <HI>Stratonica?</HI> And &s;he affirm|ing,
<PB N="113" REF="59">Yes: Reade the Letters, and then I will tell you the re&s;t, replyed the King. <HI>Stratonica</HI> began to reade with that Alteration, which the &s;urprizal of a &s;ud|den Misfortune, and the fiercene&s;s of an unu&s;ual look from <HI>Seleucus,</HI> could probably be the cau&s;e of. And when &s;he had declared in the various colours (with which her Cheek was dyed) the &s;eve|ral &s;tings which her Soul was wounded with; I &s;ee (&s;he &s;aid) O King, the&s;e are my Fathers Letters, but I cannot comprehend what de&s;igns he hath practi&s;ed with <HI>Clitarcus,</HI> and how I am promi&s;ed to him for his Wife.</P>
<P>Then the old King unable to contain him&s;elf longer, cryed out, Ah <HI>Stratonica, Stratonica,</HI> your Father hath always con&s;pired again&s;t me, and with too implacable hatred (when he could not deprive me of my Life) laid wait for mine Honor! And proceeding in telling her with how much Ingrati|tude <HI>Demetrius</HI> had returned the Affection which he always had born him, he upbraided <HI>Stratonica</HI> with the &s;undry Favors he had done him, and the many Occa&s;ions he had had of &s;uppre&s;&s;ing him. Then with an act truly horrible, he &s;wore by the Life of <HI>Antiochus,</HI> to hold him no longer either for his Father-in-law, or his Friend, but per&s;ecuting him perpetually, to &s;pend his own blood to procure his Death. And he prote&s;ted, That if it had not been indecent for his Honor, he would have return|ed <HI>Stratonica</HI> to <HI>Demetrius,</HI> as an eternal refu&s;al of his Blood, and of his Friend&s;hip. For his minde every way pre&s;aged to him little good that by her he was ever like to have.</P>
<PB N="114" REF="60">
<P>So <HI>Seleucus</HI> vented his Pa&s;&s;ion, becau&s;e in the Letters of <HI>Demetrius</HI> there was this particular, <HI>Be confident of the Friend, whom I have &s;ent thither for that purpo&s;e.</HI> He con&s;ulted who was meant by this Friend, and <HI>Climenes</HI> much &s;u&s;pected by him, he &s;uddenly cau&s;ed him to be &s;ecretly impri&s;oned.</P>
<P>But <HI>Stratonica,</HI> who by rea&s;on of the words of the King, had &s;taid in the Room as one &s;mitten by a Thunder-bolt, being unable any longer to man|age her Di&s;a&s;ter, departed from the &s;ight of her Husband, and inclo&s;ing her &s;elf in the mo&s;t remote Room that was to be found in the very bottom of the Pallace, when &s;he perceived that &s;he had no other witne&s;s of her Sorrow, but her own Unhappi|ne&s;s: Why &s;hould I live longer (&s;he began) unfor|tunate Woman, in a time when Heaven is re&s;olved to Rain on thy Life all Di&s;a&s;ters? To what hopes doth that Blinde Fortune re&s;erve longer my Yong years, that never knew how to di&s;tribute her Favors, but where they are merited lea&s;t? I condemned to frieze in the in&s;ipid Colds of an aged Husband, while I burn in the unprofitable flames of a yong Lover? I a follower of him, who for loving me too much, is come now to hate me? I po&s;&s;e&s;s a Beauty, who&s;e Flowers have been watered perpe|tually with my Tears? And &s;hould I live in the World? Should I look on the Sun? Suck in the Air? Walk up and down on the Earth? Ah no, Unfortunate <HI>Stratonica.</HI> It is no longer time to live. Die poor Queen, and if thy Sorrow cannot kill thee, have recour&s;e to the helps of Iron and Poy&s;on.</P>
<PB N="115" REF="60">
<P>Where art <HI>Demetrius,</HI> my Father, my Hope, that thou &s;ee&s;t not the Tears of thy <HI>Stratonica?</HI> Of that dear Daughter, whom thou &s;o often hug|ing in thy Bo&s;om, and laying to thy Face, ha&s;t cal|led the Bowels of thy Life? If at lea&s;t when this Heart &s;hall no longer be able to breathe, when the colours &s;hall fade in my Face, and the&s;e Eyes want the power to look upwards, thou &s;hould&s;t come opportunely to &s;ay to me, Go hence in Peace my Daughter; my Pa&s;&s;age would be happy.</P>
<P>So mourned the Delight of <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> and the Love of <HI>Soria.</HI> And her Tears had no body to comfort them, her Sighs no body to receive them. So tho&s;e dear Eyes, tho&s;e divine Cheeks, and that heavenly Countenance, were by cruel De&s;tiny condemned to Sorrow. And &s;hall my Pen pa&s;s over her cruel Afflictions, without rending in pieces my Heart at every Motion? Ah let us go on, O Reader! We cannot without Sacriledge de&s;cribe a weeping Deity.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> in the mean time a&s;&s;ured the next day of his health, fell to thanking the Gods, by giving order for Sacrifices. The &s;laughtered Victimes fumed every where on the Altars, and by writing on the Ground with the Characters of Blood the Kingdoms Joys; nothing it &s;eems but Purple Ink could witne&s;s the common Affections for the health of the King. The devoted&s;t Va&s;&s;als pretended, That within tho&s;e &s;acred Flames their Hearts burn|ed more then the Holocau&s;ts; and with the Tongues of Smoke thanking Heavens Protections, they the &s;ame time offered Incen&s;e with acts of Adulation
<PB N="116" REF="61">to <HI>Seleucus</HI> his Ambition. It is hard to relate how many Emba&s;&s;ies of Princes arrived in few days at the Court, to congratulate with him his recovered Health, and how many publike and private Fea&s;ts were made through all <HI>Soria</HI> for that occa&s;ion.</P>
<P>Onely <HI>Antiochus</HI> and <HI>Clitarcus,</HI> Princes truly worthy of another Condition then what they then enjoyed, the one extended on a Bed, and the other buried in a Pri&s;on, made a dolorous De&s;cant to the Harmony of tho&s;e Joys.</P>
<P>A Pri&s;on is a Hell epitomized in Ten &s;pans of Scituation. Humane cruelty, which in tracing of Torments, hath imitated always diabolical Opera|tions, hath in no other Machine more expre&s;&s;ed the Marrow of Barbari&s;m, then in the Invention of a Pri&s;on. It is the &s;um of Evils, becau&s;e it is an ene|my to Liberty, the &s;um of all Happine&s;s. The In|di&s;po&s;itions of the Body, and Di&s;a&s;ters of the Minde, be they never &s;o great, come never to mar|tyrize all our Sen&s;es at once as a Pri&s;on does. Even Hope, that is the comfort of every Evil, becomes in a Pri&s;on the di&s;quieting of the Heart.</P>
<P><HI>Clitarcus</HI> was environed with Chains in a Room &s;o full of Sadne&s;s, that the Darkne&s;s in it did the office of Pity.</P>
<P>Its Horror which &s;hewed not the Inhabitant there all his Mi&s;eries at once, might call in a maner a Lo&s;s, a Benefactor. Loaden more with Thoughts then with Irons, the wretch lay on a Bed, which with too great a poverty, was fain both to &s;erve him for a Table and Repo&s;e. Solitude, which was the greate&s;t Company he had, could give him no ea&s;e
<PB N="117" REF="61">with other Conferences, but tho&s;e of a Melan|cholly &s;ilence. Onely the Sighs which too violent|ly i&s;&s;ued out of his Brea&s;t (more pitiful then any thing el&s;e) &s;trove to break tho&s;e Walls, which too unworthily con&s;tituted a mi&s;erable Pallace to a Prince di&s;graced by Fortune.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus,</HI> whom it greatly concerned to finde out the Fact, not &s;o much to puni&s;h the guilty, as to know in what maner the offence was devi&s;ed, &s;ee|ing that by vertue of the Laws he could not con|demn, whom he had not proofs again&s;t to convince, was extreamly di&s;quieted concerning this Matter. And he was the more di&s;quieted, by how much that de&s;iring by a certain occult alienation of Minde to condemn <HI>Climenes,</HI> he &s;aw that if <HI>Clitarcus</HI> con|fe&s;&s;ed not &s;omething, he &s;hould be compelled to free him. <HI>Seleucus</HI> to&s;&s;ed up and down between the&s;e Doubts, was not wanting oftentimes to com|municate his Thoughts to <HI>Antiochus,</HI> who relaxing a little the rigor of his de&s;pair, by rea&s;on of the&s;e Affairs, de&s;ired very earne&s;tly to know how the bu&s;ine&s;s was managed. He coun&s;elled therefore his Father (&s;ince there was no other remedy) to cau&s;e <HI>Clitarcus</HI> to be beheaded by his ab&s;olute Power. For &s;ince they were di&s;cu&s;&s;ing &s;o enormous an Offence, it was not blame-worthy at all, to come thither by way of Equity, where they could not arrive by way of Ju&s;tice. <HI>Antiochus</HI> forgat not (though he meant not to live) that <HI>Clitarcus</HI> could onely oppo&s;e him in the Crown. Whereupon, not onely for this Rea&s;on, which is always very power|ful in the Mindes of Princes, but likewi&s;e for the
<PB N="118" REF="62">love which he bare unto his Father, he &s;trove by all means to procure their De&s;truction, who had &s;tudied to offend him. Moreover, the&s;e Delibera|tions of the Prince were fomented by the Com|plaints and Rage, which again&s;t <HI>Clitarcus,</HI> but more again&s;t <HI>Climenes, Licofronia</HI> made daily. For &s;he loving the King very dearly, but withal more affectionately <HI>Antiochus,</HI> was not able to endure, that they &s;hould go unpuni&s;hed by any means what|&s;oever, who were &s;u&s;pected guilty of Trea&s;on again&s;t the King. She was changed in that maner on the &s;udden (as Women u&s;e to be) again&s;t the unfortunate <HI>Climenes:</HI> And if at the fir&s;t, be|cau&s;e he had been her Sons Friend, &s;he had brought him by her Favors to the height of the greate&s;t ac|quaintance at Court, now becau&s;e he might be thought to be guilty, &s;he labored by all means to bring him into hatred with all the World; and per&s;ecuting him with all her might, &s;he &s;wore, That if he even had been her own Son, &s;he would have had the courage to behold without weeping his Head &s;evered from the Body.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus</HI> then adhering to the Coun&s;el of the Prince, without making more ado, cau&s;ed death to be intimated to <HI>Clitarcus.</HI> It was greatly di&s;pu|ted in the Councel of State, &s;ince the King had no other Succe&s;&s;or (be&s;ides <HI>Antiochus</HI>) but his Ne|phew, if it was not expedient for the Crown to re|&s;erve him alive again&s;t all Mi&s;chances. But <HI>Seleu|cus</HI> &s;peaking gravely, &s;aid to them, That he de&s;ired not to leave him the Crown, who de&s;erved the Ax; that his Succe&s;&s;ion could not have better fortune
<PB N="119" REF="62">then to end with Vertue, never to begin with Vice; and that he could not po&s;&s;ibly be &s;o impious, to recommend his peoples Life and Protection to one, who not knowing how to &s;pare his own Blood, had attempted to leap into the Throne with the foot of Homicide.</P>
<P>Behold <HI>Clitarcus,</HI> what an end to thy life that Star hath determined, which beholding thy Na|tivity with too unlucky a ray, hath imprinted incli|nations in thy Minde, which mu&s;t make thee do infamous Things.</P>
<P>Puni&s;hment is not always remote from Noble Per&s;ons. Princes even dye in that maner as the ba&s;e&s;t men expire. For the Sword of Ju&s;tice ex|empts onely Innocence from its Edge.</P>
<P>The Con&s;pirator was at this pa&s;s, and yet his &s;orrows fell very much &s;hort of the &s;orrows which the Queen did feel for the di&s;a&s;ter of her Love. She &s;eeing in the Court &s;o many di&s;gu&s;ts of Wars, of Con&s;piracies and Di&s;ea&s;es, and perceiving that they treated of nothing but Revenges, Pri&s;ons and Axes; and that which is wor&s;e, finding her &s;elf vi|lified by her Husband, contemned by her Lover, and far from her Father, fell into &s;o cruel a Me|lancholly, that &s;he wanted but a little of Raving.</P>
<P>The fre&s;h Comeline&s;s in her face being therefore decay'd, and the Colours of Beauty turned Pale, the unfortunate Queen re&s;embled nothing el&s;e in her Countenance, but a nocturnal Heaven, in which the Sun of Joy was put out. She was glad to be alone, and glad to weep, to wa&s;h perhaps with Tears tho&s;e Spots of Immode&s;ty, which her wan|ton
<PB N="120" REF="63">Looks might have Printed in the Chry&s;tal of her Minde.</P>
<P>Being now (to &s;ay &s;o) habituated to mortifica|tion and di&s;plea&s;ure, &s;he was at that pa&s;s, to be able to look <HI>Antiochus</HI> in the face without any alterati|on, and to be unmole&s;ted though &s;he &s;aw him not at all. All the re&s;taurative &s;he allowed the afflicti|ons of her Minde, was the &s;ound of a Cymbal, which with its Strings of Steel rendring warlike the Harmony, by force overcame (though it were in a &s;hort &s;pace of time) the Army of Pa&s;&s;ions by which &s;he found her &s;elf to be be&s;ieged.</P>
<Q><L>In love, what's Beauty worth though rare,</L>
<L>But to cau&s;e torment to a Heart?</L>
<L>No matter for fine Golden Hair</L>
<L>Or Cheeks by Nature Red, or Art.</L>
<L>Ah! Beauty can us onely move,</L>
<L>'Tis Fate that cau&s;es Death for Love.</L></Q>
<P>So &s;he made an end of &s;inging one day, when a &s;ealed Paper came to her hands, which was brought her very cautiou&s;ly by one of her faithfulle&s;t Wo|men.</P>
<P>The Letter came from <HI>Clitarcus.</HI> He &s;eeing him&s;elf near to death, and being not unwilling to dye; but becau&s;e he could no longer beatifie him|&s;elf with &s;erving his deare&s;t <HI>Stratonica,</HI> re&s;olved to write her this Letter, and in it to excu&s;e his own Actions, that he might in &s;ome &s;ort make them &s;eem to the Queen the le&s;s faulty. <HI>Stratonica</HI> per|petually accu&s;tomed to finde &s;ome black di&s;a&s;ter
<PB N="121" REF="63">in white Paper, did not open it without fear, nor reade it without alteration. The Contents &s;aid as followeth:</P>
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<P>MADAM, <HI>Since my life is &s;o near to an end, that I may no longer reckon Days but Hours, I mu&s;t not go out of this world, without taking leave of you, who have always been my Patrone&s;s; nor leave im|printed in your Minde an Opinion cruel to my &s;elf, without making you that excu&s;e for it, which the Duty I profe&s;s you requires. If therefore perad|venture with little &s;atisfaction to your Plea&s;ure, I have induced you to reade this Letter, excu&s;e my ne|ce&s;sity, and be not di&s;plea&s;ed with my boldne&s;s. For albeit I know, that to &s;ay nothing of it, or confe&s;s it, neither makes me lyable to death, or delivers me from it; yet I &s;hould be very glad, that what you &s;hall reade here within, may perpetually be buried in the bottom of your Heart. I &s;hall never be cen&s;ured for confiding in you; for be&s;ides that in you all tho&s;e qualities concur, which can a&s;&s;ure me of your &s;ecrecy, I may always &s;ay to have tru&s;ted in my life.</HI></P>
<P><HI>You already know Madam (and you know it too well, unfortunate that I am) That I was born to a|dore you. My Age encrea&s;ing by the Rayes of your Beauty, was no otherwi&s;e life to me, then I had hope to obtain your good Grace.</HI> Ar&s;inda <HI>the Prince&s;s ob&s;erving my qualities, was taken with them, and de&s;igned them to the Fortune of her Daughter. I likewi&s;e reflecting on her parts, e&s;teemed her very fit to implore for me your Love. She met with me as a friend on the Trace of her Ends, I followed her on
<PB N="122" REF="64">the Foot&s;teps of my Wi&s;hes, as one whom &s;he tru&s;ted. The relation of my Pa&s;sions &s;ucceeded the beginning of our friend&s;hip. Whereupon &s;he di&s;covering an oc|ca&s;ion to gain me, on the one &s;ide undertook my a&s;si|&s;tance very willingly, on the other cau&s;ed me to de|&s;pair of the effect; being &s;ecure by the&s;e Arts to loo&s;e me from your Love, and tye me to that of her Daugh|ter; You know, O Queen, the offices, the tryals and per&s;wa&s;ions which &s;he u&s;ed to you in my name. Your cruelty was my ruine and her anger. When &s;he &s;aw that neither by your rigid behavior towards me, I sould be diverted from you, nor by her allurements be induced to love</HI> Euripia, <HI>&s;he re&s;olved to per&s;ecute me. It occurs not to &s;urvey again Di&s;ta&s;tes. It is to no body more known then to your &s;elf, to what tryals &s;he hath often expo&s;ed my Reputation and Life. But now &s;ince I mu&s;t dye, I forgive her all offences, and love her as formerly. Finding then my &s;elf de|prived of her a&s;si&s;tance, and de&s;pairing to have you as a Mi&s;tre&s;s, I did ca&s;t about how to gain you for my Wife. The di&s;&s;entions between your Father and Husband, were the foundation on which I erected my Engines. Suppo&s;e me a Lover, and you'll grant all exorbitances! You would offend your wi&s;dom, if you wondered and examined my Actions. It is &s;ufficient. The bu&s;ine&s;s went on well, if the breaking of a Va&s;e of Pur&s;lain had not ruined in a moment my Fortunes. Heaven, that knew me unworthy of your Love, would not let me have the experience of the worth of your favor. Your Beauty, which hath made all men happy, hath rendered me onely unfortunate. A ju&s;t puni&s;hment of the Gods, who knowing that by
<PB N="123" REF="64">adoring you, I preferred you before them, would not let me brag that I had couzened them of their Ho|nors, without lo&s;ing my life. So go the things of the world, O</HI> Stratonica! Clitarcus <HI>born a Prince, grown up to the Hopes of a Kingdom, endowed with good Qualities, beloved of Va&s;&s;als, and reverenced by Strangers, is brought to be be headed in the Flower of his Age. I dye O deare&s;t (di&s;pence with me, if at the end of my life I make u&s;e of this word) I dye full of all tho&s;e di&s;contents, and abandoned by all tho&s;e Con&s;olations, which in Ca&s;es like this, have at any time been of force to encourage every other wretched man. My death would be happy, if I might be a&s;&s;ured, that the&s;e my di&s;a&s;ters were but pityed by one &s;ingle drop of your Eyes. But it is temerity to a&s;pire &s;o high. I know your Eyes in that they are Stars, are mine Enemies, and I mu&s;t not hope for pity from mine Enemies. Be you happy, O Madam!</HI></P>
</LETTER>
<P>It is hard to relate how many impre&s;&s;ions the Letter made in the Minde of <HI>Stratonica,</HI> in order to Affection and Pity. The &s;ad Queen upbraided her misfortunes to Heaven, &s;ince in the fir&s;t ending to finde one that loves her, &s;he began to lo&s;e him. In fine, &s;he could not choo&s;e but communicate the Letter to <HI>Ar&s;inda,</HI> who then was her Beloved, her Favorite. And &s;o much the more willingly &s;he communicated it to her, by how much that hereto|fore &s;he had &s;een, that <HI>Ar&s;inda</HI> following the Fa|&s;hion of womani&s;h incon&s;tancy, having changed all the Hatred &s;he bare to <HI>Clitarcus,</HI> into an Affection and an un&s;peakable Pity, had made her &s;elf famous
<PB N="124" REF="65">among others of the Court, by bewailing his di&s;|a&s;trous Condition. When they had then con&s;ult|ed long together, <HI>Ar&s;inda</HI> without &s;peaking any more had recour&s;e to <HI>Seleucus,</HI> and informed him with mo&s;t powerful Rea&s;ons, That now &s;ince <HI>Cli|tarcus</HI> was contented to dye without confe&s;&s;ing any thing, it was expedient to the Crown, to di&s;cover the Wiles and Treacheries of his Enemies by of|fering him his life, in ca&s;e he would manife&s;t their de&s;ign. The King was mo&s;t unwilling to Con&s;ent to this Re&s;olution. But la&s;tly, when he knew of what u&s;e it was to him, he Conde&s;cended to all <HI>Ar&s;inda</HI> de&s;ired. When &s;he had obtained this Grace, &s;he was doubtful of <HI>Clitarcus</HI> his kindne&s;s, though in the Queens Letter &s;he had had &s;ome ear|ne&s;t of it before. Whereupon it &s;eemed nece&s;&s;ary to her, before &s;he would Treat with him of any thing, to penetrate his Minde with a Note. She therefore wrote to him very kindly, and a&s;&s;ured him how much from her heart &s;he repented her &s;elf, that &s;he ever had di&s;plea&s;ed him, and how bit|terly &s;he grieved to &s;ee he was brought to &s;uch an end:</P>
<P>When <HI>Clitarcus</HI> had read the Note, he thought without doubt, That <HI>Ar&s;inda</HI> would even in the end of his life, afflict him with &s;ome &s;pecious de|ceit. Yet di&s;&s;embling his doubt, he an&s;wered her thus in a Letter:</P>
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<OPENER><SALUTE>PRINCESS,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><HI>TO purcha&s;e your good Grace in that Moment, when I am to lo&s;e my life, is a nece&s;sitating of me, to bewail one thing more that I leave in this
<PB N="125" REF="65">world. You would, O</HI> Ar&s;inda, <HI>have u&s;ed greater pity to me, if Treating me like an Enemy in that maner, as you have been to me till ju&s;t now, you had made me unconcerned in the Sorrow of not being longer able to enjoy your Courte&s;ies. You have done nothing el&s;e by reconciling me to you, but added the weight of your Memory to the burthen I carry to the other World. I impute all to my Stars, which have had the power to make me &s;o unhappy, that even Fa|vors prove Misfortunes to me. How&s;oever (Madam) I am glad to die lamented by you, &s;ince I lived before per&s;ecuted by you. And a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf, that he who hath never re&s;ented your Injuries, till forced by his Honor, will never forget your Affection, till ma&s;tered by Eternity.</HI></P>
</LETTER>
<P>When <HI>Ar&s;inda</HI> had received this Letter, &s;he flew full of joy to the Pri&s;on. She complemented and negotiated with <HI>Clitarcus</HI> a good while. In the end &s;he &s;o wrought, that he was contented to buy his life at the rate of Confe&s;&s;ion. The Examination &s;ucceeded the Charge; and in the Examination he di&s;covered many things that were not fit to be re|vealed; one of which was, the accu&s;ing of <HI>Cli|menes</HI> for one of the principal Actors in the Con|&s;piracy.</P>
<P><HI>Climenes</HI> on this Evidence was mo&s;t cruelly tor|mented; but a&s;&s;uring him&s;elf that he could by no means e&s;cape Death, he declined the re&s;idue of his Torments, by &s;aying, He was ready to reveal every thing, provided, that <HI>Antiochus</HI> and <HI>Licofronia</HI> would be pre&s;ent at his Tryal. Then the Pre&s;idents
<PB N="126" REF="66">of the Cau&s;e being a&s;&s;embled together in the Chamber of the Prince, together with <HI>Licofronia,</HI> who, as zealous of the life of the King, had per&s;e|cuted extreamly in all things the &s;aid guilty Per&s;on; The Judges had &s;carce taken their places, but they heard the noi&s;e of the Irons which <HI>Climenes</HI> trail'd along on the ground.</P>
<P>The poor Youth appeared like a Traveller into another life. His Countenance (which by Nature had no vulgar Air in it) grown lean by Affliction, expre&s;&s;ed in a pale di&s;agreement of Colours, that the Harmony of his <HI>individuum</HI> began its Di&s;&s;olu|tions from the Head. They read in the Apple of his Eye, Tears manfully repelled, and Horrors im|perfectly de&s;igned by Death. Yet when he had rallied the Reliques of a Chearfulne&s;s, which be|fore was di&s;per&s;ed, with a &s;miling that had nothing el&s;e of life but the &s;hadow, he &s;pake in this maner:</P>
<P>To be Mortal, and con&s;equently &s;ubject to Pa&s;|&s;ions and Errors, &s;hould not make it &s;eem &s;trange to you, O Judges, that now before your eyes, ye &s;ee me faln down to the bottom of humane Adver&s;i|ties. He that incited me to this Precipice, is &s;o powerful, that with an example of extraordinary wonder, he could have &s;ubverted more robu&s;tious Brea&s;ts, and Hearts far more generous then mine. But I &s;peak not this to dimini&s;h in any &s;ort the greatne&s;s of my Fault, but to a&s;&s;ure you (my Lords) that what I have de&s;igned again&s;t the King, had relation to nothing but Love and Revenge.</P>
<P>The Phy&s;icians di&s;&s;ention in order to your &s;ick|ne&s;s
<PB N="127" REF="66">(O Prince) was the cau&s;e, from which &s;uch &s;ad Effects are derived. I am not in a condition to in|large my Di&s;cour&s;e. Hear the true Relation, and pity (if you plea&s;e) not my Offence, but my Frailty.</P>
<P>When <HI>Hermogenes</HI> &s;aw he was vilified by <HI>Car|neades,</HI> for their Difference in Opinion in order to your Highne&s;&s;es di&s;ea&s;e; and that to that contempt was joyned the little Favor the King &s;hewed him; he being vexed, &s;ent a Letter to <HI>Demetrius,</HI> my Ma&s;ter, &s;trewed full of Ambu&s;hes and Trea&s;ons, which <HI>Seleucus</HI> devi&s;ed again&s;t him. And among&s;t other things (to confirm them) wrote to him, That the King the la&s;t year perceiving that your Highne&s;s was familiar with <HI>Sophonisba,</HI> fearing le&s;t at la&s;t you might marry her, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> wards <HI>Demetrius</HI> his Kinred, had cau&s;ed her to be poy&s;oned by <HI>Carneades:</HI> Whereupon the unfor|tunate Lady departing &s;hortly after for the Death of <HI>Fau&s;tus</HI> her Father, could &s;carce get to <HI>Bur&s;ia</HI> alive.</P>
<P><HI>Demetrius,</HI> who before was per&s;waded of the hatred <HI>Seleucus</HI> bare to him, when he &s;aw its Effects in <HI>Sophonisba,</HI> did pre&s;ently beleeve what&s;oever <HI>Hermogenes</HI> wrote to him. Whereupon being in|flamed to Revenge (having before made &s;ure of <HI>Clitarcus</HI> the Prince) he re&s;olved to &s;end to this Court &s;ome faithful Lord of his, who embracing with him the De&s;ign, might per&s;wade him to con|&s;pire again&s;t the King, and to &s;eek by all means, either by Iron or Poy&s;on to deprive him of Life.</P>
<P>None of his Barons &s;eemed fitter to him for this
<PB N="128" REF="67">bu&s;ine&s;s, then my &s;elf. To that end having drawn me a&s;ide one day, to di&s;cour&s;e with him in the &s;ecrete&s;t place of one of his Cabinets, when he had complained greatly of <HI>Seleucus;</HI> and &s;hewed me the Letters of <HI>Hermogenes,</HI> he commanded me to come to this Court, and told me what to do with <HI>Clitarcus.</HI></P>
<P>I, who had loved <HI>Sophonisba</HI> more then my life, and that if I came not to this Court when the Queen brought her with her for one of her Ladies, it was, becau&s;e I was far di&s;tant at that time from <HI>Bur&s;ia,</HI> for certain Affairs of the King, my Ma&s;ter; Imagine ye, O Judges, what &s;orrow I felt by &s;eeing in <HI>Hermogenes</HI> his Letters, not onely the Memory, but the Quality of her Death. Whereupon, it ap|pearing to me, that by obeying the King, not one|ly concurred the Satisfaction of doing my Duty, but that too of revenging my Lady, I was very willing to perform his Commands.</P>
<P>It di&s;ordered me onely to think, that I &s;hould be known not onely by <HI>Stratonica,</HI> but many others of this Court; but <HI>Demetrius</HI> telling me, that (when I had gotten a Beard, and changed with my Voice in &s;ome &s;ort the Features of my Face, I might ea&s;ily be freed of this doubt) did encourage me &s;o, that I imbarqued my &s;elf for this Coa&s;t: Being &s;ur|prized at Sea by a Tempe&s;t, I was ca&s;t on the I&s;land of <HI>Cyprus,</HI> where forced to expect many Moneths the Commodity of Pa&s;&s;age, the Relation befel me of that Witch, which I made &s;ome days pa&s;t to your Highne&s;s, which differeth in nothing from the Truth, but in that particular onely, in which I
<PB N="129" REF="67">made mention of my Father, and in the Infirmities which I &s;aid I had had in the end.</P>
<P>Your Highne&s;s I know calls &s;omething to minde that I &s;ignified to you of a Picture which I &s;aw there in the Pallace of that Mountain, for who&s;e &s;ake afterwards I could not endure to &s;ee any other. Now this was the Picture of <HI>Sophonisba.</HI> Being in|flamed by this &s;ight more then ever to the Enter|prize, Fortune to facilitate the more my Di&s;a&s;ters, did likewi&s;e provide again&s;t the danger of my being di&s;covered; for going a hunting one day, I fell from a very high Precipice of Rocks, and breaking my No&s;e and my Teeth, and lo&s;ing an Eye, as you &s;ee, I &s;ecurely did negotiate with my Friends, and no body knew who I was.</P>
<P>Being healed, and a very convenient Pa&s;&s;age af|forded me, I arrived at this Court. Here feigning my &s;elf to be a Stranger, as your Highne&s;s beheld, I onely di&s;covered my &s;elf to the Prince your Cozen, and procured the Friend&s;hip of <HI>Hermo|genes.</HI> The Prince (though he very much de&s;ired it) was troubled in re&s;olving with him&s;elf to con|&s;pire again&s;t the King. But I knowing he was cruel|ly in Love with the Queen (though &s;he knew no|thing of it) did promi&s;e to him on the part of <HI>De|metrius,</HI> to marry her to him as &s;oon as <HI>Seleucus</HI> &s;hould be dead. He, who was not able to &s;tand firm again&s;t the&s;e Motions, when the promi&s;e was authenticated by the Letters of my Ma&s;ter, cor|rupted <HI>Hermogenes</HI> with a great &s;um of Gold, and many Hopes, and incited him to Poy&s;on <HI>Seleucus.</HI> As &s;oon as I knew that he had done the deed
<PB N="130" REF="68">(though it was without Effect, by the Rupture of the Va&s;e) I killed him the night following, to be &s;ure he &s;hould be &s;ilent. But by the &s;ame way that I thought to have &s;ecured the Secrecy, by that very &s;ame I happened to reveal it. For <HI>Hermogenes</HI> as ye know having &s;o much life left him, as to be able to inform <HI>Terpandius</HI> of the Fact, every thing was di&s;covered. So the bu&s;ine&s;s exactly hath pa&s;&s;ed, O Judges. Now it remains (he &s;pake with a great &s;igh) that ye know who I am; but no body can give greater te&s;timony of that then this Lady, who &s;its here among you. And in &s;aying &s;o, &s;hewing <HI>Licofronia</HI> a skar that he had on his Arm, now &s;peak you, he added (O Madam) if you know your Son <HI>Alce&s;tes.</HI></P>
<P>Reader, I have not the courage to delineate the re&s;entment of a Mother, who after a very long time that &s;he hath been far di&s;tant from her onely Son, comes to re-behold him with an Ax over his Head. Let him (who can) arrive there with a Thought, where I cannot come with my Pen. I will onely &s;ay this, The Judges &s;o much pitied this ca&s;e, that if his Offence had been any thing but Trea&s;on, perhaps changing the Puni&s;hment of Life into &s;ome other Puni&s;hment, they might in &s;ome kinde have been indulgent to him.</P>
<P>Thou died&s;t &s;o, O <HI>Alce&s;tes.</HI> Thy ill Fortune could not be divided from thee, but by the Iron which cut off thy Head. Unfortunate Man! Thy Misfortune would not have been lamented at all, if thou had&s;t undertaken the Con&s;piracy, &s;et on fire by other flames, but tho&s;e of Revenge and of Love.
<PB N="131" REF="68">Where is that Heart, be it never &s;o generous, that &s;purred on by the&s;e two Affections, runs not to any kinde of Precipice? May that be an example to the Liver.</P>
<P>But <HI>Clitarcus</HI> (who had by the means of <HI>Ar&s;inda</HI> been delivered out of Pri&s;on, and from Death, though perpetually bani&s;hed from <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI>) was willing to gratifie in &s;ome part the kindne&s;s he had received from that Lady, by marrying <HI>Euripia.</HI> So one of the Con&s;pirators (becau&s;e he was a Prince) pa&s;&s;es to his Nuptials, while the other (becau&s;e a private man) goes to the Gallows.</P>
<P>The Di&s;turbances of <HI>Seleucus</HI> and <HI>Antiochus</HI> being quieted in this maner, and the Court filled with joy for this Marriage, their Contentment was the greater, becau&s;e <HI>Demetrius</HI> &s;eeing his De&s;igns were di&s;covered, endeavored a Peace with <HI>Seleucus,</HI> and obtained it.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> therefore awaked with the noi&s;e of the Fea&s;ts out of that Melancholly in which her great Beauty lay a&s;leep, and began to rekindle in her &s;elf the accu&s;tomed &s;plendors of her Face, and revive the u&s;ual Graces of her Looks and of Laughter.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus,</HI> thy Sun prepares him&s;elf to run to|wards the end of thy life. What is to be done? Pre&s;erve thy Cha&s;tity, and thou lo&s;e&s;t thy Life. So this poor de&s;perate Prince, when he &s;aw in the Ro&s;es of his Enemy, the Thorns of his Condition to re-blo&s;&s;om, fell to Fa&s;ting again, becau&s;e he would not nouri&s;h in the weakne&s;s of his Life, the danger of his Mode&s;ty.</P>
<PB N="132" REF="69">
<P>But <HI>Seleucus,</HI> who wanted not any thing to per|fect his Happine&s;s in the Joys of the Peace, but the &s;ight of &s;ome amendment in <HI>Antiochus,</HI> being con|&s;ecrated wholly to Sacrifices and Devotions, &s;pent onely the hours of the day in &s;ighing to Heaven for &s;ome reparation to the Ruines of his decaying Son.</P>
<P>Near <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> &s;ome three Miles off, there is a Valley, which within a &s;ad Plea&s;antne&s;s of <HI>Cypres</HI> Trees, by which it was encumbered by rea&s;on of their Thickne&s;s, a Temple lay hid, erected to the Glory of a namele&s;s Deity. There Solitude (who&s;e Kingdom it &s;eemed) commanding with the Scepter of Silence, did intimate to all that entred into the Wood, the decrees of Terror and Admiration.</P>
<P>The Fabrick (which &s;hewed in the Architecture a Maje&s;ty, to which even Ages did homage) a&s;&s;i&s;t|ed by tho&s;e Circum&s;tances of Horror and Anti|quity, which make a doleful Edifice, was reverenced by Pilgrims, as a dwelling that could not contain any other thing in it, but the ob&s;cure Deity of a Power unknown.</P>
<P>Black Bats, and unlucky Birds, which (com|pa&s;&s;ing the Temple with &s;ad flutterings) did form an unfortunate Chattering, were the Citizens which inhabiting the Ob&s;curities of the Wood, accorded to the colours of their Feathers the &s;adne&s;s of tho&s;e Leaves, which even in their trembling breath|ed Tears.</P>
<P>Hither the King re&s;olved to have daily recour&s;e, without any other attendance but two Lords; be|ing confident that as he prayed again&s;t an unknown
<PB N="133" REF="69">Di&s;ea&s;e, &s;o onely of an unknown Deity he could obtain the Remedy for it. And behold at the third &s;tation, when the Sacrifice was done, he &s;oundly &s;leeps at the Foot of the Altar, and hears a voice in a dream that &s;ayes unto him,</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus,</HI> cau&s;e <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> to be found. If he cures not thy Son, his Death is unavoidable.</P>
<P>The unfortunate King awaking with this voice (which &s;truck him like Thunder) returned in all ha&s;te to <HI>Dama&s;cus.</HI> And when he had di&s;tinctly in|quired, if there was a Phy&s;ician in the World called <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus;</HI> he received this An&s;wer, That there was not onely &s;uch a one, but that he was the Va&s;&s;al of his Maje&s;ty; and that it was not long &s;ince he had married a mo&s;t beautiful Citizen of <HI>Dama&s;cus.</HI></P>
<P>The King having cau&s;ed <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> to come to him, beheld him Counter-marked with &s;o Noble and &s;o Comely a Countenance, that by his lively Carriage, and cheerful Condition, he &s;traight-ways pre&s;aged &s;ome good Fortune to the Cure of <HI>Antio|chus.</HI> Poor afflicted men, how quickly they run to beleeve, what they would have &s;ucceed in order to the effecting their De&s;ires. All men offend con|cerning this Levity, but great men there offend mo&s;t of all; for they (as more proud in their De|&s;ires) cannot comprehend how Hope can be &s;o bold to deceive them.</P>
<P><HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> expo&s;ed to the Eyes of the other Phy&s;icians, and of the Court, became &s;oon a Mark for the blows of Detraction and Envy. But he (who had &s;pent the greater part of his time in the
<PB N="134" REF="70">Courts of other Kings, being skilful in the art of in&s;inuating him&s;elf into every ones favor) prevailed with them in time no le&s;s by his Knowledge then his Wit.</P>
<P>But <HI>Seleucus</HI> (who procured with all diligence that the Phy&s;ician &s;hould not be di&s;tracted with any other Thoughts, but tho&s;e which were nece&s;&s;ary for the &s;tudy of Remedies) was de&s;irous that his Wife &s;hould be brought into the Court, to live there with him; and gave order to have her Treated as a Lady e&s;teemed by the Queen.</P>
<P>Things being compo&s;ed in this maner, <HI>Era|&s;i&s;tratus</HI> went in to make his fir&s;t vi&s;it to the Prince, and with him <HI>Seleucus,</HI> and <HI>Antipater</HI> the Princes Over&s;eer. The Room half dark, was the fir&s;t &s;ign which they all three had of the little Life of the &s;ick Prince. Their Looks ha&s;tned to the Bed, which (now beginning to transform it &s;elf into a Coffin) contained nothing el&s;e but a mi&s;erable Conjunction of Bones animated by a fugitive Soul. <HI>Antiochus</HI> was defaced in that maner, that having by his &s;ickne&s;s acquired a Figure wholly different from him&s;elf, he retained nothing el&s;e of his former Similitude, but a lively Look, in which alone, as in a &s;ecure Counter-&s;ign, his unfortunate Father was reduced to acknowledge the Stamp of his own Re|&s;emblance.</P>
<P>Nature peradventure then robbing him of his native Form, had with a compa&s;&s;ionate cruelty de|livered him from the re&s;idue of tho&s;e Tears which <HI>Seleucus</HI> would have &s;hed by re&s;eeing in him his own Image. But what greater mi&s;ery could arrive
<PB N="135" REF="70">to poor <HI>Antiochus,</HI> then to be brought to that pa&s;s, that it &s;eemed but rea&s;onable to defraud him of that weeping to which his Fathers Tears were in|debted by the law of Compa&s;&s;ion. Yet the unfor|tunate King was not wanting to water his Cheeks in that maner, That if the Over&s;eer and Phy&s;ician there pre&s;ent, had not &s;ignified to him that he &s;hould forbear weeping, he would without doubt (forerunning the death of his Son) have provided his dear Body of a Bath. They con&s;idered him po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by Melancholly, oppre&s;&s;ed with Silence, and ab&s;tracted from Humanity. Every thing about him &s;eemed to infu&s;e Horror, and to &s;avor of Mi&s;|fortune. Even the Air (infected with his Fate) moved up and down in the Circuit of his Cham|ber &s;omething that was Noy&s;om and Deadly.</P>
<P>When the King had made much of him, and frequently asked him how he did, being unable to get from him any an&s;wer at all but a turning of his &s;houlders, he weeping, con&s;ulted the Phy&s;ician in order to what they &s;hould do to revive this dying health.</P>
<P><HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> then taking into his hand the arm of <HI>Antiochus,</HI> ob&s;erved (mu&s;ing much) by the drum of his Pul&s;e, if his Soul yet began to beat the march. Then he &s;aid very gravely, That there wanted not cau&s;es of &s;adne&s;s; That neverthele&s;s in that his fir&s;t vi&s;it he dur&s;t not yet progno&s;ticate any thing of certainty; That he &s;hould have thought it a mo&s;t excellent remedy, to cheer up <HI>Antiochus</HI> his &s;orrows with much merry Company and &s;weet Mu&s;ick; for he &s;aw very well, that chiefly two
<PB N="136" REF="71">things were the infirmities which cau&s;ed his Death, to wit, Melancholly and Weakne&s;s. The Phy&s;ician going on in his di&s;cour&s;e, &s;o &s;atisfied the Kings ex|pectation, that he hanging at his Mouth, pre&s;erved his Words as an&s;wers from an Oracle.</P>
<P><HI>Antipater</HI> had the Charge to give order for the Fea&s;ts, and to a&s;&s;ign the time for the Ladies A&s;&s;em|blies. There the Queen being often to intervene, not onely as chief in Authority, but as principal in Beauty, was the cau&s;e that the others &s;o much infe|rior to her (becau&s;e they would not &s;tay in the place) went out with their Attires and Embelli&s;h|ments, devi&s;ed without doubt by Emulation, and embroydered by Envy.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> his Chamber being therefore become an Epitome, in which O&s;tentation had contracted all its Bravery; and a Scene, where all the Torches of Beauty were lighted, the poor Prince felt him|&s;elf mount mi&s;erably towards Paradi&s;e.</P>
<P>Next to <HI>Stratonica,</HI> there was not a Lady (though the Court did abound with extraordinary Beauties) more hand&s;ome then <HI>Polibia</HI> the Wife of the Phy&s;ician. She (who&s;e years re&s;embled a No&s;e|gay of Flowers tyed by Youth) &s;urpa&s;&s;ing the others as much as &s;he was &s;urpa&s;&s;ed her &s;elf by <HI>Stra|tonica,</HI> &s;eemed a middle limit placed in that Com|pany, to prove that infinity which the Beauty of the Queen arrived at.</P>
<P>If I knew which way to de&s;cribe a Deity, per|haps I &s;hould dare to &s;hadow tho&s;e Sweets, which all Eyes felt by fixing them&s;elves on the Counte|nance of the Queen, while &s;he &s;ate near the Bed of
<PB N="137" REF="71"><HI>Antiochus,</HI> to &s;olace her &s;elf with the re&s;t of the Ladies. But tis madne&s;s to attempt an impo&s;&s;ible thing.</P>
<P><HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> (who well under&s;tood the lan|guage of the Eyes) perceiving that looks pa&s;&s;ed be|tween the Queen and the Prince, which carried and recarried arrows, was not long a comprehend|ing in what tempe&s;t the Health of <HI>Antiochus</HI> was lo&s;t. Being cautious therefore in ob&s;erving, in le&s;s then two days he perceived, that every time <HI>Strato|nica</HI> appeared, the poor Prince (grown pale) was in a &s;weat; his Tongue trembled in his Mouth, and his Heart did beat in his Brea&s;t; and the Motions of his Pul&s;e varying in that maner, it &s;eemed by the frequent beatings that he panted in calling for help.</P>
<P>Pen&s;ive <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus,</HI> what remedy wilt thou finde for this Princes di&s;ea&s;e, now thou ha&s;t had the furtune to di&s;cover it? He turns to A&s;hes for a fire, which nothing &s;uits better with then Silence. How wilt thou be able to put thy &s;elf in order to make u&s;e of any Medicaments, if thou may&s;t not define the di&s;ea&s;e nor &s;peak of it? O my very cruel Condition! And what avails it me, that thou ha&s;t brought me to the greate&s;t cure in the world (to make me get honor) if thou ha&s;t put a rub in my way, which may make me lo&s;e my life? &s;o &s;pake &s;ighingly the Phy&s;ician in that affliction of Minde, who could have no greater Con&s;olation then De|&s;pair. But after much uncertainty of Thought, he ran to <HI>Seleucus,</HI> and informing him that at length he had di&s;covered the di&s;ea&s;e of <HI>Antiochus,</HI> he tells him it is incurable.</P>
<PB N="138" REF="72">
<P>Alas, then (an&s;wered the King) dare&s;t thou tell me &s;uch unfortunate News? And from what &s;o mortal Cau&s;e is derived a di&s;ea&s;e, which my Crown is not able to Cure?</P>
<P>Sir, replyed <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus,</HI> Love is the cau&s;e of his Sickne&s;s. The Prince by Exce&s;&s;ively loving, is near the la&s;t moment of his Life.</P>
<P>The King lo&s;t between Wonder and Increduli|ty, on the one &s;ide Laughed, on the other was Sad. But the Phy&s;ician &s;wearing that all he &s;aid to him was mo&s;t true, and offering to make it appear to his own Eyes, <HI>Seleucus</HI> grew pale. And who may be probably this Lady, which hath had the power to Charm my poor Son in this maner, that he mu&s;t dye for her Love?</P>
<P>When the Prince was in health (replyed the Phy&s;ician) Fortune one day brought him to &s;ee <HI>Polibia,</HI> who was not then my Wife; and he &s;ee|ing her very hand&s;om, and con&s;equently worthy of any Noble mans Love, was enamored &s;o of her, that in brief he attempted all means to obtain her. But it being repugnant to his Nature to make u&s;e there of force, where Prayers were not prevalent, he was grieved &s;o to the heart, that he re&s;olved to go dye in <HI>Laodicea.</HI> Your Maje&s;ty knows better then I, if that journey was intended. Melanchol|ly afterwards augmented in him hourly with Si|lence, hath (extending him on a Bed) con&s;umed him as you &s;ee. Yet his &s;ickne&s;s peradventure would not have been incurable, if by the occa&s;ion of my fatal coming to his cure, he had not both re|&s;een and re-known <HI>Polibia</HI> for my Wi&s;e. Behold,
<PB N="139" REF="72">O &s;ir, how exce&s;&s;ively unhappy your Condition is and Mine; how your Maje&s;ty believing to finde a Phy&s;ician that was able to re&s;tore him to his health, and I a Cure &s;uitable to my Ambition, We have both of us unfortunately co-operated to his Death.</P>
<P>If the King then Wept infinitely and Lamented, let that Father imagine, who reduced to the pover|ty of one onely Son, hath placed in his Life all the hopes of his Progeny.</P>
<P>He cur&s;ed the day of his own Nativity. He &s;aid he was deceived by the Oracle, and prote&s;ted to Heaven his De&s;pair. Then heated with the boyl|ing of his Affections, he collected all the wittie&s;t Enthymems, and &s;ubtile&s;t Syllogi&s;ms, to imprint in the heart of <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> an Argument of Truth, that in him all the happine&s;s of <HI>Antiochus</HI> con&s;i&s;ted. And that if he would as a Husband be willing to abandon <HI>Polibia</HI> to the Princes de&s;ires, he would make his Family as fortunate as any ever was.</P>
<P>He then dilated him&s;elf in &s;hewing him the hap|pine&s;s of the People, which depended on the Life of a Prince &s;o well Qualified; the joy of a Father, who would by that means be &s;een to re-flouri&s;h in a Son; and the Obligation of a Favor, which a Po&s;terity owing him could never be forgotten.</P>
<P>But the Phy&s;ician feigning an Anger, which pa&s;&s;ed not the Confines of Di&s;&s;embling (artificially grown proud) returned him this An&s;wer, That he could not tell if his Maje&s;ty would embrace tho&s;e Coun&s;els him&s;elf, which he labored to give him, if he was in <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> his Condition; That he was very &s;ure, That provided <HI>Antiochus</HI> had been en|amored
<PB N="140" REF="73">of the Queen, his Maje&s;ty would not have endured that any &s;hould have per&s;waded him to re|nounce her to the Lover.</P>
<P>Here <HI>Seleucus</HI> could not &s;uffer him to go on, but crying out with a violence derived from paternal Affection, Would the Gods would be &s;o plea&s;ed (he &s;aid weeping) that my poor Son were in love with my Wife, that I without lo&s;ing any time, might run to di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;s my &s;elf of a Woman, to gain a King; but the Stars have not vouch&s;afed me &s;o much happine&s;s. My de&s;tiny (which hath wholly &s;een my will devoted to my Sons) would not let his Life depend on my will. O, among&s;t all that have ever had children in the World, mo&s;t unfortunate Father! And how gloriou&s;ly happy &s;hould I be, if <HI>Antiochus</HI> being in love with <HI>Stratonica,</HI> it lay in my power to get my &s;elf a priviledge in his grati|tude, by giving him life a &s;econd time? So &s;pake <HI>Seleucus;</HI> and he bathed in the mean time (with his eyes di&s;&s;olved into water) the reverence of that hoary old Age, which rendered his Countenance no le&s;s Grave then Maje&s;tick.</P>
<P>We de&s;ire that Ability which we have not; not &s;o much to u&s;e it, as to have &s;omething more then we had. Privation is &s;o loath&s;om a thing, that when there is even a privation of any &s;uperfluity, we are troubled. Our Minde, which is always de|&s;irous of Dominion, runs willingly to tho&s;e Actions that are the effects of a quality newly gained, though otherwi&s;e the Actions be of little Satisfaction.</P>
<P>If this King had perceived he had been able to beatifie <HI>Antiochus,</HI> before he &s;o fervently de&s;ired
<PB N="141" REF="73">this Power in another, he would not peradventure have put into practi&s;e with &s;o great a violence.</P>
<P>When <HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> &s;aw the King in the height of his Sorrow, he ca&s;t him&s;elf down at his Feet, and be&s;ought him to be quiet; for it was in his Power to give Life to the Prince. And proceeding in di&s;|covering to him <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Love to the Queen, he cau&s;ed the pitiful Father to &s;woon through a|bundance of Tenderne&s;s.</P>
<P>He employed then him&s;elf in ob&s;erving his Sons alterations when <HI>Stratonica</HI> arrived, and was con|fident of all the Phy&s;ician had affirmed to him. Then without lo&s;ing of time (for the Life of the Prince was no longer in a &s;tate to &s;uffer delay) he a&s;&s;embled his Coun&s;ellors. There gravely de|bating the matter (after he had given them a true Information of every thing that had &s;ucceeded in order to the Princes di&s;ea&s;e) he &s;hewed them how great the lo&s;s was all the Kingdom would have by his death. He dilated him&s;elf (not without Tears) in commending his Qualities. He proved the utility which they hoped for by his Government. He de|clared the impotency of his own old Age. He be|wailed the Royal Progeny that would end in his Sons <HI>individuum,</HI> if he died in that maner: And la&s;tly, he commended his renouncing of <HI>Stratonica</HI> to him, to pre&s;erve him alive.</P>
<P>The Kings opinion was unanimou&s;ly approved of, and no le&s;s were all a&s;toni&s;hed at the love of the Father to the Son, then the re&s;pect of the Son to the Father.</P>
<P>This no &s;ooner was done, but <HI>Seleucus</HI> called
<PB N="142" REF="74"><HI>Stratonica</HI> a&s;ide into a Chamber. He de&s;ired her not to wonder at what he had to tell her; for the Extravagances of the World cau&s;ed greater A|mazements. That he was well a&s;&s;ured, That the &s;ickne&s;s of <HI>Antiochus</HI> did proceed from an infinite Love which he bare unto her: That it &s;hould not appear &s;trange to her, for her Beauty could do more &s;tupendious Miracles: That he &s;aw no other Re|medy to pre&s;erve his Son's Life, but to renounce to him her Body, though he did not renounce unto him his Affection to her.</P>
<P>That at lea&s;t he felt this Plea&s;ure, that her Merits had a greater Reward, then that which his wa&s;ted old Age had the Power to be&s;tow now up|on her: That a Prince of le&s;s Vertue then <HI>Antio|chus,</HI> was unworthy of &s;o qualified a Queen: That &s;he &s;hould comfort her &s;elf, that if he lo&s;t her as a Wife, he gained her as a Daughter. And finally, he be&s;ought her, That if &s;he made Profe&s;&s;ion of com|plying with all his De&s;ires, &s;he would comply with this of accepting of <HI>Antiochus</HI> willingly; for no|thing could expre&s;s greater kindne&s;s, and nothing was more beneficial to the Kingdom.</P>
<P>The Gods onely know (while <HI>Selencus</HI> &s;pake thus) what Conflicts in his Heart the Intere&s;ts of his Son, and his Wife's Affections made. Heaven in that in&s;tant made her &s;eem to him more Beauti|ful, that in giving her away to <HI>Antiochus,</HI> he might be more &s;en&s;ibly Mortified.</P>
<P><HI>Stratonica</HI> dyed with a Blu&s;hing, which &s;eemed the effect of Strangene&s;s, and was Joy's effect; re|turned him this An&s;wer, That &s;he could do no le&s;s
<PB N="143" REF="74">then be amazed, that <HI>Antiochus</HI> was come to that pa&s;s; yet that &s;he was ready to perform the com|mands of his Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P>So they both went to the &s;ick Princes Bed; when the King had cau&s;ed all to be gone, he began to &s;peak to the Prince in this maner:</P>
<P>How much Sorrow, O Son, thy &s;ickne&s;s hath continually brought me, is known to that Heaven, which never yet hath &s;een (&s;ince thou kept'&s;t thy Bed) the&s;e my Eyes free from Tears. I almo&s;t felt as much by not knowing thy Di&s;ea&s;e, as by lo&s;ing thy Life; for it &s;eemed to me, that by my wanting Power to comfort my &s;elf in giving thee a Remedy, Death took thee not from me, but robbed me of thee.</P>
<P>But now &s;ince thy &s;ilence hath been under&s;tood, and thy de&s;ire read in thy Melancholly, behold here <HI>Stratonica.</HI> If thy Vertue hath gained her at the rate of thy Life, my Genero&s;ity renounces her to thee out of abundance of Affection. To hold dearer my Honor then thy Happine&s;s, hath been the effect of a Son, but not of an ordinary Son. To cure thee of thy &s;ickne&s;s, though it were with the lo&s;s of my Life, mu&s;t not be the work of a Father that is le&s;s then a King. <HI>Stratonica</HI> (who was born to greater Fortunes then any &s;he could hope for of me) by the Favor of Heaven is now to be happy in thee. Receive her, and cheering up thy Sadne&s;s with the gain of &s;uch a Happine&s;s, endeavor to de|liver thy &s;elf out of the &s;nares of death. No man will ever be able to deny, that I have not (to reco|ver thy health) given away the mo&s;t Beautiful thing
<PB N="144" REF="75">in the World. But my Gift is voluntary, and my Will hath been commended by the Councel of State. All our Subjects &s;ee me willinger a Widow|er, then without a Son. Let this be a Circum&s;tance to increa&s;e the Beatitudes of thy Fortune.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> his weakne&s;s was not able to endure the &s;trokes of &s;uch infinite Joys. Life fled from his Tongue, becau&s;e with humane words to thank his Father, was e&s;teemed by him too manife&s;t an In|gratitude. In the mean time he fell into a Swoon. It availed very little poor <HI>Seleucus</HI> to &s;peak rather Gravely then Affectionately to him; for by his &s;peaking, neither more nor le&s;s the Accident arrived which they labored to avoid.</P>
<P>The good old King bewailed his &s;udden &s;woon|ing, and the Queen kept him company in weeping. And perhaps tho&s;e Tears &s;erved likewi&s;e for the Ob&s;equies of their &s;eperated Nuptials.</P>
<P><HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> called to the &s;wooning of the Prince, intreated the King to &s;end away <HI>Stratonica,</HI> for the &s;ick Princes Soul could not long &s;u&s;tain it &s;elf again&s;t her &s;weet Pre&s;ence. <HI>Antiochus</HI> (returned to him&s;elf) fetched &s;o great a Sigh, that they thought in that fir&s;t noi&s;e, his much tormented Soul fled away. He then fell to weeping extreamly; nor for any thing <HI>Seleucus</HI> &s;aid to him, could he an&s;wer him otherwi&s;e then by frequently ki&s;&s;ing his hand. The King &s;eeing that, thought it good to be gone.</P>
<P><HI>Era&s;i&s;tratus</HI> (left alone with the Prince) cheered him up, and he di&s;po&s;ed him&s;elf by little and little to receive with Joy the Fortune which Fate pre|&s;ented
<PB N="145" REF="75">to him. So in few days he recovered, and preparations were made for the Marriage.</P>
<P>I &s;hould now relate here the Fea&s;ting of the Nuptials, but my Invention (which hath lo&s;t its Tranquility) findes it &s;elf unfit to phan&s;ie Joys. Let this Subject be a Field &s;et apart for the Pen of &s;ome other. Mine (accu&s;tomed to bewail in anothers Di&s;a&s;ters its own Calamities) mu&s;t not alter its Cu&s;tom. If ever I &s;hall change my Condition, I will change peradventure my Minde; and knowing how Laughter is formed with the Mouth, will &s;hew you how it is Printed in Books. Be happy.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="book">
<PB REF="76">
<PB N="147" REF="76">
<HEAD>THE CATASTROPHE OF <HI>STRATONICA;</HI> OR THE Unfortunate Queen.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The fourth Book, WRITTEN By <HI>John Bapti&s;t Cartolari.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>_STratonica</HI> began to count the years of her Life from the day &s;he was re&s;igned by Old <HI>Seleu|cus</HI> to Yong <HI>Antiochus.</HI> That day her fading Beauty re-blo&s;|&s;omed; Her Cheeks (which be|gan to grow lean) became again &s;mooth, and the Lilly re-appeared &s;treaked in her
<PB N="148" REF="77">with a better Purple. Her Eyes &s;haded with Sor|row, beheld again the light. Her Hands bu&s;ied heretofore in drying of Tears, fell again to the ex|erci&s;e of making in her Hair Nets for Hearts. She made a new Inventory of her Cloaths. No Jewel, no Dre&s;&s;ing, no Artifice was forgotten. She return|ed to the Novi&s;hip of Love, by Con&s;ulting her Gla&s;s, Studying again Looks, and In&s;tructing with Patience her &s;elf. She di&s;tilled Tears with the Martyrdom of Fire by Alembicks into &s;everal Wa|ters, this to &s;erve for Paintings, and that for Fra|grancies. Having re&s;olved to have <HI>Antiochus</HI> for her Deity, &s;he de&s;ired to &s;eem a Godde&s;s to him.</P>
<P>The Waiting-Women &s;aw their own puni&s;hment proceed from the Joys of <HI>Stratonica.</HI> All hours are de&s;tined to the Services of Wantonne&s;s; this ap|pointed for di&s;tilling, that for tempering Ambre to &s;everal U&s;es; this for curling Hair, and that for &s;uch like Exerci&s;es.</P>
<P>But now Impatience &s;et a fire <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s long|ing, to whom one hour appearing a thou&s;and to better her Condition, &s;he grew froward with the Sun, banned the Time, and cur&s;ed the dents of the Cele&s;tial Wheels, which brought about &s;o &s;lowly the days, every moment of which imported an Age to her Wi&s;hes.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> recovered, but yet in Death's black and blew marks, the whitene&s;s of the Privet de|cayed in his wan Countenance.</P>
<P>De&s;ire &s;ugge&s;ted to <HI>Stratonica</HI> &s;everal ways of procuring amorous &s;trength with much Gold for the new married man. The Chambers were mo&s;t
<PB N="149" REF="77">&s;weetly perfumed, and the Baths in order to make him grow fat.</P>
<P>The people in the mean time under&s;tood it dif|ferently &s;o prodigious a thing, that both in the publike and private Records it was without a Pre|&s;ident.</P>
<P>To behold a King (a Father) give con&s;ent to the pa&s;&s;ing away of the Trea&s;ures of his Bed to his Son, who had dared to lay his Thoughts in his Step-mothers Bo&s;om; O what temerity of a Son! O what indignity of a Father! The wi&s;e&s;t men de|te&s;ted it &s;o far, as to take up Arms again&s;t him, and revenge the Kings affront on the King him&s;elf, not on the impudent Prince.</P>
<P>They wondered that <HI>Seleucus</HI> (who had puni&s;hed the &s;igns of Con&s;piracy again&s;t the Crown in <HI>Cli|menes</HI>) had not killed <HI>Antiochus</HI> con&s;piring again&s;t the greate&s;t Intere&s;ts of men; and that there was a Parliament (a Body of &s;uch corrupt Members) that &s;uffered not onely, but &s;upported &s;uch ignomi|nious Matches. Others (&s;wiming down the &s;tream) commended the mad Pity, which gave by Con&s;ent to the Kingdoms Succe&s;&s;or, the Wife of the Father the King, to pre&s;erve (if really it was true that there was a nece&s;&s;ity in it) a rebellious Princes life. Some imputed the Violence of <HI>Antiochus</HI> his Af|fections to the Stars, for Villanies have no greater a Protector then the idle Terminations of Fate. But all &s;trivingly cur&s;ed <HI>Stratonica,</HI> the Tinder-Box and Fewel of this wicked Fire.</P>
<P><HI>Antiochus</HI> how&s;oever unfit for Nuptial Conflicts, in &s;tead of recovering, con&s;umed him&s;elf in the
<PB N="150" REF="78">&s;ufferings of de&s;ire, longing extreamly to enjoy the Widow of a Husband yet living.</P>
<P>Now in a confu&s;ed di&s;tinction the orders given to Artificers were hotly pur&s;ued; and becau&s;e the offence might appear the more deformed, and more gro&s;s in the Eyes of the world, they were willing to bring him on the Stage, and inrobe him with Pomp. He was to be Arrayed like a King. The&s;e Nuptials celebrated again&s;t all Cu&s;tom, not de&s;er|ving &s;o much as the &s;hadow of darkne&s;s it &s;elf, they de&s;ired to manife&s;t, and make appear as Lawful as Beautiful.</P>
<P>O coloured Gla&s;&s;es of Pa&s;&s;ions, how far from the truth repre&s;ent ye the Objects? Vices are gild|ed with the names of Vertues, and the mo&s;t hai|nous Villanies enjemmed with &s;pecious Titles: Yet the Thunderbolts lye neglected and idle in the Thunderers Hand, for he thinks of nothing more then of being a Deity.</P>
<P>The Gla&s;s of <HI>Seleucus</HI> his Con&s;cience repre|&s;ented to him the foulne&s;s of his corrupt and rotten marriage. He knew he had given for a di&s;hone&s;t woman his own Wife to his own Son; He per|ceived that the People derided in &s;ecret this his cowardly dulne&s;s, though they openly applauded it: and <HI>Stratonica</HI> likewi&s;e was much troubled, to &s;ee her &s;elf pointed at as the Son-in-laws Mi&s;tre&s;s: but the fle&s;h was unruly; whereupon with the danger of <HI>Antiochus</HI> his health, they ha&s;tened the Plea|&s;ures of the la&s;civious Queen.</P>
<P>She was dre&s;&s;ed more extravagantly and wan|tonly then ever. Her &s;leeked hair hung di&s;played,
<PB N="151" REF="78">but was parted on the Forehead; on her Temples &s;he had placed two great Locks of Hair finely Curled, and very rarely Plaited, which hung down to the tip of her Ear. The Tre&s;&s;es were reduced into a Ro&s;e; the hinder part of her head was bound with a &s;ingle Ribband woven of many Colours. Her Neck (the delicious exce&s;s of Softne&s;s and Whitene&s;s) &s;eemed Alaba&s;ter and not Fle&s;h, but that by its Motion in breathing it appeared to have Life. Her Throat (Beauties Pillar) laid a foundation to the fir&s;t de|&s;ires, which going on farther to her Bo&s;om, did precipitate them&s;elves from two little Hills into the Gulph of amorous Impatience, little Hills with cunning Artifice expo&s;ed to the &s;ight of all Eyes (having the Vail drawn maliciou&s;ly) and jetting out with laborious advantage in appearance of Severity, but yet very pliable.</P>
<P>She was dre&s;&s;ed in a Green Gown, the di&s;played Standard to her amorous Hopes. Two Bracelets of Pomandre of Ambre (covered with Gold) adorn|ed her Wri&s;ts, and her Elbows were &s;hrouded in a Muff of Silk-caulwork, among who&s;e Knots the Needle toyed, fa&s;tning on each of them a Jewel.</P>
<P>On her Neck with an ob&s;tinate bragging of E|mulation, the choice&s;t Neck-lace of Pearl (that was ever worn by Queen) proudly humbled it &s;elf with a Row of the &s;malle&s;t Granate Stones, which with their dusky colour befriended the pretences of the Pearl again&s;t her Bo&s;om.</P>
<P>Two Serpents of Gold were her Pendants, which &s;eemed with open mouth to have fa&s;tned their Teeth on the Stalk, and at their wreathed Tails hung two &s;hining Emeralds.</P>
<PB N="152" REF="79">
<P>On the left Lock of Hair was a little Ro&s;e of Gold with Six Diamonds, and another &s;omewhat bigger &s;ported up and down between her Brea&s;ts. But every thing offended their &s;ight, who gazed on her Eyes, in who&s;e brightne&s;s they &s;aw Epitomized the Miracles of Light. The&s;e were the Calamity, where not onely <HI>Antiochus</HI> was involved, but to which by a fatal Di&s;po&s;ition all mens Mindes were inclined.</P>
<P>The Nuptials, were to be celebrated, to which with great &s;hame <HI>Hymenaeus</HI> approached, marked with the foul Character of Adultery and Ince&s;t. Luxury (going hand in hand with the mo&s;t ob&s;cene Wantonne&s;s) had re&s;olved to conquer it &s;elf, and con&s;ulted the mo&s;t riotous Plea&s;ures that ever the <HI>Roman</HI> or the <HI>Grecian,</HI> to wit, the learned&s;t Lu&s;t had invented.</P>
<P>But in the mean time <HI>Antiochus</HI> and <HI>Stratonica</HI> were not wanting to meet together &s;ecretly, by means of the Faithful and timerous Silence of the &s;ubtile Waiting-Women.</P>
<P>All the Reins were abandoned to wickedne&s;s; but they de&s;ired to cover the filthine&s;s of Ince&s;t with the Snow of a Contract, which was nothing el&s;e but a Lye before the Gods, before the People, and the Con&s;cience too of the Contractors.</P>
<P>They would have endangered the Health of the newly recovered and longing Lover, if &s;he (who was very voluptuous) had not out of Love to her &s;elf procured his pre&s;ervation for a longer u&s;e. Scarcity redoubled their Appetites, but delay was a very plea&s;ing puni&s;hment, the Blinde-lovers be|lieving
<PB N="153" REF="79">like <HI>Cupid,</HI> that they &s;hould be immortal like him, and that &s;en&s;ual Plea&s;ures could not but be maintained by Life, which often mi&s;carries in the infancy of Fruition.</P>
<P>Looks in the mean time and Sighs, and (in the view of the World) the lawful touch of the Hand, &s;upplied what fell &s;hort of the Plea&s;ure which in Secret they enjoyed. Two Hearts (that pre&s;cribe to them&s;elves a <HI>non-plus ultra</HI> at their own little Pillars) deceive tho&s;e Thoughts which are never contented, unle&s;s they obtain &s;omething more then they po&s;&s;e&s;s. The Soul (which thinks all the World a narrow compa&s;s) cannot endure to be forced by Sen&s;e to the mi&s;erable &s;ervitude of adoring a Face, in which (though it never &s;o much counterfeit a Deity) yet &s;ees in the end that it lies, and that a fair Cheek is but a flitting &s;hadow, and that the Sighs of a fond Heart melt in the end into the bit|ter Juyces of Tears, and the Waters of Re|pentance.</P>
<P>A thou&s;and Nets were pitcht to allure to the&s;e Nuptials, whole Provinces, or at lea&s;t the be&s;t of them. But among&s;t other things, they prepared three wonderful Spectacles, which had as good &s;ucce&s;s as any thing that graced the Fea&s;ts.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t was a rare Pa&s;toral; the &s;econd a Roy|al Tilting; the third a mo&s;t &s;umptuous Fea&s;t.</P>
<P>There had continued in the dear and honored Memories of a free Prince of a mo&s;t happy State, a very fine Pa&s;toral, who&s;e Title was <HI>ARCADIA</HI> SET AT LIBERTY, the Fruit of a rare Youths Invention, who vouch&s;afing to imitate the
<PB N="154" REF="80">famou&s;e&s;t men, was angry with him&s;elf that he had not &s;urpa&s;&s;ed them. All the great and Noble things (which <HI>Ari&s;totles</HI> School boa&s;ted of) were found in that Comedy.</P>
<P>Though the Work was extreamly delightful, yet it did not fully an&s;wer the Royal Expectation, which aiming &s;till higher, had re&s;olved to amaze the Spectators, giving them together with <HI>Arcadia,</HI> great Enterludes of <HI>Galatea.</HI></P>
<P>Fame already had Canonized the Poem with the applau&s;es of all the World, which had much &s;urpa&s;&s;ed the known <HI>Lyrick</HI> vein of the Latine and Greek Poets. The happy Compo&s;ition repre&s;ented all the Graces of Love, and expre&s;&s;ed in the fortu|nate Leaves what&s;oever Art feigns to be Beautiful, or Nature its Model.</P>
<P>They were bu&s;ie about the Theatre. It &s;uited not with every capacity, for tho&s;e Heroical De|lights are unfit for common people. A moderate Hall was therefore made choice of, and immediate|ly filled with innumerable Workmen, and abun|dance of Materials under the conduct of a famous Engineer, without limiting the Expences. They di&s;tributed Billets to a limited number, which were a Wedding Garment to him, who was for the &s;pace of four hours to be in an exta&s;ie of Plea&s;ure. The Spectators were brought in with great Maje&s;ty, but though there were multiplied Guards, yet the tor|rent of the Per&s;ons was &s;o &s;trong, that they could not interdict the effects of De&s;ire without hazard|ing many lives, while&s;t a longing Expectation of|fered Violence to the Curious, whereupon in a very
<PB N="155" REF="80">&s;hort time the Theatre &s;eemed repleni&s;hed with one &s;ingle Body.</P>
<P>The Ladies crowded together, re&s;embled the Stars in the Milky way. Every Pillar, every Ba&s;e, and every Chapter were taken up.</P>
<P>The Evening-&s;tar appeared, and the Night was now as bright as the Day. When the Spectators were a&s;&s;embled (all Eyes beginning to poize their own &s;weetne&s;s) a warlike melody of Drums and Trum|pets re&s;ounded in their Ears, who&s;e &s;hort noi&s;e was &s;econded by an harmonious Con&s;ort of &s;everal In|&s;truments.</P>
<P>With a &s;wiftne&s;s like Lightning, they drew the finely coloured Curtain, which the Eye could &s;carce follow. A fortunate exta&s;ie then tran&s;ported the Spectators; for a moving Heaven di&s;covering it &s;elf with plea&s;ant Draughts of a Country afar off, they &s;aw an Air gli&s;ter of the colour of a Sa|phire, mingling it &s;elf with the fine Purple of a Ja|cinth, the pure&s;t Dyes of the fine&s;t Blews being mixed with them; and they &s;aw afar off &s;ome little Brooks bubble, which expre&s;&s;ed the whitene&s;s of the broken Foams, the painted Waters deceiving the mo&s;t &s;ubtile.</P>
<P>With that &s;low Maje&s;ty which in Heaven the Light moves with, accompanying the Sun its fair Fountain, they &s;aw ri&s;e from the Pavement of the wonderful Scene (as it were from the natural Hori|zon) a regular Volumn of mo&s;t &s;hining Beams, which encompa&s;&s;ed a Golden Chair made all of fiery Brightne&s;s. A Youth repre&s;enting <HI>Apollo</HI> &s;ate in it, having his Head adorned with a Diadem of
<PB N="156" REF="81">Lights; his right hand held a golden Scepter, and his left lean'd on a Cittern &s;et with pretious Stones: and while the Chair in&s;en&s;ibly a&s;cended by an invi&s;ible Engine, he &s;ang the mo&s;t delicate and the &s;moothe&s;t Ver&s;es that ever humane Ear was plea&s;ed with, and that great Machines a&s;cent to the highe&s;t Region of the Air, and the ending of the Mu&s;ick (the Pro|logue to the Fable) were at the &s;ame time, as it was at the very &s;ame time that they &s;aw new wonders take place of the former, while the Pro&s;pect changing it &s;elf into another Pro&s;pect no le&s;s Beau|tiful, they &s;aw va&s;t Plains &s;ucceed tho&s;e Motions of the Air, together with huge Woods, which being (near at hand) compo&s;ed of growing Leaves, repre&s;ented the Rural Delights with &s;ome Pa&s;toral Habitation, and then it was that (the faire&s;t Nymph and the gallante&s;t Shepherd coming forth on the Stage) they &s;aw Acted tho&s;e &s;o &s;weet, but cha&s;te Loves, which made the Woods famous in the true golden Age.</P>
<P>But when in the Intervals of the Acts (the Pro|&s;pect being wholly metamorpho&s;ed) divers Rocks con&s;umed by time and de&s;troyed by the Waves did appear, every one believed that he was by magick Art removed to the &s;hore of &s;ome Sea; while be|hold the Clouds open, and with reverence deno|ting their Subjection, give way to a Machine, which de&s;cended with &s;wift Motion, carrying a flying Childe on a Globe of the &s;ame, taken from their Station. He covered with rich Nakedne&s;s (having his Eyes blinded with a golden Vail) with a Bow in his hand, and a Quiver at his &s;ide, boldly threw
<PB N="157" REF="81">him&s;elf from the Prop, and with a Plea&s;ant and imperious Accent Sung thus:
<Q><L>Ye Clouds which want only to bear</L>
<L>Me here below, were proud, again</L>
<L>Go to the known Fields of the Air,</L>
<L>Tis plea&s;ure to the&s;e Wings, not pain,</L>
<L>At once to waft me from one Pole</L>
<L>To th'other. Be the Earth and Sky</L>
<L>So va&s;t, as all Bounds to Controul,</L>
<L>Yet Cupid in a trice can fly</L>
<L>Beyond the highe&s;t Heaven, and</L>
<L>If yet there be an empty &s;pace</L>
<L>Above that (&s;uch is his Command)</L>
<L>He can a&s;cend beyond that place;</L>
<L>But ah what narrow limits are</L>
<L>One World, one Heaven, To who&s;e Wings</L>
<L>A hundred at a time appear,</L>
<L>For all their length contiguous things?</L>
<L>What &s;hall we do, my Bow? mu&s;t we</L>
<L>Neglected lye, becau&s;e each bre&s;t</L>
<L>That's Mortal, Homage does to me?</L>
<L>And with the flames of Love's po&s;&s;e&s;t.</L>
<L>But why name I but Mortals, All</L>
<L>The Powers above (enamored grown)</L>
<L>Shew their enflamed bre&s;ts, nor &s;hall</L>
<L>This quiet me; All Heaven with one</L>
<L>Love-wound &s;hall burn with Love: Give here</L>
<L>My Quiver, and the hotte&s;t Arrow,</L>
<L>The &s;wifte&s;t too, which in that Sphaer</L>
<L>(To which compar'd the earth's but narrow)</L>
<L>May wounding deeply &s;tick, and there</L>
<PB N="158" REF="82">
<L>Set all afire; A Nymph more fair</L>
<L>Then Venus, Yonder does appear</L>
<L>From tho&s;e waves like a dewy Star;</L>
<L>She with the Pearl contends, and is</L>
<L>Far whither then the milky way;</L>
<L>The wanton Lover &s;eeketh his</L>
<L>Fair <HI>Galatea,</HI> who well may</L>
<L>Compared in a calm Sea be</L>
<L>To breathing Snow, &s;he, &s;he I &s;ay</L>
<L>Shall heaven enflame, and make it &s;ee</L>
<L>How hard 'tis tho&s;e lights not t' obey;</L>
<L>And that if it have influence</L>
<L>At will on others, of her Eyes</L>
<L>(Which Beauty to the world di&s;pence)</L>
<L>It &s;hall attend'its qualities,</L>
<L>And &s;ighing them invoke. Behold</L>
<L>The Godde&s;s does appear, and I</L>
<L>Will now direct my &s;haft of Gold</L>
<L>Again&s;t the bo&s;om of the sky,</L>
<L>And where of its Sphaers is the heart,</L>
<L>There print Love with my fatall Dart.</L></Q></P>
<P>When he arrived here, he &s;hot as quick as light|ning into the Air, and with a wonderful flight va|ni&s;hed out of the &s;ight of the Spectators.</P>
<P>And behold, the Sky was coloured with a light of Fire, and opening, delivered of a Deity, which (courted by the mo&s;t radiant Figures in departing from the bo&s;om of Soveraign bli&s;s) made harmo|nious Lamentations, while from the Waves light|ly moved aro&s;e a mo&s;t beautiful Nymph, &s;wim|ming &s;oftly, and wantonly advancing among the
<PB N="159" REF="82">broken Waves. Her la&s;civious Motion, and mo&s;t lovely fair Countenance, made a Con&s;ort of Beauty and Comline&s;s &s;urpa&s;&s;ing all De&s;cription. She re|pre&s;ented the dear Daughter of <HI>Dorus</HI> enamored of the Beautiful <HI>Acis,</HI> who&s;e Loves, who&s;e Death, and who&s;e Ob&s;equies were &s;o Nobly expre&s;&s;ed in tho&s;e Scenes, by the help of rare Mu&s;icians, and with Machines made by <HI>Daedalus</HI> him&s;elf, that when they had drawn from the rigide&s;t Eyes abundance of Tears, they drew too loud Applau&s;es from all Tongues.</P>
<P>That renowned Spectacle being ended, the lit|tle remainder of that night was &s;pent in fine Balls.</P>
<P>The &s;ucceeding day produced a Tilting worthy of the Nuptials of a King. The night was not neg|lected, when the hours of the day had been be&s;tow|ed on &s;everal Pa&s;times; the lea&s;t part was &s;pent in Sacrifices, the &s;ub&s;equent in Fea&s;ting, where Healths were &s;oundly drunk. One drank to <HI>Stratonica</HI>'s happine&s;s, pouring down Wines to inebrate the &s;pi|rits, and conveighing looks to the heart to enchant it: Another emptied Cups to the Health of the Prince, with whom he was otherwi&s;e ill &s;atisfied, the trick of malignant Adulation. It was nece&s;&s;ary likewi&s;e to &s;et apart &s;ome time for Repo&s;e; the Head was encumbred with the Vapors of Wine, and the Body did langui&s;h under the tyranny of Plea&s;ures. The vain illu&s;ions of the Nuptials (for the Dignity of the Kings) unknown to none, provoked all per&s;ons to extravagant riotou&s;ne&s;s. When they had &s;lept di&s;orderly, every one ro&s;e weary and di&s;|compo&s;ed. All corners were full of voluptuous en|tertainments,
<PB N="160" REF="83">yet they were too to be pre&s;ent at tho&s;e &s;pectacles, which had Kings for their Au|thors and Protectors, for even a negligent Con|tempt of little things gives offence to a Prince.</P>
<P>A Theatre very capacious was made choice of, and the Bride now and Bridegroom were &s;eated to|gether with the old Widower. The place was large, but could not contain the concour&s;e of people, which was great beyond all belief.</P>
<P>At what time by the &s;ound of &s;everal In&s;tru|ments (be&s;ides the huge number of Trumpets) they &s;aw come through the Air on a &s;hining Chariot drawn by two flying Dragons, a Woman of rare Beauty, and which, with a full hand &s;trewed Papers among the people, all printed with the &s;ame Cha|racter. When they had opened the Paper, they read there the&s;e words;</P>
<FLOATEXT LANG="eng" TYPE="dramatic treatise">
<HEAD>Ceres to the Heroes of the <HI>Ely&s;ian</HI> Fields.</HEAD>
<P><HI>THe Tears of a Mother deprived of her onely Daughter by the tyrannous Lu&s;t of a Lover will be lamented, or finde pity at lea&s;t (if I am not de|ceived) to accompany her Sorrows. My</HI> Pro&s;erpina (<HI>ravi&s;hed by</HI> Pluto <HI>the infernal King) bewails tho&s;e years that &s;he hath not &s;een her, who brought her into the World, who gave her Suck, and tenderly and affectionately nouri&s;hed her; &s;he went from the light of the World to the darkne&s;s of Styx, which (but for the light it receives from horrid Flames) is per|petually ob&s;cure. The Bride lies in a Bed invironed with Serpents and Ba&s;ilisks, and though &s;he be &s;afe,
<PB N="161" REF="83">yet always &s;he's &s;ad. And &s;he feels more torment then plea&s;ure in the Arms of a Deity, that is nothing but Fury and Loath&s;omne&s;s. Behold her in&s;ipid De|lights, &s;he hath been now married many Ages, and yet &s;till is barren. A beggarly Queen of hidden Trea&s;ures. I hear the wretches groans, which thun|der in the Ear of a Mothers Heart. Her moans re|&s;ound from the damned Centre, and be&s;eech me to &s;uccor her. I have attempted every thing in vain. I have invaded the Oracles, and they give me this an&s;wer, That if a fatal Lance beat not down with force the Gates of Hell (which otherwi&s;e are in|vincible) I &s;hall not &s;ee again my</HI> Pro&s;erpina. <HI>I therefore have recour&s;e to the</HI> Ely&s;ian <HI>Heroes, now that Heaven hath abandoned me, the World deluded me, and Hell betrayed me. And I invoke you (O Heroical Souls) and re&s;ign to your Noble right Hands the high adventure of my Daughter buried alive among the damned.</HI></P>
<P>When tho&s;e Papers were read, they &s;aw the Ca|valiers of the great Habitation, behave them&s;elves with maje&s;tick anxiety of Minde, going &s;everal ways towards the enterprize.</P>
</FLOATEXT>
<P>The place was plea&s;ant, repre&s;enting <HI>Ely&s;ium</HI> to the life; to wit, in a cool Summers &s;hade without Horrors, and a Verdure without Winds. The Trees bearing perpetually leaves, &s;ported without fear of hoar Fro&s;ts, and of Ice. The ground produced no Flowers wor&s;e then &s;weet Ru&s;hes, then Anemones, and Daffodils; nor Birds (le&s;s e&s;teemed then the Nightingale) &s;ang in tho&s;e odoriferous Verdures.
<PB N="162" REF="84">Cool Brooks ran purling in &s;everal places, which making a noi&s;e among &s;peckled little Stones, called the Herbs to feed the little Flowers in their Waters. Innocent wilde Bea&s;ts (all white) ran up and down in that civiliz'd little Fore&s;t, and the Rabbats and Hares were &s;ecure when they met with the Grey|hound and Leopard. The Pigeons and Turtles ap|peared from many parts, now bewailing, now chanting their Loves; this enjoying her mate, and that deprived of him. The Fawn played with the Mai&s;tiff, and the Stag (corvetting as he rudely u&s;ed to do) met friendly with the Dogs, which in &s;tead of biting him, licked his Haunch, and wantonly played with him. In fine, there was nothing there but Love.</P>
<P>The Spectators were delighted with wonders of that kinde drawn to the appearance of the truth, while with that celerity that one dream is tran&s;|formed into another, they &s;aw from one head of the great Theatre in va&s;t &s;hews a delicious Sea-Coa&s;t, on the Chry&s;tals of who&s;e calm Tranqui|lity, a Ve&s;&s;el of rare Form came dancing, as it were, who&s;e Sails were Cloaths of unknown Colours, but graceful; in&s;omuch that they ren|dered contemptible the fine&s;t Blews, and the Purples.</P>
<P>All the Fabrick was re&s;plendent with Gold, finely extended on the Figures and Pillars which adorned it: When it arrived at the &s;hore, it re&s;ted &s;ecurely on its Anchors; and when they had let down certain Ladders, they &s;aw &s;ome <HI>Ethiopians</HI> richly arayed, di&s;-embark certain Steeds very pompou&s;ly trapped,
<PB N="163" REF="84">with the like number of Squires. One Cavalier alone of a very gallant pre&s;ence went a&s;hore, with a &s;hining Helmet, gilt Arms, and an upper Garment empailed with Knots of Pearls. He began at the &s;ound of many Trumpets to walk very &s;oftly in the Field, and in the mean time Six Dam&s;els di&s;tri|buted through the great Theatre the like Writ of Defiance.</P>
<FLOATEXT LANG="eng" TYPE="dramatic treatise">
<HEAD>JASON.</HEAD>
<P>A <HI>Godde&s;s be&s;eeches, and what rude or rather Sacrilegious Heart will not be moved to hear her, who de&s;erves to be reverenced, not onely obey|ed?</HI> Ceres, <HI>the Life-giving Nur&s;e to the World, does entreat, and run ye not turbulent Nations to &s;erve her? May ye then want Bread to eat. Ingrateful People are unworthy to live. I (fed with the Nectar of</HI> Ely&s;ian <HI>Happine&s;s) engage here my &s;elf, becau&s;e I &s;ee Mortals (who&s;e negligence is as great as their rudene&s;s) contemn her Prayers, who de&s;erves to be &s;a|crificed to. Behold me here with my Lance, now long &s;ince u&s;ed to Victories, and which excepted, I have obtained nothing of my own here below among the Gho&s;ts. The Ship that I had for the Conque&s;t of the Golden Fleece, as it was heretofore tran&s;lated to the Stars into a radiant Figure, &s;o now is conveyed to this place under Water. Behold her near the &s;hore. Ye Tartarean Gates being &s;haken by this Lance, &s;hall re&s;tore the gage of the Daughter of</HI> Ceres, <HI>whom ye &s;eized on by violence, that the afflicted Mother
<PB N="164" REF="85">may encompa&s;s with her Arms, the Neck of that Daughter, which being lo&s;t a Virgin, cannot be re|covered but as a Woman.</HI></P>
</FLOATEXT>
<P><HI>Ja&s;on</HI> had no &s;ooner retreated to the Station, whither the order in Tilting invited him, but on the other &s;ide i&s;&s;ued forth a Cavalier with a &s;tately De|vice. He came in a great Chariot be&s;et with Jewels and Mandilions of fine Gold under a &s;tately Cano|py, and &s;everal Pillars with &s;everal Rows &s;upported the Maje&s;tick Architecture, diver&s;e Standards being ranged in many places. Spoils gotten from con|quered Enemies, and full Trophies of Arms did &s;erve for a warlike Embelli&s;hment. He was drawn by Six Cour&s;ers which were &s;adled, and on every one of them rode a Squire of rare Beauty, in a white Garment like Milk. One of the re&s;t that was the fine&s;t, led a Steed in a Silken &s;lip, who though he was naturally generous and fierce, yet came prancing by cu&s;tom very quietly, and obeying as it were with judicious Di&s;tance the tender hands com|mand that did lead him: when they had turned about &s;oftly, the Chariot &s;tood &s;till with the Cava|lier, while the Papers were di&s;tributed, which &s;aid in this maner:</P>
<FLOATEXT LANG="eng" TYPE="dramatic treatise">
<HEAD>THESE&V;S.</HEAD>
<P><HI>WE have formerly touched the thre&s;holds of Hell. The ways of</HI> Styx <HI>are well known to us, nor is there peradventure a Mon&s;ter that fears not our Valor; and why &s;hall we not at pre&s;ent return
<PB N="165" REF="85">with more willingne&s;s to retread the known Path, to procure us the favor, and oblige the affections of a Godde&s;s? Neither the conquered</HI> Amazons, <HI>nor the &s;lain</HI> Procru&s;tes, <HI>nor the defeated</HI> Minotaures, <HI>nor the fiery vanqui&s;hed Bulls, can equal our Glory to that, which even can augment our felicity in the</HI> Ely&s;ian <HI>fields. Behold my right hand prepared for the enterprize, at who&s;e &s;troaks the horrid Gates &s;hake already, rather fall: Ye Laurels, which rejoyce in being &s;prinkled with Martial &s;weat, bow ye your branches to my ri&s;ing Glories, and intre&s;s your &s;elves in Crowns to honor my Prai&s;es.</HI></P>
</FLOATEXT>
<P><HI>The&s;eus</HI> was &s;carce got to the limited place, when from a high hanging Hill a Cavalier i&s;&s;ues forth, arrayed with the &s;plendor of a Saphire, the mo&s;t nimble of Body, and of the noble&s;t Counte|nance that ever any Hero could boa&s;t of. In a Ma|je&s;tick demeanor, yet affable, he came &s;tanding on a great triumphal Arch like an Imperial <HI>Colo&s;&s;us.</HI> He was gently drawn on invi&s;ible Wheels by &s;ix <HI>African</HI> Gyants, and held in his choyce Shield three Rampant Lyons, certain Cro&s;&s;es, and &s;ome Bars. The Palm-trees bowed them&s;elves as he pa&s;&s;ed along, and all the great Heroes of <HI>Ely&s;ium</HI> di|&s;tinctly did him Homage. In the nature of a vile Varlet that fierce <HI>Hanibal</HI> led his Steed, who when he was hardly ten years old, &s;wore eternal enmity with the <HI>Romans</HI> on the Sacred Fires. He, who de|&s;troyed the great City <HI>Saguntus</HI> in a &s;hort &s;pace of time; who blocked up the <HI>Alps</HI> again&s;t the power of the <HI>Barbarians;</HI> who pa&s;&s;ed into <HI>Italy,</HI> defeated
<PB N="166" REF="86"><HI>Sempronius</HI> at <HI>Trebia, Flaminius</HI> at <HI>Thra&s;ymenus, Paulus</HI> and <HI>Varro</HI> at <HI>Cannae<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">;</HI> he finally who en|camped at <HI>Rome,</HI> and reduced it to that exigence, that if the couragious <HI>Scipio</HI> (&s;o the Cavalier was called) had not &s;u&s;tained the fears of the Citizens, <HI>Latium</HI> would have lamented its lo&s;t Liberty.</P>
<P>So great a Captain, who was very rich in Glo|ries, came no whit puffed up. Haughtine&s;s en|crea&s;es not Maje&s;ty, but dimini&s;hes it. He &s;eemed not to remember, That when he was yong, in the fir&s;t Conflict again&s;t the <HI>Carthaginians</HI> at <HI>Pavia,</HI> he had pre&s;erved the life of his Father; That in the mortal Battel at <HI>Cannae,</HI> he had upheld the Nobili|ty, &s;o as he left not empty <HI>Romes</HI> Ne&s;ts, who being at five Lu&s;tres made <HI>Praetor,</HI> had won the va&s;t <HI>Spains,</HI> had defeated the two famous <HI>A&s;drubals,</HI> and &s;et his triumphing Foot on the Gullet of <HI>Afri|ca.</HI> He &s;eemed not to remember the great Sirname procured to him&s;elf for the Third of the conquered World, nor the Title of <HI>A&s;iatick,</HI> acquired by his Valor to his Brother; Neither &s;eemed he to re|member the incomparable enterprize of command|ing him&s;elf, while he fortified him&s;elf again&s;t the rare Beauties he had gotten in the Wars.</P>
<P>So great a Heroes (from whom was to de&s;cend one of the worlds greate&s;t Pedigrees, to make the State of <HI>Venice</HI> more and more renowned in the <HI>Cornelian</HI> Progeny) &s;eated him&s;elf with the re&s;t in a convenient place, while with &s;undry Devices the remainder of the Champions went forwards. One &s;eemed the pious <HI>Trojane,</HI> who&s;e &s;houlders &s;up|ported the Maje&s;ty of the exil'd Hou&s;hold-Gods,
<PB N="167" REF="86">and the decrepid age of his impotent Father. An|other appeared like <HI>Romulus,</HI> who of an humble Shepherd became the great Founder of <HI>Rome.</HI> This counterfeited the great <HI>Macedonian,</HI> that <HI>Achilles</HI> the terror of the <HI>Palladium;</HI> and others repre&s;ented divers <HI>Heroes,</HI> every one expre&s;&s;ing his own mean|ing in &s;everal Papers.</P>
<P><HI>Ja&s;on</HI> began with his &s;trong Mace to &s;hake the <HI>Stygian</HI> Gates, and they heard rude lamentations an&s;wer the &s;trokes in a melodious maner, as of peo|ple affrighted. And they &s;aw i&s;&s;ue forth from the tops of certain Towers, Globes of thick Smoak and horrid Fire. Various Mon&s;ters pa&s;&s;ed along the Walls with terrible Snowts, and Weapons unknown to this world. The&s;e &s;ometimes threatning, &s;ome|times flying, repre&s;ented &s;everal Figures in an un|u&s;uall Dance expre&s;&s;ing Fury and Fear.</P>
<P>At the third Shock of <HI>Ja&s;ons</HI> Lance the Gates opened a little, and great Volumns of fire i&s;&s;ued out at them; but they quickly clo&s;ed again, &s;carce &s;uffering the Mi&s;eries of Hell to appear. All the re&s;t made &s;ucce&s;&s;ively tryal of their Force, but that high adventure was re&s;erved for the generous <HI>Scipio,</HI> who at the fir&s;t &s;troak hit the <HI>Stygian</HI> Gates &s;o powerfully, that falling with a horrible noy&s;e on the ground with a terrible Earthquake, they di&s;cover|ed on the &s;udden the unhappine&s;s of the Kingdom of Sorrow. They &s;aw there the Nieces of <HI>Belus,</HI> with eternal torment of fruitle&s;s labor carry Wa|ters perpetually running out, and perpetually en|crea&s;ing. <HI>Sy&s;iphus</HI> there likewi&s;e to rowl up and down the great Stone with continual Vici&s;&s;itudes of
<PB N="168" REF="87">a&s;cending and de&s;cending. Be&s;ides, they &s;aw there the unfortunate <HI>Prometheus</HI> tyed to a &s;tone, and feeding a torturing Vultur with the living meat of his bowels &s;till reviving. A little way off, the greedy <HI>Tantalus,</HI> Thir&s;ty, with his lip touching the cool water, and Hungry, with his hand on the bait of the Odoriferous and Vermilian Apple. Nei|ther wanted there infinite other &s;pectacles of &s;ad Mi&s;eries. <HI>Pluto,</HI> overthrown by the Power of a fa|tal Victory, &s;urrendered now <HI>Pro&s;erpina,</HI> who at la&s;t came running to meet the open arms of <HI>Ceres,</HI> to ki&s;s reciprocally one another. She went from a Scorched, to a Flouri&s;hing Ground, from Fires to Coolne&s;s, from Weeping to Joys; in fine, from Hell to the <HI>Ely&s;ian</HI> Fields. They &s;aw Joy triumph in their &s;miling Brows, and all the Theater &s;eemed to rejoyce at the plea&s;ure which at la&s;t the glad Cou|ple enjoyed. All the in&s;truments (which many ages pa&s;t had been u&s;ed in Mu&s;ick) were here heard to fill the Air, while the <HI>Stygian</HI> Smoaks (not bitumi|nous and of brim&s;tone, but of <HI>Benjamin</HI> and <HI>Ambre</HI>) delighted their No&s;trils.</P>
<P>The Enterprize being ended, and <HI>Pro&s;erpina</HI> and <HI>Ceres</HI> &s;eated in a very fine Chariot with triumphing <HI>Scipio,</HI> they &s;aw Fame de&s;cend on two great Wings with a loud Trumpet, who approaching at la&s;t to the Spectators, with a few, but neat and pithy Ver|&s;es, did di&s;mi&s;s the people.</P>
<P>The Banquet remained, the la&s;t Prodigy of Roy|al Magnificence. All diligence was u&s;ed to finde out skilful men to plea&s;e the Palate. Cooks and Sewers were &s;ent for from far. Even the&s;e in their
<PB N="169" REF="87">kinde boa&s;ted much, and as the emulation was Ig|noble, &s;o the &s;trife was Audacious. One would have them Banquet after the maner of the <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> another as the <HI>Syrians</HI> u&s;e to do, and this after the fa&s;hion of <HI>A&s;ia.</HI> They bought up in all Countreys all the Fle&s;h, Fi&s;h and Spices, by mea&s;ure, without mea&s;ure, not forbearing for the price. The Ex|chequer can maintain profu&s;e Expences: The Ships (when the Wind was not favorable) made the Seas &s;ubmit to them by the force of the Oars, and (in de&s;pight of adver&s;e <HI>Aeolus</HI>) brought the flitting Plea&s;ures of a Bit and a Draught.</P>
<P>For this preparation (made to the &s;hame of a Father, of a Wife, of a Son, of a Bride, of a Widower, and of a Lover, the Riddle of <HI>Sphynx,</HI> and a Knot to be di&s;&s;olved by the Sword) it &s;eemed they were not &s;atisfied with any po&s;&s;ible Tribute: What &s;hould have maintained a Court many Moneths, they prepared for one day. It is not hard to per&s;wade men to exce&s;s.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t Court he gave order for placing four great Marble Ci&s;terns (a co&s;t rather vicious then &s;plendid) which for &s;ome hundred years had &s;erved for a receptacle of Waters in the Gardens of the Kings his Predece&s;&s;ors, and a&s;&s;igning to every one of them as much Wine (of the four be&s;t &s;orts, not onely of the growth of the Countrey, but which came from foreign Provinces) as for the &s;pace of two days running out of very large Mouths, with free acce&s;s to tho&s;e of the Country, and to Strangers, might content the mo&s;t inordinate Ap|petite.</P>
<PB N="170" REF="88">
<P>In the &s;econd Court were di&s;penced to &s;atiety (to innumerable heads of the people) Bread, variety of Fle&s;h, and rare Fi&s;h.</P>
<P>In the third co&s;tly Tables &s;tood provided for Three thou&s;and per&s;ons, which were nobly &s;erved, where none but the Soldiers had leave to &s;it down. Two hours were allowed to every company of the Gue&s;ts, and all the day and all the night were im|ployed in that maner; and to every one was given at his departure, a Golden Meddal with the Pictures of <HI>Stratonica</HI> and <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>In the la&s;t Court were a&s;&s;embled all the Officers of War, every one of which had pre&s;ented him a Hor&s;e, and the chiefe&s;t had likewi&s;e a Chain, and an <HI>Ethiopian</HI> Page.</P>
<P>Neither was the great Hand of Royal Munifi|cence le&s;s open to the Ladies. Jewels of a great value, Squires of a rare wit, proud Hor&s;e-litters, Cloaths of Gold; brave pre&s;ents in fine, fit for great ones to receive, and for Kings to be&s;tow.</P>
<P>Every working hand was imployed in &s;etting out the Banquet, the &s;upream Prodigy of Luxury. Even the vacant Ve&s;tals &s;pent their preciou&s;e&s;t time in the provocations of Wantonne&s;s and Gluttony.</P>
<P>A mo&s;t &s;plendent Hall opened in a Quadrangle, &s;upported by twelve rows of Pillars: There the Tables were prepared; one by it &s;elf, for <HI>Seleucus</HI> and the new married couple; one a little lower, for twelve Prince&s;&s;es and the like number of Princes, placed one again&s;t the other. Others without much di&s;tinction, for above Three hundred Knights. The be&s;t Mu&s;icians met there, who &s;inging uncha&s;te
<PB N="171" REF="88">Songs (by calling <HI>Venus</HI> to <HI>Bacchus</HI>) even in the Bo&s;om of the colde&s;t decrepid Age, could &s;tir up wanton Thoughts.</P>
<P>While they Dine, and that infinite Cups are now emptied, with great abu&s;e always of the Gifts of Nature, and the Labors of Art, behold an Eagle comes in at the Window, which (three or four times flying round) de&s;cends, and with his Talons and Beak, &s;eizes on the Crown from the Head of <HI>Seleucus;</HI> nor could the Waiters (though they did all they could) forbid his departure toge|ther with the prey. He flew where it was impo&s;&s;ible to refinde him. Now this unworthy King de&s;erved not that Heaven &s;hould vouch&s;afe him the Honor to pre&s;age his de&s;truction by Prodigies; but the Character of Kings (the greate&s;t thing Heaven gives to Mortals) did grant this Mortal priviledge to him.</P>
<P>The Expedition arrived on the Wings of an Eagle, and denoted Celerity in the execution. It was not the Screech-Owl of <HI>Pallas,</HI> a Warrier, a Godde&s;s, but at la&s;t a courteous Virgin: Not the Peacock of <HI>Juno,</HI> a Bird very &s;tately, and which ends her threats, or rather her anger in cryes; much le&s;s the Pigeon of <HI>Venus,</HI> the Me&s;&s;enger always of Love. It was the Provo&s;t-Mar&s;hal of the Thun|derer, who is not &s;oon angry, and threatens not but to &s;trike. The Gods had determined in a full Con&s;ultation, that the Thunder-bolt &s;hould not fall in vain.</P>
<P>Many were the Di&s;cour&s;es concerning this mat|ter. The wi&s;e&s;t men grew pale at it, but the im|prudent
<PB N="172" REF="89">King (behaving him&s;elf ridiculou&s;ly) inter|preted &s;o con&s;iderable an Accident, as a thing of Chance. It is Fatal in &s;uch ca&s;es (which threaten near at hand) when Princes become &s;tupid, and &s;ee not them&s;elves what all men behold. Hi&s;tories give Pre&s;idents of it to a number without number. <HI>Antiochus</HI> (more a State&s;-man then a Son) though he outwardly &s;eemed afflicted, was inwardly well plea&s;ed; and &s;ince he had taken the Wife from his Father, he thought to rob him likewi&s;e of his King|dom. The Water having broken down the Banks, was not &s;atisfied in violently running with part of its force, but will carry with it all its whole power; and though the Corn be &s;poiled in the Field, the Vine-roots extirpated, and the Edifices overthrown, it cares not for any thing but the Effects of its Vio|lence.</P>
<P>The wanton <HI>Stratonica</HI> trembled likewi&s;e, and brake (that &s;he might not be ob&s;erved) a Groan, which i&s;&s;ued out of her Brea&s;t; but &s;he could not &s;uppre&s;s a hot file of Sighs, which came from her Brea&s;t: Not for <HI>Seleucus,</HI> whom &s;he hated at la&s;t as the Author of their common &s;hame; but be|cau&s;e in the Father &s;he beheld the Son threatned, and in the ruine of <HI>Antiochus,</HI> fore&s;aw her own fall.</P>
<P>Onely the Mother of <HI>Climenes</HI> was exceedingly glad of the Prediction: She intervened the joys of others, being pur&s;ued by her Sorrows. Her Body was apparrell'd with gay Cloaths, her Minde with mourning. She went mu&s;ing how to further the Di&s;a&s;ters of that Court towards its utter de|&s;truction;
<PB N="173" REF="89">and though her De&s;ign had no effect, yet her Will was not wanting.</P>
<P>Now the Dinner inclined towards an end, and &s;everal Birds let loo&s;e out of Cages with Golden Bars, made the Hall re&s;ound for joy in a glad noi&s;e, compelling all to catch them; for they were not Birds of that Country, but taken with Golden Nets ca&s;t in remote Mountains, and in Woods afar off. The Ginney-Bird, the Parrot, the Phea&s;ant, and &s;everal le&s;s Fowl e&s;teemed for their Beauty or Sing|ing. At which time a Herald (cloathed in a Blood|colour Suit) enters in the heat of the Revelling, with three Arrows in his Hand, and a dead Mans Skull in-wrought in his Coat, with artificial Hor|ror, and demands Audience. Then &s;he (who took ill the Death of her Son) cheered up her &s;elf, and in tho&s;e deadly Prodigies read her unlucky Joys. A horrid Silence accompanied the paces of the un|fortunate Me&s;&s;enger, from his enterance into the Hall, till he came to the Royal Tables. The Soul (which participates of Divinity) chiefly pre&s;ages mi&s;chievous Accidents. They could conceive no|thing but Di&s;a&s;ter. The Herald without bowing him&s;elf at all, or &s;hewing any &s;ign of re&s;pect, in a clear &s;ound, and intelligible to all, &s;aid as followeth, That there was a Cavalier below in the Court, whom Victory onely, or Death could di&s;cover; That (inflamed with the De&s;ire of a ju&s;t Revenge) he was come to defie <HI>Antiochus</HI> body to body, to prove to him by Arms, that there lived not an un|worthier Prince then him&s;elf. <HI>Antiochus</HI> (though &s;urprized in a time when his Minde was be&s;otted
<PB N="174" REF="90">with his Loves, and his Body abandoned to his Lu&s;ts) yet naturally being turbulent and fiery, throwing far from him the Chair in which he re|po&s;ed, ro&s;e up, having onely a Sword by his &s;ide; but <HI>Stratonica</HI> neglecting the gravity of a Queen, and retaining the Fury of a Lover, without having regard to the incumbrance of her Royal Robes, threw her &s;elf from the Throne, and crying out like a Mad-woman, and breaking forth into Sobs and Groans, clung about his Neck as pale as Death, and &s;wooned indeed, and was dead, by what her Face expre&s;&s;ed. But being recovered with Vinegar, and recalled to Life by cool Waters, <HI>Antiochus</HI> be&s;ought her not to forbode him &s;o ill, and in the mean time he Armed him&s;elf to fight with the unknown Cavalier. He de&s;cended envi|roned with many Princes, whom (entreating) he commanded not to &s;tir, except it were to convey him out of the Field either Dead or a Conqueror. His panting Heart did ha&s;ten half as fa&s;t again the cour&s;e of his life, now at la&s;t very flitting, and &s;ang to it &s;elf in Deaths tone, the now unappealable di&s;|a&s;trous Divinations. But the vain Prince &s;eemed unconcerned and undaunted, though po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with fear. <HI>Mars</HI> (it is true) is the Lover of <HI>Venus,</HI> but he lets him&s;elf be caught in the Net of a Smith. Seldom a curled Hair, and a Countenance per|fumed with Sivet and Ambre, is the dwelling of a couragious Soul.</P>
<P>The Court being gone with mute Fury from the Combatants, <HI>Antiochus</HI> coped with his unknown enemy. He skilfully fencing did put by his thru&s;ts,
<PB N="175" REF="90">covering his flank with his Sword, which had not any other defence. <HI>Antiochus</HI> offending him like|wi&s;e defended him&s;elf, endeavoring to ma&s;ter Art by Art. Sometimes he contracted his &s;tride, &s;ome|times elonged it; directing one while the mortal Point to the Eyes, and one while to the Brea&s;t of his Adver&s;ary. The other as cunning as he and as &s;trong, did affright him with &s;udden Pa&s;&s;ado's, and the male of his Cor&s;let being broken in the end, the Prince &s;aw him&s;elf wounded in the Thigh. The blood began to &s;pin out of it, in&s;omuch that as a Bull becomes fell, when he &s;ees him&s;elf bleed, he raging fell on him, and wounding him deeply in the Arm, was revenged of his Adver&s;ary. But <HI>An|tiochus</HI> now hurt in many parts, lo&s;t blood in &s;everal places, and his life &s;ought an <HI>exit</HI> at many holes, while not re&s;olving where, the concealed Cham|pion with the fatal Point thru&s;t it out, di&s;playing him &s;ooner dead them in an agony.</P>
<P>When <HI>Seleucus</HI> beheld his Son fall, in whom he &s;uppo&s;ed to live after death, and for who&s;e &s;ake he had parted with his Honor, he was &s;o tran&s;|formed through vexation mixt with anger, that he &s;eemed to lodge all Hell in his Countenance. He bla&s;pheming demanded his Arms, &s;o as (being ma&s;tered by Fury) he was hardly under&s;tood. He precipitou&s;ly armed him&s;elf, for the Stars oppo|&s;ing him with violence, &s;eek the way to their Ef|fects. In the mean time the unknown Cavalier walked warily, but proudly in the field of his Victo|ry, and beheld his Laurels watered abundantly with the blood of dead <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<PB N="176" REF="91">
<P>Who&s;oever hath beheld the Mai&s;tiff-dog, who (having his neck armed with &s;harp irons) with his foaming Chops, and enflamed Eyes falls on the Bull, who comes bellowing and carrying his Horns low, and bravely &s;eizes on his Ear, beholds <HI>Seleu|cus,</HI> who abandoning him&s;elf went towards his Sons murtherer, who receiving him like one that is willing to pre&s;erve him&s;elf and &s;uppre&s;s his adver|&s;ary, &s;troak at him impetuou&s;ly; but the mortal edge glanced a&s;ide mo&s;t opportunely, and cau&s;ed the blow to fail to the ground; by rea&s;on of which <HI>Seleucus</HI> felt great pain in his arm, &s;o as very hardly he was afterwards able to u&s;e it. The other return|ed the &s;troak with more cunning, and began to cla&s;p <HI>Seleucus</HI> in that maner, that at la&s;t he &s;hewed fear in all he did. He could not &s;tir, but he trod in the blood of his dear Son, and &s;tumbled at the bloody corps, in who&s;e wounds for his &s;ake he &s;aw the Kingdom lo&s;t, and the World dead to him. The unfortunate King bewailed him&s;elf extinct by his onely Sons death, and lamented the Royal Po|&s;terity decayed in that onely &s;prowt; whereupon redoubling his weak force, and provoking to more fiercene&s;s his adver&s;ary, he flew on him (throwing away his &s;word) with his unarmed arm, and cla&s;ping him about the hips, with a &s;harp Hanger which he drew from his &s;ide, he wounded him often between the joynts of his Bre&s;t-plate; but &s;o to overcome him, was the way to kill him&s;elf; for the unknown Cavalier (when he felt him&s;elf thru&s;t through the Reins) drew out a &s;hort Dagger, and hid it beneath in the belly of <HI>Seleucus:</HI> Whereupon with reciprocal
<PB N="177" REF="91">death they fell down in their mixt blood, and ex|pired at the &s;ame time. While the people &s;aw Death (armed with other Weapons then his ordi|nary Sithe) mow down the Kings, they felt a dead|ly chilne&s;s run up and down in their Bones.</P>
<P>Then the Helmet was pulled off from the con|cealed &s;trangers head, and pre&s;ently he was known by <HI>Stratonica</HI> for <HI>Demetrius</HI> her Father. Amaze|ment and &s;orrow po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed then all the corners of her Soul. She &s;aw the Conclu&s;ion, but under&s;tood not the My&s;tery. Whereupon &s;he &s;eemed a <HI>Niobe,</HI> That in her Lover and her Father had lo&s;t fourteen Children at once. Her Cheeks lo&s;t their red, and re&s;igned up their whitene&s;s, a &s;ad Lead-colour &s;uc|ceeding their Beauty; and where her Affliction could not repre&s;ent her rather dead then tormented, her Hand &s;upplied with blows that defect; &s;o (killed many ways) &s;he threw her&s;elf on the Corps, &s;ome|times of her Father, and &s;ometimes of <HI>Antiochus</HI> (being all bloody and weeping) giving them ki&s;&s;es mixt with Love and with Pity, and howling (like a woman tran&s;ported in the &s;ervice of <HI>Bacchus</HI>) till laying her hand by chance on the bloody Dagger which wounded her Father (ere her Governe&s;s could hinder her) &s;he thru&s;t it into her Bo&s;om, but lightly (for an incontinent hand is always coward|ly) and bending downwards, fell on the dead Bo|dies of her Father, her Husband, and her wanton Lover. She was taken up while &s;he &s;eemed to expire (more wounded with Angui&s;h then the Iron) and on the arms of &s;everal Maids (which &s;erved her in the nature of a pitiful Beer) carried into the Pallace.</P>
<PB N="178" REF="92">
<P>All the Court did nothing el&s;e but weep bitter|ly, onely among &s;o many di&s;contented, the old Mo|ther of <HI>Climenes</HI> &s;eemed comforted.</P>
<P>While every thing was di&s;ordered, and the Kingdom tottered without Pillars to &s;upport it, they &s;aw de&s;cend through the Air from on high, a Globe of a thick Cloud, from which they di&s;co|vered ever and anon with great cra&s;hing, flying Fires. This &s;taying over the middle of the princi|pal Court, opened with a terrible Earth-quake, and an incredible horror of the Spectators.</P>
<P>The Night came on, and the darkne&s;s now en|crea&s;ing, did cover the unfortunate Pallace, when it was driven away again by many Lights, which (i&s;&s;uing out of the bo&s;om of the great-bellied cloud) di&s;tributed them&s;elves with limited mea|&s;ures into di&s;tinct &s;paces, without &s;hewing in what maner they exi&s;ted. A woman of a declining age (with her hair hanging loo&s;e, of a &s;evere and grave Countenance, clad in a Brown Robe, with a Wand in her right hand, and a Book in her left) command|ed a Silence, and &s;tilled their weeping and cryes, in a &s;hrill tone afterwards began in this maner:</P>
<P>People, Lament not the deaths of unworthy Kings, bewail your &s;elves, and accu&s;e the Stars for &s;o ba&s;ely &s;ubjecting you to the Rule of &s;uch Mon|&s;ters. Bewail ye rather the encrea&s;ing Di&s;a&s;ters which re&s;erve you to greater Misfortunes.</P>
<P><HI>Seleucus, Demetrius, Antiochus, Stratonica</HI> (though Kings) were all born of ba&s;e Seed in a Cradle of Gold, who&s;e Mothers many ways com|mitted foul Adulteries. Of abject Embraces (&s;ought
<PB N="179" REF="92">after in the Stable and the Field) they conceived their I&s;&s;ue the dregs of the People. Behold the Son that pre&s;umed to di&s;honor his Father; behold the Father, who endured, rather favored his own &s;hame; behold the engenderer of the Adultere&s;s, whom youthfulne&s;s (wanton of it &s;elf) had made by his connivance more Audacious.</P>
<P>This Kingdom a whole Age &s;hall be the &s;port of Fate, and &s;corn of the World. Every Lu&s;tre &s;hall have a new King, they &s;hall dye all by Poy&s;on or the Sword; for di&s;hone&s;t Beginnings have un|fortunate Ends.</P>
<P>She &s;aid &s;o, and vani&s;hed, and the Lights vani&s;h|ed with her; whereupon by the light of the Fu|neral Torches, every one retired to his home.</P>
<P>When the Sun was ri&s;en, many troubles aro&s;e in that Court, many pretending to the Crown, this by open Force, and that by clear Right. Among other, <HI>Alicander Seleucus</HI> his kin&s;man (a haughty man and indi&s;creet, being oppo&s;ed very &s;tifly by &s;ome, but followed by mo&s;t) having impri&s;oned or killed his Competitors, u&s;urped the Throne, inve&s;ting his &s;houlders to Tyranny with the &s;pecious Robe of a King.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Prey he a&s;pired to was <HI>Stratonica,</HI> who (ea&s;ily rehealed by the Surgeons) in all tho&s;e Di&s;|gu&s;ts and Lamentations, was forced to take again the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of her u&s;ual Beauty. <HI>Alicander</HI> was the uglie&s;t of all men, as &s;he of all women the mo&s;t Beautiful. The &s;mall Pox had &s;o eaten his Face, that he &s;eemed a Mon&s;ter. He was quite Bald, ex|cepting a few &s;ingle Locks about his temples. His
<PB N="180" REF="93">No&s;e &s;tood awry, and was flat, his Eyes grim, his Lips &s;woln, and his Face full of ulcerous Pimples. Some Tufts of hair hung down from his Chin incli|ning to A&s;h-colour, and very ill ordered. Such a one <HI>Stratonica</HI> enjoyed, who was exceeding luxu|rious and comely, as another <HI>Venus</HI> in the &s;ix and twentieth year of her age, while (loathing him in her minde, and &s;weetning her di&s;a&s;ters with the me|mory of <HI>Antiochus</HI>) &s;he embittered with contempt his in&s;ipid Delights. Whereupon, being di&s;ta&s;ted if not glutted, he re&s;igned her up as a prey to the un|ruly Soldiers, to the end they might have their fill of her. So, broken in a &s;hort &s;pace of time, and di&s;|figured by unhappy Di&s;ea&s;es, <HI>STRATONICA,</HI> a little before the Trea&s;ure of the Age and Won|der of the People, without having &s;o much as a cour&s;e Cloth to cover her, returned rotten, not onely naked, to the Womb of the Earth.</P>
<PB REF="93">
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
