A Margarite of America  
By T. Lodge  
Printed for john Busbie, and are to be sold in S. Dunston's churchyard in Fleetstreet, at the little shop next Clifford's Inn. 1596   

To the noble, learned and virtuous Lady, the Lady Russell, T. L. wisheth affluence on earth, and felicity in heaven.  
MAdam your deep and considerate judgement your admired honour & happy readings have drawn me to present this labour of mine to your gracious hands, and favourable patronage: wherein, though you shall find nothing to admire; yet doubt I not but you may meet many things that deserve cherishing. Touching the subject, though of itself it seem historical, yet if it please you like our English Sappho, to look into that which I have slenderly written, I doubt not but that your memory shall acquaint you with my diligence, and my diligence may deserve your applause. Touching the place where I wrote this▪ it was in those straits christened by Magelan; in which place to the southward many wondrous Isles, many strange fishes, many monstrous Patagones withdrew my senses; briefly, many bitter and extreme frosts at midsummer continually cloth and clad the uncomfortable mountains, so that as there was great wonder in the place wherein I writ this so likewise might it be marveled, that in such scanty fare, such causes of fear, so mighty discouragements, and many crosses, I should deserve or eternize any thing. Yet what I have done (good Madam) judge and hope this felicity from my pen, that whilst the memory thereof shall live in any age, your charity, learning, nobility and virtues shall be eternised. Oppian writing to Theodosius was as famous by the person to whom he consecrated his study, as fortunate in his labours, which as yet are not mastered by oblivion; so hope I (Madam) on the wing of your sacred name to be borne to the temple of Eternity, where though envy bark at me, the Muses shall cherish, love, and happie●●●. Thus hoping your Ladyship will supply my boldness with your bounty and affability, I humbly kiss your most delicate hands, shutting up my English duty under an Italian copy of humanity and courtesy. From my house this 4. of May 1596.  
Your Honours in all zeal, T. LODGE.   

¶ To the Gentlemen Readers.  
GEntlemen, I am prevented in mine own hopes; in seconding thrifts forward desires. Some four years since being at sea with M. Candish (whose memory if I repent not, I lament not) it was my chance in the library of the jesuits in Sanctum to find this history in the Spanish tongue, which as I read delighted me, and delighting me, won me, and winning me, made me write it. The place where I began my work, was a ship, where many soldiers of good reckoning finding disturbed stomachs; it can not but stand with your discretions to pardon an undiscreet and unstaid pen, for hands may vary where stomachs miscarry. The time I wrote in, was when I had rather will to get my dinner, then to win my fame. The order I wrote in, was past order, where I rather observed men's hands lest they should strike me, then curious reason of men to condemn me. In a word, I wrote under hope rather the fish should eat both me writing, and my paper written, than fame should know me, hope should acquaint her with me, or any but misery should hear mine ending. For those faults (gentlemen) escaped by the Printer, in not being acquainted with my hand, and the book printed in my absence, I must crave you with favour to judge of, and with your wont courtesies to correct; and according to Ecclesiastical law, give us on our confession absolution: if you will not, remember this, that a country lass for Ladies, may tell them they curl too much; and for Gentlemen, that they are unfashioned by their fashions. To be short, who lives in this world, let him wink in the world; for either men prove too blind in seeing too little, or too presumptuous in condemning that they should not.  
Yours T. Lodge.   

¶ A Margarite of America for Lady's delight, and Lady's honour.  
THe blushing morning 'gan no sooner appear from the desired bed of her old paramour, & remembering her of her Shafalus, watered the bosom of sweet flowers with the crystal of her tears: but both the armies (awaked by the harmony of the birds, that recorded their melody in every bush, began to arm them in their tents, & speedily visit their trenches: Among the rest the two emperors (the one, Protomachus of Moscow, the other, Artosogon of Cusco) considering with themselves, the care Princes ought to have that command multitudes; the prefixed hour of their fight already arrived, suddenly armed themselves, commanding their corronels by sound of trumpet to draw out their companies into the plain: Then marched forth each squadron, deaffing the air with their cries, dimming the sun with the reflection of their costly curets, their high looks promised happy forwardness, and their haughty hearts were portrayed in their dreadless demean. At the last embattled in due order, the pikemen in a Macedonian phalanx, the horsemen in their out-wings, the shot as guards to the pikes, all as protectors of their colours, the fatal charge was sounded, and both the armies marched forward to encounter; (when suddenly an old man, whose sober looks betokened his severe thoughts, whose mournful garments, shadowed, his melancholy mind,) bearing the Image of the Gods, (whom he most honoured) between his arms, and the homage a true subject aught to have in his heart, thrust himself between both the armies, when sending many sighs from his breast to famous pity, and tears from his eyes to move compassion, he fixed both his hands on their knees (who were nearly encountered to enter combat) and began in their terms to persuade both the monarches (whilst both the armies withdrew their weapons, to give diligent attention to his words:) Stay your unbridled furies, O you Princes, & let not the world say, that you who were borne to be the defenders of the monarchies, are (through your il-governed furies) become the destroyers of mankind. Whereto tendeth this your unjust arms? if for your private grudges; oh how fond are you, that to revenge your mislikes, are the murderers of many innocents? If to enlarge your signiories; oh how vain are you, that seek to attain that with blood, which you must keep with care; that labour to sell that with stripes, which you have bought with peace; that travel to lose your own estates and signiories, for a little name of sovereignty? Hear me O you Princes (nay rather be advised by me:) you have spent huge treasures, made many widows, lost three years, and for what I pray you? for the right of one city, the whole confines and revenues whereof is not sufficient to acquit for one month of your charges: O unhappy Mantinaea, the cause of such heart-burning: O lawless name of signory, the occasion of such sorrows. Hear what Plutarch saith, Ye potentates, there is no war that taketh head amongst men, but of vice: for either the love of pleasure, either covetousness, ambition or desire of rule, provoketh the same. If this be true, as it is most certain, why blush you not (Princes) to behold your own follies? why reconcile you not to amend your misdeeds? If you say there are more pleasures in Mantinaea, then in your several countries, you detract from whole provinces, to make proud one poor city: and if it were, what a vain thing is it, that such as are in authority should purchase a private delight by public danger? Plato being demanded why he praised the Lydians so much, and dispraised the Lacedæmonians so highly, answered thus: If I commend the Lydians, it is for that they were never occupied but in tilling the field: and if I do reprove the Lacedæmonians, it is because they knew nothing else but to conquer Realms: so virtuous a thing hath it been held by the learned to maintain peace, and to shun occasions of contention. If you will be held virtuous and monarchies (as I wish you should be) desire nothing to the damage of your common weals, lest in satisfying your own humours ye subvert your subjects happiness. If for covetousness ye hunt after conquests, how vain are you, labouring like mad men to lay more straw on your houses to burn them, and cast more water on the sea to drown it? Covetousness is an affection that hath no end, an extreme that hath no mean, a profit full of prejudice. Well said Aristotle in his politics, there is no extreme poverty but that of covetousness. If for ambition, well may ye weep with Alexander, to be laughed at, practise with Zenos, to repent with him: for in desiring beyond your reach, you fall beside your hopes. But if all these evils be grown to one head, if your incontinency in desire, your excessive thirst after pleasure, your covetous longing after riches, your ambitious hunting after seignioritie, have occasioned this war; subdue these errors in yourselves for your subjects sakes: and sith Protomachus hath one daughter, and no more to inherit Moscow, and Artosogon one son and heir to succeed in the Empire of Cusco; let both these be joined together in happy matrimony: so shall the cause of this different be quickly decided, yourself may root out your engrafted errors, your subjects enjoy their desired peace, and finally, your Children shall have greater cause to praise their father's foresight, then to repent hereafter their unjust fury. Hereunto I conjure you, O you Princes, by these holy gods, whom you honour, by these hoary hairs which you should reverence, lest your subjects hereafter ruinated through your rashness, have rather occasion to curse you then commend you. In Octavius Caesar's time, each one thought himself fortunate to be borne under his empery, and him happy that maintained his province in peace: so let it be said of you (good Princes) and leave you such memory to your succession: than shall I think myself happy in my persuasions, and you shall be famous to all posterity.  
No sooner had he ended his oration, but both the emperors resolved, by his reasons, and pacified by the persuasions of their nobility (who after long debate and consultation, and cheer behoveful) drew to an accord: wherein it was concluded, that Arsadachus the youthful heir of Cusco should be sent to the emperor of Moscow, where, (considering the worthiness of his court) he should find fit companions, & apply himself to fancy, being continually in the presence of his fair Margarita: finally (after the decease of both the Princes) it was enacted that both Mantinaea and the whole empire, should remain to Arsadachus, and Margarita and their heirs for ever. These articles thus concluded upon, both the camps broke up; the brave knights who to-fore time delighted in tossing of lances, now have no other pleasure but in talking with fair Ladies, the soldiers sword, was changed to a husbandman's scythe; his gay Curets, to a grey frock; the gates which beforetime were shut against foes, were now opened to all sorts as unsuspected friends: Such liberty followeth peace, exempted from the tyranny of war. Artosogon withdrew his followers to his own frontiers, & returning to his court, made honourable provision for his son Arsadachus to send him to Moscovia. Protomachus (after he had rewarded each soldier according to his desert) withdrew himself to the castle of that aged father, who had so faithfully counseled him, (yielding him for reward the dukedom of Volgradia, the chiefest place of honour through all Moscovy) whither, as to the open theatre of all delights, the nobility & ladies resorted, among the which the chiefest, fairest, and chastest Margarita, presented herself, rejoicing at the happy reconcilement: where being resolved by her father of the contract that was concluded upon, with blushes at first showed her modesty, & with obedience at last condescended to his mind. In this rare fortress of Arsinous (situate by a gracious and silver floating river, environed with curious planted trees to minister shade, and sweet smelling flowers, to recreate the senses; besides the curious knots, the dainty gardin plots, the rich tapestry, the royal attendance) Protomachus found as evident signs of high spirit, as of huge expense: at the entrance, of his chamber (which had a prospect into a delicious garden in which all sorts of birds enclosed in a Cage of crystal recorded their harmonies, whilst the gentle fall of a bubbling fountain seemed to yield a sweet and murmuring consent to ●heir music) was placed that sentence of Drusius Germanicus which he carried always engraved in his ring.  
Illis est gravis fortuna quibus est repentina.  
About the walls of the chamber in curious imagery were the seven sages of Greece, set forth with their several virtues, eloquently discovered in Arabic verses: The bed appointed for the prince to rest himself, was of black Ebony enchased which Rubies, Diamonds and Carbun●ls, made inform of an arch, on which by degrees man's state from infancy to his old age was plainly depictured, and on the testern of the bed the whole contents of the same most sagely deciphered in these verses.  

Humanae Miseriae discursus.  

O whereof boasteth man, or by what reason  
Is filthy clay so much ambitious?  
Whose thoughts are vain, and alter every season▪  
Whose deeds are damned, base, and vicious,  
Who in his cradle by his childish crying  
Presageth his mishaps and sorrows nying.   

An infant first from nurses teat he sucketh  
With nutriment corruption of his nature:  
And from the root of endless error plucketh  
That taste of sin that waits on every creature,  
And as his sinews firm his sin increaseth,  
And but till death his sorrow never ceaseth.   

In riper years when youthly courage raineth,  
A winter's blast of fortunes lowering changes,  
A flattering hope wherein no trust remaineth,  
A fleeting love his forward joy estranges:  
achieve he wealth, with wasteful woe he bought it,  
Let substance fail, he grieves, and yet he sought it.   

In stayed years when as he seeks the gleaning●  
Of those his times in studious Arts bestowed,  
In sum, he oft misconstrueth wisemen's meanings,  
Soiling the spring from whence his science flowed,  
In all he gains by perfect judgement gained,  
A hate of life that hath so long remained.   

From height of throne to abject wretchedness,  
From wondrous skill to servile ignorance:  
From court to cart, from rich to recklessness,  
The joys of life have no continuance:  
The king, the caitiff wretch, the lay, the learned.  
Their crowns, woes, wants, & wits with grief have earned.   

The judgement seat hath brawls, honour is hated,  
The soldiers life is daily thrall to danger,  
The merchants bag by tempests is abated,  
His stock still serves for prey to every stranger,  
The scholar with his knowledge learns repent,  
Thus each estate in life hath discontent.   

And in these trades and choice estates of living,  
Youth steals on manly state, and it on age,  
And age with weakened limbs, and mind misgiving,  
With trembling tongue repenteth youthly rage,  
And ere he full hath learned his life to govern,  
He dies, and dying doth to dust return.   

His greatest good is, to report the trouble  
Which he in prime of youth hath overpassed.  
How for his grains of good he reaped but stubble,  
How lost by love, by follies hue disgraced,  
Which whilst he counts, his son perhaps attendeth,  
And yet his days in self like follies endeth.   

Thus mortal life on sudden vanisheth.  
All like a dream, or as the shadow fleeteth,  
When sun his beam from substance banisheth,  
Or like the snow at once that dries and sleeteth.  
Or as the rainbow which by her condition  
lives by the Suns reflect and opposition.   

Thus life in name is but a death in being,  
A burden to the soul by earth entangled:  
Then put thou off that vail that lets thy seeing,  
O wretched man with many torments mangled,  
Since neither child, nor youth, nor stayed, nor aged,  
The storms of wretched life may be assuaged.   

And with the Egyptian midst thy delicates  
Present the shape of death in every member,  
To make thee know the name of all estates:  
And midst thy pomp thy nying grave remember,  
Which if thou dost, thy pride shall be repressed▪  
Since none before he dies is perfect blessed.    
Thus sumptuous was the lodging of Protomachus, but far more glorious the chamber of Margarita which seemed from the first day to be fashioned to her affections, for over the entrance of the doors was drawn and carved out of curious white marble, the fair goddess of chastity blushing at the sudden interception of Actaeon, and her naked nymphs, who with the one hand, covering their own secret pleasures with blushes, with the other cast a beautiful vail over their mistress dainty nakedness: the two pillars of the door were beautified with the two Cupids of Auacreon, which well shaped modesty often seemed to whip lest they should grow over wanton: no sooner was the inward beauties of the chamber discovered, but the work wrought his wonder, and the wonder itself was equalled by the work, for all the chast● Ladies of the world, inchased out of silver, looking through fair mirrors of chrysolites, carbuncles, sapphires & green Emeraults, fixed their eyes on the picture of eternity, which fixed on the tops of a testern, seemed with a golden trumpet to applaud to them all: in the tapistry (beautified with gold, and pearl) were the nine Muses curiously wrought, who from a thicket beheld amorous Orpheus making the trees leap through his laments, and as he warbled his songs the floods of Hebrus stayed their sources; and the birds that beheld their comfort, began likewise to carol. It was strange to think, and more strange to behold, in what order Art matched with nature, and how the limning painter had almost exceeded nature in life, saving that the beauteous faces wanted breath, to make them alive, not cunning to prove them lively. Thus was both the emperor and his daughter lodged, wanting neither delights of hunting, nor other princely pleasures, to entertain them: so curious was the good old man, in pleasing his emperor and master. But among all other courtly delights Margarita met not the least, who in this castle found a companion to accompany her in life, and a chaste maid to attend her in love, who (beside her education, which was excellent, her virtues such as equalled excellence, her beauty so rare as exceeded both) was beloved by a noble lord of Moscovy, who for his singularities in poetry, & science in feats of arms, was rather the signior, than second of all the empire. The interchange of which affections was so conformable to the fancies of the princess, that she, who was ordained to be the miracle of love, learned by them & their manners the true method of the same: for when Minecius courted his Philenia, Margarita conceited her Arsadachus; and by perceiving the true heart of the one, supposed the perfect habit of the other. If at any time cause of discourtesy grew betwixt Philenia and her friend, Margarita salved it, hoping by that means to sacrifice to Love, to gratify him in her fortunes, which were to succeed. How often would she make Minecius deserts excellent by her praise, and he his Philenia famous by his poetry? It was a world to see in them, that when love waxed warm, those lovers waxed witty, the one to command, the other to consent: if at any time Minecius wrote an amorous sonnet, Margarita should see it: and if at any time Margarita read a sonnet she would commend it to satisfy Philenia, and in that Arsinous (the father through the good opinion of Protomachus the Emperor, thought not amiss of the marriage between his daughter and the Moscovite,) he rather furthered then frouned on their pastimes: and Minecius having arrived her father and entangled the daughter in fancy, sought all means possible to satisfy her delights; sometimes therefore under a pastoral habit he would hide him in the gr●●es and woods where the Ladies were accustomed to walk, where recording a ruthful lay as they passed by; he through his harmony, caused them believe that the tree tattled love, & such was his method in his melancholy fancies, that his coat was accordant to his conceit, and his conceit the miracle of conceits: among the rest these of no small regard, I have thought good in this place to register, which though but few in number are worthy the noting. First being on a time melancholy by reason of some mislikes of his mistress he wrote these sonnets, in imitation of Dolce the Italian, and presented them in presence of the Princes Margarita, who highly commended them, over the top whereof he wrote this in great Roman letters.  

PIETATI.  

If so those flames I vent when as I sigh▪  
Amidst these lowly valleys where I lie▪  
Might find some means by swift address to fly  
Unto those Alpine topless mountains high:   

Thou shouldst behold their Icy burdens thaw,  
And crimson flowers adorn their naked backs,  
Sweet ro●es should enrich their winter wracks,  
Against the course of kind and nature's law.   

Bu● you fair Lady see the furious flame,  
That through your will destroys me beyond measure,  
Yet in my pains me thinks you take great pleasure,  
Loath to redeem or else redress the same:  
Nor hath your heart compassion of mine ills,  
More cold than snow, more hard than Alpine hills.    
The other was this which seemed to be written with more vehementle of spirit▪ and 〈◊〉 great 〈◊〉 melancholy, which i● a shepherds habit, sitting under a ●ie●le tree he had mornfully recorded in the presence of his mistress.  

PIETATI.  

O deserts be you peopled by my plaints,  
And let your plants by my pure tears be watered,  
And let the birds whom my sad moan acquaint,  
To hear my hymns have harmony in hatred.   

Let all your savage citizens reframe,  
To haunt those bowers where I my woes bewray,  
Let none but deep despair with me remain,  
To haste my death when hope doth will me stay.   

Let rocks remove for fear they melt to hear me,  
Let Echo whist for dread she die to answer:  
So living thus where no delights come near me,  
My many moans more moving may appear:  
And in the depth of all when I am climbing,  
Let love come by, see, sigh, and fall a crying.    
This mourning passion pleased the ladies very highly, especially Philenia, who thought herself no little blessed to be thus beloved: among the rest they gave this that follows his deserved commendation; for being written in the desolate season of the year, and the desperate success of his earnings, being so applied to his affects, and accordant with the years effects, (in my mind) deserveth in small good liking.  

With Ganymede now joins the shining sun,  
And through the world displaise his chiller flame,  
Cold, frost, and snow, the meadows, and the mountains  
Do wholly blend, the waters waxed Ice:  
The meads want flowers, the trees have parched leaves,  
Such is the dolie season of the year.   

And I in coldest season of the year,  
Like to a naked man before the Sun,  
Whilst drought thus dwells in herbs and dried leaves,  
Consume myself, and in affections flame  
To cinders fall: ne helps me frost or ice  
That falls from off these Snow-clad cloudy mountains.   

But when as shades new cloth again the mountains,  
And days wax long, and warmer is the year;  
Then in my soul fierce love congeals an Ice,  
Which nor the force of fierce inflamed sun  
May thaw nor may be moult with mighty flames,  
Which frost doth make me quake like Aspen leaves.   

Such time the winds are whist, and trembling leaves▪  
And beast grow mute reposing on the mountains,  
Then when aslaked been the heavenly flames,  
Both in the wain and prime tide of the year:  
I watch, I ward, until the new sprung sun,  
And hope, and fear, and feel both cold and Ice.   

But when again her morrow-gathered Ice  
The morn displays, and fro●tieth drooping leaves,  
And day renews with rising of the sun,  
Then wailful ●orth I wend through vales & mountains:  
Ne other thought have I day, month, and year,  
But of my first the fatal inward flames.   

Thus love consumes me in his lively flames,  
Thus love doth freeze me with his chilly Ice,  
So that no time remains me through the year  
To make me blith●ne are there any leaves:  
Through all the trees that are upon the mountains,  
That may conceal me from my sweetest 〈◊〉.  
First shal● the sun be seen without his flame,  
The wintered mountains without frost or ice,  
Leaves on the stones ere I content one year.   
This written in an amorous and more plausible vain (as that which most pleased the Ladies) and was not of least worth, I have set down last.  

O curious Gem how I envy each while,  
To see thee play upon my Lady's paps,  
And hear those Orbs where Cupid lays his traps  
From whence a gracious April still doth smile.   

And now thou playst thee in that Garden gentle,  
Twixt golden fruit and near her heart receivest  
Thy rest, and all her secret thoughts conceivest  
Under a vail fair, white, divine, and subtle.   

Ye gentle pearls where ere did nature make you?  
Or whether in Indian shores you found your mould▪  
Or in those lands where spices serve for fuel:  
Oh if I might from ou● your essence take you,  
And turn myself to shape what ere I would,  
How gladly would I be my Lady's jewel?   
Many such like were devised by Minecius, and allowed by Philenia, thorough which, Love, that had new vurgend his wings, began to fly, and being shut in close embers, broke out to open fire: so that like the Alcatras that scenteth far, Philenia consented to yield him fa●●ou● who sought it, knowing that his wit like the rose being more sweet in the bud then in the flower would best fi●●er● and (as the herb Ephemerus that hath in his spring a sweet and purple flower, but being of ten days growth conceiveth nothing of beauty, but is replenished with barrenness, so course of time would change him▪ she made choice of him, since in that estate of life wherein he then lived, was fashioned to all pleasures and disfurnished of no perfection, she knew him most meetest to enjoy his beauty, and most accordant to possess her marriage bed.  
But leave we Philenia delighted in her Mineciu, Margarita applauding them both, Protomachus conversing with Arsinous, and the whole courtely train of Moscow living in them co●ent; and let us have an eye to Cusco and the emperor thereof, who no sooner arrived in this court, but like the good gardener, knowing his time to plant; like the fortunate husband well trained to yoke and plough, learned of Trisolium, who lifteth up her leaves against tempest; and the emo●, who by her provision and travel foretelleth a shower and trouble that followeth, thought good (having been taught by experience to take the opportunity, knowing that princes and monarches minds are most subject to alterations, according to the humours of their counsels) to send his son Arsadachus to Moscow: whereupon furnishing him with princely attendance and great treasures, he see him forward on his way, and at his last farewell, ●ooke his lea●e of him in this fatherly and kingly manner: My son, as thou art young in years, so hast thou young thoughts, which if thou govern not with discretion, it will be the cause of thy destruction. Thou art leaving thy country for an other court, thy familiars, for new friends, where the least mite of folly in thee, will show a mountain, the least blemish, a great blot. Since therefore thine inclination is corrupt; and the faults which I smother, in that I am thy father, others will smite at, being thy foes? I wil● counsel thee to foresee before thou fall; and to have regard before thy ruin. Thou art borne a Prince, which being a benefit sent from heaven, is likewise an estate, subject to all unhappiness, for, whereas much dirt is, thither come many carrions; where high fortunes, many flatterers; where the hugeredat grows, the thistle springeth; where the ford in deepest, the fish are plentiest; and whereas sovereignty is, there are many seducers. Be thou therefore wary like the Unicorn, which, for fear she should taste poison, toucheth with her horn, before she lap it with her lip so seem thou, in 〈◊〉 credit to choose, who mean to fawn on thee in thy 〈…〉 them in their s●ight●, 〈…〉 ●oth the Locust, and prevent them in their 〈…〉 the fish Nibias doth the sea dragon. In choosing thy friends, learn of Augustus the Roman Emperor, who was strange and scrupulous in accepting friends, but changeless and resolute in keeping them. Choose not such companions, I pray thee, as will be drunk with thee for good fellowship, and double with thee in thine affairs, but use such as the chriftier sort do by their threede-bare coats, which being without wool, they cast off, as things unfit for their wearing. And especially remember these short lessons, which the shortness of time maketh me utter by a word, where indeed they require a whole days work; beware of over-trust, lest you commit the sweetest of your life to the credit of an uncertain tongue. Use all such courtiers as visit you, in like manner as Goldsmiths do their metal, who try it by the touchstone if it be forthall, and melt it in the fire, before they vouchsafe it the fashion; so do thou, and if they be counterfeit, they will soon leave thee; if faithful, they will the more love thee. Trust not too much to the ear, for it beguileth many; nor to the tongue, for it bewitcheth more. Strive not with time in thy affairs, but take leisure; for a thing hastily enterprised, is more hastily repent. In your counsels, beware of too much affection: and in your actions be not too proud, for the one will pro●●e your little regard of conscience; the other the corruption of your nature. And since thou art going into a foreign court, and must follow the direction of a second father, whose favour if thou keep, thou mayst hap to be most famous, look to thyself, for as Plato saith; to be a king, and to reign, to serve, and be in favour; to fight, and overcome, are three impossible things, and are only distributed by fortune, and disturbs by her frowardness in following. Therefore (Protomachus) seek in all things to follow his humour; for opinion is the chief step to preferment: and to be thought well of by the Prince, is no small profit; and if so be thou wilt please him, do him many services, and give him few words. In thy speech be deliberate, without hashfulnesse: in thy behaviour courtly, without pride; in thy apparel priveely without 〈◊〉; in thy revenges hold, but not too 〈…〉 love be 〈…〉 his corrupt manners. From this so sour a stock ●hat fruit may be expected but crabs? from so lewd beginnings, how lamentable issues? At last, arriving in Moscow, he was informed of the emperors being in the castle of Arsinous: whereupon addressing himself thither according to the mightiness of his estate, he was by Protomachus entertained royally, who receiving the prelents of Ar●osogon▪ returned them back, who brought them with high rewards, choosing among all the princely gentlemen of his court, those for to accompany Arsadachus who were virtuously disposed and well endued. Among the rest Minecius was appointed chief, whom Margarita highly trusted by reason of the trial Philenia had made of him. But among all other subtle demeanours in Court, this one was most to be admired, that Arsadachus should make signs of great devotion toward Margarita and deluded her with most hateful doubleness; it was wonderful to see him counterfeit sighs, to feign love, dissemble tears, to work treasons, vow much, perform little; in brief▪ vow 〈◊〉 faith, and perform nothing but falsehood. Margarita (poor princess) thinking all that gold which glisteren; the 〈◊〉 precious, by reason of his fair foil; the water shallow▪ 〈◊〉 reason of his mild silence, trusted so long, until 〈◊〉 perished in her trust, wholly ignorant that love is like the sea-starre, which whatsoever it toucheth it burneth: for knowing the resolution of her father, the conclusion of the nobility, she began to strain her thoughts to the highest reach, fancying every motion, wink, ●ecke, and action of the Cuscan Prince, in such sort as that (assisted by the virtuous, constant, and unspotted simplicity of her nature) she seemed not to suspect whatever she saw, nor to count it wrong, howsoever she endured. Among all other the counsellors of this young and untoward heir (about that time the flame of his folly long time smothered, began to smoke, besides his own countrymen▪ which were Brasidas, Capan●us, and other) there lived a great Prince in the court of Protomachu●▪ who delighted rather to flatter then counsel, to feed corruptions then purge them, who had Macheui●● 〈◊〉 in his 〈◊〉 to give instan●●, and mother Nana the Italia▪ 〈◊〉 in his pocket to show his artificial villainies. This Thebion being in high account with the Emperor for his ripe wit, was quickly entertained by this ungracious Prince for his cunning wickedness; who where Arsadachus was prone by nature to do ill, never ceased to minister him an occasion of doing ill. For, perceiving one day how with over-lustful eyes the young prince beheld Philenia, egged him onward which had too sharp an edge, using old proverbs to confirm his odious discourses and purposes: to be brief, Arsadachus perceiving Philenia and Margarita always conversant, resorted often to them, giving the emperors daughter the hand for a fashion, whilst Arsinous darling had the heart for a favour. And the better to cloak this corruption, be used Minecius with more than accustomed familiarity, seeming to be very importunate in his behalf with Philenia, where indeed he only sought opportunity to discover his own love. Whereupon being one day desired by Minecius to work a reconcilement between him and his mistress, by reason he knew him to be both eloquent and learned, be taking the occasion at a certain fest●●all, whilst Minecius courted Margarita, to withdraw Philenia do a bay window in the castle, which overlooked the fair fields on every side; where taking her by the hand he began thus:  
Beautiful Philenia, if I knew you as secret as you are sage, I would discover that to you in words, which I cover in my heart with sighs. If it be love, great prince, (said Philenia little suspecting his treachery) you may commend it to my ear, in that it is settled in this heart; as for silence, it is lovers science, who are as curious to conceal, as cunning to conceive: and as Hunters carry the feather of an Eagle against thunder, so lovers bear the herb Therbis in their mouths, which hath the virtue to stay the tongue from discourse whilst it detaineth the heart with incredible pleasure. If it be so said Arsadachus▪ blushing very vehemently (for nature's sparks of h●pe were not as yet altogether ruinated) I will hold Lady's weakness for worth, and disclose that secret which I thought to keep close. And what is that quoth Philenia? love said Arsadachus, it is love, and there he paused▪ Love, my Lord (quoth the Lady) why it is a passion full of pleasure, a god full of goodness, and trust me, Margarita hath of late days stolen him from his mother at Paphos, to make him her playfellow in Moscow, she prom●th his wings every day, and curleth his locks every hour; if he cry, she stills him under your name, if he be wanton, she charms him, with thinking on you: since than she hath the sickness in her hand, that loveth you in her heart; complain not of love since you command it. Here Arsadachus unable to endure the heat of affection, or conceal the humour that restrained him, broke off her discourse in this sort: Ah Philenia, if I did not hope, that as the hard oak nourisheth the soft silk-worm; the sharp beech bringeth forth the savoury chestnut, the black Bdellium sweet gum; so beautiful looks concealed pitiful hearts, I would furf●et in my sorrows to the death, rather than satisfy thee in my discourse. But hoping of thy silence (Philenia) I will disclose my mind: I love Philenia; fair Philenia, I love thee; as for Margarita, though she cherish beauty in her bosom, thou inclosest him in thy beauty; she may have his feathers, but thou his fancies, she may please him well, but thou only appease him. You do speak Greek Arsadachus (said Philenia) I understand you not. I will paraphrase on it then (quoth the Prince) to make it plainer (for now occasion had emboldened him.) I come not to plead a reconcilement for Minecius, as you suppose, but remorse for myself (sweet madam) on set purpose, for upon you (faite madam) dependeth my life, in your hands consisteth my liberty; your looks may deify my delights; your loures dare me with discontents. I pray thee therefore, dear Philenia, by those chaste eyes (the earnest of my happiness) by this fair hair (the minister of all favours) take compassion of Arsadachus, who being a prince, may prefer thee, and an emperor, will love thee: as for Margarita, let Minecius and her accord them, for only I will make thee empress, and she may make Minecius Emperor. Philenia unable to endure his devilish and damned assaults, s●ang from him with this bitter and sharp answer: Did not my promise lock up these lips (thou injurious Prince) thy doubleness should be as well known in this Court as thy name; but since my promises have made thee presumptuous, I will hereafter hear before I answer, and try before I trust▪ Is this the faith thou bearest to Margarita? thy friendship thou vowest to Minecius, to falsify thy faith to one, and delude the trust of the other▪ Hence, poisoned, because I abhor thee; and if hereafter thou haunt me with these lewd and lecherous salutes, trust me, the Emperor shall know thy treasons, and others shall be revenged on thee for thy treacheries. This said, she thrust into the company of other Ladies, leaving him altogether confused: yet being made confident, by reason of her promise, he withdrew himself to his chamber, where tossing his licentious limbs on his soft bed, he fed on his desperate determination, till Thebion and Brasidas (the one a Cuscan, and the other a Moscovian, both of his dissolute counsel) entered his chamber: when after they had sounded the cause of his sorrows, and the manner of the disease, quickly ministered the method of curing it; for the day of Minecius marriage being at hand, and the nuptial feast ordained the Monday following: they seeing the grounded affection of the Prince, concluded this; by the death of Minecius to minister Arsadachus his remedy, the complot whereof they laid in this sort: that (where in Moscow it was accustomed, that such nobles as married young heirs in their father's house, should after the joining of hands conduct them to their own castles, there to accomplish the festivals;) Arsadachus and they his counsellors with the assistance of their followers should lie in wait in the woods of Mesphos, by which Minecius and his bride should needly pass, where they might surprise Philenia, and murder Minecius  
Arsadachus too toward in all tyranny, no sooner conceived the manner, then consented to the murder: and having a subtle and preventing wit (and being very careful how to acquit himself of the matter) he asked Thebion how he should answer Protomachus. Tut said he, fear not that, for in the enterprise you shall be disguised, and Brasidas here your true counsellor shall only take the matter on him, and flee into Cusco, where your credit can countenance him against all justice: for yourself, fashion your mind for these few days to please Margarita, to appease Philenia, to further Minecius; seem likewise discontented with your former motions, so shall you rid suspect in them, and be more ready in yourself to effect; seem now to be more devout to the gods then ever, for this opinion of devotion is a great step to perform any weighty action: for where we offer much to the gods who are most pure, our actions are least suspected; and revenge is better performed in the Temple where we pray, then in the field where we fight: for the offender in that place trusteth sufficiently to his forces, wherein the defender presumeth too much on his devotion. Tut the king that nipped AEsculapius by the beard, gave instance to those that follow to gripe the enemy by the heart. But (mighty prince) I must end with etc. Arsadachus knowing the cloth by the list, the bill by the Irem, the steel by the mark, and the work by the words, with a smile commended that which was concluded; and thereupon hasted to Court, where finding Margarita, Philenia, and Minecius in the privy garden, he counterfeiting marvelous melancholy, having his coat suitable to his conceit, presented both the Ladies with this melancholy, which Minecius over-reading most highly commended.  

CAZON.  

My words, my thoughts, my vows,  
Have soiled, have forced, have stained,  
My tongue, my heart, my brows.   

My tongue, my heart, my brows,  
Shall speak, shall think, shall smile,  
'Gainst words, 'gainst thoughts, 'gainst vows▪   

For words, for thoughts, for vows,  
Have soiled, wronged, and stained,  
My tongue, my heart, my brows.   

Whereon henceforth I swear.  
My words, my thoughts, my vows,  
So vain, so vile, so base,  
Which brought, my tongue, heart, brows,  
To shame, repulse, disgrace▪   

Shall evermore forbear,  
To tempt that brow, that heart, that tongue, so holy,  
With vows, with thoughts, with words, of too great folly.    
Margarita overreading this sonnet, supposed it to be some melancholy report of his pretty wanton discourses with her, whereupon she spoke thus: Arsadachus were I the priest to confess you, you should have but small penance; since in love (as Philostratus saith) Cupid dispenseth with an oath, and words are good weapons to win women, but if either of these have defaulted in you, blush not, they shall be borne withal, for as the Mole hath four feet and no eyes; so a lover may be borne withal, for one maistaking among a many virtues: to be brief as the Logicians say passion is no more but the effect of action, the one whereof I have gathered in these lines, the other thou must show in thy life: this said she ceased, and Philenia blushed. Minecius to cut off these mute melancholies of his mistress gave the dagger a new haft, turning over the leaf to a second discourse, ministering Arsadachus by that means occasion to court Margarita, and himself opportunity to pacify Philenia, who by the carriage of her eye, showed the discontent of her mind. In short words Arsadachus so behaved himself with his Mistress, that neither Tiberius for his eye, neither Octavius for his affability, neither Alexander for his scar, nor Cicero for his mole, were so much commended, & noted, as the young Cuscan was for his behaviour. Lord how demurely would he look, when he thought most devilishly? how could he fashion himself to haunt there, where he did most hate? to smooth choler under colour of friendship? so that Margarita, laughed for joy, to see his gravity, Minecius admired to behold his demeanour; but Philenia mistrusted his double and sinister subtleties. In a word, as the day succeed the night, and the shutting up of the evening, is followed by the serenity of the morning, so time passed, so long, till the present day approached, wherein the marriage was to be solemnized: whereon the emperor (the ●ore to dignify the nuptials) countenanced the marriage with his presence. Thither likewise resembled the flower of the nobility and Ladies; among whom Margarita was not least sumptuous, for on that day her apparel was so admirable, her carriage & behaviour so execelent, that had the wisest Cato beheld her, he would have in some part dismissed his stoical severity: her golden hairs curled in rich knots, and interlaced with rich bands of diamonds and rubies, seemed to s●aine Apollo's golden bush; environed with her wreath of chrysolites, her eyes like pure carbuncles, seemed to smile on the roses of her cheeks, which consorted with the beauty of the lily, made her beauty more excellent, her eyes, briers like the net of Vulcan, polished out of refined threads of sine ebony, her alabaster neck was encompassed with a collar of orient pearl, which seemed to smile on her teeth when she opened her mouth, claiming of them some consanguinity; her body was appareled in a fair lose garment of green damask, cut upon cloth of tissue, and in every cut, was inchased a most curious jewel, wherein all the escapes of jupiter, the wanton delights of Venus, and the amorous deceits of Cupid were cunningly wrought. Thus attired, she attended the bride, being herself waited on by a troop of beautiful dainsels that day. Arsadachus, though with little devotion accompanied the Emperor, being that day clothed in red cloth of gold, betokening revenge. It were a vain matter to reckon up the order of the bridegroom, the majesty of his favourers, the manner of the lords and ladies, the sumptuousness of the feasts and triumphs, the harmony and music in the temples; sufficeth it, that by the consent of Arcinous, Philenia was betrothed to Minecius, who seeing the day well-nigh spent, & the time convenient to departed to his castle, (after he had with humble reverence invited the emperor, his daughter, with the other Princes the next day to his festival, which he had prepared in his own house) made all things in a readiness, and departed, having received by the emperor and Arcinous, many rich rewards. Arsadachus seeing the long desired hour of his delights at hand, stole out of the court in great secret to his lodging, where arming himself according as Thebion had given him instructions; and attended by Brasidas and other Cusca●s, his trusty followers, he presently posted unto a grove, thorough which the new married couple should needly pass, where he privily hid himself and his ambush. By that time the bright and glorious light of heaven, abasing himself by degrees, reposed his sweaty steeds in the soft bosom of clear looking Eurotas; and evening the fore-messenger of the night had haled some stars to illuminate the hemisphere, when as Minecius (in the top of all his felicities) accompanied with his fair Philenia and other followers, without either suspect of treason or other trouble entered the wood, and through the secretness thereof, hied them toward their determined abode. But all the way Philenia took no comfort, dreadfully suspecting the subtle dealings of Arsinous; and oft she sighed, and often she dropped down lilies on the roses of her face, or rather, such sweet tears wherewith the blushing morn enchaseth the soft Hyacinth. Minecius seeing her in these passions, persuaded her unto patience: but even as (according to the opinion of Aristotle) lions, bears, eagles, griffins, and all other birds and beasts whatsoever, are then more eager and cruel when they have young ones: so Philenia having now a second care annexed to her own safety, (which was for her dear husband) could not cease to perplex herself, and to fear for him. Long had they not traveled, but they discovered the ambush, and the ambush assaulted them: among which Arsadachus greatly disguised, as he that envied the fortunes of Minecius, took hold on the reins of philenia's palfrey, whilst Thebion, and Brasidas, with others, with their naked sword began to assault Minecius and his followers. He that hath seen the falcon seizing his keen talents in the flesh of a silly dove, and playing his sharp bill on her soft feathers, might have thought on Arsadachus, who no sooner took hold on her, but pulling the mask from her face, enforced many violent kisses on her soft lips, whilst she exclaiming on the name of Minecius, and crying, help, repulsed the injuries with her white hands, which were injuriously offered to her delicate face. Minecius suspecting no more than was true, and unable to endure further violence, deemed it greater honour to die in defence of his mistress, then behold the impeach of her credit, left his companions who fled, and with naked sword smote Arsadachus a mighty blow on the helm, through which he staggered, and lost his holdfast; then renewing his mistress which was almost dead for fear, he boldly spoke thus to Arsadachus; Traitor, and coward, that in time of peace goest thus armed, and with unjust arms assaultest naked knights, if any spark of honour reign in thee, give me arms and weapons; if thou seek my life, take it from me with courage like a knight, not by treason like a coward; if my Love, I pray thee take these eyes from their sight, these hands from their sense, and this tongue from his speech: for whilst the one may see, the other fight, and the third threaten: thou shalt have no part of that wherein my felicity is reposed; thus saying, he remounted Philenia: whilst he was thus occupied, Arsadachus swelling with impatience after he had been animated by his followers, replied thus: Soft (amorous sir) this is no meat for your mowing, you best were rather to fall to your prayers, then to use prating, to beseech for life, then to seech love: for assure thyself, there is no way with thee but death, nor no love for Philenia but mine. This said, he gave Minecius a mighty stroke on the head, so that the blood overflowed his costly attire, and he fell to the ground. Philenia half mad with melancholy, leapt from her palfrey to comfort her paramour: and seeing the whole troup of assailants ready to charge her husband, and assured that Arsadachus was the chief of them, with such a piteous look as Venus cast on bleeding Adonis she beheld Minecius, and wiping his wounds with one hand, and touching the knees of Arsadachus with the other, she spoke thus: Ah Cuscan prince though thy face is shadowed, I know thee by these follies, though thy raiments are changed, I judge thee by thy rashness, what seekest thou? if my favour, it is already bequeathed: if revenge, how base is it against a woman? if Minecius life, how injurious art thou to wrong him that loves thee as his life? Ah cruel as thou art (yet would thou wert not cruel) thou knowest Chrises tears could move Achilles, the one proceeding from a silly maid, the other pitied by a princely man: thou knowest that Alexander to Campaspe, Pompey to his prisover, and other great conquerors have rather showed compassion then victory; and wilt thou who art equal to all in power, be inferier to all in virtue? Ah woe is me poor Philenia that have planted my affections there where they are watered with warm blood, and heap my compassion there where working tears have no boot. I pray thee gracious prince, I pray thee be gracious: divide not those by murder, whom the gods have united by marriage: separate not those souls by death whom the destinies have appointed to live. In speaking these words she beheld Minecius, who through the grievousness of his wounds, fell in a swoon: whereupon she casting off all care of life, and hope of comfort, closed her soft lips to his, breathing the balm of her sighs into his breathless body, clapping his pale cheeks with her pretty hands, moisting his closed eyes, with her crystal tears, so that they who were the very authors of her sorrow, 'gan sigh to see her ceremonies. Wilt thou hence (said she) Minecius? Oh stay for Philenia, let our soul's post together to Elysium that on earth here may not enjoy their happiness; for nothing shall separate me from thee (my love:) if thou do banish sight from thine eye, I will drive out blood from my heart: if thy beauty grow pale as ●ying death, my cheeks shall pine as seeking death: if thou faint through feebleness of body, I will default through weightiness of discontent: and since we may not live together, we will die together. With this Minecius roused himself: and Arsadachus inflamed, replied; Philenia, there is no ransom of thy husband's life, but thy love, nor no means to pacify me, but my pleasure of thee: speak therefore, and sound the sentence of my delight, or Minecius destruction: which said, he approached to kiss her: whom Minecius though half dead began to rescue: and Philenia half bedlam enforced herself in these terms: Traitor disloyal and damned lecher, since neither tears, nor terms will satisfy thee, use thy tyranny (for better were it for me to be buried with honour, then bedded with infamy) do therefore thy worst, thou hated of the gods, and despised among men, for no sooner shalt thou assail my husband, but thou shalt slay me: each drop of his blood shall be doubled by mine: and ●s in life he should have been the shelter of mine honour, so even in death will I be the shield to defend him from the assaults of his enemies: come therefore ye murderers, in growing cruel to me, you will prove pitiful: first take my life, that Minecius beholding my constancy, may die with more comfort. Thus cried she out with many tears; and Minecius dissuaded her. But the time passing away, and Arsadachus fearing delays, seeing all hope lost, grew to desperate fury, so that animating his followers, they set on Minecius, who valiantly defended himself. It was a world to see, how during the conflict Philenia bestirred her, letting no blow slip without the ward of her body, lying between the sword of the enemy for her husband's safety, crying out on the heavens till she was wellnie hoarse with crying. At last Minecius lacking blood, Philenia breath, both of them entangled arm in arm, fell down dead, leaving the memory of their virtues to be eternised in all ages. Arsadachus seeing the tragedies performed (not without some sighs which compassion extorted from him, as strokes do fire out of hard flint: he presently sent Brasidas away, as it was concluded (attended by those Cuscans that followed him in the enterprise) and he with Thebio● speedily posted to their lodging, both undiscovered and unsuspected.  
By this, such as attended Minecius to his castle had with speedy flight entered the court of Arsinous; who certified of his daughter's danger, advised the emperor, and presently with certain armed soldiers, posted on to the rescous: mean while Protomachus made search through all the court for such as were absent; and they that were appointed to the action entering Arsadachus chamber, found him in his fox sleep: wherethrough the emperor being advertised, 'gan little suspect him: in like sor● found they Thebion, only Brasidas was missing. In the mean while Arsinous having attained the place of the conflict, found both the murdered bodies sweltered in their bloods: whereupon falling from his horse in great fury, he thus exclaimed on fortune. Oh fortune, well art thou called, the enemy of virtue, since thou neither favourest such as deserve well, nor destroyest those that perform ill▪ for hadst thou not been partial, my daughter's chastity had prevented her death, and her murderers cruelty had been their own confusion: woe is me that have lost my flower in the bud, my hope in the ear, and my harvest in the blossom. Ah my dear Philenia, dear wert thou to me, that bought thee with much care, and have lost thee with more: deer wert thou unto me, who hast cost me many broken sleeps to bring thee up, many careful thoughts to bestow thee, more fatherly tears to prevent thy overthrow, and now having reared the fortress of my delights, the tempest of injurious fortune hath destroyed it: woe is me that am careful to publish my pains, and negligent to seek remedy; fond am I to defy fortune from whom I cannot fly: ah Arsinous weep not her that may not be recalled with tears, but seek to revenge her; show thyself rather fatherly in act, then effeminate in tears? Which said, he governed himself, causing the dead bodies honourably to be covered and conveyed with him to his castle, where within a temple erected to chastity, he reared a fair tomb of white marble, wherein with the general tears of the emperor and his whole court, these two faithful lovers were entombed, and over their graves thus written: 

Virtue is dead, and here she is enshrined,  
Within two lifeless bodies late deceased:  
Beauty is dead, and here is faith assigned  
To weep her wrack, who when these died first ceased.  
pity was dead when tyranny first slew them,  
And heaven enjoys their souls, though earth doth rue them.   

Since beauty then and virtue are departed,  
And faith grows faint to weep in these their fading,  
And virtuous pity kind and tender hearted,  
Died to behold fierce furies fell invading.   

Vouch safe ye heavens that fame may have in keeping  
Their happy and thrice blessed names, for whom  
Both virtue, beauty, pity died with weeping,  
And faith is closed in this marble tomb,    
This register of his love did Arsinous with many tears writ ●pon the toobme of his deceased son in law & daughter, who had no sooner furnished the funerals, but Phidias a page of Philenias, who during the mortal debate, & bloody massacre, had hid himself in a thicket, and overheard the whole discourse of Arsadachus, repaired to the court, who calling Arsinous aside, with piteous tears discoursed unto him the whole tragedy in such ruthful manner, as that it was hard to say, whether the lad in bewraying it, or the father in hearing it, were more compassionate. The old man certified the truth, though scarce able, yet smothered his griefs, till opportunity offered, suffering the emperor (like a wise man) to follow his own course, who the next morning assembling his nobility, forgot not Arsadachus, who making semblance to have but new intelligence of the murder of Minecius & his love, repaired to the Court in mourning apparel and being present when the matter was debated, seemed to weep bitterly, crying out on the emperor for justice, exclaiming on the iniquity of time, the cruelty of men, and tyranny of love. Protomachus was not a little pleased herewith, neither was Margarita aggrieved to hear it, but Arsinous boiled in choler to see it: at last it was found out, by a scarf which Brasidas had let fall (and was after taken up by one of those who fled) that he was at the murder, whereupon his absence was sufficient to convict him, and Arsadachus called forth to answer for him in that he was his attendant, spoke thus: Noble emperor, the gods that have placed thee in thy kingdom, shall bear me witness, how I grieve this accident, & willingly would revenge it, and since my follower to my defame, hath (as it is supposed) been a principal, vouchsafe me noble emperor licence for a time to departed to Cusco, where I will both discharge my choler, purge my grief, and be so revenged of Brasidas (who as I hear is fled, and by the token is guilty) as all the world shall ring of the justice, and rid me of suspicion. The emperor not hearing one that dared say his letters should suffice, endeavouring himself to seek the confederates; and because by his looks he perceived some discontents in Arsadachus, he sought all the means he could to please him, and remembering himself (that those good deeds which are done to ourself beloved, are esteemed as to ourself) he highly promoted Thebion, thinking thereby to win the heart of Arsadachus, so that he pretermitted no consultations, where Thebion was not chief, neither bestowed benefits, wherein he had no part. The young prince measuring all this according to the corrption of his nature, supposed these favours were but to sound him, and that Thebion being won by benefits, would easily consent to bewray him, whereupon he conceived a deadly hate against him, and persevered it so long till he effected it in this manner to his death: For knowing that Margarita dearly loved him, aiming all her fashions to his fancies, her behaviours, to his humours, he began anew to cloak with her, showing her ●o undoubted signs of assured affection, that she seemed in a paradise of pleasure, to see his pliantnes, and having with sweet words, trained her to his lewer, he attended such an occasion, as that he found her alone walking in the privy garden in her meditations, (for those that love much, meditate oft) where nying her with a courtly salute; he thus found her affection: Fair Princess, if either my unfeigned love have any force, or your virtuous nature true compassion, I hope both my sorrows shall be pitied, and my discontents succoured. Why what aggrieveth my dear Lord said Margarita? (and hearty she sighed in saying so) is either our court unpleasant, our entertainment unworthy, our ladies unapt to work your delights▪ believe me good prince, if Moscow cannot suffice to please you, Europe and the world shall be sought to satisfy you. Kind words good madam, said Arsadachus, act and silence must content me, which if you will under the faith of a noble and famous princess promise me, I shall be heads man, to pray for your happiness, and rest yours unfeigned in all service and loyalty. Margarita having gotten such an opportunity to please him both vowed and revowed all secrecy, swearing although it were with the hazard of her life to do whatsoever him best liked, and conceal whatso it please him to discover, so great is the simplicity of women, who are soon led where they most like. Arsadachus finding the iron hot, thought good to strike; the fruit ripe, began to gather, the flower springing, ceased not to water: and thus began to work her. True it is madam, that where love hath supremacy, all other affections attend on it, so that neither the eye beholdeth, neither the scent smelleth, nor the ear heareth, neither the tongue speaketh any thing, but is to the honour of the best beloved: this find I true in myself, who since I surrendered you the sort of my fancy, find my delights metamorphosed into yours, ye so much am I tied unto you, as that danger which either attempteth or toucheth you, or any of yours, wholly attainteth me. The proof whereof you may perceive in this, that having heard through my entire acquaintance with Thebion, a certain resolved determination in him, to make your father away, by reason of his familiar access to his majesty every morning, I could not choose but discover his drift unto you sweet Princess, whose dangers must needily second your father's subversion. Thebion said Margarita, alas my lord what reason should move him hereunto, since no one is more favoured by my father then he● can favour possibly be requited with such falsehood? Doubt you it said Arsadachus▪ why madam where is greater treason, than there where is least mistrust? under the clear Christ all lurketh the mortal worm, under the green leaf the greedy serpent, and in fairest bosoms are falcest hearts. Think not that liberality hath any power in depraved minds, for whereas the thoughts haunt after empery, hem● are each supposes, faith dieth, truth is exiled nulla fides regni, if you have read histories, you shall find that they soon have supplanted their Princes, who have been lest suspected, as may appear by Gyges', and other: cast therefore hence (my dear lady) all thought of excuse, and bethink you of prevention; for it is greater wisdom, to see and prevent, then to hear and neglect. Thebion hath conspired and doth conspire, resolving with himself to usurp the empire, murder Protomachus, banish you; all which I have learned of him, dissembling my affections towards you, and soothing him in his corruptions; yea so far have I brought him, and so near have I wrought it, that I can assure you to morrow morning is the last of your father's life, unless you prevent it. Alas my lord (said Margarita weeping) how may this be? Thus my sweet love and thus it is concluded (quoth Arsadachus) you know he hath every morning of late private access unto your father's chamber, where being alone with him and the unsuspected emperor in his bed, he hath resolved with his dagger to stab him to the heart; which secret, since the gods have opened unto me, I think good to discover unto thee (my dear heart) the means to prevent (which shall the more easily be performed if thus you work it) no sooner let the day appear, but in the morning betimes enter you your father's chamber, where after you have saluted him, you may seem to utter this; that in a dream this night you were mightily troubled about his Majesty, and so troubled, that you thought Thebion entering his chamber with a hidden poiniard stabbed him to the heart. But what needs these circumlocutions or delays quoth Margarita if the treason be so manifest? My lord, if it please you I will discover it presently and plainly. The gods forbidden (said Arsadachus) that my desires should be so hindered, for (my noble princess) the delay I seek, and the order I prescribe you, is rather to ground your father's affection towards me, and get the credit of this service then otherwise; yea the love I bear thee sweet Lady; (with that he sighed and sealed it with a kiss) for having by this means won favour, both our fortunes shall be bettered, our marriage hasted, and our fames magnified.  
Margarita (poor princess) supposing all that gold that glisteren, yielded easy consent; whereupon after many amorous promises, the young prince took his leave, willing her to be careful in the morning, and to leave the rest of the affairs to his faithfulness, and thus they parted.  
But mark the nature of malice (which as the poet describeth is sleepless, restless and in satiate) for Arsadachus being departed from Margarita, and earnestly bend on his revenge, sought out Thasilides the page of Thebion, whom he so cunningly wrought with oaths, gifts, and gold, that he made him both promise and practise the means to put a certain schedule into the pocket of his master's gown which he usually ware, the which he himself had wrote, and wherein he behaved himself with such art, as that he had not only counterfeited thebion's hand, but also the names of all such as either he thought his favourites, or else likely to thwart his proceed in court (among which he forgot not Ctesides a grave counsellor of the emperors, who the day before was very earnest with Protomacus to marry his daughter, showing him evident reasons of Arsadachus counterfeiting. All these things falling out according to his own devise and fantasy, he sought out Thebion that night, whom he used with the greatest familiarity that might be: and to insinuate the more into his favour, he bestowed on him a poiniard, whose pummel was a bright carbuncle, the haft unicorns horn, a jewel which Thebion had long time greatly desired, praying him of all loves to wear it for his sake; and since he was in such estimation to continue him in the good grace of the Emperor. Thebion made proud to be entreated and presented by so high a prince, promised both to wear his gift, and to win him favour. Whereupon since the night was far spent Arsadachus repaired to his lodging, Thebion to his rest. But vain is the hope that dependeth on the next day, and those worldly honours that do wait on this life; for the one is prevented oftentimes by injurious fortune, the other altered by our overweening mistrusting words, actions, and desires, and shall manifestly appear in the sequel of this history. For no sooner 'gan bright day to chase away black darkness, and the stooping stars do homage to the rising sun, but Margarita arose, appareling herself freshly like May, in a gown of green sendal, embroidered with all kind of flowers in their native colours, and remembering herself of the affair she had in hand; she under the conduct of love (who is both a cunning dissembler and nice flatterer) hasted to her father's chamber, and humbly admitted to the presence of the emperor by the grooms that attended him, (with a trembling hand, and a bashful countenance: spreading the mute oratory of her tears, upon her blushing cheeks) she awoke him. Protomachus amazed to see his daughters sudden access, and sad countenance, began thus: How now my dear Margarita, what, hath love awaked you this morning, threatening you with some apparent sorrow to make your after-good in deed more savoury? why hangeth your countenance? why tremble your limbs? what moveth this your amazedness? sweet maiden tell thy father. Ah my Lord (said Margarita) it is love indeed that disturbs me, but not that love that is painted with feathers, wanton looks, that love that whispereth affections in lady's ears, and whetteth women's wits, making the eye traitor to the heart, and the heart betrothed to the eye; but that love which was engendered by nature, ordained by the heavens, attired by reverence and duty, and tired with nothing but death, that love (and so speaking she wept) hath awaked me, to forewarn you. Protomachus somewhat urged by these tears, roused himself on his pillow, and began more intentively to listen, ask her what had hapnes? Ah dear father, said she, this night that is past I was greatly troubled with a grievous dream; me thought I saw Thebion, a man in high authority in your court, attended by many insolent rebels, who violently broke open your majesties privy chamber, murdered you in your bed, and dispossessed me of my heritage, me thought even then you cried unto me; ah Margarita help me! and I with outcries calling for rescous, Arsadachus came in hastily, who with his sword bearest Thebion of life, and me of fear: And so you waked and found all false (quoth the emperor) Tut, dote not on dreams, they are but fancies: and since I see (swerte daughter) that you are so troubled by night, I will shortly find out a young prince to watch you, who shall drive away these night-sprights by his prowess. Thus spoke Protomachus smiling, yet smothered he suspect in his heart: for such as have much, suspect much.  
No sooner were these discourses finished, but Arsadachus knowing how to take his time, hastily approached the Emperor's chamber, where intimating some occasion of high import, he required to speak with Protomachus, and was presently let in. The Emperor conceiving new suspicions upon this second assault, began to misdeem: and seeing Arsadachus with ghastly looks entering the chamber, was ready to speak unto him when as the young Cuscan prevented him, saying: The gods be blessed (noble Emperor) that have by their foresight rid me of fear, and rest you of danger; for sore have I feared lest your majesty should have perished before you had been advertised: Alas, why in such dangers are you unattended upon, when the foe is at the door? why is not the guard in a readiness? Ah royal Moscovite rouse thee and arise, and honour the sequel of the greatest treason that ever was contrived. Why what tidings bringeth Arsadachus said Protomachus? Thus mighty prince (said he) yesternight very late when I entered thebion's chamber unawares, I found his page (his master being absent) laying certain waste papers out of his pocket upon his table, perusing which, (as I was accustomed) by reason of the near familiarity between us, I found one among the rest where (alas that subjects should be so seditious) there was a conspiracy signed by Thebion, Ctesides, and others (whose names I remember not) to make your mightiness away, and Thebion to enjoy the crown: the manner to execute their stratagem, was when you least suspected, this morning; at which time Thebion by reason of his near familiarity and access to you, should enter your chamber and murder you. This paper when I had overread, I laid aside, making semblance of no suspicion, resolving this morning early to signify the whole unto your majesty, whose life is my liberty, whose happiness is my honour, whose death were my utter ruin and detriment. Thebion a traitor quoth Protomachus; are my favours then so smally regarded? is my courtesy rewarded with such cursedness? Well Arsadachus (said he) happy art thou in bewraying it, and unfortunate he and his confederates in attempting it, for they all shall die.  
This said, he presently attired himself, laying certain of his trustiest gentlemen in guard behind the tapistry of his privy closet, expecting the hour of a most cruel revenge: when as suddenly Thebion knocked at the door, and was presently admitted, who had scarcely said, God save the emperor, but even in the bending of his knees, he was thrust through by Arsadachus, and the other of the guard hearing the broil, came and mangled him in pieces, casting the residue to the emperors lions according as he had appointed. Protomachus grudging at the sudden death of Thebion, began to chide Arsadachus for his haste, saying, that it was inconvenient for a subject to be punished before he were convicted. Convicted (said Arsadachus? why doth your grace suspect his guiltiness? Behold said he (drawing out the poniard which Thebion had at his back) the instrument that should have slain you, see (said he) taking the schedule out of his pocket the confederacy to betray you; and should such a wretch live then to justify? No (mighty Emperor) my soul abhors it; the care I have of you will not suffer it; the love I bear Margarita will not endure it. The Emperor over-reading the writing, and seeing the poniard, gave credible belief, and with tears of joy embracing Arsadachus he said thus: Ah my son, the gods have blessed us in sending us such a friend, who hath saved me from imminent danger, and will make me fortunate by marriage, hold take thee (said he) my Margarita, and with her, enjoy my empire; and more, take thou my love, which is so rooted in me toward thee, that death may not untwine it. Arsadachus thanked the Emperor for this favour, and recomforted Margarita with sweet words, being almost dead to see the stratagem passed. Mean while the Emperor gave present direction to hang all the other conspirators, and put them to other tortures, who presently without knowing why, or licence to answer, were tyrannously executed; so great is the tyranny of princes which are subject to light belief, and led by subtle suggestions.  
The rumour of this accident spread through the Court, moved sundry imaginations in men's minds, some praised Arsadachus, some suspected the practice, all feared; for whereas justice sleepeth being overborne with tyranny, the most secure have cause to fear; among the rest Arsinous wept bitterly, knowing in himself the virtue of Ctesides, and remembering him of the murder of his dear Philenia, he could not cease but welme bedlam to cry out on the heavens, whose tragedy we must now prosecute, and leave Arsadachus and his Margarita to their merry conceits and discourses.  
Protomachus after that this late treason had been discovered, began to be more wary, to keep greater guard, and to use Arsinous and the rest of the nobility with less familiarity, who good old man, having before time been shrewdly hurt, took this unkindness to the heart (for where greatest love is, there unkindness is most grievous) for that cause almost desperate he sought out the emperor, and finding opportunity, he humbling him on his knees began thus: As Trajan (dread Monarch) was commended in Rome for bearing poor men's complaints, so art thou condemned in Moscow for shutting thy gates against all kind of suitors, so as (nowadays) thou hearest by others ears, workest by others hands, and speakest by others mouths, wherethrough justice is made a nose of wax warmed, and wrought according to all men's pleasures, and the poor are left to complain: the which the gods (if thou repent not) will shortly punish in thee. Believe me (good Emperor) such as shut their gates against their subjects, cause them not to open their hearts willingly to obey them; and they that nourish fear in their bosoms without cause, make themselves guilty of some crime by their suspect. Wherefore fliest thou the sight of those that love thee? shutting thy ears lest thou hear those complaints that have already deaffed the heavens for equity. O prince, look abroad, it behoveth thee; do justice, for it becometh thee, and hear old Arsinous a hapless father; father do I say, being thus rob of my children? nay a desolate caitiff, and do me right. That justice becometh thee, mark these reasons: Homer desirous to exalt it, could not say more, but to call kings the children of the God▪ jupiter, and not for the naturality they have, but for the office of justice which they minister. Plato saith, that the chiefest gift that the gods have bestowed on man is justice; that therefore thou may seem ●ightly descended of the gods, vouchsafe me audience, and to the end thou may boast thyself to enjoy the least gift of the gods, secure me. Thou knowest my Philenia is ●laine, but by whose hands thou knowest not; thou hearest Minecius is murdered, but by whom thou inquirest not, thou hast rubbed the gall, but not recured the wound; thou hast tempered the medicine, but hast not ministered it: yea thou hast refreshed the memory of my griffes very often, but remedied them never. Three months are past, since thou hast made inquiry of my daughter's death, and she that I nourished up twenty years and better, is forgotten of all, but her old father, lamented of none, but Arsinous: and can be revenged by none but Protomachus. O Emperor I hear their discontented grief crying out in mine ears, and appealing to thee by my tongue for justice, me thinks bloodless Minecius standeth by thy throne upbraiding thee of his services, and convicting thee of ingratitude. Philenia crieth justice Protomachus, justice, not against Brasidas, who was but agent, but against Arsadachus the principal, that wretched Arsadachus, who in her life time assayed to move her to lust, and wrought her death, in that she would not consent to his lust, against Arsadachus the viper nourished in your bosom, to poison your own progeny, the locust▪ dallied in Margaritaes lap, to deprive her of life. Ah, banish such a bewitched race of the Cuscans, I mean not out of your kingdom, but out of life; for he deserveth not to behold the heavens, that conspireth against the gods, root out that bloodthirsty youngman, root out that murderer, root out that monster, from the face of nature, that the poor deceased ghosts may be appeased, and their poor father pacified. Show thyself a prince now Protomachus; the surgeon is known, not in curing a green wound, but in healing a grievous fistula; the warrior is known, not by conquering a little village, but a great monarchy, and a prince is perceived in preventing a capital pestilence, not a private prejudice. That I accuse not Arsadachus wrongfully, behold my witnesses: which said, he brought out philenia's page, who confidently and constantly avowed all he had told his master in the presence of the emperor: wherefore (noble monarch) have compassion of me, and by punishing this tragic tyranny make way to thine own eternity.  
Protomachus hearing this accusation was sorely moved, now thinking all truth which Arsinous had said by reason of that virtue he had approved in him in times past, now deeming it false, in that Arsadachus (as he supposed) had lately and so luckily preserved him from death. For which cause, calling the young prince unto him, he urged him with the murder before the old man, and the young lad his accuser, who shook off all their objections with such constancy, that it was to be wondered: what saith he Protomachus, am I, who have lately manifested my zeal in saving your life made subject to the detraction of an old doting imagination with his prattling minister, I hope your Majesty (saith he) measureth not my credit so barely, nor will overslip this injury so slightly, since you know, that when the murder was done I was in my bed, when the tragedy was published, I was the first that prosecuted the revenge; and more, the friendship twixt Minecius and me should acquit me of this suspicion. But it may be, that this is some set match of thebion's confederates that seek my death, which if it shall be here countenanced, I will return to Cusco, where I dare assure myself against all such subtleties. This said, Arsadachus angrily departed: for which cause, Protomachus fearing his speedy flight, sent Margarita to pacify him; and causing the tongue of the guiltless lad to be cut out, and his eyes to be pricked out with needles, both which were guilty (as he said) the one of pretended seeing, the other of lewd uttering. He banished the old Duke of Uolgradia, who for all his faithful services, had this lamentable recompense, and removed himself, his court, and daughter to Moscow, where we will leave him a while.  
Arsinous thus banished from the Court, after he had furnished himself of necessaries convenient for his journey, traveled many a weary walk towards the deserts of Ruscia, crying out and exclaiming on the heavens for justice; his hoary locks and bushy beard he carelessly suffered to grow (like to those Moscoes who are in disgrace with their emperors) seeming rathert savage man than a civil magistrate (as in time passed he had been.) Long had he not traveled among many barren rocks and desolate mountains, but at last he arrived in a solitary Grove encompassed with huge hills, from the tops whereof, through the continual frosts that fell, a huge river descended, which circling about a rock of white marble, made it (as it were) an Island, but that to the northward there was a pretty passage of twelve foot broad, decked with ranks of trees, which gave a solitary access to the melancholy mansion; mansion I call it, for in the huge rock was there cut out a square and curious chamber, with fine loops to yield light, hewn thereout (as might be supposed) by some discontented wood-god wedded to wretchedness. Here Arsinous seated himself, resolving to spend the residue of his days in studies, praying to the gods continually for revenge, and to the end (if happily any should pass that way) that his deep sorrow might be discovered, he with a puncheon of steel in a table of white Alabaster engraved this over the entrance of his cave.  

Domus doloris.  

Who seeks the cave where horrid care doth dwell,  
That feeds on sighs, and drinks of bitter tears:  
Who seeks in life to find a living hell,  
Where he that lives, all living joy forbears:  
Who seeks that grief, that grief itself scarce knows it,  
Here let him rest, this cave shall soon disclose it.   

As is the mite unto the sandy seas,  
As is the drop unto the Ocean streams,  
As to the orb of heaven a silly pease.  
As is the lamp to burning Ticius beams:  
Even such is thought that vainly doth endeavour,  
To think the car● lives here, or count it ever.   

Here sorrow, plague, despair, and fierce suspect,  
Here rage, here jealousy, here cursed spite,  
Here murder, famine, treason and neglect,  
Have left their stings to plag●● a woeful wight:  
That lives within this tomb of discontent.  
Yet loathes that life that nature hath him lent.    
In this solitary and uncouth receptacle, Arsinous lived, turning of his steed, to shift for food amid the forest, and ascending every day to the height of the rock, he shed many salt tears before the Image of Minecius and Philenia, whose pictures he had brought with him from his castle, and erected there: and after his devotions to the gods for revenge, and to the ghosts to manifest his grief, he accustomed himself to walk in that desolate coppesse of wood, where sighing, he recounted the unkindness of his prince, the wretchedness of his thoughts and life, melting away in such melancholy, as the trees were amazed to behold it, and the rocks wept their springs to hear it, as the Poet saith, on a desolate and leavelesse oak he wrote this: 

Thine age and wasteful tempests thee,  
Mine age and wretched sorrows me defaced,  
Thy sap by course of time is blended,  
My sense by care and age is spent and chased.  
Thy leaves are fallen away to dust,  
My years are thralled by time unjust.  
Thy boughs the winds have borne away,  
My babes fierce murder did decay.  
Thy roots are firmed in the ground,  
My roots are rend, my comforts drowned, showers cherish.  
Thy barren bosom in the field, I perish.  
Since nothing may me comfort yield.   

Storms, showers, age, wear, waste, daunt, & make thee dry  
Tears, cares, age, ice, waste, wring, and yet live I    
In these melancholies leave we the desolate duke of Uolgradia, till occasion be ministered to remember him, and return we to Margarita and her lover. Arsadachus resi●t now in Moscow▪ whom Protomachus by reason of the forepast tragedies, thought to refresh with some pleasant triumphs: for which cause he proclaimed a justs throughout all the empire, assembling all the Dukes, Lords, and governors of his provinces, to dignify the open court he meant to keep. Thither also repaired all the fair ladies of Moscovia; among the rest Margarita as one of most reckoning, made not the least expense, for whatsoever, either to dignify her person, or to set out her beauty, or to present her beloved, could either be bought from India, trafficked in Europe or marchanded in Asia, was sought out, and especially against the day of the tilt, and tourney, at which time, like a second Diana, having her goldilocks tied up with lose chains of gold, and Diamonds, her body apparelled in cloth of silver, (over which she had cast a vail of black and golden tinsel, through which her beauty appeared as doth the bright Phoebus in a summer's morning: leaving our Hemisphere our fair Hecate, chase away baleful darkness with her bright beams) she was mounted on a high arch of triumph covered with cloth of gold: near unto her sat her old father in his sovereign majesty; about her a hundredth damsels in white cloth of tissue, overcast with a vail of purple and green silk loosely woue●, carrying gold and silver censors in their hands, from whence issued most pleasant odours, such as in the pride of the year breath along the coast of Arabia Foelix or drops from the balmy trees of the East.  
Thus seated, the Challengers with their several devices entered the tiltyard, each striving to exceed other in expense and excellence; whose trumpets cleared the air with their melody. After these the Defendants entered; among whom Arsadachus was chief, whose pump in that, exceeded all others I have seen, and the other are ordinarily matched in our Courts of christendom, I will set down unto you. First, before the triumph entered the tiltyard, there was a whole volley of a hundred cannons shot off; the noise whereof somewhat appeased ● hundred knights having their horse, arms, crests, feathers, and each part of them covered with green cloth of gold, with lances of silver, trotted about the yard, making their steeds keep footing, according to the melodious sound of an orb, which by cunning of man, and wonderful art was brought into the presence of the prince, which whilst it continually turned, presented all the shapes of the twelve signs, dancing as it were to the harmony, which the enclosed music presented them. After these marched a hundred pages appareled in white cloth of silver with crownets of silver on their heads, leading each of them in their right hands, a brave courser trapped in a caparison purple and gold; in their left, a scutcheon with the image of the princess in the same. After these Arsadachus in his triumphant chariot drawn by four white unicorns entered the tiltyard, under his seat the image of fortune, which he seemed to spurn, with this posy, Quid haec? on his right hand envy, whom he frowned on by her this posy, Nec haec; on his left hand the portraiture of Cupid, by whom was written this posy, Si hic; over his head the picture of Margarita with this mot, Sola haec. These arms were of beaten gold far more curious than those that Thetis gave her Achilles before Troy or Meriones bestowed on Ulysses when he assaulted Rhesus, being full of flames and half moons of sapphires, chrysolites, and diamonds. In his helm he bore his mistress favour, which was a sleeve of salamander's skin richly perfumed, and set with rubies. In this sort he presented him before the Emperor and his daughter, who was not a little tickled with delight to behold the excellency of his triumph. The trumpets were sounded, and the judges seated, Arsadachus mounted himself on a second Eucephalus, and taking a strong lance overbore Stilconos the earl of Garania, breaking his arm in the fall; in the second encounter he overthrew Asaphus of Tamir●e horse and man, neither ceased he till 〈◊〉. of the bravest men at arms were unhorsed by his hardiness. All this while with blushes and sweet smiles Margarita favoured every incountery, seeming with the eagerness of eye to break every push of the lance that leveled 〈◊〉 Arsadachus. His races being at end, Plicotus of Mac●ra● entered the 〈◊〉, who 〈…〉 himself like a brave prince, conquering as much with the sword, as the other with the lance: in this sort, this day, the next, and that which followed were overpast, wherein Arsadach, made evident proofs of great hope: so that Protomachus at the last cried out to his other princes; See ye Moscovites the hope of the empire, whose end if they prove answerable to his beginnings, Europe may perhaps wonder, but never equal.  
The third day being ended, and the honours bestowed on them that best deserved them: the emperor in the chiefest of the festival caused the tables to be removed, and the music to be called for; thinking by his means to give love more fuel, in hope it should burn more brighter: whereupon the princes betook them to dance; and Arsadachus as chief, led Margarita the measures. And after the first pause began thus with her; Princess said he, by what means might love be discovered if speech were not: By the eyes (my lord said she) which are the keys of desire, which both open the way for love to enter, and lock him up when he is let in. How 〈◊〉 then (said he) that Cupid among the poets is feigned blind? In that (my lord quoth she) he was masked to poet's memory; and you know that falcons against they fly, are hooded, to make them more fierce and clearer sighted, and so perhaps was love, which was blindfold at first (in the opinion of Poets) who never could see him rightly until they felt his eye in their hearts. Why sticketh he his eye in their hearts? I had thought (madam) it had been his arrow said Arsadachus. Why his eyes are his arrows, quoth the princess, (or I mistake his shooting;) for the last time he leveled at me he hi● me with a look. I beshrew him (said the Prince) and then sounded the next measure, when Arsadachus continued his discourse in this manner: Madam, if love wound by the eye, how healeth he? By the eye (my lord said she) having the mapertie of Achill●s sword to quell and recure. Then gracious lady quoth the prince, since love hath wounded me by your looks, let them recover me, otherwise shall I blame both loves cruelty, and your judgement. Margarita replied thus: Great prince, if mine eyes have procured your offence, I will pluck them out for their folly; and if love have shot them for his shafts I beshrew him, for the 〈◊〉 time they look● on you, they left my heart in you. In 〈…〉 Arsadachus? Yea in you my lord quoth Margarita. Can you then live heartless (said the prince?) Yea since hopeless replied she. This said, the music cut off their merry talk, and the sudden disease of the Emperor broke up the pastimes. Whereupon every prince and peer, lord and knight, taking leave of their mistresses, betook them to their rest. Only Margarita, in whose bosom love sat enthroned, in whose heart affections kept their watch being laid in her bed, fared like Orlando sleeping in that bed his Angelica had lain with Medor, each feather was a fur bush; now turned she, now tossed she, now groveling on her face, now bolt upright, hammering ten thousand fancies in her head; at last, breaking out into a bitter sigh she began thus: Alas unkind love, that seasonest thy delights with delays. Why givest thou not poor ladies as great patience to endure, as penance in their durance? why are not thy affections like the figs of India, which are both grafted and green of themselves, and no sooner sprung to a blossom, but spread in the bud? Why givest thou Time swift wings to begin thee, and so long and slow ere he seize thee? I beseech thee love, 〈◊〉 how she sighed when she besought him plain thou the wings of Time, lest he punish me, for thy delay is so great that my disease is unsufferable: alas poor wretch that I am why prate I to love? or pray I for relief, being assured that the beginning of loves knowledge is the ending of human reason, love is a passion that may not be expressed, conceived beyond conceit, and extinguished beside custom; stay thy mind therefore foolish Margarita, for it began first in thee beyond expectation, and must end in thee beyond hope: for, as there are no reasons but nature to prove why the swan hateth the sparrow, the eagle the Trochilus, the ass the Bee, and the serpent the hog; so likewise in love there can no cause but nature be alleged either of his sudden flourish or vehement fall, his speedy waxing and slow waning: Temper thyself therefore, though love tempt thee, and ways thine opportunity: for the wanton if you fawn on him, will fly you; and setting light by him, will leap upon you. Fond that I am, why talk I thus idly, seeming with the prating soldier to discourse of the fortress I have never conquered, and of the fancies I shall never compass? Why doth not Arsadachus smile on me? as who knoweth not that the aspis tickleth when she pricketh; and poisons that are delightful in the swallow, are deadly in the stomach: why hath be not courted me these five months: fond that I am, the more near am I to my fall; for as the philosopher faith, men are like to the poison of scorpions, for as the sting of the one killeth in three days, so the pride and cruelty of the other quelleth a kind heart in less than a moment. Woe is me, I had rather need Philoxenus to cure me of love by his lays, than Anippus to continue love in me: better were it for me to hear Tripander play then Arsadachus preach.  
(In these thoughts and this speech love sealed up her eyes till on the morrow; but what she dreamt I leave that to you Ladies to decide, who having dallied with love, have likewise been acquainted with his dreams.) On the morrow, the day being far spent, and the court replenished with attendants, Margarita arose, and scarcely was she attired, but that a messenger came unto her in the behalf of the earl Asaphus. beseeching her presence to grace his feast that day, for that he had entertained and invited Arsadachus and the best princes and ladies in Court, by the emperors consent, to make a merry festival; whereunto Margarita quickly condescended, and thought every hour two till noontide; at which time cordially attended, she repaired to Asaphus house, where were assembled, of princes, Arsadachus, Plicotus, and S●●lconos; of ladies, beside herself, Calandra, Ephania, and Gerenia: all these Asaphus entertained hearty, placing them according to their degrees, and feasted them with as great pomp and pleasure as he could imagine.  
But when he perceived their appetites quelled with delights, their ears cloyed with music, and their eyes filled with beholding, he being a Prince of high spirit, began thus: Princes and Ladies, I have invited you to my house, not to entertain you with the pomp of Persia, or the feast of Heliogabalus, but to dine you according to the the direction of the physicians, which is to let you rise with an appetite, which both whetteth your memories and helpeth your stomachs; and for that the after banker may as well please your humours, as the former appeased your hunger, I must beseek you to rise from this place, and repair unto another, where because the weather is hot, and the time unfit for exercise, we will spend the time in pleasant discourse, feeding our fancies with pleasant talk, as we have feasted our fast with curious cates. To this motion all the assembly easily consented, in that for the most part, they had been buzzing in their ears, & baiting their hearts, whereupon be brought them into a fair arbour, covered with Roses, and honisuckles, paved with Camomile, pinks, and violets, guarded with two pretty crystal fountains in every side, which made the place more cool, & the soil more fruitful. They all being entered this arbour, A saphus being both learned & pleasant witted, began thus. My guests said he (for name of Princes I have sent them lately unto palaces) now let each of you be think him of mirth not of majesty, I will have no stoical humour in this arbour, but all shall be either lovers, or loves well-willers, and for that, each of us may be more apt to talk of Venus; we will taste of her friend Bacchus; for a draft of good wine, (if Lamprias in Plutarch, may be believed) whettes the conceits, and be when he had drunk most, debated best: Aschilus' therefore ere he had dipped his pen in the inks to write tragedies, dived into the bottom of a wine put to find terms; for as, where the wolf hath bitten most soundest, the flesh is most sweetest, so whereas wine hath warmed most hotly, the tongue is armed most eloquently, I therefore carouse to you my familiars, and as I give you liquor to warm, so will I crown you with joy and roses to allay: then have at love who list, for me thinks I am already prepared for him: This said be drunk unto them, and all the rest gave him the pledge, and being crowned after the manner of the philosophical banquets, they sat down. And Arsadachus spoke thus: Asaphus I have heard that the motion is vain, unless the action follow, and delights that are talked of before such as like them, except they grow in force, breed more discontent in their want, than pleasure in their report: as therefore you have hanged out the ivy bush, so bring forth the wine, as you have prefixed the garland, so begin the race, as you intimated delight, so bring it to entrance, Asaphus smiling replied thus: Do then all these Ladies and brave lovers give me the honour and direction to govern these sports: They do, said Margarita: Then sit aside quoth he and give place to your commander; whereupon all the assembly laughed, and Asaphus smilingly sat down in the highest room, placing the Ladies opposite against they lovers, and himself seated in his sovereignty, began thus: Since in banquets the place is not to be given for the majesty, but the mirth, be not displeased though I prefer myself (my subjects,) since I know this, that I have crothets in my head, when I have tasted the cup, and no man is more apt to talk than I when I have trafficked with good wine, and were it not so, you had no cause to wax wroth with my presumption, for as the mason preferreth not the attic stones in his building for nobility, neither the painter his precious colours in limning, for their liveliness, neither the shipwright his Cretan cedar in framing for the sweetness: so in festivals the guests are not to be placed, according to the degrees, but their dispositions, for their liveliness, not their livelihoods, for where pleasures are sought for, the person is smally regarded, which considered, I am justified. But to our purpose, since love is the affection that leadeth us, at him we will level our fancies, canvasing this question amongst us, whether be so best worketh, by the eye, the touch, or the ear, for of the five senses I think these three be most forcible. Now therefore we will and command you, our masculine subjects, said Asaphus, to begin to our feminine Philosophers, and since you Arsadachus are of greatest hope, incipe. After they had all laughed hearty at the majestical utterance of Asaphus, and his imperious manner, the young Cuscan said thus: The Thebians in time past, who confined upon Pontus, begat such children, who when they beheld their parents killed them by their looks, as it saved with them, so falleth it out with me, who bethinking myself of those thoughts, which I have conceived in respect of love, am confounded in thinking of them, such power hath fancy, where it hath holdfast. I must therefore as they quelled the one, kill the other, or I shall die by thoughts as they did by looks: but since to die for love is no death but delight, I will adventure to think, talk, and discourse of him, and rather perish myself, then suffer these pastimes to be unperformed. Our question is of love fair ladies, whereat you blush when I speak, and I bow when I think, for he giveth me words to discourse, and courage to decide; for as Plato saith, love is audacious in all things, and forward in attempting any thing: he yieldeth speech to the silent, and courage to the bashful, he giveth industry to the negligent, and forwardness to the sluggard, making a courtier of a clown; and lighting on a currish Minippus, he softeneth him as iron in the ●●te, and maketh him a courtly Aristippus under his safeconduct; therefore I will talk of him, and with your patience I will satisfy you, that love hath soon entrance by the eye, and greatest sustenance by the sight; for sight whereas it is stirred up by many motions, with that spirit which it darteth out from itself, doth likewise disperse a certain miraculous fiery force, by which mean we both do and suffer many things: and as among all the senses, the eye extendeth his power furthest, so is his working most forcible; for as the clay petrot draweth fire, so the looks do gather affection. And that the forcible working of the eye may be proved to exceed all other the senses, what reason can be greater, since according to every affection of the heart or distemperature of the mind, the radiations of the eye are correspondent; if the heart be envious, the looks dart ou● beams of fierce envy, as may be considered by that of Entelidas in Plutarchy 
Quondam pulcher erat crinibus Entelidus.  
Sed sese ipse videns placidis in fluminis vndie▪  
Livore infamis perdidit invidiae,  
Facinus attraxit morbum, formamque perdidit.   
For it is reported that this Entelidas taking a delight in his own lively beauty, and beholding the same in a spring, grew in envy against the same; and by that means fell into a sickness, whereby he lost both health and beauty. Narcissus, neither by taste, nor the ministery of speech, nor the office of scent affected his own form, but his sight bereft him of his senses, and the eye drew fancy to the heart; for this cause the poets call Ladies eyes Cupid's coach, the beams his arrows; placing all his triumph and power in them as the chiefest instrument of his signiory, and that the eye only beside the ministery of other senses, procureth love, you may perceive by these examples following. Xerxes, who despising the sea, and scorning the land found out new means to navigate, and armies to choke the earth, yet fell in love with a tree; for having seen a plantain in Lydia of huge greatness, he stayed under it a hot day, making him a shelter of his shadow, a lover of his loves; and afterwards departing from the same, he adorned it with collars of gold and jewels, as if that that tree had been his enamoured, over which he appointed a guardian to assist it, fearing lest any should do violence unto the branches thereof. And what I pray you) moved this affection in Xerxes but the eye? A noble young man of Athens loved so much the stature of good fortune erected near unto the Prytaneum, that he embraced it, and kissed it, and offered a great sum of money to the Senate to redeem the same, and not attaining his suit, he slew himself; and what wrought this in this noble young man but the eye? for this marble image had neither sent to delight the scent, speech to affect the ear, nor other means to move affection; it was then the sole force of the eye which conducteth to the heart each impression, and fixeth each fancy in the same: what resteth there then but to give the honour to the eye? which as it is the best part in a woman, so hath it the most force in love. Soft (said Plicotus) claim not the triumph before you hear the trial; for if virtue and the whole praise thereof (as the philosophers say) consisteth in act, let the touch have the first place, and the eye the second; for looks do but kindle the flame, where the touch both maketh it burn, and when it listeth, quencheth the fury. Such as behold Anter are healed of the falling sickness (saith Arsadachus) and they that sleep under Sinilan at such time as the plant swelleth and beareth his flower, are slain. Quoth Plicotus, saffron flowers procure sleep; the Amethyst stayeth drunkenness, by which reasons you ought to ascribe as much power to the scent as to the sight. But hear me, you detractors from the touch; the herb Alissus taken in the hand, drives sighs from the heart. Yea but (said Arsadachus) the mad elephant beholding the rain groweth wild. Yea but the wild bull tied to the fig tree, and tasting thereof, is no more wrathful (said Plicotus) ascribe therefore to the touch far more than the sight; heap all the argument that can be for the eyes, it breedeth the sickness: but we rather commend the herb that purgeth the disease, than the humour that feedeth it, the salve that healeth the wound, than the corrosive that grieveth it, the flower that comforteth the brain, and not that which cloyeth the same: the touch therefore in love should have the prerogative which both reareth it, and restraineth it; and that the touch hath greater power than the sight, what greater reason may be alleged then this, that we only see to desire, especially to touch? the furniture of all delight is the taste, and the purgatory in love, is to touch, and want power to execute the affection, as may appear by this example. In the days of Apollonius Tianeus, who by every man was held for the fountain of wisdom, there was an eunuch found out in Babylon who had unlawfully conversed with a paramour of the Kings; for which cause the king demanded of Apollonius what punishment the eunuch ought to have for that his rash and bold enterprise: no other answered Apollonius save that he live to behold and touch without further attempt. With which answer the king being amazed, demanded why he gave this answer. To whom Apollonius replied; Doubt not you, O king, but that love shall make him feel exceeding pains and martyrdoms; and like a simple fly, he shall play so long with the flame until he fall to cinders. And for further proof the Egyptians (as Ororius reporteth) when as they would represent love do make a net: and the Phenitians describe him in a hand laid in fire, approving them by the touch which of all senses suffereth most, and hath greatest power in the body. Asaphus that was still all this while, suddenly broke off the discourse, saying thus: What sense (I pray you) was that (ye philosophers) that persuaded Ariston of Ephesus to lie with an ass, and to beget a daughter, which was afterwards called Onoselino? what sense had Tullius Stellus to be in love with a mare, of whom he begat a fair daughter which was called Sponano? what made Cratis the Iloritane shepherd to love a goat? Pasiphae to fancy a bull● Stilconos hearing that question, replied thus: Truly a senseless desire, which having no power of love but instinct of life, ought neither to be mentioned by modest tongues, nor uttered in chaste hearing: that love which is gathered by the eye, and grounded in the heart, which springeth on the uniformity of affection, having in itself all the principles of music (as Theophrastus saith) as grief, pleasure, and divine instruct that love which the Grecians call Ghiciprion, which is as much to say as bitter sweet; of that we talk, and no other, which sacred affection I have both tasted with the eye, and tried by the touch, & have found so many effects in both, that as the sea ebbs and flows by the motion of the moon: the Tropi of Egypt wax and wain according to the floods, and fall of Nilus, so have I by smiles, and lovers pleasures, & repulses, found such a taste in love, that did not the ear claim some greater pre-eminence, I should subscribe to you both: but as love beginneth by the sight, and hath pleasure in the touch, so gathereth he his eternity from hearing, by hearing Cupid a boy, is made Cupid a god, by hearing Cupid scarce fligd gathereth store of feathers; for even as breath extinguisheth fire in the beginning, but when it is increased, both nourisheth and strengtheneth it, so love that is covered members by the air, and scarce enabled and fashioned by the touch, is angry with those that discover him; but when he flies abroad, and braggeth in his wrings, he is fed with sweet words and laughs, at pleasant languish if he faint, kind words do relieve him; if he be sick, persuasions purge him; if he misdeem, reasons recover him; in brief, by the ear love sucketh, by the ear love thriveth, and by the ear all his essence is fashioned: and for that cause Melpomene and Terpsichore the Muses are governors of our hearing, whereas not any muse or godhead hath any affection to the eye or touch: for delight and gladness in love proceedeth from eloquent persuasion, which received by the ear, changeth, moveth, altereth and governeth all the passions of the heart. Margarita blushing in that her turn was next, drove Stilconos out of his text in this sort: My lord (said she) if love were gathered by the ear, old men for their wise discourses should win more credit then young men for their worthy comeliness; or if by the touch, love had his trial, the divinity of love would be wronged by too much inhumanity. It must be the eye then which can discern the rude colt from the trained steed, the true diamond from the counterfeit glass, the right colour from the rude, and the perfect beauty from the imperfect behaviour: had not the eye the prerogative, love should be a monster, no miracle: and were the touch only judge, the soft Ermine for daintiness, the Seal for his softness, the Marten for his smooth sweetness, would exceed both Lady's best perfections, and the finest skin of the choicest lover. If by the ear love were discerned, the Siren by her sweet song should win more favour than Sibilla for her science, and the flatterer should be held for the best favourite: let the eye therefore have the prerogative, which is both curious to behold, and imperious to conquer. By it the heart may discover his affections as well as fine phrases, and more sweet hath oftentimes been gathered by a smile then a touch: for by the one, we gather a hope of succeeding pleasure, by the other, a joy in suspect for fear we be deceived, which beginneth in a minute and endeth in a moment. All cats are grey in the dark (said Calandra) and therefore (good madam) you do well to prefer the eye. Yea but said Ephania, the eye had need of a candle to light it, or else (perhaps) the fat were in the fire. Well (said Gerenia) I will trust mine ear then: for where neither the eye seethe, nor the touch feeleth, certainly by dark let me hear the words, for they are the tell-truths, Ah Gerenia (said Stilconos) trust them not, for they that are false for the most part by day, will (perhaps) fail you in the night. Leave your talk (quoth Asaphus) and shut me all these three senses in one, and then tell me the felicity, when the eye shall give earnest of the heart, the heart take comfort by the ear, the words we have heard, and the sights we have seen confirmed by touch, this is the love I had rather have in mine arms than hear it in this place discoursed by argument. Since therefore (my subjects) you are at my obeisance, and upon my direction are to do homage to love, I give you free licence to discourse, free liberty to look, the sweets whereof, after you have gathered, come to me, and after the priest hath hand-fasted you, come touch & spare not, you shall have my patent to take your pleasure. It is a dangerous matter (said Arsadachus) to enter those lists where women will do what they list. Well (said Margarita) devils are not so black as they be painted (my Lord) nor women so wayward as they seem. A good earnest penny (quoth Asaphus) if you like the assurance. With that they broke up the assembly, for it was supper time, and the prince entreated them to sit down, where they merrily passed the time, laughing hearty at the pleasant and honest mirth wherein they had passed that afternoon.  
The supper ended, each lover took his mistress apart, where they handled the matter in such sort, that Margarita which was before but easily fired, now at last grew altogether inflamed, for the night calling them thence, & the company taking their leave, she with a bitter sigh and earnest blush, took her leave of Arsadachus thus: My Lord said she, if time lost be hardly recovered, and favours won are to be followed, have a care of your estate, who may brag of that fortune that no one in Moscow can equal: which said, she in all her period of sighs ending as abruptly as she had begun, and so departed. Arsadachus that knew the tree by the fruit, the cloth by the list, the apple by the cast, feigned not to see what he most perceived, and taking his leave of Asaphus departed to his lodging where in a careless vain, as if cloaking and smothering with love, he wort these verses.  
judge not my thoughts, ne measure my desires,  
By outward conduct of my searching eyes,  
For stars resemble flames, yet are no fires▪  
If under gold a secret poison lies,  
If under softest flowers lie Serpents fell,  
If from man's spin bone Vipers do arise,  
So may sweet looks conceal a secret hell,  
Not love in me, that never may suffice.  
The heart that hath the rules of reason known,  
But love in me which no man can devise.  
A love of that I want, and is mine own.  
Yet love, and lovers laws do I despise.  
How strange is this? judge you that lovers be,  
To love, yet have no love concealed in me.  
And other he wrote in this manner, which came to the hands of his mistress, who prettily replied; both which I have underwritten.  

I smile to see the toys,  
Which I in silent see,  
The hopes, the secret joys,  
Expected are from me:  
The vows, the sighs, the tears, are lost in vain,  
By silly love through sorrow wellie slain.   

The colour goes and comes,  
The face, now pale, now red,  
Now fear the heart benomes,  
And hope grows almost dead.  
And I look on and laugh, though sad I seem,  
And feign to fawn although my mind misdeem.   

I let the fly disport,  
About the burning light,  
And feed her with resort,  
And bait her with delight.  
But When the flames hath seized her wings (adieu)  
Away will I, and seek for pleasures new.   

Smile not, they are no toys,  
Which you in silent see,  
Nor hopes, nor secret joys,  
Which you behold in me:  
But those my vows, sighs, tears, are serious seals,  
Whereby my heart his inward grief reveals.   

My colour goes and comes,  
My face is pale and red,  
And fear my heart benomes,  
And hope is almost dead:  
And why? to see thee laugh at my desert  
So fair a man, and yet so false a heart.   

Well, let the fly disport,  
And turn her in the light:  
And as thou dost report,  
Still bait her with despite:  
Yet be thou sure, when thou hast slain th● furst,  
Thou fliest away (perhaps) to find the worst.   
Thus passed the affairs in Moscow till such time as the emperor growing more and more in sickness; by the consent of his nobles, hasted on the marriage. The rumour whereof being spread abroad, made every one rejoice; but among the rest, Margarita triumphed, who called into open assembly by the Emperor, was betrothed to Arsadachus in the presence of the nobility, who by his lowering looks at that time, showed his discontents; yet will he, nill he, the day was appointed, the sixteenth of the Calends of March, next ensuing: against which time there were high preparations in Court, and throughout all the provinces for pastimes. But since it is a most true axiom among the Philosophers, that whereas be many errors, there likewise must needs follow many offences: it must needly follow, that since Arsadachus was so fraught with corrupt thought, he should practise and perforne no less ungracious corrupt and ungodly actions, for no sooner was he departed from the presence of the Emperor, but he presently began to imagine how to break off his nuptials, forcing in himself a forgetfulness of Margaritaes virtues, her love and good deserts, so that it may evidently be perceived and approved that which Ammonius saith, that things concluded in necessity are dissolved by violence, and truly not without reason was love compared to the sun, for as the sun thrusteth forth his purer & warmer beams through darkness and the thickest cloud, so love pierceth the most indurate hearts, and as the sun is sometime inflamed, so likewise is unstable love quickly kindled. Moreover, as the constitution of that body which useth no exercise endureth not the sun, so likewise an illiterate and corrupt mind cannot entertain love, for both of them after the same manner are disturbed from their estates, and attainted with sickness, blaming not the force of love, but their own weakness. But this difference is between love and the sun, for that the sun showeth both fair and foul things to those that look on upon the earth: love only taketh care of the beauty of fair things, and only fixeth the eyes upon such things, enforcing us to let slip all other. By this may be gathered that Arsadachus being vicious could not justly be attainted with love, but with some slight passion, such as affect the greatest tyrants in beholding the pitiful massacre of the innocent, as shall manifestly appear by the sequel: for after long debating in his restless mind, sometime to fly the court, and by that means to escape the bondage which he supposed was in wedlock; sometime to make the princes away by poison, ridding himself thereby of suspect, and Artosogon of hope. Fortune is as well the patroness of injuries, as the protector of justice, the scourge of the innocent, as the favourer of the nocent, who is rightly blind in having no choice, and worthily held for bedlam, in that she respectetth no deserts, so smiled on him that in depth of his doubts a remedy was ministered him beyond his imagination, which fell out after this manner. Artosogon his father being so tired with years, as he must of force yield speedy tribute to death; so loaden with sickness that he seemed wellnigh past all succours, bethinking him of his succession, and like a kind father, desirous (before his death) to behold his son, not without the earnest entreaty of the empress, and his nobility, sent present messengers to Moscow, beseeching the emperor Protomachus presently to dispatch Arsadachus unto him, assuring him of the perilous estate of his life, and the desire he had to 'stablish his son before his death: for therefore the emperor of Moscow (though loathly) dismissed his pretended triumphs, and gave Arsadachus licence to departed for Cusco.  
The ungodly young prince seeing his purposes fall out so happily, sacrificed to Nemesis, cleared his brows of those cares wherewith discontent had fraught them: and having with all expedition furnished himself to departed, he thought good to cast a fair foil on his false heart, to colour his corrupt thoughts with comfortless throbs; and coming to Margarita, (who was almost dead to heart the tidings) with a feigned look and false heart he thus attempted her. Madam were I not assisted with my sighs, & succoured by my tears, 〈◊〉 disburden the torments of my heart, I fear me it should even now burst, it is so fraught with bitterness, Alas I must now leave you, being the bark to the tree, the blossom to the stalk, the sent to the flower, the life to the body, the substance to the shadow; I must now leave you being the beautiful whom I honour, the chaste whom I adore, & the goddess of all my glory; I must now leave you to live in sorrow without comfort, in despair without solace, in tears without rescous, in pains without ceasing; I must now leave you as the dam her young kid, the 〈◊〉 her dear lambkin, the nightingale her prettiest nestling, fea●ing lest the cuckoo hatch those chickens which I have bred, the Callax bring up those young fish I have got, & foreign eyes feed on those beauties which only fasten life in me: Ah Margarita, so fair, as none so fair, more virtuous than virtue herself; if these troubles attaint me, in what temper shall I leave you, being the mirror of beauty, and even the miracle of constancy? me thinks I see those injurious, though fair hands, beating those delicate breasts, these eyes surffeting with tears, these lips with blasting their roses with sighing ●● but (ah dear lady) let not such follies be your familiars▪ for as the thorn pricking the dead image in wax pierceth the lively substance indeed, so every light ●lip you 〈…〉 will fell this body, every light tear that trickleth from these eyes, will melt me to water, the least sighs steaming from these lips, will stifle me, have therefore patience (sweet lady) and govern your passions with discretion; for as the smallest kernel (in time) maketh the tallest tree; so (in time) these shadows of sorrow shall turn to the substance of delight: yea in short time my return shall make you more happy than my present depart now maketh you heavy. With these words Arsadachus was ready to take his leave. When Margarita presaging the mischief that was to follow; casting her arms about his neck, gave him this sorrowful adieu.  
Since my misgiving mind assureth me of my succeeding harm: ah suffer me (sweet prince) to embrace that which I never hereafter shall behold and look upon; that with my weeping eyes which is the cause of all my wasteful envies: Ah my soul, must thou leave me when thou wert wholly incorporate in this body? Ah my heart, must thou forsake me to harbour in this happy bosom? What then shall remain with me to keep me in life, but my sorrow? being the bequest of misery shall assist me in my melancholy: ah dear Arsadachus since thou must leave me, remember thou leavest me without soul, remember thou leavest me heartless: yea I would to the gods thou mightst leave me lifeless, for then disburdened of this body, I might in soul accompany thee, uniting our parts of fire: since our fleshly persons must be parted, farewell (dear Lord) farewell, ever dear Lord, but I beseech thee, not for ever (dear Lord) remember thou hast conquered, and art to triumph, thou hast gotten the goal, and art to reap the garland; thou hast taken the captive, and mayest enjoy the ransom: hie thee therefore, oh hie thee lest heaviness overbear me; return to her that shall live in terror till thou return. But if some angry fa●es, some untoward fortune, some sinister planet detain thee, and with thee, my soul, heart, life and love; now now, oh now ye destinies, end me. This said, she fell in a swoon, and her Ladies could hardly recover life in her. Mean while (by th● direction of the emperor) who heard her impatience, Arsadachus was called away, to whom Protomachus presented many gifts, swearing him in solemn manner before the whole assembly of his nobility, to make a speedy return to Moscow, to accomplish the marriage. In the mean time Margarita was revived, who seeing her Arsadachus absent, demeaned herself in the most pitiful manner that ever poor lamentable Lady did: at last remembering her of a rich jewel which Arsinous had given her, which was a precious box set with emeralds, the which at such time as he gave it her, he charged her to keep until such time as he she loved best should departed from her; she sent the same for a present to Arsadachus, beseeching him as he loved her, never to open the same box until such time as he began in any sort to forget her (for such counsel Arsinous had given her.) This present was delivered the prince when he mounted on horse, who promised carefully to keep it; and with his retinue road on his way towards Cusco: where we leave him to return to Margarita, who no sooner heard of the departure of Arsadachus, but laying apart her costly jewels, her rich raiment, and princely pleasures yclosed herself up in a melancholy tower, which through the huge height thereof beheld the country far and near: on the top whereof, each hour she diligently watched for the return of her beloved Arsadachus. Her lodging was hanged about with a cloth of black velvet embroidered about with despairs; before her bed hung the picture of her beloved: to which she often discoursed her unkindness conceived, offering drops of her blood daily to the deaf image; such a fondling is love, when he groweth too fiery, no day; no night passed her, wherein she spent not many hours in tears, and many tears every hour, neither could the authority of her father, the persuasions of his counsel, nor the entreatings of her attendants, altar her resolution.  
In which melancholy a while I will leave her to discourse the damned treasons of Arsadachus, who arriving at last in Cusco, after long journeys was after many hearty welcomes conducted to his father, who received such sudden joy at the sight of him, that he recovered strength, and cast off his sickness; so that calling his nobility unto him, he ordained a time wherein Arsadachus should be invested in the empire, publishing the same through all his provinces. In the mean time with much mirth and festival, the young Prince lived in his father's court, dearly tendered by the empress Lelia his mother, and duly attended by the best of the nobility; among whom Argias the duke of Moravia, being a prince of deep reach, and of great revenues, following the custom of such who desire to grow in favour with Princes, entertained Arsadachus with huge feasts and banquets: and among the rest, with one most especial, wherein as he had employed all whatsoever the country could afford to delight the ●ast, so spared he no cost to breed pastime and triumph. Among all other, after the supper was solemnized, he brought in a mask of the goddesses, wherein his daughter (being the mirror and the Aperse of the whole world for beauty) was appareled like Diana, her hair scattered about her shoulders, compassed with a silver crownet, her neck decked with carcanets of pearl, her dainty body was covered with a vail of white network wrought with wires of silver, and set with pearl, where through the milk white beauties of the sweet Saint gave so heavenly a reflection, that it was sufficient to make Saturn merry and mad with love, to fix his eye on them: among all the rest that had both their parts of perfection and beauty, and great lovers to like them, Arsadachus made choice of this Diana (who not only resembled her in that show, but indeed was called by the name of Diana) on whose face when he had fixed his eyes, he grew so inflamed as Montgibel yieldeth not so much smoke as he sent out sighs: to be brief, he grew so suddenly altered, that as such as beheld the head of Medus were altered from their shapes, so he that saw the heaven of these beauties, was ravished from his senses: to be brief, after he had danced the measures, passed the night, and was conducted by Argias and his attendants, he took no rest, but tossing on his bed, grew so altered, that on the morrow all the court was amazed to behold his melancholies. It cannot be reported how strangely he demeaned himself, for his sleeps fled him, his colour changed, his speech uncertain, his apparel careless: which Argias perceiving as being marvelous politic, ministered oil to the lamp, fuel to the fire, flax to the flame, increasing his daughter's beauty with cost, and Arsadachus love by her company; for he ceased not to invite him, hoping that at the last the clouds would break out and rain him some good fortune. Diana was trained by him to the lure, & taught her lesson with great cunning, who was as apt to execute as her father to counsel. Arsadachus one day among the rest finding the opportunity, & desirous to discover his conceits was stricken so dumb with her divine beauty, as he could not disclose his mind. Whereupon calling for pen and ink, he wrote this, thrusting it in Diana's bosom, walked melancholy into a fair garden on the back side of Argia's palace, where he wept so bitterly, that it was supposed his heart would burst.  
I pine away expecting of the hour,  
Which through my wayward chance will not arrive,  
I wait the word, by whose sweet sacred power,  
My lost contents may soon be made alive:  
My pensive heart, for fear my grief should perish,  
Vpo● fallacious hope his fast appeaseth;  
And to myself my frustrate thoughts to cherish,  
I feign a good that flits before it ceaseth:  
And as the ship far scattered from the port,  
All wellnigh spent and wrecked with wretched blast,  
From East to West, midst surging seas is tossed,  
So I, whose soul by fierce delays effort,  
Is overcome in heart and looks defaced,  
Run here, run there, sigh, die, by sorrow crossed.  
Diana took no days to peruse this ditty, but having overread it, gave it her father to judge of, who feigning a severity more than ordinary, and glad of the opportunity, entered the garden where the prince was wellnigh forespent with sorrow, & taking occasion to interrupt his meditations, he began thus: Most royal Prince, I think the heavens lower on me, that labouring by all endeavours to procure your delights, I rather find you more melancholy by my motions, then merry by my entertainment: Alas my Lord, if either my actions do displease, my entertainment be too base, or if in any thing I have defaulted, wherein I may make amends, I beseech you let me know of you, and you shall find such readiness in me, your humble servant, as no hazard, danger, or discommodity whatsoever, shall drive me from the accomplishment of your pleasures and behests. Arsadachus seeing Argias so pliant began to recover hope, whereupon fixing his eyes upon him a long while, at last he broke his mute silence thus: Argias, thy courtesy can not bided my discontents, for thy kindness is such as binds me unto thee, and breeds me no melancholy; and for I see thee so careful for my good, I will first therefore show thee of what important, secrecy is, and declare unto thee, those punishments antiquity bestowed on those that revealed secrets. Lastly upon thy faithful oath I may ventre further, but so as thy silence may make thee happiest man in Cosco. To be of fair words (Argias) becometh a man of much virtue; and no small treasure findeth that Prince who hath a privy and faithful secretary, in whose bosom he may power his thoughts, on whose wisdom he may repose his secrets. Plutarch writeth that the Athenians having war with king Philip of Macedon, by chance lighted upon certain letters which he had written to Olimpias his wife, which they not only sent back sealed and unsearched, but also said, that since they were bound by their laws to be secret, they would neither see nor read other men's private motions, Diodorus Siculus, writeth that among the Egyptians it was a criminal act, to open secrets which he proveth to be true, by example of a priest, who had unlawful company with a virgin of the goddess Isis, both which trusting their secrecy to another priest, and he having little care to keep their action concealed, suddenly cried out, where through the offenders were found out and slain, and he banished. And where as the same priest complained against the unjust sentence, saying: that whatsoever he had revealed was in favour of religion, he was answered by the judge, if thou alone hadst known it without being privy to them, or hadst thou had notice without corrupt consent, thou shouldst have reason to be aggrieved; but suddenly whereas they trusted their secrecy unto thee which they had in hand, and thou promisedst them to keep silence, hadst thou remembered thee of thy bond and promise, and the law which we have to be secret in all things, thou hadst never had the courage to publish it. Plutarch in his book of banishment saith, that an Athenian sought under the cloak of an Egyptian, asked him what he carried hid, to whom he answered: Thou showest thyself smally read and worse nurtured (O thou Athenian) sith thou perceivest not that I carry this hid for no other respect, but that I would have no man know what I carry, many other are the examples of Anaxileus, Dionysius, Plato, and Bias, which were too long for me to report, and too tedious for thee to hear, my only desire is to let thee know the weight of secrecy, and the punishment that knowing the one and the other (my Argias,) thou mightst in respect of thy life keep silence with the tongue.  
Argias that knew the bird by the feather, and the eagle by the flight, the leopard by his spot, & the lion by his claw, cut off his circumlocutions, with this discourse; Aristarchus the Philosopher (most noble prince) was wont to say, that by reason of their instability, knew not that which the most men ought to desire, nor that which they should fly, because that every day changeth, and swift Time flieth: Eubeus the Philosopher, was wont many times to talk this at the table of great Alexander; by nature every one is prompt & sharp witted, to give counsel and to speake his opinion in other men's affairs, and fond and ●low in his own purposes. Truly this sentence was both grave and learned, for many there be that are discreet in other men's causes, & judge rightly, but among ten thousand there is not one that is not deceived in his own causes. This considered, your grace doth most wisely, to seek to disburden your thoughts in a secret bosom, and to ask counsel of another in your earnest occasions, for by the one you shall benefit your grief, by the other conquer it. Histories report that the valiant captain Nicias, was never mistaken in any thing which achieved by another man's counsel, neither ever brought any thing to good effect, which he managed according to his own opinion. It is therefore virtue in you (good prince) if in imitation of so great a Chieftain, you rather trust other men's wisdom, than your own wit: and since it pleaseth you to grace me with the hope of secrecy, your excellency shall not need to misdoubt, for by all those gods whom I reverence, by this right hand which I lay on thy honourable joins, so may my pastures be plentiful my barns filled, my vines burdened, as I vow to be secret, resolved to seal my faith with such assurance, as death itself shall never be able to dissolve it. Arsadachus hearing his zealous promises, and weighing his wise answers, by the one, assured himself of 〈◊〉 loyalty, by the other, gathered his great wisdom and learning; whereupon taking Argias by the hand, and withdrawing himself into a very secret and close arbour in the garden, he, after he had a while rested himself, and meditated on that he had to say, with a bitter sigh broke out into these speeches. Oh Argias, had the destinies made us as prone to endure the assaults of love, as they have made us prompt to delight in them, if they had favoured us with as much power is pacify the fury of them, as they have given us will to persever in the folly, I could then be mine own physician, without discovering my grief, and salve that with discretion, which I now sigh for through despair. But since they have denied us that grace in their secret wisdom, to have will to relieve our own weakness, purges to expulse our poisons, and constancy to endure loves conflicts, I must have recourse unto thee, in whom consists the source of all my safety, beseeching thee (dear Argias) if thou hearest that thou shouldest not, consider that I suffer that I would not, and so temper my defects, by the force and effects of thy wisdom, that I may be relieved and thou nothing grieved. Thou knowest sweet friend the contract I have passed with Margarita, thou knowest the resolution of my father wholly bend to accomplish it, thou knowest the expedition is required to accomplish the marriage: all which shall no sooner be accomplished, but I shall perish, and that day I shall become the bridegroom of Margarita▪ I wish to be buried in my grave: this is the first mischief must be anticipated, this the first sore must be salved, this the first consumption must have a cordial: Mighty prince said Argias, those conditions that consist on impossibilities may be broken, and marriage which by an inviolable law of nature was ordained to knit and unite souls & bodies together, cannot be rightly solemnized between such, whose good like have not the same limits, whose affections are not united with self like faculties, for as to join fire and water, moist and dry, were a matter impossible, especially in one subject, and more, in that they be contraries; so to couple love where there is hatred, affinity where there is no fancy, is a matter against right, repugnant to reason, and such a thing as since nature doth impugn it, the gods if it be broken will easily dispense withal, whereas therefore you are a prince in your waxing years, your father in his waning, in your pride of wit: your father is impoverished in his understanding; since the cause concerneth you in act, him but in words, since this damage is but the breach of a silly vow, if the marriage be broke, your detriment the misery of an age without all manner of content, you may (good prince) in reason to prevent your own harm in justice, since you cannot affect, break off those hands: and if Protomachus shall threaten, let him play the wolf & bark against the sun, he cannot bite: you have power to resist him, and friends to assist you, I but my father (Argias) how shall we pacify him? either by persuasions (good prince) said Argias, or by inpulsion, by the laws of Solon old men that date must be governed by youngmen that have discretion, if he gainsay you there are means to temper him, better he smart than you perish, my shirt is near me my Lord, but my skin is nearest, the cause concerneth you and must not be vallied. Arsadachus having found a hawk fit for his own lure, and a counsellor agreeable to his own conceit, with a smiling regard he greeted Argias again in this kind of manner: dear friend, thou hast rid me of my doubts, and wert only reserved me by the gods, to redress my damage. Thou haste complotted the means to displace Margarita, to appease Artosogon now if to pacify that raging affection that subdueth me, thou find me a remedy, I will make thee the chiefest man in Cusco, of most authority in court▪ yea thou shalt be my second heart (my Argias) and yet this which I require of thee though it be the difficultest in me, is the easiest in thee; for if it be lawful for me as thou provest, to break my first marriage, to bridle my father, and work also whatso is mine own will, what letteth my second wedlock with which thy favour shall be solemnized between thy angelical Diana and me, wherethrough I shall have peace, and thou pre-eminence? Argias that had already caught the fox in the snare, now laid hands of him, and with a pleasing countenance began thus. O Prince this last doubt is your least danger, for where you may command my life, where you are lord of my wealth, can I be so forgetful of duty, think you to deny you my daughter, whose worth is of too great weakness, to entertain such dignity? but since it pleaseth your excellence to deign it her in virtuous sort, command me and her to our utmost powers, we are yours. Arsadachus thinking himself in heaven, thanked Argias for his courtesy, who at last wholly discovered unto him, how secret he was to his affections, showing him his sonnet: to be brief, it was so complotted that without further delay, Arsadachus should be presently wedded to Diana, which was effected so, that both these two married couples in the height of their pleasures, passed their time in wonderful delight in Argias castle. But as nothing is hidden from the aid of Time, neither is any thing so secret which shall not be revealed: the emperor Artosogon (by reason of Arsadachus continual abode at Argias house) discovered at last both the cause and the contract: whereupon, storming like the Ocean incensed with a North-east brise, he presently sent for Argias; and without either hearing his excuses, or regard of his entreaties, presently caused him to be torn in pieces at the tails of four wild horses, then casting his mangled members into a litter, he sent them to Diana in a present, vowing to serve her in the same sauce her father had tasted, that durst so insolently adventure to espouse with the sole heir of his empire. The poor lady almost dead, to see the dead body of her father, but more moved with her own destruction which was to follow, fell at Arsadachus feet, beseeching him with brinish tears, which fell in her delicate bosom, to be the patron of her fortunes. Arsadachus who loved her entirely, comforted her the best he might, assuring her safety, in spite of his father's tyranny; whereupon he levied a guard of his chiefest friends to the number of three thousand men, and shutting Diana in a strong fortress, left her after many sweet embraces in their custody: and for that the time of his coronation drew near, be assembled four thousand such as he knew most assured; he repaired to the court, vowing in his mind such a revenge on his father, as all the world should wonder to hear the sequel. Being arrived in court, he cloyed the gates thereof with armed men, placing in every turning of the city sufficient routs of guard to keep the citizens from insurrection: Then ascending the royal chamber where the Emperor his father with his nobility were resident, he proudly drew him from his seat royal, in which action those of the nobility which resisted him were slain, the rest that tremblingly beheld the tragedy, heard this which ensueth: Arsadachus proudly setting him in his father's seat, was ready to speak unto the assembly, when the old Emperor that had recovered his fall, awaking his spirits, long dulled with age and weakness, began in this sort to upbraid his ungracious heir: viper villain and worse, avaunt, and get thee out of my presence. How darest thou lay hands on thy Lord? or stain the imperial seat with thine impure and defiled person? Canst thou behold thy father without blushes, whom thou hast perjured by thy perverseness, making my oaths frustrate through thine odious follies? ah caitiff as thou art! more depraved then Caligula, more bloody indeed then Nero, more licentious than Catuline: would God either thou hadst been unborn, or better taught. Thou second Tarquin fostered by me to work tragedies in Cusco: thou proud youngman, thy beauty thou hast employed in riot, thy forces in tyranny; Oh unkind wretch, I see, I see with mine eyes the subversion of this Empire, and that which I have kept forty years, thou wilt lose in less than thirty months. How can thy subjects be obedient to thee that despisest thy father? How can these Nobles hope for justice at thy hands, that hast injuriously attempted me, an old man, thy father, that bred thee, thy lord, that cherished thee, the emperor that must inherit thee. What may strangers trust in thee, that hast broken thy faith with Protomachus, abused the love of Margarita, and all for a fair faced minion, whom if I catch in my claws I will so temper as thou shalt have little lust to triumph: O what pity is it thou perverse man, to see how I have bought thee of the gods with sighs; how thy mother hath delivered thee with pain; how we both have nourished thee with traveles; how we watched to sustain thee; how we laboured to relieve thee; and after, how thou rebellest, and art so vicious, that we thy miserable parents must not die for age, but for the grief wherewith thou dost torment us? Ah woe woe is me that beholdeth thy lewdness, and wretched art thou to follow it: well did I hope that thy courage in arms, thy comeliness in person, thy knowledge in letters were virtues enough to yield me hope, and subdue thy follies: but now I say and say again, I affirm and affirm again, I swear and swear again, that if men which are adorned with natural gifts do want requisite virtues, such have a knife in their hands wherewith they do strike & wound themselves, a 〈◊〉 on their shoulders wherewith they burn themselves, a rope on thei● necks to hang themselves, a dagger at their 〈◊〉 stab themselves, a stone to stumble at, a hill to tumble down. Oh would to God that members wanted in thee, in that ●ice did not abound: or would the loss of thine eyes might recompense the lewdness of thine errors. But th●●lmighest to hea●e me lament, which showeth thy small hope of amends, thou hast ●● touch of conscience, no fear of the gods, ●● aw● of thy parents, wha● then should I hope of thee? would God thy death, for that were an end of detriment: if thy life, I beseech the gods for mine own sake close mine eyes by death, lest I see thy unjust dealings.  
In this state Arsadachus that was resolved in his villainy without any reply (as if scorning the old man) caused his tongue by a minister to be cut out, then commanded his right hand to be struck off, wherewith he had signed the writ of Argias death: afterwards appareling him in a fools coat, and fetching a vehement laughter, he spoke thus: Cuscans, wonder not, it is no severity I show, but justice; for it is as lawful for me to forget I am a son, as for him to forget he is a father, his tongue hath wronged me, and I am revenged on his tongue his hand hath signed to the death of my dear Argias, and it hath paid the penalty: and since the old man doteth, I have appareled him according to his property and impatience, wishing all those that love their lives, not to cross me in my revenges; nor assist him in his sinister practices. This said, he made all the nobility to swear loyalty unto him: and Diana laughing incessantly at the old man, who continual pointed with his left hand, and lifted his eyes to heaven for revenge, sometimes he embraced the nobles, inciting them by signs to revenge, but all was in vain, fear subdued their affections.  
In the mean while, the news of these novelties were spread thorough the city, so that many took arms to revenge the old emperor, who were presently and incontinently slain by the soldiers: in brief, as in all conflicts, the weak a● last went to the wall, and necessity enforced such as misdeemed of Arsadachus proceed, to allow of them in show: the day of coronation drew on, against which time Lelia the Empress (little suspecting that which had fallen out) arrived in Cusco, who hearing of the hard measure was offered her husband by her ungracious son (for Artosogon was shut up all the day till meal times, when Arfadachus called for him forth to laugh at him) she entered the palace with such cries, as might have made the hardest heart melt to hear them, where clasping of her arms about the neck of the old and aged man, who melted in tears to behold the melancholy of the chaste matron, she cried out and complained in this manner: O you just gods, can you see these wrongs without remedy? are you deaf to hear, or pitiless to redress? Ah, look down, look down from your thrones, and behold my throbs, witness such wrongs as the sun hath never seen the like; the dog is grateful to his master for his meat, the elephant to his teacher for his knowledge, the serpent to the huntsman for his life; but our untoward son, for relieving him, hath grieved us, for giving him sweet milk in his youth, doth feed us with bitter aloes in our age; and I for bearing him with many groans, am now betrayed by him to many griefs: Ah Artosogon, ah my dear Artosogon, it is enough grief for thee to endure, let me weep (for the old man, to see her, shed many tears) because thou sufferest, that as thou decayest through tyranny, I may die with tears. This said, sorrow stopped the passage of her speech, and they both swooned, be to behold his Lelia so forlorn, she to see her Artosogon so martyred: he that saw Venus lamenting Adonis, Aurora bewailing Memnon, Myrrha her tossed fortunes, saw but the shadow of cares, not the substance of complaints; for this sorrow of the princes was only beyond compare, and past belief; wherein so long they demeaned themselves, till age and sorrow, after long strife surrendered to death, who pitied the old princes, being despised of their lewd son, and ended their sorrows in ending them. The rumour of whose fall was no sooner bruited in the ears of Arsadachus, but that instead of solemnizing their funerals, he frequented his follies, instead of lamenting for them, he laughed at them, causing them for fashion sake to have the favour of the grave, not for any favour he bore them: then calling for Diana to his court, he honoured her as a goddess, causing his subjects to erect a shrine, and to sacrifice unto her: and such was his superstitious and besotted blindness, that he thought it the only paradise of the world to be in her presence, no one was better rewarded than he that could best praise her; sometimes would he (attiring him like a second Diana ready to chase) disguise himself like a shepherd, and sitting apart solitarily, where he might be in her presence, he would recount such passions as gave certain signs in him of an excellent wit, but matched with exceeding wickedness: among which these ten, as the most excellent for variety sake, after his so many villainies, I thought good to set down in this place.  

I see a new sprung sun that shines more clearly,  
That warms the earth more blithely with her brightness  
That spreads her beams more fair, & shines more cheerly  
Than that clear sun that glads the day with lightness.   

For but by outward heat the one offends me,  
The other burns my bones, and melts their marrow:  
The one when he sets on further blends me,  
The other ceaseless makes her eye loves arrow.   

From that a shower a shadow of a tree,  
A foggy mist may safely me protect,  
But this through clouds and shades doth pass & pierce me  
In winter's frosts the others force doth flee▪  
But this each season shines in each respect,  
Each where, each hour, my heart doth plague & pierce me.   
This other for the strange form thereof, though it have the second place deserves the first, which howsoever you turn it backward or forward, is good sense, and hath the rhymes and cadence according, the curiousness and cunning whereof the learned may judge: the first stands is the complaint, the second the counsel; both which he wrote in the entrance of his love with Diana. 

Complaint▪  
132 Tears, cares, wrongs, grief feel I; 1132  
221 Woe, frowns, scorns, crafts nill cease, 4241  
314 Years, months, days, hours do fly 3314  
443 From me away flieth peace: 2423  
1 Oppressed I live (alas) unhappily, 2  
2 Rest is exiled, scorned, plagued, thus am I, 1   

Answer.  
132 Mend her, or change fond thought, 1132  
221 Mind her, then end thy mind, 4241  
314 End thee will sorrow sought, 3314  
443 Kind if thou art: too blind, 2423  
1 Such love fly far, lest thou perceive and prove 2  
2 Much sorrow, grief, care, sighing, breeds such love. 1   The third though shore for the method, is very sweet, and is written in imitation of Dolce the Italian, beginning thus: Io veggio, etc. 

I see with my hearts bleeding,  
Thus hourly through my pain my life desires,  
I feel the Hames exceeding,  
That burn my heart by undeserved fires.  
But whence these fires have breeding,  
I cannot find though great are my desires.  
O miracle eterne!  
That thus I burn in fire, and yet my fire cannot disceern.   The fourth being written upon a more wanton subject, is far more poetical, and hath in it his decoram as well as the rest.  

When as my pale to her pure lips united,  
(Like new fallen snow upon the morning rose)  
Suck out those sweets wherein my soul delighted,  
Good lord how soon dispersed were my woes!   

And from those gates whence comes that balmy breath▪  
That makes the sun to smile when he ariseth,  
I drew a life subduing neering death,  
I sucked a sweet that every sweet compriseth.   

There took my soul his handfast to desire,  
There chose my heart his paradise on earth,  
There is the heaven whereto my hopes retire,  
There pleasure bred, and thence was Cupid's birth:  
Such is their power that by a touch they sever.  
The heart from pains that lived in sorrows ever.   
another time, at such time as in the entrance of love he despaired of all succour, he desperately wrote this and that very prettely.  

Even at the brink of sorrows ceaseless streams,  
All well me drowned through dalliance and disdain,  
Hoping to win the truce in my extremes,  
To pierce that marble heart where pride remains.   

I send salt tears, sad sighs, and ruthful lines,  
Firm vows (and with these true men) my desire,  
Which in his lasting sufferance scarce repines,  
To burn in ceaseless AEtna of her ire.   

All which (and yet of all, the least might serve)  
If too too weak to waken true regard,  
Vouchsafe O heaven that see how I deserve,  
Since you are never partial in reward,  
That ere I die she may with like success,  
Weep, sigh, writ, vow and die without redress.   
This other in the self like passion, but with more government he wrote, which for that cause I place here consequently.  

Heap frown on frown, disdain upon disdain,  
join care, to care, and leave no wrong unwrought,  
Suppose the worst, and smile at every pain,  
Think my pale looks of envy not of thought.   

In errors mask let reasons eye be masked,  
Send out contempts to summon death to slay me,  
To all these tyrant woes though I be tasked,  
My faith shall flourish though these pains decay me.   

And though repining love to cinders burn me,  
I will be fam'de for sufferance to the last,  
Since that in life no tedious pains could turn me,  
And care my flesh, but not my faith could waste.  
though after death for all this life's distress,  
My soul your endless honours shall confess,   
Another melancholy of his, for the strangeness thereof deserveth to be registered, and the rather, in that it is in imitation of that excellent Poet of Italy. Lodovico Pascale, in his sonnet beginning; Tutte le stelle havean de'l ciel l impero.  

Those glorious lamps that heaven illuminate,  
And most incline to retrograde aspects,  
Upon my birthday shonde the worst effects,  
Thralling my life to most sinister fate.   

Wherethrough myself estranged from truth a while,  
Twixt pains, and plagues, midst torments and distress,  
Supposed to find for all my ruth redress,  
But now belief, nor hope, shall me beguile.   

So that (my heart from joys exiled quite)  
I'll pine in grief through fierce disdains accursed,  
Scorned by the world, alive to nought but spite:  
Hold I my tongue? 'tis bad; and speak I? worst,  
Both help me noughts; and if perhaps I writ,  
'tis not in hope, but lest the heart should burst:   
Another in imitation of Martelli having the right nature of an Italian melancholy, I have set down in this place.  

O shady vales, O fair enriched meads,  
O sacred woods, sweet fields, and rising mountains,  
O painted flowers, green herbs, where Flora treads,  
Refreshed by wanton winds, and watery fountains.   

O all you winged choristers of wood,  
That piercht aloft your former pains report,  
And straight again recount with pleasant mood,  
Your present joys in sweet and seemly sort.   

O all you creatures, whosoever thrive.  
On mother earth, in seas, by air or fire:  
More blessed are you, than I here under sun,  
Love dies in me, when as he doth revive  
In you; I perish under beauty's ire,  
Where after storms, winds, frosts, your life is won.   
All other of his, having allusion to the name of Diana, and the nature of the Moon, I leave, in that few men are able to second the sweet conceits of Philip du Portes, whose Poetical writings being already for the most part englished, and ordinarily in every man's hands, Arsadachus listed not to imitate, only these two others which follow, being his own invention, came to my hand, which I offer to your judgement (Ladies) for that afterward I mean to prosecute the history.  

Twixt reverence and desire, how am I vexed?  
Now prone to lay ambitious hands on beauty,  
Now having fear to my desires annexed,  
Now haled on by hope, now stayed by duty.   

Emboldened thus, and overrulde in striving.  
To gain the sovereign good my heart desireth:  
I live a life, but in effect no living,  
Since dread subdues desire that most aspireth.   

though must I bide the combat of extremes,  
Feign to enjoy yet fearing to offend,  
Like him that strives against resisting streams,  
In hope to gain the harbour in the end:  
Which haven her grace, which happy grace enjoyed  
Both reverence, and desire, are well employed.   
The conclusion of all his poetry, I shut up with this his hyperbolical praise, showing the right shape of his dissembling nature.  

Not so much borrowed beauty hath the stars,  
Not so much bright the mighty eye of day,  
Not so much clear hath Cynthia where she wars,  
With deaths near niece in her black array.   

Not so true essence have the sacred souls,  
That from their natural mansions are divided,  
Not so pure red hath Bacchus in his bowls.  
As hath that face whereby my soul is guided.   

Not so could art or nature if they sought,  
In curious works themselves for to exceed,  
Or second that which they at first had wrought,  
Nor so could time, or all the gods proceed,  
As to enlarge, mould, think, or match that frame,  
As I do honour under Diane's name.   
Now leave we him in his dalliance, making all things in a readiness for his coronation, and return we to the constant Margarita, who living in her solitary seat, minding nothing but melancholies, triumphing in nothing but her tears; finding at length, the prefixed time of Arsadachus return almost expired, and her impatience so great, as she could no longer endure his absence, in a desperate fury setting light by her life, she resolved privily to fly from her father's court to find out Arsadachus in his own country. For which cause she broke with a faithful follower of hers called Fawnia, by whose assistance, without the knowledge of any other in the disguise of a country maid, she gate out of the city, attended only by this trusty follower, about the shutting in of the evening, at such time as her train without suspect intended their other affairs, and by reason of her melancholy little suspected her departure out of doors: and so long she traveled (desire guiding her steps, and sorrow seating herself in her heart) that she got into an unpeopled and huge forest, where meeting with a poor shepherd, she learned sure tidings of her way to Cusco, keeping in the most untrodden and unfrequented ways for fear of pursuit, weeping as she walked incessantly, so that neither fawnia's words, nor the hope she had to revisit her beloved could rid her of ruthfulnesse: three days she so walked, ●eeding her thoughts on her own wretchedness, till on the fourth about the break of the day when Phoebus had newly chased the morn, crowned with roses from the desired bed of her beloved paramour, she sat her down by a fair fountain, washing her blubbered face in the clear spring, and cooling her thirst in the crystal waters thereof: here had she not long rested herself, talking with her Fawnia in what manner she would upbraid Arsadachus in Cusco, of his unkind absence, when as suddenly a huge lion which was accustomed to refresh himself at that spring, broke out of the thicket behind their backs, Fawnia that first spied him was soon surprised, than she cried, and rend in pieces (in that she had tasted too much of fleshly love) before she feared. Margarita that saw the massacre, sat still attending her own tragedy, for nothing was more welcome to her then death, having lost her friend, nor nothing more expected: but see the generosity and virtue of the beast instead of renting her limbs he scented her garments, in the place of tearing her piecemeal, he laid his head gently in her la●, licking her milkewhite hand, and she wing all signs of humility, in steed of inhumanity. Margarita seeing this recovered her senses, and pitifully weeping spoke thus: Alas ●e gods, why yee●d you sorrows to those that despise fancy, and betray you them by death, who desire to flee detriment? woe is me, how fortunate were Margarita, to have been dismembered? how forlorn was Fawnia to be thus mangled, ah tyrant beast hadst thou spared her, her virtue had deserved it, hadst thou spoiled me, why I was reserved for it, for what ●are have not I part in? or from what joy am not I parted? Love that is a Lord of pity to some, is pitiless to me, he giveth other the rose, but me the thorn; he bestoweth wine on others, and me vinegar, he crowneth the rest with laurel in respect of their flourishing fortune, but me with Cyprus' the tree dedicated to funeral: out alas that I live or that I have time to speak, I live, in that I have had time so long, to love with neglect, and to pine in the delay. Ah courteous beast (said she) why executest thou not that which my sorrow doth prasecute? let thy teeth (I beseech thee rid me of loves tyranny. This said, she pitifully wept; but the Lion ceased not to play with her, stroking her with his rough paw, as if willing to appease her, but all was in vain, till that sleep by reason of her sorrow seized her, and settled herself in the lion's eyes, where we leave them, returning to Moscow, where the day no sooner appeared, but Protomachus (according to his custom coming to visit his daughter) found her suddenly ●led, whereat storming incessantly, he presently put all her attendants to most bitter and strange death, sending out espials through all the country to find out Margarita. wh● by reason of her solitary walks, was free from their search: at last, looking among her secret papers, he found a letter, wherein the princess had written to Arsadachus, that if he presently returned not, she would shortly visit him. By reason whereof, being a wise prince, he gathered some circumstance of her flight; and levying a power of soldiers, with as much expedition as he might, he set forward towards Cusco, where I leave him, to return to Arsinous, who studying Magic in his melancholy cell, found by reason of the aspect of the planets, that the hour of his revenge was at hand: whereupon being resolved of the place, which was Cusco, and the manner, with all other actors in the tragedy, he being desirous to behold that with his eyes which he had long time longed for with his heart, forsook his melancholy home, and set forward toward C●sco. And as he passed on his way, it was his chance to behold where Margarita lay sleeping, having the lion's head in her lap, whereat being amazed and affrighted, in that he hearty loved the princess, he with his staff awaked her: who seeing a man so overgrown in hairs and years; yet carrying as much show in his countenance, of honour, as discontent, softly stole from the lion, and left him sleeping there: suddenly seizing Arsinous by the hand, she said thus: Father, thank fortune that hath given thee time to escape death if thou list, and follow me, who hath both need of thy counsels, and of such a reverend companion as thou art. Which said, they both withdrew them out of the way hasting two long hours without ever looking back, till at last, when Arsinous saw her and himself in safety, he courted her thus▪ Country loss by your coat, but courtly dame by your countenance, whither travel you this ways, or for what cause are you so woeful? Forlorn man by thy apparel, but honourable sit by thy behaviour, I am traveling to Cusco, where both remaineth the cause of my woe, and the means to cure it. May I be so bold said Arsinous to know of you what you are, and what you ail? It neither pertaineth to you that I tell it (quoth Margarita) neither pleaseth it me to discover it, for the one will seek my harm, the other yield you little help. Then quoth Arsinous smiling, I will try mine own cunning, to cross a woman's resolution, whereupon entreating Margarita to set her down under a Palm tree, to avoid the heat of the sun, which being at his noontide flamed very fiercely, he drew a book out of his bosom, and read so long till suddenly there appeared one in self li●e shape and substance as Arsadachus was wont to be, whom Margarita no sooner espied, but that she ran fiercely towards him that hastily fled, she cried out; Oh stay thee (my Arsadachus) stay thee, behold thy Margarita that hath left her father's court, hazarded her honours, adventured all dangers for thy love, for thy sake, oh stay. This said, the vision suddenly vanished, and she striving to embrace him, caught his shadow: whereupon vehemently weeping, she exclaimed on the gods, over love and his laws, renting her hairs, and beating her breasts in such sort, as it was pity to behold it: and had died in that agony, had not Arsinous recomforted her in this sort: Fie Margarita, doth this beseem your wisdom, to demean sorrow without cause, and seek your death through a delusion? why princess whatever you saw was but an apparition, not the substance, devised only by your servant Arsinous to discover you. She hearing the name of Arsinous presently started up, and clasping her arms about his aged neck, whom she suddenly had discovered, she spoke thus: Ah my father, pardon my folly, that sought to keep that secret, which is discovered by your science. Tut madam, the pardon is to be granted by your hands, said he, who are most injured; was it ever seen (quoth he smilingly) a lady to be so besotted on a shadow? Ah pardon me (said Margarita) I held it for the substance: but father, I pray you tell me whither you intent your journey? Arsinous desirous in short words to satisfy her, told her that he pretended his course to Cusco; forsaking his melancholy cell of purpose, to meet her whose danger he had perceived in private being in his study: further he told her many things touching the emperors search after her, not pretermitting any thing to content her, but concealing that which tended to her ruin, which with ernefull heart he inwardly perceived, Margarita somewhat rejoiced with the company of such a guide, sat her down seeking some herbs in the forest to relieve her hunger, Arsinous that perceived it said thus: See madam, what love can do, that fashioneth courtly stomachs, to whomely acates the gods grant you may speed well, for I see you can feed well, hereon he opened his book and read, and suddenly a pavilion was pitched, the table was reared, the dishes served in, with all kind of delicates, the music exceeding pleasant, so that Margarita was ravished to behold this, but being animated by Arsinous she fell to her meat, certifying him at dinner time of such things as had passed in her father's court in his absence; thus in jollity appeased they their hungry stomachs, and eased their sorrowful hearts, till occasion called them forth to travel, at which time the pavilion servitors, and all things vanished, and only Arsinous and Margarita were left alone, having two squires attending on them, with two rich gennets bravely trapped fit for their managing, which they speedily backed, talking merrily as they road of such strange things as Arsinous had wrought by his art, & so long they traveled towards Cusco, that they arrived within two leagues of the same, understanding by the great troops that road that way, that the coronation was the next day following, Margarita by Arsinous counsel stayed in the castle of Aged knight, where he wrought so by his art, that although Margarita had a desire to hear tidings of Arsadachus, yet made she no question of him all the time of her abode there. And here let us leave them, and return to Cusco to the accursed and abominable tyrant Arsadachus, who as soon as the day began to break, the birds to hal● forth sun, the sun to haste his course, arose from his bed, appareling himself in rich and princely robes: about which hour Diana was not idle, for whatso of excellence could be bought for money, or had for friendship, she wanted nothing thereof to set out her beauty: the courtiers to grace their Emperor, spared no cost, the citizens no triumphs, so as the triumph of Antigonus Epiphanus, in comparison hereof was but a trifle, the manner whereof, since it was miraculous, I have thought good to mention in this place. First came five thousand of the youngest Cuscanes out of the palace, trotting along the streets unto the temple armed, according to the Roman fashion: after them as ma●● Tartar's armed after their manner, who were followed with three thousand Thracians, and Plessians, all of which carried silver lances and shields, having their 〈◊〉 pieces decked with ostrige plumes and emeralds: after them marched two hundred and fifty sword-players, who followed the brave cavaliers that marched before; after whom trotted the horsemen, of which one thousand, together with their horses, were all pompously garnished with gold and silver, with a garland of gold upon their heads: after them road another thousand horsemen, decked with gold and purple, with lances of gold, headed with pointed diamonds: next them road those which were called the emperors minions, clothed in cloth of tissue, their horses trapped in green cloth of gold, their stirrups of silver: after them came the emperors guard on horse back, having their comparisons studded with iron and brass, wearing upon their armours a certain curious stole, wherein, with gold and silver, silk, and gossanpine thread of many colours, were woven the images of those gods, which the Cuscans most worshipped: after whom came one thousand five hundredth armed chariots, the most part drawn by two white genets, but forty of them by four: after them there came a chariot drawn by elephants, and attended by six and thirty elephants, with eight hundred young men attending them as their keepers, attired with ornaments of gold, and having their temples encompassed with wreaths of roses, and silver bends: after them came eight hundred young lads leading many fat oxen with gilded horns to be sacrificed to the gods: next unto them eight hundred ministers bearing platters of gold with precious stones, unicorns horns, and elephants teeth to be sacrificed for the health of the emperor: next which, an infinite number of statues were carried, not only of their gods, but also of those fiends they feared; likewise the images of all their kings deceased, according as every one deserved for his excellence, appareled in goodly garments of gold and silver, and other precious and inestimable jewels, each of them having a table at his feet, in which all his noble and worthy actions were written. There were likewise other semblances of the day, the night, of heaven, of the morning and midday, with an infinite number of vessels likewise forged out of gold and silver, and borne by the slaves of the empire: after these came six hundred pages of the emperor appareled in gold: after whom came three hundred virgins in white cloth of tissue, burning with censors in their hands of silver: and Agate spreading sundry sorts of sweet perfumes followed by five hundred eoches of silver, wherein Diana's damosels were carried: after which came fourscore of beaten gold, wherein all the princely heirs of the empire were royally seated. After all these the Emperor with his Diana road in one coach attended with one hundred attired in beaten cloth of silver, casting rich cloth before the coach, whereon the horses that drew the Emperor should tread. ●t were a vain thing for me to set down the riches of Arsadachus garments, or the attire of his goddess: sufficeth it that it exceeded that which is past, and all was beyond belief: In this solemn sort entered they the temple, where (according to the custom) they were sacred, anointed and enthroned, receiving homage of the princes. And after in self like pomp returned they to the palace: where having many rich delicates prepared for them with sweet and melodious music they sat them down to eat; where, after they had somewhat refreshed their stomachs, and whetted their wits with costly wines, Arsadachus remembering him of his Margarita, called for his box, merrily jesting with Diana, and saying, that the Empress of Moscow deserved so small a remembrance▪ which was no sooner brought unto him, and opened, but (see the judgement of just heaven) a sudden flame issued thereout, which with a hideous odour so distraught Arsadachus of his senses, that thrusting the tables from him, and overthrowing whatsoever encountered him, he broke out from his seat, cursing the heaven's, renting his embalmed hair, tearing his royal vestures: his nobility that saw this, became amazed, and among the rest, Brasidas, who fled for the murder in Moscow, and was at that time in great favour with him, came to pacify him; who no sooner espied him, but taking a huge bowl of wine, and crying out, Brasidas, I drink to Philenia whom thou murtheredst, he tasted the wine, and with the cup took him such a mighty blow on the head that he pashed out all his brains: all they that beheld this sat still; some for fear stole secretly out of his presence, among the rest, woeful Diana rather like the statue of Venus raised in Paphos, than the lovely Lucina that gave light to all Arsadachus delights, sat still quaking and trembling, as one ready to departed th●s life; whom when the Emperor espied where she sat, he hastily ran unto her, crying out; Ah tyrant that hast rob me of my heart, my hope and life, let me sacrifice to Nemesis; I will sacrifice: which said, with the carving knife he slit up the poor innocent lady's body, spreading her entrails about the palace floor, and seizing on her heart, he tore it in pieces with his tyrannous teeth, crying, Sic itur ad astra; by this ti●e the rumour ●as spread throughout the palace, and from the palace through the city: by which means the triumphs which were commenced were turned to mournings, for Arsadachus used such cruelties every way, that the Numantines for all their inhumanity could never be able to match him. And in this fit continued he for the space of six hours, at which time he entered the secrets of his palace, and finding there a young son which his Diana had bred and he begotten; he took it by the legs, battering out the brains thereof against the walls, in such sort as the beholders were amazed to see him; this done he fling it on the ground among the dead members of his mother, calling on the name of Artosogon and Lelia his father and mother, and telling them, that in some part he had yielded them revenge. By this time Arsinous and Margarita were entered the city, who hearing the turmoil thorough the city, questioned the cause thereof, and were certified by those that passed by, in what estate the emperor was at that present. Margarita hearing the cause, began woefully to exclaim, till she was pacified by Arsinous, who told her that the nature of the medicine which he gave her, was such, that if Arsadachus were constant to her, it would increase his affection; if false, it would procure madness: to which effect, since the matter was brought, it could not be but the young Emperor had wronged her. With these persuasions he drew her to the palace, where thrusting through the press Arsinous thought himself happy to see such a revenge wrought on his enemy. Margarita was heartless to behold the doleful estate of Arsadachus, so that forgetting the honour of his name, and the modesty of her sex, she broke thorough the guard, and ran to Arsadachus, where he sat imbrued in the blood of innocents, and with tears spoke thus unto him; Is this the joy of my love (said she) are these thy welcomes to thy beloved in steed of triumphs to feast her with tragedies, in am of banquets, with blood? why speaketh not my dear spouse? why lookest thou so ghastly? O if it be thy pleasure to show cruelty on me, make it short by a death, not linger by life. Arsadachus all this while sat mute ghastly staring on Ma●●arita; at last fiercely flinging her from his neck, his rage revived and he cried out; Diana, ah Diana by thy bright looks, by thy beautiful lo●kes, let not thy ghost be displeased, thou shalt have blood for blood, here is the sacrifice, here is the instrument; whereupon drawing a rapier out of the sheath of one of those who ministered fast by him, he ran Margarita quite thorough the body: and in this sort with bedlam madness fled out of the presence to his privy chamber. The poor princess even when death began ●o arrest her, pursued him: and as she endeavoured to utter her moans, fell down dead on the floor; whom Arsinous woefully bewept, and in the presence of the princess of Cusco, discovered what she was. Then began each of them to imagine a new fear, doubting lest the Emperor of Moscow should revenge her death at their hands. For which cause they consulted how to shut up Arsadachus till Protomachus were certified, which they effected suddenly, in that they found him laid on his bed, and sound sleeping, enforced thereunto by the industry and art of Arsinous. Who after he perceived the whole assembly of princes dismayed, caused the ministers to gather up the mangled members and cover them with a rich cloth of gold, and afterwards seeing all the courtiers attentive, he began in this manner▪ Thales (ye worthy princes) after he had traveled long time, and at last returned home, being asked what strange or rare thing he had seen in his voyage, answered; an old tyrant: for certain it is, that such as practise open wrong, live not long; for the gods yield them shortest life that have the wickedest ways: muse not therefore to see your young Emperor in these passions, whose sins if they be ripped up exceed all sense, whose tyrannies surpass the belief of any, but such as have tried them. What, know you not of his disobedience, who spared not his own father that begat him, his dear mother that bred him? What, know you not of his perjury? that hath falsified his faith to Protomachus, betrayed and murdered Margarita, and at one time frustrated the hope of both these empires? What, know you not of his murders, where these in sight are sufficient to convict him: but those I sigh for are more odious, who thorough his lewd lus●●e reft me (poor Arsinous) of my daughter, and her of an husband? But the just gods have suffered me to behold the revenge with mine eyes, which I have long wished for with my heart. Truly (ye Cuscans) ye are not to marvel at these chances, if you be wise, neither to wonder at your emperors troubles, if you have discretion; for as unity (according to Pythagoras) is the father of number, so is vice the original of many sorrows. When the fish Tenthiss appeareth above the water, there followeth a tempest: when evils are grown to head, there must needily follow punishment; for as the gods in mercy delay, so at last in justice they punish. Hear me ye men of Cusco, and consider my words, if never as yet any tyrant lived without his tragedy what should you expect? In faith no other thing but the confirmation of Plato's reason, who said that it is unnecessary for him to live, that hath not learned how to live well. The tyrant of Sicily Dionysius, of whom it is said, that he gave as great reward to those that invented vices, as Rome did to those that conquered realms) died a private man and in misery. Now what in respect of this man can you hope of Arsadachus, who hired not men to invent, but did himself in person practise: believe me, believe me, your sufferance of such a viper in your realm, is a heinous sin in you, and as Dion saith, it is but meet they be partakers to the pain, who have winked at the fault. Caligula the emperor of Rome was so disordered in his life, that if all the Romans had not watched to take life from him, he would have waited to take life from them; this monster bore a brooch of gold in his cap, wherein was written this sentence: utinam omnis populus unam praecisè ceruicem haberet, ut uno ictu omnes necarem. And what was this man in regard of Arsadachus? Truly almost innocent; for the one pretended kindness to those that gently persuaded him, but the other neither feared the gods, neither spared his friends, neither regarded justice, and can such a monster deserve life? The Romans when the tyrant Tiberius was made away, sacrificed in their open streets, in that the gods had reft them of such a troublesome wretch; why cease you then (you Cuscans) to sacrifice to your gods, to the end they may deliver you of this trouble-world. It was a law among the Romans, that that child which had disobeyed his father, rob any temple, injured any widow, committed any treason to a stranger should be banished from Rome, and disinherited of his father's possessions; and what hath not Arsadachus done of these things? and why is not Arsadachus punished? Scedasus daughters being violated in Lacedaemon, and unrevenged by the magistrates of the city; the gods inflicted both the guilty and unguilty with plagues, in that they afflicted not punishment on the offenders: and what can you hope (ye Cuscans) that suffer this sink of sin to triumph in your palaces? You will perhaps say, that no man is to be punished afore he be convicted. And (I pray you) for what should ill men plead? since as Chrysippus saith, nothing is profitable unto them. You see testimonies of his murder before your eyes, tokens of his perjury I ring in your ears, his lust the gods abhor, and shall he yet live?  
This said, there grew a great muttering among the nobility, and the noise thereof awaked the emperor (whose sleep had stayed the working of the enchantment) who finding himself wholly embrewed with blood, his doors fast locked unto him, began to misdeem: whereupon calling and exclaiming on his attendants, some of them at last fearfully opened the doors. The nobility hearing of his freedom, presently fled, but when as the fatal fruits of his fury were discovered unto him, and his ruthful eyes beheld what his hands had executed, Lord what pitiful exclamations used he! how he rend his breast with fury, how he tore his face: At last, laying him down upon the mangled members of Diana, and embracing the dead body of Margarita, he washed both of them in his tears, and demeaned himself so woefully, as it 〈◊〉 wonder to behold; at last, with a bitter sigh he broke out into these bitter words, (whilst his nobles hearing of his recovery, began to re-enter the palace) True it is that Plutarch saith (quoth he) that life is a stage-play, which even unto the last act hath no decorum: life is replenished with all vices, and impoverished of all virtue. Sooth spoke Chrysippus when he alleged this, that the evils of this life are so many, that the gods can not invent more, neither a living man endure half; so that rightly I may say with Hercules: 
Plenus malorum sum iam, nec superest locus  
Alijs novis recipiandis—   
But why philosophy I of life complaining on it where I ought only to convict myself? It is not the wretchedness, but the wickedness of life that maketh it odious. Then hast thou occasion (wretched man) as thou art to learn thee, who having sinned in the excess, oughtest rightly to have thy comforts in defect. Yea I have sinned O ye heavens, first in beguiling this chaste Margarita with hope▪ in wronging my dear parents in their age, in slaughtering this poor infant with his mother. Oh AEtna of miseries that I see! oh ye Cuscan princes, why suffer you me alive, that have stained your empire with such infamies? why unsheath you not your swords? for pity delay not, for pity rid me of life: alas, why crave I pity, that have been altogether pitiless? ah ye flocks of flatterers, where are you now that fed me with follies? come now and punish my follies in me: none heareth me, all forsake me, despised of the gods, hated of men; ah just heavens, I honour you that have left me occasions in myself, you cursed eyes of mine that have glutted yourselves in vanity, since you reft me of my senses, I will be revenged on your sight: which said, he drew out his eyes weeping piteously in so erneful manner, that the whole assistance became compassionate: at last some one of his nobles labouring to pacify him, alleging reasons of great weight, which in a man of government were sufficient to qualify the fury of sorrow, he replied thus: Friends and princes the force of reason, (as the Stoics say) is not to be used in those things that are not, it concerneth not me (lords) that I live, persuade me not for that cause to entertain and think of life, for if it be odious to those that through infirmities of their flesh grow in hate with it, what should it be to me, who have not only a body aggrieved with sorrows, but a soul sweltered in sins; lament me not therefore, neither relieve me; for as the dew causeth leprosy in man though it yieldeth life to flowers, so tears rather torment those that despair then relieve them; and though they comfort the distressed, yet they are tedious to the desperate: I feel my forlorn heart (you nobles) cloyed with thoughts and longing to be disburdened. I see with mine inward eyes the ghosts of these poor slaughtered souls calling for justice at my hands; stay me not therefore from death, but assist me to die, for by this means you shall rid your country of a plague, the world of a monster. Such as are wounded with brazen weapons, are according to Aristotle's opinion soon healed; so likewise are they that are tainted with easy sorrow: but whereas the passions exceed reason, they have no issue but death; the instrument that woundeth is deadly. Ah my heart, I find Plutarch's reason of force; for as the sun is to the heaven, so is the heart to the man; and as the one eclipseth, the other cloudeth; when the one danceth, the other dieth. I ●eele thee (poor heart) dispossessed of all joy, and shall I continue possessed of life? no (you ghosts) I will visit you. This said, he grappled about the floor among the dead bodies, and at last he gripped that weapon wherewith he slew Margarita, wherewith piercing his hated body he breathed his last, to the general benefit of all the Cuscans who in that they would pacify the emperor Protomachus, who as they understood had levied a huge army after they had interred their slain emperor with his fair love, bestowed honourable funeral on the princess Margarita, on whose sepulchre, as also on that of Dian●es, Arsinous wrote these epitaphs▪  

Margaritaes Epitaph.  

A blessed soul from 〈…〉  
Ye happy heavens hath 〈◊〉 to you conveyed,  
The earthly hold within this tomb enclosed,  
White Marble stones within your womb is laid:  
The fame of her that soul and body lost,  
survives from th'isle to the Bractrian coast.   

A precious pearl in name, a pearl in nature,  
Too kind in love unto too fierce a foe,  
By him she loved, she died, O cursed creature,  
To quite true faith with furious murder so!  
But vain are tears for those whom death hath slain,  
And sweet is fame that makes dead live again.    

Diana's Epitaph.  

Thy babe and thou by sire and husband's hand▪  
Beloved in stayed sense was slain in rage,  
Both by untimely death in native land  
Lost Empire, hope, and died in timeless age,  
And he whose sword your blood with fury spilled.  
Bereft himself of life through cursed guilt.   

All ye that fix your eyes upon this tomb▪  
Remember this, that beauty fadeth fast,  
That honours are enthralled to hapless dumb,  
That life hath nothing sure, but soon doth waste;  
So live you then, that when your years are fled,  
Your glories may survive when you are dead.    
In this sort were these murdered princes both buried, & honoured with epitaphs, by which time the emperor of Moscow arrived in Cusco, who certified of that which had ensued, with bitter tears lamented his daughter, and upon the earnest submission of the Cuscans, spoilt not their confines, but possessing himself of the empire, he placed Arsinous governor of the same, whom upon the earnest reconcilement and motion of the Princes, he took to favour, being certified of his wrong and innocency: which done, he returned to Moscow, there spending the remnant of his days in continual complaints of his Margarita.  
FINIS.