 | Argalvs and Parthenia |  |
Madam,
Thinke not Parthenia, vnder a pretenceOf silence, studies disobedience:
Or by the crafty slownesse of reply,
Borrowes a quick aduantage to deny:
It lyes not in your power, to command
Beyond my will: vnto your tender hand,
I here surrender vp that little All
You gaue me, freely to dispose withall.
The gods forbid, Parthenia should resist
What you command, command you what you list:
But pardon me, the young Laconian Lord
Hath made assault, but neuer yet could board
This heart of mine: I wept, I wept indeed,
But my misconsterd streames did ne're proceed
22
Whose griefes I wept; I wept not for mine owne;
My lowly thoughts durst neuer yet aspire
The least degree, towards the proud desire
Of so great honour, to be call'd his wife,
For whom, ambitious Queenes haue bin at strife;
He su'd for loue, and strongly did importune
My heart, more pleased with a meaner fortune;
My brest was marble, and my heart forgot
All pitty; for, indeed, I lou'd him not;
But Madam; you, to whose more wise directions
I bend the stoutest of my rash affections,
You haue commanded, and your will shall be
The square to my uneauen desires, and me;
I'le practise duty, and my deeds shall show it;
I'le practise loue, though Cupid neuer know it.
When great Basilius (he whose princely hand
Nourisht long peace in the Arcadian land)
With triumph, brought to his renowned Court,
His new espoused Queene, was great resort
Of forraine States, and Princes, to behold
The truth, that vnbeleeu'd report had told
Of faire Gynecias worth: Thither repair'd
The Cyprian Nobles, richly all prepar'd
In warlike furniture, and well addrest,
With solemne Iousts to glorifie the feast
Of mariage royall, lately past betweene
Th'Arcadian King, and his thrice noble Queene,
The faire Gynecia; in whose face and brest
Nature, and curious Art had done their best,
To summe that rare perfection, which (in briefe)
Transcends the power of a strong beliefe;
Her Syer was the Cyprian King, whose fame
Receiu'd more honour from her honour'd name,
Then, if he had, with his victorious hand,
Vnsceptred halfe the Princes in the land:
To tell the glory of this royall Feast;
The Bridegroomes state, and how the Bride was drest;
The princely seruice, and the rare delights;
The seuerall names and worth, of Lords and Knights;
Their quaint Impresa's, their deuisefull showes;
Their martiall sports, their oft redoubled blowes;
The courage of this Lord, or that proud horse;
Who ran; who got the better, who, the worse,
Is not my taske; nor lyes it in my way,
To make relation of it: Heraulds may:
Yet Fame and honour hath selected one,
From that illustrious crew; and him alone
Haue recommended to my carefull quill,
Forbidding that his honour should lye still
Among the rest, whom fortune and his spirit,
That day, had crowned with a victors merit,
His name was Argalus; In Cyprus borne;
And (if what is not ours, may adorne
Our proper fortunes) his blood royall springs
From th'ancient stocke of the great Cyprian Kings:
His outside had enough to satisfie
The expectation of a curious eye:
Nature was too too prodigall of her beauty,
To make him halfe so faire, whom Fame, and duty
He ought to Honour, call'd so often forth,
T'approue the exc'lence of his manly worth:
His minde was richly furnisht with the treasure
Of morall knowledge, in so liberall measure,
Not to be proud: So valiant, and so strong
Of noble courage, not to dare a wrong:
Friendly to all men, inward but with few;
Fast to his old friends, and vnapt for new:
Lord of his word, and master of his passion,
Serious in buisnesse, choyce in recreation:
Not too mistrustfull, and yet wisely wary;
Hard to resolue, and then as hard to vary:
And to conclude, the world could hardly finde
So rare a body with so rare a minde.
Nourisht long peace in the Arcadian land)
With triumph, brought to his renowned Court,
His new espoused Queene, was great resort
Of forraine States, and Princes, to behold
The truth, that vnbeleeu'd report had told
Of faire Gynecias worth: Thither repair'd
The Cyprian Nobles, richly all prepar'd
In warlike furniture, and well addrest,
With solemne Iousts to glorifie the feast
Of mariage royall, lately past betweene
Th'Arcadian King, and his thrice noble Queene,
The faire Gynecia; in whose face and brest
Nature, and curious Art had done their best,
To summe that rare perfection, which (in briefe)
Transcends the power of a strong beliefe;
23
Receiu'd more honour from her honour'd name,
Then, if he had, with his victorious hand,
Vnsceptred halfe the Princes in the land:
To tell the glory of this royall Feast;
The Bridegroomes state, and how the Bride was drest;
The princely seruice, and the rare delights;
The seuerall names and worth, of Lords and Knights;
Their quaint Impresa's, their deuisefull showes;
Their martiall sports, their oft redoubled blowes;
The courage of this Lord, or that proud horse;
Who ran; who got the better, who, the worse,
Is not my taske; nor lyes it in my way,
To make relation of it: Heraulds may:
Yet Fame and honour hath selected one,
From that illustrious crew; and him alone
Haue recommended to my carefull quill,
Forbidding that his honour should lye still
Among the rest, whom fortune and his spirit,
That day, had crowned with a victors merit,
His name was Argalus; In Cyprus borne;
And (if what is not ours, may adorne
Our proper fortunes) his blood royall springs
From th'ancient stocke of the great Cyprian Kings:
His outside had enough to satisfie
The expectation of a curious eye:
Nature was too too prodigall of her beauty,
To make him halfe so faire, whom Fame, and duty
He ought to Honour, call'd so often forth,
T'approue the exc'lence of his manly worth:
His minde was richly furnisht with the treasure
Of morall knowledge, in so liberall measure,
24
Of noble courage, not to dare a wrong:
Friendly to all men, inward but with few;
Fast to his old friends, and vnapt for new:
Lord of his word, and master of his passion,
Serious in buisnesse, choyce in recreation:
Not too mistrustfull, and yet wisely wary;
Hard to resolue, and then as hard to vary:
And to conclude, the world could hardly finde
So rare a body with so rare a minde.
Thrice had the bright surueyour of the heauen
Diuided out the dayes and nights by euen
And equall houres, since this child of fame
(Inuited by the glory of her name,)
First view'd Partheniaes face, whose mutuall eye
Shot equall flames, and with the secret tie
Of vndisclos'd affection, ioyn'd together
Their yeelding hearts, their loues vnknown to either,
Both dearly lou'd: the more they stroue to hide
Their loue, affection they the more descride.
It lyes beyond the power of art to smother
Affection, where one vertue finds another:
One was their thoughts, and their desires one,
And yet both lou'd, vnknowne; beloued, vnknowne:
One was the Dart, that at the selfe same time
Was sent, that wounded her, that wounded him:
Both hop'd, both fear'd alike, both ioy'd, both grieu'd;
Yet, where they both could helpe, was none relieu'd:
Two lou'd, and two beloued were; yet none
But two in all, and yet that all but one.
By this time had their barren lippes betraid
Their timorous silence; now they had displaid
Loues sanguine colours, whilst the winged Child
Sate in a tree, and clapt his hands, and smil'd
To see the combat of two wounded friends:
He strikes and wounds himselfe, while she defends
That would be wounded, for her paine proceeds,
And flowes from his, and from his wound, she bleeds;
She playes at him, and ayming at his breast,
Pierc'd her owne heart: and when his hand addrest
The blow to her faire bosome, there it found
His owne deare heart, and gaue that heart the wound:
At length both conquer'd and yet both did yeeld,
Both lost the day, and yet both wan the field:
And as the warfare of their tongues did cease,
Their lips gaue earnest of a ioyfull peace.
Diuided out the dayes and nights by euen
And equall houres, since this child of fame
(Inuited by the glory of her name,)
First view'd Partheniaes face, whose mutuall eye
Shot equall flames, and with the secret tie
Of vndisclos'd affection, ioyn'd together
Their yeelding hearts, their loues vnknown to either,
Both dearly lou'd: the more they stroue to hide
Their loue, affection they the more descride.
It lyes beyond the power of art to smother
Affection, where one vertue finds another:
One was their thoughts, and their desires one,
And yet both lou'd, vnknowne; beloued, vnknowne:
One was the Dart, that at the selfe same time
Was sent, that wounded her, that wounded him:
Both hop'd, both fear'd alike, both ioy'd, both grieu'd;
Yet, where they both could helpe, was none relieu'd:
Two lou'd, and two beloued were; yet none
But two in all, and yet that all but one.
By this time had their barren lippes betraid
Their timorous silence; now they had displaid
25
Sate in a tree, and clapt his hands, and smil'd
To see the combat of two wounded friends:
He strikes and wounds himselfe, while she defends
That would be wounded, for her paine proceeds,
And flowes from his, and from his wound, she bleeds;
She playes at him, and ayming at his breast,
Pierc'd her owne heart: and when his hand addrest
The blow to her faire bosome, there it found
His owne deare heart, and gaue that heart the wound:
At length both conquer'd and yet both did yeeld,
Both lost the day, and yet both wan the field:
And as the warfare of their tongues did cease,
Their lips gaue earnest of a ioyfull peace.
But ô the hideous chances that attend
A louers progresse, to his iournies end!
How many desp'rate rubs, and dangers waite
Each minute, on his miserable state!
His hopes doe build, what straight his feares destroy,
Sometimes, he surfeits with excesse of ioy:
Sometimes, despairing ere to find reliefe,
He roares beneath the tyranny of griefe;
And when loues current runnes with greatest force,
Some obuious mischiefe still disturbes the course:
For loe, no sooner the discouerd flame
Of these new parted louers did proclaime
Loues sacred Iubilé; but the Virgins Mother
(The posture of whose visage did discouer
Some serious matter, harb'ring in her brest)
Enters the roome: Halfe angry, halfe in iest,
Shee thus began: My dearest child, this night,
When as the silent darknesse did inuite
Mine eyes to slumber, sundry thoughts possest
My troubled minde, and robb'd me of my rest;
I slept not, till the early bugle horne
Of Chaunticlere had summon'd in the Morne
T'attend the Light, and nurse the new-borne Day;
At last, when Morpheus, with his leaden key,
Had lockt my senses, and enlarg'd the power
Of my heauen guided fancy, for an houre
I slumbred; and before my slumbring eyes,
One, and the selfesame dreame presented thrice;
I wak'd; and, being frighted at the vision,
Perceiu'd the Gods had made an apparition:
My dreame was this: Me thought I saw thee sitting
Drest like a princely Bride, with robes befitting
The state of Maiesty; thy Nymph-like haire
Loosely disheuel'd; and thy browes did beare
A Cypresse wreath; and (thrice three months expir'd)
Thy pregnant wombe grew heauy, and required
Lucina's aid: with that, me thought I saw
A teame of harnest Peacocks fiercely draw
A fiery Chariot from the flitting sky,
Wherein there sate the glorious Maiesty
Of great Saturnia, on whose traine attended
An hoast of Goddesses; Iuno descended
From out the flaming Chariot, and blest
Thy painfull wombe: Thy paines a while encreast;
At length, she laid her gentle palmes vpon
Thy fruitfull flanke, and there was borne a son:
She made thee mother of a smiling boy,
And, after, blest thee with a mothers ioy;
She kist the Babe, whose fortune she foretold,
For on his head she set a Crowne of Gold;
Forthwith, as if the heauens had clouen in sunder,
Me thoughts I heard the horrid noise of thunder;
The raine pour'd downe, and yet the skie was cleare,
And euery drop that lighted, did appeare
As orient pearle, mixt with refined gold;
VVhereat, the goddesse turn'd, and said, Behold,
Great Ioue hath sent a gift: goe forth, and tak't,
Thus hauing spoke, she vanisht, and I wak't:
I wak't; and waking, trembled; for I knew
They were no idle passages, that grew
From my distemperd thoughts; twas not a vaine
Delusion rouing from a troubled braine;
It was a vision; and the gods forespake
Parthenia's fortune; Gods cannot mistake.
I lik'd the dreame; wherein the gods foretold
Thy ioyfull mariage; and the shower of gold
Betokened wealth; The Infants golden Crowne,
Ensuing honour: Iuno's comming downe,
A safe deliuerance; and the smiling Boy
Summ'd vp the totall of a mothers ioy:
But what the wreath of Cypresse (that was set
Vpon thy nuptiall browes) presag'd, as yet
The gods keepe from me: if that secret doe
Portend an euill, heauen keepe it from thee too.
Aduise Parthenia: Seeke not to withstand
The plot, wherein the Gods vouchsafe a hand;
Submit thy will to theirs; what they enioyne,
Must be; nor lyes it in my power, or thine
To contradict: Endeauor to fulfill
What, else, must come to passe against thy will.
Now by the filiall duty thou dost beare
The gods and me, or if ought else more deare
Can force obedience; as thou hop'st to speed
At the gods hands, in greatest time of need;
By heauen, by hell, by all the powers aboue,
I here coniure Parthenia to remoue
All sond conceits, that labour to disioyne
What heauen hath knit, Demagoras's heart and thine;
The gods are faithfull, and their wisedomes know
What's better for vs mortalls, then we doe;
Doubt not (my child) the gods cannot deceiue;
What heauen does offer, feare not to receiue.
With thankfull hands: Passe not so sleightly ouer
The deare affection of so true a louer;
Pitty his flames; relieue his tortur'd brest,
That findes abroad, no ioy; at home, no rest;
But, like a wounded Hart before the hounds,
That flies, with Cupids Iauelin in his wounds:
Stir vp thy rak't vp embers of desire,
The gods will bring in fewell, and blow the fire;
Be gentle; let thy cordiall smiles reuiue
His wasted spirits, that onely cares to liue
To doe thee honour: It was Cupids will,
The dart he sent, should onely wound; not kill;
Yeeld then; and let th'engaged gods powre downe
Their promis'd blessings on thy head; and crowne
Thy youth with ioyes; and maist thou after be
As blest in thine, as I am blest in thee.
A louers progresse, to his iournies end!
How many desp'rate rubs, and dangers waite
Each minute, on his miserable state!
His hopes doe build, what straight his feares destroy,
Sometimes, he surfeits with excesse of ioy:
Sometimes, despairing ere to find reliefe,
He roares beneath the tyranny of griefe;
And when loues current runnes with greatest force,
Some obuious mischiefe still disturbes the course:
For loe, no sooner the discouerd flame
Of these new parted louers did proclaime
Loues sacred Iubilé; but the Virgins Mother
(The posture of whose visage did discouer
Some serious matter, harb'ring in her brest)
Enters the roome: Halfe angry, halfe in iest,
Shee thus began: My dearest child, this night,
When as the silent darknesse did inuite
26
My troubled minde, and robb'd me of my rest;
I slept not, till the early bugle horne
Of Chaunticlere had summon'd in the Morne
T'attend the Light, and nurse the new-borne Day;
At last, when Morpheus, with his leaden key,
Had lockt my senses, and enlarg'd the power
Of my heauen guided fancy, for an houre
I slumbred; and before my slumbring eyes,
One, and the selfesame dreame presented thrice;
I wak'd; and, being frighted at the vision,
Perceiu'd the Gods had made an apparition:
My dreame was this: Me thought I saw thee sitting
Drest like a princely Bride, with robes befitting
The state of Maiesty; thy Nymph-like haire
Loosely disheuel'd; and thy browes did beare
A Cypresse wreath; and (thrice three months expir'd)
Thy pregnant wombe grew heauy, and required
Lucina's aid: with that, me thought I saw
A teame of harnest Peacocks fiercely draw
A fiery Chariot from the flitting sky,
Wherein there sate the glorious Maiesty
Of great Saturnia, on whose traine attended
An hoast of Goddesses; Iuno descended
From out the flaming Chariot, and blest
Thy painfull wombe: Thy paines a while encreast;
At length, she laid her gentle palmes vpon
Thy fruitfull flanke, and there was borne a son:
She made thee mother of a smiling boy,
And, after, blest thee with a mothers ioy;
She kist the Babe, whose fortune she foretold,
For on his head she set a Crowne of Gold;
27
Me thoughts I heard the horrid noise of thunder;
The raine pour'd downe, and yet the skie was cleare,
And euery drop that lighted, did appeare
As orient pearle, mixt with refined gold;
VVhereat, the goddesse turn'd, and said, Behold,
Great Ioue hath sent a gift: goe forth, and tak't,
Thus hauing spoke, she vanisht, and I wak't:
I wak't; and waking, trembled; for I knew
They were no idle passages, that grew
From my distemperd thoughts; twas not a vaine
Delusion rouing from a troubled braine;
It was a vision; and the gods forespake
Parthenia's fortune; Gods cannot mistake.
I lik'd the dreame; wherein the gods foretold
Thy ioyfull mariage; and the shower of gold
Betokened wealth; The Infants golden Crowne,
Ensuing honour: Iuno's comming downe,
A safe deliuerance; and the smiling Boy
Summ'd vp the totall of a mothers ioy:
But what the wreath of Cypresse (that was set
Vpon thy nuptiall browes) presag'd, as yet
The gods keepe from me: if that secret doe
Portend an euill, heauen keepe it from thee too.
Aduise Parthenia: Seeke not to withstand
The plot, wherein the Gods vouchsafe a hand;
Submit thy will to theirs; what they enioyne,
Must be; nor lyes it in my power, or thine
To contradict: Endeauor to fulfill
What, else, must come to passe against thy will.
Now by the filiall duty thou dost beare
The gods and me, or if ought else more deare
28
At the gods hands, in greatest time of need;
By heauen, by hell, by all the powers aboue,
I here coniure Parthenia to remoue
All sond conceits, that labour to disioyne
What heauen hath knit, Demagoras's heart and thine;
The gods are faithfull, and their wisedomes know
What's better for vs mortalls, then we doe;
Doubt not (my child) the gods cannot deceiue;
What heauen does offer, feare not to receiue.
With thankfull hands: Passe not so sleightly ouer
The deare affection of so true a louer;
Pitty his flames; relieue his tortur'd brest,
That findes abroad, no ioy; at home, no rest;
But, like a wounded Hart before the hounds,
That flies, with Cupids Iauelin in his wounds:
Stir vp thy rak't vp embers of desire,
The gods will bring in fewell, and blow the fire;
Be gentle; let thy cordiall smiles reuiue
His wasted spirits, that onely cares to liue
To doe thee honour: It was Cupids will,
The dart he sent, should onely wound; not kill;
Yeeld then; and let th'engaged gods powre downe
Their promis'd blessings on thy head; and crowne
Thy youth with ioyes; and maist thou after be
As blest in thine, as I am blest in thee.
So said: The faire Parthenia, to whose heart
Her fixt desires had taught th'unwilling Art
Of disobedience, calls her iudgement in;
And, of two euills, determines it a sin
More veniall, by a resolute deniall,
To proue vndutifull, then be disloyall
To him, whose heart a sacred vow had tyed
So fast to hers; and (weeping) thus replyed:
Her fixt desires had taught th'unwilling Art
Of disobedience, calls her iudgement in;
And, of two euills, determines it a sin
More veniall, by a resolute deniall,
To proue vndutifull, then be disloyall
29
So fast to hers; and (weeping) thus replyed:
| Argalvs and Parthenia | |