University of Virginia Library

My Argalus; my Argalus: my deare,
And wilt thou goe, and leaue Parthenia here?
VVilt thou forsake me then? And can these teares
Not intercede betwixt thy deafned eares,
And my sad suit? Canst thou, ô canst thou goe,
And leaue thy poore distrest Parthenia so?
Parthenia sues; Parthenia does implore;
Parthenia begges, that neuer begg'd before;
Remember, O remember you are, now,
Vnder the power of a sacred vow:
Honour must stoope to vowes, which once being crackt,
You cannot doe an honourable act:
I haue a Right vnto you; you are mine;
I haue that Interest, which Ile ne're resigne,
Till death: Ile neuer hazard to forgoe
My whole estate of happinesse, at one throw,
No, no, I will not: I will hold thee fast
In spight of Honor and her nine dayes blast;
Your former acts haue giuen sufficient proofe
To the wide world, your valour's knowne enough
VVithout a further tryall: There's enow
To lose their liues (lesse worthy) besides you;
'Twas then a time for armes, when you had none,
None other life to venture, but your owne;
Excuse me then, that onely doe endeauor
To hold mine owne; which now I must, or neuer;
Mine, mine you are, and you can vndertake
No danger, but Parthenia must partake;
Shall your Parthenia be indanger'd then?
Parthenia shall be present, euen when
The strokes fall thickest; and Parthenia shall
Suffer what ere to Argalus may befall;
Parthenia, in your greatest paines, shall smart;
Your blood shall trickle from Parthenia's heart:
Can prayers obtaine no place? By this deare hand,
The sacred pledge of our coniugiall band;
By all the pleasures of our dearest loue;
By heauen, and all the heauenly powers aboue;
Or if those motiues cannot finde a roome,
Yet by the tender fruit, that in my wombe
Begins to budde, or if ought else appeare
To thy best thoughts more pretious or more deare,
By that, forsake me not, although the rest
Preuaile not. Grant this first, this last request: