Canto the Second

Whilst here Argalia in a calm retreat
Allays the sorrow felt for's sickly friend,
Two blooming virgins near him take their seat,
Whose harmless mirth soon finds a hapless end.

The fairest siezed on, and near ruined by
Impetuous lust, had not Andremon's speed
Protected her, till from his fall drawn nigh
The same sad fate the brave Argalia freed.

That sad slow hour, which Art e'en thought his last,
With the sharp fever's paroxysm past,
Sick Aphron's spirits to a cool retreat,
Beneath a slumber, life's remotest seat,
Was gently stol'n, which did so long endure,
Till, in that opiate quenched, the calenture
Decayed forsakes him, leaving nought behind,
But such faint symptoms as from time might find
An easy cure; which, though no perfect end
Is lent to th' care of his indulgent friend,
Yet gives him so much liberty, that now
Fear dares, without his friendship's breach, allow
Sometime to leave him slumbering, whilst that he
Contemplates nature's fresh variety.
The full blown beauties of the spring were not
By summer sun-burnt yet, though Phaebus shot
His rays from Cancer, when, prepared to expand
Imprisoned thoughts from objects near at hand
To eye-shot rovers, freed Argalia takes
A noon-tide walk through a fair glade, that makes
Her aged ornaments their stubborn head
Fold into verdant curtains, which she spread
In cooling shadows o'er the bottoms; where
A crystal stream, unfettered by the care
Of nicer art, in her own channel played
With the embracing banks, until betrayed
Into a neighbouring lake; whose spacious womb
Looked at that distance like a crystal tomb
Framed to inter the Naiades. Not far
From hence an oak, (whose limbs defensive war
'Gainst all the winds a hundred winters knew,
Stoutly maintained), on a small rising grew,
Under whose shadow whilst Argalia lies,
This object tempts his soul into his eyes —
A pair of virgins, fairer than the spring;
Fresher than dews, that, ere the glad birds sing
The morning's carols, drop; with such a pace
As in each act showed an unstudied grace,
Crossing the neighbouring plain, were now so near
Argalia drew, that what did first appear
But the neglected object of his eye,
More strictly viewed, calls fancy to comply
With so much love, that, though no wilder fire
Ere scorched his breast, he here learnt to admire
Love's first of symptoms. To a shady seat,
Near that which he had made his cool retreat,
Being come, beneath a spreading hawthorn they,
Seating themselves, the sliding hours betray
From their short lives, by such discourse as might
Have made e'en Time, if young, lament his flight.
Retired Argalia, at the sight of these,
Though no obscener vanity did please
His eyes, than anch'rites are possest with, when
Numb'ring their beads, or from a sacred pen
Distilling Heaven's blest oracles, yet he,
Wondering to find such sweet civility
Mixt with that place's rudeness, long beholds
That lovely pair, whose every act unfolds
Such linked affections as wise nature weaves
In dearest sisters; but their form bereaves
That thought ere feathered with belief: although,
To admiration, Beauty did bestow
Her gifts on both, she had those darlings drest
In various colors; — what could be exprest
By objects, fair as new created light;
By roseate mixtures, with immaculate white;
By eyes that emblemed heaven's pure azure, in
The youngest nymph, Florenza, there was seen;
To which she adds behaviour far more free,
Although restrained to strictest modesty,
Than the more sad Carina, who, if there
Were different years in that else equal pair,
Something the elder seemed; her beauty — such
As Jove-loved Leda's was, not praised so much
For rose' or lily's residence, though they
Did both dwell there, as to behold the day
Lose its antipathy to night; such clear
And conquering beams, so full of light, to appear
Thorough her eyes, showed like a diamond set,
To mend its lustre, in a foil of jet.
Nor doth their dress of nature differ more
In color than the habits which they wore,
Though fashioned both alike; Florenza's, green
As the fresh Spring, when her first buds are seen
To clothe the naked boughs; Carina's, white
As Innocence, before she takes a flight
In thought from cold virginity. Their hair,
Wreathed in contracting curls beneath a fair
But often parting veil, attempts to hide
The naked ivory of their necks — that pride
Of beauty's frontispiece. On their heads sate
Lovely, as if unto a throne of state
From their first earth advanced, two flowery wreaths,
(From whose choice mixture in close concord breathes
The fragrant odor of the fields), placed by
Them in such order, as antiquity
Mysterious held. Being set, to pass away
The inactive heat of the exalted day,
They either tell old harmless tales, or read
Some story where forsaken lovers plead
Unpitied causes, then betwixt a smile
And tear bewail passion should ere beguile
Poor reason so; at length, as if they meant
To charm him who, far from each ill intent,
So near them lay, melting the various throng
Of their discourse into a well-tuned song;
Whose swift division moulds the air into
Such notes, as did the spheres' first tunes out-do.
Argalia, in his labyrinth of delight
To action lost, had drawn the veil of night,
In quiet slumbers, o'er his heavy eyes:
Locked in whose arms whilst he securely lies,
Lest the mistakes of vain mortality
The brittle glass of earth should take to be
Perfection's lasting adamant, this sad
Chance did unravel all their mirth. — There had
Some of the prince's noblest followers, in
That morning's nonage, led by pleasure been
Far from their sphere — the court; and now, to shun
The unhealthy beams of the reflected sun,
Whilst it its shortest shadows made, were to
The cool protection of the woods withdrew:
In which retreat, as if conducted by
Their evil genius, (all his company
An awful distance keeping) none but proud
Almanzor, in those guilty groves which shroud
The hapless virgins, enters; who so near
Him sitting, that soon his informing ear
Thither directs his eye. Unto his view
Ere scarce thought obvious, swiftly they withdrew,
But with untimely haste. His soul, that nurst
Continual flames within it, at the first
Sight kindles them, ere he discovers more
Than difference in the sex; such untried ore,
Hot heedless lust, when made by practice bold,
I' th' flame of passion ventures on for gold.
But when drawn nearer to the place he saw
Such beauties, whose magnetic force might draw
Souls steeled with virtue, custom having made
His impious rhetoric ready to invade,
He towards them hastes, with such a pace as might
Excuse their judgments, though in open flight
They strove to shun him, but in vain; so near
Them now he 's drawn, that the effects of fear
Obscuring reason, as if safety lay
In separation, each a several way
From danger flies; but since both could not be
By that secure, whilst her blest stars do free
The glad Carina from his reach, the other
He swiftly seizes on: hot kisses smother
Her out-cries in the embryo, and to death
Near crushed virginity, ere, from lost breath,
She could a stock of strength enough recover
To spend in prayers. The tempting of a lover,
Mixt with the force of an adulterer, did
At once assail, and with joined powers forbid
All hopes of safety; only, whilst Despair
Looked big in apprehension, whilst the air
Breathed nought but threatenings; promising him to pay
For't in her answers, she doth lust betray
Of some few minutes, which, with all the power
Of prayer, she seeks to lengthen; sheds a shower
Of tears to quench those flames, but sooner might
Hell's sooty Jamp extinguished be; the sight
Of such a fair, but pitiful aspect,
When lust assails, wants power to protect.
By this hot parley, whilst she strove to shun
His loathed embraces, the thronged spirits run
To fortify her heart, but vainly seek
For entrance there, being back into her cheek
Sent in disdainful blushes: now she did
Entreat civility, then sharply chid
His blushless impudence; but he, whose skill
In rhetoric was pregnant to all ill,
Though barren else, summons up all the choice
Of eloquence, that might produce a voice
To win fair virtue's fortress, though her chaste
Soul, armed against those battering engines, past
That conflict without danger; when, enraged
By being denied, with passion that presaged
A dangerous consequence, his fierce eyes fixt
On her's, that, melting with pale terror, mixt
Floods with their former flames, her soul's sad doubt
He thus resolves — " Unworthy whore, that, out
Of hate to virtue, dost deny me what
Thou freely grant'st to every rude swain that
But courts thee in a dance. Think not these tears
Shall make me wave a pleasure, that appears
Worth the receiving. Can your sordid earth
Be honored more than in the noble birth
Of such a son, as, would'st thou yield to love,
Might call thee mother, and hereafter prove
The glory of your family? From Jove,
The noblest mortals, heretofore that strove
To fetch their pedigree, thought it no stain
So to be illegitimate; as vain
Is this in thee, there being as great an odds
'Twixt you and us, as betwixt us and gods. "
Trembling Florenza, on her bended knees,
Thus answers him: — " That dreadful power that sees
All our developed thoughts, my witness be
You wrong my innocence; I yet am free
From every thought of lust. I do confess
The unfathomed distance 'twixt our births, but less
That will not make my sin; it may my shame
The more, when my contaminated name
Shall in those ugly characters be shown
To the world's public view, that now is known
B' the blush of honesty; whose style, though poor,
Exceeds the titles of a glorious whore —
Attended, whilst youth doth unwithered last,
With envied greatness; but, frail beauty past
Into a swift decay, assaulted by
Rottenness within, and black-mouthed calumny
Without, cast off, blushing for guilt, the scorn
Of all my sex. My mother would unborn
Wish her degenerate issue, my father curse
The hour he got me. As infection worse
Than mortal plagues each virgin, that hath nought
To glory in but what she with her brought
Into the world — an unstained soul, would fly
The air I breathe; cast whores being company
For none but devils, when corrupted vice
A wilderness makes Beauty's paradise.
To this much ill, dim-eyed mortality
A prospect lends; but what, oh! what should be
When we must sum up all our time in one
Eternal day, since to our thoughts unknown,
Is only feared; but if our hallowed laws
Are more than fables, the everlasting cause,
'Twill of our torment be. If all this breath,
Formed into prayers, no entrance finds, my death
Shall buy my virgin freedom, ere I will
Consent to that, which, being performed; will kill
My honor to preserve my life, and turn
The unworthy beauty, which now makes you burn
In these unhallowed flames, into a cell
Which none but th' black inhabitants of hell
Will e'er possess. Those private thoughts, which give,
If we continue virtuous whilst we live
On earth, our souls commerce with angels, shall
Be turned to furies, if we yield to fall
Beneath our vices thus. O! then take heed —
Do not defile a temple; such a deed
Will, when in labor with your latest breath,
With horror curtain the black bed of death. "
Though prayers in vain strove to divert that crime
He prosecutes, yet, to protract the time,
She more had said, had not all language been
Lost in a storm of lust; which, raging in
His fury, gives a fresh assault unto
Weak innocence: for mercy now to sue —
To hope — seems vain; robustious strength did bar
The use of language, which defensive war
Continuing, till the breathless maid was wrought
Almost beneath resistance, just heaven brought
This unexpected aid. A lowly swain,
Whose large possessions in the neighbouring plain
Had styled him rich, and powerful, which to improve,
To that fair stock, his virtue added love;
Which, unto flattery since it lost its eyes,
The world but seldom sees without disguise.
This sprightly youth, led by the parallels
Of birth and fortune — whate'er else excels
Those fading blessings — to Florenza, in
His youth's fresh April, had devoted been,
With so much zeal, that what that heedless age
But dallied with, (like customs which engage
Themselves to habits), ere its growth he knew,
Love, equal with his active manhood, grew;
Which noble plant, though, in the torrid zone
Of her disdain, 't had ne'er distemper known,
Yet oft those sad vicissitudes doth find,
For which, none truly loved, that ne'er had pined.
Which pleasing passion, though his judgment knew
How to divert, ere reason it out-grew,
It often from important action brought
Him to those shades, where contemplation sought
Calm solitude; in whose soft raptures, Love,
Refining fancy, lifts his thoughts above
Those joys, which, when by trial brought t' the test,
Prove Thought's bright heaven — dull earth, when once
Whilst seated here, his eyes did celebrate,
As to those shades Florenza oft had sat
Beneath kind looks; to ravish that delight,
The tired Carina, in her breathless flight
Come near the place, assaults his wonder in
That dreadful sound, which tells him what had been
Her cause of fear; which doleful story's end,
Arrived t' the danger of his dearest friend,
Leaves him no time for language, ere, winged by
Anger and love, his haste strives to outfly
His eager thoughts. Being now arrived so near
Unto the place, that his informing ear
Thither directs his steps, with such a haste,
As nimble souls, when they are first uncased,
From bodies fly, he thither speeds; and now
Being come, where he beheld with horror how
His better angel injured was, disputes
Neither with fear nor policy — they're mutes
When anger's thunder roars — but swiftly draws
His falchion, and the justice of his cause
Argues with eager strokes, but spent in vain
'Gainst that unequal strength, which did maintain
The more unlawful; all his power could do,
Is but to show the effects of love unto
Her he adored, few strokes being spent before
His feeble arm, of power to do no more,
Faints with the loss of blood; and, letting fall
The ill-managed weapon, for his death doth call,
By the contempt of mercy, so to prove
A sacrifice, slain to Florenza's love.
The cursed steel, by the robustious hand
Of fierce Almanzor guided, now did stand
Fixed in his breast, whilst, with a purple flood,
His life sails forth i' the channel of his blood.
This remora removed, the impious deed
No sooner was performed, but, ere the speed
Florenza made (though to her eager flight
Fear added wings) conveyed her from his sight,
His rude hand on her seizes. Now in vain
She lavished prayers, the groans in which her slain
Friend breathes his soul forth, with her shrieks, did fill
The ambient air, struck lately with the still
Voice of harmonious music. But the ear
Of penetrated heaven not long could hear
Prayers breathed from so much innocence, yet send
Them back denied; white Mercy did attend
Her swift delivery, when obstructing fear
Through reason let no ray of hope appear.
Startled Argalia, who was courted by
Her pleasing voice's milder harmony
Into restrictive slumbers, wakened at
Their altered tone, hastes to discover what
Had caused that change; and soon the place attains,
Where, in the exhausted treasure of his veins,
Andremon wallows, and Florenza lies,
Bathed in her tears, ready to sacrifice
Her life with her virginity; which sight
Provoked a haste, such as his presence might
Protect the trembling virgin; which perceived
By cursed Almanzor, made to be bereaved
O' the spoils of such a wicked victory
As lust had then near conquered, fiercely he
Assails the noble stranger; who, detesting
An act so full of villany, and resting
On the firm justice of his cause, had made
His guiltless sword as ready to invade
As was the other's, that had surfeited
In blood before. Here equal valour bred
In both a doubtful hope; Almanzor's lust
Had fired his courage, which Argalia's just
Attempts did strive to quench. The thirsty steel
Had drunk some blood from both, ere fortune's wheel
Turned to the righteous cause. That vigor which
Through rivulets of veins spread the salt itch
Of feverish lust before, was turned into
A flame of anger; whilst his hands did do
What rage doth dictate, fury doth assist
With flaming paroxysms, and each nerve twist
Into a double strength: yet not that flood,
Which in this ebullition of his blood
Did through the channels boil till they run o'er
With flaming spirits, could depress that store
Of manly worth, which in Argalia's breast
Did with a quiet even valour rest;
Moving as in its natural orb, unstrained
By any violent motion; nor yet chained
By lazy damps of faint mistrust, but in
Danger's extreme, still confident to win
A noble victory; or, i' the loss of breath,
If his fate frowned, to find an honored death.
Filled with these brave resolves, until the heat
Of their warm fury had alarums beat
T' the neighbouring fields, they fought; which tumult, by
Such of Almanzor's followers as were nigh
The grove reposed, with an astonishment
That roused them, heard, they hasten to prevent
The sad effects that might this cause ensue,
Ere more of danger than their fear they knew.
Arrived e'en with that fatal minute, he
Who against justice strove for victory,
With such faint strokes that their descent did give
Nought but assurance that his foe must live
A happy conqueror, they usurp the power
Of heaven — revenge; and, in a dreadful shower
Of danger, with their fury's torrent strive
To o'erwhelm the victor: but the foremost drive
Their own destruction on, and fall beneath
His conquering sword, ere he takes time to breathe
Those spirits, which, when near with action tired,
Valour breathed fresh, fast as the spent expired.
Here rash Araspes and bold Leovine,
Two whose descent i' the nearest collateral line
Unto Almanzor's stood, beholding how
His strength decayed must unto conquest bow
In spite of valour, to revenge his fate
With so much haste, attempt, as if too late
They'd come to rescue, and would now, to shun
His just reproof, by rashness strive to run
To death before him, finding from that sword
Their life's discharge; which did to him afford
Only those wounds, whose scars must live to be
The badges of eternal infamy.
But here, o'erwhelmed by an unequal strength,
The noble victor soon to the utmost length
Had life's small thread extended, if not in
The dawn of hope, some troops, (whose charge had been,
Whilst the active gentry did attend the court,
To free the country from the feared resort
Of wild bandits), these, being directed by
Such frighted rurals as employment nigh
The grove had led, arriving at that time
When his slain foes made the mistaken crime
Appear Argalia's, soon by power allay
That fatal storm; which done, (a full survey
Of them that death freed from distress being took),
Them, through whose wounds Life had not yet forsook
Her throne, they view; 'mongst whom, through the disguise
Of's blood, Almanzor, whose high power they prize
More than discovered innocence, being found,
As Justice had by close decree been bound
To espouse his quarrels; whilst his friends convey
Him safely thence, those ponderous crimes they lay
Unto Argalia's charge, whose just defence
Pleads but in vain for injured innocence.
Now, near departing, whilst his helpful friends
Bore off Almanzor, where he long attends
The cure of's wounds, though they less torment bred
Than to behold how his lost honor bled;
The sad Florenza comes to take her last
Leave of her lost Andremon, ere she past
That sad stage o'er. To his cold clammy lips
Joining her balmy twins, she from them sips
So much of death's oppressing dews, that, by
That touch revived, his soul, though winged to fly
Her ruined seat, takes time enough to breathe
These sad notes forth: — " Farewell, my dear, beneath
The ponderous burthen of mortality
My fainting spirits sink. Oh! mayest thou be
Blest in a happier love; all that I crave
Is, that my now departing soul may have
Thy virgin prayers for her companions, through
Those gloomy vaults, which she must pass, unto
Eternal shades. Had fate assigned my stay,
Till we'd together gone, the horrid way
Had then been made delightful; but I must
Depart without thee, and convert to dust,
Whilst thou art flesh and blood: I in a cold
Dark urn must lie, whilst a warm groom doth hold
Thee in thy nuptial bed; yet there I shall —
If fled souls know what doth on earth befal, —
Mourn for thy loss, and to eternity
Wander alone. The various world shall be
Refined in flames; Time shall afford no place
For vanity, ere I again embrace
Society with flesh; which, ere that, must
Change to a thousand forms her varied dust.
What we shall be, or whither we shall go,
When gone from hence — whe'er unto flames below,
Or joys above — or whe'er in death we may
Know our departed friends, or tell which way
They went before us — these, oh! these are things
That pause our divinity. Sceptered kings,
And subjects die alike, nor can we tell,
Which doth in joy, or which in torments dwell.
Oh sad, sad ignorance! Heaven guide me right,
Or I shall wander in eternal night,
To whose dark shades my dim eyes sink apace.
Farewell, Florenza! when both time and place
My separated soul hath left, to be
A stranger masked in immortality,
Think on thy murthered friend; we now must part
Eternally! the cordage of my heart
That last sigh broke. " With that the breath, that long
Had hovered in his breast, flew with a strong
Groan from that mortal mansion; which beheld
By such of's friends whom courtesy compelled
To that sad charge, the bloodless body they
With sad slow steps to 's father's home convey.