Page 32has an incomprehensible consideration) than you can duly and easily sus-tain. Neither is your reputation hereby prejudiced, although you berejected by this our Order, since we cannot all of us do all things at once.But for as much as your Lordships have been seduced by base rascals, it shallnot, on their part, pass unrevenged. And furthermore his Majesty resolvesshortly to communicate to your Lordships a catalogue of heretics or IndexExpurgatorius, that you may henceforth be able to discern between thegood and the evil with better judgement. And because his Majesty beforelong also intends to rummage his library, and offer up the seductive writ-ings to Vulcan, he friendlily, humbly, and courteously entreats every one ofyour Lordships to do the same with your own, whereby it is to be hopedthat all evil and mischief may for the time to come be remedied. And youare withal to be admonished, never henceforth to covet an entrance here soinconsiderately, lest the former excuse about seducers be taken from you,and you fall into disgrace and contempt with all men. Finally, for as muchas the estates of the land still have something to demand of your Lordships,his Majesty hopes that no man will think much to redeem himself with achain or whatever else he has about him, and so in friendly manner todepart from us, and through our safe conduct to take himself home again. The others who did not stand up to the first, third and fourth weight, hisMajesty will not so lightly dismiss. But so that they also may now experi-ence his Majesty’s gentleness, it is his command to strip them stark nakedand so send them forth. Those who in the second and fifth weight were found too light, shallbesides stripping, be noted with one, two or more brand-marks, accordingas each one was lighter or heavier. They who were drawn up by the sixth or seventh, and not by the rest,shall be somewhat more graciously dealt with, and so forward. (For toevery combination there was a certain punishment ordained, which is heretoo long to recount.) They who yesterday separated themselves freely of their own accord,shall go out at liberty without any blame. Finally, the convicted vagabond-cheaters who could move up none ofthe weights, shall as occasion serves be punished in body and life, with thesword, halter, water and rods. And such execution of judgement shall beinviolably observed as an example to others.”
Page 33Herewith our Virgin broke her wand, and the other who read the sen-tence blew her trumpet, and stepped with most profound reverencetowards those who stood behind the curtain. But here I cannot omit to reveal something to the reader concerning thenumber of our prisoners, of whom those who weighed one, were seven;those who weighed two, were twenty one; they who three, thirty five; theywho four, thirty five; those who five, twenty one; those who six, seven; buthe that came to the seventh, and yet could not well raise it, he was onlyone, and indeed the same whom I released. Besides these, of them whowholly failed there were many; but of those who drew all the weights fromthe ground, but few. And as these each stood before us, so I diligently num-bered them and noted them down in my table-book; and it is very admira-ble that amongst all those who weighed anything, none was equal toanother. For although amongst those who weighed three, there were thirtyfive, yet one of them weighed the first, second, and third, another the third,fourth, and fifth, a third, the fifth, sixth, and seventh, and so on. It is like-wise very wonderful that amongst one hundred and twenty six whoweighed anything, none was equal to another; and I would very willinglyname them all, with each man’s weight, were it not as yet forbidden me.But I hope it may hereafter be published with the Interpretation. Now this judgement being read over, the Lords in the first place werewell satisfied, because in such severity they did not dare look for a mild sen-tence. So they gave more than was desired of them, and each one redeemedhimself with chains, jewels, gold, money and other things, as much as theyhad about them, and with reverence took leave. Now although the King’sservants were forbidden to jeer at any at his going away, yet some unluckybirds could not hold their laughter, and certainly it was sufficiently ridicu-lous to see them pack away with such speed, without once looking behindthem. Some desired that the promised catalogue might at once be dis-patched after them, and then they would take such order with their booksas should be pleasing to his Majesty; which was again assured. At the doorwas given to each of them out of a cup a draught of FORGETFULNESS,so that he might have no further memory of misfortune. After these the Voluntiers departed, who because of their ingenuity wereallowed to pass, but yet so as never to return again in the same fashion. Butif to them (as likewise to the others) anything further were revealed, thenthey should be welcome guests.
>our Virgin broke her wand
Page 34Meanwhile others were stripping, in which also an inequality (accordingto each man’s demerit) was observed. Some were sent away naked, withoutother hurt. Others were driven out with small bells. Some were scourgedforth. In brief the punishments were so various, that I am not able torecount them all. In the end it came to the last, with whom a somewhatlonger time was spent, for while some were being hung, some beheaded,some forced to leap into the water, and the rest otherwise being dispatched,much time was consumed. Verily at this execution my eyes ran over, notindeed in regard of the punishment, which they for their impudency welldeserved, but in contemplation of human blindness, in that we are continu-ally busying ourselves in that which ever since the first Fall has been hith-erto sealed up to us. Thus the garden which so recently was quite full, wassoon emptied, so that besides the soldiers there was not a man left. Now as soon as this was done, and silence had been kept for the space offive minutes, there came forth a beautiful snow-white unicorn with agolden collar (having on it certain letters) about his neck. In the same placehe bowed himself down upon both his forefeet, as if hereby he had shownhonour to the lion, who stood so immoveably upon the fountain, that I hadtaken him to be of stone or brass. The lion immediately took the nakedsword which he had in his paw, and broke it in two in the middle, and thepieces of it, it seemed to me, sunk into the fountain; after which he roaredfor so long, until a white dove brought a branch of olive in her bill, whichthe lion devoured in an instant, and so was quieted. And so the unicornreturned to his place with joy. Hereupon our Virgin led us down again by the winding stairs from thescaffold, and so we again made our reverence towards the curtain. We wereto wash our hands and heads in the fountain, and there to wait a little whilein our order, till the King was again returned into his hall through a certainsecret gallery, and then we were also conducted into our former lodgingwith choice music, pomp, state, and pleasant discourse. And this was doneabout four in the afternoon. But so that in the meantime the time might not seem too long to us, theVirgin bestowed on each of us a noble page, who were not only richlydressed, but also exceedingly learned, so that they could so aptly discourseupon all subjects that we had good reason to be ashamed of ourselves.These were commanded to lead us up and down the Castle, but only intocertain places, and if possible, to shorten the time according to our desire.Meanwhile the Virgin took leave with this consolation, that at supper she
Page 35would be with us again, and after that celebrate the ceremonies of thehanging up of the weights, requesting that we would in patience wait tillthe next day, for on the morrow we must be presented to the King. She having thus departed from us, each of us did what best pleased him.One part viewed the excellent paintings, which they copied out for them-selves, and considered also what the wonderful characters might signify.Others wanted to occupy themselves again with meat and drink. I caused my page to conduct me (together with my companion) up anddown the Castle, which walk I shall never regret as long as I have a day tolive. For besides many other glorious antiquities, the Royal Sepulchre wasalso showed to me, by which I learned more than is extant in all books.There in the same place stands also the glorious phoenix (about which, twoyears ago, I published a particular small discourse). And I am resolved (incase this narration shall prove useful) to set forth several particular treatisesconcerning the lion, eagle, griffin, falcon and the like, together with theirdraughts and inscriptions. It grieves me for my other companions, that theyneglected such precious treasures. And yet I cannot but think it was thespecial will of God that it should be so. I indeed reaped the most benefitfrom my page, for according as each one’s genius lay, so he led whoever wasentrusted to him into the quarters and places which were pleasing to him.Now the keys belonging hereunto were committed to my page, and there-fore this good fortune happened to me before the rest; for although heinvited others to come in, yet they imagining such tombs to be only in thechurchyard, thought they should get there well enough, whenever anythingwas to be seen there. Neither shall these monuments (as both of us copiedand transcribed them) be withheld from my thankful scholars. The other thing that was shown to us two was the noble library as it wasall together before the Reformation. Of which (although it makes my heartrejoice as often as I call it to mind) I have so much the less to say, becausethe catalogue of it is very shortly to be published. At the entry to this roomstands a great book, the like of which I never saw, in which all the figures,rooms, portals, also all the writings, riddles and the like, to be seen in thewhole Castle, are delineated. Now although we made a promise concern-ing this also, yet at present I must contain myself, and first learn to knowthe world better. In every book stands its author painted; of which (as Iunderstood) many were to be burnt, so that even their memory might beblotted out from amongst the righteous.
Page 36Now having taken a full view of this, and having scarcely gone forth,another page came running to us, and having whispered something in ourpage’s ear, he delivered up the keys to him, who immediately carried themup the winding stairs. But our page was very much out of countenance,and we having set hard upon him with entreaties, he declared to us that theKing’s Majesty would by no means permit that either of the two, namelythe library and sepulchres, should be seen by any man, and therefore hebesought us as we cared for his life, to reveal this to no man, he havingalready utterly denied it. Whereupon both of us stood hovering betweenjoy and fear, yet it continued in silence, and no man made further enquiryabout it. Thus in both places we passed three hours, which I do not at allrepent. Now although it had already struck seven, yet nothing had so far beengiven us to eat; however, our hunger was easy to abate by constant reviv-ings, and I could be well content to fast all my life long with such enter-tainment. About this time the curious fountains, mines, and all kinds of art-shops, were also shown to us, of which there was none but surpassed all ourarts, even if they should all be melted into one mass. All their chamberswere built in a semi-circle, so that they might have before their eyes thecostly clockwork which was erected upon a fair turret in the centre, andregulate themselves according to the course of the planets, which were tobe seen on it in a glorious manner. And hence I could easily conjecturewhere our artists failed; however it’s none of my duty to inform them. At length I came into a spacious room (shown indeed to the rest a greatwhile before) in the middle of which stood a terrestrial globe, whose diam-eter was thirty feet, although nearly half of it, except a little which was cov-ered with the steps, was let into the earth. Two men might readily turn thisglobe about with all its furniture, so that no more of it was ever to be seen,just so much as was above the horizon. Now although I could easily con-ceive that this was of some special use, yet I could not understand whatthose ringlets of gold (which were upon it in several places) served for; atwhich my page laughed, and advised me to view them more closely. Inbrief, I found there my native country noted in gold also; whereupon mycompanion sought his, and found that so too. Now for as much as the same happened in a similar way to the rest whostood by, the page told us for certain that it was yesterday declared to theKing’s Majesty by their old Atlas (so is the Astronomer named) that all thegilded points exactly answered to their native countries, according as had
Page 37been shown to each of them. And therefore he also, as soon as he perceivedthat I undervalued myself and that nevertheless there stood a point uponmy native country, moved one of the Captains to entreat for us that weshould be set upon the scale (without peril) at all adventures; especially see-ing one of our native countries had a notable good mark. And truly it wasnot without reason that he, the page who had the greatest power of all therest, was bestowed on me. For this I then returned him thanks, and imme-diately looked more diligently upon my native country, and found more-over that besides the ringlet, there were also certain delicate streaks upon it,which nevertheless I would not be thought to speak about to my ownpraise and glory. I saw much more too upon this globe than I am willing to reveal. Leteach man take into consideration why every city does not produce a philos-opher. After this he led us right into the globe, which was thus made: onthe sea (there being a large square beside it) was a tablet, on which stoodthree dedications and the author’s name, which a man might gently lift upand by a little joined board go into the centre, which was capable of hold-ing four persons, being nothing but a round board on which we could sit,and at ease, by broad daylight (it was now already dark) contemplate thestars. To my thinking they were mere carbuncles which glittered in anagreeable order, and moved so gallantly that I had scarcely any mind ever togo out again, as the page afterwards told the Virgin, with which she oftenteased me. For it was already supper-time, and I had so much amusedmyself in the globe, that I was almost the last at the table; so I made nomore delay, but having put on my gown again (which I had before laidaside) and stepping to the table, the waiters treated me with so much rever-ence and honour, that for shame I dared not look up, and so unawares per-mitted the Virgin, who attended me on one side, to stand, which she soonperceiving, twitched me by the gown, and so led me to the table. To speakany further concerning the music, or the rest of that magnificent entertain-ment, I hold it needless, both because it is not possible to express it wellenough, and because I have reported it above according to my power. Inbrief, there was nothing there but art and amenity. Now after we had related our employment since noon to each other(however, not a word was spoken of the library and monuments), beingalready merry with the wine, the Virgin began thus: “My Lords, I have agreat contention with one of my sisters. In our chamber we have an eagle.Now we cherish him with such diligence, that each of us is desirous to be
Page 38the best beloved, and upon that score we have many a squabble. One daywe concluded to go both together to him, and toward whom he shouldshow himself most friendly, hers should he properly be. This we need, andI (as commonly) carried in my hand a branch of laurel, but my sister hadnone. Now as soon as he saw us both, he immediately gave my sisteranother branch which he had in his beak, and reached for mine, which Igave him. Now each of us hereupon imagined herself to be best beloved of him;which way am I to resolve myself? “This modest proposal of the Virgin pleased us all mighty well, and eachone would gladly have heard the solution, but inasmuch as they all lookedto me, and wanted me to begin, my mind was so extremely confoundedthat I knew not what else to do with it but propound another in its stead,and therefore said: “Gracious Lady, your Ladyship’s question would easily be resolved if onething did not perplex me. I had two companions, both of which loved meexceedingly; now they being doubtful which of them was most dear to me,concluded to run to me, I unawares, and that he whom I should thenembrace should be the right. This they did, yet one of them could not keeppace with the other, so he stayed behind and wept, the other I embracedwith amazement. Now when they had afterwards discovered the business tome, I did not know how to resolve myself, and have since then let it rest inthis manner, until I may find some good advice herein”. The Virgin wondered at it, and well observed whereabout I was, where-upon she replied, “Well then, let us both be quit”; and then desired thesolution from the rest. But I had already made them wise. So the next began thus. “In the citywhere I live, a Virgin was recently condemned to death, but the Judge,being somewhat pitiful towards her, caused it to be proclaimed that if anyman desired to become the Virgin’s Champion, he should have free leave todo it. Now she had two lovers; the one presently made himself ready, andcame into the lists to await his adversary; afterwards the other also presentedhimself, but coming somewhat too late, he resolved nevertheless to fight,and willingly suffer himself to be vanquished, so that the Virgin’s life mightbe preserved, which also succeeded accordingly”. Whereupon each challenged her: “Now my Lords, instruct me, towhich of them of right does she belong?”
Page 39The Virgin could hold out no longer, but said, “I thought to havegained much information, and have got myself into the net, but yet wouldgladly hear whether there are any more to come.”“Yes, that there are”, answered the third, “a stranger adventure has notyet been recounted than that which happened to me. In my youth I loved aworthy maid: now so that my love might attain its desired end, I used toemploy an ancient matron, who easily brought me to her. Now it hap-pened that the maid’s brethren came in upon us just as we three weretogether, and were in such a rage that they would have taken my life, butupon my vehement supplication, they at length forced me to swear to takeeach of them for a year, to be my wedded wife. Now tell me, my Lords, should I take the old, or the young one first?”We all laughed sufficiently at this riddle, and though some of them mut-tered to one another about it, yet none would undertake to unfold it. Hereupon the fourth began: “In a certain city there dwelt an honourablelady, who was beloved of all, but especially by a young nobleman, who wastoo importunate with her. At length she gave him this determination, thatif he could lead her into a fair green garden of roses in a cold winter, thenhe should obtain what he desired, but if not, he must resolve never to seeher again. The nobleman traveled to all countries to find such a man asmight perform this, till at length he found a little old man that promised todo it for him, if he would assure him of half his estate; which he havingconsented to the other, was as good as his word. Whereupon he invited theaforesaid lady to his garden, where, contrary to her expectation, she foundall things green, pleasant and warm, and remembering her promise, sheonly requested that she might once more return to her lord, to whom withsighs and tears she bewailed her lamentable condition. But because he suffi-ciently perceived her faithfulness, he dispatched her back to her lover whohad so dearly purchased her, so that she might give him satisfaction. Thishusband’s integrity did so mightily affect the nobleman, that he thought it asin to touch so honest a wife; so he sent her home again with honour toher lord. Now the little man perceiving such faith in both these, would not,however poor he was, be the least in honour, but restored to the noblemanall his goods again and went his way. Now, my lords, I know not which ofthese persons may have shown the greatest ingenuity?”Here our tongues were quite cut off. Neither would the Virgin makeany other reply, but only that another should go on.
Page 40So the fifth, without delay, began: “My Lords, I do not wish to makelong work of this; who has the greater joy, he that beholds what he loves, orhe that only thinks on it?”“He that beholds it,” said the Virgin. “No,” I answered. Hereupon a debate arose, so the sixth called out, “My lords, I am to takea wife; now I have before me a maid, a married wife, and a widow; ease meof this doubt, and I will afterwards help to order the rest.”“It goes well there,” replied the seventh, “where a man has a choice, butwith me the case is otherwise. In my youth I loved a fair and virtuous vir-gin from the bottom of my heart, and she loved me in similar manner;however, because of her friends’ denial we could not come together inwedlock. Whereupon she was married to another, yet an honest and dis-creet person, who maintained her honourably and with affection, until shecame to the pains of childbirth, which went so hard for her that all thoughtshe was dead, so with much state and great mourning she was interred.Now I thought to myself, during her life you could have no part in thiswoman, but now she is dead you may embrace and kiss her sufficiently; so Itook my servant with me, who dug her up by night. Now having openedthe coffin and locked her in my arms, feeling about her heart, I found somelittle motion in it still, which increased more and more from my warmth,till at last I perceived that she was indeed still alive. So I quietly bore herhome, and after I had warmed her chilled body with a costly bath of herbs,I committed her to my mother until she brought forth a fair son, whom Icaused to be nursed faithfully, as for his mother. After two days (she beingthen in great amazement) I revealed to her all the preceding affair, request-ing her for the time to come to live with me as a wife; against which shefound exception, in case it should be grievous to her husband who hadmaintained her well and honourably. But if it could be otherwise, she wasobliged in love at present to one as well as the other. Now after two months(being then about to make a journey elsewhere) I invited her husband as aguest, and amongst other things demanded of him whether, if his deceasedwife should come home again, he would be content to receive her. Heaffirmed it with tears and lamentations, and I brought him his wife togetherwith his son, and gave an account of all the preceding business, entreatinghim to ratify with his consent my intended espousals. After a long disputehe could not deny me my right, but had to leave me his wife. But there wasstill a debate about the son.”
Page 40So the fifth, without delay, began: “My Lords, I do not wish to makelong work of this; who has the greater joy, he that beholds what he loves, orhe that only thinks on it?”“He that beholds it,” said the Virgin. “No,” I answered. Hereupon a debate arose, so the sixth called out, “My lords, I am to takea wife; now I have before me a maid, a married wife, and a widow; ease meof this doubt, and I will afterwards help to order the rest.”“It goes well there,” replied the seventh, “where a man has a choice, butwith me the case is otherwise. In my youth I loved a fair and virtuous vir-gin from the bottom of my heart, and she loved me in similar manner;however, because of her friends’ denial we could not come together inwedlock. Whereupon she was married to another, yet an honest and dis-creet person, who maintained her honourably and with affection, until shecame to the pains of childbirth, which went so hard for her that all thoughtshe was dead, so with much state and great mourning she was interred.Now I thought to myself, during her life you could have no part in thiswoman, but now she is dead you may embrace and kiss her sufficiently; so Itook my servant with me, who dug her up by night. Now having openedthe coffin and locked her in my arms, feeling about her heart, I found somelittle motion in it still, which increased more and more from my warmth,till at last I perceived that she was indeed still alive. So I quietly bore herhome, and after I had warmed her chilled body with a costly bath of herbs,I committed her to my mother until she brought forth a fair son, whom Icaused to be nursed faithfully, as for his mother. After two days (she beingthen in great amazement) I revealed to her all the preceding affair, request-ing her for the time to come to live with me as a wife; against which shefound exception, in case it should be grievous to her husband who hadmaintained her well and honourably. But if it could be otherwise, she wasobliged in love at present to one as well as the other. Now after two months(being then about to make a journey elsewhere) I invited her husband as aguest, and amongst other things demanded of him whether, if his deceasedwife should come home again, he would be content to receive her. Heaffirmed it with tears and lamentations, and I brought him his wife togetherwith his son, and gave an account of all the preceding business, entreatinghim to ratify with his consent my intended espousals. After a long disputehe could not deny me my right, but had to leave me his wife. But there wasstill a debate about the son.”
Page 41Here the Virgin interrupted him, and said, “It makes me wonder howyou could double the afflicted man’s grief.”“What,” he answered, “Was I not concerned about it?” Upon this therearose a dispute amongst us, yet most affirmed that he had done right. “No,”he said, “I freely returned him both his wife and his son. Now tell me, myLords, was my honesty, or this man’s joy, the greater?”These words had so much cheered the Virgin that (as if it had been forthe sake of these two) she caused a health to be drunk. After which the rest of the proposals went on somewhat perplexedly, sothat I could not retain them all; yet this comes to my mind, that one saidthat a few years before he had seen a physician, who brought a parcel ofwood against winter, with which he warmed himself all winter long; but assoon as the spring returned he sold the very same wood again, and so haduse of it for nothing. “Here there must be skill,” said the Virgin, “but the time is now past.”“Ye s ,” replied my companion, “whoever does not understand how toresolve all the riddles may give each man notice of it by a proper messenger,and he will not be denied.”At this time they began to say grace, and we arose all together from thetable, satisfied and merry rather than satiated; and it is to be wished that allinvitations and feastings were kept like this. Having now taken a few turnsup and down the hall again, the Virgin asked us whether we desired tobegin the wedding. “Yes, noble and virtuous lady,” said one. Whereupon she privately des-patched a page, and yet in the meantime proceeded in discourse with us. Inbrief she had already become so familiar with us, that I ventured to requesther Name. The Virgin smiled at my curiosity, but yet was not moved, butreplied: “My Name contains five and fifty, and yet has only eight letters; thethird is the third part of the fifth, which added to the sixth will produce anumber whose root shall exceed the third itself by just the first, and it is thehalf of the fourth. Now the fifth and the seventh are equal, the last and thefifth are also equal, and make with the second as much as the sixth, whichcontains just four more than the third tripled. Now tell me, my lord, whatam I called?”The answer was intricate enough to me, yet I did not leave off, but said,“Noble and virtuous lady, may I not have only one letter?”“Ye s”, she said, “that may well be done”.
Page 42“What then,” I replied again, “may the seventh contain?”“It contains”, she said, “as many as there are lords here”. With this I was content, and easily found her Name, at which she wasvery pleased, and assured us that much more should yet be revealed to us. Meantime certain virgins had made themselves ready, and came in withgreat ceremony. First of all two youths carried lights before them; one ofthem was of jocund countenance, sprightly eyes and gentle proportion.The other looked rather angry, and whatever he would have, must be, as Iafterwards perceived. After them first followed four virgins. One looked shame-facedlytowards the earth, very humble in behaviour. The second also was a mod-est, bashful virgin. The third, as she entered the room, seemed amazed at something, and asI understood, she cannot easily abide where there is too much mirth. Thefourth brought with her certain small wreaths, thereby to manifest herkindness and liberality. After these four came two who were somewhat more gloriously appar-eled; they saluted us courteously. One of them had a gown of sky colourspangled with golden stars. The other’s was green, beautified with red andwhite stripes. On their heads they had thin flying tiffaties, which adornedthem most becomingly. At last came one on her own, who had a coronet on her head, butlooked up rather towards heaven than towards earth. We all thought it wasthe Bride, but were much mistaken, although otherwise in honour, richesand state she much surpassed the Bride; and she afterwards ruled the wholeWedding. Now on this occasion we all followed our Virgin, and fell downon our knees; however, she showed herself to be extremely humble, offer-ing everyone her hand, and admonishing us not to be too much surprisedat this, for this was one of her smallest bounties; but to lift up our eyes toour Creator, and learn hereby to acknowledge his omnipotency, and soproceed in our enterprised course, employing this grace to the praise ofGod, and the good of man. In sum, her words were quite different fromthose of our Virgin, who was somewhat more worldly. They pierced methrough even to my bones and marrow. “And you,” she said further to me, “have received more than others, seethat you also make a larger return.” This to me was a very strange sermon;for as soon as we saw the virgins with the music, we imagined we mustsoon begin to dance, but that time was not as yet come. Now the weights,
Page 43which have been mentioned before, stood still in the same place, so theDuchess (I knew not yet who she was) commanded each virgin to take upone, but to our Virgin she gave her own, which was the last and greatest,and commanded us to follow behind. Our majesty was then somewhatabated, for I observed well that our Virgin was too good for us, and wewere not so highly reputed as we ourselves were almost in part willing tofantasise. So we went behind in our order, and were brought into the firstchamber, where our Virgin in the first place hung up the Duchess’ weight,during which an excellent spiritual hymn was sung. There was nothingcostly in this room save only curious little prayer books which should neverbe missing. In the middle was erected a pulpit, very convenient for prayer, in whichthe Duchess kneeled down, and about her we all had to kneel and prayafter the Virgin, who read out of a book, that this Wedding might tend tothe honour of God, and our own benefit. Afterwards we came into the sec-ond chamber, where the first Virgin hung up her weight too, and so for-ward until all the ceremonies were finished. Hereupon the Duchess againpresented her hand to everyone, and departed hence with her virgin. Our president stayed yet a while with us. But because it had already beennight for two hours, she would no longer detain us. I thought she was gladof our company, yet she bade us good night, and wished us quiet rest, andso departed friendlily, although unwillingly, from us. Our pages were wellinstructed in their business, and therefore showed every man his chamber,and stayed with us too in another bed, so that in case we wanted anythingwe might make use of them. My chamber (of the rest I am not able tospeak) was royally furnished with rare tapestries, and hung about withpaintings. But above all things I delighted in my page, who was so excel-lently spoken, and experienced in the arts, that he spent yet another hourwith me, and it was half past three when I first fell asleep. And this was thefirst night that I slept in quiet, and yet a scurvy dream would not let merest; for all the night I was troubled with a door which I could not getopen, but at last I did it. With these fantasies I passed the time, till at lengthtowards day I awakened.
Page 45The Fourth Day was still lying in my bed, and leisurely surveying all the nobleimages and figures up and down about my chamber, when sud-denly I heard the music of coronets, as if they were already inprocession. My page jumped out of the bed as if he had been athis wit’s end, and looked more like one dead than living. In what state I wasthen is easily imaginable, for he said, “The rest are already presented to theKing.” I did not know what else to do but weep outright and curse myown slothfulness; yet I dressed myself, but my page was ready long beforeme, and ran out of the chamber to see how affairs might yet stand. But hesoon returned, and brought with him this joyful news, that indeed the timewas not yet, but I had only overslept my breakfast, they being unwilling toawaken me because of my age. But now it was time for me to go with him to the fountain where mostof them were assembled. With this consolation my spirit returned again, soI was soon ready with my habit, and went after the page to the fountain inthe aforementioned garden, where I found that the lion, instead of hissword, had a pretty large tablet by him. Now having looked well at it, Ifound that it was taken out of the ancient monuments, and placed here forsome special honour. The inscription was somewhat worn out with age,and therefore I have a mind to set it down here, as it is, and give everyoneleave to consider it. (“Hermes the Prince. After so many wounds inflicted on humankind,here by God’s counsel and the help of the Art flow I, a healing medicine.Let him drink me who can: let him wash who will: let him trouble mewho dare: drink, brethren and live”.) This writing might well be read and understood, and may therefore suit-ably be placed here, because it is easier than any of the rest. Now after we had first washed ourselves out of the fountain, and everyman had taken a draught out of an entirely golden cup, we were once againto follow the Virgin into the hall, and there put on new apparel, which wasall of cloth of gold gloriously set out with flowers. There was also given toeveryone another Golden Fleece, which was set about with precious stones,and various workmanship according to the utmost skill of each artificer. Onit hung a weighty medal of gold, on which were figured the sun and moonin opposition; but on the other side stood this saying, “The light of themoon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven
Page 46times lighter than at present.” But our former jewels were laid in a little cas-ket, and committed to one of the waiters. After this the Virgin led us out in our order, where the musicians waitedready at the door, all appareled in red velvet with white guards. After whicha door (which I never saw open before) to the Royal winding stairs wasunlocked. There the Virgin led us, together with the music, up three hun-dred and sixty five stairs; there we saw nothing that was not of extremelycostly workmanship, full of artifice; and the further we went, the more glo-rious still was the furniture, until at length at the top we came under apainted arch, where the sixty virgins attended us, all richly appareled. Nowas soon as they had bowed to us, and we, as well as we could, had returnedour reverence, our musicians were sent away, and must go down the stairsagain, the door being shut after them. After this a little bell was tolled; thenin came in a beautiful Virgin who brought everyone a wreath of laurel. Butour virgins had branches given them.Meanwhile a curtain was drawn up, where I saw the King and Queen asthey sat there in their majesty, and had not the Duchess yesterday so faith-fully warned me, I should have forgotten myself, and have equaled thisunspeakable glory to Heaven. For apart from the fact that the room glis-tened with gold and precious stones, the Queen’s robes were moreovermade so that I was not able to behold them. And whereas before Iesteemed anything to be handsome, here all things so much surpassed therest, as the stars in heaven are elevated. In the meantime the Virgin came in, and so each of the virgins takingone of us by the hand, with most profound reverence presented us to theKing, whereupon the Virgin began to speak thus: “That to honour yourRoyal Majesties (most gracious King and Queen) these lords here presenthave ventured here in peril of body and life, your Majesties have reason torejoice, especially since the greatest part are qualified for the enlarging ofyour Majesties’ Estates and Empire, as you will find by a most gracious andparticular examination of each of them. Herewith I desired to have thempresented in humility to your Majesties, with most humble suit to dischargemyself of this commission of mine, and most graciously to take sufficientinformation from each of them, concerning both my actions and omis-sions.”Hereupon she laid down her branch upon the ground. Now it wouldhave been very fitting for one of us to have put in and said something onthis occasion, but seeing we were all tongue-tied, at length the old Atlas
Page 47stepped forward and spoke on the King’s behalf:- “Their Royal Majestiesdo most graciously rejoice at your arrival, and wish that their Royal Gracebe assured to all, and every man. And with your administration, gentle Vir-gin, they are most graciously satisfied, and accordingly a Royal Rewardshall therefore be provided for you. Yet it is still their intention that youshall also continue to be with them this day, inasmuch as they have no rea-son to mistrust you.”Hereupon the Virgin humbly took up the branch again. And so we forthe first time were to step aside with our Virgin. This room was square onthe front, five times broader than it was long; but towards the West it had agreat arch like a porch, wherein in a circle stood three glorious royalthrones, yet the middlemost was somewhat higher than the rest. Now ineach throne sat two persons. In the first sat a very ancient King with a greybeard, yet his consort was extraordinarily fair and young. In the thirdthrone sat a black King of middle age, and by him a dainty old matron, notcrowned, but covered with a veil. But in the middle sat the two young per-sons, and though they had likewise wreaths of laurel upon their heads, yetover them hung a large and costly crown. Now although they were not atthis time so fair as I had before imagined to myself, yet so it was to be.Behind them on a round form sat for the most part ancient men, yet noneof them had any sword or other weapon about him, at which I wondered.Neither saw I any other body-guard, but certain Virgins who were with usthe day before, who sat on the sides of the arch. Here I cannot pass over in silence how the little Cupid flew to and frothere, but for the most part he hovered over and played the wanton aboutthe great crown; sometimes he seated himself between the two lovers,somewhat smiling upon them with his bow. Indeed, sometimes he made asif he would shoot one of us. In brief, this knave was so full of his waggery,that we would not even spare the little birds which flew in multitudes upand down the room, but tormented them all he could. The virgins also hadtheir pastimes with him, but whenever they could catch him, it was not soeasy a matter for him to get from them again. Thus this little knave made allthe sport and mirth. Before the Queen stood a small but inexpressibly curious altar, on whichlay a book covered with black velvet, a little overlaid with gold. By thisstood a small taper in an ivory candlestick. Now although it was very small,yet it burnt continually, and was such that had not Cupid, in sport, nowand then puffed upon it, we could not have conceived it to be fire. By this
Page 48stood a sphere or celestial globe, which turned clearly about by itself. Nextto this, a small striking-watch, and by that was a little crystal pipe orsyphon-fountain, out of which perpetually ran a clear blood-red liquor.And last of all there was a skull, or death’s head; in this was a white serpent,who was of such a length that though she wound about the rest of it in acircle, her tail still remained in one of the eyeholes until her head againentered the other; so she never stirred from her skull, unless it happenedthat Cupid twitched a little at her, for then she slipped in so suddenly thatwe all could not choose but marvel at it. Together with this altar, there were up and down the room wonderfulimages, which moved themselves as if they had been alive, and had sostrange a contrivance that it would be impossible for me to relate it all.Likewise, as we were passing out, there began such a marvellous kind ofvocal music, that I could not tell for sure whether it was performed by thevirgins who still stayed behind, or by the images themselves. Now we beingsatisfied for the time being, went away with our virgins, who (the musiciansbeing already present) led us down the winding stairs again, and the doorwas diligently locked and bolted. As soon as we had come again into thehall, one of the virgins began: “I wonder, Sister, that you dare hazard your-self amongst so many people.”“My Sister,” replied our president, “I am afraid of none so much as ofthis man,” pointing at me. This speech went to my heart, for I well understood that she mocked atmy age, and indeed I was the oldest of them all. Yet she comforted meagain with the promise that if I behaved myself well towards her, she wouldeasily rid me of this burden. Meantime a light meal was again brought in, and everyone’s Virginseated by him; they knew well how to shorten the time with handsome dis-courses, but what their discourses and sports were I dare not blab out ofschool. But most of the questions were about the arts, whereby I could eas-ily gather that both young and old were conversant in knowledge. But stillit ran in my thoughts how I might become young again, whereupon I wassomewhat sadder. The Virgin perceived this, and therefore began, “I bet anything, if I liewith him tonight, he shall be pleasanter in the morning.”Hereupon they all began to laugh, and although I blushed all over, yet Ihad to laugh too at my own ill-luck.
Page 49Now there was one there who had a mind to return my disgrace uponthe Virgin again, so he said, “I hope not only we, but the virgins them-selves too, will bear witness on behalf of our brother, that our lady presidenthas promised to be his bedfellow tonight.”“I should be well content with it,” replied the Virgin, “if I had no reasonto be afraid of my sisters here; there would be no hold with them should Ichoose the best and handsomest for myself, against their will.”“My Sister,” began another, “we find by this that your high officedoesn’t make you proud; so if with your permission we might divide by lotthe lords here present among us for bedfellows, you should with our goodwill have such a prerogative.”We let this pass for a jest, and again began to discourse together. But ourVirgin could not leave tormenting us, and therefore began again. “Mylords, what about if we should let fortune decide which of us must lietogether tonight?”“Well,” I said, “if it may not be otherwise, we cannot refuse such anoffer.” Now because it was concluded to make this trial after the meal, weresolved to sit no longer at table, so we arose, and each one walked up anddown with his Virgin. “No,” said the Virgin, “it shall not be so yet, but let us see how fortunewill couple us,” upon which we were separated. But now first arose a dispute how the business should be carried out; butthis was only a premeditated device, for the Virgin instantly made the pro-posal that we should mix ourselves together in a ring, and that she begin-ning to count the seventh from herself, was to be content with thefollowing seventh, whether it were a virgin, or a man. For our parts wewere not aware of any craft, and therefore permitted it to be so; but whenwe thought we had mingled ourselves very well, the virgins neverthelesswere so clever that each one knew her station beforehand. The Virginbegan to reckon; the seventh from her was another virgin, the third seventha virgin likewise, and this happened so long till (to our amazement) all thevirgins came forth, and none of us was hit. Thus we poor pitiful wretchesremained standing alone, and were moreover forced to suffer ourselves tobe jeered at, and to confess we were very handsomely tricked. In short,whoever had seen us in our order, might sooner have expected the sky tofall, than that it should never have come to our turn. With this our sportwas at an end, and we had to satisfy ourselves with the Virgin’s waggery.
Page 50In the interim, the little wanton Cupid came in to us too. But we couldnot sport ourselves with him enough, because he presented himself onbehalf of their Royal Majesties, and delivered us a health (from them) out ofa golden cup, and had to call our virgins to the King, declaring also that hecould at this time tarry no longer with them. So with a due return of ourmost humble thanks we let him fly off again. Now because (in the interim) the mirth had begun to fall to my con-sort’s feet - and the virgins were not sorry to see it - they quickly started upa civil dance, which I beheld with pleasure rather than taking part; for mymercurialists were so ready with their postures, as if they had long been ofthe trade. After a few dances our president came in again, and told us howthe artists and students had offered themselves to their Royal Majesties, fortheir honour and pleasure, to act a merry comedy before their departure;and if we thought it good to be present at this, and to wait upon theirRoyal Majesties to the House of the Sun, it would be acceptable to them,and they would most graciously acknowledge it. Hereupon in the firstplace we returned our most humble thanks for the honour vouchsafed us;not only this, but moreover we most submissively tendered our humble ser-vice. This the Virgin related again, and presently brought word to attend theirRoyal Majesties (in our order) in the gallery, where we were soon led; andwe did not stay long there, for the Royal Procession was just ready, yetwithout any music at all. The unknown Duchess who was with us yesterdaywent in front, wearing a small and costly coronet, appareled in white satin.She carried nothing but a small crucifix which was made of a pearl, and thisvery day wrought between the young King and his Bride. After her wentthe six aforementioned virgins in two ranks, who carried the King’s jewelsbelonging to the little altar. Next to these came the three Kings. TheBridegroom was in the midst of them in a plain dress, but in black satin,after the Italian fashion. He had on a small round black hat, with a littlepointed black feather, which he courteously took off to us, so to signify hisfavour towards us. We bowed ourselves to him, as also to the first, as we hadbeen instructed before. After the Kings came the three Queens, two ofwhom were richly dressed, but she in the middle was likewise all in black,and Cupid held up her train. After this, intimation was given to us to fol-low, and after us the Virgins, till at last old Atlas brought up the rear. In such procession, through many stately walks, we at length came to theHouse of the Sun, there next to the King and Queen, upon a richly fur-
notable bucket of batshit
Page 51nished scaffold, to behold the previously ordained comedy. We indeed,though separated, stood on the right hand of the Kings, but the virginsstood on the left, except those to whom the Royal Ensigns were commit-ted. To them was allotted their own place at the top of all. But the rest ofthe attendants had to stand below between the columns, and to be contentwith that. Now because there are many remarkable passages in this comedy, I willnot omit to go over it briefly. First of all a very ancient King came on, with some servants; before histhrone was brought a little chest, with mention being made that it wasfound upon the water. Now it being opened, there appeared in it a lovelybaby, together with some jewels, and a small letter of parchment sealed andsuperscribed to the King, which the King therefore opened; and havingread it, wept, and then declared to his servants how injuriously the King ofthe Moors had deprived his aunt of her country, and had extinguished allthe royal seed even to his infant, with the daughter of which country hehad now the intention of matching his son. Hereupon he swore to maintainperpetual enmity with the Moor and his allies, and to revenge this uponthem; and with this he commanded that the child should be tenderlynursed, and to make preparation against the Moor. Now this provision, andthe disciplining of the young lady (who after she had grown up a little wascommitted to an ancient tutor) took up all the first act, with many very fineand laudable sports besides. In the interlude a lion and griffin were set at one another to fight, andthe lion got the victory, which was also a pretty sight. In the second act, the Moor, a very black treacherous fellow, came ontoo. He, having with vexation understood that his murder had been discov-ered, and that a little lady was craftily stolen from him too, began thereuponto consult how by stratagem he might be able to encounter so powerful anadversary; on which he was eventually advised by certain fugitives who fledto him because of a famine. So the young lady, contrary to everyone’s expectations, fell again into hishands; he would have been likely to have caused her to be slain if he hadnot been wonderfully deceived by his own servants. Thus this act was con-cluded too, with a marvellous triumph of the Moor. In the third act a great army of the King’s party was raised against theMoor, and put under the conduct of an ancient valiant knight, who fellinto the Moor’s country, till at length he forcibly rescued the young lady
Page 52from the tower, and appareled her anew. After this in a trice they erected aglorious scaffold, and placed their young lady upon it. Presently twelveroyal ambassadors came, amongst whom the aforementioned knight made aspeech, alleging that the King his most gracious lord had not only deliveredher from death earlier, and even caused her to be royally brought up untilnow (though she had not behaved herself altogether as became her). Butmoreover his Royal Majesty had, before others, elected her to be a spousefor the young lord his son, and most graciously desired that the said espous-als might actually be executed, if they would be sworn to his Majesty uponthe following articles. Hereupon out of a patent he caused certain gloriousconditions to be read, which if it were not too long, would be well worthyof being recounted here. In brief, the young lady took an oath inviolably toobserve the same, returning thanks too in a most seemly way for such ahigh grace. Whereupon they began to sing to the praise of God, of theKing, and the young lady, and so for the time being departed. For sport, in the meantime, the four beasts of Daniel, as he saw them inthe vision and as he described them at length, were brought in, all of whichhad its certain signification. In the fourth act the young lady was again restored to her lost kingdom,and crowned, and for a while, in this array, conducted about the place withextraordinary joy. After this many and various ambassadors presented them-selves, not only to wish her prosperity, but also to behold her glory. Yet itwas not for long that she preserved her integrity, but soon began again tolook wantonly about her, and to wink at the ambassadors and lords; in thisshe truly acted her part to the life. These manners of hers were soon known to the Moor, who would byno means neglect such an opportunity, and because her steward did not paysufficient attention to her, she was easily blinded with great promises, sothat she did not keep good confidence with her King, but privately submit-ted herself entirely to the disposal of the Moor. Hereupon the Moor madehaste, and having (by her consent) got her into his hands, he gave her goodwords until all her kingdom had subjected itself to him. After which, in thethird scene of this act, he caused her to be led forth, and first to be strippedstark naked, and then to be bound to a post upon a scurvy wooden scaffold,and well scourged, and at last sentenced to death. This was so woeful aspectacle, that it made the eyes of many run over. Hereupon like this, nakedas she was, she was cast into prison, there to await her death, which was tobe procured by poison, which actually did not kill her, but made her lep-rous all over. Thus this act was for the most part lamentable.
Page 53Between acts, they brought forth Nebuchadnezzar’s image, which wasadorned with all manner of arms, on the head, breast, belly, legs and feet,and the like, of which more shall be said in the future explanation. In the fifth act the young King was told of all that had passed betweenthe Moor and his future spouse; he first interceded with his father for her,entreating that she might not be left in that condition; which his fatherhaving agreed to, ambassadors were despatched to comfort her in her sick-ness and captivity, but yet also to make her see her inconsiderateness. Butshe still would not receive them, but consented to be the Moor’s concu-bine, which was also done, and the young King was acquainted with it. After this came a band of fools, each of which brought with him a cud-gel; within a trice they made a great globe of the world, and soon undid itagain. It was a fine sportive fantasy. In the sixth act the young King resolved to do battle with the Moor,which was also done. And although the Moor was discomforted, yet allheld the young King too to be dead. At length he came to himself again,released his spouse, and committed her to his steward and chaplain. Thefirst of these tormented her greatly; then the tables were turned, and thepriest was so insolently wicked that he had to be above all, until this wasreported to the young King; who hastily despatched one who broke theneck of the priest’s mightiness, and adorned the bride in some measure forthe nuptials. After the act a vast artificial elephant was brought forth. He carried agreat tower with musicians, which was also well pleasing to all. In the last act the bridegroom appeared with such pomp as cannot bebelieved, and I was amazed how it was brought to pass. The bride met himin similar solemnity, whereupon all the people cried out LONG LIVETHE BRIDEGROOM! LONG LIVE THE BRIDE! - so that by thiscomedy they also congratulated our King and Queen in the most statelymanner, which (as I well observed) pleased them most extraordinarily well. At length they walked about the stage in this procession, till at last theybegan to sing altogether as follows:I This lovely time Bringeth much joy With the king’s wedding, So sing ye all That it resound
Page 54And gladness be to him who giveth it to us. II The beauteous bride Whom we have long awaited Shall be betrothed to him, And we have won Whereafter we did strive O happy he Who looketh to himself. III The elders good Are bidden now, For Long they were in care, In honour multiply That thousands arise From your own blood After this thanks were returned, and the comedy was finished with joy,and the particular enjoyment of the Royal Persons, so (the evening alsodrawing near already) they departed together in their aforementionedorder. But we were to attend the Royal Persons up the winding stairs into theaforementioned hall, where the tables were already richly furnished, andthis was the first time that we were invited to the King’s table. The littlealtar was placed in the midst of the hall, and the six royal ensigns previouslymentioned were laid upon it. At this time the young King behaved himselfvery graciously towards us, but yet he could not be heartily merry;although he now and then discoursed a little with us, yet he often sighed, atwhich the little Cupid only mocked, and played his waggish tricks. The oldKing and Queen were very serious; only the wife of one of the ancientKings was gay enough, the reason for which I did not yet understand. During this time, the Royal Persons took up the first table, at the secondonly we sat. At the third, some of the principal virgins placed themselves.The rest of the virgins, and men, all had to wait. This was performed withsuch state and solemn stillness that I am afraid to say very much about it.
Page 55But I cannot leave untouched upon here, how all the Royal Persons, beforethe meal, attired themselves in snow-white glittering garments, and so satdown at the table. Over the table hung the great golden crown, the pre-cious stones of which would have sufficiently illuminated the hall withoutany other light. However, all the lights were kindled at the small taper uponthe altar; what the reason was I did not know for sure. But I took verygood notice of this, that the young King frequently sent meat to the whiteserpent upon the little altar, which caused me to muse. Almost all the prattle at this banquet was made by little Cupid, whocould not leave us (and me, indeed, especially) untormented. He was per-petually producing some strange matter. However, there was no consider-able mirth, all went silently on; from which I, myself, could imagine somegreat imminent peril. For there was no music at all heard; but if we weredemanded anything, we had to give short round answers, and so let it rest.In short, all things had so strange a face, that the sweat began to trickledown all over my body; and I am apt to believe that the most stout-heartedman alive would then have lost his courage. Supper being now almost ended, the young King commanded the bookto be reached him from the little altar. This he opened, and caused it onceagain to be propounded to us by an old man, whether we resolved to abideby him in prosperity and adversity; which we having consented to withtrembling, he further had us asked, whether we would give him our handson it, which, when we could find no evasion, had to be so. Hereupon oneafter another arose, and with his own hand wrote himself down in thisbook. When this also had been performed, the little crystal fountain, togetherwith a very small crystal glass, was brought near, out of which all the RoyalPersons drank one after another. Afterwards it was held out to us too, andso to all persons; and this was called the Draught of Silence. Hereupon allthe Royal Persons presented us their hands, declaring that if we did notnow stick to them, we should nevermore from now on see them; whichtruly made our eyes run over. But our president engaged herself and prom-ised a great deal on our behalf, which gave them satisfaction. Meantime a little bell was tolled, at which all the Royal Persons becameso incredibly bleak, that we were ready to despair utterly. They quicklytook off their white garments again, and put on entirely black ones. Thewhole hall likewise was hung about with black velvet, the floor was coveredwith black velvet, with which also the ceiling above was overspread (all this
Page 56being prepared beforehand). After that the tables were also removed, and allseated themselves round about upon the form, and we also put on blackhabits. In came our president again, who had before gone out, and shebrought with her six black taffeta scarves, with which she bound the sixRoyal Persons’ eyes. Now when they could no longer see, six covered cof-fins were immediately brought in by the servants, and set down in the hall;also a low black seat was placed in the middle. Finally, there came in a verycoal-black, tall man, who bore in his hand a sharp axe. Now after the oldKing had first been brought to the seat, his head was instantly whipped off,and wrapped in a black cloth; but the blood was received into a greatgolden goblet, and placed with him in this coffin that stood by; which,being covered, was set aside. Thus it went with the rest also, so that Ithought it would at length have come to me too, but it did not. For as soonas the six Royal Persons were beheaded, the black man went out again;another followed after him, and beheaded him too just before the door, andbrought back his head together with the axe, which were laid in a littlechest. This indeed seemed to me a bloody Wedding, but because I could nottell what was yet to happen, for the time being I had to suspend my under-standing until I had further resolved things. For the Virgin too, seeing thatsome of us were faint-hearted and wept, bid us be content. “For”, she said to us, “The life of these now stands in your hands, and ifyou follow me, this death shall make many alive.”With this she intimated that we should go to sleep, and trouble ourselvesno further on their part, for they should be sure to have their due right.And so she bade us all goodnight, saying that she must watch the dead bod-ies this night. We did this, and were each of us conducted by our pages intoour lodgings. My page talked with me of sundry and various matters(which I still remember very well) and gave me cause enough to admire hisunderstanding. But his intention was to lull me to sleep, which at last I wellobserved; so I made as though I was fast asleep, but no sleep came into myeyes, and I could not put the beheaded out of my mind. Now my lodging was directly over against the great lake, so that I couldeasily look upon it, the windows being near to the bed. About midnight, assoon as it had struck twelve, suddenly I saw a great fire on the lake, so outof fear I quickly opened the window to see what would become of it. Thenfrom afar I saw seven ships making forward, which were all full of lights.Above each of them on the top hovered a flame that passed to and fro, and
Page 57sometimes descended right down, so that I could easily judge that it mustbe the spirits of the beheaded. Now these ships gently approached land, and each of them had no morethan one mariner. As soon as they had come to shore, I saw our Virginwith a torch going towards the ship, after whom the six covered coffinswere carried, together with the little chest, and each of them was secretlylaid in a ship. So I awakened my page too, who greatly thanked me, for, having run upand down a lot all day, he might have slept through this altogether, thoughhe knew quite well about it. Now as soon as the coffins were laid in theships, all the lights were extinguished, and the six flames passed backtogether over the lake, so that there was no more than one light in eachship for a watch. There were also some hundreds of watchmen who hadencamped themselves on the shore, and sent the Virgin back again into thecastle; she carefully bolted everything up again, so that I could judge thatthere was nothing more to be done this night, but that we must await theday. So we again took ourselves to rest. And I only of all my company had achamber towards the lake, and saw this, so that now I was also extremelyweary, and so fell asleep in my manifold speculations.
Page 59The Fifth Dayhe night was over, and the dear wished-for day broken, whenhastily I got out of bed, more desirous to learn what might yetensue, than that I had slept enough. Now after I had put on myclothes, and according to my custom had gone down the stairs,it was still too early, and I found nobody else in the hall; so I entreated mypage to lead me about a little in the castle, and show me something rare. Hewas now (as always) willing, and led me down certain steps under ground,to a great iron door, on which the following words in great copper letterswere fixed:(Here lies buried Venus, that beauty which has undone many a greatman both in fortune, honour, blessing and prosperity.)This I thus copied, and set down in my table-book. Now after this doorwas opened, the page led me by the hand through a very dark passage, tillwe came again to a very little door, that was only now put to; for (as mypage informed me) it was first opened yesterday when the coffins weretaken out, and had not since been shut. Now as soon as we stepped in, Isaw the most precious thing that Nature ever created, for this vault had nolight other than that from certain huge great carbuncles, and this (as I wasinformed) was the King’s Treasury. But the main and most glorious thingthat I saw here was a sepulchre (which stood in the middle) so rich that Iwondered that it was not better guarded. To which the page answered me,that I had good reason to be thankful to my planet, by whose influence itwas that I had now seen certain pieces which no other human eye (exceptthe King’s family) had ever had a view of. This sepulchre was triangular, and had in the middle of it a vessel of pol-ished copper; the rest was of pure gold and precious stones. In the vesselstood an angel, who held in his arms an unknown tree, which continuallydropped fruit into the vessel; and as often as the fruit fell into the vessel, itturned into water, and ran out from there into three small golden vesselsstanding by. This little altar was supported by these three animals, an eagle,an ox and a lion, which stood on an exceedingly costly base. I asked my page what this might signify. “Here,” he said, “lies buried Lady Venus, that beauty which has undonemany a great man, both in fortune, honour, blessing and prosperity.” Afterwhich he showed me a copper door on the pavement. “Here,” he said, “if you please, we may go further down.”
Page 60“I still follow you,” I replied. So I went down the steps, where it was exceedingly dark, but the pageimmediately opened a little chest, in which stood a small ever-burningtaper, at which he kindled one of the torches which lay by. I was greatlyterrified, and seriously asked how he dared do this? He said by way of answer “As long as the Royal Persons are still at rest,we have nothing to fear.”Then I saw a rich bed ready made, hung about with curious curtains,one of which he drew aside, where I saw the Lady Venus stark naked (forhe heaved up the coverlets too) lying there in such beauty, and in such asurprising fashion, that I was almost beside myself; neither do I yet knowwhether it was a piece thus carved, or a human corpse that lay dead there.For she was altogether immovable, and yet I dared not touch her. So shewas again covered, and the curtain drawn before her, yet she was still (as itwere) in my eye. But I soon saw behind the bed a tablet on which it waswritten as follows:(When the fruit of my tree shall be quite melted down then I shall awakeand be the mother of a King.)I asked my page about this writing, but he laughed, with the promisethat I should know it too. So, he putting out the torch, we ascended again.Then I had a better look at all the little doors, and first found that on everycorner there burned a small taper of pyrites, of which I had before taken nonotice, for the fire was so clear that it looked much more like a stone than ataper. From this heat the tree was forced continually to melt, yet it still pro-duced new fruit. Now behold (said the page) what I heard revealed to theKing by Atlas. When the tree (he said) shall be quite melted down, thenshall Lady Venus awake, and be the mother of a King. Whilst he was thus speaking, in flew the little Cupid, who at first wassomewhat abashed at our presence, but seeing us both look more like thedead than the living, he could not in the end refrain from laughing,demanding what spirit had brought us there. I with trembling answeredhim, that I had lost my way in the castle, and had come here by chance, andthat the page likewise had been looking up and down for me, and at lastcame upon me here, and I hoped he would not take it amiss. “Well then, that’s well enough yet, my old busy grandsire,” said Cupid,“but you might easily have served me a scurvy trick, had you been aware ofthis door. Now I must look better to it,” and so he put a strong lock on thecopper door where we had before descended.
Page 61I thanked God that he had not come upon us sooner. My page too washappier, because I had helped him so well at this pinch. “Ye t ,” said Cupid, “I cannot let it pass unrevenged that you were so nearstumbling upon my dear mother.”With that he put the point of his dart into one of the little tapers, andheating it a little, pricked me with it on the hand, which at that time I paidlittle attention to, but was glad that it had gone so well for us, and that wecame off without further danger. Meantime my companions had got out of bed too, and had returnedinto the hall again. To them I also joined myself, making as if I had justrisen. After Cupid had carefully made all fast again, he came to us too, andwould have me show him my hand, where he still found a little drop ofblood; at which he heartily laughed, and bade the rest have a care of me, asI would shortly end my days. We all wondered how Cupid could be somerry, and have no sense at all of yesterday’s sad occurrences. But he was inno way troubled. Now our president had in the meantime made herself ready for the jour-ney, coming in all in black velvet, yet she still carried her branch of laurel.Her virgins too had their branches. Now all things being ready, the Virginasked us first to drink something, and then presently to prepare for the pro-cession, so we did not tarry long but followed her out of the hall into thecourt. In the court stood six coffins, and my companions thought nothingother than that the six Royal Persons lay in them, but I well observed thedevice. Yet I did not know what was to be done with these others. By eachcoffin were eight muffled men. Now as soon as the music began (it was somournful and dolesome a tune, that I was astonished at it) they took up thecoffins, and we (as we were ordered) had to go after them into the afore-mentioned garden, in the middle of which was erected a wooden edifice,having round about the roof a glorious crown, and standing upon sevencolumns. Within it were formed six sepulchres, and by each of them was astone; but in the middle was a round hollow rising stone. In these gravesthe coffins were quietly and with many ceremonies laid. The stones wereshoveled over them, and they shut fast. But the little chest was to lie in themiddle. Herewith my companions were deceived, for they imagined noth-ing other but that the dead corpses were there. Upon the top of all therewas a great flag, having a phoenix painted on it, perhaps the more to deludeus. Here I had great occasion to thank God that I had seen more than therest.
Page 62Now after the funerals were done, the Virgin, having placed herselfupon the middlemost stone, made a short oration, that we should be con-stant to our engagements, and not repine at the pains we were hereafter toundergo, but be helpful in restoring the present buried Royal Persons tolife again; and therefore without delay to rise up with her, to journey to thetower of Olympus, to fetch from there medicines useful and necessary forthis purpose. This we soon agreed to, and followed her through another little doorright to the shore. There the seven aforementioned ships stood all empty,on which the virgins stuck up their laurel branches, and after they had dis-tributed us in the six ships, they caused us thus to begin our voyage inGod’s name, and looked upon us as long as they could have us in sight, afterwhich they, with all the watchmen, returned into the castle. Our ships eachhad a peculiar device. Five of them indeed had the five regular bodies, eachtheir own, but mine, in which the Virgin sat too, carried a globe. Thus wesailed on in a particular order, and each ship the Moor lay. In this weretwelve musicians, who played excellently well, and its device was a pyra-mid. Next followed three abreast, B, C, and D, in which we were. I sat inC. In the middle behind these came the two fairest and stateliest ships, Eand F, stuck about with many branches of laurel, having no passengers inthem; their flags were the sun and moon. But in the rear was only one ship,G; in this were forty virgins. Now having passed over this lake in this way, we first went through anarrow arm, into the right seas, where all the sirens, nymphs, and sea-god-desses were waiting for us; wherefore they immediately dispatched a sea-nymph to us to deliver their present and offering of honour to the Wed-ding. It was a costly, great, set, round and oriental pearl, the like of whichhas never been seen, neither in our world nor yet in the new world. Nowthe Virgin having friendlily received it, the nymph further entreated thataudience might be given to their entertainments, and to make a little stand,which the Virgin was content to do, and commanded the two great ships tostand in the middle, and the rest to encompass them in a pentagon. Afterwhich the nymphs fell into a ring about, and with a most delicate sweetvoice began to sing as follows:INaught better is on earthThan lovely noble love
Page 63Whereby we be as GodAnd no one vexeth his neighbour.So let unto the king be sungThat all the sea shall sound. We ask, and answer ye. IIWhat hath to us life brought?’Tis LoveWho hath brought grace again?’Tis LoveWhence are we born?Of LoveHow were we all forlorn?Without LoveIIIWho hath us then begotten?’Tw a s L o v eWherefore were we suckled?For LoveWhat owe we to our elders?’Tis LoveAnd why are they so patient?From Love IVWhat doth all things o’ercome?’Tis LoveCan we find Love as well?Through LoveWhere letteth a man good work appear?In LoveWho can unite a twain?’Tis LoveVSo let us all singThat it resoundTo honour Love
Page 64Which will increaseWith our lord king and queen, Their bodies are here, their souls are fled.VI And as we liveSo shall God giveWhere love and graceDid sunder themThat we with flame of LoveMay haply join them up again.VIISo shall this song In greatest joyThough thousand generations comeReturn into eternity. When they, with most admirable concert and melody, had finished thissong, I no more wondered at Ulysses for stopping the ears of his compan-ions, for I seemed to myself the most unhappy man alive, because naturehad not made me, too, so trim a creature. But the Virgin soon dispatchedthem, and commanded us to set sail from there; so the nymphs went offtoo, after they had been presented with a long red scarf for a gratuity, anddispersed themselves in the sea. I was at this time aware that Cupid began to work with me too, whichyet tended by a very little towards my credit, and forasmuch as my giddinessis not likely to be beneficial to the reader, I am resolved to let it rest as it is.But this was the very wound that in the first book I received on the head ina dream. And let everyone take warning by me of loitering about Venus’bed, for Cupid can by no means brook it.After some hours, having gone a good way in friendly discourses, wecame within sight of the Tower of Olympus, so the Virgin commanded togive the signal of our approach by the discharge of some pieces, which wasalso done. And immediately we saw a great white flag thrust out, and asmall gilded pinnace sent forth to meet us. Now as soon as this had come tous, we perceived in it a very ancient man, the Warder of the Tower, withcertain guards clothed in white, by whom we were friendlily received, andso conducted to the Tower.
Page 65This Tower was situated upon an island which was exactly square, andwhich was environed with a wall that was so firm and thick that I myselfcounted three hundred and sixty passes over. On the other side of the wallwas a fine meadow with certain little gardens, in which grew strange, andto me unknown, fruits; and then again there was an inner wall about theTower. The Tower itself was just as if seven round towers had been builtone by another, yet the middlemost was somewhat the higher, and withinthey all entered one into another, and had seven storeys one above another.Being come in this way to the gates of the Tower, we were led a little asideby the wall, so that, as I well observed, the coffins might be brought intothe Tower without our taking notice; of this the rest knew nothing.This being done, we were conducted into the Tower at the very bottom,which although it was excellently painted, yet we had little recreation there;for this was nothing but a laboratory, where we had to beat and wash plants,and precious stones, and all sorts of things, and extract their juice andessence, and put the same in glasses, and hand them over to be put aside.And truly our Virgin was so busy with us, and so full of her directions, thatshe knew how to give each of us enough employment, so that in this islandwe had to be mere drudges, till we had achieved all that was necessary forthe restoring of the beheaded bodies.Meantime (as I afterwards understood) three virgins were in the firstapartment washing the bodies with all diligence. Now when we had at lastalmost finished this preparation of ours, nothing more was brought us butsome broth with a little draught of wine, by which I well observed that wewere not here for our pleasure. For when we had finished our day’s work,too, everyone had only a mattress laid on the ground for him, with whichwe were to content ourselves. For my part I was not very much bothered about sleeping, and thereforewalked out into the garden, and at length came as far as the wall; andbecause the heaven was at that time very clear, I could well drive away thetime in contemplating the stars. By chance I came to a great pair of stonestairs, which led up to the top of the wall. And because the moon shonevery bright, I was so much the more confident, and went up, and looked alittle upon the sea too, which was now exceedingly calm. And thus having good opportunity to consider more about astronomy, Ifound that this present night there would occur a conjunction of the plan-ets, the like of which was not otherwise usually to be observed. Now hav-ing looked a good while at the sea, and it being just about midnight, as
Page 66soon as it had struck twelve I saw from afar the seven flames passing overthe sea towards here, and taking themselves towards the top of the spire ofthe Tower. This made me somewhat afraid, for as soon as the flames hadsettled themselves, the winds arose, and began to make the sea very tempes-tuous. The moon also was covered with clouds, and my joy ended withsuch fear that I scarcely had enough time to find the stairs ended with suchfear that I scarcely had enough time to find the stairs again, and take myselfto the Tower again. Now whether the flames tarried any longer, or passedaway again, I cannot say, for in this obscurity I did not dare venture abroadmore. So I lay down on my mattress, and there being in the laboratory a pleas-ant and gently murmuring fountain, I fell asleep so much the sooner. Andthus the fifth day too was concluded with wonders
Page 67The Sixth Dayext morning, after we had awakened one another, we sattogether a while to discuss what might yet be the events tooccur. For some were of the opinion that they should all bebrought back to life again together. Others contradicted this,because the decease of the ancients was not only to restore life, but toincrease it too to the young ones. Some imagined that they had not beenput to death, but that others had been beheaded in their stead. We now having talked together a pretty long while, in came the oldman, and first saluting us, looked about him to see if all things were ready,and the processes sufficiently completed. We had so conducted ourselves asregards this that he had no fault to find with our diligence, so he placed allthe glasses together, and put them into a case. Presently in came certainyouths bringing with them some ladders, ropes, and large wings, whichthey laid down before us. Then the old man began as follows: “My dearsons, each of you must this day constantly bear one of these three thingsabout with him. Now you are free either to make a choice of one of them,or to cast lots about it.”We replied, “we would choose”.“No,” he said, “let it rather go by lot.”Hereupon he made three little schedules. On one he wrote ‘Ladder’, onthe second ‘Rope’, on the third ‘Wings’. These he put in a hat, and eachman must draw, and whatever he got, that was to be his. Those who got theropes imagined themselves to have the best of it, but I chanced to get a lad-der, which afflicted me greatly, for it was twelve feet long, and prettyweighty, and I was forced to carry it, whereas the others could handsomelycoil their ropes about them. And as for the wings, the old man joined themso closely onto the third group, as if they had grown upon them. Hereupon he turned the cock, and then the fountain no longer ran, andwe had to remove it from the middle out of the way. After all things werecarried off, he took leave, taking with him the casket with the glasses, andlocked the door fast after him, so that we imagined nothing other but thatwe had been imprisoned in this Tower. But it was hardly a quarter of an hour before a round hole at the very topwas uncovered, where we saw our Virgin, who called to us, and bade usgood morrow, desiring us to come up. Those with the wings were instantlyabove and through the hole. Only those with the ropes were in an evil
Page 68plight. For as soon as every one of us was up, he was commanded to drawup the ladder after him. At last each man’s rope was hanged on an ironhook, so everyone had to climb up by his rope as well as he could, whichindeed was not accomplished without blisters. Now as soon as we were all up, the hole was covered again, and we werefriendlily received by the Virgin. This room was the whole breadth of theTower itself, having six very stately vestries raised a little above the room,and were entered by an ascent of three steps. In these vestries we wereplaced, there to pray for the life of the King and Queen. Meanwhile theVirgin went in and out of the little door A, till we were ready. For as soon as our process was absolved, there was brought in by twelvepersons (who were formerly our musicians), through the little door, andplaced in the middle, a wonderful thing of longish shape, which my com-panions took only to be a fountain. But I well observed that the corpses layin it, for the inner chest was of an oval figure, so large that six personsmight well lie in it one by another. After which they again went forth,fetched their instruments, and conducted in our Virgin, together with herfemale attendants, with a most delicate sound of music. The Virgin carrieda little casket, but the rest only branches and small lamps, and some lightedtorches too. The torches were immediately given into our hands, and wewere to stand about the fountain in this order.First stood the Virgin A with her attendants in a ring round about withthe lamps and branches C. Next stood we with our torches B, then themusicians A in a long rank; last of all the rest of the virgins D in anotherlong rank too. Now where the virgins came from, whether they lived inthe castle, or whether they had been brought in by night, I do not know,for all their faces were covered with delicate white linen, so that I could notrecognise any of them.Hereupon the Virgin opened the casket, in which there was a roundthing wrapped up in a piece of green double taffeta. This she laid in theuppermost vessel, and then covered it with the lid, which was full of holes,and which had besides a rim through which she poured in some of thewater which we had prepared the day before. Then the fountain beganimmediately to run, and to flow into the little vessel through four smallpipes. Beneath the underneath vessel there were many sharp points, onwhich the virgins stuck their lamps, so that the heat might reach the vessel,and make the water boil. Now the water beginning to simmer, it fell inupon the bodies by many little holes at A, and was so hot that it dissolved