The Cyprian Virgin

When glorious Cyprus (long in vain pursu'd)
Often victorious was at last subdu'd;
(Nor had the heat of fire and anger ceast,
Had they not been by streams of blood supprest)
When every one the Thracian rage did feel,
And those with I'm were bound that scap'd the steel;
When Limbs and ruin'd Walls in heaps were laid,
And Loves soft kingdom Mars's field was made.

Victorious Mustapha is angry still,
Because no more are left t'oppose his will,
The field he keeps, with squadrons yet o're-spread,
And threatens death once more against the dead.
His horrid foot-steps he imprints in blood,
Yet seeks for more t'increase the purple flood;
And seems at adverse fortune vext, to see
So many that by death from death were free.

The Spoiler, all be-smear'd with dropping gore,
Ransacks the levell'd ruines (walls no more;)
Removes the stones and beams, climbs where they stood,
As greedy now of gold as late of blood:
The lowest he casts up, the high down throws,
Deaf to the Prayers, blind to th'wounds of foes;
Whilst the demolish'd walls become a grave,
Th'unburied carkasses a burial have.

There was a stately Temple, to which led
By fear, for refuge many Christians fled;
The foe arrives, and fights not but destroyes,
For these their throats, and he his sword employes;
Flames seising on the roof o're-throw the Walls,
The Fabrick once near Heaven, to Earth now falls.
The murderer doth not the slain survive,
And he that kill'd dyes buried alive.

Now none are left his anger to asswage,
The vanquish'd General feels the Victors rage,
His honour'd head he fixing on a Spear,
A barbarous trophy of his death doth rear:
Upon the headless body he doth tread,
Insulting with new fury on the dead.
Then round about he roves, and every where
Lightning in 's eyes, Thunder in 's sword doth bear.

So when Megaera terrible to sight,
Her bloody whip now waves, then holds upright,
When Squadrons mixt in fight Squadrons ore-turn,
And every where the angry Steel doth burn:
She who her glory 'mongst the dead acquires,
Their arms with strength, their souls with rage inspires,
And as she doth her snaky tresses spread,
The fields with bones look white, with blood look red.

Each place resounds with the triumphant cry,
Mountains and Vallies eccho Victory;
The hollow Cannons with a sportive blaze
And horrid sound, thunder and lightning raise;
The Horses neighing, and the Men with cries,
Seem rather greedy of the War then prize,
And the shrill trumpets dreadful harmony
Alarms doth rather sound then victory.

Night rising from the Orient now invades
Each soul with rest, and every field with shades;
The festive fires shine clear, whose burning pride
Doth the black thickness of the mist divide:
The flames directly here, there curling rise,
Hizzing and rending darkness to the skies:
And whilst the sparks with trembling lights ascend,
Earth seems new stars unto the Heavens to lend.

Forth her nocturnal dwelling in the East
Aurora with a crown of light comes drest,
In a Pyropus Chariot she doth rise,
And silvers over first, then gilds the skies,
Loves brighter star, the Harbinger of day,
Her splendour stain'd with pale grief doth display,
To see th'oppression that her kingdom bears,
She drops from Heaven her dew distill'd in tears.

Now the hoarse Trumpet's early ecco all
Unto their work, ships to the shore doth call;
For ere the newes of victory attains
That mighty Monarch in Byzantium raigns,
A surer message Mustapha intends,
And of the Cyprian spoyles a present sends,
Desirous that his winged Navy might
Even feather'd Fame out-strip by speedier flight.

Unto the Sea they hasten with the best
Of Jewels, Gold, and Scarlets weight opprest;
With a rich burden are the vessels fraught
Of proud Materials curiously wrought;
The stout Keels pant, and the retyring Main
Bowes underneath the Treasure they sustain:
Yet Ships and Waters both seem proud to bear
Kingdoms contracted in that narrow sphear.

Virgins and Youths to sea are driven thence,
And Beauty pris'ner led with Innocence:
Who their soft limbs with cruel chains doth bind,
They with their eyes fetter his captive mind,
Victors and vanquisht thus together force
One for the others grief to feel remorse.
Thus Mars and Love their double Palms obtain,
Which this o're bodies, that o're souls doth gain.

The Pilot the tenacious ancour tore
(With crooked teeth) up from the sandy shore:
Of Eastern breath a gentle flattering gale
Calms the smooth Sea, and swels the pregnant sail.
Their Oares the water break, the air their cries,
The Haven backward goes, the Navy flies;
The furrows break in silver foam; none know
Whether the Ship or Wind doth faster go.

Along the shore the wretched Mothers stray,
Their cheeks they tear, dishevel'd hairs display:
The lancing ships beholding from on high,
Away with their imprison'd children fly;
Tears to the waves, sighs to the Air they lend,
And cries t'o're-take their dearest Pledges send;
Spreading their arms to sea, as if they might,
Quitting the land, follow the sails by flight.

Now in suspence they stand, whether they may
For quiet seas, and winds successful pray;
Their minds 'twixt wrath and pitty hovering were,
Nor know they what to wish, or what to fear;
What barbarous usage waits them, when they come
To that luxurious town Byzantium ;
Subjected to his power, who though th' immense
Worlds potent Master, yet is slave to sence.

Then wakes a thought in their maternal minde,
Cruel, yet not in cruelty unkinde:
They wish their injuries reveng'd might be,
By storms, a threatning heaven, an angry sea;
Malignant Stars, and furious winds may reign,
Burying the ships in the vast watry plain.
But straight that cruel thought from their breast flies,
And thus what reason dictates, love denies.

A stately ship plowing the waves there went,
Excell'd the rest in height and ornament:
Her glorious Poop of gold, whose flame did stain,
And guild the blew enammel of the Main;
In which a virgin did to exile pass;
A fatal trophy she of conquest was;
For the rude Thracian forcing her away,
To buy one life a thousand deaths did pay.

Oronta fair, whose Ancestors were they
Who did long time the Cyprian Scepter sway,
With her new beams encreas'd, and made more bright
Their ancient splendor with a truer light.
Her wisdom both her years and Sex out-went;
More noble by her vertue, then descent:
In this fair frame did a high spirit move,
And with her face her soul in beauty strove.

She did the Cnidian Goddess far excel,
Sailing th' Ægean in a golden shell:
She who with that false Trojan stole away,
And quitted, with her faith, the Graecian Bay,
Appear'd less fair on that unhappy shore,
When she to Ilium fire and ruine bore;
For from the eyes of this fair Captive came
Such beams as might convert the world to flame.

Nature diviner forms united here,
Above the beauties mortals use to wear;
The Heavens she did contract in one fair look;
Roses and light she from the morning took;
The Sun divided in her eyes, her hair
Scatters his loose beams in the wanton air;
Her beauty does so far transcend esteem,
Beauties Idaea doth lesse beauty seem.

Her sad Companions weep, yet she keeps dry
Amidst these show'rs of tears her lively eye:
Her lofty spirit cannot stoop so low
Danger to fear, or fruitless prayers bestow.
Confus'd her actions are, her looks severe,
Here reserv'd thoughts deep resolution bear;
Yet there was nothing in her face reveal'd
Of that designe lay in her breast conceal'd.

Thus with her self she reasons; Shall the dead
Their blood for us, and we tears only shed?
They deceas'd gloriously, there is no way
Now left us to escape, but dye as they:
Death cannot be deni'd; with sacred fire
Some power Celestial doth my breast inspire;
My soul to Heaven inviting seems to cry
Alas we cannot live, unless we dye.

Beneath the Decks there is a place, where are
The wicked instruments of Fire and War,
Sulphureous Powder, Balls of Brass and Lead,
A pondrous load, which when the fire doth spread
Throughout the air, the lightning breaks asunder,
And Canons from their hollow bosom thunder.
When these the ships do mutually return,
They now dart lightning, now with lightning burn.

Th'Heroick Virgin, here intent, doth see
Both time and place to her Design agree:
Flames in her eyes, in her breast anger burns,
Now to cold Ice, and strait to fire she turns,
Shall the proud Turks (saith she) in triumph play,
Boasting Oronta is their fetter'd Prey?
They have not robb'd me of my liberty;
Spight of these stubborn Bonds my soul is free.

Behold in this close place an open way
To freedom, here my Chains their ransom pay;
Her earthly weight here off the soul may shake,
And her swift flight to Heaven may freely take.
Love for my sake no triumphs must pretend,
Nor 'gainst a barbarous heart his Bow shall bend;
To chaster zeal must yeeld his vain desire,
And in celestial flames his flames expire.

Such Fire I'le kindle as shall fatal prove,
And those extinguish that are rais'd by Love.
Masters with Slaves in Death shall equal be,
And Captives gain o're Victors victory:
End to our Wrongs and their Pride this shall give,
And all at Death, e're at the shore arrive.
To you bright flames that free me from this death
My Body, I my Soul to Heaven bequeath.

This said, the burning Torch she holds upright;
And as about to throw, she shakes the light;
Yet timerously bold, her heart relents,
And of her former boldness she repents;
Thus burning, freezing, sighing, dumb appears,
A thousand times at once both dares and fears.
At last, still do I doubt? still live? (she said,)
They merit death that are of death afraid.

With that the deadly flame she from her throws,
Which in a moment up the powder blows:
The hollow ship thunders, the dreadful cries
And horrid noise the deafn'd air surprize;
Death gave no time to fear the dismal light;
The fire did sooner seize then did the fight;
The bodies dead and half dead th'air do fill;
Smoak sends up clouds, and blood doth showers distil.

Masts, Cordage, Decks, and Keel asunder flye,
And of one ship a hundred floating lye.
Of prisoners now the Guardians have no care,
But all alike are hurri'd through the air:
The fire, the Wealth, the Bodies all in one
Together are in dark confusion gone.
Some upwards mount, others fall down, and have
Death in the fire, and in the flood a grave.

So Ætna from her black internal parts
Thunders aloud, and lightning upwards darts,
Breathing out Sulphur from its hollow veins,
The torrid air the borrowed heat retains:
Stones from th'eternal shades to Heaven are thrown,
The fields with showers of burning sand o're-flown.
And whilst together smoak and fire ascend,
Darkness and light for victory contend.

In the destructive fury of the fire,
She that first kindled it did first expire;
Her body by this sudden force is born
Into the air, in thousand pieces torn:
Her mangled limbs dispersed at their fall,
In the kind Sea receive their burial.
Thus she at once is burnt, is torn, is drownd,
A glorious death, e're she perceiv'd, she found.

You that in marble, and in ancient Rowls,
Make scrutiny for the Heroick souls,
You by whom acts renown'd in peace or war,
Eternized to future ages are,
Fix here your thoughts, your studies, and your verse,
And onely her immortal praise reherse:
So you of wits, of women she the glory,
You by Oronta live, she by your story.

Winds with the flames do happily conspire,
And the whole Fleet alike receives the fire.
Auster spreads wide the heat, all is o're-run,
A thousand fires delated into one.
The crackling blaze, and dusky clouds that rise,
Make bright the waters, and make dark the skies,
Like burning Mists that in Earths bowels dwell,
Darkness ascends, as if the Sea were Hell.

All dye, yet all attempt their death to shun;
Some hide them, some they know not whither run:
The active flame in every part resides,
Seizing the Mast, the Poop, the Prow, the sides.
And to anticipate the Fates decree,
Into the fire some leap, some to the Sea;
Languishing hope is of all flight bereft,
No means but death to scape from death is left.

The bloody surface of the water bears
Bows, Arrows, Ensigns, Helmets, Targets, Spears;
Here bodies half alive, and there quite dead:
A stranger Trunk joyns to an unknown Head.
The tatter'd limbs divided are from limbs,
Here broken bones, and there a half-skull swims.
Some whilst they vomit blood do water drink,
Some vainly thinking to save others, sink.

The plunderer is plunder'd of his Prey,
Spoils spread by fire upon the Water stray,
The wealth of Cyprus burnt, yet drowned lyes;
Seas swallow what a kingdom did comprize;
The burning Timbers float in sea and blood,
Carrying a fire triumphant o're the flood.
The waters swoln with streams of goar look red,
And dying men are mingled with the dead.

Mean while from Cyprus sands the Mothers gaze
Intentively upon the dismal blaze;
Amaz'd to hear the seas with thunder roar,
The air with smoak, the waves with light spread ore,
A thousand hopeless hearts in this fire freez,
This fire extracts from eyes a thousand seas:
Sighs from the land are sent, and tears are shed
By those who dye with grief, to those are dead.

The waters back the floating bodies drive,
Which at their native soil at length arrive;
In haste the Mothers (Mothers now no more)
Collect th'unknown scorcht Reliques on the shore,
Their grief augments, their cries they now raise higher,
And in deep sighs their weary souls expire.
The blameless Sea more then before offends,
Whom it took living thence, dead back it sends.

Yet to the dead the living envy bears,
For weigh'd with such a death, life vile appears.
The dead are free, but those to life confin'd
Are miserable slaves to slaves design'd:
Indulgent Fate by taking life from those,
Hath rescu'd them from th' out-rage of their foes;
These ever weary of their destiny,
Suffer a thousand deaths before they dye.

Such was Oronta's memorable Fate,
Which some more noble Muse should celebrate;
That all the World from the Suns early rise,
Unto his set, her name may solemnize;
That her example ever may remain,
Who lost in fire, in Verse may live again:
When my low thoughts to this high Theam aspire,
I learn not how to praise, but to admire.