But let us leave thefe Greeks to difcord bent,
And turn to Perfia, as is pertinent.
The King from forreign parts now well at ease,
His home-bred troubles fought how to appease;
The two Queens by his means feem to abate,
Their former envy and inveterate hate:
But the old Queen implacable in strife,
By poyfon caus'd, the young one lofe her life.
The King highly inrag'd doth hereupon
From Court exile her unto Babilon:
But shortly calls her home, her counfells prize,
(A Lady very wicked, but yet wife)
Then in voluptuousness he leads his life,
And weds his daughter for a second wife.
But long in ease and pleasure did not lye,
His fons fore vext him by difloyalty.
Such as would know at large his warrs and reign,
What troubles in his house he did fuftain,
His match inceftuous, cruelties of th' Queen,
His life may read in Plutarch to be feen.
Forty three years he rul'd, then turn'd to duft,
A King nor good, nor valiant, wife nor juft.
s This and the five preceding lines are not in the first edition.
t Instead of this and the seven preceding lines, the first edition has the
His Mothers wicked counfell was the cause,
Who fooths him up, his owne defires are Lawes :
But yet for all his greatneffe, and long reign,
He must leave all, and in the pit remain;
CHUS a wicked and Rebellious fon
Succeeds in th' throne, his father being gone.
Two of his brothers in his Fathers dayes
(To his great grief) most subtilly he slayes:
And being King, commands thofe that remain,
Of brethren and of kindred to be flain.
Then raises forces, conquers Egypt land,
Which in rebellion fixty years did stand:
And in the twenty third of's cruel raign
Was by his Eunuch the proud Bagoas slain.”
Forty three years he rules, then turns to duft,
As all the mighty ones, have done, and must:
But this of him is worth the memory,
He was the Master of good Nehemie.
Reat Artaxerxes dead, Ochus fucceeds,
Of whom no Record's extant of his deeds;
Was it becaufe the Grecians now at war,
Made Writers work at home, they fought not far?
Or dealing with the Perfian, now no more
Their Acts recorded not, as heretofore?
Or elfe, perhaps the deeds of Perfian Kings
In after wars were burnt, 'mongst other things?
That three and twenty years he reign'd I finde,
The reft is but conjecture of my minde.
ARSAMES plac'd now in his fathers stead,
By him that late his father murthered.
Some write that Arfames was Ochus brother,
Inthron'd by Bagoas in the room of th' other:
But why his brother 'fore his fon fucceeds
I can no reason give, 'caufe none I read.
His brother, as tis faid, long fince was flain,
And scarce a Nephew left that now might reign:
What acts he did time hath not now left pen'd,
But moft fuppofe in him did Cyrus end,
Whofe race long time had worne the diadem,
But now's divolved to another stem.
Three years he reign'd, then drank of's fathers cup By the fame Eunuch who first fet him up."
Why Arfames his brother should succeed,
I can no reason give, cause none I read;
It may be thought, furely he had no Son,
So fell to him, which elfe it had not done:
What Acts he did, time hath not now left pend,
But as 'tis thought, in him had Cyrus end:
Whose race long time had worn the Diadem,
But now's divolved, to another Stem.
Three years he reign'd, as Chronicles expresse,
Then Natures debt he paid, quite Iffue-leffe.
ARIUS by this Bagoas fet in throne,
(Complotter with him in the murther done)
And was no fooner fetled in his reign,
But Bagoas falls to's practices again,
And the fame fauce had served him no doubt,
But that his treafon timely was found out,
And fo this wretch (a punishment too fmall)
Loft but his life for horrid treafons all.
This Codomanus now upon the stage
Was to his Predeceffors Chamber page.
Some write great Cyrus line was not yet run,
But from fome daughter this new king was fprung
If fo, or not, we cannot tell, but find
That feveral men will have their feveral mind;
Yet in fuch differences we may be bold,
With learned and judicious ftill to hold;"
And this 'mongst all's no Controverred thing,
That this Darius, was laft Perfian King,
w Darius Codomanus.
How this Darius did attain the Crown,
By favour, force, or fraud, is not fet down:
If not (as is before) of Cyrus race,
By one of thefe, he must obtain the place.
Some writers fay, that he was Arfes fon,
And that great Cyrus line, yet was not run,
That Ochus unto Arfames was father,
Which by fome probabilities (seems rather;)
Whofe Wars, and loffes we may better tell,
In Alexander's reign who did him quell,
How from the top of worlds felicity,
He fell to depth of greatest mifery.
Whofe honours, treasures, pleasures had short stay,
One deluge came and fwept them all away.
And in the fixth year of his hapless reign,
Of all did fcarce his winding Sheet retain:
And laft, a fad Catastrophe to end,
Him to the grave did Traitor Bessus send.
That fon, and father, both were murthered
By one Bagoas, an Eunuch (as is fed.)
Thus learned Pemble,* whom we may not flight,
But as before doth (well read) Raleigh write,
And he that story reads, shall often find;
That feverall men, will have their severall mind;
Yet in these differences, we may behold;
With our judicious learned Knight to hold.
The End of the Perfian Monarchy.
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