ncies." He allows his imagination to wander; fancies are
swarming in his mind, and he is no more capable of restraining or
putting them into logical order than a man can restrain or introduce
reason into a dream. Arcadia is sometimes in England and sometimes in
Greece; Basilius' cottage sometimes becomes Hampton Court; there are
temples and churches also; heroes are Christians, but they believe in
Mars; they act according to the Gospel and also according to the
oracles; they are before everything men of the Renaissance. Following
his vein, Sidney, after innumerable adventures, pastoral and warlike
scenes, disappearances, unexpected meetings, scenes of deep love, of
criminal, sweet or foolish love, comes at last to a sort of conclusion.
King Basilius drinks a soporific draught; he is given up as dead. Queen
Gynecia is accused of being the author of the deed; Zelmane, who has
been found out to be a man is adjudged an accomplice; both are about to
be executed. At that point, fortunately, the dead king springs to his
feet; there are explanations, embracings, and a general pardon. Good
Basilius, who alone seems to have understood nothing of all that
happened, asks pardon of his wife and of the world at large for his
silly love for Pyrocles-Zelmane, and proclaims, unasked, Queen Gynecia
the most virtuous woman that ever was. The Queen blushes deeply and says
nothing, but finding that the ties of her passion are now broken, she
inwardly pledges herself to live in order to justify her husband's
praise. She becomes the "example and glory of Greece: so uncertain are
mortall judgements, the same person most infamous and most famous, and
neither justly."

This might be taken as a sufficient conclusion in so loose a tale; but
in that case it would mean giving up many heroes whose fates are yet in
suspense. In fact, an "Arcadia" of this sort might be continued till
doomsday. Unless the hand of the writer grew tired, there is no reason
why it should ever end. This is, in fact, the one and only reason Sidney
puts forth as an excuse for taking his leave; he makes no pretence of
having finished, just the reverse; for when he has married his princes
he concludes thus: "But ... the strange stories of Artaxia and
Plexirtus, Erona and Plangus, Hellen and Amphialus, with the wonderful!
chances that befell them; the shepheardish loves of Menalcas with
Kalodulus daughter; the poore hopes of the poor Philisides," that is,
Sidney himself, "in the