Felismena’s arrival at Felicia’s palace-temple turns a journey undertaken with rescued nymphs into a decisive encounter: Felicia recognizes the disguised woman’s identity and longing, promises to help her attain Don Félix, and oversees her return to her natural appearance. The arrival also marks a passage from the open, grieving pastoral world into a richly ordered house where love’s promised remedy is joined to the expectation of further trials.

The Journey to Felicia’s House

At dawn, the three nymphs and their companions leave the islet where Belisa has been living in sorrow. The company has tried to console her by sharing their own troubles and loves, but conversation cannot relieve a grief that remains without remedy. Felismena, traveling in the appearance of a shepherdess, is especially attentive to Belisa, while their closeness draws the notice of the other shepherds and shepherdesses.

The nymphs guide the party through a dense wood along a narrow path on which two people cannot walk abreast. After roughly half a league, they emerge onto a wide plain between two great rivers. A lofty house rises at its center, its towers shining above the trees as if made of crystal. The journey thus moves from enclosed wilderness into an imposing, cultivated domain; Felismena reaches Felicia not alone, but in the company whose safety she has secured.

Recognition and Promise

Many nymphs come out from the palace to receive the travelers. Felicia, dressed in black satin and leaning on the arm of a particularly beautiful nymph, welcomes the three returning nymphs, who embrace her and kiss her hands. Before they can report what has happened, Felicia addresses Felismena directly. She says she already knows who the shepherdess is and where her thoughts are leading, despite having received no account from anyone.

Felicia makes her gratitude concrete: because Felismena has acted for the nymphs, Felicia is bound to remain in her service. She also understands the purpose of Felismena’s journey and offers hope that she will obtain what she desires. In private, that promise becomes specific: Felicia says Felismena can attain Don Félix as her husband, though not without first enduring further hardships. Felismena accepts the prospect of those trials in light of the hoped-for reward. The encounter changes the meaning of her arrival: she has come to a place where her concealed identity and private hope are recognized, and where assistance is offered without pretending that the path ahead will be easy.

From Shepherdess Disguise to Natural Station

Felicia instructs Felismena to put aside her shepherdess clothes for the time being. The three nymphs take her to a bathing room, where they bathe with her in a clear-water pool before dressing her again. The change is both practical and conspicuous: the rural appearance that has accompanied her journey gives way to finery that announces a different social identity.

Her new clothes include a deep-red skirt and gown embroidered with gold and pearls, a silver bodice, and gold ornaments tipped with large pearls. The nymphs bind her hair with a red ribbon and set a fine gold net over it, fastening rubies into its knots. Emeralds and sapphires adorn her hair, with three pearls hanging from each jewel; her earrings are emerald ships with crystal rigging. At her neck they place a fine-gold necklace shaped like a coiled serpent, from whose mouth hangs an eagle holding a large ruby. The elaborate eagle pendant echoes the gold eagle worn by the nymphs at their arrival, but here the change of dress makes Felismena’s transformation visible to the entire company. Those who had taken her for a shepherdess are astonished when she reappears in her natural attire.

The Palace-Temple and Its Meaning

After the change, Felicia sends the nymphs to show Felismena and her companions the house or temple. Cintia and Polidora walk beside Felismena as the group enters a grand courtyard of variegated marble, alabaster, mosaic walls, and columns supported by bronze figures of powerful animals. At its center stands a tall bronze monument bearing Mars in ancient armor. Its reliefs and figures recall celebrated conflicts and commanders, including Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, and other figures famed for military deeds.

The visit places the promise of help in a setting that is not merely domestic: Felicia’s domain joins the pastoral company’s troubles to a monumental display of history, arms, and public achievement. Yet the personal turning point remains Felismena’s passage from disguise to recognition. Felicia has not ended her hardships; she has given them a promised direction, linking the rescue of the nymphs to the hope of a future with Don Félix.