As they king Phineus from those fowls released, And England's peer restored the Nubian's feast?"

IV Hunting those hideous birds, that cavalier Aye scared them with the bugle's horrid sound; Till at the mountain-cave his long career He closed, and ran the monstrous troop to ground: Attentive to the vent he held his ear, And in that troubled cavern heard rebound, Weeping and wailing, and eternal yell; Proof certain that its entrance led to h.e.l.l.

V Astolpho doubts if he within shall wend, And see those wretched ones expelled from day; Into the central pit of earth descend, And the infernal gulfs around survey.

"Why should I fear, that on my horn depend For certain succour?" (did the warrior say) "Satan and Pluto so will I confound, And drive before me their three-headed hound."

VI He speedily his winged horse forsook; (Him to a sapling near at hand he ties) The cavern entered next; but first he took His horn, whereon the knight in all relies.

Not far has he advanced before a smoke, Obscure and foul, offends his nose and eyes.

Ranker than pitch and sulphur is the stench, Yet not thereat does good Astolpho blench.

VII But as he more descends into that lair, So much he finds the smoke and vapour worse; And it appears he can no further fare; Nay, backward must retrace his way parforce.

Lo! something (what he knows not) he in air Espies, that seems in motion, like a corse, Upon whose wasted form long time had beat The winter's rain and summers scorching heat.

VIII In that dim cavern was so little light, -- Yea, well-nigh might be said that light was none -- Nought sees or comprehends the English knight What wavers so, above that vapour dun: For surer proof, a stroke or two would smite With his good faulchion Otho's valiant son: Then deemed that duke it was a spirit, whom He seemed to strike amid the misty gloom.

IX When him a melancholy voice addressed; "Ah! without harming other, downward wend.

Me but too sore the sable fumes molest, Which hither form the h.e.l.lish fires ascend."

Thereat the duke, amazed, his steps represt, And to the spirit cried: "So may Heaven send A respite from the vapours that exhale, As thou shalt deign to tell thy mournful tale!

X "And to be known on earth shouldst thou be fain, Thee will I satisfy." To him the sprite: So sweet it seems to me, in fame again Thus to return into the glorious light, My huge desire such favour to obtain, Forces my words from me in my despite, Constraining me to tell the things ye seek; Though 'tis annoyance and fatigue to speak.

XI "Lydia, the child of Lydia's king, am I, To proud estate and princely honours born, Condemned by righteous doom of G.o.d on high In murky smoke eternally to mourn: Because a kindly lover's constancy I, while I lived, repaid with spite and scorn.

With countless others swarm these grots below, For the same sin, condemned to the same woe.

XII "Yet lower down, harsh Anaxarete Suffers worse pain where thicker fumes arise; Heaven changed her flesh to stone, and here to be Tormented, her afflicted spirit sties: In that unmoved she, hung in air, could see A lover vest by her barbarities.

Here Daphne learns how rashly she had done In having given Apollo such a run."

XIII "Of hosts of ingrate women in this cell Confined, it would be tedious to recite, If, one by one, I upon these should dwell; So many, their amount is infinite.

'Twould be more tedious of the men to tell, Whose base ingrat.i.tude due pains requite; And whom, in a more dismal prison pent, Smoke blinds, and everlasting fires torment.

XIV "Since to belief soft woman is more p.r.o.ne, He that deceives her, merits heavier pain; To Theseus and to Jason this is known, And him that vexed of old the Latian reign, And him that of his brother Absalon Erewhile provoked the pestilent disdain, Because of Thamar; countless is the horde Of those who left a wife or wedded lord.

XV "But, rather of my state than theirs to shew, And sin which brought me hither: -- I was fair, But so much haughtier was than fair of hue, I know not if I ever equalled were: Nor which was most excessive of the two, My pride of beauty, could to thee declare.

Though it is certain, Pride but took its rise In that rare loveliness which pleased all eyes.

XVI "There lived a Thracian knight, for warlike skill And prowess, upon earth without a peer; Who, voiced by many a worthy witness still, The praises of my matchless charms did hear.

So that, of forethought and his own free will, Fixed all his love on me that cavalier; Weening this wife that I, upon my part, Should for his valour duly prize his heart.

XVII "He came to Lydia, and by faster tie Was fettered at my sight; and there enrolled Amid my royal father's chivalry, In mickle fame increased that baron bold.

His feats of many a sort, and valour high Would make a tale too tedious to be told; With what his boundless merit had deserved, If a more grateful master he had served.

XVIII "Pamphylia, Caria, and Cilicia's reign, Through him, my father brought beneath his sway, Who never moved a-field his martial train, But when that warrior pointed out the way: He, when he deemed he had deserved such gain, Pressed close the Lydian king, upon a day, And craved me from the monarch as his wife, As meed of all that booty made in strife.

XIX "Rejected of the monarch was the peer, Who was resolved his child should highly wed; Not him who was a simple cavalier; Who, saving valour, was with nought bested.

For on my father, bent on gain and gear And avarice, of all vice the fountain-head, Manners and merit for as little pa.s.s, As the lute's music on the lumpish a.s.s.

XX "Alcestes, he of whom I speak (so hight That warrior), when he sees his suit denied, Repulsed by one, by whom he had most right To think that he should most be gratified, Craves his discharge, and threatens he this slight Will make the Lydian monarch dear abide.

The Armenian, an old rival of my sire, And mortal for, he sought with this desire;

XXI "And so the monarch urged, he made him rear His banner, and attack my sire; and, through His famous feats, that Thracian cavalier Was named the captain of the invading crew.

For the Armenian sovereign, far and near, All things (so said the knight) he would subdue; But claiming as his share, when all was won, My sovereign beauties for the service done.

XXII "I ill to you the mischief could express Alcestes did us in that war; o'erthrown By him four armies were, and he in less Than one short twelvemonth left us neither town, Not tower, save one, where cliffs forbade access: 'Twas here my sire, amid those of his own Whom most he loved, took refuge, in his need, With all the wealth he could collect with speed.

XXIII "Us in this fortilage the knight attacked, And shortly to such desperation drave, That gladly would the king have made a pact, To yield me for his consort, yea his slave, With half our realm, if certain by that act Himself from every other loss to save; Right sure he otherwise should forfeit all, And, after, die in bonds, a captive thrall.

XXIV "Before this happened, to try every way Of remedy the Lydian king was bent; And thither, where Alcestes' army lay, Me, the first cause of all the mischief, sent.

To yield my person to him as a prey I with intention to Alcestes went; To bid him take what portion of our reign He pleased, and pacify his fierce disdain.

XXV "When of my coming that good knight does know, Me he encounters pale and trembling sore: 'Twould seem a vanquished man's a prisoner's brow, He, rather than a victor's semblance, bore.

I who perceive he loves, address not now The warrior as I was resolved before.

My vantage I descry, and shift my ground, To fit the state wherein that knight was found.

XXVI "To curse the warrior's pa.s.sion I begun, And of his crying cruelty complained, Since foully by my father had he done, And me would have by violence constrained; Who with more grace my person would have won, Nor waited many days, had he maintained His course of courtship, as begun whilere.

To king and all of us so pa.s.sing dear;

XXVII "And if the honest suit he hoped to gain Had been at first rejected by my sire, 'Twas, he was somedeal of a churlish vein, Nor ever yielded to a first desire; He should not therefore, restive to the rein, Have left his goodly task, so prompt to ire; Sure, pa.s.sing aye from good to better deed, In little time to win the wished-for meed;

XXVIII "And if my father would not have been won, To him I would so earnestly have prayed, That he my lover should have made his son; Nay, had my royal sire my suit gainsayed, For him in secret that I would have done, Wherewith he should have deemed himself appaid: But since, it seemed, he other means designed, Never to love him had I fixed my mind;

XXIX "And, though I sought him, at my father's hest, And pious love for him had been my guide, He might be sure, not long should be possest The bliss that I, in my despite, supplied; For the red blood should issue from my breast As soon as his ill will was satisfied On this my wretched person, which alone He so by brutal force should make his own.

x.x.x "With these, and words like these, I moved the peer, When I such puissance in myself espied; And him so contrite made, in desert drear, Was never seen a saint more mortified.

Before my feet the doleful cavalier Fell down, and s.n.a.t.c.hed a poniard from his side; Which, he protested, I parforce should take, And for so foul a sin my vengeance slake.

x.x.xI "To push my mighty victory to an end I scheme, when him I see in such distress, And give him hopes he may even yet pretend That I deservedly his love should bless, If he his ancient error will amend, Will of his realm my father repossess, And will in future time deserve my charms By love and service, not by force of arms.

x.x.xII "So promised he to do; and set me free, And let me, as I came, untouched, depart; Nor even to kiss my lips he ventured; see If he is yoked securely, if his heart Love has well touched with the desire of me, If he for him need feather other dart!

He seeks the Armenian, why by pact should take Whatever spoil the conquering armies make;

x.x.xIII "And him, as best he might, would fain persuade To leave to Lydia's monarch his domain, Upon whose wasted lands his host had preyed, And rest content with his Armenian reign.

-- He would not hear of this (the monarch said, With cheers with fury swolen) nor would refrain From pressing Lydia's king with armed band, So long as he possessed a palm of land;

x.x.xIV "And if the knight, when a vile woman sues, His purpose shift, let him the evil bear: He will not, for the warrior's asking, lose What he has hardly conquered in a year.

Alcestes to the king his suit renews, And next complains, that he rejects his prayer.

At length the Thracian fires, and threatens high, By love or force the monarch shall comply.

x.x.xV "So kindling anger waxed between the two, It urged them from ill words to worser deed: Upon the king his sword Alcestes drew; Though thousands aid the monarch in his need, And, in despite of all, their sovereign slew; And made that day as well the Armenian bleed, Backed by the Thracians' and Cilicians' aid And other followers, by the warrior paid.

x.x.xVI "His conquest he pursued, and, at his cost, Without expense to us, in less than one Short month, the kingdom by my father lost Restored; and, to repair the mischief done, (Beside spoil given) he conquered with his host, -- Taxing or taking what his arms had won -- Armenia and Cappadocia which confine; And scowered Hyrcania to the distant brine.

x.x.xVII "Him not to greet with triumphs, but to slay, Returning from that warfare, we intend; But, fearing failure, our design delay In that we find too many him befriend.

Feeding him aye with hope from day to day, I for the Thracian warrior love pretend: But first declare my will that he oppose And prove his valour on our other foes;

x.x.xVIII "And him, now sole, now ill accompanied, On strange and perilous emprize I speed; Wherein a thousand knights might well have died; But all things happily with him succeed: For Victory was ever on his side; And oft with horrid foes of monstrous breed, With Giants and with Lestrigons, who brought Damage in our domains, the warrior fought.

x.x.xIX Nor Juno, nor Eurystheus, in such chase Ever renowned Alcides vext so sore, In Erymanth, Nemaea, Lerna, Thrace, Aetolia, Africa, by Tyber's sh.o.r.e, By Ebro's sunny bank, or other place, As (hiding murderous hate, while I implore) I exercise my lover still in strife, With the same fell design upon his life.

XL "Unable to achieve my first intent, I on a scheme of no less mischief fall: Through me, all deemed his friends by him are shent, Who thus bring down on him the hate of all.