x.x.xVII "What victory, my lord," (Sobrino cries) "Could better than thy death the Christian cheer, Whence he might hope to joy in quiet wise Fair Africa, from all annoyance clear?

Thy being yet alive this hope denies; Hence shall he evermore have cause for fear.

For well the foeman knows, save thou art gone, He for short time will fill thine Africk throne.

x.x.xVIII "Thy subjects by thy death deprived will be Of hope, the only good they have in store, Thou, if thou liv'st, I trust, shalt set us free, Redeem from trouble, and to joy restore.

Captives for ever, if thou diest, are we; Africk is tributary evermore.

Although not for thyself, yet not to give My liege, annoyance to thy followers, live.

x.x.xIX "The soldan, he thy neighbour, will be won, Surely with men and money thee to aid: By him with evil eye King Pepin's son, So strong in Africa, will be surveyed.

All efforts to restore thee to thy throne By Norandine, thy kinsman, will be made.

Turk, Persian and Armenian, Arab, Mede, If prayed, will all a.s.sist thee in thy need."

XL In such and such like words, with wary art, With hope of quickly winning back his reign, Sobrino soothed the king, while in his heart He other thought perchance did entertain.

Well knows he to what pa.s.s, what evil mart That lord is brought; how often sighs in vain, Whoe'er foregoes the sceptre which he swayed, And to barbarians hath recourse for aid.

XLI Jugurtha, martial Hannibal, and more In ancient times, good proof of this afford: In our own era, Lewis, hight the Moor, Delivered into other Lewis' ward.

Your brother, Duke Alphonso, wiser lore Learned from their fate; -- I speak to you, my lord -- Wont them as very madmen to decry, That more on others than themselves rely;

XLII And therefore aye, throughout that warfare drear Waged by the pontiff, in his fierce disdain, Albeit upon his feeble powers the peer Could ill depend, though from Italian plain Was driven the friend that aided him whilere, And by the foe possessed was Naples' reign, He against menace, against promise steeled, Ne'er to another would his dukedom yield.

XLIII Eastward King Agramant had turned his prow; And seaward steered his bark, of Africk wide; When from the land a wicked wind 'gan blow, And took the reeling vessel on one side: The master, seated at the helm, his brow Raised towards heaven, and to the monarch cried: "I see so fell and fierce a tempest form, Our pinnace cannot face the pelting storm.

XLIV "If you, my lords, will listen to my lore, An isle is on our left-hand; and to me It seems that it were well to make that sh.o.r.e Till overblown the tempest's fury be."

To his advice a.s.sents the royal Moor, And makes the larboard land, from peril free; Which, for the sailor's weal, when tempests rise, 'Twixt Vulcan's lofty forge and Africk lies.

XLV With juniper and myrtle overgrown, Of habitations is that islet bare; A pleasing solitude; and where alone Harbour wild stag and roebuck, deer and hare; And, save to fishermen, is little known, That oftentimes on the shorn brambles there Hang their moist nets; meanwhile, untroubled sleep The scaly fishes in their quiet deep.

XLVI Here other vessel, sheltered from the main, They found, by tempest tost upon that land, Which had conveyed the king of Sericane Erewhile from Arles; on one and the other hand, In reverent wise and worthy of the twain, Those valiant kings embraced upon the strand: For friends the monarchs were, and late before The walls of Paris, arms together bore.

XLVII With much displeasure Sericana's knight Heard by King Agramant his griefs displaid; Then him consoled, and in his cause to fight, Like courteous king, the kindly offer made: But brooked nat, that to Egypt's people, light And lacking faith, he should resort for aid.

"That thither it is perilous to wend, Exiles (he said) are warned by Pompey's end.

XLVIII "And for Senapus' Aethiopian crew Have come beneath Astolpho, as ye show, To wrest your fruitful Africa from you, And burnt and laid her chiefest city low.

And with their squadrons is Orlando, who Was wandering void of wit, short while ago, The fittest cure for all, whereby to scape Out of this trouble I, meseems, can shape.

XLIX "I, for your love, will undertake the quest, The Count in single combat to appear; He vainly would, I wot, with me contest, If wholly made of copper or of steel.

I rate the Christian church, were he at rest, As wolf rates lambs, when hungering for his meal.

Next have I thought how of the Nubian band -- A brief and easy task -- to free your land.

L "I will make other Nubians, they that hold Another faith, divided by Nile's course, And Arabs and Macrobians (rich in gold And men are these, and those in herds of horse), Chaldaean, Perse, and many more, controlled By my good sceptre, in such mighty force, Will make them war upon the Nubians' reign, Those reavers shall not in your land remain."

LI Grada.s.so's second offer seemed to be Most opportune to King Troyano's son; And much he blest the chances of the sea, Which him upon that desert isle had thrown: Yet would not upon any pact agree, -- Nay, not to repossess Biserta's town -- Grada.s.so should for him in fight contend; Deeming too sore his honour 'twoud offend.

LII "If Roland is to be defied, more due The battle is to me (that king replies) I am prepared for it; and let G.o.d do His will by me, in good or evil wise."

" -- Follow my mode; another mode and new, Which comes into my mind" (Grada.s.so cries), "Let both of us together wage this fight Against Orlando and another knight."

LIII "So not left out, I care not, if I be The first or last (said Agramant): I know In arms no better can I find than thee, Though I should seek a comrade, high or low, And what (Sobrino cried) becomes of me?

I should be more expert if old in show; And evermore in peril it is good, Force should have Counsel in his neighbourhood."

LIV Stricken in years, yet vigorous was the sage, And well had proved himself with sword and spear; And said, he found himself in gray old age, Such as in green and supple youth whilere.

They own his claim, and for an emba.s.sage Forthwith a courier find, then bid him steer For Africa, where camped the Christians lie, And Count Orlando on their part defy;

LV With equal number of armed knights to be, Matching his foes, on Lampedosa's sh.o.r.e; Where on all quarters that circ.u.mfluent sea, By which they are inisled, is heard to roar.

The paynim messenger unceasingly, Like one in needful haste, used sail and oar, Till he found Roland in Biserta, where The host beneath his eye their plunder share.

LVI From those three monarchs to the cavalier The invitation was in public told; So pleasing to Anglante's valiant peer, To the herald he was liberal of his gold: From his companions had he heard whilere That Durindane was in Grada.s.so's hold: Hence, to retrieve that faulchion from the foe, To India had the Count resolved to go:

LVII Deeming he should not find that king elsewhere, Who, so he heard, had sailed from the French sh.o.r.e.

A nearer place is offered now; and there He hopes Grada.s.so shall his prize restore; Moved also by Almontes' bugle rare, To accept the challenge which the herald bore; Nor less by Brigliadoro; since he knew In Agramant's possession were the two.

LVIII He chose for his companions in the fight The faithful Brandimart and Olivier: Well has he proved the one and the other's might; Knows he alike to both is pa.s.sing dear.

Good horses and good armour seeks the knight And goodly swords and lances, far and near, For him and his; meseems to you is known How none of those three warriors had his own.

LIX Orlando (as I oft have certified) In fury, his had scattered wide and far; Rodomont took the others', which beside The river, locked in that high turret are.

Few throughout Africa could they provide; As well because to France, in that long war, King Agramant had born away the best, As because Africa but few possest.

LX What could be had of armour, rusted o'er And brown with age, Orlando bids unite; Meanwhile with his companions on the sh.o.r.e, He walks, discoursing on the future fight.

So wandering from their camp three miles and more, It chanced that, turning towards the sea their sight, Under full sail approaching, they descried A helmless barque, with nought her course to guide.

LXI She, without pilot, without crew, alone, As wind and fortune ordered it, was bound: The vessel neared the sh.o.r.e, with sails full-blown, Furrowing the waves, until she took the ground.

But ere of these three warriors more be shown, The love wherewith I to the Child am bound, To his story brings me back, and bids record What past 'twixt him and Clermont's warlike lord.

LXII I spake of that good pair of warriors, who Had both retreated from the martial fray, Beholding pact and treaty broken through, And every troop and band in disarray.

Which leader to his oath was first untrue, And was occasion of such evil, they Study to learn of all the pa.s.sing train; King Agramant or the Emperor Charlemagne.

LXIII Meanwhile a servant of the Child's, at hand, -- Faithful, expert and wary was the wight, Nor in the shock of either furious band, Had ever of his warlike lord lost sight -- To bold Rogero bore his horse and brand, That he might aid his comrades now in flight.

Rogero backed the steed and grasped the sword; But not in battle mixed that martial lord.

LXIV Thence he departed; but he first renewed His compact with Montalban's knight -- that so His Agramant convinced of perjury stood -- Him and his evil sect he would forego.

That day no further feats of hardihood Rogero will perform against the foe: He but demands of all that make for Arles, Who first broke faith, King Agramant or Charles?

LXV From all he hears repeated, far and near, That Agramant had broke the promise plight: He loves that king, and from his side to veer, For this, believes would be no error light.

The Moors were broke and scattered (this whilere Has been rehea.r.s.ed) and from the giddy height Of HER revolving wheel were downward hurled, Who at her pleasure rolls this nether world.

LXVI Rogero ponders if he should remain, Or rather should his sovereign lord attend: Love for his lady fits him with a rein And bit, which lets him not to Africk wend; Wheels him, and to a counter course again Spurs him, and threats his restive mood to shend, Save he maintains the treaty, and the troth Pledged to the paladin with solemn oath.

LXVII A wakeful, stinging care, on the other side Scourges and goads no less the cavalier; Lest, if he now from Agramant divide, He should be taxed with baseness or with fear.

If many deem it well he should abide, To many and many it would ill appear: Many would say, that oaths unbinding are, Which 'tis unlawful and unjust to swear.

LXVIII He all that day and the ensuing night Remains alone, and so the following day; Forever sifting in his doubtful sprite, If it be better to depart or stay: Lastly for Agramant decides the knight; To him in Africk will he wend his way: Moved by his love for his liege-lady sore, But moved by honour and by duty more.

LXIX He made for Arles, where yet he hoped would ride The fleet which him to Africa might bear; Nor in the port nor offing ships espied, Nor Saracens save dead beheld he there.

For Agramant had swept the roadstead wide, And burnt what vessels in the haven were.

Rogero takes the road, when his hope fails, Along the sea-beat sh.o.r.e toward Ma.r.s.eilles.

LXX Upon some boat he hoped to lay his hand, Which him for love or force should thence convey.

Already Ogier's son had made the land, With the barbarians' fleet, his captive prey.

You could not there have cast a grain of sand Between those vessels; moored closely lay The mighty squadrons to that harbour brought, With conquerors these, and those with prisoners fraught.