And this besought he of his consort fair, As thinking, that the rustics, which on down Pasture their flocks, or fruitful fallows till, Could ne'er contaminate her honest will.

XCIII "Her fearful husband still embracing close, Her arms about his neck Argia threw: A burst of tears her visage overflows: For from her eyes two streams their way pursue.

She grieves, he guilty should his wife suppose; As if she hath already been untrue: For his suspicion to its source she traced; That in her faith no faith Anselmo placed.

XCIV "Citing their long farewell, I should exceed.

'-- To thee at length,' he so the dame addrest, 'I recommend my honour'; -- and indeed Took leave, and on his road in earnest prest; And truly felt, on wheeling round his steed, As if his heart was issuing from his breast.

She follows him as long as she can follow With eyes whose tears her furrowed visage hollow.

XCV "Poor, pale, unshorn, and wretched (as whilere To you in former strain by me was said), Homeward meanwhile the wandering cavalier, Hoping he there should be unknown, had made.

Beside the lake that pilgrim journeyed, near The city, where he gave the serpent aid, In that thick brake besieged by village swain, Who with his staff the reptile would have slain.

XCVI "Arriving here, upon the dawn of light, For yet some stars were glimmering in the skies, Approaching him, in foreign vesture dight, Along the sh.o.r.e, a damsel he espies.

Though neither squire nor waiting wench in sight Appears, yet n.o.ble is the lady's guise.

With pleasing visage she Adonio boards, And then breaks silence in the following words.

XCVII "Albeit thou know'st me not, O cavalier I am thy kin, and greatly bound to thee: I am thy kin; for of the lineage clear Derived of haughty Cadmus' seed are we.

I am the fairy Manto, that whilere Laid the first stone of this rude villagery; And (as thou haply mayst have heard it famed) Mantua from me the rising town was named.

XCVIII " 'O' the fairies am I one: with that to show Our fatal state, and what it doth import; We to all other kinds of ill below Are subject by our natal influence, short Of death; but with immortal being such woe Is coupled, death is not of direr sort.

For every seventh day we all must take By certain law, the form of spotted snake.

XCIX " 'So sad it is that loathsome coil to fill, And p.r.o.ne, at length, upon the ground to crawl; Equal to this here is no worldly ill; So that immortal life is cursed by all.

And thou the debt I owe thee (for my will Is to inform thee of its cause withal) Shalt know as well; how on that fatal day Of change we are to countless ills a prey.

C " 'So hated as the serpent beast is none; And we that wear its evil form, alarm, Outrage, and war endure from every one: For all that see us, hunt and do us harm: Unless we can to ground for shelter run, We feel how heavy falls man's furious arm.

Happier it were to die, than languish -- broke, Battered, and crippled by the cruel stroke.

CI " 'My mighty obligation due to thee Is that, when once thou didst this greenwood thread, Thou from a rustic's fury rescuedst me, By whose ill handling was I sore bested.

But for thine aid, I should not have got free, Without a broken spine or battered head: With body crooked and crushed I should have lain, Albeit I could not by his arm be slain.

CII " 'Because thou hast to know upon the day We sprang from earth with scales of dragon dight, -- Subject to us at other times -- to obey The heavens refuse; and we are void of might: At other seasons, at our simple say The circling sun stands still, and dims its light: Fixt earth is moved, and in a circle wheels: Ice at our word takes fire, and fire congeals.

CIII " 'Now here, prepared to render thee the meed Of benefit then done to me, I stand; For now, dismantled of my dragon weed, Vainly no grace of me wilt thou demand.

Even now, thrice richer art thou by my deed, Than when thou heirdst erewhile thy father's land: Now will I that henceforth thou shalt be poor; But wealth, the more 'tis spent, augment the more:

CIV " 'And because with that ancient knot thou still, I know, art tangled, which by Love was tied, The mode and order, how thou mayst fulfil Thy wishes, shall by me be signified.

Now that her lord is absent, 'tis my will My scheme without delay by thee be tried; Go forth the lady at her farm to find, Without the town; nor will I say behind.'

CV "She her discourse continuing, 'gan advise What form he to that lady's eyes should take: I say, what vesture wear, and in what wise Should speak, how tempt her; what entreaties make: And said, how she her figure would disguise; For, save the day wherein she was a snake, Upon all others went the fairy drest In whatsoever figure pleased her best.

CVI "She in a pilgrim's habit clothed the knight, Such as from door to door our alms entreat: Into a dog she changed herself to sight; The smallest ever seen, of aspect sweet, Long hair, than ermine's fur more snowy white; And skilled withal in many a wondrous feat.

Towards Agria's villa, so transmewed, The fairy and the knight their way pursued;

CVII "And at the labourer's cabins in his round The stripling halts, before he stops elsewhere; And certain rustic reeds begins to sound; His dog is up, and dances to the air.

The dame, that hears the voice and cry rebound, Is by the rumour moved to see the pair.

Into her court she has the pilgrim brought, As Anselm's evil destiny had wrought:

CVIII "And here Adonio gives the dog command; And here by that obedient dog is shown Dance of our country and of foreign land, With paces, graces, fashions of his own; And finally he does, amid that band, With winning ways what else is to be done, With such attention of the admiring crew, None winked their eyes, their breath they scarcely drew.

CIX "Great marvel in the dame, then longing, bred That gentle dog: she one that her had nursed With no mean offer to his master sped.

-- 'If all the riches for which women thirst'

(To her emba.s.sadress in answer said The wary pilgrim) 'in my bags were pursued, There is not in that treasure what would boot To purchase of my dog one single foot':

CX "And he, the truth of his discourse to show, Into a corner took the beldam old, And bade the dog in courtesy bestow Upon that messanger a mark of gold.

The dog obeyed, and shook himself; and lo!

The treasure! which he bade her have and hold: Thereto he added, 'Thinkest thou by ought A dog so fair and useful can be bought?

CXI " 'For whatsoever I of him demand, I empty-handed never go away; Now pearl, now ring will he shake from him, and Now gift me with some rich and fair array.

Yet tell madonna he is at her command; But not for gold; for him no gold can pay; But if I for one night her arms may fill, Him may she take and do with him her will.'

CXII "So said, a gem, new-dropt, on her he prest, And bade her to the lady bear the boon.

That in the costly produce she possest Ten, twenty ducats' value deemed the crone.

She bore the message to the dame addressed, And after wrought on her till she was won To buy the beauteous dog, who might be bought By payment of a prize which costeth nought.

CXIII "Argia somewhat coy at first appears; Partly that she her faith will not forego; Partly that she believes not all she hears That beldam of the dog and pilgrim show.

The nurse insists, and dins into her ears, That seldom such a chance occurs below; And makes her fix another day to see That dog, when fewer eyes on her shall be.

CXIV "The next appearance which Adonio made Was ruin to the doctor; for the hound Doubloons, by dozens and by dozens, braid Of pearl, and costly jewels scattered round.

So that Argia's pride of heart was laid; And so much less the dame maintained her ground, When she in him, who made the proffer, viewed The Mantuan cavalier that whilom wooed.

CXV "The harlot nurse's evil oratory, The prayer and presence of the suitor lord, The occasion to acquire that mighty fee, Which wretched Anselm's absence would afford, The hope that none would her accuser be, So vanquish her chaste thoughts, she makes the accord -- Accepts the wondrous dog; and, as his pay, To her leman yields herself a willing prey.

CXVI The fruits of love long culled that cavalier With his lady fair; unto whom the fay Took such affection, whom she held so dear, That she obliged herself with her to stay.

Through all the signs the sun had travelled, ere The judge had leave to wend his homeward way.

He finally returned; but sore afraid Through what the astrologer erewhile had said.

CXVII "Arrived, his first employment is to run To that astrologer's abode, and crave, If shame and evil to his wife be done; Of if she yet her faith and honor save.

The heavens he figured; and to every one Of the seven planets its due station gave; Then to the judge replied that it had been Even as he feared, and as it was foreseen.

CXVIII "By richest presents tempted to forego Her faith, a prey was she to other wight.

This to the doctor's heart was such a blow; Nor lance, nor spear, I deem, so sorely smite.

To be more certified he wends (although He is too well a.s.sured the seer is right) To that old nurse; and, drawing her apart, To learn the truth employs his every art.

CXIX "He in wide circles doth about her wind, Hoping now here, now there, to spy some trace: But nought in the beginning can he find, With whatsoever care he sifts the case.

For she, as not unpractised in that kind, Denies, and fronts him with untroubled face; And, as well taught, above a month stands out, Holding the judge 'twixt certainty and doubt.

CXX "How blest would doubt appear, had he that wound Foreseen, which would be given by certainty!

When out of that false nurse at last he found He could not fish the truth by prayer or fee, Touching no chord but yielded a false sound, He shrewdly waits his time till there should be Discord between the beldam and his wife: For whereso women are, is stir and strife.

CXXI "And even that Anselmo waited, so Befell; since, angered by the first despite, Unsought of him, to him that nurse did go, To tell the whole; and nothing hid from sight.

How sank his heart beneath that cruel blow, 'Twere long to say; how prostrate lay his sprite.

So was the wretched judge with grief opprest, He of his wits well-nigh was dispossest;

CXXII "And finally resolved to die, so burned His rage, but first would kill the faithless dame; And he with one destructive faulchion yearned To free himself from woe and her from shame.

Stung by such blind and furious thoughts, returned Anselmo to the city, in a flame; And to the farm despatched a follower true, Charged with the bidding he was bound to do.

CXXIII "He bids the servant to the villa go, And to Argia in his name pretend, He by a fever is reduced so low, She hardly can arrive before his end.

Hence without waiting escort -- would she show Her love -- she with his man must backward wend, (Wend with him will she surely, nor delay) And bids him cut her throat upon the way.