Hence searching every where, themselves they tire With labour sore, and frustrate of their end; And cannot, (so Desire and Hope deceive), Without the missing good, that palace leave.

LI "As soon as thou (pursued the dame) art near The place where he has built the magic seat, Resembling thy Rogero in his cheer And every look, Atlantes thee shall meet, And make himself by his ill art appear As suffering from some stronger arm defeat; That thou may'st aid him in the peril feigned, And thus among those others be detained.

LII "To the end thou may'st escape his ambush, where So many and so many, thus betrayed, Have fallen; though he Rogero seem, beware To lend him faith, who will demand thine aid: Nor, when the sage presents himself, forbear To take his worthless life with lifted blade.

Nor think to slay Rogero with the blow, But him who works thee still such cruel woe.

LIII "Hard will it seem to slay, full well I know, The wight, in whom Rogero you descry: But, for truth is not in the lying show, Trust not to sight where magic blears the eye.

Fix, ere with me you to the forest go, To change not when the traitorous foe is nigh: For never shall with you Rogero wive, If weakly you the wizard leave alive."

LIV The valorous maid with the intent to slay The false enchanter, on her plan decides, s.n.a.t.c.hes her arms, and follows on her way Melissa sage, in whom she so confides, And thus, by fruitful field or forest gray, Her by forced journeys that enchantress guides; And studies to beguile their weary course Ever, as best she may, with sweet discourse:

LV And as the fairest topic of all those Which might be grateful to the damsel's ear, Her future offspring and Rogero's chose (A race of demiG.o.ds) in prince and peer.

For as Melissa all the secrets knows Of the eternal G.o.ds who rule our sphere, The good enchantress can discover all Which should in many ages hence befall.

LVI "Oh! my best guide." exclaimed the damsel bold To the weird-woman that to aid her came, "As thou hast many years before foretold Men who shall glorify my race and name, So now I pray thee, lady, to unfold The praise and virtues of some n.o.ble dame, If from my lineage any such shall rise."

To whom Melissa courteously replies:

LVII "Chaste dames of thee descended I survey, Mothers of those who wear imperial crown, And mighty kings; the column and the stay Of glorious realms and houses of renown.

And as thy sons will shine in arms, so they Will no less fame deserve in female gown, With piety and sovereign prudence graced, And n.o.ble hearts, incomparably chaste.

LVIII "And if at length, I should relate to thee The praise of all who from thy root ascend, Too long my tale would hold, nor do I see Whom I could pa.s.s, where all to fame pretend.

But from a thousand I some two or three Will choose, because my tale may have an end.

Why was not in the cave thy wish made known, Where I their shadows might as well have shown?

LIX "To hear of one of thy famed race prepare, Whom liberal studies and good works engage; Of whom, I know not well, if she more fair May be ent.i.tled, or more chaste and sage; The n.o.ble-minded Isabel, who, where It stands on Mincius' bank, in other age Shall gild the town, of Ocnus' mother hight, With her own glorious rays by day and night;

LX "Where, with her worthiest consort she will strain, In honoured and in splendid rivalry, Which best shall prize the virtues' goodly train, And widest ope the gates to courtesy.

If he by Taro, and in Naples' reign, ('Tis said), from Gauls delivered Italy, 'Twill be replied. Penelope the chaste, As such, was not beneath Ulysses placed.

LXI "Great things and many thus I sum in few Of this brave dame, and others leave behind: Which when I from the vulgar herd withdrew, Sage Merlin from the hollow stone divined.

For I should leave old Typhis out of view, If on such sea I launched before the wind: And with this finish my prophetic strain, -- All blessings on her head the skies will rain.

LXII "With her shall be her sister Beatrice, Whose fortunes well shall with her name accord; Who, while she lives, not only shall not miss What good the heavens to those below afford, But make, with her, partaker of her bliss, First among wealthy dukes, her cherished lord; Who shall, when she from hence receives her call, Into the lowest depth of misery fall.

LXIII "Viscontis' serpents will be held in dread, And Moro and Sforza, while this dame shall be, From Hyperborean snows to billows red; From Ind to hills, which to a double sea Afford a pa.s.sage; and, the lady dead, To the sore mischief of all Italy, Will with the Insubri into slavery fall; And men shall sovereign wisdom fortune call.

LXIV "Other the same ill.u.s.trious name will bear, And who will flourish many years before.

Pannonia's garland one of these shall wear.

Another matron on the Ausonian sh.o.r.e, When she shall be released from earthly care, Men will among the blessed saints adore; With incense will approach the dame divine, And hang with votive images her shrine.

LXV "The others I shall pa.s.s in silence by, For 'twere too much (as said before) to sound Their fame: though each might well deserve, that high Heroic trump should in her praise be wound.

Hence the Biancas and Lucretias I And Constances and more reserve; who found, Or else repair, upon Italian land, Ill.u.s.trious houses with supporting hand.

LXVI "Thy race, which shall all else in this excel, In the rare fortune of its women thrives; Nor of its daughters' honour more I tell Than of the lofty virtue of its wives: And that thou may'st take note of this as well, Which Merlin said of thy descendents' lives, (Haply that I the story might narrate) This I no little covet to relate.

LXVII "Of good Richarda first shall be my strain, Mirror of chast.i.ty and fort.i.tude, Who, young, remains a widow, in disdain Of fortune: (that which oft awaits the good) Exiles, and cheated of their father's reign, She shall behold the children of her blood Wandering into the clutches of their foe; Yet find at last a quittance for her woe.

LXVIII "Nor sprung from the ancient root of Aragon, I of the gorgeous queen will silent be; Than whom more prudent or more chaste is none, Renowned in Greek or Latin history; Nor who so fortunate a course will run, After that, by divine election, she Shall with the goodly race of princes swell, Alphonso, Hyppolite, and Isabel.

LXIX "The prudent Eleanour is this: a spray Which will be grafted on thy happy tree.

What of the fruitful stepchild shall I say, Who in succession next to her I see, Lucretia Borgia? who, from day to day, Shall wax in beauty, virtue, chast.i.ty, And fortune, that like youthful plant will shoot, Which into yielding soil has struck its root.

LXX "As tin by silver, bra.s.s by gold, as Corn- Poppy beside the deeply-crimsoning rose, Willow by laurel evergreen, as shorn Of light, stained gla.s.s by gem that richly glows, -- So by this dame I honour yet unborn, Each hitherto distinguished matron shows; For beauty and for prudence claiming place, And all praise-worthy excellence and grace.

LXXI "And above every other n.o.ble praise, Which shall distinguished her alive or dead, Is that by her shall be, through kingly ways, Her Hercules and other children led; Who thus the seeds of worth in early days, To bloom in council and in camp, will shed.

For long wine's savour lingers in the wood Of the new vessel, whether bad or good.

LXXII "Nor the step-daughter of this n.o.ble dame, Will I, Renata, hight of France, forget, Of Louis born, twelfth monarch of his name, And Bretagne's pride; all virtues ever yet Bestowed on woman, since the ruddy flame Has warmed, or water had the power to wet, Or overhead the circling heavens have rolled, United in Renata I behold.

LXXIII " 'Twere long to tell of Alda de Sansogna, Or of Celano's countess in this string, Or Blanche Maria, stiled of Catalonia; Or her, the daughter of Sicilia's king, Or of the beauteous Lippa de Bologna, Or more, with whose renown the world shall ring, To speak whose separate praise with fitting lore, Were to attempt a sea without a sh.o.r.e."

LXXIV When of the larger portion of her seed The king enchantress at full ease had told, And oft and oft rehea.r.s.ed, amid the rede, What arts Rogero to the wizard's hold Had drawn, Melissa halted near the mead Where stood the mansion of Atlantes old, Nor would approach the magic dome more nigh, Lest her the false magician should espy.

LXXV And yet again advised the martial maid, (Counsel she had a thousand times bestowed) Then left, Nor Bradamant through greenwood shade More than two miles in narrow path had rode, Before, by two fierce giants overlaid, She saw a knight, who like Rogero showed, So closely pressed, and labouring sore for breath, That he appeared well nigh reduced to death.

LXXVI When she beheld him in such perilous strait, Who of Rogero all the tokens wore, She quickly lost the faith she nourished late, Quickly her every fair design forbore.

She weens Melissa bears Rogero hate, For some new injury unheard before: And with unheard of hate and wrong, her foe Would by her hand destroy who loves him so.

LXXVII She cried, "And is not this Rogero, who Aye present to my heart, is now to sight?

If 'tis not him whom I agnize and view.

Whom e'er shall I agnize or view aright?

Why should I other's judgment deem more true Than the belief that's warranted by sight?

Even without eyes, and by my heart alone, If he were near or distant, would be shown."

LXXVIII While so the damsel thinks, a voice she hears, Which, like Rogero's, seems for aid to cry; At the same time, the worsted knight appears To slack the bridle and the rowels ply: While at full speed the goaded courser clears His ground, pursued by either enemy.

Nor paused the dame, in following them who sought His life, till to the enchanted palace brought.

LXXIX Of which no sooner has she past the door, Than she is cheated by the common show.

Each crooked way or straight her feet explore Within it and without, above, below; Nor rests she night or day, so strong the lore Of the enchanter, who has ordered so, She (though they still encounter and confer) Knows not Rogero, nor Rogero her.

Lx.x.x But leave we Bradamant, nor grieve, O ye Who hear, that she is prisoned by the spell, Since her in fitting time I shall set free, And good Rogero, from the dome as well, As taste is quickened by variety, So it appears that, in the things I tell, The wider here and there my story ranges, It will be found less tedious for its changes.

Lx.x.xI Meseems that I have many threads to clear In the great web I labour evermore; And therefore be ye not displeased to hear How, all dislodged, the squadrons of the Moor, Threatening the golden lines loud, appear In arms, the royal Agramant before: Who bids for a review his army post, Willing to know the numbers of his host.

Lx.x.xII For besides horse and foot, in the campaign Sore thinned, whose numbers were to be supplied, Had many captains, and those good, of Spain, Of Libya, and of Aethiopia, died; And thus the nations, and the various train, Wandered without a ruler or a guide.

To give to each its head and order due, The ample camp is mustered in review.

Lx.x.xIII To fill the squadrons ravaged by the sword, In those fierce battles and those conflicts dread, This to his Spain, to his Africa that lord, Sent to recruit, where well their files they fed; And next distributed the paynim horde Under their proper captains, ranged and led.

I, with your leave, till other strain, delay The order of the muster to display.

CANTO 14

ARGUMENT Two squadrons lack of those which muster under King Agramant, by single Roland slain; Hence furious Mandricardo, full of wonder And envy, seeks the count by hill and plain: Next joys himself with Doralice; such plunder, Aided by heaven, his valiant arms obtain.

Rinaldo comes, with the angel-guide before, To Paris, now a.s.saulted by the Moor.

I In many a fierce a.s.sault and conflict dread, 'Twixt Spain and Afric and their Gallic foe, Countless had been the slain, whose bodies fed The ravening eagle, wolf, and greedy crow; But though the Franks had worse in warfare sped, Forced all the champaigne country to forego, This had the paynims purchased at the cost Of more good princes and bold barons lost.