XCVIII Guido the savage, as he spake, was nigh With Richardetto; and the warlike twain Brandished alike their trenchant swords on high, To teach more wit to him of Sericane: But them Rinaldo stopt with sudden cry, Nor brooked that he should injury sustain.

"Am I too weak," (he cried,) "without your aid, To answer him that dares my deeds upbraid?"

XCIX Then to the pagan thus: "Grada.s.so hear, And wilt thou listen, thou shalt understand, And I will prove it manifest and clear, I came to seek thee out upon the strand; And afterwards on thee will made appear The truth of all I say with arms in hand; Know then thou liest, if e'er with slanderous speech Thou taxest me with aught in knighthood's breach.

C "But warmly I beseech thee, that before The battle be, thou fully comprehend My just excuses, that thou may'st no more Me for my failure wrongly reprehend: Next for Baiardo, as agreed of yore, 'Tis my desire that we afoot contend; Even as ordained by thee, in desert place, Alone in knightly duel, face to face."

CI Courteous was Sericana's cavalier, (For generous bosoms aye such practise use) And is content to listen to the peer, How he his breach of promise will excuse.

With him he seeks the river side, and here In simple words what chanced Rinaldo shews; Form the true history removes the veil, And cites all Heaven to witness to his tale.

CII Next calls upon the son of Buovo, who Is of that history informed aright; And now, from point to point, relates anew (Nor more nor less rehea.r.s.ed) the magic sleight.

When thus Rinaldo: "What I warrant true By witness, I with arms in single fight, For better proof, will vouch upon thy crest, Both now and ever, as it likes thee best."

CIII The king of Sericane, as loath to leave The second quarrel for the former breach, Though doubtful how that tale he should receive, Takes in good part the bold Rinaldo's speech.

Not, as upon the former battle's eve, They choose their ground on Barcellona's beach: But on the morn ensuing, and, fast by A neighbouring fountain, will the question try.

CIV Thither Rinaldo will the steed convey, There to be placed in common, 'twixt the two.

If good Grada.s.so take his foe or slay, He wins Baiardo without more ado.

But if Grada.s.so fails in that affray, -- Should he be slain, or else for mercy sue, A prisoner to Mount Alban's valiant lord, Rinaldo shall possess the virtuous sword.

CV With mighty marvel and with greater pain, The paladin from Flordelice (as shown) Had heard how troubled was his cousin's brain.

And from the damsel's lips as well had known How he his arms had scattered on the plain; And heard the quarrel which from thence had grown; In fine, how King Grada.s.so had the brand, Which won such thousand palms in Roland's hand.

CVI When they so agreed, Grada.s.so made Thither where, camped apart, his servants lay, Albeit warmly by Rinaldo prayed, He would with him in his pavillion stay.

The paynim king in armour was arrayed, And so the paladin, by break of day; And to the destined fount came either lord, The field of combat for the horse and sword.

CVII It seemed Rinaldo's friends were all in fear, And dreaded much, before it was begun, The issue of the fight their cavalier Should wage against Grada.s.so, one to one.

Much force, much daring, and much skill appear In that fierce king; and since of Milo's son The goodly sword was to his girdle tied, All cheeks looked pale upon Rinaldo's side;

CVIII And Malagigi, more than all the rest, Sore doubted the event which would ensue, He willingly himself would have addrest To disappoint the destined fight anew; But fears if he that deadly strife arrest, Rinaldo's utter enmity to rue, Yet wroth with him upon that other score, When he conveyed the warrior from the sh.o.r.e.

CIX Let others nourish idle grief and fears!

Rinaldo wends afield secure and gay, Hoping that shame, which to the knight appears Too foul to be endured, to wipe away: So that of Altafoglia and Poictiers, He may for ever silence the mis-say.

Boldly, and in his heart secure to win That battle's honour, wends the paladin.

CX When now from either side those warriors meet, Nigh at the same time at the fountain-side, So in all points the pair each other greet, With countenance, so kind, so satisfied, 'Twould seem by kindred and by friendship sweet Rinaldo and Grada.s.so were allied.

But how they after closed in fierce affray, I till another season shall delay.

CANTO 32

ARGUMENT To her that does for her Rogero stay, Tidings are brought which irk the damsel sore, That fair Marphisa caused the youth's delay; She bent to slay her, grieving evermore, Departs, and overtakes, upon the way, Ullania with the three kings who rode before.

These she o'ercomes, and had o'ercome that maid, But that an evil law she disobeyed.

I I recollect that I was bound to sing (I promised so, but it escaped my mind) Of a suspicion, fraught with suffering To Bradamant of more displeasing kind, And made by keener and more venomed sting Than caused that other wound, wherewith she pined, Which, hearing Richardet his news impart, Had pierced her breast and preyed upon her heart.

II So was I bound to sing, but I begun Another song, Rinaldo crossed my way, And then those deeds by savage Guido done, Kept me employed and caused no small delay; And so from subject I to subject run, That I forgot of Bradamant to say.

I now remember, and will tell you, ere You of Rinaldo or Grada.s.so hear.

III But it behoves, ere more of these be said, I should awhile of Agramant discourse, Who had from that night's raging fire conveyed To Arles, the remnant of his scattered force: Since to unite his troops, and furnish aid And victual, 'twas a place of much resource, Seated upon a river, nigh the sh.o.r.e, With Spain in front and Africa before.

IV With horse and foot, of good or evil sort, Marsilius throughout Spain their loss repairs; And each armed back in Barcellona's port, Furnished through love or fear, for sea prepares.

The Moor to council daily calls his court; Nor care nor cost the watchful monarch spares: Meanwhile sore taxes and repeated cess, All Africa's o'erburdened towns oppress.

V He offers Rodomont, if to his side He will return, but offers him in vain, Renowned Almontes' daughter, as a bride; His cousin she, her portion Oran's reign.

He lures not from his bridge that knight of pride, Who has so many sells, such plate and chain Collected there, from cavaliers o'erthrown, As serve to hide the monumental stone.

VI Marphisa would not such a course pursue: Nay, the redoubted damsel hearing said That Agramant, subdued by Charles's crew, -- His choicest warriors taken, chased, or dead -- In Arles was sheltered with his broken few, Thither, unbidden by the monarch, sped, Prompt to a.s.sist him with her friendly blade; And proffered purse and person in his aid.

VII As a free gift to him the martial fair Brunello bore, nor had she done him wrong.

He, for ten days and nights, to swing in air, Had sorely feared, from lofty gallows hung: But seeing him unhelped by force or prayer Of any one amid the paynim throng, She thought foul scorn to stain her generous hands With such base blood, and loosed the losel's bands.

VIII She pardoned every ancient injury, And him to Agramant in Arles conveyed.

Well may you fancy with what joy and glee The monarch greeted her who brought him aid; He in Brunello's fate wills all shall see In what esteem he holds that warlike maid; For he in earnest does upon her foe What fierce Marphisa menaced but in show.

IX The hangman hung his corpse in desert field, The craving vulture and the crow to feed.

Rogero, that erewhile had been his shield, And from the noose that caitiff would have freed, Heaven's justice willed, now lay with wound unhealed, Nor could a.s.sist the craven in his need; And when the news were known, the knot was tied; So that Brunello, una.s.sisted, died.

X This while does good duke Aymon's daughter mourn, Because those twenty days so slowly trail: -- Which term elapsed -- Rogero should return, And be received into her church's pale.

Time halts not more with him to foreign bourne Exiled, with prisoner pent in noisome jail, Pines the poor wretch for liberty and light, Or his loved land, desired and gladsome sight!

XI Aye sick with hope deferred, the expecting maid, That Phoebus' steeds were foundered one while deemed; Then that his wheels were out of frame, so stayed, Beyond the wonted term, his chariot seemed.

Yet longer than that day when Faith delayed The sun, which on the righteous Hebrew beamed, Or than that night Alcides was conceived, She every day and every night believed.

XII How oft of dormouse, badger, or of bear, The heavy slumber would she fain partake!

For she that time in sleep would waste and wear; Nor such prolonged repose desired to break; Nor wished the damsel any sound to hear, Until Rogero's voice should her awake: But not alone is this beyond her power; She cannot close her eyes one single hour.

XIII She here and there, throughout the livelong night, Tosses and turns, nor ever finds repose; And still, impatient for the dawn of light, From time to time she to her window goes, To see if t.i.thon's spouse the lily white Yet scatters mingled with the crimson rose.

Nor less desires the damsel, when 'tis morn, To see the golden stars the heaven adorn.

XIV When, saving some four days, the term was ended, Appointed for the youthful warrior's stay, She, full of hope, the messenger attended From hour to hour, that should arrive, and say, "Behold Rogero comes"; and oft ascended A turret, from whose top she might survey Gay champaign, wood, and, mid the wide expanse, A portion of the road, that led to France.

XV When shining arms at distance she perceives, Or any thing that speaks a cavalier, 'Tis her desired Rogero, she believes; And her fair eyes and brows are seen to clear.

If footman, or unarmed, the maid conceives, It is a courier from the youthful peer; And, though fallacious every hope she feeds, Another and another aye succeeds.

XVI And then she arms, and will the warrior meet; And from the hill descends into the plain: She finds him not, and to Montalban's seat Hopes he by other road his way has ta'en.

In the design, wherewith she moved her feet From thence, she to her fort returns in vain; Nor finds him here nor there; meanwhile expired The period whose approach she so desired.

XVII -- The period so prefixt o'erpast by one, By two, three, six, by eight, by twenty days -- She seeing not her spouse, and tidings none Receiving of the youth, laments 'gan raise, Which had from snake-haired Furies pity won, In those dark realms that Rhadamanthus sways.

She smote her eyes divine, and bosoms fair; She rent the tresses of her golden hair.

XVIII "Can it be true?" -- (she cried) -- "Shall I be fain To follow one, that strives to hide and fly?

Esteem a man that has me in disdain?

Pray him that never hears my suppliant cry?

Suffer who hates me o'er my heart to reign?

One that his lofty virtues holds so high, 'Twere need some heaven-born G.o.ddess should descend From realms above, his stubborn heart to bend?

XIX "Proud youth! he knows my worship and my love, Nor me will have for lover or for slave.