Jerusalem Delivered: An English Prose Version 9780814318300, 0814318304

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Jerusalem Delivered

The angel Michael shows Godfrey the winged militia of Heaven assisting the Crusaders (18.92). An engraving by Bernardo Castello in a 1617 Genoese edition of the poem, in the Purdy Library, Wayne State University.

Jerusalem Delivered TORQUATO

TASSO

An English Prose Version Translated and, Edited by Ralph Nash

w Wayne State University Press DETROIT

Copyright© 1987 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.

ISBN-I3: 978-0-8143-1830-0

ISBN-io: 0-8143-1830-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tasso, Torquato, 1544—1595. Jerusalem delivered. Translation of: Gerusalemme liberata. Bibliography: p. Includes index. i. Godfrey, of Bouillon, ca. 1060—HOO—Poetry. 2. Crusades, First, 1096-1099—Poetry. I. Nash, Ralph, 1925II. Title. PQ4642.E2lNj7 1987 851'.4 86-32607 ISBN: 0-8143-1829-0 ISBN 0-8143-1830-4 (pbk.)

Contents Chronology of the Life of Tasso vii Introduction ix Jerusalem Delivered i The Allegory of the Poem 469 Glossary of Names and Places 475 Bibliography of Books Cited 497 Index of Characters in the Poem 501

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Chronology of the Life of Tasso NOTE : For biographical details, see C. P. Brand, Torquato Tasso: A Study of the Poet and of his Contribution to English Literature (Cambridge, 1965).

1544 1554 1556 1560 1562 1565 1569 1572 1573 1575 1579 1581 1586 1593 1595

Birth, March n, Sorrento, near Naples Arrival in Rome to join his exiled father, Bernardo Death of his mother, Porzia, in Naples Enrollment at University of Padua to study law Publication of Rinaldo Completion of studies at Padua, without degree. Arrival at Ferrara to enter service of Cardinal Luigi d'Este Death of Bernardo Tasso Shift of patrons, from Cardinal Luigi to Duke Alfonso d'Este Composition and successful performance of the pastoral drama UAminta (pirated publication, 1581) Draft of Gerusalemme Liberate completed and sent to various friends for criticism. Unauthorized departure from Ferrara to Rome Confinement as madman in Hospital of St. Anna, Ferrara Appearance of the first complete (unauthorized) editions of the Liberata, with huge success Release from St. Anna; various wanderings in search of patronage Publication of the drastically revised Liberata, under the title Gerusalemme Conquistata Death of Tasso, April 25, Rome

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Introduction I. Tassa's Choice and Treatment of His Subject From approximately 1560, when he was sixteen, until his publication of Gerusaletnme Conquistata in 1593, at the age of forty-nine, Torquato Tasso was, if not constantly, at least intermittently at work on some form of rhymed stanzaic poem celebrating the First Crusade. This persistent effort over a third of a century produced, in this genre alone, three distinct poems (Rinaldo, 1562; Gerusalemme Libemta, 1581; Gerusalemme Conquistata, 1593); they total well over forty thousand printed lines—plus innumerable discarded phrases, lines, and stanzas. The Libemta has rightly been judged the chief product of all this labor, but it is pertinent to remember that Tasso never achieved a version of the Libemta that fully satisfied him. Indeed, one concludes that the poet never quite decided what ideal form he wanted the Liberata to embody. Hence the submission of his manuscript to his friends for their criticism, the wrangling in the Letters over questions of structure and decorum, the dissatisfaction with all printed versions, the incessant stylistic revisions—and ultimately the decision to reconstruct the poem into the Conquistata. Yet in all this welter of poetic activity three basic intentions are always visible. The poet wants his poem to rival the Orlando Furioso. He wants it to imitate "the ancients"—especially the literary theory of the Poetics, and the poetic practice of the Iliad and the Aeneid. And he wants it firmly grounded on the truth of history and on true religion. The consequences of these three intentions are everywhere visible in the Liberata as it stands—and some tensions and contradictions between those intentions go far toward explaining the poet's incessant revisions and continuing dissatisfactions. However, in a brief introduction, we must be unlike Tasso and content ourselves with the Liberata as it stands.

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I. RELATION TO ARIOSTO

It is symptomatic that Bernard Weinberg, in his history of sixteenth-century Italian criticism, is able to organize the entire second part around a series of literary quarrels, the chief of which, according to Weinberg, is the Ariosto-Tasso quarrel.1 Literary polemics make tedious reading for posterity, and the Ariosto-Tasso quarrel is replete with faults that have plagued the academic world from the Alexandrian age to our own: ill-founded pride and well-founded envy, the point-scoring techniques of the debating society, excessive trust in theory combined with mistrust of the taste of the reading public, positions taken chiefly in advancement of personal careers, and sundry associated ills. These factors frequently obscure the drift of the argument, but with Professor Weinberg's aid we can see that the AriostoTasso quarrel eventually polarizes into The Learned Tasso vs. The Native Genius Ariosto, and thence, more broadly speaking, into a quarrel of Ancients vs. Moderns. Tasso himself made important contributions to the literature of this controversy.1 Naturally he emphasizes the ways in which he thinks the Liberata is closer to ancient precept and example, and thereby superior to the Furioso—chiefly in its less exuberant fancy (which he calls its greater verisimilitude) and in its more obviously disciplined plot structure (which he calls its unity of action). These are indeed ways in which the Liberata differs significantly and consciously from the Furioso. But the atmosphere of controversy and mutual denigrations surrounding this literary quarrel should not obscure from the modern reader the fundamental truth that Tasso is resolved, first of all, to write a poem like Ariosto's, with knights and ladies and their loves, complicated with episodes that lend a pleasing variety and, very often, an aura of the "marvellous."' The Furioso, extant less than fifty years when Tasso began the Liberata, naturally could not claim the reverence due the Iliad and Aeneid, but it is hardly too much to say that Tasso intends to imitate Ariosto. Hence, for readers acquainted with the Furioso, one of the pleasures of reading Gerusalemme Liberata is to savor the skill of this imitation. For those unfamiliar with Ariosto, some obvious set passages are available— for example, the Garden of Armida (15.53-16.35) and its precedent in Ariosto's Garden of Alcina (O.F. 6.19-7.33); or the flight of Erminia (6.109—7.4) and such Ariostian passages as the flight of Angelica in O.F. 1.33—44. But I choose for illustration a passage in which Tasso less clearly parallels an explicit action in the Furioso—that is, Armida's first appearance in the Christian camp, in Canto Four. Characteristically, Tasso makes clear

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at the outset where the reader's sympathies should lie. Armida is a pagan, acting on instructions from her uncle and guardian, whose plans are inspired by a "wicked angel" acting on instructions from "Pluto" himself (i.e., Satan). But thereafter Tasso as moral commentator recedes into the background and the episode proceeds very much in the manner of Ariosto. "Proud of her beauty, and of the gifts of her sex and her youth" (4.27), Armida undertakes to lead astray the important warriors in the Christian army. When she arrives, she passes through the camp like a new comet or star, gazed upon by all. "Praised and desired Armida passes among the lustful troops; and she is aware of it; yet she gives no sign, though in her heart she smiles and projects great victories and plunders from it" (4.33). Godfrey's brother, Eustace, hastens to greet this apparition. "Like the moth to the flame he turned himself to the splendor of her divine beauty; and he longed to observe more nearly her eyes, which a modest manner sweetly lowers; and he took the great flame from them, and lodged it home, as the neighboring fuel is wont from fire" (4.34). Thereupon, in a pleasing adaptation of Aeneas's address to his goddessmother Venus (Aeneid 1.325), Tasso has Eustace ask Armida's name: "Lady, if indeed such name befits you . . . let me know who you are; let me make no mistake in honoring you; and, if there is reason, kneel down" (4.35). Armida evidently takes the allusion—at least she grasps his meaning—and professes herself "not only mortal, but dead indeed to pleasures, alive only to sorrow" (4.36). Thus subtly reinforcing Eustace's awareness of the possible liveliness of her pleasures, she persuades him to take her to Godfrey, for whom she spins a plausible, circumstantial, and wholly fictitious tale of her past life and present circumstances (4.39—65). There is no need to remark on every phrase. Throughout the canto, Tasso maintains a deft touch in presenting a poised and experienced Armida, working her will upon these naive warriors of the Western world. With a passing reminiscence of Horace's laughing Lalage (Odes 1.22), he remarks: "But while she sweetly speaks and sweetly laughs and makes their senses drunk with a double sweetness, she almost separates from their breasts their souls, not grown accustomed before to those immoderate pleasures" (4.92). And at the canto's end the poet extends his ironic view of man's helpless enslavement by sexual desire, to encompass the great heroes of the classical world: "Now what kind of marvel will it be if fierce Achilles was the prey of Love, and Hercules and Theseus, if even him who buckles on the sword for Christ the impious fellow catches in his toils?" (4.96). This summary regrettably slights the most distinctly Ariostian element in the canto—that is, the interpolated narrative in which Armida recounts

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her troubles. But what has been given here should suffice to demonstrate that Tasso well understands the uses of ironic detachment and comic undertone, and deliberately sets out to show what he can do in that vein. If that is granted, then it seems reasonable to speak of the Libemta's imitation of Orlando Furioso.* The relevance of this point will be clearer after some discussion of the Liberate as an exemplar of that major element in Italian Renaissance humanism, the imitation of classical models. 2. RELATION TO VIRGIL

One might as well speak in terms of Virgil alone, with the understanding that Tasso wishes, of course, to demonstrate also his familiarity with the Iliad and the Odyssey, with such lesser classical epics as the Thebaid, the Pharsalia, and theArffonautica, and indeed with the general range of classical poetry in other genres (as in the casual, almost automatic, appropriation of a phrase from Horace, noted above). But theAeneid is Tasso's primary object. One might say that Virgil is almost as omnipresent in the Liberata as he is in Dante's journey through Hell and Purgatory. Virgilian phrases, details, situations, episodes, and ideas are echoed on virtually every page, and occasionally one meets with whole stanzas of direct translation. A few examples are instanced in my notes to the cantos, but Tasso's method of imitating classical authors is a large subject, and I limit further discussion of it to the following general remarks on what I take to be one way in which humanist imitation is related to Tasso's choice and treatment of his subject. Virgil himself provided a model for Renaissance humanists in their imitation of their predecessors. Everyone knew that thcAeneid followed in the footsteps of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and that the Eclogues were practically a pastiche from Theocritus. Moreover, by picking up a motif already present in Greek pastoral (Theocritus, Idyll 7; Moschus, Lament for Bion), Virgil popularized the identification of the poet as shepherd, and of the shepherd's pipe as the poet's talent, to be handed down from one generation to another (Eclogues 2.31-39; 6.646°.). Thus he provided the Renaissance humanist with a symbol for the very process of his art. How consciously this symbol is employed may be seen in that most ardent imitator, Sannazaro, whose "holy priest" describes a reed hung up in the temple of Pan: This reed was that one which the sacred God whom now you behold found in his hands when spurred by love he followed the beautiful Syrinx through these woods. .. . Thereafter it came, and I know not how, into the hands of a shepherd

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of Syracuse who, before any other, had the daring to play it without fear of Pan or of other God, beside the crystal waves of his native Arethuse: . . . He then overtaken by envious Death made this his last gift to Mantuan Tityrus.... After [Tityrus] came never a soul to these woods that has been able to play it with accomplishment, though many, spurred by ambitious daring, have attempted it oftentimes and attempt it still.'

From Pan to Theocritus to Virgil to the Renaissance humanists. It is a version of literary history. That is, of course, the point of the preceding remarks. When Eustace's gallantry adapts a passage from theAeneid, Tasso is (in the language of pastoral) playing the pipes of Mantuan Tityrus. When Armida sets out to lead the knights astray from their Christian duty, Tasso (in the language of chivalric romance) is entering the lists to make proof of himself in the joust— in this case, with Ariosto. In the courdy Renaissance, such language of emulation and rivalry (sometimes decried as faction and envy) is simply everywhere; it pervades the age's sense of human history. Whether poet or warrior, in literary or in political history, the individual is measuring himself, in public view, against the great exemplars of the past. It is a view that has considerable effect on Tasso's poem. 3. RELATION TO TRUE HISTORY

The point that I have been preparing is best illustrated through the character of Rinaldo, first introduced to the reader as he "hangs intent on the lips of Guelph, and hears the exempla of his renowned ancestors." (i.io). When Rinaldo becomes a candidate for leadership of the Adventurers (5.i4ff.), Tasso carefully points out that he wishes to be valued for his own merit rather than for his descent from a long line of heroes. Still, the long line is there, and it is the "barbarous prince" Gernando who scorns Rinaldo's "idle sum of ancient heroes" as meaningless if unaccompanied by actual political power. These early allusions to Rinaldo's lineage are preparing the way, of course, for one of Tasso's significant imitations of Ariosto—the linking of a major hero in the poem with the poet's Ferrarese patrons, the ducal family of Este. We need not bore ourselves with the details of this poetry of patronage, but we should note Tasso's method for introducing the material into the Liberata. The poet entrusts the first full announcement of the theme to his chief theological spokesman, Peter the Hermit, who speaks of Rinaldo in visionary rapture:

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Presages only and the labors of a boy are these, by which already Asia knows him and repeats his name. Lo, I see clearly as the years run on, that he opposes the wicked Augustus, and masters him; and under the shadow of her silver wings his eagle covers the Church and Rome, that she will have snatched from the talons of the beast: and sons well worthy of him will be born. Sons from those sons, and they who will come from them will have from him famous and memorable examples; and they will defend the mitres and the holy temples from unjust Caesars and from rebels too. Their arts shall be these: to repress the proud, and raise up the weak, to defend the innocent and to punish the guilty. So it will come that the Eagle of Este flies beyond the roadways of the sun (10.75-76).

But the historical details are thereafter entrusted to the wiseman of Ascalon, who was once a pagan scientist, "so self-satisfied diat I thought then that my learning could be the sure and infallible measure of however much Nature's mighty Maker could make" (14.45). Converted by Peter Hermit to Christianity, he is still a scientist and, interestingly, a historian, who presents (and explicates) to Rinaldo a marvellous shield engraved with a visual history of the young man's ancestors from Roman times to Rinaldo's own day (17.58-80).6 The wiseman, like Peter Hermit, is a stern teacher, prefacing his remarks with the admonition that Rinaldo will see that he himself is "still left behind, a slow runner in these noble lists for glory" (17.65). And the shield obtains its intended effect on the young warrior: "His proud spirit being moved with emulative virtue takes fire and is rapt away in such manner that that which he has in his mind through imagining (the city laid low, and taken, and its people killed) he thinks that he sees before his eyes even as if it were present and as if it were true" (17.82). Thus the marvellous shield (itself a kind of imitation of Ariosto's Tomb of Merlin—O.F. 3.7-60) is an artifact working upon the imagination to present a vivid imitation of history to a young man seeking to establish his own position in that history. We need not propose that Tasso was especially conscious of a parallel between himself as imitative poet and Rinaldo as emulative warrior. Naturally enough, the heroic poet takes the heroic view of history, as adapted to the aristocracies and theocracies of his culture, presenting Rinaldo with an unbroken line of heroes extending before and after him, from Rome to the Renaissance. Presumably Tasso's list of his own literary ancestors, within the genre of the Libemta, would be much more disjunctive and discriminating—from Homer to Virgil to Ariosto to Tasso perhaps, (with at least a loyal filial tribute to thcAmadyfi of his father, Bernardo). And presumably, as he labored on his poem, he tried to take the long view of history, re-

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minding himself that in that view he was still "a slow runner in these noble lists for glory." Tasso's choice of "true history" for his subject matter affects other aspects of his poem, beyond this possibly tenuous analogy between emulation as a response to political history and imitation as a response to literary history.7 For example, the poem displays a genuine zest for the sheer drama of history in the making. A notable example of this is the stanza preceding the climactic battle between Godfrey's troops and the relieving force from Egypt: It was a great and marvellous thing to see when this host and that came face to face, as with their units drawn up in order the signal is given now to move, now to make the charge. Loosed to the wind the pennons wave and the plumes on the mighty helmets nod in the breeze: uniforms and decorations, insignia, weapons and colors glitter and gleam in the sun with gold and steel (20.28).

Perhaps more significant is a less spectacular passage. When Charles and Ubaldo exhort Rinaldo to leave Armida's garden, they do not speak of Virtue vs. Pleasure, as does the wiseman of Ascalon, or of Christian duty and of sin and repentance, as does Peter Hermit, but rather of the danger of missing out on the most important experience available to their generation. Ubaldo says: All Asia and all Europe are going to war; whoever hungers for reputation and worships Christ is toiling now in arms in the Syrian lands: you alone, O son of Bertoldo, away from the world, in idleness, a little corner of the earth shuts in; you alone are nothing moved by the universal movement, the gallant champion of a girl (16.32).

The values are out of fashion now, as are Tasso's values about public duty, hedonism, etc. But that should not dim our perception that this poem is beginning to show an interest in materials familiar to us later, in the historical novel. To be sure, it is a long way to War and Peace—but the journey to Ivanhoe seems not so far. The eventual development of the novel seems to relate also to another aspect of the Liberators treatment of history: that is, the reflection within the poem of the slow drift toward realism in western European literature. Even though Tasso consciously fills his poem with examples of "the marvellous," and anxiously defends their propriety, this very consciousness and anxiety strikes us as a sign that the old style is on the wane. At times, in-

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deed, the newer mode of realistic treatment vies with the older mode, or supplants it, even within a single episode. Thus, when the pagan sorcerer Ismen brings Solyman into Jerusalem, through the very midst of the Prankish army, he surrounds his chariot and its occupants with a Virgilian magic shell of thickened air, invisible and impervious (cf. Aeneid I.4ioff.). Yet when he arrives beneath the city walls, the old sorcerer laboriously seeks out a small opening, hidden by bushes, and with some difficulty persuades the proud Solyman to crawl on hands and knees into what proves to be a secret underground passage to the king's residence. Ismen explains: [The great Herod] hollowed out this cave, when he wanted to put the bridle on his subjects; and by it (from that tower that he called Antonia, after his famous friend) he was able to withdraw, unseen of any, within the verges of the mighty ancient temple; and from there to issue out of the city secretly and to introduce men and let them out under concealment (10.31).

Here the "marvellous" gives way to an interesting bit of archaeologicalhistorical detail out of Josephus (see io.29n.). Sir Walter Scott would probably have supplied a note. Somewhat similar is the diverse treatment of the journeys of Armida and Dame Fortune to the mid-Atlantic. Armida, when abducting the sleeping Rinaldo, merely "has him laid upon her chariot and quickly traverses the sky" (14.68). Her return to Syria is given in more detail, but still with supernatural means and supernatural speed: . . . She seated herself on her chariot, which she had at hand, and is lifted up to the sky, as is her wont. She treads the clouds and cleaves the winds in flight, surrounded with tempests and howling gales; she passes over the shores that lie beneath the opposite pole and regions whose inhabitants are unknown: she passes the boundaries of Hercules, and draws not near the land of the Hesperians or the Moors; but holds her course suspended above the wave until she comes to the sands of Syria (16.70-71).

Dame Fortune, bound on the same journey with her passengers, makes remarkable speed, to be sure, but by a conventional mode of transportation, and far less rapidly than Armida. Indeed, the poet specifies a four-day journey each way (15.23; 17.55) consuming some thirty-five stanzas outward bound, though only three in returning. We know that Tasso made determined resistance against the critics who wanted this journey deleted, and it is reasonable to assume that he was anxious to preserve the material developed in the episode. That material is, in various forms, historical—a survey of cities and sites (much of it seemingly based on Strabo and Herodotus), presented sometimes by Dame Fortune and sometimes by the poet him-

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self; an occasional generalization on human history, notably in the remarks on Carthage (15.20); a remarkable amount of discussion of countries and cultures unknown to the Crusaders, with several lines directly based on a sixteenth-century travel book (15.41—42); and most notably, the renowned apostrophe to Christopher Columbus (15.30-32). I have used these examples of Herod's Cave and Dame Fortune's voyage because they appear in the poem side by side with parallel material in no way dependent on the realities of topography, geography, and sixteenthcentury history, thus providing a neat contrast between the older mode of poetry and a mode that is to become familiar in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But still more convincing, though perhaps less neat, is Tasso's ubiquitous concern with precision and a degree of historical accuracy in the military action of his poem, especially in demonstrating Godfrey's grappling with problems of logistics, siege tactics, terrain, weaponry, political alliances, etc. Occasionally adapted from such "true histories" as the Gesta Francorum or William of Tyre, and partly directed toward the poem's function of providing a model for Alfonso d'Este, this material is surely intended to portray the actual kind of difficulties to be expected by a multi-national army, dependent on tenuous lines of supply, in proceeding against a strong defensive position in a barren and hostile land. Such concerns appear only sporadically in Ariosto, and scarcely at all in Edmund Spenser—but they are part of the fabric of Tasso's poem. In these and in many other ways, the Liberata is a poem much preoccupied with the past, and with the relation of that past to the poet's own present. This interest in verifiable secular history sets the poem apart from other major fictions of the sixteenth century, and indeed anticipates some later developments in Western European literature. Tasso, however, still views human history as a scene played out upon a stage—and the content of the drama is the working out of the Eternal Will. Thus we have to take into account not merely the poem's relation to human history, but also its relation to what Tasso considered the eternal truths of the human condition, as expressed in his Allegory of the Poem. 4. RELATION TO PSYCHOLOGY

By his own admission, Tasso wrote the Allegory after the Liberata was half completed.8 Such post facto composition does argue against assuming that Tasso intended allegory from the beginning, but it does not argue against taking the Allegory seriously, as the poet's reflection on symbolic meanings that had accumulated for him in more than a decade of work on his poem. In that spirit we may take the Allegory as the poet's moralizing of his history.

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Tasso is concerned chiefly with expounding two significant details: the strong city Jerusalem stands as a symbol of man's pursuit of earthly felicity; and Godfrey and Rinaldo stand respectively for the rational and the "wrathful" faculties of the soul. Thus the historical Crusade becomes an Everyman story, of the individual's attempt to reconcile disparate and warring elements in his nature in the pursuit of earthly happiness. This reading seems quite convincing enough: Tasso is able to cite specific lines that illustrate the point about Godfrey and Rinaldo, and we need not doubt that he did indeed consciously intend such meaning while working out his poem. Likewise with a further detail—the contrast between Peter Hermit as the representative of theology and the wiseman of Ascalon as the representative of pagan philosophy—this contrast is so woven into the texture of the poem as to compel our belief (see i7.6on.). Perhaps his remarks on Ismen and Armida strike us more as afterthoughts, but in general Tasso does present a credible interpretation of his poem's inner meaning. In that regard, the Allegory of the Poem exemplifies a view of secular history that we expect from a sixteenth-century poet. The events of history are subordinate to God's plan, its actors and phenomena "standing for" moral-theological truths that transcend the flux of historical process. In the extent and precision of his interest in secular history, Tasso may be somewhat ahead of the heroic poetry of his time, but his manner of viewing that history is thoroughly familiar in his period. In one way, however, both the Libemta itself and Tasso's Allegory of the Poem look forward. From beginning to end the Allegory is filled with reference to "the manners or passions or discourses of the mind," "this compound of body and soul and mind," "its noblest part, i.e., the mind," "contemplative man," "the speculative intellect," "the intellect... by God and Nature created lord over the other faculties of the soul," and "the tension between the rational faculty and the concupiscent and irascible faculties." Such preoccupation with the mind, and with its relation to the body, does not necessarily go beyond the familiar trichotomy of reason, will, and appetite—but in reality, it does. The Libemta. is filled with evidence of Tasso's constant concern widi psychology, and especially with the psyche out of control, or barely under control. In Tasso's allegorizing, the main line of his action can be read in this way, as Godfrey with difficulty controls his irascible and amorous warriors. But even more interesting is an area about which Tasso does not care to be quite so explicit—the use of devils from hell to represent passions that drive men inexorably to their own destruction. A few examples will illustrate the observation. Gernando, crown prince of Norway, is introduced to the reader as a monstrously proud man who

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'Values as in itself obscure any virtue that royal title does not render illustrious" (5.17). Under the influence of a "wicked spirit from Avernus", Gernando simply cannot bridle his tongue, even when he knows that every consideration of prudence calls for silence: "Yet he does not get rid of his wrath, or put a bridle on that blind drive in himself that is leading him to death" (5.24). Similarly with the agitator Argillan, who is one of the most sharply delineated minor characters in the poem: This man, ready of hand, bold of tongue, impetuous and hot of temper, was born on the banks of Tronto and was weaned on hatred and scorn in civil strifes; driven into exile later, he filled with blood the mountains and the shores and pillaged that principality, until he came into Asia to follow the war, and became renowned for a better notoriety (8.58).

Such a man, "weaned on hatred and scorn in civil strifes," is a likely target for the hellish spirit Alecto, who functions in the Liberata, somewhat as does Ariosto's outright allegorizing of Discord (O.F. 14.76—97, et passim). The case is a bit different from Gernando's, in that Argillan's "inner virtues are deluded" (8.59), and when he gathers followers Alecto "mingles her poison with the fire in their breasts" (8.72). That is, an external agent is more clearly active in furthering Argillan's rebellion. Still, it is not for nothing that Argillan is portrayed as a born terrorist, raised on the civil broils of the Abruzzi. His psyche is predisposed to vent hatred and scorn against those in authority, especially when they are foreigners. As a third example, the enchanted wood is inhabited by spirits that take the shape of each man's ruling passion—for Tancred, Clorinda; for Rinaldo, Armida. Probably most illustrative here is Tancred's plight: As sometimes the sick man who encounters in a dream dragon or tall chimaera girt with flame, although he suspects or partly knows that the simulacrum is no true shape, yet wants to flee, such terror the horrid and dreadful appearance implants in him; even so the intimidated lover not wholly believes the false deceits, and yet concedes and fears (13.44).

Surely these incidents in the action of the Liberata are related to Tasso's preoccupation with the mind of man in h\s Allegory of the Poem. Tasso was beset by personal devils of his own, and any reader of his poem will note the profusion of metaphor and simile based on delusions of the sick and feverish mind. Among the most striking is the passage describing the fear of the first soldiers who encounter Ismen's enchanted wood: As an innocent child has not the courage to look where he has a foreboding of strange spirits, or as in shadowy night he is afraid, imagining monsters and prodigies still; so did diey fear, without knowing what it can be for which they feel

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such terror—except that their fear perhaps creates for their senses prodigies greater than chimaera or sphinx (13.18).

We need not be overstressing the unfortunate incidents surrounding the commitment to St. Anna's Hospital if we note that this poet is persistently concerned with the delusions and aberrations of the mind disturbed. All this is not to claim that Tasso is remarkably acute in his reading of psychological motivation. Indeed, he is on the whole deficient in that regard, as he is, in general, deficient in comic spirit, so that he seems to us (if we think in those terms) less "modern" than Ariosto, Cervantes, Rabelais, or Shakespeare. But I have tried to indicate here that his poem is deeply affected by its concern with some of the gods we worship today: with History (by name to come called Historical Process), with the lesser god of Literary History, and with Psychology.

n. The Liberata in Rflation to Spenser and Milton Beyond its intrinsic value, Italian chivalric poetry bears an interest for the English reader because of its relevance for several significant English poets, and indeed for some writers of prose fiction, notably Sidney and Fielding. I confine my remarks to the Liberates relation to Spenser and Milton, offering a few addenda to a subject already thoroughly canvassed.9 Tasso came almost too late for Spenser, who conceived the Faerie Queene and executed much of it in the Ariostian vein, but the first installment of his poem (1590) does contain prominent examples of imitation and outright translation from the Liberata, as Spenser develops his episodes of the Lake of Idlenesse (F.Q. 2.6.2ff.) and the Bowre of Bliss (2.i2.ioff.). In 1596, Spenser adapts Erminia's excursion into the pastoral mode for his own Pastorella (6.9-5ff.). All these passages are splendidly done—one master poet's acknowledgment of his kinship with a fellow master—but still the general consensus rightly holds that the Ariostian influence on Spenser is much more pervasive than the relatively ad hoc appearances of Tasso. Why should this be? One clear hint lies in the fact that all the passages just cited involve Tasso's excursions away from his central action, the clash of rival armies in the siege of a walled city. That was Ariosto's action too, "that time when the Moors came over the sea from Africa and did so much harm in France" (O.F. i.i), besieging Paris. But Ariosto's comic diversity allows lust and greed and jealousy and love of adventure to scatter Charlemagne's paladins all over the world (and even to the moon), until the reader remembers with difficulty that Christendom is being overwhelmed by pagandom. Tasso, on the other hand, locates some 90 percent

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of his action in Judaea and Syria, with organized armies involved in marches, assemblies, reviews, councils, embassies, foragings, night raids, assaults, and pitched battles—in short, the materials of classical epic. Great poets know what they are about—and Spenser, despite a remark about a possible sequel in his Letter to Ralegh, and a reference or two to Saracens in his poem,10 was not about to write a poem of kings and queens and generals and their armies. Hence a large part of the Liberate was not very useful to his poem. The three major episodes cited above should be carefully examined (perhaps along with Fairfax's verse translation of their sources in Tasso) by all readers interested in Spenser's poetic skill. The borrowings have been repeatedly commented on, but it is perhaps worth noting here that Spenser's Bowre of Bliss comes into conjunction not merely with the scene in Armida's garden but also with the other scenes at 14.591?. and i8.i8ff. These supporting passages are not always taken into account. From among numerous minor examples of Spenser's knowledge of the Liberata" one may single out Redcrosse's desire to give up this sinful terrestrial existence in order to enter at once into the bliss of heaven (F.Q. 1.10.62-4). Godfrey's analogous desire, along with Hugh's denial of it (G.L. 14.8—12), may be not so much an example of Tasso's "influence" on Spenser as of a common emphasis by both poets on the primacy of the active life over the contemplative—a familiar theme in their century. But Spenser made his most extensive use of Tasso in recasting the materials of the present Books One and Two, and it is quite plausible that Godfrey's vision in the Liberata would remind Spenser how suitable such somnium Scipionis material would be for a knight who is being promised sainthood, although he has only recently been contemplating suicide out of despair at his own sinfulness (1.9.388".). Professor Brand, along with other scholars,12 sees the Letter to Ralegh as somewhat indebted to Tasso's Allegory for ideas about the general structure of the Faerie Queene. In agreeing with this general assessment, I suggest a further possible structural influence, specifically on Books One and Two, deriving from Tasso's arranging of much of the Liberata through a series of parallels and opposites in characters and in actions. Since this aspect of Tasso's structure seems to bear also on Paradise Lost, I defer further details to the discussion of Milton, to which I now turn. Spenser utilizes Tasso much more directly than does Milton, whose general practice is to expropriate no more than a line or two at a time from his poetic sources, and usually to be content with an allusive blending of his predecessors. One obvious point of contact lies in their portrayals of Satan. Commentators frequently patronize Tasso for making his portrait (4.6—8)

xxii

Introduction

much more "medieval" than the Satan of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Such contrasts readily become over simplified; Milton is willing to present a "medieval" scene in the Lazar-house passage in Book Eleven (P.L. n.477ff.) and Tasso's howling Scyllas and hissing Pythons, attendant on Satan, have a direct classical source in Virgil (Aeneid 6.2850°.). But, in general, it is true that although Milton respects Tasso and numbers him among the models to be followed, he does not find him directly useful for his own heroic verse." In one respect, however, both Spenser and Milton could have observed in Tasso a technique for organizing the materials of a long poem by inventing characters, episodes, and scenes that are formal parallels but moral opposites. For example, both Ismen and die wiseman of Ascalon are repeatedly called sorcerers (majjo), and, as if to accentuate their parallelism, Tasso has made Ismen an apostate Christian whereas his opposite figure is a converted pagan (2.2; 14.45—7). But morally the two are diametrically opposed, being in effect practitioners of black magic and white magic. Likewise Armida, repeatedly called a sorceress, uses her black magic to create an ornate palace in an esoteric setting, not more "marvellous" than the cave-palace of the wiseman of Ascalon, who there provides Charles and Ubaldo with the necessary means for foiling Armida's sorcery. The wiseman also arranges that Charles and Ubaldo have the assistance of the handmaiden of God, Dame Fortune herself (15.6), whose marvellous skiff becomes the counterpart to Armida's Medea-like chariot, as noted above (p. xvi). The opposition here, like the opposition between the Christian and the pagan worlds which pervades the entire poem, is of course based ultimately on the struggle between Heaven and Hell—a struggle clearly present in the opposing roles of Alecto (especially), who receives her orders from Satan, and Raymond's guardian angel who receives his orders from God (7.79ff.). We may add the more general combat scenes in which the hellish spirits fill the plains of the air (9.5?) and Michael's legions take part in the final assault on Jerusalem (18.92-7). In addition, Tasso has the rudiments of a council in Hell (or at least a speech by a dictator to his followers). Tasso's council is not explicitly paralleled by a council in Heaven, as Milton's is: but he makes clear that as his infernal council aims at the dispersal of the crusading armies, so God's will is directed toward reassembling them (cf. i.i; 4-17; 8.2-3; I?-??; 14-18). Patently, these structural devices in the Liberata relate to the well-known parallelism of characters, scenes and episodes in the first two books of the Faerie Queene and the first three books of Paradise Lost, not to mention other examples.14 Moreover, in areas of his poem less clearly related to the direct struggle between good and evil, Tasso remains fond of arranging his

INTRODUCTION

XXlii

characters in parallels and triangles, and is well aware of the usefulness of recurring thematic motifs." Thus, to say the least, thcLibemta provides an example, within the genre of the heroic poem, of structural techniques that both Spenser and Milton found useful.

III. The Present Translation and Apparatus "It is not rhyming and versing that maketb a poet. . . ." There will always be with us those who consider metrical form absolutely essential to poetry, even in translation. I do not call them "soul-blind," but I do acknowledge that nothing I can say is likely to change dieir opinion. For the rest, I shall remark on the virtues that I have hoped to attain with my prosing. I have aimed at all the accuracy I could manage, even to extremes perhaps, as in following Tasso's indiscriminate mixing of tenses. Tasso's sentence divisions are observed throughout, frequently at the cost of some formality in language and contortion in syntax—a notorious characteristic of Tasso's style. And I have tried neither to suppress unconsciously the sometimes wearisome use of special devices such as chiasmus and antithesis, nor to suppress routinely all examples of deliberately Latinate diction. As an example of the latter, the word luster (j. 60, etc.) does exist in English and is retained (with a note), but a Latinate phrase like in di solenne (i. 20) calls for paraphrase; in Italian or in English the meaning depends on knowledge of the Latin dies solennis.'6 Perhaps a nobler aim than accuracy is that of enabling the reader to read smoothly and rapidly—which I take to be one of the effects of the absence of rhyme. Much is indeed lost when metrical form is abandoned, even though stanzaic division is retained; and I comfort myself for the loss with the hope that this version will at least emphasize one of the qualities that the Renaissance most highly prized in heroic poetry—its abundant variety of action. In these chivalric poems especially, when the language does not slow the reader, he will inevitably pause at times to wonder how the poem has moved so far so fast. Annotation has been kept as minimal as seems feasible for an anticipated audience of students with slight knowledge of classical and continental literature. One device for minimizing annotation is the Glossary of Names and Places. Those who are reading this introduction before reading the text are advised to consult the Glossary whenever a geographical or personal name appears in an unannotated passage that seems to call for annota-

xxiv

Introduction

tion. In referring to classical sources, the Glossary cites readily available authors where possible; for example Herodotus and Strabo are prominent in the Glossary, although one would not be surprised to find that much of Tasso's geographical-historical learning comes from some intermediate source. In general, both the Notes and the Glossary aspire only to be explanatory; thus, for example, the Glossary cannot be approached as an index of place names, since there can be no reason to explain such names as England, Ireland, and France. I have borrowed from the practise of some Elizabethan printers the device of marginal quotation marks to signal "sententious" passages. The "sentence"—a short, pithy statement of a general moral or psychological truth—was much valued by readers and writers in Tasso's century, and considered especially characteristic of tragic and heroic poetry. Hence I have made an effort to identify those that appear in die Libemta, even at the risk of appearing quaint. The text for this translation is from the UTET series: Opere di Torqunto Tasso, a euro, diBortolo Tommaso Sozzi, Volume Primo (Turin, 1966). I have frequendy, though not invariably, followed Sozzi's explanations of difficult passages; and I should mention here the usefulness, frequendy, of the copious annotations in Lanfranco Caretti's edition of Gerusalemme Liberate (Turin 1971). The text for my version of Tasso's Allegory of the Poem is in Angelo Solerti's edition of the Liberate (Florence, 1895), 2.25-30.

Notes to the Introduction 1. Bernard Weinberg, A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1961). See especially 2:954—1073. See also Baxter Hathaway, The Age of Criticism: The Late Renaissance inltaly (Ithaca, N.Y., 1962), 390-96; and for translation of selected texts pertinent to the controversy, Allan H. Gilbert, Literary Criticism: Plato toDryden (Detroit, 1962), 243-503. 2. His Discorsi dell'Arte Poetica was perhaps begun as early as 1561, published in 1587, and expanded thereafter into \heDiscorsi del Poema Eroico (1594). Sec Discourses on the Heroic Poem, translated by MarieOa Cavalchini and Irene Samuel (Oxford, 1973), xi—xiii. 3. For a representative example of Tasso's defense of the "marvellous" in poetry, set Discourses, tr. by Cavalchini and Samuel, 35-39. 4. As would be expected of him, Tasso also acknowledges here and there the work of Dante and Petrarch, and other fellow Italians, usually by echoing an image or turn of phrase. The entire subject of the Renaissance poet's imitations of his predecessors, both classical and vernacular, is intricate and difficult to discuss. Interested readers may begin by consulting Thomas M. Greene, The Light in Troy (New Haven, 1982); and for Graeco-Roman theory on literary imitation as related to the

INTRODUCTION

XXV

emulative spirit (pp. xii-xv above), still useful is H. O. White, Plagiarism andlmitation in the English Renaissance (Cambridge, Mass., 1935), 3-30. 5. Jacopo Sannazaro, Arcadia & Piscatorial Eclogues, tr. Nash (Detroit, 1966), 103—105. 6. Readers interested in Tasso's sources for this history may consult Tasso's contemporary at Ferrara, Giovanni Battista Pigna, Historic de' Princifi d'Este . . . (Ferrara, 1570). 7. For theoretical reasons leading Tasso to write of "true history," as well as for his thoughts on blending the 'Verisimilar" and the "marvellous," see especially the second book of his Discourses, tr. Cavalchini and Samuel, 21—56. 8. Letter to Scipione Gonzaga, cited in C. P. Brand, Torquato Tasso (Cambridge, 1965), 100. 9. For Spenser, see primarily E. Koeppel, "Die englischen TassoUbersetzungen des xvi. Jahrhunderts," m.An0lia, vol. n (1889), 11-38, 333-62; vol. 12 (1889), 103—42. See also H. H. Blanchard, "Imitations from Tasso in the Faerie Queene," Studies in Philology XXII (1925), 198-204. 10. Most notably in the reference to a time when "I of warres and bloudy Mars do sing, And Briton fields with Sarazin bloud bedyde" (F.Q. 1.11.7). n. E.g., 1.3.31; 1.5.13-15; 1.7.31; 2.3.40, etc. Professor Blanchard has noted that for the example singled out here (F.Q. 1.10.62—64) the general context in Spenser is more reminiscent of Tasso's Rinaldo than of the context in the Liberata (see the Variorum Spenser, 2.289). 12. C. P. Brand, Tasso, 228-32. 13. Sufficient on the few points of direct contact is Ewald Pommrich, Miltons Verhaltnis zu Tasso (Halle, 1902). A more subtle discussion of kinship between Tasso's poetry and Milton's is skillfully conducted by Judith A. Kates, Tasso and Milton: the Problem of Christian Epic (Lewisburg, 1983). 14. For structural parallelism in Spenser, see Ernest A. Strathmann's abstract in the Spenser Variorum, 2.467—71; and also A. C. Hamilton, " 'Like Race to Runne': The parallel Structure of The Faerie Queene, Books I and II," PMLA 73 (1958), 32734. For Milton's parallels and contrasts between Hell and Heaven in P.L. I-III, see especially A. S. P. Woodhouse, The Heavenly Muse (Toronto, 1972), where the emphasis on Homeric and Virgilian patterning provides a useful augmentation to this more limited suggestion about Tasso's contribution. 15. For parallels and contrasts in characters, see R. Nash, "The Role of Erminia in the Gerusalemme Liberata," in Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, vol. XLIII (1958), 322-23. And for some thematic motifs in the Liberata, see R. Nash, "Chivalric Themes in Samson Agonistes," in Studies in Honor of John Wilcox, ed. Ross and Wallace (Detroit, 1958), 23-25. 16. I have occasionally risked oddity by retaining a few Latinisms without annotation—e.g., "interpose delay" (1.16; 6.90; et al.), "Fame is" (see Glossary), etc. Some ears will be offended by the mildly Latinate use of serene as a substantive, although Shelley, for example, seems quite fond of it. By far the most perplexing Latinism is Godfrey's "Virgilian epithet," fio: one can say "the good Aeneas," but "the good Godfrey" simply will not do. In the end I have decided on "the worthy Godfrey"—on die possibly factitious grounds that at least everybody knows that Godfrey is one of the Nine Worthies of Christendom.

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Jerusalem Delivered

T H E

A R G U M E N T

O F

T H E

P O E M

The action centers on the dispersal of Godfrey's Crusaders—partly through human weakness and error, partly through hellish machinations—and on their recombining, through heavenly intervention, to succeed in liberating Jerusalem. God inspires the Crusaders to elect as their captain Godfrey, who promptly marches to besiege Jerusalem (Cantos 1-3). Satan dispatches his fallen angels to thwart the Christians, through overt and covert actions (Cantos 4-9). God then forbids further overt action by the devils, but permits them to haunt an Enchanted Wood, the only possible source of materials for Godfrey's siege machines. Thereupon God sends Dame Fortune to guide two Crusaders who bring back Rinaldo from Armida's prison of love in the Fortunate Isles (Cantos 10-16). The returned Rinaldo destroys the enchantments, Godfrey builds his machines, and the final assault liberates Jerusalem (Cantos 17-20). Subordinate to this action are three stories of the sexual passion that distracts men and women from their proper course of action: Tancred's tragic love for Clorinda, whom he unwittingly kills; the passionate affair of Rinaldo and Armida, culminating in their betrothal; and the desperate love of Erminia for Tancred, the issue of which is left unresolved.

Canto One

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Invocation—God instructs Godfrey to call a council (6)—Godfrey is elected leader and reviews his army (29)—the Crusaders march on Jerusalem (71), where Aladine prepares for siege (81).

C A N T O

O N E

i I sing the reverent armies and the captain who liberated Christ's great sepulcher. Much he wrought with his wit and with his hand; much he suffered in the glorious conquest. And vainly Hell opposed herself to it, and vainly the combined peoples of Asia and of Libya took up arms. Heaven granted him favor and brought back under the holy standards his wandering companions. 2

O Muse, that do not wreathe your brow on Helicon1 with fading bays, but among die blessed choirs in Heaven above possess a golden crown of deathless stars: breathe into my breast celestial ardors, illuminate my song, and grant me pardon if with the truth I interweave embroiderings, if partly with pleasures other than yours I ornament my pages. 3

You know that the world flocks there where feigning Parnassus most pours out her sweetnesses, and that the truth in fluent verses hidden has by its charm persuaded the most froward. So we present to the feverish child the rim of the glass sprinkled over with sweet liquids: he drinks deceived the bitter medicine and from his deception receives life. 4

You, magnanimous Alfonso,2 who recover from Fortune's fury and guide to port myself a wandering pilgrim tossed among the reefs and amid the waves, and almost overwhelmed; receive with cheerful countenance these 1 Annotation of mythological, geographical and Biblical names is restricted, as far as advisable, to the Glossary of Names and Places. ' See Introd., pp. xiii-xiv, xvii.

6

Jerusalem Delivered

my pages that I bring as an offering consecrated to you. Perhaps one day it will be that my prophesying pen may dare to write of you what today it hints. 5

Reason there is (if it should happen diat ever die good people of Christ find diemselves at peace, and widi ships and horses seek to recapture from the fierce Thracian his vast illicit spoils) that to you the scepter on land be granted, or if it please you the exalted rule of die seas. Meanwhile emulous of Godfrey listen to my song and prepare yourself to arms. 6

Now the sixdi year' was come since die Christian host passed into the Orient on the lofty enterprise, and already it had taken Nicaea by assault and powerful Antioch by guile. Next it had made defense of diem in battle against the innumerable host of Persia and had stormed Tortosa. Then it gave way to die bad season, and awaited die new year. 7

And now it was not long to die end of diat rainy winter that made die armies pause, when from His lofty throne diat lies in Heaven's purest realm (and as far as from the stars to lowly Hell, so far is it above the starry sphere) die eternal Father turned His eyes below and saw in one moment and in one glance whatever the world contains within itself. 8

He looked at all its affairs and dien in Syria He fixed His eyes upon die Christian princes, and (with that vision that spies out human passions in their most secret part within) He saw Godfrey, who longs to drive the wicked pagans from the holy city, and full of faith, of zeal, makes no account of any mortal glory, empire, treasure.

' Cf. 8.64. Urban II preached the Crusade at Clermont on November 27,1095. The historical events of Tasso's poem took place in 1099. Tasso explains that he made the war longer "to increase the hardships and dangers of the enterprise" (Giudizio sovra la sua Gerusalemme da lui medesimo rifirmata, cited in G.L., ed. Varese and Arbizzoni, Milan, 1972).

CANTO ONE

7

9

But in Baldwin He sees a covetous spirit that single-mindedly aspires to human grandeurs. He sees Tancred holding his life in scorn, so much a vain love torments and martyrs him; and He watches Bohemond laying deep foundations for his new princedom of Antioch, and imposing laws and introducing customs, and arts, and the worship of true religion, 10

and so much absorbing himself in such preoccupation that it seems that he no longer recalls any other enterprise. He finds in Rinaldo both a warlike mind and spirits impatient of rest. No lust for gold or for power in him, but an immoderate burning thirst for honor. He finds that he hangs intent on the lips of Guelph, and hears the exempla of his renowned ancestors. ii

But when the Ruler of the world had made out the inmost feelings of these and other souls, He summons from among the angelic splendors Gabriel, who was second among the first. He is the faithful interpreter, the messenger of good tidings, between God and the choicest souls; he brings down heaven's decrees and back to heaven carries the prayers and the zeal of mortal men. 12

God to His messenger spoke: "Find Godfrey, and ask him in My name: why is the war given over? Why is it not this moment renewed to liberate oppressed Jerusalem? Let him call the chiefs to council and stir up the sluggish to the lofty enterprise: he shall be its Captain. I here elect him: the other earthlings, formerly his companions, now will be his subordinates in the war." I?

So He spoke to him and Gabriel girded himself quickly to execute the affairs laid upon him. His form invisible he clothed with air and made it subject to mortal sense. Human limbs, a human face he feigned; but he composed it of heavenly majesty. He chose an age just between boyhood and young manhood, and with a halo adorned his golden hair.

8

Jerusalem Delivered 14

White wings he donned, with golden tips, unwearyingly agile and swift. Widi these he cleaves the winds and the clouds and flies sublime above the earth and above the sea. So clad the heavenly messenger made his way to the low portion of the universe. First on Mount Lebanon he drew himself up and balanced on extended wings; 15

and then toward Tortosa's coast he steered his flight precipitously down. The new sun was rising from the Eastern shores, part already up, but mostly enclosed in the waves; and Godfrey was offering his morning prayers to God, as was his wont, when like the sun but shining still more the angel appeared to him out of the Orient; 16

and said to him: "Godfrey, behold the season now is ripe that is waiting for you to go to war. Why then interpose any delay in liberating captive Jerusalem? Assemble the princes at once in council, hurry the slothful on to the end of the task. Now God elects you as their leader, and they will willingly subject themselves to you. I?

"God sends me as His messenger: in His name I reveal to you His mind. O how much hope you ought to have now of the noble victory, O how much zeal for the army entrusted to you." He fell silent, and vanishing, flew back to the regions of heaven highest and most serene. Godfrey remains—by die words, by the shining splendor—in his eyes bedazzled, astonished in his heart. 18

But when he recovers himself and takes thought about who had come, who had sent him, and what was said, if formerly he yearned, now is he all on fire to bring an end to die war for which he has been elected leader. Not diat seeing himself preferred in heaven before the others swells his breast with the windiness of ambition; but radier his own will, like a spark in die flame, is inflamed die more in the will of his Lord.

CANTO ONE

9

19

Then his fellow heroes, who were scattered around nearby, he invites to assemble. Letters to letters he adds, and envoys to envoys: always entreaty is joined with his good counsel. That which allures* and spurs the generous soul, that which has power to awaken slumbering virtue, it seems that he can find it all and adorn it effectively so that it compels and pleases. 20

The leaders came, and the others followed after, and Bohemond alone did not attend here. Part pitched their camp outside, a part Tortosa held in her circuit and among her lodgings. The great ones of the army came together (a glorious Senate) on the appointed day. Here the worthy Godfrey began to speak to them, imperial in countenance and in speech resounding.

21

"Warriors of God, whom the King of Heaven chose for repairing the ravagings of His faith, and whom He accompanied and led in safety amid arms and treacheries by land and by sea: so that we have in so few years subdued so many and many provinces rebelling against Him, and among their populace defeated and reduced have spread His victorious standards and His name:

22

"we never abandoned our beloved families and our native nest (if my belief is not mistaken), nor did we entrust our lives to the faithless sea and to the dangers of a distant war in order to gain a little noise of popular acclaim and to possess a barbarous land: for then we would have proposed to ourselves a narrow and scant reward, and shed our blood to the peril of our souls.

4

Tasso emphasizes at the outset Godfrey's rhetorical ability, important in the Renaissance catalog of princely virtues.

io

Jerusalem Delivered 2?

"But the ultimate reach of our thoughts was to take by storm the noble walls of Sion and to remove the Christians from the unworthy yoke of a slavery so displeasing and severe, founding in Palestine a new kingdom where religion might have a solid seat and there would be none to forbid5 the dedicated pilgrim to adore the great sepulcher and discharge his vow. 24 "Hence what has been done up to now in its risk has been much, in its trouble more than much, in honor little, nothing at all to our purpose, if the force of our arms be either stalled or turned to another place. What profit will it be to have gathered from Europe so great a force, and spread the fire through Asia, if the end of such great movements is after all not the building of kingdoms, but only their undoing? 25 "He who wants to rear princedoms does not build them on earthly foundations where he has a few aliens of his own land and religion among a countless swarm of pagan peoples, where it does him no good to trust in the Greeks and where his support from the West is so far away: but rather he shakes down ruins, overwhelmed by which he has only built himself a tomb. 26

"The Turks, the Persians, Antioch (a noble list, redoubtable both for the names and for the deeds)—they were not at all our doing, but Heaven's gift, and marvellous victories they were. Now if by us they are twisted and turned contrary to the ends that the Giver intended, I fear lest He take them from us, and lest so famous a report should come at last to be a fable for the nations. 27 "Ah, before God, let there be none that would lose and dissipate such welcome gifts in such unworthy use! Let the weaving and the completion of

5

This statement of the aim of the war is echoed in the closing lines of the poem (20.144).

CANTOONE

II

the whole work answer to those beginnings that are so loftily laid out. Now that our passage lies free and unimpeded, now that we have at hand the favoring season, why do we not speed on to the city that is the goal of our every victory? and what more hinders us? 28

"Princes, I swear to you (my oaths will be heard by the world today, by the future, yea and the Saints in Heaven above are hearing them now) the time for this affair is already ripe: the more it stands still, the less timely it becomes; that which is safe will become most uncertain. I am your prophet, if our action is sluggish, Palestine will have his aid from Egypt." 29

He spoke: and a brief murmur followed his words. But then rose up the solitary Peter, who sat at council, a private man among princes, first author of the great crusade: "What Godfrey urges I also counsel. There is no room for doubt, so certain is the truth and self evident. He set it forth at length; accept it; I add this only. 30

"If I perceive correctly the disagreements stirred up and insults endured by you, as if in a competition—the contrary opinions, and actions done sluggishly, and stopped midway in execution—I trace to another originating spring the reason for every delay and every quarrel: to that governing authority that remains equal, as if weighed in the balance, among many men of various opinions. 3i

,,"Where one man alone6 does not have the rule, from whom may then de,,pend the judgments about rewards and punishments, by whom responsi-

* For the marginal quotation marks indicating "sententious" material, see Introd., p. xxiv.

12

Jerusalem Delivered

,,bilities and offices may be apportioned, there the government is bound to ,,be erratic. Oh, make but one body of your cooperating limbs; make but one head that may direct and restrain the others. Give to one man alone the scepter and the power, and let him hold the place and the semblance of a king." 32 Here the old man was silent. Now what minds, what bosoms are closed to you, holy Inspiration and sacred Zeal? You inspire the hermit5s words, and you impress them on the hearts of the chivalry; you clear away the ingrafted, or rather inborn, passions of sovereignty, of freedom, of honor, so that William and Guelph, the highest-born, were first to acclaim Godfrey as their leader. 33

The others approved: it must be his function to make decisions and to command the rest. He is to impose laws on the conquered according to his judgment; he is to carry the war to whom he wishes, and when; the rest, who were formerly his peers, are now to be the instruments of his will, obedient to his command. When that is concluded the fame of it takes wing, and far and wide it spreads through the moudis of men. 34

He shows himself to the soldiers; and he seems to them well worthy of the lofty station where they have placed him; and he receives their salutes and military fanfare, his features placid and composed. When he had made his answer to their modest and affectionate shows of love and duty, he orders that on the following day in a large field the whole army should be presented to him in formation. 35

The sun was making his return in die east, clear and shining beyond the usual, when along with the rays of the new day came forth every warrior in arms beneath his standard, and (making the circuit of die spacious meadow) presented himself as much adorned as possible to die worthy Bouillon. Godfrey stood still and watched the cavalry and die infantry in separate bodies pass in review before him.

CANTOONE

13

36

O Memory, Time's enemy and Oblivion's, steward and guardian of all things, let your powers aid me, that I may recount each leader and every squadron of that host: let their ancient fame shine forth in splendor and resound, that now is made silent and dark by the passing years; let my speech be graced with that which (taken from your stores) every generation may hear, none may extinguish. 37

First the Franks showed themselves: their leader used to be Hugh, the king's brother. In the Isle of France they were chosen, amid four rivers, a spacious and lovely country. After Hugh died the intrepid company followed its old insignia of the lilies of gold under Clothar, an excellent captain, whose only lack, if any, is the royal name. 38

They are a thousand, heavily armed; following them is an equal number of horsemen, no different from the first in nature and training, in weapons and appearance; Normans all: and Robert has them in charge, who is that people's native prince. Then two shepherds of the people deployed their squadrons, William and Adhemar. 39

Both the one and the other, who formerly performed a pious ministry in the holy offices, now confining their long locks under a helmet are practising the harsh usage of arms. From the city of Orange and from its environs the former chose four hundred warriors; but the other is leading the men of Le Puy in battle, equal in number and no less skillful in war. 40

Baldwin next brings forward in review along with his Bulloigners those of his brother-german, for his worthy brother entrusts his men to him, now that he is captain of the captains. The Count of the Carnutes follows after, strong of mind and powerful of hand: four hundred go with him; and Baldwin is leading thrice as many armed in the saddle.

14

Jerusalem Delivered 41

Next to them Guelph holds die field, a man whose merit matches his noble birth. He numbers, through his Italian fadier, a long and established line of Estensian ancestors: but being German by name and by domain he is grafted into the great house of Guelph. He rules Carinthia and that country which the ancient Suebi and Rhaetians held along the Ister and the Rhine. 42

To diis, his maternal heritage, he added great and glorious acquisitions. From there he drew a troop that holds it a trifle to march against death if he commands. It is their custom to temper winter with warm lodgings and to hold banquets with their cheerful guests. They were five thousand at their setting forth; and now he is leading here scarcely a third, his remnant from die Persians. 43

Then followed the fair and yellow-haired people whose country lies between the Franks and the Germans and the sea, where the Meuse flows and the Rhine, a land fertile in grain and cattle; and their islanders that with tall dikes make their defense against the voracious ocean: the ocean that swallows up not merely goods and ships, but whole cities and principalities. 44

The former and the latter make up a thousand, and diey all go togedier in a band under another Robert. Somewhat larger is the British squadron; William commands it, younger son to the king. The English are archers, and with diem diey have a race that lives nearer the Pole: from her deep forests Ireland sends these shaggy men, Ireland cut off the farthest from the world. 45 Next conies Tancred; and there is none among so many (except Rinaldo) either a greater swordsman, or handsomer in manners and in appearance, or of more exalted and unwavering courage. If any shadow of guilt makes less resplendent his great repute, it is only the folly of love: a love born

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amid arms, from a fleeting glimpse, that nurtures itself on sorrows and gathers strength. 46

Fame is that on the day the people of France gloriously achieved the rout of the Persians, when victorious Tancred at last was tired of chasing the fugitives, he looked for cool refreshment and rest for his burning lips, his weary body, and came where a fresh spring surrounded by green turfs invited him to its summery shade. 47

There on a sudden a maiden appeared before him, all clad in armor except for her face: she was a pagan, and was come there too for the same purpose of refreshing herself. He saw her and marvelled at her lovely countenance, and was pleased by it and burned for it. O marvellous!7 Love that is scarcely come to birth takes wing already grown and already triumphs fully armed. 48

She covered herself with her helmet; and were it not that others came up to the place, she would have attacked him. The proud lady parted from her victim, since of necessity she is a solitary fugitive: but her lovely and warlike image he so preserved in his heart that it is alive; and always he has in his memory both the gesture and the place in which he saw her, a constant fuel to his flame. 49

And by his face experienced folk could read: "This man burns, and hopelessly; in such wise he goes sighing, and in such wise carries his eyes downcast and full of sorrow." For him eight hundred on horseback, whom he

7 The first of many instances of Tasso's desire to call direct attention to examples of meraviglia, important to his concept of the heroic poem. In general (as already at 1.26) I have transliterated forms of the word meraviglia (and also mqgnanimita), in an effort to call attention to the prevalence of the concepts they represent. See Introd., p. x.

16

Jerusalem Delivered

leads, abandoned the pleasant seaboard of Campania, Nature's proudest boast, and the lovely and fertile hills that the Tyrrhenian woos. 50

Behind them came two hundred born in Greece, who are almost entirely free of any steel; crescent swords hang down at their sides; quivers and bows rattle on their backs; wiry horses they have, inured to running, tireless in effort, sparing in diet: they are quick to attack and quick to sound retreat, and roving and scattered wage war by taking flight. 51 Tatin rules the band, and he was the only one who, being Greek, accompanied the Latin armies. Oh shame! oh crime! were not those wars near neighbor to you, Greece? and yet you sat, as at a spectacle, sluggishly awaiting the outcome of great actions. Now, if you are a common slave, your servitude (make no complaint) is a justice not an outrage. 52 Lo then comes a band the last in order but first in honor and in courage and skill. Here are the Adventurers, invincible heroes, the terrors of Asia and thunderbolts of Mars. Let Argus be silent about the Minyans, and Arthur be silent about his errant knights, that fill the pages with dreams. For every memory from antiquity loses by comparison with these. Now what leader will be worthy of them? 53 Dudon'of Kontz is their leader; and because it was hard to make the selection by breeding and by prowess, the rest had agreed to place themselves under him, who had seen more and done more. Of weighty and mature virility, he shows his white hair in a vigorous freshness: he shows, like a noble trail of honor, the graven scars of wounds that are not ugly. 54

Eustace is next among the first; and his own merits make him famous, and even more his brother Bouillon. Gernando is there, born of Norway's kings, who boasts his scepters and titles and crowns. Ancient fame places among the illustrious Roger of Balnavilla and Engerlan, and celebrated

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among the most valiant are one Gentonio, one Rambaldo, and two Gerards. 55

Also among the celebrated are Ubaldo, and Rosmond the heir to the great duchy of Lancaster: it shall not be that that which makes of our memories its greedy prey shall weigh down into its depth Obizzo the Tuscan; nor that it conceal from the world's brightness the three Lombard brothers— Achilles, Sforza, and Palamedes—or mighty Otho, who won in combat the shield8 in which the naked boy is escaping from the snake. 56

I leave behind neither Gascon nor Ridolfo, nor the one nor the other Guido, both of them famous; not Everard, not Gernier do I pass over, ungraciously hidden under silence. Already weary of numbering, whither are you carrying me, Edward and Gildippe, lovers and marriage-partners? Consorts still in the midst of war, you will not be put asunder even in death! 57

What is not to be learned in the schools of Love? There she was transformed into a bold maid of war. She is always close to his dear side, and both their lives hang from a single fate. The blow never descends that hurts one only, but undivided is the smart of every wound: and often the one is wounded and the other grows faint, and he pours out his soul if she her blood. 58

But over these and over as many as were led forth in review, you would have seen the young Rinaldo, charmingly fierce, lift high his regal head, and all eyes look to him alone. He outstripped age and expectation, and his flowers were but ready when his fruits came forth. If you see him glittering all clad in armor you think him Mars; but Love, if he discover his face.

' For the impresa, see Glossary, s.v. Hercules. This shield is not mentioned elsewhere.

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Jerusalem Delivered 59

On the banks of Adige Sophia bore him to Bertoldo, Sophia the fair to Bertoldo the mighty. And almost before die babe was weaned from die breast, Matilda requested him and nurtured him and instructed him in the princely arts. And he was with her the whole time until the trumpet that was heard from the East allured his youthful mind. 60

Thereon (and he had not yet completed diree lusters) he ran away all alone and travelled unknown roads. He crossed the Aegean, he passed the shores of Greece, he joined die camp in far-off regions. A flight most noble, and one well worthy of being imitated by some magnanimous descendant.' Three years he has been at war, and die soft down was scarcely sprouted from his chin, before its time. 61

When die knights have passed die infantry comes in view, and Raymond is in the lead. He ruled Toulouse and gadiered his infantry among die Pyrenees and between the Garonne and die ocean. They are four thousand, well-weaponed and well-disciplined, accustomed to hardship and able to bear it. They are good troops and could not be led by a wiser or braver guide. 62

But Stephen of Amboise is leading to war five thousand from Blois and Tours. This is not a vigorous or hardy people, although diey all are glittering in steel. The soft cheerful and pleasure-laden region produces inhabitants like itself. They make their charge in die first stages of battle, but dien it quickly languishes, and is checked.

9 For Rinaldo as ancestor of the Este dukes, see Introd., pp. xiii-xiv. He is described here as in his eighteenth year, the Latinism Itistcr meaning five years.

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6?

Alcasto comes third with threatening countenance like Capaneus of old against Thebes. He had gathered from their alpine strongholds six thousand Swiss, a fierce and daring folk, that has turned to new shapes and worthier purposes the iron that used to plow furrows, to harrow the soil. And with the hands that guarded the rustic herds it seems that they are no whit fearful of defying kings. 64

See next displayed the noble standard with the diadem of Peter and the keys. Here good Camillo assembles seven thousand infantry, in heavy and glittering armor. Happy is he that heaven has destined him for such enterprise, where he may revive the ancient honor of his forebears, or show at least that Italian courage I0 lacks either nothing or only discipline. 65

But now all the troops had passed, making a handsome show, and this was the last. Whereupon Godfrey summons the more important leaders and opens his mind to them: "When the new dawn makes its appearance tomorrow, I want the army to get under way ready and prompt, so that it may arrive at the holy city as unexpectedly as possible. 66

"Make ready then for the march and for the battle and for the victory too." This fiery speech from a man so wise urges each man on and heartens him. They all are ready to go at the earliest light and impatient in waiting for the dawn. But the prudent Bouillon, however, is not without any fear, although he keeps it hidden within his heart. 67

For he had heard certain news that Egypt's king had already set himself on the road toward Gaza, the strong and handsome citadel that faces against

10 Tasso probably has in mind Petrarch's canzone ("Italia mia," 94-96), which Machiavelli quotes at the conclusion of The Prince.

2O

Jerusalem Delivered

the Syrian principalities. Nor can he believe that a man always accustomed to bold enterprises would now remain sluggish in idleness; but expecting to have in him a bitter enemy, he speaks to Henry, his faithful messenger: 68

"In a light pinnace I want you to make the crossing to Greek territory. There should be arriving there (so I am written by one who normally makes no mistake in his information) a royal youth, of indomitable spirit, who is coming to make himself our companion in war. He is prince of the Danes" and is leading a large troop from the regions underneath the Pole. 69

"But since the treacherous Greek emperor perhaps will use with him his accustomed arts, to make him either turn back or wend his bold journey to other places far away from us—do you, my messenger, you, my honest counsellor, in my name make him disposed to what you consider to be his good and ours; and tell him he should come quickly, since any delay would be unworthy of him. 70

"Do not come with him yourself, but stay with the king of the Greeks to procure the aid that more than one time has been promised us before, and by virtue of the treaty is due to us still." So he speaks and instructs him: and when the envoy has his credentials and letters of salutation, he takes his leave, hastening his departure. And Godfrey makes a truce with his misgivings. 7i

On the following day, when the gates of the radiant east are opened to the sun, a sound of trumpets and drums was heard, by which each warrior is roused to the march. Not so welcome in the days of summer's heat is the thunder that brings to the world a hope of rain as the haughty sound of martial instruments was welcome to that fierce people.

11

Sven, whose story appears in 8.6-42.

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72

Quickly each man, spurred with great desire, clothes his limbs with the customary spoils and quickly appears all armed to point. Quickly each man is gathered around his leader, and the army drawn up in formation looses all its banners to the wind, and on the great imperial ensign the Cross triumphant is displayed to heaven. 73

Meanwhile the sun, that keeps acquiring more of the fields of heaven and ascending higher, beats on the armor and draws from it sparks and gleams, shimmering and bright, so that it hurts the eye. The air seems to burn with sparkles round about and shines as if from a leaping fire. And the sound of fierce neighing blends with the clang of iron, and deafens the countryside. 74

The Captain, who wished to secure his troops from enemy ambushes, dispatches a number of light cavalry to scour the countryside around; and in front he sent the pioneers by whom the route is to be made clear, and the hollow places filled and the steep ones levelled, and by whom the chokedup passages are to be opened. 75

There is no troop of pagans banded together, no wall encircled with deep ditch, no wide stream or rugged mountain or thick forest that can stop their passage. So sometimes the king of the other rivers,12 when he swells up proud beyond measure, ruinously runs wild beyond his banks and there is never a thing that dares oppose him. 76

Only the prince of Tripoli, who locks his people, treasures, and arms within well-guarded walls, perhaps could have delayed the Prankish bands; but he did not dare challenge them to battle. Willingly he received them within his territory, placated with messages and with gifts besides; and he

' See Glossary, s.v. Po.

22

Jerusalem Delivered

accepted die conditions of peace as it pleases die worthy Godfrey to impose them. 77

Here from Mount Seir, which is near the city on the east, tall and majestic, a great crowd of die faithful descended to the plain, a medley of every age and every sex. They carried their gifts to die Christian conqueror; they rejoiced in seeing him and talking with him; they were amazed at die foreign arms: and Godfrey had in diem a friendly and faidiful guide. 78

He leads die army always close to die ocean waves by die direct route, knowing well that the friendly fleet sweeping die coast is lying close to the nearby beaches, so that the whole host may have an abundance of necessary equipment and every isle of Greece harvest its grain for them alone, and rocky Scio her vintages, and Crete. 79

The neighboring sea groans under the weight of die tall galleys and die lighter craft, so that diere is never a safe passage opened for die Saracens in die Mediterranean; for besides those that George and Mark have armed in the Venetian and Ligurian territories, England and France send some, and Holland some, and fertile Sicily others. 80

And these, all bound together widi the strongest ties into a single will, were laden and provided on various shores with what is needful for the land armies, which (finding open and unprovided the enemy's frontier passes) are making their swiftest speed to where Christ suffered his mortal agony. 81

But Fame is their forerunner, the bearer of true reports and of fallacious— that die blessed invincible host is assembled, diat now it is on the move, and that there is none who can slow it: how many and of what sort are the squadrons she repeats, she tells the name and die strength of die boldest

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men, she tells their vaunts, and threatens the usurpers of Sion with terrifying visage. 82

,,And the expectation of ill is a worser ill perhaps than the actual presence of ,,the ill would be. Every ear and every mind hangs in suspense on each uncertain breath of Rumor, and inside and out a confused whispering runs through the purlieus and the doleful city. But the old king amid his gathering troubles revolves in his doubtful breast fierce counsels. 83

Aladine the king is called, who (being a new ruler in that princedom) lives in continual care—a man formerly cruel, but maturing age had somewhat softened his fierce nature. He, who had heard the plan of the Westerners to assault the walls of his city, adds to his old timidity new suspicions and is fearful of enemies and of subjects alike. 84

For within a single city is housed a mingled populace of opposed religions: the weak part and the lesser believe in Christ, the large and the strong in Mahomet. But when the king made his conquest of Sion, and sought to establish there his seat, he lessened the public taxes on his pagans, but brought them down the more heavily on the wretched Christians. 85

The irritation of this thought15 exasperates his innate ferocity, that has been languishing cold and sleepy because of his years, and revives it so that more than ever it thirsts for blood: even so turns fierce in the summer season that which seemed in the cold a peaceful snake; so a tamed lion gets back his inborn fury, if someone does him injury.

" Revision has left the demonstrative without a clear antecedent, but "this thought" is presumably the king's fearfulness.

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Jerusalem Delivered 86

"I see (said he) unfailing signs of new happiness in this infidel canaille. Only universal ruin is pleasing to them, only in the common grief do they appear able to smile. And perhaps even now they are hatching plots and treacheries, revolving within themselves how they may kill me; or how they may secretly open the gates to a people allied to them, and hostile to me. 87 "But they shall not; I shall prevent these their wicked designs, and unburden myself completely. I shall kill them, I shall make of them bitter slaughters, I shall open the veins of the babes at their mothers' breasts, I shall burn their houses and their temples too; these shall be the funeral pyres they owe their dead. And before that, above that tomb of theirs, amid their votive offerings I shall make sacrificial victims of their priests." 88

So the wicked man counsels in his heart, yet does not follow out his plan so evilly conceived. But if he grants pardon to those innocents, it is the work of cowardice, not of mercy: since if one fear spurs him on to cruelty, another more powerful apprehension restrains him. He is fearful of cutting off the paths of compromise, and of too much enraging the enemy's victorious armies. 89 Hence the villain tempers his irrational fury, or rather he seeks where in some other place he can discharge it. He pulls down the farm buildings and levels them and gives the tilled fields as a prey to the flames. He leaves no place whole or pure where the Frank can find pasturage or lodging; he roils the springs and the streams and mingles their pure waters with deathdealing poisons. 90 In his cruelty he is cautious, and does not neglect the while to fortify Jerusalem. It was already very strong on three sides, only toward Boreas is it somewhat less secure. But from the first rumors he fortified its weaker side with high ramparts; and he gathered there in haste a great number of subjects and mercenaries.

Canto Two

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Sophronia and Olindo are condemned to be burnt at the stake—Clorinda arriving in Jerusalem rescues them (38)—the Crusaders at Emrnaus are visited by Aletes and Argantes, ambassadors from Egypt (55)—Godfrey answers Aletes (80)—the ambassadors depart (92).

C A N T O

T W O

i

While the tyrant is girding himself to arms, Ismen one day presents himself to him in private: Ismen, who can draw up the dead body from under the sealed stones, and make it breathe and feel; Ismen, who by the sound of his murmured incantations frightens Pluto himself in his royal palace, and employs his demons too as servants in his wicked rites, and binds and looses them. 2

He now adores Mahoun, and he was a Christian; but still he cannot abandon his first rituals, but often mingles in impious and profane use the two laws that he ill understands. And now from his caves, where far from the vulgar crowd he is wont to practise his secret arts, he is come in the public peril to his master, to an evil king worse counsellor. 3 "My lord (he said) without delay the feared and victorious army is coming ,,on. But let us do what we have to do. Heaven will aid, the world will aid ,,the brave. Well have you fulfilled the role of king, of leader, and have seen far and have made provision. If everyone else fulfills his proper task in such fashion, this land will be a grave for your enemies. 4

"I for my part am come to give you aid, sharing the peril and the toil. Whatever the counsel of old age can give, and whatever the arts of magic, I promise it all. The angels that suffered banishment from Heaven I shall constrain to a portion of the labor. But now I shall tell you beforehand where I intend to begin my magic spells, and by what means.

5 "An underground altar lies hidden in the Christians' temple, and there is the image of Her whom that crowd makes its goddess, and mother of its

28

Jerusalem Delivered

incarnate and buried God. Before the image a lighted lamp continually shines: the image is wrapped in a veil. Around it in a long row hang the offerings that the credulous devout bring there. 6

"Now this their effigy, stolen from thence, I propose that you convey with your own hand and place it within your mosque. Then I shall work my charm so strongly that ever while it shall be kept in custody here it will be a fated protection for these gates. Your princely power will be secure within unassailable walls, through this strange and deep mystery." 7 So he spoke, and persuaded him. And incontinent the king hurried to the house of God, and forced the priests, and irreverent he ravished away from there the chaste image. And he took it to that temple where often Heaven is angered by a foolish and sinful rite. Then in that profane place and over the holy image the sorcerer muttered his blasphemies.

8 But when the new dawn appeared in the sky the man to whose keeping that unclean shrine is entrusted failed to see the image where it had been placed, and vainly he sought for it on every side. Soon he informs the king of it, who at the news shows himself wildly angered with him; and he thinks for sure that some one of the faithful had made that theft, and that he is hiding it. 9 Either it was the secret work of the hand of one of the faithful, or indeed Heaven exercises here its power, because it scorns that a vile place should conceal the image of Her who is its queen and goddess. So that Fame is uncertain still whether that act be ascribed to human handiwork or to miraculous agency. It is good religion that, giving up the claims of human piety and zeal, Heaven be thought the agent.

10 With insistent inquiry the king has a search made of their every church, their every house. And for anyone who conceals from him or reveals the

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theft or the guilty party, he prescribes great punishments and rewards. The sorcerer also takes no rest from spying out the truth with all his arts, but he does not guess it; for Heaven (whether the deed was its own, or another's) concealed it from him, to the dishonoring of his enchantments. ii

But when the savage king saw concealed what he takes to be the crime of the faithful, he was all enraged with hatred against them and burned with anger and a vast uncontrollable fury. He forgets every consideration; come what may, he means to avenge himself, and to ease his burning soul. "My wrath will not come to nothing (he said), the unknown thief will die in the general slaughter. 12 "As long as the culprit be not spared, let the just man and the innocent perish. But what 'just man' do I mean? Each one is guilty, and never a man in their crew has ever been a friend of our religion. If a person is innocent of this new crime, let an old fault account for his new punishment. Up, up, my faithful, up and take flame and steel, burn and kill." i? Thus he addresses the mob. And the news was immediately known among the faithful, who were stunned, so did the fear of present death now take them. And there is not one who can dare or attempt either flight or defenses, apology or entreaty. But the fearful and irresolute people found salvation where least they expected it. 14 A maiden there was among them, her maidenhood fully ripe, of lofty and queenly thoughts, of lofty beauty; but she cares nothing for her beauty, or only so far as it may adorn her chastity. Her greatest merit is that she hides her great merits within the walls of a narrow house, and steals away from the praises and glances of admirers, alone and unsolicited. 15 ,,Yet guard there cannot be that altogether can conceal a beauty worthy of ^Hatching and of being admired. Nor do you allow it, Love, but you dis-

?o

Jerusalem Delivered

cover her to the amorous desires of a young man. O Love, that sometimes blind, sometimes an Argus, now veil our eyes with a blindfold, now open them for us and cast diem about, you have carried some lovers' regard past a thousand keepers into the chastest maidenly bowers. 16

Sophronia she, Olindo he is named, both of one city and of one religion. He, who is as modest as she is beautiful, desires much, hopes little, and asks nothing. Nor does he know how to reveal himself, or does not dare. And she eidier scorns him, or does not notice him, or does not understand. So up to now the poor lad has paid his service either unseen, or ill understood, or ill appreciated. 17

Meanwhile the proclamation is heard, and how a piteous slaughter is in preparation for dieir people. To her, who is as spirited as she is chaste, comes an idea of how she can save them. Courage sets her grand design in motion; then modesty stops it, and maidenly decorum; courage wins out, or rather it comes to an understanding and makes itself modest and modesty courageous. 18

The maiden went forth alone among the crowd, she did not conceal her beauties nor set them forth. She lowered her eyes, she walked along wrapped in her veil, with manners modest and spirited. You do not quite know whedier to say she adorns or neglects herself, whether accident or art composed her lovely face. Her negligencies are the artifices of Nature, of Love, of her friendly stars. 19

Admired by all and giving them not a glance the proud girl makes her way and comes before the king. Nor does she draw back because she can see him wrathful, but bravely holds up under his fierce gaze. "I am come, my lord (she said) and I pray that you suspend your wradi the while and bridle your people. I come to discover to you, and I come to deliver you captive that culprit whom you seek, by whom you are so offended."

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2O

At the chaste boldness, at the unexpected dazzle of lofty and saintly beauties, the king as if confused, as if overcome, bridled his wrath and smoothed his fierce aspect. Had he been less severe of spirit, or she of coun,,tenance, he had become her admirer. But stubborn beauty does not cap,,ture the stubborn heart, and attractive wiles are the food of love. 21

It was amazement, it was desire, and it was pleasure, if it was not love, that moved his villainous heart. 'Tell me all (he says to her). Lo, I promise you that your Christian people suffer no harm." And she: "The culprit is within your view. The theft, my lord, is the work of this hand; I took the image, I am the one you are looking for, and you must punish me." 22

So she offered her proud head against the general doom, and meant it to gather against herself alone. O noble lie, now when is the truth so beautiful that it can be preferred to you? The fierce tyrant remains suspended, and not so quick to pass over into wrath as is his wont. Then he asks her: "I want you to tell me who gave you advice, and who was with you in the deed." 23

"I did not wish another to share my glory, not even the smallest part (she tells him). I alone was my only confidante, my only counsellor, and my only agent." 'Then only on you (he answered) will fall my avenging wrath." She said: "It is just; it is right for me, if I was alone in the honor, to be alone in the punishment." 24

Here the tyrant begins to be enraged again. Then he asks her: "Where have you hidden the image?" "I did not hide it (she answers him), I burned it. And I considered its burning a praiseworthy thing. In that way at least she can no longer be violated by the mischief-working hands of unbelievers. My lord, you may ask for the object stolen, or you may ask for the thief: the former you will never see, and the latter you are seeing now.

32

Jerusalem Delivered 25

,,Though neither is mine the theft, nor I the thief. It is right to take back ,,what is taken wrongfully." Now, hearing this, the tyrant begins to roar with terrifying sound, and the bridle of his wrath is loosed. Chaste heart, high mind, or noble countenance can have no further hope of finding pardon; and vainly does Love make of her beauty a shield for her against his cruel fury. 26

The lovely lady is arrested, and die king grown cruel condemns her to death by fire. Then her veil and modest shawl are snatched from her; harsh bonds constrain her tender arms. She remains silent, and her brave heart is not dismayed, but yet it is somewhat disturbed; and the loveliness of her face is lost in a hue that is not quite pallor, but wanness. 27

The great event was publicly announced, and the populace had already been drawn diither; Olindo hastened diere too. The person was uncertain, and the fact was clear. He came on die chance that it might be his lady. When he discovered die beautiful prisoner in die role not only of defendant, but of one condemned, when he saw the officers intent on their unfeeling task, headlong he cleaved the press. 28

He shouted to the king: "Not she, not she is guilty of die theft, and it is folly that she boasts of it. One woman alone and inexperienced did not conceive, did not dare, could not perform so great a deed. How did she deceive the guards, and widi what tricks did she steal die holy image of the Goddess? If she did it, let her tell it. My lord, I stole it away!" (Alas, so much he loved his unloving beloved.) 29

Then he added: "By night I climbed up there where your lofty mosque receives the dawn and the daylight, and passed through a narrow opening, attempting inaccessible passages. To me the honor, to me die death is due;

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let not this girl usurp my punishment; mine are those chains, for me this fire is kindled, and for me the funeral pyre made ready." ?o

Sophronia lifts up her face, and in human sympathy looks upon him with eyes full of pity. "Why do you come, o wretched innocent? What plan or madness guides you or draws you on? Am I then unable without you to bear what the wrath of a single man can do? I have yet a heart that thinks itself alone sufficient for one death, and asks no. company." 3i So she speaks to her lover, and does not manage things so that he denies his words and changes his thoughts. O mighty spectacle, where Love and magnanimous Virtue are at odds. Where death is set up as the victor's reward, and safety is the ill luck of the vanquished! But the king is the more enraged as he and she are the more constant in incriminating themselves. 32 It seems to him that he comes out of this in low esteem, and that in his despite they despise his punishments. "Let them both be believed (he says) and let him and her have the victory, and the triumph be as it may." Then he nods to the sergeants, who are quick to bind the youth with their chains. Both are tied to the same stake; and back is turned to back, and face hidden from face. 33

Now the pyre is heaped around them, and already the bellows is stirring up the flames, when the young man burst forth in dolorous lamentations and said to her who is united with him: "Is this then that knot with which I hoped to yoke myself in life-long company with you? Is this that fire that I thought should inflame our hearts with equal ardor? 34

"One kind of flames, one kind of knots Love promised, another kind our unjust fate prepares us. Too much, alas too much she divided us before, but harshly now she joins us together in death. At least it gives me pleasure

34

Jerusalem Delivered

(since in such strange fashion you too must die) to be your partner in the funeral pyre, even if I have not been partner in your bed. Your fate is a sorrow to me, my own not so, since I am dying at your side. 35

"And oh my complete good fortune, oh my pleasant and lucky sufferings, if I shall obtain that, breast joined to breast, my soul should expire upon your mouth; and you at the same time fainting away with me breathe forth your last sighs over me." So he speaks in tears; she answers him softly, and in these words counsels him: 36

"My friend, the time requires other thoughts, other laments, for a loftier reason. Why are you not thinking upon your sins and calling to mind what ample reward God promises the righteous? Suffer in His name and your torments will become blessed; and gladly aspire to your heavenly station. Behold the sky how beautiful it is, and behold the sun how it comforts us and seems to invite us there." 37

Here the pagan crowd lifts up its plaint; the faithful weep, but in far lower tones. It seems that I know not what of the unaccustomed and soft runs through the hardened heart of the king: he sensed it, and was angered, and did not wish to give in, and averted his eyes, and turned away. You alone, Sophronia, do not join the general sorrow, and do not weep, though wept by everyone. 38

While they are in such peril, behold a warrior (for so he seemed) of noble and commanding appearance; and he shows, by his weapons and his foreign clothes,that he is come travelling from afar. The tigress that on his helmet he has for a crest draws everyone's eyes, a renowned insignia, the insignia used in battle by Clorinda. Whence they believe it is she, and the belief is right.

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39

She from her earliest age altogether disprized the feminine nature and its usages; her proud hand did not deign to bend to the tasks of Arachne, to the needle, to the spindle. She avoided soft habits and sheltered places, who yet in the fields preserves her chastity. She armored her countenance in pride, and it pleased her to keep it severe; and though severe it was pleasing. 40

While yet immature with childish hand she tightened and loosened the bit of a warhorse; she managed spear and sword, and in the palestra hardened her limbs and trained them to the racecourse. Through mountain path or forest thereafter she followed the tracks of the fierce lion and bear; she followed the wars; and in these and in the woods she seemed a beast to men, a man to the beasts. 4i

She is come now from the Persian regions, that she may resist the Christians as she can, who at other times' has strewn the shores with their limbs and blended the waves with their blood. Now upon her arrival here the first thing she saw was the deadly spectacle. Desirous of seeing, and of knowing what crime is bringing punishment on the guilty pair, she spurs her horse forward. 42

The crowds give way, and she draws up to look closely at the two who are bound. She sees that one is silent and the other groans, and the weaker sex is showing the greater strength. She sees that he weeps like a man whom pity, not sorrow, oppresses, or a sorrow not for himself: and that she remains silent, with her eyes so fixed on the sky that she seems before death to be separated from down here.

1 Clorinda's earlier campaigning against the crusaders accounts for Tancred's knowledge of her(i.46ff.).

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43 Clorinda waxed tender and felt sorrow for them both, and wept for them a bit. Yet she feels the greater sorrow for the one that sorrowed not; silence moves her more and complaining less. Without too much delay she turned to a white-bearded man at one side: "Ho! tell me, who are these? and what is their crime or fortune that is leading diem to die torture?" 44

Thus she asked, and had from him for her questions an answer brief but full. She was astonished on hearing it, and quickly conceived that these two were equally innocent. At once she has proposed to herself to prevent their deadis, as far as her pleas or her weapons will prevail. Promptly she steps to the fire and makes it recede (which already is encroaching), and speaks to the guard. 45

"Let there be none of you with the temerity to go any further in this harsh task until I can speak to the king. I give you my firm assurance that he will not charge you with slowness." The sergeants obeyed and were moved by that grandly regal countenance of hers. Then she moved toward the king, and encountered him on his way, as he was coming to her.

46 "I am Clorinda (she said): you have perhaps heard my name some time. And hither, my lord, I am come to range myself with you in defense of our common faith and of your kingdom. Only say the word, I am ready for every task; I do not fear the lofty, and I do not disdain the humble. You may wish to employ me in the open field, or rather within the enclosure of the walls, I refuse nothing." 47 She was silent. And the king answered: "Renowned maiden, what land is so far remote from Asia or from the highway of the sun that your fame has not arrived and your glory winged its way there? Now that your sword has joined me, it gives me consolation and confidence from every fear. I would not have more certain hope if a great army were banded together for my deliverance.

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48

'Truly it seems to me that Godfrey puts off his coming here longer than he should. You ask that I make use of you. I think only great and difficult deeds are worthy of you. I grant you the scepter over our warriors, and let their orders be what you command." So he spoke. She returned him courteous thanks for his praises; then she resumed her speech: 49 "Surely it must needs seem strange that the reward should come before the service. But your kindness gives me confidence. I want you to give me these culprits as my reward for service yet to come. I ask them as a gift; and yet, if the guilt is uncertain, it is process without all clemency that condemns them. But I pass this over, and pass over the express tokens from which I argue innocence in them. 50 "And I will say only that it is common opinion here that the Christians stole the image, but I disagree with you; not, however, without good reason do I please myself with my own opinion. It was lack of reverence for our laws to do that work that the wizard persuaded you to, for it is not proper for us to have images in our temples, and even less the images of others. 51 'Therefore it pleases me to refer the miracle of the deed to Mahoun above; and he did it to demonstrate that it is not permitted to pollute his temples with an alien religion. Let Ismen accomplish all his deeds by enchantments, he for whom sorceries stand in stead of arms. But let us knights deal only by the sword: this is our art and in this alone may you trust." 52 That said, she was silent. And the king, although it is difficult for him to incline his wrathful heart to mercy, yet wanted to please her, and reason persuades him and the source of the request moves him. "Let them have life (he replied) and liberty, and nothing be denied to such an intercessor. Whether this be a justice or a pardon, innocent I absolve them, and guilty I give them to you."

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So they were set free. Truly fortunate was the fate of Olindo, who had opportunity to perform a deed that in the end in her generous heart awakened love through love. He goes from the stake to his nuptials, and not only is transformed from lover to beloved, but even from a criminal to a bridegroom. He was willing to die with her: she does not scorn, when he does not die with her, to live with him. 54

But the suspicious king thought it a danger to have so much virtue joined together near him, so that, as he willed, they both went into exile beyond the boundaries of Palestine. He, still pursuing his cruel plan, banishes some of the faithful, others he confines. Oh how sadly they leave dieir little children, and their aged parents and their sweet marriage beds. 55

Harsh separation! he drives away only the strong of body and bold of mind, but the gentle sex and those of years unfit for war he holds with him as a pledge, as if hostages. Many went wandering away, others became rebels, and wrath was able to do more than fear. These joined with the Franks, encountering them on the very day that they entered into Emmaus. 56

Emmaus is a city that a short road separates from royal Jerusalem, and a man who goes slowly at his own pleasure if he leaves in the morning arrives at nones.2 Oh how much it pleases the Franks to learn this! Oh how much more their desire speeds them and spurs them on! But because the sun is already declining below the meridian, here die captain makes them pitch their tents.

' Tasso reckons the time by the canonical hours. Nones is named for the ninth hour, reckoning from 6 A.M.—but sometimes the word is applied more loosely, to the entire period from noon to 3 P.M. See Glossary, s.v. Emmaus.

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57

Now they had pitched the tents, and the lifegiving light of the sun was but little removed from the ocean, when two great barons are seen approaching, in dress unfamiliar and in their manner foreign. Their every peaceful gesture shows that they are coming as friends to the captain. They were envoys from the great king of Egypt, and had about them a large number of squires and pages.3 58

The one is Aletes, who because of his low birth was raised amid the meanness of the common people: but he was exalted to the chief honors of the kingdom by a flowing and feigning and prudent speech, by compliant manners and a shifty nature, ready at pretense, experienced at deception. A great fabricator of slanders, he decks out in novel terms what appear to be praises and are accusations. 59

The other is Circassian Argantes, a man who came a stranger to the royal court of Egypt but was made one of the satraps of the empire and enrolled in die highest levels of the army. Impatient, unrelenting, fierce, in arms unwearying and invincible, a despiser of every God, and one who bases on the sword his reason and his law. 60

These men sought audience and being admitted they entered into the presence of the famous Godfrey. They found him seated among his barons, on ,,a low seat and in plain attire: but true valor, though neglected, is of itself Mto itself bright ornament enough. Argantes made him a little sign of courtesy, in the manner of the great man who cares for nobody.

' Readers unfamiliar with chivalric literature will sometimes be surprised by reminders of the retinue normally attendant on these knights and noblemen. For example, even when leaving the camp in high dudgeon, after slaying Gernando, Rinaldo is accompanied by his squires (5.51; 14.58).

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But Aletes placed his right hand over his heart and bowed his head and fixed his eyes on the ground and paid him full honor in every fashion diat the customs of his people might allow. Then he began, and rivers of eloquence sweeter than honey issued from his moudi; and because the Franks have already learned the Syrian language, what he said was understood.4 62

"O thou who alone are worthy that diis band of famous heroes now should deign to obey him, which recognized that its former triumphs and kingdoms were from you and from your counsels; your name, that is not confined within Alcides' markers, reverberates today among us too. And Fame has sown in every region of Egypt fresh tidings of your valor. 6? "Among so many there is not one who does not hear diem as he is wont to hear die greatest marvels. But by my king they have been received not widi astonishment alone, but with pleasure too; and he himself takes pleasure in recounting them at times, loving in you that which anodier envies or fears. He loves valor and willingly chooses to unite himself with you—in love, if not in law. 64 "By such an excellent reason spurred diereto, he asks you for friendship and for peace; and if religion cannot, let virtue be die tie by which the one can be bound to the other. But, because he had heard that you were prepared to drive his friend from his dirone, he desired (before odier evil should flow from this) that his diinking should be opened to you by us. 65 "And his diinking is this: that if you will be willing to content yourself with what you have accomplished in your campaign, and not to bodier Judaea and the other regions that are covered by the protection of his rule,

4 For occasional acknowledgment of the problem of language in this war involving several cultures, see 7.28; 13.39; 18.52,60; 20.24.

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he promises on his side to make secure for you your not-well-founded state: and if you two shall be united, now when will the Turks and the Persians ever be able to hope to make their losses good? 66 "My Lord, you have done great deeds in a little time, so that a long age cannot consign them to oblivion: armies, cities, beaten, destroyed, difficulties overcome and unknown paths; so that the near-by provinces and the distant are either dismayed or stunned by the report; and even if you are able to gain new princedoms, you may hope in vain to acquire new glory. 67 "Your glory has reached its utmost pitch; and for the future it behooves you to avoid uncertain battles, since even if you win you can only advance your power, and from this your glory grows no greater. But, if the opposite happens, you may lose the power seized and acquired before, and the ,,honor. Surely it is bold and foolish gambling with fortune to wager ,,against the small and uncertain the certain and much. 68

"But advice from someone on whom it perhaps weighs heavily that someone else should long preserve his gains—and the fact that you always have won in every enterprise—and that natural desire that heats the blood (and always is kindled the most in the noblest hearts) of having nations as tributaries and slaves: these things perhaps will cause you to flee from peace more than another man does from war. 69 'They will beseech you to persevere on the path that fate has opened so wide to you; not to lay aside this famous sword by whose strength every victory is assured, until the laws of Mahoun shall have fallen, until Asia be left desolate through you. Sweet things to hear and sweet deceits—from which then issue often extreme disasters. 70

"But, if your courage does not blind your eyes or darken the light of reason within you, you will perceive that when you choose war you have a rea-

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Mson for

fearing, not for hoping. For Fortune here below is fitful in her ,,changes, sending us results now sad now good. And, for flights too high ,,and sudden, headlong falls are wont to be near followers. 7i "Tell me: if Egypt moves to your discomfiture, being so powerful in gold and arms and counsel; and if it happen also that the Persian and the Turk and the son of Cassano5 renew the war; what forces will you be able to oppose to so great fury, or where find refuge in your peril? Perhaps you trust in the wicked Greekish king who is bound to you by sacred treaties? 72

"The Greekish faith, to whom is it not clear? You can learn from one betrayal every other. Or rather from a thousand: for that faithless moneygrubbing people has spread a thousand snares for you. Is he then who before contested your passage now preparing to risk his life for you? Will he who denied you the roads that are common to all now make a gift of his own blood? 73

"But perhaps you have placed your every hope in these battalions, by which you sit now girded round. Those whom you overcame when they were scattered, when banded together you think you will easily overcome again; even though your troops are now much depleted through battles and hardships—and you see it; even though a new enemy is gathering against you and uniting Egyptians with Persians and with Turks. 74

"Now, if indeed you consider it ordained by fate that the sword can never defeat you, let it be granted you, and let Heaven's decree be exactly what you make it; Famine will overcome you: against this evil what refuge, before God, what defence will you have? Shake your lance against Her, and draw your sword, and pretend yourself a victory there too.

! Erminia's brother, not mentioned elsewhere. He would be heir to the princedom of Antioch. Cf. 6.56.

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75

"The provident hand of the countryman has burned and destroyed every field round about, and gathered the harvest within defended walls and in high towers, many days before your coming. You, whom your boldness has brought this far, from where can you hope to provision horses and men? You will say: 'Our fleet on the sea provides for us.' Does your survival then depend on the winds? 76

"Perhaps your fortune gives command to the winds,6 and binds them and looses them according to her whim? Does the sea (that is deaf to prayers and lamentations) conform to your will, giving heed to you alone? Or will our people lack the means—and the Persians and the Turks united in league—to gather together so powerful an armada as will be able to oppose these hulls of yours? 77

"Needs must you have a double victory, my Lord, if you are to carry off die honors from this enterprise. One loss alone can be the cause of deep shame for you, and injury still deeper. For if our fleet should put yours to flight, then here the army perishes of hunger. And if you are the loser, dien in vain will your ships be victorious. 78

"Now if in such state you still refuse peace and treaty with Egypt's mighty king (let the truth have license to speak), this decision of yours does not well answer to your other virtues. But may it be Heaven's will that your thinking be changed, if it is inclined to war, and that it pursue die opposite course, so diat Asia now may have respite from her mourning, and you enjoy the fruits of victory.

6

When Godfrey answers Aletes' contemptuous inquiry with his strong assertion of God's power over all natural phenomena (2.84), Tasso is also anticipating the entire action of Canto 15, where Fortune as God's handmaiden does indeed control the winds.

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"And you,7 that are his companions in danger and hardship and glory, let not the favor of Fortune so deceive you now, that it lead you on to provoke new wars. But, like the pilot that has brought his ship out of the sea's treacheries to the haven desired, you ought now to haul down your spread sails and not entrust your self anew to the cruel sea." 80 Here Aletes fell silent. And those brave heroes followed his speech with a low murmuring, and in their scornful gestures clearly displayed how much that proposition annoys each one. The captain turned his eyes in a circle three or four times and looked his men in the face. And then he fixed his eye on the face of the man who was awaiting his answer, and thus he spoke: 81 "Ambassador, pleasantly have you set forth for us an offer sometimes courteous, sometimes threatening. If your king has love for me, and praises my deeds, it is kindness in him and his love is welcome to me. To that part following, where you propound a war of pagandom united against us, I shall answer (as is my custom) with frank sentiments in simple words. 82 "Know that thus far we have endured so much, on sea, on land, in the air both light and dark, to this end only, that the road should lie open for us to those holy and venerable walls, that we may acquire grace and merit with God by releasing them from so harsh a slavery; nor will it ever be burdensome for so worthy an end to hazard our worldly honor and life and realm: 83 "for no ambitious avaricious passions spurred us on to the enterprise and were our guide (our Father in Heaven remove from our hearts so wicked a plague, if it be lodged in any one of us, nor suffer it to taint him and infect with the sweet poison that pleases as it kills), but rather His hand that softly steals into our hard hearts, and softens them and removes their stoniness. 7

Aletes turns to Godfrey's assembled barons. So the Egyptian caliph addresses first Armida, then Tissaphernes and Adrastus, without signal of the change in audience (17.52). Normally Tasso is completely explicit about who is speaking to whom; but cf. 4.22n.

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84

"It is this that has moved us, and this has guided us, delivered from every peril and every trouble; this makes the mountains level and the rivers dry, takes from the summer its heat, from the winter its cold; this calms the stormy billows of the sea, it binds and looses the fetters of the winds: therefrom the lofty walls are breached and burned, therefrom the armed bands are scattered and slain; 85

"therefrom our daring, therefrom our hope arises, not from our frail and weary strength, not from the fleet, and not from how many soldiers Greece can feed, and not from Frankish arms. If only His hand may never aban,,don us and leave us, little need we care that any other fail us. He who ,,knows how that defends and how that strikes requires no other succour in nhis troubles. 86

"But if His hand should deny us its aid because of our sins, or because of His secret judgments, who will there be among us that will shun to be buried where the body of God was once buried? We shall die, and have no envy of the living; we shall die, but we shall not die unavenged. Nor shall Asia have cause of laughter from our fate, nor shall our death have any complaint from us. 87

"Think not that we shun peace as mortal war is feared and shunned; for the friendship of your king is pleasing to us, and it will be in no way grievous to us to be joined with him. But you know whether Judaea lies under his dominion; why then does he show such concern about it? Let him not forbid us the conquest of another man's realm, and let him peacefully govern his own, in happiness and tranquillity." 88

Thus he answered: and the answer pierced Argantes' heart with stinging rage. Nor did he conceal it at all, but with angry visage stationed himself before the Captain and spoke: "He who does not want peace, let him have

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war, for of strife there has never yet been any dearth; and clearly you show that you are refusing peace if you do not accept our earlier speeches." 89 Then he took up his mantle by die hem, furled it, and made of it a pouch; and holding forth the pouch, thus he began again to speak, far grimmer and harsher than before: "O thou despiser of the most hazardous enterprises, I bring you in this pouch both peace and war. Yours be the choice; now take your counsel widiout further delay, and choose what you most desire." 90 His fierce gesture and speech moved diem all to call out "War!," in one general shout, not waiting for him to be answered by their magnanimous leader Godfrey. That cruel man undid the pouch and shook out his mantle and—"To mortal war (he said) I dice defy"—and said it with gesture so impious and fierce that he seemed to open the closed temple of Janus. 9i When he opened die pouch it seemed diat he drew from it insane rage and discord fierce, and diat die great torch of Alecto and Megaera burned in his dreadful eyes. Such perhaps was diat giant of old who raised against Heaven die lofty structure of error: and with similar gesture watched Babel lift up her facade and direaten die stars. 92 Then Godfrey added: "Now report to your king that he may come, and diat he should make haste, for we accept die war diat you are threatening; and if he does not come, let him expect us there amid his Nile." Then he bade them farewell in sweet and pleasant fashion, and honored them with choice gifts. To Aletes he gave a most magnificent helmet diat at Nicaea he had made his own among other booties. 93 Argantes had a sword: and die clever swordsmith had made die hilt and the pommel gilded and bejewelled with such mastery that the worth of die rich material was sunk in die workmanship. When he had admired in detail

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its temper and richness and ornament, Argantes said to Bouillon: "You will soon enough see how your gift is put to use by me."

94 When they had taken their leave, he says to his companion: "Now we shall henceforth go our ways: I to Jerusalem, you to Egypt, you with the rising sun, I by the light of the moon. For there where you are going can be no need of either my presence or my written report. You carry back the answer, I do not mean to wander far from here, where arms are in play."

95 So from an ambassador he is made an enemy, whether it be untimely haste or mature: whether or not he offends the law of nations and ancient custom, he gives it neither a thought nor a care. Without any answer, he goes under the friendly silence of the stars to the lofty walls, impatient of delay; and indeed for him who remains behind delay is no less unwelcome.

96 8

It was night, at that moment when the winds and the waves are deep in slumber, and the world seemed silenced. The weary creatures, both those to whom the wave-washed sea or the depths of the watery lakes give shelter, and those who lie hidden in den or fold, and the colorful birds, under the silence of the secret shades, in profound oblivion soothed their hearts and allayed their anxieties.

97 But neither the camp of the faithful nor the Prankish chieftain is dissolved in sleep, or even rests; such is their desire that at last the cheerful and welcome light of dawn should shine in the sky so that it can show them their road and guide them to the city that is the goal of the great crossing. Now and again they look to see if any ray be broken forth or if the dark of night be growing lighter.

" This stanza is a virtual translation ofAeneid 4.522—28. See Introd., pp. xii—xiii.

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Canto Three

T H E

A R G U M E N T

The Crusaders arrive before Jerusalem—Erminia from the walls identifies for Aladine the important Christian knights (12-20,37-40,58-64)—Tancred encounters Clorinda in a skirmish (21—37)—Dudon is killed (43)—the pagans withdraw and the Crusaders pitch camp (54)—they begin to build siege machines (72).

C A N T O

T H R E E

i Already the herald breeze was astir to announce that Aurora is coming (the while she adorns herself and garlands her golden head with roses plucked in Paradise), when the camp, which now is preparing itself to arms, began to murmur in deep and resonant tones, anticipating the trumpets; and they delivered their signals then, more joyous and shrill. 2

The experienced captain guides and encourages their desires with a slackened bit; for easier would it be to turn from their courses the shifting currents around Charybdis, or hold back Boreas when he smites the ridge of Apennine and sinks the ships in the sea. He puts them in order, he sets them on the way, and holds them to a cadence quick indeed, but disciplined in its quickness. 3

Each man has wings in his heart and wings on his feet, nor yet is aware how quickly he is marching; but when the sun beats down on the dusty fields with stronger rays and rises high—lo there Jerusalem coming into view, lo there Jerusalem being pointed out, lo there Jerusalem greeted by the voices of thousands in unison. 4

Even so the daring band of sailors—that set forth to seek out foreign shores, and on the doubtful sea and under unknown stars make trial of the deceitful waves and the faithless wind—if they discover at last the welcome land they hail it from afar with joyful cry; and one man points it out to his fellow, while he forgets the weariness and the pain of the voyage now past.

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5 To the great pleasure breathed gently into each man's breast by that first glimpse, succeeded a deep contrition, mingled with fearful and reverent emotion; they scarcely dare to lift up their eyes unto the city, Christ's chosen dwelling place, where he died, where he was buried, where then he donned his flesh anew. 6

Suppressed murmurs and unspoken words, broken sobs and tearful sighs from a people both happy and sad cause a murmuring to circulate dirough the air such as one hears in the thickly foliaged woods if it chance that the wind be breathing among the branches; or as among reefs or near the shores the broken sea mutters in hoarse stridulence. 7

With bare foot each man treads the road, for their leaders' example moves all the others. Golden or silken trim, proud plume or crest, each man doffs from his head and lays aside at the same time the proud habit of the heart, and sheds warm tears and reverent. And further, as if the way had been blocked for his weeping, each man speaking thus accuses himself: 8

"Shall I not then, my Lord (where you have left the earth sprinkled with a thousand streams of blood) at least today pour forth two living fountains of bitter weeping for so harsh a memory? O my frozen heart, why do you not find passage through my eyes and issue drop by drop, converted into tears? O my hardened heart, why do you not lose your stoniness and shatter? Well you deserve to weep forever if you weep not now." 9

Meanwhile from the city one who is standing guard on a high tower, and scans the mountains and the plains, down there below sees die dust arising so that it seems to form a great cloud in die air: it seems diat diat cloud glimmers and burns as if it were heavy with lightning flashes and flames. Then he makes out the shining of bright metals, and distinguishes horses and men.

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IO

Then he cried out: "Oh how I see the dust spread out in the air! oh how it seems to shine! Up, citizens, up! let everyone arm himself quickly for defense, and climb the wall. The enemy is right at hand." And then, renewing his shout—"let everyone hasten, and take up arms. Lo, the enemy is here. Look at the dust that enwraps the heavens in a fearful cloud." ii

The innocent children and weaponless old men, and the crowd of terrified women, that know nothing of how to strike or make defense, tearful and prayerful withdrew to the mosques. The others, stronger in body and mind, already have snatched up hastily their weapons. Some run to the gates, some to the walls: the king goes about, and sees and provides for all. 12

He gave his orders and then betook himself where a tower rises up between two gates, so that he is near at need, and from here the hills and the plains are visible, being lower. He desired Erminia to go there along with him, Erminia the fair, whom he received into his court when Antioch was taken from her by the Christian armies, and the king her father killed. 13

Meanwhile Clorinda has moved against the Franks: many go with her, and she is in front of them all. But in another place, where there is a secret exit, Argantes stands in readiness to support her. The spirited maiden urges her followers on with her intrepid countenance and her speech: "It behooves us today (she said) with a good beginning to lay the foundation for the hopes of Asia." 14

While she is addressing her men, she spied, not far away, leading its rustic booty a Prankish band that had ridden out to forage, as the custom is; now with flocks and herds it is returning to camp. She rode against them, and against her rode their leader, who sees her coming at him. Gardo their leader is called, a man of great prowess, but yet not such that he can stand against her.

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15 At that fierce encounter Gardo is driven to earth, before the eyes of the Franks and of the pagans, who then all gave a shout, from that combat deriving good auguries (which were vain). Spurring forward she closes with the rest, and her one hand alone is worth a hundred. Her soldiers followed her by the path that her blows made passable and her sword laid open. 16

Soon from the predator she takes his prey. The band of Franks gives ground, little by little, until it is drawn up on the brow of a hill, where its weapons are aided by the terrain. Then, even as the whirlwind is set loose and the aery lightning falls from the clouds, the valiant Tancred (to whom Godfrey gives a signal) set his squadron in motion and put his lance in rest. 17

So firm the young man holds his mighty lance and comes in a manner so fierce and so attractive that watching him from above the king considers that he must be a warrior elect among the elite; wherefore he says to her who is seated with him, and who is already aware that her heart is pounding: "Through so long experience you ought to know every Christian, even though enclosed in armor. 18

"Who then is this who handles himself so well in the joust and is so fierce to look upon?" Instead of an answer, a sigh comes to her lips, a tear to her eyes. Yet she restrains her passions and her tears, but not so much that she does not show them a little: for her brimming eyes were tinged with a lovely dark shadow and a deep sigh burst halfway forth. 19

Then she speaks, feigning, and hides beneath the mask of hatred a different passion: "Ay me, I know him indeed, and indeed I have reason that I ought to recognize him amid a thousand; for often have I seen him fill the fields and the deep ditches with the blood of my people. Ah, how cruel he is in wounding! the wound that he makes no medicine avails, nor magic art.

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2O

"He is Prince Tancred: oh would that he were some day my prisoner!1 and sure I would not want him dead. I would want him alive, that sweet revenge might render me some comfort for my fierce desire." So she spoke: and the truth of her speech by him who heard her is twisted to another sense. And with her last words issued forth an intermingled sigh that now she represses in vain. 21

Meanwhile Clorinda moves to meet Tancred's assault, and puts her lance in rest. They struck one another on the visor and the shafts flew high, and she remains partly denuded by it: for her helmet, its laces broken, he struck bouncing from her head (a marvellous blow!), and in the midst of the field appeared a youthful maiden, her golden locks all scattered to the wind.

22

Her eyes blazed and her glance sparkled like lightning, sweet in her anger; now what would they be in laughter? Tancred, of what are you thinking? what are you heeding? do you not recognize the beloved face? This is in truth that beautiful countenance for which you are all on fire: your heart can tell you, on which its image is graven. This is she whom you saw that day refreshing her brow in the solitary pool. 23

He who never before paid heed to crest or painted shield now, seeing her, is turned to stone; she covers her naked head as best she can, and attacks him, and he retreats. He moves against others and sweeps the cruel steel; but yet he does not secure peace from her, who follows him threatening and shouts 'Turn back!" and defies him to two deaths in a single moment.

1 This is the first appearance of the motif of the prisoner-of-love, which pervades the entire poem. Further examples are not annotated. See Introd., p. xxv n.is.

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The stricken knight strikes never a blow in return, nor is he as careful to guard himself from her sword as he is to regard the beautiful eyes and the cheeks from which Love is bending his inescapable bow. He said to himself: "In vain fall the blows at times that her mail-clad arm delivers; but never stroke falls in vain from her lovely face unvisored, and always my heart is stricken." 25 At last, although he may have no hope for pity, he resolves not to perish in silence as a secret lover. He wants her to know that she is striking a prisoner of hers, already defenseless and suppliant and trembling. So that he says to her: "O you that are showing that you have for enemy me alone among so many troops, let us get out of this melee and in a place apart I shall be able to make proof of myself with you, and you with me. 26

Thus it will better be seen if my valor is equal to yours." She accepted the invitation and, since it makes no difference to her to be without a helmet, she set off boldly and he followed dazedly. Already the warrior maiden had taken her stance for combat, and already had struck him, when he said: "Now stay, and before the fight let the terms of the fight be settled." 27 She stayed; and desperate love transformed him then from fearful to daring. "Let the terms be (he said) since you do not want peace with me, that you tear out my heart: my heart, no longer mine, is willing to die if it is displeasing to you that it live on. It has long been yours, and now it is truly time that you should take it, and I ought not to refuse it. 28 "See I lower my arms and present to you my breast without defense; now why do you not strike it? Do you wish me to make the task easy? I am ready to take off my hauberk right now, if you ask it naked." Perhaps the wretched Tancred would have detailed his sorrows in a bitterer complaint, but he is hindered by an untimely crowd of pagans and Christians that comes on the scene.

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29

The Palestinians (whether it be panic or art) were retreating, chased by the Christian band. One of the pursuers (inhuman man) saw waving in the wind her unconfined locks, and lifted his hand in passing in order to wound her from behind in the place that was left uncovered; but Tancred (for he noticed it) gave a shout and parried that mighty blow with his sword. 30 Yet it fell not all in vain, and wounded that lovely head, where it joins her fair neck. The wound was very light; and the blonde hair reddened with a few drops, as reddens the gold that sparkles with rubies by the hand of a famous artisan. But the prince, enraged, then forged up close to that villain, and let drive with his sword. 3i The one disappears, and the other, ablaze with anger, follows after him, and they go like an arrow through the air. She stays behind in doubt, and marks them both far off, nor cares to follow them, but conducts the retreat with her fleeing troops. Sometimes she shows her face and attacks the Franks; now she turns, now returns; now flies, now follows; and it cannot be called her flight or her pursuit. 32 So the huge bull sometimes in the broad arena, if he turns his horn against the dogs by whom he is pursued, they drop back; and if he commits himself to flight they each return, encouraged, to follow him. Clorinda in fleeing holds her shield high behind her, and her head is guarded. Even so in the Moorish tournaments those who flee from the slung stones go covered. 33

Now they had gotten near to the lofty walls, one side pursuing and the other fleeing, when the pagans raised a horrible shout and suddenly turned round again. And they made a sweeping circle and then turned back to attack the flank and rear. And meanwhile Argantes brought his band down from the heights to attack them head on.

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The fierce Circassian rode ahead of his troop, for he wished to be the first to strike a blow: and the man he struck was stretched on die ground, and his horse in a heap upside down: and before die lance went flying in splinters many men falling made him company. Then he draws his sword; and when it lands squarely it always kills, or overthrows, or at least gives a wound. 35

Clorinda, his emulator, robbed of life the strong Ardelio, a man of ripe years now, but of an indomitable old age, and guarded by two strapping sons, and yet he was not safe. For a grievous wound had removed Alcandro, the elder son, from his guarding of his father, and Polyphernes, who remained by his side, was barely able to keep his own self safe. 36

But Tancred, after he fails to catch up with that villain, who has a faster horse, looks back and sees dearly diat his daring men have gone too far. He sees diem surrounded and turning die bridle spurs his horse and makes his way diere at once. Nor does he alone bring aid to his troops, but so does diat company that runs to face all hazards: 37

diat squadron of Dudon's, die Adventurers, die flower of the heroes, die marrow and strength of the army. Rinaldo, die handsomest and most magnanimous, outruns diem all, and lightning is less swift. Erminia quickly recognizes his bearing and die white eagle in die field azure, and says to die king, whose attention is centered on him: "Behold die one who tames every proud spirit. 38

"For the worth of his sword he has few equals, or none; and he is yet a stripling. If diere were six odier such among your enemies, already all Syria would be conquered and enslaved. And already die kingdoms farther south would be reduced, and die kingdoms nearest die dawn. And perhaps

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in vain the Nile would have hidden from the yoke his head, unknown and far away. 39

"Rinaldo is his name, and more than any machine these walls may fear his wrathful arm. Now turn your eyes where I am pointing, and look at that man who has armor of gold and green. That is Dudon, and this troop (which is a troop of freelancers) is commanded by him. He is a warrior of noble blood, and deeply experienced, who has the advantage in age and yields nothing in merit. 40

"Mark that huge man who is appareled in black. He is Gernando, brother of Norway's king. Earth does not hold a prouder man; this alone darkens the worth of his deeds. And those two that keep so close together, and wear white clothing, every trimming white, are Gildippe and Edward, married and in love, famed for their worth in arms and for their faithfulness." 4i

So she spoke. And now they saw the slaughter there below growing more and more, for Tancred and Rinaldo have broken the circle although it was thickly packed with men and weapons: and then the troop that Dudon is commanding arrived there and struck it severely too. Argantes, Argantes himself, beaten down by one great blow from Rinaldo, has trouble in rising. 42

Nor would have arisen perhaps; but at that very moment his horse falls with Bertoldo's son and, his foot being caught beneath, he has to pay some attention to getting it free. Meanwhile the pagan band, in a rout, takes shelter by fleeing to the city. Only Argantes and Clorinda are dike and dam to the fury that floods in upon them from behind. 43 They bring up the rear, and the pursuers' attack is somewhat broken against them and quelled, so that the other troops were able to flee in less

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peril than they fled before. Aggressive in victory, Dudon presses the fugitives and oversets fierce Tigranes with the shock of his horse, and with his sword makes him fall to earth minus a head. 44

Nor is his well-tempered hauberk of any avail to Algazzar, nor his strong helmet to powerful Corbano; for he struck them so on the nape and the back that the wound passed through to the face, to the breast. And by his hand also flitted from its sweet nest the soul of Amurat, and of Mehemet and of Almansor the cruel; nor was the great Circassian able to move one step secure from him. 45 Argantes frets within and still sometimes he stops and turns and then gives ground again; at last he rounds upon him so unlooked-for and catches him in the side with such a ruinous blow that the steel buries itself there and the Prankish captain is reft of his life by the blow. He falls; and a harsh repose and iron slumber oppresses his eyes, which are barely able to open. 46 Three times he opened them and sought to enjoy the blessed rays of Heaven and to raise himself on one arm; and three times he fell back, and the dark veil shadowed his eyes, which finally closed in weariness. His limbs are loosed and a mortal chill has stiffened them and covered them with sweat. The fierce Argantes pays no attention at all to the corpse, already dead, and passes on. 47

Nevertheless, though he does not cease to ride, he turns to the Franks and shouts: "Knights-at-arms, this bloody sword is that very one that your leader gave me only yesterday. Tell him how I have put it to use today, for he will be glad to hear the news, and it should be pleasing to him that his handsome gift be proved so good in the testing. 48 "Tell him that now he can expect to see more certain proof of it in his own guts. And if he be in no hurry to come against us, I shall come, unlocked-

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for, where he is to be found." The Christians, enraged at the cruel words, all set out after him; but he has already run to safety with the rest under the shelter of the friendly wall. 49

The defenders began to rain down so many stones from the lofty walls and almost numberless quivers supplied so many arrows to their bows that the Prankish band is forced to withdraw, and the Saracens entered the city. But now Rinaldo, having gotten his foot from under his fallen horse, had come up there. 50

He came to wreak bitter vengeance on the barbarous murderer of the dead Dudon. And when he has joined his fellows, he shouts imperiously: "Now what delay is this? and what are we waiting for? Since that lord is dead who was our leader, why are we not running in haste to avenge him? Upon so great occasion of noble rage,2 can then a fragile wall be barrier to us? 5i

"Not if this wall were made impenetrable with double steel or adamant ought fierce Argantes there within it lie hidden away from your great powers. Let's begin the assault!" And with that speech he set out in front of all the others; for his confident head fears naught the cloud or tempest of stones or arrows. 52

Tossing his mighty head, he lifts up his face filled with such a terrible eagerness that even within the walls it chills the defenders' hearts with extraordinary fear. While he encourages some, threatens others, comes one who suppresses his genius; for Godfrey sends to them the good Sigier, the stern messenger of his weighty commands.

2 In discussing Rinaldo's justified and unjustified wrathfulness, Tasso cites Plato (Republic 4.44off.) on the nobility of the soul's irascible faculty. See Allegory, p. 473 below.

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In Godfrey's name he reproves their excessive daring, and orders them to return without delay. 'Turn back (he said) for it is not the proper place or time for your cholers. Godfrey commands it of you." At this speech Rinaldo reined himself in, who had been a spur to the others, although he inwardly frets at it, and by more than one token shows outwardly his anger ill-concealed. 54

The troops turned back and their return was in no way troubled by the enemy; nor was Dudon's body in any respect deprived of its last rites. His loyal comrades bore him off in their reverent arms, a treasured and honored burden. Meanwhile Bouillon from a rising piece of ground surveys the situation and the fortification of the strong city. 55

Jerusalem is set upon two hills of unequal height, and facing one another. Through its midst runs an intervening valley that divides the city, and the one mountain from the other. On three sides it has a difficult ascent; on the other, one climbs higher without seeming to. But the level portion is the more defended with very high walls, and it extends toward Boreas. 56

The city has within it places in which the rainfall is conserved, and pools and fresh springs; but outside the terrain is barren of grass, and dry of springs and streams. Nor does any place flourish happy and proud with trees, and provide a shelter against the summer's rays, except that some six miles away a dark and waving wood rises up with noxious shade. 57

On the side from which the daylight appears it has the noble waves of the blessed Jordan, and on the western side the sandy shores of the Mediterranean sea. Toward Boreas is Bethel, that raised the altar to the golden calf, and Samaria; and from where Auster brings it the rain-filled cloud, Bethlehem that received the great birth in her womb.

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58

Now while Godfrey is observing the lofty walls of the city and the lay of the land, and is thinking where he may encamp, from where the enemy wall can be most readily stormed, Erminia saw him and pointed him out to the pagan king, and resumed her speech thus: "That is Godfrey, who in his purple mantle bears within himself so much of the royal and august. 59

'Truly is he born to princely rule, so well he knows the arts of reigning, of giving command; and he is no less a knight-at-arms than a leader, but has in all his faculties the double strength, nor could I point out for you amid a crowd so large a man more warlike or more wise than he. Only Raymond in counsel, and in battle only Rinaldo and Tancred are equal to him." 60

The pagan king answers: "I have full knowledge of him, and I saw him at the great court in France when I was there as ambassador from Egypt; and I saw him wield the lance in a noble tournament. And though his youthful years had not yet clothed his cheek with down, yet in his words, in his deeds, in his bearing he gave presage of the loftiest hopes thereafter; 61

"presage alas too true!" And here he casts down his troubled eyes, and then he raises them and asks: 'Tell me who that may be who has his surcoat crimson too and seems to be equal with him? O how much he resembles him in appearance! although he yields to him a bit in height." 'That is Baldwin (she answers), and in appearance he does indeed show himself his brother, but more in his actions. 62

"Now look at that man who stands on his other side, as if giving counsel. That is Raymond, whom I have been so much praising to you for his sagacity, a man white-bearded and prudent indeed; there is no one, be he Latin or Frank, who knows better than he how to weave a military stratagem: but that other one further on, who has the gilded helmet, is William, the noble son of the British king.

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"Guelph is there with him, and rivals him in brave deeds, and in noble blood and noble station. Well do I know him by his square-set shoulders and by that chest carried swelling and erect. But among these squadrons I cannot anywhere meet with my great enemy, and yet I am looking for him. I mean die murderer Bohemond, die devastator of my royal lineage." 64

So diese two spoke. And the captain, when he has looked all around, goes down to his men. And because he thinks the city would be attacked in vain where die ground rises steepest, he pitches his tents opposite die Aquilonian gate, on die plain diat adjoins it. And spreading out from there below die tower diat diey call Angolar, he has die odiers set up. 65

A diird of die city, or little less, is compassed by die circle of die encampment; for he could not fully encircle it all round, so far it spread out: but Godfrey tries at least to interdict all die roads by which it might receive aid; and he has die strategic passes occupied, by which one comes from die city or goes to it. 66

He gives orders then diat die tents be protected with deep ditches and trenches, so diat on one side die camp can oppose die cidzens sallying forth, and on die odier foreign incursions. But when these tasks were done he wished to view Dudon's body; and he went where die good captain lies slain, surrounded by a tearful and sorrowful throng. 6?

With noble pomp his loyal comrades adorned die great bier where he lies in state. When Godfrey entered, die people lifted up their voices yet more tearful and voluble; but die worthy Bouillon, widi a face neither cloudy nor clear, restrains his passions and is silent. And when he had held his gaze fixed on him thoughtfully a while, at last he spoke:

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68

"Now is no need of complaint or sorrow: for if you die to this world, you are reborn in Heaven. And here where you put off your mortal dress, you leave the tokens of your glory printed deep. You lived as a holy and Christian warrior, and as such you died; now rejoice, and feast on God your ravenous eyes, O happy soul, and possess the crown and the palm of your faithful works. 69

"Live in happiness still, for it is our fate, not your misfortune, that moves us to tears, because, with your leaving, so worthy and strong a part of us has taken its leave along with you. But if this thing that the vulgar crowd calls death has taken from us one of our aids on earth, now you are able to seek us heavenly aid,3 for Heaven is receiving you among her elect. 70

"And as, to our profit, formerly we have seen how as mortal man you wielded mortal arms, so yet may we hope to see you, Spirit divine, wielding the fateful weaponry of Heaven: learn now to receive the prayers that we offer to you, and to give aid to our distresses. From this I prophesy victory; we shall discharge in triumph at the temple the vows we have vowed to you." 71

So he spoke. And now dark night had quenched all the light of the day and with forgetfulness of every troubling care had made a truce with tears, with lamentations. But the captain, who thinks he can never storm the walls without siege machines, is considering from where he might have beams and in what shapes he should make the machines. And little does he sleep. 72 He rose together with the sun; and then he decided to follow the funeral march himself. For Dudon they have built a tomb of sweet-smelling cypress at the foot of a hill not far from the palisades; and above it a towering

' Aforeshadowingof Godfrey's vision at 18.92-96.

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palm tree lifts its branches. Now he was placed there and the priests with their chanting all the while asked peace for his soul. 73

Here and there among the branches were hung various insignia and captured weapons taken by him in other days, in happier enterprises against the Syrian people and the Persians. The massive trunk was covered in the middle with his cuirass, with his other furnitures. "Here (was written there then) lies Dudon: honor the most noble champion." 74 But the sorrowing Bouillon, when he left off this sad and charitable task, sends to the forest with a goodly escort of soldiers all the mechanics in the camp. The forest is hidden away among the valleys, and a Syrian had made it known to the Franks. They went thither to hew out the machines, against which the city can have no defense. 75

One man spurs on another to cut down the trees, and to do unwonted outrages to the wood. The sacred palms fall, cut by the cleaving steel, and the woodland ashes: funereal cypresses, and pines, and oaks, the leafy holms, the tall firs and the beeches, the wedded elms, to which at times the vine entrusts herself, and with twisted foot aspires to heaven. 76 One cuts down the yews, another the oaks, that have renewed their foliage a thousand times, and a thousand times, unshaken in every encounter, have blunted and tamed the anger of the winds. And another loads on to the griding wheels the odorous burden of wild ash and cedars. At the sound of weapons, at the motley uproar, the beasts and the birds abandon nest and den.

Canto Four

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Satan sends his devils to disturb the Crusaders—One devil inspires Hydraotes to send Armida to the Christian camp (20)—She asks Godfrey for aid (38)—He refuses (65) but partially relents (82)—The whole camp falls in love with her (86).

C A N T O

F O U R

i While these people are intent on their ingenious contrivances, that they might soon be put to use, the great enemy of the human race was turning his envious eyes on the Christians: and seeing them now happy and content, he bit both his lips for rage and like a wounded bull poured out his grief, bellowing and snorting. 2

Then, having turned his every thought to bringing upon the Christians th utmost grief, he commands that his populace be assembled (horrible coun cil!) within the royal palace; as if (ah fool!) it should be but a trifling thing to take up arms against the divine will; fool, who holds himself equal to Heaven, and consigns to oblivion how the wrathful hand of God launches thunder. 3 The piercing sound of the Tartarean trumpet calls up the inhabitants of th eternal shades. The black capacious caverns tremble and the blind air echoes to that reverberation; nor ever so strident plummets the lightning fron heaven's supernal regions nor ever so stricken trembles the earth when she locks up vapors in her pregnant womb. 4

Straightway the deities of the Abyss in various troops come running fror all sides to the lofty portals. Oh how strange, oh how horrible the shapes! how much of terror and death is in their eyes! Some print the earth with beastly tracks, and on a human head have twining snakes for hair; and behind them writhes an immense tail that like a whip coils and uncoils itself.

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Jerusalem Delivered 5

Here might you see a thousand filthy Harpies and a thousand Centaurs and Sphinxes and pale Gorgons; a myriad ravenous Scyllas howling and Hydras hooting and Pythons hissing and Chimaeras belching forth black flames; and horrible Polyphemuses and Geryons; and in strange monstrosities, no elsewhere known or seen, diverse appearances confused and blended into one. 6

Some on the right and some on the left, they take their seats before the cruel king. Pluto sits in the middle, and with his right hand wields the rude and massy scepter; and not so high does rocky cliff by the sea or alpine bluff, nor yet does Calpe raise itself so high or mighty Adas, diat compared to him it would not seem a little hill: so he holds high his massive head and massive horns. 7

A fearsome majesty in his fierce countenance increases die terror and makes him even more proud: his eyes burn red, and his gaze glowers, infected with poison like an ill-omened comet; his huge beard envelops his chin and shaggy and thick comes down over his hairy chest, and like a deep-yawning maelstrom his mouth stands open, filthy widi black blood. 8

Even as the sulphurous and flaming smoke issues from Mongibello, and the stench and the rumble; so are the black fumes from his savage mouth, such are the sparks and the fetid smell. While he was speaking Cerberus repressed his barking, and Hydra grew mute at the sound: Cocytus stopped and the abysses trembled at it, and in these words his great voice might be heard: 9

"Godheads of Tartarus, worthy rather of a seat up there beyond die sun whence is your origin, ye who ere now along with me die great mischance drove from the most blissful regions into this dreadful circle: too wellknown are the long-standing envy and savage wradi of that Odier, and om

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lofty enterprise. Now He rules the stars according to His will, and we are to be adjudged as rebel souls. 10

"And in the stead of Day serene and pure, of the golden Sun, of the starry quires, He has shut us here in this gloomy abyss; nor does He will that we should aspire again to our former honor. And later (ah how harsh it is to remember it; this is that which most embitters my sufferings!) He has called Man to the blessed Sees of Heaven—Man, vile Man, and born on earth of vile mud. ii

"Nor did that seem to Him enough, but (only to work us more harm) He gave His son as prey to death. Who came and broke the gates of Hell and dared to set his foot in our principality, and to take from us the souls that were rightly ours by fate, and to bear back to Heaven so rich a booty, a Victor proceeding in triumph, and in our scorn to display there the ensigns of conquered Hell. 12

"But why do I renew my sorrows by speaking? Who is there that has not thoroughly understood our wrongs? And where or when has He been known to desist from His usual plans? We need not go on thinking of ancient wrongs, we ought to be thinking of our present injuries. Ah, do you not see even now how He is trying to call back all the peoples to His religion? 13

"Shall we draw out in idleness our days and hours, and shall there be no worthy task to kindle our hearts? and shall we suffer it that His faithful gather in Asia daily a greater power? and that they bring Judaea under the yoke? and that His honor, His name be the more extended and spread abroad? that it resound in other tongues, and be written in other oracles, and cut in new bronzes and marbles?

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14 'That our idols be scattered on the ground? that the world convert our altars to Him? that for Him the trophies be hung up, for Him alone the incense burned, and gold and myrrh be offered? that where no temple was wont to be closed against us, now there should be no avenue open to our arts? that the customary tribute of so many souls be withdrawn, and Pluto have his dwelling in an empty kingdom? 15 "Ah, it shall not be so! for in your hearts is not yet quenched that ancient valor, when bound about with steel and with towering flames we fought that day against the power of Heaven. We were (I deny it not) in that conflict beaten: yet there was no lack of virtue in the great conception. Something, whatever it was, gave Him the victory; to us remained the glory of unconquerable daring. 16 "But why do I hold you longer? Go now, O my faithful cohorts, O my power and strength: go swiftly, and put down the wicked before their power be further reinforced: let this growing flame be quenched before the kingdom of the Jews is all ablaze. Make head among them and for their ultimate destruction use sometime force and sometime guile. I?

"Let fate be that which I will; let one go wandering astray,1 another lie slain; let another, drowned in the lascivious concerns of love, make a sweet look and a laugh his idol; let the sword be turned against its ruler by an army rebellious and divided against itself. Let the camp perish and fall to ruin, and in sum let its every trace be destroyed along with it." 18 The spirits rebellious against God did not even wait that these words should be brought to a close, but flying forth to see the stars again they is1 Obviously a forecast of later action. Tancred wanders astray (6.114; 7.22-50); Gernando lies slain (5.32); Rinaldo is drowned in the lascivious concerns of love (16.17-27); and the Christian army threatens mutiny (8.45-85).

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sued out of darkest night, like howling and turbulent storms come out of their native caves to darken the sky, to carry war to the broad realms of land and sea. 19

Dispreading their wings in their several directions, they soon were scattered through the world, and began to fabricate strange and horrible deceptions, and to use their arts. But tell now, Muse, how they brought the first griefs on the Christians, and from what quarters. You know it; and of such an enterprise, the weak breath of Fame scarce reaches us, so far away. 20

Damascus and its neighboring towns were ruled by Hydraotes, a famous and noble sorcerer, who from his earliest years devoted himself to the arts of divining, and was ever more desirous of them. But what did they profit, if he was unable to foresee the end of that uncertain war? Nor aspect of wandering stars or fixed, nor answer from hell foretold the truth. 21

This man calculated (ah, blinded brain of Man, how empty and twisted are your calculations!) that Heaven was preparing ruin and death for the invincible army of the West; therefore, believing that in the end the people of Egypt would carry off the palms from that enterprise, he wanted his own subjects to have in that victory a share of die booty and the glory. 22

But because he holds the Prankish valor in high regard, he fears the costs of bloody victory, and considers at length by what device he might first partly diminish the Christians' power, so that it might thereafter be more easily overcome by his people and the Egyptian together. The wicked angel2 comes upon him in this meditation, and spurs and incites him further.

2 Tasso's incessant revision has left this actor with no "stage direction" to introduce him. Cf. I5.5?n.

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He gives him counsel and shows him the means by which he can make the enterprise easier. A lady is his niece to whom the Orient yielded the first honors for beauty: well known to her are the subtleties and the most hidden frauds that witch or woman can practise. He calls her to him, and shares with her his plan, and desires that she should take the charge of it. 24 He says: "O my dear, who under golden hair and outward beauties so delicate keep concealed a manly heart and gray-haired wisdom, and in my arts already outstrip myself, I am revolving a great plan. And, if you lend it your aid, the results will answer to our hopes. Weave the web that I show you all laid out, a bold-hearted agent for a cautious old man. 25 "Go to the enemy camp; there make use of every feminine art mat entices to love. Bathe your entreaties in tears and make them honied; cut off your words and mingle them with sighs. A grieving and piteous beauty may work the most obdurate breasts to your will. Your overmuch boldness veil with maidenly modesty, and make of the truth a mantle for your lying.

2.6 "If it be possible, take Godfrey with the bait of your sweet glances and lovely fashioned speech, so that the war stirred up may grow wearisome now to a man enamoured, and he may carry it elsewhere. If that you cannot do, angle for the greatest of the others; lead them off into a region whence none may ever return." Then he details his plans; at last he says: "For the Faith, for the Fatherland, all is permitted."3 27 The lovely Armida, proud of her beauty, and of the gifts of her sex and her youth, undertakes the adventure. And upon the first shades of evening she

' The statement clearly has sexual reference. Although Armida is presented as experienced in love, we are given no indication that she is untruthful in saying that she yielded to Rinaldo "the flower of her virginity, that which to thousands of old had been denied" (16.46). Ashamed of this, she blames her uncle's directions (16.74).

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leaves, and uses only close and concealed roads. By tress and feminine gown she hopes to defeat an undefeated people and their armed bands. But among the populace various rumors about her departure are artfully diffused and spread. 28

Not many days after, the damsel arrives where the Franks had pitched their tents. Upon the appearance of the new beauty a murmur arises and everyone turns his gaze thither, even as there where comet or star, not seen before that day, is shining in heaven; and they all draw round to see who she may be, so beautiful a pilgrim, and who sends her. 29

Argos never, Cyprus or Delos never saw shape so precious for dress or beauty. Her hair is golden, and now it glitters swathed in a white veil, now gleams uncovered; even so when the sky is growing clear, now the sun shines through a gleaming cloud, now issuing forth from the cloud it spreads its rays abroad more clear, and with them redoubles the light of day. 30

The breezes make new curlings in her straying locks, which nature of itself curls up in waves; her close-kept glance remains concentered within itself, and hides away love's treasures and her own. The sweet color of roses in that fair face is mingled and sprinkled amid ivory: but on the mouth whence issues her amorous breath, alone and single reddens the rose. ?i

Her lovely bosom displays its naked snows by which the flame of Love is awakened and fed; a portion appears of her breasts unripe and unready, a portion the envious vesture hides from others: envious, but if to the eyes it closes the path, it does not wholly check the amorous mind, which—being not well content with outward beauty—works itself still within to the hidden secrets.

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Even as the sunbeam passes through water or through solid crystal, and does not divide it or separate, within the gathered mantle the mind dares so to penetrate to the forbidden region: there it expatiates, there it contemplates the truth of so many marvels each by each; then to Desire it narrates and describes them and makes thereby his flames more vivid in him. 33 Praised and desired Armida passes among die lustful troops; and she is aware of it: yet she gives no sign, though in her heart she smiles and projects great victories and plunders from it. While, somewhat hesitant, she is requesting some guide who can lead her to the Captain, Eustace ran up to her, who was brother to the sovereign prince of die armies. 34

Like the moth to the flame he turned himself to die splendor of her divine beauty; and he longed to observe more nearly her eyes, which a modest manner sweetly lowers; and he took the great flame from them, and lodged it home, as the neighboring fuel is wont from fire. And said to her (for the heat of his youdi and his love made him daring and bold): 35 "Lady, if indeed such name befits you—for you resemble no terrestrial creature, nor is there any daughter of Adam on whom Heaven sheds so much of its light serene—what are you seeking? and whence do you come? what fate of yours, or ours, now leads you here? Let me know who you are; let me make no mistake in honoring you; and, if there is reason, kneel down."4 36 She answers: "Your praises mount too high; my merit does not reach to such a pitch. You see a creature, my lord, not only mortal, but dead indeed to pleasures, alive only to sorrow. My ill fortune drives me to diis place, a

4 Eustace's speech, echoing the renowned passage at Aeneid i.325ff., contributes well to an undertone of wry humor permeating Tasso's accounts of Armida's easy triumphs over the naive heroes of both Christian and pagan armies (cf. 19.67—74). See Introd., pp. x—xii.

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fugitive and wandering maiden. I make my recourse to the worthy Godfrey, and trust in him. So much the report of his goodness is noised abroad. 37

"Do you obtain for me access to the Captain, if you have (as you seem to) a gentle and courteous heart." And he: "It makes good sense that one brother guide you to the other and be your intercessor. Lovely maiden, you do not appeal in vain; my influence with him is not contemptible: you will be able to employ, as pleases you, whatever his scepter or my sword avails." 38 He is silent; and guides her then where amid the great heroes the worthy Bouillon abstracts himself from the common crowd. She made him a reverent curtsey and then, shamefaced, said not a word. But those blushings, those tremblings of hers the great warrior reassures and consoles; so that at last she lays out her well-planned deceptions in speech that binds the senses with its sweetness. 39 "Indomitable prince (she said) whose potent name wings its way adorned with such bright ornaments that provinces and kingdoms reckon it their glory to be overcome by you and mastered in war, your valor is everywhere known: and as it comes to be loved and prized even by your enemies, so even your enemies it reassures and invites to seek you out and ask its aid. 40

"I too, who was born in a faith so different (which you have brought low and are even now trying to overwhelm), I hope to acquire through you the noble seat and the princely scepter of my parents: and where another asks aid of his kin against the fury of foreign peoples, I (since pity has no more place in them) against my own blood invoke the hostile steel. 4i "I call upon you, I place my hopes in you; and you alone have power to settle me in that lofty station from which I have been driven; nor should

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your arm be less accustomed to raise up others than to cast them down; nor hold itself less honored by the reputation of mercy than by triumphing over its enemies: and if you have been able to take from many their kingdom, it will be an equal glory to restore me now to mine. 42 "But if our differing faith may move you perhaps to disdain my honest entreaties, the certain faith that I have in your human kindness may comfort me: nor does it seem right that it should be deceived. That God is my witness who is Jove to all, that never you owed more justly your aid to another. But in order that you may fully understand it all, now hear at the same time my own misfortunes and the frauds of others. 43 "I am the daughter of Arbilan, who held the princedom of fair Damascus and was born to low degree; but he gained in marriage the lovely Chariclia,' whose pleasure it was to make him die heir to her kingdom. She with her death almost anticipated my birth, for she lay dead at the moment I issued from the womb, and the fatal day that brought her death was the day of my birth. 44

"But hardly was the first luster6 accomplished from the day that she put off this mortal veil, when my father, yielding to fate, perhaps was reunited with her in Heaven, leaving the care of me and of the state to his brother, whom he loved widi so much zeal diat if in mortal breast religion has a place, he should have been assured of his good faith. 45 "When this man had taken over my governance, he showed himself so desirous of my good in every way that he gained the reputation of uncor-

5 This fictitious name is chosen by Tasso in urbane acknowledgment of Armida's debt to the Greek romances (via Ariosto) for the manner of her fanciful tale—see Heliodorus, Aethiopica, or Theagenes and Charidea. For a summary of this romance, including details pertinent to Clorinda's biography in Canto 12, see Samuel Lee Wolff, Greek Romances in Elizabethan Fiction (1912; repr. New York, 1961), pp. 15-26. 6 For the Latinism, see i.6on.

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ruptible faith, of paternal love, and of unbounded piety; whether he then was concealing his evil inward thought under a contrary mantle, or whether his intentions were as yet sincere, because he was destining me for marriage to his son. 46

"I grew, and his son grew; and never did he learn the manner of knighthood, nor its noble art; nothing that was rare or refined ever gave him pleasure, nor did he comprehend anything too high; beneath a misshapen exterior a base mind and in a proud heart greedy and burning desires: he is crude in his actions, and in his habits such that he alone is his own equal in vices. 47

"Now to so worthy a creature had my good guardian determined in his heart to join me in marriage, and to make him consort of my bed and kingdom; and many times he stated it to me clearly. He used his tongue and his skill, he used his invention, in order that the desired effect should follow from it; but never a promise did he extract from me; rather, at all times opposed, I denied him or was silent. 48

"At last he took his leave, with darkened countenance, through which his wicked heart shone clearly; and then I fancied that well could I read written on his brow the story of my coming ill—from which time my nightly slumbers were constantly disturbed by strange dreams and apparitions; and a fatal horror imprinted in my soul was the explicit omen of my woes. 49

"Often my mother's shade presented herself to me, an image pale and sorrowful in gesture: how far different, ay me, from the face that I had seen elsewhere portrayed another time! 'Flee, daughter (she said) the death so wretched that even now is hovering over you; begone at once; already I see the poison and the steel prepared by the faithless tyrant for your sole harm.'

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50 "But what did it profit (alas!) that my heart should be prescient of the danger now near, if fearfulness made my tender youth irresolute in finding a plan? By fleeing to take up a voluntary exile, and naked to go forth from my native land, was a thing so grave that I made less account of closing my eyes where first I opened them. 51

"I feared (alas!) my death; and—who could believe it?—I had no heart for fleeing it. And yet I feared to disclose my fear, that I might not hasten the hour of my death. So, unquiet and turbulent, I dragged out my life in a continual suffering, like a man who moment by moment expects that the cruel steel will fall on his unprotected neck. 52

"In such a state, whether it was fortune my friend, or that my fate is preserving me for something worse, one of the ministers of the royal court, whom the king my father had nurtured as a child, revealed to me that the time prescribed by the tyrant for my death was at hand; and that he had promised that cruel man that he would give me the poison that very day. 53

"And then he added that only by fleeing could I prolong the course of my life: and since I had no hope of aid from elsewhere, he offered himself as ready for my defense; and heartening me he made me so bold that the bridle of fear did not restrain me from resolving to go with him in the blinded air, fleeing my uncle and my native land. 54

"Darker than was its wont came on the night, which covered us under its friendly shadows when I ventured forth with the protection of two handmaidens, my chosen companions in my adverse fortunes; but still I turned back to my native walls my eyes bathed with tears, and was not able, in leaving, to sate them fully with the sight of my native land.

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55

"The eye and the mind travelled the self-same road, and in spite of them the foot marched forward; even as the ship that the fierce and unexpected tempest drives from the beloved shore. We travelled that night and all the following day through regions where no other track appeared; at last we took shelter in a castle that is seated on the borders of my kingdom. 56

"It is Arontes' castle; Arontes was he who rescued me from danger and accompanied me. But when the traitor became aware that I had fled his deadly snares, kindled with rage against us both he twisted against us his own crimes; and declared us both guilty of that misdeed that he himself had wished to perpetrate on me. 57

"He said that with bribes I had incited Arontes to mix poison with his drink, so that when he was dead I should have no one to prescribe me rules or hold me in check; and that following a lecherous natural bent I wanted to take to my bosom a thousand lovers. Ah, blessed Chastity, may flame from heaven descend on me ere ever I offend against your laws! 58

'That the beast should have a greedy hunger for gold, and likewise thirst for my innocent blood, is burdensome to me indeed; but it weighs on my heart far more that he should wish to stain my unspotted honor. The wicked creature, who fears a popular revolt, so weaves and adorns his lies that the city, being in suspense and doubtful of the truth, does not rise up in arms in my defense. 59

"And not because now he is sitting on my throne, and the royal crown already is glittering on his head, does he for that put any end to my great misfortunes, to my shames; so does his ferocity spur him on. He threatens to burn Arontes in his stronghold if he does not imprison me of his own will; and upon me and my supporters, alas, he pronounces not only war, but deaths and slaughters.

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"He says that he does it because he believes that thus he can wash the shame from his face, and return to the standing from which I have taken it the honor of my blood and royal office; but fear is the reason for it, lest the scepter be taken back from him, to which I am the rightful heir. For only if I fall can he build on my ruins a firm foundation for his rule. 61

"And his wicked desire indeed will have that success that the tyrant has already determined in his mind, and the malice that will not be quenched by my tears will be quenched in my blood, unless you forbid it. To you, my lord, I flee, a wretched maiden, orphaned and innocent: and may the tears with which I have bathed your feet avail me so, that later I do not pour forth my blood. 62

"By these feet with which you trample the proud and the wicked; by this hand that upholds the right; by your noble victories and by those holy shrines to which you owe your aid and seek to give it: grant my desire (as you alone are able) and let your mercy preserve my life and my kingdom at once: but mercy is of no avail, if justice and reason do not also move you. 63

"You to whom Heaven has granted and made it your fate to will what is just and be able to do what you will, you have the power to save my life for me, to gain my state for you (for it will be yours if I recover it). From out so great a number let it be granted me to lead away ten of your strongest heroes: for with the city fathers my friends, and the people loyal, these are enough to place me again within my nest. 64

"One of the former indeed, to whose faith is entrusted the keeping of a secret portal, promises to open it, and to place us by night in the royal palace itself; and he only asks that I seek some aid from you, and he takes more comfort in that (however small it be) than if he had a great troop from elsewhere. So much he esteems your standard and your name alone."

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65

Having said this, she is silent, and awaits the reply in an attitude that has words and entreaties in its silence. Godfrey revolves and suspends his doubtful mind among conflicting thoughts, and does not know where to grasp hold of it. He fears the deceptions of barbarians and well underMstands that there is no believing a man who denies belief to God. But on ,,the other hand there is roused in him the passion of pity, that never slum,,bers in the noble breast. 66

And not only his inborn and accustomed sense of pity argues that she is deserving of his grace; but utility moves him also, for it will be useful that one hold sway in the princedom of Damascus who, being dependent on him, can open the way and smooth the path for his designs, and supply him with people and arms and gold against the Egyptians and those who will be with them. 67

While he thus doubtful keeps his gaze fixed on the ground, and turns and revolves his thought, the maiden fixes herself on him and hangs intently on his face and watches and observes his movements. And because he delays his answer long, beyond what she expects, she fears it and sighs for it. At last he denied her the favor requested, but gave an answer very courteous and soft: 68

"Were not our swords employed here in the service of God, who has called us to it, well might you be able to ground your hopes on them, and to find help, not merely pity. But if we do not first restore to liberty these his flocks, and these oppressed walls, it is not just that the course of our victory be slowed through any diminishing of our forces. 69

"I promise you firmly (and you may take my word as the honored pledge for it, and live secure in it) that if ever we free from the unworthy yoke these walls so holy and beloved of Heaven, then we will make it our care to

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restore you to your lost kingdom, as pity encourages us to do. At present pity would make me less religious, if I did not rather render unto God His due." 70

At that speech the lady cast down her eyes and fixed them on the ground, and a while stood motionless; then she raised them, all bedewed, and spoke, suiting her mournful gestures to her complaint: "Ah wretch! and to what other did ever Heaven ordain a life so immutably burdensome, that in another his mind and his nature is changed before a fate so harsh be changed for me! 7i "No hope remains, in vain I grieve; prayers no longer have power in the human heart. Am I then allowed to hope that my heart's grief, that did not move you, may sway the wicked tyrant? I will not indeed accuse you of inclemency because a little aid is denied to me; but I accuse Heaven (from whence my woe descends) that makes religion inexorable in you. 72

"Not you, my lord, nor your goodness is such as this, but it is my fate that denies me aid. Cruel destiny, wicked fatal destiny, now kill this hateful life. Ay me, small evil it was to be robbed of my dear parents in the flower of their youth, if you do not even look when I am robbed of my kingdom, like a captive victim going to the knife. 73

"What then? Since Honor's law and my zealous concern for her do not permit that I should tarry here so long, with whom shall I take shelter? where ,,hide myself? or have what places of refuge against the tyrant? No place be,,neath Heaven is so closed that gold may not open it. Now why so many delays? I am looking on death, and if fleeing it is vain, I shall go to meet it with this hand." 74

Here she was silent. And it seemed that a royal and noble scorn suffused her face. And turning her foot, she made a show of leaving, all saddened

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and angered in her gestures. Her weeping poured forth unchecked, as anger mingled with grief is wont to do; and her welling tears were crystal and pearls in the rays of the sun. 75

Her cheeks, besprinkled with those sparkling drops that were falling to the fringes of her garments, resembled white and crimson flowers together, if a shower of dew refreshes them when at earliest dawn they are opening to the merry breezes their secret centers; and Dawn, who sees them and is pleased with them, desires to adorn her hair with them. 76

But the bright rain that with so many drops is adorning her beautiful cheeks and her bosom achieves the effect of fire that creeps concealed into a thousand breasts and lodges there. O miracle of Love, that from her tears draws sparks and kindles hearts with water! Love always has power beB yond the natural, but in her nature Love outdoes himself. 77

This fictional sorrow draws real tears from many, and melts the hardest hearts. Each man shares her affliction and says to himself: "If she does not get aid from Godfrey now, surely a raging tigress was his nurse and among rugged mountains the forbidding rock ridge brought him forth, or the wave that shatters itself and froths in the sea: cruel man, that distresses and destroys such beauty." 78

But the youthful Eustace, in whom the flame of pity and love is hotter, while everyone else is whispering or is silent, puts himself forward and boldly speaks: "O my lord and brother, your mind is too tenacious of its first intention if now it does not yield itself somewhat pliable to what the common will desires and requests. 79 "I do not mean, to be sure, that the principal men that are here in charge of their subordinate troops should turn their course from the besieged walls, and that their offices be by them neglected: but from among us that are sol-

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diers of fortune, without any personal charges and less restricted by regulations than are the rest, you well may choose ten defenders of the right. 80

,,"For surely the man who protects the innocent virgin is not removing him,,self from the service of God; and surely dear to Heaven are those spoils ,,that one hangs up aloft from a tyrant slain. Even were I not now persuaded to the enterprise by that undoubted usefulness that attends it, I am moved to it by the consideration that our order is bound to give aid to damsels. 81

"Ah, let it not be (for God's sake) that it be reported in France, or wheresoever courtesy is prized, that peril or travail for cause so just and pious is shunned by us. For myself, I lay down here my helmet and cuirass, here I unbuckle my sword, and will no more unworthily manage arms or steed, or ever usurp the name of knight-at-arms." 82

Thus he speaks; and with him his whole order sounds in unison clearly, and calling his counsel profitable and good surrounds the captain and urges him with entreaties. "I yield (he said then) and I am overcome by the accordance of so many united together. If it strikes you thus, let her have the gift she asks—with your approval, not mine. 8?

"But if Godfrey finds yet widi you some kind of credence, temper your passions." Only thus much did he say; and thus much is enough for them, be,,cause each man accepts what he concedes. Now what cannot be achieved ,,by the tears of a beautiful woman, and sweet speeches on an amorous ,,tongue? From her lovely lips depends a golden chain7 that captures souls ,,and bridles them as she wills.

7 So Alciati shows Eloquence leading men with light leashes extending from his mouth to their ears (A. Alciati, Omnia . . . Emblemata, Leyden, 1608, Emblem 180).

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84

Eustace calls her back and says: "Now cease your sorrowing, lovely lady; for shortly you will have from us such aid that it would be your fearfulness that should ask for more." Armida then cleared her cloudy rays and shone forth so smilingly that she enamored heaven of her beauties, drying her eyes with her lovely veil. 85

Then in sweet and endearing words she rendered them thanks for the great favors granted her, setting forth how they would be renowned throughout the world forever, and forever imprinted in her heart; and that which language cannot well express a silent eloquence in her gestures uttered: and under a lying exterior she so concealed her thought that she gave no suspicion to others. 86

Then, seeing that fortune had smiled on the great beginning of her deceptions, before her plans could be cut short she resolves to bring to completion so wicked a deed, and to achieve with sweet gestures and a lovely face more than did Circe or Medea with their arts; and with a siren's voice to lull asleep with her harmonies the minds most wide awake. 8?

The lady uses every art by which any new lover may be caught in her net; nor does she keep the same countenance for all, nor at all times, but changes her looks and acts to suit the moment. Now she keeps her gaze at home shamefast, now sends it abroad wanton and wandering. On these she uses the bridle, on those the whip, as she sees that they are forward or slow in loving. 88

If she discovers one that would withdraw his soul from her love, and out of diffidence restrain his thoughts, she opens upon him a beaming smile and in sweet encirclings turns upon him her eyes, happy and serene: and thus she spurs the desires that are sluggish and fearful, and gives the faint hope

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confidence; and by inflaming their amorous wills she rids them of that coldness that fear brings with it. 89 To another then, who boldly presses beyond the bounds, led by a blind and foolhardy leader, she is sparing of her sweet speeches and beauteous eyes, and teaches him reverence and fear. But amid the disdain with which her brow is laden yet shines one ray of pity still, so that he fears indeed, but does not despair; and is the more enamoured as she appears the more haughty. 90

Sometimes she stands a little way apart and composes and feigns her face and her gestures as if in sorrow; and often she lets her complaint come forth as far as her eyes, and then represses it within: and by these arts she constrains a thousand simple souls to weep with her the while, and in the fire of pity tempers the arrows of love, so that the heart may perish from weapons so strong. 9i Then, like one who would flee such thoughts and would awaken new hope within herself, she turns her foot and her speech toward the suitors and clothes and adorns her face with joy; and makes to sparkle like a double sun that brilliant glance and heavenly lovely smile upon the clouds of sorrow, thick and dark, that earlier she had caused to gather in their breasts. 92

But while she sweetly speaks and sweetly laughs and makes their senses drunk with a double sweetness, she almost separates from their breasts their souls, not grown accustomed before to those immoderate pleasures. jyAh cruel Love, how equally are we destroyed by the honey and the gall ,,that you dispense to us; and equally fatal come from you at once the sick,,ness and the remedies. 93 Amid such opposite humors, in ice and in fire, in laughter and in tears, and caught between hope and fear, she makes each one doubtful of his state,

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and the deceitful woman comes to make a game of them: and, if ever any with trembling voice and weak should dare in speaking to give a hint of his pains, she pretends (as one rustic and inexperienced in love) that she does not see his heart laid open in his words. 94 Or holding her eyes downcast and modest she adorns and colors herself with chastity so that she succeeds in concealing the chill hoarfrost under the roses with which her lovely face is wreathed, even as we see the dawn in the cool morning hours of its first birth: and the blush of disdain arises together with modesty and is mingled and mixed with it. 95 But if by his actions she is forewarned of a man who would try to disclose his enkindled desires, now she avoids and evades him, and now she gives him opportunity to speak and at the same time takes it away: so all day long she leads him in aimless wandering; then dismisses him, weary and deluded of his hope. He remains like the hunter at evening who loses at last the track of the beast he followed. 96 These were the arts by which she was able secretly to capture thousands and thousands of souls: rather, they were the weapons by which she seized them and made them slaves of Love perforce. Now what kind of marvel will it be if fierce Achilles was the prey of Love, and Hercules and Theseus, if even him who buckles on the sword for Christ the impious fellow catches in his toils?

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Canto Five

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Rinaldo is the early favorite to be elected Dudon's successor—Gernando enviously slanders him (15)—Rinaldo challenges and kills Gernando (26)—Godfrey prepares to arrest Rinaldo (32), who is persuaded to flee the camp (51)—Armida's defenders are chosen by lot (60)—She leaves with them, followed by scores of others (79)— Famine threatens the Crusaders (85).

C A N T O

F I V E

i While in such manner the treacherous Armida is alluring the knights to her love (and not merely awaits the ten that are promised her but trusts by stealth to lead away others with her), Godfrey is revolving within himself to whom he should commit the dubious enterprise, where she must be the guide; since the abundant supply of Adventurers, and the merit and desire of each, make him uncertain. 2

But in the end with provident counsel he decrees that they should choose one of themselves, at their own discretion, to succeed the magnanimous Dudon and to take that task of selection upon himself. Thus he will not give reason for any of them to be aggrieved with him, and at the same time will show that he holds in high regard (as in reason he ought) the whole excellent troop. 3

He calls them to his presence then and speaks to them: "My own opinion has been heard by you, which was—not to deny the lady aid, but to give it in due season. Now again I propose it, and it may very well be followed yet ,,as your opinion, for in a changeable and volatile world it often is constancy ,,to change one's mind. 4

"But if you judge yet that it ill behooves your degree to refuse danger, and if your generous daring still disdains what seems to it too cautious a counsel, it shall not be that I hold you here against your will, or take back now what I gave you before: but let the bridle of my authority with you be loose and light, as it ought to be.

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5 "I am content then that your staying or going should depend on your own free pleasure, though I do desire that first you create a new successor to your fallen leader, and that he should take charge of you and choose from among you ten at his own discretion. The number, however, is not to exceed ten, for in this I reserve to myself the final word. In other matters his judgment will not be controlled." 6

So Godfrey spoke. And his brother, with each man's assent, made this reply: "Even as is fitting for you, my Captain, this slow-paced power to see afar—so from us is required the vigor of heart and hand, as if it were our debt. And the deliberate slowness that in another is foresight, in us would be cowardice. 7

"And since the risk is of so light a harm when placed in the balance with the profit that counterpoises it, with your permission the ten who are chosen will go with the lady to the noble enterprise." So he concludes; and with such ornamented fabling seeks to hide under a different zeal his mind inflamed; and the others too pretend desire of honor in that which is desire of love. 8

But the younger Bouillon, who regards with jealous eye the son of Sophia, whose merit he admires while envying (for it became the more precious in so fair a frame), would prefer not to have him as companion, and shrewd jealousy inspires in his heart a prudent thought; whereupon, having drawn his rival aside, he speaks with him with flattering artfulness: 9

"O greater offspring of great ancestors, who hold in your youdi the highest repute in arms, now who will be chosen captain of the valorous band ol which we are part? I that only barely, and out of respect for his age, lived subject to the famous Dudon; I, brother of Godfrey, to whom now should I yield? If you are not he, I do not see him.

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IO

"The glory and merit of your deeds sets before me you, whose noble birth is equal to all the rest; and not even the elder Bouillon would disdain to be called lesser than you for worth in battle: I prefer you then as leader, if it is of no concern to you to be the champion of this Syrian; and I do not really imagine that you are anxious for the honor that will come from deeds nocturnal and obscure. ii

"Here there will be no lack of a place where your valor may be employed with more shining fame: now I will arrange, if you do not refuse it, that the others yield the highest honor to you. But because I do not certainly know which way my doubtful and wavering heart may be inclined, I ask from you now that it be left to my discretion, whether thereafter I follow Armida, or stay with you." 12

Here Eustace was silent; and these last words he did not bring forth without growing red in the face, and the other well noted his ill-concealed ardent thoughts, and came near to a smile; but because in him the blows of love, being lighter, have not cut into his breast beyond the outer shell, he is neither much impatient of rivals, nor does he care about following the lady. 13

Dudon's untimely death he holds deeply graven in his tenacious memory, and holds it dishonorable that bold Argantes should any long while remain alive beyond him; and partly also that speech that invites him to the honor due is pleasing to hear, and his youthful heart is made replete, and feeds on the sweet sound of truthful praise. 14

So that he answered thus: "I more desire to merit than to obtain the top ranks; and (if only my worth may raise me up) I need not envy the loftiness of scepters. But if you call me to the honor, and deem it owing to me, I will

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not come to it reluctantly. And of necessity I must appreciate your showing so handsome a recognition of my worth. 15

"So I do not ask it and I do not refuse it; and if I should indeed become your leader, you will be among the chosen." Thereupon Eustace leaves him and goes about shaping the inclination of his comrades to his desire. But Prince Gernando seeks that rank in rivalry, and (though Armida shoots her arrows at him) in his proud heart the love of woman has less effect than the greedy desire for honor that is his mistress. 16

Gernando is descended from the great kings of Norway, that over many provinces held sway; and his father's and his ancestors' many crowns and royal scepters make him proud. The other is proud of his own merits more than of the deeds that his forebears have achieved; although for a hundred lusters and more his ancestors have been notable in peace and illustrious in war. 17

But the barbarous prince, who only measures how far one's gold or dominion extends, and values as in itself obscure any virtue that royal tide does not render illustrious—he cannot bear that out of merit the knight should vie widi him for something in which he takes an interest; and he is so galled by it diat wradi and disdain transport him beyond every bound of reason. 18

So diat the wicked spirit from Avernus,1 which sees so broad a highway opened in him, silendy glides widiin his breast and deceitfully gains die governing seat of his thoughts. And here she makes always more bitter his indwelling wradi and hatred, and spurs and belabors his heart; and hourly causes a voice to echo in the midst of his soul, diat speaks to him thus:

1

See Glossary, s.v. Alecto.

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19

"Rinaldo jousts with you: is then his idle sum of ancient heroes worth so much? Let him who wishes to make himself your equal tell over his subject peoples and his tributaries: let him show his scepters: and for royal dignity let him compare his dead with your living. O how much he presumes, a lord of low degree, a lord who was born in servile Italy. 20

"Whether he wins or loses now—for he was a winner until he became your rival—what will the world say? (and that will be his greatest honor): This man once came into contest with Gernando. The noble rank that Dudon formerly held was capable of shedding glory and splendor on you: but truly it could expect no less from you in return: that fellow degraded its worth by seeking it. 21

"And if, when a person no longer speaks or breathes, he still has any perception of our affairs, how do you think the good old man Dudon is showing himself in Heaven inflamed with a noble wrath when he turns his gaze on this proud fellow and fixes his mind on the audacious boldness of one who (making light of age and merit) dares offer himself as his equal, an inexperienced boy? 22

"And yet he dares it, and tries it, and gets from it honor and praise, instead of punishment: and there are those who counsel it and encourage it (O shame for us all!) and give him their applause. But if Godfrey sees it and goes along with his defrauding you of that which is owing to you, it is not for you to suffer it; nor ought you to suffer it now, but show what you can do, and what you are." 23

At the sound of these words wrath burns and grows in him like a shaken torch; and being not contained within his swollen and pregnant heart it issues from his eyes and his daring tongue. That which he thinks reprehensible and unworthy in Rinaldo, to his dishonor he does not keep quiet: he

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paints him as proud and vain, and calls his valor crazy foolhardiness and madness. 24

And whatsoever shines forth in him of the magnanimous, the lofty, the excellent and the illustrious, he blames and reproves, as if it were a vice, quite shadowing the truth with evil art; and speaks about it so that the knight, his rival, hears the public report; yet he does not get rid of his wrath, or put a bridle on that blind drive in himself that is leading him to death, 25 for the wicked demon that is moving his tongue in the stead of his rational soul, and shaping his every word, sees to it that hourly he renews his unjustified slanders, adding fuel to the enkindled breast. There is in the camp a spacious place where a handsome troop of the elite is always assembled; and there together in jousting and wrestling they make their bodies strong and skilled. 26

Now here (as is his fate) when the crowd is thickest he still is accusing Rinaldo and turning his tongue against him like a sharp arrow, infused with poison from Avernus. And Rinaldo is nearby and hears his words, nor any longer is able to keep his wrath held in, but shouts—"You lie"— and thrusts himself right against him and is grasping in his hand the naked steel. 27 His voice seemed thunder, and the steel a flash that bears the message of the falling thunderbolt. Gernando trembled, nor did he see any flight or escape from the pending irreparable death; still, since the whole camp is witness, he feigns the appearance of a brave and fearless man and awaits his mighty enemy, and with drawn steel plants himself firm in a posture of defense. 28

Almost at that same moment some thousand sparkling swords were seen to blaze at once, for a varied troop of imprudent persons runs up from ev-

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cry side and jostles and presses. A sound of indistinguishable words and confused syllables drifts through the air and makes a muttering, such as is heard on the shores of the sea where the wind mingles its murmurings with the waves'. 29

But the violence and wrath in the insulted warrior is slowed not at all by the words of the rest: he pays no attention to shouts and defenses and anything that tries to block his way, and to vengeance he aspires: and rushes on past men and weapons and sweeps his blazing sword in a circle so that he clears a path and (to the shame of a thousand defenders) alone confronts Gernando. 30

And with a hand of masterly skill even in his wrath he aims and delivers a thousand blows on him: he tries to wound him now in the head, now in the breast, now on the right side, now on the left: and his arm is so quick and powerful that it deceives Gernando's eyes and technique so that it arrives unseen and unexpected where least it is feared, and cuts and thrusts. 3i

Nor did he ever give over until he had bathed the fierce sword once and again in his breast. The poor man falls on his wounds and pours out breath and spirits through a double way. The victor sheathes again his weapon stained with blood, and tarries over him no longer but betakes himself elsewhere, and at the same time divests himself of his cruel spirit and his wrathful will. 32

Meanwhile the worthy Godfrey, drawn to the tumult, beholds a grim and sudden spectacle—Gernando stretched out, his hair and his cloak filthy and stained with blood, and his features filled with death; he hears the sighs and laments and the plaint that many are making over the slain warrior. Stunned, he demands: "Now here, where it least is lawful, who was it that dared so much and did so much?"

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Arnaldo, one of those closest to the dead prince, tells him (and in the telling heavily weights the case) that Rinaldo killed him, and that for light cause he was spurred to the foolish assault; and that he had turned against Jhrist's champions that sword that he had buckled on for Christ; and that he had disregarded Godfrey's rule and that decree which he had just issued,2 and which is not any secret: 34

and that by law he is guilty unto death and ought to be punished as the edict prescribes, as much because the fault has been committed in such a place as because it is grievous Li itself; that if he receives pardon for his error, everyone else will be emboldened by the example; and that hereafter the injured will be wanting to execute that vengeance that waits for die judges: 35

so that from this cause disputes arid brawls will spring up on this side and that. He called to mind the virtues of the deceased, and said everything that wakens pity or anger. But lane • ?d opposed him and spoke in rebuttal, and depicted the cause of die accused as just. Godfrey listens and in his rigid countenance offers more cause for fear dian for hope. 36

Then Tancred added: "Now let your mind dwell, my learned sovereign, on who Rinaldo is, and of what quality; what honor is due him for his own sake, and for his famous and royal lineage, and for Guelph his uncle. He ,,who holds the rule must not be equal in punishment for all: the same fault ,,is different in diose of different degrees, and equality is just only among nequals."

2 No such decree appears in the poem as it now stands, although an edict is mentioned twice again, at 5.55, 59. Perhaps Tasso thought it best to minimize the insubordination, since Rinaldo's return, willed by Heaven (10.77; 14.13-19), is accompanied only by a brief apology (18.1-2).

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37

,,The Captain answers: "Let those who are lower learn how to obey from ,,those who are higher. Tancred, you give bad counsel; and are badly mistaken, if you want me to leave the great to their own regulation. What would my rule be, if I commanded the low and the vile, leader only of the common crowd? An impotent scepter, and a shameful command. If it is granted with such conditions, I desire it no longer. 38

"But it was granted free and worthy of reverence, and I will have nobody diminish its authority. And well I know when and how it is proper sometimes to mete out differing rewards and punishments, sometimes (holding the tenor of equality) not to distinguish the highest from the lowest." Thus he spoke; and Tancred, overcome with reverence, made no answer to his words. 39

Raymond, the imitator of severe and rigorous antiquity, praised his words. "With these arts (he said) the man who rules skilfully makes himself vener,,able to his subjects; for surely discipline is not complete where a man can ex,,pect pardon and not punishment. Every princedom falls, and ruinous is ev,,ery clemency without the basic element of fear." 40

Thus he spoke; and Tancred gathered the sense of their words, and remained among them no longer, but promptly set after Rinaldo on a steed who seemed to have wings. Rinaldo, after he had bereft his fierce enemy of his pride and his soul, betook himself to his tent. Here Tancred found him and set forth fully the gist of the things spoken and answered. 4i

Then he added: "Although I do not hold external appearance to be true witness of the heart (for the thought of mortals lies hidden in a place too dark and inward), yet I dare swear, from what I can discern in the Captain, who is not altogether silent about it, that he intends you to be subject to the normal requirements for those accused, and held at his disposal."

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Rinaldo smiled at this and, with a countenance in which scorn flashed amid the smile—"Let those (he said) who are slaves, or worthy to be slaves, make defense of their motives while set in the stocks. Free was I born and lived free, and freely will I die before I set hand or foot in shameful snare. This arm is used to the sword and used to the palms, and it rejects the vile knot. 43

"But if Godfrey returns me this reward for my deserts, and wants to imprison me as if I were only one of the general crowd, and if he thinks to drag me in chains to a common prison, let him come or send, I shall hold my foot planted firm. Weapons and the fates will be our judges. It is a bloody tragedy he means to present to the enemy troops for their pleasure." 44

This said, he calls for his armor, and head and breast adorns with the finest steel, and burdens his arm with his great shield and hangs the fatal sword at his side; and in countenance magnanimous and commanding, he shines forth in his armor like a thunderbolt. Mars, he looks like you when you descend from the fifth heaven clad in steel and horror. 45 Meanwhile Tancred strives to mollify his fierce spirits and proud heart. "Invincible youth (he says) I know that for your valor every harsh and difficult enterprise will be easy. I know that your noble courage is always most secure amid arms and terrors; but God forbid that it display itself today so cruelly to our harm. 46 'Tell me, what are you going to do? will you then be willing to soil your hands in the blood of your own comrades? and with the shameful wounding of Christians to pierce Christ, whose limbs and parts they are? Will the vain respects of transitory honor, that come and go like the waves of the sea, have more power with you than your faith and zeal for that glory that makes us eternal in Heaven?

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47

"Oh no, for God's sake! make a conquest of yourself and put aside this fierce proud mind of yours. Give way! it will be not fear, but the divine will, that holds in store a palm for this your giving way. And if the green years of my youth be worthy of being taken as example for another, I too had provocation and yet came not into conflict with the faithful, and contained myself: 48 "for when I had taken the province of Cilicia, and there displayed the banners of Christ, Baldwin came up and in dishonorable fashion occupied it, and made a contemptible profit from it (for I did not perceive his greedy intent, since he showed himself my friend by every indication). But yet I made no effort thereafter to recover it by force of arms: and I had the strength perhaps to do it. 49 "And if you reject prison still and shun fetters as an ignoble burden, and mean to follow the opinions and customs that the world approves as its codes of honor; leave me here to make your excuse to the Captain and go to Bohemond in Antioch; for I think it not altogether safe to submit yourself to his judgment in this first heat of the moment. 50 "Soon it will be, if we have against us here the armies of Egypt, or another pagan throng, that your exceptional worth will much more clearly appear, while you are far away; and without you the army will seem thereby diminished, like a body with an arm or hand cut off." Hereupon Guelph arrives, and approves his words, and urges that without delay he remove from there. 5i The bold youth's haughty mind is changed by their counsels and he consents, so that he does not refuse to take himself out of that host at once to his supporters. Meanwhile a number of friends have come up, and each one requests and endeavors to go with him. He thanks them all, and takes with him only two squires, and mounts his horse.

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He leaves, and carries with him a desire for eternal and blessed fame, that is whip and spur for the noble heart. His mind is intent on magnanimous undertakings, and he resolves to accomplish unheard-of things: to go in the midst of his enemies, to gain there cypress or palm3 for the faith whose champion he is; to run his course through Egypt and penetrate as far as where Nile flows from an unknown source. 53

When the fierce young man has taken his leave, being urged to hurry his departure, Guelph does not tarry there but betakes himself quickly to where he thinks to find Godfrey. Who, when he sees him, raises his voice saying "Guelph, just now I was asking for you and have just dispatched some of our heralds to various quarters to seek you out." 54

Then he has everyone else withdraw and in low tones resumes with him a serious conversation: "Truly, Guelph, your nephew goes too far when wrath is spurring his heart: and now in my judgment he is ill able to bring forth just cause for this his deed. Very dear will I hold the man who can bring us forth such cause: but Godfrey is leader equally over all, 55

"and will be in every case defender and preserver of the lawful and right, keeping his heart at all times in his judging unvanquished by the tyrant passions. Now if, as some say, Rinaldo was forced to violate the edict and the sacred honor of the discipline, let him come to submit himself to our judgment, and demonstrate it. 56

"He may come to his detention free of constraint; this I allow to his merits, as I am empowered. But if he remain froward and scorn us (for I know that untamable ardor in him) you use your wit to bring him and to see to it

' The palm symbolizes victory, the cypress death. In spite of these high thoughts Rinaldo does, however, take the road to Antioch (10.72; 14.57). See Glossary, s.v. Orontes.

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that he does not force a man of gentle action and deliberate to be (so far as is right) the harsh avenger of the laws and of authority." 57

Thus he spoke, and Guelph replied to him: "His spirit intolerant of slander could not listen to the biting speeches of malice without making their rebuttal, right where he heard them. And if he put to death the man who in,,sulted him, who is it that can set a bound to righteous anger? Who counts ,,the blows or while the struggle blazes measures and weighs the offense ,,that ought to be taken? 58 "But that which you ask, that the boy should come to put himself under your sovereign disposal, I regret that it cannot be, for he immediately turned his course far distant from the army. But I offer myself to prove by this hand on him who wrongly rends him with false accusations—or any other with such malignant tooth—that justly he punished his unjust slandering. 59 "With reason, I say, he cropped for the swelling Gernando the horns of his haughty pride; if he erred it was only in his forgetting the ban. That weighs on me heavily indeed, and I do not undertake to praise it." He was silent, and Godfrey spoke: "Now let him go wandering, and carry his squabbles elsewhere; I do not want you to be sowing here the seed of fresh disputes. God grant that these wrathful outbursts be finished now." 60 Meanwhile the wicked deceiver never gave over procuring her aid. By day she made entreaty, and put in play all that her art and wit and beauty could; but then when night, extending her dark mantle, shut up the daylight in the west, with two of her knights and two maids of honor she took shelter apart in her pavilion. 61 But though she be of a masterly hand at deceits, and her ways gentle and her manners polished, and so beautiful that never before or after did

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heaven grant greater beauty to anyone's lot, so that she has captured die most famous heroes of the army with a pleasure strong and gripping; neverdieless, there is no way that with her flattering she can allure die worthy Godfrey to the banquet of her delights. 62

In vain she tries to arouse desire in him, and draw him widi fleshly sweets to die amorous life, for like the well-fed bird diat does not descend where someone, showing him food, is calling him down, so he, satiated with this world, despises its frail pleasures; and mounts to Heaven by the solitary way and whatsoever nets false Love spreads forth in the path of his noble flight he renders wholly useless. 63

Nor does any obstacle have power to turn his holy thoughts from the path diat God is pointing out to him. She attempted a thousand arts and (like a new Proteus) appeared before him in a thousand shapes; and her looks and gestures most sweet would have awakened Love where he slept most chill, but here (by grace divine) her every effort issues vain and it does no good to try again. 64

The lovely lady, who thought that she could inflame any the chastest heart by the lifting of an eyebrow—oh, how she loses now her haughtiness and pomp! and how much disdain and wonder she feels at diat! At last she decides to turn her forces where she can find less stubborn opposition, like a captain who wearily leaves an impregnable position and carries the war elsewhere. 65

But against her weapons Tancred's heart showed itself no less invincible, for another desire is encumbering his breast and a new flame could find no ,,room there; for just as one poison is wont to protect from another, so one ,,from another love. These only she failed to overcome; everyone else she singed either litde or much in her lovely flame.

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66

Although she is grieved that her plan and her skill do not thus fully succeed, she yet takes partial consolation in having made so noble prey of so many heroes. And before somebody should become aware of her frauds, she thinks to lead them to some safer spot, where she can bind them then with other chains than those by which she is holding them captive now. 67

And the date having come that the captain had fixed for giving her some aid, she came to him humbly and said: "Sire, the day that was set is already past: and if by chance the wicked tyrant should hear that I have had recourse to your armies, he would prepare his forces for defense, and then the enterprise would not be so easy. 68

'Then, before such news can be carried to him by the uncertain voice of Fame, or the certainty of spies, let your compassion select some few from your strongest men, and send them with me at once; for if Heaven look not askance on mortal affairs, or forget the innocent, I shall be restored to my kingdom; and you shall always have my realm as tributary in peace and in war." 69

So she spoke. And at her words the captain grants what he had not power to deny, although he sees the selection returning upon him if she hastens her departure: but everyone is asking with unwonted insistence to be in the number of the ten that are chosen, and the rivalry that has been stirred up amongst them makes them the more importunate in their request. 70

She (who examines in them their hearts laid open) seeing that, takes a new line and plies their flanks with the wicked anxiety of jealousy for whip and torment; well knowing that without these arts love finally grows old and becomes fat and slow; like the steed that runs less swiftly if he does not have one who pursues him, or runs ahead.

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And she distributes her speeches in such fashion, and her alluring glances and sweet smiles, that there is not one that is not envious of the rest, nor is fear divided from hope in them. The foolish crowd of suitors, to whom the art of a lying face is a spur, run without a bridle and shame does not restrain them; and in vain their captain reproves them. 72

He (who wishes to satisfy each side equally and inclines to none, although a bit of shame or of wrath is kindled in him at the vanity of his knights, when he sees them obstinate in that desire) adopts a new plan for keeping them in harmony: "Let your names be written, and placed in an urn (he said), and let chance be the judge." 73

At once each man's name was written down, and they were placed in a little urn and shaken and drawn at random; and first that came forth was Artemidorus, Count of Pembroke; and then the name of Gerard was read; and Wenceslaus came forth after them; Wenceslaus who, so grave and wise before, now babbles as a grey and elderly lover. 74

Oh how happy a face they have, and their eyes full of that pleasure that comes flooding up from the overcharged heart, these three first chosen, whose designs in love a favorable fortune supports! The others, whose names the urn yet hides, give signs of an unsettled heart, of jealousy, and hang on the words of him who unfolds the slips and reads out the names to the rest. 75

Gascon came out fourth, to whom succeeded Ridolfo, and then to Ridolfo Olderic; then William of Ronciglion was read, and the Bavarian Everard and the French Henry; Rambaldo was last, he who thereafter by changing faith chose to make himself the enemy of Jesus (can Love then do so much?); and these made up the number often, and shut out the others.

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76

Burning with wrath, with jealousy, with envy, the others call Fortune wicked and unjust; and they accuse you, Love, because you consent that ,,she should be the judge in your domain. But because it is instinct in the hu,,man mind that what is the more forbidden man desires the more, many lay their plans in Fortune's despite to follow the lady when the heavens grow dark. 77

In sun and in shade they mean to follow her always, and fighting for her to hazard their lives. She makes them a kind of speech and with sweet sighs and sentences cut short invites them to it; and now with this one and now with that she grieves that she must make her departure without him. Meanwhile the ten knights were donning their armor and taking their leave from Godfrey. 78 That wise man admonishes them, each one separately: how the word of a pagan is uncertain and light, and a pledge of little surety; and with what arts a man should avoid traps and unlucky accidents: but his words are scattered to the wind, and Love accepts no counsel from a sane man. At last he bids them farewell, and the lady does not wait for the new dawn to leave. 79 The victress departs; and first leads away with her those rival lovers, as if they were prisoners in her triumphal parade, and then leaves the rout of her other suitors amid unnumbered evils. But as night came on and under her wings brought silence and vain flitting dreams, in secret (as Love is prompting them) many followed on Armida's track. 80 Eustace follows her first, and is hardly able to wait until night brings darkness; posthaste he is gone wherever a blind guide leads him through blind shadows. All through the calm warm night he wandered, but then when the life-giving light of day appears, at the same moment appears Armida and her band, where a little village had been their lodging for the night.

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Promptly he goes toward her, and Rambaldo soon recognizes him by his device, and shouts to ask what he might be hunting among them and why he has come. "I come (he answers) to follow Armida along with you; nor will she have from me, if she does not scorn it, less ready aid or service less faithful." The other replies: "And who, pray tell, has chosen you to such honor?" He answers: "Love." 82

"Love singled me out, and Fortune you: now which man think you chosen by the better chooser?" Then says Rambaldo: "Your false title is no good, and you are using useless tricks; nor can you, you bastardly slave, be mixed in among the lawful champions of the royal maiden." "And who is forbidding it me?" answers the angry youth. 83 "I shall forbid it you," he answered, and with that speech addressed himself to the encounter. And die other was moving with equal ardor and a will equally inflamed against him. But here the tyrant of dieir hearts stretched forth her hand and interposed herself amid their wrath, and said to the one: "Pray, let it not grieve you that a comrade is added for you, a champion for me. 84 "If you hold my safety dear, why do you deprive me of new aid in so great need?" To the other she says: "Welcome and timely you come, defender of my life and reputation. Nor is it right, nor ever will it be, mat I should scorn company so noble and so welcome." She speaking so, from time to time along the way some new champion came up with her. 85 One comes from here, another from there, and neither knows about the odier, but looks upon him sour and askance. She receives them happily and shows each one her joy and comfort at his coming. But now with die clearing of the dusky air Godfrey became aware of their departure: and it seems that his mind, prescient of their disasters, is troubled about some future ill.

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While he is still reflecting on that, a messenger comes in view, dusty, gasping, his features troubled, in the manner of a man who carries bitter news for someone, and shows his sorrow written on his brow. He said "My lord, the grand armada from Egypt will soon be making its appearance on the sea; and William, who commands the Genoese fleet, dispatches the intelligence to you." 87

Then he added to this, that as a supply train was being convoyed from the ships to the camp, the horses and camels laden and heavy had found themselves ambushed in mid-journey; and that their escorts were killed in the fighting or enslaved (and none escaped), being fallen upon in a valley front and rear by thieves of Araby. 88

And that the license and mad zeal of those nomadic barbarians is now so great that it swells and spreads all over like a flood, without any opposition; so that to put fear into them there is need that some troop of warriors be sent to secure the road that leads to the camp from the sands of the sea near Palestine. 89

In a minute the report spreads from one tongue to another and is enlarged upon; and the common crowd of soldiers holds a deep fear of the famine that soon awaits them. The wise Captain, who does not find in them now their usual resolution, with cheerful countenance and speech tries how he can comfort them and reassure: 90

"O ye who have passed with me through a thousand dangers and a thousand troubles in this land and in that, ye champions of God, born to repair the losses of His Christian faith, ye who have overcome the armies of Persia and the deceptions of the Greeks, mountains and seas and winter and storms, the pangs of hunger and of thirst, do you even now feel fear?

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"Are ye not then made strong in the Lord, who guides and moves you (as is already known by you in far worse plight)—as if He should now turn elsewhere the hand of His mercy and His righteous regard? Soon there will be a day that it will joy you to remember your troubles past, and to fulfill your vows to God. Now persist in your magnanimity and hold yourselves in readiness, I pray you, for the prosperous event." 92

With these words he consoles their minds dismayed, and with his calm and cheerful countenance. But a thousand grievous and feverish cares he keeps down, hidden deep within his breast. He ponders how he can feed, amid poverty and want, so various a throng; how he can oppose the armada on the sea, and how bridle and master the Arabian brigands.

Canto Six

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Argantes challenges the Christians to single combat—Godfrey appoints Tancred as the Christian champion (25)—Both are sorely wounded when nightfall ends the fight (53)—Erminia longs to cure Tancred's wounds (54)—Love and Honor debate within her heart (70)—In Clorinda's armor she goes to the Christian camp (81)— Discovered by a night patrol she flees (106)—Tancred follows, thinking her Clorinda(ii4).

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i

But on the other side a better hope comforts and reassures the besieged populace; for in addition to their stored supplies, other provisions have been brought in to them by dark of night: and they have fortified with weapons and war machines the walls toward Aquilo—which, with their height increased, and heavy and solid, betray no fear of ramming or pounding. 2

And yet the king always is having them heightened in this section or that, and their buttresses strengthened, whether the golden sun be shining or the dusky heaven be whitened with moon and stars; and the weary and exhausted metalsmiths sweat with forging new weapons constantly. Amid such preparation, impatient Argantes came to him and addressed him: 3

"And how long will you hold us prisoners within these walls in an ignoble and boring siege? I hear the anvils ringing and I catch the sounds of helmets and shields and cuirasses; but I do not see to what purpose; and those thieves run up and down our fields and villages at their pleasure, nor is there one of us ever to stay their passage, nor ever a trumpet at least to wake them from their sleep. 4

'Their meals are never uneasy and interrupted, nor their cheerful feasting disturbed; rather, they spend the livelong day, and the night too, in security and quiet. In the long run, you will be persuaded by famine and privation to surrender us in defeat; or to die with us here like cowards, if aid from Egypt be still slow in coming.

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"For myself, I have no intention that an ignoble death should cover up my days in dark oblivion; nor do I mean the blessed light of the sun to find me shut within these gates tomorrow. Out of this life of mine let fate make whatever is already settled up above; at least it will not be that without using my sword I fall inglorious and unavenged. 6

"But if every spark of your accustomed valor be not yet quenched in you, I should still have hope—not of dying with honor while making a fight, but of life and victory. Let us go, resolved to face together our enemies and ,,our fate; for often it happens that in greatest perils boldest counsels are ,,best. 7

"But if you put no trust in overmuch daring, and are not so bold as to sally forth with all your troops, at least arrange that this great argument be now resolved between two warriors. And (that the Prankish captain may all the more willingly accept our challenge), let him choose the weapons, and take his vantage, and set the conditions as he pleases. 8

"For, if the enemy have but two hands and one soul, though bold and brave, you need not fear that the cause defended by me should be lost through any ill hap. My hand has power, in spite of fate and fortune, to give you complete victory; and now it extends itself to you in a pledge that if you trust in it, your kingdom is secure." 9

He was silent; and the king answered: "My bold young man, although you see me heavy with old age, these hands are not so slow to the sword, nor yet this spirit so shiftless and common that it would rather die unworthily than by a death magnanimous and noble, if I had fear, or any doubt, about the privation and famine that you foretell.

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IO

"God forbid such infamy! Now I want to lay open for you what I keep concealed from the rest, for reasons of my art. Solyman of Nicaea, who longs to avenge in part the injuries he has sustained, has gathered together the scattered and roving bands of Arabs as far as Libya and attacking our enemies in the darkened air he hopes to give us aid and provisions. ii

"He will arrive here soon: now if meanwhile our country villages are overrun and captured, that does not matter to us, if only I preserve my royal mantle and my noble palace. Before God, temper somewhat this heat and hardihood, that boils in you overmuch; and await the fitting season for your glory and my revenge." 12

The bold Saracen, who was an old rival of Solyman, was deeply angered, so bitterly now is he displeased to hear that he is expecting so much from his royal friend. He answers "My lord, you shall make both war and peace according to your discretion; of that I say no more. Delay still and wait for Solyman: let him who lost his own kingdom defend yours. i? "To you let him come, like a heavenly messenger,1 the liberator of the pagan people: as for me, I think my own self sufficient, and I want my freedom depending only from this hand. Now in this time of quiet for others let me be allowed to go down on the plain to act as a warrior. A private knight, and not your champion, I shall go to single combat with the Franks." 14 The king replies: "Although you ought to reserve your wrath and your sword to better use, yet I do not refuse that you challenge some enemy war-

' The descent of a messenger from Heaven (already exemplified in this poem at i.iiff., and again at p.6off.) is one of the motifs most widely used in heroic poetry. Allusion to it in Argantes' ironic speech is mildly surprising, but effective. A possible precedent for such use is Tibullus's sophisticated allusion in Elegies 1.3.90. For non-ironic use, see also 12.37,86n.

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rior, if that pleases you." So he spoke, and the other does not delay a whit. "Go now (he says to a herald) down there below; and to the Prankish leader, in the hearing of his host, make these no small proposals from me: 15

"that a knight who scorns to hide himself in this strong circle of walls is longing now with weapons to make clear how far beyond it his prowess extends; and that he is ready to come to a duel with them, on the plain that lies between the walls and their noble tents, in proof of valor, and that he defies whichever of the Franks trusts most in his own manhood. 16

"And that he is girded to fight not only with one and with two of the enemy camp; but after the third he accepts the fourth, and the fifth, be he of common or of noble birth. Let him grant the free field if he wishes it; and let the vanquished become the slave of the victor, as is the custom in war." So he enjoined him; and the other then donned the crimson tunic over his gilded armor. 17

And when he arrived in the royal presence of Prince Godfrey and his barons he asked: "My lord, among you is license of free speech granted to messengers?" "It is", replied the captain; "and you may present your proposal without any fear." He resumed: "Now will it be seen whether my noble message be pleasing or fearful." 18

And thereupon he continued, and set forth the defiance with proud and magnificent language. Those fierce troops were heard to mutter and they showed themselves indignant at his speech; and without delay the worthy Bouillon answered: 'The knight is taking in hand a difficult enterprise; and I fancy that soon he may weary of it so that there will be no need for the fifth to come forward.

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19

"Yet let him come to the test; for I offer him the field, free and secure from any violation; and some one of my champions will fight with him without advantage; and so I take my oath." He was silent; and the king-of-arms2 returned on his journey by the tracks that were trodden in his coming; and he did not moderate his rapid pace until he delivered the answer to the fierce Circassian. 20

"Arm you, my noble lord (he says); why do you tarry? The Christians have accepted your defiance. And even those less bold are showing their desire to confront you, not to speak of their sovereign warriors. And I saw a thousand menacing stares, and a thousand hands ready to the sword. Their leader grants you a safe field." So he speaks; and the other calls for his arms. 21

And girds himself round with them and hurries toward the open, impatient to make his descent. The king said to Clorinda, who was present: "It is not right that he go and you remain. Take then with you a thousand of our troops for his security, and accompany him. But let him go before you alone to a fair fight; you hold your troops a little distance from him." 22

That said, he was silent. And when they were armed, they sallied forth from the closed to the open. And Argantes went before, his horse being covered with the usual trappings. There was a place between the walls and the palisades, that had no steep or uneven ground, wide and capacious; and it seemed made by art to be a martial field for someone. 23 There descended alone, there drew himself up in the view of his enemies the fierce Argantes, by his huge heart, huge body and huge strength as

2 The king-of-arms is the herald. Tasso's use of this heraldic terminology fits with his general emphasis, in this episode, on the precise formality of chivalric conventions: the "free field," the pledge to fight "without advantage," and the formal defiance.

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proud and threatening in appearance as Enceladus in Phlegra or as appeared the Philistine giant in the low-lying valley.J Many, however, have no fear of him, not fully knowing yet how strong he is. 24

From among many, however, not yet has one been chosen by the worthy Godfrey as the best. All eyes may clearly be seen to be turned to Tancred with desire; and by the manifest favor of their faces he was declared among the better the best. And also the whisper could be heard, not unclearly; and the captain gave it approval with his eye. 25

Then every other gave way; and now the will of the worthy Bouillon was not hidden: "Go", he said to him: "I do not forbid your going forth; and put down the madness of that villain." And the fierce youth, his countenance all bold and joyous for so high a mark of esteem, called to his squire for helmet and horse. Then, followed by many, he came forth from the stockade. 26

And he was not yet close to that broad plain where Argantes is awaiting him, when the proud warrior maiden presented herself to his eyes in a vision lovely and rare. Her surcoat was whiter far than snow on the Alpine ridge, and she had her visor lifted from her face, and (being on rising ground) was all disclosed, how splendid she is. 27

Now Tancred does not look where the Circassian is lifting up his fearsome face to the heavens, but moves his steed at a slow walk, turning his eyes where she is on her hill. Then he stops motionless, and seems a stone: outside all frozen, but within he boils. He is content merely to gaze, and he shows that little he cares for battle any more.

3

See Glossary, s.v. Terebinth.

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28

Argantes, who sees nobody as yet whose action might give sign of preparing himself for the joust, shouts "Out of desire for combat I have been drawn hither: now who is coming forth to joust with me?" The other, as if astonished and stupefied, still fixes his attention there and gives no sign that he hears. Then Otho spurred his steed forward, and into the empty lists he entered first. 29

He was one of those who before was kindled with deep desire to go against the pagan: yet he gave way to Tancred, and mounted the saddle among his other followers, and went forth with him. Now seeing his attention turned elsewhere, and he standing as if reluctant to fight, the daring and impetuous youth avidly seizes the opportunity offered: 30

and so swift that pard or tiger goes less swift through the forest, he runs to strike the hardy Saracen, who for his part sets in rest his mighty lance. Tancred then shakes himself and at last is awakened from his slow revery, as if from a slumber. And he cries "It is my fight; stay here." But Otho has already gone too far forward. 3i

So Tancred stops; and within he burns with anger and shame, and outside is red as fire, for he holds it a dishonor and a fault that another should be gone to the encounter first. But meanwhile in mid career the brave youth strikes the Saracen on the helmet; he for his part with the naked steel cleaves his hauberk, and before that breaks his shield. 32

The Christian falls; and grievous indeed is the blow, for it plucks him from the saddle. But the pagan, of greater strength and greater sinew, does not fall, nor even bend in the saddle. Then with proud disdainful gesture he boasts above the fallen knight: "Yield yourself beaten, and let it suffice for your glory that you will be able to say that you fought against me."

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"No (answers Otho) with us it is not the custom to lay aside so soon our weapons and our daring: someone else will make the excuse for my fall; I want to make its revenge, or die right here." In the likeness of Alecto or Medusa the Circassian rages, and seems to be breathing fire. "Know now (he says) by proof my valor, since it pleases you to scorn my courtesy." 34

With this he spurs his steed and forgets all that chivalric honor demands. The Frank avoids the encounter and gives way, and as he passes pierces his right side; and so heavy and wicked is the blow that the steel returns from there bloodied; but what is the use, if the wound subtracts no strength from the victor, and adds wrath and rage? 35

Argantes reins in his courser in his career and turns him around; and makes die turn so quickly that his enemy is scarcely aware of it, and unprepared is caught by a mighty blow. The bitter shock made his legs tremble, and his strengdi grow weak, his spirit quail and his face grow pallid, and made him, weak and weary, bruise his side on the hard ground. 36

In his anger Argantes grows criminal, and makes a path for his steed on die breast of his vanquished foe, and "So may every proud fellow fare (he shouts) like diis one diat is lying under my feet." But die invincible Tancred does not tarry then, for that act most cruel displeases him; and he means that his valor with clear amends should cover his fault and shine forth as it is wont. 37

He comes forward shouting "You commonbred, that even in your victories are infamous, what title do you expect to lofty and noble praise from manners so wicked and discourteous? You must have been reared among die thieves of Araby or some such barbarous rout. Avoid the daylight and stay with die other beasts to practise your cruelties on the mountains or in the woods."

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38

He was silent; and the pagan, little accustomed to forbearance, bites his lips and is destroyed with rage. He tries to answer but the sound comes forth confused, like the roaring of an animal; or, as the impetuous thunderbolt tears open the clouds by which it is enclosed and escapes them, so did his every word appear perforce to issue thundering from his flaming breast. 39

But when in them both the ferocious threatening has roused in turn their wrath and their pride, the one and the other rapid and swift turns his steed, taking ground for his career. Now here, O Muse, strengthen in me my voice, and breathe into me a madness equal to that madness, so that the verses be not unworthy of the deeds; and let my song express the sound of arms. 40

The two warriors placed their knotty masts in rest, and aimed them high; nor was there ever such swiftness of career, nor ever of leaping, nor ever such swiftness of wings, nor fury equal to that with which on this side Tancred and on that Argantes came to the assault. Their lances shattered on their helmets, and a thousand pieces went flying, and splinters and blazing sparks. 4i

The echo alone of their blows moved the immovable earth, and the mountains resounded. But the drive and the fury of their shock in no way bowed their haughty heads. The one horse was dashed against the other in such fashion that when they had fallen they were not quick to rise. With drawn swords die great masters of warfare abandoned their stirrups, they planted their feet on the ground. 42

Each man moves cautiously—the hand in striking, the eyes in watching, the feet in stepping; each shifts into various moves, to new wards; now circles around, now presses forward, now gives way; now feigns to strike

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here, and then is seen to strike elsewhere, where he did not threaten; now to leave some part uncovered, and to try to foil art with art. 43 Tancred shows the pagan his side ill guarded by sword and shield; he is quick to strike it, and meantime his left side is denuded of defense. Tancred with one stroke parries the enemy's cruel steel, and wounds him too; nor then, when that is done, is he slow about retiring, but gathers himself and holds himself on guard. 44

The fierce Argantes, who sees himself spotted and wet with his own blood, roars and huffs with more than usual violence, disturbed and maddened with pain and grief; and carried along by momentum and by his wrath, along with his voice he lifts up his sword, and turns to strike; and is stabbed, right where the shoulder is joined to the arm. 45

As in the alpine forests a bear, who feels the hard hunting-spear in his flank, mounts into a rage, and hurls himself against the weapons and boldly confronts danger and death; such the indomitable Circassian becomes, now that wound is added to wound, and shame to shame; and he so much desires to make his revenge that he discounts risks and forgets about defenses. 46

And joining to bold audacity his extraordinary power and unwearying strength, he begins to circle the steel so violently that earth trembles from it and the heavens flash; nor does the other have time to strike a single blow, to cover himself, hardly even to breathe; nor is there defense that is able to make him secure from the speed and strength of Argantes. 47

Tancred, drawn into himself, waits in vain for the tempest of mighty blows to pass; now he opposes defenses, and now he shifts far away with circling and quick stepping; but when the fierce pagan does not slacken the pace, at

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last he is forced to let his own self be carried away, and he too enraged begins to wield the sword with the utmost violence he can. 48

Reason and art are overcome by wrath, and fury supplements and increases their strength. Always when the steel descends it pierces or cleaves either plate or mail; and no stroke issues in vain. The earth is sprinkled with armor, the armor sprinkled with blood, and the blood mingled with sweat. Their swords are lightning in flashing, thunder in rumbling, lightningbolts in striking. 49 The one and the other populace hangs uncertain at such novel and savage spectacle; and caught between hope and fear they await the outcome, watching now what helps and now what does them harm. And among so many is neither seen nor heard so much as one little gesture or low-spoken word. But everyone stands silent and motionless, except insofar as his heart is palpitating. 50

Now both were weary, and perhaps as they fought would both have come to an untimely end, but meanwhile Night was rising, so dark that she hid even what was close at hand. From here one herald, from there another ran up to part them, and they parted them at last. Arideus the Frank is one, the other is Pindor, who carried the defiance, a man judicious and wise. 5i They made bold to thrust their peacemaking wands between the combatants' swords, with that assurance that the most ancient law of nations gave to them. "Soldiers, (Pindor began) you are both of equal prowess, with equal honors. Give over the combat then, and let not Night's prerogatives and her tranquillity be broken. 52 "While the sun lasts is time to work, but in the night every living creature has peace; and the generous heart does not much care for a nocturnal

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achievement that is silent and hidden." Argantes replies: "It pleases me not to abandon my fight because of the dark shadows, though I would dearly like the witness of the day! But this fellow must swear that he will return." 53

The other then added: "And you must promise to return, bringing back your prisoner; for otherwise it shall never be that I wait for another season for our contest." They swore accordingly; and then die heralds, delegated to set the time for the combat, in order to give due time for dieir wounds, settled upon the morning of the sixth day. 54

The terrible fight left imprinted in the hearts of the Saracens and the faithful a profound marvelling and a horror that does not leave them for a long time. They speak of nothing but the daring and courage that the one and the other warrior has shown in it; but which of the two ought to be set higher die common crowd debates variously and discordantly 55 and remains in suspense awaiting what outcome the fierce strife will have: and whedier fury prevail over valor, or whether boldness yield to courage. But more than any other to whom it matters, the fair Erminia feels care and torment about it, because she sees the better part of herself depending on the judgments of uncertain Mars. 56

She was daughter of the king Cassano, who formerly held die rule of Antioch; when her kingdom was taken she too, among other booty, fell into the power of the Christian conqueror. But Tancred dien was so humane with her diat she sustained no injury while in his power, and was honored as a queen in die midst of her noble country's ruin. 57

That excellent knight paid honor to her, he preserved her, he gave her the gift of liberty; and all her gold and jewels he left to her, and whatever of value she owned. She, perceiving a royal spirit handsome in looks and

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youthful in years, remained the prey of Love, who never bound tie more firm than that with which he bound her. 58

So if her body regained its liberty, her soul was forever bound into slavery. It weighed on her heavily to abandon her dear master and her beloved prison: but sovereign Honor (that ought never be neglected by magnanimous lady) constrained her to make her departure, and with her aged mother to seek her safety in a friendly land. 59 She came to Jerusalem and was there received by the tyrant of the land of the Jews: but soon, swathed in black garments, she was mourning the unhappy fate of her mother. Yet neither her sorrow that she should be taken by death, nor yet her own hapless exile, was ever able to root out from her heart her amorous desire, nor to quench the spark of such burning. 60

The poor girl loves and burns; and in such state so little hope is left her that she cherishes in her breast the hidden fire of memory far more than of hope. And insofar as it is shut away in the more secret place, by so much does her flame have greater strength. At last to reawaken her hope Tancred is come to the host around Jerusalem. 61

The others were terrified at the appearance of so many nations, so fierce and so indomitable; she made serene her troubled countenance and happily looked with desire on the proud squadrons; and she went searching with avid gaze for her dear lover among those armed bands. Often she sought him in vain, and yet said often "Behold him," and recognized him clear. 62

In the royal palace there rises high, very close to the walls, an ancient tower from whose summit the whole Christian host is visible, and the mountain and the plain. There, from the time that the sun puts forth his light until

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the time that night then darkens the world, she seats herself and turns her eyes to the camp and with her inner thoughts converses and sighs. 6?

From there she saw the combat, and felt the heart in her breast tremble so strongly then that it seemed to say "That is your beloved there in peril of death." So, full of anguish and foreboding, she watched the successive stages of doubtful chance, and every time the pagan moved his sword she felt in her soul the steel and the shock. 64

But when she knew the actual result, and knew too that the bitter struggle must be renewed, an unwonted fear so grips her heart that she feels her blood become ice. Sometimes secret tears and sometimes random sighs are hidden within her; pale, bloodless, and distraught in manner, Fear and Sorrow had in her their portrait. 65

Every moment with horrible imaginings her fancy disturbs her and frightens her; and sleep is terrible, far more than death—such strange spectres her dreams present to her. It seems diat she sees her beloved knight bloody and gashed; and it seems that she hears him call to her for help; and wakened by this, she finds her eyes and her bosom wet with tears. 66

Nor is it only the fear of future harm that plies her heart with diligent stroke, but concern for the wounds that he already has had is reason that her soul cannot be quiet: and the false rumors that are going around exaggerate matters unknown and far-removed, so that she thinks that her mighty warrior is lying stricken and languishing, close to death. 67

And since she had learned from her mother whatever most hidden virtue there be in herbs, and by what charms each wound in the injured limbs may heal and the pain be dulled (an art diat by custom in that country, it

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seems, is reserved to the daughters of the king) she wished by her own hand to restore health to her dear master's wounds. 68

She longs to minister to her beloved, and finds it necessary to heal her enemy; she thinks sometimes of sprinkling on him the juice of some wicked and harmful herb that would poison him; but then her virtuous and maidenly hand scorns to deal in the malignant arts, and she refrains. At least she hopes that in such use each herb and each spell should be devoid of its efficacy. 69

Nor would she have any fear at all of going among the enemy, for she had been a wanderer and often had looked upon wars and slaughters and had led an uncertain and exhausting life, so that through experience her feminine mind is made daring beyond its nature; and she is not lightly disturbed and made fearful by any of the less serious shapes of terror. ?o

But, more than any other reason, bold Love rids her soft breast of every fear; and she would trust to go secure amid the talons and amid the poison of the beasts of Africa, except that if not for her life at least for her reputation she must have fear and take care: and within her heart a doubtful contest is waged between two powerful enemies, Honor and Love. 7i

The one addresses her thus: "O maiden, that up to now have observed my laws, I (while you were the servant of your enemies) preserved your mind and body chaste; and would you wish, now free, to lose the precious virginity that in prison you have guarded? Ah, who has been able to wake in your tender heart these thoughts? What are you thinking? alas, what are you hoping? 72 "Do you then so little esteem the title of being chaste, and the reputation of honesty, that you would go among the enemy nation a nocturnal lover,

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to seek out infamy? So that the proud victor may say to you—'You have lost at once your kingdom and your kingly spirit; you are not worthy of me.' And may hand you over to others, a common and little-valued prey." 73

On the other side, the false counsellor lures her to his pleasures with such flatteries: 'Truly, my girl, you are not the offspring of a ravenous bear nor of the rough cold stone, that you must scorn the bow and the torch of Love, and always shun what gives pleasure; nor have you a breast of diamond or of steel, that it should be shame to you to be a lover. 74

"Ah! go now where your desire is alluring you. But what 'cruel victor" are you imagining for yourself? Do you not know how he grieves at your sorrow, how he pities your tears, your complaints? You are the cruel one, that move with so sluggish a will to carry salvation to your faithful. O savage and ungrateful, the worthy Tancred lies languishing: and you sit here in the care of the other one's life! 75

"Now heal Argantes, so that then your liberator can be thrust on to death: so you will have discharged your debts, and such a fine reward will he have from you. Can it yet be that this wicked ministry does not so strongly repel you diat the revulsion and horror alone is enough to make you flee from here at once? 76

"Ah truly it would be, on the other hand, a kindly office and truly you would have joy of it and pleasure, if your compassionate healing hand were to approach his valorous breast: for then your lord, made well by you, would revive the color lost from his countenance, and you would admire in him, as if it were your gift, his handsomeness, that now is quenched. 77

'Then you too would have your part in his praises, and in the noble and famous deeds he achieved, when he would have made you happy with his lawful embraces and blessed nuptials. Then honored and pointed out you

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would walk among the Latin matrons and wives there in lovely Italy, where is the seat of true valor and of the true faith." 78 Deluded by such hopes (ah foolish girl!) she fashions forth for herself the ultimate bliss; but yet she finds herself involved in a thousand perplexities about how she can get away from there in safety: for the guards are watchful and are constantly making their rounds outside the palace and on the walls; nor, in such perilous time of war, is any gate ever unlocked without grave reason. 79 It was Erminia's custom often to make a long visit in the company of the warrior-maiden. The sun from the western sky saw her with her, the new dawn saw her. And when the light of day is quenched, sometimes a single bed received them both. And no thought other than those of love would the one maiden keep hidden from the other. 80

This secret alone Erminia keeps from her, and if sometimes she is heard by her to weep, she lays to another cause the passions of her unhappy heart, and pretends that she is lamenting her fortune. Now, in such friendship, she could always come into her presence without prohibition; and no room ever is locked against her entrance, whether Clorinda be there, or in council or in battle. 81

It came to pass one day that Clorinda was in another place, and she stayed there pensive, still revolving within herself the means and the stratagems for the secret departure she desired. While among various thoughts she divides and disperses her wavering mind, that finds no rest, she sees hung up on high Clorinda's armor and her surcoat; then she sighs. 82 And says to herself in her sighing: "O how blessed is that maiden most mighty! how much I envy her! and I do not envy her the boast or the womanish praise of being beautiful. The long gown does not slow her steps,

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nor a grudging cell shut up her valor; but she girds herself in armor, and if she wants to sally forth she goes, and neither fear nor shame restrains her. 8? "Ah why did not nature and heaven make likewise strong in me my limbs and my heart, so that I too had been able to change gown and veil to helmet and cuirass? for sure no burning heat or cold, no storm or tempest would restrain my flaming passion, that I should not go armed into the field, companioned or alone, in the sun or by nocturnal glimmering. 84 'Then not you, o pitiless Argantes, would first have fought with my lord; for I should have run before to encounter him; and perhaps even now he would be here my prisoner and would be wearing for his loving enemy a sweet and pleasant yoke of servitude; and then by reason of his fetters I should feel my own made light and easy. 85 "Or if rather my side were battered by his hand, and my heart laid open, yet in such manner at least the stroke of steel would have cured the wound of Love: and now my mind would rest in peace, and my weary body; and perhaps the victor would have granted my bones and my ashes some kind of honor through burial and tears. 86

"But alas I long for things impossible, and vainly wrap myself in foolish fancies; I shall stay here, fearful and sorrowful, as only one of the common womanish crowd. Ah, I shall not! my heart, have faith and be daring! Why not I too this one time take up arms? why should I not for a short space have strength to bear them, though I be soft and weak? 87 "Yes, I shall. Yes, for the tyrant Love will make me strong enough to bear their weight—by whose spur driven, even the peaceful deer are often armed with daring and make war. I have no wish to make true war, I only want to make with these weapons a cunning ruse; I want to feign myself Clorinda; and under cover of her image, I am sure of departing.

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88

'The guards of the lofty gates would never dare offer any obstacle to her. I think it over again, and I see no other means; this way alone, I think, is open. Now may Fortune and Love (who inspires it in me) favor my innocent deception. And the time is even now ripe for my departure, while Clorinda yet holds audience with the king." 89

So she resolves: and goaded and spurred by the furies of Love, she waits no longer, but makes haste to carry the stolen armor from that room to her own adjoining: and is able to do it, for when she had come there all others had given place and she remained alone. And Night too covered her thefts, who came on now, a friend to thieves and lovers. 90

Seeing the heavens grow darker, with here and there a star now scattered about, without interposing any delay she secretly summons a faithful squire and a loyal handmaiden, dear to her, and reveals to them part of her thinking: she reveals her plan of fleeing, and pretends that another reason compels her to leave. 9i

The faithful squire at once makes ready whatever he thinks their needs require. Meanwhile Erminia puts off her magnificent gown, which flows down to her feet, and in a simple garment she is so lovely and neat that she exceeds all belief; nor does other companion assist her, except that one that she had chosen for her departure. 92

With hardest steel she oppresses and offends her delicate neck and golden hair; and her tender hand takes up the shield—a burden too heavy and insupportable. So all of steel she shines about, and schools herself in military bearing. Love, who is there, enjoys it and laughs to himself, as he did of old when he swathed Alcides in the gown.

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Oh, with what effort she sustains the unequal burden, and slowly paces along, and holds to her trusted companion who makes shift to go before her as a support. But Love and Hope reinforce her spirits and lend strength to her weary limbs so that they arrive at the place where the squire is waiting for them, and hastily climb into the saddle. 94

They go in disguise and by design they take the most hidden and most secret route; yet they encounter many people, and see the dark shadows gleam with steel on every side; but nobody dares to block their way and everyone yielding the road goes to one side, for that white cloak and feared insignia are recognized even in the dark. 95

Erminia (though this somewhat allays her doubts) still does not proceed with confidence; for she is fearful of being discovered in the end, and now begins to feel fright at her over-daring: but still, being come to the gate, she represses her fear, and tricks the man who has the charge of it. "I am Clorinda (she said): open the gate: for the king sends me where it is needful to go." 96

The feminine voice resembling that of the warrior-maid facilitates the deception (Who would think to see armed in the saddle one of the others, who know not how to wield arms?), so that the gate-warden promptly obeys: and swiftly she rides through, and the two who are with her. And for their safety going down into the valleys they take long winding paths. 97

But when Erminia sees herself in a lonely and low-lying region she somewhat slows the pace, for she judges that the first risks are past, and she is no longer afraid of being held back. Now she begins to think about what she had not much thought of before: and now the entering presents itself to her as much more difficult than had been suggested to her by her hasty desire.

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98

She sees now that it is a great folly to go among fierce enemies in military dress; but she would be unwilling, on the other hand, to disclose herself to anyone before she had come to her lord. She wants to come to him, a secret and unexpected lover, with her chastity secure. So that she pauses, and being made more cautious by a better thought, speaks to her squire: 99

"There is need for you, my faithful man, to be my forerunner: but you must be ready and wise. Go to the camp and manage that someone lead you and introduce you where Tancred is lying: to whom you will say that a lady is coming to him who is bringing him healing and asks for peace: a peace (for Love is waging war on me) in which he may find his healing, I my cooling: 100

"and that she has such firm and vital faith in him that in his power she fears no shame or scorn. Say only this, only to him: if he asks anything, say that you do not know, and speed your return. I (for this place seems to me safe) shall make sojourn here meanwhile." So the lady spoke; and that loyal fellow went off as swift as if he had wings. 101

And he knew how to work in such wise that he was received in friendly fashion within the closed stockade, and then conducted to where the knight was lying, who heard his embassage with a happy face: and leaving him then (who was revolving a thousand uncertain thoughts in his mind) he was bearing back to her the pleasant answer: that she will be able to enter, as secretly as possible. IO2

But meanwhile impatiently she, to whom all delay seems far too burdensome and heavy, tells over to herself each step of the other, and thinks: "Now he is arriving, now entering, now he should be returning." And truly he seems to her (and she is sorry for it) much less expeditious and

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quick than usual. At last she spurs forward and gets up to a place from which she begins to make out the tents. 103

It was night, and she spread forth her starry veil in clarity and without a single cloud: and already the rising moon was scattering her brilliant rays and a frost of living pearls. The love-stricken maiden walked in company with the heavens, exhaling her own flames one by one: and made the soundless fields and that friendly silence the recorders of her long-enduring love. 104

Then, looking toward the camp, she said: "O lovely to mine eyes, ye Latin tents! A breeze rises from you diat refreshes me, and encourages me yet that I draw near. So may the heavens destine for my storm-tossed and sorrowful life some virtuous haven, as I seek it only in you, and it seems to me that I can find peace only in the midst of arms. 105

"Receive me then: and let there be found in you that pity that Love promised me, and that already I have seen, a prisoner that other time, in my dear gende lord: nor am I moved now by any desire of regaining through your favor my royal honor: since that cannot come to pass, I shall hold myself happy enough if I am permitted to live in slavery among you." 106

So she speaks, who does not foresee what sorrowful fortune is being prepared for her. She was in a place where the lovely light from the heavens direcdy strikes her polished armor so that its gleam is visible from afar, along with the lovely whiteness that clothes and encircles her; and the great tigress, stamped in silver, flames in such manner that anyone would say—"It is she." 107

As her fate would have it, a number of soldiers had laid an ambush very near by. Their leaders were two brothers from Italy, Alcandro and Polyphernes, and they were sent out to prevent any flocks or herds from be-

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ing driven inside to the Saracens. And if her servant got past, it was because he turned further off, and passed them quickly. 108

To the young Polyphernes, whose father had recently been killed by Clorinda4 before his very eyes, when he saw the beautiful white garments it was clear that he was seeing the proud warrior maiden; and he roused against her his hidden troops, and without restraining the unthinking impulse of his heart (as he was sudden and foolish in his passion) he shouted "You are dead," and cast his spear at her, in vain. 109

Even as the thirsty deer who directs her course in search of the fresh and sparkling water where she sees a pretty spring dripping down from a rock, or a river amid its leafy banks, if then she meets with the hounds when she is thinking to refresh her weary body in the waves, in the summery shade, she turns about in flight, and fear makes her forget her weariness and burning thirst; no

so she who thought to quench in chaste and blessed embraces the thirst of love with which her afflicted heart is always burning, and to find quiet for her weary mind, now that against her comes one who forbids it her, and she hears the clash of steel and the threatening shouts, she abandons herself and her earlier desire, and spurs her swift steed in fear. in

Hapless Erminia flees; and her courser tramples the ground with ready hoof. The other lady flees too; and that fierce fellow does not refrain from following them with a crowd of armed men. Lo, the good squire at this point arrives from the tents with his belated news, and the flight of the others brings him anxiety too, and fear scatters them through the countryside.

* See 3.35.

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But the wiser brother, who had also seen the false Clorinda, did not care to follow her, for he was not so near; but he held himself in his ambush and sent a messenger to the camp with the dispatch: that not a herd of cows or fleeced animals or other such booty is being pursued by his brother, but the frightened Clorinda; H3 and that he does not fully believe it, nor does reason agree, that she who is a leader, and not a private soldier, should choose such a time for her coming forth, for an occasion that may be but slight: but the good Bouillon should judge and give his orders; he will do whatever is commanded by him. Such news arrives at the camp and the first noise of it is heard in the Latin tents. 114 Tancred, whose heart already that earlier message had left in suspense, now hearing this, thinks "Alas! perhaps she was coming to me of her courtesy, and because of me is in danger"—nor does he consider further. And he takes only part of his heavy harness, mounts his horse, and moves out swift and silent; and following the signs and the fresh tracks, he rides in full career.

Canto Seven

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Erminia finds refuge and remains with shepherds by the river Jordan—Tancred loses her trail and follows false direction to Armida's castle (22)—He is imprisoned there (45)—Argantes returns to finish the combat (50)—Raymond becomes Tancred's substitute (61)—Under divine protection he almost defeats Argantes (78)—Infernal spirits interrupt the combat (99)—A general struggle results and a terrible storm drives the Christians to their tents (104).

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S E V E N

i Meanwhile Erminia is borne by her horse among the shady trees of an ancient forest; her trembling hand no longer governs the reins and she seems as it were mid-way between living and dead. The courser who carries her at his own discretion winds about by so many trails that at last she vanishes from the others' eyes, and it is become too much for any to follow her now. 2

As after a long and exhausting chase the hounds come back downcast and panting because they have lost the trail of the wild creature now hidden in the woods away from the open plains; so with their faces filled with shame and anger the Christian soldiers wearily return. She flees them yet, and fearful and dismayed does not turn around to see if she still is pursued. 3

All night she fled, and all day wandered without direction and without guidance, seeing or hearing no other thing about her, except her tears, except her wails. But at the hour when the sun unyokes his steeds from the gilded chariot and nestles himself in the bosom of the sea, she arrived at the shining waters of lovely Jordan, and dismounted on the river bank, and there lay down. 4

She takes no food at all, for she feeds herself only on her own misfortunes and is thirsty only for tears: but Sleep, who with his sweet oblivion is the repose and quiet of wretched mortals, lulled her sorrows along with her senses, and spread above her his wings, placid and still. Yet Love does not forbear with various shapes to trouble her peace while she lies sleeping.

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She did not awaken until she heard the merry birds chirping and greeting the first glimmerings of dawn, and the river murmuring and the trees, and the breeze playing with the water and the flowers. She opens her languid eyes and looks around at those solitary haunts of shepherds, and it seems to her that she hears a voice amid the water and the branches that calls her back again to sighing and weeping. 6

But, while she is weeping, her lamentations are broken by a clear sound that comes to her, that seems (and is) a mingling of shepherds' voices and of rude woodland pipes. She rises and slowly makes her way there, and sees a grizzled old man weaving baskets in the pleasant shade with his flock at his side, and listening to the song of his three sons. 7

They were frightened at the unaccustomed sight of arms appearing suddenly there; but Erminia gives them greeting and pleasantly reassures them, and discovers her eyes and lovely golden hair: "Continue (she says) your pleasing task, you fortunate folk, dear to Heaven; for truly these weapons wage no war against your works, against your honeyed songs." 8

Then she added: "Father, now when the country round about is blazing with the fierce flame of war, how live you here in your quiet abode without fearing injury from the soldiers?" "My son (he answered), my family and my flock have always been safe here from any outrage or insult; nor has the noise of Mars disturbed as yet this remote region. 9

"Whether it be Heaven's grace, that protects and exalts the innocent shepherd's humility; or rather that, just as the lightning bolt falls not on the low-lying plain but on the highest summits, so the fury of foreign swords only bows down the proud heads of great princes. Nor are the greedy soldiers attracted to plunder by our poverty, common and despised.

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10

"To others common and despised, to me so dear that I have no hunger for wealth or royal scepter. Nor ever does avaricious or ambitious worry or desire find lodging in the tranquillity of my breast. I quench my thirst with the pure water and have no fear lest it be mixed with poison. And this flock and my little garden supply for my frugal table my unbought fare. n

"For little is our desire and little our need, by which our life may be sustained. These my sons whom I point out and show to you are the guardians of my flock, and I have no servants. And thus I live in solitary cloister, watching the nimble goats and the roe deer bound, and the fishes dart in this river, and the little birds display their wings to the heavens. 12

'Time was of old (in my early years when a man lives more by his dreams) that I had another desire, and scorned to take the flocks to pasture, and became a fugitive from my native soil. And I lived a while in Memphis, and I too had a post at court among the king's ministers. And though I was caretaker of the gardens, I saw, and knew thoroughly too, the court's iniquities. 13

"Yet, being flattered by presumptuous hope, a long time I bore with what is most displeasing; but when my hope and bold audacity began to diminish, together with the bloom of youth, I wept for the restfulness of this lowly life and sighed for my lost tranquillity, and said 'Farewell, O court.' So, returning to the friendly groves, I have lived out my days in happiness." 14

While he is speaking thus, Erminia quiet and intent hangs on his persuasive lips; and that wise speech, that sinks into her heart, in some part stills the tempest of her senses. After much thinking she takes up the plan of dwelling in that secret solitude at least until such time as fortune may make easier her return.

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So that she says to the good old man: "O thou of good fortune, who one time knew of evil by proof, let pity of my miseries move your heart (so may the heavens not grudge you so sweet a state); and receive me with you in this abode so pleasant, for it is my pleasure to abide with you. Perhaps it will come to pass that among these shades my heart may somewhat unburden itself of its mortal heaviness. 16

"For if you were desirous of jewels or gold, that the common sort worships as its idols, I have so many of them with me that you would be well able to make your desire for them contented and replete." Then, pouring forth from her lovely eyes a beautiful and crystal stream of sorrow, she told her fortunes in part; and all the while the pitying shepherd wept at her weeping. 17

Then gently he consoles her and makes her welcome, as if he were all consumed with fatherly affection; and leads her where his aged wife is lodged, whom Heaven has granted him of conforming heart. The royal maiden clothes herself in rough garments and binds a rustic kerchief round her hair; but in the movements of her eyes and limbs she appears not always a dweller in the groves. 18

The peasantish habit does not hide the noble light, and all that there is in her of the proud and generous; and her regal majesty shines forth even through the actions of her humble daily round. She guides the flock to the pastures and brings them back with her slender crook to the barred-up fold; and from the hairy udders she squeezes the milk, and then compresses it into the compact round. 19

Oftentimes, when under the summer heat the sheep were lying stretched out in the shade, on the bark of beech or laurel she inscribed the beloved name in a thousand ways, and carved on a thousand trees the bitter issue of

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her strange and hapless love; and then in reading over her own words she bathed her cheeks with lovely tears. 20

Then weeping said: "Preserve in yourselves this sorrowful history, ye friendly trees, so that if ever some faithful lover shall pause in your grateful shade he may feel sweet pity wakened in his heart by my misfortunes so various and so many; and may say; 'Ah, Fortune and Love gave wicked recompense, all too unjust, to faith so great.' 21

"Perhaps it will come to pass, if benign Heaven listens to any fervent mortal prayer, that sometime into these very woods he yet may come who now perhaps is taking no thought of me; and turning his eyes where this frail and infirm shell will be lying buried,1 he may grant my sufferings their belated reward of a few sighs and tears: 22

"for which, though in its life my heart were wretched, at least in death my spirit might be happy, and the cold ashes of its flames enjoy what now it is not permitted me to enjoy." So she proclaims to the unhearing trunks and distills a double fountain of sorrow from her lovely eyes. Meanwhile Tancred, where Fortune draws him on in her pursuit, far distant from her, is wandering about. 2?

He, following the tracks that she had made, had turned his course to the neighboring wood; but there by reason of the dense and waving trees the evening shade descends so dark and thick that he can no longer make out among them the fresh tracks, and rides on in perplexity, yet holding his ears intent round about, if trampling of hooves, if clashing of arms can be heard.

1 The lament imagined here will be in reality spoken over the buried Clorinda (12.96—99). Erminia's devotion to pastoral elegiacs does not last long. At I9.79ff. she is back in courtly surroundings, in Armida's retinue.

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And if at any time the evening breeze only rustles the tender leaf of elm or beech, or if beast or bird should shake a single branch, at once he makes his way to that little sound. At last he comes out of the wood; and by unknown paths the moonbeam leads him toward a rumbling noise that he heard from far away, until he arrived at the place from which it issued. 25 He arrived where clear and shining waters welled from the living rock in plenteous supply; and the stream they formed was winding its babbling course downward between grassy banks. There he stays his steps, overcome by sorrow, and calls, and only Echo answers to his cries; and meanwhile white and crimson he sees Aurora rising with serene brow. 26

He groans with vexation and is incensed against Heaven, that it should deny him the noble fortune for which he hoped; but he swears to have vengeance for his lady, if she should be even insulted. At last he decides to turn back to the camp, although he is not certain of finding the way; for it occurs to him that the appointed day is near that he must do combat with the knight from Egypt. 27

He leaves; and while he is travelling by a doubtful road he hears a hoofbeat approaching, that steadily increases; and at last he sees bursting out of a narrow valley a man who had the look of a courier. He brandished a flexible whip, and had a horn dangling from his shoulder down along his side, after our fashion. Tancred asks him by what road he can get to the Christian camp from there. 28

He answers in Italian: "I am just going there where Bohemond has sent me in great haste." Tancred follows him, whom he takes for a messenger from his mighty uncle, and believes his fictitious speech. At last they arrive where a foul and unwholesome lake creates a swamp, and makes a moat for a castle, at the hour when th.e-sur^rjnfiacs Jtoimttifasp-himsebup Jthr.hnnxi nest where night makes her lodging.

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29

Upon arriving, the courier sounds his horn, and soon they see a bridge being lowered down: "If you are Italian you will be able (he tells him) to stay here until the sun rises again; for this place (and it is not yet the third day) the count of Cosenza took from the pagans." The warrior examines the place, which on every side is made impregnable by its situation and by art. 30

He hesitates then a bit, lest within so strong an edifice some treachery may lie hidden. But as one inured to perils of death, he says not a word about it and gives no sign in his face, for wheresoever his will or his fate may lead him, he judges that his arm will make him safe. Yet his commitment to the other combat makes him not care for a new undertaking now. 3i

So that right opposite the castle, where in an open spot the arched bridge reaches across and settles, he somewhat slackens his pace and though invited does not follow his treacherous guide. Meanwhile upon the bridge an armed knight appeared, with fierce and scornful countenance, who (holding in his hand the naked steel) spoke in cruel and threatening tone: 32

"O thou who art come (be it thy fortune or thy will) to the fatal country of Armida, in vain you think to flee: now lay down your arms and thrust your caitiffhands into their fetters; and enter within this guarded threshold only under these laws that she sets for every man: never to hope to see the sky again through the revolution of years or the change of your hair 33

"except you swear to go with her other men against anyone who takes his name from Jesus." At that speech Tancred concentrates on him and recognizes the armor and the accent. This fellow was Rambaldo of Gascony who went off with Armida, and just for her made himself pagan and became a defender of that evil custom that was practised there.

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The godly knight grew red in the face with righteous indignation,2 and answered him: "You damned traitor, I am that Tancred that always buckled on the sword for Christ, and his champion have I been; and by his grace have put down the rebels against him, as I mean that you may see by actual proof; for this hand is the chosen vessel of the wrath of Heaven to wreak its vengeance on you." 35 The face of the godless knight grew troubled and pallid, hearing the glorious name. Yet concealing his fear, he said: "How now, wretch, are you come where you can remain when killed? Here your powers will be put down and mastered, and this proud head of yours cut off; and I shall send it as a gift to the Prankish barons, if today I am not other than I have been." 36 So spoke the pagan; and because the daylight now was spent, so that one could hardly see, so many lamps made their appearance round about that the air was clear and bright with them. The castle glows as does the lofty stage in a decorated theater amid festivities at night; and in a section high up Armida is seated, where (without being seen) she both hears and sees. 37

Meanwhile the magnanimous hero makes ready his weapons and his will for the fierce encounter; and he does not remain seated on his weary horse, seeing his enemy approaching on foot. He is coming sheltered behind his shield and has his helmet on his head, his sword unsheathed, and is ready to strike. The fierce prince moves against him with a grim gaze and a terrifying shout. 38

The one wheels about in wide circles, poised behind his weapons, and feigns blows and feints; the other, although his limbs are weary and sore,

* Another deliberate reminder of the propriety of some kinds of wrath. Cf. 3.son.

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moves in boldly and closes in on him and presses, and with the greatest agility drives in where Rambaldo retreats; and he charges, and pursues him and repeatedly aims his blazing sword at his eyes. 39 And more than anywhere else he hody strikes where nature most of all shaped his life, sending proud threats in company with his blows, and injury with fear. The nimble Gascon leaps here and there and moves his agile limbs away from the blows; and now with shield, now with sword strives that his enemy's rage may fall in vain. 40

But he is not so swift in his defence that the other is not soil quicker in attack; already he had his shield split and his helmet beaten in and his harness pierced and bloodied, and still no stroke of his own descended so that it wounded his enemy at all. And he is afraid, and Scorn, Shame, Conscience, Love—all these together are eating at his heart. 41

At last he resolves with a desperate attack to make proof once for all of his fortune's extremity. He throws away his shield and grasps in both hands his sword that as yet is starved for blood; and closes in and locks with his enemy and lets a blow fall; and there is no plate that can resist it so diat it does not wound him, dealing heavy punishment to his left flank. 42 And then he strikes him again on his mighty brow so that the blow reechoes like a bell; it does not actually cleave the helmet, but it shakes him thoroughly, so that he bows beneath it and staggers about. The prince inflames his cheeks with wrath and burns and sparkles with fire in his eyes; and his gaze comes blazing forth out of his visor, and along with it the grinding of his teeth. 43 The renegade pagan no longer can bear even the sight of such a ferocious countenance. He hears the whisding steel, and it seems to him he already has it in his veins and in the midst of his chest. He flees the blow, and the

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blow chances to fall where a pier has been built for the bridge. The splinters and the sparks fly up to heaven, and a chill passes through the traitor's heart, 44 so that he flees to the bridge and places all hope for his safety only in flight. But Tancred follows him and already is lifting his hand above his back and pressing him stride for stride; when behold (aid from on high for the fugitive) the torches vanished, and with them every star, nor any light from the moon remained in the blind night, under a sky bereft. 45

What with the shades of night and of the enchantments the victor no longer follows him, nor sees him; nor can he see anything ahead or to the side, and moves along hesitant and insecure. By chance he directs his groping steps to the threshold of a door, and is not aware of entering; but he knows it when the gate clangs shut behind him, and locks him in a place obscure and dark.

46 Even as a fish, where our sea creates a marsh in the bays around Comacchio, flees from the cruel and tossing wave, seeking where he can shelter in quiet waters; and it happens that of himself he is trapped in the swampy prison and cannot return, for that enclosure in marvellous fashion is always open to entrance, to exit closed;

47 so Tancred then, whatever was the design and artifice of his strange prison, entered of himself and found himself then closed in, where no man of himself departs. He shook the door indeed with robust hand, but his labors were scattered in vain, and meanwhile he heard a voice that shouts: "In vain you may seek to escape, O prisoner of Armida. 48 "Here you will drag out (not fearing death, at least) in the tomb of the living dead your days and years." The brave warrior makes no answer, but represses within his heart's core his groans and sighs. And to himself he ac-

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cases Love, his fate, his own folly and the cruel deceits of that other: and sometimes says in unspoken words: "Light loss will it be to lose the sun; 49 "but wretch! I am losing the sweeter sight of a lovelier sun, and I know not now if I shall ever return to a place where my unhappy soul can recover its good cheer in her amorous rays." Then he remembers Argantes, and is further saddened, and says 'Too much was I lacking in my duty; and it is right that he should scorn me and disparage! O my great fault, O my eternal shame!" 50 So this side and that the biting care of Love, of Honor gnaws at the warrior's soul. Now while he is mortifying himself, the bold Argantes is taking no pleasure in pressing the soft feathers. Within his savage breast is so much hatred of peace, greed for blood, love of praise that, not yet well of his wounds, he hungers and thirsts that Aurora should bring the sixth day. Si On the preceding night the fierce pagan scarcely lays down his head to sleep; and he rises up when the sky is yet so black that it sheds no light on the mountain top. "Bring me my arms," he shouts to his squire; and he had them ready and to hand: not his usual ones, but these had been given him by the king; and precious is the gift. 52 He takes them without much looking at them, nor is his body burdened by the great weight; and at his side he hangs his accustomed sword, which is of finest temper and of ancient origin. Even as with its bloody streaming locks a comet is wont to shine through the parching air, that changes kingdoms and brings fierce pestilence, an ill-omened light for princes of the purple; 53

so in his armor he flames, and aslant and grim he rolls his eyes, made drunk with blood and wrath. His fierce gestures breathe forth the horror of death, and his countenance breathes forth the threats of death. There is not

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a soul so brave and self-assured that it would not feel fear where he throws a single glance. He holds his sword unsheathed and lifts it up and brandishes it with a cry; and vainly strikes die shadows and the air. 54

"Right soon (he says) that Christian pirate, who is so bold as to wish to match himself with me, will fall defeated and bloody on the plain, begriming in the dust his scattered locks; and he will see, while yet living, his armor stripped away by diis hand to die shame of his God, and dying will not be able to gain with his prayers diat I deny die dogs his body as their meal." 55 Not otherwise does the bull, if jealous love enrage him with its piercing goad, horribly bellow and with his bellowings arouse his spirits and his flaming wrath; and he whets his horns on the trees and seems widi vain thrustings to invite the winds to battle; he scatters the dust with his hoof and from afar defies his rival to bitter and deadly war. 56 Moved with such fury he summons the herald and in short speech directs him: "Go to die camp, and announce fell combat to him who is die champion of Jesus." Thereupon he waits for nothing, and steps into the saddle, and makes his prisoner go before; he leaves the city and comes down the hill at a wild and headlong run. 57 Meanwhile the herald blows his horn; and a sound comes forth that is horribly heard all round and offends like rattling thunder the ears and hearts of those who hear it. The Christian princes already are gathered in the tent that is larger than the other tents; here the herald made his defiance and included Tancred first, and yet did not exclude die odiers.

58 Godfrey casts his eyes about, heavy and slow, widi his mind now in doubt and suspense; and though he considers long and looks long, no one strikes him as suitable for such an undertaking. The flower of his proud chivalry is

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missing: of Tancred he has heard no news, and Bohemond is far away, and gone into banishment is the invincible hero who killed the fierce Gernando. 59

And in addition to the ten who were chosen by lot, the best men of the camp and most renowned have followed the false guidance of Armida, hidden under the silence of the night. The others, less strong in mind and body, stand around him silent and ashamed, nor is there one who would seek out honor in so great a peril, for shame is overmatched by fear. 60

By their silence, by their look, by every token the Captain was aware of their fearfulness; and all full of generous disdain he rose up suddenly from the place where he was seated, and said: "Ah! indeed I should not be worthy of life if I refused now to put my life in hazard, allowing a pagan thus vilely to trample down the honor of our people. 61

"Let my army sit in peace and from a safe place lazily observe my danger. Come, give me my arms"—and his armor was brought to him in the twinkling of an eye. But the good Raymond, who in mature old age was possessed of wisdom equally mature (and vigorous were his faculties yet as any who were there), then thrust himself forward 62

and said, confronting him: "Ah let it not be that in one head' the whole army be imperiled! You are a leader, not a mere soldier; the mourning would be public, and not private. On you is based our faith and holy empire; through you the kingdom of Babel is to be destroyed. You yourself use only your judgment, only your scepter; then lay upon others as their task the use of daring and the sword.

' For Tasso's emphasis on this passage in his Allegory, see p. 473 below.

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"And I, though the heaviness of age condemn me to go bent, it shall not be that I refuse it. Let these others avoid the perils of war: I will not have old age be my excuse. Oh would that I were yet in my vigorous years, as you are now who stand here shrivelled up in fear—and anger or shame does not move you against him who is deriding you and reviling you— 64

"and such as then I was when in all Germany's view, at the great court of Conrad II, I laid open the breast of the fierce Leopold, and put him to death! And it was clearer proof of noble valor to carry off the spoils of a man so strong than if one man, single and unarmed, should put to flight now a whole troop of this ignoble crowd. 65

"If that vigor, that blood, were in me still, I should already have quenched the pride of this haughty fellow. But, whatever I be, my heart does not quail within me for that, nor I acknowledge fear, though old. And even if I shall lie lifeless on the field, the pagan will not go off content with his victory; I want my armor put on; let this be the day that brightens with new honor all my triumphs past." 66

So speaks the grand old man; and his words are sharp spurs by which virtue is aroused. Those who before were timorous and silent have tongues now daring and quick. And it is not only that none refuses the combat, but now it is sought by many in rivalry. Baldwin requests it, and with Roger Guelph, the two Guidi, and Stephan and Gernier 67

and Pyrrhus, he who made the admired deception, handing Antioch a prey to Bohemond; and also making their request in rivalry are Everard, Rudolph and the valiant Rosmond, one from Scotland, one from Ireland, and one a Briton, lands that the sea cuts off from our world; and also equally eager for it are Edward and Gildippe, lovers and married couple.

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68

But beyond all the others the fierce old man shows himself eager and burning for it. Already he is armed; only his finely tempered shining helmet is lacking from the preparation of his other harness. Godfrey says to him: "O living mirror of the ancient valor, our soldiery may look to you, and learn virtue by it: in you shines the honor, the discipline, and the art of Mars. 69

"Oh if I but had in their green age ten others of valor like yours, how eager should I be to conquer proud Babel and display the Cross from Bactria to Thule. But give over now, I pray thee, and conserve yourself for greater works, of an old man's capacity; then let all the names be placed in an urn, as is our custom, and let chance be the judge; 70

"or rather God the judge, of whose will fortune and fate are minister and slave." But Raymond is not by this dissuaded from his idea, and wants to be written down too. Godfrey collects the slips in his helmet; and when he had tossed and shaken them, on the first slip that he drew forth from there he read the name of the Count of Toulouse. 7i

The name was received with a joyous shout and not one is so bold as to complain of the draw. He with fresh vigor fills his face and brow; and is as much rejuvenated then as the fierce serpent who, clad in his new skin, gleams with gold and flickers in the sun. But more than any other the Captain applauds him and predicts victory for him and gives him praise. 72

And taking the sword from his side and presenting it to him, he spoke thus: 'This is the sword that Saxony's bold rebel was wont to wield in battle, which I took from him perforce long since and took at the same time his life bespotted with a thousand sins: take this, that with me has always been a victor, and may it now be likewise fortunate with you."

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Meanwhile that proud man is impatient of their delay, and threatens them and shouts: "O invincible race, O warlike people of Europe, it is only one man who is defying you. Now let Tancred come forth, who seems so fierce, if he has that much trust in his manhood; or does he intend perhaps, lying in die feathers, to wait for night that rescured him before? 74

"Let some other come, if he is afraid; come all together, troop on troop, cavalry or infantry; since among a thousand bands there is no single man that can boast himself able to fight with me man to man. You see there die sepulcher where the son of Mary lay. Now why do you not go on? why not fulfill your vows? Look, there lies the road: to what greater need are you reserving your sword?" 75

With such scoffs the ferocious Saracen lashes the others as if with a stinging lash; but Raymond, even more than the rest, is inflamed at those words and cannot bear die shame. His courage being spurred is yet more fierce and sharpens itself on the hard whetstone of wrath; so that he cuts short delays and weighs down the back of his Aquiline—whose speed gave him his name. 76

This steed was born on the Tagus, where sometimes die avid matron of the martial herd (when the fertile season that inspires love arouses in her heart her natural bent), her open moudi being turned against the breeze, gathers in the seed of the fructifying wind; and from warm breezes (oh marvellous!) full of desire she conceives and bears a foal. 77

And indeed you would say that this Aquiline was born of whatever breeze most lighdy breathes from heaven, whether you watch him running his course across die sand so swift that not a print remains, or see him doubling his tight curvets left and right, agile and quick. Seated on such a courser die count moves to the attack, and turns his face to heaven:

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"O Lord who directed against the wicked Goliath the inexperienced arms in Terebinth, so that he who was making havoc among Israel was snuffed out by the first stone from a boy, now make this villain lie stricken and beaten by me (and the example will be parallel); and now let a weak old man put down the proud,4 as a weak youth put down the proud before." 79

So prayed the count: and his prayers, moved by a confident trust in God, went rising in flight to the celestial spheres, as by its nature the spark flies up to heaven. The eternal Father accepted them and from among the squadrons of his host chose for his keeping one who should defend him, and deliver him safe and victorious out of the hands of that godless man. 80

The angel (who had long since by high Providence been chosen the guardian of the good Raymond, since that first day that as an infant he came to be a pilgrim in this world), now that the King of Heaven has told him anew to take on himself the burden of his defense, ascends to the lofty citadel where all the weapons of the heavenly host are stored. 81

Here is kept the spear by which the serpent lay stricken,' and the mighty thunderbolts, and those that unseen carry to the tribes of men horrible pestilence and other ills; and here is hung up on high the mighty trident, primary terror of wretched mortals when it shakes the foundations of the ample earth and casts down cities.

4 Along with its scriptural analogue in I Sam. 17:37, Raymond's prayer echoes Virgil's description of the mission of the Roman Empire: parcere subiettis et debellare superbos (Aen. 6.853). Cf. also 10.76. ! Tasso has in mind such passages as Revelation 12:7-9 and (for the earthquakes) Isaiah 2:19—21. But the mighty trident is, of course, an analogy from Neptune's attribute in the classical mythology.

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A shield of diamond most brilliant could be seen, gleaming among the other furnitures, so large that it could cover as many countries and peoples as there are between Caucasus and Atlas. And by this are wont to be defended the just princes, and cities chaste and holy. This the angel takes, and with it goes secretly by his Raymond's side. 83 Meanwhile already the walls were all filled with a motley crowd: and the barbarian tyrant sends out Clorinda and a numerous troop in battle array, who go no farther, once they are positioned halfway down the slope. On the other side stand several bands of Christians drawn up in ranks; and between the one host and the other the field remains entirely empty for the two champions. 84 Argantes looked, and saw not Tancred but the new insignia of an unknown champion. The count rode up and "He whom you seek (he said to him) is elsewhere, luckily for you. Yet do not wax proud, for you see me here all ready to reprove your proofs;6 for either I can take his place, or it is proper for me to come here as third." 85 The proud man smiles at it and answers him: "What is Tancred doing then? and where is he staying? He threatens heaven with his arms and then he hides, trusting only in his flying feet. But let him flee even to the center and into the midst of the waves, since no place will there be where I let him rest secure." "You lie (the other replies) to say that such a man is flying from you, who is worth far more than you." 86

The angered Circassian rages, and says: "Now take your ground, for I accept you in his stead: and soon it will be seen how you defend the deep

6 The meaning is something like "to make trial of you once more," or perhaps "to confute your arguments." For somewhat similar replications, see 2.32; 3.24; 6.41-

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folly of your presumptuous speech." So they moved to the encounter and both alike aimed horrible blows at the helmet: and the good Raymond placed his where he was aiming and yet it did not even make him sway in the saddle. 87

On the other side the fierce Argantes ran the lists in vain (an unaccustomed fault in him), for the celestial defender turned the blow away from the Christian knight in his care. The cruel man gnawed his lips in rage and broke his lance on the ground, with a curse. Then he draws his sword and charges Raymond headlong for the second trial. 88

And his powerful charger drives straight forward, like a ram that lowers his head for butting. Raymond avoids the collision, turning his course to the right, and strikes him on the forehead, and passes on. The Egyptian knight turns again, but he yet again avoids him to the right; and catches him yet on the helmet, and still in vain, for his helmet had an adamantine temper. 89

But the fierce pagan, who wants a closer struggle, rushes in and closes with him. The other, who fears that from the weight of so huge a mass he will fall to the ground along with his horse, here gives ground, and there attacks, and seems to fly, turning about in a circling kind of combat, and the agile horse follows the light commands of the bit, and never takes a faulty step. 90

As a captain, that he may assail a lofty tower, situated amid swamps or on a high mountain, tries a thousand approaches and runs through all the methods and tricks—so the count circles about; and when he cannot take off a single scale of the armor that arms his breast and his prideful brow, he strikes at the pieces less strong, and seeks to open the path for his sword between plate and plate.

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91 And in two or three places he has pierced his enemy's armorings and made them warm and red, and yet he keeps his own untouched, not shorn of his crest or of a single trim. Vainly Argantes rages, beats at the empty air, and pours forth profitless his strength and anger: yet he does not grow weary but goes on redoubling cuts and thrusts, and making mistakes grows stronger. 92

At last amid a thousand blows the Saracen lets one fall that comes cleaving; and the Count is so near that perhaps the swift Aquiline might not have got out from under and might have been overthrown by it: but he did not lack for the unseen hovering aid of that supernal Messenger who stretched forth his arm and took the cruel steel on the adamant of his celestial shield. 93

Then fragile is the steel (for earthly tempering from a mortal forge makes no resistance to the weaponry of the eternal Maker, uncorruptible and unalloyed) and it falls upon the sand. The Circassian, who has seen the tiny fragments falling to the ground, scarcely believes it; then he is stunned, seeing his hand unweaponed, that the enemy champion should have armor so strong: 94

and he truly believes he has broken his sword on the other's shield, by which he is defended; and the good Raymond has the same belief, for he knows nothing of who has descended from heaven. But because he sees his enemy's hand left weaponless, he remains in suspense, for he considers the victory ignoble and the spoils cheap that a man should take from another with such advantage. 95

He was about to say 'Take another sword," when a new thought sprang up in his heart, that it is a deep dishonor for his people if he falls who is defender of the public cause. So an undeserved victory brings him no plea-

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sure, but neither does he want to hazard the general honor. While he is standing in doubt, Argantes hurls pommel and hilt at his enemy's face; 96

and at the same instant spurs his steed and drives forward to come to grips for wrestling. The blow that he aimed lands on the helmet so that it bruises the Tolousan's face: but yet he is nothing afraid and quickly gets far away from his brawny arms; and he gives a wound to the hand that was reaching out to clutch him more savage than savage talon. 97 Then he goes circling from this side to that, and circles back again from that to this. And always, both when he leaves and when he returns, he wounds the pagan with a wicked and staggering blow. All that he had of strength, all that he had of skill, whatever former scorn, fresh anger can do, now he unites to do the Circassian harm; and Heaven and Fortune together conspire with him.

98

He, armed with well-tempered armor and with himself, resists the mighty blows, and nothing fears; and he seems like a tall ship rudderless in a stormy sea, her sails and spars all broken, that nonetheless (her ribs still holding tenaciously to the mighty keel) not yet turns up her riven flanks to the tempestuous surge, nor altogether despairs. 99

Argantes, such was your peril then, when Beelzebub decided to come to your aid. He from a hollow cloud composed an insubstantial shade (marvellous monster) in a human shape; and counterfeited for it the face of the proud Clorinda, and her rich and luminous armor; he gave it speech and (without her mind) the well-known sound of her voice, and her manner and bearing. 100

The shade went up to Oradin, a renowned and experienced archer, and said: "O famous Oradin, who sink the shaft surely in the target as it pleases

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you; ah! great harm would it be if a man of such merit, the protector of Judaea, thus should die; and if his enemy decked out with his spoils should make a safe return to his fellows. 101

"Here make proof of your skill and dye your arrows in the blood of the Prankish thief; for besides eternal honor, I trust that there awaits you from our courteous king a reward commensurate with the greatness of the deed." So it spoke, nor did he stand in doubt, as soon as he heard the sound of her promises. From out of his heavy quiver he takes a shaft, and fits it to his bow, and bends the bow. IO2

The taut string hisses, and the winged arrow, shot forth, flies through the air and whistles; and it strikes where the clasps of the belt are joined together, and splits them apart: it passes through the hauberk and is stopped right there, scarcely tinged with blood, and only scratches the skin; for the heavenly warrior did not wish to permit7 that it pass beyond, and took the force from the blow. 103

The count draws the arrow out of his hauberk, and sees his blood spurt forth from it; and in speech filled with menaces and charges of shame he reproaches the pagan for the breaking of faith. The Captain, who never turned his head from his beloved Raymond, then perceives that the truce is violated; and because he judges the wound grievous, he sighs for it and is fearful; 104

and with his face and his tongue he rouses his proud soldiery to avenge it. At once you may see their visors being lowered, their reins given slack and their lances placed in rest; and as if in a moment several squadrons are in

7 Tasso skirts the problem by suggesting that Heaven's aid, although not unreliable, sometimes allows small harms—not, however, for any visible compensating good here, since only the pagans benefit from the treachery.

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motion, from this side and from that. The free field vanishes, and the finegrained dust goes rising and rolling to heaven in thick clouds. 105

In the first encounters a mighty noise goes round, of stricken helmets and shields and breaking spears. Here a horse can be seen lying, and there another wandering about without a rider: here lies a soldier dead and here still breathing one gasps and groans, another heaves a sigh. Fierce is the fight, and the more it is mingled and crushed together the more it waxes and grows bitter. 106

Lightly and easily into their midst Argantes leaps, and takes from a soldier an iron-studded mace, and breaking up the crushed and compacted crowd he whirls it around, and makes himself an ample clearing. And he is looking only for Raymond and only against him has turned his steel and his wrath headlong and crazed; and like a ravenous wolf he seems to long to feed his hunger on his vitals. 107

But a harsh and deadly obstacle comes up to block his path, so that he must slow his course. He finds himself opposed to Ormanno, and along with Roger of Balnavilla, one Guy and two Gerards. He does not stop, he does not slacken, rather he grows the more fierce the more he is held back by those valiant men, even as fire breaks forth perforce from a closed-in place, and causes mighty ruins. 108

Ormanno he kills, Guy he wounds, Roger he hurls to the ground, hurt and languishing among the dead, but the crowds against him increase and a harsh and thrusting ring of men and weapons hems him in. While thus the struggle was kept equal, thanks to him, between one side and the other, the good leader Bouillon hails his brother and says to him: "Now set your troop in motion;

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109 "and go there, where the battle is most deadly, to assault their left flank." He set off, and such was the encounter, when he struck the enemy's flank, that the people of Asia seemed unwarlike and weak, and unable to sustain the Prankish attack, that destroys their formations and hurls down knights and banners, together with their horses. no

By the very impact the right wing is turned to flight, and there is not one, except Argantes, who puts up a defense; so does fear drive them headlong with free rein. He alone plants his foot and shows his face; nor could one that with a hundred arms and a hundred hands were wielding fifty shields and as many swords, do more than did Argantes now. in

He withstands the shock of hangers and maces, of coursers and spears; and it seems that he, all alone, is sufficient against them all, and now he charges this one and now that. His limbs are bruised, his armor broken and devastated, and he pours out sweat and blood and seems not to feel it. But the thick throng so jostles and presses him that at last it turns him about and bears him along with it. 112

By the force and the fury of that flood that snatches him up and carries him along, he turns his back; but in no way has he the gait of a man who flees, or the heart, if the heart be visible in the deeds of the hand. And his eyes still keep their terror and the menaces of his accustomed wrath; and he strives by every means to hold back the fugitive crowd; and nothing avails. ii?

That magnanimous man cannot achieve that their flight should even be ,,slower or more orderly; for fear has neither restraint nor skill, and ,,hearkens to neither entreaty nor command. The worthy Bouillon, who sees Fortune turned around to favor his wishes to the full, pursues the happy course of the victory and sends fresh aid to the victors.

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114

And had it not been that it was not the day that God had written in his eternal decrees, this had been perhaps the day that the invincible host arrived at the end of its holy labors. But the infernal rout, that saw their tyranny crumbling in that struggle, in a single moment (this being permitted them) gathered into clouds the air, and set the winds in motion. us

A black veil snatches the sun and the light of day from mortal eyes, and the heavens seem to burn far blacker than hell's horror, so do they flame amid lightning gleams and flashes. The thunder roars; and rain condensed to ice pours down and blasts the meadows and floods the fields. The great wind rends the branches and seems to shake not only the oaks, but even cliffs and hills. 116

Water, wind, and tempest all at once dash straight against the eyes of the Franks and the unexpected violence stops the troops with a terror almost deadly. Less than half of them remain gathered about their standards (for they cannot be seen). But Clorinda, who is some distance away, seizes the opportune moment and spurs her steed. 117

She shouted to her men: "Heaven is fighting for our side, comrades, and Justice aiding us: our faces are untouched by heaven's wrath, and our arms unimpeded by it; and it falls in its anger only on the brows of the frightened foe, and disarrays their arms and robs them of the light. Let us charge then, for destiny is our guide." 118

So she incites her troops; and catching only on her back the hellish assault, she hits the Franks with a terrible attack and holds in scorn their idle blows. And Argantes turning too at the same time makes of the former victors a bitter accounting. And abandoning the field at a dead run, they turn their backs to tempest and to steel.

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119 Mortal swords and immortal furies beat down on the fugitives' backs, and the blood runs down, and mixed with the torrents from the heavy rain begins to redden the roads. Among the common crowd of the dead and the scarcely living, both Pyrrhus and the good Rudolf fall dead. The fierce Circassian robs the former of his soul, and from the latter Clorinda holds the noble palm. I2O

So fled the Franks, and neither Syrians nor demons held back from their pursuit; only Godfrey turned a steadfast countenance against their weapons and against every threat, from whirlwinds, from thunder, or from hail, bitterly giving his barons his rebukes; and posting his huge war horse in front of the gates, he gathered his scattered troops within the stockade. 121 Yet twice he spurred his courser against the fierce Argantes and drove him back, and as often drove forward with the naked steel where the enemy crowds were thickest. At last along with the rest he confined himself within the defensive works and conceded the victory. Then the Saracens turn back, and exhausted and fearful the Franks remain within the stockade. 122

Nor even there can they fully escape the force and the wrath of the horrible storm; but now this fire, now that, is extinguished, and water comes in everywhere and the wind blows. It rips their canvas, and shatters their tent posts, and picks up whole tents and whirls them far away. The rain is blended with thunder and wind and the cries of men in a dreadful harmony that deafens the whole world.

Canto Eight

T H E

A R G U M E N T

A survivor brings news of the massacre of troops led by Sven, Prince of Denmark— He tells the story of Sven's march (6), his ambush (14), his death at the hands of Solyman (23), and miraculous burial (31)—He brings Sven's sword for Rinaldo's revenge on Solyman (38)—A patrol brings news of Rinaldo's apparent death (47)— Argillan incites the Italians to insurrection (57)—Godfrey quiets the tumult (75).

C A N T O

E I G H T

i Now were the thunder and the tempest calmed, and the blowing of Auster and of Corus ceased, and Dawn came forth from her celestial mansion with rosy forehead and with golden feet. But those who had wakened the storms before did not yet desist from their arts, but rather one of them, who is called Astagorre, spoke thus to Alecto her companion: 2

"Behold approaching, Alecto (and he cannot be stayed by us) that knight who escaped alive from the fierce hands of the royal defender of our realm. This fellow, telling the Franks of the sad fate of his bold leader and his companions, will open up great issues, from which there is danger that the son of Bertoldo may be recalled. 3 "You know how important that is and whether there is need to oppose both force and guile to these great beginnings. Go down then amongst the Franks and whatever he shall say to good effect, turn it all to harm; spread fire and poison in the veins of the British, the Switzers, and the Italians. Stir up angers and discords and work in such fashion that finally the whole camp is turned upside down. 4

'The task is worthy of you; you can make it your proud boast later in the presence of our lord." So she speaks; and only this much is quite enough for the fierce monster to undertake the enterprise. Meanwhile that knight whose coming was pointed out has arrived at the Christians' stockade and said to them: "Ah soldiers, I pray thee let someone take me to audience with your supreme commander."

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A number gave him escort to the captain, anxious to hear the traveller's news. He bowed to him and made as if to kiss the honored hand that is causing Babel to tremble: "My lord (he says then), whose fame is bounded by the ocean and the stars, I could wish that I came to you as a happier messenger." Here he fetched a sigh, and then he added: 6

"Sven, the only son of Denmark's king, the glory and prop of his declining age, longed to be among those that, following your counsel, have buckled on the sword for Jesus; neither fear of labor or danger, nor the attraction of ruling, nor concern for his aged sire, was able to cool so worthy a passion in his generous breast. 7

"A desire was spurring him on to learn the harsh and fatiguing art of war from you, so noble a teacher; and partly he felt disdain and shame at his own obscure reputation, especially hearing the name of Rinaldo on every side with its glory fully ripe in his green years: but more than by any other reason he was moved by his zeal not for earthly, but for heavenly honor. 8

"Hence he forced his way through all delays, and took a bold fierce band of chosen companions and made his way straight toward Thrace to the city that is the imperial seat. Here the Greekish Augustus received him in his palace; here next arrived a messenger in your name; he recounted to him in full how Antioch had been captured earlier, and how defended thereafter; 9

"defended against the Persian who came to besiege it with so many armed men that it seemed that his mighty kingdom had been left empty of weapons and inhabitants. He told him of you, and then he spoke of some others, until he arrived at Rinaldo, and there he stayed; he told of the daring flight, and what thereafter he had done among you that was glorious.

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IO

"He added at the end how already the Prankish people were coming to make their assault against these gates; and he invited him at least to share in the final victory. This speech is spur so strong to the youthful flanks of the bold Sven that every hour seems to him a luster until he can sweep his sword among the pagans and bathe his hands in blood. ii

"It seems that he feels his worthlessness reproached in another man's glory, and he chafes at it: and (whoever counsels and whoever prays him to pause) either he does not consent or does not hear. He fears no danger except not finding himself a partaker of your great dangers and your praise: this alone seems to him a heavy peril; for the rest he either heeds nothing or fears nothing. 12

"He himself hurries his fortune on—fortune that drags us and leads him; for he scarcely awaits the first beams of the new day for his departure. The shortest way is chosen as the best; such he esteems it who is our lord and leader. And he makes no effort to avoid the most difficult passages or the regions infested by the enemy. 13

"Now we encountered scarcity of food, now difficult road, now violence and now ambuscades; but all the difficulties had been overcome, and our enemies sometimes scattered and sometimes slain. The victories had made every man secure amid perils, and made the fortunate bold; when one day we were encamped where the Palestinian borders were now not far away. 14

'There from our scouts comes word to us that they have heard a noise of alien arms and seen signs and tokens from which they suspect that an infinite host may be close by. Our brave lord does not alter his voice, not mind, not color, not countenance does he change, although there be many there whose faces are tinged with pallor at the grim dispatch.

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"But he says—Oh what a crown we have at hand now, whether of victory or of martyrdom! I hope for the one indeed, but no less desire the other, where the merit is greater and the glory equal. This very field, brothers, where we are now, will be a holy shrine of immortal memory where future ages may point out and show our graves, or else our trophies—. 16

"So he speaks; and then he sets out the sentries and apportions the offices and the work. He orders each man to sleep in his armor, and he himself does not put off his harness or cuirass. The night was yet in the stage that is most a friend to sleep and silence, when you could hear a noise of barbaric howling that reached to the heavens and to the abyss. 17

'The shout goes up "To arms, to arms": and Sven, clad in armor, spurs forward beyond all the rest; and magnanimously he inflames and colors his eyes and his face with the color of hardihood. Behold, we are attacked; and a dense ring hems us around and presses us in from all sides; and we have about us a thicket of spears and swords, and above us a cloud of arrows falls. 18

"In the unequal struggle (for the attackers are twenty against one) many of them are wounded and many snuffed out by blind strokes in the darkened air. But in the black shadows nobody can make out the number of the wounded and fallen; night conceals our losses and at the same time conceals our valorous deeds. 19

"Yet Sven amid the rest holds high his helm so that he can easily be seen; and in the darkness his proofs are yet made plain to any who watch, and his incredible power. A river of blood, a mountain of slain men on every side make him a wall and a ditch; and he seems wherever he goes to carry fear in his eyes, and death in his hands.

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20

"So was it fought until now dawn appeared, reddening in heaven; but when the horror of night was driven away (that concealed within herself the horror of death) the welcome light increased in us our terror with an evil and dolorous sight: for now we saw the field filled with corpses, and almost all our people destroyed. 21

'Two thousand we were, and we are not a hundred. Now when he looks upon so many dead and so much blood, I know not if his fierce courage is disturbed and dismayed by the piteous spectacle, but he shows it not at all. Rather, raising his voice—Let us follow (he cries to us) those brave companions that have marked out for us with their blood the noble track to heaven, far from the waters of Avernus and Styx.— 22

"He spoke; and in his heart as happy, I think, for his impending death as in his face, he bore up his constant and intrepid breast against the barbarian ruin. No temper could sustain the savage strokes, though it were fine—and not of steel, but adamant; so that he makes of the field a lake, and of his body is made one single wound. 23

"Not its vital spirit but its courage holds up that fierce and indomitable corpse. Stricken he strikes in return, and does not slacken, but the more he is injured the more injury he wreaks. When lo there rushes upon him in raging fury a huge man of atrocious manner and look; and, after long and stubborn combat, with the aid of many at last he brings him to earth. 24

"The unvanquished lad is fallen (ah bitter chance!) nor is there among us one who has strength to avenge him. I call you to witness, O blood well shed and noble bones of my beloved lord, that I was not then miserly of my life, nor shunned I steel nor shunned I stroke: and had it but pleased them up there above that I should die there, I earned it by my deeds.

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"Among my perished comrades I alone fell while alive; nor perhaps would anyone have thought me alive; and I could know nothing more to tell of the enemy, so wholly benumbed were my senses. But when the light returned to my eyes, which had been clouded by a dark mist, it seemed to me night; and to my weakened sight was presented the flickering of a little flame. 26

"Not so much strength was left in me that I could be quick to make things out; but I watched like one who now opens, now closes his eyes, midway between sleep and wake; and now the pain of my cruel wounds began to make me more trouble, for it was made worse by the night air and the chill, out on the naked earth and under the open sky. 27

"Meanwhile each moment that light drew nearer and nearer, and with it a hushed whispering, until it came to me and stopped beside me. I open then, though scarcely, my feeble lids, and see two men, clad in long robes, holding two torches; and I hear one say to me—O son, trust in that Lord who comes to the aid of the righteous, and comes with His grace before men's prayers.— 28

"In such wise did he speak to me, then extended his hand above me in blessing and murmured in a soft and reverent tone words at that moment little heard and less understood. —Rise—he said next; and up I rise, active and sound, and do not feel the wounds from the enemy (oh noble miracle!); rather it seems that my limbs are full of fresh vigor. 29

"Astonished I stare at them, and my fearful mind does not rightly believe what is certain and true; whence one of them to me—O ye of little faith, why do ye doubt? or why does your thought dwell on vanities? It is true flesh that you see in us; we are servants of Jesus that have fled the lying

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world and its fallacious sweetness, and here we live in desert place and wild. ?o

—That Lord who rules in every region has chosen me as minister to your salvation; for he does not scorn to work by lowly means a high and marvellous effect. And in no wise will he have that body lie neglected in which lived formerly a soul so worthy; which body, made shining and light and immortal, is destined to be joined with it once more. ?i —I mean the body of Sven, to which will be given a tomb befitting such valor, which will be pointed out and honored by generations yet to come. But lift up now your eyes unto the stars, and see there shining that one like a brilliant sun: with its vivid rays it now is leading you where lies the body of your noble leader.— 32

"Then I perceive that from the lovely lamp, or rather the nocturnal sun, a beam is descending that reaches like a golden stroke of the painter's brush right there where the mighty corpse is lying; and over him sheds so much and such a light that his every wound sparkles and shines with it; and straightway he is recognizable to me amid the horrible bloody melange. 33 "He was lying there, yet not face down; but—as he had always kept his desire directed to the stars—he was holding his face straight toward heaven like a man who still aspires above. He had his right hand closed and his fist clenched and his sword clutched tight and is in the act of striking; the other is folded on his breast in humble and reverent fashion, and seems that it would ask God for forgiveness. 34

"While I am washing his wounds with my tears, and yet cannot dissipate the grief that afflicts my soul, the holy old man pried open his right hand and having drawn forth the sword that it was holding fast, he said to me—

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This, that today has shed so much enemy blood and is crimson with it still, is perfect, as you know; and there is perhaps no other sword that ought to be ranked above it. 35 —So that it is pleasing there above, that if untimely death now parts it from its first master, it should not remain in idleness in this place, but pass from one strong and daring hand to another that shall use it then with equal strength and skill, but with good fortune for a longer season; and with it accomplish (because to it the task belongs), a bitter vengeance on him who slew Sven. 36

—Solyman slew Sven; and by his sword must Solyman lie slain. Take it then and go where you will find the Christian army lying in siege about the lofty walls; and have no fear that in this foreign country your path may be cut off again; for the mighty hand of Him who now is sending you there will make the rough road easy. 37

—There He wills that by that voice that He preserved alive in you be manifest the religion, the valor, the fierce hardihood that you have witnessed in your beloved lord; to the end that others be roused by such example to take on their arms the sign of the Scarlet Cross, and that noble spirits now, and even after a length of lusters, may be enkindled by it. 38

—It remains that you should know who he is who deserves to be the inheritor of the sword. This is Rinaldo, the youth to whom all others concede the prize for fortitude. Present it to him and say that from him alone Heaven and the world require the noble vengeance.—Now, while I am listening intently to his words, my attention was drawn to a fresh miracle: 39 "for there where the body lay, of a sudden I had become aware of a great tomb that rising up had enclosed him within itself, I know not how nor by

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what art erected; and in few words someone had set forth there the name and the prowess of the dead warrior. I did not know how to tear myself away from such a sight, admiring now the lettering and now the marble. 40

—Here (said the old man) close by his faithful comrades the body of your leader will lie hidden, while lovingly their blessed souls in Heaven enjoy a perpetual and glorious bliss. But now you have paid them their last respects with your weeping, and it is time for rest. You shall be my guest until the fresh beam of morning awakens you to your voyage.— 4i "He fell silent, and guided me through places sometimes lofty, sometimes deep, so that I scarcely dragged my limbs along until we stayed our steps where a hollow cave hangs from the wooded cliffs. This is his home; there ,,among bears and wolves he dwelt secure with his disciple, for better defense than hauberk and shield for the unarmed breast is holy innocence. 42

"Woodland fare and a hard bed there gave rest and restoration to my limbs. But when they saw that morning's gold and crimson rays were kindled in the East, the one and the other hermit rose up straightway vigilant in prayer, and I with them. Then I took my departure from the holy old man and turned me here, where he had given direction." 43

Here the German was silent, and the worthy Bouillon replied to him: "O knight-at-arms, harsh news and dolorous you bring to our host, at which with reason we might be disturbed and discouraged; since so friendly and valorous a troop one brief moment has taken away, and a little ground swallowed up; and like a lightning flash your lord at the selfsame moment has appeared and vanished. 44

"Yet what of this? happy is such death and slaughter, far more than gain of gold or provinces; nor ever could ancient Campidoglio give example of

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any laurel so glorious. They in the shining temple of Heaven possess the immortal crown of their victory: there I warrant that each one happily displays his lovely wounds, and takes pleasure in them. 45 "But you, that in travail and peril remain yet in the army of the world,1 you ought to take joy of their triumphs and (so far as is fitting) make your countenance cheerful now. And since you are asking for Bertoldo's son, know that he is gone from the host a wanderer: and I do not approve that now you should take a doubtful road before you hear certain news of him." 46 This their conversation awakes and renews in the minds of the others their love of Rinaldo: and somebody says "Ah now the young man finds himself wandering about among the pagan folk." And there is scarce a one of them that does not call to mind and vie in recounting to the Dane his mighty exploits; and the long web of his accomplishments is unveiled and spread out for him to the point of stupefaction. 47 Now when remembrance of the youth had softened all their hearts, behold a number of men returned who had gone forth, as was the custom, to make depredations round about. They brought with them an abundance of fleecy flocks and stolen cattle, and also corn (although not much) and forage, that feeds the eager hunger of the horses.

48 And they brought evidence of a bitter and burdensome disaster, that in outward appearance is certain: torn and bloodied the surcoat of the good Rinaldo, and every furniture laid open. At once a varied and uncertain rumor spread abroad (and who could keep such a thing concealed?). The common sort comes running in sorrow at the news of the knight and the armor, and wants to see them.

1 In the background is the ancient debate {tracing ultimately to Aristotle, Nicomachcan Ethics (10.11776°.) between the active and the contemplative life—since the martyred soldiers are now in Heaven, contemplating the perfection of God.

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49

They see and well they recognize the tremendous mass of the mighty hauberk, and the guttering of its light, and the rest of the armor whereon is the bird that tests her chicks by the sun2 and little trusts in feathers. For they had long since been accustomed to see them the foremost, or alone, in the greatest enterprises; and now, not without a profound pity and anger, they see them lying there, broken and bloody. SO

While the camp whispers and various causes of his death are given credence, the worthy Bouillon summons Aliprando, the leader of those who brought the booty in—a man of independent mind, and in speech most truthful and open; and of him he requests: 'Tell how and where you found these arms, and hide from me nothing of good or ill." 51 He answered: "As far from here as a courier would travel in two days, toward the borders of Gaza a narrow plain, shut in among hills, lies somewhat off the road; and a little stream comes down on it from the heights and makes its way softly and slowly between the trees; and being shady and dense with trees and thickets, the place is very suitable for ambushes. 52 "Here we were making a search for any flock that might have come to the pasturage of the grassy banks; and we saw, on grasses red with blood, a soldier lying dead on the bank by the water. Everyone was startled at the arms and at the insignia, which were recognized, though soiled. I went in closer to uncover the face, but I found that the head had been cut off. 53

'The right hand too was missing; and the broad chest had many wounds, from back to front: and not far off, with the eagle that displays her silver wings, the empty helmet was lying. While I am looking for someone to interrogate, a country lad3 came up to the place alone, who turned back immediately to flee when he became aware of us. * The eagle is Rinaldo's impresa. See 10.7711. ! All this elaborate incident is explained by the wiseman of Ascalon to Charles and Ubaldo (14-52-56).

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"But being pursued and taken, in the end he answered the inquiry that we made of him—that the day before he saw a number of soldiers come out of the woods, whereupon he hid himself; and that one of them was holding, by its fair and bloody locks, a severed head, which seemed to him (watching intently) that of a young man, and without hairs on the chin; 55

"and a little later the same man wrapped it in a silken cloth that hung from his saddle bow. Then he added that by their dress he gathered that they were knights from among our people. I had the body stripped, and I grieved me so that bitterly I wept for my suspicion, and carried the armor off with me and left instructions that he should have fitting rites of burial. 56

"But if that noble corpse is who I think, well it deserves another grave, another rite." Having so spoken, Aliprando took his leave, since he had nothing more definite. Godfrey remained grave, and heaved a sigh; yet he is not confirmed in his sad suspicion: and he wishes to know by clearer signs the mutilated trunk and the lawless murder. 57

Meanwhile Night was rising, and covering under her wings the boundless plains of heaven; and Sleep, the rest of souls, the blotting out of troubles, lulled with her charm their worries and their senses. You alone, Argillan, pricked by the sharpened darts of bitter sorrow, revolve and meditate great matters, nor can your eyes nor troubled breast give lodging to rest or to soft slumber. 58

This man, ready of hand, bold of tongue, impetuous and hot of temper, was born on the banks of Tronto and was weaned on hatred and scorn in civil strifes; driven into exile later, he filled with blood the mountains and the shores and pillaged that principality, until he came into Asia to follow the war, and became renowned for a better notoriety.

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59

At last toward dawn he closed his eyes; and his slumber then was not quiet and gentle, but a stupor that Alecto infused into his heart, no less than if it were death, profound and heavy. His inner virtues are deluded, and sleeping yet he has no rest, for the cruel Fury shows herself to him in horrible shapes, and terrifies him. 60

She figures forth for him a mighty trunk, from which the head is severed and the arm mutilated of its right hand; and with its left it holds up the severed skull, ashen with pallor and soiled with blood. The dead visage breathes, and breathing speaks, and the speech comes mingled with blood and gasping sighs: "Flee, Argillan; do you not see the light at last? Flee the infamous tents and their wicked leader. 61

"Dear friends, who gives you warranty against the savage Godfrey, and against the treachery that slew me? The villain is all eaten away within by envy, and is only considering how he can kill you along with me. Yet, if this hand aspires to noble praise, and trusts that much in its own prowess—no, do not flee: let the slain tyrant placate my shade with his malignant blood. 62

"I shall be with you, the shadowy minister of your sword and wrath, and I shall arm your hand and heart." So it speaks, and in its speaking inspires him with a strange spirit, full of madness. His sleep is broken and in terror he rolls his eyes, swollen with mad rage and poison; and when he is armed, with importunate haste he gathers together the soldiers from Italy. 6?

He gathers them where the good Rinaldo's armor is hung; and with presumptuous speech he divulges and calms the madness and the apprehensions he has conceived, in such words as these: "Shall then a barbarous and tyrannic people, that take no heed of reason, that keep no faith, that never have had enough of blood or of gold, maintain the bit in our mouths and the yoke on our necks?

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"What we have endured that is bitter and unjust for seven years now4 under a burden so unequal is such that from this day for a thousand years Italy and Rome will have reason to burn with shame, to burn with hatred. I pass over in silence that Cilicia was won by the arms and the wit of the good Tancred, and that now the Frenchman enjoys it through treason, and fraud usurps the due rewards of valor. 65

"I pass over in silence that where the time and the need requires a ready hand, sound thought, bold spirits—there some one of us is the first to be seen carrying fire or steel among a thousand slain: yet later when the palms, when the booty is handed out in leisure and in peace, not even part is ours, but all for them the triumphs, the honors, the territories, and the gold. 66

"Time was before, perhaps, that offenses like these could strike us as heavy and strange: now I pass them by as trifles. A horrendous, a monstrous beastliness has rendered them most bearable. They have killed Rinaldo and along with human law have held in contempt the supreme laws of divinity. And does Heaven not launch its thunder? and does Earth not swallow them up in her perpetual night? 67

"Rinaldo they have killed, who was sword and shield of our faith. And does he yet lie unavenged? Unavenged he lies; and on the naked ground they left him, pierced with wounds and without a grave. Are you looking to know who the cruel man was? To whom can it be any secret, comrades? Ah, who does not know how much envy Godfrey and Baldwin bear for Italian valor?

4

See i.6n.

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68

"But why do I look for proofs? I swear by Heaven (by Heaven that hears and cannot be deceived) that at the hour when the darkened world is growing light, I saw his wandering and unhappy ghost. Ay me, how harsh and cruel the sight! What treacheries from Godfrey he foretells for us! I saw him, and it was no dream, and wherever I look right now, it seems that he lingers there before my eyes. 69

"Now what shall we do? Must we be always ruled by that hand that still is soiled by so unjust a murder? or shall we rather take ourselves far away from it, where the Euphrates swells? where on a fertile plain it nurtures and makes fruitful so many cities and fields for an unwarlike people—or rather, for us: they will be ours, I trust; nor will we hold our rule in common with the Franks. 70

"Let us begone; and let that noble and innocent blood lie unavenged (if so it seem to you): though if the virtue that is coldly languishing were now as fiery in you as it ought to be, this poisonous snake that devoured the flower and the prize of the Latin people would make with his death and his slaughter an example to be remembered, for the other monsters. 71

"I myself, I could wish (if your noble valor dared to desire as much as it is able) that by this hand this day the retribution should pierce his wicked heart, the nest of treason." So he speaks, distraught, and he swept them up every one in his fury and his drive. 'To arms! to arms!" the madman cries, and together with him the spirited youth cry out 'To arms! to arms!" 72

Amongst them Alecto flails her weaponed hand, and mingles her poison with the fire in their breasts. Folly, hatred, a sinful thirst for blood rages and increases every minute: and that pestilence spreads and swells and moves outside the Italian campsites and passes amongst the Swiss and catches hold of them, and then from there it makes its way to the English.

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And it is not that the foreigners are moved only by the grim incident and the great public wrong; but old causes give food and fuel to fresh anger. Now every slumbering rancor is renewed: they call the French people wicked and tyrannical; and the hatred that now can no longer be bottled up in them comes spilling forth in insolent threatenings. 74

Even so the liquid that boils in the hollow brass from too much fire gurgles and steams within and, containing itself no longer, at last rises over the rim of the vessel, and froths and floods. Those few to whose minds the truth gives light are not enough to bridle the foolish crowd: and Tancred and Camillo were far away, William and the rest who are chief in power. 75

Then in confusion the fierce troops run headlong to arms; and already in shrilling tones seditious trumpets are heard to sing the song of war. Meanwhile from this side and that many swift messengers are calling to the worthy Bouillon that he should arm himself; and Baldwin under arms before them all comes up to him and takes his stand by his side.

76 Godfrey, who hears the accusation, turns his eyes to heaven and has recourse to God, as is his custom: "O Lord, Thou who knowest well with how much zeal my hand abhors civil bloodshed, do Thou remove the veil from the minds of these men and quell their madness that so passes all bounds; and let my innocence, that there above is known, be discovered also to the blind world." 77

He was silent; and he felt a fresh, unaccustomed warmth, infused from Heaven, coursing through his veins. Full of proud vigor, of fiery confidence that spreads through his face and makes it bolder still, and surrounded by his fellows, he goes forth against him who thought that he was avenging Rinaldo; and not for the noise of weapons and threats that he can hear on every side does he slacken his pace.

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78

He has his cuirass on his back, and a noble vestment adorns it richly beyond the ordinary. His hands are weaponless and his face uncovered, and a strange light shines in it of celestial majesty: he waves the golden scepter and with these weapons alone proposes to quell those attacks. Thus he shows himself to them, and thus he speaks: nor does his voice sound like that of mortal man: 79

"What foolish threats and what vain clashing of arms do I hear now? and who sets it in motion? Am I thus reverenced here, and in such fashion known, after so long a proof, that yet there is any who can suspect, and any who can accuse Godfrey of treason, who can prove his accusations? Perhaps you are waiting that I should kneel to you, and adduce my arguments and offer you my prayers? 80

"Ah, let it not be that the earth filled with my name should hear of such indignity: let this scepter defend me, let truth and the memory of my honored deeds defend me; and for now let justice give place to mercy, and punishment not fall upon the guilty. For other merits this error now I pardon, and also I grant it for the sake of your Rinaldo. 81

"Let Argillan only, the author of so many ills, wash away with his blood die common fault—who, moved by the slightest of suspicions, has driven the others into his own mistake." Lightnings and flashings of majesty, of awe, gleamed in his regal countenance as he spoke; so that Argillan, thunderstruck and overcome—(who could believe it?)—fears the wrath of a single visage. 82

And die common crowd diat, bold and irreverent, could all be heard raging before in proud boasts and insults, and had their hands so ready for the sword and spear and torch diat their madness provided, have not the courage (and they hear his noble words, and keep silent) caught between fear

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and shame to lift up their heads; and they suffer Argillan, though girded round with their weapons, to be bound by the guards. 8? Even so the lion, who formerly was tossing his terrible mane with roarings fierce and proud, if then he sees the master who has tamed the innate ferocity of his prideful heart, is able to bear the ignoble weight of the yoke, and fears his threats and his harsh mastery; and the mighty mane, the mighty teeth and claws, that in themselves have so much strength, do not make him wax proud. 84 Fame is that a winged warrior was seen, in visage cruel, in gesture fierce and menacing, holding the shield of his defense before the worthy Bouillon, and brandishing like a thunderbolt his naked sword that could be seen yet dripping drops of blood. It was the blood perhaps of cities, of realms, that have provoked the slow-roused wrath of Heaven. 85 So, die riot being stilled, each man lays down his arms, and many along with their arms their bad disposition: and Godfrey returns to his pavilion, intent on various things, on fresh enterprises. For he intends to storm the city before the second or tfiird day be out: and goes about examining again the logs that had been hewn, now wrought into heavy and horrible machines.

Canto Nine

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Alecto leads Solyman to a night attack on the Christian camp—Godfrey stems an incipient rout (41)—God forbids further overt action by the devils (55)—Argillan, freed from prison, is killed by Solyman (74)—The battle is won by the return of the fifty warriors who had followed Armida (91)—Solyman reluctantly flees, unaccompanied (97).

C A N T O

N I N E

i But the great infernal monster (who sees those hearts once so turbulent now stilled and angers quenched, and has not power to struggle against fate and to counter the great decrees of the immutable Mind) takes her departure—and where she passes she withers the smiling meadows, and the sun grows suddenly pale; and, still the minister of other furies and other evils, she hastily turns her wings to a new enterprise. 2

She (who knew that through her companions' industry far distant from the Christian army were the son of Bertoldo, Tancred, and the rest of the strongest and most feared) said: "What more are we waiting for? Now let Solyman come unlocked for, bringing war. Surely (or so I hope) we shall have a noble victory over an army ill accorded and in part diminished." 3

That said, she flies where Solyman is tarrying among the wandering bands, having become their leader: that Solyman than whom, among as many rebels as God has, there was no man fiercer at that time. Nor would be even if for new offenses Earth's giants were born again. This man was king of the Turks and in Nicaea was wont to have his seat of government: 4

and extended his borders, opposite the Grecian shores, from Sangar to Maeander, where formerly Mysians and Phrygians and Lydians dwelt, and the peoples of Pontus and Bithynia: but when the foreign armies passed into Asia against the Turks and the other infidels, his lands had been conquered in war and he discomfited twice in general combat.

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But when he had tried his fortune again in vain, and been driven by force from his native land, he took refuge in the court of Egypt's king, who became his courteous and magnanimous host, and was pleased that so mighty a warrior should offer himself as a fellow in his lofty enterprises, he having proposed already to deny to the soldiers of Christ the conquest of Palestine. 6

But, before he declared on them openly the war that he proposed, he wanted Solyman (to whom he gave much money for the purpose) to take in his hire the Arabs. Now, while he was collecting his army from Asia and the Moorish regions, Solyman came ahead and easily gathered about him the greedy Arabs—thieves or mercenaries in every age. 7

Being thus made their leader, now he is scouring Judaea on every side, and sacking and pillaging, so that he has closed the approach and return from the Prankish armies to the shores of the sea; and every minute conscious of his abiding disgrace, and the deep ruin of his kingdom, he is revolving weightier matters in his burning breast: but he is not wholly determined or resolved upon them. 8

To this man comes Alecto, and takes the semblance of a man advanced in age: she drains his face of blood, fills it with wrinkles, leaves hairy the upper lip and shaves the chin. His head she offers to view wrapped in long swaths, his cloak falls over his knees down to his feet; he has at his side a scimitar and his back burdened with a quiver, and in his hands a bow. 9

"We scour the empty plains (she says to him) and the sterile and desert sands, where neither can any plunder longer be had nor victory achieved that merits praise. Meanwhile Godfrey is battering the city and already has breached its walls with his towers; and we shall surely see, if we delay yet a little, even to here its fiery ruin.

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IO

"Shall cottages burned and flocks and herds be then the mighty triumphs of Solyman? Do you regain your kingdom thus? And thus do you think to avenge your insults and losses? Be bold, be bold: within his defenses by night assault the barbarian tyrant. Trust in your old Araspes, whose counsels you have tested both in your rule and in your exile. ii

"He is not expecting us, and has no fear of us, and in truth he despises the naked and fearful Arabs; nor will he ever be able to believe that a people accustomed to raids and escapes now should dare so much. But your ferocity will make them fierce against a camp that is lying unarmed and sleeping." So she spoke to him, and breathed her burning furies into his breast and blended herself with the winds. 12

The warrior gives a shout, raising his hand to heaven: "O thou that arouseth my heart with so much fury (nor man art thou, though human shape thou showest), behold I follow where thou invitest me. I shall go; I shall make mountains there, where now is plain: mountains of wounded and of slaughtered men; I shall make rivers of blood. Be thou with me now, and guide my armies through the blinded air." i?

He is silent: and without delay he gathers his bands and heartens with speeches the cowardly and the slow; and with the fervor of his own desire he kindles the host, intent on following him. Alecto gives the signal with the trumpet, and with her own hand unfurls his great standard to the breeze. The host marches swiftly, or rather it runs so fast that it even outruns the flight of Fame. 14

Alecto travels with him, and then she leaves him behind and puts on the garments and visage of a man who is bringing news, and at the hour that the world seems to hang divided and in doubt between night and day she enters Jerusalem; and passing amid the disheartened crowds she gives the

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king the important report' of the great host that is arriving, and its design, and the hour and signal for the night attack. 15 But now the shadows spread a horrid veil that is sprinkled over and stained with reddened mists. Instead of nocturnal frost, warm and bloody dews bathe the earth; the heavens are filled with monsters and prodigies; spirits malign are heard groaning as they walk; Pluto emptied the abyss, and poured forth all his own realm of night from the caverns of Tartarus. 16

Through such deep horror the fierce Sultan keeps his road toward the enemy's tents; but when night climbs to the midpoint of her career, from whence thereafter she rapidly declines, he has approached by less than a mile to where the confident Frank is taking his rest. Here he made his troops eat, and then, speaking from a rising plot of ground, he gave them encouragement to the cruel assault: 17 "Do you see there filled with thousands of thieves a camp that is far more renowned than strong, that like a sea has swallowed up all the riches of Asia in its voracious breast? Favoring fortune now sets this out for you, and she could not have done it with any less danger; their weapons and horses, trimmed with purple and gold, will be booty for you, and no defense for them. 18

"Nor is this now that host by which the people of Persia and the people of Nicaea were conquered; for in a war so long and various the greater part of it has been destroyed; and even if it were entire, now it is all sunk in deep slumber and ungirt with weapons. He who is burdened with sleep is soon ,,overcome, for it is a slight passage from sleep to death.

' Solyman's attack has been presented as spur-of-the-moment, although Aladine has already told Argantes of Solyman's impending arrival (6.10). Now Tasso has Alecto bring news of the planned night attack because it is to be supported by a sally from the city (9.21,4jrF.).

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19

"Up, up! Come on! Over their sleeping bodies I first will open the way within the defenses; let each sword learn from this of mine to wound and to practise the craft of cruelty. Today shall be the day that Christ's kingdom falls, today shall Asia be free and you renowned." So he inflames them for the impending struggle, then silently moves out ahead of them. 20

Lo, he sees in his path the picket posts, through the darkness mingled with a wavering light: nor is he able (as he had firmly believed) to come upon the wise leader unawares. The pickets fall back sounding an alarm (having seen that he is leading so large a crowd), so that the first line of defense is wakened by them, and as best it can it readies itself for battle. 21

Then the Arabs, now certain that they have been heard, blow their barbaric horns. Horrendous shouts ascend to the sky and the neighing of horses, mingled with the sound of their trampling. The lofty mountains bellowed, the valleys bellowed, and the deep ravines made answer to their bellowing; and Alecto brandished her torch from Phlegethon, and gave the signal to those on the mountain. 22

The Sultan runs in the fore and arrives at that yet confused and disordered watch so quickly that the turbid whirlwind issues more slowly from the cavernous mountains. The river that roots up trees and houses together, the lightning bolt that strikes down towers and burns, the earthquake that fills the world with horror, are to his fury small resemblances. 23

He never lets fall the steel that it does not land squarely, nor does it land squarely that it does not also make a wound, nor makes a wound that it does not take away someone's soul. And I would say more, but truth has falsehood's face. And it seems that either he feigns, or does not feel pain, or does not notice being wounded by another's arm: although his stricken helmet reverberates like a bell and horribly flashes and sparks.

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Now when he alone has virtually put to flight that first band of Prankish soldiery, the Arabs come running up like a flood swollen from a diousand streams. Then the Franks with loose reins flee, and the victor goes along mingled with the fugitives and enters within die defenses along with diem, and all is filled widi ruin and horror and wailing. 25

The Sultan bears on his helmet a dragon, horrid and huge, diat stretches itself and writhes its neck; it rears up on its claws, and spreads its wings, and bends in an arc its forked tail. It seems that it vibrates three tongues and sends forth a livid froth, and that its hiss can be heard. And now that the battle blazes it too is inflamed as it moves, and pours out smoke and flame togedier. 26

And to those who are watching, die wicked Sultan shows as formidable in diat light as sailors watch in die dark die turbulent ocean amid a thousand lightning-gleams. Some set their trembling feet to flight, others dieir hands intrepidly to the sword: and always night mixes the melee yet more, and hiding the hazards makes the hazards greater. 27

Among diose that showed the boldest hearts came then Latine, born on die Tiber, for whom his travails had not yet wearied his body, nor the years mastered his strength. His five sons, almost of an age, were always at his side, wherever he went in die wars, loading down with weapons long before dieir time their limbs still growing and dieir faces smooth. 28

And roused by their sire's example they whetted on blood their steel and dieir wradi. He says to diem: "Let us go where we see diat wicked fellow waxing proud over die fugitives: and let not now die bloody slaughter diat he is making of die others hold back in you your accustomed ardor: for ,,that, my sons, is a common sort of honor which some sense of terror, now ,,past, does not adorn."

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29

So the ferocious lioness with her brood from whose necks the mane is not yet hanging down—nor with the years are their dread claws full grown, and the terrifying weapons of their mouths—she leads them with her after prey and into perils, and by her example enkindles them to deal cruelly with the hunter who is disturbing their native woods and is causing the less courageous beasts to flee. 30

The imprudent band of five follows after its goodly sire, and attacks and encircles Solyman; and in one single moment one single thought, and as it were one single spirit, impels their six long spears. But his eldest son, too daring, abandons the spear and closes with that fierce man and vainly seeks with his thrusting sword to make him fall beneath his slain steed. 3i

But even as a mountain exposed to storms (that battered by waves stands looming over the sea) unmoved sustains the insults and thunders of wrathful heaven against it, and the winds and the vast ocean waves: so the fierce Sultan holds his bold face firm against their swords and against their spears; and for him who is striking at his horse he cleaves his head between the cheek and the brow. 32

Aramant extends a pitying arm to the brother who is sinking down, and holds him up. Vain and foolish pity! for he succeeds in adding his own to the ruinous fall of the other; for the pagan lets fall his sword on that arm and hurls to earth along with him the one who is joined to him. Together they fall and the one lies languishing above the other, mingling their last gasps and their blood. 33

Then having broken Sabine's spear, with which the boy is bothering him from a distance, he drives his horse up close and catches him so that he knocks him down quivering, then tramples him. With a great struggle his soul came forth, divorced from his youthful body, and sorrowfully aban-

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cloned the soft breezes of life and the joyous and festive days of his tender youth. 34

Pico and Laurence yet remained alive, with whom a single birth enriched their sire; a pair almost identical, which often was the cause of a pleasing error. But, if nature had made them without difference, their enemy's fury makes a difference now: a harsh distinction, that for the one divides the neck from the trunk, for the other lays open the breast. 35

The father (ah! father no more, ah savage fate that leaves him bereft in a single moment of so many sons!) sees now in five deaths his own, and how his whole lineage lies there. Nor do I know how he had an old age so strong and so vital in his atrocious miseries, that he could yet breathe and fight: but perhaps he did not look at the faces and altitudes of his murdered sons: 36

and in part the friendly shades concealed from his eyes a grief so bitter: yet for all that his winning would have no value to him unless he should lose himself. He is made prodigal of his own life's blood and most avidly avaricious of the other's; nor can it easily be told which of his desires would appear greater, to kill him or to die. 37

But he shouts to his enemy: "Is then this hand so weak and so despised, that even with all its strength it is not enough to rouse against me your ferocity?" He falls silent, and looses a bitter and deadly stroke that cuts plate and mail together and lands on his side, and makes there a gaping wound from which the warm blood spreads. 38

At that shout, at that stroke, the cruel barbarian turned against him his sword and his wrath: he opened his hauberk, and before that split his shield (which is seven times wrapped round with a tough leather) and sunk

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his steel in his vitals. The wretched Latine takes a sobbing breath and expires; and with alternate heaving casts up his blood, now through his wound, now through his mouth. 39

As upon Apennine the sturdy tree that scorned the warfare of Eurus and of Aquilo, if a storm of unwonted fury splits it at last, it brings to earth in its ruin the trees round about: so he falls, and his fury is such that more than one whom he seizes he drags along with him; and his ending is well wordiy of a man so fierce, that even in dying makes extensive ruins. 40

While the Sultan, venting his inward hate, is breaking his long fast on human bodies, the Arabs, feeling inspired, are also harshly managing the Christian knights: the English Henry and Bavarian Holifernes perish at your hands, o fierce Drogutte; Ariadene takes the life from Gilbert, from Philip, who were born on the banks of the Rhine. 4i Albazzar beats down Ernest with his mace; Otho falls by the sword beneath Algazelle. But who could recount that manner of death or this, and how many common people fall? Since those first alarms Godfrey had been awake, and he was not in the interim standing at ease: now is he all armed, and now has he gathered about him a numerous band, and now with them is he on the move. 42

He (who after the alarm heard the uproar, that seems to resound ever more fearsomely) was well aware that it must be a sudden assault from the thieves of Araby; for already it was not unknown to the Captain that they were harrying the regions round about, although he had not thought so fugitive a crowd would ever have the audacity to attack him. 43

Now while he is coming against them he suddenly hears 'To arms! to arms!" answer from the other side, and at the same moment the heavens

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fearfully stunned by barbaric screaming. This is Clorinda who is directing the king's men in their attack, and has Argantes by her side. Then the Captain turns to the noble Guelph, who is acting as his lieutenant, and says: 44

"You hear what new noise of Mars is coming to us from toward the city and the mountain. Your valor and skill will be needed there to check the enemy's first assaults. Go then, and make provision there; and I want you to take with you some of these that I have. Meanwhile I shall go widi die rest to weadier the enemy's attack from the other side." 45 They having so agreed, an equal fortune moves them both by diverse paths. Guelph to the mountain, and the Captain goes where now the Arabs have no opposition. But he in his passage gains strength, and still is gathering new men at every step, so that already grown mighty and powerful he arrives where the savage Turk is shedding blood. 46 Even so descending from his native mountain the humble Po does not fill his narrow channel, but ever the more abounds the more he is distant from his source, grown proud with fresh supplies: above the broken levees he lifts his bull's head high, and victoriously floods all around. And with his many horns he drives back Hadria and seems to carry war, not tribute, to me sea. 47 Godfrey runs up where he sees his frightened soldiers fleeing, and threatens them: "What fear (he cries) is this? where are you fleeing? At least look who it is that is chasing you. A common rabble is chasing you, that neither knows how to give nor to receive wounds in the front; and dieir weapons will fear your faces if they see them turned against them." 48 He spurs his steed, having said that, and turns him where he has taken note of Solyman's flames. He goes amid blood and dust and steel and danger and death: with sword and with buffets he opens and clears away die paths

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most closed and the strongest ranks, and makes fall topsy-turvy on both sides horsemen and horses, weapons and weaponed men. 49 By leaps and bounds he makes his way on, over the heaped-up mounds of the heavy slaughter. The intrepid Sultan, who senses the fierce attack approaching, does not flee it and does not decline it; but drives against him and lifting his steel on high closes in to strike him. O what a pair of knights from earth's extremities does fortune bring together in contest now! 50

Rage against valor now here disputes in a narrow circle the mighty rule of Asia. Who can tell how heavy and swift are their swords, how savage the duel? I pass over here the horrible deeds that were done, but that black darkness covered—worthy the most brilliant sun, and that all mankind he brought together to see them. Si

The people of Jesus, now grown bold behind such a leader, push forward; and a thick crowd of his better men-at-arms is drawn up around the murderous Sultan. Nor do the faithful more than the infidel, nor this side more than that, discolor the ground; but the one and the other, the victor and the vanquished, equally deal out death, and themselves are slain. 52

Even as equal in spirit, with equal force, from this side Auster comes to battle, from that side Aquilo, nor one concedes to the other sky or sea, but cloud to cloud and billow to billow opposes; so is the bitter stubborn struggle seen to give no ground here, nor gain it there; horribly jarring together they confront each other, shield to shield, helmet to helmet, and sword to sword. 53 Meanwhile the quarrel on the other side is not less fierce, and the soldiers thick-packed and swarming. A thousand clouds and more of Stygian angels completely fill the unmeasured plains of the air. And they give strength to the pagans, so that not one thinks inwardly of turning in his

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tracks; and hell's own brand inflames Argantes, kindled already by his personal fires. 54

He too on his side put the guard to flight and entered the defenses with a bound; he filled the trenches with mangled limbs, made level the road, made easy the assault; so that the others followed him and reddened the first tents then with a ruddy overlay. And equal with him, or little behind, went Clorinda, disdainful of second place. 55

And the Franks were already in flight when Guelph arrived there timely, and his band, and made the fugitives turn their faces, and bore the fury of the unrighteous people. So it was fought; and the blood ran equally in streams on this side and on that. Meanwhile from His mighty throne the King of Heaven turned His eyes upon the sad carnage. 56

He was seated there where He both good and just pronounces laws for every thing, and every thing creates and elaborates, beyond the base limits of our narrow world, where sense or reason does not reach. And upon the majestic throne of eternity He shone with three lights in a single blaze. Beneath His feet He holds Necessity and Nature, His humble ministers, and Motion, and He who measures it,* 57

and Space, and She who eddies and dissipates,' like dust or smoke, as it pleases up there above, the glory of things down here below and gold and realms, and being a goddess makes no account of our mortal indignations. There He is so enwrapped in His own splendor that the vision of even the worthiest is bedazzled: about Him He has innumerable immortals, unequally equal in their happiness.

'Time. ! Fortune.

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58

The courts of Heaven joyously resound to the great concord of their blessed hymns. He calls to him Michael, who glitters and gleams in arms of shinning adamant, and says to him: "Do not you see now how the impious crew from Avernus are taking up arms against my beloved faithful flock, and from the depths of their deadness are ascending to trouble the world? 59 "Go, tell them that henceforth they are to leave the cares of war to warriors, to whom they belong; and are not to trouble the realms of the living nor to infect the heavens' unspoiled plains. Let them return to Acheron's dark night, their proper abode, to their own just punishments: there let them torture themselves and the souls of the abyss: so I command, and so I have fixedly decreed." 60 Here He was silent. And the chief of the winged warriors bowed reverently before His holy feet. Then he dispreads his golden wings on the long flight with such speed that he outstrips even thought. He passes the fire and the light where the blessed have their unchanging seat in glory: then he looks upon the pure crystalline and the circle that moves in opposition, studded with stars. 61 From there to the left wheel Saturn and Jupiter, diverse in appearance and in effect, and the others that cannot be wandering* if angelic virtue informs them and gives them motion. He comes then from the blessed and blazing meadows of eternal day to where it thunders and rains, where the world consumes and nourishes itself, and in its warfare dies and is born again. 62 He came dispelling with immortal plumes the deep horrors and the thickened dark; the night was gilded with the light of divinity that his countenance shed sparkling forth. So does the sun by custom amid clouds spread

* An etymological allusion to the Greek root of the word planet.

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forth his lovely colors after the rain; so cleaving the pure serene a star is wont to fall to the great Mother's bosom. 63 But when he is come where the impious hellish crew is kindling and spurring the fury of the pagans, he hovers in air on the vigor of his wings and shakes his lance and thus declares to them: "You ought to know by now with what dread flash the King of the world looses His thunder, O ye who in the ignominy and bitter torments of utmost wretchedness even yet are proud. 64 "In Heaven it is decreed that the walls shall bow, that Sion shall open her gates to the holy standard. Why struggle with fate? Why then further provoke the wrath of the courts of Heaven? Go now, accursed, to your proper realm, the realm of punishments and perpetual death. And let your wars and your triumphs have their being in those confines that befit you. 65 'There practise your cruelty, there on guilty souls wreak all your powers, amid eternal wailings and gnashing of teeth, and the sound of iron, and clanking chains." He spoke, and those that he saw slow in leaving he pushed and struck with the fatal lance. They groaning abandoned the lovely realms of light and the golden stars: 66 and toward the abyss directed their flight to increase for the wicked the bitterness of their customary pains. Not so great band of birds passes over the sea when they flock to warmer climes, nor ever autumn sees so many dry leaves fall to earth with the first frosts. Freed of them, the world puts off that face so black, and is cheered. 67 But not for that does the heat or the fury grow less in the scornful breast of Argantes, though Alecto breathe no more her fire into him nor hell's scourge lash his flanks. He circles the cruel steel wherever the Prankish people are most compressed and most packed together; he reaps the common-

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crs and the potentates; and the most sublime and proudest heads makes equal with the lowest. 68

Not far off is Clorinda, and no whit less it seems that she would strew the field with severed limbs. She thrusts her sword into Berlingher's breast to the heart's core where life is lodged; and that stroke made so full a journey to find it that bloodily it issued from his back. Then she wounds Albin where first our nourishment is taken, and cleaves his face for Gallus. 69

Gernier's right hand, by which she had been wounded before, she hurls to earth, cut off; it holds the sword still, and with convulsive fingers, halfalive, the hand quivers on the ground. The tail of a snake is such, that, being cut off, strives vainly to join itself to its beginning. So maimed the warrior maiden leaves him; then she turns to Achilles and beats down his sword, 70

and places her stroke between the neck and the spine; and with sinews severed and windpipe cut, the head went rolling in its fall, the face was soiled with filthy dirt, before the torso could fall: the torso (pitiful monstrosity) remains seated in the saddle; but freed from the reins the warhorse, kicking and wheeling in a thousand circles, casts it away from him. 71

While thus the matchless warrior maid is breaking open and scourging the ranks of the westerners, in opposition to her the noble Gildippe is making a slaughter no less fell among her Saracens. Their sex was the same, and similar the hardihood and valor in this one and that. But it is not granted to them to make proof of one another, for Fate is reserving them' for a greater enemy.

' A foreshadowing of Clorinda's death by Tancred's hand (12.69) and Gildippe's by Solyman's (20.100).

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72 The one from the one side, and the other from the other, presses and drives and cannot break open the thick and compacted press; but the noble Guelph then bends against Clorinda his sword, and closes with her; and letting fall a cleaving stroke, he somewhat colors his savage sword in her beautiful side; and she makes him a cruel response with a thrust that ends in wounding him between die ribs. 73

Then Guelph redoubles his stroke, and fails to catch her, because by chance the Palestinian Osmida is passing by, and takes on himself a blow that is not his own, which ends in splitting his head for him. But dien diere gathers around Guelph a number of diose troops diat he leads and directs; and on die odier side too die crowd increases, so that the struggle grows mingled and confused. 74

Meanwhile Aurora already was showing from die lofty balcony her lovely crimson face; and now in these disorders the fierce Argillan was freed from his prison; and hastily clad in untried armor as chance offered, whedier good or bad, he came now to make amends for his new errors widi new deserts and new honors. 75

Even as a steed that escapes from die royal stables, where he is kept for use in batde, and free at last runs at large amongst die herds, or to his familiar river, or to pasture: the hairs on his mane stir playfully and above his shoulders he tosses his proud and arching neck: his feet resound in his career and he seems to be on fire, filling die fields widi his resounding neighs; 76

so conies Argillan. His fierce glance sparkles; his countenance is confident and proud; he is light in his leaping and quick on his feet, so that he scarcely prints die dust with tracks. And arrived amid the enemy he lifts his voice like a man who dares everything and has regard for nothing: "O ye

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vile dregs of the world, unhandy Arabs, whence is it that now such daring is nurtured in you? 77

"You are not skilled to manage the weight of helmets and shields, or to armor your breasts and backs: but fearful and unarmored you entrust your shots to the wind and your safety to flight. Your actions and your brave enterprises are of the night; darkness is your support. Now that she is departed, who will be your shield? He will need to be sounder than you, in heart and in armor." 78 Still speaking thus, he dealt to Algazel so cruel a blow in the throat that he severed his jaw and cut off the word that he had just begun to utter in reply. A sudden shade steals the light from that wretched man, and a harsh chill runs through his marrow: he falls, and full of rage at dying he grips with his teeth the hateful earth. 79 Then he kills, in various ways, Saladin and Agricalt and Muleasses; and close to them splits Aldiazel with a single blow, from one side to the other: Ariadine he hurls to the ground, his breast pierced through, and mocks him with bitter words. He, lifting his heavy eyes at the prideful words, on the point of dying answered thus: 80

"You will not have for long, whoever you be, the boast of this death as my fortunate victor. An equal fate awaits you; and you by a stronger hand will be stretched out to lie by my side." Bitterly he smiled, and "Leave to Heaven the care of my fate (he said); now you die here the while, the food of birds and dogs." Then he presses him down with his foot, and draws out sword and soul together. 81 Mingled with that crowd of slingers and archers was a page of the Sultan's whose springtime was not yet strewing his handsome chin with early flow-

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ers. The warm drops of sweat appear to be dewdrops and pearls, watering his lovely cheek; the dust adds grace to his dishevelled hair, and a scornful stiffness is attractive on that countenance. 82

He has under him a steed that for whiteness rivals the snow new fallen on the Apennines; there is no whirlwind or flame that swirls or rises as swift as it is light and quick. He brandishes, grasped by its middle, a Moorish javelin; the sword that he keeps at his side is curved and short; and he shines with barbaric splendor in a creation of interwoven purple and gold. 83 While the boy, whose youthful breast is allured by the novel pleasure of glory, from this side and that is troubling every squadron, and there is none who can so much as get close to him, the experienced Argillan is watching for the time amidst his rapid wheelings that he can thrust his spear; and, seizing his moment, he stealthily kills his horse, and is upon him when he has scarcely risen. 84 And against the supplicating face, that vainly made its defense with the armor of pity, he bent (cruel man!) his remorseless hand, and violated nature's loveliest prize. The sword seemed to have sense, and was more humane than the man, that it turned aside and fell flat: but what does it profit if, repeating his savage stroke, he caught him with the point where the first time he went awry? 85 Solyman, who not very far from there is being entertained by Godfrey in combat, abandons the fight and wheels and spurs his steed as soon as he has noticed the lad's danger, and he opens with his sword the paths that are closed and arrives in time—for vengeance yes, but not for aid: for he sees (ah grief!) his Lesbin lying slain, like a lovely flower cut down. 86 And he sees his brimming eyes languish, with so soft an expression, and his neck bend back: so lovely is his pallor, and from his features in death so

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sweet a pity breathes, that it softened the heart that before had been hard marble, and tears cascaded down in the midst of his wrath. Do you weep, Solyman? you, that with dry eyes saw your realm destroyed? 87 But, when he sees the enemy sword that yet is steaming, wet with the boy's blood, pity gives way and wrath flames up and boils, and staunches his tears within his breast. He runs upon Argillan and lifts his sword high; he cleaves the opposing shield, and then the helmet, and then the head and the throat. Well worth the wrath of Solyman is that tremendous blow. 88 And not content with that, on the dead body, dismounted from his steed, he yet makes war, like the mastiff enraged that savages the stone from which he has received a heavy blow. O empty comfort of a boundless sorrow, to wax cruel against insensate clay! But meanwhile the captain of the Franks his wrath and bis blows expended not in vain. 89 A thousand Turks were there, that were covered with cuirasses and helmets and shields: in spirit bold, in body unbroken by hardships, and experienced in every situation. They were formerly in Solyman's old guard, and followed with him his hapless wanderings in the deserts of Araby, in adverse fortune still his friends. 90 These men, drawn up together in close order, were conceding little or nothing to Prankish valor. Against them Godfrey charged, and wounded his face for the fierce Corcutte and for Rosteno his side; Selino's head he has set free from its shoulders, cut off for Rossano his right hand and his left; and not just these alone, but in other manner he wounded many of them and many he killed. 9i While thus he is buffeting the Saracen folk, and bears their buffets in return, and the barbarians' fortunes and hopes nowhere begin to decline, behold a new cloud of dust nearby that holds in its womb the thunderbolts of

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war: behold breaking forth from it a glitter of unexpected weapons that brought dismay to the infidel host. 92

Fifty warriors they are that on pure silver display the triumphant crimson Cross. Not if I had a hundred mouths and a hundred tongues, a breath of iron and an iron voice, could I tell the number that that ferocious band has quenched in its first onslaughts. The unwarlike Arab falls; and the indomitable Turk, though fighting and making resistance, is run through too. 93 Horror, Cruelty, Lamentation, Fear go running everywhere, and in various shapes through it all you could see the victress Death go wandering, and a lake of blood set rippling. The king with a party of his men had earlier set forth from one of the gates, as if he had foreknowledge about the chancy outcome; and hence from the heights he was watching the plain below and the dubious battle. 94 But as soon as he has seen the main force in retreat, he sounds the call to rally; and, insisting with repeated messengers, he prays both Argantes and Clorinda to turn back. The fierce couple are loth to execute diat order, being drunk with blood and blind and unreasoning with wrath. Yet at last they yield, and try at least to keep the rank and file together and to slow their pace. 95 But who can give laws to the common herd, and guidance to cowardice and fear? The rout catches hold. One throws away his shield, another disarms his hand: the sword is impediment and not defense. Between the city and the plain there is a ravine that extends precipitously from west to south: thither they flee and their dark cloud of dust rolls toward the walls. 96 While they are fleeing headlong down the slope, the Christians make of them a terrible slaughter; but then, when ascending they had near them now the aid of the barbarous tyrant, Guelph does not care to be exposed to

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the danger of a steep mountain path, so much to his own disadvantage. He stops his troops, and the king locks up his own, no small remnant from the ill-fortuned battle. 97

Meanwhile the Sultan has done what it is permitted earthly power to do; now he can do no more. He is all blood and sweat and a heavy continual gasping racks his chest and makes his sides tremble. His arm grows weary, burdened by his shield; his hand moves his sword in slowing circles; he slashes and fails to cut; and his brand, grown dull, has lost now the function of a brand. 98 When he felt it so, he stood like a man in doubt between two things: and debates with himself whether he ought to die and with his own hands take from any other the glory of so brave a feat; or whether, surviving his defeated host, he should keep his life safe. At last he said "Let Fate prevail, and this my flight be trophy of her victory. 99 "Let the enemy see my back and laugh to scorn yet anew my undeserved exile, if only thereby he may see me armed anew to trouble his peace and his rule that will never be secure. I do not yield, not I; my hatred too will be everlasting, with the everlasting memory of my wrongs. I shall rise again, an enemy yet more cruel, although a buried ash and disembodied spirit."

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Canto Ten

T H E

A R G U M E N T

The sorcerer Ismen brings Solyman in a magic chariot to Jerusalem—Invisible in Ismen's cloud, Solyman listens to Aladine's council (35) and addresses them, being suddenly revealed to their view (49)—William tells Godfrey of Armida's Circean enchantments (60) and of Rinaldo's deliverance of William and his fellows (70)— Peter the Hermit confirms that Rinaldo is well (73).

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Even while speaking thus, he spied nearby a steed that was directing its wandering course near him; at once he laid hand on the ungoverned bridle and leaped up, though weary and sore. The crest is fallen now that towered so terribly, leaving the helmet humble and unadorned: the surcoat is shredded and retains no vestige of proud royal pomp. 2

As sometimes, driven from the barred sheepfold, comes a wolf that flees and conceals himself, who (though he has filled but now the greedily swirling depths of his great belly) yet avid of blood he lolls his tongue outside and licks it up from his spattered lips; even so went he, after the bloody slaughter, not sated yet in his deep hunger. 3

And (as his fortune is) from the whistling arrows that fly in a cloud about him, from so many swords, from so many lances, from so many instruments of death in the end he steals away, and travels on unrecognized, by that path that is most desert and solitary; and revolving within himself what he ought to do, he tosses in a mighty storm of thoughts. 4

He decides at last to go where Egypt's king is gathering so powerful a host, and to join his arms with him and try his fortune yet again in a fresh encounter. Having determined that within himself, he admits of no delay and takes the direct route (for he knows the roads and has no need of a guide) to ancient Gaza's sandy shores.

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And not because he feels the grief of his wounds grow sharp, and his body heavy and sick, does it come to pass that for that he stops and takes off his armor; but, toiling on, he travels the whole day. Then when shadowy darkness takes from the world its various aspects, and dips in black its colors, he dismounts, and binds up his wounds and as best he can shakes down the fruits from a tall palm tree; 6

and fed by them he seeks to rest on the naked earth his sore-tried body and, laying down his head on his hard shield, to quiet the turbulence of his weary thoughts. But ever and again the pain of his wounds begins to wax more cruel, and besides his breast is eaten and his heart laid open by those inward vultures, Sorrow and Scorn. 7

At last, when all things round about were stilled in deepest night, overcome by weariness, he soothed in Lethe his heavy and troublesome cares, and composed his afflicted limbs and feverish eyes in a brief and languid repose. And while he yet lay sleeping a stern voice sounded in his ear, in this wise: 8

"Solyman, Solyman, reserve to a better time your sluggish slumbers; for the country where you reigned is yet a slave, under the yoke of foreign peoples. Can you sleep on this earth and not call to mind that it holds the bones of your unburied men? Where so great token of your shame remains, are you lazily awaiting the new day?" 9

The Sultan, awakened, lifts up his gaze and sees a man, in appearance bowed down with extreme old age, who supports and directs with crooked staff the wavering path of his ancient feet. "And who are you (he asks him haughtily) that as a phantom importunate of travellers break in on their brief slumbers? and how does it have to do with you, my shame or my revenge?"

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10

"I am one (the old man answers) to whom in par^your new design is known, and I come to you as a man who has more interest in you than you ,,perhaps may think. My biting speeches are not vainly such; for shame is Mthe whetstone of virtue. Take it in good part, my lord, that my speech may be whip and spur to your ready valor. n

"Now since (as I guess) your path must be directed toward the great king of Egypt, I predict that uselessly you will have taken a rough journey, if you follow on; for though you go not, the Saracen host will be soon gathered and soon launched; and there is no place there, where you can find employment and show your prowess against our enemies. 12

"But if you take me as your guide, I promise you to set you safe within that wall that is closely ringed by Latin arms, in brightest day, without your drawing your sword. There it will be your glory and delight to experience harsh strife, with arms and hardships: you will defend the place until the host from Egypt arrives to renew the combat." 13

While he still is speaking, the fierce Turk is marvelling at the eyes and the speech of the aged man; and from his face and from his savage spirit now lays aside all pride and wrath. "Father (he answers) I am ready and swift to ,,follow you; direct me where you wish. The plan will always seem better to ,,me that has the more of difficulty and danger." 14

The old man praises his words; and because the night air had made his wounds wax cruel, he instills in them a liquid that restores his strength and staunches the blood and the wounds. Then, seeing that now Apollo is gilding the roses that Aurora has painted—"It is time (he said) to depart; for already the sun that calls men to their work is showing us the road."

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15 And together with the fierce Nicaean he takes his seat in his chariot that was waiting not far off. He slackens the reins and with masterful hand lashes both the coursers in turn: they make such speed that the dusty plain retains no print of wheel or hoof; you can see them smoking and panting in their run, and leaving the bit all whitened with their foam. 16

I shall speak marvels: the air about them is gathered and compressed into a compacted cloud, so that it covers and surrounds the mighty chariot, but die cloud cannot be seen, either little or much; and no rock that a siege machine could hurl could penetrate its closed and thickened surface. The two can see clearly from its convex womb the cloud around them—and beyond, the heavens serene. 17 Astonished, the knight raises his eyebrows and furrows his forehead, and fixedly watches the cloud and the chariot, that passes every obstacle so fast that he has the sense of flying. The other, who notes from the look of his motionless face that his soul is burdened with astonishment, breaks into his silence and addresses him: at which he shakes himself, and then speaks thus. 18

"O thou, whoever you may be, that beyond all custom wrench nature to lofty and strange effects and spying out secrets wander at your will through regions most shut off from the human mind; if you arrive, with knowledge infused from on high, at matters yet distant and removed, ah! tell me what respite or what ruin is destined by Heaven for Asia's great turmoils. 19 "But first tell me your name, and by what art you can be wont to accomplish such unheard-of things; for if the astonishment does not first leave me, how can it be that I heed the rest of your words?" The old man smiled, and said: "In one respect it will be easy for me to fulfill your wish. I am named Ismen, and the Syrians call me a sorcerer, because I am enamored of unknown arts.

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20

"But that I should discover the future and disclose the eternal annals of hidden destiny, too bold is the desire, too aspiring the request: thus much is ,,not granted to us mortals. Let everyone here below employ his strength ,,and his wit to make his way among disasters and evils: for often it comes ,,to pass that the brave man and wise is for himself the smith of his own ,,good fortune. 21

"Make ready against sword and fire this your victorious hand, for which it will be but a little thing to shake the forces of the Prankish realm—not merely to secure, not merely to guard the place that the savage people so straitly embattle: dare, suffer, trust: I have good hope. But I shall further declare (that it may bring you pleasure) that which I see as through a mist darkly. 22

"I see, or seem to see, before the great eternal planet can revolve through many lusters, a man who shall ornament Asia1 with his famous deeds, and he shall have the rule of fertile Egypt. I pass over the fruits of his leisure and arts of his industry, a thousand virtues, such that I cannot see them all. Let this alone be enough for you, that the Christian powers shall be by him not only shaken 2?

"but their undeserved kingdom uprooted from its foundation in those last battles; and the harried remnants thrust into a narrow circle, and defended only by the sea. This man will be of your blood." And here the ancient sorcerer was silent: and Solyman resumed speaking—"O happy he, being chosen for such praise!"—and partly envies him, and part rejoices.

1 Praise of Saladin was deservedly prominent in western European accounts of his reconquest of the Holy Land (1169-89). Cf. William of Tyre, Book 20, in Recueil des Historiens lies Croisades (Paris, 1844), vol. i, pt. 2.

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Then he added: "Let Fortune turn herself for good or ill, as it is ordained up above; for she holds no sway over me, and will never see me anything but unconquered. Sooner will she have power to turn the moon and the stars from their courses, than to turn one step of mine from the direct road." And in speaking this he was all ablaze with fiery ardor. 25

Conversing thus they continued until they arrived where they saw the tents rising up nearby. What a harsh and cruel spectacle it was! and in how many forms death made his appearance there! The Sultan's eyes grew dark and troubled then, and he wet his face with his sorrow. Ah with what sense of shame he saw lying there his honorable standards, feared of old. 26

And he saw the joyful Franks bustling about and often trampling the breasts and faces of his closest friends, and with proud insolence stripping the armor and the luckless garments from unburied men: many honoring with the last rites the bodies of those they love, assembled in long parade; others committing to the flames and burning in a single fire the common crowd of Arabs and Turks together. 27

He sighed from deep within, and drew his sword, and flung himself from the chariot and made as if to run forward; but the aged enchanter with a shout recalled him to himself and bridled his foolish onset; and when he had gotten him to mount again, he directed his course to higher ground. Thus they went on a way, until they left behind them the Prankish camp. 28

Then they dismounted from the chariot, and it disappeared at once; and on foot together (secretly in the cloud as before) they took a path that descended into a valley on the left, until they arrived where noble Mount Sion turns its back to the West. There the sorcerer stops and then, as if searching, approaches the steep slope.

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29 2

A hollow cave made many ages before, opened out into the hard rock; but being fallen into disuse, the entrance was now stopped up again, amongst the weeds and bushes where it lies hidden. The sorcerer clears away the obstacles, and stooping and hunched assumes a posture for travelling the narrow path: and the one hand goes before him and explores the passage, the other he extends to the prince as a guide. 30 Then says the Sultan: "What furtive way is this you have, by which I must go? Had you permitted it, I had opened me another one, better than this perhaps, with my sword." "Disdain not, fastidious soul (he answers him) to print the dark path with your mighty foot: for once great Herod was wont to tread it, he that has yet so bright a fame for deeds of arms. 3i "The king of whom I speak hollowed out this cave, when he wanted to put the bridle on his subjects; and by it (from that tower that he called Antonia, after his famous friend) he was able to withdraw, unseen of any, within the verges of the mighty ancient temple: and from there to issue out of the city secretly and to introduce men and let them out under concealment. 32 "But now this dark and solitary way is known to me alone amongst living men. By this we shall come to the place where the king (who seems to be fearful, more than he should perhaps, of Fortune's menacings) is calling together the wisest and strongest in council. Truly you are coming to him in his great need: listen and keep silent: then at the right time set your bold words forth." 33 Thus he spoke; and then the knight with his great body filled the lowroofed cavern, and by passages where it is always dark he followed him

* Ismen's magic, which can cause his chariot to disappear and can make its occupants invisible, might well dispense with a secret passage into the city. But Tasso wishes to exploit Josephus's account of Herod's Cave (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 15.424). See Introd., p. xvi.

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who is piloting his journey. At first they went doubled over, but that chamber expands the more as it goes further in, so that they climbed with ease, and soon were about midway in that dark cave. 34 Then Ismen opened a small door, and they went by an unused staircase, fitfully and uncertainly lit by the daylight that comes down from a vent high up. At last they arrived at a cellar underground, and mounted from there to a brilliant and noble hall. Here with his scepter and with his crown on his head the sorrowful king was seated amid his sorrowful people. 35

From the hollow cloud the fierce Turk watches unseen and looks about him, and meanwhile listens to the king, who first begins in this fashion, from his lavish throne: "Truly, my faithful followers, the day just past was most damaging to our realm: and being fallen from our highest hopes, now only Egypt's aid is left for us. 36 "But clearly you see how distant is our hope from danger so near. Therefore have I called you all together here, that each man may bring his counsel forward." Here he is silent; and like a breeze that stirs within a grove a little whispering runs all around. But rising up with bold and cheerful face, Argantes quiets their murmuring. 37

"O magnanimous king (was the response of the fierce and indomitable knight) why do you try us? and ask us about a matter that is hidden to none, that has no need of our voice? Still, I will speak: let your hope be placed in us alone: and if it is true that to Virtue nothing is harmful, with her let us be armored, from her request our aid: and let us not love life, any more than she allows. 38 "And yet I speak not thus, because I despair of most certain aid from Egypt: for to doubt if the promises of my king will be true, is not permissible, and it is not right; but I speak out only because I desire to see in some

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of us a more indomitable spirit, that equally prepared for any fate shall promise itself victory, and despise death." 39 Only thus much the spirited Argantes said, like a man who speaks of a matter not in doubt. Then rose up, with authoritative bearing, Orcano, a man renowned for noble lineage, and in former times indeed of some value in war; but now, being yoked to a young wife and already blessed with children, he was cowardized by the emotions of father and husband. 40

He spoke thus: "My Lord, I certainly bring no charge against the fervor of high-sounding words, when it rises from an ardor that cannot, nor will not, be shut in within the confines of the heart: for if the good Circassian is wont to speak to you in a fashion truly too fervid, that may be permitted him, for in his deeds he discloses no less thereafter the same fervor. 4i "But it falls to you, whom the passage of time and of affairs have made so prudent, to impose the bridle of your counsels where he transcends it in his ardor: to balance the hope of aid from far away with danger near, or rather, immediate; and with the arms and attacking force of the enemy your new defenses and your ancient walls. 42

"We (if it be allowed me to say what I feel) may be in a city made strong by situation and by skill; but on the other side is being made a vast and violent preparation of machines. I know not what will be: I have hope, and I fear for the most uncertain decisions of Mars; and I fear that if the siege be tightened about us further, we shall in the end have a scarcity of food. 43 "For those flocks and that grain that yesterday you received within the walls, whilst he was only intent on bloodying swords in the field (and the enterprise was noble), are a little meal to a mighty hunger, ill able to sustain a large city, if the siege wears on: and needs it must wear on, even if Egypt's army should come on the day that it plans.

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"But what will it be, if it comes more slowly?—Never mind, I grant that it comes before your hopes and its promises. But victory, my lord, but the besieged walls liberated, I do not see. We shall be fighting, good king, with that same Godfrey, and with those leaders, and with the same commoners, that so many times already have broken and scattered the Arabs, the Turks, the Syrians, and the Persians. 45

"And of what sort they are you know, O valorous Argantes, who have so often yielded them the field, and turned your back3 on them so often too, trusting entirely the swiftness of your feet: and Clorinda knows it, along with you, and I with these; for one is no more entitled to boast of himself than the other. Nor do I lay any blame at all; for there was displayed the utmost our valor could do.

46 "And I shall say further (though grimly this man threaten me with death, and disdain to hear the truth): I see by infallible signs that our fated enemy is guided by inevitable destiny: nor ever will army or strong wall be able to impede him so, that in the end he will not have the reign. Heaven be my witness, it is love and zeal for my country, for my king, constrains me to say that. 47

"Oh wise was the King of Tripoli, who knew how to gain from the Franks both peace and continued rule at once! but the obstinate Sultan either now lies dead, or caitiff chains weigh down his feet, or else in exile, timid and fugitive, he is preserving himself for the last extremes of misery; and yet, by yielding part, he could have saved part, with gifts and tribute."

! Argantes may be said to have turned his back in flight from the Christians at 3.4iff.; 7.112; and 9.94.

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48

So he spoke, and wrapped himself in circling speech, oblique and uncertain; for to sue for peace, to make himself liege man to another—he dared not as yet to counsel it openly. But the Sultan, indignant, could now no longer from his cover suffer his words; whereupon the sorcerer said to him: "Do you wish now, my lord, to give him leisure that he should enlarge upon such matter?" 49

"I, for my part (he answers) am concealed here now against my will, and I burn with anger and shame." He had scarcely said that—and suddenly the veil of the cloud that wraps them round is rent, and clears away in the open air; and he remains in the full light of day: and fierce of countenance magnanimously glitters in their midst, and speaks to them unforeseen. 50

"I, of whom you are speaking, am with you even now, a Sultan not timid and not fugitive: and I offer myself to prove on this fellow with this hand that he is a coward and a liar. I—who shed a broad torrent of blood, who raised up mountains of slaughtered on the plain, shut in within the enemy's trenches and at the last bereft of all companions—I fugitive? 51

"But if this man, or some other like him, faithless to his country, to his religion, dares utter a word more about a shameful and cowardly peace, good king (saving your reverence) I shall kill him here. Sooner the wolves and the lambs will be joined in one fold, and the serpent and the dove in a single nest, than ever any land can receive us along with the Franks without a clash of wills." 52

While he is speaking, his savage hand with menacing gesture holds his sword aloft. Before that speech, before that fearsome countenance, everyone remains silent and stunned. Then with a visage less contorted and passionate courteously he turns toward the king: "Take hope (he says) my noble lord, for I bring no little aid: now Solyman is with you."

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Aladine, who had already risen to meet him, answers: "Oh, with what joy I see you here now, dear friend! Now I no longer feel the loss of my men that are dead; I feared much worse. You have the strength to stabilize my throne, and in a short time to set right your own that is fallen, if Heaven does not forbid." Then, having said this, he stretched forth his arms to his neck and embraced him. 54

When the welcome was finished, the king gives his own seat to the great Nicaean. Then he seats himself to his left on a lofty throne, and places Ismen at his side: and while he talks with him and asks him about their journey, and he answers at length, the noble damsel comes first to pay her respects to Solyman: then all the others followed. 55

Among the rest followed Ormusses, who had taken under his guidance that Arab band of Solyman's; and while the battle was raging most fierce he wound about by unused roads in such fashion diat, aided by the silence and the darkened air, in the end he brought them safe within the city: and with grain and stolen flocks brought aid to the famished populace. 56

Only the fierce Circassian remained silent, with surly and scornful face, like a lion in repose casting his eyes about and not moving a foot. But Orcano dares not lift his face to the fierce Sultan, and holds it pensive and downcast. Thus they sit in council here—the Palestinian tyrant, the king of die Turks, and their nobles. 57

But the worthy Godfrey had followed up his victory and the vanquished, and cleared the roads, and meanwhile rendered his slain soldiers their last honors of holy and reverent obsequies, and now to the rest he gives commands that they be ready to launch the assault on the second day; and widi huger and more terrible aspect of war he threatens the besieged barbarians.

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58

And because he had recognized the band that gave him aid against the infidels as being his most cherished followers, and as that which had followed earlier the insidious guide (and Tancred along with them, who in her castle became a prisoner of the treacherous Armida), he calls them before him in the presence only of the Hermit and of some of his wisest men 59

and says to them: "Pray let someone tell us the erratic course of your brief wanderings, and how thereafter you found yourselves ready at hand to give so great an aid in so great need." Being ashamed, they held their faces low, for a little fault was a bitter mouthful for them. At last the famous son of the British king broke the silence, and spoke, lifting up his brow: 60 "We set forth, we who had not been drawn from the urn by chance, each one on his own and secretly, following the deceptive guidance of Love (I deny it not) and of a beautiful treacherous face. She drew us along by winding and unused ways, embroiled with one another and each man jealous in himself. Now words, now glances (alas! too late I recognize it) nourished our loves and our angers.

61 "At last we arrived at the place where flame of old descended from heaven4 in swollen flakes, and upon a people so hardened in evil-doing avenged their offences against nature. It was once a fertile land, a prosperous countryside; now the waters are bituminous and warm and the lake sterile; and wherever it twists and winds, the air is thick and breathes a heavy stench. 62

"This is the swamp into which nothing of such weight ever is thrown that it arrives at the bottom, but like light ash or fir bobs up the human body, and hard steel, and stone. A castle is situated in it; and a short and narrow bridge grants passage to travellers. There she made us welcome: and (I know not by what art) it is lovely there within, and its every cranny smiles.

* Sec Glossary, s.v. Sodom.

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63 5

"There the breeze is soft, and the sky serene, and cheerful the trees and the meadows, and pure and sweet the waters, where amid myrtle groves most pleasant a spring wells forth and gives rise to a little stream. Quiet slumbers shed down on the grass's lap with a soft murmuring of leaves. The small birds sing. I say nothing of the marbles and the gold, marvellous for their art and workmanship. 64

"On the grassy bank where the shade is thickest, and close to the sound of the crystal waters, she had a table prepared, made proud with ornamented vessels and rich with viands choice and dear. Here was whatever each season brings forth, whatever earth yields or ocean sends, whatever art makes savoury; and a hundred maidens, lovely and deft, served up the feast. 65

"She with a pleasant word and a charming smile seasoned food otherwise deadly and malign. Now, while each man yet seated at the table is drinking with deep flame a deep forgetfulness, she rose and said—I am coming back in a moment—and then returned with a countenance not so tranquil and pious. With one hand she is waving a little wand; the other is holding a book, and she reads in muttered syllables. 66

"The sorceress reads; and I sense that my reason and will are changing, my life and its habitation changing. (Strange power!) a new mode of thinking envelops me: I leap into the water, and plunge and dive therein. I know not how each leg is gathered inside, how the one arm and the other enters my breast. I draw up and shrink and on my skin the hide grows scaly; and of a man I am made a fish.

' The first of five versions of the topos of the locus amoenus in connection with Armida (cf. i4-S9ff.; 15.55!?.; i6.9ff.; 18.18-32; and see also Glossary, s.v. Circe). For the locus amoenus, see E. R. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, tr. Willard Trask (New York, 1953), I95ff.

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67

"So each of the others also was transformed, and darted with me in that sparkling silver. I call to mind now what I was then, as one recalls a meaningless confused and insubstantial dream. At last she was pleased to return to us our proper form, but we remained silent, between wonderment and fear. Whereupon with clouded face she speaks to us in this wise and saddens us: 68

-—Lo, my power is known to you (she says) and how complete a rule I have over you. From my will it depends, that one unhappy soul may lose the shining heavens in perpetual prison, another become a bird, another grow roots and germinate in the bosom of the earth; or that he be hardened into stone, or liquefied into a sliding fountain, or wear a shaggy front. 69

—You may indeed avoid my bitter wrath, if it suit you to do service at my pleasure; to make yourselves pagans and for our kingdom to wield your swords against the wicked Bouillon.—They all refused and abhorred the shameful pact; only Rambaldo does she persuade to it. She bound us in fetters (for no defense availed) within a cave, where there is nothing that shines. 70

"Then Tancred came by chance to the same castle; and he too was made prisoner. The false sorceress held us in prison but a short while; and (if I understood the truth of it) a messenger from the ruler of Damascus got permission from that wicked woman to take us with him. And he was transporting us, unarmed and in chains, amid a hundred men-at-arms as a gift to Egypt's king. 71

"We were travelling thus, and (as Heaven's high providence ordains and disposes) the good Rinaldo, who ever the more advances his fame with fresh and sublime exploits, encounters us and attacks the men-at-arms our

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guards, and makes his customary proofs: he kills and masters them, and has us put on their armor, that had been ours before. 72

"I saw him, and these men saw him; and it was his hand he extended to us, and his voice we heard. False is the rumor that echoes here and brings such gloomy news, and safe is his life: and today is the third day since he took his leave of us to go to Antioch, guided by a pilgrim. And first he laid aside his armor,6 that was hacked and bloodied." 73

So he spoke. And meanwhile the Hermit was turning to Heaven the one and the other eye. He does not maintain one color, one countenance: oh how much more holy and venerable now he shines! Filled with God, ravished by zeal, he is conveyed to the presence of the angelic Intelligences; the future is unveiled to him, and he delves deep into the eternal procession of the years and the ages. 74

And loosing his tongue in nobler tones he discloses to the others things that are yet to come. All being turned to him, they stand attentive to his appearance, to the sound of the unaccustomed voice. "Rinaldo lives (he says): and the other things are the tricks and lies of feminine deceit; he lives; and Heaven is reserving for riper glories his immature youthful life. 75

"Presages only and the labors of a boy are these, by which already Asia knows him and repeats his name. Lo, I see clearly, as the years run on, that he opposes the wicked Augustus, and masters him; and under the shadow of her silver wings his eagle covers the Church and Rome, that she will have snatched from the talons of the beast: and sons well worthy of him will be born.

5

Tasso remembers to have this action corroborated and explained at 14.508°.

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76

"Sons from those sons, and they who will come from them will have from him famous and memorable examples; and they will defend the mitres and the holy temples from unjust Caesars and from rebels too. Their arts shall be these: to repress the proud, and raise up the weak, to defend the innocent and to punish the guilty. So it will come that the Eagle of Este flies beyond the roadways of the sun. 77

"And right it is (if she gazes upon the truth and the light) that she wield for Peter7 the deadly thunderbolts. Where the field is fought for Christ, there should her plumes be always displayed invincible and triumphant: for Heaven grants her that, by her innate noble custom and by fatal decree. Wherefore it is their pleasure up there above that he come back, recalled, to this lofty enterprise that he has left." 78 Here, overcome by his subject, the wise Peter falls silent, entranced, and his heart in his reverend face discourses matters too mighty, of the noble Estensian valor, beside which every other is displeasing. Meanwhile Night is rising and spreads her black veil through the air and takes the broad earth in her embrace. The others depart and yield their limbs to sleep, but his thoughts8 within him are unable to find repose.

7 The eagle (of Este), who is able to gaze into the sun (cf. 8.49), and thus also Rinaldo, whose impresa is the eagle, and the Este dukes, his descendants. For the eagle's gazing into the sun, see Florence McCulloch, Mediaeval Latin and French Bestiaries (Chapel Hill, 1960), 114. The general sense of Peter Hermit's speech is a prophecy that Rinaldo's descendants will support the papal party of Guelphs against the Ghibellines of the Holy Roman Empire. See Introd., pp. xiii-xv. " The antecedent is, of course, Godfrey—as is perfectly clear in the rejected stanza from which Tasso salvaged this closing couplet. For extensive revisions at the close of Canto Ten, see Angelo Solerti's critical edition of the text (Florence, 1895), 2.391-93.

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Canto Eleven

T H E

A R G U M E N T

The Crusaders celebrate public mass on Mt. Olivet—They prepare to assault the city (19)—Clorinda, Solyman, and Argantes lead the defense (41)—Godfrey is wounded (54) and miraculously healed (72)—Night ends the assault on the city (82).

C A N T O

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i

But the Captain of the Christian army, having turned his every thought to the assault, was going about making ready his instruments of war when the solitary Peter came to him; and when he had drawn him aside, he spoke to him, venerable and severe, in language such as this: "You move, O Captain, your terrestrial arms; but you do not begin where it is fitting. 2

"From Heaven be our beginning; first invoke in sincere and public prayers the militia of the angels and the saints, that it (which is able) may obtain for us the victory: let the clergy in holy vestments go before and sing in pious harmony their suppliant notes; and from you, their great and glorious leaders, let the common crowd learn piety and go with you." 3 So speaks the rigorous hermit and the good Godfrey approves his sage advice. "Servant (he answers), to Jesus well-pleasing, it gives me pleasure to follow your counsel. Now while I invite the leaders to come with me, do you seek out the shepherds of the people, William and Adhemar, and yours be the care of the holy and reverent procession." 4

On the following morning the old man gathers, along with the two great priests, others and lesser where they were wont to celebrate the divine rites amid the sacred precincts within the stockade. There the others donned white raiment, the two shepherds donned the gilded mantle that in two halves above their white linens is buckled to the breast; and they set their crowns on their hair.

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Peter goes in front alone, and spreads to the wind the symbol revered in Paradise; and the choir follows, with solemn step and slow, divided into two long columns. Alternately they made a double harmony, with suppliant singing and with humble countenance; and closing up their ranks went side by side the princes William and Adhemar. 6 Then came Bouillon, also (as is the custom for a captain) with no companion at his side: the leaders followed by twos, and (not disordered) the host followed them under arms for their defense. Thus the assembled people issued in procession out of the enclosure of the trenches. Nor were diere trumpets heard, or odier warlike sounds, but only tones of piety and humility. 7 Thee Father, Thee Son equal to die Fadier, and Thee, that hath Thy being from both united in loving, and Thee O Virgin Modier of Man and God, diey invoke to be propitious to their desires; O Captains, and you that move in triple ranks the shining hosts of Heaven; O Divine, and you that washed in the fountain the unspotted humanity of the divine brow, 8 you they invoke; and you that are rock and foundation firm and strong of die house of God, where now your worthy latest successor is opening die gates of grace and pardon;1 and the odier evangelists of the Heavenly Kingdom, who spread the news of die victorious death; and diey that followed to confirm the truth, the witnesses through blood and martyrdom: 9 those too whose pen or speech has taught the way to Heaven when it was lost; and die beloved and faithful handmaiden of Christ who chose the good of die nobler way of life;2 and die virgins cloistered in chaste cell whom God with exalted nuptials espouses to Himself; and those odiers, magnanimous amid their tortures, despisers of kings and nations. 1 The "latest successor" to the See of Peter is Gregory XIII, who proclaimed a Year of Jubilee in 1575. In Tasso's century every twenty-fifth year was a Year of Jubilee. ' The contemplative, as opposed to the active way of life. See Luke 10:38-42, and 8.45n.

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IO

Singing thus, the devout populace dispreads itself and extends in widening circles and steers toward Olivet its slow progress, the mountain that takes its name from its olive trees; a mountain known to the world through holy fame, that on the east rises opposite the walls, from which it is only kept separate and apart by deep Jehosaphat that lies between. n

Thither proceeds the chanting army, and the deep and low-lying vales resound and the lofty hills and their caves, and from a thousand places Echo makes her answer; and almost it seems that a woodland choir is hidden amid those caves and in that foliage, so clearly was heard repeated now the great name of Christ, and now of Mary. 12

Meanwhile upon the walls the pagans stand quiet and astonished to marvel at those slow windings and the humble chant, and the unaccustomed displays and strange rituals. Then when the novelty of the holy spectacle wore off, the wretched profane raised their outcries, and with blasphemies and insults the torrent bellowed, and the deep valley, and the mountain. 13 But the people of Jesus do not for that fall silent from their soft chaste melody, nor turn toward those shouts or take more heed of them than they would of a flock of chattering birds; nor do they fear that because they loose some arrows they will succeed in disturbing their holy peace from so far away. Hence they are easily able to carry to their end the sacred hymns begun. 14 Then on the summit of the mountain they adorn the altar, that for the priest is his great banquet5s table; and luminous on its either side appears the holy flame, ablaze in gleaming gold. There William takes other vestments, likewise gilded and precious, and first in silence meditates, then with ringing sound sets forth his voice, accuses himself, and gives God thanks, and prays.

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About him the nobles listen in humility; those further off at least watch fixedly. But, when he had celebrated the high mysteries of the unspotted sacrifice—Go—he said; and extending his priesdy hand above die heads of the warrior people, he gave the benediction. Then the pious squadrons made dieir return by the paths they trod before. 16

When they were arrived within the stockade and their order disbanded, Godfrey returns to his tent; and a thick and trampling press accompanies him even to the threshold of his pavilion. There turning round he dismisses the rest; but the worthy Bouillon keeps the leaders with him, and gathers them at his table and desires that the aged Count of Toulouse be seated opposite him. 17

When importunate thirst and the natural desire for food had been repressed in them, the great Leader said to his leaders: "At the new dawning you will all be ready for the assault; that will be the day for warfare and sweat, this for quiet and preparation. Therefore let each man go off to his rest, and then make ready himself and his soldiers." 18

They took their leave: and then the heralds with blare of trumpets made proclamation that with the first light every soldier should be in arms prepared and ready. So this day was devoted in part to recreation and in part to tasks and to thought, until the quiet night the friend of rest made a fresh truce with toil. 19

Still doubtful was the dawn and unmatured the birth of day in the East; the hard plowshare clove not yet the earth, nor shepherd yet was making return to the meadows; among the branches each bird remained secure and in the forest was heard no sound of dog or hunter's horn, when the morning trumpet begins to sing 'To arms"—'To arms" the heavens echo.

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20

"To arms, to arms"—at once takes up the universal shout of a hundred squadrons. The mighty Godfrey rises, and now does not take up his usual heavy cuirass or his greaves. He puts on other, and resembles a footsoldier in armor most maneuverable and light. And already he had on his back its easy weight when the good Raymond came up to him. 21

He, seeing his captain armored in such fashion, understood his intention: "Where is your hauberk (he said) heavy and massive? Where, my lord, is your other steel-clad harness? Why are you partly unarmed? I give him no praise that goes with so weak defenses. Now from such signs in you I find argument that you are intent on an ordinary aim for glory.3 22

"Ah! what are you seeking? the private palm of sealer of the walls? Let some other climb up, and expose in battle a soul less estimable and useful (for him, a proper risk): you, my lord, take up the accustomed weight, and take due care of yourself for our own good. Your soul, the mind of the army and its life, should be for God's sake carefully preserved." 23 Here he is silent; and he responds: "Know now that when in Clermont the mighty Urban buckled on this sword for me, and by his all-powerful hand made me oath-bound knight, tacitly I promised to God in a vow not merely this employment here as Captain, but also to use my arms and my powers there, if it happened so, as a private warrior. 24

"Now then, when all my troops will be set in order and launched against the enemy, and I shall have fulfilled completely the offices that belong of right to the head of the army, it is proper (and you, I trust, do not deny it)

!

Godfrey is rebuked for descending, as it were, to the "low" passion of aspiring to mortal glory. Tasso's AUegory emphasizes this stanza and the next as important to the meaning of his poem (Allegory, p. 473 below).

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that I too go up to the walls in combat, and keep my promised faith with Heaven: let Heaven guard me and keep me."4 25

So he concluded; and the Prankish knights followed his example, and the two lesser Bouillons. The others princes also partly adopted armor less heavy, and appeared like infantry. But meanwhile the pagans had climbed up where the wall (the less secure from being on easier ground) turns toward the seven chill plough oxen,' and bends to the west. 26

Since elsewhere the city fears no damage from the enemy assault, here the wicked tyrant gathers together not only the mercenaries and the citizens' bands, but the extremity of fortune summons to their utmost exertions even the children and old men, who carry to the hardier souls quicklime and sulphur and pitch and stones and arrows. 27

And they have filled beforehand with machines and armed men all that wall that the plain lies under: and from one side looms the Sultan, from his waist up, in the shape of a fearsome giant; from another the menacing Argantes towers between the battlements and is discovered from afar; and, upon the tallest tower Angolar, above them all Clorinda appears on high. 28

Her quiver and its heavy weight of sharpened arrows hangs down her back. Already she has taken her bow in her hand, and already has the arrow on the string and is bending it; and anxious to strike a blow, the beautiful archeress waits in the passage for her enemies. So once they believed the virgin of Delos shot arrows from heaven amid the lofty clouds.

* For Godfrey's wounding (where he was lightly armored), and Heaven's intervention in his cure, see below 11.54,7zff. 5 The polar constellation which we call Charles's Wain, or Ursa Major, i.e., to the north.

CANTO E L E V E N

2J9

29

Farther down the experienced old king goes hastily on foot from one gate to another, and atop the walls he prudently reviews what he gave orders for before, and heartens their defenders and reassures them, and here reinforces the troops and there provides for a larger supply of weapons, and takes care of everything. But the tearful matrons are gone to the temple to renew their prayers to their false and impious divinity. 30

"Ah, shatter the Prankish pirate's lance, O Lord, with your hand mighty and just, and beat down him who insulted your great name so, and scatter him under our lofty gates." So they spoke; and their words were never heard down there amid the lamentation of the eternal death. Now, while the city makes ready and says its prayers, the worthy Bouillon disposes his troops and weapons. 3i

He sets out his host of infantry with much foresight and splendid art, and before the wall that he is proposing to assault divides it into two columns, on the oblique. His catapults he sets right opposite in the middle, and his other fearful ordnances of Mars—from which like thunderbolts now stones, now spears are launched against the battlemented parapets. 32

And he places his cavalry on guard behind the infantry, and dispatches the light cavalry here and there. Then he gives the signal for combat. And so numerous are the archers and the slingers, and the weapons flying from the siege machines, that among their battlements the defenders are diminished: one man is dead, another abandons his post: already less thick is the crown upon the wall. 33 The Prankish soldiery then, headlong and swift, increase their pace as much as they can; and one part joins together shield with shield and makes of them a covering for their heads, and one part takes cover under the machines that make a shelter against the hailing of stones; and arriving at the

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moat they try to fill its emptiness and depth, and make it level with the plain. 34

The moat was not soft with water or swampy slime (since the nature of the region does not permit that), so that although it is wide and deep the stones and faggots and trees and turfs fill it up. Meanwhile the bold Alcasto first uncovers his head and raises a ladder; and the harsh hailing, or rain of boiling pitch, restrains him not, and up he climbs. 35

The fierce Switzer having climbed high was seen to have completed half his aerial journey—the target for a thousand arrows, and not so much harmed by any that he ceased from his bold course—when a rounded stone, and of great weight, as swift as if it had issued from a cannon, catches him on the helmet and lays him low: and the blow comes from the Circassian slinger. 36

Not mortal, but grievous are the blow and the fall, so that he is stunned, and lies an unmoving weight. Argantes then, in a voice savage and clear: 'The first is fallen, now who will come up second? Why do you not come out for the open assault, O sheltered soldiers, since I am not hiding myself? Your strange caves will be of no avail to you; but you shall die in them, like beasts in their dens." 37

So he speaks; and the hidden troops do not give over for his speaking, and in their hollow shelters and under their shields aloft, united and closecompacted they endure the arrows and the heavy weights: then they bring close up against the walls their battering rams, huge machines and timbers of immoderate size, that have a head like a ram, iron-clad and hard: the gates are fearful of their butting, and the lofty walls.

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3«

Meanwhile a mighty mass is cast down on them from above by a hundred hands ready at great need, that falls ruinously on the turtle shell6 where it is densest, and it seems that a mountain is making a landslide there; and, once the joining of the shields is shattered, more than one helmet is broken and more than one head; and the earth is stained and strewn with weapons, with blood, with brains and bones. 39

Then the attacker no longer takes shelter under the cover of his machines; but comes forth out of blind perils into open risk, and makes his valor plain. One sets up ladders and makes the steep climb; another in rivalry hews at the foundations. The wall sways and its supports, already worn, show ruinous before the Prankish assault. 40

And indeed it would have fallen before the terrible blows that the attacking ram redoubles against it, except that the populace from their battlements defend it with an experienced skill and knowledge of war; for wherever the great beam is launched against it, they let down bundles of wool and interpose them: the yielding and pliant material absorbs the blows in itself and makes them milder. 4i

While with such valor the hardy troops were locked in the battle for the wall, Clorinda seven times bent and seven released her bow and sped from it her arrow; and as often as her arrows went flying down, so often feathers and steel were dyed in blood—not with the blood of commoners, but of the worthiest, for that proud maiden scorns an ignoble target.

6 The turtle-shell refers to the shield-cover described in the preceding stanza. The word testuggine translates Latin testudo, familiar to the Renaissance as a Roman military tactic.

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42 The first knight-at-arms that she wounded was the younger son of the English king. He had scarcely exposed his head outside his shelter when the deadly blow descended on him; and the steel gauntlet in no way prevented its piercing his right hand, so that disabled for using weapons he retires groaning, and less for pain than anger. 43

On the bank of the moat the good Count of Amboise, and on his ladder then Clothar the Frank: the former died with breast and back transfixed, the latter pierced through from one side to the other. The lord of the Flemings was pushing the battering ram, when his left hand is struck, so that he slackens off and then tries to pull out the arrow, and the iron remains in his flesh. 44

For incautious Adhemar, who from afar had turned to watch the fierce struggle, the fatal reed arrives, and pierces his forehead. He is reaching his hand to the place where he caught the blow when lo, comes a second arrow on top of his hand and nails it to his face—so that he falls and makes with his holy blood an ample consecration of a woman's weapons. 45

But for Palamedes, not far from the battlements, while in his boldness he despises all danger, and is setting his foot upon the steep-angled rungs, the seventh point falls on his right eye; and piercing through the hollow socket and the sinews of the eye, it comes out crimsoned through the nape of his neck: he falls headlong, and dies at the foot of the fortress he assailed. 46

In such manner she shoots. Meanwhile Godfrey presses the defenders with a fresh assault. He had brought to a side gate the tallest of his machines. This is a wooden tower and rises high enough to be level with the top of the walls: a tower which (even though armored and laden with men) has mobility on her wheels, and is dragged forward.

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47

The moveable mass comes firing spears and arrows, and draws as close as she can: and as is the custom in battle, ship with ship, she tries to attach herself to the opposing wall; but those who are guarding the wall and want to block that, strike at her front and her either side, push her back with spears, and batter with stones now her battlements and now her wheels. 48

From this side and that so many stones, so many arrows were launched that they darken the sky. Two clouds collided in the air, and sometimes the javelin was hurled back there from whence it came. As the branches are stripped of their leaves by the rain that the chill cold hardens, and the unripe fruits fall too, so fell the Saracens from the walls, 49

since the damage descends more heavily on them, who were far less furnished with steel. Moreover, a part of those left living take to flight, dismayed at the thundering of the mighty mass. But he who had formerly been the prince of Nicaea remains there, and makes the less courageous remain with him; and fierce Argantes, snatching up a timber, runs up to oppose himself to the enemy tower. SO

And he drives her back from himself and holds her away as far as his timber is long, and his arm of power. The princely maiden descends there too, and makes herself the consort of their perils. Meanwhile, the Franks cut away with long-handled hooks the ropes and cords from the hanging wool, which falling to earth left the wall disarmed for battle. Si

So the tower above, and further down the surging rugged ram batters the wall, which pierced and broken now begins to discover its inward secret ways. The Captain has made his way not far from the shaken and trembling barrier, completely protected behind his great shield, which it has been his practise seldom to use.

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And warily looking about he reconnoiters, and sees Solyman descending down below and placing himself for defense where die perilous passage was opened among die ruins; and Clorinda and the Circassian knight remaining on guard at the upper approach. So he looked about, and then felt his heart all on fire with generous heat. 53

So that turning he says to die good Sigier who was carrying his bow and anodier shield: "Now hand me, my faithful squire, this less heavy and burdensome weight; for I shall try to be first to make good the dubious passage over the broken stones: and time it is that now some noble exploit of my valor be discovered." 54

He had scarcely spoken so, exchanging shields, when an arrow came winging upon him and caught him in the leg and pierced it in its most sensitive part, where die pain is sharpest. Fame tells, Clorinda, diat the blow came from your hand, and yours alone is die honor of it; if this day your pagan nation avoids slavery and death, let it be ascribed to you. 55

But that bravest of heroes, as if he does not feel die deadly pain of die wound, refuses to slacken his step from the course he has begun, and climbs over die rubble and invites die odiers. But then he becomes aware diat die leg is not supporting him, too badly hurt and crippled, and that by his exertions there he is making the anguish worse; so that at last perforce he leaves die assault. 56

And beckoning to him with his hand the valiant Guelph, he said to him: "I am forced to leave; you hold die office of captain, and supply the defect of my absence. But I shall be gone only a little while; I go, and I return." And having said that, he departed; and mounting a swift horse he is unable to get to the stockade without being seen.

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57

Upon the Captain's departure, the Prankish fortune departs, and concedes the field. On the other side their vigor increases, hope rises up and refreshes their spirits; and in the hearts of the faithful, when the favor of Mars fails them, their drive and daring fails; each man's sword more slowly runs toward blood, and the sound of the very trumpets languishes. 58

And now no longer slow to appear on the battlements is the fugitive crowd that fear had chased from them; and beholding the gallant maiden, a true love of country arms the womenfolk: you can see them come running and place themselves on guard with scattered locks and gowns tucked up, and hurl darts and show no fear of exposing their breasts for their beloved walls. 59

And what puts most fear in the Franks, and takes it away from the city's defenders, is that the mighty Guelph falls stunned (and both the one people and the other are aware of it). One stone amid thousands his fortune singles out, and guides its course through a long journey: and at the same instant Raymond is caught by a similar blow, from which he too falls low. 60

And then the bold Eustace too was grievously thrust through, on the brink of the moat. Nor at this critical moment for the Franks is any blow launched against them by their enemies (who were launching a multitude), by which body is not disjoined from soul, or at least wounded. And waxing yet more savage in such prosperity the Circassian lifts up his voice: 61

'This is not Antioch; and this is not the night, friendly to the deceptions of the Christians. Look you, the sun is bright, the populace awake, another form of war and other methods. Does then no further spark remain in you of your love of praise and booty, that you give over so quickly and are weary from a brief assault—O ye, not Prankish men, but Prankish women?"

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So he speaks; and in his fury the bold knight so much inflames himself that that spacious city which he is defending appears to him no ample field for his daring; and with huge bounds he hurls himself to where the wall is cleft and the breach makes an entrance, and occupies the passage, and meanwhile shouts to Solyman whom he saw to one side: 6?

"Solyman, lo the place, and lo the hour that will be the judge of our valor. Why are you holding back? or what do you fear? now over there, outside, let him seek the sovereign prize who most desires it." So he spoke; and the one and the other then came headlong forth to the proof; the one by rage, the other by honor haled on, and by the savage invitation spurred. 64 Unforeseen and unexpected they lighted upon their enemies and displayed themselves in rivalry; and so many men by them were slain, and shields and helmets scattered and pounded to pieces, and ladders broken and rams cut short, that it seemed that almost a mountain is made of them, and heaped together in the ruins they raised a lofty barrier in place of the one that had fallen. 65 The troops that just before were eager to climb up to the lofty prize of the mural crown7 seem little disposed—not merely for aspiring now to enter the city, but even for their own defense; and they give way to the new assault and abandon as prey to the wraths of the two warriors their siege machines, that now will be of small use for another battle, such is the fury that smites and batters them. 66 Now both the pagans more and more run wild as their impetus carries them; then call to the citizens for fire, and carry two flaming pine trees to-

7

A good example of Tasso's deliberate use of a Latinism. The Romans awarded the prize of a golden crown to the first soldier to surmount an enemy wall. Cf. ly.pin.

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ward the tower. Even so the evil sisters,8 Pluto's ministers, are wont to issue from the gates of Tartarus, and to turn the world upside down, brandishing their torches and their snakes. 67 But the invincible Tancred, who in another quarter was exhorting his Latins to the assault, as soon as he saw their incredible deeds and the twin flame, and the two great pines, cuts short his words and quickly moves to bridle the fury of the Saracens, and of his valor gives such dreadful token that he who had been winning and putting to flight, now loses and flees. 68 So now here the state of the battle turns on the variance of fortune; and meanwhile the wounded Captain already has reached the shelter of his great pavilion with the good Sigier, with Baldwin at his side, in a thick concourse of sorrowful companions. Impatient, and striving to get the arrow out of the wound, he breaks off the shaft; 69 and desires them to take the nearest and readiest way for his treatment, to lay open every corner of the wound and cut and trim at will. "Send me back to the battle, that it be not finished along with the daylight before I am returned to it." So he speaks; and gripping the oaken shaft of a mighty spear, he offers his leg to the steel. 70 And old Erotimus then, who was born on the banks of the Po, busies himself about his healing: he who knew thoroughly every virtue, every use of herbs and sovereign waters. Dear he was to the Muses too, but contented himself with the lesser glory of the silent arts. His care was only to snatch from death frail bodies, and yet he had skill to make their names immortal. 7i The Captain stands, propped up, and with steadfast countenance he chafes, unmoved by the sorrowing. The doctor, with robe tucked up and clothing * See Glossary, s.v. Alecto.

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pushed back from his arms, gendy and deftly seeks in vain to draw out the arrow, now with powerful herbs and now with his skillful hands: and he tents the wound with his finger, and with the gripping steel tries to get a hold, and accomplishes nothing. 72

It seems that in no way fortune smiles on his design or favors his arts; and the bitter suffering rises to such pitch in die wounded hero that it almost murders him. Now here his guardian angel, moved at his undeserved grief, plucked dittany on Ida: a downy-leaved herb with purple flower, that has a mighty strength in its tender leaves. 73

And Nature, the great teacher, teaches its hidden virtue to the mountain goats when they are stricken and the winged arrow is sticking fast in their flank. This in a single moment the angel has fetched back, although from regions far away, and infuses its juice, unseen, into the medicinal waters of the basins standing ready;

74

and mingles there the sacred waters of the Lydian spring, and odorous panacea. The old man bathes the wound with it and of its own will the arrowhead comes out, and the bleeding is staunched; and already die pain leaves the leg, and its strength increases. Then cries Erotimus: "Not my mortal hand, nor learned science is curing you; 75

"a greater virtue redeems you: an angel, I do believe, become a physician for you, has descended to earth, for I see the tokens of a heavenly hand. Take up your weapons—why do you linger?—and return to the batde." Eager for combat the worthy Godfrey already is wrapping his legs in die royal purple, and fastening them; and he brandishes his mighty lance, and puts on his arm the shield laid down before, and laces his helmet.

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76

He issued from the enclosed stockade and turned his course, with a thousand behind him, toward the stricken city. Above, the sky was covered with dust; beneath, earth trembled, shaken by their going. And from on high the enemy people watched him drawing near from far away, and a cold chill ran through their marrow, and congealed their blood to ice. Three times he raised his battle cry to Heaven. 77

His people recognize the ringing voice, and the cry that spurs them on to battle; and gaining again their swift momentum, they hurl themselves yet again into the fray. But now the savage pagan pair have taken their stand in the breach of the wall, stubbornly defending the riven passage from the good Tancred and those who come with him. 78

Here the Prankish Captain arrives, scornful and threatening, encased in armor; and the moment he arrives he launches his ironbound lance like a thunderbolt at fierce Argantes. No siege machine can boast of hurling a spear with any more force. The knotty beam goes singing through the air; Argantes opposes his shield to it, and fears nothing. 79

The shield is split by the piercing ash, nor yet does the hard cuirass sustain it, for it breaks through all his armor and finally arrives to drink his Saracen blood. But the Circassian plucks the sticking steel out of his armor and his veins (and does not feel the pain), and hurls it back at Godfrey, saying 'To you I send your shaft again, and restore you your weapons." 80

The spear, which carries first the injury and then its vengeance, flies and flies again the familiar route: but it fails to strike the one to whom it is aimed: for he bends down and removes his head from the blow. It catches the faithful Sigier, who receives the steel deep in his throat: nor does it grieve him to leave the light of day, dying in the stead of his beloved leader.

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81 Almost at that instant Solyman smites with a stone the Norman knight;9 and he is twisted and shaken by the blow and falls down, spinning like a top. Now Godfrey can no longer contain his wrath at such outrages, and grips his sword and climbs up on the confused heap of rubble, and now he takes the fight in close. 82

And truly there would he have accomplished marvellous things, and bitter and deadly struggles would have followed; but Night came forth and hid the world under the cloudy waving of her wings, and interposed her peaceful shades among so many wraths of wretched mortals: so mat Godfrey gave over, and turned back. Such ending had this bloody day. 83 But before die worthy Bouillon gives up die field he has diem carry home the sick and languishing; nor yet does he abandon as prey to his enemies what is left of his siege machines. It even turns out that die great tower comes back safe, the primary terror of the enemy, for all that she is riven and pounded on every side by die horrible tempest. 84 Escaped from great dangers she comes, in die end arriving at a place of safety. But as sometimes the ship that runs die tempestuous sea under full sail, and scorns the waves, then later in sight of port splits open her hull either on the shoals or on the deceitful reefs; or as a horse makes his journey over perilous roads and close to die welcome shelter stumbles and falls: 85 so stumbles die tower, and on that side that she exposed to die battering of the stones, she breaks two weakened wheels, so that she stops in her tracks, in impending collapse. But the detail diat is bringing her in puts under her supports and props, and remains widi her until the ready-handed carpenters gather around, healing the damage from her every wound.

' Robert of Normandy, see 1.38.

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So commands Godfrey, who gave orders that she be repaired before the next sunrise; and occupying the roads on this side and that he sets out guards around her towering bulk. But the sound of the artisans' tools and their orders could be heard clearly back in the city, and the thousand flaming torches could be seen; from which it all was known, or apprehended.

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Canto Twelve

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Clorinda decides to burn Godfrey's siege machines at midnight—Aladine permits Argantes to join her (9)—Her eunuch tells Clorinda the story of her Christian birth and pagan upbringing (20)—They burn the siege machines and flee to the city (45)—Clorinda is shut out (48)—Tancred trails her (51) and they battle to the death (53)—They dying Clorinda is baptized by Tancred (65), who almost dies of grief (70)—He is rebuked by Peter the Hermit (85) and consoled by Clorinda in a dream (91)—Argantes vows revenge (100).

C A N T O

T W E L V E

i It was night, and yet the weary people took no rest in sleep; but here the Franks stood alertly on guard, watching over the carpenters' work, and there the pagans went about reinforcing their shaky and collapsing defenses, and making whole again the walls that had been breached; and common to both was the care of the wounded men. 2

At last the wounds were bound up and some of their night-time tasks completed, and now the shadows grown more dark and silent (slowing their pace at their other tasks) invite them to sleep. Yet to the valiant warrior maid her spirit starved and famished for honor grants no quiet and demands action where another stops. Argantes is with her, and she says to herself alone: 3

"Indeed today the king of the Turks and valiant Argantes accomplished marvels wonderful and strange, for they issued forth single amid so many troops and tore apart the Christians' siege machines. I from above and sheltered1 (this is the high honor for which I may make my vaunt) wielded my weapons from afar—an archeress very fortunate, I do not deny. Is then a woman allowed only this much and no more? 4 "How much better in wood or on mountain to loose my bolts and quarrels against the animals, than to show myself here where manly valor is displayed, a damsel among knights! Why do I not resume my feminine garb, if that is what I am worth, and shut myself in my chamber?" So she talks to herself; she considers, and at last resolves on great things and turns to the warrior: 1

Clorinda evidently ignores her descent to the breach (11.50, 52,54).

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5 "It is quite some time, my lord, that my restless mind has been revolving within itself I know not what daring and unheard-of scheme: whether God inspires it, or man makes for himself his God out of his own will. Look at those torches ablaze outside the enemy's stockade. I shall go there with fire and steel, and burn the tower. I mean that result to follow—then Heaven may take care of the rest. 6

"But if it shall come to pass that my fortune shuts off the passage for my return, I leave to you the care of a man who is a father to me in affection, and of my dear handmaidens. Find the means to send into Egypt the sorrowing maidens and the tired old man. Do it, my lord, for the love of God: for that sex and that age are truly worthy of pity." 7 Argantes is stunned; and he feels his breast smitten with the sharp spurs of glory. "You would go there (he answered) and leave me here forgotten, among the common herd? and I from a safe position am to have the pleasure of watching the smoke and blazing sparks? No no; if I have been your companion in arms, I mean to continue so, in glory and in death. 8

"I too have a heart that holds death in scorn and thinks that life is well exchanged for honor." "Of diat (she said) you gave eternal witness with your so daring sally. Yet I am a woman and my death no way results in damage to die beleaguered city: but if you fall (Heaven remove the auguries)/ now who will there be who can longer defend die walls?" 9 The knight replied: "Vainly you offer empty excuses against my unshakeable will. I shall follow in your footsteps if you take me widi you; but if you reject me, I shall run before you." Agreed, diey go to the king,

1 The Latimsm here is a kind of free imitation ofAeneid 12.41, with a general sense of "Heaven forbid."

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who (amid his leaders and his wisest men) received them and was closeted with them. Clorinda began: "O sire, give ear to what we wish to say, and take it in good part. 10 "Argantes here (and his boast will not be vain) promises to burn that towering machine. I shall be with him: and we are waiting only until a deeper weariness charm them into sleep." The king raised up his palms and tears of joy ran down over his wrinkled cheeks, and he said: "Praise be to Thee that turnest thine eyes upon thy servants, and preserves! my kingdom still. ii

"Nor yet will it fall so soon if such brave spirits now live for its defense. But what can I give you, honored pair—whether praises or gifts—that is equal to your merits? Let Fame sing your praises with the immortal notes of glory, and fill the world with the sound. Your deed itself is its own reward, and a partial reward for you will be no little part of my kingdom." 12 So speaks the hoary monarch and presses now this one now that one tenderly to his breast. The Sultan, who is present and does not disguise the spirited envy with which he is rilled, spoke out: "Nor is this sword buckled on in vain: I shall come along with you, or at least but little behind."—"Ah (answered Clorinda) are we all to go on this mission? and if you are coming, who is remaining?" 13 So she spoke: and Argantes was also preparing to reject him with proud refusal; but the king prevented him and spoke first to Solyman with placid countenance: "Indeed, magnanimous warrior, you have always shown yourself like yourself, who were never dismayed by any shape of danger, nor ever weary of making war. 14 "And I know that in going outside you would accomplish deeds worthy of yourself: but it seems to me not fitting that all go forth and none remain within, of you that are the most renowned in battle. And I would not give

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my consent that these should go (for dieir blood is surely worthy of being spared) if either the deed were less profitable, or it seemed to me that it could be done by some odier. 15 "But since die great tower has guards for its defense so diick on every side that it can be done no harm by a few of my soldiers (and die time is not right to sally forth with many), let the pair go with good fortune diat have offered diemselves for die lofty enterprise, and have many times found themselves in similar peril: for indeed diey are such that they can do more alone than a thousand together. 16 "You, I pray, as is die more befitting your royal rank, stand in readiness by die gates with die odiers, and when thereafter diey are making their return (as I have good hope) and have lit die fires, if a troop of die enemy comes in dieir pursuit, repel it and save and defend diis pair." So spoke die one ruler; and the other remained silent at his speech, but not at all content. 17 Then Ismen added: "May it please you to await a later hour for your sallying forth, until I can prepare a mixture of various blends diat will catch hold of the enemy machine and burn it. Perhaps at diat time it may be diat a part of the detail that surrounds it and guards it will be sleeping." That was agreed; and each one in his chambers awaits die suitable time for die great exploit. 18 Clorinda lays aside her garments laced widi silver, and her decorated helmet and brave armor, and without plume or trim she clothes herself in others (unlucky omen!) rusty and black, for in these she diinks she may easily go hidden among die enemy bands. Her eunuch Arsetes is there, who raised her as a child from the swaddling bands and the cradle, 19 and hauling his withered flanks in her footsteps everywhere, he followed her still. He sees die changed armor and knows die great danger too where

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she was going and is grieved by it and urgently prays, by the hair that he has turned white in her service and by the holy memory of his offices, that she give over the enterprise; and she denies him. 20 So that at last he said to her: "Since your stubborn mind is so hardened in its bad counsel that it takes no heed, either of my weary age or loving affection, nor of my prayers nor plaints, I shall unfold to you some further matters; and you shall know a fact about your condition that has been hidden from you: then your desire may guide you, or my counsel." He continues; and she, attentive, raises to him her eyes. 21

'There ruled of old with fortunate sway in Ethiopia (and perhaps he rules there still) Senapus, who obeys the law of the son of Mary,' and his black populace obeys it too. In that place I was a pagan slave and involved in womanish employment among the flocks of handmaidens, being appointed minister to the royal queen, who is black to be sure, but her blackness cannot take away her beauty. 22

"Her husband burns for her, and matches the fire of his love with the ice of his jealousy. Little by little the foolish passion continues increasing in his tormented breast in such fashion that he hides her away from every man and in a cloistered place would even conceal her from the multitudinous eyes of heaven. She, being meek and wise, makes her own peace and pleasure of whatever pleases her lord. 23 "Her room was painted with a tale of piety and with figures of devotion. A virgin—her lovely face white and her cheeks crimson—is bound there, close by a dragon. A knight-at-arms4 is striking the monster with his lance; the beast lies slain in his own blood. There she often kneels and confesses her secret sins, and weeps and prays.

* For Christianity among black tribes in Africa, see Glossary, s.v. Meroe. St. George, protector of virgins.

4

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"Meanwhile she becomes pregnant, and brings forth a fair-complexioned daughter (and you were she). She is distraught, and marvels as much at the unusual color as at a strange monster. But because she knows the king and his rages, at last she decides to conceal the birth from him: for he from the whiteness that is seen in you would have argued no pure-white faith in her. 25

"And in your place she plans to show him a black child born a little before. And because the tower where she was shut in was inhabited only by her women and by me (who was her servant and loved her with sincere mind), to me she gave you, unbaptized; nor did she indeed have power to give you baptism at that time, for the custom of those regions does not permit it. 26 "Weeping she handed you to me and charged me that I should take you far away to be brought up. Who can recount her dismay, and in how many ways she made lament, and redoubled her last embraces? She bathed her kisses with tears and her lamentations were interrupted with her frequent sobs. At last she lifted up her eyes and said—O God, who seest the most hidden matters, and dwellest within my heart, 27 —as this heart is unspotted, as these limbs are untouched, and my marriage bed, I pray Thee (not for myself, for I have committed a thousand other faults, in Thine eyes I am vile) protect this innocent babe, whose mother denies her the milk from her maternal breast. Let her live, and resemble me only in her chastity: the model of her fortune let her take elsewhere. 28 —Do thou, O heavenly warrior, that rescued the lady from the wicked jaws of the dragon (if ever I lit on your altars a modest candle, if ever I placed there gold or incense sweet) do thou intercede for her, that as thy faithful handmaid she may find shelter with you in every fortune.—Here she fell silent; and her heart closed up and shrank within itself, and she was the color of pale death.

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29

"Weeping I took you up, and carried you out in a little basket, hidden amid flowers and leaves; I concealed you from everyone, so that I caused no suspicion about this, or any other matter. I went my way unrecognized; and travelling through a forest made shadowy with waving trees, I caught sight of a tigress coming at me,5 wrath and menace in her eyes. 30 "I climbed a tree and left you on the grass—such fear had seized my heart. The fearsome beast arrived and, turning her proud head, directed her gaze on you. She gentled and softened her harsh visage with expression courteous and mild; then slowly she draws near and caresses you with her tongue; and you laugh, and fondle her. ?i "And playing with her you confidently reach your little hand to her fierce muzzle. She offers you her dugs and arranges herself as does the wetnurse, and you take them. Meanwhile I am all agaze, fearful and uncertain, as a man would be, seeing strange and chilling prodigies. Then when the beast perceives that you have enough of her milk for now, she departs and reenters the forest. 32 "And I climb down and pick you up and direct my steps where they were bent before; and at last taking lodging in a little town, there I secretly put you out to nurse. I stayed there until the revolving sun had carried sixteen months to mortal men. You with your baby speech were as yet pronouncing indistinct words, and taking wavering steps. 33 "But being arrived at that point where advancing years begin to decline into old age, rich and replete with the gold that the queen with royal lavishness had given me at our parting, I had a desire to return from that pilgrim and wandering life to my native country, and to live among old friends in a place I loved, tempering the winter before my own hearthfire.

5

Cf. the tigress on Clorinda's helmet (2.38; 6.94,106; 12.18).

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"I leave; and taking you with me direct my course toward Egypt, where I was born; and I come to a torrent and am shut in between bandits on this side, and on that the river. What should I do? I do not want to leave you, my sweet and lovely burden, and I want to escape. I leap in to swim; and one hand cleaves the water, the other bears you up. 35

"The current is extremely swift, and in the middle the water turns back on itself and eddies about; but when I am arrived where it whirls and deepens most, it turns me about in a circle and draws me under. I abandon you then; but the water lifts you up and succors you, and over the water a favoring wind blows gently, and sets you down in safety on the soft sands: weary, gasping, I barely reach you thereafter. 36

"Joyfully I take you up; and later that night, when all things were in deep silence, I saw in a dream a warrior who held before my face in threatening guise the naked steel. Imperiously he spoke:—I give you the command that her mother earlier imposed on you, that you baptize the child. She is beloved of Heaven, and to me belongs her care. 37

—I keep her and defend her; I bestowed the spirit of pity on the wild beasts, and reason on the waters. Wretched are you, if you do not believe in your dream, for it is a messenger from Heaven.—And here he was silent. I woke and arose and moved my steps from there, even as the first light of day was born. But because I held my religion true, and the spirits false, I took no heed of your baptizing, 38

"nor of your mother's prayers. And so you were raised a pagan, and I concealed the truth from you. You grew; and daring and valorous in arms you overcame your sex, and very nature. You gained fame and acquired lands and what your life has been since, you know of yourself. And you know no

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less that I, at once a servant and a father, have followed you among the warring bands. 39

'Then yesterday at dawn, to my mind weighed down with a slumber deep and like unto death, the same vision presented itself in a dream, but with a face more clouded and a stronger voice.—Villain, behold (it said) the hour draws nigh that Clorinda must undergo change of her life and her fate. She will be mine, in spite of you, and yours will be the pain.—Thus he spoke and then took his flight through the air. 4P

"You hear then, my dear, how Heaven threatens you with strange mischances. I know not; perhaps it may be that to Heaven it is displeasing that anyone should make war against the faith of her parents. Perhaps it is the true faith. Ah! let it be your pleasure to lay aside these weapons and your daring spirit." Here he falls silent, and weeps; and she is pensive, and fearful; for another and similar dream is weighing down her heart. 4i

Clearing her countenance, at last she says to him: "I shall follow that faith that seems to me true at this moment, that once you caused me to drink in with my nurse's milk, and that now you wish to make me doubtful of. Nor shall I abandon out of fear (nor is that permitted the magnanimous heart) my enterprise and my weapons: not if I had before me Death in the fearfullest shape in which he terrifies mortal men." 42

Then she comforts him; and because the hour is approaching in which she must translate her boast into action she leaves, and is reunited with the warrior who intends to expose himself to the great danger along with her. Ismen joins them and exhorts and spurs that courage that of itself is running forward; and hands them two balls of sulphur and pitch, and torches hidden in a hollow vessel.

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They sally forth by night and stealthily, and go together down the hill with lengthy stride and quick, so that now they are near that sector where towers up the enemy machine. Their spirits are ablaze and their hearts are boiling, nor can they keep it all inside themselves. A fierce hatred is summoning them to fire, to blood. The guard calls out and asks them for the password. 44

They come ahead in silence; at which the guard re-echoes with loud voice 'To arms, to arms." But then the spirited pair no longer conceal themselves and are not slow in their course. Even as lightning bolt or cannon thunders forth and explodes in one second along with the flash, it was only one second to move and to arrive, to attack the formation, to break it open and enter. 45

And it happens perforce that amid a thousand weapons and a thousand blows their plan in the end succeeds. They discovered their concealed fire and quickly the sparks took hold of the flammable tinder, until it enwrapped the timbers and engulfed them. Who can tell how the flame goes twining and then increasing on every side? and how the thick smoke clouds the clear-shining countenance of the stars? 46

You can see balls of flame, obscured and shrouded by the swirls of smoke, flying up to heaven. The wind comes up and causes the fire to attain new strength and collect its scattered flames into one blaze. The great glow strikes the eyes of the Franks with terror and they are all quick to arm themselves. The mighty mass, so feared in battle, falls; and one brief hour brings down so long a work. 47

Meanwhile two Christian squadrons swiftly run up to the place where the blaze is rising. Argantes threatens "I shall quench that fire with your blood," and sets his face against them. Yet, keeping close to Clorinda, little by little he gives way, and retraces his steps to the summit of the mountain.

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The crowd increases, more than a torrent after a long rain, and presses them closely, and climbs with them. 48

The Golden Gate is open and thither is gone the king, surrounded by his populace in arms, to bring in the warriors from so great an exploit, if they have a fortune favoring their return. The two leap up to its threshold and right behind them the Prankish troop comes quickly flooding. But Solyman charges them and drives them back; and then the gate is closed, and Clorinda, alone, is shut out. 49

She was shut out alone because at the very instant that someone locked the gate she launched a charge, and ran outside, blazing and furious, to punish Arimon, who had struck her a blow. Punish him she did; and fierce Argantes had not yet become aware that she had been thus overlooked; for the struggle and the press and the thickened air took care from his heart, sight from his eyes. SO

But when in her enemy's blood she had cooled her mind enraged, and returned to herself, she saw the gates shut and herself surrounded by the foe, and at that she held herself dead. Yet, seeing that no one is eyeing her, she thought of a new way of saving herself. She pretends to be of their party, and quietly is mingled among the common sort, and there is none who marks her. 5i

Then (as the wolf makes silently for the woods after his secret crime and avoids the trail), favored and hidden by the confusion, by the darkened air, she departed. It happens that Tancred alone takes note of her. He had arrived there a little before, just when she was slaying Arimon. He saw it and marked her out and set after her.

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52 He wants to make proof of her in battle. He thinks her a man, one worth his matching in prowess. She goes winding about the mountainous ridge toward another gate where she plans to get in. He follows eagerly, so that before he comes up to her it chances that his armor makes a noise so that she turns and cries out "You, what do you bring, diat you are hasting so?" He answers: "War and death." 53

"War and death you shall have (said she); I do not refuse to give them to you if you are seeking them"—and awaits him intrepidly. Tancred, who has seen that his enemy is on foot, does not wish to use his horse, and dismounts. And the one and the other lays hold of his sharp steel, and whets his pride and kindles his wrath; and they come to seek each odier out, not otherwise than two bulls jealous and inflamed with wrath. 54

Worthy of a brilliant sun, worthy of a crowded dieater would deeds so memorable have been. O Night, that would hold enclosed within your deep dark breast and in oblivion exploit so great, please you that I may draw it forth and in the clear serene display it and send it on to future ages. Let their fame survive; and amid their glory a noble memorial of your darkness shine. 55

They have no desire to evade, to parry, to retire, and dexterity has no function here. They deal not blows now feigned, now full, now partial; darkness and fury take away the use of art. You can hear dieir swords horribly griding against mid-steel—the foot does not move from its track. Always dieir feet are set, and dieir hands always in motion; nor slash descends in vain, nor thrust into empty air. 56

Shame exasperates anger to vengeance, and the avenging then renews die shame; so that always to their striking, always to their haste new stimulus is added and new reason. Minute by minute die combat grows more inter-

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mingled and close, and it is useless to wield the sword; they trade blows with the pommels and (ruthless and cruel) they dash together their helmets and their shields. 57

Three times the knight twines the lady in his powerful arms; and as many times she frees herself from those clinging embraces—the embraces of a fierce enemy, not a lover. They return to the sword, and the one and the other dyes his blade in many wounds; and then at last, worn out and gasping, they disengage, and after long labor breathe. 58

The one stares at the other and rests on the pommel of his sword the weight of his body drained of blood. Now the rays of the last star are fading before the first dawn kindled in the east. Tancred sees his enemy's blood in greater quantity, and himself not hurt so much. He joys and takes pride in it. Alas our foolish minds, that every breath of Fortune can puff up! 59 Wretched man, for what are you rejoicing? oh how tearful will be your triumphs and luckless your vaunt! Your eyes will pay (if you remain alive) for every drop of that blood an ocean of tears. So, silent and watchful, these bloody warriors ceased a while. At last Tancred broke the silence and spoke, that the other might discover his name to him: 60

"It is our misfortune indeed that here such valor be employed, where silence covers it. But since it happens that contrary fate denies us praise and witness worthy the deed, I pray you (if prayers have any place amid arms) that you discover to me your name and your station, that whether victor or vanquished I may know who brings honor to my death or to my victory." 61

The fierce maiden replies: "Vainly you ask what I by custom do not make known. But whoever I be, you see before you one of those two that

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burned the mighty tower." At that speech Tancred flamed with anger and answered then: "In evil hour you spoke it; your speech and your silence alike both draw me on (discourteous barbarian) to vengeance." 62

Wrath returns to their hearts and hurries them on, though weak, to battle. Ah savage struggle! where skill is banished, where strength is dead, where in their place die madness of each is waging the fight! Oh what a wide and bloody breach in armor and in flesh the one sword and the other makes, wherever it lights! and if life does not depart, wradi it is that holds it bonded to die breast. 63

Even as the deep Aegean, if Aquilo or Notus stop, that earlier tossed and battered it, yet not for that is quieted but retains the sound and the motion in its waves yet turbulent and swelling: so even though with their lifeblood drained they lack that strength that had moved dieir arms to blows, they yet keep up their first momentum and driven by that keep on, adding wound to wound. 64

But now behold, the fatal hour has come that owes Clorinda's life when it is past. He plunges into her lovely breast die point of his sword, that buries itself there and greedily drinks her blood, and floods with a warm stream the vestment laced with shining gold that lighdy and tenderly confined her breasts. She feels herself already dying, and loses her footing, sick and languishing. 65

He follows up his victory and with threatening gesture pursues and presses hard upon the maiden stricken through. She, while she was falling, with weakened voice was uttering her last words: words that a new spirit is teaching her, a spirit of faith, of charity, of hope: a grace that God now sheds upon her, and if she has been a rebel in her life, He wants her now in death His handmaiden.

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66

"Friend, you have won; I grant you pardon. Now you grant pardon too— not to my body (which nothing fears) but to my soul. Ah, pray for it, and give me baptism that it may cleanse my every sin." In these languid syllables echoes I know not what of soft and mournful sound that descends into his heart and snuffs all sense of outrage, and persuades and constrains his eyes to weep. 67

A little way off in a cranny of the mountain a tiny streamlet had its murmuring source. Thither he ran and filled his helmet in the spring, and sorrowing returned to the noble and reverend rite. He felt his hand tremble while it freed and revealed the face as yet unknown. He saw it. He knew it. And remained without voice or motion. Alas the sight! alas the recognition!6 68

He did not die outright; rather he summoned up for the moment all his powers and set them to guard his heart; and repressing his grief he bent his efforts to giving her life with water whom with the sword he killed. While he released the sound of the holy words, she was with joy transfigured, and smiled: and through the act of her joyful and living death, she seemed to say: "Heaven is opening; I depart in peace." 69

Her fair face is overspread with a lovely pallor, as would be violets intermixed with lilies, and she fixes her eyes on the heavens; and it seems that the sun and the heavens are bent toward her for pity. And lifting to the knight, in place of speech, her hand ungloved and cold, she gives him her pledge of peace. In this manner passes the lovely lady, and seems as if she sleeps.

6

In the midst of this effective passage, Tasso does not neglect to point out that this is an Aristotelian scene of recognition accompanied by peripety (Poetics 52azp).

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When he sees the gentle soul is gone, he relaxes that strength that he had summoned up; and free reign over himself he grants to the sorrow, grown now importunate and unreasoning, that is repressed within his heart and (his vital spirits being shut within a narrow space) fills with death his senses and his countenance. The living man lies languishing like to the dead, in color, in silence, in attitude and in blood. 7i

And indeed his life, disdainful and reluctant—breaking by force its frail restraint—would have followed in the end that lovely liberated soul that spread its wings a little before his own; but there by chance a troop of Franks arrives, that need for water or some such thing brings there, and takes up the knight along with the lady—himself scarce living, and dead for her that is dead. 72

For even at a distance their leader recognizes by his armor the Christian prince, so that he hastens there, and soon then sees the beautiful maiden dead, and grieves at the strange event. And he has no wish to leave the lovely corpse exposed to the wolves, though he deems her a pagan; but places them both upon the arms of the others, and comes with them to Tancred's tent. 73

The wounded knight is not entirely awakened by the slow and gentle motion; but he feebly groans, and from that it is known that his life's race is not yet run. But the other body, silent and motionless, shows clearly that the spirit is gone from it. Thus are the one and the other borne side by side, but at the end set down in separate rooms. 74

His pitying squires with various ministrations surround the knight as he lies there; and at length the light returns to his languid eyes, and he senses their healing touch and speech. But being as yet uncertain about his return,

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his clouded mind is not assured. Dazedly he looks about and recognizes at last the servants and the place. And he speaks, weakly and hoarsely: 75

"Do I live? do I yet breathe? and yet do I look upon the hateful rays of this ill-omened day that rebukes me my sins with witness of my hidden misdeeds? Ah timid and slow, my hand, why dare you not even now (since you know all the ways of dealing wounds), you wicked and infamous minister of death, why dare you not cut the thread of this guilty life? 76

"Pierce this breast too, and wreak with your cruel steel fierce havoc in my heart: but perhaps, accustomed to savage and wicked deeds, you deem it an act of pity to grant death to my sorrow. I shall live then among the memorable examples, a wretched monstrosity of unhappy love: a wretched monstrosity, for whom an unworthy life is the only worthy punishment for its boundless wickedness. 77

"I shall live amid my torments and my sorrows—my justice-dealing furies—a wanderer, driven mad; I shall tremble at the dark and solitary shades that will bring before me my primal error; and I shall bear the countenance of one ashamed and in horror of the sun that discovered my misfortunes: I shall fear my own self and (always fleeing myself) I shall have myself always at hand. 78

"But where (alas, ay me!) where were they left, the relics of that chaste and lovely body?—for what my savageries left whole in it perhaps is being laid waste by the wild beasts' savagery. Ah, prey too noble! ah feast too sweet and dear, and too too precious! ah ill-starred body, against which the woods and the shadows aroused first me, and then the beasts. 79 "Yet I shall go where you are; and shall have you with me, if you be there still, beloved spoils. But if it chance that your lovely limbs have been the

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food for bestial appetites, I want the same mouth to swallow me too, and the same belly enclose me that receives those limbs. Happy the tomb and reverenced by me, wherever it be, if it lets me be with them." 80 So speaks that wretched man; and he is told that they had there that body for which he grieves. His shadowed countenance appeared to brighten, as do the clouds from a lightning flash that flickers and is gone. And the weak and sluggish weight of his limbs he raised from the reposes of his couch and, hauling with great pains his weary legs, directed there his wavering course. 81 But when he arrived and saw in that lovely breast the hellish wound, the work of his own hand, and like a sky night-clouded yet serene the face made pale without its splendor, he trembled so that he would have fallen from it, if his faithful assistance had been less near. Then he said: "Oh face, that can make death sweet, but cannot make sweet my destiny! 82 "O lovely hand, that extended to me the tender pledge of friendship and of peace! In what case now, alas, do I find you? and in what plight do I come to you? And you, ye delicate limbs, are not these now the sad and wretched traces of my beastly and villainous hate? Oh my eyes, equally ruthless with my hand—it made the wounds, you look upon them. 8? "And do you look dry-eyed? Now let my blood run forth where tears refuse to flow."—Here he cuts short his words, and as he is moved by his desperate desire for death, he rips open bandages and wounds and a river rains down from his exacerbated injuries; and he would have killed himself except that the bitter pain, by causing him to faint, keeps him alive. 84 He was laid on his couch and his fugitive soul called back to her hateful offices. But tattling Fame does not keep silent now about his bitter agonies and hapless fortunes. The worthy Godfrey draws thither, and the faithful

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troop of his best friends gathers there. But neither grave admonition nor gentle prayer softens the obstinate sorrowing of his soul. 85 As a deadly wound in a tender spot being handled is sharpened and the grief in it grows greater, even so in so great illness his heart being treated grows all the bitterer for their well-meant comfortings. But the venerable Peter (who is concerned for him, as the good shepherd is for the sick lamb) reproves with words most serious his long delirium, and counsels him: 86 "O Tancred, Tancred, O too far wide of yourself and your beginnings, who is making you so deaf? and what cloud of blindness so thick is causing it that you cannot see? This your misfortune is a messenger from Heaven:7 do you not see him? do you not hear his words, how he is chastening you, and calling you back to the forgotten path that you trod before, and pointing it out to you? 87 "Heaven is calling you back to the duties of your former post, worthy a knight of Christ, that you abandoned to make yourself (alas, unworthy exchange!) the minion of a girl, rebel to God. Helpful adversity, pitying wrath from there above is scourging your foolish sin with its light scourge, and making you yourself the minister of your own salvation. And do you refuse it? 88 "Do you then refuse (ungrateful man!) the life-giving gift of Heaven, and take offence at it? Wretch, where are you running, abandoned to your unbridled and ruinous agonizings? You are there, and hang already fallen prone above the eternal precipice. And do you not see it? See it, I pray thee, and recollect thyself, and bridle that sorrow that is leading you on to a double death."8 7 An interesting phrase, as if alluding to the familiar motif from the classical tradition in heroic poetry, made Christian (and psychological). See 6.i?n. * Self-willed death would mean Tancred's eternal damnation.

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He is silent: and in Tancred the fear of the one death had power to cool his desire for the other. He begins to make room in his heart for those comfortings, and lessens the inward attack of his intense pain: but not so much that now and then he does not groan and loose his tongue to lamentation, now speaking to himself, and now with the liberated soul that perhaps is listening from Heaven. 90

To her on the sun's departing, to her on its return he calls with weary voice, and prays, and weeps, like the nightingale whose young as yet unfledged the hard-hearted peasant has stolen from her nest, who weeps away in pitiable song her lonely and sorrowing nights, and fills with it the woods and the empty air. At last with the coming day he closes his eyes a while, and sleep insinuates itself amid their weeping. 9i

And lo, in a dream, with starry vesture girdled, the beloved that he mourns appears to him—lovelier by far, but the heavenly splendor only adds adornment, and does not take away the old knowledge. And it seems that with gentle pity she dries his tear-filled eyes, and speaks thus: "Mark how happy I am and how well, my faithful lover, and let your grief for me be quieted. 92

'Thanks to you I am so. You removed me, by your mistake, from those who are living in the mortal world; you made me worthy, by your act of mercy, to rise to God's bosom amid the blessed and immortal ones. Here in beatitude I enjoy my life of adoration, and here I trust that a place may be prepared for you also, where in the great Sun and the eternal Day you shall gaze upon their loveliness and mine. 93

"If you do not begrudge yourself to Heaven, and lose your way with the dreaming of the senses, live on, and know that I love you (and I do not hide it from you) as much as it is right for me to love any creature." As she spoke thus, her eyes sparkled with zeal, enkindled beyond our mortal

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wont; then she enclosed herself in the depth of her own shining, and disappeared, and infused in him new comfort. 94

He wakens consoled, and entrusts himself to the prudent aid of his physicians; and at the same time arranges burial for those dear limbs which earlier that noble soul informed. And if her tomb was not of rich rare stones, and sculptured by a daedal hand, at least the stone and he who gave it shape were carefully chosen, as far as time then allows. 95

He had her attended there, with noble ceremony, by torches lit in a long orderly row; and he had her armor displayed above, hung from a leafless pine, in the manner of a trophy. But on the following day, when first he was able to move his injured limbs, full of pity and reverence he visited the honored bones there buried. 96

Arrived at the tomb,9 where Heaven ordained a sorrowful prison for his living soul, pale cold and mute, and almost deprived of motion, he fixed his eyes upon the marble. At last, releasing a stream of tears, he broke out in a languishing Ay me\, and said "O stone so honored and so much loved, that holds my flames within, my tears without; 97

"you are the shelter not of the dead, but of live ashes wherein Love lies concealed; and truly I feel from you in my heart the accustomed flames—less sweet, it is true, but no less warm. Ah! take my sighs and take these kisses that I bathe in sorrowful tears; and do you at least (since I cannot) bestow them on the beloved relics that you hold in your bosom.

' Cf. Erminia's fantasy of such a scene (7.21)-

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98 "Bestow them there, for if ever that lovely soul should bend her eyes upon her lovely remains she will bear no resentment against your pity and my daring, for scorn or anger finds no place up there. She pardons my mistake; and only in the hope of this does my heart continue to breathe amid so many sorrows. She knows that only my hand was irreligious, and is untroubled if (as loving her I lived) loving I die. 99

"And loving her die I shall. Happy the day, whenever it may be, but happier far if then I shall be received within your bosom, as now I go wandering about outside. Let our loving souls make their dwelling place in Heaven; let the ashes of each lie in a single grave. Let death have that which living never had. If I may hope for that, ah splendid fate!" 100

Meanwhile in the city under siege the sad event is whispered about confusedly. Then it is verified and becomes common, and the news spreads through every district of the disheartened city, mingled with cries and women's wailing: not otherwise than if taken in battle the whole city were falling, and flames and wicked enemies sweeping through its houses and its shrines. 101

But all their eyes Arsetes centers on himself, wretched in his appearance and his groaning. He does not, like the others, resolve his sorrow in tears, for his emotion has too strong a grip: but he scatters his white hairs and soils them with filthy dust, and beats his breast and his face. Now while the crowds are all turned toward him, Argantes comes into their midst and speaks in this manner: 102

'Truly I desired, when first I became aware that the brave maiden had been left outside, to follow her forthwith, and quickly I ran to encounter with her one selfsame fate. What did I leave undone, or unsaid? or what entreaties did I not set before the king that he should make them open the

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gates? With that sovereign rule that he holds here he restrained me, vainly praying and contending. 103 "Ah, if I then had made the sally, either from danger I would have brought the warrior maid back here, or closed with a memorable end my days, there ,,where she was staining the earth crimson. But what more could I do? To ,,the counsels of men, and of the gods, things appear otherwise.10 She has died her fated death; and I am not unmindful what is required of me now. 104

"Hear, Jerusalem, that which Argantes vows: hear it thou, Heaven; and strike my head with thunder if in this I fail. I swear to wreak vengeance for her on the murdering Frank, who because of her death belongs to me; nor ever to remove from my side this sword until it pierces through the heart of Tancred, and leaves his infamous carcass to the crows." 105 Thus he spoke: and the popular favor followed his last words with applause. And (by its mere imagining) the anticipated vengeance tempered the bitterness in him who grieved. O vanity of oaths! lo, the event soon followed, contrary to his proud hopes. And this man fell, in equal combat slain, beneath the man he considers already vanquished and taken.

' Tasso's sententious remark translates Aeneid 2.428.

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Canto Thirteen

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Ismen peoples the only available forest with hellish spirits—The work details are frightened away (17)—Alcasto fails to disperse the spirits (24)—Even Tancred fails (32)—The Crusaders suffer from the midsummer drought (52)—Godfrey prays for rain (70)—His prayer is answered (74).

C A N T O

T H I R T E E N

i But scarcely has the huge machine, the assailant of their walls, collapsed in ashes when Ismen takes thought within himself of new devices that his city may rest more secure; so he decides to see if he can block the Franks from that wood that provides them their material, so that from there no new tower can be made against battered and shaken Sion. 2

Not far from the Christian tents a lofty forest rises amid lonely valleys, grown thick with ancient waving trees that spread on every side a melancholy shade. Here at the time that the sun is shining brightest the light is uncertain, patched and gloomy, as when in a clouded heaven it hangs in doubt whether day to night succeeds, or she to him. 3

But when the sun departs, here gather at once the shades of night, clouds, mists, and horrors, that seem as if from Hell, that weigh down the eyes with blindness, that fill the heart with fear. Nor ever does shepherd lead his flock to pasture here, nor cowherd lead his herd to shade; nor ever traveller enters there, unless astray, but passes by at a distance, and points it with his finger.

4

Here witches gather, and with each one comes her nocturnal lover: they come riding on clouds, and one has the shape of a fierce dragon, another that of a deformed goat: an infamous coven, whose vain imagining of a good desired allures it to celebrate with filthy and impure ceremony its profane feasts and impious nuptials.

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So it was believed; and none who dwell in the region ever plucked bough from the dangerous wood; but the Franks did violate it, for it alone served the turn of their towering siege machines. Now here the sorcerer came, and chose the opportune deep silence of the night, of the night that followed next; and shaped his circle there and traced his symbols. 6

And sheltered in the circle, ungirt and one foot unshod, he muttered words most powerful. Three times he turned his face to the orient, three times to the regions where the sun goes down; and three times waved the wand with which he is wont to draw the buried man from the tomb and give him motion; and thrice he struck the ground with the unshod foot. Then with a terrible cry he began to speak: 7

"Hear me, hear me, O ye that from the stars the thunderous lightning bolts hurled headlong down; likewise ye that stir up the tempests and the storms, ye wandering denizens of the middle air; and ye as well that to sinful wicked souls are ministers of their eternal pains; citizens of Avernus,1 now here I summon you—and you, O lord of the wicked realms of fire. 8

"Take into your keeping this forest, and these trees that I assign to you by number. As the body is dwelling and vesture of the soul, so be each trunk for one of you; so that the Frank must flee, or at least be stopped in his first strokes, and learn to fear your wrath." He spoke; and those dread syllables that he added the tongue that is not irreligious cannot repeat. 9

He dims with that speech the torches with which night's pure serene is ornamented; and the moon is troubled and wraps her horns in clouds and appears no more. Angered he turns to renewing his imprecations: "Ye spirits

1

Cf. Inferno 8.68—9; see 14.60.

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summoned, now do ye come not yet? Whence such delay? perhaps you are waiting for words more potent still, or more unknown? 10 "From long disuse is not forgotten yet the most compelling aid for my cruel arts; and I yet know how, with tongue defiled with blood, to pronounce that name mighty and feared at which not Dis itself was ever deaf or grudging, nor Pluto negligent in obedience. How now? . . . How now? . . ." He was ready to say more; but then he perceived that the spell had done its work.

ii Spirits innumerable, infinite they came, part that dwell in the middle air and roam in it, part from those that were risen from the blind dim depths of earth, still sluggish and dismayed from the great decree1 that enjoined them from bearing arms in battle; but yet it is not denied them to come here and dwell in the foliage and the trunks of trees.

12 Now when nothing more is lacking from his plan, the sorcerer joyfully returns to his king: "Lay aside all doubt, my lord, and let your heart be bold, for now your royal seat is made secure; nor will the Prankish host any more be able to repair its tall machines as it thinks." So he speaks; and then relates in detail the successes of his magic art.

i? He added then: 'To these things accomplished by me I add now a matter that to me is no less pleasing. Mars is soon going to be in conjunction with the sun, in the heavenly Lion, and no breezes or clouds of rain or dew will be tempering their noisome flames; for all the signs that appear in the heavens predict a most parched and hapless drought.

1

At 9-65-5.

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"So that we shall have here such heat as scarce the sunburnt Nasamones or Garamantians endure. Yet it will be less burdensome to us, in a city filled with water, and shaded places so cooling, and so many comforts; but the Franks, on a dry and graceless plain, will not be able to bear it. And being already tamed by the heavens, they will easily thereafter be defeated by the Egyptian armies. 15

"You will have the victory by sitting still; and I do not think it is in your interest to tempt Fortune further. But if the proud Circassian (who never desires any rest, and even hates it, though deserved) comes troubling you and being importunate, as is his wont, find out yet some way that you may hold him in check, for it will not be long before friendly Heaven shall proffer peace to you, to your enemies war." 16

Now hearing this the king is reassured, so that he does not fear the enemy's forces. He had already partially repaired the walls that the blows of the battering rams had shaken; yet for all that he did not slacken his care to get them restored, where they are broken or displaced. All the populace are employed in this, both citizens and slaves; the work continually seethes. 17

But meanwhile the worthy Bouillon does not intend that a city so strong be vainly battered at, until first that hugest mass of his and the other siege machines be rebuilt. And he sends out his builders to the wood that is wont to provide material so ready and apt for their use. At dawn they proceed to the forest; but when it comes in view a strange fear stops them. 18

As an innocent child has not the courage to look where he has a foreboding of strange spirits, or as in shadowy night he is afraid, imagining monsters and prodigies still; so did they fear, without knowing what it can be for which they feel such terror—except that their fear perhaps creates for their senses prodigies greater than chimaera or sphinx.

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19

The rout returns; and (fearful and dismayed) so varies and confounds comment and fact that the group is made ridiculous in the telling, and its monstrous events are not believed. Then the Captain sends there a bold and powerful squadron of picked troops that it may be an escort to the others and lend them the daring to execute his orders. 20

These, drawing near where the wicked demons have pitched their seat in that shadow-haunted wood, no sooner looked on those black shades than their hearts were shaken within them and turned to ice. Yet they still went on, under bold faces keeping vile fear hidden; and advanced far enough that they were little distant now from the enchanted spot. 21

Then from the wood of a sudden comes a sound that seems like the earth's reverberation when it quakes; and the south wind's muttering is heard in it, and the cry of the ocean wave that weeps among the reefs. The way the lion roars, the serpent hisses, the way the wolf howls and the wild bear rages you can hear in it, and hear trumpets and hear thunder; so many and such sounds a single sound expresses. 22

For all of them then their cheeks grew pale and fear was visible by a thousand tokens; nor could reason do so much, or discipline, that they should dare to go on, or stand their ground: for against the secret power that is assailing them their defenses are narrow and scant. In the end they flee; and one of them tells the worthy Bouillon about it, excusing the matter in this way: 23

"My lord, there is not one of us that any more can make it his boast to cut that wood, for it is guarded in such fashion that I believe (and I would swear to it) that Pluto has transferred his palace into those trees. Surely he has a heart thrice bound and more with rugged adamant who looks upon it

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unafraid; nor has he human feeling who puts himself in hazard to hear how, thundering, it roars and hisses all at once." 24 So that man spoke. By chance Alcasto was in presence, among many that were listening: a man of fierce and unthinking hardihood, a scorner of mortal men and of mortality; who would not feel fear for any dreadful beast, nor monster fearsome even to a brave man, nor earthquake nor thunderbolt nor wind, nor anything that earth contains more violent. 25 He gave a toss of his head and smiled, saying: "Where this man dares not, I have confidence to go; I alone mean to fell that wood that has been made a nest of bad dreams. No fearsome phantom will bar me from it, nor howling or shouting whether from trees or birds—or even if amid those alleys so frightening the road for a trip to hell be shown to me." 26 So the knight-at-arms makes his boast to the Captain, and having received permission from him, sets off; and he comes in view of the wood and then he hears that strange reverberation that issued from it: and not for that does he turn back his bold footing, but remains confident and scornful as before; and would have trodden then the guarded ground, but a blazing flame confronts him (or so it seems to him). 27 The great fire grows, and stretches its turbid and smoking flames in the shape of towering walls, and girdles round with them that grove and secures it against anyone's hewing or felling its trees. Its tallest flames have the shape of castles proud and turreted; and the castle keeps of this new Dis are guarded with war machines. 28 Ah, how many monsters under arms appear in defense of its lofty battlements, and how terrible in aspect! One stares at him with malignant eyes and another clashing his weapons threatens him. In the end he flees; and indeed his flight is slow, like that of a lion who withdraws before the hunt.

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But still it is flight; and still fear agitates his breast—until that moment a feeling unknown to him. 29

He was not aware at the time of being afraid, but when he had got far off he perceived it fully; and he felt astonishment at it and indignation, and the sharp tooth of bitter contrition gnawed at his heart. And flushed and silent for sorrowful shame, as in a trance he turned his steps elsewhere, for he dares not hold high in the presence of his fellows that countenance once so haughty. ?o

Summoned by Godfrey he delays, and finds excuses for the delay, and longs to remain where he is. Yet he goes, but slowly; and keeps his lips closed, or speaks in the manner of a man who dreams. His failure and flight the Captain deduced from that unwonted shamefastness in him. Then he spoke: "Now what is to be done? are these perhaps magic sleights, or mighty prodigies of Nature? 3i

"But if there is any whose noble will is aflame to search out those forest abodes, let him go and take up the adventure, and at least bring back to us more certain report." So he spoke; and on the three days following, the great dread wood was attempted by the most renowned; and yet there was not one that did not flee before its menacings. 32

Meanwhile Prince Tancred was risen to attend to the burial of his beloved; and though he was pale and languid in appearance, and little fit to bear helmet or cuirass, nonetheless when he has perceived the need he does not refuse the danger or the toil; for the vigorous heart3 transfers its strength to the body so that it seems to have it in abundance.

1 A good example of the indistinct borderline between the sententious generalization and the simple statement of fact. See Introd., p. xxiv.

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33 He makes his way, that valiant man, concentered in himself, silent and watchful, toward the unknown danger; and endures the forbidding aspect of the forest, and die great noise of thunder and of quake, and nothing is he frightened; only he feels in his breast (but straightway stills it) a little tremor. He passes on; and lo in diat wooded place of a sudden rises up die City of Flame.

34 Then he recoils, and stands some while in doubt, saying widiin himself: "Now what is die use of weapons here? Shall I go on to hurl myself into ,,die jaws of monsters and into the diroat of this devouring flame? One «never should be saving of his life where a valid reason of die common ,,good demands it; but neidier should die worthy man be prodigal of his great soul; and such indeed is he who expends it here. 35 "Yet what will die army say if I return in vain? What odier wood is diere any hope of cutting? Nor will Godfrey ever be willing to leave diis passage unattempted. Now, if one goes on, perhaps die fire diat I see risen here will be less in its effect dian in appearance. But come of it what may!" And widi this speech he leaped inside. Ah memorable daring! 36 And under his armor he did not at all feel heat or glare, as from an intense flame; but indeed his senses were ill able to judge so soon whedier diey were true flames or apparitions; for of a sudden, scarce touched, diat simulacrum disappeared, and a diick cloud came up diat bore with it night and tempest; and die dark and die tempest too vanished in one brief moment. 37 Stunned indeed, but intrepid Tancred stands; and when he sees all grown quiet, he sets foot firmly on die profane verge and spies out every secret of die wood. And he finds no more strange and unheard-of apparitions, nor any encounter or obstacle on his way, except as die wood itself, tangled and dark, impedes his vision and his progress.

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38

At length he discovers a broad clearing in the shape of an amphitheater; and in it there is not a single tree, except that in its center a cypress towers high, like a lofty pyramid. Thither he makes his way; and upon examining it, becomes aware that the trunk was carved with various symbols, resembling those that ancient mystic Egypt once used in place of script. 39

Among the unknown symbols he makes out some phrases in the Syrian language, of which he has a good command: "O you that have dared set foot, bold warrior, within the cloisters of the dead—ah! (if you be not cruel as you are brave) ah! disturb not this secret seat. Have pity on souls that are now deprived of light; the living ought not wage war with the dead." 40

Thus spoke that inscription. He stood intent on the hidden meanings of the cryptic words: meanwhile he heard the wind continually moaning among the leaves and undergrowth of the wood, and drawing from them a sound that seems a plaintive harmony of human sobs and sighs, and instills in his heart I know not what mingled sense of pity, fear and sorrow. 4i

Yet in the end he draws his sword and with his mighty strength he smites the towering tree. Oh marvellous! the split bark issues blood and stains the earth about it crimson. He is completely horrified, and yet redoubles the blow and tells himself to see it through to the end. Then he hears issue forth, as from the tomb, a muffled sorrowing groan 42

that becoming distinguished into words then said: "Alas too much have you wronged me, Tancred; now let this much suffice. From the body that was along with me and because of me my happy abode, you have already cast me forth; why do you yet lay waste the wretched trunk to which my harsh lot bound me? Do you wish, cruel man, after death to assault your enemies in their graves?

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Jerusalem Delivered 43

"Clorinda I was once; and lodge not here the only human soul in this hard and shaggy tree; but every other too, pagan or Frank, that left his limbs at the base of the lofty walls is here constrained by strange and new enchantment, I know not whether to say into this body or this grave. Branches and trunks are animate with sense, and you a murderer, if you cut their wood." 44

As sometimes the sick man who encounters in a dream dragon or tall chimaera girt with flame, although he suspects or partly knows that the simulacrum is no true shape, yet wants to flee, such terror the horrid and dreadful appearance implants in him; even so the intimidated lover not wholly believes the false deceits, and yet concedes and fears. 45

And his heart within him is in such manner overcome with various passions that it congeals and quakes; and from the disturbance, strong and unforeseen, he lets his sword fall—and fear has the lesser part in him. He is beside himself; he thinks he is in the presence of his injured lady who is weeping and lamenting; and he can no longer bear to see that blood or hear those groans of a languishing sufferer. 46

Thus no apparition of profoundest horror could disturb that heart brave even unto death; but a false shape and insubstantial plaint deluded him, whose only weakness is love. His fallen sword meanwhile a rushing wind carried out of the grove, so that he left, defeated; and later, on the path, he found and took up his blade. 47

Still, he did not return, nor dared in a fresh attempt to spy out anew the secret causes. And having come to the chief commander, when he had somewhat collected his faculties and composed his mind, he began: "My lord, I bear tidings of matters not believed and not believable. What they said of the savage spectacle and the fearsome sound is all true.

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48

'Then a marvellous fire appeared before me, kindled in a single moment, without material; which towered up and, spreading out, seemed to become a wall, and to be defended by monsters under arms. Yet I passed on; for neither did the fire burn me nor was my passage contested with the sword. At that moment it became stormy and became night; then daylight and calm weather returned. 49

"Yet more shall I declare: that a human spirit, that feels and speaks, imparts life to the trees. I know it by proof: I have heard its voice, that still is tearfully echoing in my heart. Any wound distills blood from the trunks, as if they had an embodiment of soft flesh. No no, I can do no more (I confess myself beaten), neither to split the bark nor pluck the bough." 50

Thus he speaks; and the Captain fluctuates a while in a great tempest of thought. He considers whether he himself ought to go there to try the enchantment anew (for such he deems it), or whether he might make provision with other timber, further off but not so difficult. But the Hermit calls him back from the depths of his reflections, and then speaks: 5i "Abandon your hardy plan; it falls to another to spoil the forest of its trees. Already the destined ship4 is beaching her prow on the solitary sands, and furls her golden sails; already, his most disgraceful fetters broken, the expected warrior weighs anchor from the shore. Now not far off is the fated hour when Sion can be taken, her host discomfited." 52 So he speaks, his countenance aglow, and more than human echoes through his words. And the worthy Godfrey turns to fresh concerns, for he does not mean to lapse into idleness. But now the sun, being entered into

4

Peter's already is prophetic of the action at 15.43 and 16.62.

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Cancer, brings on unwonted heat, inimical to his plans and to his soldiery, that renders every task unbearable. 53 Each light of benign aspect in heaven is quenched; cruel stars hold die sovereignty diere, from which sheds down a virtue that informs and imprints die air widi influences iniquitous and malign. The noxious heat increases and ever more mortally blazes on this side and on that; to evil day succeeds more evil night, and sees behind itself a day yet worse. 54

Nor ever die sun comes forth that, spotted and ringed about widi bloody mists, without and widiin, he does not clearly show in his aspect die gloomy foreboding of a hapless day; nor ever departs that, tinged widi crimson stains, he does not direaten equal injury on his return, and embitters the torments already undergone widi the certain fear of troubles yet to come. 55 While then from on high he sheds his rays around, as far about as human eye can reach it sees die flowers wither, the leaves grow pale, die parched grass languish and die earth split open and die ponds grow dry, all things made subject to die wradi of heaven, and the sterile clouds that are scattered in die air showing diemselves as if they were some kind of flame. 56 The sky resembles a lurid furnace, and not a thing appears diat so much as refreshes die eye. Zephyr is silent in his caves, and die playing of die breezes entirely stopped. There blows there only (and it feels like the flame of a torch) a wind diat rises from die Mauretanian sands that, heavy and disagreeable, hour after hour buffets breast and throat widi its thick breath. 57

No pleasanter diereafter are die shades of night, but diey seem minted from die heat of die sun, and her veil interwoven widi pillars of fire and comets and such blazing gauds. And to your diirst, O wretched Earth, not

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even her dewy exhalations are granted by the miserly moon; and grasses and flowers long in vain for their life-giving moisture. 58

Sweet sleep flees banished from these restless nights; and suffering mortals cannot call it back by any blandishment; but yet the thirst is the worst evil of all, for Judaea's wicked lord made every spring filthy and unwholesome with poisons and secretions more bitter and deadly than hellish Styx and Acheron. 59

And tiny Siloa, that pure and clean had graciously offered her treasure to the Franks, now scarcely covers her dry bed with tepid waters, and offers scant refreshment; and not even Po when in May he is at his deepest would seem too much for their desires, nor Ganges, or Nile, when he is not content with his seven channels and makes a lake5 of verdant Egypt. 60

If ever in other days a man had seen the pure liquid silver standing quiet between leafy banks, or sparkling waters leaping headlong down the mountainside or moving in a grassy plain with gentle pace, he shapes and defines these things to his longing desire, and supplies material for his own tormenting—for their images, cool and wet, wring him dry and heat him, and in his thought he comes to a boil again. 61

Behold the burly soldiers' limbs (that neither journey taken through rough country, nor weight of iron with which they are always burdened, nor yet the steel bent to their death has mastered) how now collapsed, and parched by the heat, they lie a useless weight to their own selves; and in their veins there lives a hidden fire that feeding on them destroys them bit by bit.

5

The phrase appears to be an adaptation of Strabo (neXayi^Ei, 17.1.4)-

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The warhorse once so fierce now languishes and scorns the grass that has been his cherished food; the weak foot staggers and die neck so proud before now hangs submissive down. He holds no longer now the memory of his triumphs, nor any more does the noble love of glory kindle him. It seems diat the victor's spoils and lavish trappings he hates and despises as if a common pack. 63

The faidiful dog lies languishing, and forgets all care for his master and his home; he lies stretched out and, panting constandy, sends to his inward burning fresh draughts of air. But for any whose breadiing has been arranged by nature to temper the heat of his vital organs, now little cooling or none he has from it, so thick and heavy is die substance he breadies. 64

So languished die countryside and in such state the wretched mortals lay in dieir affliction; and the faidiful, having lost all hope of victory, began to fear extremity of evils; and on every side a universal complaint could be heard echoing in such words as these: "What more does Godfrey expect? or what is he waiting for—until his whole host drops dead? 65

"Alas! with what resources does he trust to overcome our enemy's lofty ramparts? from where does he expect machines? does he alone fail to see the wrath of Heaven made manifest in so many signs? A thousand strange prodigies and a thousand portents give evidence that His mind is set against us, and is inflamed against us so diat Indian or Ediiopian has less need of cooling. 66

"Does diis man diink then diat it matters naught diat we, a worthless negligible rabble, common and unimportant souls, go on to our harsh deadi, so that he can maintain his royal scepter? Does die lot of one who holds die rule seem then so fortunate diat he greedily seeks to hold on to it even to the destruction of his subject people?

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67

"Now look at the humane spirit, the compassionate care of a man who is called the Good;6 he forgets about the well-being of his men in order to preserve for himself a vain and destructive honor. And seeing the springs and the river dry for us, he has water fetched from Jordan for himself, and sitting at his cheerful feast with a few companions, he has cold water mixed with his Cretan wine." 68

So spoke the Franks; but the Greekish captain, who is already tired of following their standard, said: "Why die here? and why let my division grow weaker, along with me? If Godfrey is blinded in his folly, let it be to his own hurt and that of the Prankish people: what harm in that for us?" And without obtaining permission he made his departure, in silence and by night. 69

The example caused a great stir when it became known by light of day, and some resolve to follow it. Those who were followers of Clothar and Adhemar and the other captains that now are dust and bones—since that which releases all has released the fealty that they swore to them—now consider flight; and already some have departed secretly in the darkened air. 70

Godfrey hears it clearly and sees it clearly and could have had ready at hand the most stringent remedies; but those he shuns and abhors, and with the faith that could make the mountains move and the rivers stand, devoutly he prays the King of the universe that He open now the wellsprings of His grace: he clasps his hands and directs his eyes and his words aflame with zeal to Heaven:

6 Here Tasso treats Godfrey's Homeric epithet (fio) as akin to the distinguishing tags attached to the names of European kings (Charles the Bold, Louis the Pious, etc.). For my usual rendering of fio Goffi-edo, see Introd., p. xxv n. 16.

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71 "Our Father and our Lord, if once you rained down the grateful dew on your people in the wilderness; if once you placed the power in mortal hands to break open the rocks and draw a living stream from the riven mountain; now repeat for these the same demonstrations. And if their merit is unequal, supply their deficiencies with Thy grace, and let it be to their profit that they be called Thy soldiers." 72 Not sluggish then were these prayers that rose from just and humble desire; but prompt and swift like winged birds they flew to Heaven, into the presence of God. The eternal Father accepted them, and turned His compassionate gaze upon the bands of the faithful, and pitied their toils and dangers so heavy, and spoke with friendly speech: 73 7

'To this point let it be that our beloved host has endured its harsh and perilous adversities, and against it Hell has been arrayed with arms and hidden arts, and the world in arms has been arrayed. Now let a new order of things begin, and let it be turned to prosperous and blessed. Let it rain; and let their invincible warrior return, and for their glory the host from Egypt come." 74

Thus speaking, He nodded His head; and the broad skies trembled and the stars both wandering and fixed; and the air with reverence trembled and the plains of Ocean, and the mountains and blind abysses. On the left were gleams of lightning seen to flame, and with it you could hear a penetrating thunder. The people accompany the flash and thunder with loud and happy shouts.

7 Tasso underscores the turning point of his poem with deliberate echoes of its opening stanza (cf. I4.i8n.). At the same time he is probably echoing in the last half of this stanza the "magnus ordo saeclorum" of Virgil's fourth eclogue, the so-called Messianic Eclogue (Ed. 4.5). In the next stanza the nodding of the supreme deity's head and the thunder on the left are also classical reminiscences. See Introd., pp. xii—xiii, xxiii. For the phrase "for their glory," see also Godfrey's speech to his army (20.14).

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75

Lo sudden clouds (and now not drawn up aloft from earth by the working of the sun, but down from heaven, that opens and unlocks all her portals) swiftly down descended: behold, a sudden night closes up the day in her shades, that she has spread on every side. There follows a driving rain, and the river so swells that it issues from its bed. 76

As sometimes in summer's season, if from heaven the longed-for rain descends, a flock of talkative ducks on the dusty bank with noisy gabble await it joyfully and spread their wings to the cool moisture, and none refuses to bathe himself in it, and there where it is gathered in greater depth they dive and satisfy their thirsty longing, 77

so shouting, these in their happiness greet the falling rain that the pitying hand of Heaven pours down. Each man is joyed to have his hair—not to speak of his garments—wet with it: one drinks it from a glass, another from a helmet in rivalry: one holds his hand submerged in the cooling wave, one sprinkles his face, another his temples; another to better purpose, being wise, fills his containers with it. 78

And now not only the human beings rejoice and make reparation of their losses, but the earth that earlier, sick and afflicted, had her limbs covered with crevices receives the rain in them and is made whole, and distributes it among her inward veins, and lavishly bestows the nourishing moisture on the trees, the grass, the flowers: 79

and seems like an invalid for whom a life-giving draught refreshes her parched internal regions, and (removing the cause of the malady that was fed and nourished on her limbs) replenishes and restores her and makes her again as she was in her fresher and greener season; so that forgetting her troubles past she takes up again her garlands and festive clothing.

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80 At last the rain is over and the sun returns; but gende and temperate he spreads forth his rays, full of masculine vigor as is his wont between the end of April and the beginning of May. O noble faidi, diat for him who serves God well can clear the air of every deadly outrage, can change the order and procession of the seasons, can overcome the fury of the stars, and fate.

Canto Fourteen

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Godfrey in a dream-vision is instructed to find and recall Rinaldo—Charles and Ubaldo are chosen for the search (26)—Peter the Hermit sends them to the Wiseman of Ascalon (29), who tells them Rinaldo's adventures since leaving the camp (50) and gives them directions for their journey (71).

C A N T O

F O U R T E E N

i Now dark Night issued from the soft moist womb of her great Mother, bringing mild breezes and an ample cloud of her pure and precious dew and, twitching the moisture-laden fringes of her veil, sprinkled with it the flowers and foliage; and tiny breezes, waving their wings, were soothing the sleep of mortal men.

And they had plunged in sweet profound oblivion all the concerns that accompany the day. But keeping watch in His eternal light the King of the universe was seated at His governing; and from Heaven He turned upon the Prankish leader His benign and favoring regard: He sent to him from there a secret dream that it might reveal to him His high decree. 3 Not far from the golden portals whence issues the sun is a crystal portal in the Eastern sky that customarily opens before an egress is revealed for the springing day. From this go forth the dreams that God wills to send of His grace to the pure and spotless mind; from this that dream that now descends to the worthy Bouillon spreads out its gilded wings toward him.

4 Never did vision in sleep offer any man images so lovely or so beautiful as now did this for him, which opened to him the secrets of heaven and the stars; so that, as in a mirror, he made out that which verily is in them there above. He seemed to be translated to a clear serene, filled and adorned with golden flames. 5 And while in that lofty region he is admiring the length and breadth, the motions, the lights and the harmony, behold there came toward him a

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knight ringed round with rays, ringed round with fire; and he heard him speak in a voice, beside which would be rough whatever is gentlest here below: "Godfrey, do you not welcome me? and are you not speaking to your faithful friend? Do you not know Hugh now?" 6

And he answered him: 'That transformed countenance,' that seems made marvellously resplendent by a sun, has led my intellect so far astray from its former knowledge that I return to it but slowly." Then with gentle friendly affection three times he reached his arms about his neck; and three times embraced in vain the image escaped him, like an empty dream, or shifting air. 7

He smiled, and said: "I am not now clothed with earthly garb, as you believe: you are seeing here essential form and unclothed spirit, a citizen of the Heavenly City. This is a temple of God: here are the sees of His warriors; and you will have a place among them." "When will that be?" he replied. "Let the mortal coil be loosed even now, if it is impediment to my staying here." 8

"Quite soon (Hugh answered) you will be gathered into the glory of the victors; yet it will be necessary first that you pour out much blood and sweat down there below in military service. The rule of the Holy Lands must first be retaken by you from the pagans, and a Christian court established over them, in which thereafter your brother2 is to hold the reign. 9

"But (that your desire may be enkindled the more in its love of things here above) now view more steadily these shining mansions and these living flames that Eternal Intellect informs and moves; and hear in angelic strains

1 At times (e.g., 11.48; 12.93) Tasso chooses to approximate the manner of Dante, as here (cf. Paradise 3.50). 2 Baldwin succeeded to the kingship after Godfrey's death in noo.

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the holy sirens, and the sound of their heavenly lyres. Cast down your eyes (he said then, and pointed to the earth) to that which that farthest globe contains. 10

"How vile is the motive that down there is contest and reward for human valor! in what a tiny circle and amid what desolate solitudes are your pomps confined! Your earth, like an island, the sea encloses round; and that—which sometimes you call Ocean, sometimes the Deep—has in it no magnitude equal to such names, but is a low swamp and a narrow pond." n

So the one spoke; and the other cast down his eyes, as if in scorn, and smiled at it; for he saw as a single unit oceans, lands and rivers, that here seem differentiated in so many ways; and he marvelled that our foolish humanity fixed itself only on shadows, on smoke, seeking a slavish empire and mute fame, and does not look to heaven, that invites us and summons us to itself. 12

So that he answered: "Then since it does not as yet please God to release me from my earthly prison, I pray you now instruct me of the road that is least fallacious, among the mazes of the world." 'The true road (Hugh replied) is this that you are keeping; turn not your steps from it. Only that you call back from his distant exile the son of Bertoldo, this I counsel you. 13

"For, if high Providence elected you supreme commander of the expedition, it decreed at the same time that he should be the sovereign executor3 of your plans. To you the prime functions are allotted, to him the second-

' For the importance of this stanza to Tasso's concept of the meaning of his poem, see the Allegory, pp. 472—73, below.

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Jerusalem Delivered

ary; you are the head of this army, he the hand; and to take his place none other is able, and for you it is not permitted. 14 "To him alone it will not be forbidden to cut the wood that has the charms for its defense; and from him your army (that seems unequal, for lack of troops, to such an undertaking, and looks as if it may be forced to withdraw) will take increased strength for a fresh attempt; and will overcome the strengthened walls and the powerful army of the East." 15 He was silent; and Bouillon answered: "Oh how welcome it would be to me that the knight return! You, who see into every hidden thought, know whether I love him, whether I speak the truth. But tell me, with what proposals, or to what quarter should I send their messenger to him? Do you want me to entreat or to command? And how will this action be legal and honorable?" 16

Then the other resumed: 'The eternal King, who honors you with so many supreme graces, desires that you be honored and reverenced still by those of whom he gave you the governance. Therefore you are not to entreat (entreaty could not be without some indignity perhaps for your supreme power): but, being entreated, you may concede; and bend to pardon at the first syllable of another's beseeching. i? "Guelph will beseech you (God inspires him so) that you pardon the fierce youth for that error into which he fell through excess of wrath, so that he may return to the army and to his honor: and though far off, the young man now is giddy and fondly babbles in idleness and love, yet do not doubt that in few days he will return, ready at great need; 18

"for your Peter, with whom Heaven shares the deep knowledge of its secrets, will know how to direct your messengers to a place where they will

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have certain news of him; and the manner and method will be shown them of setting him free and bringing him to you. So at last all your wandering companions4 Heaven will bring back under your holy standards. 19

"Now I shall close my speech with a brief conclusion that I know will be pleasing to you: your blood with his will be commingled, and a famous and glorious progeny is to come of it." Here he was silent, and disappeared like wisping smoke before the wind, or a mist grown thin and dried away before the sun. And his sleep departed and left in his breast a sensation blended of joy and astonishment. 20

The worthy Bouillon opens then his eyes, and sees the day brought to birth and already grown—so that he abandons his rest and puts his armor on his hardy limbs. And a little later the nobles came to him for their customary visit in his pavilion, where they sit in counsel, and normally that which is elsewhere accomplished, here is decided. 21

There the good Guelph, who had had the fresh thought infused into his inspired mind, beginning first to speak, said to Godfrey: "O merciful prince, I come to ask of you a pardon, that is in truth pardon of a fault still recent; so that it can perhaps appear an importunate and premature demand. 22

"But considering that such pardon is being requested of Godfrey the good on behalf of Rinaldo the brave, and having regard to me, that ask it of your grace (who am indeed no common intercessor), I readily believe that I may gain this boon, that will be for all of us profitable. Ah! give your consent

* A deliberate echo of the closing couplet in the poem's opening stanza, as at 13.73 other parts of that stanza were echoed (and cf. also 18.4). As Tasso's Allegory indicates (pp. 473-74, below), this divine decision involves the liberating of Rinaldo from his passions as a pre-requisite for the liberating of Jerusalem from the pagans.

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that he return and that, in amendment of his fault, he spend his blood for the common good. 23 "And who will diat brave man be, if it be not he, that can dare to fell the fearsome trees? Who will go up against die risk of death with more intrepid and unshaken breast? You will see him breach the walls and level the gates and climb aloft alone before all die rest. Restore him now to your army, for God's sake restore him, who is its utmost hope and its desire. 24

"Restore to me my nephew, restore to yourself so valorous and prompt an executor; and do not permit him to lie sluggishly in vile repose, but restore to him widial his proper glory. Let him follow your triumphant standard; let witness be granted him of his prowess; let him accomplish in the clear light of day deeds worthy of himself, and looking to you as master and commander." 25 So he entreated: and each of the others seconded his requests with approving murmur. So diat Godfrey dien, as if he were setting his mind to a matter not diought of before, said: "How can it be that I deny a boon diat is requested and desired by you? Let rigor give way; and let what universal n ,,consensus chooses be reason and law. 26 "Let Rinaldo return, and from here on bridle more moderately the course of his cholers, and let him answer widi his deeds to the high hopes conceived of him, and to the general will. But calling him back, O Guelph, belongs to you: he will be, I fancy, posthaste in his coming. You choose die messenger, and direct him where you think the fierce youth can be found." 27 He was silent; and rising, die Danish warrior said: "I ask to be the messenger diat goes; and I refuse no journey, doubtful or distant, in order to make the gift of die honored sword." This man is extremely doughty of heart and hand, so that his offer is very welcome to die good Guelph. He

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decides that he should be one of the messengers and that the other be Ubaldo, a man cautious and foresighted and crafty. 28 Ubaldo in his youth had seen and sought out various manners of men,5 various countries, travelling from the coldest zones of our world to the sunburnt Ethiopians, and (as a man who made virtue and knowledge his business) he learned their speech, their customs and usages; then in mature age he was received by Guelph among his train, and was much valued by him. 29

To such messengers was entrusted the honorable task of calling back the noble champion; and Guelph directed them to those walls within which Bohemond has his royal seat, for it is thought, on the basis of general rumor and well-founded opinion, that he might be there. But the good Hermit, who knows of their unsound instructions, goes in to them and overturns what has been said, So

and says: "O knights-at-arms, in following the cry of the false opinion of the common crowd, you follow a rash and unreliable guide that is making you journey in vain and lose your way. Go now to the seashore bordering Ascalon, where a river comes down to the sea.6 There will a man, a friend of ours, appear to you; trust in him: what he will say to you, that say I. 3i "Of himself he sees much, and much he understood from me of your noble voyage already long since foreseen.71 know that he will be to you as courteous as he is wise." So he spoke to them: and Charles inquired of him no more, nor the other that was going with him as messenger; but they were obedient to his words, for a holy spirit is wont to dictate to him. ' Tasso prepares the way for the abbreviated odyssey of Cantos 15 and 16 by alluding to Homer's opening lines and adding the injunction of Dante's Ulysses to "follow after virtue and knowledge" (Inf. 26.120). 6 For details regarding Ascalon, see Meron Benvenisti, The Crusader; in the Holy Land, (New York, 1972) ii4ff. 7 Cf. 13.51-

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32 They took their leave; and their desire so spurs them that being set forth on their journey widiout delay diey steered their course to Ascalon, where the neighboring sea is breaking on the shores; and they could not yet hear how echoes hoarse and deep the ocean's surge, when diey arrived at a stream diat is swollen with fresh water from the recent rain, 33 so diat it cannot contain widiin its bed, and goes more swift and fleeting than an arrow. While they are standing undecided, there appears before diem an honest old man of venerable aspect, crowned widi beech leaves, in a long and simple garment woven of white linen. He waves a wand and treads die river widi dry feet and makes his passage counter to its current.

34 As in die regions neighboring die Pole die peasant girls are wont, if it chances diat winter hardens and freezes the rivers, to run in troops upon the Rhine with long strides, and to glide secure; so does he come to them over die shifting plain of these waters not frozen and not hard; and soon he arrived there, where the two warriors were holding their eyes fixed upon him, and spoke: 35 "My friends, you are pursuing a hard and difficult quest, and truly diere is need diat someone give you guidance; for the warrior you seek is far distant from this land in regions unknown and infidel. How much, oh how much of die task remains for you still! How many seas you will traverse, and how many shores! And diere is need diat your questing extend itself even beyond the confines of our world. 36 "But let it not be displeasing to you to enter into the hidden caverns where I have my secret cell; for there you shall hear from me of no light matters, and that which is most needful for you to know." He spoke; and commanded die water to give way to them, and straightway it withdraws and recedes: and on this side and that hangs curving over them like a mountain, and seems to be divided in die middle.

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37

Taking them by the hand he leads them into the most inward depths beneath the river. A weak and uncertain light is discernible there, as, amid woods, of Cynthia not yet full; but even so they can see the spacious caverns heavy with waters, from whence arises among us every channel that spurts forth in a fountain, or runs in a wandering stream, or gathers and spreads widely into a lake. 38

And they can see whence Po is born, and whence derive Hydaspes, Ganges, Euphrates, Ister; whence first the Don is nourished; and the Nile does not hide there his secret source. Further down they come upon a river which pours forth live sulphur and quick and spreading silver: these the sun then refines, and compresses the soft liquid into shining heaps and golden nuggets. 39

And they see round about the rich river its margin made colorful with precious stones, whence that place shines, as if with many torches it were lit and its dusky shadow overcome thereby. There sparkles with cerulean glow the azure sapphire and the hyacinth; there flames the carbuncle, and gleams the solid diamond, and happy there the lovely emerald smiles. 40

Stunned the warriors proceed, and their every thought is so busied with these novel things that they utter not a word. At last, however, Ubaldo finds his voice and asks his guide: "Pray, father, tell us where we are and where you are leading us, and explain to us your situation; for I do not know if I am seeing the truth, or a dream, or a shade; so deep an astonishment weighs down my heart." 4i

He answers: "You are in the enormous womb of the earth, that brings forth every thing within itself; nor would you now be able to penetrate thus far into the mass of her entrails without me as your guide. I am escorting you to my palace which you soon will see lit with a marvellous light. I

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was born a pagan, but later it pleased God of His grace to make me born again in His holy waters. 42

"And not by the powers of the Stygian angels are my marvellous and cunning works accomplished (God forbid that I make use of characters or exhalations to coerce Cocytus and Phlegethon); but I spend my time in tracing out from their effects what virtues herbs or waters conceal within themselves: and I contemplate other unknown secrets of nature, and the varying motions of the stars. 43

"For not always is my dwelling far removed from heaven amid subterranean cells, but often on Lebanon and Carmel I make my residence in aery mansion; there Venus and Mars are revealed to me in all their aspects without any veil; and I see how each of the others makes its revolutions, whether swift or slow, or shines with aspect threatening or benign. 44

"And under my feet I see now thick now thin the clouds, now black, now painted over by Iris; and I watch the generating of rains and dews, and how the wind blows transverse; how the thunderbolt catches fire and by what tortuous paths when launched it circles down. I descry comets and other starry fires so plain that formerly I was wont to be infatuated with myself. 45 "I was so self-satisfied that I thought then that my learning could be the sure and infallible measure of however much Nature's mighty Maker could make: but when your Peter sprinkled my head in the sacred stream, and cleansed my spotted soul, he turned my vision more aloft, and made it aware that of itself it is shadowy and short. 46

"I recognized then that a nocturnal bird in the sun is our mind in the rays of the primal Truth; and I smiled at myself and at the fables that formerly had made me wax so proud. But yet I follow still, as He desires, my accus-

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tomed arts and my original way. Yet truly I am in part another man from what I was; for now I depend from Him, and return to Him; 47

"and in Him I find my peace. He teaches and commands, Maestro and Lord together, sovereign and supreme; and He does not disdain sometimes to accomplish by means of us things worthy of His hand. Now it will be my charge that the invincible hero come to the army from his far-off prison; for He imposed it on me; and already I have long awaited your coming, foretold me by Him." 48

Speaking thus with them, he comes to the place where he has his abode and his repose. This is in the shape of a cavern, spacious and grand, and contains within itself chambers and halls. And whatsoever most precious and most bright earth keeps within her wealthy veins, there it all shines; and the cave is adorned in such fashion that its every ornament is not made, but born. 49

There was no lack here of hundreds of servants who were skilful and prompt in serving his guests; nor later any lack of great vessels of crystal and gold on a magnificent silver table. But when their natural desire for food was sated, and thirst quenched in them, the wiseman said to the knights "It is time that now your greater desire be satisfied." 50

Then he began again: 'The works and deceits of the wicked Armida in part are known to you; how she came to the camp,8 and by what means she drew off many warriors from it, and became their guide. You know too how she bound them thereafter with clinging fetters, their faithless hostess: and how she sent them then with a numerous guard to Gaza, and how along the way they were set free.

1

This summarizes the action of 4.28-96; 5.67-85; 10.59-72; and (at 14.55) that of 8.47-85.

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51 "Now I shall tell you that which happened next: a true relation, as yet unknown to you. When die wicked sorceress saw snatched from her her prey, widi such skill taken earlier, she bit at both her hands for grief, and aflame with indignation said to herself—Oh, it shall never be that he may boast himself to have freed so many prisoners of mine! 52 —If he freed die odiers, let him be in bondage, and suffer die punishments meant for diem and die long annoy: and even diis is not enough for me; I intend a universal disaster to come upon diem all.—So speaking within herself, she plans to arrange this wicked deception that you shall hear now. She hastens to the spot where Rinaldo overcame her soldiers in combat and part of them dispatched. 53

'There he (having laid aside his own) put on his back the armor of a pagan; perhaps because he wished to go his way hidden under insignia less known and less renowned. The sorceress took up die armor and straightway clothed in it a headless torso, and then laid it out; she laid it out on die bank of a river where a band of Franks was going to arrive, and she foresaw it. 54 "And she was easily able to foresee diis, who was wont to send a thousand spies9 round about, from whom she often had news of die army, and whether someone was leaving it or making his return—besides that she often has converse with spirits too, and makes long visits widi diem. She placed the dead body then in a spot most suitable for her deceitful art. 55 "Not far off she stationed a very shrewd manservant, dressed in shepherd's clodiing, and instructed him what was to be feigningly said or done; and it

9 For mingling of the "marvellous" and the 'Verisimilar" in the Liberate, see Introd., pp. xv-xvii.

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was carried out. This man spoke with your soldiers and sowed in them that seed of suspicion that being nurtured thereafter bore fruit in rifts and discords, and finally almost civil and seditious broils. 56

"For, as she planned, Rinaldo was believed to be murdered through Bouillon's doing, although in the end the suspicion wrongly conceived vanished away at the first report of the truth. Such was originally Armida's clever device, as I have detailed it. Now you shall hear further how then she followed Rinaldo and what came of that. 57

"Like a wary huntress, Armida awaits Rinaldo at the ford. He comes to the Orontes, where an arm of the river branches out and, making a little island, soon is conjoined with it again; and on the bank he sees a pillar erected, and a little skiff not far from there. Soon he is fixing his eyes on the beautiful workmanship of the white marble, and reading in letters of gold: 58 Oyou, whoever you may be, whose will orfortune brings you to these waters in your wandering, not East nor West hasgreater marvels than that which the little island conceals. Pass over, if you wish to see it. The incautious youth is soon persuaded to pass over those waters; and because the skiff had little room he abandons his squires and makes the passage alone. 59 "When he is arrived there, footloose and eager he casts his gaze around, and sees nothing, other than caverns and waters and flowers and bushes and trees, so that he thinks himself in a manner mocked: but yet that place is so pleasant and allures him in so many ways that he pauses and sits down and uncases his brow and refreshes it in the soft breathing of the gentle breeze. 60

"Meanwhile he heard the stream murmur with a new sound, and ran over it with his eyes, and saw rising in the river's midst a wave that turned and returned upon itself; and then came forth a quantity of blonde hair, and

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then rose up a damsel's face, and then her bosom and her breasts, and her whole shape, to where modesty makes concealment. 61

"So from die flooring of a stage at night a nymph or goddess, rising slowly, comes into view. This one, although she be not a true Siren but a magic shade, seems truly one of diose diat formerly close by the Tyrrhene shore inhabited the treacherous sea; nor is she less sweet to hear than lovely to see, and dius she sings, and calms the wind and sky: 62

—O young men, now while April and May are clothing you in green and blossoming array, ah let not the deceitful glitter of glory and virtue seduce Byour tender minds! He only is wise who follows what gives him pleasure ,,and plucks in its season the fruit of his years. This is what nature cries »aloud. Now dien will you harden your hearts against her words? 63

—Fools, why do you cast away die precious gift of your fresh youdi, diat is ,,so short? Names and idols without substance are diat which the world calls ,,reputation and valor. Fame, that enchants you prideful mortals widi a pleasing sound, and seems so beautiful, is an echo, a dream, die shadow of a dream, diat widi every wind is scattered and vanishes away. 64

—Let your tranquil souls enjoy your bodies, free from care, and pleasure the fragile senses with grateful objects: forget your troubles past and do not, by anticipating evils, hasten dieir miseries. Take no care if Heaven lightning or diunder; let Him threaten as He will and blaze His arrows. This is wisdom, diis is die happy life: so Nature teaches and so she demonstrates.— 65

Thus sings die wicked creature; and widi sounds so soft and cunning she lulls die youdi to sleep. Litde by litde it steals upon him and makes itself die strong and powerful master of his senses; and now not even diunder-

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bolts—not to speak of anything else—have power to wake him from that quiet imaging of death. Then the false sorceress comes forth from her ambush and stands over him, eager for revenge. 66

"But when she fixed her gaze upon him and saw how calm of countenance he breathes, and how charming a manner laughs about his lovely eyes, though they be closed (now what will it be if he opens them?), first she stands still in suspense, and then sits down beside him, and feels her every wrath becalmed while she gazes upon him; and now she bends so above his handsome face that she seems Narcissus at the spring. 67

"And those trembling drops of sweat that welled up there she softly takes off into her veil and with a gentle fanning tempers for him the heat of the summery sky. So (who would believe it?) the slumbering warmth of his hidden eyes dissolved that frost that had hardened her heart even more than adamant, and from his enemy she became his lover. 68

"Of lilies, of privet flowers and of the roses that were blooming in those pleasant grounds, with strange art interwoven, then she constructed soft but most binding fetters. These she placed about his neck, his arms, his feet; so she overcame him, and so taken holds him. Then, while he sleeps, she has him laid upon her chariot and quickly traverses the sky. 69

"Nor now returns to the princedom of Damascus, nor where she has her castle amid the waves; but moved by jealousy for so dear a pledge, and ashamed about her love,10 she hides herself in boundless Ocean where

10 Both Rinaldo and Armida are portrayed as feeling shame about violating decorum with their hole-and-corner affair (16.54-55,73-74); and cf. i6.27n.

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rarely or never goes any ship from our shores, out beyond all our coasts; and chosen there for her solitary dwelling is a little island, 70

"an island that takes its name—along with its neighboring isles—from Fortune. Here she ascends to the summit of an uninhabited mountain, obscure and dark with shade: and by enchantment she makes its flanks and shoulders snowy, and leaves the head verdant and lovely without any snow; and there she builds a palace beside a lake 7i

"where in perpetual April her lover is leading a soft amorous life with her. Now must you go deliver the youth from prison so distant and so hidden, and overmaster the fearful and jealous lady's guards by whom her mountain and her house are guarded; and you will not lack for someone to guide you there and for someone to provide you weapons for the lofty enterprise. 72

"You will find, when you have scarcely left the river, a lady young in appearance, ancient in years, who will be recognized by the long forelock" curled on her forehead and by the mutable colors of her garments. She will carry you over the high seas swifter than eagle spreads his wings, swifter than flies the lightning flash; nor will you find her a guide less faithful on your return. 73

"At the foot of the mountain on which the sorceress dwells, you will see strange pythons hissing as they writhe, and wild boars bristling their rough spines, and bears and lions opening their great maws; but upon your waving a wand I have, they will be afraid to draw nigh where it whistles; then peril far greater (if the truth be rightly deemed) will be encountered on the summit.

"See Glossary, s.v. Fortune.

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74

"On it wells up a spring that has waters so pure and inviting that it rouses thirst in those who look upon it: but it conceals within its crystal cold the secret malice of a strange venom, for one little draught of its shining waters straightway intoxicates the soul and makes it giddy; then it moves a man to laughter; and in the end his laughing proceeds so far that he lies dead of it. 75

'Turn your lips far away, in scorn and disdain, from its evil murdering waters. And let not thereafter the viands set forth on the green bank allure you, nor the wanton damsels, that will have their pleasant and lascivious speech and their charming appearance that flatters and smiles; but putting no value on their looks and subtle speech, press on within the lofty portals. 76

"Within the walls there is an inextricable labyrinth that twists on itself in a thousand confused windings; but on a little sheet of paper I shall render it clear to you, so that no error will cause you to wander in circles. In the midst of the labyrinth sits a garden that seems as if Love breathes from every bough; there in the lap of the fresh green grass the knight and his lady will be lying. 77

"But when she will have turned her steps to some other place, leaving her darling lover behind, I desire that you should discover yourselves to him, and hold before his face an adamantine shield that I shall give to you so that he may be mirrored in it and may see his own countenance and the soft raiment in which he is enswathed, so that at such a sight Shame and Disdain will be able to drive the unworthy love from his breast. 78

"Now there is nothing more for me to tell you, save that you will be able to go in complete safety and to penetrate the most inner and secret portions of the intricate room; for it shall not be that any magical power can slow your course or deny your passage; nor yet will Armida have power (such virtue is your guide) to foresee your arrival.

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"And no less safe will be thereafter your escape from her dwelling place, and your return. But now the hour for sleep is come, and you must rise tomorrow together with the day." So he spoke to them, and led them then to where they were to take their lodging for the night. Leaving them there, relieved and full of thought, the good old man withdrew to his repose.

Canto Fifteen

T H E

A R G U M E N T

The wiseman takes Charles and Ubaldo to meet Fortune, their guide—She receives them on her magic skiff and coasts the northern shore of Africa to the Atlantic (7)—While sailing the Atlantic (24), she tells them of Columbus, and of the Fortunate Isles where Armida's palace lies (42)—The pair climb the mountain, disregarding dangers and temptations (47)—They arrive at Armida's palace (66).

C A N T O

F I F T E E N

i Already the bright rising ray was calling to their tasks all creatures that inhabit the earth, when coming to the two warriors the wiseman brought the paper and the shield and the golden wand. "Gird yourselves (he said) for your great voyage, before the day, that is breaking now, can rise any higher: lo here is what I promised and what has power to overcome the sorceress's enchantment." 2

They had already risen and already settled their armor about their brawny limbs; so that by paths that day does not illuminate they soon are following the old man; and now the same footprints are trodden in their return that were before imprinted by their coming. But being arrived at the bed of his river he said "My friends, I take my leave of you; farewell." 3

The river receives them onto his deep bosom and softly the wave impels them and bears them aloft as the light leaf is wont to rise that has been with violence sucked down; and then it sets them on die spongy bank. From there they saw the escort promised earlier; they saw a little skiff and on its stern that fated damsel who was to be their guide. 4

She shows the curling forelock, and her eyes are courteous and favoring and tranquil. And in her countenance she resembles the angels, so much light seems to burn and sparkle there. Her gown you could call now azure and now crimson, and it is colored in a thousand ways, so that one sees it always differently however many times he views it again.

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So sometimes the plumage that girdles the neck of the gentle amorous dove is never seen twice the same but with various colors is tinted in the sun: now it resembles a necklace of naming rubies, now feigns the gleaming of green emeralds, now blends them both together, and lovely and changeable it pleases the viewers in a hundred ways. 6

"O fortunate men (she says) come aboard this ship, on which I safely cross the ocean, to which all winds are favoring, all tempests tranquil, and every heavy load is light. My lord, unsparing of His favor, provides me now for you as minister and guide." So spoke the lady; and then brought the curved pine nearer the bank. 7

When she has received the noble pair in it, she pushes off from the bank and slackens the bit; and having loosed her sail to the winds, she sits at the tiller and guides their course. At present the torrent is so swollen that it could easily bear ships on its back; but this craft is so light that any other stream less increased by recent rain could have held it up. 8

Swift beyond the order of nature the winds drive the sail toward the shore of the sea; the waters whiten with hoary foam and one can hear them brokenly murmuring behind. Lo now they are come where the river calms its rushing waters in a larger bed, and being dispersed in the wide gulfs of the sea, either becomes nothing, or appears nothing. 9

The marvellous boat has scarcely touched the margin of the tossing sea when the clouds disperse and heavy Notus subsides, that had been threatening a dark squall cloud; a gentle breeze levels the mountains of the waves and only makes ripples on their lovely dark blue bosom; and, for joy of a sweet far-spread serene, smiles the sky, that never had seen itself more clear.

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10

The little boat ran beyond Ascalon and made to the left toward the West; and soon it found itself close to Gaza,1 that in ancient times had been the port of Gaza but later (waxing greater from another's ruin) became a city large and powerful; and its shores at the moment were almost as full of men as of sand. ii

Turning their gaze to the land, the sailors descried an infinite number of tents; they saw mounted knights, they saw footsoldiers going and coming from the city to the shore, and the sandy path worn down and trampled by laden camels and elephants: then they saw in the hollow bays of the port the ships drawn up and chained at anchor: 12

some they saw spreading their sails and others handling their oars quickly and smartly; and smitten by oars and prows the yielding bay foaming on this side and on that. Then said the lady: 'Though shore and sea be full of the infidel folk, still the mighty tyrant has not yet brought together all his bands. i? "These he has gathered only from the realm of Egypt and environs; now he is waiting for the distant ones, for his vast empire extends far to the East and South. So that I trust we shall have made our return well before he moves his tents—he or whoever in his stead is to be the supreme commander of his army." 14 While she is saying this, as the eagle is wont to fly secure among the other birds and soaring upward to go so near the sun that no sight any farther can make him out, even so her boat seems to fly among their craft, and has

' Commentary on geographical and mythological names in the next twenty stanzas is relegated to the Glossary.

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no fear or apprehension that there can be any to stay it or to follow: and draws away from them and vanishes. 15 And in a moment arrives opposite Raphia, the first city in Syria that comes in view for one who is coming from Egypt; from there it comes to the sterile shore of Rhinocere. Not far thereafter a mountain was revealed, that raises her proud head above the sea, and bathes her feet in the shifting waves and hides in her lap the bones of Pompey. 16

Then it discovers Damietta, and how Nile carries his heaven-born waters as tribute to the sea through his seven famous ports and through yet a hundred other lesser mouths: and sails past the city founded by the mighty Greek for his Grecian colonists; and past Pharos, an island formerly that lay far from shore, now is joined to the shore. 17 Rhodes and Crete far off toward the Pole it cannot make out, and still it coasts along Africa—on the seaboard cultivated and fruitful, in the interior only fertile of monsters and sterile sands. Marmarica it skims, and skims past the region where Cyrenaica had her five cities. Here Ptolemais, and then with its quiet waters welling up appears the fabled Lethe. 18

Bearing out to the high sea, it leaves behind the greater Syrtis, dangerous to sailors, off toward the shore; and the Cape of Judecca it leaves behind and then passes by the river mouth of Magra. Tripoli makes its appearance on the shore and opposite this lies Malta, low and hidden in the waves; and then, along with die other Syrtis, Alzerbe is left behind, formerly the land of the Lotus-eaters. 19 Then Tunis it spies on the curving shore, that has a mountain on both sides of its harbor: Tunis, as rich and honored a seat as any more renowned that Libya holds. Sicily sits aslant from it, and mighty Lilybaeum towers

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opposite. Now here the lady points out to the two warriors the place where Carthage had been. 20

Lofty Carthage lies full low: scarcely does the shore preserve the signs of ,,her noble ruins. Cities perish, kingdoms perish; sand and grass cover their ,,monuments and displays; and it seems that man would be restive at being ,,mortal; oh our greedy and aspiring minds! From there they arrive at Bizerta, and further off on their other hand they have the island of the Sards. 21

Then they ran past the plains where of old the wandering Numidians led their shepherd life. They came upon Bugia and Algiers, infamous nests of pirates;2 and further on they found Oran and coasted along the shores of Tingitan, the nurse of lions and of elephants, that now is the kingdom of Morocco, and that of Fez; and opposite this they made their passage past Granada. 22

Already they have arrived where the sea floods in between the land by the strait that was fabled to be the work of Alcides; and perhaps it is true that it was one continuous shore that a mighty ruin divided into two. The ocean forced its passage through and the ocean wave drove back on this side Abyla, and Calpe on that; Spain and Libya it parted with a narrow strait; so much change can the long passage of ancient time effect. 23

Four times the sun had appeared in the East since the boat took flight from shore; and not once had been received into harbor (for there was no need) and already has completed thus much of its journey. Now it enters the straits and makes the narrow passage and plunges into boundless Ocean. If

1 For a discussion of piracy in Tasso's day, see Alberto Tenenti, Piracy and the Decline of Venice, isSo-iiis, tr. J. and B. Pullan (Berkeley, 1967) 16-31.

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here the sea is so huge, where the land locks it in, what will it be there where it holds the land in its bosom? 24

Now fertile Cadiz shows itself no more among the deep waves, with its other two neighbors. All continents and shores are fled; heaven is the boundary of the sea, the sea of heaven. Then said Ubaldo: "You, lady, who have guided us onto this sea that has no end, tell us if any other ever came here; or if there are dwellers further out in the world toward which we run." 25 She answers: "Hercules, after he had slain the monsters of Libya and the Spanish countryside, and had traversed and mastered all your shores, dared not attempt the ocean deep: he marked the boundaries, and within too narrow limits restrained the boldness of the human spirit; but Ulysses, eager to see and to learn, scorned those boundaries that he prescribed. 26

"He passed the Pillars and loosed on the open sea the audacious flight of his oars: but it availed him nothing to be experienced on the water, for greedy Ocean swallowed him up, and along with his body his great adventure lay also covered, that is unsung among you still.' If any other has been driven there perforce by tempests, either he did not return, or remained there perished: 27 "so that the great sea you are furrowing remains unknown; it conceals a thousand unknown isles, and a thousand kingdoms; nor are its lands wholly devoid of inhabitants, but they are fertile, even as yours: apt they are to bring forth produce, nor can that virtue be sterile that the sun infuses in them." Ubaldo then resumes: "Of that hidden world, tell me, what are the laws and what the religion."

' A kind of indirect tribute to Dante for his innovative addition to the legend of Ulysses (Inf. 26). See also Glossary, s.v. Hercules.

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28

She continued to him: "Divers groups have divers customs and dress and speech: some worship beasts, some the great universal Mother; others the sun and the stars; there is one that loads its wicked and cruel tables with abominable repast: and in sum, every place that sits between here and Calpe is barbarous in customs, impious in faith." 29

"Is it then the will (replied the knight to her) of that God who descended to illuminate the pages that every ray of the truth be concealed for this that is so large a part of the world?" "No (she answered); on the contrary, the faith of Peter will be introduced there, and every civilizing art: nor will it always be that the long voyage disjoins these people from your own. ?o

'The time will come that the pillars of Hercules will be a mere fable to the busy sailors; and sheltered seas without a name and realms as yet unknown will be renowned among you. Then will it be that the boldest of all barks encompasses and brings to light whatever the ocean encompasses, and takes the measure of the earth, a mighty mass, victorious, and emulous of the sun. ?i

"A man of Liguria will have the daring first to set himself on the unknown course: and not the menacing howling of the wind, nor inhospitable seas, nor doubtful clime, nor anything else that now may be esteemed more formidable and filled with fear or danger will make the proud spirit content his lofty mind within the narrow proscriptions of Abyla. 32

"You, Columbus, will spread your fortunate sails so far toward an unknown pole that Fame (that has a thousand eyes and a thousand wings) will scarcely follow with her eyes your flight. Let her sing of Alcides and Bacchus, and of you let it be enough that she only give some hint for your posterity: for that little will give you a lasting memorial most worthy of Poetry and History."

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So she spoke: and runs along the billowing roadway to the west, and bears south. And sees how in front the sun is sinking low and how at their backs the daylight is renewed. And just when die lovely Aurora was sowing round about her rays of light and drops of dew, dim in die distance there presented itself a mountain that was hiding its head among the clouds. 34

And going on, they saw it thereafter (when every cloud was entirely cleared away from it) resembling a pointed pyramid, thin toward the top and thick about die middle; and now and then showing itself as smoking hot as that which is on the back of Enceladus, that of its very nature smokes by day and then by night lights up die sky with its flames. 35

In the end behold they discovered in its company other islands, other summits, less rugged and high: and diese were die Fortunate Isles: so the early ages named them, that thought the heavens so favoring to diem that diey believed the earth brought forth her goods there voluntarily and unfilled, and the vines untended burst forth with die finest fruits. 36

Here they said die olive never blossoms deceitfully, and honey drips down from the hollow oaks, and the streams descend from their mountains with waters fresh and purlings soft; and zephyrs and dews so temper summer's rays that no heat there grows heavy; and here they placed the Elysian fields and the famous Mansions of the Blest. 37

Now the lady makes her approach to these; and "Now (she said) are you not far from your journey's end. You are seeing now the Fortunate Isles, about which there conies to you a report widespread but dubious. Fertile they are indeed and lovely and blest; but yet much of false is added to the true." So speaking, she brought them hard by that one that is first of die ten.

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38

Charles then begins: "Lady, if it be permitted by that lofty enterprise on which you are guiding us, now let me set my foot on land and view these unknown shores; view their people and the forms of their religion, and all that for which a learned man may envy me when I shall have the pleasure of telling others the novelties I have seen, and of saying/ was there." 39 She answered him: "In truth the request is well worthy of you; but what can I do, if Heaven's decree inviolable and severe is opposed to your noble desire? for not yet is the whole span of time accomplished that God has set for the great discovery; nor is it permitted you to bring back from the Ocean deeps true notice to your world. 40 "It is granted you of grace, and beyond the skill and practice of navigators, to travel through these waters; and to disembark where the warrior is irnprisoped, and to lead him back to the other side of the world. Let so much suffice you; and to aspire beyond would be to wax proud and be recalcitrant with fate." Here she fell silent; and already the first isle seemed to make itself lower, and the second to lift itself up. 4i She continued on, pointing out how they all were strung out toward the east in long array; and how the tract of ocean that intervenes is almost equal in extent for each of them. In seven they can see the houses and cultivated fields of the habitants, and other signs; three of them are deserted4 and the beasts have their dens secure in woods and mountains there.

* For this stanza, and possibly for a few details in following stanzas, Tasso has utilized a description of the Canary Islands by Alvise da Ca' da Mosto: These islands are ten in number: seven inhabited and three deserted. . . . The islands are forty to fifty miles apart, the one from the other, strung out in a line; and from the first to the last is roughly east to west (The Voyages ofCadamosto, tr. and ed. G. R. Crone, London, 1937. Hakluyt Society, ser.2, no. 80, p. n). Cadamosto, as he is usually called, makes a considerable point of the well-wooded aspect of these islands and is emphatic about the mountainous height of Teneriffe especially. See also I7.2in. For the Mansions of the Blest, sceNavijjatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, ed. Carl Selmer (Notre Dame, 1959), passim.

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In one of the solitary isles there is a sheltered place where the shore curves in and sends forth two large crescent horns and between them keeps a broad bay hidden; and a harbor is provided by a cliff that opposes its front to the island and its back to the wave that comes from the ocean main, and repels it and breaks it up. On this side and on that rise two great rocks and towering up provide a landmark for sailors. 43

Below, the sheltered waters are peaceful and quiet; above is an impenetrable backdrop of black forests; and between these two lies a grot made pleasant with ivy and shade, and with fresh water. Here no hawser binds nor anchor bridles with tenacious bit the weary ships. Into such solitary and quiet region the lady entered, and furled her outspread sails. 44

"Behold (she said then) that lofty pile that sits on the summit of that tall mountain. There, amid feastings and leisure and games and follies, lazes the champion of the Christian faith. You by the guidance of the rising sun will direct your steps to that steep ascent; and do not let the delay bother you, for every hour except the morning hour would be unlucky. 45

"With the daylight that yet shines, you can readily go as far as the mountain on your own." With their noble guide's farewell they set foot on the welcome shore; and they found the road that leads to the mountain so easy that their feet were not wearied by it but when they arrived there Phoebus's chariot was still far from the ocean. 46

They see that the ascent to the proud and lofty summit is by precipitous cliffs and among rockslides, and that up to the summit every path is strewn with snows and frosts; then there it has flowers and grass. Close to the white beard flowers the green hair, and the ice keeps truce with lilies and tender roses; so much beyond nature magic's art can do.

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47

The two warriors made their stay at the foot of the mountain, in a solitary and wooded place enclosed with shade; and when the sun, the eternal source of golden light, was sluicing the heavens with his fresh rays, "Up up" they shouted both; and began their quest again with wills aflame and ready. But there issues forth, I know not from where, and opposes itself a creature writhing horrible and strange. 48 He rears his head and scaly crest of pallid gold, and swells his neck with rage; his eyes are blazing and he keeps the whole path hidden under his belly, and breathes forth smoke and poison. Now he withdraws into himself, now wreathes his knotty coils, and drags himself after himself. So he addresses him to his accustomed watch; and yet he does not slow the warriors' steps. 49 Already Charles is drawing his steel and is attacking the serpent; but the other shouts to him: "What are you doing? what are you trying to do? By manual strength, with weapons such as that, do you think to overcome the guardian snake?" He brandishes the immortal golden wand, so that the beast can hear its hissing; and swiftly fleeing, frightened by the sound, he leaves that passage clear, and hides himself. 50 Somewhat further up, their passage is disputed by a fierce lion that roars and grimly glares, and bristles his mane and opens and stretches wide the horrid caverns of his devouring maw; he lashes himself with his tail and kindles his wrath; but no sooner is the wand displayed to him than a secret fear in his heart congeals his wrath and native pride, and drives him into flight. 51 The pair pursue their rapid course; but a formidable host they have before them now of warlike animals, varied in voice, varied in movement, varied in appearance. Whatever of monstrous or of fierce roams between Nile and the boundaries of Atlas seems here gathered all together, and as many

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beasts as Hercynia has in her bosom, as many as have the forests of Hyrcania. 52

But yet there comes no army so fierce and so huge that it can repel them, or resist them; rather (strange miracle!) it is put to flight by a slender whistling and a hasty glimpse. Now the victorious pair achieve the mountain's crest without hindrance, except insofar as the cold and the ruggedness of the icy roads may slow their journey. 53

But when they had made their passage through the snows and had overcome the precipitous and rugged, they found a lovely warm sky of pleasant summer, and the mountain top's plateau widespreading and open. Breezes forever fresh and odorous breathe there with steady and constant flow; nor does the sun as he makes his circuit there put to sleep or awaken their breathing, as elsewhere he is wont:5 54

nor chills and heats, the clouded and the clear does he alternate along these shores as elsewhere is his wont; but the sky is always clad in its brightest splendors and grows not fiery hot nor wintry; and nurtures in the meadows the grass, in the grass the flowers, in the flowers their odor, eternal shade in the trees. The handsome ornate palace sits above its lake, and lords it over the mountains and the seas. 55 The knights felt themselves somewhat wearied and out of breath from the steep rough climb; so that they wandered along that flowery way now moving slowly and now staying their steps: when lo! a spring, that invites them to bathe their parched lips, falls steeply down from the rocks and from an

' Tasso is emphasizing the steadiness of the breeze, night and day, without the variations of morning and evening breezes commonly encountered at the seashore. Suggestions (as in Fairfax's version of this stanza) that the sun never sets there at all are contradicted by 15.47 and 16.27.

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abundant source and with a thousand plashings besprinkles the grass with its drops. 56

But then the water is all gathered together in a deep canal between grassy banks, and beneath the shade of foliage ever green it moves along murmuring cool and dark, but so transparent that it hides not any beauty of its deepest bed; and on its banks the herbage rises tall and makes a soft and cooling seat. 57

"Lo, the Fountain of Laughter,6 and lo the stream that bears within it deadly dangers; now here it behooves us to be very careful and hold our desires in check: let us close our ears to the sweet and sinful singing of these false Sirens of pleasure: thus we shall make our way to where the wandering stream spreads out in a wider bed and forms a lake." 58

There on the banks is prepared a rare and costly feast, and in the crystal water are playing two wanton and chattering girls, who sometimes splash their faces and sometimes contest who can arrive first at a designated goal: sometimes they dive and finally discover head and shoulders after their hidden passage. 59

The lovely naked swimmers somewhat moved the armored breasts of the two warriors, so that they stopped to watch them; and they continued still their games and pleasures. Then one rose up, and from her bosom upward showed open to heaven her breasts and all that can most allure the sight, and the lake for her other limbs was a lovely veil.

6 Charles is speaking to Ubaldo, or vice-versa. The fountain has already been explained to the reader at 14.74. This unusual introduction of a speech without an assigned speaker is probably a consequence of the revising process. See 4.22n.

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As dewy and dripping the star of morning rises7 from the waves; or as burst forth the goddess of Love that time when she was born from ocean's fertile foam, so she appeared; so did her golden locks rain down their crystal moisture. Then she cast her eyes about and pretended only then to see those two, and shrank within herself; 61

and freed at once her hair, that she had gathered atop her head in a single knot, so that falling down long and thick it swathed her soft ivories in a golden mantle. O what a lovely sight is snatched from them! but no less lovely was that which snatched it away. So hidden by the water and by her hair she turned to them, modest and radiant. 62

She smiled withal, and withal she blushed; and her smile was the lovelier for the blushing, and for her smiling the blush that covered her delicate face down to the chin. Then she employed a voice so gentle and sweet that any other would have been vanquished thereby: "O fortunate travellers permitted to arrive at this happy and fertile region! 63

"This is the haven of the world; and here is surcease from your troubles, and that pleasure known that once was known in the Golden Age by the ancient race of men, free and unbridled. Your weapons, that up to here have been of need, you can lay aside safely now and consecrate them in this shade to Quiet; for here you will be Love's warriors only: 64

"and the bed will be your pleasant battlefield, and the soft grass of the meadows. We shall conduct you before the royal presence of her who makes her subjects blessed here, who will receive you into the happy num-

7 The reader should turn to Spenser's imitation of the following stanzas (F.Q. 2.12.65-8). At this point (as elsewhere), Spenser's brilliant version influenced Fairfax's verse translation— itself very fine. See Introd., p. xx.

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her of the elect that she has destined to her joys. But first let it please you to wash off your dust in these waters, and to take food at that table." 65 So spoke the one; the other in concord accompanied the invitation with looks and gestures. So to the sound of the singing strings the dancers' steps keep pace, now quick now slow. But the knights have hardened and deafened their hearts against those perfidious and lying tricks; and the deceitful appearance and sweet speech entwine about them outside, and only lightly touch their senses.

66 And if some particle of such sweetness, carried within, makes penetration, at which desire begins to germinate, straightway reason, enclosed within her armor, cuts off and roots up the burgeoning acts of will. The one pair remains defeated and disappointed; the other goes on, and does not even take its leave. These entered into the palace; those dived under the water, their repulse displeased them so.

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Canto Sixteen

T H E

A R G U M E N T

The warriors penetrate Armida's maze—They enter her magic garden (9) and watch the lovers' amorous interplay (17)—When Armida leaves, they persuade Rinaldo to return with them (27)—Armida pursues and pleads (35)—Rinaldo rejects her pleas and leaves (51)—Abandoned, Armida vows revenge (63)—She destroys her magic palace (69) and flies back to the Saracen camp at Gaza (75).

C A N T O

S I X T E E N

i

The noble structure is round, and in its most secret womb (that is as it were the center to its circle) it has a garden, adorned beyond the use of all the most famous gardens that ever flowered; its demon makers ranged around it a series of galleries, confused and incomprehensible; and inaccessible it lies amid the thwart passages of that deceiving enclosure. 2 By the chiefest entrance (for the spacious mansion had a hundred), they passed within. Here the gates of chased silver groaned on hinges of shining gold. They held dieir gaze intent on the carvings, for the material is surpassed by the workmanship. It lacks speech—there is nodiing else of the lifelike for which you could ask; and not even this is lacking, if you trust your eyes. 3

Alcides with the distaffhere is seen, spinning tales among the Maeonian serving maids. If once he mastered Hell, bore up the stars, now he revolves the spindle: Love watches him, and laughs. lole is seen,' with her weak hand wielding in jest his murderous weaponry; and on her back she has the lion skin, that seems too rude a covering for limbs so tender. 4

On the other side is an ocean; and you can see its green fields foaming with whitened wave. You can see drawn up in its midst a double battle line of ships and soldiers, and flashes gleaming from their arms. The waves are aflame with gold; and it seems that all Leucadia is set ablaze with martial 1

See Glossary, s.v. Hercules.

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fire. On this side Augustus his Romans, on that side Antony leads the Orient—Egyptians, Arabs, and Indians. 5

You would say the uprooted Cyclades were tossing in the waves, and mountain meeting mountain with mighty shock, so great is the force with which this side and that come to the encounter with their towering galleys. Now darts and naming arrows flew, and tragic waters are strewn with a strange slaughter. Lo (and the battle is not yet inclining either way) lo the barbarian princess flees. 6

And does Antony flee; and had he the strength to relinquish his hope for the governance of the world, to which he aspires? He is not fleeing, no; the brave man knows no fear, he knows no fear; but he follows her who is fleeing, and is drawing him along with her. You could see him, like one who all at the same time groans for love and for wrath and shame, alternately gazing, now at the cruel battle that hangs in doubt, now at the fleeing sails. 7

Then sheltered among the channels of the Nile he is seen in her lap waiting for death; and it seems that he is consoling his harsh fate with the pleasure ol one fair and lovely face. With emblems such as these was the metal of the royal portals sculpted and varied. The two warriors, when they withdrew their eyes from the handsome spectacle, entered the perilous dwelling. 8

Even as Maeander wanders whimsically between his banks divergent and unclear, and with doubtful course now mounts and now descends, diverts these waters toward his sources and those toward the sea, and as he is coming meets himself returning; so tangled are these passages and even more inextricable. But the book has them all printed out (the book, the gift of the wiseman), and tells about them in such fashion that it resolves them and unties the knot.

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9

When they left behind the complicated passages, the lovely garden opened out with cheerful prospect: standing pools, flowing crystal, varied flowers and trees various, bushes diverse, sunny rises, shady vales, groves and caverns it offered in a single view: and (what increases the beauty and price of the work) the art that makes it all is nowhere revealed. 10

You would judge (so mingled is negligence with care) both the grounds and their improvements only natural. It seems an art of nature, that for her own pleasure playfully imitates her imitator. The very breeze (not to speak of the rest) is the work of the sorceress, the breeze that causes the trees to be in flower: with blossoms eternal eternal lasts the fruit, and while the one buds forth, the other ripens. ii

On the same tree and among the selfsame foliage, above the nascent fig the fig grows old: from a single bough hangs down new apple and matured, the one with golden skin, the other green; luxuriant twines aloft and fruits the twisted vine where the garden plot is sunniest: here it has green grapes among its flowers, and here of gold and pyrope, and already heavy with nectar. 12

Among the green leaves the charming birds modulate their wanton melodies in contest; the breeze goes murmuring and makes the leaves and waters whisper as variously it catches them. When the birds are silent, clearly it makes response; when the birds are singing it blows more softly; whether it be art or chance, the musical breeze now companies, now counterpoints their verses. 13 Among the rest flies one who has his plumage overspread with varied hues, and has a purple beak; and fluently looses his tongue, and so apportions the sound that it resembles our speech. Then he continued his speaking with such art that it was a marvellous prodigy. The rest fell silent, intent on hearing him; and the breezes suspended their whispering in mid-air.

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14 "Ah see (he sang) shamefast and virginal the rose break forth from her green foliage, still half revealed and half hidden, how the less she shows herself, so much die lovelier she is. At first widi audacity, lo, she displays her naked breast; then lo, she languishes, and seems not the same; die same she does not seem that was before desired by a thousand maidens and a thousand lovers. 15

"So passes in the passing of a day the flower and leaf of mortal life; and not because April makes her return again does it for diat ever come to flower again, or green again. Let us gadier die rose in die brilliant morning of this day that loses its brightness so soon; let us gather the rose of love: now let us love when loving we can have our love returned." 16

He fell silent; and then in concord die choir of birds, as if approving, take up the song again. The doves redouble dieir kisses; each animal takes diought again of love; it seems that die durable oak, and laurel chaste, and all die far-flung leafy family, it seems that die waters and die earth conceive and breadie love's sweetest sighs and sensibilities. 17

Amid so tender a melody, among so many alluring and deceptive beauties, that pair proceeds; and rigid and unswerving they harden themselves against die charms of pleasure. Now lo, dieir vision pierces ahead among die leaves, and sees, or seems to see; it sees for certain die lover and his beloved, how he is in his lady's lap, she on the lawn. 18

She has her veil open at her bosom and her hair she looses in disarray to the summery air: she is languishing under his caress and her face, all flushed, is made more radiant by die silvering of lovely drops of sweat; like sunlight on the water a tremulous and wanton smile glints in her glistening eyes. She bends above him and he lays his head in her soft lap and lifts his face to hers;

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19

and avidly feeding on her his ravenous gaze, is consumed and destroyed. She leans down and now from his eyes repeatedly drinks in sweet kisses, and now sucks them from his lips. And at the same moment he is heard to sigh so deeply that you would think "Now his soul is leaving him and makes a pilgrimage into her." Hidden away the two warriors watch the amorous interplay.

20

From the lover's side hung down (strange armor) a crystal mirror2 shining and clear. He rose, and held it up for her between his hands, the chosen vessel for the mysteries of Love. He with enkindled, she with laughing eyes, in varying objects gaze on one object only: she makes herself a mirror out of glass, and he makes himself mirrors of her limpid eyes. 21

The one of them glories in his servitude, the other in her power, she in herself and he in her. "Turn, oh turn to me those eyes (the knight was saying) by which in your happiness you make others happy; for (if you are not aware of it) my flames are the true portrait of your beauties; their shape, their marvellous qualities my breast sets forth in full, more than your mirror. 22

"Ah, since you ignore me, you should at least be able to see your own countenance, how beautiful it is: for your sight, that elsewhere is not gratified, would live in joyous happiness, turned upon itself. So sweet an image mirror cannot copy, nor in a little glass a paradise be comprised: the heavens are the mirror worthy of you, and in the stars you can see your lovely semblance."

2 The mirror imagery at 16.20—23 cleverly anticipates the scene at 16.30, already prepared for by the speech of the wiseman (14.77). Cf. also i8.i3n.

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23 Armida smiles at that speech, but not for that does she cease from admiring herself, and from the toils of beauty. When she had braided her locks, and confined into lovely order their wanton wanderings, she wove the finespun combings into a ring and interspersed flowers among them, as if it were enamelling on gold; and in her beautiful bosom the stranger rose she joined with the native lily, and composed her veil. 24 Not so lovely in show does the proud peacock-display the pomp of his plumage, multi-eyed; nor the rainbow so beautifully gild and purple her bosom, arched and sparkling to the sun. But beautiful beyond all ornament shows her zone, that it is her custom never to put off, not even when nude. When she made it she gave form to that which had no form, and blended substances that it is not granted any other to blend. 25 Tender scornings, and placid and tranquil refusals, and precious sportings and joyous reconciliations, smiling endearments and teardrops sweet, and broken sighs and kisses soft: such things she blended all together and then compounded into one, and tempered in the fire with a slow flame; and of them shaped that zone so marvellous with which she kept her fair waist girdled. 26

When at last she has put an end to her gazing, she takes leave of him and kisses him and departs. It is her custom during the day to go off and look after her affairs, her magical ledgers. He remains, for it is not granted him to take a step or spend a moment in any other place; and he wanders among the beasts and among the trees, a hermit lover except when he is with her. 27 But when the dark with its friendly silences calls back the circumspect lovers5 to their thefts, they spend the blissful hours of night under the same

' The language of stolen sweets and stealthy loves belongs to the tradition, even though there is not the slightest need for circumspection in this garden.

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roof there amid these gardens. But after Armida, turning to her more serious business, abandoned the garden and its pleasures, the two who had been concealed among the bushes discovered themselves to him all proudly panoplied. 28 Even as the fierce war-horse that has been retired unbeaten from the hardwon honor of arms and wanders loose among the herds and through the pastures a wanton husband in a vile repose, if sound of trumpet or glint of steel awaken him, at once he is turned to it whinnying: he longs for the lists and (bearing his master on his back) to answer shock for shock in full career; 29 so the youth responded when the glitter of weapons suddenly struck his eyes. That spirit of his so warlike, that spirit so burning fierce, by that gleaming was wholly awakened, though it had been languishing among soft delights and drunk and drowsy among pleasures. Meanwhile Ubaldo comes forward and turns toward him the polished shield of adamant. ?o He turns his gaze upon the shining shield, in which is mirrored for him what manner of man he is become, and how much adorned with delicate elegance: he breathes forth all perfumed, his hair and mantle wanton; and his sword, he sees his sword, (not to speak of other things) made effeminate at his side by too much luxury; it is so trimmed that it seems a useless ornament, not the fierce instrument of war. 3i As a man by deep and heavy sleep oppressed returns to himself after long delirious raving, so he returned by gazing upon himself; but truly he cannot bear to look at himself; his gaze sinks low; and dejected and abashed, staring at the ground, he is possessed by shame. He would have shut himself under the sea and within the flame, to be concealed, and deep within earth's core. 32 Ubaldo then began to speak: "All Asia and all Europe are going to war; whoever hungers for reputation and worships Christ is toiling now in arms in the Syrian lands: you alone, O son of Bertoldo, away from the world, in

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idleness, a little corner of the earth shuts in; you alone are nothing moved by the universal movement, the gallant champion of a girl. 33

"What slumber or what lethargy has so lulled your manhood? or what commonness allures it? Up! up! The army is calling for you, and Godfrey calls; fortune and victory are awaiting you. Come, soldier of destiny, and let the enterprise so well begun be brought to completion; and the wicked sect that you have already shaken fall to earth perished beneath your inevitable sword." 34

He ceased; and the noble youth remained a little while confused, and without speech or motion. But after shame gave place to anger—anger, fierce warrior of the reason4—and to the blushing of his face succeeded a new flame that blazes stronger and boils more, he ripped off his idle trims, and those unworthy gauds, the wretched insignia of slavery; 35

and hastened his departure and issued forth from the tortuous confusion of the labyrinth. Meanwhile Armida saw lying dead5 the fierce guardian of the royal gates. First she suspected and then she was sure that her darling was prepared to leave her; and she saw him (ah bitter sight!) hasty and fugitive turning his back on their pleasant abode. 36

She tried to cry out—"Where, O cruel man, are you leaving me alone?" But sorrow choked off the passage for the sound, so that the tearful phrase turned back yet bitterer to echo in her heart. Poor wretch! a power and wisdom greater than her wisdom now robs her of her pleasures. She sees it and yet vainly strives to hold him and tries her arts.

4 1

For Tasso's emphasis on this concept, see the Allegory, p. 473 below. Editors have long noted that at 15.50 the lion merely flees.

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37

As many syllables profane as ever Thessalian sorceress muttered with unclean mouth; that which can halt the wheels of Heaven and draw up shades from their deep prison, she knew them all; and yet she cannot manage that Hell should so much as answer to her speaking. She abandons her charms and decides to make trial whether lovely and suppliant beauty can be the better sorceress. 38 She runs, and shows no restraint or care for her honor. Ah, where are now her triumphs and her boasts? This woman had made and unmade the government of Love, however powerful he is, with but a nod before; and she had a scornfulness so equal to her pride that she loved to be loved but hated those who loved her. She only took pleasure in herself and, apart from herself, in another, only in some effect of her beautiful eyes. 39 Now left abandoned, scorned and neglected, she yet pursues him who disdains and flees; and takes care to adorn with her tears the gift of her beauty that of itself is refused. She goes; and to her tender foot that ice and that mountainous roughness are no obstacle; and she sends before her as messengers her wails, nor yet comes up with him before he is come to the shore.

40 Driven out of her mind, she shouted: "O thou, who art taking a part of me with thee, and leaving part, either take the one or give the other back, or give death to both together. Stay, stay your steps, only until I can bring you my last words—I do not say my kisses; some other more worthy will have those from you. Impious creature, what can you fear if you pause? You will have the strength to deny, since you had the strength to flee." 41 6

Then said Ubaldo: "My lord, it is not strictly necessary that you should refuse to wait for her. Armed with her beauty now she comes and with her

" This stanza was omitted in Osanna's 1584 edition, and hence also by Fairfax in his translation, chiefly based on that edition. The omission is no great loss.

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entreaties, sweetly intermingled in her bitter plaint. What man is stronger than you if by seeing and hearing the Sirens you accustom yourself to overmaster them? So reason makes herself the pacific queen of your senses and refines herself." 42

Then die knight stopped, and she came up with them gasping and tearful, grieving so that nothing could be more, but yet for all that as full of beauty as sorrow. She looks at him and fixes her gaze on him, and does not speak—whether she scorns to speak, or is thinking, or does not dare. He does not look at her; and (if he does yet look) he sends a glance furtive and shamefaced and slow. 43

As gende musician, before he lifts his clear voice high in song, prepares his listeners' minds for harmony with sweet overtures low-keyed; so she (who in her bitter grief does not forget quite all her artifice and fraud) makes first a brief harmony of sighs to prepare the soul in which she would implant her words. 44

Then she began: "Do not expect, cruel man, that I beseech you as lover should to lover. Such we were once; now, if you renounce such tide, and even the memory of it is burdensome to you, listen at least as my enemy: ,,sometimes one receives the entreaties of an enemy. Surely what I ask is such diat you can grant it and yet preserve entire your indignations. 45

"If you hate me, and feel some kind of pleasure in that, I am not come to deprive you of it; enjoy it still. It seems to you to be just, and let it be so. I too hated the Christian folk (I do not deny it), I hated you yourself. I was born pagan; I employed various means that your power might be overset through me. I followed you, I took you and drew you far from the armies into regions unknown and strange.

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46

"Add yet to this what you hold as your greater shame, your greater hurt: I entrapped you, I allured you into my love—surely a wicked deception, iniquitous deceit, to make another the tyrant of her beauties, to let him pluck the flower of her virginity; that which to thousands of old had been denied as their reward, to offer as a gift to a new lover! 47

"Let this too be one of my deceptions; and let the fault of my so many sins weigh with you so heavily that you can depart from here and care no more for this your dwelling formerly so pleasant. Go your way; pass over the sea, fight, struggle, destroy our faith; I even urge you to it. Why do I say our faith? ah no more mine! I am faithful only to you, my idol cruel. 48

"Let me be granted only that I may follow you: a small request, even between enemies. The predator does not leave his prey behind; the victor goes, the prisoner does not stay. Let the army see me among your other spoils, and add to your other praises this, that you hold your scorner scorned, pointing the finger at me, despised slave. 49

"Despised slave, for whom shall I any more preserve this hair now that it has grown valueless to you? I shall cut it short: I want a slavish appearance to go with my title of slave. I shall follow you within the press of the enemy when the heat of battle waxes hottest. I have sufficient spirit, sufficient strength to lead your horse, to carry your spear. 50

"I shall be whichever you desire—shield bearer or shield; in your defense it shall not be that I spare myself. Through this bosom, through this naked throat, before they come to you, their weapons shall pass. Not to wound me, perhaps the barbarian will not be so cruel that he insists on wounding you, renouncing the pleasure of revenge in favor of this neglected beauty, such as it may be.

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"Wretch! do I yet presume? do I yet make my boast of a rejected beauty that gets me nothing?" She wanted to say more, but her tears interrupted, that welled up like a spring from the mountain rock. Then she seeks to grasp his hand or cloak, suppliant in gesture; and he steps back; he struggles and overcomes; Love finds the entrance closed, and tears the exit. 52

Love does not enter to kindle the old flame anew in his breast, which reason hardened: pity at least, in place of that, finds entrance there—pity, companion of Love, though chaste; and moves him in such fashion that he can scarcely hold his tears in check. Yet he represses that tender affection within him, and as far as he can composes his looks, and pretends. 53

Then he replies to her: "Armida, I am much concerned for you; would that I were able, as I could wish, to free your burning soul of its heat, so ill-conceived. There is no hate in me, or scorn; nor do I want revenge, or cherish grievances; nor are you my slave, or enemy. You made mistakes, it is true, and overstepped your bounds, sometimes in indulging your love, sometimes your hate; 54

"but what of that? They are human faults, and familiar. I find their excuse in the customs of your country, your sex and your age. I too have partly been at fault; if I do not want sympathy denied to me, it shall not be that I condemn you. In jc* ^nd in sorrow you will be among my dear and cherished memories; I shall be your knight, as far as die war with Asia permits, and fealty with honor. 55

"Ah! let there be an end here and now to our sinning, and let our shame henceforth become displeasing to you; and let its memory lie buried in this narrow corner of the world. In Europe and in bodi its neighboring lands let this alone of my deeds remain in silence. Ah! do not desire a blazon of dishonor to stain your beauty, your worth, your royal blood.

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56

"Stay here in peace; I am going; you are not allowed to come with me; she who is guiding me forbids it. Stay here, or go by some other prospering voyage, and, as you are wise, calm your intentions." Turbid and restless, while the knight is saying such things to her, she cannot stand still; then for a good while she lowers at him with affronted gaze; at last she bursts out with imprecations: 57

"Sophia did not give birth to you, and you are not born of the blood of the Azzi; the raging ocean wave and frozen Caucasus gave birth to you, and the dugs of the Hyrcanian tigress gave you milk. Why do I pretend any longer? The heartless man gave not a single sign of human emotion. Did he change color, perhaps? did he at least for my sorrow bathe his eyes, perhaps, or drop a single sigh? 58

"Which points shall I pass over, and which ones answer? He offers himself as mine—he flees me and abandons me. Like a noble victor, he forgets the offenses of his guilty enemy, he pardons her grievous sins. Hear how he gives advice! hear how the chaste Xenocrates marshals his reasoning concerning love! O ye Heavens, O ye Gods, why do you suffer these wicked men to thunder so against your towers and your temples? 59

"Go then, cruel man, with that same peace that you leave with me; go for now, iniquitous creature. Soon enough will you have me inescapably at your back, a disembodied spirit, a pursuing shade. As a new Fury with my torch and snakes I shall terrorize you as much as once I loved you. And if it is destined that you make your way out of the sea, that you escape the reefs and ocean waves, and arrive at the battle; 60

"there lying sick amid blood and death you will pay me my penalties, wicked warrior. You will call Armida by name repeatedly in your last sighs. That I hope to hear." At this point breath failed the sorrowing girl, and she

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did not utter completely this last speech; and fell in a faint, and was covered with cold sweat, and closed her eyes. 61

You closed your eyes, Armida: a miserly Heaven begrudged you comfort in your sufferings. Open your eyes, poor girl; why do you not see now the bitter tear in the eyes of your enemy? Oh if you could have heard, how sweetly the sound of his sighs would have softened you! He gives what he can, and takes with pitying countenance (and you do not believe it!) his last farewells. 62

Now what shall he do? Should he leave her on the barren sands, thus half alive, half dead? Courtesy restrains him, Pity bridles him, harsh Necessity drags him along with her. He leaves, and gentle breezes fill the hair of Her who acts as his guide. The golden sail flies over the open sea: he looks to the shore, and lo, the shore is hidden. 63

When she returned to herself, she discovered all things round about deserted and silent, as far as she could see. "Is he then gone (she said) and has he been able to leave me here in doubt of my very life? Could the traitor, not spare me one moment, nor offer one bit of aid in my extremity? And do I love him yet, and sit me down to weep along this shore, yet unavenged? 64

"What more has weeping to do with me? Do I not then have other arms and other arts? Ah! I shall follow the wicked creature still, nor will the abyss be a hiding place for him, or Heaven be for him safe sanctuary. Now do I catch him, and seize him, and rip up his heart, and hang his scattered limbs, an example to those who show no pity! He is my teacher in savagery; I mean to surpass him in his own arts. . . . But where am I? What am I saying?

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65

"Wretched Armida, you ought to have wrought your own cruelty then on that cruel man (and deserving he was of it) when you held him prisoner: now a belated indignation inflames you, and sluggishly you stir yourself to anger. Still if my beauty or crafty wit can do anything, my desire shall not be devoid of effect. O my despised beauty, since yours was the injury, die noble deed of vengeance waits on you. 66

'This beauty of mine will be the reward of him who cuts offdiat execrable head. O my famous lovers, behold there is asked of you an enterprise difficult to be sure, but honorable. I (who will be the heiress of ample riches) stand ready to be die reward of a single vendetta. If I am not worth buying at such a price, then Beauty, you are a useless gift of Nature. 67

"Unhappy gift, I reject you; and all at the same time I hate it that I am a queen, and that I am alive, and that ever I was born. Only the hope of sweet revenge makes me still live on." So wrathfully she rages in broken syllables, and turns her foot from the deserted strand, showing plain how madness has engulfed her—her hair astray, her eyes glowering, her face inflamed. 68

When she had arrived at her lodgings she called diree hundred deities from Avernus with dread tongue. The heavens are filled with black clouds and all in a moment the great eternal Planet grows pale: and a wind begins to blow and buffets the mountain ridges. Lo now, under her feet Hell mutters; as far as the palace extends you could hear wrathful hissings and howlings and groanings and barkings. 69 A shade deeper than night's, in which no ray of light is intermingled, encircles all, save insofar as an inward glimmering lights up its profound dark. At last the shade gives way and the sun brings back his pallid rays; but the joyous breeze is there no more, and the palace is no longer to be seen, nor even its vestiges, nor can one say: It was here.

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As sometimes the clouds in middle air form images of a mighty mass, and last but little time, for the wind disperses them or sun dissolves; as a dream that an invalid fashions goes away; so disappeared the buildings and only remained the mountains and waving shades that Nature created there. She seated herself on her chariot, which she had at hand, and is lifted up to die sky, as is her wont. 7i

She treads the clouds and cleaves the winds in flight, surrounded with tempests and howling gales; she passes over the shores that lie beneath the opposite pole and regions whose inhabitants are unknown: she passes the boundaries of Hercules, and draws not near the land of the Hesperians or the Moors; but holds her course suspended above the wave until she comes to the sands of Syria. 72

From there she does not make her way to Damascus, but shuns die sight of her homeland once so dear, and guides her chariot to the sterile shore where her casde is raised among the waves. Being arrived here, she banishes servants and handmaidens from her presence and chooses a solitary refuge and wanders doubtfully among various musings; but soon her sense of shame gives way to wrath. 73

"I too shall go (she says), before the king of Egypt sets in motion the armies of the East. It behooves me to make attempt of every art, and to transform myself to every unfamiliar shape, to wield the bow, and the sword, and make myself the slave of the men who hold most power, and stir them up to rivalry; if only I may partly see my vengeance, Respect and Honor can stand aside. 74

"Let him make no charge against me, let him blame himself, my uncle and guardian, who willed it thus. He first directed my bold spirit and frail sex to offices not befitting them. He made me a wandering damsel and he set

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the spur to Daring and gave free rein to Shame. Let it all be set to his account, whatever unworthy thing I did for love, or yet shall do for hatred." 75 So she resolved: and hastily she gathers together ladies and knights, pages and officers: and displays her art and royal fortune in their proud liveries and gowns: and sets herself on her way, and never once does she sleep, or stop to rest by sun or by moon, until she arrives where the friendly squadrons covered the sunlit countryside at Gaza.

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Canto Seventeen

T H E

A R G U M E N T

The king of Egypt reviews his troops at Gaza—Armida unexpectedly joins the review (33)—Emiren is appointed commander (37)—Armida offers her hand to whoever will kill Rinaldo (41)—Rinaldo lands in Palestine (55)—The wiseman of Ascalon admonishes him (58) and shows him his ancestors depicted on a shield (66)—Charles presents him with Sven's sword (83)—They arrive at the Christian camp (97)-

C A N T O

S E V E N T E E N

i Gaza is a city on the borders of Judaea, on that road that leads toward Pelusium, perched on the shore of the sea, and it has about it vast solitudes of sand which the blowing wind stirs up as Auster does the ocean waves; so that the traveller has much ado to find out safety or shelter in the tempests of that shifting countryside. 2

It is the border town for Egypt's king, captured by him from the Turks long since; and because it was suitable and near-neighboring to the lofty enterprise to which he has turned his mind, leaving Egypt and his proud royal palace, he had moved there his mighty throne and then had gathered together in assembly there a countless host from his several provinces. 3

Now, Muse, recall for me what were the times, what then was the state of things, what armies, what powers the mighty emperor possessed, what subject peoples and what allied, when out of the South he brought to war his forces, his kings, and the farthest Orient. You alone can tell me now the leaders and their bands, and half the world assembled under arms. 4

When Egypt in rebellion withdrew herself from Greekish rule and changed religion, a warrior born of Mahoun's blood made himself prince and founded there his seat. He was called Caliph: and after the first whoever holds the scepter also succeeds to the name. So in long succession the Nile had seen his Pharaohs, and his Ptolemies thereafter. 5

As the years turn, the princedom is made secure and in such fashion increased that (encroaching upon Libya and Asia) it stretches from Cyrene

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and the confines of Marmarica to the Syrian shore, and inward extends against the undetermined course of Nile far beyond Syene; and on the one side reaches to die uninhabited wastes of sand, and on the other to die wide Euphrates. 6

Widiin its bounds it comprises the rich sea and the odorous marshes to right and left of diat; and far beyond the Erythraean it extends toward die morning sun. The realm has mighty powers of itself, and diey are made die more illustrious and famous by die prince who governs it now; for he is a prince by blood, but more by merit, experienced in royal and warlike skills. 7

Now widi die Turks, and now widi die Persian peoples he fought many wars; some he provoked and some he defended against; he had been bodi loser and victor; and in adverse fortune was greater dian when he won. When the heaviness of his age no longer sustained the weight of arms, at last he unbuckled the sword. But he did not lay aside his warlike spirit and vast desire for honor and royal sway. 8

He wages war yet through ministers, and has such vigor of mind and of speech diat die heavy burden of monarchy seems no excessive weight for his years. All Africa (scattered into tiny princedoms) trembles at his name; and distant Indus does him honor. And one man proffers him voluntary aid widi armed forces, and anodier tribute of gold. 9

So great a king and of such sort is assembling his armies: or rather, they having just been assembled, he is urging diem now against die Prankish fortune and its growing strength, now in its victories being viewed with alarm. Armida comes last; her arrival is timely, exacdy at die hour set for die review. On a spacious plain outside die walls die whole host is passing before him in formation.

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IO

He sits in pride of place on a lofty throne, the ascent to which is by a hundred ivory steps, and under the shading of a vast silver heaven he treads with his foot the purple laced with gold, and rich with barbaric ornament is seen to shine in royal dress; white linens twisted in a thousand bands form on his head a lofty strange-shaped diadem. ii

In his right hand he holds the scepter, and because of his white beard he appears venerable and severe; and from his eyes (which age does not yet alter) breathes forth the ardor and vigor of his prime; and indeed in his every gesture is kept up the majesty of his years and of his station. Apelles perhaps or Phidias fashioned Jove in such semblance—but Jove when thundering. 12

Two satraps stand beside him, his greatest men, the one on his right the other on his left: the noblest holds aloft the naked sword, instrument of his rigor; the other in token of his office keeps the seal. Custodian of secrets is the one, who wields for the king the civil power in grand affairs of state; but prince of the armies is the other, and with full power the dispenser of punishments. 13

Below, his Circassian lancers' with faithful watch make a thick-compacted garland about his throne; and in addition to their lances they are wearing cuirasses and carrying long swords, curved back along one edge. So sat the tyrant, so scanned from a lofty quarter his assembled people. All the squadrons at his feet in passing dip their colours and weapons, as if in adoration. 14

First in order the Egyptian troops present themselves, and their leaders are four: two from the high country and two from the low, which is the work and the gift of heaven-born Nile. His fertile mud usurped the bed of the

1

Tasso probably thought of Argantes as originally a member of this elite bodyguard (2.59).

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sea, and being grown solid was good for cultivation. Thus Egypt grew. O how far inland situate is that which once was sea-board visible to sailors. 15 In the first squadron appear the folk that inhabited the fertile plain of Alexandria—that inhabited the coast that faces on the west, which from there begins to be the African coast. Araspes is their leader, a leader powerful more for his wit than for the strength of his arm; he is sovereign master of secret ambuscades, and bears away the prize for every Moorish trick in battle. 16

Second come those that stationed toward the dawn had their dwelling on the Asiatic coast; and Aronteus leads them, whom no excellence or virtue honors, but his titles make him famous. His softness had not sweated under a helmet before this, nor yet had the morning trumpets awakened him; and from his ease and from the shade to the hardy life unseasonable ambition entices him. 17 That which is then the third appears not a squadron but a boundless host, and occupies fields and shore. You would not believe that Egypt could plough and harvest for so many; and yet it comes from a single one of her cities—a city the rival and equal of her provinces, that contains citizens by the thousands—I speak of Cairo. The captain Campsone brings along the numerous populace from there, a populace unapt to arms. 18

Under Gazel come those that reaped the grain in the fertile countryside surrounding, and farther up to where the river falls again at his second cataract. The Egyptian rabble carried only swords and bows, and would not bear the weight of helmet or cuirass; it is rich in regalia, so that it conveys to others desire of booty rather than fear of death. 19 Then under Alarcon—without armor and almost without arms—is seen to pass the populace of Barca, that long sustained with booty a starving life

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among the desert wastes. Zumara's king conies next with a troop less villainous, but unfit for pitched battles; then one from Tripoli; both the one and the other is skilled and crafty in a running fight. 20

Behind these appeared the tillers of Petrine Araby, and of Araby the Blest, that never feels (if Fame speaks truth) excessive cold or heat, whence rise perfumes and other odorous airs, whence rises again the immortal Phoenix that has her cradle and her tomb in that rich nest that unites her natal celebration and her obsequies. 21

The dress of these is less elaborate but they have weapons similar to those from Egypt. Behold next other men of Araby,2 who are no steady dwellers in fixed abodes; perpetual pilgrims, their practice is to carry with them their shelters and their wandering villages. They have womanish voices, short stature, hair long and black, and black and swarthy faces. 22

Long Indian reeds they arm with short steel heads, and when they are on their racing steeds you would say that a whirlwind is bearing them along, if indeed the winds possess whirlwind so swift. The first were led by Syphax;

1

For 17.21—22 Tasso used several lines from a travel book first published in 1510:

Their arms consist of a lance of Indian cane ten or twelve cubits in length, with a piece of iron at the end, and when they go on any expedition they keep as close together as starlings. The said Arabians are very small men and are of a dark tawny color, and they have a feminine voice, and long, stiff and black hair. . . . They carry their wives, children and all their furniture, and also their houses, upon camels (Ludovico Varthema, Itinera.ru>, tr. by John Jones, ed. Sir Richard Temple, London, 1928, pp. 12-13). Tasso could have encountered this passage, as well as Cadamosto's account of the Canary Islands (i5.4in.), in Giovanni Battista Ramusio's Navigaziame Viaggi, a collection of travel literature first published in Venice, 1550. The passage itself has long been known, but was cited as "Lodovico Romano, Navigaziones" when quoted—in slightly different language—by Professor Vincenzo Vivaldi (La Cerusalemme Liberata studiata ndle suefonti, Trani, 1901,1.274). Subsequent editors seem to echo Vivaldi's citation, although Lanfranco Caretti quotes the passage as cited by the sixteenth-century annotator, Giulio Guastavini. No such annotation appears in the Genoese edition of 1617; I have not seen Pavia, 1592, cited by Caretti.

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Aldine has the second troop in his keeping; the diird is led by Albiazar, who is a savage murdering thief, not knight-at-arms. 23 Next is the rout that had left behind the islands girdled by the Arabian waves, from which the fisherman long since was wont to gather seashells heavy and rich with pearls. With them are die blacks established on die left banks of die Erythraean sea. Agricalt die one, die odier Osmid rules, who scorns all faidi and every law. 24 Then followed the Ethiopians from Meroe: Meroe, that the Nile on one side isolates, and on the other Astaborra, whose mighty circuit is enough to hold three realms and two faiths. Canario and Assimir led them, each man a king and a follower of Mahoun, and tributary to the Caliph; but the diird adhered to die Holy Faith, and did not come here.

25 Then came yet two more subject kings widi squadrons armed widi bow and arrow. One is the sultan of Ormus, diat is girdled round by die broad Persian Gulf, a lovely land and noble; the other of Boecan. This too is an island in the sea's full tide; but later when die sea is low, die tide being out, the traveller widi dry foot passes there. 26

Nor you, Altamore, has your beloved wife been able to hold in her chaste marriage bed. She wept, she tore at her yellow locks and her breast, to turn you from your fatal voyage: "Shall it be then, cruel man (she said) diat die horrid face of the sea is more pleasing to you than my countenance? shall your armor be to your arms a weight more cherished dian your litde son intent on his sweet games?" 27 This man is king of Samarcand, and die thing to be least valued in him is his sovereign crown; so skilled is he in arms and such bold daring he joins with his matchless strength. The Prankish people will know him well (I prophesy); and there is good reason that they should fear him beforehand.

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His warriors have the cuirass on their backs, the sword at their side, and across their saddlebow the mace. 28 Lo next, come up from India and from the house of Dawn, the fierce Adrastus, who has for hauberk on his back the green skin of a serpent, flecked with black: and being of size immoderate he weighs down an elephant's back, as if it were a horse. This man leads the people from this side Ganges, that are washed by the sea that the Indus interrupts. 29

In the band that follows is the select flower of the royal soldiery: and all those in it were enrolled both for peace and for war, with ample pay, with honor proportionate; they come on their powerful steeds in ordered ranks, armed for security and terror. And the heavens reflect the light from their crimson cloaks and from the gleam of iron and gold. ?o

Among these is Alarco the cruel, and Odemar the muster-master, and Hidraort; and Rimedon who is famous for his bravery, a despiser of mortal men and of mortality; and Tigranes, and Rapoldo the mighty corsair, in other times a tyrant of the seas; and Ormond the bold, and Marlabust of Araby, to whom the Arabians gave that name when he suppressed their rebels. 3i Lo there Orindo, Arimon, Pirga, Brimart the sacker of cities, Syphant the tamer of horses, and you, the master of the art of wrestling, Aridamant; and Tissaphernes, the thunderbolt of Mars, of whom there is none who can boast himself the equal, whether the contest is in the saddle or on foot, whether wielding the sword or tilting with the lance. 32 But their leader is an Armenian prince who made the switch in his early youth from the true faith to paganism; and where he was then called Clement, now he is named Emiren: for all that, a man faithful and dear to Egypt's king beyond any who ever sat the saddle for him. He is at once captain and a sovereign knight for courage, for wit, and for his strength of arm.

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33 None more remained, when unexpectedly Armida appeared, and passed her troop in review. She came seated high on a mighty chariot, her gown tucked up, a quivered archeress; and in such fashion her newborn wrath was mingled with the native sweetness of that fair countenance that it lends it vigor; and cruel and sharp she seems to menace, and menacing allures. 34

The chariot is like that which bears the sun, shining with jacinth and with pyrope; and the skilled driver manages with decorated yoke four unicorns bound in double harness. A hundred damsels and a hundred pages go beside it, their shoulders also girt with quivers, and astride white steeds swiftpaced and ready in response. 35 Her troop follows, and Aradine with that which Hydraotes hired in Syria.' As when the unique and reborn bird sets forth to visit her Ethiopians (her plumage various and proud, and rich and handsome with necklace, with crown of native gold) she astonishes the world; and behind her and at her side goes an army of winged creatures, marvelling; 36 so passes she, a marvel in dress, in manner, and in appearance. There is not then a soul so inhumane or so recalcitrant to love, that it does not become her lover. Scarcely seen and disdainful in her gravity, she has power to waken desire in peoples so various and many; what then will it be, when in happier countenance she allures with her lovely eyes and her lovely smile? 37

But after she has made her passage the king of kings gives an order that Emiren should come to him: for he is planning to prefer him before all those excellent captains, and to make him commander in chief. Already prescient, he comes for his deserved rewards with a countenance that is worthy of the rank; the Circassian guard is cleft in twain and makes him a passage to the throne; and he ascends it;

' Cf. 4.20-22. For the rest of the stanza, see Glossary, s.v. Phoenix.

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38

and bowing his head and his knee he lays his right hand on his chest. The king speaks thus: "Wield thou this scepter. To thee, Emiren, I entrust my people, and do thou hold amongst them my place and (liberating the king my vassal) carry my vengeful wrath against the Franks. Go, see and conquer; and leave no remnant of the beaten foe, and bring back captive those that are not dead." 39

So spoke the tyrant; and the knight took up the wand of sovereign sway: "I take the scepter, my lord (he said) from your invincible hand, and go with your blessing to these lofty enterprises. And I trust, in the name of your power, as your captain, to exact vengeance for Asia's heavy wrongs; nor shall I return, if I return not victor. Defeat will entail my death, not my dishonor.

40 "Verily I pray to Heaven that if predestined ill (though truly I believe it not) be impending on us from there above, may it please Him to discharge on my head all that fatal storm stored up, and let the army issue safe and its leader lie in state triumphal rather than funereal." He fell silent; and there followed, mingled with the popular acclaim, a great nourish of barbaric instruments. 4i

And among the shouts and the flourishes, the king of kings departs, in the center of a thick crowd of noblemen; and arrived at his great pavilion he assembles the leaders at a joyous feast and sits a little apart, from whence now food, now speech he dispenses to the rest and does not leave unhonored any section. Amid the jesting and the festivity Armida finds the situation here one suitable indeed for her arts. 42

But she—who sees, when the tables are cleared, all eyes fixed and intent on her, and who recognizes now by well-known signs that her poison is diffused through each man's mind—she rises up, and turns to the king from

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her place, with manner at once proud and reverent; and seeks to appear, as far as she is able, in face and voice magnanimous and fierce. 43

"O Monarch Supreme (she says) I too am come to make myself of use for the Faith, for the Fatherland. Woman I am, but a royal woman: warfare Mseems to me in no way unworthy of a queen. She who desires a realm, let »her practice every royal art; the sword and the scepter are placed in the same hand. Mine (neither slow nor sluggish to the steel) will know how to strike and to draw blood from the stricken. 44

'Think not that this day is the first that proud desire allures me to that noble work, for long since have I been accustomed to military service in behalf of our culture and of your realm. You ought to call to mind readily whether I speak the truth, for you already have knowledge of one of my deeds, and know that I made prisoner many of the greatest champions that wear the Cross. 45

"By me were they taken and bound, and sent by me to you as a magnificent gift; and even yet would they be warded by you in the dark depth of their perpetual prison, and you would be now far more secure of ending your great action in victory, except that the savage Rinaldo, who slew my soldiers, set them at liberty. 46 "What manner of man Rinaldo is, is known; and even here a long tale of exploits is told of him. He is the cruel man by whom I then was bitterly offended, nor have I yet avenged my dishonouring. So that Indignation adds his spurs to Reason, and makes me the readier to take up arms. But what is the nature of my injury you shall be told at length: for now, let this much suffice—I want revenge. 47 ,,"And I shall get it; for not every shaft do the winds bear away in vain, and MHeaven's arm sometimes directs against the guilty the weapons in the hand

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,,of the just. But if it shall be some other that cuts the hateful head from that inhuman barbarian and presents it to me, I shall hold this vengeance welcome too (although, being done by me, it would be more noble); 48 "so welcome that the greatest gift will be granted him that I can give. He shall have me as his bride, endowed with a treasure and with my person, if he asks me as his reward. Even so here I make firm promise of it; even so I pledge my inviolable faith. Now if any there be who thinks my rewards are worth the risk, let him speak and make himself known." 49 While the lady is speaking in such fashion, Adrastus fixes on her his lustful eyes: "Heaven forbid (he says then) that ever you bend your shafts against the murderous barbarian; for a villainous heart, fair archeress, is unworthy that your shot should hit it. I am the suitable minister of your wrath; and I shall make you the gift of his head. 50 "I shall pluck out his heart; his mangled limbs I shall give to the crows for food." So spoke the Indian Adrastus; nor did Tissaphernes bear with patience his boasting. "And who might you be (he said) that display such pomp, in the presence of the king, and in our presence? Perhaps there is here one such as will surpass with deeds your every vaunting boast, and yet is silent."

51 The fierce Indian answered: "I myself am one that is sparse and scant of speech compared with my deeds. But if anywhere but here you had spoken up so saucily, you had spoken your last word." They would have continued, but stretching forth his hand the supreme ruler bridled them both. Then he said to Armida: "Gentle lady, you have indeed a masculine and magnanimous heart 52 "and well deserving are you that each of these men should give up his angers and indignations and devote them to you, that you might thereafter di-

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rect them as you wish against that strong and wicked thief. There will they better be employed; and there your daring4 can be displayed clearly in contest." Having said that, he was silent, and they renewed to her their offer of avenging her in combat. 53

And not those only, but whoever else is most renowned in battle has a tongue daring and ready for the boast. All offered themselves to her, all swore to wreak vengeance on his execrable head; so many weapons does she now stir up against the warrior whom she had held so dear, and so many wraths awaken. But he, when he had left the shore behind, was coming with fortunate speed on his long journey. 54

The little skiff returns by the same roads that it ran before; and the wind that provided its sails with flight breathes no less favorable for its return. Now the youth examines the Pole star and the Bear, and now he marvels at the shining stars, the path of darksome night; now rivers, and mountains that beetle above the sea with shaggy fronts. 55

Now he is intent on making out the nature of the country-side, now the customs of the various peoples. And while they are travelling over the salty foam the fourth sun shines upon them from the east; and now when the light of day is disappeared the boat makes landfall at last. The lady said then: "The shores of Palestine are here: here is the end of the voyage." 56

Thereupon she set the three knights on the strand and vanished in less time than a word is spoken. Meanwhile night was coming on, and blended the various aspects of things under a single aspect. And in those sandy solitudes they cannot see wall or roof; nor tracks of man or horse appear, nor anything else that teaches them the way.

4

The Caliph directs his speech to Tissaphernes and Adrastus. Cf. 2.7911.

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57

After they had stood a while in doubt, they began to walk and turned their backs on the sea. And behold from afar appears before their eyes I know not what of luminous cast, that brightens the night with silver rays and gleams of gold and makes the shadows thinner. Thereupon they go toward the light, and now they see what it is that is shining so. 58 They see a set of new-forged armor hung on a massive tree trunk in the moonlight; and precious stones were gleaming on the gilded helmet and on the harness, brighter than the stars in heaven; and by that light they make out handsome figurings strung out across the mighty shield in long array. Nearby as guardian is seated an old man who comes toward them when he sees them. 59 The venerable countenance of their wise old friend is recognized by the two warriors. But when he had received their warm greeting and welcomed them courteously, he turned his speech to the young man who was regarding him, silent and mute: "You alone, my lord (he said) I eagerly await in solitude at such an hour; 60 "for though you know it not, I am your friend; and how much care I take about your affairs, you may ask of these; for they, being guided by me, overcame the enchantment, where you were dragging out a wretched life. Now listen to my words, that are the opposite to the Sirens' song, and let them not be tedious to you; but shut them within your heart, until a wiser and holier tongue5 may better make clear to you the truth. 61 "My lord, not under the shade in the tender meadows among fountains M ,,and flowers, among nymphs and sirens, but on the summit of Virtue's 1 The wiseman speaks in classical terms, of Sirens, the ascent of Virtue's hill, righteous indignation, and the desire for fame; whereas Peter the Hermit (18.6-10) will speak in Christian terms, of repentance, confession, prayer, and purification. See Introd., pp. xv, xviii.

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,,steep and difficult hill, our good is placed. He who does not freeze and ,,sweat, and does not lift himself beyond the ways of pleasure, he comes ^iot there. Now then is it your will to lie, far from the lofty summits, like a soaring eagle amid die valleys? 62

"Nature raised you up your countenance toward heaven, and gave you a spirit lofty and generous, tfiat you might look up, and with deeds famous and renowned exalt yourself to the highest honor; and gave you also anger swift and ready, not that you should use it in civil broils, nor that it should be the slave of exorbitant desires, out of tune with reason; 6?

"but that your valor, armed widi it, might assail the more fiercely your external foes; and that by this might be repressed with the greater force your desires, your wicked enemies within. Let your wise leader men employ it in die use for which it was granted, and govern it; and by his counsel make it now cool, now blazing, and one time spur it on and another rein it in." 64

So he spoke; and die other, quiet and attentive to his speeches of deep counsel, treasured up his words, and held his gaze on die ground, chastened and shamed. The ancient wiseman saw clearly his secret diought, and added: "Hold up your head, my son, and fix your eyes now upon diis shield, for there you will see die deeds of your ancestors.6 65

"You will see die far-spread honor of your forebears, first heralded far off in a hard and lonely region; you are still left behind, a slow runner in diese noble lists for glory. Up up, arouse yourself, let that which I depict there be whip and spur to your valor." So he spoke, and die knight diere fixed his gaze, while thus he was speaking.

6 For the connection of the ensuing passage with the supposed history of the house of Este, see Introd., pp. xiii-xiv.

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66

With subtle mastery on a narrow field the skillful smith expressed an infinity of forms; without interruption, there was seen the lineage of the blood of Actius, glorious and august. It was seen to derive its stream from the ancient Roman fount, unpolluted and pure. Its princes stand there crowned with laurel. The old man shows their wars, and their achievements. 67 He shows him Caius, at the time that the Empire, already in decline, first becomes a prey to foreign peoples, taking up the reins of the willing populace7 and being made the first Prince of Este, and under him his less powerful neighbors sheltering themselves, whose ruler he became through the time's necessity. Then, when the fierce Goth passes again the familiar ford, at the invitation of Honorius, 68 and when it seems that all Italy burns and blazes the more with barbaric fire and when Rome, prisoner and slave, is fearful of being destroyed from her very foundation, he shows how Aurelius preserves in liberty the people gathered under his scepter. He shows him then Forestus, who opposes himself to the Hun who is the ruler of the North. 69 Readily recognized by his features is Attila the cruel, for he seems to gaze about him with dragon's eyes, and has the face of a dog—and you would say, to look at him, that he is snarling, and would think you are hearing his bowlings; then beaten in single combat the savage man is seen to flee again among his soldiery; and the good Forestus, the Hector of Italy, is seen taking up thereafter the defense of Aquileia. 70

Elsewhere is shown his death, and his fate is the fate of his country. Behold the heir of a mighty father, his mighty son Acarinus, who succeeds him as 7

The Este dukes maintained the fiction that their signaria was voluntarily offered anew to each succeeding duke by the people of Ferrara. See Werner L. Gundersheimer, Ferrara: The Style of a Renaissance Despotism (Princeton, 1973), 25-38ff.

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the champion of Italian honor. He yielded Altino to the Fates, and not to the Huns; dien he repaired to a stronghold more secure; then he gadiered together a single city from a thousand households scattered in villages in die valley of the Po. 71

Against the great river diat swells in flood it was fortified; and dience arose die city that was destined in future ages to be the royal seat of the magnanimous house of Este. He is seen to defeat die Alani and thereafter to have bad luck against Odoacer, and to die for Italy—O noble death, that makes him partner of his fadier's honor. 72 Alphorisius is seen to fall widi him, Azzo to go into exile and his brother with him, and to make his return by force of arms and good planning, after die Herulian tyrant was put down; next follows the Epaminondas of Este, his right eye pierced widi an arrow. And he seems glad to die, since die cruel Tottila is defeated, and his dear shield safe. 7?

Of Boniface I speak: and die boy Valerian trod in die tracks of his fadier; already manly of arm, manly of chest, a hundred Gothic squadrons could not resist him. Not far off Ernestus, most ferocious in appearance, was doing splendid things against die Slavs: but prior to him the intrepid Aldoardo shut out die Lombard king from Monselice. 74 Henry was diere, and Berengarius, and wherever die great Charles displays his imperial standard it seems that he is found die first to strike, as minister or captain of worthy enterprise. Thereafter he follows Lodovico, who sends him against his nephew who is ruling in Italy. Behold in batde he defeats him and makes him prisoner. Then Odio was diere, with his five sons. 75

Almeric was diere and was seen thus early to be made Marquis of die city, die Queen of die Po; devoudy he looks to Heaven in die manner of a con-

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templative, a founder of churches. Facing him Azzo the Second was portrayed, making bitter struggles against Berengarius, and after a sequence of varying fortunes he won, and held the government of Italy. 76 See Albert his son going amongst the Germans and making his ability so well known there that, after the Danes are beaten in jousts and beaten in battle, Otho procures him for a son-in-law with a lavish dowry. Behind him see Hugo, who has the impetuous strength to crop the Romans' horns, and will come to be called Marquis of Italy and to have all Tuscany under his authority. 77

Next Tedaldo, and Boniface then beside his Beatrice was fashioned there. No male heir could be seen to such a heritage, to be the successor to so great a father. Matilda followed, and made up whatever defect appears in the number and in the sex, for the lady brave and wise is able to elevate the gown above crowns and scepters. 78 Her noble countenance breathes forth manly spirit, her glance shows vigor more than masculine. There she discomfited the Normans; and the Guiscard, hitherto unbeaten, was turned to flight and vanished away. Here she defeated Henry the Fourth and in the temple made an offering of the Imperial standard wrenched from him; here she established the sovereign Pontiff again in the great See of Peter in the Vatican. 79

See then how Azzo the Fifth, as the man she honors and loves, is now by her side, now follows her; but fruitful and noble the offspring of Azzo the Fourth budded forth on happier boughs—Guelph his son, the son of Cunegunda, goes where it seems that Germany is calling him; and the blessed Roman seed with lucky fate is transplanted to the Bavarian fields. 80 There it appears that to the tree of Guelph (that of itself is grown old) is grafted a mighty Estean branch. You could see how among its Guelphs are

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renewed the scepters and golden crowns, more fortunate than ever; and how it goes on climbing up, with the favor of the lovely lamps of Heaven, and has no stop. Now it borders on Heaven, now overgrows half of great Germany, and overshadows all besides. 81

But in its Italian branches the royal tree flourished in rivalry, no less beautiful. Here Bertoldo made his appearance opposite Guelph, here Azzo the sixth renews his ancestors. This is the procession of heroes that seems as if it moves alive in the breathing metal. Rinaldo in gazing awakens a thousand impulses of honor from his inborn sparks: 82

and his proud spirit being moved with emulative virtue takes fire and is rapt away in such manner that that which he has in his mind through imagining (the city laid low, and taken, and its people killed) he thinks that he sees before his eyes even as if it were present and as if it were true; and he puts on the armor in haste, and in his hopes already preempts to himself the victory and anticipates it. 8? But Charles, who had told him before of the death of Denmark's royal heir, now gave him the destined sword. "Take it (he said) and may it be with happy fate, and wield it only for the good of the Christian faith, being righteous and just no less than brave, and take revenge for its first master, who loved you so much; and truly the task belongs to you." 84 He replied to the soldier: "May it please heaven that the hand that now receives this sword may make with it a vengeance for its master, may pay with it that which is owing for it." Charles, having turned to him with joyous face, compressed a long thanks into a short speech. But the magus came up to them, and the noble wiseman urged them on in their night journey. 85 "It is time (he said) to go where Godfrey awaits you, and the army; and timely indeed is your arrival. But let us now be on our way, for I shall

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know how to guide you to the Christian tents through the darkened air." So he speaks: and then he mounts a chariot and receives them into it without any delay; and slackening the bit for his horses he lashes them and holds his course for the East. 86

They were proceeding in silence through the black night air when the old man turns to the youth, and says: "You have seen the branches of your noble family tree, and its deep and venerable root; and though it has been from the earliest age the fecund and fortunate mother of heroes, it is not nor ever will be weary of bearing fruit, for its vigor will never be lacking in it by reason of old age. 87

"And even as I have fetched forth from the dark bosom of the early times your first unremembered forefathers, so might I also unfold in full your progeny to come in future ages and, before they can open their eyes on the bright serenity of this light, might make them known to the world so that truly you would see a pageant no less long of heroes yet to come, nor deeds less famous. 88

"But my skill of itself does not discern in future time the truth, which lies too hidden, save cloudily and doubtfully and dark, like an uncertain gleam far off through mist; and if I make bold to affirm to you a thing as certain, I am not in this too daring, for I have understood it from one who at times discovers the secrets of heaven without a veil. 89

'That which to him divine illumination revealed, and he discovered to me, to you I foretell. There never has been a family, in this or in the blessed ancient time, Greek, Roman or barbarian, enriched with as many heroes as favoring Heaven destines for your famous progeny, that will make themselves the equal of whoever is reputed most illustrious at Sparta, or at Carthage, or at Rome.

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"But from among the rest (he told me) I choose Alfonso, in virtue the first but the second of that tide,8 who is to be born when the world, corrupt and old, will be impoverished of illustrious men. This man will be such that there will be none who makes better use of the sword or of the scepter, or better sustains the weight of armor or of diadem—the glory of your blood, its jewel supreme. 9i

"As a youth he will display, in various harsh similitudes of war, the tokens of sublime valor. He will be the terror of the woods and the wild creatures, and in the lists will have the highest praises. Thereafter from real battles he will bear off the palms of victory and the spolia optima. And often will it happen that he binds his locks now with laurel, now with oak, and now with grass.9 92

"No less deserved will be the rewards of his maturity: to establish peace and quiet, to maintain his cities tranquil and undisturbed among the armies and domains of powerful neighbors, to nurture and enrich the arts and men of genius, to celebrate famous festivities and joyous triumphs, to weigh in just balance both punishments and rewards, to watch from afar and foresee consequences. 93

"Oh if ever it came to pass that against the wicked bands that will be ravaging all seas and shores10 and laying down conditions of peace in those wretched times to the noblest peoples—that he should go forth as leader to avenge the shrines by them destroyed, and the outraged altars, what heavy and just revenge would he exact upon the great tyrant and his evil sect.

* Alfonso II, reigning duke of Ferrara when Tasso wrote the LibenUa. 9 Laurel for a general's triumph, oak for saving a citizen's life in battle, and grass for saving an army from capitulation (Oskar Seyffert, A Dictionary of 'Classical Antiquities, ed. Nettleship and Sandys, London, 1901, s.v. corona). 10 For proposals of a crusade against Muslim piracy in the sixteenth century, see 1.5-6, and the Glossary, s.v. Algiers, and Barca.

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"Vainly on this side the Turk on that the Moor would oppose him with a thousand armed bands, for he would be able to carry the Cross and the silver eagle and the lilies of gold beyond the Euphrates, and beyond the ridges of snowy Taurus, and beyond the realms where summer is perpetual, and to discover the unknown sources of mighty Nile for the baptism of their dusky visages." 95 So spoke the old man and gladly the youth received his words, for he felt a secret pleasure in his breast at the thought of his future progeny. Meanwhile the dawn was rising, the harbinger of the sun, and the sky was changing its aspect in the East and already atop the tents they were able to see from afar the pennons fluttering. 96 Then the wiseman began anew: "Behold the sun, how he shines upon your face and discovers to you with friendly beam the tents, the plain, and the city, and the hill. Secure from all obstacle and all affront thus far have I escorted you by ways unknown. Now without guide you are able to go by yourselves; nor is it permitted me that I draw any nearer." 97 Thus did he take his leave and make his return, leaving the knights there afoot. And ever against the rising day they pursued their road and walked among the tents. Fame carried and spread abroad on every side the long expected coming of the three barons, and ran before them to the worthy Godfrey, who to receive them rose up from his throne.

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Canto Eighteen

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Godfrey and the army welcome Rinaldo—Peter instructs him (6)—He goes to the wood and overcomes the enchantments (17)—Work begins again on the siege machines (41)—Godfrey plans a fresh assault on the city (49)—Vafrine is sent to spy on the Egyptian army (57)—The assault is launched (64)—Rinaldo climbs the wall (72)—The archangel Michael shows Godfrey invisible armies in the sky, aiding the assault (92)—Godfrey plants the Cross on the walls (99)—Some Saracens withdraw to Solomon's temple (104)—The rest are slaughtered (105).

C A N T O

E I G H T E E N

i Rinaldo, being arrived where Godfrey has risen to meet him, began: "My lord, concern for jealous honor drove me to take my vengeance on the soldier who is dead; and if I offended you in it, truly I felt remorse about it thereafter, and repentance in my heart. Now I am come to your summons and am ready to make any amends that may render me acceptable to you." 2

Godfrey reached forth his arms about the neck of the youth, who had humbly knelt, and answered him: "Let all unhappy memories be quiet now, and let things past conceal themselves in oblivion. And for amends, I shall only want you to do what you have customarily done—famous exploits: and, for our profit and our enemies' harm, it falls to you to vanquish the monsters of the wood. 3

'The wood most ancient, from which we took before the materials for our ordnance, is now (whatever the reason may be) made into a solitary and dreadful nest of enchantments: and there is not one who can make it his boast to hew timber from there. And reason forbids that the city be stormed without such instruments. Now there, where others show fear, let your valor prove itself." 4 So he spoke, and the knight in brief speech offered himself for the hardship, for the danger. But though he may not say much, it was plain to see in his magnanimous gestures that he will do enough. And then to the res) he cheerfully turned his hands and face in friendly welcome. Here Guelph, here Tancred, and here were all the principal men of the army gathered together.

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When he had several times repeated with these nobles his sincere and heartfelt shows of affection, affably pleasant and popular he greeted the other, less important people. Surely the soldierly shouting could not have been more joyous, or the press about him thicker, if he had been proceeding in triumph in a gilded chariot after having conquered the Orient and the South. 6

So he proceeds to his tent; and there he sits with his close friends in a circle by his side; and much he asks and much he answers them, now of the war, now of the woodland enchantment. But when each of them taking his leave had given them opportunity, the holy hermit spoke to him in this manner: "Great things indeed, nay Lord, and a long road you have encompassed in your errantry, a marvellous pilgrim. 7

"How much you owe to the great King who rules the world! He has drawn you forth from the thresholds of enchantment; you, the lost lamb, He brings back now among His flocks, and receives within His fold; and He through the voice of Bouillon is electing you as secondary executor of His will. But it is not fitting yet that (still profane) you arm your hand for His great offices. 8

"For you are still in a manner overcast with the darkness of the world and of the flesh, so that not Nile or Ganges or the Ocean deep could have the power to make you clean and shining. Heaven's grace alone can render pure whatever you have of filth. Turned then to Heaven ask pardon reverently and confess your secret sins, and weep, and pray." 9

Thus he spoke to him; and he first wept inwardly for his proud passions and foolish loves. Then kneeling at his feet, tearstained and dejected, he disclosed to him all his youthful errors. Heaven's minister, after pardon granted, said to him: "With the new dawn you shall go to pray up there on that mountain that faces his brow toward the morning ray.

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"From there you will go to the wood where are so many apparitions deceitful and false. You will overcome (I know) the monsters and giants unless some further fond error hold you back. Ah, let not voice that sweetly sings or weeps, or loveliness that softly smiles or glances, capture your heart with tender counterfeits; but hold in scorn fictive faces and fictive prayers." ii

Thus he gives counsel; and the knight makes ready, desirous and confident of the lofty enterprise. Thoughtfully passes the day, thoughtful and sad the night; and before the dawn is kindled in heaven he girds on his handsome armor and takes a new surcoat and strange in color. And all alone and silent and on foot he leaves his companions and leaves his tent. 12

It was the time when night has not yet yielded wholly every border to the day but the East is seen to be reddening and the sky is still adorned with a few stars, when he directed his feet toward Olivet with his gaze lifted up about him in contemplation—on this side night's, on that side morning's beauties incorruptible and divine. 13 He thought to himself: "How many lovely lights the heavenly shrine contains within it! Day has his mighty chariot,1 the night spreads forth her gilded stars and silvered moon, but there is none who values either the one or the other, and we fix our gaze on the light, troubled and dim, that the glance of an eye, the gleaming of a smile discovers within the narrow limits of a fragile face." 14

Thus meditating he climbed to the highest summit, and there kneeling and reverent he lifted his lofty thoughts above the heavens, and fixed his eyes

1 A deliberate contrast to the conccttismo of Rinaldo's speech at 16.22, in which the heavens and the stars exist only as a mirror for Armida's beauty.

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on the east. "My early life and early sins, O Father and Lord, behold with the eye of pity in Thy clemency, and shed Thy grace on me that it may cleanse and renew my old Adam." 15 Thus he prayed, and before him rose crimson Aurora already bedecked with gold, who gilds with her light his helmet, his armor, and the green heights of the mountain round about him, and he felt his breast and forehead cooled with the influence of a pleasant breeze that on his head shook down a dewy mist from the lap of the lovely Dawn. 16

The dew of Heaven falls upon his garments, which appeared in color ashen, and so cleanses them diat it takes away their pallor and creates in them a shining whiteness: so in the cool of morning die thirsty flower renews the beauty of her withered leaves, and so the serpent joyously returns to his youthful beauty, and adorns himself with new gold. 17 Viewing himself he marvels at die lovely whiteness of his transformed surcoat; dien widi confident boldness he turns his steps toward die deep and ancient forest. He came to the place where die less brave are stopped merely by die terror diat rises from its appearance. Yet die grove appears neither ugly nor dreadful to him, but pleasandy shady. 18

He passes on, and hears a sound die while that is most pleasandy diffused; he hears die hoarse murmuring of a brook and die breathing of die breeze among the foliage, and the tearful singing of the tuneful swan, and the nightingale that weeps and answers him; organs and lyres and human voices in harmony; so many and such sounds one sound expresses. 19 Even as happens to the others, the knight took notice of a great rumbling of deep fearfulness, and then he hears a sweet harmony of nymphs and sirens, of birds and winds and waters; marveling at which he stays his steps,

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and then goes forward all suspended and slow; and in his path he finds no other barrier than that of a quiet and translucent stream. 20

Adorned with loveliness and pleasant odors, the one and the other margin of the pretty stream smiles and gives offa fragrance. It reaches its curling horn just far enough that the ample grove is nestled in its bend; and not only makes a pleasant garland around it, but one little channel enters and divides it. It bathes the grove, and the grove shadows the stream, with a sweet exchange between them of moisture and shade. 21

While the warrior is looking where he may ford it, behold a marvellous bridge appeared—a rich bridge of gold that offered him a broad path above its solid arches. He makes the golden passage, and it falls down as soon as his foot has touched the other bank, and immediately the water carries it under—the water that from a lovely stream is turned into a torrent. 22

He turns around and sees it swollen and gorged as if by melted snows, so that it noisily rebounds on itself with a thousand swift eddies. But still desire of novelty draws him on to explore among the thick and ancient trees; and in those savage solitudes always some new marvel draws him to it. 23

Wherever in passing he places his foot, it seems that something there springs forth or germinates; there opens the lily and here buds forth the rose; here rises a spring, there a rivulet is released; and above and about him the ancient forest seemed to rejuvenate all its foliage. The trunks grow pliable, and in every tree the verdure grows more joyously verdant again. 24

Bedewed with manna was every leaf, and honey dripped from the trunks, and again was heard that strange jocund harmony of singing and complaint. But he knows not where is concealed the human choir that bore the burden with the swans, the breeze, the waters. He knows not how to see

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who can be speaking in human tones, nor where the musical instruments can be. 25

While he is observing, and reason is refusing faith in what his sense would proffer him as truth, he sees to one side a myrtle, and turns his course there, where a footpath terminates in a broad clearing. The strange myrtle spreads its mighty branches, taller than cypress and palm, and waves its foliage over all the other trees; and there it seems are the palace grounds of that grove. 26 Pausing in the broad clearing the warrior then holds his gaze fixed on a greater novelty. An oak appears before him that (making its own incision) opens its hollow entrails in fertility and gives birth; and there issues out of it (O marvellous!), clothed in strange fashion, a nymph full-grown; and at the same time then he sees a hundred other trees produce from their pregnant bosoms a hundred nymphs. 27 As the stage displays, or as we see sometimes painted the woodland goddesses, their arms bare and their gowns girt up, with buskins fine and tresses disarrayed, in such manner appeared the fictive daughters of the rude tree trunks, except that in place of bow and quiver one holds a lute, another viola or lyre. 28

And they began their dances and their rounds, and formed themselves into a garland and girdled the knight around, as the center is wont to be closed within its circle. They girdled the tree also, and he heard such words as these in their sweet singing: "Welcome indeed you are come to these pleasant cloisters, O thou the love and comfort of our lady. 29 "Long awaited, you are come to bring health to her who is sick, wounded and parched with the thoughts of love. This wood that was so dark before, a fitting place for the life of sorrow, you see how it all grows joyous at your

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coming, and is reclothed in lovelier guise." Such was their song; and then from the myrtle came forth a sound most sweet, and it opened. ?o

Long since in the opening of a rustic Silenus the ancient age saw marvellous things; but that immense myrtle from its open bosom showed forth images more lovely and rare: it showed a lady who fully simulated in her false countenance angelic beauty. Rinaldo gazes, and is of opinion that he is seeing Armida's form and her sweet face. 3i She looks upon him in sorrow and mirth at once: a thousand passions show mingled in one glance. Then she speaks: "I see you yet; and in the end you are yet returned to her from whom you fled. For what are you come? to console straightway my widowed nights and mournful days? or are you come to wage war, to drive me away, that you conceal that lovely face from me, and make a show of weapons? 32 "Are you come as lover or as enemy? Truly I did not fashion the costly bridge for an enemy, nor opened to an enemy the rivulets, the flowers, and the fountain, clearing away the thorns and whatever else is entanglement to his steps. Take off this helmet now; discover your face, and your eyes to mine, if you are come as friend; join lips to lips, and bosom to bosom; at least put your hand in mine." 33 She continued her speaking, and rolled her eyes in lovely piteous ways, and let her countenance grow pale, pretending sighs most sweet, and soft sobs and pretty plaints, so that incautious pity for those sufferings could have made hard adamant tender; but the knight, (not cruel, but fully aware) pays her no more mind and draws his naked steel. 34

He approaches the myrtle; whereupon she embraces the trunk and interposes herself and cries: "Oh it will never be that you do me such outrage that you cut down my tree. Lay aside your steel, O pitiless man, or drive it

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first into the veins of hapless Armida. Only through this bosom, through this heart, can your sword find out the path to my lovely myrtle." 35

He raises the sword and pays her prayers no heed; but she is transformed (O new monstrosities!) even as it happens that out of one shape a dream projects another, suddenly transmuted. So she magnified her limbs and turned her countenance dark, and the crimson and the ivory vanished away. She grew to a huge giant and became a Briareus with a hundred armed hands. 36

She brandishes fifty swords and clashes fifty shields and foams with menacings. The other nymphs are clothed in armor too, each made a horrid Cyclops; and he nothing fears, but doubles his blows against the defended tree, which groans at the blows as if it had a soul. The fields of the air appear the Stygian fields, so many monsters and prodigies appear in them. 37

The troubled sky above, the earth below resounds: that thunders and this quakes. The winds and whirlwinds go to war, and blow in his face a bitter tempest. But yet the knight never misses a stroke, nor stays a moment for all that turbulence. He cuts down the walnut: (it is a walnut,2 and it seemed a myrtle). Here ended the enchantment, the phantoms vanished. 38

The sky returned serene and the wind calm; the wood returned to its natural state, neither pleasant nor made fearsome with enchantments; full of horror, but of horror innate. The victor tries again whether any other any

* The myrtle is the tree of Venus, whose earliest name (Murcia) "was interpreted later on as Myrtea, goddess of myrtles" (Seyffert, Dictionary of'Classical Antiquities, s.v. Venus). Renaissance humanist poets who allude to the ill effects of the walnut tree are likely to be thinking of Ovid's post-exilic pocmNux, in which the walnut tree complains of its bad reputation (61-72,109-36). But see also Pliny,N*f. Hist. 17.89,91.

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more forbids that the grove can now be cut. Then he smiles, and says to himself—"O empty apparitions! and foolish he who holds back because of you!" 39

From there he takes his road toward the tents; and meanwhile there the solitary Peter shouted: "Now the dread enchantment of the wood is overcome; now the victorious warrior is returning; behold him!" And he grew visible from afar in his white cloak, venerable and severe; and the silver plumes of his eagle shone in the sun with unaccustomed brightness. 40

From the joyful camp he receives a loud salute reverberant with echoings of their cries; and then with gracious distinction he is received by the worthy Bouillon, and there is none who envies. The warrior said to his leader:' "I went to that dreaded wood as you commanded, and I saw it; I saw, and conquered the enchantments. Now let your troops go there too, for the roads are safe." 4i

The journey is made to the ancient wood and such material brought from there as their good judgment selected; and though the rude workman knew not how to put much skill into the first machines, yet this time he who joined the ties to the beams is a famous artificer: William, the Ligurian captain, who formerly was wont to play the pirate as sovereign of the sea; 42

then, forced to withdraw, he yielded control of the sea to the Saracens' great fleet, and now from the ships to the camp he brought both his sailors

! Clearly the speech echoes Julius Caesar's veni, vidi, vici (cf. also 17.38, shifted to the imperative). Less obvious is the fact that Rinaldo's proper name has appeared only twice in the last forty stanzas (18.1 and 30), and only once more (17.81) in the entire narrative of his return (17.53-97). The repeated use of "the knight" and "the warrior" appears to be intended to heighten the style. Cf. 19.46, and the reference to Gernando only as "the soldier who is dead."

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and his naval weapons; and this was a man without equal among any the most working wits for mechanical contrivances; and with him he had a hundred lesser artisans, executors of that which he designs. 4? This man not only began to put together ballistas, catapults, and battering rams with which he can strip the walls of their defenses and shatter the lofty and solid ramparts, but he accomplished a greater work, a marvellous tower, that was lined inside with pine and fir and has her outside sheathed in leather to protect her from fire shot at her. 44

The great machine is laid out and built again, with cunning jointures joined together; and from her lowest parts she shoots forth a beam that has a ram's head, battering away. From her middle she launches a gangplank, and often lays it on the opposing wall at the first encounter; and from her issues forth above the summit a smaller tower, that is pushed up and rises high. 45

Heavy with weapons and heavy with troops she is able to make her way without much trouble where the roads are easy, running swift and smooth on her hundred rolling wheels. The troops stand around, intently admiring the dexterity of the carpenters and their unfamiliar skills; and two towers more are made at the same time, copied in the image of the first. 46 But meanwhile the deeds that were being accomplished there were not altogether hidden from the Saracens; for their guards are posted on the lofty walls at the nearest-neighboring places, in order to spy on them. These people saw great baggage trains of ash and pine being brought from the wood to the army, and they saw machines; but they were not able from there to make out fully their shape. 47 They too are making their machines, and with great skill reinforcing the towers and the walls; and they raised it so much on that side where it is

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least able to sustain the shock of battle, that they believe now there can be no military strength sufficient to take it by storm. But beyond every other defense Ismen is preparing a rare and unaccustomed stock of incendiaries. 48

The wicked sorcerer blends sulphur and pitch, that he has gathered from the lake of Sodom; and (I believe) he has been in hell and taken it also from the great river4 that girdles it nine times round. He makes it so that that fire both smokes and stinks, and can be hurled flaming right at the face. And with cruel fire he thinks to avenge his darling wood hewn down. 49

While in such fashion the camp is preparing itself for the assault, the city for defense, through the paths of air above the Prankish host a dove is seen to fly, that does not move her rapid pinions, and glides across those liquid ways with outstretched wings; and already the unusual messenger is descending to the city from the lofty clouds, 50

when up soars a falcon from I know not where, armed with great talons and a hooking beak, who in the space between the walls and the camp confronts her. She does not wait for the cruel bird's attack; he, flying high, pursues her to the largest tent, and it seems that now he has caught up with her, and has his foot poised above her tender head: she takes cover in the lap of the worthy Bouillon. 5i

Godfrey gives her shelter and defends her; then he discovers, upon examining her, a strange business; for a sealed letter tied to a thread is hanging from her neck and tucked beneath a wing. He unseals it and spreads it open and soon comprehends the brief message that it contains: "To Judaea's lord (the writing says) the Captain of Egypt sends greetings.

4

See Glossary, s.v. Phlegethon.

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"Fear not, my lord; resist and endure to the fourth day or the fifth: for I am coming to liberate those walls and soon you will see your enemy overcome." This was the secret message that the missive held, expressed in barbaric characters, given in charge to the flying courier (for at that time the Levant made use of such messengers). 53

The prince releases the dove, and she—hapless messenger—who has been the betrayer of secrets, no longer had any eagerness to return, since she holds herself a traitress to her master. But the commander in chief calls the lesser commanders together, and shows them the missive and speaks thus: "See how the providence of Heaven's king can reveal all things to us. 54

"It is clear to me now there is no more time for delay; now let us begin a new levelling, and spare neither labor nor sweat to make a passage over the rocks toward the south. Hard it will be to make there a path for our weapons; yet it can be done. I have taken note of the place and its passes. And surely that wall, which its situation makes secure, should be less fortified with works and weapons. 55

"You, Raymond, I want to batter the walls from that side with your machines. I want the obvious preparations of my troops directed against the Aquilonian gate, so that the enemy may see them and, being deceived, may expect from that side our strongest assault. Then my great tower, that moves with facility, can somewhat shift and carry the war elsewhere. 56

"At the same time you, Camillo, will maneuver not far from me the third siege tower." He was silent; and Raymond, who is sitting beside him, and while he was speaking is revolving inward thoughts, spoke up: "Nothing can be added and nothing taken away from the plans expressed by Godfrey. Beyond this, I only praise the idea that someone be sent to the enemy camp who can spy out their secrets;

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57

"and can recount to us for certain and true their numbers and their thinking, as far as he will be able to gather it." Then Tancred adds: "I have a squire that it is my pleasure to propose for this task: a man ready and quick, and light on his feet; bold indeed, but cautiously bold; who speaks many languages and can change the recognized sound of his voice, and his bearing and his gestures." 58

He came when summoned; and when he understood what Godfrey and his master wanted, he lifted up his countenance, smiling, and undertook the charge, and said: "Already I am on my way. Soon I shall be where that camp will have spread its tents, a spy unrecognized. At noonday I shall enter within their trenches and number you every soldier, every horse. 59

"I promise to tell you how many is that host, and of what quality, and what their captain is thinking; I make it my boast to discover his inmost feelings and to extract from his breast his secret thoughts." Thus Vafrine speaks and does not tarry; but changes his doublet for a long cloak and shows his neck uncovered and gathers twisted bands about his head. 60

He adopts the Syrian quiver and bow; and his every gesture seems barbaric. They were astonished who heard him speaking, and being so facile in divers tongues that he would have been believed an Egyptian in Memphis, or a Phoenician in Tyre, by this people or by that. He goes his way on a courser that scarcely imprints the softest sand in his going. 61

But the Franks, before the third day should arrive, were levelling the rough and rutted roads, and also preparing their implements within that time, so that their toils were never at any time interrupted—rather they joined to the labors of the day the night as well, taking from it its repose, nor is there anything more that can deter them from making now the utmost trial of all their strength.

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A great part of the day to which the day of the assault succeeded the worthy Bouillon devotes to prayer, and he orders that all the rest confess their sins and eat the bread of the soul at the great table. Then weapons and machines he displays most often there where he thinks to employ them least; and the deluded pagan is comforted, who sees them arrayed against the fortified gate. 63 Then by the dark of night his own vast mobile machine is transported to where the wall is less curved and makes less of an obstacle, that section being not angular and bent. And Raymond also with his armed siege tower threatens the city from up on the heights. Camillo brings his to the side that from Boreas somewhat declines to the west. 64

But when in the east had appeared the morning harbingers of the sun, the pagans became aware (and were perturbed indeed) that the tower is not where it was wont to be; and also they saw towering up, on this side and on that, the one and the other machine not seen before; and also visible in countless numbers are catapults, rams, cats,' and ballistas. 65

The pagan rout is not slow then to move many defenses from where it had been expecting him before to where Bouillon is bringing up the machines. But the Captain (who is mindful that he has the Egyptian army at his back) has already seized those roads and has summoned the two Roberts and Guelph. "Stay on horseback (he says) armed in the saddle; 66

"and make it your care that while I am making the ascent up there, where that wall appears less strong, there be not any force to come suddenly on

' The termgatti ("cats") appears here and at 18.71. Tommaseo's Dictionary says: "A war machine . . . made with a woven roofing . . . under cover of which . . . the besiegers battered the walls with a beam . . . whose head was made in the shape of a cat or a ram."

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our backs while we are thus occupied and carry the war to us." He was silent; and now from three sides the three brave columns attempt die dread assault; and on three sides his troops are set against them by the king, who took up again that day his armor once laid aside. 67

He himself on his body now trembling with his years and heavy from its own weight binds on die armor that he had ceased to use long time before, and sets forth against Raymond. Solyman opposes Godfrey and fierce Argantes the good Camillo, who has Bohemond's nephew with him; and fortune now is his guide, that he may kill the enemy owed to him. 68

The archers began to shoot dieir deadly weapons tainted with poison; and the shadowed sky appears to be turned black beneath a huge cloud of shafts. But with greater force came fiercer blows from the siege machines; great roundshots, heavy and marmoreal, issued from them, and ironbound shafts tipped widi steel. 69

Each stone seems a thunderbolt, and so pounds to pieces the armor and limbs of him who is caught by it that it takes from him not only his life and soul, but even the shape of his body and his face. The javelin does not stop in die wound; after the blow, it goes a great deal farther; it enters from one side and passes out the other flying, and in its flight leaves death behind. 70

But yet such fury did not remove the Saracen troops from their defense. Against diose blows they had already set out folded cloths, and other yielding stuffs; the blow that falls on them finds no resistance there and as a result is made weak and slow. The Saracens, where they see die crowd exposed, make with their flying missiles a bitter answer. 7i For all that, the assailant (who is moving in triple column) does not cease to press forward; and some proceed underneath the cats, where the thick

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hail of arrows storms in vain; and some bring the towers close to the lofty wall, which repels them as much as it can. Now each tower tries to launch its gangplank; the ram with ironclad forehead butts away.

72 Meanwhile Rinaldo is standing undecided, because that hazard was not worthy of him, and he esteems honor commonplace when it goes by common ways in a troop with a crowd. And he casts his eyes about; and it only suits him to try that route that makes another despair. There where the wall is being left in peace, lofty and best-defended, he wants to carry the assault.

73

And turning to those who had formerly been led by Dudon, famous warriors all, he said "Oh shame that there that wall should now be resting in ,,peace among so many arms! Any hazard is always safe to valor; all roads ,,are smooth to men of spirit; let us carry the war there and against their cruel blows make a thick shell of shields."

74

At this speech they all clustered about him; all raised their shields above their heads and joined them so that they made an iron roof against the dreadful tempest. Compacted under the cover, the fierce band goes at a run; and nothing stops their run, for the solid shell withstands whatever comes ruining down on them.

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Now they are under the walls. Rinaldo then emplaced a ladder with hundreds of rungs, and handled it with arm so powerful that a tiny reed in the wind is not so pliant. Now lance or beam, now mighty column or battlement comes down from on high; he goes up no more slowly; but unvanquished and unfrightened at every blow, he would not care if Olympus and Ossa were falling.

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76

A forest of arrows and falling objects he bears on his back, and on his shield a mountain; one hand shakes the wall close by, the other is held up to protect his face. The example spurs his companions on to deeds hardy and strange, it is not he alone who climbs. For many along with him lean their lofty ladders; but their valor and their fortunes are unequal.

77

One dies, another falls; he climbs aloft, and heartens these and threatens those. And already he is got so high that he can grasp the parapeted summit with outstretched arms. Then a great crowd draws thither; it buffets him, it pushes him away, it strives to hurl him down, and yet does not drive him off. Marvellous sight! one man alone, suspended in the air, has strength to resist a large and determined crowd. 78

He both resists and pushes forward and gains new strength; and, like the palm tree6 that a weight bows down, his valor, being opposed, has greater force, and by the oppression rises up the more; and in the end he overcomes all his foes and forces a passage through the spears and the obstacles that he had against him. And climbs the wall, and gets the mastery of it and makes it safe and clear for him who climbs up after. 79

And he himself, in the moment of victory extending a friendly hand to the youngest brother of the good Bouillon, who is in danger of falling, helped him to climb up second. Meanwhile the Captain elsewhere was encountering various and hazardous fortunes; for there the battle was not only among men, but the machines as well do battle together.

6 The concept, based on Pliny (Nat. Hist. 16.109), appears frequently in Renaissance emblem literature.

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The Syrians had on the wall a tree trunk raised upright, that once had been a ship's mast, and upon that is hung crossways a great beam with hard and iron-clad head; and being drawn back with cables, it launches forward then headlong and heavy: now the turtle withdraws into its shell, and now dirusts forth its neck outside. 81

The enormous beam made its strike, and redoubled its blows so harshly on the tower that it opened her solid tight-knit joints, working them loose, and shook her and drove her back. The tower had ready against that need reliable weapons, and put forth two great scythes which, skilfully maneuvered against die timber, severed the ropes that were supporting it. 82

As sometimes a great boulder, being loosened from a mountain by old age or rooted up by die fury of the winds, falls ruinously down, and splinters the forests and carries them away, and the herds along with the houses; so from its lofty height die terrible beam came down, pulling down battlements and weapons and men. The tower shuddered once and yet again at diat passage; the walls were trembling and die hills resounded. 8?

Triumphant Bouillon passes on, and thinks he is getting possession of the walls already; but suddenly at that moment he sees launched against him stinking and smoking flames; cavernous Mongibello never sent forth from her sulphurous bosom such quantity of flame, nor ever the skies of India in summer's heat rained down such scalding vapors. 84

Barrels and hoops and shafts are blazing here; one flame gleams black, another bloody. The odor sickens, the crash and thunder deafens; the smoke blinds, the fire burns and clings. The moistened leather would in the end have been a poor defense for die tower; it scarcely defends her now. Already it sweats and begins to curl, and if Heaven's aid were any slower it needs must burn.

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The magnanimous leader stands before them all and changes neither color nor stance, and heartens those who are pouring over the parched leather the water that had been made ready against the fire. To such a state were they reduced, and already but little water was left them, when lo! a wind that suddenly breathes forth drives back the blaze against its own creators. 86 The wind comes up against the fire and (the fire being driven back where the pagans piled up the bales) straightway that soft material received it, and the whole defense is ablaze. O glorious Captain! O much protected by almighty God, dear to almighty God! Heaven wages war for you, and the winds obediently come, called up to the sound of trumpets. 87 But wicked Ismeno, who saw the sulphurous flames driven back by Boreas7 against himself, intended again to make trial of his lying skills, to constrain Nature and the adverse winds; and flanked by two witches who were followers of his, he presented himself to the gaze of the rest atop the wall: and grim and black and bearded and begrimed he seemed like Charon or Pluto between two Furies. 88 Already could be heard the muttering of the words at which Cocytus and Phlegethon are fearful; already the air could be seen to be disturbed, and the sun to hide his face in darksome clouds, when from die great machine was launched a huge stone, that had been part of a mountain; and it caught them in such fashion that a single blow strewed round the blood and the bones of all together. 89 Their sinful heads were scattered in pieces so bloody and so small that scarcely does grain come out more finely ground from under the remorse-

7 Rinaldo is scaling the north wall, Raymond is on the south, and Godfrey and Camillo are attacking from the north and west (18.63), so that a north by northwest wind would favor the latter.

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less ponderous millstone. Groaning aloud, the three evil souls abandoned the air serene and the lovely light of heaven and took their flight amongst the wicked shades of Hell. Learn piety from this, O mortal men. 90 Meanwhile the tower, which the wind makes safe from the fire, approaches so close to the city that it can put forth its bridge and lodge it firmly on the walls; but the intrepid Solyman hurries there and seeks to cut off the narrow passage and redoubles his blows: and indeed he would have cut it off, but unexpectedly a further tower appeared. 9i The great machine, growing larger, rises beyond the limits of the tallest buildings, into the air. The Saracens stood astonished at that apparition, seeing their city the lower. But the fierce Turk does not abandon his station, although a shower of stones rains down on him; nor does he yet lose hope of cutting the bridge, and encourages and rebukes the others, who were dismayed. 92

Then presented himself to Godfrey's eyes (to other men unseen) the angel Michael clad in celestial armor; and the sun unveiled by any cloud would have been excelled by him. "Godfrey, behold (he said) the hour is come that Sion is freed from her cruel slavery. Turn not, turn not away your dazzled eyes: behold with what forces Heaven is bringing you aid. 93 "Only lift up your eyes to look upon the vast immortal army that is gathered in the air; for I shall take away for you the thick cloud of your humanity that wrapped about you in shadows dims your mortal sense, so that you shall see the unveiled spirits face to face, and for a brief while be able to endure the rays of their angelic forms. 94 "Behold the souls of those who were Christ's champions, made citizens now in Heaven, who fight with you and find themselves beside you at the glorious finish of so great a conquest. There where you see the dust and

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smoke commingled rolling along, and the heaped up ruins of broken works, within that many-layered cloud Hugh is fighting, and is battering the foundations of the towers. 95 "Lo there Dudon, who storms the tall north gate with flame and steel; he is bringing up weapons for those who are fighting, he exhorts the rest to climb up, and places and holds the ladders. He who is up there on the hill, and wears the sacred vestments and the priestly crown on his locks, is the shepherd Adhemar, a soul in bliss: see how yet he makes the sign of the cross and blesses you. 96 "Lift further up your eager eyes, and see all the mighty host of Heaven assembled." He lifted his gaze, and saw a countless winged militia gathered into one body. There are three serried troops and each troop marches drawn up in triple rank, and spreads abroad; but it spreads the more as the circles are further out; the inmost are the least. 97 Here he cast down his vanquished eyes and then raised them again, and saw the grand spectacle no more; but looking to his own men on every side, he discovers that victory is smiling on them all. Many famous heroes were climbing up behind Rinaldo: he, already up, is killing the Syrians. The Captain, who scorns to delay any longer, seizes the standard from the hand of his faithful ensign 98 and is first to pass over the bridge; and halfway over his path is blocked by the Sultan. A tiny bridge is the field for infinite prowess, as was made evident in a few blows there. The fierce Solyman snouts: "Here do I give and consecrate my life for the life of the rest. Now, comrades, cut this bridge behind my back; for here I make my stand, no easy prey." 99 But he saw far off Rinaldo coming, with dreadful countenance, and everyone fleeing from him. "Now what shall I do? if here I expend my life, I

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pour it forth (he said) and waste it in vain." And still revolving within himself new means of defense, he yielded free passage to the Captain, who follows him uttering threats, and plants atop the walls the standard of the holy Cross. 100

The triumphant banner proudly wreathes about in a thousand folds; and it seems that die wind breathes on it more reverendy, and diat the daylight shines on it more bright; diat every arrow, every dart diat is shot against it either falls away or turns back from there; it seems that Sion, it seems that the mountain opposite adore it gladly and bow their heads to it. 101

Then all die squadrons raised the cry of victory, loud and joyous, and the mountains resounded, and echoed their final syllables; and almost at that very moment Tancred broke down and overcame every defense that Argantes had set up against him; and launching his gangplank he also swiftly made passage onto die wall, and planted there die Cross. 102

But toward the south, where the hoary Raymond and the Palestinian tyrant are embroiled, die Gascon warriors still have not been able to bring dieir tower up to the city; for the king has die pick of his troops to aid him, and they are standing stubbornly in defense: and although there die wall was less solid, it was the more protected there with machines. 103

Besides that, on this side the siege machine found less expeditious passage than elsewhere; and art was not able to do so much that die site does not yet retain something of its nature. Meanwhile the loud acclaim of victory was heard by die Gascons and the defenders; and bodi die tyrant and die lord of Toulouse were aware that the city is already taken, down toward the plain. 104

Whereupon Raymond shouts to his men "On the other side, comrades, die city is already taken. Being conquered, does it resist us still? Now shall

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we only have no part in such a glorious prize?" But the king, finally yielding, withdraws, for the defense has become desperate there; and he takes his flight to a stronghold on high ground where he hopes to weather the assault. 105 Then enters the whole triumphant host, not only over the walls but through the gates; for now is opened, levelled, burned, and destroyed all that which had opposed them, barred-up and strong. The wrath of the sword walks abroad and Death goes up and down with Lamentation and Horror, his companions. Blood stands in pools and runs in rivers filled with bodies, the dead and the barely living.

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Canto Nineteen

T H E

A R G U M E N T

Tancred encounters Argantes in the breach—They withdraw some distance from the city (6)—Tancred slays Argantes, and himself collapses (28)—Rinaldo breaks into the temple of Solomon (33)—Solyman escorts Aladine to the Tower of David (39)—Godfrey suspends operations for the night (50)—Vafrine spies on the Egyptian army near Gaza (57)—He joins the crowd in Armida's tent (67) and is recognized by Erminia (80)—They steal away into the countryside (85)—Erminia tells her story (90)—The two travel alone toward Jerusalem (101) and find Tancred lying unconscious near Argantes (102)—Tancred's men come up and find him lodging in Jerusalem with Erminia nearby (115)—Vafrine reports to Godfrey (119)— Godfrey decides to meet the relieving force outside the city walls (130).

C A N T O

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i

Now death, or prudence, or fear has taken every pagan away from the defenses, and only the stubborn Argantes has not yet turned back from the embattled walls. He shows a countenance confident and fearless, and surrounded by his enemies fights on still, fearing more to be driven away than to die; and (dying) he wishes yet to appear unconquered. 2

But Tancred comes up, an assailant dangerous beyond every other, and gives him a buffet. The Circassian is quick to recognize by his bearing, his movements, his familiar armor the man who fought with him before, and promised to return on the sixth day, and his promises turned out empty. So that he shouted: "Thus, Tancred, do you keep your faith with me? Thus are you now returning to the combat? 3

"You return late, and not alone; yet I do not refuse to fight with you and make my trial anew—though you seem to me to be come here, not as a warrior, but as an inventor of machines. Make yourself a shield of your followers, find out for your aid new modes of war and unfamiliar weapons—for you will not be able to escape your death at my hands, O mighty murderer of women." 4

The good Tancred smiled a kind of disdainful smile, and had his answer ready in proud language: "My return is late; but I warn you now that it soon will seem to you early: and you will be wishing that either the mountains had divided you from me, or the sea had been set between us. And you will see by example that no cowardice or fear was cause of my delay.

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"Just come aside widi me, you who are slayer only of giants and heroes: the murderer of women is defying you." So he speaks; then turns to his men and makes them hold back from attacking, and shouts: "Now cease from troubling him; for tJiis man is my peculiar enemy, more than he is common foe, and an old obligation binds me to him." 6

"Now make your way down, alone or with followers as you prefer," replies the fierce Circassian. "Go to a populous or a deserted spot, for I shall not leave you because of mistrust or disadvantage." The harsh invitation thus given and accepted, they make their way in unison toward their mighty quarrel. Hatred joins them together, and rancor makes the one enemy now the defender of the other. 7

Great is the zeal for his honor, great the desire that Tancred feels for the pagan's blood, and he does not believe that it can quench the thirst of his wrath if a drop of it issues forth by the hand of another. And he covers him with his shield and shouts "Don't touch" to all they encounter, even when far away; so that among his friends he conveys his enemy safe from their wrathful and triumphing weapons. 8

They go forth from the city and turn their backs on the tents of the nations encamped around it, and make their way where a winding path carries them along by secret turnings, and diey find a narrow shaded valley lying among several hills, not otherwise than if it were a theater, or had been enclosed for tournaments and hunts. 9 Here they both stop: and yet a while suspended, Argantes turned toward the afflicted city. Tancred perceives that the pagan is not provided with a shield, and tosses his own away. Then he says to him: 'What thought now has taken hold of you? are you thinking that the hour ordained for you is come? if you are standing fearful because of foreseeing that, your fearfulness is ill-timed now."

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"I am thinking (he answers) of the city, most ancient queen of Judah's realm, that now she is falling in defeat, and vainly I undertook to be the prop against her fatal ruin; and that your head, which Heaven now destines for me, is little vengeance for my sense of wrong." He fell silent; and they come together with great respect; for well does the one know that the other is valiant. ii

Tancred is nimble and fluid in his build, and very quick of hand and foot. Argantes overtops him by a tall head and far exceeds him in massiveness of limb. Tancred appears to move in a crouch, and poised within himself, to get under his guard and rush in; and with his sword he seeks his enemy's sword, and uses every art to turn it aside. 12

But the fierce Argantes, upright and at foil height, shows similar artfulness, but different moves. As much as he can he holds his mighty arm before him, and seeks his enemy's body, not his sword. Tancred tries every moment new approaches; Argantes constantly keeps his sword in his face: he threatens him and holds his stance, intent on warding offhis stealthy approaches and sudden traverses. 13 Even so when Africus or Notus is not blowing across the level plain of the sea is equal sea fight seen between two ships unequal, for one has advantage in size, the other in mobility; the one with turns and counterturns attacks and circles from stem to stern, and the other stands motionless; and (when the lighter one draws near) from her tall sides she menaces deep ruin. 14 While the Italian attempts to find an opening, parrying the sword that he sees opposing him, Argantes waves his sword and presents its point to his eyes; he recoils in defense; but then so quick, so violent the pagan lets it fall, that he forestalls the defender and wounds him in the side; and when he sees the wounded side, he shouts: 'The fencer is beaten at fencing."

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15 Tancred chafes between scorn and shame, and abandons his usual caution, and thirsts for vengeance so much that he considers delay in victory his loss. He answers the taunting only with his sword, and lets drive at his helmet where it opens a passage for sight. Argantes rebuffs the blow and resolutely now Tancred comes to half-sword. 16

Then swiftly he passes, on his left foot, and with his left hand catches his right arm, and at the same instant with his right hand wounds his right side with the deadliest blows. "This answer (he said) the losing fencer gives to his winning teacher." The Circassian rages, and twists and shakes himself but cannot free the imprisoned arm. i?

At last he left his sword hanging on its chain, and thrust himself underneath the good Italian. Tancred did the same, and with mighty strain the one trod down the other, and the one grasped hold of the other; and not with more force did Alcides hold aloft the mighty giant from the sunbaked sand and strangle him than did their sinewy arms in various ways make binding holds. 18

Such were their grips and such their blows that both at one moment printed the ground with their sides. Argantes (whether it was his luck, or skill) has his good arm on top, and the left one under. But for the Prankish warrior the hand that is more adapted to fighting lies underneath impeded; so that he, who sees the risk and his own disadvantage, gets himself free from the other and leaps to his feet. 19

The Saracen rises more slowly, and before he is up a great cleaving blow comes down on him. But as before Eurus the pinetree bows his leafy top and at the same time raises it, even so his courage lifts him and raises him high when he is most inclined to fall. Now they begin again exchanging their blows; the fight has less of art and is the more horrible.

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2O

In more than one place the blood wells forth from Tancred; but the pagan is spouting it forth as if in torrents. In his diminished forces now the fierceness languishes, even as a flame in meager fuel. Tancred, who saw him minute by minute dealing his blows more slowly with bloodless arm, speaks to him quietly, putting aside his wrath from his magnanimous heart, and retires his stance: 21

"Yield to me, man of might; acknowledge either me or Fortune as your conqueror. I look not for triumph or for spoils from you, nor do I reserve to myself any rights over you." The pagan, terrible more than was ever his wont, arouses all his furies and unites them: he answers "Now then do you boast yourself to have the better of it, and dare to tempt Argantes to cowardice? 22

"Make use of your luck; for I fear nothing, nor shall I leave your impudence unpunished." As a brand, just before the end, renews its flames and breaks forth brightly into life, so he replenishing with wrath his loss of blood invigorated his ebbing valiance; and the moment of his death now drawing near he wished to make lustrous with a noble end. 2?

His left hand he brings over to its companion hand and with both of them joined together he lets his sword come down. He lets fall a cleaving blow; and though it finds the enemy sword opposed, it beats it aside and passes on beyond; it falls on his shoulder and raking down from rib to rib leaves behind many wounds from a single blow. If Tancred did not fear, nature never made his bold heart capable of fear. 24

Argantes duplicated the terrible stroke—and has fruitlessly scattered his wrath and his strength to the winds; for Tancred, concentrating on the blow, got out from under it and threw himself to one side. You, Argantes, carried by your own weight, fell on your face, and could not help yourself:

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you fell of yourself, being thus far fortunate, that no other has the right to boast your fall. 25 His falling made still wider his open wounds, and the blood forced from them ran down making a pool. He plants his left hand on the earth and raises himself on one knee for defense. "Yield yourself shouts the knightly victor, and makes his offer anew, without troubling him. Meanwhile Argantes stealthily seeks his sword and strikes him on the heel, then threatens him. 26

Thereupon Tancred grew furious, and said: 'Thus, villain, do you abuse my pity?"—then thrust and thrust again his sword into the visor, where it made the way certain. Argantes died, and as he lived he died: dying he uttered threats, and did not languish. Ferocious, fearsome and proud were his final words, his final gestures. 27 Tancred puts up his sword and then devoutly gives thanks to God for the triumphal honor. But the bloody victory has left the victor almost drained of his strength. He fears indeed that his feeble powers cannot endure the motion of the journey; yet he sets forth, and so step by step moves his weary foot along the path he had come. 28

He has not strength to move his weakened body much farther, and the more he exerts himself the more he is exhausted, so that he sits on the ground and lays his cheek on his right hand, which seems a trembling reed. Whatever he looked upon seems to be whirling about and the light of day already dimmed with shadows. At last he faints; and looking upon them the victor could not well be distinguished from the vanquished. 29

While here the solitary struggle is pursued that a private motive made so intense, the victors' wrath is passing beyond bounds and spreading through

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the city upon the guilty people. Now who would ever be able fully to draw on his pages the sorrowful portrait of the captured city, or in his speech prove equal to the cruel and pitiful spectacle? 30

Every thing was entirely filled with slaughter; bodies were bundled into heaps and piles. Here the wounded were lying upon the dead, and there beneath the unburied dead the sick lay buried. With locks dishevelled the tearful matrons fled, clutching their babies to their breasts, and the predator, laden with spoils and rapine, was dragging the virgins along by their hair. 3i But through the streets that lead to the higher ground toward the west, where the great temple lies, all horrid and wet with enemy blood Rinaldo runs, and drives the unrighteous people. The proud youth lifts his fierce sword over their helmeted heads and makes a slaughter of them. All helmets and all shields are weak defenses: here the defense is to be devoid of armor. 32

His noble steel he wields against steel only, and scorns to be fierce against defenseless men. And those that no courage arms, no armor covers, he chases with a look and a dreadful voice. You could see (a marvellous feat of valor) how now he scorns, now threatens, now does injury; how those with risk unequal are yet equally in flight, the naked and the armed. 33

Now with the more unwarlike common folk is also withdrawn no little band of the more soldierly to the temple, which—many times burnt and built again—still takes the name of Solomon, from its original builder; and it was of old made proud by him with cedar and gold and handsome marble; now it is not so rich indeed, yet solid and strong with lofty towers and ironbound gates. 34 The mighty knight-at-arms, being now arrived where the crowd was gathered together on high and spacious ground, found the gates closed and

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found a multitude of defenses made ready on die parapets. He lifted up his dreadful gaze and examined it all twice over from top to bottom, searching for a tiny opening; and as often made its circuit with his swift steps. 35 Even as the preying wolf in the darkened air circles die barred sheepfold, plotting his treacheries, his greedy maw grown gaunt and in his hungering spurred on by his natural wradi and hatred; so he searches all around whether any approach (be it easy or rugged) is seen to open up. At last he comes to a halt in the great square; and up above, the wretched people stand waiting for his assault.

36 To one side was lying (whatever had been the purpose for which it was kept) a mighty beam; nor ever Ligurian ship displays her masts so tall, nor ever so huge. Toward the great portal die warrior carried it with diat hand to which no weight is heavy; and wielding it like a lance he hurled it headlong and heavy against the gate. 37

Metal or marble cannot stand fast against die hard shock, the shock renewed yet stronger. He plucked out from die stone the griding hinges, he broke the locks and battered down the gates. The battering ram can make no boast of doing more, nor can the bombard, thunderbolt of deadi. Through die path laid open die troops pour in like a flood, and follow after die victor. 38

A wretched slaughter makes black and deadly die noble dwelling, that had ,,been once God's dwelling. O Justice of Heaven, so much the heavier on ,,the sinful as it is less swift! By your hidden providence was wakened wradi in pious hearts, and made to wax cruel. The wicked pagan washed with his blood die temple that he had earlier profaned. 39 But meanwhile Solyman is gone to die great tower diat is named for David: and he has die remnant of the soldiers gather here, and sets up barri-

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cades in this street and that: and the tyrant Aladine also hastens there. When the Sultan sees him, he calls to him: "Come, O renowned king; come, and up there take shelter in the rock so strong; 40

"for there you can keep your welfare and your kingdom from the raging of enemy swords." "Ay me (he answers) ay me, how the wrath of the barbarian is destroying my city from its foundations; and my life and my sovereignty fall together. I lived, and ruled: I live no more, nor rule. Well may it now be said, We were. The final day, the inevitable hour is come, for everything." 4i Then said the Sultan, all indignant: "Where, my lord, is your valor shown ,,of old? Fortune our enemy can take from us only our kingdoms, for royal ,,merit is our own, and dwells in us. But now refresh from the turmoil, there within, your weary and heavy limbs." Thus he speaks, and has the old prince taken in within the guarded threshold. 42

He himself seizes in both hands his iron mace and sets his trusty sword at his side, and takes his stand intrepid at the passage, and defends the barricading of the streets against the Prankish people. His dreadful blows were deadly; what fails to kill at least throws down to earth. Now everyone flees the barricaded square, wherever he sees the dreadful mace draw near. 43

Behold, there came there Raymond of Toulouse, followed by a fierce company. The spirited old man ran up to the perilous passage and despised the heaviness of those mighty blows. He gave first blow, but gave the blow in vain: not so in vain did the second striker strike. For he caught him on the brow and threw him to earth with the weight of it, on his back, twitching, stretched out with open arms. 44

Then at last returns to the vanquished the courage that fear had put to flight; and the victorious Franks are either driven back or lie there dead at

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the entryway. But the Sultan, who spies the unconscious duke lying at his feet among the dead, shouts to his knights: "Let that man be taken within the barricades and made prisoner." 45

They set about to carry out the order, but they find it a hard and laborious undertaking, for Raymond is not neglected by any of his men and they all come running to his defense. On this side rage, on that side pitying affections wage the fight, and the cause of the combat is no ordinary thing: the life, the liberty of a man so great summons these to guard it, those to snatch it away. 46

Yet the Sultan, stubborn in his vengeance, would in the long run have won the match, for it is useless to oppose to his thunderous mace either double shield or helmet of choice temper; but he sees arriving in haste from this side and that a great aid for his enemies and a new: for at one moment are come from opposite quarters the sovereign leader and die mighty warrior. 47

As shepherd when he sees the light of day obscured by a thousand clouds, when wind and thunder are raging round about and lightning flashing— he brings in the flocks from the open fields and searches out solicitous some shelter wherein he may safely escape the wrath of heaven; driving the flocks before him with his staff and with his voice, he places himself at the rear of the hindmost; 48

so now the pagan (who was well aware of the coming of the irreparable storm and tempest that was rending the heavens with its horrid noise, crowding in with weapons on this side and that) drives before him into the great tower the people he has in charge, and he remains behind: at last he leaves, and gives way to die peril, in such way that in his prudent counsel he still seems bold.

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49

Yet barely it comes to pass that he makes his repair within the gates, and hardly he locks them shut, before Rinaldo, beating down the barricades, comes right up to the threshold, and even there does not restrain himself. Leading him on is his desire to overcome one who has no equal in handling arms, and also his oath; for he does not forget that he promised in a vow to wreak death on him who killed the Dane. 50

And surely right then his victorious hand would have made an attempt on the impregnable wall, and perhaps the Sultan there within was not sufficiently safe from his fatal enemy, but now the Captain is calling them to retire, now the horizon is dark on every side; Godfrey makes his bivouac in the city and intends to renew the assault with the new sun. 51

He spoke to his men, right joyous in countenance: "Almighty God has favored the Christian arms. The chiefest part of the enterprise is done, and little remains of labor and nothing of fear. The tower (the infidels' last wretched hope) we shall storm tomorrow. Meanwhile mercy bids us comfort the sick and wounded with tender love. 52

"Go, and care for those who have bought us this land with their blood. That is more fitting work for the soldiers of Christ than lust for booty or revenge. Too much, alas! too much has been seen today of slaughter; in some, too much avidity for gold. I forbid that you plunder further and wax cruel. Now let the trumpets sound forth my decree." 53

He was silent, and then went his way to where the count, recovered from the blow, still groans for it. And with countenance no less bold does Solyman address his men and repress his sorrow within his soul: "O my companions, remain unbowed by Fortune's insults, while yet the flower of hope is green: for beneath the surface appearance of misleading fear, our damage today is not so heavy.

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'The enemy have taken only roofs and walls and the lowly vulgar, die city diey have not taken; for die city is comprised in die head of the sovereign, in your breasts, your hands. I see die king safe and his choicest followers safe, I see that mighty defenses compass us round. Let the Franks have dieir empty trophy of abandoned ground: let diem lose the war in the end. 55

"And certain am I diat in the end they will lose it, for in their prosperous fortune insolent, they will be turned to murders rapines and weakening embraces; and easily will diey be struck down and snuffed out among die ruins, among dieir booties and dieir rapes, if during such insolence conies upon diem now the host from Egypt; and it cannot be far off. 56

"Meanwhile widi our catapult stones we shall be able to control die high buildings of the city, and our machines will take from the enemy every path by which he can go to die Sepulcher." Thus instilling his vigor into their weary hearts, he renewed hope in these hapless men. Now while here such things were transpiring, Vafrine was wandering among a thousand armed bands. 57

Vafrine, being chosen to spy on die hostile army, had taken his leave when die sun was already setting; and he ran a dark and lonely road, a nighttime traveller and unknown. He passed by Ascalon when morning had not yet broken from the balcony of the East; then when the blaze of die sun is in die meridian he was within view of die mighty host. 58

He saw pavilions without number, and on their summits flags aflutter, azure and purple and gold, and heard so many discordant languages and so many drums and horns and barbarous brasses and voices of camels and elephants amid die neighing of the spirited steeds diat he said to himself: "Here all Africa has been transported, and Asia marshalled here."

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First he looks a while at how strong the situation of the camp might be, and what kind of trench encircles it; then he makes no attempt at stealthy and circuitous routes, and does not hide himself from the press of people, but by the main road passes through the royal gates and one time asks questions and another time makes answer: his questions, his answers ready and shrewd are accompanied with a bold and daring countenance. 60

Hither and thither he wanders observantly among the streets, the parade grounds and the tents. He watches the soldiers, the horses, the weaponry, observes their disciplines and formations, and learns the names of things. Not satisfied with that, he aspires to greater things: he spies out their hidden designs and partially learns them. He so insinuates himself, and is so dexterous and smooth, that an entrance is opened to the chief pavilion. 61

Looking about him here, he sees a torn canvas from whence a voice is issuing by which he can make out that right there are the inner retreats of the royal chamber, so that the master's secrets are ill concealed from a man who might be listening from outside. Vafrine pries about there, and appears to be intent on something else, as if it were his business to mend the tent. 62

The captain's head was uncovered, his limbs in armor and clad with a purple mantle. Two pages alongside held his helmet and shield: he holds a spear and leans upon it lightly. He was looking at a man of cruel and malign aspect, broad-limbed and tall, who was standing at one side. Vafrine is attentive: and hearing Godfrey spoken of by name, he pricks his ears at the name. 6? The captain speaks to the other: "Are you then so sure of dealing death to Godfrey?" He answers: "I am; and I take my oath never to return to court if I do not return victorious. I shall outstrip those that were with me in the

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conspiracy: and I ask no other reward than that I may set up in Cairo a handsome trophy of his armor and under it these verses: 64 "'From the Prankish captain, the ravager of Asia, Ormondo stripped these arms in battle when he stripped him of his soul, and he hung them here that the memory may pass on to every generation." "It shall not be (the other said) that our courteous king should leave the great achievement without its honor. Indeed he will grant you what is requested by you, but you shall have it conjoined with lavish reward. 65 "Only make ready at once the false armor, for now the day of the battle is close at hand." "It is ready now" he answered. And thereupon, these words being concluded, both he and the captain fell silent. Vafrine remained suspended and in doubt at the great matters he had heard, and revolved within himself what might be the tricks of conspiracy and what the false armor, and did not understand it to the full. 66

He departed from there, and spent that whole night awake, for he did not want to close an eye; but when anew the camp unfurled every pennon to the morning breezes, he also marched in formation with the other troops, he also stopped where they took shelter; and still he went from tent to tent to hear something through which he might better understand the truth. 67 Scouting around, he finds, on a proud and lofty throne among knights and damsels, Armida—who remained given to sighs and withdrawn into herself: it seems that she is communing within herself widi her own thoughts. On her white hand she rests her cheek, and declines to earth those amorous stars. He does not know if she is weeping or not, but he can clearly see that her eyes are moist and laden with pearls. 68

He sees seated opposite her the fierce Adrastus, who seems not to bat an eye and not to breathe, so much he hung upon her, so fixed on her he fed

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his ravenous desires. But Tissaphernes, looking on the face of now the one now the other, now begins to hunger, now to be enraged: and his noble countenance bears witness now of the color of furious anger, and now of love. 69

Then he makes out Altamoro, who was received into the circle among the ladies, somewhat to one side. He does not allow his desire to wander with free rein, but artfully manages his lustful eyes. He directs one gaze at her hand, one at her lovely face, then insinuates to the more guarded regions and dives within there, where a lovely veil incautiously opened a secret path between her two breasts. 70

At length Armida raises her eyes, and her lovely brow even somewhat returns to its serenity, and suddenly among the clouds of grief a soft smile opens out and gleams. "My lord (she said) remembering your boast my soul can diminish its pain since it expects in short while to be avenged: and ,,anger is sweet while it expects revenge." 7i

The Indian answers: "Ah for God's sake make clear your troubled brow and lighten your pain, for right soon will it be that you see at your feet the wicked head of that Rinaldo cut off, or with this avenging hand I shall lead him to you a prisoner, if you want him a prisoner. Thus have I promised in my vow." Now the other who is listening says not a word but gnaws at himself within his heart. 72

Turning on Tissaphernes her sweet regard, she adds: "You, my lord, what say you?" He answers feigningly: "I who am slow shall follow from afar the valor of this your man so terrible and brave." And with such words he makes his bitter thrust. The Indian answers then: "Good reason it is that you follow far off and fear the comparison."

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Tossing his proud head, Tissaphernes said: "O that I were the master of my will! diat I had free reign over this sword! for soon would it be evident which one is slower. I fear not you nor your great boasts, fierce fellow; but Heaven, and Love my enemy, I fear." He was silent; and Adrastus was rising to make his defiance, but Armida forestalled it and interposed herself. 74

She said: "O knights-at-arms, why do you still take away diat gift you have many times over given me? You are my champions: such title alone should be enough to keep order amongst you. He who is angry is angry widi me: in your offenses I am the offended, and you know it." Thus she speaks to diem; and thus it is diat she can make accord among discordant souls, beneath her iron yoke. 75

Vafrine is in presence, and hears it all, and having made out die trudi of it, departs from there. He probes die great conspiracy and finds it wrapped in silence, and gadiers nothing about it. He even imprudendy asks about it sometimes, and the difficulty increases the desire. He is determined either here to lose his life, or to carry away the great hidden secret.

76 He thinks of a thousand and more unheard-of modes of cleverness, a diousand strange deceptions, and still for all that die weapons and methods of die secret conspiracy remain unknown to him. Fortune at last (what he could not of himself) untied the knots of all his perplexity, so diat he understood clear and manifest how die nets are spread for die good Bouillon. 77

He had returned where the lovely enemy still is seated among her champions, for he thinks it opportune to investigate it there where so many and varied peoples were drawn together. Now here he accosts a maiden in such fashion diat it seems that he had had knowledge of her before. He seems to have an old habit of friendship widi her and in affable manner speaks.

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78

He said as if in jest: "I too would like to be the champion of some beauty, and I would consider cutting off with my sword the head of either Rinaldo or Bouillon. Just ask of me, if you have a longing for it, the head of any of the barbarous barons." So he begins, and thinks that step by step he will bring the jest to more serious conversation. 79

But with this speech he smiled and laughingly made one of his habitual natural gestures. One of the other ladies coming up just then heard him, examined him, and then came to his side. She said "I mean to steal you away from any other, and you shall devote yourself to no mean task of love. I choose you my champion and want to talk with you apart, as with my knight." 80

She drew him aside and spoke: "I have recognized you, Vafrine; you ought to know me." The clever squire was troubled in his heart, yet he turned to her with a smile: "I have never seen you, that I can remember, and yet you are well worthy of being seen. This I know well, that the name by which I am known is far different from that which you spoke. 81

"Lesbino fathered me on Bizerta's sunlit shores, and named me Almanzor." "Tuscan (she said) I have long-standing knowledge of your ev< :ry way, arfajao not want to piayguesing games now. Do not hide yoursen'f rcrrmne~ i6ViTarrr