Orlando Furioso Part 38

V For he to the inner bank, by foes possest, Across the ditch had vaulted wonderously: Had he within it been, among the rest, It sure had been his last a.s.sault. His eye He turns, and when the wild-fires, which infest The infernal vale, he sees ascend so high, And hears his people's moan and dying screams, With imprecations dread he Heaven blasphemes.

VI This while a band King Agramant had brought, To make a fierce a.s.sault upon a gate: For while the cruel battle here was fought, Wherein so many sufferers met their fate, This haply unprovided had he thought With fitting guard. Upon the monarch wait King Bambirago, 'mid his knights of price, And Baliverso, sink of every vice.

VII And Corineus of Mulga, Prusion, The wealthy monarch of the blessed isles; Malabuferzo, he who fills the throne Of Fez, where a perpetual summer smiles; And other n.o.ble lords, and many a one Well-armed and tried; and others 'mid their files, Naked, and base, whose hearts in martial fields Had found no shelter from a thousand s.h.i.+elds.

VIII But all things counter to the hopes ensue Of Agramant upon his side; within, In person, girded by a gallant crew, Is Charlemagne, with many a paladin: Ogier the Duke, King Salamon, the two Guidos are seen, and either Angelin; Bavaria's duke, and Ganelon are here, Avino, Avolio, Otho, and Berlinghier.

IX And of inferior count withal, a horde Of Lombards, French, and Germans, without end; Who, every one, in presence of his lord, To rank among the valiantest contend, This will I in another place record; Who here a mighty duke perforce attend, Who signs to me from far, and prays that I Will not omit him in my history.

X 'Tis time that I should measure back my way Thither, where I Astolpho left of yore; Who, in long exile, loathing more to stay, Burnt with desire to tread his native sh.o.r.e; As hopes to him had given the sober fay, Who quelled Alcina by her better lore, She with all care would send the warrior back By the securest and the freest track.

XI And thus by her a barque is fitted out; -- A better galley never ploughed the sea; And Logistilla wills, for aye in doubt Of hinderance from Alcina's treachery, That good Andronica, with squadron stout, And chaste Sophrosina, with him shall be, Till to the Arabian Sea, beneath their care, Or to the Persian Gulf he safe repair.

XII By Scyth and Indian she prefers the peer Should coast, and by the Nabataean reign; Content he, after such a round, should veer For Persian gulf, or Erithraean main, Rather than for that Boreal palace steer, Where angry winds aye vex the rude domain: So ill, at seasons, favoured by the sun, That there, for months together, light is none.

XIII Next, when she all in readiness espied, Her license to depart the prudent fay Accorded to the duke, first fortified With counsel as to things too long to say; And that he might no more by charms be stayed In place from whence he could not wend his way, Him with a useful book and fair purveyed, And ever for her love to wear it prayed.

XIV How man should guard himself from magic cheats The book instructed, which the fay bestowed; At the end or the beginning, where it treats Of such, an index and appendix showed.

Another gift, which in its goodly feats All other gifts excelled, to her he owed; This was a horn, which made whatever wight Should hear its clang betake himself to flight.

XV I say, the horn is of such horrid sound, That, wheresoe'er 'tis heard, all fly for fear; Nor in the world is one of heart so sound That would not fly, should he the bugle hear.

Wind, thunder, and the shock which rives the ground, Come not, in aught, the hideous clangour near.

With thanks did the good Englishman receive The gift, and of the fairy took his leave.

XVI Quitting the port and smoother waves, they stand To sea, with favouring wind which blows astern; And (coasting) round the rich and populous land Of odoriferous Ind the vessels turn, Opening a thousand isles on either hand, Scattered about that sea, till they discern The land of Thomas; here the pilot veers His ready tiller, and more northward steers.

XVII Astolpho, furrowing that ocean h.o.a.r, Marks, as he coasts, the wealthy land at ease.

Ganges amid the whitening waters roar, Nigh skirting now the golden Chersonese; Taprobana with Cori next, and sees The frith which chafes against its double sh.o.r.e; Makes distant Cochin, and with favouring wind Issues beyond the boundaries of Ind.

XVIII Scouring at large broad ocean, with a guide So faithful and secure, the cavalier Questions Andronica, if from that side Named from the westering sun, of this our sphere, Bark, which with oars or canvas stemmed the tide, On eastern sea was wonted to appear; -- And could a wight, who loosed from Indian strand, Reach France or Britain, without touching land.

XIX Andronica to England's duke replies: "Know that this earth is girt about with seas, And all to one another yield supplies, Whether the circling waters boil or freeze: But, since the Aethiops' land before us lies, Extending southward many long degrees.

Across his waters, some one has supposed A barrier here to Neptune interposed.

XX "Hence bark from this Levant of Ind is none Which weighs, to shape her course for Europe's sh.o.r.e; Nor navigates from Europe any one, Our Oriental regions to explore; Fain to retrace alike the course begun By the mid land, extending wide before: Weening (its limits of such length appear) That it must join another hemisphere.

XXI "But in the course of circling years I view From farthest lands which catch the western ray, New Argonauts put forth, and Tiphys new Opening, till now an undiscovered way.

Others I see coast Afric, and pursue So far the negroes' burning sh.o.r.e, that they Pa.s.s the far sign, from whence, on his return, The sun moves. .h.i.ther, leaving Capricorn;

XXII "And find the limit of this length of land, Which makes a single sea appear as two; Who, scouring in their frigates every strand, Pa.s.s Ind and Arab isles, or Persian through: Others I see who leave, on either hand, The banks, which stout Alcides cleft in two, And in the manner of the circling sun, To seek new lands and new creations run.

XXIII "The imperial flags and holy cross I know, Fixed on the verdant sh.o.r.e; see some upon The shattered barks keep guard, and others go A-field, by whom new countries will be won; Ten chase a thousand of the flying foe, Realms beyond Ind subdued by Arragon; And see all, wheresoe'er the warriors wend, To the fifth Charles' triumphant captains bend.

XXIV "That this way should be hidden was G.o.d's will Of old, and ere 'twas known long time should run; Nor will he suffer its discovery, till The sixth and seventh century be done.

And he delays his purpose to fulfil, In that he would subject the world to one, The justest and most fraught with prudent lore Or emperors, since Augustus, or before.

XXV "Of Arragon and Austria's blood I see On the left bank of Rhine a monarch bred; No sovereign is so famed in history, Of all whose goodly deeds are heard or read.

Astraea reinthroned by him will be, -- Rather restored to life, long seeming dead; And Virtues with her into exile sent, By him shall be recalled from banishment.

XXVI "For such desert, Heaven's bounty not alone Designs he should the imperial garland bear, -- Augustus', Trajan's, Mark's, Severus', crown; But that of every farthest land should wear, Which here and there extends, as yet unknown, Yielding no pa.s.sage to the sun and year; And wills that in his time Christ's scattered sheep Should be one flock, beneath one Shepherd's keep.

XXVII "And that this be accomplished with more ease, Writ in the skies from all eternity, Captains, invincible by lands and seas, Shall heavenly Providence to him supply.

I mark Hernando Cortez bring, 'mid these, New cities under Caesar's dynasty, And kingdoms in the Orient so remote, That we of these in India have no note.

XXVIII "With Prospero Colonna, puissant peer, A marquis of Pescara I behold; -- A youth of Guasto next, who render dear Hesperia to the flower-de-luce of gold; I see prepared to enter the career This third, who shall the laurel win and hold; As a good horse before the rest will dart, And first attain the goal, though last to start.

XXIX "I see such faith, such valour in the deeds Of young Alphonso (such his name) confest, He in his unripe age, -- nor he exceeds His sixth and twentieth year, -- at Caesar's hest, (A mighty trust) the imperial army leads: Saving which, Caesar not alone the rest Of his fair empire saves, but may the world Reduce, with ensigns by this chief unfurled.

x.x.x "As with these captains, where the way by land Is free, he spreads the ancient empire's sway, So on the sea, which severs Europe's strand From Afric, open to the southern day, When with good Doria linked in friendly band, Victorious he shall prove in every fray.

This is that Andrew Doria who will sweep From pirates, on all sides, your midland deep.

x.x.xI "Pompey, though he chased rovers everywhere, Was not his peer; for ill the thievish brood Vanquished by him, in puissance, could compare With the most mighty realm that ever stood.

But Doria singly will of the corsair With his own forces purge the briny flood: So that I see each continent and isle Quake at his name, from Calpe to the Nile.

x.x.xII "Beneath the faith, beneath the warrantry Of the redoubted chief, of whom I say, I see Charles enter fertile Italy, To which this captain clears the monarch's way; But on his country, not himself, that fee Shall he bestow, which is his labour's pay; And beg her freedom, where himself perchance Another would to sovereign rule advance.

x.x.xIII "The pious love he bears his native land Honours him more than any battle's gain Which Julius ever won on Afric's strand, Or in thine isle, France, Thessaly, or Spain.

Nor great Octavius does more praise command, Nor Anthony who jousted for the reign, With equal arms: in that the wrong outweighs -- Done to their native land -- their every praise.

x.x.xIV "Let these, and every other wight who tries To subject a free country, blush for shame, Nor dare in face of man to lift his eyes, Where he hears Andrew Doria's honoured name!

To him I see Charles other meed supplies; For he beside his leaders' common claim, Bestows upon the chief the sumptuous state, Whence Norman bands their power in Puglia date.

x.x.xV "Not only to this captain courtesy Shall Charles display, still liberal of his store; But to all those who for the empery In his emprizes have not spared their gore.

Him to bestow a town, -- a realm -- I see, Upon a faithful friend, rejoicing more, And on all such as have good service done, Than in new kingdom and new empire won."

x.x.xVI Thus of the victories, by land and main, Which, when long course of years shall be complete, Charles' worthy captains for their lord will gain, Andronica did with Astolpho treat.

This while, now loosening, tightening now, the rein On the eastern winds, which blow upon their feet, Making this serve or that, her comrade stands; While the blasts rise or sink as she commands.

x.x.xVII This while they saw, as for their port they made, How wide the Persian sea extends to sight; Whence in few days the squadron was conveyed Nigh the famed gulf from ancient Magi hight; Here they found harbourage; and here were stayed Their wandering barks, which stern to sh.o.r.e were dight.

Secure from danger from Alcina's wrath, The duke by land continued hence his path.

x.x.xVIII He p.r.i.c.ks through many a field and forest blind, By many a vale and many a mountain gray; Where robbers, now before and now behind, Oft threat the peer by night or open day; Lion and dragon oft of poisonous kind, And other savage monsters cross his way: But he no sooner has his bugle wound, Than these are scared and scattered by the sound.

x.x.xIX Through Araby the blest he fares, where grow Thickets of myrrh, and gums odorous ooze, Where the sole phoenix makes her nest, although The world is all before her where to choose; And to the avenging sea which whelmed the foe Of Israel, his way the duke pursues; In which King Pharaoh and his host were lost: From whence he to the land of heroes crost.

XL Astolpho along Trajan's channel goes, Upon that horse which has no earthly peer, And moves so lightly, that the soft sand shows No token of the pa.s.sing cavalier; Who prints not gra.s.s, prints not the driven snows, -- Who dry-shod would the briny billows clear, And strains so nimbly in the course, he wind And thunderbolt and arrow leaves behind: --

XLI Erst Argalia's courser, which was born From a close union of the wind and flame, And, nourished not by hay or heartening corn, Fed on pure air, and Rabican his name.

His way the bearer of the magic horn Following, where Nile received that river, came; But ere he at its outlet could arrive, Towards him saw a pinnace swiftly drive.

XLII A hermit in the p.o.o.p the bark did guide With snowy beard descending to mid breast; Who when from far the Paladin be spied, Him to ascend his ready pinnace prest.

"My son, unless thou loathest life, (he cried) And wouldst that Death to-day thy course arrest, Content thee in my bark to cross the water; For yonder path conducts thee straight to slaughter.

XLIII "Within six miles, no further, shalt thou light (Pursued the hermit) on the b.l.o.o.d.y seat, Where dwells a giant, horrible to sight, Exceeding every stature by eight feet.

From him wayfaring man or errant knight Would vainly hope with life to make retreat; For some the felon quarters, some he flays, And some he swallows quick, and some he slays.

XLIV "He, 'mid the cruel horrors he intends, Takes pleasure in a net, by cunning hands Contrived, which near his mansion he extends; So well concealed beneath the crumbling sands, That whoso uninstructed thither wends, Nought of the subtle mischief understands; And so the giant scares him with his cries, That he within the toils in terror flies;