Jerusalem Delivered Page 14

  The flood, elsewhere that ships and barks devours,

  But there drowns cities, countries, towns and towers;

  XLIV

  Both in one troop, and but a thousand all,

  Under another Robert fierce they run.

  Then the English squadron, soldiers stout and tall,

  By William led, their sovereign’s younger son,

  These archers be, and with them come withal,

  A people near the Northern Pole that wone,

  Whom Ireland sent from loughs and forests hoar,

  Divided far by sea from Europe’s shore.

  XLV

  Tancredi next, nor ‘mongst them all was one,

  Rinald except, a prince of greater might,

  With majesty his noble countenance shone,

  High were his thoughts, his heart was bold in fight,

  No shameful vice his worth had overgone,

  His fault was love, by unadvised sight,

  Bred in the dangers of adventurous arms,

  And nursed with griefs, with sorrows, woes, and harms.

  XLVI

  Fame tells, that on that ever-blessed day,

  When Christian swords with Persian blood were dyed,

  The furious Prince Tancredi from that fray

  His coward foes chased through forests wide,

  Till tired with the fight, the heat, the way,

  He sought some place to rest his wearied side,

  And drew him near a silver stream that played

  Among wild herbs under the greenwood shade.

  XLVII

  A Pagan damsel there unwares he met,

  In shining steel, all save her visage fair,

  Her hair unbound she made a wanton net,

  To catch sweet breathing from the cooling air.

  On her at gaze his longing looks he set,

  Sight, wonder; wonder, love; love bred his care;

  O love, o wonder; love new born, new bred,

  Now groan, now armed, this champion captive led.

  XLVIII

  Her helm the virgin donned, and but some wight

  She feared might come to aid him as they fought,

  Her courage earned to have assailed the knight;

  Yet thence she fled, uncompanied, unsought,

  And left her image in his heart ypight;

  Her sweet idea wandered through his thought,

  Her shape, her gesture, and her place in mind

  He kept, and blew love’s fire with that wind.

  XLIX

  Well might you read his sickness in his eyes,

  Their banks were full, their tide was at the flow,

  His help far off, his hurt within him lies,

  His hopes unstrung, his cares were fit to mow;

  Eight hundred horse (from Champain came) he guies,

  Champain a land where wealth, ease, pleasure, grow,

  Rich Nature’s pomp and pride, the Tirrhene main

  There woos the hills, hills woo the valleys plain.

  L

  Two hundred Greeks came next, in fight well tried,

  Not surely armed in steel or iron strong,

  But each a glaive had pendant by his side,

  Their bows and quivers at their shoulders hung,

  Their horses well inured to chase and ride,

  In diet spare, untired with labor long;

  Ready to charge, and to retire at will,

  Though broken, scattered, fled, they skirmish still;

  LI

  Tatine their guide, and except Tatine, none

  Of all the Greeks went with the Christian host;

  O sin, O shame, O Greece accurst alone!

  Did not this fatal war affront thy coast?

  Yet safest thou an idle looker-on,

  And glad attendest which side won or lost:

  Now if thou be a bondslave vile become,

  No wrong is that, but God’s most righteous doom.

  LII

  In order last, but first in worth and fame,

  Unfeared in fight, untired with hurt or wound,

  The noble squadron of adventurers came,

  Terrors to all that tread on Asian ground:

  Cease Orpheus of thy Minois, Arthur shame

  To boast of Lancelot, or thy table round:

  For these whom antique times with laurel drest,

  These far exceed them, thee, and all the rest.

  LIII

  Dudon of Consa was their guide and lord,

  And for of worth and birth alike they been,

  They chose him captain, by their free accord,

  For he most acts had done, most battles seen;

  Grave was the man in years, in looks, in word,

  His locks were gray, yet was his courage green,

  Of worth and might the noble badge he bore,

  Old scars of grievous wounds received of yore.

  LIV

  After came Eustace, well esteemed man

  For Godfrey’s sake his brother, and his own;

  The King of Norway’s heir Gernando than,

  Proud of his father’s title, sceptre, crown;

  Roger of Balnavill, and Engerlan,

  For hardy knights approved were and known;

  Besides were numbered in that warlike train

  Rambald, Gentonio, and the Gerrards twain.

  LV

  Ubaldo then, and puissant Rosimond,

  Of Lancaster the heir, in rank succeed;

  Let none forget Obizo of Tuscain land,

  Well worthy praise for many a worthy deed;

  Nor those three brethren, Lombards fierce and yond,

  Achilles, Sforza, and stern Palamede;

  Nor Otton’s shield he conquered in those stowres,

  In which a snake a naked child devours.

  LVI

  Guascher and Raiphe in valor like there was.

  The one and other Guido, famous both,

  Germer and Eberard to overpass,

  In foul oblivion would my Muse be loth,

  With his Gildippes dear, Edward alas,

  A loving pair, to war among them go’th

  In bond of virtuous love together tied,

  Together served they, and together died.

  LVII

  In school of love are all things taught we see,

  There learned this maid of arms the ireful guise,

  Still by his side a faithful guard went she,

  One true-love knot their lives together ties,

  No would to one alone could dangerous be,

  But each the smart of other’s anguish tries,

  If one were hurt, the other felt the sore,

  She lost her blood, he spent his life therefore.

  LVIII

  But these and all, Rinaldo far exceeds,

  Star of his sphere, the diamond of this ring,

  The nest where courage with sweet mercy breeds:

  A comet worthy each eye’s wondering,

  His years are fewer than his noble deeds,

  His fruit is ripe soon as his blossoms spring,

  Armed, a Mars, might coyest Venus move,

  And if disarmed, then God himself of Love.

  LIX

  Sophia by Adige’s flowery bank him bore,

  Sophia the fair, spouse to Bertoldo great,

  Fit mother for that pearl, and before

  The tender imp was weaned from the teat,

  The Princess Maud him took, in Virtue’s lore

  She brought him up fit for each worthy feat,

  Till of these wares the golden trump he hears,

  That soundeth glory, fame, praise in his ears.

  LX

  And then, though scantly three times five years old,

  He fled alone, by many an unknown coast,

  O’er Aegean Seas by many a Greekish hold,

  Till he arrived at the Christian host;

  A noble flight, adventurous, brave, and bold,

  Whereon a val
iant prince might justly boast,

  Three years he served in field, when scant begin

  Few golden hairs to deck his ivory chin.

  LXI

  The horsemen past, their void-left stations fill

  The bands on foot, and Reymond them beforn,

  Of Tholouse lord, from lands near Piraene Hill

  By Garound streams and salt sea billows worn,

  Four thousand foot he brought, well armed, and skill

  Had they all pains and travels to have borne,

  Stout men of arms and with their guide of power

  Like Troy’s old town defenced with Ilion’s tower.

  LXII

  Next Stephen of Amboise did five thousand lead,

  The men he prest from Tours and Blois but late,

  To hard assays unfit, unsure at need,

  Yet armed to point in well-attempted plate,

  The land did like itself the people breed,

  The soil is gentle, smooth, soft, delicate;

  Boldly they charge, but soon retire for doubt,

  Like fire of straw, soon kindled, soon burnt out.

  LXIII

  The third Alcasto marched, and with him

  The boaster brought six thousand Switzers bold,

  Audacious were their looks, their faces grim,

  Strong castles on the Alpine clifts they hold,

  Their shares and coulters broke, to armors trim

  They change that metal, cast in warlike mould,

  And with this band late herds and flocks that guide,

  Now kings and realms he threatened and defied.

  LXIV

  The glorious standard last to Heaven they sprad,

  With Peter’s keys ennobled and his crown,

  With it seven thousand stout Camillo had,

  Embattailed in walls of iron brown:

  In this adventure and occasion, glad

  So to revive the Romans’ old renown,

  Or prove at least to all of wiser thought,

  Their hearts were fertile land although unwrought.

  LXV

  But now was passed every regiment,

  Each band, each troop, each person worth regard

  When Godfrey with his lords to counsel went,

  And thus the Duke his princely will declared:

  “I will when day next clears the firmament,

  Our ready host in haste be all prepared,

  Closely to march to Sion’s noble wall,

  Unseen, unheard, or undescried at all.

  LXVI

  “Prepare you then for travel strong and light,

  Fierce to the combat, glad to victory.”

  And with that word and warning soon was dight,

  Each soldier, longing for near coming glory,

  Impatient be they of the morning bright,

  Of honor so them pricked the memory:

  But yet their chieftain had conceived a fear

  Within his heart, but kept it secret there.

  LXVII

  For he by faithful spial was assured,

  That Egypt’s King was forward on his way,

  And to arrive at Gaza old procured,

  A fort that on the Syrian frontiers lay,

  Nor thinks he that a man to wars inured

  Will aught forslow, or in his journey stay,

  For well he knew him for a dangerous foe:

  An herald called he then, and spake him so:

  LXVIII

  “A pinnace take thee swift as shaft from bow,

  And speed thee, Henry, to the Greekish main,

  There should arrive, as I by letters know

  From one that never aught reports in vain,

  A valiant youth in whom all virtues flow,

  To help us this great conquest to obtain,

  The Prince of Danes he is, and brings to war

  A troop with him from under the Arctic star.

  LXIX

  “And for I doubt the Greekish monarch sly

  Will use with him some of his wonted craft,

  To stay his passage, or divert awry

  Elsewhere his forces, his first journey laft,

  My herald good and messenger well try,

  See that these succors be not us beraft,

  But send him thence with such convenient speed

  As with his honor stands and with our need.

  LXX

  “Return not thou, but Legier stay behind,

  And move the Greekish Prince to send us aid,

  Tell him his kingly promise doth him bind

  To give us succors, by his covenant made.”

  This said, and thus instruct, his letters signed

  The trusty herald took, nor longer stayed,

  But sped him thence to done his Lord’s behest,

  And thus the Duke reduced his thoughts to rest.

  LXXI

  Aurora bright her crystal gates unbarred,

  And bridegroom-like forth stept the glorious sun,

  When trumpets loud and clarions shrill were heard,

  And every one to rouse him fierce begun,

  Sweet music to each heart for war prepared,

  The soldiers glad by heaps to harness run;

  So if with drought endangered be their grain,

  Poor ploughmen joy when thunders promise rain.

  LXXII

  Some shirts of mail, some coats of plate put on,

  Some donned a cuirass, some a corslet bright,

  And halbert some, and some a habergeon,

  So every one in arms was quickly dight,

  His wonted guide each soldier tends upon,

  Loose in the wind waved their banners light,

  Their standard royal toward Heaven they spread,

  The cross triumphant on the Pagans dead.

  LXXIII

  Meanwhile the car that bears the lightning brand

  Upon the eastern hill was mounted high,

  And smote the glistering armies as they stand,

  With quivering beams which dazed the wondering eye,

  That Phaeton-like it fired sea and land,

  The sparkles seemed up to the skies to fly,

  The horses’ neigh and clattering armors’ sound

  Pursue the echo over dale and down.

  LXXIV

  Their general did with due care provide

  To save his men from ambush and from train,

  Some troops of horse that lightly armed ride

  He sent to scour the woods and forests main,

  His pioneers their busy work applied

  To even the paths and make the highways plain,

  They filled the pits, and smoothed the rougher ground,

  And opened every strait they closed found.

  LXXV

  They meet no forces gathered by their foe,

  No towers defenced with rampire, moat, or wall,

  No stream, no wood, no mountain could forslow

  Their hasty pace, or stop their march at all;

  So when his banks the prince of rivers, Po,

  Doth overswell, he breaks with hideous fall

  The mossy rocks and trees o’ergrown with age,

  Nor aught withstands his fury and his rage.

  LXXVI

  The King of Tripoli in every hold

  Shut up his men, munition and his treasure,

  The straggling troops sometimes assail he would,

  Save that he durst not move them to displeasure;

  He stayed their rage with presents, gifts and gold,

  And led them through his land at ease and leisure,

  To keep his realm in peace and rest he chose,

  With what conditions Godfrey list impose.

  LXXVII

  Those of Mount Seir, that neighboreth by east

  The Holy City, faithful folk each one,

  Down from the hill descended most and least,

  And to the Christian Duke by heaps they gone,

  And welcome him
and his with joy and feast;

  On him they smile, on him they gaze alone,

  And were his guides, as faithful from that day

  As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way.

  LXXVIII

  Along the sands his armies safe they guide

  By ways secure, to them well known before,

  Upon the tumbling billows fraughted ride

  The armed ships, coasting along the shore,

  Which for the camp might every day provide

  To bring munition good and victuals store:

  The isles of Greece sent in provision meet,

  And store of wine from Scios came and Crete.

  LXXIX

  Great Neptune grieved underneath the load

  Of ships, hulks, galleys, barks and brigantines,

  In all the mid-earth seas was left no road

  Wherein the Pagan his bold sails untwines,

  Spread was the huge Armado, wide and broad,

  From Venice, Genes, and towns which them confines,

  From Holland, England, France and Sicil sent,

  And all for Juda ready bound and bent.

  LXXX

  All these together were combined, and knit

  With surest bonds of love and friendship strong,

  Together sailed they fraught with all things fit

  To service done by land that might belong,

  And when occasion served disbarked it,

  Then sailed the Asian coasts and isles along;

  Thither with speed their hasty course they plied,

  Where Christ the Lord for our offences died.

  LXXXI

  The brazen trump of iron-winged fame,

  That mingleth faithful troth with forged lies,

  Foretold the heathen how the Christians came,

  How thitherward the conquering army hies,

  Of every knight it sounds the worth and name,

  Each troop, each band, each squadron it descries,

  And threat’neth death to those, fire, sword and slaughter,

  Who held captived Israel’s fairest daughter.

  LXXXII

  The fear of ill exceeds the evil we fear,

  For so our present harms still most annoy us,

  Each mind is prest and open every ear

  To hear new tidings though they no way joy us,

  This secret rumor whispered everywhere

  About the town, these Christians will destroy us,

  The aged king his coming evil that knew,

  Did cursed thoughts in his false heart renew.

  LXXXIII

  This aged prince ycleped Aladine,

  Ruled in care, new sovereign of this state,

  A tyrant erst, but now his fell engine

  His graver are did somewhat mitigate,

  He heard the western lords would undermine

  His city’s wall, and lay his towers prostrate,

  To former fear he adds a new-come doubt,

  Treason he fears within, and force without.

  LXXXIV

  For nations twain inhabit there and dwell