Jerusalem Delivered Page 20

  Thus kill them all or spoil the greatest part.”

  XVIII

  Before his words the tyrant ended had,

  The lesser devils arose with ghastly roar,

  And thronged forth about the world to gad,

  Each land they filled, river, stream and shore,

  The goblins, fairies, fiends and furies mad,

  Ranged in flowery dales, and mountains hoar,

  And under every trembling leaf they sit,

  Between the solid earth and welkin flit.

  XIX

  About the world they spread forth far and wide,

  Filling the thoughts of each ungodly heart

  With secret mischief, anger, hate and pride,

  Wounding lost souls with sin’s empoisoned dart.

  But say, my Muse, recount whence first they tried

  To hurt the Christian lords, and from what part,

  Thou knowest of things performed so long agone,

  This latter age hears little truth or none.

  XX

  The town Damascus and the lands about

  Ruled Hidraort, a wizard grave and sage,

  Acquainted well with all the damned rout

  Of Pluto’s reign, even from his tender age;

  Yet of this war he could not figure out

  The wished ending, or success presage,

  For neither stars above, nor powers of hell,

  Nor skill, nor art, nor charm, nor devil could tell.

  XXI

  And yet he thought, — Oh, vain conceit of man,

  Which as thou wishest judgest things to come! —

  That the French host to sure destruction ran,

  Condemned quite by Heaven’s eternal doom:

  He thinks no force withstand or vanquish can

  The Egyptian strength, and therefore would that some

  Both of the prey and glory of the fight

  Upon this Syrian folk would haply light.

  XXII

  But for he held the Frenchmen’s worth in prize,

  And feared the doubtful gain of bloody war,

  He, that was closely false and slyly war,

  Cast how he might annoy them most from far:

  And as he gan upon this point devise, —

  As counsellors in ill still nearest are, —

  At hand was Satan, ready ere men need,

  If once they think, to make them do, the deed.

  XXIII

  He counselled him how best to hunt his game,

  What dart to cast, what net, what toil to pitch,

  A niece he had, a nice and tender dame,

  Peerless in wit, in nature’s blessings rich,

  To all deceit she could her beauty frame,

  False, fair and young, a virgin and a witch;

  To her he told the sum of this emprise,

  And praised her thus, for she was fair and wise:

  XXIV

  “My dear, who underneath these locks of gold,

  And native brightness of thy lovely hue,

  Hidest grave thoughts, ripe wit, and wisdom old,

  More skill than I, in all mine arts untrue,

  To thee my purpose great I must unfold,

  This enterprise thy cunning must pursue,

  Weave thou to end this web which I begin,

  I will the distaff hold, come thou and spin.

  XXV

  “Go to the Christians’ host, and there assay

  All subtle sleights that women use in love,

  Shed brinish tears, sob, sigh, entreat and pray,

  Wring thy fair hands, cast up thine eyes above,

  For mourning beauty hath much power, men say,

  The stubborn hearts with pity frail to move;

  Look pale for dread, and blush sometime for shame,

  In seeming truth thy lies will soonest frame.

  XXVI

  “Take with the bait Lord Godfrey, if thou may’st;

  Frame snares of look, strains of alluring speech;

  For if he love, the conquest then thou hast,

  Thus purposed war thou may’st with ease impeach,

  Else lead the other Lords to deserts waste,

  And hold them slaves far from their leader’s reach:”

  Thus taught he her, and for conclusion, saith,

  “All things are lawful for our lands and faith.”

  XXVII

  The sweet Armida took this charge on hand,

  A tender piece, for beauty, sex and age,

  The sun was sunken underneath the land,

  When she began her wanton pilgrimage,

  In silken weeds she trusteth to withstand,

  And conquer knights in warlike equipage,

  Of their night ambling dame the Syrians prated,

  Some good, some bad, as they her loved or hated.

  XXVIII

  Within few days the nymph arrived there

  Where puissant Godfrey had his tents ypight;

  Upon her strange attire, and visage clear,

  Gazed each soldier, gazed every knight:

  As when a comet doth in skies appear,

  The people stand amazed at the light;

  So wondered they and each at other sought,

  What mister wight she was, and whence ybrought.

  XXIX

  Yet never eye to Cupid’s service vowed

  Beheld a face of such a lovely pride;

  A tinsel veil her amber locks did shroud,

  That strove to cover what it could not hide,

  The golden sun behind a silver cloud,

  So streameth out his beams on every side,

  The marble goddess, set at Cnidos, naked

  She seemed, were she unclothed, or that awaked.

  XXX

  The gamesome wind among her tresses plays,

  And curleth up those growing riches short;

  Her spareful eye to spread his beams denays,

  But keeps his shot where Cupid keeps his fort;

  The rose and lily on her cheek assays

  To paint true fairness out in bravest sort,

  Her lips, where blooms naught but the single rose,

  Still blush, for still they kiss while still they close.

  XXXI

  Her breasts, two hills o’erspread with purest snow,

  Sweet, smooth and supple, soft and gently swelling,

  Between them lies a milken dale below,

  Where love, youth, gladness, whiteness make their dwelling,

  Her breasts half hid, and half were laid to show,

  So was the wanton clad, as if this much

  Should please the eye, the rest unseen, the touch.

  XXXII

  As when the sunbeams dive through Tagus’ wave,

  To spy the store-house of his springtime gold,

  Love-piercing thought so through her mantle drave,

  And in her gentle bosom wandered bold;

  It viewed the wondrous beauty virgins have,

  And all to fond desire with vantage told,

  Alas! what hope is left, to quench his fire

  That kindled is by sight, blown by desire.

  XXXIII

  Thus passed she, praised, wished, and wondered at,

  Among the troops who there encamped lay,

  She smiled for joy, but well dissembled that,

  Her greedy eye chose out her wished prey;

  On all her gestures seeming virtue sat,

  Toward the imperial tent she asked the way:

  With that she met a bold and lovesome knight,

  Lord Godfrey’s youngest brother, Eustace hight.

  XXXIV

  This was the fowl that first fell in the snare,

  He saw her fair, and hoped to find her kind;

  The throne of Cupid had an easy stair,

  His bark is fit to sail with every wind,

  The breach he makes no wisdom can repair:

  With reverence meet the baron low inclined,

&nb
sp; And thus his purpose to the virgin told,

  For youth, use, nature, all had made him bold.

  XXXV

  “Lady, if thee beseem a stile so low,

  In whose sweet looks such sacred beauty shine, —

  For never yet did Heaven such grace bestow

  On any daughter born of Adam’s line —

  Thy name let us, though far unworthy, know,

  Unfold thy will, and whence thou art in fine,

  Lest my audacious boldness learn too late

  What honors due become thy high estate.”

  XXXVI

  “Sir Knight,” quoth she, “your praises reach too high

  Above her merit you commenden so,

  A hapless maid I am, both born to die

  And dead to joy, that live in care and woe,

  A virgin helpless, fugitive pardie,

  My native soil and kingdom thus forego

  To seek Duke Godfrey’s aid, such store men tell

  Of virtuous ruth doth in his bosom dwell.

  XXXVII

  “Conduct me then that mighty duke before,

  If you be courteous, sir, as well you seem.”

  “Content,” quoth he, “since of one womb ybore,

  We brothers are, your fortune good esteem

  To encounter me whose word prevaileth more

  In Godfrey’s hearing than you haply deem:

  Mine aid I grant, and his I promise too,

  All that his sceptre, or my sword, can do.”

  XXXVIII

  He led her easily forth when this was said,

  Where Godfrey sat among his lords and peers,

  She reverence did, then blushed, as one dismayed

  To speak, for secret wants and inward fears,

  It seemed a bashful shame her speeches stayed,

  At last the courteous duke her gently cheers;

  Silence was made, and she began her tale,

  They sit to hear, thus sung this nightingale:

  XXXIX

  “Victorious prince, whose honorable name

  Is held so great among our Pagan kings,

  That to those lands thou dost by conquest tame

  That thou hast won them some content it brings;

  Well known to all is thy immortal fame,

  The earth, thy worth, thy foe, thy praises sings,

  And Paynims wronged come to seek thine aid,

  So doth thy virtue, so thy power persuade.

  XL

  “And I though bred in Macon’s heathenish lore,

  Which thou oppressest with thy puissant might,

  Yet trust thou wilt an helpless maid restore,

  And repossess her in her father’s right:

  Others in their distress do aid implore

  Of kin and friends; but I in this sad plight

  Invoke thy help, my kingdom to invade,

  So doth thy virtue, so my need persuade.

  XLI

  “In thee I hope, thy succors I invoke,

  To win the crown whence I am dispossest;

  For like renown awaiteth on the stroke

  To cast the haughty down or raise the opprest;

  Nor greater glory brings a sceptre broke,

  Than doth deliverance of a maid distrest;

  And since thou canst at will perform the thing,

  More is thy praise to make, than kill a king.

  XLII

  “But if thou would’st thy succors due excuse,

  Because in Christ I have no hope nor trust,

  Ah yet for virtue’s sake, thy virtue use!

  Who scorneth gold because it lies in dust?

  Be witness Heaven, if thou to grant refuse,

  Thou dost forsake a maid in cause most just,

  And for thou shalt at large my fortunes know,

  I will my wrongs and their great treasons show.

  XLIII

  “Prince Arbilan that reigned in his life

  On fair Damascus, was my noble sire,

  Born of mean race he was, yet got to wife

  The Queen Chariclia, such was the fire

  Of her hot love, but soon the fatal knife

  Had cut the thread that kept their joys entire,

  For so mishap her cruel lot had cast,

  My birth, her death; my first day, was her last.

  XLIV

  “And ere five years were fully come and gone

  Since his dear spouse to hasty death did yield,

  My father also died, consumed with moan,

  And sought his love amid the Elysian fields,

  His crown and me, poor orphan, left alone,

  Mine uncle governed in my tender eild;

  For well he thought, if mortal men have faith,

  In brother’s breast true love his mansion hath.

  XLV

  “He took the charge of me and of the crown,

  And with kind shows of love so brought to pass

  That through Damascus great report was blown

  How good, how just, how kind mine uncle was;

  Whether he kept his wicked hate unknown

  And hid the serpent in the flowering grass,

  On that true faith did in his bosom won,

  Because he meant to match me with his son.

  XLVI

  “Which son, within short while, did undertake

  Degree of knighthood, as beseemed him well,

  Yet never durst he for his lady’s sake

  Break sword or lance, advance in lofty sell;

  As fair he was, as Citherea’s make,

  As proud as he that signoriseth hell,

  In fashions wayward, and in love unkind,

  For Cupid deigns not wound a currish mind.

  XLVII

  “This paragon should Queen Armida wed,

  A goodly swain to be a princess’ fere,

  A lovely partner of a lady’s bed,

  A noble head a golden crown to wear:

  His glosing sire his errand daily said,

  And sugared speeches whispered in mine ear

  To make me take this darling in mine arms,

  But still the adder stopt her ears from charms.

  XLVIII

  “At last he left me with a troubled grace,

  Through which transparent was his inward spite,

  Methought I read the story in his face

  Of these mishaps that on me since have light,

  Since that foul spirits haunt my resting-place,

  And ghastly visions break any sleep by night,

  Grief, horror, fear my fainting soul did kill,

  For so my mind foreshowed my coming ill.

  XLIX

  “Three times the shape of my dear mother came,

  Pale, sad, dismayed, to warn me in my dream,

  Alas, how far transformed from the same

  Whose eyes shone erst like Titan’s glorious beam:

  ‘Daughter,’ she says, ‘fly, fly, behold thy dame

  Foreshows the treasons of thy wretched eame,

  Who poison gainst thy harmless life provides:’

  This said, to shapeless air unseen she glides.

  L

  “But what avail high walls or bulwarks strong,

  Where fainting cowards have the piece to guard?

  My sex too weak, mine age was all to young,

  To undertake alone a work so hard,

  To wander wild the desert woods among,

  A banished maid, of wonted ease debarred,

  So grievous seemed, that liefer were my death,

  And there to expire where first I drew my breath.

  LI

  “I feared deadly evil if long I stayed,

  And yet to fly had neither will nor power,

  Nor durst my heart declare it waxed afraid,

  Lest so I hasten might my dying hour:

  Thus restless waited I, unhappy maid,

  What hand should first pluck up my springing flower,

  Even as t
he wretch condemned to lose his life

  Awaits the falling of the murdering knife.

  LII

  “In these extremes, for so my fortune would

  Perchance preserve me to my further ill,

  One of my noble father’s servants old,

  That for his goodness bore his child good will,

  With store of tears this treason gan unfold,

  And said; my guardian would his pupil kill,

  And that himself, if promise made be kept,

  Should give me poison dire ere next I slept.

  LIII

  “And further told me, if I wished to live,

  I must convey myself by secret flight,

  And offered then all succours he could give

  To aid his mistress, banished from her right.

  His words of comfort, fear to exile drive,

  The dread of death, made lesser dangers light:

  So we concluded, when the shadows dim

  Obscured the earth I should depart with him.

  LIV

  “Of close escapes the aged patroness,

  Blacker than erst, her sable mantle spread,

  When with two trusty maids, in great distress,

  Both from mine uncle and my realm I fled;

  Oft looked I back, but hardly could suppress

  Those streams of tears, mine eyes uncessant shed,

  For when I looked on my kingdom lost,

  It was a grief, a death, an hell almost.

  LV

  “My steeds drew on the burden of my limbs,

  But still my locks, my thoughts, drew back as fast,

  So fare the men, that from the heaven’s brims,

  Far out to sea, by sudden storm are cast;

  Swift o’er the grass the rolling chariot swims,

  Through ways unknown, all night, all day we haste,

  At last, nigh tired, a castle strong we fand,

  The utmost border of my native land.

  LVI

  “The fort Arontes was, for so the knight

  Was called, that my deliverance thus had wrought,

  But when the tyrant saw, by mature flight

  I had escaped the treasons of his thought,

  The rage increased in the cursed wight

  Gainst me, and him, that me to safety brought,

  And us accused, we would have poisoned

  Him, but descried, to save our lives we fled.

  LVII

  “And that in lieu of his approved truth,

  To poison him I hired had my guide,

  That he despatched, mine unbridled youth

  Might rage at will, in no subjection tied,

  And that each night I slept — O foul untruth! —

  Mine honor lost, by this Arontes’ side:

  But Heaven I pray send down revenging fire,

  When so base love shall change my chaste desire.

  LVIII

  “Not that he sitteth on my regal throne,

  Nor that he thirst to drink my lukewarm blood,