Jerusalem Delivered Page 22

  In wandering errors of deceitful love,

  And thought, besides the champions promised,

  The other lordlings in her aid to move,

  In Godfrey’s thought a strong contention bred

  Who fittest were this hazard great to prove;

  For all the worthies of the adventures’ band

  Were like in birth, in power, in strength of hand.

  II

  But first the prince, by grave advice, decreed

  They should some knight choose at their own election,

  That in his charge Lord Dudon might succeed,

  And of that glorious troop should take protection;

  So none should grieve, displeased with the deed,

  Nor blame the causer of their new subjection:

  Besides, Godfredo showed by this device,

  How much he held that regiment in price.

  III

  He called the worthies then, and spake them so:

  “Lordlings, you know I yielded to your will,

  And gave you license with this dame to go,

  To win her kingdom and that tyrant kill:

  But now again I let you further know,

  In following her it may betide yon ill;

  Refrain therefore, and change this forward thought

  For death unsent for, danger comes unsought.

  IV

  “But if to shun these perils, sought so far,

  May seem disgraceful to the place yon hold;

  If grave advice and prudent counsel are

  Esteemed detractors from your courage bold;

  Then know, I none against his will debar,

  Nor what I granted erst I now withhold;

  But he mine empire, as it ought of right,

  Sweet, easy, pleasant, gentle, meek and light.

  V

  “Go then or tarry, each as likes him best,

  Free power I grant you on this enterprise;

  But first in Dudon’s place, now laid in chest,

  Choose you some other captain stout and wise;

  Then ten appoint among the worthiest,

  But let no more attempt this hard emprise,

  In this my will content you that I have,

  For power constrained is but a glorious slave.”

  VI

  Thus Godfrey said, and thus his brother spake,

  And answered for himself and all his peers:

  “My lord, as well it fitteth thee to make

  These wise delays and cast these doubts and fears,

  So ’tis our part at first to undertake;

  Courage and haste beseems our might and years;

  And this proceeding with so grave advice,

  Wisdom, in you, in us were cowardice.

  VII

  “Since then the feat is easy, danger none,

  All set in battle and in hardy fight,

  Do thou permit the chosen ten to gone

  And aid the damsel:” thus devised the knight,

  To make men think the sun of honor shone

  There where the lamp of Cupid gave the light:

  The rest perceive his guile, and it approve,

  And call that knighthood which was childish love.

  VIII

  But loving Eustace, that with jealous eye

  Beheld the worth of Sophia’s noble child,

  And his fair shape did secretly envy,

  Besides the virtues in his breast compiled,

  And, for in love he would no company,

  He stored his mouth with speeches smoothly filed,

  Drawing his rival to attend his word;

  Thus with fair sleight he laid the knight abord:

  IX

  “Of great Bertoldo thou far greater heir,

  Thou star of knighthood, flower of chivalry,

  Tell me, who now shall lead this squadron fair,

  Since our late guide in marble cold doth lie?

  I, that with famous Dudon might compare

  In all, but years, hoar locks, and gravity,

  To whom should I, Duke Godfrey’s brother, yield,

  Unless to thee, the Christian army’s shield?

  X

  “Thee whom high birth makes equal with the best

  Thine acts prefer both me and all beforn;

  Nor that in fight thou both surpass the rest,

  And Godfrey’s worthy self, I hold in scorn;

  Thee to obey then am I only pressed;

  Before these worthies be thine eagle borne;

  This honor haply thou esteemest light,

  Whose day of glory never yet found night.

  XI

  “Yet mayest thou further by this means display

  The spreading wings of thy immortal fame;

  I will procure it, if thou sayest not nay,

  And all their wills to thine election frame:

  But for I scantly am resolved which way

  To bend my force, or where employ the same,

  Leave me, I pray, at my discretion free

  To help Armida, or serve here with thee.”

  XII

  This last request, for love is evil to hide,

  Empurpled both his cheeks with scarlet red;

  Rinaldo soon his passions had descried,

  And gently smiling turned aside his head,

  And, for weak Cupid was too feeble eyed

  To strike him sure, the fire in him was dead;

  So that of rivals was he naught afraid,

  Nor cared he for the journey or the maid.

  XIII

  But in his noble thought revolved he oft

  Dudon’s high prowess, death and burial,

  And how Argantes bore his plumes aloft,

  Praising his fortunes for that worthy’s fall;

  Besides, the knight’s sweet words and praises soft

  To his due honor did him fitly call,

  And made his heart rejoice, for well he knew,

  Though much he praised him, all his words were true.

  XIV

  “Degrees,” quoth he, “of honors high to hold,

  I would them first deserve, and the desire;

  And were my valor such as you have told,

  Would I for that to higher place aspire:

  But if to honors due raise me you would,

  I will not of my works refuse the hire;

  And much it glads me, that my power and might

  Ypraised is by such a valiant knight.

  XV

  “I neither seek it nor refuse the place,

  Which if I get, the praise and thanks be thine.”

  Eustace, this spoken, hied thence apace

  To know which way his fellows’ hearts incline:

  But Prince Gernando coveted the place,

  Whom though Armida sought to undermine,

  Gainst him yet vain did all her engines prove,

  His pride was such, there was no place for love.

  XVI

  Gernando was the King of Norway’s son,

  That many a realm and region had to guide,

  And for his elders lands and crowns had won.

  His heart was puffed up with endless pride:

  The other boasts more what himself had done

  Than all his ancestors’ great acts beside;

  Yet his forefathers old before him were

  Famous in war and peace five hundred years.

  XVII

  This barbarous prince, who only vainly thought

  That bliss in wealth and kingly power doth lie,

  And in respect esteemed all virtue naught

  Unless it were adorned with titles high,

  Could not endure, that to the place he sought

  A simple knight should dare to press so nigh;

  And in his breast so boiled fell despite,

  That ire and wrath exiled reason quite.

  XVIII

  The hidden devil, that lies in close await

  To win the fort of
unbelieving man,

  Found entry there, where ire undid the gate,

  And in his bosom unperceived ran;

  It filled his heart with malice, strife and hate,

  It made him rage, blaspheme, swear, curse and ban,

  Invisible it still attends him near,

  And thus each minute whispereth in his ear.

  XIX

  What, shall Rinaldo match thee? dares he tell

  Those idle names of his vain pedigree?

  Then let him say, if thee he would excel,

  What lands, what realms his tributaries be:

  If his forefathers in the graves that dwell,

  Were honored like thine that live, let see:

  Oh how dares one so mean aspire so high,

  Born in that servile country Italy?

  XX

  Now, if he win, or if he lose the day,

  Yet is his praise and glory hence derived,

  For that the world will, to his credit, say,

  Lo, this is he that with Gernando strived.

  The charge some deal thee haply honor may,

  That noble Dudon had while here he lived;

  But laid on him he would the office shame,

  Let it suffice, he durst desire the same.

  XXI

  If when this breath from man’s frail body flies

  The soul take keep, or know the things done here,

  Oh, how looks Dudon from the glorious skies?

  What wrath, what anger in his face appear,

  On this proud youngling while he bends his eyes,

  Marking how high he doth his feathers rear?

  Seeing his rash attempt, how soon he dare,

  Though but a boy, with his great worth compare.

  XXII

  He dares not only, but he strives and proves,

  Where chastisement were fit there wins he praise:

  One counsels him, his speech him forward moves;

  Another fool approveth all he says:

  If Godfrey favor him more than behoves,

  Why then he wrongeth thee an hundred ways;

  Nor let thy state so far disgraced be,

  Now what thou art and canst, let Godfrey see.

  XXIII

  With such false words the kindled fire began

  To every vein his poisoned heart to reach,

  It swelled his scornful heart, and forth it ran

  At his proud looks, and too audacious speech;

  All that he thought blameworthy in the man,

  To his disgrace that would be each where preach;

  He termed him proud and vain, his worth in fight

  He called fool-hardise, rashness, madness right.

  XXIV

  All that in him was rare or excellent,

  All that was good, all that was princely found,

  With such sharp words as malice could invent,

  He blamed, such power has wicked tongue to wound.

  The youth, for everywhere those rumors went,

  Of these reproaches heard sometimes the sound;

  Nor did for that his tongue the fault amend,

  Until it brought him to his woful end.

  XXV

  The cursed fiend that set his tongue at large,

  Still bred more fancies in his idle brain,

  His heart with slanders new did overcharge,

  And soothed him still in his angry vein;

  Amid the camp a place was broad and large,

  Where one fair regiment might easily train;

  And there in tilt and harmless tournament

  Their days of rest the youths and gallants spent.

  XXVI

  There, as his fortune would it should betide,

  Amid the press Gernando gan retire,

  To vomit out his venom unespied,

  Wherewith foul envy did his heart inspire.

  Rinaldo heard him as he stood beside,

  And as he could not bridle wrath and ire,

  “Thou liest,” cried he loud, and with that word

  About his head he tossed his flaming sword.

  XXVII

  Thunder his voice, and lightning seemed his brand,

  So fell his look, and furious was his cheer,

  Gernando trembled, for he saw at hand

  Pale death, and neither help nor comfort near,

  Yet for the soldiers all to witness stand

  He made proud sign, as though he naught did fear,

  But bravely drew his little-helping blade,

  And valiant show of strong resistance made.

  XXVIII

  With that a thousand blades of burnished steel

  Glistered on heaps like flames of fire in sight,

  Hundreds, that knew not yet the quarrel weel,

  Ran thither, some to gaze and some to fight:

  The empty air a sound confused did feel

  Of murmurs low, and outcries loud on height,

  Like rolling waves and Boreas’ angry blasts

  When roaring seas against the rocks he casts.

  XXIX

  But not for this the wronged warrior stayed

  His just displeasure and incensed ire,

  He cared not what the vulgar did or said,

  To vengeance did his courage fierce aspire:

  Among the thickest weapons way he made,

  His thundering sword made all on heaps retire,

  So that of near a thousand stayed not one,

  But Prince Gernando bore the brunt alone.

  XXX

  His hand, too quick to execute his wrath,

  Performed all, as pleased his eye and heart,

  At head and breast oft times he strucken hath,

  Now at the right, now at the other part:

  On every side thus did he harm and scath,

  And oft beguile his sight with nimble art,

  That no defence the prince of wounds acquits,

  Where least he thinks, or fears, there most he hits.

  XXXI

  Nor ceased be, till in Gernando’s breast

  He sheathed once or twice his furious blade;

  Down fell the hapless prince with death oppressed,

  A double way to his weak soul was made;

  His bloody sword the victor wiped and dressed,

  Nor longer by the slaughtered body stayed,

  But sped him thence, and soon appeased hath

  His hate, his ire, his rancor and his wrath.

  XXXII

  Called by the tumult, Godfrey drew him near,

  And there beheld a sad and rueful sight,

  The signs of death upon his face appear,

  With dust and blood his locks were loathly dight,

  Sighs and complaints on each side might he hear,

  Made for the sudden death of that great knight:

  Amazed, he asked who durst and did so much;

  For yet he knew not whom the fault would touch.

  XXXIII

  Arnoldo, minion of the Prince thus slain,

  Augments the fault in telling it, and saith,

  This Prince murdered, for a quarrel vain,

  By young Rinaldo in his desperate wrath,

  And with that sword that should Christ’s law maintain,

  One of Christ’s champions bold he killed hath,

  And this he did in such a place and hour,

  As if he scorned your rule, despised your power.

  XXXIV

  And further adds, that he deserved death

  By law, and law should inviolate,

  That none offence could greater be uneath,

  And yet the place the fault did aggravate:

  If he escapes, that mischief would take breath,

  And flourish bold in spite of rule and state;

  And that Gernando’s friends would venge the wrong,

  Although to justice that did first belong,

  XXXV

  And by that means, should discord, hate and strife

&
nbsp; Raise mutinies, and what therefore ensueth:

  Lastly he praised the dead, and still had rife

  All words he thought could vengeance move or rut

  Against him Tancred argued for life,

  With honest reasons to excuse the youth:

  The Duke heard all, but with such sober cheer,

  As banished hope, and still increased fear.

  XXXVI

  “Great Prince,” quoth Tancred; “set before thine eyes

  Rinaldo’s worth and courage what it is,

  How much our hope of conquest in him lies;

  Regard that princely house and race of his;

  He that correcteth every fault he spies,

  And judgeth all alike, doth all amiss;

  For faults, you know, are greater thought or less,

  As is the person’s self that doth transgress.”

  XXXVII

  Godfredo answered him; “If high and low

  Of sovereign power alike should feel the stroke,

  Then, Tancred, ill you counsel us, I trow;

  If lords should know no law, as erst you spoke,

  How vile and base our empire were you know,

  If none but slaves and peasants bear the yoke;

  Weak is the sceptre and the power is small

  That such provisos bring annexed withal.

  XXXVIII

  “But mine was freely given ere ’twas sought,

  Nor that it lessened be I now consent;

  Right well know I both when and where I ought

  To give condign reward and punishment,

  Since you are all in like subjection brought,

  Both high and low obey, and be content.”

  This heard, Tancredi wisely stayed his words,

  Such weight the sayings have of kings and lords.

  XXXIX

  Old Raymond praised his speech, for old men think

  They ever wisest seem when most severe,

  “’Tis best,” quoth he, “to make these great ones shrink,

  The people love him whom the nobles fear:

  There must the rule to all disorders sink,

  Where pardons more than punishments appear;

  For feeble is each kingdom, frail and weak,

  Unless his basis be this fear I speak.”

  XL

  These words Tancredi heard and pondered well,

  And by them wist how Godfrey’s thoughts were bent,

  Nor list he longer with these old men dwell,

  But turned his horse and to Rinaldo went,

  Who, when his noble foe death-wounded fell,

  Withdrew him softly to his gorgeous tent;

  There Tancred found him, and at large declared

  The words and speeches sharp which late you heard.

  XLI

  And said, “Although I wot the outward show

  Is not true witness of the secret thought,

  For that some men so subtle are, I trow,

  That what they purpose most appeareth naught;