Canto 9
ARGUMENTSo far Orlando wends, he comes to whereHe of old Proteus’ hears the cruel useBut feels such pity for Olympia fair,Wronged by Cymosco, who in prison mewsHer plighted spouse, that ere he makes repairFurther, he gives her hope to venge the abuse:He does so, and departs; and with his spouseDeparts Bireno, to repeat his vows.
IWhat cannot, when he has a heart possess’dThis false and cruel traitor Love? since heCan banish from Orlando’s faithful breastSuch tried allegiance and due loyalty?Wise, full of all regards, and of the blestAnd glorious church the champion wont to be,Now, little for himself or uncle, drivenBy a vain love, he cares, and less for heaven.
IIBut I excuse him well, rejoiced to knowI have like partner in my vice: for stillTo seek my good I too am faint and slow,But sound and nimble in pursuit of ill.The count departs, disguised in sable show,Nor for so many friends, with froward will,Deserted cares; and comes where on the plainAre camped the hosts of Afric and of Spain;
IIIRather uncamped: for, in less troops or more,Rains under shed and tree had driven the band.Here ten, there twenty, seven or eight, or four,Near or further off, Orlando scanned.Each sleeps, oppressed with toil and wearied sore;This stretched on earth, that propped upon his hand:They sleep, and many might the count have slain,Yet never bared his puissant Durindane.
IVSo generous is Orlando’s heart, he baseEsteems it were to smite a sleeping foe.Now this he seeks, and now that other place;Yet cannot track his lady, high or low.If he finds any one in waking case,Sighing, to him he paints her form and show;Then prays him that for courtesy, he whereThe damsel is, will reach him to repair.
VAnd when the day its shining light displayed,He wholly searched the Moorish army through.In that the gentle warrior was arrayedIn Arab weeds, he this might safely do;And of his purpose came alike in aidThat other tongues beside the French he knew;And in the African so well was read,He seemed in Tripoly one born and bred:
VIHe sojourns there three days, the camp to see;Still seeking nought beside: next up and down,Within, without, both burgh and city heSpies; nor surveys the realm of France alone;But fair Auvergne, and even GasconyRevisits, to its farthest little town.Roves from Provence to Brittany’s domain,And from the Picards to the bounds of Spain.
VIIBetween October and November’s moon,In that dull season when the leafy vestIs stript from trembling plant, whose limbs are shownOf all their mantling foliage dispossess’dAnd in close flights the swarming birds are flown,Orlando enters on his amorous quest:This he pursues the livelong winter through,Nor quits when gladsome spring returns anew.
VIIIAs (such his wont) from land to land he goes,A river’s side he reaches on a day;Which to the neighbouring sea in quiet flows.Bretons and Normans parting on its way:But, swoln with mountain rain and melted snows,Then thundered, white with foam and flashing-spray:And with impetuous stream had overtoptIts brim, and burst the bridge, and passage stopt.
IXThe paladin this bank and the other eyed,Along the river’s channel, to explore,Since neither fish nor fowl, if from his sideHe could gain footing on the adverse shore;When, with a damsel in the poop, he spiedA ready pinnace that towards him bore:She steered, as if she would approach the strand;But would not let her shallop make the land.
XSteered not to land; as haply with suspicionTo take a lading, in her own despite.To her the good Orlando made petitionTo put him o’er the stream; and she: “No knightPasses this ferry, but upon conditionHe shall his faith and promise duly plight,That he will do a battle, at my prayer,Upon the justest quarrel and most fair.
XI“So that if thou on that other shore to landDost by my aid, Sir cavalier, desire,Promise me, ere the month which is at hand”(The damsel so pursued her speech) “expire,That thou wilt join the Hibernian monarch’s hand,Who forms a fair armada, in his ire,To sack Ebuda’s isle; of all compress’dBy ocean’s circling waves, the cruellest.
XII“Know, beyond Ireland, in the briny flood,An island, amid many others, lies;Ebuda is its name; whose people rude(Such is their law), in search of plunder hies;And all the women that it takes, for foodTo a voracious animal supplies;Which every day to shore for this does speed,And finds new wife or maid whereon to feed:
XIII“For of these merchant still and Corsair sellA large supply, and most of those most fair.Reckoning one slain a-day, you thus may wellCompute what wives and maids have perished there.But if compassion in your bosom dwell,Nor you to Love an utter rebel are,Be you contented with this band to wend,United for such profitable end.”
XIVTo hear the whole Orlando scarce could bear,Ere to be first in that emprize he swore,As one who evil deed misliked to hear,And with impatience like relation bore:Hence first induced to think, and next to fear,Angelica is captive on that shore:Since he so long the missing maid pursues,Nor of the damsel yet can gather news.
XVBreaking his every scheme, this phantasyThe troubled cavalier did so confound,That will all speed to that fell island heResolved to navigate; nor yet the roundOf a new sun was buried in the sea,Ere he a vessel at St. Malo’s found;In which, embarking on his quest, the countPut forth, and cleared that night St. Michael’s Mount.
XVIBreac and Landriglier past on the left hand,Orlando’s vessel skims the Breton shore;Then shapes her course towards the chalky strand,Whence England’s isle the name of Albion bore:But the south wind, which had her canvas fanned,Shifts to north-west, and freshening, blows so sore,The mariners are fain to strike all sail,And wear and scud before the boisterous gale.
XVIIA distance traversed in four days, in oneBackwards the ceaseless wind the frigate bore;The helmsman kept the sea, lest she should runAground, and break like glass upon the shore.The wind upon the fifth day changed its tune,So loud and furious through the other four;And let, without more strife, the vessel gainA port, where Antwerp’s river met the main.
XVIIIAs soon as harboured there in shattered plight,The weary mariners their frigate moor,Out of a city, seated on the rightOf that fair stream, descends upon the shore,As his gray hairs may warrant him, a wightStricken in years; who, full of courteous lore,Turns to the county, after greetings due,Reputing him the leader of that crew.
XIXAnd prays him, on a damsel’s part, ‘that heTo her would think not irksome to repair;Whom of unequalled affabilityAnd sweetness, he would find, as well as fair;Or otherwise would be content, that sheShould to his bark resort, to seek him there,Nor prove less pliant than had been beforeAll the knights errant, who had sought that shore:
XXFor hitherto, by land or sea conveyed,No cavalier had journeyed to that placeThat had refused to parlay with the maid,And give her counsel in a cruel case.’Orlando, hearing this, no more delayed,But issued from the bark with hurried pace,And, in all kind and courteous usage bred,His way directed where the ancient led.
XXIWith him did Roland to the city go,And at the bottom of a palace-stair,Conducted by that elder, full of woeA lady found, if face may grief declare,And sable cloth, with which (a mournful show)Chamber, and hall, and gallery, furnished were;Who, after honourable welcome paid,Seated the paladin, and sadly said:
XXII“The daughter of the Count of Holland,” (criedThe Lady) “know in me, Sir cavalier.Though not his only offspring (for besideMyself two brothers were) to him so dear,That, for whatever favour I applied,I never met refusal from the peer.I living glady in this happy sort,A duke by chance was guested at our court;
XXIII“The Duke of Zealand, meaning for Biscay;With purpose there to war upon the Moor;His youth and beauty, then in manhood’s May,And force of love, unfelt by me before,Made me, with little strife, his easy prey:Persuaded by his outward cheer yet more,I thought, and think, and still shall think, the peerLoved me, and loves me yet with heart sincere.
XXIV“Those days, whenas the wind was contrary,(Which fair for me, if foul for others blew)To others forty seemed, an hour to me;So upon speedy wings the moments flew.This while, we oftentimes held colloquy,When, to be given with solemn right and due,I promised him, and he to me, his hand,On his return, in wedlock’s holy band.
XXV“Bireno hardly from our court was gone,For such the name my faithful lover bore,When Friesland’s king, whose realm is from our ownNo further than this stream from Ocean’s shore,Designing to bestow me on his son,Arbantes hight (the monarch had no more),To Holland sent the worthiest of his land,Me of the count, my father, to demand.
XXVI“I without power to falsify that vow,Which to my gentle lover I had plight;Nor though I had the power, would Love allowMe so to play the ingrate, if I might,(The treaty, well on foot, to overthrow,And nigh concluded) with afflicted sprite,Cried to my father, I would rather shedMy very life-blood, than in Friesland wed.
XXVII“My gracious father, he who took but pleasureIn what pleased me, nor would my will constrain;Marking my grief, broke off the intended measure,To give me comfort and relieve my pain.At this proud Friesland’s sovereign such displeasureConceived, and entertained such high disdain,He entered Holland, and the war began,In which my kin were slaughtered to a man.
XXVIII“Besides, that both his puissance and his mightAre such, as in our age are matched of few,Such is in evil deeds his cunning sleight,He laughs to scorn what wit and force can do.Strange arms he bears, unknown to any wight,Save him, of the ancient nations or the new:A hollow iron, two yards long, whose smallChannel he loads with powder and a ball
XXIX“He, where ’tis closed behind, in the iron round,Touches with fire a vent, discerned with pain;In guise that skilful surgeon tries his ground,Where need requires that he should breathe a vein.Whence flies the bullet with such deafening sound,That bolt and lightening from the hollow caneAppear to dart, and like the passing thunder,Burn what they smite, beat-down or rend asunder.
XXX“Twice broken, he our armies overthrewWith this device, my gentle brethren slain;The first the shot in our first battle slew,Reaching his heart, through broken plate and chain;The other in the other onset, whoWas flying from the fatal field in vain.The ball his shoulder from a distance toreBehind, and issued from his breast before.
XXXI“My father next, defending on a dayThe only fortress which he still possessed,The others taken which about it lay,Was sent alike to his eternal rest:Who going and returning, to purveyWhat lacked, as this or that occasion pressed,Was aimed at from afar, in privy wise,And by the traytour struck between the eyes.
XXXII“And I remaining, sire and brethren dead,The isle of Holland’s only heir, the kingOf Friesland, who by the desire was ledOf better there his power establishing,To me, and also to my people said,I peace and quiet to my state might bring,Would I (when I before would not accord)Now take his son Arbantes for my lord.
XXXIII“I, not so much for deadly hate I bearTo him and all his kindred, by whose spiteMy sire and both my brothers slaughtered were,My country sacked and waste, as that the knightI would not wrong, to whom I fealty sware,And had my solemn word already plightThat me to wedlock man should woo in vain,Till he to Holland should return from Spain.
XXXIV“For one ill-born, a hundred yet behind,Will bear (replied) to hazard all content,—Slain, burnt alive, to let them to the windScatter my ashes, rather than consent.—My people seek to move my stedfast mind,By prayer and by protest, from this intent;And threat to yield my city up and me,Lest all be lost through my obduracy.
XXXV“When in my fixt and firm resolve they read,That prayer and protest are alike in vain;My town and me, with Friesland’s king agreed,Surrendered, as they vowed, my vassal train.Not doing by me any shameful deed,Me he assured of life and of domain,So I would soften my obdurate mood,And be to wed with his Arbantes wooed.
XXXVI“I who would have consented to foregoMy life to scape from him, reflection made,That, save I first avenged myself, all woeEndured, would be by this regret outweighed.—Long time I muse, and to my misery know,’Tis only simulation which can aid.Not simple willingness, I feign desire,To win his grace, and have him for my sire.
XXXVII“ Mid many in my father’s service, ISelect two brothers fitted for my view,Of valiant heart and great abilityBut more approved for truth, as followers, whoBred in my father’s court, from infancyHad with myself grown up; the brothers twoSo wholly bound to me, they would have thoughtMy safety with their lives was cheaply bought.
XXXVIII“To them I tell my project, and the pairOf brethren promise me their faithful aid:To Flanders this, a pinnace to prepare,I sent, and that with me in Holland stayed.Now, while both foreigners and natives were,Of Friesland’s kingdom, to our nuptials prayed,Bireno in Biscay (the tidings went)For Holland had equipt an armament.
XXXIX“Since on the issue of the earliest fray,When in the rout one hapless brother fell,I had dispatched a courier to Biscay,Who the sad news should to Bireno tell:While he toils sore his squadron to array,Proud Friesland’s arms our wretched remnant quell.Bireno, who knew nought of this, had weighed,And with his barks put forth to bring us aid.
XL“These tidings told to Friesland’s monarch, heConfiding to his son the wedding’s care,To meet Bireno’s squadron puts to sea,And (so chance willed) burns, sinks, or routs them there,Leading him off into captivity;—But none to us as yet the tidings bear.This while I to the amorous youth am wed,Who, when the sun sought his, would seek my bed.
XLI“Behind the curtains, I had hid the triedAnd faithful follower, of whom I said,Who moved not till the bridegroom he descried,Yet waited not till he in bed was laid:But raised a hatchet, and so well appliedBehind the stripling’s head the ponderous blade,Of speech and life it reft him; I, who noteThe deed, leap lightly up and cut his throat.
XLII“As falls the bullock upon shamble-sill,Thus fell the ill-starred stripling, in despiteOf king Cymosco, worst among the ill;So was the impious king of Friesland hightWho did my brothers and my father kill,And, in my state to found a better right;In wedlock wished to join me with his son,Haply to slay me when his end was won.
XLIII“Ere new disturbance interrupt the deed,Taking what costliest was and lightest weighed,Me my companion by a chord, with speed,Drops from a window, where with boat purveyedIn Flanders (as related) for my need,His brother, watchful of our motions, stayed:We dip the oar, we loose the sail, and drivenBy both, escape, as was the will of Heaven.
XLIV“The daring feat achieved, I cannot sayIf Friesland’s king more sorrowed for his son,Or raged at me: he there arrived, the dayEnsuing, where the dreadful deed was done,Proud he returned, both he and his array,Of the duke taken, and the victory won:And thought to feast and nuptials he was bound,But in his home all grief and darkness found.
XLV“His pity for his son, the hate he fedTowards me, torment the father day and night;But as lamenting will not raise the dead,And vengeance is a vent for smothered spite;That portion of his thoughts, which should have ledThe king, to ease by sighs his troubled sprite,Now willingly takes counsel with his hate,To seize me, and his vengeance satiate.
XLVI“All known or said to by my friends, or whoWere friends of those that, chosen from my train,Had aided me the deadly deed to do,Their goods and chattels burnt, were doomed or slain:And he had killed Bireno, since he knewNo other trouble could inflict such pain;But that he, saving him in malice, thoughtHe had a net wherewith I might be caught.
XLVII“Yet him a cruel proposition made,Granting a year his purpose to complete;Condemned to privy death, till then delayed,Save in that time, through force or through deceit,He by his friends’ and kindred’s utmost aid,Doing or plotting, me from my retreatConveyed into his prisons; so that heCan only saved by my destruction be.
XLVIII“What for his safety could be done, behold,Short of my own destruction, had been tried.Six towns I had in Flanders: these I sold,And (great or small the produce set aside)A part of it, to wily persons told,That it to tempt his guards might be applied;The rest of it dispensed to move and armGermans or English, to the miscreant’s harm.
XLIX“My agents, whether they their trust betrayed,Or that they could in truth perform no more,Me with vain words instead of help have paid,And scorn me, having drained my scanty store:And now the term is nigh expired, when aid,Whether of open force or treasured ore,No longer will arrive in time to saveMy cherished spouse from torture and the grave.
L“Through him, from me was my dominion rent;Through him, my father and my brethren slain;Through him, the little treasure left me, spent(What served alone existence to sustain)To rescue him, in cruel durance pent;Nor other means to succour him remain;Save I, to liberate him from prison, goAnd yield myself to such a cruel foe.
LI“If nothing more be left me then to try,Nor other way for his escape appear,Than his with this my wretched life to buy,This life I gladly will lay down: one fearAlone molests me; and it is that ICan never my conditions make so clear,As to assure me, that with new deceit,Me, when his prey, the tyrant will not cheat.
LII“I fear, when I shall be in captive plight,And he has put all tortures upon me,He may not loose Bireno, and the knightHave not to thank me for his liberty:Like perjured king, and full of foul despite,Who with my murder will not satiate be;But by Bireno neither less nor moreWill do, than he had done by me before.
LIII“The occasion now that I confer with you,And tell my case to all who seek the land,Both lords and knights, is with the single view,That taking counsel of so large a band,Some one may indicate assurance due,That when before the cruel king I stand,No longer he Bireno shall detain;Nor, after I am killed, the duke be slain.
LIV“Warrior to went with me, I in my need,When I shall be to Friesland given, have prayed;But so he promise, that the exchange agreedShall be between us in such manner made,That from his bonds Bireno shall be freedWhen I am to the monarch’s hands conveyed:Thus I, when I am slain, shall die content,Who to my spouse shall life by death have lent.
LV“Not to this day have chanced upon a wightWho on his faith will give me warranty,That if the king refuse to loose the knight,When I am offered, from captivity,He will not suffer that in my despite(So feared those weapons!) I shall taken be.So feared those weapons, upon every hand!Which, howsoever thick, no plates withstand.
LVI“Now, if as strong Herculean port and boldAppear to vouch, such worth to you belong;And you believe to give me or withholdIs in your power, should he intend me wrong;Be with me, when committed to his hold,Since I shall fear not, in your convoy strong,When you are with me, that my lord, though IBe after slain, shall by his order die.”
LVIIHere her discourse, wherewith were interposedLoud sobs, the lady ceased, and silent stood:Orlando, when her lips the damsel closed,Whose ready will ne’er halts in doing good,Briefly to her replies, as indisposedTo idle speeches of his natural mood:But plights his solemn word, that better aidShe should from him receive than that she prayed.
LVIII’Tis not his scheme to place her in the handOf her foul foe, to have Bireno freed;He will save both the lovers, if his brandAnd wonted valour fail him not at need.Embarked that very day, they put from landWith a clear sky and prosperous wind to speed.The county hastes in his impatient heat,Eager to reach that isle, the monster’s seat.
LIXThrough the still deeps, on this or the other side,The skipper veered his canvas to the wind:This isle, and that of Zealand, they descried,One seen before, and one shut in behind.The third day, from the harboured vessel’s side,In Holland, Roland disembarks, not joinedBy the complaining dame; whom to descendHe will not till she hear that tyrant’s end.
LXArmed at all points, the county passed ashore,Borne on a horse ‘twixt brown and black, the breedOf Denmark, but in Flanders nurtured, moreEsteemed for weight and puissance than for speed:For when the paladin embarked before,In Brittany he left the gallant steed,His Brigliador; so nimble and so fair,That but Bayardo could with him compare.
LXIOrlando fares to Dordrecht, where he viewsA numerous squadron, which the gate maintain;As well, because suspicion still ensuesOn the foundation of a new domain;As that before they had received the news,That out of Zealand, backed with armed train,Was coming with a fleet of many sail,A cousin of the lord here pent in jail.
LXIIOne, good Orlando to the monarch’s earBade bear a message, ‘that an errant knightOh him would prove himself, with sword and spear;But would lay down this pact before the fight:—That if the king unhorsed the cavalier,Her who Arbantes slew, he, as his right,Should have, that, at the cavalier’s command,Was ready for delivery to his hand;
LXIII‘And willed the king should on his side agree,If him the knight in combat overbore,Forthwith released from his captivity,Bireno to full freedom to restore.’To him the footman does his embassy;But he, who knightly worth or courteous loreHad never known, directs his whole intentThe count by treacherous fraud to circumvent.
LXIVHe hopes as well, if he the warrior slay,To have the dame, whom, so aggrieved, he hates,If in the knight’s disposal, and the sayOf that strange knight, the footman well relates.Hence thirty men dispatched by other wayThan to the portal led, where Roland waits;Who with a long and privy circuit wind,And come upon the paladin behind.
LXVHe all this while had made his guard delayThe knight with words, till horse and foot he spiedArrived, where he this ambuscade did lay;When from the gate he with as many hied:As is the practised hunter’s wonted way,To circle wood and beasts on every side:As nigh Volana, with his sweeping nets,The wary fisher fish and pool besets.
LXVI’Tis thus the king bars every path which liesFree for the warrior’s flight, with armed train:He him alive, and in no other guise,Would have, and lightly hopes his end to gain;Nor for the earthly thunderbolt applies,That had so many and so many slain:Which here he deems would serve his purpose ill,Where he desires to take and not to kill.
LXVIIAs wary fowler, bent on greater prey,Wisely preserves alive the game first caught,That by the call-bird and his cheating play,More may within the circling net be brought;Such cunning art Cymosco would assay:But Roland would not be so lightly bought;Like them by the first toil that springs betrayed;And quickly forced the circle which was made.
LXVIIIWhere he perceives the assailants thickest stand,He rests his lance, and sticks in his careerFirst one and afterwards another, andAnother, and another, who appearOf paste; till six he of the circling bandOf foes impales upon a single spear;A seventh left out, who by the push is slain,Since the clogged weapon can no more contain.
LXIXNo otherwise, upon the further shoreOf fosse or of canal, the frogs we spy,By cautious archer, practised in his lore,Smote and transfixed the one the other nigh;Upon the shaft, until it hold no more,From barb to feathers full, allowed to lie.The heavy lance Orlando from him flung,And to close combat with his faulchion sprung.
LXXThe lance now broke, his sword the warrior drew,That sword which never yet was drawn in vain,And still with cut or thrust some soldier slew;Now horse, now footman of the tyrant’s train.And, ever where he dealt a stroke, changed blue,Yellow, green, white and black, to crimson stain.Cymosco grieves, when most his need require,Not to have now his hollow cane and fire;
LXXIAnd with loud voice and menacing commandBids these be brought, but ill his followers hear;For those who have found safety of his band,To issue from the city are in fear.He, when he sees them fly on either hand,Would fly as well from that dread cavalier;Makes for the gate, and would the drawbridge lift,But the pursuing county is too swift.
LXXIIThe monarch turns his back, and leaves the knightLord of the drawbridge and of either gate.Thanks to his swifter steed, the rest in flightHe passes: good Orlando will not wait(Intent the felon, not his band, to smite)Upon the vulgar herd to wreck his hate.But his slow horse seems restive; while the king’s,More nimble, flies as if equipt with wings.
LXXIIIFrom street to street, before the count he made;And vanished clean; but after little stay,Came with new arms, with tube and fire purveyed;Which, at his hest, this while his men convey.And posted at a corner, he waylaid:His foe, as hunter watches for his prey,In forest, with armed dogs and spear, attendingThe boar in fury from the hill descending,
LXXIVWho rends the branch and overthrows the stone;And wheresoe’er he turns his haughty front,Appears (so loud the deafening crash and groan)As if he were uprending wood and mount,Intent to make him his bold deed atone,Cymosco at the pass expects the count;As soon as he appears, with ready lightTouches the hole, and fires upon the knight.
LXXVBehind, the weapon flames in lightning’s guise,And vents the thunder from before; the groundShakes under foot and city wall; the skiesThe fearful echo all about rebound.The burning bolt with sudden fury flies,Not sparing aught which in its course is found.Hissing and whizzing through the skies it went;But smote not, to the assassin’s foul intent.
LXXVIWhether it was his great desire to killThat baron, or his hurry made him fail,Or trembling heart, like leaf which flutters still,Made hand and arm together flinch and quail;Or that it was not the Creator’s willThe church so soon her champion should bewail;The glancing stroke his courser’s belly tore,Outstretched on earth, from thence to rise no more.
LXXVIITo earth fall horse and rider: this the knightScarce touched; the other thundering pressed the plain:For the first rose so ready and so light,He from the fall seemed breath and force to gain.As African Anteus, in the fight,Rose from the sand with prouder might and main;So when Orlando touched the ground, to viewHe rose with doubled force and vigour new.
LXXVIIIHe who has seen the thunder, from on high,Discharged by Jove with such a horrid sound,Descend where nitre, coal, and sulphur lie,Stored up for use in magazine profound,Which scarce has reached—but touched it, ere the skyIs in a flame, as well as burning ground,Firm walls are split, and solid marbles riven,And flying stones cast up as high as heaven;
LXXIXLet him imagine, when from earth he sprung,Such was the semblance of the cavalier;Who moved in mode to frighten Mars amongThe Gods, so fierce and horrid was his cheer.At this dismay’d, the King of Friesland stungHis horse, and turned his rein, to fly the peer:But fierce Orlando was upon his foeFaster than arrow flies from bended bow:
LXXXAnd, what before he could not, when possestOf his good courser, now afoot will do.His speed outgoes all thought in every breast,Exceeds all credence, save in those who view.The tyrant shortly joined, he on the crestSmote at his head so well, he cleft it through;And to the neck divided by the blow,Sent it, to shake its last on earth below.
LXXXILo! in the frighted city other soundWas heard to rise, and other crash of brands,From troop, who, thither in his guidance bound,Followed Bireno’s cousin from his lands:Who, since the unguarded gates he open found,Into the city’s heart had poured his bands;Where the bold paladin had struck such fear,He without let might scour it far and near.
LXXXIIIn rout the people fly, who cannot guessWho these may be, or what the foes demand:But, when this man and that by speech and dressAs Zealand-men distinguishes the band,Carte blanche they proffer, and the chief address,Bidding him range them under his command;Against the Frieslanders to lend him aid,Who have their duke in loathsome prison stayed.
LXXXIIITo Friesland’s king that people hatred boreWith all his following: who their ancient lordHad put to death, and who by them yet more,As evil and rapacious, was abhorred.Orlando interposed with kindly lore,As friend of both, the parties to accord:By whom, so joined, no Frieslander was leftBut was of life or liberty bereft.
LXXXIVThey would not wait to seek the dungeon-key,But breaking-down the gate, their entrance made;Bireno to the count with courtesyAnd grateful thanks the service done repaid.Thence they, together with large company,Went where Olympia in her vessel stayed:For so was the expecting lady hight,To whom that island’s crown belonged of right.
LXXXVShe who had thither good Orlando brought,Not hoping that he would have thriven so well;—Enough for her, if by her misery bought,Her spouse were rescued from the tyrant’s cell!—Her, full of love and loyal homage, soughtThe people one and all: Twere long to tellHow she caressed Bireno, he the maid,—What thanks both lovers to the county paid.
LXXXVIThe people, throned in her paternal reign,Replace the injured dame, and fealty swear:She on the duke, to whom in solid chainLove with eternal knot had linked the fair,The empire of herself and her domainConferred: He, called away by other care,Left in the cousin’s guardian care this whileHis fortresses, and all the subject isle.
LXXXVIISince he to visit Zealand’s duchy planned,His faithful consort in his company;And thence, upon the king of Friesland’s land,Would try his fortune (as he said), for heA pledge, he rated highly, had in hand,Which seemed of fair success the warranty,The daughter of the king: who here forsaken,With many others had been prisoner taken.
LXXXVIIITo a younger brother, her, the duke pretends,To be conjoined in wedlock, he conveyed.The Roman senator thence parting wendsUpon the very day Bireno weighed;But he to nothing else his hand extendsOf all the many, many prized made,Save to that engine, found amid the plunder,Which in all points I said resembled thunder.
LXXXIXNot with intent, in his defence to bearWhat he had taken, of the prize possest;For he still held it an ungenerous careTo go with vantage on whatever quest:But with design to cast the weapon whereIt never more should living wight molest;And, what was appertaining to it, allBore off as well, the powder and the ball.
XCAnd thus, when of the tidesway he was clear,And in the deepest sea his bark descried,So that no longer distant signs appearOf either shore on this or the other side,He seized the tube, and said: “That cavalierMay never vail through thee his knightly pride,Nor base be rated with a better foe,Down with thee to the darkest deep below!
XCI“O loathed, O cursed piece of enginery,Cast in Tartarean bottom, by the handOf Beelzebub, whose foul malignityThe ruin of this world through thee has planned!To hell, from whence thou came, I render thee.”So said, he cast away the weapon: fannedMeanwhile, with flowing sheet, his frigate goes,By wind, which for the cruel island blows.
XCIISuch was the paladin’s desire to exploreIf in the place his missing lady were;Whom he prefers the united world before,Nor can an hour of life without her bear.He fears, if he set foot on Ireland’s shore,Some other chance may interrupt him there:So that he after have in vain to say,“Why hasted I no faster on my way?”
XCIIINor he in England nor in Ireland portWill make, nor on the coast that’s opposite.But let him go, the naked archer’s sport,Sore smitten in the heart!—ere I inditeYet more of him, to Holland I resort,And you to hear me company invite.For well I wot that you as well as me‘Twould grieve that bridal should without us be.
XCIVSumptuous and fair the bridal there is made;But neither yet so sumptuous nor so fairAs it will be in Zealand, it is said:But ’tis not my design you should repairThither; since by new accidents delayedThe feast will be, of which be it my care,In other strain, the tidings to report;If you to hear that other strain resort.