Orlando Furioso Part 60

CXVIII Vainly the young Zerbino, through the glade, Had chased that man of his, who this despite Had done him, who himself so well conveyed Away and took such 'vantage in his flight, So hid by wood and mist, which overlaid The horizon and bedimmed the morning-light, That he escaped Zerbino's grasp, and lay Concealed until his wrath was past away.

CXIX Zerbino laughed parforce, when he descried That beldam's face, though he was full of rage; For too ill-sorted seemed her vest of pride With her foul visage, more deformed by age; And to the proud Marphisa, at her side The prince, exclaimed, "Sir warrior, you are sage, In having chosen damsel of a sort, Whom none, I ween, will grudge you should escort."

CXX Older than Sibyl seemed the beldam h.o.a.r, (As far as from her wrinkles one might guess), And in the youthful ornaments she wore, Looked like an ape which men in mockery dress; And now appears more foul, as angered sore, While rage and wrath her kindled eyes express.

For none can do a woman worse despite Than to proclaim her old and foul to sight.

CXXI To have sport of him -- as she had -- an air Of wrath the maid a.s.sumed upon her part, And to the prince, "By Heaven, more pa.s.sing fair Is this my lady than thou courteous art,"

Exclaimed in answer; "though I am aware What thou hast uttered comes not from thy heart.

Thou wilt not own her beauty; a device Put on to masque thy sovereign cowardice.

CXXII "And of what stamp would be that cavalier Who found such fair and youthful dame alone, Without protection, in the forest drear, Nor sought to make the lovely weft his own?"

-- "So well she sorts with thee," replied the peer, " 'Twere ill that she were claimed by any one: Nor I of her would thee in any wise Deprive; G.o.d rest thee merry with thy prize!

CXXIII "But would thou prove what is my chivalry, On other ground I to thy wish incline; Yet deem me not of such perversity As to tilt with thee for this prize of thine.

Or fair or foul, let her remain thy fee; I would not, I, such amity disjoin.

Well are ye paired, and safely would I swear That thou as valiant art as she is fair."

CXXIV To him Marphisa, "Thou in thy despite Shalt try to bear from me the dame away.

I will not suffer that so fair a sight Thou shouldst behold, nor seek to gain the prey."

To her the prince, "I know not wherefore wight Should suffer pain and peril in affray, Striving for victory, where, for his pains, The victor losses, and the vanquished gains."

CXXV "If this condition please not, other course Which ill thou canst refuse, I offer thee,"

(Marphisa cried): "If thou shalt me unhorse In this our tourney, she remains with me: But if I win, I give her thee parforce.

Then prove we now who shall without her be.

Premised, if loser, thou shalt be her guide, Wherever it may please the dame to ride."

CXXVI "And be it so," Zerbino cried, and wheeled Swiftly his foaming courser for the shock, And rising in his stirrups scowered the field, Firm in his seat, and smote, with levelled stock, For surer aim, the damsel in mid-s.h.i.+eld; But she sate stedfast as a metal rock, And at the warrior's morion thrust so well, She clean out-bore him senseless from the sell.

CXXVII Much grieved the prince, to whom in other fray The like misfortune had not chanced before, Who had unhorsed some thousands in his day: Now shamed, he thought for ever. Troubled sore, And mute long s.p.a.ce upon the ground he lay, And, when 'twas recollected, grieved the more, That he had promised, and that he was bound, To accompany the hag where'er she wound.

CXXVIII Turning about to him the victoress cried, Laughing, "This lady I to thee present, And the more beauty is in her descried, The more that she is thine I am content, Now in my place her champion and her guide.

But do not thou thy plighted faith repent, So that thou fail, as promised, to attend The dame, wherever she may please to wend."

CXXIX Without awaiting answer, to career She spurred her horse, and vanished in the wood.

Zerbino, deeming her a cavalier, Cried to the crone, "By whom am I subdued?"

And, knowing 'twould be poison to his ear, And that it would inflame his angered blood, She in reply, "It was a damsel's blow Which from thy lofty saddle laid thee low.

Cx.x.x "She, for her matchless force, deservedly Usurps from cavalier the sword and lance; And even from the east is come to try Her strength against the paladins of France."

Not only was his cheek of crimson dye, Such shame Zerbino felt as his mischance, Little was wanting (so his blushes spread) But all the arms he wore had glowed as red.

Cx.x.xI He mounts, and blames himself in angry wise, In that he had no better kept his seat.

Within herself the beldam laughs, and tries The Scottish warrior more to sting and heat.

To him for promised convoy she applies; And he, who knows that there is no retreat, Stands like tired courser, who in pensive fit, Hangs down his ears, controlled by spur and bit.

Cx.x.xII And, sighing deeply, cries, in his despair, "Fell Fortune, with what change dost thou repay My loss! she who was fairest of the fair, Who should be mine, by thee is s.n.a.t.c.hed away!

And thinkest thou the evil to repair With her whom thou hast given to me this day?

Rather than make like ill exchange, less cross It were to undergo a total loss.

Cx.x.xIII "Her, who for virtue and for beauteous form Was never equalled, nor will ever be, Thou on the rocks hast wrecked, in wintry storm, As food for fowls and fishes of the sea; And her who should have fed the earth-bred worm Preserved beyond her date, some ten or score Of years, to hara.s.s and torment me more."

Cx.x.xIV So spake Zerbino, and like grief displaid, In his despairing words and woful mien, For such an odious acquisition made, As he had suffered when he lost his queen.

The aged woman now, from what he said, Though she before Zerbino had not seen, Perceived 'twas him of whom, in the thieves' hold, Isabel of Gallicia erst had told.

Cx.x.xV If you remember what was said before, This was the hag who 'scaped out of the cave, Where Isabella, who had wounded sore Zerbino's heart, was long detained a slave; Who oft had told how she her native sh.o.r.e Had left, and, launching upon ocean's wave Her frigate, had been wrecked by wind and swell Upon the rocky shallows near Roch.e.l.le.

Cx.x.xVI And she to her Zerbino's goodly cheer And gentle features had pourtrayed so well, That the hag hearing him, and now more near, Letter her eyes upon his visage dwell, Discerned it was the youth for whom, whilere, Had grieved at heart the prisoned Isabel; Whose loss she in the cavern more deplored, Than being captive to the murderous horde.

Cx.x.xVII The beldam, hearing what in rage and grief Zerbino vents, perceives the youth to be Deceived, and cheated by the false belief That Isabel had perished in the sea; And though she might have given the prince relief, Knowing the truth, in her perversity What would have made him joyful she concealed, And only what would cause him grief revealed.

Cx.x.xVIII "Hear, you that are so proud," (the hag pursues) "And flout me with such insolence and scorn, You would entreat me fair to have the news I know of her whose timeless death you mourn; But to be strangled would I rather choose, And be into a thousand pieces torn.

Whereas if you had made me kinder cheer, Haply from me the secret might you hear."

Cx.x.xIX As the dog's rage is quickly overblown, Who flies the approaching robber to arrest, If the thief proffer piece of bread or bone, Of offer other lure which likes him best; As readily Zerbino to the crone Humbled himself, and burned to know the rest; Who, in the hints of the old woman, read That she had news of her he mourned as dead.

CXL And with more winning mien to her applied, And her did supplicate, entreat, conjure, By men and G.o.ds, the truth no more to hide, Did she benign or evil lot endure.

The hard and pertinacious crone replied, "Nought shalt thou hear, thy comfort to a.s.sure.

Isabel has not yielded up her breath, But lives a life she would exchange for death.

CXLI "She, since thou heardest of her destiny, Within few days, has fallen into the power Of more than twenty. If restored to thee, Think now, if thou hast hope to crop her flower."

-- "Curst hag, how well thou shapest thy history, Yet knowest it is false! Her virgin dower Secure from brutal wrong, would none invade, Though in the power of twenty were the maid."

CXLII Questioning of the maid, he when and where She saw her, vainly asked the beldam h.o.a.r, Who, ever restive to Zerbino's prayer, To what she had rehea.r.s.ed would add no more.

The prince in the beginning spoke her fair, And next to cut her throat in fury swore.

But prayers and menaces alike were weak; Nor could he make the hideous beldam speak.

CXLIII At length Zerbino to his tongue gave rest, Since speaking to the woman booted nought; Scarcely his heart found room within his breast, Such dread suspicion had her story wrought.

He to find Isabella was so pressed, Her in the midst of fire he would have sought; But could not hurry more than was allowed By her his convoy, since he so had vowed.

CXLIV They hence, by strange and solitary way, Rove, as the beldam does her will betoken, Nor climbing, nor descending hill, survey Each other's face, nor any word is spoken.

But when the sun upon the middle day Had turned his back, their silence first was broken By cavalier encountered in their way: What followed the ensuing strain will say.

CANTO 21

ARGUMENT Zerbino for Gabrina, who a heart Of asp appears to bear, contends. O'erthrown, The Fleming falls upon the other part, Through cause of that despised and odious crone, He wounded sore, and writhing with the smart, The beldam's treason to the prince makes known, Whose scorn and hatred hence derive new force.

Towards loud cries Zerbino spurs his horse.

I No cord I well believe is wound so tight Round chest, nor nails the plank so fastly hold, As Faith enwraps an honourable sprite In its secure, inextricable, fold; Nor holy Faith, it seems, except in white Was mantled over in the days of old; So by the ancient limner ever painted, As by one speck, one single blemish tainted.

II Faith should be kept unbroken evermore, With one or with a thousand men united; As well if given in grot or forest h.o.a.r, Remote from town and hamlet, as if plighted Amid a crowd of witnesses, before Tribunal, and in act and deed recited: Nor needs the solemn sanction of an oath: It is sufficient that we pledge our troth.

III And this maintains as it maintained should be, In each emprize the Scottish cavalier, And gives good proof of his fidelity, Quitting his road with that old crone to steer; Although this breeds the youth such misery, As 'twould to have Disease itself as near, Or even Death; but with him heavier weighed That his desire the promise he had made.

IV Of him I told who felt at heart such load, Reflecting she beneath his charge must go, He spake no word; and thus in silent mode Both fared: so sullen was Zerbino's woe.

I said how vexed their silence, as they rode, Was broke, when Sol his hindmost wheels did show, By an adventurous errant cavalier, Who in mid pathway met the crone and peer.

V The hag, who the approaching warrior knew, (Hermonides of Holland he was hight) That bore upon a field of sable hue A bar of vermeil tint, transversely dight, Did humbly now to good Zerbino sue, -- Her pride abased, and look of haught despite -- And him reminded of the promise made, When her Marphisa to his care conveyed.