XLVIII
His scaly crest, and head of squalid gold,
He lifts erect; swoln is his neck with ire;
His red eyes glare as he with fold on fold
Blocks up the path, and poison breathes, and fire;
Into himself now coils and now distends
His knotty rings, and glides along to guard
The wonted post that on his care depends;
Yet could he not the knights’ advance retard.
XLIX
Already Charles had drawn his trusty brand
To assail the monster, when Ubaldo spake:
‘What wouldst attempt? Deem’st thou that mortal hand,
Or arms like thine, can pierce the guardian snake?’
Then shook the golden and immortal wand,
Whose hissing sound the brute perceiving, he,
Scared at the noise, fled swiftly o’er the sand,
Concealed himself, and left the passage free.
L
Still higher, to guard the pass, a lion stands,
That roars defiance, scowls, and stamps, and paws;
Bristling his mane, he opens and expands
The frightful cave of his voracious jaws;
Lashing his sides, he grows inflamed with ire;
And yet no sooner is the wand in sight,
Than secret terror chills the native fire
Of his proud heart; he turns, and takes to flight.
LI
Their swift advance the undaunted pair pursue,
But find before them a dread phalanx rise
Of beasts of prey, of every form and hue,
Diverse in voice, in motion, and in size;
All that most monstrous, most ferocious roam
‘Twixt Atlas’ confines and the Nile’s far floods,
Seem here assembled with the brutes whose home
Is wild Ercynia and Hyrcania’s woods.
LII
Yet was that savage army powerless quite
Or to resist or check the knights’ advance;
Nay, (novel miracle!) ’twas put to flight
By a slight whistle and a single glance.
The now victorious couple straightway gain
The mountain’s crest without impediment,
Save where the ice-bound paths their steps detain,
And Alpine snows encumber the ascent.
LIII
But when they had passed the line of endless snow,
And overcome the steep and rugged ground,
Beneath a sky of temperate summer, lo!
On the hill-top a spacious plain they found.
Here ever blows refreshing, balmy air,
Nor ceases aye its changeless course to run;
Nor is its gentle breath, as haps elsewhere,
Lulled or awakened by the circling sun.
LIV
Nor doth the clime, as elsewhere, alternate
Now ice, now fire, now weather foul, now fair;
Nor too great heats or colds predominate,
But aye the heavens unclouded splendour wear,
Nursing to fields the grass, to grass the flowers,
Fragrance to flowers, perennial shade to trees:
Upon the lake a palace sits, and towers
In lordly loftiness o’er lands and seas.
LV
The cavaliers from that steep rough ascent
Felt somewhat tired, and lacked their wonted force;
Whence thro’ the enamelled paths they slowly went,
Now moving on, now halting in their course;
When, lo! a fountain, that their burning drought
Invited them to quench, before them lay;
And from one large and many a lesser spout
The grass besprinkled with its diamond spray;
LVI
Converging, then, the different streams unite
In a deep channel, ‘twixt whose verdant sides,
Screened by perennial foliage from the light,
Gelid and brown, the brawling river glides;
But so transparent, that the bottom shows
Whate’er of beautiful within it lies:
Knee-deep the grass along its margent grows,
Which a most fresh luxurious couch supplies.
LVII
‘Behold the fount of laughter, and the brook
Whose limpid drops such mortal risks contain.
Here,’ they exclaimed, ‘we must with caution look;
Here all desire and appetite restrain;
Here close our ears against the enchanting strains
Which the fair sirens of false pleasures wake.’
Thus on they went to where the stream attains
Still greater magnitude, and forms a lake,
LVIII
Upon whose edge a banquet was prepared,
Of the most rich and appetising food;
And here two laughing wanton maids repaired,
To sport and frolic in the crystal flood;
Now dashing water in each other’s face,
Now striving who first wins the goal; below
At times they dive, and from their hidden race
At length their heads and dripping shoulders show.
LIX
The nude and lovely swimmers somewhat swayed
The hardened bosoms of the warrior knights;
So much so, that to gaze at them they stayed,
While they kept up their gambols and delights.
Meanwhile, one, rising up, her snowy breast,
With all that most allures the eye, revealed,
From the waist upwards, to the heavens, undressed;
Her other limbs the lake’s blue veil concealed.
LX
As from the waves peep forth the star of mom,
The dew distilling of its watery home;
Or as the Queen of Love, when newly born,
Rose from the azure sea’s prolific foam;
So she appeared — ev’n so her golden hair
Distilled the crystalline transparent lymph.
Then looking round, she feigned to see the pair,
And shrank into herself — the modest nymph!
LXI
And the auburn locks that, in a single braid,
Enwreathed her forehead, instantly unrolled,
Whose long thick masses, falling down, arrayed
The tender ivory in a veil of gold.
The sight thus reft them, how surpassing fair!
Nor less the change their admiration claimed,
As, hidden by the water and her hair,
She towards them turned, half smiling, half ashamed.
LXII
The siren smiled, and thro’ her dimples blushed,
And from her blushes lovelier was her smile,
And from her smiles the scarlet tints that flushed
Her delicate face were fairer, lovelier still;
Then spoke with voice so tender and so sweet,
That all the world had yielded to her speech:
‘O fortunate pilgrims! whom this calm retreat
Indulgent fortune has vouchsafed to reach.
LXIII
‘This is the haven of the world; here rest
From all its cares, and taste that bliss untold
Which happy mortals formerly possessed,
Uncurbed, unfettered, in the Age of Gold.
Here ye in safety may your arms depose,
Till now required, and, in this halcyon grove,
Them consecrate henceforward to repose;
Since here ye’ll be but paladins of Love.
LXIV
‘The bed henceforth will be your field of fight,
And the enamell’d greensward’s yielding breast.
Now we will lead you to the royal sight
Of her who maketh all her servants blest;
She will receive you in the lists of those
Destined to share her joys: but in this lake
Pray
first the dust that covers you depose,
And from you table some refreshment take.’
LXV
Thus spake the one, the other in accord,
With becks and smiles, accompanied her; so
Musicians on the tuneful harpischord
The dance accompany, now swift, now slow.
But the two knights had souls of iron; each
Was deaf to their false wiles and treacherous art;
Their winning looks and captivating speech
Touched the frail flesh, but left untouched the heart.
LXVI
Ev’n if some seeds of their bewitching charms
Entered within, where germinates desire,
Soon reason came to root out with her arms
The nascent wish, and quench the rising fire.
One pair, thus baffled, stays; one will not take
Leave of the wheedling sirens, but departs:
This to the palace goes, that in the lake
Plunges — repulse so mortified their hearts.
CANTO XVI.
I
ROUND is the rich and ornate edifice,
And in its central, innermost recess,
A far more fair and wondrous garden lies
Than dreams can picture or the tongue express;
Round it weird workmen had contrived to raise
A straggling range of galleries, amid
The complex turns of whose fallacious maze
It rests, almost impenetrably hid.
II
Thro’ the main entrance (the vast pile had more
Than hundred others) passed the warriors bold.
Of chiselled silver, each elaborate door
Creaked on bright hinges of refulgent gold.
They paused to scan the workmanship, and each
Found that the rich material it outvies;
No sign of life here fails, save that of speech,
Nor had that failed, could they believe their eyes.
III
Here they amid Mæonian maidens viewed
How Hercules the passing hour beguiles;
And if he ruled the stars, and hell subdued,
He twirls the spindle now: Love looks and smiles.
Here, with effeminate hand, Iolé bears,
In mocking mood, his homicidal arms,
And on her back his lion-mantle wears —
Too rough a burden for such dainty charms.
IV
A sea lies opposite, whose azure plain
Sparkles with foam from the white billow’s splash,
And in the midst a double row is seen
Of ships and arms: the arms with lightning flash,
With gold the waters glow; and ’twould appear
That ev’n Leucaté caught the battle’s blaze:
Augustus there his Romans leads; and here
His eastern army Antony arrays.
V
You’d say, unmoored, the nimble Cyclades
Plunged through the waves; that rock encountered rock,
The force was such with which both those and these,
In towering vessels, met in mortal shock;
Now darts and fire-balls fly, and now you see
The fatal waters with fresh carnage red;
And, ere decided is the victory,
Lo! panic struck, the barbarous queen has fled.
VI
Antonio flies, and may that hope foreclose
Of the world’s empire to which he aspired:
He flies not, no, nor fears — no fear he knows;
But follows her by fatal frenzy fired,
Fuming like one o’er whom, as thus he flies,
Remorse, combined with love and rage prevails,
And who, distraught, alternately descries
The doubtful combat and the flying sails.
VII
Then, sheltered in the coverts of the Nile,
He on her bosom seems for death to wait,
And in the bliss of her angelic smile
To find some solace for his bitter fate:
Varied and sculptured in such wondrous guise
Was the rich metal of the princely gate;
From these fair objects turning, then, their eyes,
The knights the intricate building penetrate.
VIII
As the Maeander mounts and now descends
Its sinuous banks in mazy doubtful course,
Now up to its springs, now down to the ocean bends,
And meets itself returning to its source:
Such, and more puzzling, were those tortuous ways;
But the book held the secret of the spot;
The wizard’s gift such perfect clue conveys,
That they unravelled and resolved the knot.
IX
But when they had passed those labyrinthine bowers,
In gay aspèct the lovely garden opes:
Still water, springing crystal, myriad flowers,
All kinds of herbs and plants, rich sunny slopes,
Grottoes and groves, dark vales’ inviting shade,
Were grouped together in one fairy scene;
And what more beautiful the picture made,
Art, that did all, remained herself unseen.
X
So blent was waste with ornament, you’d deem
All strictly natural: the art of Nature
Was such, that she, in frolic mood, would seem
For sport to imitate her imitator.
The very air was formed by magic powers
That caused perennial spring: undying fruit
For ever bloomed amid undying flowers,
And one was ripe when the other ‘gan to shoot.
XI
On the same stem, and ‘twixt the self-same leaves,
One fig is ripe, while ‘neath, another blows;
To the same bough the golden apple cleaves,
As that on which its green successor grows;
In rank luxuriance the meandering vine
Creep to the sunniest aspect you behold;
Here flowering buds their tortuous tendrils twine;
Here, big with nectar, rubies form and gold.
XII
Beautiful birds, among the frondous boughs,
Vie with each other in seductive spells;
O’er wood and water gentle Zephyr blows,
And them to murmur as she strikes compels.
When cease the birds, loudly the air replies;
When sing the birds, more soft its tones appear;
Or chance or art the voices harmonise,
Or in alternate numbers charm the ear.
XIII
One bird there was, that ‘mong the others flew,
Of variegated plume and purple beak,
Whose untied tongue such sounds articulate drew,
That like a man he almost seemed to speak;
And with such art continued to prolong
His sweet discourse, he seemed a marvel rare.
The others paused to listen to his song,
And the wind hushed the whispers in the air.
XIV
‘Ah, see,’ he sang, ‘the blushing maiden rose
Peep from her green, in modesty arrayed,
And still half open, still half shut, disclose
The greater loveliness, the less displayed.
Lo! she, grown bolder, bares her bosom — Lo!
But scarce uncovered, her frail beauty fades,
Nor seems the same — the same no longer, so
Desired before by lovers and by maids.
XV
‘So passeth in the passing of a day
Life’s bloom and verdure, nor, tho’ April’s showers
Return with promise of another May,
Will it reblossom, or again bear flowers.
Cull we, then, roses while life’s morning be
Pranked with that prime which time will soon remove;
Cull we Love’s rose, and let us love while we,
Still loving, meet with fond return of love.’
XVI
He ceased; as if approving it, the choir
Of tuneful birds take up the impassioned strain;
The doves kiss fondly, with renewed desire;
Nor is there creature can from love refrain:
The vestal laurel, the hard-hearted oak,
And all the various members of the grove,
And earth and air, appear to assume the look,
And the sighs breathe, of universal love.
XVII
‘Mid such attractive, such enchanting sights,
‘Mid song so dulcet, so divine as this,
Unmoved and firm proceed the noble knights,
Steeled ‘gainst the spell of such surpassing bliss;
When, where an opening the thick branches leave,
They cast their eyes, and see, or seem to see,
Yes, they the lover and the loved perceive —
He’s on her lap, on flowers reclining she.
XVIII
Her parted veil betrays her breast to view,
Her tresses wanton in the summer air;
She languishes to charm; a sheet of dew,
Her fair face blanching, renders it more fair;
Like light in water, a lascivious smile
Shimmers in her moist eyes; with witching grace
She o’er him bends. He in her lap the while
Pillows his head, and lifts to hers his face,
XIX
And, greedily depasturing his looks
On her dear charms, consumed, exhausted lies.
She, stooping down, now nectarous kisses sucks
From his lush lips, now tastes them in his eyes;
But at that moment he so deeply sighed,
You’d think his very soul had passed away
To transmigrate in her. The knights aside
The lovers’ amorous dalliance survey.
XX
A lucid crystal from the lover’s waist
(Outlandish instrument) dependent lies;
She rose, and in his hands unblushing placed
That chosen agent of love’s mysteries.
He with inflamed, with laughing eyes the lass,
In different objects one alone descries:
She of the crystal makes her looking-glass,
And he his mirror of her lustrous eyes.
XXI
One boasts her empire, one his slavery —
She in herself, he in her loveliness.
‘Ah, turn,’ he whispers, ‘darling, turn on me
Those eyes which, blessed with, have such power to bless
For know, the fire that burns me, but reflects
Thy charms, and tells how beautiful thou art;
Thy beauty, as portrayed in its effects,
Less shows the crystal than reveals my heart.
XXII
‘Ah, would at least thou couldst behold how fair
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