Jerusalem Delivered

by Torquato Tasso

  LV

  ‘Thou must, Raimondo, the steep ramparts storm,

  With thy machines, on that less guarded part,

  While I my force, in line extended, form

  ‘Gainst the north gate; deluded by which art,

  The baffled foe may tranquilly await

  Our chief attack and greatest efforts there,

  While I my easy-moving tower translate

  Some distance off, and carry war elsewhere.

  LVI

  ‘At the same time, Camillus, I rely

  That the third tower thou bring not far from mine.’

  He ceased, when Raymond, who was sitting nigh,

  And weighed, as he was speaking, his design,

  Exclaimed: ‘We cannot add to or amend

  Prince Godffed’s plan, save one thing more, which I

  Venture to add, that we should some one send,

  The secrets of the hostile camp to spy,

  LVII

  ‘Who may recount their numbers, and divine,

  Far as he can, the purpose of our foes.’

  Tancredi added: ‘There’s a squire of mine

  Whom for this office I would fain propose;

  Ready, adroit, and light of foot he is,

  And daring — but discretionally daring;

  He speaks in many tongues, and can disguise

  His real voice, his movements, and his bearing.’

  LVIII

  Summoned, he came, and when he understood

  That which Prince Godfred and his lord desired,

  He smiled with confidence, and said he would

  With pleasure undertake the charge required.

  ‘Unrecognised as spy, I will be soon

  Where that camp’s tents are pitched; I’ll penetrate

  Into their works by the broad light of noon,

  And every man and horse enumerate.

  LIX

  ‘The numbers and condition of that host,

  And their chiefs thoughts, I promise to impart;

  His inmost sense to bring to light I boast,

  And wrest the closest secrets from his heart.’

  Vafrino tarried not, as thus he spoke,

  But made display of a bare neck, exchanged

  His simple doublet for a flowing cloak,

  And folds of linen round his brow arranged.

  LX

  A Syrian bow and quiver round him slung,

  Barbaric seemed his every gest: beside

  So versed he was, and quick in every tongue,

  That those who heard him speak were stupefied;

  In Tyre Phoenician, or in Memphis all

  Had him Egyptian deemed. Upon a horse

  Away he rode, whose feet so lightly fall,

  That in the sand one scarce could track their course.

  LXI

  Before the third day dawned, the Franks had made

  Level the steep and broken ways, and there

  Had even their immense machines conveyed,

  Since their fatigues uninterrupted were;

  Nay, joined they had to labour of the day,

  Stealing it from the hours of rest, the night;

  Nor was there aught that could them more delay

  From making final trial of their might.

  LXII

  Much of the day preceding the attack

  In solemn prayer the pious Buglion spent,

  And bade the host confess their sins, and take

  At the Lord’s table the soul’s sacrament

  The greatest demonstration he then made,

  Where least to employ his huge machines he thought;

  Deluded whence, the Turks with joy surveyed

  Against the strongest gate his engines brought

  LXIII

  Then when dark night had spread her ebon pall,

  He had his huge machine transported where

  Less luniform and salient was the wall,

  Nor angles nor projecting outworks were.

  With his armed turret, Raymond far and wide

  The town commanded from the mountain’s crest;

  Camillus his advanced upon that side

  Which from the north bends somewhat to the west.

  LXIV

  But when the matin herald of the day

  Had in the east proclaimed the coming dawn,

  The Pagans saw, and saw to their dismay,

  That the tower was from its old place withdrawn;

  Here, too, they saw another mass oppose

  Its frowning front, and there another stood,

  While rams, cats, catapults, balistæ rose

  In countless numbers in the neighbourhood.

  LXV

  At this the Syrian people were not slack

  Thither divers defences to transfer,

  Where Godfred now directed his attack,

  From where his engines first paraded were.

  But he, remembering that the Egyptian host

  Lay in his rear, that pass had occupied;

  And calling Guelph and the two Roberts: ‘Post

  Your squadrons here, and take good care,’ he cried,

  LXVI

  ‘That while I means to scale the ramparts find,

  Where the defences not so strong appear,

  There be no force that, coming from behind,

  Pours unexpected battle on our rear.’

  He ceased, and from three sides three columns closed,

  To storm the walls of the devoted town.

  From three sides, too, his hordes the king opposed,

  Who wore that day his arms, long since laid down.

  LXVII

  He whose frail body tottering was from years,

  And its inertness in its own weight shows,

  Arms, which he long since had abandoned, bears,

  And against Raymond’s force in person goes.

  ‘Gainst Godfred, Solyman; Arganté sped

  To meet the assault of brave Camillus, who

  By Boemond’s nephew was accompanied,

  Whom Fortune led to slay his destined foe.

  LXVIII

  The archers first began the dire attack

  With showers of poisoned shafts, that seemed to shroud

  The azure sky, which suddenly grew black

  Beneath the arrows’ intervening cloud;

  But with more deadly force, the fiercest shocks

  Came from the mural engines, whence huge balls,

  Of marble made, and massy ponderous oaks,

  With iron tipt, were launched against the walls.

  LXIX

  A rattling thunderbolt seemed every stone,

  And so crashed limbs and armour where it fell,

  As to annihilate not life alone,

  But shape of body and of face as well

  Nor paused the missiles in their bloody route

  At the impact, but passed with unslaked might

  In at one side and through the other out,

  Bequeathing death in their remorseless flight.

  LXX

  Still that fierce onslaught did not drive away

  From their defence the Saracens; each brings

  Against the rams that on the ramparts play

  Elastic stuffs, and other yielding things.

  Whence finding no resistance as they closed,

  The furious strokes grew fainter and more slack;

  While they, where’er the Franks were most exposed,

  With flying arms sent bitter answer back.

  LXXI

  But all their efforts ineffectual were

  The three assaulting columns to restrain,

  Which keep advancing under mantlets, where

  Fell down the densest showers of shafts in vain;

  Some bring the towers close to the rampart’s ridge,

  And them the Turks with all their might shove back:

  Each turret now attempts to launch its bridge;

  Ram-like, the iron-headed rams
attack.

  LXXII

  Meanwhile Rinaldo paused, irresolute,

  Deeming such risks unworthy of his fame,

  And that it would detract from his repute

  To advance with crowds, and by a path the same:

  Whence, looking round him, he resolved to try

  Alone that way that made the rest despair,

  Determined where the ramparts are most high,

  And most defended, his assault to bear.

  LXXIII

  And turning round to those famed warriors, who

  Were formerly by Prince Dudoné led:

  ‘Shame, shame! amid such feats of arms, that you

  Let yonder wall abide in peace,’ he said.

  ‘To the courageous every path is plain,

  And every danger to true valour yields;

  Let us then on, and ‘gainst their arrowy rain

  A tortoise form with our united shields.’

  LXXIV

  At once all joined him at that sharp reproof,

  And raised their shields above their heads, to form,

  By thus conjoining them, an iron roof

  Against the pelting of that horrid storm.

  Sheltered beneath it, the impetuous band

  Dashed on, and nothing could arrest their course,

  Since the testudo’s solid roof sustained

  All that fell down with weightiest deadliest force.

  LXXV

  Beneath the walls they are. Rinaldo now

  Rears a huge ladder, formed of many a rung;

  Wind moves less easily an aspen bough,

  Than his strong arm the unwieldy burden swung.

  Now bolts, beams, columns, bastions, plunge below,

  But vainly are to check his progress thrown;

  Fearless, unmoved, he had persisted, tho’

  Olympus, joined with Ossa, had fallen down.

  LXXVI

  Upon his shield a mount in ruins breaks;

  With groves of shafts his shoulders are o’erspread;

  With one hand he the adjacent rampart shakes,

  And lifts the other to protect his head.

  His bold example his companions fires

  To daring deeds; nor doth he mount alone:

  To scale the walls each gallant Frank aspires,

  But not on all the same good fortune shone.

  LXXVII

  Some die — some fall: sublime Rinaldo fights,

  Cheers on his own, and flouts the adverse bands,

  And mounts so high, that the embattled heights

  He grasps already with extended hands.

  Great numbers now push, press, repress, and try

  To hurl — but can’t — the hero from his post.

  Strange sight! a single being to descry,

  Pendent in air, resist a compact host!

  LXXVIII

  Resist, advance, make good his ground doth he;

  The combat seemed his youthful blood to fire;

  Like palm borne down by weights, his gallantry

  But mounted up, from being depressed, the higher.

  At length he vanquished all his foes, and burst

  Thro’ every obstacle, and on the rim

  Sprang of the wall, and mastered it the first,

  And made it safe for those that followed him.

  LXXIX

  And he himself, with scarcely room to stand,

  To Godfred’s brother, who seemed like to fall,

  Stretched out his friendly and victorious hand,

  And helped him second to ascend the wall.

  Meanwhile to Godfred had occurred elsewhere

  Fortunes diverse, with varied perils fraught;

  Since not alone with man, man battled there,

  But ev’n the engines with each other fought.

  LXXX

  Upon the walls the Turks a trunk had slung,

  That had the mast of some great vessel been,

  To which, transversely, a huge beam was swung,

  With iron shod: this terrible machine,

  Being first drawn back by ropes, then forward fell,

  Heavy and hard, in its resistless route;

  At times the tortoise entered in its shell,

  At times, with neck extended, darted out.

  LXXXI

  Upon the tower outleaped the monster beam,

  And ‘gan such fierce, such terrible attack,

  That each well-woven, strongly knitted seam,

  It caused to gape, and forced the turret back.

  Prepared, however, for such risks it stood,

  Nor failed with two great sickles to retort;

  Which, launched forth skilfully against the wood,

  The cordage cut that formed its sole support.

  LXXXII

  As an enormous boulder that decay

  Has loosed, or wind uprooted from some mount,

  Comes crashing down, and with it sweeps away

  Woods, cattle, cots; so from the frowning front

  Of the high wall o’erwhelmed the horrid block

  Arms, soldiers, merlons, as down, down it bounded!

  Once, twice the turret trembled at the shock:

  The ramparts quaked, the echoing hills resounded.

  LXXXIII

  Godfred pushed on triumphantly ahead,

  Already deeming that the walls were won;

  But felt, as on his followers he led,

  Right in his face dense fetid fireballs thrown;

  Ne’er from cavernous Mongibello rise

  Such torrents of sulphureous lava; ne’er

  Such reeking vapours rain from Indian skies

  When summer heats inflame the arid air.

  LXXXIV

  Alive with fire are vases, hoops, and spears,

  These lurid black, these bright and bloody red;

  Smoke blinds their eyes, the whizzing stuns their ears,

  The stench is poisonous, the flames catch and spread.

  The moistened hides will prove but poor defence

  To save the tower: small aid they render — see!

  They sweat, they shrivel; and if Providence

  His help delay, all must consumèd be.

  LXXXV

  The noble leader, all his troops before,

  Stood without change of colour or of place,

  Cheering them on the crackling skins to pour

  Water, provided against such a case.

  Such sad condition were they brought down to,

  That even now of water there was lack,

  When, lo! a wind, that of a sudden blew,

  Against its authors drove the wild fire back.

  LXXXVI

  The whirlwind blew against the fire, which turned

  Back on the soft materials which the Turks

  Hung from the walls; soon caught they were and burned,

  Depriving thus of all defence their works.

  Oh, glorious captain! whom the Almighty Lord

  Protecteth so, and so esteemeth dear,

  For thee unsheathed is Heaven’s immortal sword,

  Thy trumpet’s call the obedient breezes hear.

  LXXXVII

  But impious Ismene, who beheld the breeze

  Against himself drive back the sulphurous rain,

  Resolved once more to try his sorceries

  The adverse wind and nature to constrain.

  So, ‘twixt two witches that attended him,

  He showed himself upon the walls; his beard

  Was foul, and he so squalid was and grim,

  That Pluto ‘twixt two Furies he appeared.

  LXXXVIII

  To mutter those dread words he had begun

  So feared by Styx and Phlegethon; and now

  The air became unsettled, and the sun

  With clouds obscure begirt his radiant brow,

  When there was launched forth an enormous rock,

  Part of a mountain, from the tower of wood,

  Whi
ch caught them in such manner that the stroke

  Made of the three one mass of bones and blood.

  LXXXIX

  Into such small and bloody bits were smashed

  Their impious heads, so broken all their bones,

  That com was never more completely mashed

  Beneath the weight of the revolving stones;

  With many a curse and groan the spirits fell,

  Left the serene and sunshine of the sky,

  And howling fled to the black shades of hell.

  Hence learn, presumptuous mortals! piety.

  XC

  Meanwhile the turret, which the friendly squall

  Saved from the flames, approached the town so near,

  That it was able on the embattled wall

  To place and firmly fix its bridge; but there

  Like lightning rushed intrepid Solyman:

  To cut it down redoubled were his blows,

  And sure the narrow pass he had cut down,

  But that another tower before him rose.

  XCI

  The mighty mass increasing past the height

  Of highest fabrics, shot into the air.

  The Saracens at the portentous sight

  Of Salem lower, panic-stricken were;

  But tho’ on him the stones fell thick and hard,

  The fiery Turk would not desert his post,

  Nor to cut down the fatal bridge despaired,

  And chid and cheered the cowards of the host.

  XCII

  The Archangel Michael, visible to none,

  Appearèd then before Prince Godfred’s sight,

  Clad in such glistering armour, that the sun,

  Altho’ unclouded, had appeared less bright.

  ‘The hour has come, O pious prince,’ he cries,

  ‘From her fell yoke Jerusalem to free;

  Droop not, nay, droop not thy bedazzled eyes:

  See with what forces Heaven assisteth thee.

  XCIII

  ‘Lift up thine eyes, then, and behold the immense

  Immortal host assembled in the sky,

  While the thick clouds that dim thy mortal sense,

  And overshadow thy humanity,

  I will asunder rend, that thou mayst there

  Regard unbodied spirits face to face,

  And the divine effulgent radiance bear,

  Of angels’ beauty for a little space.

  XCIV

  ‘Behold you spirits that Christ’s champions were,

  Now blest immortal tenants of the skies,

  Combat with thee, with thee still seek to share

  The crowning honour of the great emprise;

  Lo, where the dust with wreaths of smoke unites,

  And o’er the crumbling ruin darkly lowers;

  In that dense cloud the gallant Hugo fights,

  And shaketh the foundations of the towers.

  XCV

  ‘There, as in life, the lofty northern gate

  Dudoné see with fire and sword assail,