Jerusalem Delivered
Page 178
368 Ch’è sol ne’ vizj a se medesmo eguale.
XLVI
“Which son, within short while, did undertake
Degree of knighthood, as beseemed him well,
Yet never durst he for his lady’s sake
Break sword or lance, advance in lofty sell;
As fair he was, as Citherea’s make,
As proud as he that signoriseth hell,
In fashions wayward, and in love unkind,
For Cupid deigns not wound a currish mind.
XLVI.
‘I grew, and grew his son; but never he
Or style of knight or noble arts acquired;
Dead to all sense of fame or chivalry,
His grovelling nature ne’er aloft aspired. —
His form deform was than his mind more fair,
His pride unbounded as his avarice; —
His acts so coarse, and such his habits were,
That he could match himself alone in vice.
XLVII.
Ora il mio buon custode ad uom sì degno
Unirmi in matrimonio in se prefisse;
E farlo del mio letto e del mio regno
372 Consorte; e chiaro a me più volte il disse.
Usò la lingua e l’arte, usò l’ingegno,
Perchè ‘l bramato effetto indi seguisse:
Ma promessa da me non trasse mai;
376 Anzi ritrosa ognor tacqui, o negai.
XLVII
“This paragon should Queen Armida wed,
A goodly swain to be a princess’ fere,
A lovely partner of a lady’s bed,
A noble head a golden crown to wear:
His glosing sire his errand daily said,
And sugared speeches whispered in mine ear
To make me take this darling in mine arms,
But still the adder stopt her ears from charms.
XLVII.
‘Now my good guardian destined I should wed
This worthy youth, on him my goods bestow,
Him making consort of my throne and bed:
He many times distinctly told me so. —
To accomplish this long-cherished scheme, now tact,
Now subtle wit, now eloquence he used,
But promise never could from me extract;
Nay, sullen, I grew silent, or refused.
XLVIII.
Partissi alfin con un sembiante oscuro,
Onde l’empio suo cor chiaro trasparve.
E ben l’istoria del mio mal futuro
380 Leggergli scritta in fronte allor mi parve;
Quinci i notturni miei riposi furo
Turbati ognor da strani sogni e larve:
Ed un fatale orror nell’alma impresso,
384 M’era presagio de’ miei danni espresso.
XLVIII
“At last he left me with a troubled grace,
Through which transparent was his inward spite,
Methought I read the story in his face
Of these mishaps that on me since have light,
Since that foul spirits haunt my resting-place,
And ghastly visions break any sleep by night,
Grief, horror, fear my fainting soul did kill,
For so my mind foreshowed my coming ill.
XLVIII.
‘One day he left with such sinister face,
As did his thoughts transparently avow;
My future ill’s sad story I could trace
Distinctly written in his lowering brow.
Thenceforth disturbed was my nocturnal rest
By ghosts and many a strange ominous dream:
A fatal horror on my soul impressed,
Did of impending woes the presage seem.
XLIX.
Spesso l’ombra materna a me s’offria,
Pallida imago, e dolorosa in atto;
Quanto diversa, oimè, da quel che pria
388 Visto altrove il suo volto avea ritratto.
Fuggi, figlia, dicea, morte sì ria
Che ti sovrasta omai, partiti ratto.
Già veggio il tosco e ‘l ferro in tuo sol danno
392 Apparecchiar dal perfido Tiranno.
XLIX
“Three times the shape of my dear mother came,
Pale, sad, dismayed, to warn me in my dream,
Alas, how far transformed from the same
Whose eyes shone erst like Titan’s glorious beam:
‘Daughter,’ she says, ‘fly, fly, behold thy dame
Foreshows the treasons of thy wretched eame,
Who poison gainst thy harmless life provides:’
This said, to shapeless air unseen she glides.
XLIX.
‘With pallid visage and in mournful mien,
Oft stood before me my dead mother’s shade.
Ah me! how different from what I had seen
On breathing canvass previously portrayed.
“Fly, my child, fly,” she cried, in her despair,
“A cruel death hangs o’er thy guileless soul;
The treacherous tyrant I can see prepare
For thee alone the dagger and the bowl.”
L.
Ma che giovava, oimè, che del periglio
Vicino omai fosse presago il core;
Se irresoluta in ritrovar consiglio
396 La mia tenera età rendea il timore?
Prender fuggendo volontario esiglio,
E ignuda uscir del patrio regno fuore
Grave era sì, ch’io fea minore stima
400 Di chiuder gli occhj, ove gli apersi in prima.
L
“But what avail high walls or bulwarks strong,
Where fainting cowards have the piece to guard?
My sex too weak, mine age was all to young,
To undertake alone a work so hard,
To wander wild the desert woods among,
A banished maid, of wonted ease debarred,
So grievous seemed, that liefer were my death,
And there to expire where first I drew my breath.
L.
‘But what, alas, availed it, that my heart
Gave strong presentiments of perils near,
If, without any, counsel to impart,
My youth was made irresolute by fear?
Myself to exile, and in nakedness
Fly from the country that my childhood nursed,
Such misery was, that I esteemed it less
To close mine eyes where I had oped them first.
LI.
Temea, lassa, la morte, e non avea
(Chi ‘l crederia?) poi di fuggirla ardire;
E scoprir la mia tema anco temea,
404 Per non affrettar l’ore al mio morire.
Così inquieta e torbida traea
La vita in un continuo martíre;
Qual uom ch’aspetti, che sul collo ignudo
408 Ad or ad or gli caggia il ferro crudo.
LI
“I feared deadly evil if long I stayed,
And yet to fly had neither will nor power,
Nor durst my heart declare it waxed afraid,
Lest so I hasten might my dying hour:
Thus restless waited I, unhappy maid,
What hand should first pluck up my springing flower,
Even as the wretch condemned to lose his life
Awaits the falling of the murdering knife.
LI.
‘I dreaded death — ah, woe is me! — and yet
(Who would believe the fact?) I dared not fly;
I even feared to show my fear, lest it
Might thus accelerate the time to die.
In one continuous martyrdom I passed
A troubled and most miserable life,
Like one expecting that each hour’s his last,
And o’er his neck beholds the impending knife.
LII.
In tal mio stato, o fosse amica sorte,
O ch’a peggio mi serbi il mio destino,
&
nbsp; Un de’ ministri della regia corte,
412 Che ‘l Re mio padre s’allevò bambino,
Mi scoperse che ‘l tempo alla mia morte,
Dal Tiranno prescritto, era vicino;
E ch’egli a quel crudele avea promesso
416 Di porgermi il velen quel giorno stesso.
LII
“In these extremes, for so my fortune would
Perchance preserve me to my further ill,
One of my noble father’s servants old,
That for his goodness bore his child good will,
With store of tears this treason gan unfold,
And said; my guardian would his pupil kill,
And that himself, if promise made be kept,
Should give me poison dire ere next I slept.
LII.
‘In this condition — was it friendly fate
Or doom that destined me to end more dire? —
One of the royal officers of state,
Brought up from childhood by the king my sire,
Disclosed to me the fatal hour was near,
Fixed by the king to take my life away;
And that he had promised to administer
To me the poison on that very day.
LIII.
E mi soggiunse poi, ch’ alla mia vita,
Sol fuggendo, allungar poteva il corso;
E poich’altronde io non sperava aita,
420 Pronto offrì se medesmo al mio soccorso;
E confortando mi rendè sì ardita,
Che del timor non mi ritenne il morso;
Sicch’io non disponessi, all’aer cieco,
424 La patria e ‘l zio fuggendo, andarne seco.
LIII
“And further told me, if I wished to live,
I must convey myself by secret flight,
And offered then all succours he could give
To aid his mistress, banished from her right.
His words of comfort, fear to exile drive,
The dread of death, made lesser dangers light:
So we concluded, when the shadows dim
Obscured the earth I should depart with him.
LIII.
‘Adding, it only was by instant flight
I could prolong my wretched life, and prayed
That, as elsewhere I had no hope of it,
I would accept his own devoted aid.
The generous offer of this loyal knight
Gave me such courage, that with him I planned,
Beneath the cover of protecting night,
To fly my uncle and my native land.
LIV.
Sorse la notte oltra l’usato oscura,
Che sotto l’ombre amiche ne coperse:
Talchè con due donzelle uscii sicura,
428 Compagne elette alle fortune avverse.
Ma pure indietro alle mie patrie mura
Le luci io rivolgea di pianto asperse:
Nè della vista del natío terreno
432 Potea, partendo, saziarle appieno.
LIV
“Of close escapes the aged patroness,
Blacker than erst, her sable mantle spread,
When with two trusty maids, in great distress,
Both from mine uncle and my realm I fled;
Oft looked I back, but hardly could suppress
Those streams of tears, mine eyes uncessant shed,
For when I looked on my kingdom lost,
It was a grief, a death, an hell almost.
LIV.
‘The night closed in beyond her wont obscure,
And shrouded us beneath her friendly shades,
When from my palace home I passed secure,
My sole companions being two waiting maids.
But back to my paternal roof did I,
With streaming eyes, oft turn in my despair;
Nor could their gaze at parting satisfy —
Still, still they looked, and fondly lingered there.
LV.
Fea l’istesso cammin l’occhio, e ‘l pensiero;
E mal suo grado il piede innanzi giva:
Siccome nave ch’improvviso e fero
436 Turbine scioglia dall’amata riva.
La notte andammo, e ‘l dì seguente intero
Per lochi ov’orma altrui non appariva.
Ci ricovrammo in un castello alfine,
440 Che siede del mio regno in sul confine.
LV
“My steeds drew on the burden of my limbs,
But still my locks, my thoughts, drew back as fast,
So fare the men, that from the heaven’s brims,
Far out to sea, by sudden storm are cast;
Swift o’er the grass the rolling chariot swims,
Through ways unknown, all night, all day we haste,
At last, nigh tired, a castle strong we fand,
The utmost border of my native land.
LV.
‘Mine eyes and thoughts both followed the same track,
And ‘gainst their will my feet went on before;
Like ship a sudden tempest takes aback,
And drives reluctant from the sheltering shore.
All night we travelled, and the following day,
By pathless mountains and untrodden plains;
At length took shelter in a fort, which lay
Upon the confines of my fair domains.
LVI.
È d’Aronte il castel, (ch’Aronte fue
Quel che mi trasse di periglio, e scorse)
Ma poichè me fuggito aver le sue
444 Mortali insidie, il traditor, s’accorse;
Acceso di furor contr’ambidue,
Le sue colpe medesme in noi ritorse;
Ed ambo fece rei di quell’eccesso,
448 Che commetter in me volle egli stesso.
LVI
“The fort Arontes was, for so the knight
Was called, that my deliverance thus had wrought,
But when the tyrant saw, by mature flight
I had escaped the treasons of his thought,
The rage increased in the cursed wight
Gainst me, and him, that me to safety brought,
And us accused, we would have poisoned
Him, but descried, to save our lives we fled.
LVI.
‘It was the castle of Arontè, since
Arontè ’twas that me from danger led;
But when the double-faced perfidious prince
Found I had ‘scaped the mortal snares he spread,
Inflamed with rage, upon us both he turned
The very guilt his hate and envy bred,
And made us guilty of the crime he burned
To wreak himself upon my guiltless head.
LVII.
Disse ch’Aronte i’ avea con doni spinto
Fra sue bevande a mescolar veneno;
Per non aver, poi ch’egli fosse estinto,
452 Chi legge mi prescriva, o tenga a freno:
E ch’io seguendo un mio lascivo instinto,
Volea raccormi a mille amanti in seno.
Ahi, che fiamma dal Cielo anzi in me scenda,
456 Santa Onestà, ch’io le tue leggi offenda!
LVII
“And that in lieu of his approved truth,
To poison him I hired had my guide,
That he despatched, mine unbridled youth
Might rage at will, in no subjection tied,
And that each night I slept — O foul untruth! —
Mine honor lost, by this Arontes’ side:
But Heaven I pray send down revenging fire,
When so base love shall change my chaste desire.
LVII.
‘He said, by bribes I had Arontè won
To mingle deadly poison in his bowl;
That, when he passed away, I might have none
My will to bridle, or my youth control;
For that I, following my depraved desires,
Would to my arms a t
housand lovers take.
Ah! on my head may fall Heaven’s blasting fires,
Ere, sacred Chastity, thy laws I break!
LVIII.
Ch’avara fame d’oro, e sete insieme
Del mio sangue innocente il crudo avesse,
Grave m’è si; ma via più il cor mi preme,
460 Che ‘l mio candido onor macchiar volesse.
L’empio, che i popolari impeti teme,
Così le sue menzogne adorna e tesse,
Chè la città, del ver dubbia e sospesa,
464 Sollevata non s’armi a mia difesa.
LVIII
“Not that he sitteth on my regal throne,
Nor that he thirst to drink my lukewarm blood,
So grieveth me, as this despite alone,
That my renown, which ever blameless stood,
Hath lost the light wherewith it always shone:
With forged lies he makes his tale so good,
And holds my subjects’ hearts in such suspense,
That none take armor for their queen’s defence.
LVIII.
‘That greedy hunger for my wealth, and thirst
For innocent blood the monster overcame,
Was bad enough, but that is not the worst:
He wished to sully my immaculate name.
The wretch, who feared the rising of the youth,
So wove and glossed his lies, that in suspense
The city, still uncertain of the truth,
Might not stand up or arm in my defence.
LIX.
Nè, perch’or sieda nel mio seggio, e ‘n fronte
Già gli risplenda la regal corona,
Pone alcun fine a’ miei gran danni, all’onte;
468 Sì la sua feritate oltre lo sprona.
Arder minaccia entro ‘l castello Aronte,
Se di proprio voler non s’imprigiona;
Ed a me, lassa, e insieme ai miei consorti
472 Guerra annunzia non pur, ma strazj, e morti.
LIX
“And though he do my regal throne possess,
Clothed in purple, crowned with burnished gold;
Yet is his hate, his rancor, ne’er the less,
Since naught assuageth malice when ’tis old:
He threats to burn Arontes’ forteress,
And murder him unless he yield the hold,
And me and mine threats not with war, but death,
Thus causeless hatred, endless is uneath.
LIX.
‘Nor though he sits upon my throne, nor though
The base usurper wears my royal crown,