Many exclaimed,’ Alas! ‘mid Pagans rude,
Imperilled, wanders the adventurous youth;’
Nor is there one but in his favour pleads,
Recounting his great exploits to the Dane,
And the long web of his heroic deeds,
To his surprise, they unravel and explain.
XLVII.
Or quando del garzon la rimembranza
Avea gli animi tutti inteneriti;
Ecco molti tornar che, per usanza,
372 Eran d’intorno a depredare usciti.
Conducean questi seco in abbondanza
E mandre di lanuti, e buoi rapiti,
E biade ancor, benchè non molte, e strame
376 Che pasca de’ corsier l’avida fame.
XLVII
Now when remembrance of the youth had wrought
A tender pity in each softened mind,
Behold returned home with all they caught
The bands that were to forage late assigned,
And with them in abundance great they brought
Both flocks and herds of every sort and kind.
And corn, although not much, and hay to feed
Their noble steeds and coursers when they need.
XLVII.
Now while all hearts with tender pity yearned,
At bare remembrance of Bertholdo’s son,
Lo! to the encampment many of those returned
Who to the fields a foraging had gone,
Bringing in great abundance with them, beeves
And fleecy cattle carried off by force,
With but a scant supply of golden sheaves
And straw to assuage the hunger of the horse.
XLVIII.
E questi di sciagura aspra e nojosa
Segno portar, che in apparenza è certo:
Rotta del buon Rinaldo e sanguinosa
380 La sopravvesta, ed ogni arnese aperto.
Tosto si sparse (e chi potria tal cosa
Tener celata?) un romor vario, e incerto.
Corre il volgo dolente alle novelle
384 Del guerriero, e dell’arme, e vuol vedelle.
XLVIII
They also brought of misadventure sad
Tokens and signs, seemed too apparent true,
Rinaldo’s armor, frushed and hacked they had,
Oft pierced through, with blood besmeared new;
About the camp, for always rumors bad
Are farthest spread, these woful tidings flew.
Thither assembled straight both high and low,
Longing to see what they were loth to know.
XLVIII.
Back, too, they signs of dire misfortune brought,
That seemed to all appearances most true,
The snowy cloak in which Rinaldo fought,
All torn and bloody, and his arms pierced through.
Soon (for who could such circumstances hide?)
A vague uncertain rumour ‘mong them spread,
And sorrowing thousands pressed from every side,
To see the armour of the mighty dead.
XLIX.
Vede, e conosce ben l’immensa mole
Del grande usbergo, e ‘l folgorar del lume,
E l’armi tutte, ove è l’augel ch’al Sole
388 Prova i suoi figlj e mal crede alle piume:
Chè di vederle già primiere o sole,
Nelle imprese più grandi, ebbe in costume:
Ed or, non senza alta pietate ed ira,
392 Rotte e sanguigne ivi giacer le mira.
XLIX
His heavy hauberk was both seen and known,
And his brand shield, wherein displayed flies
The bird that proves her chickens for her own
By looking gainst the sun with open eyes;
That shield was to the Pagans often shown,
In many a hard and hardy enterprise,
But now with many a gash and many a stroke
They see, and sigh to see it, frushed and broke.
XLIX.
They saw and recognised the ponderous mass
Of his huge hauberk and its blaze of light,
Marked the haught eagle on his bright cuirass,
Proving her brood in the sun, ere trust their flight;
Those stainless arms they used to see of old
Foremost, or all unaided, in the fight,
Not without deep compassion they behold
Lie in such bloody and disordered plight.
L.
Mentre bisbiglia il campo, e la cagione
Della morte di lui varia si crede;
A se chiama Aliprando il pio Buglione,
396 Duce di quei che ne portar le prede,
Uom di libera mente, e di sermone
Veracissimo e schietto, ed a lui chiede:
Dì come, e donde tu rechi quest’arme,
400 E di buono o di reo nulla celarme.
L
While all his soldiers whispered under hand,
And here and there the fault and cause do lay,
Godfrey before him called Aliprand
Captain of those that brought of late this prey,
A man who did on points of virtue stand,
Blameless in words, and true whate’er he say,
“Say,” quoth the duke, “where you this armor had,
Hide not the truth, but tell it good or bad.”
L.
While the camp whispered, and his friends, appalled,
Rinaldo’s death on various causes lay,
The pious Godfred Aliprando called,
Leader of those that had brought back the prey,
One of curt, truthful speech and liberal mind;
To whom the captain: ‘The whole truth reveal;
Say where and how you did this armour find,
Nor from me aught, or good or ill, conceal.
LI.
Gli rispose colui: Di quì lontano
Quanto in due giorni un messaggiero andria,
Verso il confin di Gaza, un picciol piano
404 Chiuso tra colli alquanto è fuor di via:
E in lui d’alto deriva, e lento e piano,
Tra pianta e pianta, un fiumicel s’invia:
E d’arbori e di macchie, ombroso e folto,
408 Opportuno alle insidie il loco è molto.
LI
He answered him, “As far from hence think I
As on two days a speedy post well rideth,
To Gaza-ward a little plain doth lie,
Itself among the steepy hills which hideth,
Through it slow falling from the mountains high,
A rolling brook twixt bush and bramble glideth,
Clad with thick shade of boughs of broad-leaved treen,
Fit place for men to lie in wait unseen.
LI.
‘From here so distant, captain,’ he replies,
‘As in two days a messenger could ride,
Towards Gaza’s confines, a small plateau lies,
Shut in by hills, and of the high-road wide;
Through it, its source above, a river steals,
Softly and slowly, where intricate shade
Of tangled trees and matted brake conceals
A spot most suitable for ambuscade.
LII.
Quì greggia alcuna cercavam che fosse
Venuta ai paschi dell’erbose sponde;
E in sull’erbe, miriam, di sangue rosse
412 Giacerne un guerrier morto in riva all’onde.
All’arme, ed all’insegne ogn’uom si mosse:
Chè furon conosciute, ancorchè immonde.
Io m’appressai per discoprirgli il viso;
416 Ma trovai ch’era il capo indi reciso.
LII
“Thither, to seek some flocks or herds, we went
Perchance close hid under the green-wood shaw,
And found the springing grass with blood besprent,
A warrior tumbled in his bl
ood we saw,
His arms though dusty, bloody, hacked and rent,
Yet well we knew, when near the corse we draw;
To which, to view his face, in vain I started,
For from his body his fair head was parted;
LII.
‘There we had gone in search of flocks that might
Chance to depasture on its herbous shore,
When on the bank we spied a lifeless knight,
And found the grass encamadined with gore;
The arms, though fouled, at the first glance we knew,
And the haught crest, at which aghast all shrunk;
To see the features I then nearer drew,
But found the head was severed from the trunk.
LIII.
Mancava ancor la destra: e ‘l busto grande
Molte ferite avea dal tergo al petto:
E non lontan con l’Aquila, che spande
420 Le candide ali, giacea il voto elmetto.
Mentre cerco d’alcuno a cui dimande,
Un villanel sopraggiungea soletto:
Che indietro il passo, per fuggirne, torse
424 Subitamente che di noi s’accorse.
LIII
“His right hand wanted eke, with many a wound
The trunk through pierced was from back to breast,
A little by, his empty helm we found
The silver eagle shining on his crest;
To spy at whom to ask we gazed round,
A churl then toward us his steps addressed,
But when us armed by the corse he spied,
He ran away his fearful face to hide:
LIII.
‘The right hand, too, was gone, and many a wound
From back to breast transfixed the mighty dead.
Near lay an empty helmet on the ground,
On which the eagle its white wings outspread;
When as I sought for information, lo!
A solitary peasant loomed in sight,
Who when he saw us turned his back to go,
And darted off in most precipitous flight.
LIV.
Ma seguitato e preso, alla richiesta
Che noi gli facevamo, alfin rispose
Che ‘l giorno innanzi uscir della foresta
428 Scorse molti guerrieri, onde ei s’ascose:
E ch’un d’essi tenea recisa testa
Per le sue chiome bionde, e sanguinose,
La qual gli parve, rimirando intento,
432 D’uom giovinetto, e senza peli al mento.
LIV
“But we pursued him, took him, spake him fair,
Till comforted at last he answer made,
How that, the day before, he saw repair
A band of soldiers from that forest shade,
Of whom one carried by the golden hair
A head but late cut off with murdering blade,
The face was fair and young, and on the chin
No sign of heard to bud did yet begin.
LIV.
‘Pursued and captured, he at length replied
To our repeated questions, and revealed
That on the previous day large bands he spied
From the woods sally, where he lay concealed,
One of whom by its golden locks upheld
A severed head with clotted blood besmeared,
Which, as it with attention he beheld,
That of a youthful beardless boy appeared.
LV.
E che ‘l medesmo poco poi l’avvolse
In un zendado dall’arcion pendente.
Soggiunse ancor, ch’all’abito raccolse
436 Ch’erano i cavalier di nostra gente.
Io spogliar feci il corpo, e sì men dolse,
Che piansi nel sospetto amaramente:
E portai meco l’arme, e lasciai cura
440 Ch’avesse degno onor di sepoltura.
LV
“And how in sindal wrapt away he bore
That head with him hung at his saddle-bow.
And how the murtherers by the arms they wore,
For soldiers of our camp he well did know;
The carcass I disarmed and weeping sore,
Because I guessed who should that harness owe,
Away I brought it, but first order gave,
That noble body should be laid in grave.
LV.
‘That it the same soon afterwards suspended
In a silk apron from his saddle-bow,
And that from their attire he apprehended
They, like ourselves, were Christian soldiers, too.
I made them strip the corse, so deeply grieving,
That the bare doubt caused tears in floods to fall;
The arms I took away, injunctions leaving
To give the dead befitting burial
LVI.
Ma se quel nobil tronco è quel ch’io credo,
Altra tomba, altra pompa egli ben merta.
Così detto, Aliprando ebbe congedo,
444 Perocchè cosa non avea più certa.
Rimase grave, e sospirò Goffredo;
Pur nel tristo pensier non si raccerta:
E con più chiari segni il monco busto
448 Conoscer vuole, e l’omicida ingiusto.
LVI
“But if it be his trunk whom I believe,
A nobler tomb his worth deserveth well.”
This said, good Aliprando took his leave,
Of certain troth he had no more to tell,
Sore sighed the duke, so did these news him grieve,
Fears in his heart, doubts in his bosom dwell,
He yearned to know, to find and learn the truth,
And punish would them that had slain the youth.
LVI.
‘But if the corse be that which I believe,
Far other tomb and pomp it merits well.’
Thus Aliprando spoke, then took his leave,
Since he had no more certain facts to tell.
Pensive Prince Godfred stood, and deeply sighed;
Still of his sad suspicion felt not sure,
And of the headless trunk and homicide
Wished evidence more certain to procure.
LVII.
Sorgea la notte intanto, e sotto l’ali
Ricopriva del Cielo i campi immensi:
E ‘l sonno ozio dell’alme, oblio de’ mali,
452 Lusingando sopía le cure, e i sensi;
Tu sol punto, Argillan, d’acuti strali
D’aspro dolor, volgi gran cose, e pensi:
Nè l’agitato sen, nè gli occhj ponno
456 La quiete raccorre, o ‘l molle sonno.
LVII
But now the night dispread her lazy wings
O’er the broad fields of heaven’s bright wilderness,
Sleep, the soul’s rest, and ease of careful things,
Buried in happy peace both more and less,
Thou Argillan alone, whom sorrow stings,
Still wakest, musing on great deeds I guess,
Nor sufferest in thy watchful eyes to creep
The sweet repose of mild and gentle sleep.
LVII.
Meanwhile uprose the night, and ‘neath her wings
Covered the boundless regions of the sky;
And sleep, which quiet and oblivion brings,
Assuaged the sorrows of mortality.
Thou only, Argillan by grave thoughts oppressed.
And stung by sorrow, didst sad vigils keep:
In vain thine eyes and agitated breast
Wooed calm repose, or sweet refreshing sleep.
LVIII.
Costui pronto di man, di lingua ardito,
Impetuoso, e fervido d’ingegno,
Nacque in riva del Tronto, e fu nutrito,
460 Nelle risse civil, d’odio e di sdegno.
Poscia, in esiglio spinto, i colli e ‘l lito
Empì di sangue, e depredò quel regno,
Sinchè
nell’Asia a guerreggiar sen venne,
464 E per fama miglior chiaro divenne.
LVIII
This man was strong of limb, and all his ‘says
Were bold, of ready tongue, and working sprite,
Near Trento born, bred up in brawls and frays,
In jars, in quarrels, and in civil fight,
For which exiled, the hills and public ways
He filled with blood, and robberies day and night
Until to Asia’s wars at last he came,
And boldly there he served, and purchased fame.
LVIII.
Of ready hand, of bold unbridled tongue,
Hot-headed, fervent, and impulsive, he
On Trontos banks was born and bred, among
Intestine broils of hate and anarchy.
Then from his country into exile sent.
He filled with blood the hills and shores around.
Till into Asia to make war he went,
And thro’ more worthy means became renowned
LIX.
Alfin questi sull’alba i lumi chiuse:
Nè già fu sonno il suo queto e soave;
Ma fu stupor, ch’Aletto al cor gl’infuse,
468 Non men che morte sia, profondo e grave.
Sono le interne sue virtù deluse,
E riposo dormendo anco non ave;
Chè la furia crudel gli s’appresenta
472 Sotto orribili larve, e lo sgomenta.
LIX
He closed his eyes at last when day drew near.
Yet slept he not, but senseless lay opprest
With strange amazedness and sudden fear
Which false Alecto breathed in his breast,
His working powers within deluded were,
Stone still he quiet lay, yet took no rest,
For to his thought the fiend herself presented,
And with strange visions his weak brain tormented.
LIX.
At length, towards dawn, ev’n he his eyelids closed
But not in tranquil or refreshing sleep;
A stupor twas Alecto had infused,
Not death itself more heavy was, or deep.
It seemed his inmost senses to delude,
So that, tho’ sleeping, he obtained no rest,
Since, in a goblins grim similitude,
The Fury came, and terrified his breast.
LX.
Gli figura un gran busto, ond’è diviso
Il capo, e della destra il braccio è mozzo:
Jerusalem Delivered Page 210