Jerusalem Delivered
Page 217
Nor wanted that to inflame his native heat
LIV.
Egli ancor dal suo lato in fuga mosse
Le guardie, e ne’ ripari entrò d’un salto.
Di lacerate membra empiè le fosse,
428 Appianò il calle, agevolò l’assalto:
Sicchè gli altri il seguiro, e fer poi rosse
Le prime tende di sanguigno smalto.
E seco a par Clorinda, o dietro poco
432 Sen gía, sdegnosa del secondo loco.
LIV
Where he came in he put to shameful flight
The fearful watch, and o’er the trenches leaped,
Even with the ground he made the rampire’s height,
And murdered bodies in the ditch unheaped,
So that his greedy mates with labor light,
Amid the tents, a bloody harvest reaped:
Clorinda went the proud Circassian by,
So from a piece two chained bullets fly.
LIV.
He had driven back the vanguard of the Cross,
And entered the entrenchments at a vault,
And filled with lacerated limbs the fosse,
To make an easier path for the assault;
So that the others followed him, and dyed
The tents they encountered first vermilion red.
Clorinda kept her station at his side,
Or little after, scorning to be led.
LV.
E già fuggiano i Franchi, allor che quivi
Giunse Guelfo opportuno, e ‘l suo drappello:
E volger fè la fronte ai fuggitivi,
436 E sostenne il furor del popol fello.
Così si combatteva, e ‘l sangue in rivi
Correa egualmente in questo lato e in quello.
Gli occhj frattanto alla battaglia rea,
440 Dal suo gran seggio, il Re del Ciel volgea.
LV
Now fled the Frenchmen, when in lucky hour
Arrived Guelpho, and his helping band,
He made them turn against this stormy shower,
And with bold face their wicked foes withstand.
Sternly they fought, that from their wounds downpour
The streams of blood and run on either hand:
The Lord of heaven meanwhile upon this fight,
From his high throne bent down his gracious sight.
LV.
The Franks were now in flight, when to their aid
Prince Guelpho galloped with his gallant band;
Change front at once the fugitives he made,
The enfeloned Arabs’ fury to withstand.
Thus raged the battle: blood in rivers flowed,
As much on one as on the other side,
When heaven’s Great King from His sublime abode
His eyes cast down, and the fierce fight descried.
LVI.
Sedea colà, dond’egli e buono e giusto
Dà legge al tutto, e ‘l tutto orna e produce
Sovra i bassi confin del mondo angusto,
444 Ove senso o ragion non si conduce.
E della eternità nel trono augusto
Risplendea con tre lumi in una luce.
Ha sotto i piedi il Fato e la Natura,
448 Ministri umíli, e ‘l moto, e chi ‘l misura;
LVI
From whence with grace and goodness compassed round,
He ruleth, blesseth, keepeth all he wrought,
Above the air, the fire, the sea and ground,
Our sense, our wit, our reason and our thought,
Where persons three, with power and glory crowned,
Are all one God, who made all things of naught,
Under whose feet, subjected to his grace,
Sit nature, fortune, motion, time and place.
LVI.
There dwelleth He who, good and just, from there
Gives laws to all, all makes and ornaments
Above the confines of this narrow sphere,
Beyond dull reason’s reach or mortal’s sense;
And on Eternity’s majestic seat,
Resplendent shines, three several lights in one.
Nature and Fate crouch humbly at His feet,
Motion, and He who counts the moments gone,
LVII.
E ‘l loco, e quella che qual fumo o polve
La gloria di qua giuso e l’oro e i regni,
Come piace là su, disperde e volve:
452 Nè, Diva, cura i nostri umani sdegni.
Quivi ei così nel suo splendor s’involve,
Che v’abbaglian la vista anco i più degni;
D’intorno ha innumerabili immortali
456 Disegualmente in lor letizia eguali.
LVII
This is the place, from whence like smoke and dust
Of this frail world the wealth, the pomp and power,
He tosseth, tumbleth, turneth as he lust,
And guides our life, our death, our end and hour:
No eye, however virtuous, pure and just,
Can view the brightness of that glorious bower,
On every side the blessed spirits be,
Equal in joys, though differing in degree.
LVII.
And Space, and She, who at His slightest nod,
Whirls and destroys as dust or lightest air
Gold, empires, earthly glory; and as God
Disdains for anger of vain man to care,
There with such radiant splendour is He crowned,
That dazzled are the purest in his sight;
His throne unnumbered Seraphim surround,
Whom equal joys unequally requite.
LVIII.
Al gran concento de’ beati carmi
Lieta risuona la celeste reggia.
Chiama egli a se Michele, il qual nell’armi
460 Di lucido diamante arde e lampeggia:
E dice a lui: non vedi or come s’armi
Contra la mia fedel diletta greggia
L’empia schiera d’Averno, e insin dal fondo
464 Delle sue morti a turbar sorga il mondo?
LVIII
With harmony of their celestial song
The palace echoed from the chambers pure,
At last he Michael called, in harness strong
Of never yielding diamonds armed sure,
“Behold,” quoth he, “to do despite and wrong
To that dear flock my mercy hath in cure,
How Satan from hell’s loathsome prison sends
His ghosts, his sprites, his furies and his fiends.
LVIII.
Now as resounding through the heavenly halls
Rings the full concord of their strains divine,
The King of kings the archangel Michael calls,
Whose arms of lucent diamond brightly shine;
‘Perceiv’st thou not how hell’s foul fiends,’ He said,
‘‘Gainst my dear faithful flock their arms have hurled,
And from the low abysses of the dead,
Have upwards risen to disturb the world?
LIX.
Và, dille tu, che lasci omai le cure
Della guerra ai guerrier, cui ciò conviene:
Nè il regno de’ viventi, nè le pure
468 Piagge del Ciel conturbi ed avvelene.
Torni alle notti d’Acheronte oscure,
Suo degno albergo, alle sue giuste pene:
Quivi se stessa, e l’anime d’abisso
472 Cruci; così comando, e così ho fisso.
LIX
“Go bid them all depart, and leave the care
Of war to soldiers, as doth best pertain:
Bid them forbear to infect the earth and air;
To darken heaven’s fair light, bid them refrain;
Bid them to Acheron’s black flood repair,
Fit house for them, the house of grief and pain:
There let their king himself and them torment,
So I command, go t
ell them mine intent.”
LIX.
‘Go, tell them henceforth to give up the care
Of war to warriors as is fair and right,
Nor spread disturbance, nor pollute the air
Of earth below, nor heaven’s pure regions blight;
Let them return to their just punishment,
And Acheron’s gloom, their fit abode, regain,
And there themselves and all lost souls torment;
Thus have I ‘stablished, thus I now ordain.’
LX.
Quì tacque: e ‘l Duce de’ guerrieri alati
S’inchinò riverente al divin piede.
Indi spiega al gran volo i vanni aurati,
476 Rapido sì ch’anco il pensiero eccede.
Passa il foco e la luce, ove i beati
Hanno lor gloriosa immobil sede:
Poscia il puro cristallo, e ‘l cerchio mira
480 Che di stelle gemmato incontra gira.
LX
This said, the winged warrior low inclined
At his Creator’s feet with reverence due;
Then spread his golden feathers to the wind,
And swift as thought away the angel flew,
He passed the light, and shining fire assigned
The glorious seat of his selected crew,
The mover first, and circle crystalline,
The firmament, where fixed stars all shine;
LX.
The winged archangel at these words inclined
Low at His feet divine, with reverence fraught,
Then spread his golden pinions to the wind,
So rapid they as to exceed all thought
The fire he passed and realms of light where dwelled
The blest in their immovable abode,
Next the crystallin and pure cirque beheld,
That rolling round, with stars unnumbered glowed.
LXI.
Quinci d’opre diversi e di sembianti
Da sinistra rotar Saturno, e Giove,
E gli altri, i quali esser non ponno erranti,
484 Se angelica virtù gl’informa e move.
Vien poi da’ campi lieti e fiammeggianti
D’eterno dì, là donde tuona e piove:
Ove se stesso il mondo strugge e pasce,
488 E nelle guerre sue muore e rinasce.
LXI
Unlike in working then, in shape and show,
At his left hand, Saturn he left and Jove,
And those untruly errant called I trow,
Since he errs not, who them doth guide and move:
The fields he passed then, whence hail and snow,
Thunder and rain fall down from clouds above,
Where heat and cold, dryness and moisture strive,
Whose wars all creatures kill, and slain, revive.
LXI.
Now on the left saw Jove and Saturn roll,
Differing in motion and distinct in sight,
And the others that can’t deviate from their goal,
Since moved and quickened by celestial might;
Then passed from cloudless realms of endless day,
Shining and bright, whence thunder falls and rain,
To where the world now feeds and melts away,
Dies in its struggles now — now lives again;
LXII.
Venia scuotendo con l’eterne piume
La caligine densa, e i cupi orrori.
S’indorava la notte al divin lume,
492 Che spargea scintillando il volto fuori.
Tale il Sol nelle nubi ha per costume
Spiegar, dopo la pioggia, i bei colori.
Tal suol, fendendo il liquido sereno,
496 Stella cader della gran madre in seno.
LXII
The horrid darkness, and the shadows dun
Dispersed he with his eternal wings,
The flames which from his heavenly eyes outrun
Beguiled the earth and all her sable things;
After a storm so spreadeth forth the sun
His rays and binds the clouds in golden strings,
Or in the stillness of a moonshine even
A falling star so glideth down from Heaven.
LXII.
And came dividing with immortal plume
The darkness dense and dreariness profound,
Gilding with light divine the horrid gloom;
Light which his face in sparks diffused around;
Thus after showers of rain the god of day,
The humid clouds with sheen prismatic dyes;
So cleaves a shooting star the liquid way,
And on earth’s lap, falls headlong from the skies.
LXIII.
Ma giunto ove la schiera empia infernale
Il furor de’ Pagani accende e sprona;
Si ferma in aria in sul vigor dell’ale,
500 E vibra l’asta, e lor così ragiona:
Pur voi dovreste omai saper con quale
Folgore orrendo il Re del mondo tuona,
O nel disprezzo e ne’ tormenti acerbi
504 Dell’estrema miseria anco superbi.
LXIII
But when the infernal troop he ‘proached near,
That still the Pagans’ ire and rage provoke,
The angel on his wings himself did bear,
And shook his lance, and thus at last he spoke:
“Have you not learned yet to know and fear
The Lord’s just wrath, and thunder’s dreadful stroke?
Or in the torments of your endless ill,
Are you still fierce, still proud, rebellious still?
LXIII.
But when arrived where hell’s accursed crew
To the Turks’ rage fresh stimulants applied,
He sudden stopped, ev’n as in air he flew,
Brandished his lance, and thus indignant cried:
‘What! have ye still to learn how terribly
God hurls His bolts? What! ‘gainst His sovran Will,
Tho’ racked by pangs of extreme misery,
Live ye still hardened and rebellious still?
LXIV.
Fisso è nel Ciel, ch’al venerabil segno
Chini le mura, apra Sion le porte.
A chè pugnar col Fato? a chè lo sdegno
508 Dunque irritar della celeste corte?
Itene maledetti al vostro regno,
Regno di pene, e di perpetua morte:
E siano in quegli a voi dovuti chiostri
512 Le vostre guerre, ed i trionfi vostri.
LXIV
“The Lord hath sworn to break the iron bands
The brazen gates of Sion’s fort which close,
Who is it that his sacred will withstands?
Against his wrath who dares himself oppose?
Go hence, you cursed, to your appointed lands,
The realms of death, of torments, and of woes,
And in the deeps of that infernal lake
Your battles fight, and there your triumphs make.
LXIV.
“Tis fixed in Heaven that at the Cross’s sign,
Sion shall bow her walls and ope her gates:
Why then provoke the Almighty’s wrath divine,
Why any longer battle with the Fates?
Begone, accursed, to your dark realm — begone,
To pains and death in perpetuity,
And in those regions which are all your own,
Your future battles and your triumphs be.
LXV.
Là incrudelite, là sovra i nocenti
Tutte adoprate pur le vostre posse
Fra i gridi eterni, e lo stridor de’ denti,
516 E ‘l suon del ferro, e le catene scosse.
Disse: e quei ch’egli vide al partir lenti,
Con la lancia fatal pinse, e percosse.
Essi, gemendo, abbandonar le belle
520 Regioni della luce, e l’auree stelle.
LXV
“Ther
e tyrannize upon the souls you find
Condemned to woe, and double still their pains;
Where some complain, where some their teeth do grind,
Some howl, and weep, some clank their iron chains:”
This said they fled, and those that stayed behind,
With his sharp lance he driveth and constrains;
They sighing left the lands, his silver sheep
Where Hesperus doth lead, doth feed, and keep.
LXV.
‘Go, vent your cruelty in hell beneath;
There the damned torture with your deadliest pains,
‘Mid shrieks eternal, and the gnash of teeth,
The clash of iron, and of clanking chains.’
This said, he drove out with his fatal lance
Those whom he saw reluctant to take flight.
With many a groan, they left the fair expanse
Of golden stars and everlasting light,
LXVI.
E dispiegar verso gli abissi il volo
Ad inasprir ne’ rei l’usate doglie.
Non passa il mar d’augei sì grande stuolo,
524 Quando ai Soli più tepidi s’accoglie:
Nè tante vede mai l’autunno al suolo
Cader, co’ primi freddi, aride foglie.
Liberato da lor, quella sì negra
528 Faccia depone il mondo, e sì rallegra.
LXVI
And toward hell their lazy wings display,
To wreak their malice on the damned ghosts;
The birds that follow Titan’s hottest ray,
Pass not in so great flocks to warmer coasts,
Nor leaves in so great numbers fall away
When winter nips them with his new-come frosts;
The earth delivered from so foul annoy,
Recalled her beauty, and resumed her joy.
LXVI.
And spread their wings towards hell’s eternal night,
The damned to harry with fresh tortures. Ne’er
Passes the sea of birds so great a flight,
When gathering they to warmer climes repair;
Nor on the ground so many leaves to fall
At the first cold of autumn’s frosts are seen.
The world, delivered from their baneful thrall,
Her gloomy look casts off, and smiles again.
LXVII.
Ma non perciò nel disdegnoso petto
D’Argante vien l’ardire o ‘l furor manco;
Benchè suo foco in lui non spiri Aletto,
532 Nè flagello infernal gli sferzi il fianco.