Jerusalem Delivered

by Torquato Tasso

  Such as seems doubtful in a clouded sky,

  If night to day succeeds, or day to night.

  III.

  Ma quando parte il Sol, quì tosto adombra

  Notte, nube, caligine, ed orrore

  Che rassembra infernal, che gli occhj ingombra

  20 Di cecità, ch’empie di tema il core.

  Nè quì gregge od armenti, a’ paschi all’ombra

  Guida bifolco mai, guida pastore:

  Nè v’entra peregrin, se non smarrito,

  24 Ma lunge passa, e la dimostra a dito.

  III

  But when the sun his chair in seas doth steep,

  Night, horror, darkness thick the place invade,

  Which veil the mortal eyes with blindness deep

  And with sad terror make weak hearts afraid,

  Thither no groom drives forth his tender sheep

  To browse, or ease their faint in cooling shade,

  Nor traveller nor pilgrim there to enter,

  So awful seems that forest old, dare venture.

  III

  But when the sun goes down, o’ershadowing, rise

  Night, darkness, clouds, and horrors, that appear.

  Like Acheron’s deepest gloom; they blind the eyes

  And fill all hearts with strange mysterious fear.

  No flocks nor herds, for pasture or for shade,

  Doth rustic here, or frightened shepherd guide;

  Or traveller enter, save when he has strayed

  From the right road, but points and passes wide.

  IV.

  Quì s’adunan le streghe, ed il suo vago

  Con ciascuna di lor, notturno, viene:

  Vien sovra i nembi, e chi d’un fero drago,

  28 E chi forma d’un irco informe tiene.

  Concilio infame, che fallace imago

  Suol allettar di desiato bene

  A celebrar con pompe immonde e sozze

  32 I profani conviti e l’empie nozze.

  IV

  United there the ghosts and goblins meet

  To frolic with their mates in silent night,

  With dragons’ wings some cleave the welkin fleet,

  Some nimbly run o’er hills and valleys light,

  A wicked troop, that with allurements sweet

  Draws sinful man from that is good and right,

  And there with hellish pomp their banquets brought

  They solemnize, thus the vain Parians thought.

  IV

  The witches hold their midnight revels here,

  Each with her lover; o’er the clouds they float;

  This a ferocious dragon doth appear,

  That wears the shape of shapeless mountain goat.

  Foul, shameless gathering, whom the attractive bait

  Of happiness allures by false delights,

  With lewd, indecent pomp to celebrate

  Banquets profane, and impious marriage rites.

  V.

  Così credeasi; ed abitante alcuno

  Dal fero bosco mai ramo non svelse:

  Ma i Franchi il violar; perch’ei sol uno

  36 Somministrava lor machine eccelse.

  Or quì sen venne il Mago, e l’opportuno

  Alto silenzio della notte scelse:

  Della notte che prossima successe,

  40 E suo cerchio formovvi, e i segni impresse.

  V

  No twist, no twig, no bough nor branch, therefore,

  The Saracens cut from that sacred spring;

  But yet the Christians spared ne’er the more

  The trees to earth with cutting steel to bring:

  Thither went Ismen old with tresses hoar,

  When night on all this earth spread forth her wing,

  And there in silence deaf and mirksome shade

  His characters and circles vain he made:

  V

  ’Twas thus believed; and of the natives none

  From that dread forest ever plucked a bough;

  But Franks infringed it: ’twas the only one

  That furnished their immense machines. And now

  Here came the wizard, choosing the opportune

  Mysterious silence of the night as best —

  The very night of the same day — and soon

  Had formed his circle, and weird signs impressed.

  VI.

  E scinto, e nudo un piè, nel cerchio accolto,

  Mormorò potentissime parole.

  Girò tre volte all’Oriente il volto,

  44 Tre volte ai regni ove dechina il Sole;

  E tre scosse la verga, ond’uom sepolto

  Trar della tomba e dargli moto suole;

  E tre col piede scalzo il suol percosse;

  48 Poi con terribil grido il parlar mosse:

  VI

  He in the circle set one foot unshod,

  And whispered dreadful charms in ghastly wise,

  Three times, for witchcraft loveth numbers odd,

  Toward the east he gaped, westward thrice,

  He struck the earth thrice with his charmed rod

  Wherewith dead bones he makes from grave to rise,

  And thrice the ground with naked foot he smote,

  And thus he cried loud, with thundering note:

  VI

  With one foot bared, inside the circled space,

  To mutter potent words he had begun;

  Thrice to the Orient he turned round his face,

  And thrice to where declines the setting sun;

  Thrice shook his wand, which from the tomb profound

  Could raise and animate the buried dead;

  Thrice stamped his naked foot upon the ground,

  And then, with cry of dreadful import, said:

  VII.

  Udite, udite, o voi che dalle stelle

  Precipitar giù i folgori tonanti:

  Si, voi che le tempeste e le procelle

  52 Movete, abitator dell’aria erranti;

  Come voi ch’alle inique anime felle

  Ministri sete degli eterni pianti:

  Cittadini d’Averno, or quì v’invoco,

  56 E te, Signor de’ regni empj del foco.

  VII

  “Hear, hear, you spirits all that whilom fell,

  Cast down from heaven with dint of roaring thunder;

  Hear, you amid the empty air that dwell

  And storms and showers pour on these kingdoms under;

  Hear, all you devils that lie in deepest hell

  And rend with torments damned ghosts asunder,

  And of those lands of death, of pain and fear,

  Thou monarch great, great Dis, great Pluto, hear!

  VII

  ‘Hear! Hear, O ye, whom from the stars above

  Heaven’s thundering bolts hurled headlong down below;

  And ye inhabitants of air, that move

  The raging whirlwind and the tempest strow;

  And ye that to lost spirits minister

  Eternal torments, never-ending thrall.

  Inmates of hell, I summon you; appear!

  And upon thee, their sovran lord, I call.

  VIII.

  Prendete in guardia questa selva, e queste

  Piante che, numerate, a voi consegno.

  Come il corpo è dell’alma albergo e veste,

  60 Così d’alcun di voi sia ciascun legno:

  Onde il Franco ne fugga, o almen s’arreste

  Ne’ primi colpi e tema il vostro sdegno.

  Disse: e quelle ch’aggiunse orribil note,

  64 Lingua, s’empia non è, ridir non puote.

  VIII

  “Keep you this forest well, keep every tree,

  Numbered I give you them and truly told;

  As souls of men in bodies clothed be

  So every plant a sprite shall hide and hold,

  With trembling fear make all the Christians flee,

  When they presume to cut these cedars old:”

  This said, his charms he gan again rep
eat,

  Which none can say but they that use like feat.

  VIII

  ‘Take in your charge this forest, and control,

  As, numbered, I deliver them, each tree;

  And as within the body dwells the soul,

  So let their trunks your habitations be;

  That the Franks hence may fly, or stop at least

  At the first blow, afraid your wrath to meet,’

  The horrid imprecations, ere he ceased,

  None but an impious tongue would dare repeat.

  IX.

  A quel parlar le faci, onde s’adorna

  Il seren della notte, egli scolora:

  E la Luna si turba, e le sue corna

  68 Di nube avvolge, e non appar più fuora.

  Irato i gridi a raddoppiar ei torna:

  Spirti invocati, or non venite ancora?

  Onde tanto indugiar? forse attendete

  72 Voci ancor più potenti, o più secrete?

  IX

  At those strange speeches, still night’s splendent fires

  Quenched their lights, and shrunk away for doubt,

  The feeble moon her silver beams retires,

  And wrapt her horns with folding clouds about,

  Ismen his sprites to come with speed requires,

  “Why come you not, you ever damned rout?

  Why tarry you so long? pardie you stay

  Till stronger charms and greater words I say.

  IX

  At that the stars, with which fair Night adorns

  Her spangled canopy, their lustre paled;

  The moon grew troubled, and withdrew her horns

  Beneath dark clouds, and kept her splendour veiled.

  Enraged, he ‘gan his cries reiterate:

  ‘What! spirits summoned, not obey my will?

  Whence this delay? why pause? Perhaps ye wait

  For spell more powerful, or more secret still?

  X.

  Per lungo disusar già non si scorda

  Dell’arti crude il più efficace ajuto:

  E so con lingua anch’io di sangue lorda

  76 Quel nome proferir grande e temuto,

  A cui nè Dite mai ritrosa o sorda,

  Nè trascurato in ubbidir fu Pluto.

  Che si? che si? volea più dir; ma intanto

  80 Conobbe ch’eseguito era l’incanto.

  X

  “I have not yet forgot for want of use,

  What dreadful terms belong this sacred feat,

  My tongue, if still your stubborn hearts refuse,

  That so much dreaded name can well repeat,

  Which heard, great Dis cannot himself excuse,

  But hither run from his eternal seat,

  O great and fearful!” — More he would have said,

  But that he saw the sturdy sprites obeyed.

  X

  ‘I have not yet forgotten, from disuse,

  My cruel art’s most efficacious aid;

  Still, still my tongue is able to produce

  That dreadful sound which Pluto is afraid,

  Ev’n on his burning throne, to disobey,

  And which all hell doth with attention treat.

  I will — I will’.... More he was going to say,

  But found the incantation was complete.

  XI.

  Veniano innumerabili infiniti

  Spirti, parte che in aria alberga ed erra,

  Parte di quei che son dal fondo usciti

  84 Caliginoso e tetro della terra:

  Lenti, e del gran divieto anco smarriti

  Che impedì loro il trattar l’arme in guerra:

  Ma già venirne quì lor non si toglie,

  88 E ne’ tronchi albergare e tra le foglie.

  XI

  Legions of devils by thousands thither come,

  Such as in sparsed air their biding make,

  And thousands also which by Heavenly doom

  Condemned lie in deep Avernus lake,

  But slow they came, displeased all and some

  Because those woods they should in keeping take,

  Yet they obeyed and took the charge in hand,

  And under every branch and leaf they stand.

  XI

  Thither flocked spirits countless, infinite;

  Partly of those that through the welkin roam,

  Partly of those that to the realms of light

  Had from the earth’s obscure abysses come;

  Slowly, still trembling at the laws severe,

  That hindered them from bearing arms, but these

  Forbade them not the power of coming here,

  ‘Mid leaves to lie, and harbour in the trees.

  XII.

  Il Mago, poi ch’omai nulla più manca

  Al suo disegno, al Re lieto sen riede:

  Signor, lascia ogni dubbio e ‘l cor rinfranca,

  92 Chè omai sicura è la regal tua sede.

  Nè potrà rinnovar più l’oste Franca

  L’alte machine sue, come ella crede.

  Così gli dice, e poi di parte in parte

  96 Narra i successi della magica arte.

  XII

  When thus his cursed work performed was,

  The wizard to his king declared the feat,

  “My lord, let fear, let doubt and sorrow pass,

  Henceforth in safety stands your regal seat,

  Your foe, as he supposed, no mean now has

  To build again his rams and engines great:”

  And then he told at large from part to part,

  All what he late performed by wondrous art.

  XII

  As nought was wanting to complete his part,

  O’erjoyed, the wizard sought the king’s retreat.

  ‘Cast all thy thoughts aside; cheer up thy heart,

  Since now secure, sire, is thy royal seat;

  Nor can the Christians, as they fondly deem,

  Renew their engines to assault our gates.’

  Thus having spoke, he, one by one, to him

  The prosperous issue of his art relates.

  XIII.

  Soggiunse appresso: or cosa aggiungo, a queste

  Fatte da me, ch’a me non meno aggrada.

  Sappi che tosto nel leon celeste

  100 Marte col Sol fia ch’ad unirsi vada.

  Nè tempreran le fiamme lor moleste

  Aure, o nembi di pioggia, o di rugiada:

  Chè quanto in Cielo appar, tutto predice

  104 Aridissima arsura ed infelice.

  XIII

  “Besides this help, another hap,” quoth he,

  “Will shortly chance that brings not profit small.

  Within few days Mars and the Sun I see

  Their fiery beams unite in Leo shall;

  And then extreme the scorching heat will be,

  Which neither rain can quench nor dews that fall,

  So placed are the planets high and low,

  That heat, fire, burning all the heavens foreshow:

  XIII

  Adding: ‘Besides this great success of mine,

  I have another reason for delight:

  Know then that in celestial Leo’s sign

  Soon will the Sun with fiery Mars unite;

  Whose flames no cooling zephyr will assuage,

  No gentle dews, nor showers of grateful rain,

  Since all prognostics in the heavens presage

  Excessive drought throughout Judaea’s plain.

  XIV.

  Onde quì caldo avrem qual l’hanno appena

  Gli adusti Nasamoni o i Garamanti.

  Pur a noi fia men grave in Città piena

  108 D’acque, e d’ombre sì fresche, e d’agj tanti.

  Ma i Franchi, in terra asciutta e non amena,

  Già non saranlo a tollerar bastanti:

  E pria domi dal Ciel, agevolmente

  112 Fian poi sconfitti dall’Egizia gente.

  XIV

  “So great with us will be the warmth there
fore,

  As with the Garamants or those of Inde;

  Yet nill it grieve us in this town so sore,

  We have sweet shade and waters cold by kind:

  Our foes abroad will be tormented more,

  What shield can they or what refreshing find?

  Heaven will them vanquish first, then Egypt’s crew

  Destroy them quite, weak, weary, faint and few:

  XIV

  ‘Whence we shall have such heats as ne’er oppress

  Sahara’s deserts or parched Ind’s champaigns;

  Still in the city we shall feel them less,

  Since water and such comforts it contains.

  But on the adust, and far from pleasant soil,

  The Franks will them be unable to endure,

  And, first by Heaven o’ercome, an easy spoil

  In their spent ranks the Egyptians will secure.

  XV.

  Tu vincerai sedendo, e la fortuna

  Non credo io che tentar più ti convegna.

  Ma se ‘l Circasso altier, che posa alcuna

  116 Non vuole, e benchè onesta anco la sdegna,

  T’affretta, come suole, e t’importuna;

  Trova modo pur tu ch’a freno il tegna:

  Chè molto non andrà che ‘l Cielo amico

  120 A te pace darà, guerra al nemico.

  XV

  “Thou shalt sit still and conquer; prove no more

  The doubtful hazard of uncertain fight.

  But if Argantes bold, that hates so sore

  All cause of quiet peace, though just and right,

  Provoke thee forth to battle, as before,

  Find means to calm the rage of that fierce knight,

  For shortly Heaven will send thee ease and peace,

  And war and trouble mongst thy foes increase.”

  XV

  ‘Thou, sitting still, shalt triumph o’er thy foes,

  Nor were it wise to tempt thy fortune more;

  But if Arganté, who brooks no repose,

  And, tho’ well earned, despise it as of yore,

  And urge thee with his importunities,

  Thou must find means his ardour to restrain;

  Since peace to thee will give the friendly skies,

  And deadly warfare with thy foes maintain.’

  XVI.

  Or questo udendo , il Re ben s’assicura,

  Sì che non teme le nemiche posse.

  Già riparate in parte avea le mura

  124 Che de’ montoni l’impeto percosse.