Jerusalem Delivered
Page 250
A Pagan I was born, but thro’ God’s grace
Was made regenerate by baptismal rites.
XLII.
Nè in virtù fatte son d’Angioli stigj
L’opere mie maravigliose e conte.
Tolga Dio ch’usi note o suffumigj,
332 Per isforzar Cocíto, o Flegetonte.
Ma spiando men vo da’ lor vestigj
Qual’ in sè virtù celi o l’erba, o ‘l fonte:
E gli altri arcani di Natura ignoti
336 Contemplo, e delle stelle i varj moti.
XLII
“Nor yet by help of devil, or aid from hell,
I do this uncouth work and wondrous feat,
The Lord forbid I use or charm or spell
To raise foul Dis from his infernal seat:
But of all herbs, of every spring and well,
The hidden power I know and virtue great,
And all that kind hath hid from mortal sight,
And all the stars, their motions, and their might.
XLII
‘Yet think not I by aid of imps of hell
Perform the miracles ye gaze upon;
Nay, God forbid I should use sign or spell
To force Cocytus or dark Phlegethon:
But to their inmost springs I scrutinise
The latent virtues of each herb, each source;
I study Nature’s unknown mysteries,
And watch the stars in their erratic course;
XLIII.
Perocchè non ognor lunge dal Cielo
Tra sotterranei chiostri è la mia stanza;
Ma sul Libano spesso, e sul Carmelo
340 In aerea magion fo dimoranza.
Ivi spiegansi a me, senza alcun velo,
Venere e Marte in ogni lor sembianza:
E veggio come ogni altra o presto o tardi
344 Roti: o benigna o minaccevol guardi.
XLIII
“For in these caves I dwell not buried still
From sight of Heaven, but often I resort
To tops of Lebanon or Carmel hill,
And there in liquid air myself disport,
There Mars and Venus I behold at will!
As bare as erst when Vulcan took them short,
And how the rest roll, glide and move, I see,
How their aspects benign or froward be.”
XLIII
‘For, know, not always far from heaven’s bright zone,
Live I in gloomy subterranean cell,
But oft, on Carmel and Mount Lebanon,
In most aerial habitation dwell;
There Mars and Venus their true nature show
To me, unveiled in every turn and phase;
I see the others roll, now swift, now slow,.
If threatening or benignant be their rays.
XLIV.
E sotto i piè mi veggio or folte or rade
Le nubi, or negre ed or pinte da Iri:
E generar le piogge e le rugiade
348 Risguardo: e come il vento obliquo spiri:
Come il folgor s’infiammi: e per quai strade
Tortuose, in giù spinto, ei si raggiri:
Scorgo comete, e fochi altri sì presso,
352 Ch’io soleva invaghir già di me stesso.
XLIV
“And underneath my feet the clouds I view,
Now thick, now thin, now bright with Iris’ bow,
The frost and snow, the rain, the hail, the dew,
The winds, from whence they come and whence they blow,
How Jove his thunder makes and lightning new,
How with the bolt he strikes the earth below,
How comate, crinite, caudate stars are framed
I knew; my skill with pride my heart inflamed.
XLIV
‘And ‘neath my feet mark clouds now dense, now rare,
Now black, now painted by the heavenly bow;
Behold how dews and rains created are,
And how the rushing winds transversely blow;
How lightnings kindle, and when hurled from high,
Their path how tortuous; and at length began,
Beholding stars and other fires so nigh,
Myself to view as something more than man.
XLV.
Di me medesmo fui pago cotanto,
Ch’io stimai già che il mio saper misura
Certa fosse e infallibile di quanto
356 Può far l’alto fattor della Natura.
Ma quando il vostro Piero al fiume santo
M’asperse il crine, e lavò l’alma impura,
Drizzò più su il mio guardo, e ‘l fece accorto;
360 Ch’ei per se stesso è tenebroso e corto.
XLV
“So learned, cunning, wise, myself I thought,
That I supposed my wit so high might climb
To know all things that God had framed or wrought,
Fire, air, sea, earth, man, beast, sprite, place and time;
But when your hermit me to baptism brought,
And from my soul had washed the sin and crime,
Then I perceived my sight was blindness still,
My wit was folly, ignorance my skill.
XLV
‘Yes, so o’erweening grew my pride, that I
Deemed my extensive knowledge was the true
Unerring gage of what the Deity,
The great Creator of the world, could do;
But when your Peter had bedewed my hair,
Washed my polluted soul in Jordan’s stream,
My thoughts exalted, and made me aware
How dark, how blind was my presumptuous dream;
XLVI.
Conobbi allor ch’augel notturno al Sole
È nostra mente ai rai del primo vero:
E di me stesso risi e delle fole
364 Che già cotanto insuperbir mi fero.
Ma pur seguito ancor, come egli vuole,
Le solite arti, e l’uso mio primiero.
Ben sono in parte altr’uom da quel ch’io fui:
368 Ch’or da lui pendo, e mi rivolgo a lui;
XLVI
“Then saw I, that like owls in shining sun,
So gainst the beams of truth our souls are blind,
And at myself to smile I then begun,
And at my heart, puffed up with folly’s wind,
Yet still these arts, as I before had done,
I practised, such was the hermit’s mind:
Thus hath he changed my thoughts, my heart, my will,
And rules mine art, my knowledge, and my skill.
XLVI
‘Then, then I knew, like owlet in the sun
Is man’s poor mind before eternal Truth;
I smiled at all the follies I had done,
And at the haught self-confidence of youth;
But still I follow my old customs, as
The sage desires, and, tho’ unchanged in limb,
Am now a different man to what I was,
Since I look up to and depend on him:
XLVII.
E in lui m’acqueto; egli comanda e insegna,
Mastro insieme e signor sommo e sovrano:
Nè già per nostro mezzo oprar disdegna
372 Cose degne talor della sua mano.
Or sarà cura mia ch’al campo vegna
L’invitto eroe dal suo carcer lontano;
Ch’ei la m’impose, e già gran tempo aspetto
376 Il venir vostro, a me per lui predetto.
XLVII
“In him I rest, on him my thoughts depend,
My lord, my teacher, and my guide is he,
This noble work he strives to bring to end,
He is the architect, the workmen we,
The hardy youth home to this camp to send
From prison strong, my care, my charge shall be;
So He commands, and me ere this foretold
Your coming oft, to seek the champion bold.”
XLVII
<
br /> ‘In him I rest, he teaches and commands,
My sovran lord, my guide and master, who
Actions at times deserving of his hands
Scorns not through my poor agency to do.
Now, ’tis my charge from his captivity
Back to the camp the unconquered knight to lead,
Since he ordained it; and long time have I
Looked for your coming, as by him decreed.’
XLVIII.
Così con lor parlando al loco viene
Ov’egli ha il suo soggiorno e ‘l suo riposo.
Questo è in forma di speco, e in se contiene
380 Camare e sale, grande e spazioso.
E ciò che nudre entro le ricche vene
Di più chiaro la terra e prezioso,
Splende ivi tutto: ed ei n’è in guisa ornato,
384 Ch’ogni suo fregio è non fatto, ma nato.
XLVIII
While this he said, he brought the champions twain
Down to a vault, wherein he dwells and lies,
It was a cave, high, wide, large, ample, plain,
With goodly rooms, halls, chambers, galleries,
All what is bred in rich and precious vein
Of wealthy earth, and hid from mortal eyes,
There shines, and fair adorned was every part
With riches grown by kind, not framed by art:
XLVIII
While thus conversing with the knights, he gained
The spot that formed his hermit-like retreat
Shaped like a grot, it in itself contained
Galleries and halls, capacious and complete;
All that the earth in her rich veins comprised,
Did there its full magnificence impart;
And every ornament was so disguised,
That it seemed work of Nature not of Art.
XLIX.
Non mancar quì cento ministri e cento
Che accorti e pronti a servir gli osti foro.
Nè poi in mensa magnifica d’argento
388 Mancar gran vasi, e di cristallo, e d’oro.
Ma quando sazio il natural talento
Fu de’ cibi, e la sete estinta in loro:
Tempo è ben, disse ai cavalieri il mago,
392 Che il maggior desir vostro omai sia pago.
XLIX
An hundred grooms, quick, diligent and neat,
Attendance gave about these strangers bold,
Against the wall there stood a cupboard great
Of massive plate, of silver, crystal, gold.
But when with precious wines and costly meat
They filled were, thus spake the wizard old:
“Now fits the time, sir knights, I tell and show
What you desire to hear, and long to know.
XLIX
Pages in hundreds were not wanting there
To serve the guests, and, dazzling to behold,
On gorgeous tables of pure silver were
Large vases ranged of crystal and of gold.
But soon as sated were their appetites
And quenched their thirst, the old magician cried:
‘High time it is, you bold adventurous knights,
That your still greater wants be satisfied.’
L.
Quivi ricominciò: l’opre e le frodi
Note in parte a voi son dell’empia Armida:
Come ella al campo venne, e con quai modi
396 Molti guerrier ne trasse, e lor fu guida.
Sapete ancor che di tenaci nodi
Gli avvinse poscia, albergatrice infida:
E ch’indi a Gaza gl’inviò con molti
400 Custodi, e che tra via furon disciolti.
L
“Armida’s craft, her sleight and hidden guile
You partly wot, her acts and arts untrue,
How to your camp she came, and by what wile
The greatest lords and princes thence she drew;
You know she turned them first to monsters vile,
And kept them since closed up in secret mew,
Lastly, to Gaza-ward in bonds them sent,
Whom young Rinaldo rescued as they went.
L
And thus continued: ‘Ye all know in part
The schemes and tricks Armida introduced;
How to the camp she came, and by what art
So many knights to follow her seduced;
Ye know how, after, that, she, faithless host,
Fettered and then despatched her captive prey,
Under strong escort, to far Gaza’s coast,
And how they were delivered on the way.
LI.
Or vi narrerò quel ch’appresso occorse;
Vera istoria, da voi non anco intesa.
Poichè la maga rea vide ritorse
404 La preda sua, già con tant’arte presa,
Ambe le mani per dolor si morse;
E fra se disse, di disdegno accesa:
Ah vero unqua non fia, che d’aver tanti
408 Miei prigion liberati egli si vanti:
LI
“What chanced since I will at large declare,
To you unknown, a story strange and true.
When first her prey, got with such pain and care,
Escaped and gone the witch perceived and knew,
Her hands she wrung for grief, her clothes she tare,
And full of woe these heavy words outthrew:
‘Alas! my knights are slain, my prisoners free,
Yet of that conquest never boast shall he,
LI
‘Now I will tell you of what happened then,
And, tho’ ye know it not, the tale is true.
Soon as her prey, by such devices ta’en,
Retaken was, the wicked sorceress knew;
Both hands she bit — so mortified, so crost —
And to herself, inflamed with malice, said:
“Ah, it shall ne’er be true — he ne’er shall boast
To have so many of my captives freed.
LII.
Se gli altri sciolse, ei serva, ed ei sostegna
Le pene altrui serbate, e ‘l lungo affanno.
Nè questo anco mi basta; i’ vuò che vegna
412 Sugli altri tutti universale il danno.
Così tra se dicendo, ordir disegna
Questo, ch’or udirete, iniquo inganno.
Viensene al loco ove Rinaldo vinse
416 In pugna i suoi guerrieri, e parte estinse.
LII
“‘He in their place shall serve me, and sustain
Their plagues, their torments suffer, sorrows bear,
And they his absence shall lament in vain,
And wail his loss and theirs with many a tear:’
Thus talking to herself she did ordain
A false and wicked guile, as you shall hear;
Thither she hasted where the valiant knight
Had overcome and slain her men in fight.
LII
‘“If he freed others, let him keep and bear
The pain reserved for others — others’ thrall;
Nor yet shall this suffice; I would, I swear,
One general ruin could ingulph them all.”
Thus fuming, she, with unexampled spite,
Plotted the unjust fraud which ye shall hear.
She went to where Rinaldo had in fight
Vanquished and partly slain her escort; here
LIII.
Quivi egli avendo l’arme sue deposto,
Indosso quelle d’un Pagan si pose:
Forse perchè bramava irsene ascosto
420 Sotto insegne men note e men famose.
Prese l’armi la maga, e in esse tosto
Un tronco busto avvolse, e poi l’espose:
L’espose in riva a un fiume, ove doveva
424 Stuol de’ Franchi arrivare; e ‘l prevedeva.
LIII
“Rinaldo there had dolt and left his own,
Perchance he deemed so to pass unknown,
And in those arms less noted false to ride.
A headless corse in fight late overthrown,
The witch in his forsaken arms did hide,
And by a brook exposed it on the sand
Whither she wished would come a Christian band:
LIII
‘He having left his arms upon the field,
A Turk’s had substituted for his own,
Perhaps because he wished to go concealed
Beneath device less famous and less known.
The enchantress seized his armour, and inclosed
In it a headless mutilated bust,
Which on the river’s margent she exposed,
Where she foreknew pass by the Christians must.
LIV.
E questo antiveder potea ben ella,
Che mandar mille spie solea d’intorno;
Onde spesso del campo avea novella,
428 E s’altri indi partiva, o fea ritorno;
Oltrechè con gli spirti anco favella
Sovente, e fa con lor lungo soggiorno.
Collocò dunque il corpo morto in parte
432 Molto opportuna a sua ingannevol’arte.
LIV
“Their coming might the dame foreknow right well,
For secret spies she sent forth thousand ways,
Which every day news from the camp might tell,
Who parted thence, booties to search or preys:
Beside, the sprites conjured by sacred spell,
All what she asks or doubts, reveals and says,
The body therefore placed she in that part
That furthered best her sleight, her craft and art;
LIV
‘Nor was this knowledge difficult, since she,
From scouts employed by her in thousands, learned
News of the Frank encampment frequently,
And who from thence departed and returned.
Besides, she often with dark spirits spoke,
And did with them for lengthened periods dwell.
She placed the corse then in a certain nook,
That for her base design seemed suited well.
LV.
Non lunge un sagacissimo valletto
Pose, di panni pastorai vestito:
E impose lui ciò ch’esser fatto o detto
436 Fintamente doveva; e fu eseguito.
Questi parlò co’ vostri, e di sospetto