The sterile coasts of barren Rhinocere
They passed, and seas where Casius hill doth stand
That with his trees o’erspreads the waters near,
Against whose roots breaketh the brackish wave
Where Jove his temple, Pompey hath his grave:
XV
And in a moment Raffia reached, the town
That first in Syria’s kingdom doth appear
To those from Egypt coming; then sailed down
The lonely coast of barren Rinocere.
Not distant far a mountain they espied
That towers in lordly grandeur o’er the main,
Whose base is washed by the unstable tide,
Whose bowels Pompey’s famous bones contain.
XVI.
Poi Damiata scopre: e come porte
Al mar tributo di celesti umori
Per sette il Nilo sue famose porte,
124 E per cento altre ancor foci minori.
E naviga oltre la Città dal forte
Greco fondata ai Greci abitatori:
Ed oltra Faro, isola già che lunge
128 Giacque dal lido, al lido or si congiunge.
XVI
Then Damiata next, where they behold
How to the sea his tribute Nilus pays
By his seven mouths renowned in stories old,
And by an hundred more ignoble ways:
They pass the town built by the Grecian bold,
Of him called Alexandria till our days,
And Pharaoh’s tower and isle removed of yore
Far from the land, now joined to the shore:
XVI
Then Damietta they observe, and see
How the broad Nile her heaven-born tribute pays,
Thro’ her seven famous channels, to the sea,
And thro’ a hundred other lesser ways;
Then pass that famous city which the Greek
Founded for Greek inhabitants of yore;
Then on past Pharos, once an island bleak
Cut off from land, but which now joins the shore.
XVII.
Rodi e Creta lontane inverso ‘l polo
Non scerne; e pur lungo Africa sen viene,
Sul mar culta e ferace: addentro solo
132 Fertil di mostri, e d’infeconde arene.
La Marmarica rade: e rade il suolo
Dove cinque Cittadi ebbe Cirene:
Qui Tolomita, e poi con l’onde chete
136 Sorger si mira il favoloso Lete.
XVII
Both Crete and Rhodes they left by north unseen,
And sailed along the coasts of Afric lands,
Whose sea towns fair, but realms more inward been
All full of monsters and of desert sands:
With her five cities then they left Cyrene,
Where that old temple of false Hammon stands:
Next Ptolemais, and that sacred wood
Whence spring the silent streams of Lethe flood.
XVII
Far to the northward Rhodes she leaves, and Crete,
And coasting towards barbaric Afric stands,
Whose shores alone are tilled and wave with wheat;
Within are monsters and unfruitful sands.
Then Marmorica and the coast she shaves,
Where once Cyrene’s five proud cities stood;
Here Tolomita, and, with its calm waves,
There view the source of fabled Lethe’s flood.
XVIII.
La maggior Sirte a’ naviganti infesta,
Trattasi in alto, inver le piaggie lassa.
E ‘l capo di Giudeca indietro resta:
140 E la foce di Magra indi trapassa.
Tripoli appar sul lido, e in contra a questa
Giace Malta fra l’onde occulta e bassa:
E poi riman con l’altre Sirti a tergo
144 Alzerbe, già de’ Lotofagi albergo.
XVIII
The greater Syrte, that sailors often cast
In peril great of death and loss extreme,
They compassed round about, and safely passed,
The Cape Judeca and flood Magra’s stream;
Then Tripoli, gainst which is Malta placed,
That low and hid, to lurk in seas doth seem:
The little Syrte then, and Alzerhes isle,
Where dwelt the folk that Lotos ate erewhile.
XVIII
The greater Syrtes, the bold seaman’s dread,
Landward, she shuns, and keeps well out to sea;
And, doubling round Giudeca’s beetling head,
Passes the Magra’s mouth; then Tripoli
They view upon the coast, but can’t perceive
The spot where Malta’s neighbouring lowlands lie;
Then the other Syrtes and Alzerbe leave,
The dwelling once of the Lotophagi.
XIX.
Nel curvo lido poi Tunisi vede,
Che ha d’ambo i lati del suo golfo un monte:
Tunisi ricca ed onorata sede
148 A par di quante n’ha Libia più conte.
A lui di costa la Sicilia siede,
Ed il gran Lilibeo gl’innalza a fronte.
Or quinci addita la donzella, ai due
152 Guerrieri, il loco ove Cartagin fue.
XIX
Next Tunis on the crooked shore they spied,
Whose bay a rock on either side defends,
Tunis all towns in beauty, wealth and pride
Above, as far as Libya’s bounds extends;
Gainst which, from fair Sicilia’s fertile side,
His rugged front great Lilybaeum bends.
The dame there pointed out where sometime stood
Rome’s stately rival whilom, Carthage proud;
XIX
Her bay extending two high hills between,
Upon the moon-shaped sea-board, Tunis stands —
Tunis, the wealthy and the honoured queen
Of cities, noted throughout Lybia’s lands;
On the opposite side Sicilia sits, and rears
His brow great Lilybæum; and here shows
The damsel the illustrious cavaliers
The historic site where once proud Carthage rose.
XX.
Giace l’alta Cartago; appena i segni
Dell’alte sue ruine il lido serba.
Muojono le Città, muojono i regni:
156 Copre i fasti e le pompe arena ed erba:
E l’uom d’esser mortal par che si sdegni:
O nostra mente cupida e superba!
Giungon quinci a Biserta, e più lontano
160 Han l’isola de’ Sardi all’altra mano.
XX
Great Carthage low in ashes cold doth lie,
Her ruins poor the herbs in height scant pass,
So cities fall, so perish kingdoms high,
Their pride and pomp lies hid in sand and grass:
Then why should mortal man repine to die,
Whose life, is air; breath, wind; and body, glass?
From thence the seas next Bisert’s walls they cleft,
And far Sardinia on their right hand left.
XX
Low lies proud Carthage; scarcely does the shore
A trace retain of her wide ruins now.
Great cities die, realms sink to rise no more,
Rank weeds and sand deface their pomp; yet thou
Wouldst seem to spurn mortality, vain man!
Thou mass of grasping selfishness and pride!
They reach Biserta then, and, farther on,
Sardinia leave upon the other side.
XXI.
Trascorser poi le piaggie ove i Numidi
Menar già vita pastorale erranti.
Trovar Bugia, ed Algieri, infami nidi
164 Di corsari: ed Oran trovar più innanti.
E costeggiar di Tingitana i lidi,
Nutrice di leoni e d’elefanti:
Ch’or di Marocco è il reg
no, e quel di Fessa:
168 E varcar la Granata incontro ad essa.
XXI
Numidia’s mighty plains they coasted then,
Where wandering shepherds used their flocks to feed,
Then Bugia and Argier, the infamous den
Of pirates false, Oran they left with speed,
All Tingitan they swiftly overren,
Where elephants and angry lions breed,
Where now the realms of Fez and Maroc be,
Gainst which Granada’s shores and coasts they see.
XXI
Then skirt those plains where nomad Arabs lead
A pastoral life; Bugia pass, Algiers,
Vile nests of pirates; when, still more ahead,
Oran, with its white minarets, appears;
Then coast along wild Tingitana’s shores,
The nurse of lion and of elephant;
Now kingdom of Morocco and the Moors,
Then Fez, then over to Granada slant,
XXII.
Son già là dove il mar fra terra inonda,
Per via ch’esser d’Alcide opra si finse.
E forse è ver ch’una continua sponda
172 Fosse, ch’alta ruina in due distinse.
Passovvi a forza l’Oceano: e l’onda
Abila quinci, e quindi Calpe spinse.
Spagna e Libia partío con foce angusta;
176 Tanto mutar può lunga età vetusta!
XXII
Now are they there, where first the sea brake in
By great Alcides’ help, as stories feign,
True may it be that where those floods begin
It whilom was a firm and solid main
Before the sea there through did passage win
And parted Afric from the land of Spain,
Abila hence, thence Calpe great upsprings,
Such power hath time to change the face of things.
XXII
Reaching those straits thro’ which Alcides’ hand
Poured in the ocean, as old fables feign;
It may be true ‘twere once continuous land,
That some convulsion rudely rent in twain;
The barrier burst, in rushed the sweeping main;
Here Abyla thrusting, forcing Calpé there,
Thus Afric severing by a gulf from Spain:
Such are the changes to which Nature’s heir.
XXIII.
Quattro volte era apparso il Sol nell’Orto,
Dacchè la nave si spiccò dal lito:
Nè mai (ch’uopo non fu) s’accolse in porto,
180 E tanto del cammino ha già fornito.
Or entra nello stretto, e passa il corto
Varco, e s’ingolfa in pelago infinito.
Se il mar quì è tanto, ove il terreno il serra,
184 Che fia colà dov’egli ha in sen la terra?
XXIII
Four times the sun had spread his morning ray
Since first the dame launched forth her wondrous barge
And never yet took port in creek or bay,
But fairly forward bore the knights her charge;
Now through the strait her jolly ship made way,
And boldly sailed upon the ocean large;
But if the sea in midst of earth was great,
Oh what was this, wherein earth hath her seat?
XXIII
Four times in orient had appeared the sun
Since the weird vessel left the land, nor e’er
Had, since ‘twere needless, into harbour run,
And so much had performed of her career,
When, having passed the entrance of the strait,
Fearless she plunged into the unbounded sea:
But if it here, where land-locked, is so great,
When it surrounds the land, what must it be?
XXIV.
Più non si mostra omai tra gli alti flutti
La fertil Gade, e l’altre due vicine.
Fuggite son le terre, e i lidi tutti:
188 Dell’onda il Ciel, del Ciel l’onda è confine.
Diceva Ubaldo allor: tu che condutti
N’hai, donna, in questo mar che non ha fine;
Dì, s’altri mai quì giunse: e se più innante
192 Nel mondo, ove corriamo, have abitante.
XXIV
Now deep engulphed in the mighty flood
They saw not Gades, nor the mountains near,
Fled was the land, and towns on land that stood,
Heaven covered sea, sea seemed the heavens to bear.
“At last, fair lady,” quoth Ubaldo good,
“That in this endless main dost guide us here,
If ever man before here sailed tell,
Or other lands here be wherein men dwell.”
XXIV
Thro’ the high billows, Cadiz now no more,
Nor its two neighbouring cities, they descry:
They quit entirely sight of land and shore;
Sky bounds the ocean, ocean bounds the sky.
Then spake Ubald: ‘O maiden, who hast led
Us to this pathless infinite expanse,
Say, has ship e’er been here, and if ahead,
In the world we seek, exist inhabitants?’
XXV.
Risponde: Ercole poich’uccisi i mostri
Ebbe di Libia, e del paese Ispano:
E tutti scorsi, e vinti i lidi vostri,
196 Non osò di tentar l’alto Oceáno.
Segnò le mete, e in troppo brevi chiostri
L’ardir ristrinse dell’ingegno umano.
Ma quei segni sprezzò ch’egli prescrisse,
200 Di veder vago e di sapere, Ulisse.
XXV
“Great Hercules,” quoth she, “when he had quailed
The monsters fierce in Afric and in Spain,
And all along your coasts and countries sailed,
Yet durst he not assay the ocean main,
Within his pillars would he have impaled
The overdaring wit of mankind vain,
Till Lord Ulysses did those bounders pass,
To see and know he so desirous was.
XXV
And she: ‘When Hercules, with powerful hand,
The monsters slew of Afric and of Spain,
And had passed over and subdued your land,
Yet durst not tempt the perils of the main;
He fixed these Pillars, and within restrained,
In sphere too small, the ambition of mankind.
But great Ulysses his commands disdained:
No limits could his thirst for knowledge bind.
XXVI.
Ei passò le colonne, e per l’aperto
Mare spiegò de’ remi il volo audace:
Ma non giovogli esser nell’onde esperto,
204 Perchè inghiottillo l’Ocean vorace:
E giacque col suo corpo anco coperto
Il suo gran caso, ch’or tra voi si tace.
S’altri vi fu da’ venti a forza spinto,
208 O non tornonne, o vi rimase estinto.
XXVI
“He passed those pillars, and in open wave
Of the broad sea first his bold sails untwined,
But yet the greedy ocean was his grave,
Naught helped him his skill gainst tide and wind;
With him all witness of his voyage brave
Lies buried there, no truth thereof we find,
And they whom storm hath forced that way since,
Are drowned all, or unreturned from thence:
XXVI
‘He boldly past those fabled columns sailed,
And seawards plied his oars’ audacious sweep;
But naught his knowledge of the sea availed;
Engulphed he was by the voracious deep,
Where, with his body, still concealed, remains
His hapless fate, untold by mortal lips.
If others there were driven by hurricanes,
They turned n
ot back, or perished with their ships.
XXVII.
Sicchè ignoto è il gran mar che solchi: ignote
Isole mille e mille regni asconde,
Nè già d’abitator le terre han vote;
212 Ma son come le vostre anco feconde.
Son esse atte al produr: nè steril puote
Esser quella virtù che ‘l Sol v’infonde.
Ripiglia Ubaldo allor: del mondo occulto,
216 Dimmi, quai son le leggi e quale il culto.
XXVII
“So that this mighty sea is yet unsought,
Where thousand isles and kingdoms lie unknown,
Not void of men as some have vainly thought,
But peopled well, and wonned like your own;
The land is fertile ground, but scant well wrought,
Air wholesome, temperate sun, grass proudly grown.”
“But,” quoth Ubaldo, “dame, I pray thee teach
Of that hid world, what be the laws and speech?”
XXVII
‘So that unknown is this vast sea’s expanse;
A thousand isles and realms are here unknown;
Nor is the land without inhabitants,
But teeming, rich, and fruitful as your own;
Not barren can that powerful influence be
Which the sun sheds.’ Then, as away they whirled,
Resumed Ubaldo: ‘Ah, relate to me,
The laws and worship of that hidden world.’
XXVIII.
Gli soggiunse colei: diverse bande
Diversi han riti, ed abiti e favelle.
Altri adora le belve: altri la grande
220 Comune madre: il Sole altri e le stelle.
V’è chi d’abbominevoli vivande
Le mense ingombra scellerate e felle.
E in somma ognun, che in qua da Calpe siede,
224 Barbaro è di costumi, empio di fede.
XXVIII
“As diverse be their nations,” answered she,
“Their tongues, their rites, their laws so different are;
Some pray to beasts, some to a stone or tree,
Some to the earth, the sun, or morning star;
Their meats unwholesome, vile, and hateful be,
Some eat man’s flesh, and captives ta’en in war,
And all from Calpe’s mountain west that dwell,
In faith profane, in life are rude and fell.”
XXVIII
‘As various as their races,’ she begun,
‘Their customs, rites, and language are; nay, more,
Some worship beasts, and some the stars and sun;
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