Jerusalem Delivered
Page 255
Some the great common mother Earth adore;
Others there are that load their loathsome boards
With food at which the sickening thoughts rebel;
Barbarous, in short, and atheist are the hordes,
That on the western side of Calpe dwell.’
XXIX.
Dunque (a lei replicava il cavaliero)
Quel Dio che scese a illuminar le carte,
Vuole ogni raggio ricoprir del vero
228 A questa che del mondo è sì gran parte?
No, rispose ella, anzi la fe di Piero
Fiavi introdotta, ed ogni civil’ arte.
Nè già sempre sarà che la via lunga
232 Questi da’ vostri popoli disgiunga.
XXIX
“But will our gracious God,” the knight replied,
“That with his blood all sinful men hath bought,
His truth forever and his gospel hide
From all those lands, as yet unknown, unsought?”
“Oh no,” quoth she, “his name both far and wide
Shall there be known, all learning thither brought,
Nor shall these long and tedious ways forever
Your world and theirs, their lands, your kingdoms sever.
XXIX
‘Has, then, that God,’ enquired the curious youth,
‘Whose advent to immortal light gave birth,
Willed to withhold all glimmer of the truth
From such a mighty portion of the earth?’
‘No,’ answered she; ‘nay, more, St. Peter’s faith
Will there with every civil art expand;
Nor will this long and seeming endless path
Divide you always from that distant land.
XXX.
Tempo verrà che fian d’Ercole i segni
Favola vile ai naviganti industri:
E i mar riposti, or senza nome, e i regni
236 Ignoti, ancor tra voi saranno illustri.
Fia che il più ardito allor di tutti i legni
Quanto circonda il mar circondi e lustri.
E la terra misuri, immensa mole,
240 Vittorioso ed emulo del Sole.
XXX
“The time shall come that sailors shall disdain
To talk or argue of Alcides’ streat,
And lands and seas that nameless yet remain,
Shall well be known, their boundaries, site and seat,
The ships encompass shall the solid main,
As far as seas outstretch their waters great,
And measure all the world, and with the sun
About this earth, this globe, this compass, run.
XXX
‘The day will come when to the sailor bold
Alcides’ marks will be a myth; each sea,
Whose very name remains as yet untold,
And unknown realms, will then illustrious be;
And the most chivalrous of all the ships
Will circumnavigate the sea-girt sphere,
Measure the earths dimensions, and eclipse
The sun in her victorious career.
XXXI.
Un uom della Liguria avrà ardimento
All’incognito corso esporsi in prima,
Nè ‘l minaccevol fremito del vento,
244 Nè l’inospito mar, nè ‘l dubbio clima,
Nè s’altro di periglio, o di spavento
Più grave e formidabile or si stima;
Faran che il generoso, entro ai divieti
248 D’Abila angusti, l’alta mente accheti.
XXXI
“A knight of Genes shall have the hardiment
Upon this wondrous voyage first to wend,
Nor winds nor waves, that ships in sunder rent,
Nor seas unused, strange clime, or pool unkenned,
Nor other peril nor astonishment
That makes frail hearts of men to bow and bend,
Within Abilas’ strait shall keep and hold
The noble spirit of this sailor bold.
XXXI
‘Foremost of all, a gallant Genoese
Will tempt that unknown, that untrodden course;
No dubious clime, no inhospitable seas,
No tempest, with resounding menace hoarse,
No peril of most formidable kind,
No dread, no danger, howsoever great,
Will mew his noble and magnanimous mind
Within the limits of that narrow strait.
XXXII.
Tu spiegherai, Colombo, a un nuovo polo
Lontane sì le fortunate antenne,
Ch’appena seguirà con gli occhj il volo
252 La Fama, c’ha mille occhj e mille penne.
Canti ella Alcide e Bacco, e di te solo
Basti a’ posteri tuoi ch’alquanto accenne:
Chè quel poco darà lunga memoria
256 Di poema degnissima e d’istoria.
XXXII
“Thy ship, Columbus, shall her canvas wing
Spread o’er that world that yet concealed lies,
That scant swift fame her looks shall after bring,
Though thousand plumes she have, and thousand eyes;
Let her of Bacchus and Alcides sing,
Of thee to future age let this suffice,
That of thine acts she some forewarning give,
Which shall in verse and noble story live.”
XXXII
‘Thou shalt, Columbus! spread thy favoured sail
Towards a new world, which so far distant lies,
That Fame, almost to reach thy flight, will fail,
Or with her thousand wings or thousand eyes:
Let her chaunt Bacchus’ and Alcides’ praise;
Thy name alone suffices for thy glory;
Thy very memory, to all future days,
Will furnish theme of deathless song and story.’
XXXIII.
Così dice ella; e per le ondose strade
Corre al Ponente, e piega al Mezzogiorno.
E vede come incontra il Sol giù cade,
260 E come a tergo lor rinasce il giorno.
E quando appunto i raggj e le rugiade
La bella aurora seminava intorno,
Lor s’offrì, di lontano, oscuro un monte
264 Che tra le nubi nascondea la fronte.
XXXIII
Thus talking, swift twixt south and west they run,
And sliced out twixt froth and foam their way;
At once they saw before, the setting sun;
Behind, the rising beam of springing day;
And when the morn her drops and dews begun
To scatter broad upon the flowering lay,
Far off a hill and mountain high they spied,
Whose top the clouds environ, clothe and hide;
XXXIII
Thus spake the maid, and thro’ the watery way
Steered towards the west, and then to southward bore,
Seeing behind how rose the new-born day,
And how the sun in glory set before;
But at the moment when her rays and dews
Around her beautiful Aurora spread,
They saw afar a hazy mountain lose
Amid o’erhanging clouds its lofty head;
XXXIV.
E ‘l vedean poscia, procedendo avante,
Quando ogni nuvol già n’era rimosso,
Alle acute piramidi sembiante,
268 Sottile inver la cima, e in mezzo grosso:
E mostrarsi talor così fumante,
Come quel che d’Encelado è sul dosso:
Che per propria natura il giorno fuma,
272 E poi la notte il Ciel di fiamme alluma.
XXXIV
And drawing near, the hill at ease they view,
When all the clouds were molten, fallen and fled,
Whose top pyramid-wise did pointed show,
High, narrow, sharp, the sides yet more outspread,
Thence now and then fire, fla
me and smoke outflew,
As from that hill, whereunder lies in bed
Enceladus, whence with imperious sway
Bright fire breaks out by night, black smoke by day.
XXXIV
But when its form the mist no longer hides,
They see it its own real shape bespeak,
Resembling Egypt’s pointed pyramids,
Large at the base, and tapering towards the peak;
And such a smoking, fiery cone display,
As that ‘neath which Enceladus doth lie,
Whose nature ’tis to vomit smoke by day,
And thro’ the night illume with flame the sky.
XXXV.
Ecco altre isole insieme, altre pendíci
Scoprian alfin men erte ed elevate.
Ed eran queste l’isole felici;
276 Così le nominò la prisca etate,
A cui tanto stimava i Cieli amici,
Che credea volontarie, e non arate
Quì partorir le terre, e in più graditi
280 Frutti, non culte, germogliar le viti.
XXXV
About the hill lay other islands small,
Where other rocks, crags, cliffs, and mountains stood,
The Isles Fortunate these elder time did call,
To which high Heaven they reigned so kind and good,
And of his blessings rich so liberal,
That without tillage earth gives corn for food,
And grapes that swell with sweet and precious wine
There without pruning yields the fertile vine.
XXXV
Then other islands they behold, less great,
And other cliffs, less lofty and less steep;
This is the group of isles called Fortunate
In olden times, and still that title keep;
Whose friendly skies were counted so benign,
That there spontaneously the untilled earth
Was deemed to bear, and there the unpruned vine
To the most prized and luscious fruit gave birth.
XXXVI.
Quì non fallaci mai fiorir gli olivi,
E ‘l mel dicea stillar dall’elci cave:
E scender giù da lor montagne i rivi
284 Con acque dolci, e mormorio soave:
E zefiri e rugiade i raggj estivi
Temprarvi sì, che nullo ardor v’è grave:
E quì gli Elisj campi, e le famose
288 Stanze delle beate anime pose.
XXXVI
The olive fat there ever buds and flowers,
The honey-drops from hollow oaks distil,
The falling brook her silver streams downpours
With gentle murmur from their native hill,
The western blast tempereth with dews and showers
The sunny rays, lest heat the blossoms kill,
The fields Elysian, as fond heathen sain,
Were there, where souls of men in bliss remain.
XXXVI
The olive there ne’er blossoms to deceive,
There odorous honey trickles from the oak;
There, murmuring softly, rivulets receive
Their sparkling crystal from the living rock;
There to the dew of freshening zephyr yields
The summer’s heat, which ne’er oppressive grows;
And placed are there the famed Elysian fields,
Where the glad spirits of the blest repose.
XXXVII.
A queste or vien la donna, ed, omai sete
Dal fin del corso, lor dicea, non lunge.
L’isole di Fortuna ora vedete,
292 Di cui gran fama a voi, ma incerta, giunge.
Ben son elle feconde, e vaghe e liete;
Ma pur molto di falso al ver s’aggiunge.
Così parlando, assai presso si fece
296 A quella che la prima è delle diece.
XXXVII
To these their pilot steered, “And now,” quoth she,
“Your voyage long to end is brought well-near,
The happy Isles of Fortune now you see,
Of which great fame, and little truth, you hear,
Sweet, wholesome, pleasant, fertile, fat they be,
Yet not so rich as fame reports they were.”
This said, toward an island fresh she bore,
The first of ten, that lies next Afric’s shore;
XXXVII
Making for these, the damsel said: ( Now ye
Approach your journey’s end, O cavaliers;
These are the isles of Fortune that you see,
Whose great, but doubtful fame has reached your ears;
Most fertile, gay, and beautiful they are,
But false reports exaggerate what’s true.’
While speaking this, their lovely escort near
To the first island of the decade drew.
XXXVIII.
Carlo incomincia allor: se ciò concede,
Donna, quell’alta impresa ove ci guidi;
Lasciami omai por nella terra il piede,
300 E veder questi inconosciuti lidi:
Veder le genti, e ‘l culto di lor fede,
E tutto quello ond’uom saggio m’invídi,
Quando mi gioverà narrar altrui
304 Le novità vedute, e dire: io fui.
XXXVIII
When Charles thus, “If, worthy governess,
To our good speed such tarriance be no let,
Upon this isle that Heaven so fair doth bless,
To view the place, on land awhile us set,
To know the folk and what God they confess,
And all whereby man’s heart may knowledge get,
That I may tell the wonders therein seen
Another day, and say, there have I been.”
XXXVIII
Then Charles: ‘O lady, if the high emprise
That leads us here forbid not the demand,
Let us debark, and feast our longing eyes
Upon the marvels of this unknown land;
The people see, their customs and their rites;
All that to sage just cause of envy were,
If to the world recounting the strange sights,
I could exclaim, I saw them, I was there!’
XXXIX.
Gli rispose colei: ben degna invero
La domanda è di te; ma che poss’io,
S’egli osta inviolabile e severo
308 Il decreto de’ Cieli al bel desio?
Chè ancor volto non è lo spazio intero
Ch’al grande scoprimento ha fisso Dio:
Nè lece a voi dall’Ocean profondo
312 Recar vera notizia al vostro mondo.
XXXIX
She answered him, “Well fits this high desire
Thy noble heart, yet cannot I consent;
For Heaven’s decree, firm, stable, and entire,
Thy wish repugns, and gainst thy will is bent,
Nor yet the time hath Titan’s gliding fire
Met forth, prefixed for this discoverment,
Nor is it lawful of the ocean main
That you the secrets know, or known explain.
XXXIX
She answered: ‘The request is worthy thee,
O noble cavalier; but what can I,
If Heaven’s severe inviolable decree
Refuses with thy wishes to comply?
Since the full period has not yet come round,
That God has for the great discovery planned,
Nor may ye carry from the vast profound
Authentic news to your benighted land.
XL.
A voi, per grazia, e sovra l’arte e l’uso
De’ naviganti, ir per quest’acque è dato:
E scender là dove è il guerrier rinchiuso,
316 E ridurlo del mondo all’altro lato.
Tanto vi basti: e l’aspirar più suso
Superbir fora, e calcitrar col fato.
Quì tacque: e già parea p
iù bassa farsi
320 L’isola prima, e la seconda alzarsi.
XL
“To you withouten needle, map or card
It’s given to pass these seas, and there arrive
Where in strong prison lies your knight imbarred,
And of her prey you must the witch deprive:
If further to aspire you be prepared,
In vain gainst fate and Heaven’s decree you strive.”
While thus she said, the first seen isle gave place,
And high and rough the second showed his face.
XL
‘To you ’tis given, by favour from the skies,
Far to transgress the sailor’s common track;
To arrive where bound the captive warrior lies,
And to the glowing orient lead him back;
Let this suffice, for farther to aspire
Were to grow haughty, and wage war with fate.’
Ev’n as she spoke, the second isle seemed higher,
And the first in proportion to abate.
XLI.
Ella mostrando gía che all’Oriente
Tutte, con ordin lungo, eran dirette:
E che largo è fra lor quasi egualmente
324 Quello spazio di mar che si frammette.
Ponsi veder d’abitatrice gente
Case e culture ed altri segni in sette:
Tre deserte ne sono; e v’han le belve
328 Sicurissima tana in monti e in selve.
XLI
They saw how eastward stretched in order long,
The happy islands sweetly flowering lay;
And how the seas betwixt those isles enthrong,
And how they shouldered land from land away:
In seven of them the people rude among
The shady trees their sheds had built of clay,
The rest lay waste, unless wild beasts unseen,
Or wanton nymphs, roamed on the mountains green.
XLI
Then by the knights, she showing them, is seen
How eastward all in lengthened order rise,
And that the space of sea which breaks between
Each isle, is almost of an equal size.
In seven they huts and cultivation see,
With other signs that of man’s presence tell;
Three are a desert, where, secure and free,
Wild beasts in forest and in mountain dwell.
XLII.
Luogo è in una dell’erme assai riposto,
Ove si curva il lido e in fuori stende