Jerusalem Delivered

by Torquato Tasso

  LX.

  Chè, se no’l sai, ti sono amico: e quanto

  Curi le cose tue chiedilo a questi:

  Ch’essi, scorti da me, vinser l’incanto

  476 Ove tu vita misera traesti.

  Or odi i detti miei contrarj al canto

  Delle Sirene, e non ti sian molesti;

  Ma gli serba nel cor, fin che distingua

  480 Meglio a te il ver più saggia e santa lingua.

  LX

  “For, though you wot it not, I am your friend,

  And for your profit work, as these can tell,

  I taught them how Armida’s charms to end,

  And bring you thither from love’s hateful cell,

  Now to my words, though sharp perchance, attend,

  Nor be aggrieved although they seem too fell,

  But keep them well in mind, till in the truth

  A wise and holier man instruct thy youth.

  LX

  ‘I, tho’ thou know’st not, am thy friend, and how

  I watch thy interests but enquire of these,

  Who, led by me, o’ercame the spells, where thou

  Thy life wast wasting in ignoble ease.

  Now mark my words — unlike the siren’s song,

  May they not thee offend, O noble youth,

  But may thy heart preserve them till a tongue

  More wise and holy guide thee to the Truth.

  LXI.

  Signor, non sotto l’ombra in piaggia molle

  Tra fonti e fior, tra Ninfe e tra Sirene;

  Ma in cima all’erto e faticoso colle

  484 Della virtù riposto è il nostro bene.

  Chi non gela, e non suda, e non s’estolle

  Dalle vie del piacer, là non perviene.

  Or vorrai tu lungi dall’alte cime

  488 Giacer, quasi tra valli augel sublime?

  LXI

  “Not underneath sweet shades and fountains shrill,

  Among the nymphs, the fairies, leaves and flowers;

  But on the steep, the rough and craggy hill

  Of virtue stands this bliss, this good of ours:

  By toil and travel, not by sitting still

  In pleasure’s lap, we come to honor’s bowers;

  Why will you thus in sloth’s deep valley lie?

  The royal eagles on high mountains fly.

  LXI

  ‘Not among nymphs and sirens, founts and flowers,

  Not on voluptuous herbage in the shade,

  But on the toilsome steep, where Virtue towers,

  Alone, O prince, our supreme good is laid;

  Who from the paths of pleasure will not raise

  His thoughts, nor freeze nor sweat, arrives not there;

  And wilt thou, lordly eagle, turn thy gaze

  From that high goal, and to the vales repair.

  LXII.

  T’alzò Natura inverso il Ciel la fronte,

  E ti diè spirti generosi ed alti,

  Perchè in su miri: e con illustri e conte

  492 Opre, te stesso al sommo pregio esalti.

  E ti diè l’ire ancor veloci e pronte;

  Non perchè l’usi ne’ civili assalti:

  Nè perchè sian di desiderj ingordi

  496 Elle ministre, ed a ragion discordi;

  LXII

  “Nature lifts up thy forehead to the skies,

  And fills thy heart with high and noble thought,

  That thou to heavenward aye shouldst lift thine eyes,

  And purchase fame by deeds well done and wrought;

  She gives thee ire, by which not courage flies

  To conquests, not through brawls and battles fought

  For civil jars, nor that thereby you might

  Your wicked malice wreak and cursed spite.

  LXII

  ‘Nature thy brow directed toward the skies,

  And gave thee instincts generous and sublime,

  To look aloft, and to that glorious prize,

  By virtuous deeds and brilliant actions, climb.

  She gave thee, too, a swift and ready ire,

  But not to use it in each civil broil;

  Not that it should thy vaulting fancy fire,

  And, foe to reason, ‘gainst thyself recoil;

  LXIII.

  Ma perchè il tuo valore, armato d’esse,

  Più fero assalga gli avversarj esterni;

  E sian con maggior forza indi ripresse

  500 Le cupidigie, empj nemici interni.

  Dunque nell’uso per cui fur concesse,

  Le impieghi il saggio duce, e le governi:

  Ed a suo senno or tepide or ardenti

  504 Le faccia: ed or le affretti ed or le allenti.

  LXIII

  “But that your strength spurred forth with noble wrath,

  With greater fury might Christ’s foes assault,

  And that your bridle should with lesser scath

  Each secret vice, and kill each inward fault;

  For so his godly anger ruled hath

  Each righteous man beneath heaven’s starry vault,

  And at his will makes it now hot, now cold,

  Now lets it run, now doth it fettered hold.”

  LXIII

  ‘But that thy valour, armed by it, should smite

  With greater force external adversaries,

  And that repressed should be with greater might

  Thy passions — foul, internal enemies.

  Let the sage chief, then, govern and employ

  It in the use for which it was ordained,

  And at his will its too great strength alloy;

  By him be it now quickened — now restrained,’

  LXIV.

  Così parlava; e l’altro attento e cheto

  Alle parole sue d’alto consiglio,

  Fea de’ detti conserva: e mansueto

  508 Volgeva a terra e vergognoso il ciglio.

  Ben vide il saggio Veglio il suo secreto,

  E gli soggiunse: alza la fronte, o figlio:

  E in questo scudo affissa gli occhj omai,

  512 Ch’ivi de’ tuoi maggior l’opre vedrai.

  LXIV

  Thus parleyed he; Rinaldo, hushed and still,

  Great wisdom heard in those few words compiled,

  He marked his speech, a purple blush did fill

  His guilty checks, down went his eyesight mild.

  The hermit by his bashful looks his will

  Well understood, and said, “Look up, my child,

  And painted in this precious shield behold

  The glorious deeds of thy forefathers old.

  LXIV

  He ceased. The other, in attentive mood,

  Treasured those maxims of advice profound;

  Meek as a child, abashed, ashamed he stood,

  His modest eyelids fixed upon the ground.

  Well did his secret thoughts the sage surmise,

  And to him said: ‘Raise up thy brow, my son;

  Upon this sculptured shield affix thine eyes,

  And view the deeds thy ancestors have done.

  LXV.

  Vedrai degli avi il divulgato onore,

  Lunge precorso in luogo erto e solingo:

  Tu dietro anco riman, lento cursore,

  516 Per questo della gloria illustre arringo.

  Su su, te stesso incíta: al tuo valore

  Sia sferza e spron quel ch’io colà dipingo.

  Così diceva; e ‘l cavaliero affisse

  520 Lo sguardo là, mentre colui sì disse.

  LXV

  “Thine elders’ glory herein see and know,

  In virtue’s path how they trod all their days,

  Whom thou art far behind, a runner slow

  In this true course of honor, fame and praise:

  Up, up, thyself incite by the fair show

  Of knightly worth which this bright shield bewrays,

  That be thy spur to praise!” At last the knight

  Looked up, and on those
portraits bent his sight.

  LXV

  ‘Thy sires’ historic honours thou shalt see,

  Up in that steep and solitary place;

  And wilt thou, laggard, lag behind, and be

  A tardy runner in the glorious race?

  Up, up! arouse thyself, and may what I

  Depict thereon thy generous heart incite!’

  Thus spoke; and, as he spoke, attentively

  Upon the shield Rinaldo fixed his sight.

  LXVI.

  Con sottil magistero, in campo angusto,

  Forme infinite espresse il fabbro dotto.

  Del sangue d’Azzio glorioso augusto

  524 L’ordin vi si vedea nulla interrotto.

  Vedeasi dal Roman fonte vetusto

  I suoi rivi dedur puro e incorrotto.

  Stan coronati i Principi d’alloro:

  528 Mostra il Vecchio le guerre, e i pregj loro.

  LXVI

  The cunning workman had in little space

  Infinite shapes of men there well expressed,

  For there described was the worthy race

  And pedigree of all of the house of Est:

  Come from a Roman spring o’er all the place

  Flowed pure streams of crystals east and west,

  With laurel crowned stood the princes old,

  Their wars the hermit and their battles told.

  LXVI

  With subtile skill, into a narrow space

  The artist had unnumbered forms compressed;

  The august and glorious line of Azzo’s race

  Was there in chain unbroken manifest.

  From its old Roman source each branch renowned,

  Limpid and pure, still uncorrupted flows;

  With laurel chaplets are its princes crowned,

  Whose deeds in peace and war the old man shows.

  LXVII.

  Mostragli Cajo, allor ch’a strane genti

  Va prima in preda il già inclinato impero,

  Prendere il fren de’ popoli volenti,

  532 E farsi d’Este il Principe primiero;

  Ed a lui ricovrarsi i men potenti

  Vicini, a cui rettor facea mestiero;

  Poscia quando ripassa il varco noto

  536 Agl’inviti d’Onorio il fero Goto;

  LXVII

  He showed them Caius first, when first in prey

  To people strange the falling empire went,

  First Prince of Est, that did the sceptre sway

  O’er such as chose him lord by tree consent;

  His weaker neighbors to his rule obey,

  Need made them stoop, constraint doth force content;

  After, when Lord Honorius called the train

  Of savage Goths into his land again,

  LXVII

  Caius he shows, when first to foreign bands

  The empire fell, already in decline,

  The reins of power receive from willing hands,

  And the first prince become of Este’s line;

  To whom for help his weaker neighbours came,

  And him elected ruler over all.

  But when the savage Goths recrossed the same

  Pass as of yore, at base Honorio’s call,

  LXVIII.

  E quando sembra che più avvampi e ferva

  Di barbarico incendio Italia tutta:

  E quando Roma, prigioniera e serva,

  540 Sin dal suo fondo teme esser distrutta;

  Mostra ch’Aurelio in libertà conserva

  La gente sotto al suo scettro ridutta.

  Mostragli poi Foresto che s’oppone

  544 All’Unno regnator dell’Aquilone.

  LXVIII

  And when all Italy did burn and flame

  With bloody war, by this fierce people mad,

  When Rome a captive and a slave became,

  And to be quite destroyed was most afraid,

  Aurelius, to his everlasting fame,

  Preserved in peace the folk that him obeyed:

  Next whom was Forest, who the rage withstood

  Of the bold Huns, and of their tyrant proud.

  LXVIII

  And when all Italy appeared to smoke,

  And blaze more fiercely from barbaric fire;

  When Rome, too, crouching neath the stranger’s yoke,

  Feared in the general ruin to expire;

  Shows how Aurelius, his intrepid son,

  To guard his subjects’ liberty stood forth;

  Shows him Foresto, who opposed the Hun,

  Despotic ruler of the distant North.

  LXIX.

  Ben si conosce al volto Attila il fello,

  Che con occhj di drago par che guati:

  Ed ha faccia di cane, ed a vedello

  548 Dirai che ringhi, e udir credi i latrati.

  Poi vinto il fiero in singolar duello

  Mirasi rifuggir tra gli altri armati:

  E la difesa d’Aquilea poi torre

  552 Il buon Foresto dell’Italia Ettorre.

  LXIX

  Known by his look was Attila the fell,

  Whose dragon eyes shone bright with anger’s spark,

  Worse faced than a dog, who viewed him well

  Supposed they saw him grin and heard him bark;

  But when in single fight he lost the bell,

  How through his troops he fled there might you mark,

  And how Lord Forest after fortified

  Aquilea’s town, and how for it he died.

  LXIX

  Well by his look fierce Attila is known;

  His eyes like furious dragon’s seem to spark;

  Enough it is, his dog-faced features shown,

  To swear he snarled, and deem you heard him bark.

  Worsted in single fight the savage see,

  Back on his armies for protection fall.

  Here shows the Hector of fair Italy,

  Foresto, guarding Aquilea’s wall.

  LXX.

  Altrove è la sua morte; e ‘l suo destino

  È destin della patria. Ecco l’erede

  Del padre grande il gran figlio Acarino,

  556 Che all’Italico onor campion succede.

  Cedeva ai fati, e non agli Unni Altino:

  Poi riparava in più secura sede:

  Poi raccoglieva una Città di mille

  560 In val di Po case disperse in ville.

  LXX

  For there was wrought the fatal end and fine,

  Both of himself and of the town he kept:

  But his great son renowned Acarine,

  Into his father’s place and honor stepped:

  To cruel fate, not to the Huns, Altine

  Gave place, and when time served again forth leapt,

  And in the vale of Po built for his seat

  Of many a village a small city great;

  LXX

  His death is blazoned elsewhere, and his own,

  With it, the ruin of his country draws.

  Him Acarino, his great sire’s great son,

  Succeeds, as champion of the Italian cause;

  Who to fate yielded up, not to the Hun,

  Altinum, and to safer quarters fled;

  Then of a thousand houses formed one town,

  Erst villas thro’ the Po’s broad valley spread

  LXXI.

  Contra il gran fiume, che in diluvio ondeggia,

  Muniasi, e quindi la Città sorgea

  Che ne’ futuri secoli la reggia

  564 De’ magnanimi Estensi esser dovea.

  Par che rompa gli Alani: e che si veggia

  Contra Odoacro aver poi sorte rea:

  E morir per l’Italia. O nobil morte,

  568 Che dell’onor paterno il fa consorte!

  LXXI

  Against the swelling flood he banked it strong,

  And thence uprose the fair and noble town

  Where they of Est should by succession long

  Command, and rule in bliss and high renown:

  Ga
inst Odoacer then he fought, but wrong

  Oft spoileth right, fortune treads courage down,

  For there he died for his dear country’s sake,

  And of his father’s praise did so partake.

  LXXI

  Which he with bulwarks fortified, to meet

  The rushing river’s overflowing rage:

  Whence a fair city rose, the destined seat

  Of Este’s princes in a future age.

  He routs the Alani; but, unfortunate,

  By Odoacer is at length cut down,

  And dies for Italy. O noble fate!

  That made him consort of his sire’s renown.

  LXXII.

  Cader seco Alforisio: ire in esiglio

  Azzo si vede, e ‘l suo fratel con esso:

  E ritornar con l’arme, e col consiglio

  572 Dapoi che fu il Tiranno Erulo oppresso.

  Trafitto di saetta il destro ciglio,

  Segue l’Estense Epaminonda appresso:

  E par lieto morir; poscia che ‘l crudo

  576 Totila è vinto, e salvo il caro scudo.

  LXXII

  With him died Alforisio, Azzo was

  With his dear brother into exile sent,

  But homeward they in arms again repass —

  The Herule king oppressed — from banishment.

  His front through pierced with a dart, alas,

  Next them, of Est the Epaminondas went,

  That smiling seemed to cruel death to yield,

  When Totila was fled, and safe his shield.

  LXXII

  With him falls Alphorisio. Azzo here

  Is with his brother in sad exile shown;

  But, with fresh arms, behold him reappear,

  Soon as the Erulean tyrant is o’erthrown.

  Lo! transfixed by an arrow in the eye,

  Este’s Epaminondas follows near;

  With what delight the patriot seems to die,

  Fierce Totila slain, and saved his buckler dear!

  LXXIII.

  Di Bonifacio parlo: e fanciulletto

  Premea Valerian l’orme del padre:

  Già di destra viril, viril di petto

  580 Cento nol sostenean Gotiche squadre.

  Non lunge ferocissimo in aspetto

  Fea contra Schiavi Ernesto opre leggiadre.

  Ma innanzi a lui l’intrepido Aldoardo

  584 Da Monselce escludeva il Re Lombardo.

  LXXIII

  Of Boniface I speak; Valerian,

  His son, in praise and power succeeded him,