“Let pass such speeches sad, of passed harms.
Remembrance is the life of grief; his grave,
Forgetfulness; and for amends, in arms
Your wonted valor use and courage brave;
For you alone to happy end must bring
The strong enchantments of the charmed spring.
II
Low as he humbly bowed, Prince Godfred cast
His arms around his neck, and thus replied:
‘Well speak no more of byegones, and the past
In the dark grave of mute oblivion hide;
And for amends, alone thou needest do
Deeds as of yore; and for the general good,
And to the utter ruin of the foe,
Destroy the monsters of the enchanted wood.
III.
L’antichissima selva, onde fu innanti
De’ nostri ordigni la materia tratta,
(Qual si sia la cagione) ora è d’incanti
20 Secreta stanza e formidabil fatta:
Nè v’è chi legno ivi troncar si vanti:
Nè vuol ragion che la Città si batta
Senza tali instrumenti: or colà dove
24 Paventan gli altri, il tuo valor si prove.
III
“That aged wood whence heretofore we got,
To build our scaling engines, timber fit,
Is now the fearful seat, but how none wot,
Where ugly fiends and damned spirits sit;
To cut one twist thereof adventureth not
The boldest knight we have, nor without it
This wall can battered be: where others doubt
There venture thou, and show thy courage stout.”
III
‘That ancient wood, whence formerly we drew
Materials to repair our tools and arms,
Has now (I know not to what causes due)
Become the haunt of formidable charms;
To fell its timber not the bravest dare,
And ‘twere a hopeless task to breach the town
Without such implements. Now thither, where
The others dread, go, prove thy old renown.’
IV.
Così disse egli: e ‘l cavalier s’offerse,
Con brevi detti, al rischio e alla fatica:
Ma negli atti magnanimi si scerse
28 Ch’assai farà, benchè non molto ei dica.
E verso gli altri poi lieto converse
La destra e ‘l volto all’accoglienza amica.
Quì Guelfo, quì Tancredi, e quì già tutti
32 S’eran dell’oste i Principi ridutti.
IV
Thus said he, and the knight in speeches few
Proffered his service to attempt the thing,
To hard assays his courage willing flew,
To him praise was no spur, words were no sting;
Of his dear friends then he embraced the crew
To welcome him which came; for in a ring
About him Guelpho, Tancred and the rest
Stood, of the camp the greatest, chief and best.
IV
Briefly, when he had ceased, the cavalier
Offered his humble services to lend,
But from his resolute manner it was clear,
How much his actions would his words transcend;
Then turning round, his comrades’ hands he prest
Within his own most cordially, for there
Tancredi, with Prince Guelpho, and the rest
Of the camp’s paladins, assembled were.
V.
Poi che le dimostranze oneste e care
Con que’ soprani egli iterò più volte;
Placido affabilmente e popolare
36 L’altre genti minori ebbe raccolte.
Non saria già più allegro il militare
Grido, o le turbe intorno a lui più folte,
Se, vinto l’Oriente e ‘l Mezzogiorno,
40 Trionfante ei n’andasse in carro adorno.
V
When with the prince these lords had iterate
Their welcomes oft, and oft their dear embrace,
Toward the rest of lesser worth and state,
He turned, and them received with gentle grace;
The merry soldiers bout him shout and prate,
With cries as joyful and as cheerful face
As if in triumph’s chariot bright as sun,
He had returned Afric or Asia won.
V
But when he had to those of high degree
His warm, sincere acknowledgments conveyed,
‘With humble and familiar courtesy’
The youth received all those of lower grade;
Not denser crowds flocked there, nor did each mouth
Thunder forth louder cheers, than if in war
He had conquered all the Orient and the south,
And back returned on his triumphal car.
VI.
Così ne va sino al suo albergo; e siede
In cerchio quivi ai cari amici accanto:
E molto lor risponde, e molto chiede
44 Or della guerra, or del silvestre incanto.
Ma quando ogn’un partendo agio lor diede,
Così gli disse l’Eremita santo:
Ben gran cose, signore, e lungo corso
48 (Mirabil peregrino) errando hai scorso.
VI
Thus marched to his tent the champion good,
And there sat down with all his friends around;
Now of the war he asked, now of the wood,
And answered each demand they list propound;
But when they left him to his ease, up stood
The hermit, and, fit time to speak once found,
“My lord,” he said, “your travels wondrous are,
Far have you strayed, erred, wandered far.
VI
Escorted thus, he to his tent retired,
And ‘mid a group of his dear comrades stood,
And much replied to them, and much enquired,
Now of the war, now of the enchanted wood;
But when they, leaving, gave the occasion, thus
Spoke the saint hermit: ‘Many a wondrous scene
And strange adventures, pilgrim marvellous,
Thou hast in the course of thy long wanderings seen.
VII.
Quanto devi al gran Re che ‘l mondo regge!
Tratto egli t’ha dalle incantate soglie:
Ei te smarrito agnel fra le sue gregge
52 Or riconduce, e nel suo ovile accoglie:
E per la voce del Buglion t’elegge
Secondo esecutor delle sue voglie.
Ma non conviensi già che, ancor profano,
56 Nei suoi gran ministerj armi la mano.
VII
“Much are you bound to God above, who brought
You safe from false Armida’s charmed hold,
And thee a straying sheep whom once he bought
Hath now again reduced to his fold,
And gainst his heathen foes these men of naught
Hath chosen thee in place next Godfrey bold;
Yet mayest thou not, polluted thus with sin,
In his high service war or fight begin.
VII
‘Think what to earth’s Almighty King thou ow’st,
Who brought thee safely from the enchanted hold,
And the strayed lamb, that was so nearly lost,
Led back again, and sheltered in his fold;
And by Prince Godfred’s voice selected thee
As second agent of His sovran will:
But ‘twere not right in His high ministry
Thy hand to arm, profaned, polluted still.
VIII.
Chè sei della caligine del mondo
E della carne tu di modo asperso,
Che ‘l Nilo, o ‘l Gange, o l’Ocean profondo
60 Non ti potrebbe far candido e terso.
Sol la grazia del Ciel quanto hai d’
immondo
Può render puro; al Ciel dunque converso
Riverente perdon richiedi, e spiega
64 Le tue tacite colpe, e piangi e prega.
VIII
“The world, the flesh, with their infection vile
Pollute the thoughts impure, thy spirit stain;
Not Po, not Ganges, not seven-mouthed Nile,
Not the wide seas, can wash thee clean again,
Only to purge all faults which thee defile
His blood hath power who for thy sins was slain:
His help therefore invoke, to him bewray
Thy secret faults, mourn, weep, complain and pray.”
VIII
‘So soiled art thou from earth’s impurity,
And from uncleanness of the flesh, not e’en
The Nile, the Ganges, or the soundless sea,
Sufficient were to make thee pure and clean:
God’s grace alone can cleanse and purify
Man’s unclean state, and wash his sins away;
Turn then to Him, to Him for grace apply,
Thy secret sins confess, and weep and pray.’
IX.
Così gli disse; ed ei prima in se stesso
Pianse i superbi sdegni, e i folli amori:
Poi chinato a’ suoi piè, mesto e dimesso,
68 Tutti scoprigli i giovanili errori.
Il ministro del Ciel, dopo il concesso
Perdono, a lui dicea: co’ novi albóri
Ad orar te n’andrai là su quel monte
72 Che al raggio mattutin volge la fronte.
IX
This said, the knight first with the witch unchaste
His idle loves and follies vain lamented;
Then kneeling low with heavy looks downcast,
His other sins confessed and all repented,
And meekly pardon craved for first and last.
The hermit with his zeal was well contented,
And said, “On yonder hill next morn go pray
That turns his forehead gainst the morning ray.
IX
At this, he first within himself laments,
How he in love and anger had transgressed,
Then sadly, and with deepest penitence,
Low at his feet his juvenile sins confessed;
When, absolution given, Heaven’s servant said:
‘Depart thou must at early dawn and pray,
There on the summit of you mount, whose head
Fronts the fresh splendour of the breaking day.
X.
Quinci al bosco t’invia, dove cotanti
Son fantasmi ingannevoli e bugiardi.
Vincerai (questo so) mostri e giganti;
76 Purch’altro folle error non ti ritardi.
Deh nè voce che dolce o pianga, o canti,
Nè beltà che soave o rida, o guardi,
Con tenere lusinghe il cor ti pieghi:
80 Ma sprezza i finti aspetti, e i finti preghi.
X
“That done, march to the wood, whence each one brings
Such news of furies, goblins, fiends, and sprites,
The giants, monsters, and all dreadful things
Thou shalt subdue, which that dark grove unites:
Let no strange voice that mourns or sweetly sings,
Nor beauty, whose glad smile frail hearts delights,
Within thy breast make ruth or pity rise,
But their false looks and prayers false despise.”
X
‘Then to the dread enchanted forest go,
Which in such numbers phantoms false infest;
Monsters and giants thou’lt o’ercome, I know,
If no new madness thy advance arrest;
Ah, let no voice, how sweet it weep or sing,
Let not seductive smile or eloquent eyes,
Round thy young heart their fascinations fling,
But their false faces and false prayers despise.’
XI.
Così il consiglia; e ‘l Cavalier s’appresta,
Desiando e sperando, all’alta impresa.
Passa pensoso il dì, pensosa e mesta
84 La notte: e pria che in Ciel sia l’alba accesa,
Le belle arme si cinge, e sopravvesta
Nova, ed estrania di color s’ha presa:
E tutto solo, e tacito, e pedone
88 Lascia i compagni, e lascia il padiglione.
XI
Thus he advised him, and the hardy knight
Prepared him gladly to this enterprise,
Thoughtful he passed the day, and sad the night;
And ere the silver morn began to rise,
His arms he took, and in a coat him dight
Of color strange, cut in the warlike guise;
And on his way sole, silent, forth he went
Alone, and left his friends, and left his tent.
XI
As the sage counselled, so prepared the knight,
Eager and hopeful for the high emprise,
And the day passed in thought, in thought the night;
But long before Aurora lit the skies,
He put his gorgeous glittering armour on,
And a new surcoat of strange colours took,
And then on foot, in silence and alone,
His dear companions and his tent forsook.
XII.
Era nella stagion che anco non cede
Libero ogni confin la notte al giorno;
Ma l’Oriente rosseggiar si vede,
92 Ed anco è il Ciel d’alcuna stella adorno;
Quando ei drizzò ver l’Oliveto il piede,
Con gli occhj alzati contemplando intorno
Quinci notturne e quindi mattutine
96 Bellezze incorruttibili e divine.
XII
It was the time when gainst the breaking day
Rebellious night yet strove, and still repined,
For in the east appeared the morning gray
And yet some lamps in Jove’s high palace shined,
When to Mount Olivet he took his way,
And saw, as round about his eyes he twined,
Night’s shadows hence, from thence the morning’s shine,
This bright, that dark; that earthly, this divine.
XII
It was that moment when the unyielding night
Still strove for empire with the crescent morn,
Flushed was the Orient with the dawn’s first light,
And still some stars did heaven’s expanse adorn;
When to Mount Olivet he ‘gan repair,
With eyes raised up, contemplating around
The nightly here, the matin beauty there,
With incorruptible heavenly splendour crowned.
XIII.
Fra se stesso pensava: o quante belle
Luci il tempio celeste in se raguna!
Ha il suo gran carro il dì: l’aurate stelle
100 Spiega la notte, e l’argentata Luna;
Ma non è chi vagheggi o questa o quelle:
E miriam noi torbida luce e bruna,
Ch’un girar d’occhj, un balenar di riso
104 Scopre in breve confin il fragil viso.
XIII
Thus to himself he thought, how many bright
And splendent lamps shine in heaven’s temple high,
Day hath his golden sun, her moon the night,
Her fixed and wandering stars the azure sky,
So framed all by their Creator’s might
That still they live and shine, and ne’er shall die
Till, in a moment, with the last day’s brand
They burn, and with them burn sea, air, and land.
XIII
And inly thought: ‘Oh, what surpassing light
In you celestial temple we behold;
The day possesses his great car, the night
Her moon of silver and her stars of gold:
Yet grovelling man nor that nor these doth prize,
But all his thoughts on that dim gleam bestows,
Which flash of smile and lightning of the eyes
In the scant limits of frail face disclose.’
XIV.
Così pensando, alle più eccelse cime
Ascese; e quivi, inchino e riverente,
Alzò il pensier sovra ogni Ciel sublime
108 E le luci fissò ne l’Oriente:
La prima vita e le mie colpe prime
Mira con occhio di pietà clemente,
Padre e Signor, e in me tua grazia piovi,
112 Sì che ‘l mio vecchio Adam purghi e rinnovi.
XIV
Thus as he mused, to the top he went,
And there kneeled down with reverence and fear,
His eyes upon heaven’s eastern face he bent,
His thoughts above all heavens uplifted were:
“The sins and errors, which I now repent,
Of mine unbridled youth, O Father dear,
Remember not, but let thy mercy fall,
And purge my faults and mine offences all.”
XIV
Thus musing, he to the hill’s summit went,
And there, low bending and with reverence, raised
His thoughts sublime beyond the firmament,
And on the east with fervent rapture gazed.
‘Father and Lord! with eye of clemency
This my first life, these my first errors view;
Shower down, O God, thy favour, and in me
Purge the old Adam, and my heart renew.’
XV.
Così pregava, e gli sorgeva a fronte
Fatta già d’auro la vermiglia aurora
Che l’elmo e l’arme e intorno a lui del monte
116 Le verdi cime illuminando indora;
E ventillar nel petto e ne la fronte
Sentia gli spirti di piacevol’ ora,
Che sovra il capo suo scotea dal grembo
120 De la bell’alba un rugiadoso nembo.
XV
Thus prayed he, with purple wings upflew
In golden weed the morning’s lusty queen,
Begilding with the radiant beams she threw
His helm, his harness, and the mountain green;
Upon his breast and forehead gently blew
The air, that balm and nardus breathed unseen,
And o’er his head let down from clearest skies
A cloud of pure and precious clew there flies.
XV
The vermeil dawn, as thus Rinaldo prayed,
Now living gold become, arose in front;
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