Jerusalem Delivered
Page 276
With iron tipt, were launched against the walls.
LXIX.
Par fulmine ogni sasso, e così trita
L’armatura e le membra a chi n’è colto,
Che gli toglie non pur l’alma e la vita,
548 Ma la forma del corpo anco e del volto.
Non si ferma la lancia alla ferita:
Dopo il colpo del corso avanza molto:
Entra da un lato, e fuor per l’altro passa
552 Fuggendo, e nel fuggir la morte lassa.
LXIX
A thunderbolt seemed every stone, it brake
His limbs and armors on whom so it light,
That life and soul it did not only take
But all his shape and face disfigured quite;
The lances stayed not in the wounds they make,
But through the gored body took their flight,
From side to side, through flesh, through skin and rind
They flew, and flying, left sad death behind.
LXIX
A rattling thunderbolt seemed every stone,
And so crashed limbs and armour where it fell,
As to annihilate not life alone,
But shape of body and of face as well
Nor paused the missiles in their bloody route
At the impact, but passed with unslaked might
In at one side and through the other out,
Bequeathing death in their remorseless flight.
LXX.
Ma non togliea però dalla difesa
Tanto furor le Saracine genti.
Contra quelle percosse avean già tesa
556 Pieghevol tela, e cose altre cedenti.
L’impeto, che in lor cade, ivi contesa
Non trova, e vien che vi si fiacchi e lenti:
Essi, ove miran più la calca esposta,
560 Fan con l’arme volanti aspra risposta.
LXX
But yet not all this force and fury drove
The Pagan people to forsake the wall,
But to revenge these deadly blows they strove,
With darts that fly, with stones and trees that fall;
For need so cowards oft courageous prove,
For liberty they fight, for life and all,
And oft with arrows, shafts, and stones that fly,
Give bitter answer to a sharp reply.
LXX
Still that fierce onslaught did not drive away
From their defence the Saracens; each brings
Against the rams that on the ramparts play
Elastic stuffs, and other yielding things.
Whence finding no resistance as they closed,
The furious strokes grew fainter and more slack;
While they, where’er the Franks were most exposed,
With flying arms sent bitter answer back.
LXXI.
Con tutto ciò d’andarne oltre non cessa
L’assalitor, che tripartito move.
E chi va sotto gatti, ove la spessa
564 Gragnuola di saette indarno piove:
E chi le torri all’alto muro appressa,
Che loro a suo poter da se rimove;
Tenta ogni torre omai lanciare il ponte,
568 Cozza il monton con la ferrata fronte.
LXXI
This while the fierce assailants never cease,
But sternly still maintain a threefold charge,
And gainst the clouds of shafts draw nigh at ease,
Under a pentise made of many a targe,
The armed towers close to the bulwarks press,
And strive to grapple with the battled marge,
And launch their bridges out, meanwhile below
With iron fronts the rams the walls down throw.
LXXI
But all their efforts ineffectual were
The three assaulting columns to restrain,
Which keep advancing under mantlets, where
Fell down the densest showers of shafts in vain;
Some bring the towers close to the rampart’s ridge,
And them the Turks with all their might shove back:
Each turret now attempts to launch its bridge;
Ram-like, the iron-headed rams attack.
LXXII.
Rinaldo intanto irresoluto bada,
Chè quel rischio di lui degno non era.
E stima onor plebeo, quando egli vada
572 Per le comuni vie col volgo in schiera.
E volge intorno gli occhj, e quella strada
Sol gli piace tentar ch’altri dispera.
Là dove il muro più munito ed alto
576 In pace stassi, ei vuol portar l’assalto.
LXXII
Yet still Rinaldo unresolved went,
And far unworthy him this service thought,
If mongst the common sort his pains he spent;
Renown so got the prince esteemed naught:
His angry looks on every side he bent,
And where most harm, most danger was, he fought,
And where the wall high, strong and surest was,
That part would he assault, and that way pass.
LXXII
Meanwhile Rinaldo paused, irresolute,
Deeming such risks unworthy of his fame,
And that it would detract from his repute
To advance with crowds, and by a path the same:
Whence, looking round him, he resolved to try
Alone that way that made the rest despair,
Determined where the ramparts are most high,
And most defended, his assault to bear.
LXXIII.
E volgendosi a quegli, i quai già furo
Guidati da Dudon guerrier famosi:
O vergogna, dicea, che là quel muro
580 Fra cotante arme in pace or si riposi.
Ogni rischio al valor sempre è sicuro:
Tutte le vie son piane agli animosi.
Moviam la guerra, e contra ai colpi crudi
584 Facciam densa testuggine di scudi.
LXXIII
And turning to the worthies him behind,
All hardy knights, whom Dudon late did guide,
“Oh shame,” quoth he, “this wall no war doth find,
When battered is elsewhere each part, each side;
All pain is safety to a valiant mind,
Each way is eath to him that dares abide,
Come let us scale this wall, though strong and high,
And with your shields keep off the darts that fly.”
LXXIII
And turning round to those famed warriors, who
Were formerly by Prince Dudoné led:
‘Shame, shame! amid such feats of arms, that you
Let yonder wall abide in peace,’ he said.
‘To the courageous every path is plain,
And every danger to true valour yields;
Let us then on, and ‘gainst their arrowy rain
A tortoise form with our united shields.’
LXXIV.
Giunsersi tutti seco a questo detto:
Tutti gli scudi alzar sovra la testa:
E gli uniron così, che ferreo tetto
588 Facean contra l’orribile tempesta.
Sotto il coperchio il fero stuol ristretto
Va di gran corso, e nulla il corso arresta:
Chè la soda testuggine sostiene
592 Ciò che di ruinoso in giù ne viene.
LXXIV
With him united all while thus he spake,
Their targets hard above their heads they threw,
Which joined in one an iron pentise make
That from the dreadful storm preserved the crew.
Defended thus their speedy course they take,
And to the wall without resistance drew,
For that strong penticle protected well
The knights, from all that flew and all that fell.
LXXIV
At once all joined him at that sharp reproof,
And raised their shields above their heads, to form,
By thus conjoining them, an iron roof
Against the pelting of that horrid storm.
Sheltered beneath it, the impetuous band
Dashed on, and nothing could arrest their course,
Since the testudo’s solid roof sustained
All that fell down with weightiest deadliest force.
LXXV.
Son già sotto le mura; allor Rinaldo
Scala drizzò di cento gradi e cento:
E lei con braccio maneggiò sì saldo,
596 Ch’agile è men picciola canna al vento.
Or lancia o trave, or gran colonna o spaldo
D’alto discende: ei non va su più lento;
Ma intrepido ed invitto ad ogni scossa,
600 Sprezzeria, se cadesse, Olimpo ed Ossa.
LXXV
Against the fort Rinaldo gan uprear
A ladder huge, an hundred steps of height,
And in his arm the same did easily bear
And move as winds do reeds or rushes light,
Sometimes a tree, a rock, a dart or spear,
Fell from above, yet forward clomb the knight,
And upward fearless pierced, careless still,
Though Mount Olympus fell, or Ossa hill:
LXXV
Beneath the walls they are. Rinaldo now
Rears a huge ladder, formed of many a rung;
Wind moves less easily an aspen bough,
Than his strong arm the unwieldy burden swung.
Now bolts, beams, columns, bastions, plunge below,
But vainly are to check his progress thrown;
Fearless, unmoved, he had persisted, tho’
Olympus, joined with Ossa, had fallen down.
LXXVI.
Una selva di strali e di ruine
Sostien sul dosso, e sullo scudo un monte.
Scuote una man le mura a se vicine,
604 L’altra, sospesa, in guardia è della fronte.
L’esempio all’opre ardite e peregrine
Spinge i compagni: ei non è sol che monte:
Chè molti appoggian seco eccelse scale,
608 Ma ‘l valore e la sorte è disuguale.
LXXVI
A mount of ruins, and of shafts a wood
Upon his shoulders and his shield he bore,
One hand the ladder held whereon he stood,
The other bare his targe his face before;
His hardy troop, by his example good
Provoked, with him the place assaulted sore,
And ladders long against the wall they clap,
Unlike in courage yet, unlike in hap:
LXXVI
Upon his shield a mount in ruins breaks;
With groves of shafts his shoulders are o’erspread;
With one hand he the adjacent rampart shakes,
And lifts the other to protect his head.
His bold example his companions fires
To daring deeds; nor doth he mount alone:
To scale the walls each gallant Frank aspires,
But not on all the same good fortune shone.
LXXVII.
More alcuno, altri cade; egli sublime
Poggia, e questi conforta, e quei minaccia.
Tanto è già in su, che le merlate cime
612 Puote afferrar con le distese braccia.
Gran gente allor vi trae, l’urta, il reprime,
Cerca precipitarlo, e pur nol caccia.
(Mirabil vista!) a un grande e fermo stuolo
616 Resister può, sospeso in aria, un solo.
LXXVII
One died, another fell; he forward went,
And these he comforts, and he threateneth those,
Now with his hand outstretched the battlement
Well-nigh he reached, when all his armed foes
Ran thither, and their force and fury bent
To throw him headlong down, yet up he goes,
A wondrous thing, one knight whole armed bands
Alone, and hanging in the air, withstands:
LXXVII
Some die — some fall: sublime Rinaldo fights,
Cheers on his own, and flouts the adverse bands,
And mounts so high, that the embattled heights
He grasps already with extended hands.
Great numbers now push, press, repress, and try
To hurl — but can’t — the hero from his post.
Strange sight! a single being to descry,
Pendent in air, resist a compact host!
LXXVIII.
E resiste, e s’avanza, e si rinforza:
E come palma suol, cui pondo aggreva,
Suo valor combattuto ha maggior forza,
620 E nella oppression più si solleva.
E vince alfin tutti i nemici, e sforza
L’aste e gl’intoppi che d’incontro aveva:
E sale il muro, e ‘l signoreggia, e ‘l rende
624 Sgombro e sicuro a chi diretro ascende.
LXXVIII
Withstands, and forceth his great strength so far,
That like a palm whereon huge weight doth rest,
His forces so resisted stronger are,
His virtues higher rise the more oppressed,
Till all that would his entrance bold debar,
He backward drove, upleaped and possessed
The wall, and safe and easy with his blade,
To all that after came, the passage made.
LXXVIII
Resist, advance, make good his ground doth he;
The combat seemed his youthful blood to fire;
Like palm borne down by weights, his gallantry
But mounted up, from being depressed, the higher.
At length he vanquished all his foes, and burst
Thro’ every obstacle, and on the rim
Sprang of the wall, and mastered it the first,
And made it safe for those that followed him.
LXXIX.
Ed egli stesso all’ultimo germano
Del pio Buglion, ch’è di cadere in forse,
Stesa la vincitrice amica mano,
628 Di salirne secondo aita porse.
Frattanto erano altrove al Capitano
Varie fortune e perigliose occorse:
Ch’ivi non pur fra gli uomini si pugna;
632 Ma le machine insieme anco fan pugna.
LXXIX
There killing such as durst and did withstand,
To noble Eustace that was like to fall
He reached forth his friendly conquering hand,
And next himself helped him to mount the wall.
This while Godfredo and his people land
Their lives to greater harms and dangers thrall,
For there not man with man, nor knight with knight
Contend, but engines there with engines fight.
LXXIX
And he himself, with scarcely room to stand,
To Godfred’s brother, who seemed like to fall,
Stretched out his friendly and victorious hand,
And helped him second to ascend the wall.
Meanwhile to Godfred had occurred elsewhere
Fortunes diverse, with varied perils fraught;
Since not alone with man, man battled there,
But ev’n the engines with each other fought.
LXXX.
Sul muro aveano i Siri un tronco alzato
Ch’antenna un tempo esser solea di nave:
E sovra lui col capo aspro e ferrato,
636 Per traverso, sospesa è grossa trave:
È indietro quel da canapi tirato,
Poi torna innanzi impetuoso e grave:
Talor rientra nel suo guscio, ed ora
640 La testuggin rimanda il collo fuora.
LXXX
For in that place the Paynims reared a post,
Which late had served some gallant ship for mast,
And over it
another beam they crossed,
Pointed with iron sharp, to it made fast
With ropes which as men would the dormant tossed,
Now out, now in, now back, now forward cast.
In his swift pulleys oft the men withdrew
The tree, and oft the riding-balk forth threw:
LXXX
Upon the walls the Turks a trunk had slung,
That had the mast of some great vessel been,
To which, transversely, a huge beam was swung,
With iron shod: this terrible machine,
Being first drawn back by ropes, then forward fell,
Heavy and hard, in its resistless route;
At times the tortoise entered in its shell,
At times, with neck extended, darted out.
LXXXI.
Urtò la trave immensa, e così dure
Nella torre addoppiò le sue percosse;
Che le ben teste in lei salde giunture
644 Lentando aperse, e la rispinse, e scosse.
La torre a quel bisogno armi sicure
Avea già in punto, e due gran falci mosse,
Che, avventate con arte incontra al legno,
648 Quelle funi troncar ch’eran sostegno.
LXXXI
The mighty beam redoubted oft his blows,
And with such force the engine smote and hit,
That her broad side the tower wide open throws,
Her joints were broke, her rafters cleft and split;
But yet gainst every hap whence mischief grows,
Prepared the piece, gainst such extremes made fit,
Launch forth two scythes, sharp, cutting, long and broad
And cut the ropes whereon the engine rode:
LXXXI
Upon the tower outleaped the monster beam,
And ‘gan such fierce, such terrible attack,
That each well-woven, strongly knitted seam,
It caused to gape, and forced the turret back.
Prepared, however, for such risks it stood,
Nor failed with two great sickles to retort;
Which, launched forth skilfully against the wood,
The cordage cut that formed its sole support.
LXXXII.
Qual gran sasso talor, che o la vecchiezza
Solve d’un monte, o svelle ira de’ venti,
Ruinoso dirupa: e porta, e spezza
652 Le selve, e con le case anco gli armenti;
Tal giù traea dalla sublime altezza
L’orribil trave e merli, ed arme, e genti.