Jerusalem Delivered
Page 287
872 Un suo sospir con que’ di lei confuse.
CIX
“Receive my yielding spirit, and with thine
Guide it to heaven, where all true love hath place:”
This said, she sighed, and tore her tresses fine,
And from her eyes two streams poured on his face,
The man revived, with those showers divine
Awaked, and opened his lips a space;
His lips were open; but fast shut his eyes,
And with her sighs, one sigh from him upflies.
CIX
‘Receive my fluttering soul, which is resolved
To follow thine; and ah, direct it where
Thou goest!’ Thus spoke, and thro’ her eyes dissolved,
So that a river seemed the weeping fair.
Bathed by her quickening tears, the knight came to,
And oped his lips, tho’ still were closed his eyes;
He oped his lips and breathed, as in adieu,
One sob, responsive to the maiden’s sighs.
CX.
Sente la donna il cavalier che geme;
E forza è pur che si conforti alquanto.
Apri gli occhj, Tancredi, a queste estreme
876 Esequie, grida, ch’io ti fo col pianto.
Riguarda me, chè vuò venirne insieme
La lunga strada, e vuò morirti accanto.
Riguarda me: non ten fuggir sì presto.
880 L’ultimo don ch’io ti dimando è questo.
CX
The dame perceived that Tancred breathed and sighed,
Which calmed her grief somedeal and eased her fears:
“Unclose thine eyes,” she says, “my lord and knight,
See my last services, my plaints and tears,
See her that dies to see thy woful plight,
That of thy pain her part and portion bears;
Once look on me, small is the gift I crave,
The last which thou canst give, or I can have.”
CX
A gleam of hope, as thus the warrior sighed,
Erminia’s bosom for a moment cheers;
‘Ah, ope thine eyes for these last rites,’ she cried,
‘Which I perform, Tancredi, with my tears.
Look at me well, for I would near thee die;
Death in thy company indeed were bliss.
Look at me well, nor ah, so fleetly fly:
The dying favour I demand is this.’
CXI.
Apre Tancredi gli occhj, e poi gli abbassa
Torbidi e gravi: ed ella pur si lagna.
Dice Vafrino a lei: questi non passa;
884 Curisi adunque prima, e poi si piagna.
Egli il disarma: ella tremante e lassa
Porge la mano all’opere compagna.
Mira, e tratta le piaghe, e di ferute
888 Giudice esperta, spera indi salute.
CXI
Tancred looked up, and closed his eyes again,
Heavy and dim, and she renewed her woe.
Quoth Vafrine, “Cure him first, and then complain,
Medicine is life’s chief friend; plaint her most foe:”
They plucked his armor off, and she each vein,
Each joint, and sinew felt, and handled so,
And searched so well each thrust, each cut and wound,
That hope of life her love and skill soon found.
CXI
His eyes Tancredi oped, and heavily
Closed them again; again her cries found vent,
When the squire said: ‘Not yet extinct is he;
Cure him then first, and afterwards lament’
Then stripped him of his arms; with delicate touch
Her trembling fingers their assistance add;
His wounds she examined, and, being skilled in such,
Thence certain hope of his recovery had.
CXII.
Vede che ‘l mal dalla stanchezza nasce,
E dagli umori in troppa copia sparti.
Ma non ha, fuor che un velo, onde gli fasce
892 Le sue ferite in sì solinghe parti.
Amor le trova inusitate fasce,
E di pietà le insegna insolite arti:
Le asciugò con le chiome, e rilegolle
896 Pur con le chiome che troncarsi volle;
CXII
From weariness and loss of blood she spied
His greatest pains and anguish most proceed,
Naught but her veil amid those deserts wide
She had to bind his wounds, in so great need,
But love could other bands, though strange, provide,
And pity wept for joy to see that deed,
For with her amber locks cut off, each wound
She tied: O happy man, so cured so bound!
CXII
She saw from weakness that his ill arose,
From loss of blood, in too great plenty shed;
Nor had about her but a veil to close
His wounds, in parts so uninhabited.
But her new-fashioned bandages Love found,
And taught new arts of pity; where he bled
She with her tresses staunched the blood, and bound
His wounds with locks dissevered from her head.
CXIII.
Perocchè ‘l velo suo bastar non puote,
Breve e sottile, alle sì spesse piaghe.
Dittamo e croco non avea; ma note
900 Per uso tal sapea potenti e maghe.
Già il mortifero sonno ei da se scuote:
Già può le luci alzar mobili e vaghe.
Vede il suo servo, e la pietosa donna
904 Sopra si mira in peregrina gonna.
CXIII
For why her veil was short and thin, those deep
And cruel hurts to fasten, roll and blind,
Nor salve nor simple had she, yet to keep
Her knight on live, strong charms of wondrous kind
She said, and from him drove that deadly sleep,
That now his eyes he lifted, turned and twined,
And saw his squire, and saw that courteous dame
In habit strange, and wondered whence she came.
CXIII
And tho’ her scant and delicate veil did not
Suffice to bind his numerous wounds, nor grew
Or dittany or saffron in that spot,
Still many a charm she for such purpose knew;
So that he shook off, thro’ her witching aid,
His death-like sleep, and raised his vacant eyes;
He saw his squire and the compassionate maid
Impending o’er him, robed in pilgrim guise.
CXIV.
Chiede: o Vafrin, quì come giungi, e quando?
E tu chi sei, medica mia pietosa?
Ella fra lieta e dubbia, sospirando,
908 Tinse il bel volto di color di rosa.
Saprai, rispose, il tutto: or (te ‘l comando,
Come medica tua) taci, e riposa.
Salute avrai: prepara il guiderdone.
912 Ed al suo capo il grembo indi soppone.
CXIV
He said, “O Vafrine, tell me, whence com’st thou?
And who this gentle surgeon is, disclose;”
She smiled, she sighed, she looked she wist not how,
She wept, rejoiced, she blushed as red as rose.
“You shall know all,” she says, “your surgeon now
Commands you silence, rest and soft repose,
You shall be sound, prepare my guerdon meet,”
His head then laid she in her bosom sweet.
CXIV
‘How com’st thou here, and whence, Vafrin?’ he cried; ‘
And who, my kind compassionate nurse, art thou?’
‘Twixt doubt and happiness, Erminia sighed,
While mantling blushes dyed her lovely brow.
‘All in good time thou’lt know,’ replied the fair;
‘Silence meanwhile thy nu
rse prescribes, and rest;
Thou shalt be healed — the recompense prepare.’
His drooping head then pillowed on her breast
CXV.
Pensa intanto Vafrin come all’ostello
Agiato il porti anzi più fosca sera:
Ed ecco di guerrier giunge un drappello.
916 Conosce ei ben che di Tancredi è schiera.
Quando affrontò il Circasso, e per appello
Di battaglia chiamollo, insieme egli era.
Non seguì lui, perch’ei non volle allora,
920 Poi dubbioso il cercò della dimora.
CXV
Vafrine devised this while how he might bear
His master home, ere night obscured the land,
When lo, a troop of soldiers did appear,
Whom he descried to be Tancredi’s band,
With him when he and Argant met they were;
But when they went to combat hand for hand,
He bade them stay behind, and they obeyed,
But came to seek him now, so long he stayed.
CXV
Vafrino pondered how ‘twere best to bear
Him to his tent ere the evening darker grew,
When, lo! arrived a troop of horsemen there,
That were Tancredi’s followers, he knew.
With him they were when he Arganté met,
And to appeal of arms defied him. They
Then followed not, for that he would not let,
But sought him now, alarmed at his delay.
CXVI.
Seguian molti altri la medesma inchiesta;
Ma ritrovarlo avvien che lor succeda.
Delle stesse lor braccia essi han contesta
924 Quasi una sede, ov’ei s’appoggi, e sieda.
Disse Tancredi allora: adunque resta
Il valoroso Argante ai corvi in preda?
Ah per Dio non si lasci, e non si frodi
928 O della sepoltura, o delle lodi.
CXVI
Besides them, many followed that enquest,
But these alone found out the rightest way,
Upon their friendly arms the men addressed
A seat whereon he sat, he leaned, he lay:
Quoth Tancred, “Shall the strong Circassian rest
In this broad field, for wolves and crows a prey?
Ah no, defraud not you that champion brave
Of his just praise, of his due tomb and grave:
CXVI
Many besides had the same search pursued,
But these alone, it happed, the mark had hit;
And with their arms now wove a seat, tho’ rude,
Propped up on which, the wounded knight could sit
Then seeing they left Arganté, Tancred said:
‘What! to the crows my doughty rival doom?
For God’s sake leave not thus the valorous dead,
Or him defraud of glory and a tomb!
CXVII.
Nessuna a me, col busto esangue e muto,
Riman più guerra; egli morì qual forte:
Onde a ragion gli è quell’onor dovuto,
932 Che solo in terra avanzo è della morte.
Così, da molti ricevendo ajuto,
Fa che ‘l nemico suo dietro si porte.
Vafrino al fianco di colei si pose,
936 Siccome uom suole alle guardate cose.
CXVII
“With his dead bones no longer war have I,
Boldly he died and nobly was he slain,
Then let us not that honor him deny
Which after death alonely doth remain:”
The Pagan dead they lifted up on high,
And after Tancred bore him through the plain.
Close by the virgin chaste did Vafrine ride,
As he that was her squire, her guard, her guide.
CXVII
‘No strife have I with you mute mass of clay;
He died as die the brave, whence, comrades, you
Should to his corpse those fitting honours pay,
The only ones that after death are due.’
Then, with the assistance that his troop supplied,
He made them his illustrious foeman bring.
Vafrino kept at fair Erminia’s side,
Like one who guards a closely-guarded thing.
CXVIII.
Soggiunse il Prence: alla Città regale,
Non alle tende mie vuò che si vada;
Chè s’umano accidente a questa frale
940 Vita sovrasta, è ben ch’ivi m’accada.
Chè ‘l loco ove morì l’uomo immortale,
Può forse al Cielo agevolar la strada:
E sarà pago un mio pensier devoto
944 D’aver peregrinato al fin del voto.
CXVIII
“Not home,” quoth Tancred, “to my wonted tent,
But bear me to this royal town, I pray,
That if cut short by human accident
I die, there I may see my latest day,
The place where Christ upon his cross was rent
To heaven perchance may easier make the way,
And ere I yield to Death’s and Fortune’s rage,
Performed shall be my vow and pilgrimage.”
CXVIII
The prince then added: ‘Not unto my tent,
But to Jerusalem, my body bear;
For, if frail life succumb to accident
Of mortal kind, I would it happened there;
As there it was the Man Immortal died,
There easier were the road to heaven, and now
Were my one pious purpose satisfied,
To have performed, tho’ ev’n in death, my vow.
CXIX.
Disse; e colà portato egli fu posto
Sovra le piume, e ‘l prese un sonno cheto.
Vafrino alla donzella, e non discosto,
948 Ritrova albergo assai chiuso e secreto.
Quinci s’invia, dov’è Goffredo: e tosto
Entra, chè non gli è fatto alcun divieto:
Sebben allor della futura impresa
952 In bilance i consiglj appende, e pesa.
CXIX
Thus to the city was Tancredi borne,
And fell on sleep, laid on a bed of down.
Vafrino where the damsel might sojourn
A chamber got, close, secret, near his own;
That done he came the mighty duke beforn,
And entrance found, for till his news were known,
Naught was concluded mongst those knights and lords,
Their counsel hung on his report and words.
CXIX
He said, and thither carried was, and laid
On a soft couch: then sank in calm repose.
A lone secluded dwelling for the maid,
And not far distant off, Vafrino chose:
Then to seek audience of Prince Godfred went,
And entered in, there being no hindrance made,
Tho’ at the time on future plans intent,
He in a balance many a counsel weighed.
CXX.
Del letto, ove la stanca egra persona
Posa Raimondo, il Duce è sulla sponda:
E d’ogn’intorno nobile corona
956 De’ più potenti e più saggj il circonda.
Or, mentre lo scudiero a lui ragiona,
Non v’è chi d’altro chieda, o chi risponda.
Signor, dicea, come imponesti andai
960 Tra gl’infedeli, e ‘l campo lor cercai.
CXX
Where weak and weary wounded Raymond laid,
Godfrey was set upon his couch’s side,
And round about the man a ring was made
Of lords and knights that filled the chamber wide;
There while the squire his late discovery said,
To break his talk, none answered, none replied,
“My lord,” he said, “at your command I went
And viewed their camp, each cabin, b
ooth and tent;
CXX
At the bedside where his enfeebled frame,
Raymond reposed, the pious captain sat,
And there his counsellors of greatest fame
Around him formed a noble coronet
Now, while to him his speech addressed the squire,
Of other things none questioned or replied:
‘ I went according to thy orders, sire,
And have the infidel encampment spied.
CXXI.
Ma non aspettar già che di quell’oste
L’innumerabil numero ti conti.
I’ vidi che, al passar, le valli ascoste
964 Sotto e’ teneva e i piani tutti e i monti.
Vidi che dove giunga, ove s’accoste,
Spoglia la terra, e secca i fiumi e i fonti:
Perchè non bastan l’acque alla lor sete:
968 E poco è lor ciò che la Siria miete.
CXXI
“But of that mighty host the number true
Expect not that I can or should descry,
All covered with their armies might you view
The fields, the plains, the dales and mountains high,
I saw what way soe’er they went and drew,
They spoiled the land, drunk floods and fountains dry,
For not whole Jordan could have given them drink,
Nor all the grain in Syria, bread, I think.
CXXI
‘ But think not I am able to recount
The unnumbered numbers of that motley host.
All trace of plain, of valley, and of mount
Was in the passing of their legions lost;
Where came, or ev’n approached, their hordes accurst,
Bare grew the earth, the founts and rivers dry:
Not all Judaea’s waters could their thirst,
Their hunger not her harvests satisfy.
CXXII.
Ma sì de’ cavalier, sì de’ pedoni
Sono in gran parte inutili le schiere:
Gente che non intende ordini o suoni,
972 Nè stringe ferro, e di lontan sol fere.
Ben ve ne sono alquanti eletti e buoni
Che seguite di Persia han le bandiere.
E forse squadra anco migliore è quella
976 Che la squadra immortal del Re s’appella.
CXXII
“But yet amongst them many bands are found
Both horse and foot, of little force and might,
That keep no order, know no trumpet’s sound,
That draw no sword, but far off shoot and fight,