Jersusalem Delivered

by Torquato Tasso

  My heart their noble lives far worthier deems,

  If this attempt of less importance were,

  Or weaker posts so great a weight could bear.

  "But for well-guarded is the mighty tower

  With hardy troops and squadrons round about,

  And cannot harméd be with little power,

  Nor fit the time to send whole armies out,

  This pair who passed have many a dreadful stowre,

  And proffer now to prove this venture stout,

  Alone to this attempt let them go forth,

  Alone than thousands of more price and worth.

  "Thou, as it best beseems a mighty king,

  With ready bands besides the gate attend,

  That when this couple have performed the thing,

  And shall again their footsteps homeward bend,

  From their strong foes upon them following

  Thou may'st them keep, preserve, save and defend:"

  Thus said the king, "The Soldan must consent,"

  Silent remained the Turk, and discontent.

  Then Ismen said, "You twain that undertake

  This hard attempt, awhile I pray you stay,

  Till I a wildfire of fine temper make,

  That this great engine burn to ashes may;

  Haply the guard that now doth watch and wake,

  Will then lie tumbled sleeping on the lay;"

  Thus they conclude, and in their chambers sit,

  To wait the time for this adventure fit.

  Clorinda there her silver arms off rent,

  Her helm, her shield, her hauberk shining bright,

  An armor black as jet or coal she hent,

  Wherein withouten plume herself she dight;

  For thus disguised amid her foes she meant

  To pass unseen, by help of friendly night,

  To whom her eunuch, old Arsetes, came,

  That from her cradle nursed and kept the dame.

  This agéd sire had followed far and near,

  Through lands and seas, the strong and hardy maid,

  He saw her leave her arms and wonted gear,

  Her danger nigh that sudden change foresaid:

  By his white locks from black that changéd were

  In following her, the woful man her prayed,

  By all his service and his taken pain,

  To leave that fond attempt, but prayed in vain.

  "At last," quoth he, "since hardened to thine ill,

  Thy cruel heart is to thy loss prepared,

  That my weak age, nor tears that down distil,

  Not humble suit, nor plaint, thou list regard;

  Attend awhile, strange things unfold I will,

  Hear both thy birth and high estate declared;

  Follow my counsel, or thy will that done,"

  She sat to hear, the eunuch thus begun:

  "Senapus ruled, and yet perchance doth reign

  In mighty Ethiop, and her deserts waste,

  The lore of Christ both he and all his train

  Of people black, hath kept and long embraced,

  To him a Pagan was I sold for gain,

  And with his queen, as her chief eunuch, placed;

  Black was this queen as jet, yet on her eyes

  Sweet loveliness, in black attiréd, lies.

  "The fire of love and frost of jealousy,

  Her husband's troubled soul alike torment,

  The tide of fond suspicion flowéd high,

  The foe to love and plague to sweet content,

  He mewed her up from sight of mortal eye,

  Nor day he would his beams on her had bent:

  She, wise and lowly, by her husband's pleasure,

  Her joy, her peace, her will, her wish did measure.

  "Her prison was a chamber, painted round

  With goodly portraits and with stories old,

  As white as snow there stood a virgin bound,

  Besides a dragon fierce, a champion bold

  The monster did with poignant spear through wound,

  The goréd beast lay dead upon the mould;

  The gentle queen before this image laid,

  She plained, she mourned, she wept, she sighed, she prayed:

  "At last with child she proved, and forth she brought,

  And thou art she, a daughter fair and bright,

  In her thy color white new terror wrought,

  She wondered on thy face with strange affright,

  But yet she purposed in her fearful thought

  To hide thee from the king, thy father's sight,

  Lest thy bright hue should his suspect approve,

  For seld a crow begets a silver dove.

  "And to her spouse to show she was disposed

  A negro's babe late born, in room of thee,

  And for the tower wherein she lay enclosed,

  Was with her damsels only wond and me,

  To me, on whose true faith she most reposed,

  She gave thee, ere thou couldest christened be,

  Nor could I since find means thee to baptize,

  In Pagan lands thou knowest it's not the guise.

  "To me she gave thee, and she wept withal,

  To foster thee in some far distant place.

  Who can her griefs and plaints to reckoning call,

  How oft she swoonéd at the last embrace:

  Her streaming tears amid her kisses fall,

  Her sighs, her dire complaints did interlace?

  And looking up at last, 'O God,' quoth she,

  'Who dost my heart and inward mourning see,

  "'If mind and body spotless to this day,

  If I have kept my bed still undefiled,

  Not for myself a sinful wretch I pray,

  That in thy presence am an abject vilde,

  Preserve this babe, whose mother must denay

  To nourish it, preserve this harmless child,

  Oh let it live, and chaste like me it make,

  But for good fortune elsewhere sample take.

  "'Thou heavenly soldier which delivered hast

  That sacred virgin from the serpent old,

  If on thine altars I have offerings placed,

  And sacrificed myrrh, frankincense and gold,

  On this poor child thy heavenly looks down cast,

  With gracious eye this silly babe behold;'

  This said, her strength and living sprite was fled,

  She sighed, she groaned, she swoonéd in her bed.

  "Weeping I took thee, in a little chest,

  Covered with herbs and leaves, I brought thee out

  So secretly, that none of all the rest

  Of such an act suspicion had or doubt,

  To wilderness my steps I first addressed,

  Where horrid shades enclosed me round about,

  A tigress there I met, in whose fierce eyes

  Fury and wrath, rage, death and :

  "Up to a tree I leaped, and on the grass,

  Such was my sudden fear, I left thee lying,

  To thee the beast with furious course did pass,

  With curious looks upon thy visage prying,

  All suddenly both meek and mild she was,

  With friendly cheer thy tender body eying:

  At last she licked thee, and with gesture mild

  About thee played, and thou upon her smiled.

  "Her fearful muzzle full of dreadful threat,

  In thy weak hand thou took'st withouten dread;

  The gentle beast with milk-outstretchéd teat,

  As nurses' custom, proffered thee to feed.

  As one that wondereth on some marvel great,

  I stood this while amazéd at the deed.

  When thee she saw well filled and satisfied,

  Unto the woods again the tigress hied.

  "She gone, down from the tree I came in haste,

  And took thee up, and on my journey wend,

  Within a little thorp I stayed at last,

 
And to a nurse the charge of thee commend,

  And sporting with thee there long time I passed,

  Till term of sixteen months were brought to end,

  And thou begun, as little children do,

  With half clipped words to prattle, and to go.

  "But having passed the August of mine age,

  When more than half my tap of life was run,

  Rich by rewards given by your mother sage,

  For merits past, and service yet undone,

  I longed to leave this wandering pilgrimage,

  And in my native soil again to won,

  To get some seely home I had desire,

  Loth still to warm me at another's fire.

  "To Egypt-ward, where I was born, I went,

  And bore thee with me, by a rolling flood,

  Till I with savage thieves well-nigh was hent;

  Before the brook, the thieves behind me stood:

  Thee to forsake I never could consent,

  And gladly would I 'scape those outlaws wood,

  Into the flood I leaped far from the brim,

  My left hand bore thee, with the right I swim.

  "Swift was the current, in the middle stream

  A whirlpool gapéd with devouring jaws,

  The gulf, on such mishap ere I could dream,

  Into his deep abyss my carcass draws,

  There I forsook thee, the wild waters seem

  To pity thee, a gentle wind there blows

  Whose friendly puffs safe to the shore thee drive,

  Where wet and weary I at last arrive:

  "I took thee up, and in my dream that night,

  When buried was the world in sleep and shade,

  I saw a champion clad in armor bright

  That o'er my head shakéd a flaming blade,

  He said, 'I charge thee execute aright,

  That charge this infant's mother on thee laid,

  Baptize the child, high Heaven esteems her dear,

  And I her keeper will attend her near:

  "'I will her keep, defend, save and protect,

  I made the waters mild, the tigress tame,

  O wretch that heavenly warnings dost reject!'

  The warrior vanished having said the same.

  I rose and journeyed on my way direct

  When blushing morn from Tithon's bed forth came,

  But for my faith is true and sure I ween,

  And dreams are false, you still unchristened been.

  "A Pagan therefore thee I fostered have,

  Nor of thy birth the truth did ever tell,

  Since you increaséd are in courage brave,

  Your sex and nature's-self you both excel,

  Full many a realm have you made bond and slave,

  Your fortunes last yourself remember well,

  And how in peace and war, in joy and teen,

  I have your servant, and your tutor been.

  "Last morn, from skies ere stars exiléd were,

  In deep and deathlike sleep my senses drowned,

  The self-same vision did again appear,

  With stormy wrathful looks, and thundering sound,

  'Villain,' quoth he, 'within short while thy dear

  Must change her life, and leave this sinful ground,

  Thine be the loss, the torment, and the care,'

  This said, he fled through skies, through clouds and air.

  "Hear then my joy, my hope, my darling, hear,

  High Heaven some dire misfortune threatened hath,

  Displeased pardie, because I did thee lere

  A lore repugnant to thy parents' faith;

  Ah, for my sake, this bold attempt forbear;

  Put off these sable arms, appease thy wrath."

  This said, he wept, she pensive stood and sad,

  Because like dream herself but lately had.

  With cheerful smile she answered him at last,

  "I will this faith observe, it seems me true,

  Which from my cradle age thou taught me hast;

  I will not change it for religion new,

  Nor with vain shows of fear and dread aghast

  This enterprise forbear I to pursue,

  No, not if death in his most dreadful face

  Wherewith he scareth mankind, kept the place."

  Approachen gan the time, while thus she spake,

  Wherein they ought that dreadful hazard try;

  She to Argantes went, who should partake

  Of her renown and praise, or with her die.

  Ismen with words more hasty still did make

  Their virtue great, which by itself did fly,

  Two balls he gave them made of hollow brass,

  Wherein enclosed fire, pitch, and brimstone was.

  And forth they went, and over dale and hill

  They hasted forward with a speedy pace,

  Unseen, unmarkéd, undescried, until

  Beside the engine close themselves they place,

  New courage there their swelling hearts did fill,

  Rage in their breasts, fury shown in their face,

  They yearned to blow the fire, and draw the sword.

  The watch described them both, and gave the word.

  Silent they passéd on, the watch begun

  To rear a huge alarm with hideous cries,

  Therewith the hardy couple forward run

  To execute their valiant enterprise:

  So from a cannon or a roaring gun

  At once the noise, the flame, and bullet flies,

  They run, they give the charge, begin the fray,

  And all at once their foes break, spoil and slay.

  They passéd first through thousand thousand blows,

  And then performéd their designment bold,

  A fiery ball each on the engine throws,

  The stuff was dry, the fire took quickly hold,

  Furious upon the timber-work it grows,

  How it increaséd cannot well be told,

  How it crept up the piece, and how to skies

  The burning sparks and towering smoke upflies.

  A mass of solid fire burning bright

  Rolled up in smouldering fumes, there bursteth out,

  And there the blustering winds add strength and might

  And gather close the sparséd flames about:

  The Frenchmen trembled at the dreadful light,

  To arms in haste and fear ran all the rout,

  Down fell the piece dreaded so much in war,

  Thus what long days do make one hour doth mar.

  Two Christian bands this while came to the place

  With speedy haste, where they beheld the fire,

  Argantes to them cried with scornful grace,

  "Your blood shall quench these flames, and quench mine ire:"

  This said, the maid and he with sober pace

  Drew back, and to the banks themselves retire,

  Faster than brooks which falling showers increase

  Their foes augment, and faster on them press.

  The gilden port was opened, and forth stepped

  With all his soldiers bold, the Turkish king,

  Ready to aid the two his force he kept,

  When fortune should them home with conquest bring,

  Over the bars the hardy couple leapt

  And after them a band of Christians fling,

  Whom Solyman drove back with courage stout,

  And shut the gate, but shut Clorinda out.

  Alone was she shut forth, for in that hour

  Wherein they closed the port, the virgin went,

  And full of heat and wrath, her strength and power

  Gainst Arimon, that struck her erst, she bent,

  She slew the knight, nor Argant in that stowre

  Wist of her parting, or her fierce intent,

  The fight, the press, the night, and darksome skies

  Care from his heart had ta'en, sight from his eyes.

  But when appeaséd was he
r angry mood,

  Her fury calmed, and settled was her head,

  She saw the gates were shut, and how she stood

  Amid her foes, she held herself for dead;

  While none her marked at last she thought it good,

  To save her life, some other path to tread,

  She feigned her one of them, and close her drew

  Amid the press that none her saw or knew:

  Then as a wolf guilty of some misdeed

  Flies to some grove to hide himself from view,

  So favored with the night, with secret speed

  Dissevered from the press the damsel flew:

  Tancred alone of her escape took heed,

  He on that quarter was arrivéd new,

  When Arimon she killed he thither came,

  He saw it, marked it, and pursued the dame.

  He deemed she was some man of mickle might,

  And on her person would he worship win,

  Over the hills the nymph her journey dight

  Toward another port, there to get in:

  With hideous noise fast after spurred the knight,

  She heard and stayed, and thus her words begin,

  "What haste hast thou? ride softly, take thy breath,

  What bringest thou?" He answered, "War and death."

  "And war and death," quoth she, "here mayest thou get

  If thou for battle come," with that she stayed:

  Tancred to ground his foot in haste down set,

  And left his steed, on foot he saw the maid,

  Their courage hot, their ire and wrath they whet,

  And either champion drew a trenchant blade,

  Together ran they, and together stroke,

  Like two fierce bulls whom rage and love provoke.

  Worthy of royal lists and brightest day,

  Worthy a golden trump and laurel crown,

  The actions were and wonders of that fray

  Which sable knight did in dark bosom drown:

  Yet night, consent that I their acts display

  And make their deeds to future ages known,

  And in records of long enduring story

  Enrol their praise, their fame, their worth and glory.

  They neither shrunk, nor vantage sought of ground,

  They traverse not, nor skipped from part to part,

  Their blows were neither false nor feignéd found,

  The night, their rage would let them use no art,

  Their swords together clash with dreadful sound,

  Their feet stand fast, and neither stir nor start,

  They move their hands, steadfast their feet remain,

  Nor blow nor foin they struck, or thrust in vain.

  Shame bred desire a sharp revenge to take,

  And vengeance taken gave new cause of shame:

  So that with haste and little heed they strake,

  Fuel enough they had to feed the flame;