Jerusalem Delivered

by Torquato Tasso

  Her trembling fingers their assistance add;

  His wounds she examined, and, being skilled in such,

  Thence certain hope of his recovery had.

  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

  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

  ‘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 nurse prescribes, and rest;

  Thou shalt be healed — the recompense prepare.’

  His drooping head then pillowed on her breast

  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

  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

  ‘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

  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

  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

  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

  ‘ 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

  ‘But, for the most part, their unwieldy bands,

  Both horse and foot, of no efficience are;

  They give no heed to signals or commands,

  Nor draw the sword, and only strike from far:

  But there are some of bravery and skill,

  Whom Persia’s princes ‘neath their standards bring;

  Nay, there’s one squadron better, choicer still,

  Styled the immortal squadron of the king.

  CXXIII

  ‘Immortal styled, for ev’n defect of one

  Never occurs; whene’er a member dies,

  Another’s chosen next him in renown,

  Who in succession the void place supplies.

  Equalled in sense or strength by few or none,

  Is the camp’s captain, Emireno hight;

  Him the king charged has to leave nought undone

  Thee to a general action to incite.

  CXXIV

  ‘Nor do I think the army will retard

  Its coming here beyond the second day.

  Take care, Rinaldo, then, thy head to guard,

  For which all such avidity display;

  ‘Gainst it the most famed warriors are opposed,

  With sword and anger sharpened for the attack,

  Since her fair self Armida has proposed

  In guerdon to the knight that brings it back.

  CXXV

  ‘The valorous princely Persian, Altamore,

  Monarch of Samarcand, among them vies;

  Adrastus, too, the giant king, whose power

  Towards the far confines of Aurora lies,

  One so diverse from all mankind, that he

  An elephant bestrideth for his steed;

  And Tisaphernes, to whose chivalry

  Concordant fame awards the highest meed,’

  CXXVI

  As thus he spoke, Rinaldo’s face all o’er

  Sparkled, his eyes flashed fire, and every vein

  Swelled, as he burned to meet the foe once more,

  Nor could contain himself, or calm remain.

  Vafrino then: ‘In what I have premised.

  But little, worthy captain, is revealed;

  In this, the main part of the whole’s comprised:

  The arms of Judas against thee they wield.’

  CXXVII

  Then, bit by bit, explained in terms precise

  The treacherous stratagems for him prepared:

  The poisoned arms, the counterfeit device,

  The vaunts he heard, the promise, the reward;

  Much to their many questions he replied,

  When, a brief pause occurring, his bold brow

  The captain raising, to Raimondo cried:

  ‘Sage counsellor, what counsel offerest thou?’

  CXXVIII

  ‘I would not, as we had agreed, begin

  The assault,’ he answered, ‘at the dawn of day,

  But so invest the tower, that those within

  Will not be able to escape away;

  And let the camp repose, s
o that restored

  It be, meanwhile, for more decisive fray.

  Determine thou, were’t better use the sword

  With open force, or that in wait it lay?

  CXXIX

  ‘But, in my judgment, it behoves thee most

  Thyself to care for beyond every care;

  Since thro’ thee conquers, thro’ thee reigns the host;

  And who would guide it were not Godfred there?

  And, that the traitors’ arms be not concealed,

  Command thy gallant guard to alter theirs;

  The fraud will thus be unto thee revealed

  By the same villains that have laid the snares.’

  CXXX

  ‘Thou dost, as ever,’ the bold chief replied,

  ‘A friendly will and sage discretion show;

  But what is doubtful let us now decide,

  And march at once against the impious foe:

  The Orient’s victors should not mewed up be

  Behind stone walls, or in dark trenches fight;

  No — let the infidel our valour see

  In the open field, in the most open light

  CXXXI

  ‘In part by prestige of the name dismayed,

  They’ll not withstand the victor’s haughty face,

  Much less his arms; whence firmly shall be laid

  Upon their overthrow our empire’s base.

  The tower will soon surrender, if bereft

  Of outward aid, or we can storm the keep.’

  Here ceased the noble paladin, and left,

  Since the stars, sinking, wooed the world to sleep.

  CANTO XX.

  I

  ALREADY the tenth hour had passed; their works,

  Waked by the sun, mankind had now resumed,

  When, from the summit of the tower, the Turks

  Afar saw something shadowy, that loomed

  Like cloud at falling eve. At length they knew

  That ’twas the friendly host, beneath whose tread

  To heaven the dust in murky volumes flew,

  And o’er the plains and neighbouring mountains spread.

  II

  Then from the lofty summit to the sky

  Raised up their voices the beleaguered host,

  With noise resembling Thracian herons’ cry

  When their nests quitting at the approach of frost,

  Which, screaming, fly the freezing blast before,

  In countless flocks, in search of warmer lands.

  Their fallen hopes, thence revivified, restore

  Gibes to their tongues and arrows to their hands.

  III

  Quickly the Frank besiegers knew from whence

  Their threats proceed, and that new burst of ire,

  And, looking from a lofty eminence,

  Beheld the Egyptian armament entire.

  At once their breasts a generous warmth inflamed,

  All burned with ardour to begin the fray;

  ‘Give us the signal, peerless chief!’ exclaimed

  The haughty youth, impatient of delay.

  IV

  But he refused to lead them on before

  The morrow’s dawn, and curbed each fiery knight;

  To test the foeman’s mettle he forbore,

  Nor would engage in desultory fight.

  ‘‘Twere better, after such fatigue,’ he cried,

  ‘One day, at least, we gave up to repose.’

  Vain confidence, it may be, that he tried

  Of their own strength to foster in his foes.

  V

  The Christians failed not all things to prepare,

  And burned expectant for the dawn’s first ray;

  The sky was never so serene and fair

  As on that ever-memorable day.

  Jocund Aurora smiled, and infinite

  Sunbeams appeared to bathe its birth in gold;

  While, past all wont, Heaven magnified its light,

  Their deeds in unveiled splendour to behold.

  VI

  Soon as he saw the golden morning shine,

  His marshalled army forth Prince Godfred led;

  But, as a guard around King Aladine,

  He placed the Christians who from Lebanon fled,

  And had themselves on his protection thrown,

  And with them made Count Raymond duty do;

  Nor trusted them, tho’ large their force alone,

  But left a troop of gallant Gascons too.

  VII

  So looked, as forth he rode, the sovran chief,

  That all on certain vicory presumed;

  Grand and august he was last all belief,

  As with new favour Heaven his face illumed.

  With honour flushed his manly features were;

  There youth brought back its bloom and purple light;

  So shone his eyes, so noble was his air,

  That more than mortal seemed the pious knight

  VIII

  Nor had he far proceeded, when in front

  The encamped Egyptian army he descried,

  And on arriving seized a little mount

  That cover to his left and rear supplied.

  In shallow wings and front extended, he

  Towards the plain country then deployed his ranks;

  In the centre crowded all his infantry,

  And winged with wings of cavalry both flanks.

  IX

  The left, that on the rising ground reclined,

  Which did a natural defence oppose,

  To the two princes Robert he assigned,

  And for the centre his own brother chose.

  The right he held himself, where the open plain

  Involved most risk, by nature of the ground;

  There, by a dash, the foe might not in vain

  Hope his less numerous forces to surround.

  X

  Here his own Lorrainers, and here he fixed

  The best armed and the choicest of his force;

  And ‘mid horse archers light foot intermixed,

  That were accustomed to engage ‘mid horse.

  The Adventurers, then, and many a chosen knight

  He formed together in a separate band,

  As a reserve upon the army’s right,

  And o’er them placed Rinaldo in command.

  XI

  To whom the chief: ‘To thee, upon this field,

  We look for triumph and momentous things;

  Keep thou thy squadron in reserve, concealed

  Behind the cover of these spacious wings;

  And when the foe draws near, his flank assail,

  Thwart his intentions, and his ranks disperse;

  He, if my judgment err not, will not fail,

  Wheeling, to try and take us in reverse.’

  XII

  From rank to rank, his bounding steed upon,

  From horse to foot, then, Godfred seemed to fly;

  Thro’ the barred ventayle his flushed features shone,

  And lightnings shot forth from his flashing eye.

  The hopeful he confirms, the doubtful cheers,

  Recalls to mind their vauntings to the bold,

  And to the brave past proofs; some cavaliers

  He wins by hopes of honour, some of gold

  XIII

  Then on a height he halted, where his first

  And noblest troops were posted, and from thence

  Into a flood of such rapt language burst,

  That all entranced were by its eloquence.

  As snow-drifts, loosened by the genial south,

  O’er Alpine peaks rush down in torrents, so

  Rapid and voluble, from Godfred’s mouth,

  Melted by zeal, the tuneful periods flow.

  XIV

  ‘Scourge of Christ’s foes, my gallant camp, my bold,

  Intrepid victors of the Orient, lo!

  Come is the final fatal day. Behold!

  The longed for moment is before yo
u now.

  Nor without deep design doth Heaven consent

  That in one host is joined the Pagan power.

  Together here are all your foemen pent,

  That many wars ye end in one brief hour.

  XV

  ‘Well many victories concentrate in one,

  In which not more fatigue or risk there will be;

  Let there, then, none be, bold crusaders, none

  Alarmed a host so numerous to see.

  Ill — can such jarring elements unite,

  Or you, confused by opposite orders, face;

  Small will the number be of those that fight:

  Some will want heart, and some sufficient space.

  XVI

  ‘Those who will front us are mere savages,

  Who, for the most part, without strength or skill,

  From servile calling or ignoble ease

  Are hither dragged to fight against their will.

  Their swords and shields I see wave to and fro,

  Their ensigns tremble, tho’ no wind there be;

  Their wavering movements, faltering sounds I know,

  And by sure signs their certain doom foresee.

  XVII

  ‘Yon chief, with gold and purple glittering o’er,

  Who looks so fierce and has supreme command,

  May have subdued the Arab or the Moor,

  Yet not be able against us to stand.

  What, when all is in wild confusion thrown,

  Can he, however sage or gallant, do?

  His troops he knows not, nor by them is known,

  And “there I was, there thou,” can say to few.

  XVIII

  ‘But I am captain of a chosen host;

  Together we have fought, together won;

  And since, to have commanded you I boast,

  To me, whose land or lineage is unknown?

  Know I not every sword and every lance,

  Ev’n while it trembles pendent in the air?

  Can I not tell if Ireland or if France,

  Nay, ev’n whose arm impelled the stroke, declare?

  XIX

  ‘I ask for nothing new; let me but find

  Each show that zeal which formerly he showed,

  Each prove himself the same, and bear in mind

  His honour, mine, and the honour of his God.

  Away! cut down the infidel — away!

  And through their deaths secure your sacred prize.

  But why wait more, or your advance delay?

  Ye have won — I read your triumph in your eyes.’

  XX

  From heaven a crystalline translucent light

  Seemed to descend, as thus the captain spake;

  So, from her mantle, a midsummer night

  Is wont sheet-lightning or a star to shake;

  But this, one might imagine, was sent down

  From the sun’s inmost core, and there were some

  (As round his head it played and formed a crown)