Il buon popol di Cristo unqua si veda,
E con navi e cavalli al fero Trace
36 Cerchi ritor la grande ingiusta preda,)
Ch’a te lo scettro in terra o, se ti piace
L’alto imperio de’ mari a te conceda.
Emulo di Goffredo, i nostri carmi
40 Intanto ascolta, e t’apparecchia a l’armi.
V
For if the Christian Princes ever strive
To win fair Greece out of the tyrants’ hands,
And those usurping Ismaelites deprive
Of woful Thrace, which now captived stands,
You must from realms and seas the Turks forth drive,
As Godfrey chased them from Juda’s lands,
And in this legend, all that glorious deed,
Read, whilst you arm you; arm you, whilst you read.
V
And right it were (if aye the Christians make
A league of peace together, and essay,
With ships and banded armies, to retake
From the fierce Thracian his ill-gotten prey,)
That unto thee command on shore belong,
Or on the sea, if it possess more charms:
Of Godfrey emulous, meanwhile hear my song,
Arm, and prepare to meet the shock of arms.
VI.
Già ‘l sesto anno volgea, ch’n Oriente
Passò il campo Cristiano a l’alta impresa;
E Nicea per assalto, e la potente
44 Antiochia con arte avea già presa.
L’avea poscia in battaglia incontra gente
Di Persia innumerabile difesa,
E Tortosa espugnata; indi a la rea
48 Stagion diè loco, e ‘l novo anno attendea.
VI
Six years were run since first in martial guise
The Christian Lords warraid the eastern land;
Nice by assault, and Antioch by surprise,
Both fair, both rich, both won, both conquered stand,
And this defended they in noblest wise
‘Gainst Persian knights and many a valiant band;
Tortosa won, lest winter might them shend,
They drew to holds, and coming spring attend.
VI
Six years had nearly passed since in the East,
The Christian host began their great Crusade;
By storm Nicea they had won, nor ceased
Till Antioch fell by art’s strategic aid,
Which they then held against the Persian; they
Then took Tortosa from Judæa’s king;
To winter’s rigour afterwards gave way;
Awaiting anxiously the coming spring.
VII.
E ‘l fine omai di quel piovoso inverno,
Che fea l’arme cessar, lunge non era;
Quando da l’alto soglio il Padre eterno,
52 Ch’è ne la parte più del Ciel sincera,
E quanto è da le stelle al basso inferno,
Tanto è più in su de la stellata spera,
Gli occhi in giù volse, e in un sol punto e in una
56 Vista mirò ciò ch’n se il mondo aduna.
VII
The sullen season now was come and gone,
That forced them late cease from their noble war,
When God Almighty form his lofty throne,
Set in those parts of Heaven that purest are
(As far above the clear stars every one,
As it is hence up to the highest star),
Looked down, and all at once this world beheld,
Each land, each city, country, town and field.
VII
And now the wintry season was near gone
That gave their arms a truce, and spring was nigh,
When the Eternal Father from His throne —
Placed in the purest regions of the sky,
And raised as far above the starry sphere,
As it from hell’s abyss — to look down deigned
And in a moment, at a glance, from there
Saw what the world within itself contained
VIII.
Mirò tutte le cose, ed in Soría
S’affissò poi ne’ Principi Cristiani;
E con quel guardo suo ch’addentro spia
60 Nel più secreto lor gli affetti umani,
Vede Goffredo che scacciar desia
Dalla santa Città gli empj Pagani:
E pien di fè, di zelo, ogni mortale
64 Gloria, impero, tesor mette in non cale.
VIII
All things he viewed, at last in Syria stayed
Upon the Christian Lords his gracious eye,
That wondrous look wherewith he oft surveyed
Men’s secret thoughts that most concealed lie
He cast on puissant Godfrey, that assayed
To drive the Turks from Sion’s bulwarks high,
And, full of zeal and faith, esteemed light
All worldly honor, empire, treasure, might:
VIII
All things He saw, and, then in Palestine,
Upon the Christian princes fixed His eyes,
And with that look of His which, man’s design,
Can to its inmost secrets scrutinise;
Godfrey perceived, who with impatience burns
To drive the Pagans from the Holy Town,
And filled with faith and holy fervour, spurns
All mortal glory, riches, and renown.
IX.
Ma vede in Baldovin cupido ingegno
Ch’all’umane grandezze intento aspira:
Vede Tancredi aver la vita a sdegno,
68 Tanto un suo vano amor l’ange e martira!
E fondar Boemondo al novo regno
Suo d’Antiochia alti principj mira;
E leggi imporre, ed introdur costume,
72 Ed arti, e culto di verace nume.
IX
In Baldwin next he spied another thought,
Whom spirits proud to vain ambition move:
Tancred he saw his life’s joy set at naught,
So woe-begone was he with pains of love:
Boemond the conquered folk of Antioch brought,
The gentle yoke of Christian rule to prove:
He taught them laws, statutes and customs new,
Arts, crafts, obedience, and religion true;
IX
But saw in Baldwin one whose every thought
On worldly grandeur and repute was bent;
In Tancred one who held his life at nought,
So much his heart did hopeless love torment;
Boemond, in his new realm of Antioch, saw
Found institutions, and with resolute rod
Establish order, while imposing law,
And rites, and worship, of the one true God;
X.
E cotanto internarsi in tal pensiero,
Ch’altra impresa non par che più rammenti.
Scorge in Rinaldo ed animo guerriero,
76 E spirti di riposo impazienti.
Non cupidigia in lui d’oro o d’impero,
Ma d’onor brame immoderate, ardenti.
Scorge che dalla bocca intento pende
80 Di Guelfo, e i chiari antichi esempj apprende.
X
And with such care his busy work he plied,
That to naught else his acting thoughts he bent:
In young Rinaldo fierce desires he spied,
And noble heart of rest impatient;
To wealth or sovereign power he naught applied
His wits, but all to virtue excellent;
Patterns and rules of skill, and courage bold,
He took from Guelpho, and his fathers old.
X
And wrapped up so entirely in that thought,
That he all other enterprise forgets;
Marked with what warlike soul Rinaldo’s fraught,
And how his spirit at inaction frets;
His blind dev
otion viewed in honour’s cause,
Free from all lust of empire or of gold;
Saw him intent on Guelpho’s sayings pause,
Example learning of the illustrious old.
XI.
Ma poich’ebbe di questi, e d’altri cori
Scorti gl’intimi sensi il Re del mondo;
Chiama a se da gli angelici splendori
84 Gabriel, che ne’ primi era secondo.
È tra Dio, questi, e l’anime migliori
Interprete fedel, nunzio giocondo:
Giù i decreti del Ciel porta, ed al Cielo
88 Riporta de’ mortali i preghi, e ‘l zelo.
XI
Thus when the Lord discovered had, and seen
The hidden secrets of each worthy’s breast,
Out of the hierarchies of angels sheen
The gentle Gabriel called he from the rest,
‘Twixt God and souls of men that righteous been
Ambassador is he, forever blest,
The just commands of Heaven’s Eternal King,
‘Twixt skies and earth, he up and down doth bring.
XI
But when the world’s Omniscient King had scanned
The inmost bent of these and other hearts,
Gabriel He summoned from the angelic band,
Who ‘mid the first sustained the second parts,
And between God and better spirits was
Interpreter and herald. Down he bears
To earth’s low regions Heaven’s eternal laws,
And thence brings back to Heaven man’s zeal and prayers.
XII.
Disse al suo nunzio Dio: Goffredo trova,
E in mio nome dì lui; perchè si cessa?
Perchè la guerra omai non si rinnova,
92 A liberar Gerusalemme oppressa?
Chiami i Duci a consiglio, e i tardi mova
All’alta impresa: ei capitan fia d’essa.
Io quì l’eleggo, e ‘l faran gli altri in terra,
96 Già suoi compagni, or suoi ministri in guerra.
XII
To whom the Lord thus spake: “Godfredo find,
And in my name ask him, why doth he rest?
Why be his arms to ease and peace resigned?
Why frees he not Jerusalem distrest?
His peers to counsel call, each baser mind
Let him stir up; for, chieftain of the rest
I choose him here, the earth shall him allow,
His fellows late shall be his subjects now.”
XII
God thus His herald spoke: ‘Go, Godfrey find
And ask the cause of his delay from me.
Why doth he not renew the war, designed
Enslaved, oppressed Jerusalem to free?
Let him the chiefs to council call, and shame
To this emprise the slow: Their captain, he —
I him elect, and they shall do the same,
His subjects then, that now companions be.’
XIII.
Così parlogli; e Gabriel s’accinse
Veloce ad esequir l’imposte cose.
La sua forma invisibil d’aria cinse,
100 Ed al senso mortal la sottopose.
Umane membra, aspetto uman si finse,
Ma di celeste maestà il compose.
Tra giovane e fanciullo età confine
104 Prese, ed ornò di raggi il biondo crine.
XIII
This said, the angel swift himself prepared
To execute the charge imposed aright,
In form of airy members fair imbared,
His spirits pure were subject to our sight,
Like to a man in show and shape he fared,
But full of heavenly majesty and might,
A stripling seemed he thrive five winters old,
And radiant beams adorned his locks of gold.
XIII
Such God’s command. At the immortal sound
Gabriel to execute the task began:
With air he girt his viewless form around,
Yet made it subject to the sense of man;
Limbs of a man he feigned, and human face,
But left the light of heavenly splendour there;
Assumed the age when youth takes childhood’s place,
And with bright rays adorned his flaxen hair.
XIV.
Ali bianche vestì c’han d’or le cime,
Infaticabilmente agili e preste.
Fende i venti e le nubi, e va sublime
108 Sovra la terra, e sovra il mar con queste.
Così vestito, indirizzossi all’ime
Parti del mondo il messaggier celeste:
Pria sul Libano monte ei si ritenne,
112 E si librò sull’adeguate penne.
XIV
Of silver wings he took a shining pair,
Fringed with gold, unwearied, nimble, swift;
With these he parts the winds, the clouds, the air,
And over seas and earth himself doth lift,
Thus clad he cut the spheres and circles fair,
And the pure skies with sacred feathers clift;
On Libanon at first his foot he set,
And shook his wings with rory May dews wet.
XIV
White wings, whose tips were fringed with gold he wore,
Unflagging, swift, and pliable: with these
He cleaves the clouds and winds, and passes o’er,
In flight sublime, the low-lying lands and seas.
Thus clad, the heavenly messenger descending
Down to the world the Father’s message brings,
And first o’er Lebanon his course suspending,
There poised himself upon his balanced wings.
XV.
E ver le piagge di Tortosa poi
Drizzò, precipitando, il volo in giuso.
Sorgeva il nuovo sol dai lidi Eoi,
116 Parte già fuor, ma ‘l più nell’onde chiuso:
E porgea mattutini i preghi suoi
Goffredo a Dio, come egli avea per uso;
Quando a paro col sol, ma più lucente,
120 L’Angelo gli apparì dall’Oriente.
XV
Then to Tortosa’s confines swiftly sped
The sacred messenger, with headlong flight;
Above the eastern wave appeared red
The rising sun, yet scantly half in sight;
Godfrey e’en then his morn-devotions said,
As was his custom, when with Titan bright
Appeared the angel in his shape divine,
Whose glory far obscured Phoebus’ shine.
XV
Thence shooting downward, his precipitous flight
Directed straightway to Tortosa’s shore;
In the east was rising the sun’s new-born light,
A part was out, but ‘neath the waters more.
Godfrey was offering up his matin prayer,
A daily habit which he never ceased,
When with the sun, but still more bright and fair,
Appeared the radiant angel from the east.
XVI.
E gli disse; Goffredo, ecco opportuna
Già la stagion ch’al guerreggiar s’aspetta:
Perchè dunque trapor dimora alcuna
124 A liberar Gerusalem soggetta?
Tu i Principi a consiglio omai raguna:
Tu al fin dell’opra i neghittosi affretta.
Dio per lor duce già t’elegge; ed essi
128 Sopporran volontarj a te se stessi.
XVI
“Godfrey,” quoth he, “behold the season fit
To war, for which thou waited hast so long,
Now serves the time, if thou o’erslip not it,
To free Jerusalem from thrall and wrong:
Thou with thy Lords in council quickly sit;
Comfort the feeble, and confirm the strong,
The Lord of Hosts their general doth make thee,
And for their chieftain they shall gladly take thee.
XVI
Who to Prince Godfrey said: ‘The moment, lo!
For making war, is opportune for thee;
Why then the opportunity forego,
From her vile yoke Jerusalem to free?
Do thou in council the camp’s chiefs collect,
And spur the slothful to this glorious end;
God for their leader doth thyself elect,
And they to thee submissively will bend.
XVII.
Dio messaggier mi manda: io ti rivelo
La sua mente in suo nome. Oh quanta spene
Aver d’alta vittoria, oh quanto zelo
132 Dell’oste a te commessa or ti conviene!
Tacque; e sparito, rivolò del Cielo
Alle parti più eccelse e più serene.
Resta Goffredo ai detti, allo splendore,
136 D’occhj abbagliato, attonito di core.
XVII
“I, messenger from everlasting Jove,
In his great name thus his behests do tell;
Oh, what sure hope of conquest ought thee move,
What zeal, what love should in thy bosom dwell!”
This said, he vanished to those seats above,
In height and clearness which the rest excel,
Down fell the Duke, his joints dissolved asunder,
Blind with the light, and strucken dead with wonder.
XVII
‘In me God sends His herald — I reveal
To thee His mind. Of glorious victory
What hopes should thence inflame thee, and what zeal
For the great hosts entrusted unto thee!’
This said, he ceased; and vanishing from sight,
Flew back to heaven’s serenest, loftiest part
Prince Godfrey paused — the language and the light
His eyes so dazzled, so amazed his heart.
XVIII.
Ma poi che si riscuote, e che discorre
Chi venne, chi mandò, chè gli fu detto,
Se già bramava, or tutto arde d’imporre
140 Fine alla guerra, ond’egli è duce eletto.
Non che ‘l vedersi agli altri in Ciel preporre
D’aura d’ambizion gli gonfi il petto;
Ma il suo voler più nel voler s’infiamma
144 Del suo signor, come favilla in fiamma.
XVIII
But when recovered, he considered more,
The man, his manner, and his message said;
If erst he wished, now he longed sore
To end that war, whereof he Lord was made;
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