Rota il ferro crudel ove è più stretto
E più calcato insieme il popol Franco.
Miete i vili, e i potenti: e i più sublimi
536 E più superbi capi adegua agl’imi.
LXVII
But not for this in fierce Argantes’ breast
Lessened the rancor and decreased the ire,
Although Alecto left him to infest
With the hot brands of her infernal fire,
Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest,
And those thick ranks that seemed moist entire
He breaks; the strong, the high, the weak, the low,
Were equalized by his murdering blow.
LXVII.
Yet not for this his courage and his ire,
In the fierce bosom of Arganté sank,
Altho’ no more Alecto breathed her fire,
Or with her scourge infernal lashed his flank.
His ruthless steel he whirled where’er the crowd
Of Franks was thickest, and with equal blow
Mowed down both great and small, and the most proud
And lofty heads laid level with the low.
LXVIII.
Non lontana è Clorinda, e già non meno
Par che di tronche membra il campo asperga.
Caccia la spada a Berlinghier nel seno,
540 Per mezzo il cor, dove la vita alberga.
E quel colpo a trovarlo andò sì pieno,
Che sanguinosa uscì fuor delle terga.
Poi fere Albin là ‘ve primier s’apprende
544 Nostro alimento, e ‘l viso a Gallo fende.
LXVIII
Not far from him amid the blood and dust,
Heads, arms, and legs, Clorinda strewed wide
Her sword through Berengarius’ breast she thrust,
Quite through the heart, where life doth chiefly bide,
And that fell blow she struck so sure and just,
That at his back his life and blood forth glide;
Even in the mouth she smote Albinus then,
And cut in twain the visage of the man.
LXVIII.
Not far Clorinda is, nor seemeth less
With severed limbs to strew that scene of strife:
Berlinger’s breast she pierced with rare address
Right to the heart — abode of fragile life,
And drove the blade so home, that all imbued
With gouts of gore, it issued from his back;
Next Albin struck where first the child takes food;
Cleft Gallo’s face, nor paused in her attack;
LXIX.
La destra di Gerniero, onde ferita
Ella fu pria, manda recisa al piano.
Tratta anco il ferro, e con tremanti dita
548 Semiviva nel suol guizza la mano.
Coda di serpe è tal, ch’indi partita
Cerca d’unirsi al suo principio invano.
Così mal concio la Guerriera il lassa:
552 Poi si volge ad Achille, e ‘l ferro abbassa.
LXIX
Gernier’s right hand she from his arm divided,
Whereof but late she had received a wound;
The hand his sword still held, although not guided,
The fingers half alive stirred on the ground;
So from a serpent slain the tail divided
Moves in the grass, rolleth and tumbleth round,
The championess so wounded left the knight,
And gainst Achilles turned her weapon bright.
LXIX.
But Gernier’s hand, that erst herself did wound,
Lopped from his arm, cast bleeding on the plain,
The trembling fingers quivered on the ground,
And struggled still the falchion to retain:
Like tail of serpent that attempts in vain,
When from its body severed, to unite.
Disabled thus she left him, and amain
Turned on Achilles, and with all her might,
LXX.
E tra ‘l collo e la nuca il colpo assesta:
E tronchi i nervi, e ‘l gorgozzuol reciso,
Gío rotando a cader prima la testa:
556 Prima bruttò di polve immonda il viso,
Che giù cadesse il tronco: il tronco resta
(Miserabile mostro!) in sella assiso.
Ma, libero del fren, con mille rote
560 Calcitrando il destrier da se lo scuote.
LXX
Upon his neck light that unhappy blow,
And cut the sinews and the throat in twain,
The head fell down upon the earth below,
And soiled with dust the visage on the plain;
The headless trunk, a woful thing to know,
Still in the saddle seated did remain;
Until his steed, that felt the reins at large,
With leaps and flings that burden did discharge.
LXX.
Planted between his nape and neck a blow,
Which the nerves cutting thro’, the windpipe tore,
Whence circling round, the head fell down below,
The face begriming with foul dust, before
The trunk itself had fallen, which still remained
Firm in its seat (heart-rending spectacle!)
Until, no longer by the curb restrained,
The destrier plunging flung it from the selle.
LXXI.
Mentre così l’indomita Guerriera
Le squadre d’Occidente apre e flagella,
Non fa, d’incontra a lei, Gildippe altera
564 De’ Saracini suoi strage men fella.
Era il sesso il medesmo, e simile era
L’ardimento e ‘l valore in questa e in quella.
Ma far prova di lor non è lor dato:
568 Ch’a nemico maggior le serba il Fato.
LXXI
While thus this fair and fierce Bellona slew
The western lords, and put their troops to flight,
Gildippes raged mongst the Pagan crew,
And low in dust laid many a worthy knight:
Like was their sex, their beauty and their hue,
Like was their youth, their courage and their might;
Yet fortune would they should the battle try
Of mightier foes, for both were framed to die.
LXXI.
While thus the fierce undaunted amazon
Broke thro’, and scourged the squadrons of the West,
Her troops in equal numbers overthrown,
The strength of haught Gildippe’s arm confessed.
Alike the spirit, as their sex the same,
That either maiden’s valorous bosom nerved;
But to make proof thereof’s not granted them,
Since for a mightier foe by Fate reserved.
LXXII.
Quinci una, e quindi l’altra urta e sospinge,
Nè può la turba aprir calcata e spessa.
Ma ‘l generoso Guelfo allora stringe
572 Contra Clorinda il ferro, e le s’appressa:
E calando un fendente, alquanto tinge
La fera spada nel bel fianco: ed essa
Fa d’una punta a lui cruda risposta,
576 Ch’a ferirlo ne va tra costa e costa.
LXXII
Yet wished they oft, and strove in vain to meet,
So great betwixt them was the press and throng,
But hardy Guelpho gainst Clorinda sweet
Ventured his sword to work her harm and wrong,
And with a cutting blow so did her greet,
That from her side the blood streamed down along;
But with a thrust an answer sharp she made,
And ‘twixt his ribs colored somedeal her blade.
LXXII.
Here one, there the other charged, yet neither fair
The serried ranks of her opponents broke;
At this Prince Guelpho, with drawn scimetar,
Approa
ched Clorinda, and a sweeping stroke
Let drive, and stained somewhat the thirsty blade
In her fair flank. To his abrupt attack
One savage thrust she in rejoinder made,
And ‘twixt his ribs the injury paid back.
LXXIII.
Doppia allor Guelfo il colpo, e lei non coglie;
Chè a caso passa il Palestino Osmida,
E la piaga non sua sopra se toglie,
580 La qual vien che la fronte a lui recida.
Ma intorno a Guelfo omai molta s’accoglie
Di quella gente ch’ei conduce e guida:
E d’altra parte ancor la turba cresce,
584 Sicchè la pugna si confonde e mesce.
LXXIII
Lord Guelpho struck again, but hit her not,
For strong Osmida haply passed by,
And not meant him, another’s wound he got,
That cleft his front in twain above his eye:
Near Guelpho now the battle waxed hot,
For all the troops he led gan thither hie,
And thither drew eke many a Paynim knight,
That fierce, stern, bloody, deadly waxed the fight.
LXXIII.
Guelph struck again, but failed in his intent,
Since there by chance Osmida, passing by,
Received the blow for fair Clorinda meant,
And which his forehead gashed from eye to eye.
But numbers now of those whom Guelpho led,
Collecting quickly to his succour flew;
Thither too masses of the Pagans sped,
Whence more tumultuous the contest grew.
LXXIV.
L’Aurora intanto il bel purpureo volto
Già dimostrava dal sovran balcone:
E in quei tumulti già s’era disciolto
588 Il feroce Argillan di sua prigione:
E d’arme incerte il frettoloso avvolto,
Quali il caso gli offerse, o triste o buone:
Già sen venia per emendar gli errori
592 Nuovi, con nuovi merti, e nuovi onori.
LXXIV
Meanwhile the purple morning peeped o’er
The eastern threshold to our half of land,
And Argillano in this great uproar
From prison loosed was, and what he fand,
Those arms he hent, and to the field them bore,
Resolved to take his chance what came to hand,
And with great acts amid the Pagan host
Would win again his reputation lost.
LXXIV.
Her purple brow already had the dawn
From heaven’s imperial balcony displayed,
When, ‘mid those tumults from his bonds withdrawn,
Himself had furious Argillano freed;
And having round him in his hurry thrown
The arms that first chance offered to his view,
He came for recent errors to atone
By new achievements, and by honours new.
LXXV.
Come destrier che dalle regie stalle,
Ove all’uso dell’arme si riserba,
Fugge, e libero alfin, per largo calle
596 Va tra gli armenti, o al fiume usato, o all’erba:
Scherzan sul collo i crini, e sulle spalle
Si scuote la cervice alta e superba:
Suonano i piè nel corso, e par ch’avvampi,
600 Di sonori nitriti empiendo i campi.
LXXV
As a fierce steed ‘scaped from his stall at large,
Where he had long been kept for warlike need,
Runs through the fields unto the flowery marge
Of some green forest where he used to feed,
His curled mane his shoulders broad doth charge
And from his lofty crest doth spring and spreed,
Thunder his feet, his nostrils fire breathe out,
And with his neigh the world resounds about.
LXXV.
As from imperial stalls a generous steed,
There kept for purposes of war, repairs,
Scouring the country round, to seek, now freed,
The well-known stream, the pastures, and the mares,
Aloft, exulting, his haught crest he throws,
O’er which his mane in folds luxuriant plays;
Earth rings beneath his tramp — he snorts, he glows,
And fills the welkin with sonorous neighs;
LXXVI.
Tal ne viene Argillano: arde il feroce
Sguardo, ha la fronte intrepida e sublime:
Leve è ne’ salti, e sovra i piè veloce,
604 Sicchè d’orme la polve appena imprime.
E giunto fra’ nemici alza la voce,
Pur com’uom che tutto osi, e nulla stime:
O vil feccia del mondo, Arabi inetti,
608 Ond’è ch’or tanto ardire in voi s’alletti?
LXXVI
So Argillan rushed forth, sparkled his eyes,
His front high lifted was, no fear therein,
Lightly he leaps and skips, it seems he flies,
He left no sign in dust imprinted thin,
And coming near his foes, he sternly cries,
As one that forced not all their strength a pin,
“You outcasts of the world, you men of naught
What hath in you this boldness newly wrought?
LXXVI.
Such came Argillan; so he tossed his head,
So burned his glance, and with a step so fleet,
He bounding forward to the battle sped,
As scarce to imprint the dust beneath his feet;
The foe addressing with the indifference
Of one that dareth all and heedeth nought:
‘Dregs of the world! vile inept Arabs! whence
Have ye so much unusual courage caught?
LXXVII.
Non regger voi degli elmi e degli scudi
Sete atti il peso, o ‘l petto armarvi e ‘l dorso;
Ma commettete, paventosi e nudi,
612 I colpi al vento, e la salute al corso.
L’opere vostre, e i vostri egregj studj
Notturni son: dà l’ombra a voi soccorso.
Or ch’ella fugge, chi fia vostro schermo?
616 D’arme è ben d’uopo, e di valor più fermo.
LXXVII
“Too weak are you to bear a helm or shield
Unfit to arm your breast in iron bright,
You run half-naked trembling through the field,
Your blows are feeble, and your hope in flight,
Your facts and all the actions that you wield,
The darkness hides, your bulwark is the night,
Now she is gone, how will your fights succeed?
Now better arms and better hearts you need.”
LXXVII.
‘To bear the shield, or helmet’s weight unfit,
Or back or breast with armour to enclose,
Half naked and affrighted, ye commit
To speed your safety, to the wind your blows;
By aid of night are your achievements done,
Courage alone in darkness you acquire.
Where is your refuge, now that she is gone?
Arms and more solid valour you require.’
LXXVIII.
Così parlando ancor diè per la gola
Ad Algazel di sì crudel percossa,
Che gli secò le fauci, e la parola
620 Troncò ch’alla risposta era già mossa.
A quel meschin subito orrore invola
Il lume, e scorre un duro gel per l’ossa.
Cade, e co’ denti l’odiosa terra,
624 Pieno di rabbia, in sul morire afferra.
LXXVIII
While thus he spoke, he gave a cruel stroke
Against Algazel’s throat with might and main;
And as he would have answered him, and spoke,
He stopped his words, and cut his jaws in twain;
&n
bsp; Upon his eyes death spread his misty cloak,
A chilling frost congealed every vein,
He fell, and with his teeth the earth he tore,
Raging in death, and full of rage before.
LXXVIII.
Ere he had finished, Algazel he smote
Upon the neck with such severity,
That the fell scimetar transfixed his throat,
And quashed the word just rising in reply.
A sudden horror veiled the wretch’s eyes,
An icy coldness ran through every vein;
He falls, and, filled with fury, as he dies,
Malign, despiteful, bites the odious plain.
LXXIX.
Quinci per varj casi, e Saladino,
Ed Agricalte, e Muleasse uccide:
E dall’un fianco all’altro a lor vicino
628 Con esso un colpo Aldiazil divide.
Trafitto a sommo il petto Ariadino
Atterra, e con parole aspre il deride.
Ei gli occhj gravi alzando, alle orgogliose
632 Parole, in sul morir, così rispose:
LXXIX
Then by his puissance mighty Saladine,
Proud Agricalt and Muleasses died,
And at one wondrous blow his weapon fine,
Did Adiazel in two parts divide,
Then through the breast he wounded Ariadine,
Whom dying with sharp taunts he gan deride,
He lifting up uneath his feeble eyes,
To his proud scorns thus answereth, ere he dies:
LXXIX.
He then by various modes did Saladin,
And Agricalt, and Muleasses kill,
And with one stroke divided to the chine
One who stood near, by name Aldiazil.
Piercing his breast, he struck down Ariadine,
And did his fall with bitter taunts deride;
He, looking up, while on the ground supine,
Thus to his haught, contemptuous words replied:
LXXX.
Non tu, chiunque sia, di questa morte
Vincitor lieto avrai gran tempo il vanto.
Pari destin t’aspetta, e da più forte
636 Destra, a giacer mi sarai steso a canto.
Rise egli amaramente, e, di mia sorte
Curi il Ciel, disse; or tu quì mori intanto
D’augei pasto, e di cani: indi lui preme
640 Col piede, e ne trae l’alma, e ‘l ferro insieme.
LXXX
“Not thou, whoe’er thou art, shall glory long
Jerusalem Delivered Page 218
