Jerusalem Delivered
Page 220
The doubtful hazard of that bloody field.
XCIII.
Horror, affright, despair, and cruelty
Stalk round the battle-field; in varied guise,
Triumphant Death in every part you see,
And lakes of blood, in crimson billows, rise.
As tho’ presaging failure, with his train
The king already had passed thro’ the gate,
And from a height beheld the subject plain,
Where battle trembled in the scales of Fate.
XCIV.
Ma come prima egli ha veduto in piega
L’esercito maggior, suona a raccolta,
E con messi iterati, instando, prega
748 Ed Argante, e Clorinda a dar di volta.
La fera coppia d’esequir ciò nega,
Ebra di sangue, e cieca d’ira, e stolta;
Pur cede alfine, e unite almen raccorre
752 Tenta le turbe, e freno ai passi imporre.
XCIV
But when he saw the Pagans shrink away,
He sounded the retreat, and gan desire
His messengers in his behalf to pray
Argantes and Clorinda to retire;
The furious couple both at once said nay,
Even drunk with shedding blood, and mad with ire,
At last they went, and to recomfort thought
And stay their troops from flight, but all for nought.
XCIV.
But when he saw the main force wavering, he
Sounds the recall, and from the direful wrack
Commands, with iterated urgency,
Arganté and Clorinda to fall back.
At first the savage couple disobeyed,
Blinded with rage, and drunk and mad with ire;
At last they yielded, but too late essayed
To make the troops more orderly retire.
XCV.
Ma chi dà legge al volgo, ed ammaestra
La viltade e ‘l timor? la fuga è presa.
Altri gitta lo scudo, altri la destra
756 Disarma: impaccio è il ferro, e non difesa.
Valle è tra il piano e la Città, ch’alpestra
Dall’Occidente al Mezzogiorno è stesa;
Quì fuggon’ essi, e si rivolge oscura
760 Caligine di polve inver le mura.
XCV
For who can govern cowardice or fear?
Their host already was begun to fly,
They cast their shields and cutting swords arrear,
As not defended but made slow thereby,
A hollow dale the city’s bulwarks near
From west to south outstretched long doth lie,
Thither they fled, and in a mist of dust,
Toward the walls they run, they throng, they thrust.
XCV.
For who can rule a crowd, or govern fright,
Or give faint-hearted cowards confidence?
They fling away their arms and take to flight;
The sword is now a burden, not defence.
From west to south extends a rugged vale
Between the town and camp; to this they fly,
While, towards the walls, borne onwards by the gale,
Black clouds of dust obscure the azure sky.
XCVI.
Mentre ne van precipitosi al chino,
Strage d’essi i Cristiani orribil fanno;
Ma poscia che, salendo, omai vicino
764 L’ajuto avean del barbaro tiranno,
Non vuol Guelfo d’alpestro erto cammino,
Con tanto suo svantaggio, esporsi al danno;
Ferma le genti, e ‘l Re le sue riserra,
768 Non poco avanzo d’infelice guerra.
XCVI
While down the bank disordered thus they ran,
The Christian knights huge slaughter on them made;
But when to climb the other hill they gan,
Old Aladine came fiercely to their aid:
On that steep brae Lord Guelpho would not than
Hazard his folk, but there his soldiers stayed,
And safe within the city’s walls the king.
The relics small of that sharp fight did bring:
XCVI.
As down the steep they rushed, upon their rear
The Christians hanging, frightful carnage made,
But afterwards, when mounting, they were near,
And had received the barbarous tyrant’s aid,
Guelph, at such disadvantage, would not run
The risk of forcing the precipitous height,
And checked his troops; the king withdrew his own,
No small remains of that disastrous fight
XCVII.
Fatto intanto ha il Soldan ciò che è concesso
Fare a terrena forza, or più non puote;
Tutto è sangue e sudore, e un grave e spesso
772 Anelar gli ange il petto, e i fianchi scuote.
Langue sotto lo scudo il braccio oppresso;
Gira la destra il ferro in pigre rote;
Spezza, e non taglia, e divenendo ottuso,
776 Perduto il brando omai di brando ha l’uso.
XCVII
Meanwhile the Soldan in this latest charge
Had done as much as human force was able,
All sweat and blood appeared his members large,
His breath was short, his courage waxed unstable,
His arm grew weak to bear his mighty targe,
His hand to rule his heavy sword unable,
Which bruised, not cut, so blunted was the blade
It lost the use for which a sword was made.
XCVII.
Meanwhile, the soldan had done all Heaven grants
To strength of mortal man; he can no more.
His flanks upheave, as out of breath he pants,
And down his face run streams of sweat and gore;
‘Neath the shield’s weight declines his languid arm;
The sluggish steel can no effect produce;
It breaks, but cuts not — blunt, it does no harm;
The sabre now has lost a sabre’s use.
XCVIII.
Come sentissi tal, ristette in atto
D’uom che fra due sia dubbio, e in se discorre
Se morir debba, e di sì illustre fatto,
780 Colle sue mani, altrui la gloria torre;
O pur sopravanzando al suo disfatto
Campo, la vita in sicurezza porre.
Vinca (alfin disse) il Fato, e questa mia
784 Fuga, il trofeo di sua vittoria sia.
XCVIII
Feeling his weakness, he gan musing stand,
And in his troubled thought this question tossed,
If he himself should murder with his hand,
Because none else should of his conquest boast,
Or he should save his life, when on the land
Lay slain the pride of his subdued host,
“At last to fortune’s power,” quoth he, “I yield,
And on my flight let her her trophies build.
XCVIII.
And feeling this, he ponders in the act
Of one that ‘twixt two projects doubtful stands;
Whether to die, and of that glorious fact
Rob others by his suicidal hands;
Or, if surviving this disaster, wait,
And place his person in security.
At length he cried, ‘To thee I yield me, Fate!
Let this my flight sign of thy triumph be.
XCIX.
Veggia il nemico le mie spalle, e scherna
Di novo ancora il nostro esiglio indegno;
Pur che di novo armato indi mi scerna
788 Turbar sua pace, e ‘l non mai stabil regno.
Non cedo io, nò: fia con memoria eterna
Delle mie offese, eterno anco il mio sdegno.
Risorgerò nemico ognor più crudo,
792 Cenere anco sepolto, e spirto ignudo.
&nb
sp; XCIX
“Let Godfrey view my flight, and smile to see
This mine unworthy second banishment,
For armed again soon shall he hear of me,
From his proud head the unsettled crown to rent,
For, as my wrongs, my wrath etern shall be,
At every hour the bow of war new bent,
I will rise again, a foe, fierce, bold,
Though dead, though slain, though burnt to ashes cold.”
XCIX.
Canto decimo
TENTH BOOK
ARGOMENTO.
Al Soldan che dormia, si mostra Ismeno,
E occultamente entro a Sion l’ha posto.
Quivi il vigor dell’animo, che meno
Nel Re venia, costui rinfranca tosto.
De’ suoi Goffredo ode gli errori appieno;
Ma poi che di Rinaldo ha ognun deposto
Ch’ei sia morto il timor, fa Piero aperto
De’ nepoti di lui le lodi e ‘l merto.
THE ARGUMENT.
And into Sion brings the Prince by night
Where the sad king sits fearful on his seat,
Whom he emboldeneth and excites to fight;
Godfredo hears his lords and knights repeat
How they escaped Armida’s wrath and spite:
Rinaldo known to live, Peter foresays
His Offspring’s virtue, good deserts, and praise.
I.
Così dicendo ancor, vicino scorse
Un destrier ch’a lui volse errante il passo:
Tosto al libero fren la mano ei porse,
4 E su vi salse, ancorch’afflitto e lasso.
Già caduto è il cimier ch’orribil sorse,
Lasciando l’elmo inonorato e basso:
Rotta è la sopravesta, e di superba
8 Pompa regal vestigio alcun non serba.
I
A gallant steed, while thus the Soldan said,
Came trotting by him, without lord or guide,
Quickly his hand upon the reins he laid,
And weak and weary climbed up to ride;
The snake that on his crest hot fire out-braid
Was quite cut off, his helm had lost the pride,
His coat was rent, his harness hacked and cleft,
And of his kingly pomp no sign was left.
I
WHILE speaking thus, he spied upon the plain
A steed direct towards him its errant course:
At once he laid his hand upon the rein,
And vaulted up, tho’ weak, upon the horse.
Drooped is that crest which erst so fiercely rose
Leaving the helm undignified and base;
Torn is his surcoat, and no longer shows
Of its once regal pomp the slightest trace.
II.
Come dal chiuso ovil cacciato viene
Lupo talor, che fugge e si nasconde:
Che sebben del gran ventre omai ripiene
12 Ha l’ingorde voragini profonde;
Avido pur di sangue anco fuor tiene
La lingua, e ‘l sugge dalle labra immonde;
Tale ei sen gía, dopo il sanguigno strazio,
16 Della sua cupa fame anco non sazio.
II
As when a savage wolf chased from the fold,
To hide his head runs to some holt or wood,
Who, though he filled have while it might hold
His greedy paunch, yet hungreth after food,
With sanguine tongue forth of his lips out-rolled
About his jaws that licks up foam and blood;
So from this bloody fray the Soldan hied,
His rage unquenched, his wrath unsatisfied.
II
As skulks away and hides himself a wolf
(Driven from a sheep-fold), in the sheltering wood,
Who, tho’ he have his stomach’s greedy gulf
Filled to repletion, still athirst for blood
The ravening glutton lolls his red tongue out,
And from his slavering lips licks off the gore;
So slunk the soldan from that bloody rout,
Tho’ gorged with blood, still covetous for more.
III.
E come è sua ventura, alle sonanti
Quadrella ond’a lui intorno un nembo vola,
A tante spade, a tante lance, a tanti
20 Instrumenti di morte alfin s’invola:
E sconosciuto pur cammina innanti
Per quella via ch’è più deserta e sola:
E rivolgendo in se quel che far deggia,
24 In gran tempesta di pensieri ondeggia.
III
And, as his fortune would, he scaped free
From thousand arrows which about him flew,
From swords and lances, instruments that be
Of certain death, himself he safe withdrew,
Unknown, unseen, disguised, travelled he,
By desert paths and ways but used by few,
And rode revolving in his troubled thought
What course to take, and yet resolved on naught.
III
Escaping, as by Providence ordained,
The clouds of arrows that around him flew,
From swords, and spears, and instruments that rained
Destruction round, in safety he withdrew.
Then, wandering on, unheeded and unknown,
The tracks most wild and unfrequented sought,
Revolving what was wisest to be done,
In a fierce tempest of distracting thought.
IV.
Disponsi alfin di girne ove raguna
Oste sì poderosa il Re d’Egitto:
E giunger seco l’arme, e la fortuna
28 Ritentar anco di novel conflitto.
Ciò prefisso tra se, dimora alcuna
Non pone in mezzo, e prende il cammin dritto
(Chè sa le vie, nè d’uopo ha di chi ‘l guidi)
32 Di Gaza antica agli arenosi lidi.
IV
Thither at last he meant to take his way,
Where Egypt’s king assembled all his host,
To join with him, and once again assay
To win by fight, by which so oft he lost:
Determined thus, he made no longer stay,
But thitherward spurred forth his steed in post,
Nor need he guide, the way right well he could,
That leads to sandy plains of Gaza old.
IV
At length he fixed to go where Egypt’s king
His mighty host assembles, and imite
With him his arms, and their leagued forces bring
To try the fortune of another fight
Resolved on this, he makes no vain delay,
But thither by the shortest road proceeds;
Nor needeth guide, since he well knows the way
That to the coast of antique Gaza leads.
V.
Nè perchè senta inacerbir le doglie
Delle sue piaghe, e grave il corpo ed egro,
Vien però che si posi, e l’arme spoglie;
36 Ma, travagliando, il dì ne passa integro.
Poi quando l’ombra oscura al mondo toglie
I varj aspetti, e i color tinge in negro,
Smonta, e fascia le piaghe, e come puote
40 Meglio, d’un’alta palma i frutti scuote.
V
Nor though his smarting wounds torment him oft,
His body weak and wounded back and side,
Yet rested he, nor once his armor doffed,
But all day long o’er hills and dales doth ride:
But when the night cast up her shade aloft
And all earth’s colors strange in sables dyed,
He light, and as he could his wounds upbound,
And shook ripe dates down from a palm he found.
V
Nor, tho’ his wounds torment him, and the blows
Dealt so severely in the late affray,
Will he his armour doff, or seek repose,
But in sore travail spends the livelong day.
At length, when night earth’s various colours took,
And all converted into one black suit,
Dismounting, he bound up his wounds, and shook
From a high palm, as best he could, the fruit
VI.
E cibato di lor, sul terren nudo
Cerca adagiare il travagliato fianco,
E, la testa appoggiando al duro scudo,
44 Quetar i moti del pensier suo stanco.
Ma d’ora in ora a lui si fa più crudo
Sentire il duol delle ferite, ed anco
Roso gli è il petto e lacerato il core
48 Dagl’interni avoltoj, sdegno e dolore.
VI
On them he supped, and amid the field
To rest his weary limbs awhile he sought,
He made his pillow of his broken shield
To ease the griefs of his distempered thought,
But little ease could so hard lodging yield,
His wounds so smarted that he slept right naught,
And, in his breast, his proud heart rent in twain,
Two inward vultures, Sorrow and Disdain.
VI
Refreshed therefrom, upon the naked field
His jaded limbs to accommodate he sought,
And his head pillowed on his iron shield,
To calm the throbbings of o’erwearied thought.
But, as each moment passed, still more and more
He felt his wounds’ uneasiness and pain;
Gnawed is his bosom, rent his heart’s proud core,
By the inward vultures, sorrow and disdain.
VII.
Alfin, quando già tutte intorno chete
Nella più alta notte eran le cose,
Vinto egli pur dalla stanchezza, in Lete
52 Sopì le cure sue gravi e nojose;
E in una breve e languida quiete
L’afflitte membra e gli occhj egri compose:
E mentre ancor dormia, voce severa
56 Gl’intonò su le orecchie in tal maniera:
VII
At length when midnight with her silence deep
Did heaven and earth hushed, still, and quiet make,
Sore watched and weary, he began to steep
His cares and sorrows in oblivion’s lake,
And in a little, short, unquiet sleep
Some small repose his fainting spirits take;
But, while he slept, a voice grave and severe