My lord, your life with greater care protect,
And love yourself because all us you love,
Your happy life is spirit, soul, and breath
Of all this camp, preserve it then from death.”
XXII
‘What seekest thou, O prince? The simple prize
Of him who scales a wall? This task impose
On the less worthy crowd, whose duty ’tis,
And let them their less useful lives expose.
Resume thou, then, thy usual arms and post,
And of thy body, for our sake, take care;
Thy soul, the life and spirit of the host,
For God’s sake guard, and from such risks forbear.’
XXIII.
Quì tace; ed ei risponde: or ti sia noto
Che quando in Chiaramonte il grande Urbano
Questa spada mi cinse, e me devoto
180 Fè cavalier l’onnipotente mano:
Tacitamente a Dio promisi in voto
Non pur l’opera quì di Capitano;
Ma d’impiegarvi ancor, quando che fosse,
184 Qual privato guerrier l’armi e le posse.
XXIII
To this he answered thus, “You know,” he said,
“In Clarimont by mighty Urban’s hand
When I was girded with this noble blade,
For Christ’s true faith to fight in every land,
To God even then a secret vow I made,
Not as a captain here this day to stand
And give directions, but with shield and sword
To fight, to win, or die for Christ my Lord.
XXIII
He ceased, and thus the gallant Godfred: ‘Know
That when in Clermont, in my young career,
On me this sword great Urban did bestow,
And made me Christ’s devoted cavalier,
I vowed to God in secret, that I would
The part of captain not alone sustain,
But would employ my valour, when I could,
As simple soldier in this great campaign.
XXIV.
Dunque poscia che sian contra i nemici
Tutte le genti mie mosse e disposte:
E che appieno adempito avrò gli uficj
188 Che son dovuti al Principe dell’oste,
Ben è ragion, nè tu credo il disdici,
Che alle mura, pugnando, anch’io m’accoste,
E la fede promessa al Cielo osservi:
192 Egli mi custodisca, e mi conservi.
XXIV
“When all this camp in battle strong shall be
Ordained and ordered, well disposed all,
And all things done which to the high degree
And sacred place I hold belongen shall;
Then reason is it, nor dissuade thou me,
That I likewise assault this sacred wall,
Lest from my vow to God late made I swerve:
He shall this life defend, keep and preserve.”
XXIV
‘When I shall have, then, all my tactics formed,
Against the foe the combat to renew,
And fully have the offices performed
That from commander of the host are due,
Tis right that yonder I my course direct,
And the vow made unto my God observe
(Nor do I think to that thou canst object);
Let Him then guard me, and my life preserve.’
XXV.
Così concluse; e i cavalier Francesi
Seguir l’esempio, e i due minor Buglioni.
Gli altri Principi ancor men gravi arnesi
196 Parte vestiro e si mostrar pedoni.
Ma i Pagani frattanto erano ascesi
Là dove ai sette gelidi Trioni
Si volge e piega all’Occidente il muro,
200 Che nel più facil sito è men sicuro.
XXV
Thus he concludes, and every hardy knight
His sample followed, and his brethren twain,
The other princes put on harness light,
As footmen use: but all the Pagan train
Toward that side bent their defensive might
Which lies exposed to view of Charles’s wain
And Zephyrus’ sweet blasts, for on that part
The town was weakest, both by side and art.
XXV
He ceased. At once the cavaliers of France,
And his two brothers, his example shared;
And the other princely leaders, without lance,
In lighter arms as foot-soldiers appeared.
Meanwhile, the Pagans had ascended where
The lofty ramparts, stretching towards the West,
Confront the starry cluster of the Bear,
That part being less protected than the rest.
XXVI.
Perocch’altronde la Città non teme
Dell’assalto nemico offesa alcuna.
Quivi non pur l’empio Tiranno insieme
204 Il forte volgo e gli assoldati aduna;
Ma chiama ancor alle fatiche estreme,
Fanciulli e vecchj, l’ultima fortuna.
E van questi portando ai più gagliardi
208 Calce, zolfo, bitume, e sassi, e dardi.
XXVI
On all parts else the fort was strong by site,
With mighty hills defenced from foreign rage,
And to this part the tyrant gan unite
His subjects born and bands that serve for wage,
From this exploit he spared nor great nor lite,
The aged men, and boys of tender age,
To fire of angry war still brought new fuel,
Stones, darts, lime, brimstone and bitumen cruel.
XXVI
Elsewhere so strong, the city had not recked
The slightest damage from the foe’s assault;
But here not only did the king collect
His regular soldiers, but, in their default,
Had, as a last resource, assembled there
The old, and those of ev’n the tenderest years;
Who move about, and to the stronger bear
Bitumen, sulphur, lime, darts, stones, and spears.
XXVII.
E di machine e d’arme han pieno innante
Tutto quel muro a cui soggiace il piano.
E quinci, in forma d’orrido gigante,
212 Dalla cintola in su sorge il Soldano;
Quindi tra’ merli il minaccioso Argante
Torreggia, e discoperto è di lontano:
E in su la Torre altissima angolare,
216 Sovra tutti, Clorinda eccelsa appare.
XXVII
All full of arms and weapons was the wall,
Under whose basis that fair plain doth run,
There stood the Soldan like a giant tall,
So stood at Rhodes the Coloss of the sun,
Waist high, Argantes showed himself withal,
At whose stern looks the French to quake begun,
Clorinda on the corner tower alone,
In silver arms like rising Cynthia shone.
XXVII
With flashing arms, balistae, pikes, and bows
Bristles the rampart that o’erlooks the plain;
And there, in form of horrid giant, rose
Breast high above it, mighty Solyman;
Amid the merlons of the lofty wall
Arganté towers, and is discerned afar;
And in the angle turret, over all,
Clorinda waits the coming shock of war.
XXVIII.
A costei la faretra e ‘l grave incarco
Delle acute quadrella al tergo pende.
Ella già nelle mani ha preso l’arco,
220 E già lo stral v’ha su la corda, e ‘l tende:
E, disiosa di ferire, al varco
La bella arciera i suoi nemici attende.
Tal già credean la vergine di Delo,
224 Tra l’alte nubi, sae
ttar dal Cielo.
XXVIII
Her rattling quiver at her shoulders hung,
Therein a flash of arrows feathered weel.
In her left hand her bow was bended strong,
Therein a shaft headed with mortal steel,
So fit to shoot she singled forth among
Her foes who first her quarries’ strength should feel,
So fit to shoot Latona’s daughter stood
When Niobe she killed and all her brood.
XXVIII
A heavy load of piercing arrows, lo!
And burnished quiver from her back depend;
And, see! already she has seized the bow,
The bolt affixes, and prepares to bend.
Upon the passage of the advancing foe
The lovely archer sets her eager eyes:
Thus, Fancy deemed, upon the world below
The Delian virgin arrowed from the skies.
XXIX.
Scorre più sotto il Re canuto a piede
Dall’una all’altra porta, e in su le mura
Ciò che prima ordinò cauto rivede,
228 E i difensor conforta e rassicura.
E quì gente rinforza, e là provvede
Di maggior copia d’arme, e ‘l tutto cura.
Ma se ne van le afflitte madri al tempio
232 A ripregar nume bugiardo ed empio.
XXIX
The aged tyrant tottered on his feet
From gate to gate, from wall to wall he flew,
He comforts all his bands with speeches sweet,
And every fort and bastion doth review,
For every need prepared in every street
New regiments he placed and weapons new.
The matrons grave within their temples high
To idols false for succors call and cry,
XXIX
Beneath, on foot, the hoary monarch made
His way from gate to gate; then, from the wall,
Observed if all his orders were obeyed,
And cheer and reassurance gave to all;
Here reinforcements furnishes, and there
Of arms and stores provides a fresh supply.
Meanwhile, sad matrons to the mosques repair,
To supplicate their impious deity:
XXX.
Deh spezza tu del predator Francese
L’asta, Signor, con la man giusta e forte;
E lui che tanto il tuo gran nome offese
236 Abbatti e spargi sotto l’alte porte.
Così dicean, nè fur le voci intese
Là giù tra ‘l pianto dell’eterna morte.
Or mentre la Città s’appresta e prega,
240 Le genti e l’armi il pio Buglion dispiega.
XXX
“O Macon, break in twain the steeled lance
On wicked Godfrey with thy righteous hands,
Against thy name he doth his arm advance,
His rebel blood pour out upon these sands;”
These cries within his ears no enterance
Could find, for naught he hears, naught understands.
While thus the town for her defence ordains,
His armies Godfrey ordereth on the plains;
XXX
‘Do thou, O Lord, with just and powerful hand,
Asunder rive the Frank marauder’s spear,
And ‘neath these portals strow that blasphemous band
Which desecrates the name that we revere.’
Thus prayed, nor down there were their voices heard,
‘Mid Death’s eternal lamentations lost:
Now, while the city prayed, and thus prepared,
The pious Bouillon marshals out his host
XXXI.
Tragge egli fuor l’esercito pedone
Con molta provvidenza e con bell’arte:
E contra il muro, ch’assalir dispone,
244 Obliquamente in due lati il comparte.
Le baliste per dritto in mezzo pone,
E gli altri ordigni orribili di Marte;
Onde, in guisa di fulmini, si lancia
248 Ver le merlate cime or sasso or lancia.
XXXI
His forces first on foot he forward brought,
With goodly order, providence and art,
And gainst these towers which to assail he thought,
In battles twain his strength he doth depart,
Between them crossbows stood, and engines wrought
To cast a stone, a quarry, or a dart,
From whence like thunder’s dint or lightnings new
Against the bulwark stones and lances flew.
XXXI
With extreme foresight and consummate art,
He ranges forth his foot, and in two sides
Obliquely formed, in echelon, that part
Intended to assault the wall, divides.
In the centre, the balistæ he unites
With other horrid instruments of war,
Whence stones and javelins towards the embattled heights,
Like flashing thunderbolts, projected are.
XXXII.
E mette in guardia i cavalier de’ fanti
Da tergo, e manda intorno i corridori.
Dà il segno poi della battaglia, e tanti
252 I sagittarj sono e i frombatori
E l’arme delle machine volanti,
Che scemano fra i merli i difensori.
Altri v’è morto, e ‘l loco altri abbandona:
256 Già men folta del muro è la corona.
XXXII
His men at arms did back his bands on foot,
The light horse ride far off and serve for wings,
He gave the sign, so mighty was the rout
Of those that shot with bows and cast with slings,
Such storms of shafts and stones flew all about,
That many a Pagan proud to death it brings,
Some died, some at their loops durst scant outpeep,
Some fled and left the place they took to keep.
XXXII
Behind the foot the heavy horse he posts,
The light sends forward to patrol around;
Then gives the sign of battle. ‘Mid the hosts
The archers and the slingers so abound,
And arms so numerous from their engines fly,
That from the merlons the defenders fall;
Some quit their posts, and some are seen to die;
Thinned are already those that crowned the wall.
XXXIII.
La gente Franca impetuosa e ratta
Allor quanto più puote affretta i passi.
E parte scudo a scudo insieme adatta,
260 E di quegli un coperchio al capo fassi.
E parte sotto machine s’appiatta
Che fan riparo al grandinar de’ sassi.
Ed arrivando al fosso, il cupo e ‘l vano
264 Cercano empirne, ed adeguarlo al piano.
XXXIII
The hardy Frenchmen, full of heat and haste,
Ran boldly forward to the ditches large,
And o’er their heads an iron pentice vast
They built, by joining many a shield and targe,
Some with their engines ceaseless shot and cast,
And volleys huge of arrows sharp discharge,
Upon the ditches some employed their pain
To fill the moat and even it with the plain.
XXXIII
Then dashed the Franks impetuous o’er the field,
And towards the ramparts with fresh vigour sped;
And some had shield adapted upon shield,
And with them made a covering for the head;
Some crept beneath the mighty engines, which
Afforded shelter from the stony rain,
Then strove to fill, arriving at the ditch,
Its void, and make it level with the plain.
XXXIV.
Non era il fosso di palustre limo
(Chè nol consente i
l loco) o d’acqua molle:
Onde l’empiano, ancorchè largo ed imo,
268 Le pietre, i fasci, e gli alberi, e le zolle.
L’audacissimo Alcasto intanto il primo
Scopre la testa, ed una scala estolle:
E nol ritien dura gragnuola, o pioggia
272 Di fervidi bitumi, e su vi poggia.
XXXIV
With slime or mud the ditches were not soft,
But dry and sandy, void of waters clear,
Though large and deep the Christians fill them oft,
With rubbish, fagots, stones, and trees they bear:
Adrastus first advanced his crest aloft,
And boldly gan a strong scalado rear,
And through the falling storm did upward climb
Of stones, darts, arrows, fire, pitch and lime:
XXXIV
Not of soft mud or water was the fosse,(I)
For this the soil allowed not; whence with ease
They filled it up, tho’ deep and broad across,
With gabions, stones, and sods of turf, and trees.
Meanwhile Alcasto was the first to show
His daring head, and ‘gan the wall to scale,
Raising a ladder, which he mounted, tho’
Deluged by fiery rain and iron hail.
XXXV.
Vedeasi in alto il fero Elvezio asceso
Mezzo l’aereo calle aver finito,
Segno a mille saette, e non offeso
276 D’alcuna sì che fermi il corso ardito:
Quando un sasso ritondo e di gran peso,
Veloce, come di bombarda uscito,
Nell’elmo il coglie, e ‘l risospinge a basso:
280 E ‘l colpo vien dal lanciator Circasso.
XXXV
The hardy Switzer now so far was gone
That half way up with mickle pain he got,
A thousand weapons he sustained alone,
And his audacious climbing ceased not;
At last upon him fell a mighty stone,
As from some engine great it had been shot,
It broke his helm, he tumbled from the height,
The strong Circassian cast that wondrous weight;
XXXV
The impetuous Switzer had already won
Half the aerial path with matchless force,
Butt for a thousand arrows, yet not one
So injured him as to obstruct his course;
When a huge mass of round and ponderous rock,
Like shell from mortar, by Arganté thrown,
As up he clomb, Alcasto’s helmet struck,
Jerusalem Delivered Page 228
