Fanned the soft slumbers of the sleeping world.
II.
Ed essi ogni pensier, che ‘l dì conduce,
Tuffato aveano in dolce oblio profondo.
Ma vigilando nell’eterna luce
12 Sedeva al suo governo il Re del mondo:
E rivolgea dal Cielo al Franco Duce
Lo sguardo favorevole e giocondo.
Quinci a lui n’inviava un sogno cheto,
16 Perchè gli rivelasse alto decreto.
II
The thoughts and troubles of broad-waking day,
They softly dipped in mild Oblivion’s lake;
But he whose Godhead heaven and earth doth sway,
In his eternal light did watch and wake,
And bent on Godfrey down the gracious ray
Of his bright eye, still ope for Godfrey’s sake,
To whom a silent dream the Lord down sent.
Which told his will, his pleasure and intent.
II
And all the cares on day attendant, night
Had in refreshing deep oblivion drowned;
But, watching from his throne of endless light,
The world’s great monarch sat, and, turning round,
Fixed on the Christian army’s chief supreme
His sympathetic and propitious eye;
Then sent as harbinger a joyous dream,
His high and sovran will to signify.
III.
Non lunge all’auree porte ond’esce il Sole,
È cristallina porta in Oriente
Che, per costume, innanzi aprir si suole
20 Che si dischiuda l’uscio al dì nascente.
Da questa escono i sogni, i quai Dio vuole
Mandar per grazia a pura e casta mente.
Da questa or quel ch’al pio Buglion discende,
24 L’ali dorate inverso lui distende.
III
Far in the east, the golden gate beside
Whence Phoebus comes, a crystal port there is,
And ere the sun his broad doors open wide
The beam of springing day uncloseth this,
Hence comes the dreams, by which heaven’s sacred guide
Reveals to man those high degrees of his,
Hence toward Godfrey ere he left his bed
A vision strange his golden plumes bespread.
III
There stands in the orient a crystallin door,
Near those gold gates from which in full array
The sun comes forth, and which is oped before
Unbarred’s the portal for the rising day;
From it proceed those dreams the Almighty sends
To pure unsullied minds by special grace;
Thence one to pious Godfred now descends,
And spreads its golden pinions in his face.
IV.
Nulla mai vision nel sonno offerse
Altrui sì vaghe immagini o sì belle,
Come ora questa a lui, la qual gli aperse
28 I secreti del Cielo e delle stelle.
Onde, siccome entro uno speglio, ei scerse
Ciò che là suso è veramente in elle.
Pareagli esser traslato in un sereno
32 Candido, e d’auree fiamme adorno e pieno.
IV
Such semblances, such shapes, such portraits fair,
Did never yet in dream or sleep appear,
For all the forms in sea, in earth or air,
The signs in heaven, the stars in every sphere
All that was wondrous, uncouth, strange and rare,
All in that vision well presented were.
His dream had placed him in a crystal wide,
Beset with golden fires, top, bottom, side,
IV
No vision e’er in wildest dreams disclosed
Such fair, such pleasing picture to the eye,
As this which to their inmost depths exposed
The secrets of the stars and of the sky;
In which, as in a mirror, he can see
In all their splendour their contents displayed;
He seemed transported to a galaxy,
A white serene in golden flames arrayed.
V.
E mentre ammira in quell’eccelso loco
L’ampiezza, i moti, i lumi, e l’armonia:
Ecco, cinto di rai cinto di foco,
36 Un cavaliero incontra a lui venia.
E in suono, a lato a cui sarebbe roco
Qual più dolce è qua giù, parlar l’udia:
Goffredo, non m’accogli? e non ragione
40 Al fido amico? or non conosci Ugone?
V
There while he wondereth on the circles vast,
The stars, their motions, course and harmony,
A knight, with shining rays and fire embraced,
Presents himself unwares before his eye,
Who with a voice that far for sweetness passed
All human speech, thus said, approaching nigh:
“What, Godfrey, knowest thou not thy Hugo here?
Come and embrace thy friend and fellow dear!”
V
And while he did in that high place admire
The expanse, the motion, harmony, and light,
Lo! girt with sunbeams, girt with radiant fire,
That almost blinded him, approached a knight,
Who spoke with voice to which would harsh appear
The sweetest upon earth. ‘Godfred,’ he cries,
‘What! hast no words or welcome for thy dear
And faithful friend? nor Hugo recognise?’
VI.
Ed ei gli rispondea: quel nuovo aspetto
Che par d’un Sol mirabilmente adorno,
Dall’antica notizia il mio intelletto
44 Sviato ha sì, che tardi a lui ritorno.
Gli stendea poi con dolce amico affetto
Tre fiate le braccia al collo intorno:
E tre fiate invan cinta l’imago
48 Fuggia, qual leve sogno od aer vago.
VI
He answered him, “Thy glorious shining light
Which in thine eyes his glistering beams doth place,
Estranged hath from my foreknowledge quite
Thy countenance, thy favor, and thy face:”
This said, three times he stretched his hands outright
And would in friendly arms the knight embrace,
And thrice the spirit fled, that thrice he twined
Naught in his folded arms but air and wind.
VI
Prince Godfred answered him: ‘That new aspect,
Which, like a sun, miraculously burns,
Has so diverted my dazed intellect
From its old ken, that slowly it returns.
Thrice, then, his arms around his neck he cast,
Transported by affection and esteem,
And thrice the spirit, vainly circled, passed
Like unsubstantial air, or subtile dream.
VII.
Sorridea quegli: e, non già come credi,
Dicea, son cinto di terrena veste:
Semplice forma, e nudo spirto vedi
52 Quì, cittadin della Città celeste.
Questo è tempio di Dio: quì son le sedi
De’ suoi guerrieri, e tu avrai loco in queste.
Quando ciò fia? rispose; il mortal laccio
56 Sciolgasi omai, s’al restar quì m’è impaccio.
VII
Lord Hugo smiled, “Not as you think,” quoth he,
“I clothed am in flesh and earthly mould,
My spirit pure, and naked soul, you see,
A citizen of this celestial hold:
This place is heaven, and here a room for thee
Prepared is among Christ’s champions bold:”
“Ah when,” quoth he, “these mortal bonds unknit,
Shall I in peace, in ease and rest there sit?”
VII
He smiled and said: �
�Not, as thou deem’st, do I
An earthly robe of fleshy fabric wear;
An immaterial form thou dost descry,
And blissful tenant of the heavenly sphere.
This is God’s temple, here his knights abide,
And here thou, too, shalt come, O cavalier.’
‘When will that be? These mortal bonds,’ he cried,
‘Loose, if they hinder my remaining here.’
VIII.
Ben, replicogli Ugon, tosto raccolto
Nella gloria sarai de’ trionfanti.
Pur, militando, converrà che molto
60 Sangue e sudor là giù tu versi innanti.
Da te prima ai Pagani esser ritolto
Deve l’imperio de’ paesi santi:
E stabilirsi in lor Cristiana reggia,
64 In cui regnare il tuo fratel poi deggia.
VIII
Hugo replied, “Ere many years shall run,
Amid the saints in bliss here shalt thou reign;
But first great wars must by thy hand be done,
Much blood be shed, and many Pagans slain,
The holy city by assault be won,
The land set free from servile yoke again,
Wherein thou shalt a Christian empire frame,
And after thee shall Baldwin rule the same.
VIII
‘Soon shalt thou be accepted,’ Hugo said,
‘To share the fame of the triumphant; yet,
Ere that occur, ’tis fated thou must shed,
Down on you plain below, much blood and sweat:
Thou must the empire of the Holy Land
Wrest from the Pagan first, and then ordain
A Christian kingdom, where, with puissant hand,
Thy younger brother may hereafter reign.
IX.
Ma perchè più lo tuo desir s’avvive
Nell’amor di qua su, più fiso or mira
Questi lucidi alberghi e queste vive
68 Fiamme, che mente eterna informa e gira:
E in angeliche tempre odi le dive
Sirene, e ‘l suon di lor celeste lira.
China (poi disse, e gli additò la terra)
72 Gli occhj a ciò che quel globo ultimo serra.
IX
“But to increase thy love and great desire
To heavenward, this blessed place behold,
These shining lamps, these globes of living fire,
How they are turned, guided, moved and rolled;
The angels’ singing hear, and all their choir;
Then bend thine eyes on yonder earth and mould,
All in that mass, that globe and compass see,
Land, sea, spring, fountain, man, beast, grass and tree.
IX
‘But that more vivified be thy desires
For love of heavenly things, more close behold
These lucid mansions and these living fires,
By mind eternal quickened and controlled;
The seraph notes of syren minstrels hear,
Hear their celestial lyres’ immortal strains.’
Then said, and pointed to earth’s distant sphere,
‘Look down and see what yonder globe contains.
X.
Quanto è vil la cagion ch’alla virtude
Umana è colà giù premio e contrasto!
In che picciolo cerchio, e fra che nude
76 Solitudini è stretto il vostro fasto!
Lei, come isola, il mare intorno chiude;
E lui, ch’or Ocean chiamate or vasto,
Nulla eguale a tai nomi ha in sè di magno;
80 Ma è bassa palude, e breve stagno.
X
“How vile, how small, and of how slender price,
Is their reward of goodness, virtue’s gain!
A narrow room our glory vain upties,
A little circle doth our pride contain,
Earth like an isle amid the water lies,
Which sea sometime is called, sometime the main,
Yet naught therein responds a name so great,
It’s but a lake, a pond, a marish strait.”
X
‘How mean, how abject, are the causes there,
That prompt man’s valour and his actions guide!
And what scant compass, and what deserts bare,
Confine his puny and ignoble pride!
It as an isle the circling sea surrounds,
And ill doth your vast ocean correspond
With the high title of those wordy sounds;
’Tis but a wretched marsh, a stagnant pond.’
XI.
Così l’un disse; e l’altro in giuso i lumi
Volse, quasi sdegnando, e ne sorrise;
Chè vide un punto sol, mar, terre, e fiumi,
84 Che quì pajon distinti in tante guise:
Ed ammirò che pur all’ombre, ai fumi,
La nostra folle umanità s’affise,
Servo imperio cercando, e muta fama:
88 Nè miri il Ciel che a se n’invita e chiama.
XI
Thus said the one, the other bended down
His looks to ground, and half in scorn he smiled,
He saw at once earth, sea, flood, castle, town,
Strangely divided, strangely all compiled,
And wondered folly man so far should drown,
To set his heart on things so base and vild,
That servile empire searcheth and dumb fame,
And scorns heaven’s bliss, yet proffereth heaven the same.
XI
As thus the spirit spoke, the cavalier
Looked down and smiled, as if in scorn to see,
Dwarfed to a point, the land and sea, that here
Preserve their individuality;
Astonished how to shadows and to smoke
Perverse mortality affix their eyes,
Seeking mute fame and servile power, nor look
To God, who calls — who bids them to the skies.
XII.
Onde rispose: poiche Dio non piace
Del mio carcer terreno anco disciorme;
Prego che del cammin ch’è men fallace
92 Fra gli errori del mondo or tu m’informe.
È, replicogli Ugon, la via verace
Questa che tieni: ondi non torcer l’orme.
Sol che richiami dal lontano esiglio
96 Il figliuol di Bertoldo, io ti consiglio.
XII
Wherefore he answered, “Since the Lord not yet
Will free my spirit from this cage of clay,
Lest worldly error vain my voyage let,
Teach me to heaven the best and surest way:”
Hugo replied, “Thy happy foot is set
In the true path, nor from this passage stray,
Only from exile young Rinaldo call,
This give I thee in charge, else naught at all.
XII
Whence he: ‘ Since yet it pleaseth not thy God
Me from this earthly prison to set free,
I pray thee show the path that may be trod
Most safely in this labyrinth by me.’
‘That,’ replied Hugo, ‘is the real way
Thou treadest now; depart not from its track:
Alone I counsel thee, without delay,
Bertoldo’s son from exile to call back.
XIII.
Perchè se l’alta provvidenza elesse
Te dell’impresa sommo Capitano;
Destinò insieme ch’egli esser dovesse
100 De’ tuoi consiglj esecutor soprano.
A te le prime parti, a lui concesse
Son le seconde: tu sei capo, ei mano
Di questo campo: e sostener sua vece
104 Altrui non puote, e farlo a te non lece.
XIII
“For as the Lord of hosts, the King of bliss,
Hath chosen thee to rule the faithful band;
So he thy stratagems appointed is
To execute, so both shall win this land:
The first is thine, the second place is his,
Thou art this army’s head, and he the hand,
No other champion can his place supply,
And that thou do it doth thy state deny.
XIII
‘Since if high Providence elected thee
Commander of this emprise, he ordained,
Of thy designs, that Prince Rinaldo be
Supreme executor: to thee He deigned
The foremost part, to him the second place;
Thou art the head, and he the camp’s right hand;
Nor could another that bold knight replace,
And ‘twere not right thou in his post shouldst stand.
XIV.
A lui sol di troncar non fia disdetto
Il bosco che ha gl’incanti in sua difesa:
E da lui il campo tuo che, per difetto
108 Di gente, inabil sembra a tanta impresa,
E par che sia di ritirarsi astretto,
Prenderà maggior forza a nova impresa.
E i rinforzati muri e d’Oriente
112 Supererà l’esercito possente.
XIV
“The enchanted forest, and her charmed treen,
With cutting steel shall he to earth down hew,
And thy weak armies which too feeble been
To scale again these walls reinforced new,
And fainting lie dispersed on the green,
Shall take new strength new courage at his view,
The high-built towers, the eastern squadrons all,
Shall conquered be, shall fly, shall die, shall fall.”
XIV
‘For he alone will be allowed to hew
The wood, defended by such magic charms;
From him the camp’s desponding residue,
That seem unable to resume their arms,
Nay, much more likely to retire, will all
For new emprises have their zeal increased;
Thro’ him they’ll overcome the strengthened wall,
Thro’ him the powerful army of the East.’
XV.
Tacque; e ‘l Buglion rispose: o quanto grato
Fora a me che tornasse il cavaliero!
Voi, che vedete ogni pensier celato,
116 Sapete s’amo lui, se dico il vero.
Ma dì, con quai proposte, od in qual lato
Si deve a lui mandarne il messaggiero?
Vuoi ch’io preghi, o comandi? E come questo
120 Atto sarà legittimo ed onesto?
Jerusalem Delivered Page 247
