‘Thou must, Raimondo, the steep ramparts storm,
With thy machines, on that less guarded part,
While I my force, in line extended, form
‘Gainst the north gate; deluded by which art,
The baffled foe may tranquilly await
Our chief attack and greatest efforts there,
While I my easy-moving tower translate
Some distance off, and carry war elsewhere.
LVI.
Tu drizzerai, Camillo, al tempo stesso
Non lontana da me la terza torre.
Tacque; e Raimondo, che gli siede appresso,
444 E che, parlando lui, fra se discorre;
Disse: al consiglio da Goffredo espresso
Nulla giunger si puote, e nulla torre.
Lodo solo, oltre ciò, ch’alcun s’invii
448 Nel campo ostil, che i suoi secreti spii.
LVI
“Camillo, thou not far from me shalt rear
Another tower, close to the walls ybrought.”
This spoken, Raymond old, that sate him near,
And while he talked great things tossed in his thought,
Said, “To Godfredo’s counsel, given us here,
Naught can be added, from it taken naught:
Yet this I further wish, that some were sent
To spy their camp, their secret and intent,
LVI
‘At the same time, Camillus, I rely
That the third tower thou bring not far from mine.’
He ceased, when Raymond, who was sitting nigh,
And weighed, as he was speaking, his design,
Exclaimed: ‘We cannot add to or amend
Prince Godffed’s plan, save one thing more, which I
Venture to add, that we should some one send,
The secrets of the hostile camp to spy,
LVII.
E ne ridica il numero, e ‘l pensiero
(Quanto raccor potrà) certo e verace.
Soggiunge allor Tancredi: ho un mio scudiero,
452 Che a questo ufficio di propor mi piace:
Uom pronto e destro, e sovra i piè leggiero:
Audace si, ma cautamente audace:
Che parla in molte lingue, e varia il noto
456 Suon della voce, e ‘l portamento, e ‘l moto.
LVII
“That may their number and their squadrons brave
Describe, and through their tents disguised mask.”
Quoth Tancred, “Lo, a subtle squire I have,
A person fit to undertake this task,
A man quick, ready, bold, sly to deceive,
To answer, wise, and well advised to ask;
Well languaged, and that with time and place,
Can change his look, his voice, his gait, his grace.”
LVII
‘Who may recount their numbers, and divine,
Far as he can, the purpose of our foes.’
Tancredi added: ‘There’s a squire of mine
Whom for this office I would fain propose;
Ready, adroit, and light of foot he is,
And daring — but discretionally daring;
He speaks in many tongues, and can disguise
His real voice, his movements, and his bearing.’
LVIII.
Venne colui chiamato; e poi ch’intese
Ciò che Goffredo, e ‘l suo Signor desia;
Alzò ridendo il volto, ed intraprese
460 La cura, e disse: or or mi pongo in via.
Tosto sarò, dove quel campo tese
Le tende avrà, non conosciuta spia;
Vuò penetrar di mezzodì nel vallo,
464 E numerarvi ogn’uomo, ogni cavallo.
LVIII
Sent for, he came, and when his lord him told
What Godfrey’s pleasure was and what his own,
He smiled and said forthwith he gladly would.
“I go,” quoth he, “careless what chance be thrown,
And where encamped be these Pagans bold,
Will walk in every tent a spy unknown,
Their camp even at noon-day I enter shall,
And number all their horse and footmen all;
LVIII
Summoned, he came, and when he understood
That which Prince Godfred and his lord desired,
He smiled with confidence, and said he would
With pleasure undertake the charge required.
‘Unrecognised as spy, I will be soon
Where that camp’s tents are pitched; I’ll penetrate
Into their works by the broad light of noon,
And every man and horse enumerate.
LIX.
Quanta e qual sia quell’oste, e ciò che pensi
Il Duce loro, a voi ridir prometto.
Vantomi in lui scoprir gl’intimi sensi,
468 E i secreti pensier trargli del petto.
Così parla Vafrino, e non trattiensi;
Ma cangia in lungo manto il suo farsetto:
E mostra fa del nudo collo: e prende
472 D’intorno al capo attorcigliate bende.
LIX
“How great, how strong, how armed this army is,
And what their guide intends, I will declare,
To me the secrets of that heart of his
And hidden thoughts shall open lie and bare.”
Thus Vafrine spoke, nor longer stayed on this,
But for a mantle changed the coat he ware,
Naked was his neck, and bout his forehead bold,
Of linen white full twenty yards he rolled.
LIX
‘The numbers and condition of that host,
And their chiefs thoughts, I promise to impart;
His inmost sense to bring to light I boast,
And wrest the closest secrets from his heart.’
Vafrino tarried not, as thus he spoke,
But made display of a bare neck, exchanged
His simple doublet for a flowing cloak,
And folds of linen round his brow arranged.
LX.
La faretra s’adatta, e l’arco Siro:
E barbarico sembra ogni suo gesto.
Stupiron quei che favellar l’udiro,
476 Ed in diverse lingue esser sì presto,
Ch’Egizio in Menfi, o pur Fenice in Tiro
L’avria creduto e quel popolo e questo.
Egli sen va sovra un destrier ch’appena
480 Segna nel corso la più molle arena.
LX
His weapons were a Syrian bow and quiver,
His gestures barbarous, like the Turkish train,
Wondered all they that heard his tongue deliver
Of every land the language true and plain:
In Tyre a born Phoenician, by the river
Of Nile a knight bred in the Egyptian main,
Both people would have thought him; forth he rides
On a swift steed, o’er hills and dales that glides.
LX
A Syrian bow and quiver round him slung,
Barbaric seemed his every gest: beside
So versed he was, and quick in every tongue,
That those who heard him speak were stupefied;
In Tyre Phoenician, or in Memphis all
Had him Egyptian deemed. Upon a horse
Away he rode, whose feet so lightly fall,
That in the sand one scarce could track their course.
LXI.
Ma i Franchi, pria che ‘l terzo dì sia giunto,
Appianaron le vie scoscese e rotte:
E finir gl’instromenti anco in quel punto,
484 Chè non fur le fatiche unqua interrotte;
Anzi all’opre de’ giorni avean congiunto,
Togliendola al riposo, anco la notte.
Nè cosa è più che ritardar gli possa
488 Dal far l’estremo omai d’ogni lor possa.
LXI
But ere the third day came the F
rench forth sent
Their pioneers to even the rougher ways,
And ready made each warlike instrument,
Nor aught their labor interrupts or stays;
The nights in busy toll they likewise spent
And with long evenings lengthened forth short days,
Till naught was left the hosts that hinder might
To use their utmost power and strength in fight.
LXI
Before the third day dawned, the Franks had made
Level the steep and broken ways, and there
Had even their immense machines conveyed,
Since their fatigues uninterrupted were;
Nay, joined they had to labour of the day,
Stealing it from the hours of rest, the night;
Nor was there aught that could them more delay
From making final trial of their might.
LXII.
Del dì, cui dell’assalto il dì successe,
Gran parte orando il pio Buglion dispensa:
E impon che ogn’altro i falli suoi confesse,
492 E pasca il pan dell’alme alla gran mensa.
Machine ed arme poscia ivi più spesse
Dimostra, ove adoprarle egli men pensa.
E ‘l deluso Pagan si riconforta,
496 Ch’oppor le vede alla munita porta.
LXII
That day, which of the assault the day forerun,
The godly duke in prayer spent well-nigh,
And all the rest, because they had misdone,
The sacrament receive and mercy cry;
Then oft the duke his engines great begun
To show where least he would their strength apply;
His foes rejoiced, deluded in that sort,
To see them bent against their surest port:
LXII
Much of the day preceding the attack
In solemn prayer the pious Buglion spent,
And bade the host confess their sins, and take
At the Lord’s table the soul’s sacrament
The greatest demonstration he then made,
Where least to employ his huge machines he thought;
Deluded whence, the Turks with joy surveyed
Against the strongest gate his engines brought
LXIII.
Col bujo della notte è poi la vasta
Agil machina sua colà traslata,
Ove è men curvo il muro, e men contrasta,
500 Ch’angulosa non fa parte, e piegata.
E d’in sul colle alla Città sovrasta
Raimondo ancor con la sua torre armata.
La sua Camillo a quel lato avvicina,
504 Che dal Borea all’Occaso alquanto inchina.
LXIII
But after, aided by the friendly night,
His greatest engine to that side he brought
Where plainest seemed the wall, where with their might
The flankers least could hurt them as they fought;
And to the southern mountain’s greatest height
To raise his turret old Raymondo sought;
And thou Camillo on that part hadst thine,
Where from the north the walls did westward twine.
LXIII
Then when dark night had spread her ebon pall,
He had his huge machine transported where
Less luniform and salient was the wall,
Nor angles nor projecting outworks were.
With his armed turret, Raymond far and wide
The town commanded from the mountain’s crest;
Camillus his advanced upon that side
Which from the north bends somewhat to the west.
LXIV.
Ma come furo in Oriente apparsi
I mattutini messaggier del Sole,
S’avvidero i Pagani (e ben turbarsi)
508 Che la torre non è dove esser suole:
E mirar quinci e quindi anco innalzarsi,
Non più veduta, una ed un’altra mole.
E in numero infinito anco son viste
512 Catapulte, monton, gatti, e baliste.
LXIV
But when amid the eastern heaven appeared
The rising morning bright as shining glass,
The troubled Pagans saw, and seeing feared,
How the great tower stood not where late it was,
And here and there tofore unseen was reared
Of timber strong a huge and fearful mass,
And numberless with beams, with ropes and strings,
They view the iron rams, the barks and slings.
LXIV
But when the matin herald of the day
Had in the east proclaimed the coming dawn,
The Pagans saw, and saw to their dismay,
That the tower was from its old place withdrawn;
Here, too, they saw another mass oppose
Its frowning front, and there another stood,
While rams, cats, catapults, balistæ rose
In countless numbers in the neighbourhood.
LXV.
Non è la turba di Soria già lenta
A trasportarne là molte difese,
Ove il Buglion le machine appresenta
516 Da quella parte, ove primier l’attese.
Ma il Capitan, ch’a tergo aver rammenta
L’oste d’Egitto, ha quelle vie già prese.
E Guelfo, e i due Roberti a se chiamati:
520 State, dice, a cavallo in sella armati.
LXV
The Syrian people now were no whit slow,
Their best defences to that side to bear,
Where Godfrey did his greatest engine show,
From thence where late in vain they placed were:
But he who at his back right well did know
The host of Egypt to be proaching near,
To him called Guelpho, and the Roberts twain,
And said, “On horseback look you still remain,
LXV
At this the Syrian people were not slack
Thither divers defences to transfer,
Where Godfred now directed his attack,
From where his engines first paraded were.
But he, remembering that the Egyptian host
Lay in his rear, that pass had occupied;
And calling Guelph and the two Roberts: ‘Post
Your squadrons here, and take good care,’ he cried,
LXVI.
E procurate voi che mentre ascendo
Colà dove quel muro appar men forte,
Schiera non sia che subita venendo
524 S’atterghi agli occupati, e guerra porte.
Tacque; e già da tre lati assalto orrendo
Movon le tre sì valorose scorte.
E da tre lati ha il Re sue genti opposte:
528 Chè riprese quel dì l’arme deposte.
LXVI
“And have regard, while all our people strive
To scale this wall, where weak it seems and thin,
Lest unawares some sudden host arrive,
And at our backs unlooked-for war begin.”
This said, three fierce assaults at once they give,
The hardy soldiers all would die or win,
And on three parts resistance makes the king,
And rage gainst strength, despair gainst hope doth bring.
LXVI
‘That while I means to scale the ramparts find,
Where the defences not so strong appear,
There be no force that, coming from behind,
Pours unexpected battle on our rear.’
He ceased, and from three sides three columns closed,
To storm the walls of the devoted town.
From three sides, too, his hordes the king opposed,
Who wore that day his arms, long since laid down.
LXVII.
Egli medesmo al corpo omai tremante
Per gli anni, e grave del suo proprio pondo,
L’ar
me che disusò gran tempo innante,
532 Circonda, e se ne va contra Raimondo.
Solimano a Goffredo, e ‘l fero Argante
Al buon Camillo oppon, che di Boemondo
Seco ha il nipote: e lui fortuna or guida,
536 Perchè ‘l nemico a se dovuto uccida.
LXVII
Himself upon his limbs with feeble eild
That shook, unwieldy with their proper weight,
His armor laid and long unused shield,
And marched gainst Raymond to the mountain’s height;
Great Solyman gainst Godfrey took the field;
Fornenst Camillo stood Argantes straight
Where Tancred strong he found, so fortune will
That this good prince his wonted foe shall kill.
LXVII
He whose frail body tottering was from years,
And its inertness in its own weight shows,
Arms, which he long since had abandoned, bears,
And against Raymond’s force in person goes.
‘Gainst Godfred, Solyman; Arganté sped
To meet the assault of brave Camillus, who
By Boemond’s nephew was accompanied,
Whom Fortune led to slay his destined foe.
LXVIII.
Incominciaro a saettar gli arcieri,
Infette di veleno, arme mortali:
Ed adombrato il Ciel par che s’anneri
540 Sotto un immenso nuvolo di strali.
Ma con forza maggior colpi più feri
Ne venian dalle machine murali.
Indi gran palle uscian marmoree e gravi,
544 E con punta d’acciar ferrate travi.
LXVIII
The archers shot their arrows sharp and keen,
Dipped in the bitter juice of poison strong,
The shady face of heaven was scantly seen,
Hid with the clouds of shafts and quarries long;
Yet weapons sharp with greater fury been
Cast from the towers the Pagan troops among,
For thence flew stones and clifts of marble rocks,
Trees shod with iron, timber, logs and blocks.
LXVIII
The archers first began the dire attack
With showers of poisoned shafts, that seemed to shroud
The azure sky, which suddenly grew black
Beneath the arrows’ intervening cloud;
But with more deadly force, the fiercest shocks
Came from the mural engines, whence huge balls,
Of marble made, and massy ponderous oaks,
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