And his last fate him from thee take away, 250
Too rathe cut off by practise criminall
Of secrete foes, that him shall make in mischiefe fall.
XXIX
‘With thee yet shall he leave, for memory
Of his late puissaunce, his ymage dead,
That living him in all activity 255
To thee shall represent. He from the head
Of his coosen Constantius, without dread,
Shall take the crowne, that was his fathers right,
And therewith crowne himselfe in th’ others stead:
Then shall he issew forth with dreadfull might, 260
Against his Saxon foes in bloody field to fight.
XXX
‘Like as a lyon, that in drowsie cave
Hath long time slept, himselfe so shall he shake,
And comming forth, shall spred his banner brave
Over the troubled South, that it shall make 265
The warlike Mertians for feare to quake:
Thrise shall he fight with them, and twise shall win,
But the third time shall fayre accordaunce make:
And if he then with victorie can lin,
He shall his dayes with peace bring to his earthly in. 270
XXXI
‘His sonne, hight Vortipore, shall him succeede
In kingdome, but not in felicity;
Yet shall he long time warre with happy speed,
And with great honour many batteills try:
But at the last to th’ importunity 275
Of froward fortune shall be forst to yield.
But his sonne Malgo shall full mightily
Avenge his fathers losse, with speare and shield,
And his proud foes discomfit in victorious field.
XXXII
‘Behold the man! and tell me, Britomart, 280
If ay more goodly creature thou didst see:
How like a gyaunt in each manly part
Beares he himselfe with portly majestee,
That one of th’ old heroes seemes to bee!
He the six islands, comprovinciall 285
In auncient times unto Great Britainee,
Shall to the same reduce, and to him call
Their sondry kings to doe their homage severall.
XXXIII
‘All which his sonne Careticus awhile
Shall well defend, and Saxons powre suppresse, 290
Untill a straunger king, from unknowne soyle
Arriving, him with multitude oppresse;
Great Gormond, having with huge mightinesse
Ireland subdewd, and therein fixt his throne,
Like a swift otter, fell through emptinesse, 295
Shall overswim the sea with many one
Of his Norveyses, to assist the Britons fone.
XXXIV
‘He in his furie all shall overronne,
And holy church with faithlesse handes deface,
That thy sad people, utterly fordonne, 300
Shall to the utmost mountaines fly apace:
Was never so great waste in any place,
Nor so fowle outrage doen by living men:
For all thy citties they shall sacke and race,
And the greene grasse that groweth they shall bren, 305
That even the wilde beast shall dy in starved den.
XXXV
‘Whiles thus thy Britons doe in languour pine,
Proud Etheldred shall from the North arise,
Serving th’ ambitious will of Augustine,
And passing Dee with hardy enterprise, 310
Shall backe repulse the valiaunt Brockwell twise,
And Bangor with massacred martyrs fill;
But the third time shall rew his foolhardise:
For Cadwan, pittying his peoples ill,
Shall stoutly him defeat, and thousand Saxons kill. 315
XXXVI
‘But after him, Cadwallin mightily
On his sonne Edwin all those wrongs shall wreake;
Ne shall availe the wicked sorcery
Of false Pellite, his purposes to breake,
But him shall slay, and on a gallowes bleak 320
Shall give th’ enchaunter his unhappy hire:
Then shall the Britons, late dismayd and weake,
From their long vassallage gin to respire,
And on their Paynim foes avenge their ranckled ire.
XXXVII
‘Ne shall he yet his wrath so mitigate, 325
Till both the sonnes of Edwin he have slayne,
Offricke and Osricke, twinnes unfortunate,
Both slaine in battaile upon Layburne playne,
Together with the king of Louthiane,
Hight Adin, and the king of Orkeny, 330
Both joynt partakers of their fatall payne:
But Penda, fearefull of like desteny,
Shall yield him selfe his liegeman, and sweare fealty.
XXXVIII
‘Him shall he make his fatall instrument,
T’ afflict the other Saxons unsubdewd; 335
He marching forth with fury insolent
Against the good King Oswald, who, indewd
With heavenly powre, and by angels reskewd,
Al holding crosses in their hands on hye,
Shall him defeate withouten blood imbrewd: 340
Of which that field for endlesse memory
Shall Hevenfield be cald to all posterity.
XXXIX
‘Whereat Cadwallin wroth, shall forth issew,
And an huge hoste into Northumber lead,
With which he godly Oswald shall subdew, 345
And crowne with martiredome his sacred head.
Whose brother Oswin, daunted with like dread,
With price of silver shall his kingdome buy,
And Penda, seeking him adowne to tread,
Shall tread adowne, and doe him fowly dye, 350
But shall with guifts his lord Cadwallin pacify.
XL
‘Then shall Cadwallin die, and then the raine
Of Britons eke with him attonce shall dye;
Ne shall the good Cadwallader, with paine
Or powre, be hable it to remedy, 355
When the full time, prefixt by destiny,
Shalbe expird of Britons regiment:
For Heven it selfe shall their successe envy,
And them with plagues and murrins pestilent
Consume, till all their warlike puissaunce be spent. 360
XLI
‘Yet after all these sorrowes, and huge hills
Of dying people, during eight yeares space,
Cadwallader, not yielding to his ills,
From Armoricke, where long in wretched cace
He liv’d, retourning to his native place, 365
Shalbe by vision staide from his intent:
For th’ Heavens have decreed to displace
The Britons for their sinnes dew punishment,
And to the Saxons over-give their government.
XLII
‘Then woe, and woe, and everlasting woe, 370
Be to the Briton babe, that shalbe borne
To live in thraldome of his fathers foe!
Late king, now captive, late lord, now forlorne,
The worlds reproch, the cruell victors scorne,
Banisht from princely bowre to wasteful wood! 375
O! who shal helpe me to lament and mourne
The royall seed, the antique Trojan blood,
Whose empire lenger here then ever any stood?’
XLIII
The damzell was full deepe empassioned,
Both for his griefe, and for her peoples sake, 380
Whose future woes so plaine he fashioned,
And sighing sore, at length him thus bespake:
‘Ah! but will Hevens fury never slake,
Nor vengeaunce huge relent it selfe at last?
Will not long misery late me
rcy make, 385
But shall their name for ever be defaste,
And quite from of the earth their memory be raste?’
XLIV
‘Nay, but the terme,’ sayd he, ‘is limited,
That in this thraldome Britons shall abide,
And the just revolution measured, 390
That they as straungers shalbe notifide:
For twise fowre hundreth yeares shalbe supplide,
Ere they to former rule restor’d shalbee,
And their importune fates all satisfide:
Yet during this their most obscuritee, 395
Their beames shall ofte breake forth, that men them faire may see.
XLV
‘For Rhodoricke, whose surname shalbe Great,
Shall of him selfe a brave ensample shew,
That Saxon kings his frendship shall intreat;
And Howell Dha shall goodly well indew 400
The salvage minds with skill of just and trew;
Then Griffyth Conan also shall up reare
His dreaded head, and the old sparkes renew
Of native corage, that his foes shall feare
Least back againe the kingdom he from them should beare. 405
XLVI
‘Ne shall the Saxons selves all peaceably
Enjoy the crowne, which they from Britons wonne
First ill, and after ruled wickedly:
For ere two hundred yeares be full outronne,
There shall a Raven, far from rising sunne, 410
With his wide wings upon them fiercely fly,
And bid his faithlesse chickens overonne
The fruitfull plaines, and with fell cruelty,
In their avenge, tread downe the victors surquedry.
XLVII
‘Yet shall a third both these and thine subdew: 415
There shall a Lion from the sea-bord wood
Of Neustria come roring, with a crew
Of hungry whelpes, his battailous bold brood,
Whose clawes were newly dipt in cruddy blood,
That from the Daniske tyrants head shall rend 420
Th’ usurped crowne, as if that he were wood,
And the spoile of the countrey conquered
Emongst his young ones shall divide with bountyhed.
XLVIII
‘Tho, when the terme is full accomplishid,
There shall a sparke of fire, which hath long-while 425
Bene in his ashes raked up and hid,
Bee freshly kindled in the fruitfull ile
Of Mona, where it lurked in exile;
Which shall breake forth into bright burning flame,
And reach into the house that beares the stile 430
Of roiall majesty and soveraine name:
So shall the Briton blood their crowne agayn reclame.
XLIX
‘Thenceforth eternall union shall be made
Betweene the nations different afore,
And sacred Peace shall lovingly persuade 435
The warlike minds to learne her goodly lore,
And civile armes to exercise no more:
Then shall a royall Virgin raine, which shall
Stretch her white rod over the Belgicke shore,
And the great Castle smite so sore with all, 440
That it shall make him shake, and shortly learn to fall.
L
‘But yet the end is not. — —’ There Merlin stayd,
As overcomen of the spirites powre,
Or other ghastly spectacle dismayd,
That secretly he saw, yet note discoure: 445
Which suddein fitt and halfe extatick stoure
When the two fearefull wemen saw, they grew
Greatly confused in behaveoure:
At last the fury past, to former hew
Hee turnd againe, and chearfull looks as earst did shew. 450
LI
Then, when them selves they well instructed had
Of all that needed them to be inquird,
They both, conceiving hope of comfort glad,
With lighter hearts unto their home retird;
Where they in secret counsell close conspird, 455
How to effect so hard an enterprize,
And to possesse the purpose they desird:
Now this, now that twixt them they did devize,
And diverse plots did frame, to maske in strange disguise.
LII
At last the nourse in her foolhardy wit 460
Conceivd a bold devise, and thus bespake:
‘Daughter, I deeme that counsel aye most fit,
That of the time doth dew advauntage take:
Ye see that good King Uther now doth make
Strong warre upon the Paynim brethren, hight 465
Octa and Oza, whome hee lately brake
Beside Cayr Verolame in victorious fight,
That now all Britany doth burne in armes bright.
LIII
‘That therefore nought our passage may empeach,
Let us in feigned armes our selves disguize, 470
And our weake hands (whom need new strength shall teach)
The dreadful speare and shield to exercize:
Ne certes, daughter, that same warlike wize,
I weene, would you misseeme; for ye beene tall
And large of limbe t’ atchieve an hard emprize, 475
Ne ought ye want, but skil, which practize small
Wil bring, and shortly make you a mayd martiall.
LIV
‘And sooth, it ought your corage much inflame,
To heare so often, in that royall hous,
From whence to none inferior ye came, 480
Bards tell of many wemen valorous,
Which have full many feats adventurous
Performd, in paragone of proudest men:
The bold Bunduca, whose victorious
Exployts made Rome to quake, stout Guendolen, 485
Renowmed Martia, and redoubted Emmilen;
LV
‘And that which more then all the rest may sway,
Late dayes ensample, which these eyes beheld:
In the last field before Menevia,
Which Uther with those forrein pagans held, 490
I saw a Saxon virgin, the which feld
Great Ulfin thrise upon the bloody playne,
And had not Carados her hand withheld
From rash revenge, she had him surely slayne,
Yet Carados himselfe from her escapt with payne.’ 495
LVI
‘Ah! read,’ quoth Britomart, ‘how is she hight?’
‘Fayre Angela,’ quoth she, ‘men do her call,
No whit lesse fayre then terrible in fight:
She hath the leading of a martiall
And mightie people, dreaded more then all 500
The other Saxons, which doe, for her sake
And love, themselves of her name Angles call.
Therefore, faire infant, her ensample make
Unto thy selfe, and equall corage to thee take.’
LVII
Her harty wordes so deepe into the mynd 505
Of the yong damzell sunke, that great desire
Of warlike armes in her forthwith they tynd,
And generous stout courage did inspyre,
That she resolv’d, unweeting to her syre,
Advent’rous knighthood on her selfe to don, 510
And counseld with her nourse, her maides attyre
To turne into a massy habergeon,
And bad her all things put in readinesse anon.
LVIII
Th’ old woman nought that needed did omit;
But all thinges did conveniently purvay. 515
It fortuned (so time their turne did fitt)
A band of Britons, ryding on forray
Few dayes before, had gotten a great pray
Of Saxon goods, emongst the which was seene
A goodly armour, and full r
ich aray, 520
Which long’d to Angela, the Saxon queene,
All fretted round with gold, and goodly wel beseene.
LIX
The same, with all the other ornaments,
King Ryence caused to be hanged hy
In his chiefe church, for endlesse moniments 525
Of his successe and gladfull victory:
Of which her selfe avising readily,
In th’ evening late old Glauce thether led
Faire Britomart, and that same armory
Downe taking, her therein appareled, 530
Well as she might, and with brave bauldrick garnished.
LX
Beside those armes there stood a mightie speare,
Which Bladud made by magick art of yore,
And usd the same in batteill aye to beare;
Sith which it had beene here preserv’d in store, 535
For his great vertues proved long afore:
For never wight so fast in sell could sit,
But him perforce unto the ground it bore:
Both speare she tooke and shield, which hong by it;
Both speare and shield of great powre, for her purpose fit. 540
LXI
Thus when she had the virgin all arayd,
Another harnesse, which did hang thereby,
About her selfe she dight, that the yong mayd
She might in equall armes accompany,
And as her squyre attend her carefully: 545
Tho to their ready steedes they clombe full light,
And through back waies, that none might them espy,
Covered with secret cloud of silent night,
Themselves they forth convaid, and passed forward right.
LXII
Ne rested they, till that to Faery Lond 550
They came, as Merlin them directed late:
Where meeting with this Redcrosse Knight, she fond
Of diverse thinges discourses to dilate,
But most of Arthegall and his estate.
At last their wayes so fell, that they mote part: 555
Then each to other well affectionate,
Frendship professed with unfained hart:
The Redcrosse Knight diverst, but forth rode Britomart.
Faerie Queene Detailed Table of Contents
Glossary for ‘The Faerie Queene’
Canto IV
Bold Marinell of Britomart
Is throwne on the Rich Strond:
Faire Florimell of Arthure is
Long followed, but not fond.
I
WHERE is the antique glory now become,
That whylome wont in wemen to appeare?
Where be the brave atchievements doen by some?
Where be the batteilles, where the shield and speare,
And all the conquests which them high did reare, 5
That matter made for famous poets verse,
And boastfull men so oft abasht to heare?
Beene they all dead, and laide in dolefull herse?
Complete Works of Edmund Spenser Page 57
