Jersusalem Delivered

by Torquato Tasso

  To Orange town, and lands that it confine:

  But Ademare the Poggian youth brought out,

  In number like, in hard assays as stout.

  Baldwin, his ensign fair, did next dispread

  Among his Bulloigners of noble fame,

  His brother gave him all his troops to lead,

  When he commander of the field became;

  The Count Carinto did him straight succeed,

  Grave in advice, well skilled in Mars his game,

  Four hundred brought he, but so many thrice

  Led Baldwin, clad in gilden arms of price.

  Guelpho next them the land and place possest,

  Whose fortunes good with his great acts agree,

  By his Italian sire, fro the house of Est,

  Well could he bring his noble pedigree,

  A German born with rich possessions blest,

  A worthy branch sprung from the Guelphian tree.

  'Twixt Rhene and Danubie the land contained

  He ruled, where Swaves and Rhetians whilom reigned.

  His mother's heritage was this and right,

  To which he added more by conquest got,

  From thence approvéd men of passing might

  He brought, that death or danger fearéd not:

  It was their wont in feasts to spend the night,

  And pass cold days in baths and houses hot.

  Five thousand late, of which now scantly are

  The third part left, such is the chance of war.

  The nation then with crispéd locks and fair,

  That dwell between the seas and Arden Wood,

  Where Mosel streams and Rhene the meadows wear,

  A battel soil for grain, for pasture good,

  Their islanders with them, who oft repair

  Their earthen bulwarks 'gainst the ocean flood,

  The flood, elsewhere that ships and barks devours,

  But there drowns cities, countries, towns and towers;

  Both in one troop, and but a thousand all,

  Under another Robert fierce they run.

  Then the English squadron, soldiers stout and tall,

  By William led, their sovereign's younger son,

  These archers be, and with them come withal,

  A people near the Northern Pole that wone,

  Whom Ireland sent from loughs and forests hoar,

  Divided far by sea from Europe's shore.

  Tancredi next, nor 'mongst them all was one,

  Rinald except, a prince of greater might,

  With majesty his noble countenance shone,

  High were his thoughts, his heart was bold in fight,

  No shameful vice his worth had overgone,

  His fault was love, by unadviséd sight,

  Bred in the dangers of adventurous arms,

  And nursed with griefs, with sorrows, woes, and harms,

  Fame tells, that on that ever-blesséd day,

  When Christian swords with Persian blood were dyed,

  The furious Prince Tancredi from that fray

  His coward foes chaséd through forests wide,

  Till tiréd with the fight, the heat, the way,

  He sought some place to rest his wearied side,

  And drew him near a silver stream that played

  Among wild herbs under the greenwood shade.

  A Pagan damsel there unwares he met,

  In shining steel, all save her visage fair,

  Her hair unbound she made a wanton net,

  To catch sweet breathing from the cooling air.

  On her at gaze his longing looks he set,

  Sight, wonder; wonder, love; love bred his care;

  O love, O wonder; love new born, new bred,

  Now grown, now armed, this champion captive led.

  Her helm the virgin donned, and but some wight

  She feared might come to aid him as they fought,

  Her courage earned to have assailed the knight;

  Yet thence she fled, uncompanied, unsought,

  And left her image in his heart ypight;

  Her sweet idea wandered through his thought,

  Her shape, her gesture, and her place in mind

  He kept, and blew love's fire with that wind.

  Well might you read his sickness in his eyes,

  Their banks were full, their tide was at the flow,

  His help far off, his hurt within him lies,

  His hopes unstrung, his cares were fit to mow;

  Eight hundred horse (from Champain came) he guies,

  Champain a land where wealth, ease, pleasure, grow,

  Rich Nature's pomp and pride, the Tirrhene main

  There woos the hills, hills woo the valleys plain.

  Two hundred Greeks came next, in fight well tried,

  Not surely armed in steel or iron strong,

  But each a glaive had pendant by his side,

  Their bows and quivers at their shoulders hung,

  Their horses well inured to chase and ride,

  In diet spare, untired with labor long;

  Ready to charge, and to retire at will,

  Though broken, scattered, fled, they skirmish still;

  Tatine their guide, and except Tatine, none

  Of all the Greeks went with the Christian host;

  O sin, O shame, O Greece accurst alone!

  Did not this fatal war affront thy coast?

  Yet satest thou an idle looker-on,

  And glad attendest which side won or lost:

  Now if thou be a bondslave vile become,

  No wrong is that, but God's most righteous doom.

  In order last, but first in worth and fame,

  Unfeared in fight, untired with hurt or wound,

  The noble squadron of adventurers came,

  Terrors to all that tread on Asian ground:

  Cease Orpheus of thy Minois, Arthur shame

  To boast of Lancelot, or thy table round:

  For these whom antique times with laurel drest,

  These far exceed them, thee, and all the rest.

  Dudon of Consa was their guide and lord,

  And for of worth and birth alike they been,

  They chose him captain, by their free accord,

  For he most acts had done, most battles seen;

  Grave was the man in years, in looks, in word,

  His locks were gray, yet was his courage green,

  Of worth and might the noble badge he bore,

  Old scars of grievous wounds received of yore.

  After came Eustace, well esteeméd man

  For Godfrey's sake his brother, and his own;

  The King of Norway's heir Gernando than,

  Proud of his father's title, sceptre, crown;

  Roger of Balnavill, and Engerlan,

  For hardy knights approvéd were and known;

  Besides were numbered in that warlike train

  Rambald, Gentonio, and the Gerrards twain.

  Ubaldo then, and puissant Rosimond,

  Of Lancaster the heir, in rank succeed;

  Let none forget Obizo of Tuscain land,

  Well worthy praise for many a worthy deed;

  Nor those three brethren, Lombards fierce and yond,

  Achilles, Sforza, and stern Palamede;

  Nor Otton's shield he conquered in those stores,

  In which a snake a naked child devours.

  Guascher and Raiphe in valor like there was.

  The one and other Guido, famous both,

  Germer and Eberard to overpass,

  In foul oblivion would my Muse be loth,

  With his Gildippes dear, Edward alas,

  A loving pair, to war among them go'th

  In bond of virtuous love together tied,

  Together served they, and together died.

  In school of love are all things taught we see,

  There learned this maid of arms the ireful guise,

  Still by his side a faithful guard went she,


  One true-love knot their lives together ties,

  No wound to one alone could dangerous be,

  But each the smart of other's anguish tries,

  If one were hurt, the other felt the sore,

  She lost her blood, he spent his life therefore.

  But these and all, Rinaldo far exceeds,

  Star of his sphere, the diamond of this ring,

  The nest where courage with sweet mercy breeds:

  A comet worthy each eye's wondering,

  His years are fewer than his noble deeds,

  His fruit is ripe soon as his blossoms spring,

  Arméd, a Mars, might coyest Venus move,

  And if disarmed, then God himself of Love.

  Sophia by Adige's flowery bank him bore,

  Sophia the fair, spouse to Bertoldo great,

  Fit mother for that pearl, and before

  The tender imp was weanéd from the teat,

  The Princess Maud him took, in Virtue's lore

  She brought him up fit for each worthy feat,

  Till of these wars the golden trump he hears,

  That soundeth glory, fame, praise in his ears.

  And then, though scantly three times five years old,

  He fled alone, by many an unknown coast,

  O'er Ægean Seas by many a Greekish hold,

  Till he arrivéd at the Christian host;

  A noble fight, adventurous, brave, and bold,

  Whereon a valiant prince might justly boast,

  Three years he served in field, when scant begin

  Few golden hairs to deck his ivory chin.

  The horsemen past, their void-left stations fill

  The bands on foot, and Reymond them before,

  Of Tholouse lord, from lands near Piræne Hill

  By Garound streams and salt sea billows worn,

  Four thousand foot he brought, well armed, and skill

  Had they all pains and travel to have borne,

  Stout men of arms and with their guide of power

  Like Troy's old town defenced with Ilion's tower.

  Next Stephen of Amboise did five thousand lead,

  The men he prest from Tours and Blois but late,

  To hard assays unfit, unsure at need,

  Yet armed to point in well-attempted plate,

  The land did like itself the people breed,

  The soil is gentle, smooth, soft, delicate;

  Boldly they charge, but soon retire for doubt,

  Like fire of straw, soon kindled, soon burnt out.

  The third Alcasto marchéd, and with him

  The boaster brought six thousand Switzers bold,

  Audacious were their looks, their faces grim,

  Strong castles on the Alpine clifts they hold,

  Their shares and coulters broke, to armors trim

  They change that metal, cast in warlike mould,

  And with this band late herds and flocks that guide,

  Now kings and realms he threatened and defied.

  The glorious standard last to Heaven they sprad,

  With Peter's keys ennobled and his crown,

  With it seven thousand stout Camillo had,

  Embattailéd in walls of iron brown:

  In this adventure and occasion, glad

  So to revive the Romans' old renown,

  Or prove at least to all of wiser thought,

  Their hearts were fertile land although unwrought.

  But now was passéd every regiment,

  Each band, each troop, each person worth regard

  When Godfrey with his lords to counsel went,

  And thus the Duke his princely will declared:

  "I will when day next clears the firmament,

  Our ready host in haste be all prepared,

  Closely to march to Sion's noble wall,

  Unseen, unheard, or undescried at all.

  "Prepare you then for travel strong and light,

  Fierce to the combat, glad to victory."

  And with that word and warning soon was dight,

  Each soldier, longing for near coming glory,

  Impatient be they of the morning bright,

  Of honor so them pricked the memory:

  But yet their chieftain had conceived a fear

  Within his heart, but kept it secret there.

  For he by faithful spial was assured,

  That Egypt's King was forward on his way,

  And to arrive at Gaza old procured,

  A fort that on the Syrian frontiers lay,

  Nor thinks he that a man to wars inured

  Will aught forslow, or in his journey stay,

  For well he knew him for a dangerous foe:

  An herald called he then, and spake him so:

  "A pinnace take thee swift as shaft from bow,

  And speed thee, Henry, to the Greekish main,

  There should arrive, as I by letters know

  From one that never aught reports in vain,

  A valiant youth in whom all virtues flow,

  To help us this great conquest to obtain,

  The Prince of Danes he is, and brings to war

  A troop with him from under the Arctic star.

  "And for I doubt the Greekish monarch sly

  Will use with him some of his wonted craft,

  To stay his passage, or divert awry

  Elsewhere his forces, his first journey laft,

  My herald good and messenger well try,

  See that these succors be not us beraft,

  But send him thence with such convenient speed

  As with his honor stands and with our need.

  "Return not thou, but Legier stay behind,

  And move the Greekish Prince to send us aid,

  Tell him his kingly promise doth him bind

  To give us succors, by his covenant made."

  This said, and thus instruct, his letters signed

  The trusty herald took, nor longer stayed,

  But sped him thence to done his Lord's behest,

  And thus the Duke reduced his thoughts to rest.

  Aurora bright her crystal gates unbarred,

  And bridegroom-like forth stept the glorious sun,

  When trumpets loud and clarions shrill were heard,

  And every one to rouse him fierce begun,

  Sweet music to each heart for war prepared,

  The soldiers glad by heaps to harness run;

  So if with drought endangered be their grain,

  Poor ploughmen joy when thunders promise rain.

  Some shirts of mail, some coats of plate put on,

  Some donned a cuirass, some a corslet bright,

  And halbert some, and some a habergeon,

  So every one in arms was quickly dight,

  His wonted guide each soldier tends upon,

  Loose in the wind wavéd their banners light,

  Their standard royal toward Heaven they spread,

  The cross triumphant on the Pagans dead.

  Meanwhile the car that bears the lightning brand

  Upon the eastern hill was mounted high,

  And smote the glistering armies as they stand,

  With quivering beams which dazed the wondering eye,

  That Phaeton-like it firéd sea and land,

  The sparkles seemed up to the skies to fly,

  The horses' neigh and clattering armors' sound

  Pursue the echo over dale and down.

  Their general did with due care provide

  To save his men from ambush and from train,

  Some troops of horse that lightly arméd ride

  He sent to scour the woods and forests main,

  His pioneers their busy work applied

  To even the paths and make the highways plain,

  They filled the pits, and smoothed the rougher ground,

  And opened every strait they closéd found.

  They meet no forces gathered by their foe,

  No towers defenced
with rampire, moat, or wall,

  No stream, no wood, no mountain could forslow

  Their hasty pace, or stop their march at all;

  So when his banks the prince of rivers, Po,

  Doth overswell, he breaks with hideous fall

  The mossy rocks and trees o'ergrown with age,

  Nor aught withstands his fury and his rage.

  The King of Tripoli in every hold

  Shut up his men, munition and his treasure,

  The straggling troops sometimes assail he would,

  Save that he durst not move them to displeasure;

  He stayed their rage with presents, gifts and gold,

  And led them through his land at ease and leisure,

  To keep his realm in peace and rest he chose,

  With what conditions Godfrey list impose.

  Those of Mount Seir, that neighboreth by east

  The Holy City, faithful folk each one,

  Down from the hill descended most and least,

  And to the Christian Duke by heaps they gone,

  And welcome him and his with joy and feast;

  On him they smile, on him they gaze alone,

  And were his guides, as faithful from that day

  As Hesperus, that leads the sun his way.

  Along the sands his armies safe they guide

  By ways secure, to them well known before,

  Upon the tumbling billows fraughted ride

  The arméd ships, coasting along the shore,

  Which for the camp might every day provide

  To bring munition good and victuals store:

  The isles of Greece sent in provision meet,

  And store of wine from Scios came and Crete.

  Great Neptune grievéd underneath the load

  Of ships, hulks, galleys, barks and brigantines,

  In all the mid-earth seas was left no road

  Wherein the Pagan his bold sails untwines,

  Spread was the huge Armado, wide and broad,

  From Venice, Genes, and towns which them confines,

  From Holland, England, France and Sicil sent,

  And all for Juda ready bound and bent.

  All these together were combined, and knit

  With surest bonds of love and friendship strong,

  Together sailed they fraught with all things fit

  To service done by land that might belong,

  And when occasion served disbarkéd it,

  Then sailed the Asian coasts and isles along;

  Thither with speed their hasty course they plied,

  Where Christ the Lord for our offences died.

  The brazen trump of iron-wingéd fame,

  That mingleth faithful troth with forgéd lies,

  Foretold the heathen how the Christians came,

  How thitherward the conquering army hies,

  Of every knight it sounds the worth and name,

  Each troop, each band, each squadron it descries,