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14469
-
TORQUATO TASSO
(1544-1595)
BY J. F. BINGHAM
HE most prominent literary figure of the last half of the six-
teenth century, and the last of the great four Italian poets,
familiarly called, the world over, merely "Tasso," though
his father Bernardo Tasso was a poet of some distinction, and is still
read, was born under the soft breezes and among the orange and
lemon groves of Sorrento, the very ancient Roman watering-place
standing on the high rocks which bound the Bay of Naples to the
south. The house in which he was born, and the rocky foundations
on which it stood, have long since been washed away by the dashing
waves from the north; but may still be seen through the clear water
below the cliff on which stands to-day the Albergo del Tasso. His
sister Cornelia's house - his frequent refuge during all his troubled
life, for refreshment and comfort, and whither especially in his last
great distress, when he broke away from his imprisonment, he fled in
the disguise of a shepherd and found solace in a sister's unchanging
love is still pointed out.
His life drawn from a strain of nobility, and always passed
among the great—began, advanced, and ended, in troubled splendor.
Bernardo Tasso, while holding office near the person of the then
Prince of Salerno, Ferrante Sanseverino, met and married at Naples a
lady of the Neapolitan nobility, Porzia de' Rossi,- a family originally
from Pistoia. Her first child was a daughter, Cornelia; her second, a
boy baby, Torquato, which died a few days after birth; her third, a
son who received the name of the babe that died, and became our
illustrious Torquato.
The family at the time were in a kind of retreat at Sorrento,
whither the father had fled from the court at Salerno, for the quiet
of study and for completing a poem he was then composing. But at
the time of our poet's birth- the 11th of March, 1544-he was not at
home, being in response to his official duty at the war in Piedmont;
and afterward attending upon his royal master in the Netherlands,
where the terms of peace were negotiating. Returning to his home,
the father saw for the first time-in January 1545, the child being
then ten months old - the baby which was to bring such renown
and such misery to his house.


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14470
TORQUATO TASSO
The retreat in Sorrento continued till 1550. Here the little boy
enjoyed the care of a most affectionate and exemplary mother; the
instruction of the learned chaplain of the family, Don Giovanni
d'Angeluzzo; and above all, the devoted attention of his wise and
brilliant father. But in Torquato's sixth year, the father — having
in connection with his princely master fallen into the disfavor of
Spain, on matters concerning the Inquisition-was obliged to flee.
He being unable to take his family with him,- having lost his own
fortune by confiscation,- the family was transferred to Naples to
exist upon the mother's dower. In the loving care of his excellent
mother, Torquato attended the Jesuit schools, lately established there,
for four years longer; making under these skillful masters astonish-
ing progress in the Latin and Greek languages. In his tenth year
the dower, by some fiction of law, was virtually revoked. The family
means having now utterly vanished, Torquato was sent to Rome to
share the exile of the father; the mother and Cornelia took refuge
in the convent of San Festo. The separation of the mother and little
son was heart-rending to both. From the effects of it the mother
died in the convent two years later, and Tasso to his dying day
never recovered. He refers to it thirty years afterwards in tearful
words in the Ode to the River Metauro,' some stanzas of which
are given at the end of this article. At the death of the mother,
Cornelia was transferred to the care of an uncle. She was married
early, with no dowry but her goodness, accomplishments, and beauty,
to Marzio Sersale, a gentleman of Sorrento, of good family but of
slender fortune. Husband and wife were worthy people, and passed
their lives happily together.
At Rome, under the care of his father and the best teachers, Tor-
quato continued to make the most remarkable progress in study. In
his thirteenth year, having already mastered the Latin and Greek
languages, he was entered a student at the University of Padua; and
at seventeen graduated with honors in the four departments of Civil
Law, Canon Law, Theology, and Philosophy.
During these years, however, he had devoted himself with an
intense and loving zeal to poetry; "in stolen hours," as he says, and
certainly to the strong disapproval of his father. Before graduation
at Padua he visited and studied at various universities of northern
Italy; and especially at Venice, where the father was then residing;
and where, in its musical and voluptuous atmosphere, his literary
opportunities were greatest of all, and his poetical inspirations stimu-
lated by poetical associations and environments. But while still a stu-
dent at Padua, he sent to his father at Venice the manuscript of his
'Rinaldo'; an epic poem, having for material the legends of Charle-
magne and the Moors. In irresistible admiration of the production,—


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TORQUATO TASSO
14471
and fortified by the judgment of the best critics of the day, who
declared it to be a marvelous work for one so young, the father
now laid aside the former disapproval of his son's poetical studies,
and gladly permitted the poem to be published at Venice in 1562,
before the young poet had completed his eighteenth year.
It was received with unmeasured applause; and the young author
was soon known throughout Italy by the name of Tassino (our dear
little Tasso). From this moment his fame was assured. The father
foresaw and predicted, with undisguised exultation, the coming glory.
of his son; and it was evident to all that a new star of the first
magnitude had arisen in the firmament of letters. Torquato remained
for three years more (till he should reach his majority) at Padua,
Bologna, Mantua, and other universities, continuing the most diligent
study of philosophy, rhetoric, and poetry. The father then, notwith-
standing the bitter experiences of his own life in connecting his for-
tune with the favor of princes, consented that his son should enter
upon the via dolorosa of the courtier.
→→→
The fame of 'Rinaldo' easily obtained for him access to the court
of Ferrara, first as a gentleman in the suite of the Prince Cardinal
Luigi d'Este (with whom he made his celebrated journey to France,
where he gained the lifelong and fruitful friendship of the King,
Charles IX. , and of the great Ronsard, the then favorite and laureate
of the French); afterward and most important of all, as attaché to
Alphonso II. , brother of the Cardinal and reigning Duke of Ferrara.
Nothing could be more splendid and gay than the beginning of this
courtly career. He was caressed by the duke, assigned beautiful lodg-
ings and an ample pension, and exempted from any specified duties,
in order that he might in leisure and tranquillity finish the great
poem on which it was known that he had been already some years
engaged; and for which, in the young poet's mind, the 'Rinaldo' had
been only a tentative precursor. He was welcomed by the sisters of
the duke, Lucretia and Eleonora, and by the ladies of the court; and
was admitted by them into great familiarity.
After five years of such stimulated labor on his great poem, Tasso
took a recess of two months; and in this playtime, wrote for the
amusement of the great ladies the pastoral drama 'Aminta,' a poem
of such beauty that if he had written nothing else, would have
made his name immortal. It was represented, at the expense of the
duke, with the greatest splendor, and received with enormous éclat.
It is a play of five acts in blank verse, varying from five to eleven
syllables, with intervening choruses; a translation of one of the most
celebrated of which 'The Golden Age' is given at the end of this
article. The theme, indeed, is not new, -a young girl averse to love,
who, conquered finally by the proofs of fidelity and sacrifice exhibited
-
――――


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14472
TORQUATO TASSO
toward her by her lover, consents to espouse him. But the perfect
construction of the story, the exquisite conceits never exceeding pas-
toral simplicity, the melody of the verse, the fascinating expression
of affection, met with such favor from the age, that many editions
in Italy and several translations into the Romance languages followed
in quick succession. From the great difficulty of transfusing its soft-
flowing melodies into the Gothic and Germanic speech, it has been
but little translated and little known in the North.
During the ten years of such glittering fortune, he at last brought
to a conclusion his magnificent poem on the great Crusade. Almost
from this moment began the sad series of sorrows, suspicions, neglect,
imprisonment, and untold miseries, which from now on overshadowed
his life with ever-increasing gloom. Many times he left the court
and wandered through Italy; but an irresistible force always brought
him back to Ferrara. Discontent at a less welcome reception there
than formerly (or the fantasies of a growing insanity) led him into
such extravagances, even towards the ladies and the very princesses,
that the duke shut him up as a lunatic in the Hospital of St. Anna.
In this dreary abode (a shocking cell, said to be that occupied by him,
is still shown), surrounded by the most appalling sights and sounds
of human misery, he was for more than seven years-1579–86— con-
fined, notwithstanding the most urgent intercessions of the princesses
and of some of the most eminent persons in Italy for his liberation.
In this gloomy period were written numberless letters still preserved
for their literary value, a book of Classic Dialogues of extreme ele-
gance, a book of Moral Discourses, a large part of more than a thou-
sand sonnets, and admirable replies to the assailants of his epic. His
now published works fill more than thirty volumes.
Tasso, liberated at last through the continued pressure of the
intercessions of his friends,- and especially by that of Vincenzo
Gonzaga, the enlightened and generous Duke of Mantua, the Mæce-
nas of his age,- left Ferrara forever. He now resided for a time at
Mantua, at Florence, at Naples (his sister at Sorrento died two years
after his liberation, but before his arrival at Naples), and finally found
a welcome and repose under the shade of the "holy keys. " He was
now protected by the Princes Aldobrandini; especially by the Cardinal
Cinzio, and by his uncle Pope Clement VIII. This pontiff, proud to
have for his guest the world-renowned songster of La Gerusalemme,'
was preparing for him the laurel crown; when poor Tasso, worn out
at last by his intolerable vexations and miseries, died on the 25th
of April, 1595, an eminently Christian death,-clasping the crucifix,
and with the words "Into thy hands, O Lord," on his lips. The
"cell" in which he lived and passed away –
-a large and comfortable
room in the convent of St. Onofrio, near St. Peter's, on the brow of


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TORQUATO TASSO
14473
Janiculum-is now sacredly preserved; and contains a bust of the
poet taken from a waxen cast, his autograph, his inkstand and pens,
the chair in which he used to sit, the crucifix-an heirloom of his
father's- before which he made his devotions, and many other me-
mentos of his early and later days.
His funeral honors were unique, and paralleled only by those of
Petrarch. Robed in a Roman toga, and crowned with the laurel
wreath he was to have received in life, the body was borne by torch-
light through the principal streets of Rome, amidst thousands crowd-
ing to catch a last look at the features of the dead. The body was
interred, according to his desire, in a chapel of the Church of St.
Onofrio. A third successive monument (each more lavish than the
preceding), most exquisitely wrought in white marble, surmounted
by a bust of the poet, and inscribed with appropriate verses from the
great poem,-raised by Pope Pius IX. in 1857, now glorifies the spot.
Though Tasso's great poem was from the first received by most of
every class with infinite delight, and was pronounced by all Italy the
most beautiful epic of modern times, and though the poet himself
could not but know that it had gained for him a seat in the first rank
of literary immortals, yet the adverse criticisms which began at once
and continued for many years to pour in upon him, added gall to the
overflowing cup of mingled bitternesses which he was forced to drink
during all his later years. The controversy which arose among the
Italian literati for and against the 'Gerusalemme' occupies many
volumes of Tasso's works; and although he did not accept many of
the objections that were pressed both by envious foes and by avowed
friends, he was compelled to admit and defend himself against cer-
tain questionable ornamentations and an apparent (and to the critics
of that day, damning) violation of the "three unities. "
'Jerusalem Delivered' obviously contains three actions; but two so
subordinated to the principal, that they all seem one. This principal
subject is the pious Geoffrey, Duke of Lorraine, who leads the expe-
dition to Jerusalem; resists the voluptuous seductions of Armida;
calms the oft-occurring discords of his own army; provides against
its necessities, as from time to time they arise; obtains from God
relief for its thirst; sends to recall Rinaldo, who had been banished
for a homicide, and by means of him, overcomes the incantation of
the forest, and supplies material for his engines. He fights in per-
son like a hero; and the sacred city having fallen, and the war with
the King of Egypt having been won, he pays his conqueror's vow in
the temple of Delivered Jerusalem.
A second action has for its subject Rinaldo himself, a legendary
character among the ancestors of the house of Este; a very brave
youth who runs away from home to join the Crusaders. Offended in


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14474
TORQUATO TASSO
his amour propre, he kills the haughty Gernando, his fellow-soldier;
and to escape the penalty, forsakes the camp and sets free the Cru-
sading champions who had been enslaved by the sorceress Armida.
He himself afterwards falls into the power of this sorceress. Geoffrey
sends to liberate him, and has him brought back to the camp. In
overcoming the incantation of the forest, and in slaying the fiercest
enemies, he bears a principal part in the final triumph.
A third action is hinged on Tancred,- a historic character, one
of the principal Normans born in Italy,- the type of a bold and
courteous warrior; who is enamored of Clorinda, a hostile female
warrior, but without response from her. He has a duel with Argantes,
the mightiest of the Mussulman champions, and comes off wounded.
The beautiful Erminia, a saved princess of conquered and sacked
Antioch, once his prisoner and now free in Jerusalem, impelled by a
most passionate love goes to him to cure him. He, through her dis-
guise believing that she is Clorinda, follows her steps, and is left a
slave of Armida. Freed from Armida's snares with her other vic-
tims, by the prowess of Rinaldo, he returns to the camp. He after-
wards by mistake kills Clorinda herself, who has come disguised-
in armor with false bearings-to set on fire a wooden tower of the
Christians. In despair he meditates suicide, but by Peter the Her-
mit, is persuaded to resignation. In the final and successful assault
upon Jerusalem, having been cured of his wounds by Erminia, though
still weak he kills Argantes, and contributes his full share to the ulti-
mate triumph of the Crusaders.
Besides this, the "machinery" of the poem - the intervention of
the supernatural-is made up on the one hand, of the plots of every
kind which Satan, with the advice and aid of an assembled council
of demons, prepares against the Christians,—loves, arms, storms, in-
cantations; on the other hand, of the miraculous doings of the angels,
who by Divine command oppose themselves to the Infernal king.
Here were plainly three actions, although woven into one unbroken
and indivisible web: and three heroes, two of them officially subordi-
nated to Geoffrey, but not inferior to him, perhaps even his superi-
⚫ors in their exploits. This multiplicity, which was pleasing to the
multitude because they found in the 'Jerusalem' almost the variety
of romance, did not seem rhetorically right to the learned critics,
and still less to Tasso himself. First, it seemed to an unjustifiable
degree to sacrifice the "unity of action. " The "unity of place» as
well was offended in making Rinaldo go into the island of Armida,
situated on the extreme boundary of the world. Still further, so many
loves, often very tenderly described,- of Christians for Armida, of
Armida for Rinaldo, of Tancred for Clorinda, and of Erminia for Tan-
cred, were adjudged unsuited to the gravity of the heroic poem and


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ES
SARIA DIES
ROVATI TASSI
CELEBRATVR
ACADEMIIS VIS
RES EIVS
MORED DECORANT
CHAMBER OF TASSO
HOUSE OF TASSO
SORRENTO, ITALY


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TORQUATO TASSO
14475
to the sanctity of the argument. Beyond this, the dissatisfied critics
found that the poet had wandered too far from the facts of history;
and that even his style was in some parts mannered, labored, and
dry, and in others had an overplus of lyric ornamentation, which was
unsuited to epic gravity.
These and similar censures, piled mountain-high by the severe
critics, from the first and long afterwards, on this magnificent and
delightful poem, never for a moment persuaded the multitude of
readers: but alas, it did persuade Tasso himself; and while Italy and
all Christendom was ringing with delight and applause over the poem
as it was, the distressed author set himself in the last years of his
life to make over the poem. He began with the very title, which
had been criticized, and produced the 'Gerusalemme Conquistata in
twenty-four books; four more than were contained in the 'Liberata,'
which the whole world has nevertheless gone on reading and applaud-
ing, while the 'Conquistata' is almost forgotten. How far the world
and the centuries have been justified in their own delight and in their
applause of the poet, the reader will be surely able to judge for him-
self from the following selections.
F. Bingham
FROM JERUSALEM DELIVERED›
THE CRUSADERS' FIRST SIGHT OF THE HOLY CITY
HE purple morning left her crimson bed,
THE
And donned her robe of pure vermilion hue;
Her amber locks she crowned with roses red,
In Eden's flowery gardens gathered new:
When through the camp a murmur shrill was spread;
Arm, arm! they cried; arm, arm! the trumpets blew;
Their merry noise prevents the joyful blast:
So hum small bees, before their swarms they cast.
Their captain rules their courage, guides their heat,
Their forwardness he stays with gentle rein:
And yet more easy, haply, were the feat,
To stop the current near Charybdis's main,
Or calm the blustering winds on mountains great,
Than fierce desires of warlike hearts restrain:
He rules them yet, and ranks them in their haste,
For well he knows disordered speed makes waste.


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14476
TORQUATO TASSO
Feathered their thoughts, their feet in wings were dight;
Swiftly they marched, yet were not tired thereby,
For willing minds make heaviest burdens light:
But when the gliding sun was mounted high,
Jerusalem, behold, appeared in sight,
Jerusalem they view, they see, they spy;
Jerusalem with merry noise they greet,
With joyful shouts and acclamations sweet.
As when a troop of jolly sailors row,
Some new-found land and country to descry;
Through dangerous seas and under stars unknown,
Thrall to the faithless waves and trothless sky;
If once the wishèd shore begin to show,
They all salute with a joyful cry,
And each to other show the land in haste,
Forgetting quite their pains and perils past.
To that delight which their first sight did breed,
That pleased so the secret of their thought,
A deep repentance did forthwith succeed,
That reverend fear and trembling with it brought.
Scantly they durst their feeble eyes dispread
Upon that town where Christ was sold and bought,
Where for our sins he, faultless, suffered pain,
There where he died, and where he lived again.
Soft words, low speech, deep sobs, sweet sighs, salt tears,
Rose from their breasts, with joy and pleasure mixt;
For thus fares he, the Lord aright that fears,—
Fear on devotion, joy on faith is fixt;
Such noise their passions make, as when one hears
The hoarse sea-waves roar hollow rocks betwixt;
Or as the wind in hoults and shady greaves
A murmur makes among the boughs and leaves.
Their naked feet trod on the dusty way,
Following th' ensample of their zealous guide;
Their scarfs, their crests, their plumes, and feathers gay,
They quickly doft and willing laid aside:
Their molten hearts their wonted pride allay,
Along their watery cheeks warm tears down slide;
And then such secret speech as this they used.
While to himself each one himself accused:


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TORQUATO TASSO
14477
"Flower of goodness, root of lasting bliss,
Thou well of life, whose streams were purple blood
That flowed here, to cleanse the foul amiss
Of sinful man,- behold this brinish flood,
That from my melting heart distilled is;
Receive in gree these tears, O Lord so good:
For never wretch with sin so overgone
Had fitter time or greater cause to moan.
>>
Translation of Edward Fairfax.
EPISODE OF OLINDO AND SOPHRONIA
[An image of the Virgin Mary is stolen from one of the Christian churches,
and set up in the royal mosque. The statue is stolen. The Moslem king,
unable to discover the thief, threatens to massacre all his Christian subjects.
Sophronia, a young Christian lady of great beauty and virtue, willing to sacri-
fice herself for her people, accuses herself to the king as the thief, and is
ordered to be burnt alive. Her lover Olindo contradicts her, declares himself
the perpetrator, and wishes to suffer in her stead. They are both bound,
naked and back to back, to the same stake. The flames are kindled; but by
the arrival of Clorinda they are saved, and married in the presence of the
crowd of spectators on the spot. ]
A
MONG them dwelt, her parents' joy and pleasure,
A maid whose fruit was ripe, not over-yeared;
Her beauty was her not-esteemèd treasure,-
The field of love, with plow of virtue eared.
Her labor goodness, godliness her leisure;
Her house the heaven by this full moon aye cleared,—
For there, from lover's eyes withdrawn, alone
With virgin beams this spotless Cinthia shone.
➖➖➖➖➖➖
But what availed her resolution chaste,
Whose soberest looks were whetstones to desire?
Nor love consents that beauty's field lie waste:
Her visage set Olindo's heart on fire.
O subtle love! a thousand wiles thou hast,
By humble suit, by service, or by hire,
To win a maiden's hold; - a thing soon done,
For nature framed all women to be won.
Sophronia she, Olindo hight the youth,
Both of one town, both in one faith were taught:
She fair,-he full of bashfulness and truth,
Loved much, hoped little, and desirèd naught;


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TORQUATO TASSO
He durst not speak, by suit to purchase ruth,—
She saw not, marked not, wist not what he sought;
Thus loved, thus served he long, but not regarded,-
Unseen, unmarked, unpitied, unrewarded.
To her came message of the murderment,
Wherein her guiltless friends should hopeless serve.
She that was noble, wise, as fair and gent,
Cast how she might their harmless lives preserve:
Zeal was the spring whence flowed her hardiment,
From maiden's shame yet was she loth to swerve;
Yet had her courage ta'en so sure a hold,
That boldness shamefast, shame had made her bold.
And forth she went,- -a shop for merchandise,
Full of rich stuff, but none for sale exposed;
A veil obscured the sunshine of her eyes,
The rose within herself her sweetness closed.
Each ornament about her seemly lies,
By curious chance or careless art composed;
For what she most neglects, most curious prove,-
So beauty's helped by nature, heaven, and love.
Admired of all, on went this noble maid
Until the presence of the king she gained;
Nor for he swelled with ire was she afraid,
But his fierce wrath with fearless grace sustained.
"I come," quoth she,-"but be thine anger stayed,
And causeless rage 'gainst faultless souls restrained,-
I come to show thee and to bring thee, both,
The wight whose fact hath made thy heart so wroth. "
Her modest boldness, and that lightning ray
Which her sweet beauty streamèd on his face,
Had strook the prince with wonder and dismay,
Changed his cheer and cleared his moody grace,
That had her eyes disposed their looks to play,
The king had snarèd been in love's strong lace:
By wayward beauty doth not fancy move;
A frown forbids, a smile engendereth love.
It was amazement, wonder, and delight,
Although not love, that moved his cruel sense.
"Tell on," quoth he: "unfold the chance aright;
Thy people's lives I grant for recompense. "


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TORQUATO TASSO
14479
Then she: "Behold the faulter here in sight:
This hand committed that supposed offense;
It took the image; mine that fault, that fact,
Mine be the glory of that virtuous act. "
This spotless lamb thus offered up her blood
To save the rest of Christ's selected fold:
O noble lie! was ever truth so good?
Blest be the lips that such a leasing told.
Thoughtful awhile remained the tyrant wood;
His native wrath he 'gan a space withhold,
And said, "That thou discover soon, I will,
What aid, what counsel hadst thou in that ill? "
"My lofty thoughts," she answered him, "envied
Another's hand should work my high desire;
The thirst of glory can no partner bide:
With mine own self I did alone conspire. "
"On thee alone," the tyrant then replied,
"Shall fall the vengeance of my wrath and ire. "
'Tis just and right," quoth she: "I yield consent,-
Mine be the honor, mine the punishment. "
The wretch, of new enragèd at the same,
Asked where she hid the image so conveyed:
"Not hid," quoth she, "but quite consumed with flame,
The idol is of that eternal maid;
For so at least I have preserved the same
With hands profane from being eft betrayed.
My lord, the thing thus stolen demand no more:
Here see the thief, that scorneth death therefor.
"And yet no theft was this; yours was the sin:
I brought again what you unjustly took. "
This heard, the tyrant did for rage begin
To whet his teeth, and bend his frowning look;
No pity, youth, fairness no grace could win;
Joy, comfort, hope, the virgin all forsook;
Wrath killed remorse, vengeance stopped mercy's breath,
Love's thrall to hate, and beauty slave to death.
Ta'en was the damsel, and without remorse;
The king condemned her, guiltless, to the fire;
Her veil and mantle plucked they off by force,
And bound her tender arms in twisted wire;


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14480
TORQUATO TASSO
Dumb was this silver dove, while from her corse
These hungry kites plucked off her rich attire:
And for some-deal perplexèd was her sprite,
Her damask late now changed to purest white.
The news of this mishap spread far and near;
The people ran, both young and old, to gaze:
Olindo also ran, and 'gan to fear
His lady was some partner in this case;
But when he found her bound, stripped from her gear,
And vile tormentors ready saw in place,
He broke the throng, and into present brast,
And thus bespake the king in rage and haste:-
"Not so, not so this girl shall bear away
From me the honor of so noble feat:
She durst not, did not, could not, so convey
The massy substance of that idol great;
What sleight had she the wardens to betray?
What strength to heave the goddess from her seat?
No, no, my lord, she sails but with my wind. "
(Ah, thus he loved, yet was his love unkind! )
He added further, "Where the shining glass
Lets in the light amid your temple's side,
By broken byways did I inward pass,
And in that window made a postern wide:
Nor shall therefore the ill-advised lass
Usurp the glory should this fact betide;
Mine be these bonds, mine be these flames so pure,-
Oh, glorious death, more glorious sepulture. "
Sophronia raised her modest looks from ground,
And on her lover bent her eyesight mild:-
"Tell me what fury, what conceit unsound,
Presenteth here to death so sweet a child?
Is not in me sufficient courage found
To bear the anger of this tyrant wild?
Or hath fond love thy heart so overgone?
Wouldst thou not live, not let me die alone? "
Thus spake the nymph, yet spake but to the wind;
She could not alter his well-settled thought:
Oh, miracle! oh, strife of wondrous kind!
Where love and virtue such contention wrought.


## p. 14481 (#43) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14481
Where death the victor had for meed assigned,
Their own neglect each other's safety sought;
But thus the king was more provoked to ire,—
Their strife for bellows served to anger fire.
He thinks (such thoughts self-guiltiness finds out)
They scorned his power, and therefore scorned the pain:
"Nay, nay," quoth he; "let be your strife and doubt
You both shall win, and fit reward obtain. "
With that the serjeant bent the young man stout,
And bound him likewise in a worthless chain,
Then back to back fast to a stake both ties,-
Two harmless turtles, dight for sacrifice.
About the pile of fagots, sticks, and hay,
The bellows raised the newly kindled flame,
When thus Olindo, in a doleful lay,
Begun too late his bootless plaints to frame:-
"Be these the bonds? is this the hoped-for day
Should join me to this long-desirèd dame?
Is this the fire alike should burn our hearts?
Ah! hard reward for lovers' kind desarts!
"Far other flames and bonds kind lovers prove,
For thus our fortune casts the hapless die;
Death hath exchanged again his shafts with love,
And Cupid thus lets borrowed arrows fly.
O Hymen, say, what fury doth thee move
To lend thy lamps to light a tragedy?
Yet this contents me,- that I die for thee:
Thy flames, not mine, my death and torment be.
"Yet happy were my death, mine ending blest,
My torments easy, full of sweet delight,
If this I could obtain,- that breast to breast
Thy bosom might receive my yielded sprite;
And thine with it, in heaven's pure clothing drest,
Through clearest skies might take united flight. "
Thus he complained, whom gently she reproved,
And sweetly spake him thus, that so her loved:-
"Far other plaints, dear friend, tears and laments,
The time, the place, and our estates require:
Think on thy sins, which man's old foe presents
Before that Judge that quites each soul his hire;
XXV-906


## p. 14482 (#44) ###########################################

14482
TORQUATO TASSO
For His name suffer, for no pain torments
Him whose just prayers to His throne aspire.
Behold the heavens: thither thine eyesight bend;
Thy looks, sighs, tears, for intercessors send. "
The pagans loud cried out to God and man,
The Christians mourned in silent lamentation:
The tyrant's self, a thing unused, began
To feel his heart relent with mere compassion;
But not disposed to ruth or mercy than,
He sped him thence, home to his habitation:
Sophronia stood, not grieved nor discontented;
By all that saw her, but herself, lamented.
The lovers, standing in this doleful wise,
A warrior bold unwares approachèd near,
In uncouth arms yclad, and strange disguise,
From countries far but new arrivèd there:
A savage tigress on her helmet lies,-
The famous badge Clorinda used to bear;
That wonts in every warlike stour to win,
By which bright sign well known was that fair inn.
She scorned the arts these seely women use;
Another thought her nobler humor fed:
Her lofty hand would of itself refuse
To touch the dainty needle or nice thread;
She hated chambers, closets, secret mews,
And in broad fields preserved her maidenhead:
Proud were her looks, yet sweet, though stern and stout;
Her dame, a dove, thus brought an eagle out.
While she was young, she used with tender hand
The foaming steed with froarie bit to steer;
To tilt and tourney, wrestle in the sand,
To leave with speed Atlanta swift arreare;
Through forests wild and unfrequented land
To chase the lion, boar, or rugged bear;
The satyrs rough, the fauns and fairies wild,
She chased oft, oft took, and oft beguiled.
This lusty lady came from Persia late;
She with the Christians had encountered eft,
And in their flesh had opened many a gate
By which their faithful souls their bodies left.


## p. 14483 (#45) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14483
Her eye at first presented her the state
Of these poor souls, of hope and help bereft;
Greedy to know, as in the mind of man,
Their cause of death, swift to the fire she ran.
The people made her room, and on them twain
Her piercing eyes their fiery weapons dart:
Silent she saw the one, the other plain,—
The weaker body lodged the nobler heart;
Yet him she saw lament as if his pain
Were grief and sorrow for another's smart,
And her keep silent so as if her eyes
Dumb orators were to entreat the skies.
Clorinda changed to ruth her warlike mood;
Few silver drops her vermeil cheeks depaint:
Her sorrow was for her that speechless stood,
Her silence more prevailed than his complaint.
She asked an aged man, seemed grave and good,
"Come, say me, sire," quote she, "what hard constraint
Would murder here love's queen and beauty's king?
What fault or fate doth to this death them bring? "
Thus she inquired, and answer short he gave,
But such as all the chance at large disclosed:
She wondered at the case, the virgin brave,
That both were guiltless of the fault supposed;
Her noble thought cast how she might them save,
The means on suit or battle she reposed;
Quick to the fire she ran, and quenched it out,
And thus bespake the serjeants and the rout:-
"Be there not one among you all that dare
In this your hateful office aught proceed,
Till I return from court, nor take you care
—
To reap displeasure for not making speed. "
To do her will the men themselves prepare,
In their faint hearts her looks such terror breed;
To court she went, their pardon would she get,
But on the way the courteous king she met.
"Sir king," quoth she, "my name Clorinda hight,
My fame perchance hath pierced your ears ere now;
I come to try my wonted power and might,
And will defend this land, this town, and you:


## p. 14484 (#46) ###########################################

14484
TORQUATO TASSO
All hard assays esteem I eath and light,
Great acts I reach to, to small things I bow;
To fight in field, or to defend this wall,—
Point what you list, I naught refuse at all. "
To whom the king: "What land so far remote
From Asia's coasts, or Phoebus's glistering rays,
O glorious virgin, that recordeth not
Thy fame, thine honor, worth, renown, and praise?
Since on my side I have thy succors got,
I need not fear in these mine agèd days;
For in thine aid more hope, more trust, I have,
Than in whole armies of these soldiers brave.
"Now Godfrey stays too long,- he fears, I ween:
Thy courage great keeps all our foes in awe;
For thee all actions far unworthy been,
But such as greatest danger with them draw:
Be you commandress, therefore, princess, queen,
Of all our forces; be thy word a law. "
This said, the virgin 'gan her beavoir vale,
And thanked him first, and thus began her tale:-
"A thing unused, great monarch, may it seem,
To ask reward for service yet to come;
But so your virtuous bounty I esteem,
That I presume for to entreat, this groom
And seely maid from danger to redeem,
Condemned to burn by your unpartial doom.
I not excuse, but pity much their youth,
And come to you for mercy and for ruth.
-
"Yet give me leave to tell your Highness this:
You blame the Christians,- them my thoughts acquite;
Nor be displeased I say you judge amiss,—
At every shot look not to hit the white.
All what th' enchanter did persuade you is
Against the lore of Macon's sacred right;
For us commandeth mighty Mahomet,
No idols in his temples pure to set.
"To him therefore this wonder done refar;
Give him the praise and honor of the thing:
Of us the gods benign so careful are,
Lest customs strange into their church we bring.


## p. 14485 (#47) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14485
Let Ismen with his squares and trigons war,
His weapons be the staff, the glass, the ring:
But let us manage war with blows, like knights;
Our praise in arms, our honor lies in fights. "
The virgin held her peace when this was said;
And though to pity never framed his thought,
Yet, for the king admired the noble maid,
His purpose was not to deny her aught.
"I grant them life," quoth he; "your promised aid
Against these Frenchmen hath their pardon bought:
Nor further seek what their offenses be;
Guiltless I quite, guilty I set them free. "
Thus were they loosed, happiest of human-kind:
Olindo, blessèd be this act of thine,-
True witness of thy great and heavenly mind,
Where sun, moon, stars, of love, faith, virtue, shine.
So forth they went, and left pale death behind,
To joy the bliss of marriage rites divine:
With her he would have died; with him content
Was she to live, that would with her have brent.
Translation of Edward Fairfax.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SORCERESS ARMIDA
[Idriot, a magician, at the instigation of the powers of Hell sends his
niece Armida, who is an enchantress, to the camp of the Crusaders to seduce
the chiefs. ]
RMIDA, in her youth and beauty's pride,
AR
Assumed th' adventure; and at close of day,
Eve's vesper star her solitary guide,
Alone, untended, took her secret way.
In clustering locks and feminine array,
Armed with but loveliness and frolic youth,
She trusts to conquer mighty kings, and slay
Embattled hosts; meanwhile false rumors soothe
The light censorious crowd, sagacious of the truth.
Few days elapsed, ere to her wishful view
The white pavilions of the Latins rise;
The camp she reached: her wondrous beauty drew
The gaze and admiration of all eyes;
Not less than if some strange star in the skies,


## p. 14486 (#48) ###########################################

14486
TORQUATO TASSO
Or blazing comet's more resplendent tire
Appeared: a murmur far below her flies,
And crowds press round, to listen or inquire
Who the fair pilgrim is, and soothe their eyes' desire.
Never did Greece or Italy behold
A form to fancy and to taste so dear!
At times the white veil dims her locks of gold,
At times in bright relief they reappear:
So when the stormy skies begin to clear,
Now through transparent clouds the sunshine gleams;
Now issuing from its shrine, the gorgeous sphere
Lights up the leaves, flowers, mountains, vales, and streams,
With a diviner day-the spirit of bright beams.
New ringlets form the flowing winds amid
The native curls of her resplendent hair;
Her eye is fixed in self-reserve, and hid
Are all love's treasures with a miser's care;
The rival roses, upon cheeks more fair
Than morning light, their mingling tints dispose;
But on her lips, from which the amorous air
Of Paradise exhales, the crimson rose
Its sole and simple bloom in modest beauty throws.
Crude as the grape unmellowed yet to wine,
Her bosom swells to sight: its virgin breasts,
Smooth, soft, and sweet, like alabaster shine,
Part bare, part hid, by her invidious vests;
Their jealous fringe the greedy eye arrests,
But leaves its fond imagination free
To sport, like doves, in those delicious nests,
And their most shadowed secrecies to see,
Peopling with blissful dreams the lively phantasy.
As through pure water or translucent glass
The sunbeam darts, yet leaves the crystal sound,
So through her folded robes unruffling pass
The thoughts, to wander on forbidden ground:
There daring Fancy takes her fairy round.
Such wondrous beauties singly to admire;
Which, in a pleasing fit of transport bound,
She after paints and whispers to desire,
And with her charming tale foments th' excited fire.


## p. 14487 (#49) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14487
Praised and admired, Armida passed amid
The wishful multitude, nor seemed to spy,
Though well she saw the interest raised, but hid
In her deep heart the smile that to her eye
Darted in prescience of the conquests nigh.
Whilst in the mute suspense of troubled pride
She sought, with look solicitous yet shy,
For her uncertain feet an ushering guide
To the famed captain's tent, young Eustace pressed her side.
Translation of J. H. Wiffen.
FLIGHT OF ERMINIA
[Tancred and Argantes are engaged in a terrible single combat before the
two armies. ]
LL wait in sharp anxiety to see
Α'
What fate will crown the strife,—if rage shall quail
To the calm virtue of pure chivalry,
Or giant strength o'er hardihood prevail:
But deepest cares and doubts distract the pale
And sensitive Erminia; her fond heart
A thousand agonies and fears assail:
Since on the cast of war's uncertain dart,
Hangs the sweet life she loves, her soul's far dearer part.
She, daughter to Cassano, who the crown
Wore of imperial Antioch, in the hour
When the flushed Christians won the stubborn town,
With other booty fell in Tancred's power:
But he received her as some sacred flower,
Nor harmed her shrinking leaves; 'midst outrage keen,
Pure and inviolate was her virgin bower:
And her he caused to be attended, e'en
Amidst her ruined realms, as an unquestioned queen.
The generous knight in every act and word
Honored her, served her, soothed her deep distress;
Gave to her freedom, to her charge restored
Her gems, her gold, and bade her still possess
Her ornaments of price: the sweet princess,
Seeing what kingliness of spirit shined
In his engaging form and frank address,
Was touched with love; and never did Love bind
With his most charming chain a more devoted mind.
Translation of J. H. Wiffen.


## p. 14488 (#50) ###########################################

14488
TORQUATO TASSO
[The battle is drawn at nightfall; but Tancred has been wounded, and
Erminia starts to go to his tent to nurse him. ]
Invested in her starry veil, the night
In her kind arms embraced all this round;
The silver moon from sea uprising bright,
Spread frosty pearl upon the candied ground:
And Cinthia-like for beauty's glorious light,
The lovesick nymph threw glistering beams around;
And counselors of her old love she made
Those valleys dumb, that silence, and that shade.
Beholding then the camp, quoth she:-"Oh, fair
And castle-like pavilions, richly wrought,
From you how sweet methinketh blows the air;
How comforts it my heart, my soul, my thought!
Through heaven's fair grace, from gulf of sad despair
My tossed bark to port well-nigh is brought;
In you I seek redress for all my harms,
Rest 'midst your weapons, peace amongst your arms.
"Receive me then, and let me mercy find,
As gentle love assureth me I shall:
Among you had I entertainment kind,
When first I was the Prince Tancredie's thrall:
I covet not, led by ambition blind,
You should me in my father's throne install:
Might I but serve in you my lord so dear,
That my content, my joy, my comfort were. "
Thus parlied she (poor soul), and never feared
The sudden blow of fortune's cruel spite:
She stood where Phoebe's splendent beam appeared
Upon her silver armor doubly bright;
The place about her round the shining cleared
Of that pure white wherein the nymph was dight:
The tigress great that on her helmet laid,
Bore witness where she went, and where she stayed.
[On the way she is surprised by the enemy; her frightened horse carries
her through the wilderness to an abode of shepherds on the banks of the
Jordan. Tancred, apprised of her coming, seeks her in vain. ]
Through thick and thin all night, all day, she drived,
Withouten comfort, company, or guide;
Her plaints and tears with every thought revived,
She heard and saw her griefs, but naught beside:
1


## p. 14489 (#51) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14489
But when the sun his burning chariot dived
In Thetis's wave, and weary team untied,
On Jordan's sandy banks her course she stayed
At last; there down she light, and down she laid.
Her tears her drink, her food her sorrowings,
This was her diet that unhappy night;
But sleep, that sweet repose and quiet brings
To ease the griefs of discontented wight,
Spread forth his tender, soft, and nimble wings,
In his dull arms folding the virgin bright;
And Love, his mother, and the Graces, kept
Strong watch and ward while this fair lady slept.
The birds awaked her with their morning song,
Their warbling music pierced her tender ear;
The murmuring brooks and whistling winds among
The rattling boughs and leaves their parts did bear;
Her eyes unclosed beheld the groves along
Of swains and shepherd grooms the dwellings were;
And that sweet noise, birds, winds, and waters sent,
Provoked again the virgin to lament.
Her plaints were interrupted with a sound
That seemed from thickest bushes to proceed:
Some jolly shepherd sung a lusty round,
And to his voice had tuned his oaten reed.
Thither she went: an old man there she found,
At whose right hand his little flock did feed,
Sat making baskets his three sons among,
That learned their father's art and learned his song.
Beholding one in shining arms appear,
The seely man and his were sore dismayed;
But sweet Erminia comforted their fear,
Her ventail up, her visage open laid.
"You happy folk, of heaven beloved dear,
Work on," quoth she, "upon your harmless trade:
These dreadful arms I bear, no warfare bring
To your sweet toil nor those sweet tunes you sing:
"But, father, since this land, these towns and towers.
Destroyed are with sword, with fire, and spoil,
How may it be, unhurt that you and yours
In safety thus apply your harmless toil ? »


## p. 14490 (#52) ###########################################

14490
TORQUATO TASSO
"My son," quoth he, "this poor estate of ours
Is ever safe from storm of warlike broil;
This wilderness doth us in safety keep;
No thundering drum, no trumpet breaks our sleep.
«< Haply just heaven, defense and shield of right,
Doth love the innocence of simple swains:
The thunderbolts on highest mountains light,
And seld or never strike the lower plains;
So kings have cause to fear Bellona's might,
Not they whose sweat and toil their dinner gains,
Nor ever greedy soldier was enticed
By poverty, neglected and despised.
"O Poverty! chief of the heavenly brood,
Dearer to me than wealth or kingly crown,—
No wish for honor, thirst of others' good,
Can move my heart, contented with mine own.
We quench our thirst with water of this flood,
Nor fear we poison should therein be thrown;
These little flocks of sheep and tender goats
Give milk for food, and wool to make us coats.
"We little wish, we need but little wealth,
From cold and hunger us to clothe and feed;
These are my sons, - their care preserves from stealth
Their father's flocks, nor servants more I need.
Amid these groves I walk oft for my health,
And to the fishes, birds, and beasts give heed,
How they are fed in forest, spring, and lake;
And their contentment for ensample take.
"Time was for each one hath his doting-time;
These silver locks were golden tresses then-
That country life I hated as a crime,
And from the forest's sweet contentment ran:
To Memphis's stately palace would I climb,
And there became the mighty caliph's man;
And though I but a simple gardener were,
Yet could I mark abuses, see and hear.
-―
"Enticed on with hope of future gain,
I suffered long what did my soul displease:
But when my youth was spent, my hope was vain,
I felt my native strength at last decrease;


## p. 14491 (#53) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14491
I 'gan my loss of lusty years complain,
And wished I had enjoyed the country's peace:
I bade the court farewell, and with content
My later age here have I quiet spent. "
While thus he spake, Erminia, hushed and still,
His wise discourses heard with great attention;
His speeches grave those idle fancies kill,
Which in her troubled soul bred such dissension.
After much thought reformèd was her will:
Within those woods to dwell was her intention,
Till fortune should occasion new afford,
To turn her home to her desirèd lord.
She said therefore, "O shepherd fortunate!
That troubles some didst whilom feel and prove,
Yet livest now in this contented state,—
Let my mishap thy thoughts to pity move,
To entertain me as a willing mate
In shepherd's life, which I admire and love:
Within these pleasant groves perchance my heart
Of her discomforts may unload some part.
"If gold or wealth, of most esteemèd dear,
If jewels rich thou diddest hold in prize,
Such store thereof, such plenty have I here,
As to a greedy mind might well suffice. "
With that down trickled many a silver tear,—
Two crystal streams fell from her watery eyes;
Part of her sad misfortunes then she told,
And wept, and with her wept that shepherd old.
With speeches kind he 'gan the virgin dear
Towards his cottage gently home to guide,
His aged wife there made her homely cheer,
Yet welcomed her, and placed her by her side.
The princess donned a poor pastora's gear,
A kerchief coarse upon her head she tied;
But yet her gestures and her looks, I guess,
Were such as ill beseemed a shepherdess.
Not those rude garments could obscure and hide
The heavenly beauty of her angel's face,
Nor was her princely offspring damnified
Or aught disparaged by those labors base:


## p. 14492 (#54) ###########################################

14492
TORQUATO TASSO
Her little flocks to pasture would she guide,
And milk her goats, and in their folds them place;
Both cheese and butter could she make, and frame
Herself to please the shepherd and his dame.
But oft, when underneath the greenwood shade
Her flocks lay hid from Phoebus's scorching rays,
Unto her knight she songs and sonnets made,
And them engraved in bark of beech and bays;
She told how Cupid did her first invade,
How conquered her, and ends with Tancred's praise:
And when her passion's writ she over read,
Again she mourned, again salt tears she shed.
"You happy trees, forever keep," quoth she,
"This woeful story in your tender rind:
Another day under your shade, maybe,
Will come to rest again some lover kind,
Who if these trophies of my griefs he sees,
Shall feel dear pity pierce his gentle mind. "
With that she sighed, and said, "Too late I prove
There is no truth in fortune, trust in love.
"Yet may it be (if gracious Heavens attend
The earnest suit of a distressed wight),
At my entreat they will vouchsafe to send
To these huge deserts that unthankful knight;
That when to earth the man his eyes shall bend,
And see my grave, my tomb, and ashes light,
My woeful death his stubborn heart may move,
With tears and sorrows to reward my love:
"So, though my life hath most unhappy been,
At least yet shall my spirit dead be blest;
My ashes cold shall, buried on this green,
Enjoy the good the body ne'er possessed. "
Thus she complainèd to the senseless treen:
Floods in her eyes, and fires were in her breast;
But he for whom these streams of tears she shed,
Wandered far off, alas! as chance him led.
Translation of Edward Fairfax.


## p. 14493 (#55) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14493
THE CRUSADERS GO IN PROCESSION TO MASS, PREPARATORY TO THE
ASSAULT
EXT morn the bishops twain, the heremite,
NEXT
And all the clerks and priests of less estate,
Did in the middest of the camp unite
Within a place for prayer consecrate:
Each priest adorned was in a surplice white,
The bishops donned their albes and copes of state;
Above their rochets buttoned fair before,
And mitres on their heads like crowns they wore.
"
Peter alone, before, spread to the wind
The glorious sign of our salvation great:
With easy pace the choir came all behind,
And hymns and psalms in order true repeat;
With sweet respondence in harmonious kind,
Their humble song the yielding air doth beat.
Lastly together went the reverend pair
Of prelates sage, William and Ademare.
The mighty duke came next, as princes do,
Without companion, marching all alone;
The lords and captains came by two and two;
The soldiers for their guard were armed each one.
With easy pace thus ordered, passing through
The trench and rampire, to the fields they gone;
No thundering drum, no trumpet shrill they hear,-
Their godly music psalms and prayers were.
To thee, O Father, Son, and sacred Spright,
One true, eternal, everlasting King,
To Christ's dear mother Mary, virgin bright,
Psalms of thanksgiving and of praise they sing;
To them that angels down from heaven, to fight
'Gainst the blasphemous beast and dragon, bring;
To him also that of our Savior good
Washed the sacred front in Jordan's flood,
Him likewise they invoke, called the rock
Whereon the Lord, they say, his Church did rear,
Whose true successors close or else unlock
The blessed gates of grace and mercy dear;
And all th' elected twelve, the chosen flock,
Of his triumphant death who witness bear;


## p. 14494 (#56) ###########################################

14494
TORQUATO TASSO
And them by torment, slaughter, fire, and sword,
Who martyrs dièd to confirm his word;
And them also whose books and writings tell
What certain path to heavenly bliss us leads;
And hermits good and anch'resses, that dwell
Mewed up in walls, and mumble on their beads;
And virgin nuns in close and private cell,
Where (but shrift fathers) never mankind treads:
On these they called, and on all the rout
Of angels, martyrs, and of saints devout.
Singing and saying thus, the camp devout
Spread forth her zealous squadrons broad and wide;
Towards Mount Olivet went all this rout,-
So called of olive-trees the hill which hide;
A mountain known by fame the world throughout,
Which riseth on the city's eastern side,
From it divided by the valley green
Of Josaphat, that fills the space between.
Hither the armies went, and chaunted shrill,
That all the deep and hollow dales resound;
From hollow mounts and caves in every hill
A thousand echoes also sung around:
It seemed some choir that sung with art and skill
Dwelt in those savage dens and shady ground,
For oft resounded from the banks they hear
The name of Christ and of his mother dear.
Translation of Edward Fairfax.
CLORINDA'S EUNUCH NARRATES HER HISTORY
N FORMER days o'er Ethiopia reigned—
Haply perchance reigns still-Senapo brave;
Who with his dusky people still maintained
The laws which Jesus to the nations gave:
'Twas in his court, a pagan and a slave,
I lived, o'er thousand maids advanced to guard,
And wait with authorized assumption grave
On her whose beauteous brows the crown instarred;
True, she was brown, but naught the brown her beauty marred.


## p. 14495 (#57) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14495
The king adored her, but his jealousies
Equaled the fervors of his love; the smart
At length of sharp suspicion by degrees
Gained such ascendance in his troubled heart,
That from all men in closest bowers apart
He mewed her, where e'en heaven's chaste eyes, the bright
Stars, were but half allowed their looks to dart:
Whilst she, meek, wise, and pure as virgin light,
Made her unkind lord's will her rule and chief delight.
Hung was her room with storied imageries
Of martyrs and of saints: a virgin here,
On whose fair cheeks the rose's sweetest dyes
Glowed, was depicted in distress; and near,
A monstrous dragon, which with poignant spear
An errant knight transfixing, prostrate laid:
The gentle lady oft with many a tear
Before this painting meek confession made
Of secret faults, and mourned, and heaven's forgiveness prayed.
Pregnant meanwhile, she bore (and thou wert she)
A daughter white as snow: th' unusual hue,
With wonder, fear, and strange perplexity
Disturbed her, as though something monstrous too;
But as by sad experience well she knew
His jealous temper and suspicious haste,
She cast to hide thee from thy father's view;
For in his mind (perversion most misplaced! )
Thy snowy chasteness else had argued her unchaste.
And in thy cradle to his sight exposed
A negro's new-born infant for her own;
And as the tower wherein she lived inclosed
Was kept by me and by her maids alone,-
To me whose firm fidelity was known,
Who loved and served her with a soul sincere,-
She gave thee, beauteous as a rose unblown,
Yet unbaptized; for there, it would appear,
Baptized thou couldst not be in that thy natal year.
Weeping she placed thee in my arms, to bear
To some far spot: what tongue can tell the rest!
The plaints she used; and with what wild despair
She clasped thee to her fond maternal breast;
How many times 'twixt sighs, 'twixt tears caressed;


## p. 14496 (#58) ###########################################

14496
TORQUATO TASSO
How oft, how very oft, her vain adieu
Sealed on thy cheek; with what sweet passion pressed
Thy little lips! At length a glance she threw
To heaven, and cried:-"Great God, that look'st all spirits
through!
"If both my heart and members are unstained,
And naught did e'er my nuptial bed defile,
(I pray not for myself; I stand arraigned
Of thousand sins, and in thy sight am vile,)
Preserve this guiltless infant, to whose smile
The tenderest mother must refuse her breast,
And from her eyes their sweetest bliss exile!
May she with chastity like mine be blessed;
But stars of happier rule have influence o'er the rest!
"And thou, blest knight, that from the cruel teeth
Of the grim dragon freed'st that holy maid,
Lit by my hands if ever odorous wreath
Rose from thy altars; if I e'er have laid
Thereon gold, cinnamon, or myrrh, and prayed
For help, through every chance of life display,
In guardianship of her, thy powerful aid! "
Convulsions choked her words; she swooned away,
And the pale hues of death on her chill temples lay.
With tears I took thee in a little ark
So hid by flowers and leaves that none could guess
The secret; brought thee forth 'twixt light and dark,
And unsuspected, in a Moorish dress,
Passed the town walls. As through a wilderness
Of forests horrid with brown glooms I took
My pensive way, I saw, to my distress,
A tigress issuing from a bosky nook,
Rage in her scowling brows, and lightning in her look.
Wild with affright, I on the flowery ground
Cast thee, and instant climbed a tree close by:
The savage brute came up, and glancing round
In haughty menace, saw where thou didst lie;
And softening to a mild humanity
Her stern regard, with placid gestures meek,
As by thy beauty smit, came courteous nigh;
In amorous pastime fawning licked thy cheek;
And thou on her didst smile, and stroke her mantle sleek.


## p. 14497 (#59) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14497
With her fierce muzzle and her cruel front
Thy little hands did innocently play;
She offered thee her teats, as is the wont
With nurses, and adapted them, as they,
To thy young lips; nor didst thou turn away:
She suckled thee! a prodigy so new
Filled me with fresh confusion and dismay.
She, when she saw thee satisfied, withdrew
Into the shady wood, and vanished from my view.
Again I took thee, and pursued my way
Through woods, and vales, and wildernesses dun:
Till in a little village making stay,
I gave thee secretly in charge to one
Who fondly nursed thee till the circling sun,
With sixteen months of equatorial heat,
Had tinged thy face; till thou too hadst begun
To prattle of thy joys in murmurs sweet,
And print her cottage floor with indecisive feet.
Translation of J. H. Wiffen.
TANCRED IN IGNORANCE SLAYS CLORINDA
S EGEAN'S seas, when storms be calmed again
A
That rolled their tumbling waves with troublous blast
Do yet of tempests past some show retain,
And here and there their swelling billows cast:
So though their strength were gone, and might were vain,
Of their first fierceness still the fury lasts;
Wherewith sustained, they to their tackling stood,
And heaped wound on wound, and blood on blood.
But now, alas! the fatal hour arrives
That her sweet life must leave that tender hold:
His sword into her bosom deep he drives,
And bathed in lukewarm blood his iron cold;
Between her breasts the cruel weapon rives
Her curious square embost with swelling gold;
Her knees grow weak, the pains of death she feels,
And like a fallen cedar, bends and reels.
The prince his hand upon her shield doth stretch,
And low on earth the wounded damsel laith;
And while she fell, with weak and woeful speech
Her prayers last and last complaints she saith:
XXV-907


## p. 14498 (#60) ###########################################

14498
TORQUATO TASSO
A spirit new did her those prayers teach,
Spirit of hope, of charity, and faith;
And though her life to Christ rebellious were,
Yet dièd she his child and handmaid dear.
"Friend, thou hast won; I pardon thee: nor save
This body, that all torments can endure,
But save my soul; baptism I dying crave,—
Come, wash away my sins with waters pure. "
His heart relenting nigh in sunder rave,
With woeful speech of that sweet creature;
So that his rage, his wrath, and anger died,
And on his cheek salt tears for ruth down slide.
With murmur loud down from the mountain's side
A little runnel tumbled near the place:
Thither he ran and filled his helmet wide,
And quick returned to do that work of grace:
With trembling hands her beaver he untied,
Which done, he saw, and seeing knew her face,
And lost therewith his speech and moving quite,
Of woeful knowledge! Ah, unhappy sight!
He died not, but all his strength unites,
And to his virtues gave his heart in guard;
Bridling his grief, with water he requites
The life that he bereft with iron hard:
And while the sacred words the knight recites,
The nymph to heaven with joy herself prepared;
And as her life decays, her joys increase:
She smiled and said, "Farewell! I die in peace. "
As violets blue 'mongst lilies pure men throw,
So paleness 'midst her native white begun.
Her looks to heaven she cast; their eyes, I trow,
Downward for pity bent both heaven and sun.
Her naked hand she gave the knight, in show
Of love and peace; her speech, alas! was done.
And thus the virgin fell on endless sleep:
Love, Beauty, Virtue, for your darling weep.
Translation of Edward Fairfax.


## p. 14499 (#61) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14499
ARMIDA ENSNARES RINALDO
AR
RMIDA hunted him through wood and plain,
Till on Orontes's flowery bank he stayed;
There, where the stream did part and meet again,
And in the midst a gentle island made,
A pillar fair was pight beside the main,
Near which a little frigate floating laid;
The marble white the prince did long behold,
And this inscription read there writ in gold:-
1
"Whoso thou art whom will or chance doth bring
With happy steps to flood Orontes's sides,
Know that the world hath not so strange a thing
'Twixt east and west as this small island hides;
Then pass and see without more tarrying. "
The hasty youth to pass the stream provides;
And, for the cog was narrow, small, and strait,
Alone he rowed, and bade his squires there wait.
Landed, he stalks about, yet naught he sees
But verdant groves, sweet shades, and mossy rocks,
With caves and fountains, flowers, herbs, and trees;
So that the words he read he takes for mocks:
But that green isle was sweet at all degrees,
Wherewith, enticed, down sits he and unlocks
His closed helm, and bares his visage fair,
To take sweet breath from cool and gentle air.
A rumbling sound amid the waters deep
Meanwhile he heard, and thither turned his sight,
And tumbling in the troubled stream took keep
How the strong waves together rush and fight;
Whence first he saw, with golden tresses, peep
The rising visage of a virgin bright,
And then her neck, her breasts, and all as low
As he for shame could see or she could show.
So in the twilight doth sometimes appear
A nymph, a goddess, or a fairy queen:
And though no syren but a sprite this were,
Yet by her beauty seemed it she had been
One of those sisters false which haunted near
The Tyrrhene shores, and kept those waters sheen;
Like theirs her face, her voice was, and her sound:
And thus she sung, and pleased both skies and ground:-
-


## p. 14500 (#62) ###########################################

14500
TORQUATO TASSO
"Ye happy youths, whom April fresh and May
Attire in flowering green of lusty age,
For glory vain or virtue's idle ray
Do not your tender limbs to toil engage:
In calm streams fishes, birds in sunshine play;
Who followeth pleasure he is only sage,
So nature saith,- yet 'gainst her sacred will
Why still rebel you, and why strive you still?
"O fools, who youth possess yet scorn the same,
A precious but a short-abiding treasure,-
Virtue itself is but an idle name,
Prized by the world 'bove reason all and measure;
And honor, glory, praise, renown, and fame,
That men's proud hearts bewitch with tickling pleasure,
An echo is, a shade, a dream, a flower,
With each wind blasted, spoiled with every shower.
"But let your happy souls in joy possess
The ivory castles of your bodies fair;
Your passed harms salve with forgetfulness;
Haste not your coming ills with thought and care;
Regard no blazing star with burning tress,
Nor storm, nor threatening sky, nor thundering air:
This wisdom is, good life, and worldly bliss;
Kind teacheth us, nature commands us this. "
Thus sung the spirit false, and stealing sleep
(To which her tunes enticed his heavy eyes)
By step and step did on his senses creep,
Till every limb therein unmovèd lies;
Not thunders loud could from this slumber deep
(Of quiet death true image) make him rise;
Then from her ambush forth Armida start,
Swearing revenge, and threatening torments smart:
But when she looked on his face awhile,
And saw how sweet he breathed, how still he lay,
How his fair eyes though closed seem to smile,
At first she stayed, astound with great dismay;
Then sat her down (so love can art beguile),
And as she sat and looked, fled fast away
Her wrath. Thus on his forehead gazed the maid,
As in his spring Narcissus tooting laid.


## p. 14501 (#63) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14501
And with a veil she wipèd now and then
From his fair cheek the globes of silver sweat
And cool air gathered with a trembling fan
To mitigate the rage of melting heat:
Thus (who would think it? ) his hot eye-glance can
Of that cold frost dissolve the hardness great
Which late congealed the heart of that fair dame,
Who, late a foe, a lover now became.
Of woodbines, lilies, and of roses sweet,
Which proudly flowered through that wanton plain,
All platted fast, well knit, and joinèd meet,
She framed a soft but surely holding chain,
Wherewith she bound his neck, his hands, and feet.
Thus bound, thus taken, did the prince remain,
And in a coach, which two old dragons drew,
She laid the sleeping knight, and thence she flew.
Nor turned she to Damascus's kingdom large,
Nor to the fort built in Asphalte's lake,
But jealous of her dear and precious charge,
And of her love ashamed, the way did take
To the wide ocean, whither skiff or barge
From us both seld or never voyage make,
And there, to frolic with her love awhile,
She chose a waste, a sole and desert isle;
An isle that with her fellows bears the name
Of Fortunate, for temperate air and mold:
There on a mountain high alight the dame,
A hill obscured with shades of forests old,
Upon whose sides the witch by art did frame
Continual snow, sharp frost, and winter cold;
But on the top, fresh, pleasant, sweet, and green,
Beside a lake a palace built this queen:
There in perpetual, sweet, and flowering spring,
She lives at ease, and 'joys her lord at will.
Translation of Edward Fairfax.


## p. 14502 (#64) ###########################################

14502
TORQUATO TASSO
THE TWO KNIGHTS IN SEARCH FOR RINALDO REACH THE FORTUNATE
ISLAND, AND DISCOVER THE FOUNTAIN OF LAUGHTER
>>
"SEE
EE here the stream of laughter, see the spring »
(Quoth they) "of danger and of deadly pain:
Here fond desire must by fair governing
Be ruled, our lust bridled with wisdom's rein;
Our ears be stopped while these syrens sing,
Their notes enticing man to pleasure vain. "
Thus past they forward where the stream did make
An ample pond, a large and spacious lake.
There on the table was all dainty food
That sea, that earth, or liquid air could give:
And in the crystal of the laughing flood
They saw two naked virgins bathe and dive,
That sometimes toying, sometimes wrestling stood,
Sometimes for speed and skill in swimming strive:
Now underneath they dived, now rose above,
And 'ticing baits laid forth of lust and love.
These naked wantons, tender, fair, and white,
Moved so far the warriors' stubborn hearts,
That on their shapes they gazèd with delight;
The nymphs applied their sweet alluring arts,
And one of them above the waters quite
Lift up her head, her breasts, and higher parts,
And all that might weak eyes subdue and take;
Her lower beauties veiled the gentle lake.
As when the morning star, escaped and fled
From greedy waves, with dewy beams upflies,
Or as the queen of love, new born and bred
Of th' ocean's fruitful froth, did first arise;
So vented she, her golden locks forth shed
Round pearls and crystal moist therein which lies.
But when her eyes upon the knights she cast,
She start, and feigned her of their sight aghast:
And her fair locks, that on a knot were tied
High on her crown, she 'gan at large unfold;
Which falling long and thick, and spreading wide,
The ivory soft and white mantled in gold:
Thus her fair skin the dame would clothe and hide,
And that which hid it no less fair was hold;


## p. 14503 (#65) ###########################################

TORQUATO TASSO
14503
Thus clad in waves and locks, her eyes divine
From them ashamèd did she turn and twine:
Withal she smilèd, and she blushed withal,
Her blush her smiling, smiles her blushing graced;
Over her face her amber tresses fall,
Whereunder love himself in ambush placed:
At last she warbled forth a treble small,
And with sweet looks her sweet songs interlaced:
"O happy men! that have the grace" (quoth she)
"This bliss, this heaven, this paradise to see.
"This is the place wherein you may assuage
Your sorrows past; here is that joy and bliss
That flourished in the antique Golden Age;
Here needs no law, here none doth aught amiss.
Put off those arms, and fear not Mars his rage,
Your sword, your shield, your helmet needless is;
Then consecrate them here to endless rest,-
You shall love's champions be and soldiers blest. "
Translation of Edward Fairfax.
ERMINIA CURES TANCRED; AND IS SUPPOSED TO BECOME HIS BRIDE
[Tancred, in a second single combat in a secluded spot, slays Argantes;
but from exhaustion, falls himself in a death-like swoon beside the body of
his foe. Erminia, having been discovered by Vafrino, a spy from the army
of the Christians, is returning under his escort. He stumbles upon the bodies,
and recognizes the hero. She laments over him thus. ]
"THO
HOUGH gone, though dead, I love thee still; behold
Death wounds but kills not love: yet if thou live,
Sweet soul, still in his breast, my follies bold
Ah pardon, love's desires and stealth forgive:
Grant me from his pale mouth some kisses cold,
Since death doth love of just reward deprive,
And of thy spoils, sad death, afford me this,—
Let me his mouth, pale, cold, and bloodless, kiss.
"O gentle mouth! with speeches kind and sweet
Thou didst relieve my grief, my woe, and pain;
Ere my weak soul from this frail body fleet,
Ah, comfort me with one dear kiss or twain;


## p. 14504 (#66) ###########################################

14504
TORQUATO TASSO
Perchance, if we alive had happed to meet,
They had been given which now are stolen: oh vain,
O feeble life, betwixt his lips out fly!
Oh, let me kiss thee first, then let me die!
"Receive my yielded spirit, and with thine
Guide it to heaven, where all true love hath place. ”
This said, she sighed and tore her tresses fine,
And from her eyes two streams poured on his face.
The man, revived with those showers divine,
Awaked, and openèd his lips a space;
His lips were opened, but fast shut his eyes,
And with her sighs one sigh from him upflies.