While thus she spoke, her furious hands she spread,
And rent the golden tresses from her head:
Again she sought the beach in wild despair,
Loose to the breezes flow'd her scatter'd hair.
With more than mortal rage she seem'd possest,
As if some demon struggled in her breast:
Like Hecuba, when on the Thracian shore
Breathless she view'd her murder'd Polydore;
Till, seated on a rock, in doleful mood
She seem'd a statue hanging o'er the flood.
But let her for awhile her sorrows mourn,
Now to Rogero must the story turn;
Who midst the burning of meridian day
Along the sands pursu'd his weary way.
On his bright arms the sun its beams impress'd,
And his hot cuirass glow'd upon his breast.
While thus beside the ocean fled the knight,
Fatigue and thirst companions of his flight;
Beneath the shadow of an ancient tower,
He saw three damsels landed on the shore,
Whom, by their vestments and their outward port,
He knew belong'd to false Alcina's court.
On Alexandrian carpets vases plac'd, ·
With wines and costly cates allur'd the taste.
Their bark attending at the strand was ty'd,
Where the calm waters gently lav'd its side,
In expectation till the sleeping gales
Should rise again to fill the flagging sails.
Ver. 231. But let her for awhile---] He returns to Olympia in the next book, ver. 216.
When near Rogero drew, whose lips appear'd
All parch'd with thirst, his face with dust besmear'd, 250
With courteous mien the dames address'd the knight,
And begg'd him from his courser to alight,
With them awhile in sweet retirement laid,
To rest his weary limbs beneath the shade.
And now prepar'd a smiling damsel stands
To hold his stirrup with officious hands;
Another lifts on high the sparkling bowl,
And with a fiercer thirst inflames his soul.
But he, who knew the time forbade delay,
Regardless of their wiles, still held his way.
Not with such fury, touch'd by sudden fire,
From nitrous salt or sulphur, flames expire:
Not with such rage the foamy waves ascend,
When o'er the deep tempestuous clouds extend;
As one amidst the damsel train, with spite,
And vow'd revenge, pursu'd the warrior's flight.
Thou art not (loud exclaiming thus she cry'd)
A knight, nor yet to gentle blood ally'd!
The arms thou wear'st, thy theft alone could gâin;
Thy theft alone that generous steed obtain :
Soon shall I see thee yield thy dastard breath
By caitiff hands and by a shameful death!
Thy worthless ashes scatter'd to the wind,
Ingrate and proud! the scandal of thy kind!
These words and more, from passions swelling high, Rogero heard, but deign'd not to reply:
Then, with her sisters, where their vessel lay,
She went on board, and through the watery way
Ver. 277. Then, with her sisters,---] "By these three damsels are figured the allurements and flatteries of the world; and by Rogero,
Urg'd all her speed, and hastening every oar,
Pursu'd his course along the winding shore;
While her foul lips, accustom'd well to rail,
With every keen reproach his ears assail.
Now view'd Rogero, with a glad survey,
Where 'cross the narrow seas his passage lay
To Logistilla; whence he soon espy'd
An ancient sire, that from the adverse side
Unmoor'd his bark: the knight's approach he knew,
And gladly waited till he came in view.
Soon as he saw him pacing o'er the sand,
He came prepar'd to waft him from the land.
A man might in the pilot's features find,
The traces of a just, benignant mind.
With thanks to Heaven the bark Rogero takes,
And issuing to the sea the strand forsakes;
Still as he pass'd discoursing with the sage
By long experience taught and wise with age.
The pilot much extoll'd the youthful knight
Who timely from Alcina took his flight,
T'escape her snares; and now with purer thought
The virtuous domes of Logistilla sought;
Whose everlasting joys such sweets dispense,
As feed the soul, yet never cloy the sense.
Where she (he cry'd) can once her power impart,
With reverential awe she fills the heart:
who refuses to comply with their invitation, a wise man, who adheres to the path of virtue: the ill langnage given to Rogero is the abuse thrown out by the vulgar on those who despise common pleasures: the pilot, that takes him on board, denotes perfect judg ment."
Till by her beauties fir'd, the purer mind
Casts every abject pleasure far behind!
Reverse from earthly love her love appears,
That fills the breast with anxious hopes and fears;
In this, desire can claim no greater store,
It views, is happy, and can ask no more!
She will to nobler feats your thoughts advance,
Than singing, bathing, tilting, and the dance;
Teach how th' expanded soul can mount on high,
Beyond the cloudy vapours of the sky;
And how on earth the mortal part may prove
A taste of peace that crowns the blest above.
Thus speaking, through the flood the pilot steer'd,
While distant yet the safer shore appear'd:
When lo! a numerous sail of ships they 'spy'd,
That with spread canvas skimm'd along the tide.
With these Alcina came; and with her drew,
Fir'd with her past affront, a powerful crew;
Resolv'd t' expose her person and her reign,
Her lately ravish'd treasure to regain.
Though love not slightly urg'd her secret heart,
Yet indignation bore an equal part:
Their dashing oars so swift the seamen ply;
To either land the frothy waters fly :
Resound the seas; resounds each crooked shore,
And echo, from her caves, returns the roar.
Now, now, thy magic shield, Rogero, show,
Or yield thy life, or freedom to the foe!
Thus Logistilla's pilot eager cry'd,
And, at the word, he threw the veil aside,
Reveal'd the dazzling light, whose beams expos'd
In darkness every hostile eyc-lid clos'd :
Some headlong quit the prow; while others fall
From the high poop: one sleep o'erwhelms them all!
A centinel, that on the watch-tower stood,
Beheld Alcina's vessels in the flood:
The bell then gave th' alarm--a warrior band
Pour'd from the fort and crowded all the strand;
Th' artillery from the walls its rage employ'd,
Which, like a storm, Rogero's foes annoy'd;
And thus from every part assistance came,
To save his life, his liberty and fame.
Of beauteous form, four virgins trod the shore,
Whom Logistilla timely sent before:
Fair Andronica, first in valour plac'd,
The wise Phronesia, and Dicilla chaste,
With pure Sophrosyne, who ever press'd
In sacred virtue's cause above the rest.
Beneath the castle, in the sheltering bay,
A numerous fleet of mighty vessels lay:
At every signal given by day or night,
Prepar❜d to sail, and ready mann'd for fight.
Thus either force once more to combat drew,
And both by land and sea the war renew;
By which the kingdom was again restor❜d
Which once Alcina conquer'd by the sword.
What various chances in the field are try'd,
And who the fate of battles can decide!
Ver. 343. Th' artillery-] It appears doubtful what the poet here means by artillery; some commentators explain it to be the machines used by the ancients for throwing great stones.
Ver. 347.-four virgins--] "Andronica represents Fortitude; Phronesia, Prudence; Sophrosyne, Temperance; and Dicilla, Justice: these are the four virtues that deliver men from the hands of Alcina or Vice."
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