(For still I bring this vase to every guest) Not one but sheds the liquor on his breast. To find so many partners of my fate, 340 Affords some solace in my wretched state. Amidst such numbers, thou alone could'st prove So wise, to shun this dangerous test of love. Desire to know what fits not of a wife 345 To learn, has poison'd all my future life. To musing thought, by friendly pity sway'd; 350 355 360 Which, when explor'd, thou fain would'st wish unfound; Subdu'd thy wife, why wonder at her fault? 366 So strongly prest---a mind of firmer frame, 1 370 375 380 385 390 395 400 The bark and crew; there at his ease reclin'd, Till Figalordo and Stilletto now 405 410 Now on the left they Sermide perceive; They view, and reach the horns of threatening Po. The left, that leads to Venice, he forsakes; 415 He leaves Bondeno, and beholds decreas'd The night's dun hue before the reddening east; Her party-coloured flowers of white and red. Rinaldo, waking, cast around his eyes, 420 O happy city! (he began) whose name, My kinsman, Malagigi, mark'd for fame; What time he view'd each fix'd or wandering star, 425 Ver. 410. Melara---Sermide---] Two castles on the Po. Ver. 412. Figalordo--Stilletto---] Figalordo, an island in the same. river, and Stilletto a castle. subject to the princes of Ferrara. Ver. 416. Bondeno--] A castle Ver. 421. Tedaldo's spires, ---] A castle in the western part of the city of Ferrara, on the left hand of the Po, built by Tedaldo of Este, Anno 970, to resist the force of the Venetians, though Ariosto, with a poetical licence, here describes it in the time af Charlemain. As with him here I pass'd, he gladly told Thy rank decreed when years their course have roll'd, That Italy should ne'er the like behold. Thus he---while through the king of rivers flies The winged bark, and gains an isle that lies 430 Not far from where the city's towers should stand, Ile views with joy, for well he knows its praise, For every blessing in succeeding days. As once before along those banks he steer'd, 435 He from his kinsman, Malagigi, heard, That when with stars the fourth revolving sphere Seven hundred times had chang'd the circling year, Which briny seas, which streams or floods embrace; 440 445 Ver. 430. an isle that lies ---] A delightful small island in our poet's time called Belvidere, improved with gardens and buildings by Alphonso I. who collected there a vast number of beasts and birds of every kind. It is half a mile long, and a bow-shot over. Fornari. Ver. 444. That isle, where once Tiberius,-] The island of Caprea near Naples, where Tiberius Nero, the Roman emperor, resided fifteen years, abandoned to all manner of debauchery; he adorned this place with many magnificent buildings. See further, ver, 476, Venus and Cupid Cyprus should forsake, And with the Graces here their dwelling make. 450 From him, whose art, whose power, and wisdom join'd, Its city should with walls and fosse enclose, And with its strength the world in arms oppose: Such deeds are his, and such his glories won, A Hercules his sire, a Hercules his son. Thus past Rinaldo, pondering in his mind, What oft his kinsman by his spells divin'd 455 Of things to come-but when he wondering view'd 460 Shall then this spot (he cry'd,) this dreary waste, With sciences and liberal arts be grac❜d? Shall this small hamlet fill the wondering eye? Rich cultur'd meadows shall these wilds supply? Where now moist fens and dreary swamps abound, 465 Ver. 452. From him, whose art, &c.] Alphonso I. 470 Ver. 456. A Hercules-] Alphonso I. son of Hercules I. and father of Hercules II. duke of Ferrara. Ver. 463.---small hamlet--] The poet feigns Ferrara to have been at this time an inconsiderable village. |