BATTLE betwixt Sacripant and Rinaldo. Angelica, flying, meets with a hermit, who, by a magical illusion, parts the two rivals. Rinaldo, returning to Paris, is sent by Charlemain on an embassy to England. Bradamant, seeking her lover Rogero, meets with Pinabello, from whom she hears a melancholy story of his mis. fortunes. She promises him assistance; and afterwards, being deceived, falls into a pit.
AH! why so rare does cruel Love inspire
Two tender bosoms with a mutual fire!
Say, whence, perfidious, dost thou pleasure find
To sow dissention in the human mind?
In shallow waters when I fain would keep,
Thou, to my ruin, draw'st me to the deep:
From those, that love me, dost avert my love,
To place it where no sighs, no sufferings move!
Thou giv'st Angelica t' enslave the knight,
Yet mak'st him hateful in the virgin's sight:
But when she lov'd him, and his form admir'd,
He, with aversion, from her love retir'd.
With grief he now in flames unpity'd burns,
Thus equal fortune scorn for scorn returns.
Rinaldo furious thus--Base thief! alight! Forsake my courser, and restore my right.
Ver. 11. But when she lov'd him,---] See General View of Boyardo's
Think not such theft shall unreveng'd succeed,
Impending punishment awaits the deed:
But more--yon damsel to my arms resign;
'Twere far unmeet such beauties should be thine.
Wer't not a shame, that hence a thief should bear
A steed so stately, and a maid so fair!
Thief! dost thou say !---take back th' opprobrious lye, (With equal rage the Pagan made reply)
But, if we trust the common voice of fame,
Tis thou far more deserv'st th' opprobrious name.
This instant shall the important strife decide,
Who merits best the courser, and the bride:
Yet this, so far our thoughts conform, I own,
No equal to her charms the world has known.
As when two hungry mastives from afar,
By hate or envy mov'd, prepare for war;
Slowly they meet, their threatening teeth they show,
With livid fire their glaring eye-balls glow:"
At last with snarls the bitter fray they wage,
And bite and tear in mutual blood and rage.
So, after piercing taunts and vengeful words,
The mighty warriors drew their shining swords.
One urg'd the conflict from the courser's height,
One on his feet below maintain'd the fight:
Nor think the horseman could th' advantage boast,
His force was useless and his prowess lost;
For well, by nature taught, the faithful steed
Against his lord refus❜d his strength and speed:
Ver. 41. Against his lord refus'd] In the Orlando Innamorato, Orlando, who had lost his horse Brigliadoro, having got possession of Bayardo, and engaging in combat with Rinaldo, a contest arising
Nor could Circassia's prince, by skill or force,
With spur or bit direct the restiff horse.
Now prone to earth his head Bayardo thrust;
Now wheel'd around; now furious spurn'd the dust;
When haughty Sacripant in vain had try’d
Each vary'd art to tame his headstrong pride,
His hand he laid upon the saddle-bow,
And swift alighted on the plain below.
The Pagan, thus escap'd Bayardo's might,
Between the chiefs ensu❜d a dreadful fight.
Now high, now low, their rapid steel they ply;
While from their arms the fiery sparkles fly!
Not swifter the repeated strokes go round,
Which hollow Etna's winding caves resound,
When Vulcan bids the ponderous hammers move,
To forge the thunder and the bolts of Jove.
Sometimes they feign a stroke; sometimes they stay;
Then aim the thrust, as skilful in the play.
Sometimes they rise; then stoop upon the field;
Now open lie; then crouch beneath the shield;
Now ward; then with a slip elude the blow;
Now forward step; then backward from the foe:
Now round they move; and where the one gives place,
The other presses on with eager pace.
between them, the horse refuses, in the same manner as here, to fight against his master. B. i. C. xxvi.
"These kind of tales told of the great sagacity of horses, and the love which they bear their masters, have more than poetical warrant for their truth; for historians relate the same of the horses of Alexander and Julius Cæsar."
Upton, notes on Spenser, B. v. Ç. iii.
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