On that side honour and her friends assail'd;
On this the stronger fires of love prevail'd.
At length resolv'd to end the task design'd,
And free Rogero in the tower confin'd;
Or, if her enterprise successless prov'd,
Remain a prisoner with the youth she lov'd.
The damsel first excus'd a short delay,
Then sent the messenger well-pleas'd away.

Now, turning round, her former path she took;
Her Pinabel pursu'd with alter'd look;

Conscious her lineage to that house she ow'd,
For which he ever nourish'd hate avow'd;
And anxious fears perplex'd his troubled mind,
Lest she should know him of Maganza's kind.
An ancient feud between these houses reign'd,
And both the strife and hatred still maintain'd;
Full oft oppos'd in stern debate they stood,
And dy'd the ground beneath with mutual blood.
For this the caitiff bent his thoughts to frame
Some treason to deceive th' unwary dame.

Such various passions had disturb'd his breast,
With enmity, with doubts and fears possest,
Unheeding where he pass'd, he lost his way,
And through a gloomy forest chanc'd to stray;
Where in the midst a steepy mount appear'd,
That in a craggy rock its summit rear'd.
Meanwhile the dame of Clarmont's noble kind,
With heedful steps pursu❜d the knight behind.

When Pinabel beheld the dusky shade,
He ponder'd in his thoughts to leave the maid;
And thus began---While yet we view the light,
'Twere best to seek a shelter from the night:

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460

465

470

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480

485

Beyond that hill, unless my mem'ry fail,

There stands a stately castle in the vale:

Here patient wait, while from yon height I try
T'explore the prospect with a surer eye.

So saying, to the hill he bent his course,
And up the steepy-summit spurr'd his horse;
Thence, looking round, he sought some path to take,
By which he might the damsel's track forsake:
When sudden here a monstrous cave he found,
Hewn out with labour in the stony ground:
Full thirty cubits deep it seem'd in show:
A fair and lofty gate appear'd below,

Which, by its ample structure, seem'd design'd
For entrance to some larger place behind,

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495

And through the shade a glimmering brightness gave, 500 As of a torch that burnt within the cave.

While here in deep suspense the traitor stood,
The cautious virgin, who his steps pursu❜d,
Fearful to lose the track, still kept in view

Her faithless guide, and near the cavern drew.
His first design thus foil'd, a sudden thought
Of treacherous purpose in his bosom wrought:
Ile makes the damsel from her steed alight,
And pointing out the cavern to her sight,
Tells her within its confines he had seen,
A dame of beauteous face and graceful mien;
Whose courtly looks and costly garments show'd
Her birth deriv'd from no ignoble blood:

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510

But from her eyes she pour'd a tender shower,
And seem'd her lost condition to deplore.

515

And when he thought t' attain a nearer view,

And learn the cause from which her grief she drew,

One from the inner grot with fury came,

And seizing carry'd off the weeping dame.

The dauntless Bradamant, whose generous mind, 520 Unconscious of the wile the wretch design'd,

With ardor glow'd to give the fair one aid,
Revolves how best she may the cave invade.
When on a lofty elm she cast her eyes,

And midst the boughs a mighty branch espies:
This with her sword she hews, and lops the leaves,
That done, the cavern's mouth the pole receives.

525

She prays her treacherous guide aloft to stand,
And grasp the end, tenacious, in his hand.
Now first within the cave her feet descend,
While as she sinks, her arms her weight suspend:
When Pinabello, scoffing, ask'd the maid
To leap below-then loos'd his grasp, and said:
O! would that all thy race with thee were join'd,
That thus I might at once destroy the kind.

But happier fortune than the traitor meant,

All gracious Heaven, to save the guiltless, sent:
The pole first lighted on the ground below,
And instant shiver'd with the forceful blow;

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535

Ver. 523. Revolves how best she may the cave invade.] One of the most favourite achievements of the knights of old was to search into caverns, where they met with many wonderful adventures. Thus Don Quixote descends into the cave of Montesinos, and, at his return, relates many extravagant incidents, which his distempered imagination had furnished him with in the true spirit of

romance.

Don Quixote, Part ii. C. xxii.

Yet thus the fury of the shock sustain'd,
That Bradamant preserv'd from death remain'd.

The sudden fall awhile surpris'd the maid, As in th' ensuing book is full display'd.

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END OF THE SECOND BOOK.

1

THE

THIRD BOOK

OF

ORLANDO FURIOSO.