His tawny members seem'd to speak his birth
In hot Sienna, or the sultry earth,
Where Amon's fane in Garamantia stood,
Or those steep hills whence Nile derives his flood:
Deep in the socket sunk each gloomy eye,
His visage pale, his features lean and dry:
His uncomb'd hair in fearful elflocks hung;
His squalid beard was matted, thick, and long.
Soon as Angelica, with startled look,
The madman view'd, through every joint she shook:
She shook with fear, while loud to heaven she cry'd,
And call'd for succour to her trusty guide:
When mad Orlando view'd that lovely face,
As if by instinct, starting from his place,
He gaz'd, and with an idiot joy beheld,
Those heavenly charms that every charm excell'd:
Though all reflection that she once possess'd
His soul's dear love was banish'd from his breast.
He sees, he likes-and what he likes pursues:
So the staunch hound, amid the tainted dews,
Winds his fleet prey: the youth who view'd his dame
Thus closely prest, behind the madman came
With trampling courser, and to rage inflam'd,
Against his back the glittering weapon aim'd.
Sheer through his neck he thought to drive the sword, But found the wondrous flesh no pass afford.
Ver. 424. In hot Sienna, or the sultry earth
Where Amon's fane-] Sienna, a city of Egypt, subject to the most intense heat of the sun. The temple of Amon was. situated in Africa, and held in veneration by the Garamantians, a people inhabiting those parts.
Ver. 426: Or those steep hills-] Mountains of Ethiopia, called the Mountains of the Moon..
Orlando felt the sword, and turning round,
With hand, unarm'd, laid lifeless on the ground
Medoro's steed--then hasten'd to pursue
The trembling damsel that before him flew,
That spurr'd her mare, whose pace had seem'd too slow,
Though like an arrow from the well-strung bow.
But now she call'd her last resource to mind,
Her wond'rous ring, which still she us❜d to find
Her sure defence, which held between her lips,
Conceal'd her person with a strange eclipse:
The charm she try'd, and vanish'd from the sight,
As with the whistling blast th' extinguish'd light.
Then, whether fear, or whether eager haste,
Th' affrighted damsel in her seat displac❜d;
Or whether then her mare, ill-fated, fell ?
By sudden trip---'tis doubtful here to tell.
But while the ring she from her finger drew,
And, in her mouth dispos'd, conceal'd from view
Her lovely form, the stirrups from her feet
She lost, and tumbled headlong from her seat:
And had she nearer fall'n, the madinan's arm
Had surely seiz'd and wrought her further harm;
Her life perhaps had then the forfeit paid
For all her scorn---but Fortune gave her aid.
Now must the damsel, of her mare bereft,
Some other palfrey seek by fraud or theft:
For this the Paladin with eager speed
Pursues; and doubt not here another steed
Will soon be hers--] Angelica is mentioned again for the last time, Book xxx. ver. 111.
Will soon be hers---but let us now repair
To him who, losing thus the vanish'd fair,
Her beast pursu'd along the sandy plain :
At length he seiz'd her by the flowing mane:
With ease the Paladin her swiftness stay'd,
As one with gentle hand the gentler maid.
The bridle now he took, and with a bound,
The frantic hero, rising from the ground,
Vaults in the seat, then drives her many a mile,
Nor gives a moment's respite to her toil;
Nor frees her from the saddle, bit, or rein,
Nor lets her taste of grass, or hay, or grain.
It chanc'd as o'er a fosse he urg'd her pace,
Both beast and man fell headlong in the place.
No hurt Orlando knew: but with the shock
The wretched beast, misus'd, her shoulder broke.
And here compell'd awhile Orlando stays,
At length athwart his back the mare he lays,
And bears as far, as sent with vigorous art,
Thrice from the bow-string flies the feather'd dart;
Till by the weight opprest, with rein in hand,
He leads her limping o'er the shelly strand.
The crippled mare pursues his steps with pain---
Come on--come on---Orlando cries in vain.
At length the bridle, with a noose supply'd,
He took, and round her better leg he ty'd,
Then dragg'd along, and as he dragg'd, he said:
Well may'st thou follow now, so gently led.
Against the flinty road the covering hair
Was rent and torn, and all the flesh laid bare,
Till death ensu'd; nor yet Orlando ceas'd,
But onward drew the mangled lifeless beast.
Still towards the west he pass'd, and in his course
Dwellings and towns he wasted, took by force
From trembling peasants all the food he sought,
Or fruit or flesh: of wretches whom he caught
Unhappy some he maim'd, and some he slew,
And on his
way with rage ungovern'd flew.
Thus had it far'd with her whom once he lov'd,
But from her ring a better fate she prov'd.
Curst be the ring! and evil chance betide
The knight that with the gift her hand supply'd!
Else had Orlando full revenge obtain'd
For him, and each whom once her pride disdain'd. 520
Not she alone, but would that all her kind
Were to Orlando's frantic arm consign'd.
All are ingrate! nor midst the perjur'd race,
Is one whose merits claim the smallest grace:-
But hold, or strain'd too far, my weary lyre
May ill supply the sound my lays require.
Here let us for awhile the tale suspend,
Till the pleas'd ear again attention lend.
END OF THE TWENTY-NINTH BOOK.
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