Ev'n Doralis whose streaming eyes bewail
Her noble lover senseless, cold, and pale,
Even she perchance had join'd the general voice,
But sense of shame, that curbs the female choice,
Forbade her speech---yet such his charms of face,
His courage, virtue, every winning grace,
That she who once had prov'd her wavering heart 520
So prompt to feel the point of Cupid's dart,
Rather than robb'd of love's soft bliss to live,
Her charms would gladly to Rogero give.
Her joys on living Mandricardo fed,
But what can profit Mandricardo dead?
Behoves her now to seek another guide,
Vigorous and young, that ever at her side,
Might night and day for all her wants provide.
Meanwhile a leech of every leech best read
In healing arts, was to Rogero led;
Each wound explor'd, he soon with looks assur'd
Pronounc'd the noble knight of life secur'd.
Now bade king Agramant with friendly care
Rogero to his royal tent to bear,
By night, by day to have him ever near,
So dear he lov'd him, held his life so dear.
Behind his bed on high the monarch plac'd
The shield and arms that Mandricardo grac'd,
Save Durindana, that all-famous sword,
Now made the prize of Sericana's lord:
Rogero won his arms and gallant steed,
Which good Anglante's knight in madness freed;
But him to Agramant Rogero gives,
Who gladly at his hand the gift receives.
Now leave we these awhile, and change the strain 545
To her who for Rogero mourns in vain :
'Tis mine.to tell the heart-consuming cares
That Bradamant for her Rogero bears.
Hippalca now to Mount Albano came,
With certain tidings to the love-sick dame:
She told how late by Rodomont beset,
She lost Frontino, how at length she met
With Richardetto at the wizard's fount,
Rogero, and the lords of Agrismont;
That thence Rogero hasten'd to demand
Frontino taken from a damsel's hand;
But straying from the path, he fail'd to find
The Sarzan prince, and miss'd the fight design'd.
Then (as he will'd) the trusty maid explain'd
What from Albano's walls the youth detain'd.
Thus she, and from her breast the lines she drew,
Those lines, which now the dame with alter'd hue
More sad than pleas'd receiv'd, with beating heart
Perusing that which little eas'd her smart:
For while she hop'd on him to feast her eye,
She found his words alone her bliss supply.
Hence on her lovely features mix'd appear
Soft disappointment and intruding fear;
Yet oft the leaf she kiss'd, while still she bent
Her thoughts on him whose hand the greeting sent. 570
Her sighs are fires to burn the amorous page,
Her tears are rivers that the heat assuage.
How oft she reads---how oft again inquires
What more from him, the lord of her desires,
Ver. 545. Now leave we these] He returns to Rogero and Agra. mant, Book xxxi. ver. 577.
The damsel brought; again the truth she knows;
Again she fears---again her sorrow flows;
And still had flow'd---but hope again repress'd'
The doubts and fears that shook her tender breast.
Rogero said (and to Hippalca vow'd
By every saint to make his promise good)
Some twenty days should see her weep no more,
But to her sight her absent mate restore.
Ah! who can Fortune's fickle turns decide
That holds her rule o'er every state? (she cry'd)
And chief in war, where every chance we prove,
Some chance may keep him ever from my love.
Alas! Rogero, who would e'er divine
That whilst I lov'd thee with a love like mine,
Beyond myself---less friendship wouldst thou show
To me, to all---than to thy greatest foe!
To those tbou should'st oppose, thou giv❜st success,
And whom thy arms should aid, thy arms oppress.
Shall we with praise or blame thy deeds regard,
That thus can punish and can thus reward?
Hast thou not heard (a story known so well)
That by Troyano's arms thy father fell?
And lo! thy sword Troyano's son attends,
From shame preserves him and from death defends.
Is this thy vengeance for a parent slain ?
Shall those who combat for his sake obtain
Such dire return, that weltering in their gore
Thou mak'st me still their wretched end deplore?
The damsel thus her absent knight reproves,
And with her tears invokes whom most she loves:
Not once, but oft Hippalca (gentle maid)
Would sooth her woes, would oft the fair persuade
To trust Rogero, and with patient mind
Await the period to her fears assign'd.
Hippalca's words and hope with these imprest,
Hope ever present in the wretch's breast,
Assuage her grief and urge her now to stay
At Mount Albano till th' expected day,
A day but ill observ'd--though him she lov'd,
For absence mourn'd unjustly she reprov'd,
Whom now one cause, another now detain'd,
And thus his seeming breach of faith constrain'd.
Meanwhile in anguish on his painful bed
The youthful knight his feeble members spread,
Struggling with death, from wounds receiv'd in fight, From wounds inflicted by the Tartar knight.
Now came the day desir'd; from rosy morn
Till sable eve she waits his wish'd return;
No tidings known but what Hippalca brought;
And since her brother Richardetto taught,
How brave Rogero at his greatest need
His life had ransom'd and his kinsmen freed:
All this she gladly hears, but with it hears
What mingles with her joy intruding fears:
Much was the talk of her, for female charms
No less extoll'd, than noble feats of arms;
Marphisa she, who with Rogero's sword
Had Afric's king to life and hope restor❜d.
So brave a friend might Bradamant approve,
But here a thousand doubts alarm'd her love.
No light suspicion had the dame possest,
That were Marphisa fair, as fame express'd,
Ver. 626. --his kinsmen freed :] Vivian and Malagigi. See Book
Such friendship might by slow degrees impart
A warmer passion to his gentle heart.
But now she chides the thought; again she cheers
Her mind with hope; again by turns she fears;
At Mount Albano still resolves t'await
In all the tumult of her anxious state,
The day that must decide her doubtful fate.
As there she stay'd, the * lord of that fair tower
Who of his brethren first the title bore,
(Not first in birth, but first in mighty name,
For two in birth asserted earlier claim)
Ħ
Rinaldo, who with martial prowess won
All praise from them, as from the stars the sun,
The castle reach'd at early dawn of day,
One page alone attendant on his way.
While thus he pass'd, as wont, from place to place
The flight of fair Angelica to trace,
Near Paris' walls he heard th' unwelcome hour
Approach'd, that to the fell Maganzan's power
Must Malagigi and must Vivian yield;
And hence to Agrismont his course he held,
Where soon he found that, freed from slavish bands
By brave Rogero and Marphisa's hands,
Their foes o'erthrown or slain, the brother-pair
And Richardetto with their friends to share
The general joy, to Mount Albano went:
Rinaldo, at the great deliverance sent,
No less rejoic'd; and deem'd each day a year
That kept him far from those he held so dear.
+ Guichardo, and Richardo.
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