So speaks the king, who rolls his sightless eyes, While oft to kiss the warrior's feet he tries.
Astolpho then---From God no angel I,
Nor new Messiah lighted from the sky;
But mortal man, like thee to error prone,
Unworthy of the grace that Heaven has shown:
Yet all I can---this arm its force shall prove,
By death or flight the monsters to remove:
If I succeed---to God thy thanks repay,
Who for thy succour hither wing'd my way.
For him alone be all thy vows fulfill'd,
To him thy altars raise, thy temples build.
As thus they commun'd, with th' attendant state
Of circling peers that reach'd the palace gate;
The monarch bade his train the table spread;
With wine and cates, and life-sustaining bread;
He hop'd at length, long shrunk with pining fast,
To satiate now with undisturb'd repast.
Within a sumptuous hall, beside him plac'd,
Alone Astolpho with Senapus grac'd
The regal feast; and now the feast appear'd,
When soon in air a dreadful noise was heard
Of rushing wings; and, lo! the Harpy-crew
Lur'd by the viands round the table flew.
Sev'n in a band they came, of dreadful mien,
With woman's face, with features pale and lean
Ver. 892. With woman's face,--] Imitated closely from Virgil.
Virginci volucrum vultus, fœdissima ventris
Proluvies, uncæque manus, pallida semper
Ora fame
With virgin faces, but with wombs obscene,
Foul paunches, and with ordure still unclean,
With claws for hands, and looks for ever lean.
Through seeming fast; from every withering look
Fear, worse than death, the boldest bosom shook :
Large were their wings deform'd, their brutal paws, 895
Of ravenous force, were arm'd with hooky claws:
Vast was each fetid paunch, with many a fold
Of serpent-tail behind in volumes roll'd.
They seize the meats, o'erturn the golden vase,
And leave their loathsome ordure in the place,
While their foul wombs a horrid stench exhale,
That choaks the sense and loads the tainted gale.
Astolpho now his shining falchion bares,
And swift t' assault the dreadful crew prepares;
Now on their neck, or tail, his weapon tries;
Now on the breast, or wing, his force applies:
As from soft wool returns the bloodless sword;
The fated plumes and skin no pass afford.
Meanwhile of every dish and vase they make
Their greedy havock, nor the hall forsake,
Till each, with rapine has the viands shar'd
Or filth polluted what their hunger spar'd.
Senapus in the duke his hope had plac'd
To see the harpies from his table chas'd,
And, now his hope deceiv'd, again he mourn'd,
Again he sigh'd, again despair return'd.
At length, his magic horn recall'd to mind,
From which such aid he oft was wont to find
At all assays, the duke resolv'd to prove
Its virtue now the monsters to remove :
But first he bade the king and nobles near
With ductile wax to bar the listening ear
From all access--else each, with fear aghast,
Would fly the palace at the dreadful blast.
He mounts the griffin-steed, one hand sustains
The polish'd horn, one holds the straiten'd reins:
He bids, by signs, the seneshal replace
The savoury viands, and the plenteous vase.
Then, in a new saloon, the train prepare
The festive table spread with costly fare,
When swift the harpies to their prey return,
As swift Astolpho to the rattling horn
His lips applies; when, with unguarded ear
The fiends receive the sound, and struck with fear
Each backward shrinks, and stretching to the wind 935.
Her pinions, leaves the feast untouch'd behind.
To chase their flight, the champion spurs his steed,
That spreads his strong-plum'd wing with ready speed.
He quits the hall, from court and city flies,
And soaring drives the monsters through the skies. 940*
Astolpho swells each note with double force,
While tow'rds the burning zone with headlong course
The harpies speed, till now the hill they gain,
Whose towering head o'erlooks the subject plain,
Whence, (fame relates) the Nile's first fountain glides,
And gladdens Egypt with its fattening tides.
Beneath the mountain, opening deep and wide,
A cave descended in its rugged side,
Through which ('twas said) a dreadful passage led
To reach th' infernal mansions of the dead..
The band of spoilers hither flew to meet
From every new research a safe retreat;
And sinking pierc'd to black Cocytus' shore,
Where that dread-dealing blast could sound no more.
At this dire mouth that op'd the secret way
To those who lost the cheering beams of day,
The glorious duke his horn's deep clangor ceas'd,
And clos'd the pinions of his winged beast.
But ere I further shall his steps pursue To keep the custom of my tale in view, Since every leaf is fill'd, the book I close, And here concluding seek awhile repose.
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