Torquato Tasso

“ But the good Prince, his hand more fit for blows,
With his huge weight the Pagan underbound;
But he, his disadvantage great that knew,
Let go his hold, and on his feet up flew:
XIX
Far slower rose the unwieldy Saracine,
And caught a rap ere he was reared upright.
But as against the blustering winds a pine
Now bends his top, now lifts his head on height,
His courage so, when it ’gan most decline,
The man reinforced, and advanced his might,
And with fierce change of blows renewed the fray,
Where rage for skill, horror for art, bore sway. ”

“ He faints; the sudden shock of grief hath stopped
The springs of life! I fear he too is dead.
NERINA.
Fear not, he breathes; nature but makes a pause;
His colour is returning; he recovers.
AMYNIAS.
Oh! Grief, thou art a cruel, slow tormentor!
Wilt thou ne'er rid me of a painful life!
For my own hand reservest thou the office?
It willingly acccepts it; by it's blow,
It's speedy, and decisive blow, I'll pass
At once to that desirable quietus
From human misery, which thou, trifling mocker,
Refusest me, or hast not force to give! ”

“ SYLVIA.
⁠Why how could one
Answer without?
DAPHNE.
⁠They turned with a sweet smile,
And answered thus:—Our heart, and we, are thine;
More thou should'st not desire; nor may there be
More given. And surely this is all-sufficient
For a chaste lover, if he holds those eyes
To be sincere as beautiful, and gives them
Perfect belief.
SYLVIA.
⁠And why not so believe them?
DAPHNE.
Knowest thou not what Thyrsis went about
Writing, the time he wandered in the forests
Out of his wits, and moved the nymphs and shepherds
To mirth and pity at once? ”

“ Which still resists the rage of storm and shower,
Whose mighty ribs fast bound with bands and nails,
Withstand fierce Neptune’s wrath, for many an hour,
And yields not up her bruised keel to winds,
In whose stern blast no ruth nor grace she finds:
XCIX
Argantes such thy present danger was,
When Satan stirred to aid thee at thy need,
In human shape he forged an airy mass,
And made the shade a body seem indeed;
Well might the spirit for Clorinda pass,
Like her it was, in armor and in weed,
In stature, beauty, countenance and face,
In looks, in speech, in gesture, and in pace. ”

“ Whom Heaven hath marked with it's peculiar care;
To crown, with Hymen's blessings, love and truth;
To make a good old man resume his youth;
Make his heart feel, while he the rite surveys,
The strong pulsation of it's better days;
To draw it's finest language from the soul,
And down his cheeks bid sacred sluices roll,
Which conscious Jove will view from his abode,
Of such a nature pleased to be the God.
CHORUS.
I.
I'll not dispute thy providence, O Love;
Perhaps Amyntas was thy constant care;
And doomed by thee sublimer bliss to prove,
By disappointment, anguish, and despair. ”

“ The noblest shepherds of the woods is dead,
He that was such a gentle spirit, so graceful,
And so beloved by all the nymphs and muses;
He in his prime is dead; and what a death!
CHORUS.
Tell us, I pray thee, all; that we may weep
His loss with thee,—his loss, and our own loss.
SYLVIA
Ah me! why shake I thus, and stand aloof!
I dare not hear! I dare not hear; and must.
Oh my hard heart, my hard and impious heart,
Why dost thou shrink! Come, meet the terrible darts
Which this man carries in his tongue ”

“ The other Robert’s helm the Indian clove,
And broke his arms, their fight would soon be done:
From place to place did Tisiphernes rove,
And found no match, against him none dust run,
But where the press was thickest thither flew
The knight, and at each stroke felled, hurt, or slew.
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Thus fought they long, yet neither shrink nor yield,
In equal balance hung their hope and fear:
All full of broken lances lay the field,
All full of arms that cloven and shattered were;
Of swords, some to the body nail the shield,
Some cut men’s throats, and some their bellies tear ”

“ Terror and death unsheathing, gripes his prey,
And scruples not to crush it; the fierce boar
With whetted tusk destroys; nay even weak woman,
So fearful in appearance, and so gentle,
Kills with a look, or with a graceful motion,
Whene'er she would extend her amorous empire.
These rightly act as nature hath impressed them.
And should I foolishly reject her bounty,
And let her providence lie dead in me?
No:—Since with strength resistless I'm endowed,
I will employ that strength; I will extort
The bliss which a capricious nymph denies me,
As the just recompence of ardent love. ”

“ His joys in her who sees so much in him:
How would thy heart feel then? or with what eyes
See him become another's? happy in
Another's arms, and laughing thee to scorn?
SYLVIA.
Pray let Amyntas with himself and his loves
Do what he pleases. It concerns not me.
He is not mine; let him be whose he chuses.
Mine he can not be, if I like him not;
And if he were mine, I would not be his.
DAPHNE.
Whence springs all this disliking?
SYLVIA.
⁠From his love.
DAPHNE.
A blessed father of a child so cruel!
But come, come; when were tygers ever born
Of the kind lamb, or crows of lady swans? ”

“ Though late, perchance will be too soon for thee;
For thou shalt wish, of hope and help forlorn,
Some sea or mountain placed twixt thee and me,
And well shalt know before we end this fray
No fear of cowardice hath caused my stay.
V
“But come aside, thou by whose prowess dies
The monsters, knights and giants in all lands,
The killer of weak women thee defies.”
This said, he turned to his fighting bands,
And bids them all retire. “Forbear,” he cries,
“To strike this knight, on him let none lay hands;
For mine he is, more than a common foe,
By challenge new and promise old also.” ”

“ Like it unfortunate Amyntas dies.
He, at his death, a cruel heart transfixes,
Which was impenetrable while he lived,
Unfeeling to a warm, yet virtuous passion.
And if thy amiable spirit, loth
To quit it's well known scenes for Pluto's gloom,
Yet hovers round it's melancholy friends;
Look down with pleasure on thy nymph's distress,
Enjoy her sighs, an incense due to thee;
Enjoy her plaintive words, thy well-earned vows;
Enjoy the copious streaming of her tears,
A fit libation to thy injured manes.
In life a lover, only loved in death ”

“ Things done in haste at leisure be repented:
Withdraw thine arms, trust not uncertain lot,
For oft to see what least we think betide;
He is thy friend ’gainst all the world beside.
LXVI
“True labour in the vineyard of thy Lord,
Ere prime thou hast the imposed day-work done,
What armies conquered, perished with thy sword?
What cities sacked? what kingdoms hast thou won?
All ears are mazed while tongues thine acts record,
Hands quake for fear, all feet for dread do run,
And though no realms you may to thraldom bring,
No higher can your praise, your glory spring. ”

“ That might have been laid out on mutual love,
Which gains new zest, and rises on enjoyment!
Once more, refine thy breast; put on the woman,
Nor be a rebel to the voice of nature.
Life's flower will fade; regret may come too late.
SYLVIA.
When I repent, when I with sighs exclaim,
As thy luxurious fancy painteth me,
Retorted rivers to their springs shall flow;
The wolf shall fly the lamb, the hound the hare;
The bear shall quit the land, and seek the sea;
The dolphin flounce upon our towering Alps.
DAPHNE.
I know the obstinate caprice of youth:
Such as my Sylvia is, was Daphne too. ”

“ The hardy Soldan saw him come in haste,
Yet neither stepped aside nor shrunk for fear,
But busked him bold to fight, aloft he cast
His blade, prepared to strike, and stepped near,
These noble princes twain, so Fortune wrought
From the world’s end here met, and here they fought:
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With virtue, fury; strength with courage strove,
For Asia’s mighty empire, who can tell
With how strange force their cruel blows they drove?
How sore their combat was? how fierce, how fell?
Great deeds they wrought, each other’s harness clove;
Yet still in darkness, more the ruth, they dwell. ”