XX.
His outstretch'd hand commands the choir:
“Pause, minstrels! lowly bending down,
“Pause on this monumental stone!
“Here swell the dirge, here strike the lyre:
“Where earth in many a hillock thrown
“Heaves o'er heroes dead and gone!
“Yon mighty bones that press the plain
“Still speak of the gigantic train
“Who quell'd the Paynims in their pride.
“Swell the dirge where Roland died!—
“Lo! on this spot Earl Roland fell:
“The mountain shepherds know it well,
“And yearly on the fatal day
“Pluck from the stones the weeds away.
“Minstrels! in recording rhymes
“Say on the harp to other times,
“Yon high rock saw Gaul's proud career,
“Saw the plum'd crest of Charlemain
“In van of his triumphant train,
“The war-cloud dark'ning on the rear.
“These pathless dens, and caverns rude
“Pour'd forth a nameless multitude.
“Vain the hauberk, vain the mail,
“Vain the terror of the spear:
“Tow'r'd on the cliff the mountaineer,
“And roll'd the tempest on the field,
“Burying the helm and bruised shield.
“Then Roland's blade was found to fail,
“The edge of dreaded Durindale:
“Then first from Roland's lip in vain
“The voice of the enchanted horn
“Down the steep mountains slowly borne
“Reach'd the far ear of Charlemain.
Roland, alone, bleeding to death with four mortal wounds, amid the rocks of
Ronceval, thus concludes his apostrophy to Durindale, and sounds for the last
time his warning horn:—“Gran dolor siento en dexarte, y mucho mayor si
pensase que quedabas en poder de paganos: mas por sacar mi alma de
cuidado, quiero hacer que no te goce Moro, ni Judio, ni Christiano: y
entonces se levantó con gran trabajo, y la tomó con entrambas manos, y dió
con ella en la pen̄a tantos gólpes, que la hundió hasta el suelo, sin que en
la espada hiciese mella ni sen̄al alguna; y viendo que no podia quebrarla,
tomó su cuerno para hacer sen̄al á algun Christiano si en el monte se hubiese
escondido: y tan̄ó dos veces, y la segunda se abrió todo de cabó á cabó, y se
le abrieron las llagas y las venas de su cuerpo: llegó aquella voz á oidos del
Emperador, que estaba dos leguas de alli.”—Hist. de Carlo Magno.
Charlemaigne feit embasmer le corps de Roland, et emporter en leglise Saint
Romain de la ville de Blayes, et au pie de son tumbeau feit mectre son cor
dyvoire, qu'il portoit en guerre, et au chef son espee durandal.—Bouchet, F.42,
b. 72.—See the Anotaciones a Don Quixote, Seg. Parte.
“The Monarch, rushing to the call,
“Saw but the rocks of Ronceval,
“And stretch'd upon their flinty bed
“Earl Roland, and his warriors dead.
“These rocks a solemn strain inspire:
“Here swell the dirge, here strike the lyre!
“So shall the shades of heroes rest,
“And Roland in the grave be blest!”
