Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem Done into English Heroicall verse, by Edward Fairefax |
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The eighteenth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne.
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 | Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem |  |
The eighteenth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne.
The argument.
The charmes and spirits false therein which lie,Rinaldo chaseth from the forrest old;
The host of Egypt comes; Vafrine the spie
Entreth their campe, stout, craftie, wise and bold,
Sharpe is the fight about the bulwarks hie
And ports of Zion, to assault the hold:
Godfrey hath aide from heau'n, by force the towne
Is wonne, the Pagans slaine, walles beaten downe.
1
Arriu'd, where Godfrey to imbrace him stood,My soueraigne Lord, Rinaldo meekely said,
To venge my wrongs against Gernando prood,
My honours care prouokt my wrath vnstaid;
But that I you displeasd my chieftaine good,
My thoughts yet grieue, my hart is still dismai'd,
And here I come, prest all exploits to trie,
To make me gracious in your gracious eie.
2
To him that kneel'd (folding his friendly armesAbout his necke) the Duke this answere gaue:
Let passe such speeches sad, of passed harmes,
Remembrance is the life of griefe; his graue,
Forgetfulnes; and for amends, in armes
Your wonted valour vse and courage braue;
For you alone to happie end must bring,
The strong enchantments of the charmed spring.
316
3
That aged wood whence heretofore we got(To build our scaling engins) timber fit,
Is now the fearfull seat (but how none wot)
Where ougly feends and damned spirits sit;
To cut one twist thereof aduentreth not
The boldest knight we haue, nor without it
This wall can battred be, where others dout
There venter thou, and show thy courage stout.
4
Thus said he, and the knight in speeches fewProfred his seruice to attempt the thing,
To hard assaies his courage willing flew,
To him praise was no spur, words were no sting:
Of his deare friends then he embrast the crew,
To welcome him which came; for in a ring
About him Guelfo, Tancred and the rest
Stood, of the campe the greatest, chiefe and best:
5
When with the Prince these Lords had iterateTheir welcomes oft, and oft their deare embrace;
Towards the rest of lesser woorth and state,
He turn'd, and them receiu'd with gentle grace;
The merrie souldiours bout him shout and prate,
With cries as ioyfull and as cheerefull face,
As if in triumphes chariot bright as sunne,
He had return'd, Affricke or Asia wonne.
6
Thus marched to his tent the champion good,And there sate downe with all his friends around;
Now of the warre he askt, now of the wood,
And answer'd each demaund they list propound.
But when they left him to his ease, vpstood
The Hermit, and fit time to speake once found,
My Lord he said, your trauels woondrous arre,
Farre haue you straied, erred, wandred farre;
7
Mutch are you bound to God aboue, who broughtYou safe from false Armidas charmed hold;
And thee a straying sheepe whom once he bought,
Hath now againe reduced to his fold,
And against his heathen foes these men of nought,
Hath chosen thee in place next Godfrey bold;
Yet mai'st thou not polluted thus with sinne,
In his high seruice, warre or fight beginne:
317
8
The world, the flesh with their infection vile,Pollute the thoughts impure, thy spirit staine;
Not Poe, not Ganges, not seu'n mouthed Nile,
Not the wide seas can wash thee cleane againe,
Onely to purge all faults which thee defile,
His blood hath powre who for thy sinnes was slaine:
His helpe therefore inuoake, to him bewray
Thy secret faultes, mourne, weepe, complaine and pray.
9
This said, the knight first with the Witch vnchast,His idle loues and follies vaine lamented;
Then kneeling low with heauie lookes downe cast,
His other sinnes confest and all repented,
And meekely pardon crau'd for first and last.
The Hermit with his zeale was well contented,
And said, on yonder hill next morne goe pray
That turnes his forehead gainst the morning ray:
10
That done, march to the wood, whence each one bringsSuch newes of furies, gobblings, feends, and sprites,
The Giants, monsters, and all dreedfull things
Thou shalt subdue, which that darke groue vnites:
Let no strange voice, that mournes or sweetly sings;
Nor beautie, whose glad smile fraile harts delites,
Within thy breast make ruth or pitie rise,
But their false lookes and praiers false despise.
11
Thus he aduis'd him, and the hardie knightPrepar'd him gladly to this enterprise,
Thoughtfull he past the day, and sad the night;
And ere the siluer morne began to rise,
His armes he tooke, and in a coate him dight
Of colour strange, cut in the warlike guise;
And on his way sole, silent, forth he went
Alone, and left his friends, and left his tent.
12
It was the time when gainst the breaking dayRebellious night yet stroue, and still repined;
For in the East appear'd the morning gray,
And yet some lampes in Ioues high pallace shined,
When to mount Oliuet he tooke his way,
And saw (as round about his eies he twined)
Nights shadowes hence, from thēce the mornings shine
This bright, that darke; that earthly, this diuine:
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13
Thus to himselfe he thought, how many brightAnd splendant lamps shine in heau'ns temple hie,
Day hath his golden sun, her moone the night,
Her sixt and wandring stars the azure skie,
So framed all by their creators might,
That still they liue and shine, and nere shall die,
Till (in a moment) with the last daies brand
They burne, and with them burnes sea, aire and land.
14
Thus as he mused, to the top he went,And there kneeld downe with reuerence and feare,
His eies vpon heau'ns eastren face he bent,
His thoughts aboue all heau'ns vplifted weare,
The sinnes and errours (which I now repent)
Of mine vnbridled youth, O father deare
Remember not, but let thy mercy fall,
And purge my faults, and mine offences all.
15
Thus praied he, with purple wings vpflewIn golden weed the mornings lustie queene,
Begilding (with the radiant beames she threw)
His helme, his harnesse and the mountaine greene,
Vpon his brest and forehead gently blew
The aire, that balme and nardus breath'd vnseene,
And ore his head let downe from cleerest skies
A cloud of pure and precious dew there flies,
16
The heau'nly dew was on his garments spred,To which compar'd, his clothes pale ashes seame,
And spinkled so, that all that palenesse fled,
And thence of purest white bright raies outstreame:
So cheered are the flowres late withered,
With the sweete comfort of the morning beame;
And so returnd to youth, a serpent old
Adornes her selfe in new and natiue gold.
17
The louely whitenesse of his changed weedThe prince perceiued well, and long admirde,
Toward the forrest marcht he on with speed,
Resolu'd, as such aduentures great requir'de,
Thither he came whence shrinking backe, for dreed
Of that strange desarts sight, the first retir'de,
But not to him fearefull or loathsome made
That forrest was, but sweete with pleasant shade:
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18
Forward he past, and in the groue beforeHe heard a sound that strange, sweete, pleasing was,
There roll'd a christall brooke with gentle rore,
There sigh'd the windes as through the leaues they pas,
There did the Nightingale her wrongs deplore,
There sung the swan, and singing dide (alas)
There lute, harpe, cittren, humaine voice he hard,
And all these sounds one sound right well declard.
19
A dreedfull thunderclap at last he hard,The aged trees and plants welnie that rent;
Yet heard he Nymphes and Sirens afterward,
Birdes, windes, and waters sing, with sweete consent:
Whereat amazd he staid, and well prepard
For his defence, heedfull and slow foorthwent,
Nor in his way his passage ought withstood,
Except a quiet, still, transparent flood:
20
On the greene banks which that faire streame inbound,Flowers and odours sweetely smilde and smeld,
Which reaching out his stretched armes around,
All the large desart in his bosome held,
And through the groue on chanell passage found,
That, in the wood; in that, the forrest dweld:
Trees, clad the streames; streames, greene those trees aie made,
And so exchangd their moisture and their shade.
21
The knight some way sought out the floud to pas,And as he sought a wondrous bridge appeard,
A bridge of golde, a huge and weightie mas,
On arches great of that rich mettall reard;
When through that golden way he entred was,
Downe fell the bridge, swelled the streame, and weard
The worke away, nor signe left where it stood,
And of a riuer calme became a flood:
22
He turnd, amasd to see it troubled soe,Like sodaine brookes encreast with molten snow,
The billowes fierce that tossed to and froe,
The whirlpooles suckt downe to their bosoms low;
But on he went to search for wonders moe,
Through the thicke trees, there high and broad which grow,
And in that forrest huge and desart wide,
The more he sought, more wonders still he spide.
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23
Where so he stept, it seem'd the ioyfull groundRenew'd the verdure of her flowrie weed,
A fountaine here, a welspring there he found;
Here bud the Roses, there the Lillies spreed;
The aged wood ore and about him round
Flourisht with blossomes new, new leaues, new seed,
And on the boughes and branches of those treene,
The barke was softned, and renew'd the greene.
24
The Manna on each leafe did pearled lie,The hony stilled from the tender rinde.
Againe he heard that woondrous harmonie,
Of songs and sweete complaints of louers kinde,
The humaine voices sung a triple hie,
To which respond the birdes, the streames, the winde,
But yet vnseene those Nymphes, those singers weare,
Vnseene the lutes, harpes, viols which they beare.
25
He lookte, he listned, yet his thoughts denideTo thinke that true which he both heard and see,
A Mirtle in an ample plaine he spide,
And thither by a beaten path went hee:
The Mirtle spred her mightie branches wide,
Higher than Pine, or Palme, or Cipresse tree:
And farre aboue all other plants was seene,
That forrests Ladie, and that desarts queene.
26
Vpon the tree his eies Rinaldo bent,And there a maruell great and strange began;
An aged Oake beside him cleft and rent,
And from his fertill hollow wombe forth ran,
(Clad in rare weedes and strange habiliment)
A Nymph, for age able to goe to man,
An hundreth plants beside (euen in his sight)
Childed an hundreth Nymphes, so great, so dight:
27
Such as on stages play, such as we seeThe Dryads painted, whom wilde Satires loue,
Whose armes, halfe naked; lockes vntrussed bee,
With buskins laced on their legs aboue,
And silken roabes tuckt short aboue their knee;
Such seem'd the Siluan daughters of this groue,
Saue that in stead of shafts and boughes of tree,
She bore a lute, a harpe or cittern shee.
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28
And wantonly they cast them in a ring,And sung and danst to moue her weaker sense,
Rinaldo round about enuironing,
As centers are with their circumference;
The tree they compast eeke, and gan to sing,
That woods and streames admir'd their excellence;
Welcome deere Lord, welcome to this sweet groue,
Welcome our Ladies hope, welcome her loue;
29
Thou com'st to cure our Princesse, faint and sickeFor loue, for loue of thee, faint, sicke, distressed;
Late blacke, late dreadfull was this forrest thicke,
Fit dwelling for sad folke with griefe oppressed,
See with thy comming how the branches quicke
Reuiued are, and in new blossoms dressed:
This was their song, and after, from it went
First a sweet sound, and then the myrtle rent.
30
If antique times admir'd Silenus old,That oft appeer'd set on his lasie asse,
How would they wonder if they had behold
Such sights as from the myrtle high did passe?
Thence came a Ladie faire with lockes of gold,
That like in shape, in face and beautie was
To sweet Armida; Rinald thinkes he spies
Her gestures, smiles and glances of her eies.
31
On him a sad and smiling looke she cast,Which twenty passions strange at once bewraies,
And art thou come (quoth she) return'd at last
To her, from whom but late thou ranst thy waies?
Comst thou to comfort me for sorrowes past?
To ease my widow nights, and carefull daies?
Or comest thou to worke me griefe and harme?
Why nilt thou speake? Why not thy face disarme?
32
Comst thou a friend or foe? I did not frameThat golden bridge to entertaine my foe,
Nor op'ned flowres and fountaines as you came,
To welcome him with ioy that brings me woe:
Put off thy helme, reioice me with the flame
Of thy bright eies, whence first my fires did groe:
Kisse me, embrace me, if you further venter,
Loue keepes the gate, the fort is eath to enter.
322
33
Thus as she wowes, she rowles her ruefull eies,With pitious looke, and changeth oft her cheare,
An hundreth sighes from her false hart vpflies,
She sobbes, she mournes, it is great ruth to heare,
The hardest brest sweete pitie mollifies,
What stonie hart resists a womans teare?
But yet the knight, wise, warie, not vnkind,
Drew foorth his sword and from her carelesse twind.
34
Towards the tree he marcht, she thither start,Before him stept, embrast the plant and cride,
Ah, neuer do me such a spitefull part,
To cut my tree, this forrests ioy and pride,
Put vp thy sword, else pierce therewith the hart
Of thy forsaken and despis'd Armide;
For through this brest, and through this hart (vnkind)
To this faire tree thy sword shall passage find.
35
He lift his brand, nor car'd though oft she praid,And she her forme to other shape did change;
Such monsters huge, when men in dreames are laid,
Oft in their idle fancies roame and range:
Her bodie sweld, her face obscure was maid,
Vanisht her garments rich, and vestures strange,
A giantesse before him high she stands,
Like Briareus armd with an hundreth hands:
36
With fiftie swords, and fiftie targets bright,She threatned death, she roared, cride and fought,
Each other nymph in armour likewise dight,
A Cyclops great became: he feard them nought,
But on the myrtle smote with all his might,
That groand like liuing soules to death nie brought,
The skie seemd Plutoes court, the aire seemd hell,
Therein such monsters roare, such spirits yell:
37
Lightned the heau'n aboue, the earth belowRoared aloud, that thundred, and this shooke;
Blustred the tempests strong, the whirlwinds blow,
The bitter storme droue hailestones in his looke;
But yet his arme grew neither weake nor slow,
Nor of that furie heed or care he tooke,
Till low to earth, the wounded tree downe bended,
Then fled the spirits all, the charmes all ended.
323
38
The heau'ns grew cleere, the aire waxt calme and still,The wood returned to his wonted state,
Of witchcrafts free, quite void of spirits ill,
Of horrour full, but horrour there innate;
He further prou'd if ought withstood his will
To cut those trees, as did the charmes of late,
And finding nought to stop him, smilde, and said,
O shadowes vaine! O fooles of shades affraid!
39
From thence home to the campward turn'd the knight,The hermit cride vpstarting from his seat,
Now of the wood the charmes haue lost their might,
The sprites are conquer'd, ended is the feat,
See where he comes, in glistring white all dight
Appear'd the man, bold, stately, high and great,
His eagles siluer wings to shine begunne,
With wondrous splendure gainst the golden sunne.
40
The campe receiu'd him with a ioyfull crie,A crie the dales and hils about that fild;
Then Godfrey welcomd him with honours hie,
His glorie quencht all spite, all enuie kild:
To yonder dreadfull groue (quoth he) went I,
And from the fearfull wood (as me you wild)
Haue driuen the sprites away, thither let bee
Your people sent, the way is safe and free.
41
Sent were the workmen thither, thence they broughtTimber enough, by good aduise select,
And though, by skillesse builders fram'd and wrought,
Their engins rude and rammes were late elect,
Yet now the forts and towres (from whence they fought)
Were framed by a cunning architect,
William, of all the Genoas Lord and guide,
Which late rul'd all the seas from side to side;
42
But forced to retire from him at last,The Pagan fleet the seas moist empire wunne,
His men with all their stuffe and store in hast
Home to the campe with their commander runne,
In skill, in wit, in cunning him surpast
Yet neuer enginer beneath the sunne,
Of Carpenters an hundreth large he brought,
That what their Lord deuised made and wrought.
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43
This man begunne with woondrous arte to make,Not rammes, not mightie brakes, not slings alone,
Wherewith the firme and solid walles to shake,
To cast a dart or throw a shaft or stone;
But fram'd of Pines and Firres, did vndertake
To build a fortresse huge, to which was none
Yet euer like, whereof he cloath'd the sides
Against the balles of fire, with raw bulles hides;
44
In mortesses and sockets framed iust,The beames, the studdes and punchions ioyn'd he fast;
To beat the cities wall, beneath forth brust
A ramme with horned front, about her wast
A bridge the engine from her side out thrust,
Which on the wall when need requir'd she cast;
And from her top a turret small vpstood,
Strong, surely arm'd, and builded of like wood:
45
Set on an hundreth wheeles the rolling mas,On the smoothe landes went nimbly vp and downe,
Though full of armes and armed men it was;
Yet with small paines it ran, as it had flowne,
Woondred the campe so quicke to see it pas,
They prais'd the workmen, and their skill vnknowne,
And on that day two towres they builded more,
Like that which sweet Clorinda burnt before.
46
Yet wholy were not from the SaracinesTheir workes concealed, and their labours hid,
Vpon that wall which next the campe confines,
They placed spies who marked all they did:
They saw the ashes wilde and squared Pines
How to the tents (trail'd from the groue) they slid;
And engins huge they saw, yet could not tell
How they were built, their formes they saw not well,
47
Their engins eeke they reard, and with great artRepair'd each bulwarke, turret, port and towre,
And fortifide the plaine and easie part,
To bide the storme of euerie warlike stowre,
Till as they thought no sleight, or force of mart,
To vndermine or scale the same had powre:
And false Ismeno gan new balles prepare
Of wicked fire, wilde, wondrous, strange and rare.
325
48
He mingled brimstone with Bitumen fellFetch from that lake where Sodome earst did sinke,
And from that flood which nine times compast hell,
Some of the liquor whot he brought, I thinke,
Wherewith the quenchlesse fire he tempred well,
To make it smoake and flame and deadly stinke;
And for his wood cut downe the aged sire
Would thus reuengement take, with flame and fire.
49
While thus the campe, and thus the towne were bent,These to assault, these to defend the wall,
A speedie doue through the cleare welkin went,
Straight ore the tents, seene by the souldiers all
With nimble fannes the yeilding aire she rent,
Nor seemd it that she would alight or fall,
Till she arriu'd neere that besieged towne,
Then from the clouds at last she stouped downe:
50
But loe (from whence I nolte) a falcon came,Armed with crooked bill and talons long,
And twixt the campe and cittie crost her game,
That durst not bide her foes encounter strong;
But right vpon the royall tent downe came,
And there the lordes and princes great among,
(When the sharpe hauke nie toucht her tender head)
In Godfreyes lappe she fell, with feare halfe dead:
51
The Duke receiu'd her, saued her, and spide,As he beheld the bird, a wondrous thing,
About her necke a letter close was tide,
By a small thred, and trust vnder her winge,
He loosed foorth the writ and spred it wide,
And read th' intent thereof, To Iudaies king,
(Thus said the scedule) honors high encrease
Th' Egyptian chiefetaine wisheth, health and peace:
52
Feare not (renowned prince) resist, endureTill the third day, or till the fourth at most,
I come and your delinerance will procure,
And kill your coward foes and all their host.
This secret in that briefe was clos'd vp sure,
Writ in strange language, to the winged post
Giu'n to transport for in their warlike need;
The East such message vs'd, oft with good speed.
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53
The Duke let goe the captiue doue at large,And she that had his counsell close bewraid,
Traitresse to her great Lord toucht not the marge
Of Salems towne, but fled farre thence afraid;
The Duke before all those, which had or charge
Or office high, the letter red, and said;
See how the goodnes of the Lord foreshoes
The secret purpose of our craftie foes.
54
No longer then let vs protract the time,But scale the bulwarke of this fortresse hie,
Through sweat and labour gainst those rockes sublime
Let vs ascend, which to the Southward lie;
Hard will it be that way in armes to clime,
But yet the place and passage both know I,
And that high wall by scire strong on that part,
Is least defenst by armes, by worke and art.
55
Thou Raimond, on this side with all thy mightAssault the wall, and by those cragges ascend,
My squadrons with mine engins huge shall fight,
And gainst the Northren gate my puissance bend;
That so our foes beguiled with the sight,
Our greatest force and powre shall there attend,
While my great towre from thence shall nimbly slide,
And batter downe some worse defended side;
56
Camillo thou not farre from me shalt reareAnother towre, close to the walles ibrought.
This spoken, Raimond old that sate him neare,
(And while he talkte great things tost in his thought)
Said, to Godfredoes counsell giuen vs heare,
Nought can be added, from it taken nought:
Yet this I further wish that some were sent
To spie their campe, their secret and entent;
57
That may their number and their squadrons braueDescribe, and through their tents disguised maske:
Quoth Tancred, loe, a subtle squire I haue,
A person fit to vndertake this taske,
A man, quicke, readie, bold, slie to deceaue,
To answere, wise, and well aduisde to aske;
Well languaged, and that with time and place
Can change his looke, his voice, his gate, his grace.
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58
Sent for he came, and when his lord him touldWhat Godfreyes pleasure was, and what his owne;
He smilde, and said foorthwith he gladly would,
I goe quoth he, carelesse what chance be throwne,
And where encamped be these Pagans bould,
Will walke, in euery tent a spie vnknowne,
Their campe euen at noone day I enter shall,
And number all their horse and footemen all;
59
How great, how strong, how arm'd this army is,And what their guide entendes, I will declare,
To me the secrets of that hart of his,
And hidden thoughts shall open lie and bare.
Thus Vafrine spoke, nor longer staid on this,
But for a mantle changd the cote he ware,
Nakte was his necke, and bout his forehead bould,
Of linnen white full twentie yeards he rould;
60
His weapons were a Syrian bow and quiuer,His gestures barb'rous, like the Turkish traine,
Wondred all they that heard his toong deliuer
Of euery land the language true and plaine,
In Tire, a borne Phenician, by the riuer
Of Nile, a knight bred in th' Egyptian maine,
Both people would haue thought him, foorth he rides
On a swift stead, ore hils and dales that glides.
61
But ere the third day came the French foorth sentTheir pioners to eeu'n the rougher waies,
And readie made each warlike instrument,
Nor ought their labour interrupts or staies;
The nights in busie toile they likewise spent,
And with long eueninges lenghtned foorth short daies,
Till nought was left the hosts that hinder might,
To vse their vtmost powre, and strength in fight.
62
That day, which of th' assault the day foreronne,The godly Duke in praier spent welnie,
And all the rest, bicause they had misdonne,
The Sacrament receiue, and mercie crie;
Then oft the Duke his engins great begonne
To shew, where least he would their strength applie;
His foes reiois'd, deluded in that sort,
To see them bent against their surest port:
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63
But after aided by the friendly nightHis greatest engin to that side he brought,
Where plainest seem'd the wall, where with their might
The flankers least could hurt them as they fought,
And to the Southern mountaines greatest hight
To raise his turret old Raimondo sought;
And thou Camillo on that part hadst thine,
Where from the North the wals did Westward twine.
64
But when amid the Estren heau'n appear'dThe rising morning bright as shining glas,
The troubled Pagans saw, and seeing fear'd,
How the great towre stood not where late it was,
And here and there tofore vnseene was rear'd,
Of timber strong a huge and fearfull mas,
And numberlesse with beames, with roapes and strings
They view the iron rammes, the brakes and slings.
65
The Syrian people now were no whit slow,Their best defences to that side to beare,
Where Godfrey did his greatest engin show,
From thence where late in vaine they placed weare;
But he who at his backe rightwell did know,
The hoste of Egypt to be proaching neare,
To him call'd Guelfo, and the Roberts twaine,
And said, on horsebacke looke you still remaine,
66
And haue regard while all our people striueTo scale this wall, where weake it seemes and thin,
Least vnawares some sudden hoste arriue,
And at our backes vnlookte for warre begin.
This said, three fierce assaults at once they giue,
The hardie souldiours all would die or win,
And on three parts resistance makes the king,
And rage gainst strēgth, despaire gainst hope doth bring;
67
Himselfe vpon his limmes with feeble eildThat shooke, (vnweildie with their proper weight,)
His armour laid and long vnused sheild,
And marcht gainst Raimond to the mountaines height:
Great Soliman gainst Godfrey tooke the feild,
Forenenst Camillo stood Argantes streight
Where Tancred strong he found, so fortune will,
That this good Prince his wonted foe shall kill.
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68
The archers shot their arrowes sharpe and keeneDipt in the bitter iuice of poyson strong,
The shadie face of heau'n was scantly seene,
Hid with the cloudes of shaftes and quarries long;
Yet weapons sharpe with greater furie beene,
Cast from the towres the Pagan troupes among,
For thence flew stones and clifts of marble rockes,
Trees shod with iron, timber, logges and blockes.
69
A thunderbolt seem'd euerie stone, it brakeHis lims and armours so on whom it light,
That life and soule it did not onely take,
But all his shape and face disfigur'd quight;
The launces stai'd not in the wounds they make,
But through the gored bodie tooke their flight,
From side to side, through flesh, through skin and rinde
They flew, and flying, left sad death behinde.
70
But yet not all this force and furie droueThe Pagan people to forsake the wall,
But to reuenge these deadly blowes they stroue,
With dartes that flie, with stones and trees that fall;
For need so cowards oft couragious proue,
For libertie they fight, for life and all,
And oft with arrowes, shaftes and stones that flie,
Giue bitter answere to a sharpe replie.
71
This while the fierce assailants neuer cease,But sternly still maintaine a threefold charge,
And gainst the cloudes of shaftes drawnie at ease,
Vnder a pentise made of many a targe,
The armed towres close to the bulwarks prease,
And striue to grapple with the battled marge,
And lanch their bridges out, meane-while below
With iron fronts the rammes the walles downe throw.
72
Yet still Rinaldo vnresolued went,And far vnworthie him this seruice thought,
If mongst the common sort his paines he spent;
Renowne so got the Prince esteemed nought:
His angrie lookes on euerie side he bent,
And where most harme, most danger was he sought,
And where the wall high, strong and surest was,
That part would he assault, and that way pas.
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And turning to the worthies him behind,All hardie knights, whom Dudon late did guide,
O shame (quoth he) this wall no warre doth find,
When battred is elsewhere each part, each side;
All paine is safetie to a valiant mind,
Each way is eath to him that dares abide,
Come let vs scale this wall, though strong and hie,
And with your shieldes keepe off the darts that flie:
74
With him vnited all while thus he spake,Their targets hard aboue their heads they threw,
Which ioynd in one an iron pentise make,
That from the dreadfull storme preseru'd the crew,
Defended thus their speedie course they take,
And to the wall without resistance drew,
For that strong penticle protected well
The knights, from all that flew and all that fell.
75
Against the fort Rinaldo gan vpreareA ladder huge, an hundreth steps of hight,
And in his arme the same did easlie beare,
And mooue, as windes do reeds or rushes light,
Sometime a tree, a rocke, a dart, or speare,
Fell from aboue, yet forward clombe the knight,
And vpward fearelesse preased, carelesse still,
Though mount Olympus fell or Ossa hill:
76
A mount of ruines, and of shaftes a woodVpon his shoulders and his shield he bore,
One hand the ladder held whereon he stood,
The other bare his targe his face before;
His hardie troupe, by his ensample good
Prouokt, with him the place assaulted sore,
And ladders long against the wall they clappe,
Vnlike in courage yet, vnlike in happe:
77
One dide, an other fell, he forward went,And these he comforts, and he threatneth those,
Now with his hand outstrecht the battlement
Welnie he reacht, when all his armed foes
Ran thither, and their force and furie bent
To throw him headlong downe, yet vp he goes,
A wondrous thing, one knight whole armed bands
Alone, and hanging in the aire, withstands:
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78
Withstands, and forceth his great strength so farre,That like a palme whereon huge weight doth rest,
His forces so resisted stronger arre,
His vertues higher rise the more opprest,
Till all that would his entrance bould debarre
He backewarde droue, vpleaped, and possest
The wall, and safe and easie with his blade,
To all that after came, the passage made,
79
There killing such as durst and did withstand,To noble Eustace that was like to fall,
He reached foorth his friendly conqu'ring hand,
And next himselfe helpt him to mount the wall.
This while Godfredo and his people fand
Their liues to greater harmes and dangers thrall,
For there not man with man, nor knight with knight
Contend, but engins there with engins fight.
80
For in that place the Paynims rear'd a post,Which late had seru'd some gallant ship for mast,
And ouer it another beame they crost,
Pointed with iron sharpe, to it made fast
With ropes, which as men would the dormant tost,
Now out, now in, now backe, now forward cast,
In his swift pullies oft the men withdrew
The tree, and oft the riding balke foorth threw:
81
The mightie beame redoubled oft his blowes,And with such force the engine smote and hit,
That her broad side the towre wide open throwes,
Her ioints were broke, her rafters cleft and split;
But yet gainst euery hap whence mischiefe growes
Prepard, the piece (gainst such extreames made fit)
Lanch foorth two sithes, sharpe, cutting, long & broad,
And cut the ropes whereon the engin road:
82
As an oulde rocke, which age or stormie windTeares from some craggie hill or mountaine steepe,
Doth breake, doth bruse, and into dust doth grind
Woods, houses, hamlets, herds, and fould of sheepe;
So fell the beame, and downe with it all kind
Of armes, of weapons, and of men did sweepe,
Wherewith the towres once or twise did shake,
Trembled the wals, the hils and mountaines quake.
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83
Victorious Godfrey boldly forward came,And had great hope euen then the place to win;
But loe a fire, with stinch, with smoake, and flame,
Withstood his passage, stopt his entrance in:
Such burnings Etna yet could neuer frame,
When from her entrals hot her fires begin,
Nor yet in sommer on the Indian plaine
Such vapours warme, from scorching aire, downe raine.
84
There balles of wilde fire, there flie burning speares,This flame was blacke, that blew; this red as blood;
Stinch welnie choaketh them, noise deafes their eares,
Smoake blindes their eies, fire kindleth on the wood;
Nor those raw hides which for defence it weares,
Could saue the towre, in such distresse it stood;
For now they wrinkle, now it sweates and fries,
Now burnes, vnlesse some helpe come down from skies.
85
The hardie Duke before his folke abides,Nor chang'd he colour, countenance or place,
But comforts those that from the scaldred hides,
With water stroue th' approching flames to chace:
In these extremes the Prince and those he guides
Halfe roasted stood before fierce Vulcans face,
When loe a sudden and vnlookt for blast,
The flames against the kindlers backward cast:
86
The windes droue backe the fire where heaped lieThe Pagans weapons, where their engins weare,
Which kindling quickly in that substance drie,
Burnt all their store and all their warlike geare:
O glorious captaine! whom the Lord from hie
Defends, whom God preserues, and holds so deare;
For thee heau'n fights, to thee the windes (from farre,
Call'd with thy trumpets blast) obedient arre.
87
But wicked Ismen to his harme that saw,How the fierce blast droue backe the fire and flame,
By art would nature change, and thence withdraw
Those noisome windes, else calme and still the same;
Twixt two false Wizards without feare or aw
Vpon the walles in open sight he came,
Blacke, grisly, loathsome, grim and ougly faced,
Like Pluto old, betwixt two furies placed;
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And now the wretch those dreadfull words begunne,Which tremble make deepe hell and all her flocke,
Now troubled is the aire, the golden sunne
His fearefull beames in cloudes did close and locke,
When from the towre (which Ismen could not shunne)
Out flew a mightie stone, late halfe a rocke,
Which light so iust vpon the Wizards three,
That driu'n to dust their bones and bodies bee.
89
To lesse than nought their members old were torne,And shiuer'd were their heads to pieces small,
As small, as are the brused graines of corne,
When from the mill resolu'd to meale they fall;
Their damned soules to deepest hell downe borne
(Far from the ioy and light celestiall)
The furies plunged in th' infernall lake,
O mankinde! at their ends ensample take.
90
This while the engin which the tempest could,Had sau'd from burning with his friendly blast,
Approched had so neere the battred hould,
That on the walles her bridge at ease she cast:
But Soliman ran thither fierce and bould,
To cut the planke whereon the Christians past,
And had perform'd his will, saue that vpreard
High in the skies a turret new appeard;
91
Farre in the aire vp clombe the fortresse tallHigher than house, then steeple, church or towre;
The Pagans trembled to behold the wall,
And citie subiect to her shot and powre;
Yet kept the Turke his stand, though on him fall
Of stones and dartes a sharpe and deadly showre,
And still to cut the bridge, he hopes and striues,
And those that feare, with cheerfull speech reuiues.
92
The Angell Michaell to all the restVnseene, appear'd before Godfredoes eies,
In pure and heau'nly armour ritchly drest,
Brighter than Titans raies in cleerest skies;
Godfrey (quoth he) this is the moment blest
To free this towne that long in bondage lies,
See, see what legions in thine aide I bring,
For heau'n assists thee, and heau'ns glorious king:
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Lift vp thine eies and in the aire beholdThe sacred armies, how they mustred bee,
That cloud of flesh in which from times of old
All mankinde wrapped is, I take from thee,
And from thy senses their thicke mist vnfold,
That face to face thou maist these spirits see,
And for a little space, right well sustaine
Their glorious light, and vew those angels plaine.
94
Behold the soules of euery Lord and knightThat late bore armes and dide for Christes deare sake,
How on thy side against this towne they fight,
And of thy ioy and conquest will partake:
There where the dust and smoke blinde all mens sight,
Where stones and ruines such an heape doe make,
There Hugo fights, in thickest cloude imbard,
And vndermines that bulwarks groundworke hard.
95
See Dudon yonder, who with sword and fireAssailes and helpes to scale the northren port,
That with bold courage doth thy folke inspire,
And reares their ladders gainst th' assaulted fort:
He that high on the mount in graue attire
Is clad, and crowned stands in kingly sort,
Is Bishop Ademare, a blessed spirite,
Blest for his faith, crown'd for his death and merite.
96
But higher lift thy happie eies, and vewWhere all the sacred hosts of heau'n appeare;
He lookt, and saw where winged armies flew,
Innumerable, pure, diuine, and cleare;
A battaile round of squadrons three they shew,
And all by threes those squadrons ranged weare,
Which spreading wide in rings, still wider goe,
Mou'd with a stone, calme water circleth soe.
97
With that he winkte and vanisht was and goneThat wondrous vision when he lookt againe,
His worthies fighting vew'd he one by one,
And on each side saw signes of conquest plaine,
For with Rinaldo gainst his yeelding fone,
His knights were entred and the Pagans slaine.
This seene, the Duke no longer stay could brooke,
But from the bearer bold his ensigne tooke:
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And on the bridge he stept, but there was staidBy Soliman, who entrance all denide,
That narrow tree to vertue great was maid,
The field as in few blowes right soone was tride,
Here will I giue my life for Sions aid,
Here will I end my daies, the Soldan cride,
Behinde me cut, or breake this bridge, that I
May kill a thousand Christians first, then die.
99
But thither fierce Rinaldo threat'ning went,And at his sight fled all the Soldans traine,
What shall I doe? if here my life be spent,
I spend and spill (quoth he) my blood in vaine:
With that his steps from Godfrey backe he bent,
And to him let the passage free remaine,
Who threat'ning follow'd as the Soldan fled,
And on the walles the purple crosse dispred,
100
About his head he tost, he turn'd, he castThat glorious ensigne, with a thousand twines,
Thereon the winde breathes with his sweetest blast,
Thereon with golden raies glad Phebus shines,
Earth laughes for ioy, the streames forbeare their hast,
Floods clap their hands, on mountaines dance the pines,
And Sions towres and sacred temples smile,
For their deliu'rance from that bondage vile.
101
And now the armies rear'd the happie crieOf victorie, glad, ioyfull, lowd and shrill,
The hils resound, the Eccho showteth hie,
And Tancred bold that fights and combats still,
With proud Argantes, brought his towre so nie,
That on the wall, against the boasters will,
In his despite, his bridge he also laid,
And wonne the place, and there the crosse displaid.
102
But on the southren hill (where Raimond fought,Against the townesmen and their aged king)
His hardie Gascoignes gained small or nought;
Their engin to the walles they could not bring,
For thither all his strength the Prince had brought,
For life and safetie sternly combatting,
And for the wall was feeblest on that cost,
There were his soldiers best, and engins most.
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Besides, the towre vpon that quarter foundVnsure, vneasie, and vneeu'n the way,
Nor art could helpe, but that the rougher ground
The rolling masse did often stop and stay;
But now of victorie the ioyfull sound
The king and Raimond heard, amid their fray;
And by the showte they and their soldiers know,
The towne was entred on the plaine below.
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Which heard, Raimondo thus bespake this crew,The towne is wonne (my friends) and doth it yet
Resist? are we kept out still by these few?
Shall we no share in this high conquest get?
But from that part the king at last withdrew,
He stroue in vaine their entrance there to let,
And to a stronger place his folke he brought,
Where to sustaine th' assault a while he thought.
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The conquerours at once now entred all,The walles were wonne, the gates were op'ned wide,
Now brused, broken downe, destroyed fall
The portes, and towres, that battrie durst abide;
Rageth the sword, death murdreth great and small,
And proud twixt woe and horrour sad doth tide,
Here ronnes the blood, in ponds there stands the gore,
And drownes the knights in whom it liu'd before.
| Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem | |