"ORLANDO ENRAGED" "FIRST PART" "Sir, thy moist eyes, and sad and downcast air," "Speak thee the broken victim of despair." "Urged by the passion lodged in every breast," "A restless curiosity to know" "Of others' cares, I shall have thee addressed," "Oh knight, and seek the occasion of thy woe." "Sir, nimble knight, of horse and foot a band," "I brought to Charlemagne;" "and thither pressed," "Where he an ambush for Marsilius planned," "Descending from the Pyrenean crest;" "And in my company a damsel led," "Whose charms with fervid love had fired my breast." "When, as we journey by Rhone's current, I" "A rider on a winged courser spy." "The robber, whether he were man or shade," "Or goblin damned to everlasting woe," "As soon as he beheld my dear-loved maid," "Laid hands on his prize, and snatched her from below." "So quick the rape, that all appeared a dream," "Until I heard in air the damsel's scream." "I cannot reach the mountain-robber's den," "Compassed with cliffs, or follow one who flies." "Besides, way-foundered is my weary steed," "Who 'mid these rocks has wasted wind and speed." "Six days I rode, from morn to setting sun," "By horrid cliff, by bottom dark and drear;" "And giddy precipice, where path was none," "Nor sign, nor vestiges of man were near." "At last a dark and barren vale I won," "Where caverned mountains and rude cliffs appear;" "Where in the middle rose a rugged block," "With a fair castle planted on the rock." "Each polished turret shines with such a ray" "That it defies the mouldering rust and rain:" "The robber scours the country night and day," "And after harbours in this sure domain." "While I so lingered where those rocks aspire," "I saw a dwarf guide two of goodly strain;" "The one Gradasso, King of Sericane," "The next, of youthful vigour, was a knight," "Prized in the Moorish court, Rogero hight." "The King of Sericane his bugle blew," "And the rock rang and fortress on the height;" "And, lo!" "apparelled for the fearful course," "The cavalier upon his winged horse!" "His blows Rogero, now Gradasso, bruise" "On forehead, bosom, back, or flanks, between." "The monster makes such spacious rings and clean," "Now this, now that the wizard seems to choose." "Well covered in a goodly silken case," "He, the celestial warrior, bore his shield;" "Since this no sooner blazes in his face," "Than his foe tumbles dazzled on the field;" "And while he, like a lifeless body, lies," "Becomes the necromancer's helpless prize." "I, too, that from a distant mountain gazed," "Fell senseless;" "and when I regained my sight," "After long time, saw neither knights nor page," "Nor aught beside a dark and empty stage." "Now sum my griefs, and say if love combine" "Other distress or grief to match with mine." "Hearken, sir knight, repose upon my say." "To thee may my arrival well be dear," "And thou as fortunate account this day." "Straight wend me to the keep, sir cavalier," "Which holds Rogero of so rich a ray:" "Nor shalt thou grudge thy labour and thy care," "If envious Fortune do but play me fair." "Bradamant, to seek thy aid and advise," "A messenger I have come from Marseilles." "The courier, who so plied his restless heel," "News of Narbonne and of Montpelier bore:" "And how Marseilles' disheartened men appeal" "To her, who should protect her straightened shore;" "And how, through him, her citizens demand" "Counsel and comfort at Bradamant's hand." "Whether or not I should the call obey," "I, youthful damsel, doubt some little space;" "Strong in one balance Fame and Duty weigh," "But softer thoughts both Fame and Duty chase:" "And I, at length, resolve the emprize to assay," "And free Rogero from the enchanted place:" "Or, should my valour in the adventure fail," "Would with cherished Rogero share his jail." "Through the courier's words," "Pinabel has learned that Bradamant is not a knight but a damsel." "Moreover, she belongs to the house of Clermont, which is hostile to his." "The perfidious Maganzese secretly decides to get rid as soon as possible of Bradamant with a trick." "Hearken, fair sir, 'twere better that we make" "For shelter ere the gathering darkness grow;" "And, yonder mountain past, (save I mistake)" "A tower is seated in the vale below." "Do you expect me then, while from the peak" "I measure the remembered place I seek." "I show the cave, and pray thee to ascend;" "I say that in its bottom I have seen" "A gentle damsel of bewitching mien." "Who, by her lovely semblance and rich vest," "Appeareth a lady of no mean degree." "And that when I towards the entrance pressed," "To learn who that unhappy maid might be," "One on the melancholy damsel flew," "And her within that inner cavern drew." "The severed branch I to thee recommend," "Then I, grasping, hang down that entrance steep." "With my feet foremost, by my arms suspend." "When asking if thou hast the skill to leap," "I, Pinabel, laughing, my hands extend." "And thus, I exclaim to thee, might I speed" "With thee each sucker of thy cursed seed!" "Oh beautiful, generous Bradamant," "Know thine arrival in this hallowed hold" "Was not unauthorized of heavenly guide:" "And the prophetic ghost of Merlin told," "Thou to this cave shouldst come by path untried," "Which covers the renowned magician's mould." "This is the ancient memorable cave" "Which Merlin, that enchanter sage, did make:" "Below, beneath the cavern, is the grave," "Where, cheated by the Lady of the Lake," "His limbs (for such her will) the wizard spread." "Living he laid him there, and lies there dead." "Yet lives the spirit of immortal strain;" "Lodged in the enchanter's corpse," "The trumpet call it, or to endless pain," "Yet lives the voice, and thou shalt hear how plain" "From its sepulchral case of marble cries:" "Since this has still the past and future taught" "To every wight that has its counsel sought." "Since Merlin, still with certain knowledge summing" "Events, prefixed this moment for thy coming." "Melissa!" "And is this wrought for me?" "and have I merit" "Worthy the workings of prophetic spirit?" "May Fortune, chaste and noble maid, fulfill" "Thine every wish!" "Exclaim I, wizard brave." "Since from thy womb a princely race shall spring" "Whose name through Italy and earth shall ring." "And in thy progeny and long drawn line" "Shall marquises, counts, dukes and Caesars shine." "Then, that the will of Heaven be duly brought" "To a fair end through thee, in fitting date," "Which from the first to bless thy love has wrought," "And destined young Rogero for thy mate," "Go!" "But boldly tread the path perscribed by fate!" "Go!" "But boldly tread the path perscribed by fate!" "Soon as to-morrow's sun shall gild the skies" "With his first light, myself the way will show" "To where the wizard knight Rogero sties;" "And built with polished steel the ramparts glow:" "Whilst I, oh Bradamant, a wise woman," "Shall teach by what device may be untied" "Rogero's gyves, if stedfast be thy flame," "And to escape the blaze which blinds his foes," "And render vain each necromantic sleight," "Have here a speedy mean which cannot miss;" "Nor can the world afford a way but this." "And remember... that each man disappears," "If once he place the ring between his lips." "Bradamant, I put in thy hand my ring," "Which maketh all the enchantments to nought." "Nor I approach the magic dome more nigh," "Lest me the false magician should espy." "Go!" "Then through a rugged path and painful I go," "Which thence into a lowly vale descends." "Lo!" "That is the castle where his prisoners," "Ladies and cavaliers, the enchanter sties." "I down the rugged hill descend now slow," "Until I reach the plain beneath the tower." "Then gives my bugle breath, the keep below," "To call the castled wizard to the stower:" "And when the sound is finished, threatening cries," "And calls him to the combat and defies." "Not long within his gate the enchanter stays," "After he hears the voice and bugle ring." "In arms, with him the horse is on the wing." "No empty fiction wrought by magic lore," "But natural is the steed the wizard presses;" "For him a filly to griffin bore;" "Hight hippogryph." "In wings and beak and crest," "Formed like his sire, as in the feet before;" "But like the mare, his dam, in all the rest." "Kill me, as I am an old enchanter," "Nor I, by malice moved, alas!" "poor wight," "Nor yet for rapine ply the robber's trade;" "But only to redeem a gentle knight" "From danger sore and death, by love was swayed;" "Who, as the skies foreshow, in little season," "Is doomed to die a Christian, and by treason." "Who from his infancy, Rogero styled," "(Atlantes I) was" "tutored by my care." "I only built the beauteous keep to be" "Rogero's dungeon, safely harboured there;" "And dames and knights, and more of high degree," "Have to this tower conveyed, his lot to share." "Or if disposed to take him from my sight," "Before the youth be into France conveyed," "Be pleased to free my miserable sprite" "From its now rotted bark, long decayed." "Seek not thy death from me;" "for the petition" "Is made in vain;" "but if for death thou sigh," "Though the whole world refused the requisition," "A soul resolved would find the means to die." "But ope thy gates to give thy guests dismission" "Before thine hand the knot of life untie." "Atlantes from the threshold, graved by skill," "With characters and wondrous signs, upturned" "A virtuous stone, where, underneath the sill." "The enchantment I break;" "and at once the hill" "To an inhospitable rock is turned." "With the breaking of the enchantment, the ladies and cavaliers, whom Atlantes had imprisoned within the castle, are free again." "The spell is gone, to find seems untrue now," " Proud Bradamant!" " My wished Rogero, thou!" "Thither, where late the damsel conquered, goes" "The band, descending from the mountain's crest;" "And finds the hippogryph, who bore the shield," "But in its case of crimson silk concealed." "Now I take the hippogryph by the bridle." "To Rogero I go and won't be idle." "I on Rogero look with stedfast eyes" "As long as feeble sight can serve my use;" "And in my mind next track him through the skies." "This was Atlantes the enchanter's deed:" "My pious wishes still directed are," "To see Rogero from his peril freed:" "This is my only thought, my only care." "All Europe's region I have left behind" "In my swift course;" "and issuing in that part," "Passed by a mighty space, the southern sound" "Where great Alcides fixed the sailor's bound." "Now the huge bird his pinions long hath plied," "In a straight line, without one stoop or bend," "He, tired of air, with sweeping wheel and wide," "Begins upon an island to descend." "Whom to a myrtle, nigh the rolling brine," "I fast'n, between a bay-tree and a pine." "Sir!" "If, as thy cheer and gentle presence teach," "Thou courteous art and good, his reign unbound," "Release me from this monster, I beseech." "Unweeting of the wonderous prodigy" "Of spirit, pent beneath the knotty rind," "To your fair leaf and living body I" "Have done this scathe and outrage undesigned." "What art thou, who, in rugged case confined," "Dost live and speak?" "And so may never hail" "From angry heaven your gentle boughs assail!" "A peer of France," "Astolpho was my name," "Whilom a paladin, sore feared in fight." "More dames than one my beauty served to warm," "And in conclusion wrought my single harm." "Returning from those isles, whose eastern side" "The billows of the Indian ocean beat," "Westward I fared along the sandy shores," "On which the stormy north his fury pours." "I came (such evil doom) upon the strand," "Here stood a mansion seated by the sea:" "Puissant Alcina owned the house and land." "I found her, where, without her dwelling, she" "Had taken on the beach her lonely stand." "I say: so you my lodging please to grace," "Sir cavalier, and will with me repair," "You shall behold the wonders of my chace," "And note the different sorts of fish I snare;" "Shaggy or smooth, or clad in scales of light," "And more in number than the stars of night." "I, that was always wilful, at her wish," "I now lament my rashness, climb the fish." "With laughing face Alcina mounts behind," "The obedient fish performs the task assigned," "And through the yielding water works his way." "Repentant of my deed, I curse the snare," "Too far from land my folly to repair." "Me, full of love, the kind Alcina fed" "With full delights;" "so courteous and so fair." "Clasped in her dainty limbs, and lapt in pleasure," "I weened that I each separate good had won." "I evermore contemplated my treasure," "Nor France nor aught beside I thought upon," "When kindest I believed Alcina's will," "And fondly deemed my happiness secure," "From me the heart she gave, the fay withdrew," "And yielded all her soul to love more new." "I share a thousand lovers' fate, whom she" "Had to like pass reduced, all wrongfully." "And these, because they should not scatter bruits," "Roaming the world, of her lascivious ways," "She, up and down the fruitful soil, transmutes" "To olive, palm, or cedar, firs or bays." "These, ... as you see me changed, ..." "Alcina roots." "I lament much, o sad Astolpho, turned" "From thy true form, to barren plant and rude." "But, witless, I may but console thy grief." "Thou to this isle hast drifted with the morn," "Of which Alcina keeps a mighty share;" "By that usurper from a sister torn," "Who was her father's universal heir." "Alcina, practised in iniquity," "And full of every vice and evil art;" "So I, who ever live in chastity," "Wisely on better things have set my heart." "And I am Logistilla (such my name)." "Because in wickedness and vice was bred" "I, Alcina, loath thee, as chaste and good." "Wretch!" "Remember:" "in incest thou wert bred." "From the isle to exile I have pushed thee," "And of the throne's right I have deprived thee." "I, Rogero, thank the tree for all, and taught," "Departed thence with full instructions fraught." "I, fay, alone exceed the rest as far" "As the bright sun outshines each lesser star." "I've many days pursued my search in vain;" "By shadowy wood, or over champaign bare," "By farm and city, and by hill and plain;" "But seek my cherished friend with fruitless care." "Him ever seek, and for attendant train" "Have sobs and sighs, and every bitter pain." "I am sage Melissa, who night and day" "Thought of the damsel, watchful for her good," "I all Rogero's fortune know, how freed;" "Then borne to India by the griffin steed:" "By Atlante he to Alcina's hath been" "Dispatched, that in her palace he might dwell." "The heart hath fastened of that fairy-queen," "Enamoured of the gentle youth, so well." "Nor memory of his lord nor of the dame," "Once loved so well, preserved, not of his fame." "Oh, Melissa!" "Nigh dead I do remain, in piteous guise," "Hearing of him so far removed, Rogero." "But me thou enchantress comfort, and apply" " A salve where it is needed!" " I swore" "That few short days should pass before anew" "Rogero should return to glad her view." "Since thou, an antidote to sorcery," "Oh Bradamant, the virtuous ring dost wear," "I have no doubt if to yon island I" "This, where thine every good is hidden, hear," "To foil Alcina's wiles and witchery," "And thence to bring thee back thy cherished care." "I heart and life would at thy feet have laid," "If thou hadst deemed they could Rogero aid." "I shall by sprite be with such swiftness born," "That in Alcina's isle shall be at morn." "With long-descending beard I clothed my chin," "And wrinkled o'er my front and other skin." "To imitate his speech, and face, and cheer," "I know so well, that, by the youth descried," "I may the sage Atlantes' self appear." "Alone I find him, fitting well my will," "As he enjoys the pure and morning air" "His fine, soft garments, wove with cunning skill," "All over, ease and wantonness declare." "About the stripling's neck, a splendid string" "Of gems, descending to mid-breast, is wound;" "On each once manly arm, now glittering" "With the bright hoop, a bracelet fair is bound." "Depend two precious pearls;" "not such the coast" "Of Araby or sumptuous India boast." "I thee, Rogero, found, within this dell," "Changed from thy former self by potent spell." "Abashed and mute, I stay, listening," "In vain to this reproof an answer seek." "A thousand fathoms deep I fain would lie" "Buried in earth, unseen of any eye." "Say, what has she, thou makest thy fancy's queen," "More than what other courtezans possess?" "Who of so many concubine has been;" "How used her lovers in the end to bless," "Thou truly know'st:" "but that she may be seen" "Without disguise, and in her real dress," "This ring, returning, on thy finger wear," "And thou shalt see the dame, and mark how fair." "For that fair damsel thou hast left before," "To thy surprise, so foul a dame discern'st," "That in this ample world, examined round," "A hag so old and hideous is not found." "Pale, lean, and wrinkled is the face, and white," "And thinly clothed with hair Alcina's head;" "Her stature reaches not to six palms in height," "And every tooth is gone;" "so long she's lived." "But thus by practice, to our age unknown," "Appeared with youth and beauty not her own." "I will flee, from the wanton dame possessed" "By that old strumpet, as a cavalier;" "Oh forthwith to arms, oh forthwith to arms," "And let round himself array my martial swarms." "Assaulting suddenly the guardian crew," "I, sword in hand, the squadron set upon." "I am nigh dead, o'erwhelmed with my distress;" "I tear my vesture, and my visage mar," "And curse my want of wit and wariness." "Let to Bradamant, on the griffin steed," "To the Aquitanian shores direct our flight." "The English duke, above the rest my care," "Astolpho first, in human form array." "Thus by Rogero's suit I am quickly won," "To his first shape transform the youthful peer;" "The duke Astolpho seeks the prudent fay;" "And for the warlike path, with humble say" "To favour, warn and help him, prays the dame;" "So that he may return from whence he came." "I grant thee, Astolpho, to go away," "And that thou may no more by charms be stayed" "In place from whence thou canst not wend thy way," "How man should guard himself from magic cheats," "Of such, an index and appendix show." "Another gift, which in its goodly feats" "All other gifts excelled, to me thou owest;" "This was a horn, which made whatever wight" "Should hear its clang betake himself to flight." "As thou didst, my good Englishman." "Receive" "The gift, thou mayst now of me take thy leave." "And I in bitter tears for ever drowned," "Rogero's loss by night and day complain;" "And bent to end my woes, with many a sigh," "Often lament me that I cannot die." "In mortal slumber would have closed my eye:" "But fairies cannot at their pleasure die." "END OF THE FIRST PART" "Subtitles adapted from the translation of William Stewart Rose"