In bed, nor loosed, till he had made them swear
That (he such period fixt) they in his hold
Should be his faithful champions for a year
And month; and of his horse and arms deprive
Whatever cavalier should there arrive.
“And any damsel whom the stranger bore
With him, dismount, and strip her of her vest.
So, thus surprised, the warlike prisoners swore;
So were constrained to observe the cruel hest,
Though grieved and troubled: nor against the four,
It seems, can any joust, but vails his crest.
Knight infinite have come; but one and all,
Afoot and without arms have left that Hall.
“Their order is, who from the castle hies,
The first by lot, shall meet the foe alone,
But if he find a champion of such guise
As keeps the sell, while he himself is thrown,
The rest must undertake the enterprise,
Even to the death, against that single one,
Ranged in a band. If such each single knight,
Imagine the assembled warriors’ might!
“Nor stands it with our haste, which all delay,
All let forbids, that you beside that tower
Be forced to stop and mingle in the fray:
For grant that you be conquerors in the stower,
(And as your presence warrants well, you may,)
’Tis not a thing concluded in an hour.
And if all day he wait our succour, I
Much fear the stripling in the fire will die.”
“Regard we not this hindrance of our quest,”
Rogero cried, “But do we what we may!
Let him who rules the heavens ordain the rest,
Or Fortune, if he leave it in her sway;
To you shall by this joust be manifest
If we can aid the youth; for whom to-day
They on a ground so causeless and so slight,
As you to us rehearsed, the fire will light.”
Rogero ceased; and in the nearest way
The damsel put the pair without reply:
Nor these beyond three miles had fared, when they
Reached bridge and gate, the place of forfeitry,
Of horse and arms and feminine array,
With peril sore of life. On turret high,
Upon first sight of them, a sentinel
Beat twice upon the castle’s larum-bell.
And lo, in eager hurry from the gate
An elder trotting on hackney made!
And he approaching cried, “Await, await!
—Hola! halt, sirs, for here a fine is paid:
And I to you the usage shall relate,
If this has not to you before been said.”
And to the three forthwith began to tell
The use established there by Pinnabel.
He next proceeds, as he had wont before
To counsel other errant cavalier.
“Unrobe the lady,” (said the elder hoar,)
“My sons, and leave your steeds and martial gear;
Nor put yourselves in peril, and with four
Such matchless champions hazard the career.
Clothes, arms, and coursers every where are rife;
But not to be repaired is loss of life.”
“—No more!” (Rogero said) “No more! for I
Am well informed of all, and hither speed
With the intention, here by proof to try
If, what my heart has vouched, I am in deed.
For sign or threat I yield not panoply,
If nought beside I hear, nor vest nor steed.
And this my comrade, I as surely know,
These for mere words as little will forego.
“But let me face to face, by Heaven, espy
Those who would take my horse and arms away;
For we have yet beyond that hill to hie,
And little time can here afford to stay.”
“Behold the man,” that ancient made reply,
“Clear of the bridge!”—Nor did in this missay;
For thence a warrior pricked, who, powdered o’er
With snowy flowers, a crimson surcoat wore.
Bradamant for long time with earnest prayer,
For courtesy the good Rogero prest,
“To let her from his sell the warrior bear,
Who with white flowers had purfled o’er his vest.”
But moved him not; and to Rogero’s share
Must leave, and do herself, what liked him best.
He willed the whole emprize his own should be,
And Bradamant should stand apart to see.
The child demanded of that elder, who
Was he that from the gate first took his way,
And he, “ ’Tis Sansonet; of crimson hue,
I know his surcoat, with white flowers gay.”
Without a word exchanged, the warlike two
Divide the ground, and short is the delay.
For they against each other, levelling low
Their spears, and hurrying sore their coursers, go.
This while had issued from the fortress near,
With many footmen girt, Sir Pinnabel,
All ready to despoil the cavalier,
Who in the warlike joust should void is sell.
At one another spurred in bold career
The knights, with their huge lances rested well.
Up to the points nigh equal was each stick,
Of stubborn native oak, and two palms thick.
Sansonet, of such staves, above five pair
Had made them sever from the living stock,
In neighbouring wood, and bade his followers bear
Two of them hither, destined for that shock:
Such truncheons to withstand, well needed were
A shield and cuirass of the diamond rock.
One he had made them give his foe, and one
He kept himself, the present course to run.
With these which might the solid anvil bore,
(So well their ends were pointed) there and here,
Each aiming at the shield his foeman wore,
The puissant warriors shocked in mid career.
That of Rogero, wrought with magic lore,
By fiends, had little from the stroke to fear:
I of the buckler speak Atlantes made,
Of whose rare virtues I whilere have said.
I have already said, the enchanted light
Strikes with such force on the beholder’s eyes,
That, at the shield’s discovery, every wight
Is blinded, or on earth half lifeless lies.
Wherefore, well mantled with a veil, the knight
Keeps it, unless some passing need surprise:
Impassive is the shield as well believed,
Since it no damage in the shock received.
The other by less skilful artist wrought,
Did not so well that weightiest blow abide,
But, as if smit
