And pieced his tale, as having left untold
Things first in order; next to them displayed
A royal castle by its warder sold.
A prisoner by the faithless Switzer made,
He shows the lord who hired him with his gold:405
Which double treason, without couching lance,
Has given the victory to the king of France.
That warder then shows Caesar Borgia, grown
Puissant in Italy,406 through this king’s grace;
For all Rome’s peerage, and all lords that own
Her sway, he into exile seems to chase:
Then shows the king, that will the saw take down,
And papal acorns in Bologna place:407
Then Genoa’s burghers, by this monarch broke,408
And rebel city stooping to his yoke.
“You see,” (pursued that warder,) “how with dead
Covered is Ghiaradada’s green champaign.409
It seems each city opes her gates through dread
And Venice scarce her freedom can maintain.
You see he suffers not the Church’s head,
Passing the narrow confines of Romagne,
Modena from Ferrara’s duke to reave;
Who would not to that prince a remnant leave.
“Nay he Bologna rescues from his sway;
Whither the Bentivogli them betake.
You next see Lewis siege to Brescia lay,
And the close-straitened city storm and take;
Felsina almost at the same time stay
With succour, and the papal army break;
And next, ’twould seem, that either hostile band
Lies tented upon Chassis’ level strand.
“On this side France, upon the other Spain,
Extend their files, and battle rages high;
Fast fall the men at arms in either train,
And the green earth is tinged with crimson dye.
Flooded with human gore seems every drain;
Mars doubts to whom to give the victory;
When through Alphonso’s worth410 the Spaniards yield,
And the victorious Franks maintain the field;
“And, for Ravenna sacked and ravaged lies,
The Roman pastor bites his lips through woe;
Called by him, from the hills, in tempest’s guise,
Swoop the fierce Germans on the fields below.
It seems each Frenchman unresisting flies,
Chased by their bands beyond the mountain snow,
And that they set the mulberry’s thriving shoot
There, whence they plucked the golden lily’s root.
“Behold the Frank returns, and here behold
Is broken, by the faithless Swiss betrayed,411
He, that his royal father seized and sold,
Whose succour dearly by the youth is paid.
Those over whom false Fortune’s wheel had rolled,
Erewhile, beneath another king arrayed,
You here behold, preparing to efface
With vengeful deed Novara’s late disgrace;
“And see with better auspices return
The valiant Francis, foremost of his train,
Who so shall break the haughty Switzer’s horn,
That little short of spent their bands remain;
And them shall nevermore the style adorn,
Usurped by that foul troop of churlish vein,
Of scourge of princes, and the faith’s defence,
To which those rustics rude shall make pretence.
“Lo! he takes Milan, in the league’s despite:
Lo! with the youthful Sforza makes accord:
Lo! Bourbon412 the fair city keeps, in right
Of Francis, from the furious German horde:
Lo! while in other high emprize and fight
Elsewhere is occupied his royal lord,
Nor knows the pride and license of his host
Through these the city shall anew be lost.
“Lo! other Francis413 who his grandsire’s vein
Inherits, not his generous name alone!
Who by the Church’s favour will regain
—The Gaul expelled—a land which was his own.
France too returns, but keeps a tighter rein,
Nor over Italy, as wont, has flown:
For Mantua’s noble duke the foe shall stay,
And, at Ticino’s passage, bar his way.
“Though on his cheek youth’s blossoms scarce appear,
Worthy immortal glory, Frederick shines;
And well that praise deserves, since by his spear,
But more by care and skill, Pavia’s lines
Against the French defends that cavalier,
And frustrates the sea-lion’s414 bold designs.
You see two marquises, Italia’s boast,
And both, alike the terror of our host.
“Both of one blood and of one nest they are;
The foremost is the bold Alphonso’s seed,
Whom, led by that false black into the snare,
You late beheld in purple torrent bleed.
You see defeated by his counsel ware,
How oft the Franks from Italy recede.
The next, of visage so benign and bright,
Is lord of Guasto and Alphonso hight;
“This is that goodly knight, whose praise you heard
When rugged Ischia’s island I displayed,
Of whom sage Merlin, with prophetic word,
To Pharamond such mighty matters said;
Whose birth should to that season be deferred,
When more than ever such a champion’s aid,
Against the barbarous enemy’s attack,
Vext Italy, and Church, and Empire lack.
“He in his cousin of Pescara’s rear,
—Prosper Colonna, chief of that emprize—
Makes the rude Switzer pay Bicocca dear,415
Paid by the Frenchman in yet dearer wise.
Behold where France prepares for fresh career,
And to repair her many losses tries.
Behold one host on Lombardy descend!
Behold that other against Naples wend!
“Bust she, that moves us like the dust which flies
Before the restless wind, which whirls it round,
Lifts if aloft awhile, and from the skies
Blows back anew the rising cloud to ground,
To a hundred thousand swells, in Francis’ eyes,
The soldiers who Pavia’s walls surround.
The monarch sees but that which he commands,
Nor marks how wax or waste his leaguering bands.
“ ’Tis thus that, through the greedy servant’s sin,
And easy sovereign’s goodness, on his side,
The files beneath his banners muster thin,
When in his midnight camp, ‘to arms,’ is cried,
For by the wary Spaniards charged within
His ramparts is he; foes that with the guide
Of Avalo’s fair lineage, would assay
To make to heaven or hell their desperate way.
“You see the best of the nobility
Of all fair France extinguished on the field;
How many swords, how many lances, see
The Spaniards round the valiant monarch wield.
Behold! his horse falls under him;
