A faith well nigh like ours that king maintains,
Which man from his primaeval doom may save.
Here, save I err in what their rites require,
The swarthy people are baptised with fire.421
Astolpho lighted in the spacious court,
Intending on the Nubian king to wait.
Less strong than sumptuous is the wealthy fort,
Wherein the royal Aethiop keeps his state,
The chains that serve the drawbridge to support,
The bolts, the bars, the hinges of the gate,
And finally whatever we behold
Herewrought in iron, there is wrought in gold.
High prized withal, albeit it so abound,
Is that best metal; lodges built in air
Which on all sides the wealthy pile surround,
Clear colonnades with crystal shafts upbear.
Of green, white, crimson, blue and yellow ground,
A frieze extends below those galleries fair.
Here at due intervals rich gems combine,
And topaz, sapphire, emerald, ruby shine.
In wall and roof and pavement scattered are
Full many a pearl, full many a costly stone.
Here thrives the balm; the plants were ever rare,
Compared with these, which were in Jewry grown.
The musk which we possess from thence we bear,
From thence on other shores in amber thrown.
In fine those products from this clime are brought,
Which in our regions are so prized and sought.
The sultan, king of the Egyptian land,
Pays tribute to this sovereign, as his head,
They say, since having Nile at his command
He may divert the stream to other bed.
Hence, with its district upon either hand,
Forthwith might Cairo lack its daily bread.
Senapus him his Nubian tribes proclaim:
We Priest and Prester John the sovereign name.422
Of all those Aethiop monarchs, beyond measure,
The first was this, for riches and for might;
But he with all his puissance, all his treasure,
Alas! had miserably lost his sight.
And yet was this the monarch’s least displeasure:
Vexed by a direr and a worse despite;
Harassed, though richest of those Nubian kings,
By a perpetual hunger’s cruel stings.
Whene’er to eat or drink the wretched man
Prepared, by that resistless need pursued,
Forthwith—infernal and avenging clan—
Appeared the monstrous Harpies’ craving brood;
Which, armed with beak and talons, overran
Vessel and board, and preyed upon the food;
And what their wombs suffice not to receive,
Foul and defiled the loathsome monsters leave.
And this: because upborn by such a tide
Of full-blown honours, in his unripe age,
For he excelled in heart and nerve, beside
The riches of his royal heritage,
Like Lucifer, the monarch waxed in pride,
And war upon his maker thought to wage.
He with his host against the mountain went,
Where Egypt’s mighty river finds a vent.
Upon this hill which well-nigh kissed the skies,423
Piercing the clouds, the king had heard recite,
Was seated the terrestrial paradise,
Where our first parents flourished in delight.
With camels, elephants, and footmen hies
Thither that king, confiding in his might;
With huge desire if peopled be the land
To bring its nations under his command.
God marred the rash emprise, and from on high
Sent down an angel, whose destroying sword
A hundred thousand of that chivalry
Slew, and to endless night condemned their lord.
Emerging, next, from hellish caverns, fly
These horrid harpies and assault his board;
Which still pollute or waste the royal meat,
Nor leave the monarch aught to drink or eat.
And him had plunged in uttermost despair
One that to him erewhile had prophesied
“The loathsome Harpies should his daily fare
Leave unpolluted only, when astride
Of winged horse, arriving through the air,
An armed cavalier should be descried.”
And, for impossible appears the thing,
Devoid of hope remains the mournful king.
Now that with wonderment his followers spy
The English cavalier so make his way,
O’er every wall, o’er every turret high,
Some swiftly to the king the news convey.
Who calls to mind that ancient prophecy,
And heedless of the staff, his wonted stay,
Through joy, with outstretched arms and tottering feet,
Comes forth, the flying cavalier to meet.
Within the castle court Astolpho flew,
And there, with spacious wheels, on earth descended;
The king, conducted by his courtly crew,
Before the warrior knelt, with arms extended,
And cried; “Thou angel send of God, thou new
Messiah, if too sore I have offended,
For mercy, yet, bethink thee, ’tis our bent
To sin, and thine to pardon who repent.
“Knowing my sin, I ask not, I, to be
—Such grace I dare not ask—restored to light;
For well I ween such power resides in thee,
As Being accepted in thy Maker’s sight.
Let it suffice, that I no longer see,
Nor let me with perpetual hunger fight.
At least, expel the harpies’ loathsome horde,
Nor let them more pollute my ravaged board;
“And I to build thee, in my royal hold,
A holy temple, made of marble, swear,
With all its portals and its roof of gold,
And decked, within and out, with jewels rare.
Here shall thy mighty miracle be told
In sculpture, and thy name the dome shall bear.”
So spake the sightless king of Nubia’s reign,
And sought to kiss the stranger’s feet in vain.
“Nor angel”—good Astolpho made reply—
“Nor new Messiah, I from heaven descend;
No less a mortal and a sinner I,
To such high grace unworthy to pretend.
To slay the monsters I all means will try,
Or drive them from the realm which they offend.
If I shall prosper, be thy praises paid
To God alone, who sent me to thine aid.
“Offer these vows to God, to him well due;
To him thy churches build, thine altars rear.”
Discoursing so, together wend the two,
’Mid barons bold, that king and cavalier.
The Nubian prince commands the menial crew
Forthwith to bring the hospitable cheer;
And hopes that now the foul, rapacious band,
Will not dare snatch the victual from his hand.
Forthwith a solemn banquet they prepare
Within the gorgeous palace of the king.
Seated alone here guest and
