And winds unmoved, which round about it roar.
Nor I have changed for calm or storm, nor I
Will ever change to all eternity.
“Sooner shall file or chisel made of lead
To the rough diamond various forms impart,
Than any stroke, by fickle Fortune sped,
Or Love’s keen anger, break my constant heart:
Sooner return, to Alp, their fountain-head,
The troubled streams that from its summit part,
Than e’er, for change or chances, good or nought,
Shall wander from its way my steadfast thought.
“All power o’er me have I bestowed on you,
Rogero; and more than others may divine:
I know that to a prince whose throne is new
Was never fealty sworn more true than mine;
Nor ever surer state, this wide world through,
By king or keysar was possest than thine.
Thou need’st not dig a ditch nor build a tower,
In fear lest any rob thee of that power.
“For if thou hire no aids, assault is none,
But what thereon shall aye be made in vain;
Nor shall it be by any riches won:
So vile a price no gentle heart can gain:
Nor by nobility, nor kingly crown,
That dazzle so the silly vulgar train;
Nor beauty, puissant with the weak and light,
Shall ever make me thee for other slight.
“Thou hast no cause, amid thy griefs, to fear
My heart should ever bear new impress more:
So deeply is thine image graven here,
It cannot be removed: that my heart’s core
Is not of wax is proved; for Love whilere
Smote it a hundred times, not once, before
He by his blows a single scale displaced,
What time therein his hand thine image traced.
“Ivory, gem, and every hard-grained stone
That best resists the griding tool, may break:
But, save the form it once hath taken, none
Will ever from the graver’s iron take.
My heart like marble is, or thing least prone
Beneath the chisel’s trenchant edge to flake:
Love this may wholly splinter, ere he may
Another’s beauty in its core enlay.”
Other and many words with comfort rife,
And full of love and faith, she said beside;
Which might a thousand times have given him life,
Albeit a thousand times the knight had died:
But, when most clear of the tempestuous strife,
In friendly port these hopes appeared to ride,
These hopes a foul and furious wind anew
Far from the sheltering land to seaward blew.
In that the gentle Bradamant, who fain
Would do far more than she hath signified,
With wonted daring armed her heart again;
And boldly casting all respect aside,
One day stood up before King Charlemagne;
And, “Sire, if ever yet,” the damsel cried,
“I have found favour in your eyes for deed
Done heretofore, deny me not its meed;
“And I entreat, before I claim my fee,
That you to me your royal promise plight,
To grant my prayer; and fain would have you see
That what I shall demand is just and right.”
“Thy valour, damsel dear, deserves from me
The boon wherewith thy worth I should requite”
(Charles answered), “and I to content thee swear,
Though of my kingdom thou should’st claim a share.”
“The boon for which I to your highness sue,
Is not to let my parents me accord
(Pursued the martial damsel) save he shew
More prowess than myself, to any lord.
Let him contend with me in tourney, who
Would have me, or assay me with the sword.
Me as his wife let him that wins me, wear;
Let him that loses me, with other pair.”
With cheerful face the emperor made reply,
“The entreaty was well worthy of the maid;
And that with tranquil mind she might rely,
He would accord the boon for which she prayed.”
This audience was not given so secretly,
But that the news to others were conveyed;
Which on that very day withal were told
In the ears of Beatrice and Aymon old;
Who against Bradamant with fury flame,
And both alike, with sudden anger fraught,
(For plainly they perceive, that in her claim
She for Rogero more than Leo wrought)
And active to prevent the damsel’s aim
From being to a safe conclusion brought,
Privily take her from King Charles’s court,
And thence to Rocca Forte’s tower transport.
A castle this, which royal Charlemagne
Had given to Aymon some few days before,
Built between Carcasson and Perpignan,
On a commanding point upon the shore.
Resolved to send her eastward, there the twain
As in a prison kept her evermore.
Willing or nilling, so must she forsake
Rogero, and for lord must Leo take.
The martial maid of no less modest vein
Than bold and full of fire before the foe,
Albeit no guard on her the castellain
Hath set, and she is free to come or go,
Observant of her sire, obeys the rein:
Yet prison, death, and every pain and woe
To suffer is resolved that constant maid
Before by her Rogero be betrayed.
Rinaldo, who thus ravished from his hand,
By ancient Aymon’s craft his sister spied,
And saw he could no more in wedlock’s band
Dispose of her, by him in vain affied,
Of his old sire complains, and him doth brand,
Laying his filial love and fear aside:
But little him Rinaldo’s words molest;
Who by the maid will do as likes him best.
Rogero, bearing this and sore afraid
That he shall lose his bride; and Leo take,
If left alive, by force or love the maid,
Resolved within himself (but nothing spake)
Constantine’s heir should perish by his blade;
And of Augustus him a god would make.537
He, save his hope deceived him and was vain,
Would sire and son deprive of life and reign.
His limbs in arms, which Trojan Hector’s were,
And afterwards the Tartar king’s, he steeled;
Bade rein Frontino, and his wonted wear
Exchanged, crest, surcoat and emblazoned shield.
On that emprize it pleased him not to bear
His argent eagle on its azure field.
