Book XV

Scarce had Aurora risen with grateful ray,
Or Syrian shepherd led his flocks from fold,
Than the Sage coming where the warriors lay,
Produced the chart, the shield, and wand of gold;
And “Rise!” he said, “ere yet the sun has told
His rosary on the hills, — soft breezes swell
To waft you on your voyage; here behold
The promised gifts that will have power to quell
Armida’s witchcrafts all, and thaw each murmur’d spell.

But they th’ expected summons had forerun,
Were up, and robed in arms from head to feet,
And straight, by paths ne’er gazed on by the sun,
Following their host, returning they repeat
The steps they took to his romantic seat
The previous day; but to the river side
When they were come, the Senior stay’d to greet
His parting guests; “Farewell, my friends!” he cried,
“Here must I leave you; go, good-fortune be your guide!’

Embark’d, the river with harmonious flow
The stranded vessel buoyantly upbore,
As, toss’d into the stream, a leafy bough
Is wont to rise, and, without sail or oar,
Floated them gently to the verdant shore;
There, as the spacious ocean they survey’d —
A little vessel with vermilion prore
Steer’d nigh, wherein was seen the destined maid,
And well the bounding bark her guiding hand obey’d.

Her locks hung curl’d around her brow; her eyes
Were like the dove’s, kind, tender, calm, and true;
Her face an angel’s, bright, and Paradise
Was in each radiant smile and look she threw;
Her robe from white to red, from red to blue,
Lilach, green, purple, fleetingly and fast,
Long as you look’d, diversified its hue;
You gaze again, the precious purple’s past,
And a fresh tint appears, diviner than the last.

The feathers thus which on the neck genteel
Of the impassion’d dove their circles spread,
Not for one moment the same tint reveal,
But in the sun ten thousand colors shed;
Now they a necklace seem of rubies red,
Of emeralds now they imitate the light,
Then — let the gentle bird but turn its head —
They shift from green to black, from black to bright,
Then take the tints of all, still more to charm the sight.

“Enter,” she said, “O happy youths! the bark,
Wherein from sea to sea I safely ply;
In which the heaviest weights grow light, the dark
Rough billows smooth, and calm the stormiest sky;
Me in his love and favor, the Most High
Sends as your guide:” the Lady spake, and now
Guiding her painted gondola more nigh,
O’er the glad waves that round in homage bow,
The green saluted shore strikes lightly with her prow.

Her charge received, the cable she upcurls,
Frees the fix’d keel, and launches from the land;
Loose to the wind the silken sail unfurls,
And rules the rudder with a dext’rous hand;
Swell the full sails, as glorying to be fann’d;
Heaves the swoln stream, so deep with recent rain,
It might have borne a fleet well gunn’d and mann’d;
But her light frigate it would well sustain,
Though to its usual state the waters were to wane.

Shrill airs unusual sing within the sails,
And swiftly speed them from the verdant shore;
The waters whiten to the active gales,
And round the vessel murmur, foam, and roar.
But now they reach to where its loud waves hoar
The river quiets in a broader bed;
There, by the greedy sea embraced, its store
Melts into naught, or naught apparent, wed
With the vast world of waves before them greenly spread.

The sounding margin of the rough rude main
Is scarcely touch’d by the enchanted pine,
Than the black clouds that lower’d, presaging rain,
Clear off at once, and leave the morning fine;
The mountain-waves, smooth’d by a charm divine,
Fall fiat, or if a zephyr intervene,
It does but curl the clear blue hyaline;
And ne’er in heaven’s benignant face was seen
A smile so sweet as now, a purple so serene.

She sails past Ascalon, and cheerly drives
Her beauteous bark betwixt the south and west;
And near to stately Gaza soon arrives,
Once but a haven held in slight request,
But year by year increasing as the rest
Went to decay, a city now it stands,
Of power, and strength, and merchandise possess’d;
And at this instant, countless as its sands,
Myriads of armed men o’erspread the bord’ring lands.

To land the warriors look, and see the plains
With countless rich pavilions whiten’d o’er,
And knights, and squires, and steeds with glist’ning reins
Pass to and fro betwixt the town and shore;
Camels and burden’d elephants, whose roar
Comes mellow’d o’er the main, pace side by side,
And stamp the sands to dust; with many an oar
Flash the vex’d waves, and in the harbor wide,
Galleys, and light caiques, and ships at anchor ride.

Some with strong rowers brush’d the buxom wave;
Some spread their wings out to the winds, and flew;
Their sharp swift beaks the liquid seas engrave,
Foam the raised billows as the keels glide through.
“Though,” said the Lady then, “the ocean blue
And yellow plains are fill’d, as you behold,
With hosts and navies of the trustless crew,
Fresh bands on bands, beneath his moon of gold,
By the strong tyrant yet remain to be enroll’d.

“Sole from his own or neighboring realms are drawn
These troops; more distant aid he yet awaits;
For to the regions of the noon and morn
Extends his influence with barbaric states;
So that I hope we shall, with prosp’rous fates,
Have made return, ere from this subject-coast
He to Jerusalem his camp translates;
He, or whatever Captain in his post
May o’er his other chiefs be raised to rule the host”

Then as an eagle passes one by one
All lesser birds, and soars to such a height,
That she appears confounded with the sun,
Her form unfix’d by the acutest sight; —
So, betwixt ship and ship, her rapid flight
The gay and graceful Gondola holds on,
Without a fear or care, however slight,
Who may arrest or chase her, and anon
Is from the sailors flit, and out of prospect gone.

Past Raffia town she in a moment flew,
The first in Syria seen by those who steer
From fruitful Egypt, and had soon in view.
The barren isle of lonely Rhinocere;
Not distant, trees o’er waving trees appear
To clothe a hill embrowning all the deep
That bathes its base; not unremember’d here,
Urn’d in its heart, the bones of Pompey sleep;
Round sigh the winds and woods; beneath, the waters weep.

They next behold, by Damietta driven,
How to the sea proud Nile the tribute pays
Of his celestial treasures, by his seven
Famed mouths, and by a hundred minor ways:
Then past the City built in ancient days.
By the brave youth of Macedon who bore
Palms from all lands, she sails, and soon surveys
The Pharian isle, an isle at least of yore,
But by an isthmus now connected with the shore.

She leaves to starboard Rhodes and Crete unseen,
And to th’ adjacent shore of Libya stands;
Along the sea productive, till’d, and green,
But inly throng’d with snakes and barren sands:
Barca she passes, passes by the lands
Where stood Cyrene, who no more presides,
Queen of the silent waste! and soon commands
With Ptolomet the cypress wood, whence guides
Lethe the fabled flow of his oblivious tides.

Syrtes, the seaman’s curse, before the wind
She flies aloof, and far to seaward steers;
And, doubling Cape Judeca, leaves behind
Swift Magra’s stream, till Tripoli appears,
Crowning the coast; due north, low Malta rears
Her cliffs, but Malta they not now behold;
To shun the lesser Syrtes, which she fears,
She tacks; but, past Alzerbo, coasts more bold
The land where dwelt the mild Lotophagi of old.

Next on the crooked shore they Tunis see,
Whose bay a hill on either side embrowns, —
Tunis, rich, stately, hon’rable, and free,
Beyond all other Mauritanian towns;
Right opposite to which Sicilia crowns
The sea, and, roughly rising o’er the flood,
In sombre shade Cape Lilybasum frowns;
Here now the Damsel points where Carthage stood,
Rival so long of Rome, and drunk with Roman blood.

Low lie her towers; sole relics of her sway,
Her desert shores a few sad fragments keep;
Shrines, temples, cities, kingdoms, states decay;
O’er urns and arcs triumphal deserts sweep
Their sands, or lions roar, or ivies creep;
Yet man, proud worm, resents that coming Night
Should shroud his eyes, in no perpetual sleep i!
Biserta now they reach in silent flight,
Sardinia’s distant isle receding on the right.

Then scudding by the vast Numidian plains,
Where wand’ring shepherds wont their flocks to feed,
Bugia and Algiers, the accursed dens
Of corsairs, rise, approach, and retrocede;
By Oran’s towers they pass with equal speed,
“And, coasting the steep cliffs of Tingitan,
Now named Morocco, famous for its breed
Of elephants and lions, they began
Granada’s adverse shores through azure mists to scan.

And now Al Tank’s Straits they intersect,
Alcides’ work, as gray traditions feign;
Haply an isthmus did the shores connect,
Till some concussion rent its rocks in twain;
And, by irruption of the horned main,
Abyla here and Calpe there was placed;
And Libya, sunder’d from romantic Spain,
No more as friends, but foes each other faced, —
Such power Time hath to change, and lay strong bulwarks waste.

Four times the morn has tinted Ocean’s cheek,
Since the gay bark its voyage first begun;
Nor has it enter’d once or port or creek,
For rest or stores, — well furnish’d, need was none;
It now the entrance of the strait has won,
Shoots the slight pass, and, far as sight can flee,
Into the pathless infinite is run:
If, land-lock’d, here so spacious seems the sea,
There, where it rolls round earth, what must th’ appearance be!

No longer now each city that succeeds
Rich Cadiz, o’er the billows they descry;
Fast wealthy Cadiz, fast all land recedes,
Sky girds the Ocean, Ocean bounds the sky:
Said Ubald then; “Fair pilot! make reply,
If on the boundless sea through which we glide
So swift, bark e’er before was known to ply, —
And if beyond this world of waves reside
Men of like modes with ours?” The Gondolier replied:

“When Hercules the monsters had subdued
That haunted Libya and the realms of Spain,
Through all your coasts his conquests he pursued,
Yet durst not tempt th’ unfathomable main;
Here then he raised his Pillars, to restrain
In too close bounds the daring of mankind;
But these his marks Ulysses did disdain,
And, fond of knowledge still, his curious mind
E’en by Alcides’ laws refused to be confined.

“The straits he pass’d, and on th’ Atlantic sail’d,
Bold as the Sea-God in his fish-drawn shell;
But naught, alas, his naval skill avail’d,
The roaring billows rang his funeral knell!
The secrets of his fate no records tell,
Where bleach’d his bones, or whither drove his sail:
If any since were driv’n out by the swell
Of wave or wind, they perish’d in the gale,
Or came not back, at least, to tell th’ adventurous tale.

“Thus still this sea rests unexplored; it boasts
A thousand isles, a thousand states unknown;
Not void of men, nor barren are the coasts,
But fertile, rich, and peopled as your own;
Nor can the sun which cheers your milder zone,
Be in its quick’ning virtue lifeless there,
But earth is heap’d with fruits and blossoms blown?
Said Ubald then; “Of this new world so fair,
Be pleased the worship, laws, and customs to declare.”

“As various as the tribes,” she made reply,
“Their rites, and languages, and customs are;
Some Earth, the general mother, glorify,
Some worship beasts, the sun, and morning star;
While some in woods and wildernesses far
Spare not to deify the Prince of Hell,
And heap their boards with captives slain in war;
In short, most impious are their rites, and fell
The faith of all the tribes that west of Calpe dwell.”

“Will then,” the knight rejoin’d, “that God who came
From heaven t’ illuminate the human heart,
Shut ev’ry ray of Truth’s celestial flame
From that, which forms of earth so large a part?”
“No,” she replied, “each humanizing art
Shall yet be theirs; e’en kings shall coincide
The holy Faith and Gospels to impart;
Nor think indeed that this extent of tide
Shall from your world these tribes forever thus divide.

“The time shall come, when ship-boys e’en shall scorn
To have Alcides fable on their lips,
Seas yet unnamed, and realms unknown adorn
Your charts, and with their fame your pride eclipse;
Then the bold Argo of all future ships
Shall circumnavigate and circle sheer
Whate’er blue Tethys in her girdle clips,
Victorious rival of the Sun’s career, —
And measure e’en of Earth the whole stupendous sphere.

“A Genoese knight shall first th’ idea seize,
And, full of faith, the trackless deep explore;
No raving winds, inhospitable seas,
Thwart planets, dubious calms, or billows’ roar,
Nor whatsoe’er of risk or toil may more
Terrific show, or furiously assail,
Shall make that mighty mind of his give o’er
The wonderful adventure, or avail
In close Abyla’s bounds his spirit to impale.

“’Tis thou, Columbus, in new zones and skies,
That to the wind thy happy sails must raise,
Till Fame shall scarce pursue thee with her eyes,
Though she a thousand eyes and wings displays.
Let her of Bacchus and Alcides praise
The savage feats, and do thy glory wrong,
With a few whispers toss’d to after days;
These shall suffice to make thy memory long
In history’s page endure, or some divinest song.”

She said, and sliced through foam towards the west
Her course awhile, then to the south inclined,
And saw — now Titan rolling down to rest,
And now the youthful Morning rise behind;
And when with rosy light and dews refined
Aurora cheers the world, more sail she crowds;
Till, in blue distance breaking, as the wind
Curls off the mist that all th’ horizon shrouds,
They see a mountain rise, whose summits reach the clouds.

As they advance the vapors melt, nor more
Their wish’d inspection of the isle prevent;
Like the vast pyramids ’twas seen to soar,
Sharp in its peak, and widening in extent
Down to its base; it seem’d to represent
The burning hill ’neath which the Giant lies
That warr’d on Jove, for with like sulph’rous scent
It smokes by day, and still, as daylight dies,
With ruddy fires lights up the circumambient skies.

Then other islands, other mountains mild,
Less steep and lofty, their regards engage;
The Happy Isles, the Fortunate! so styled
By the fond lyrists of the antique age;
Which warrior, sophist, priest, and gifted sage
Believed so favor’d by the heavens benign,
As to produce, untill’d, in every stage
Of growth, its fruits; unpruned the fancied vine
At once flower’d, fruited, fill’d, and gush’d with gen’rous.

Here the fat olive ever buds and blooms,
And golden honeys from old oaks distil,
And rivers slide from mountain-greens and glooms,
In silver streams, with murmurs sweet or shrill;
And here cool winds and dews all summer chill
The heats, and the calm halcyon builds her nest,
With every beauteous bird of tuneful bill;
And here are placed th’ Elysian Fields, where rest,
In fair unfading youth, the spirits of the blest.

To these the Lady made: “And now,” said she,
“The destined haven of your hopes is near;
The promised isles of Fortune now you see,
Whose fame has reach’d, if not fatigued your ear
With its uncertain echoes; Fiction here
Has not been idle; rich they are, and gay,
And pleasant, but not quite what they appeal
In poesy:” she said, and in her way,
Pass’d the first isle of ten that clear in prospect lay.

Then Charles: “If, Lady, with our enterprise
Th’ excursion suits, now let us leap ashore,
And mark what yet no European eyes
Have view’d — the people see, the place explore,
The rites they use, the Genius they adore,
And whatsoe’er may prompt th’ inquiry keen
Of envying sages; that, recounting o’er
The perils braved, the strange new objects seen,
I may with honest pride exclaim, ‘Yes! there I’ve been!’”

“Worthy,” the Gondolier replied, “of thee,
Th’ entreaty surely is; but what can I,
If Heaven’s severe, inviolable decree
The least compliance with thy wish deny.
The perfect period fix’d by God on high
To give this great discov’ry to the, day,
Is not yet come; and thus for you to eye
The Secrets of the Deep, and back convey
Th’ authentic news, would be his will to disobey.

“To you ’tis granted, by peculiar grace
And superhuman skill, the fame t’ acquire
Of rescuing to your world from thraldom base,
A youth whom nations ardently desire;
Let this suffice, for farther to aspire,
Would be to war with fate:” while she replies,
The first green isle seems less’ning to retire
From notice, and the next sublime to rise,
So blithely o’er the wave the charmed pinnace flies.

They now behold, how in the same degree
All in long order shun the realms of morn,
And by what equal distances of sea
The happy isles are each from each withdrawn:
Huts, curling smoke, white flocks, and ripening corn
Spoke seven of them inhabited; the rest
Were waste, o’errun with heath and shagg’d with thorn;
Where, fix’d in long hereditary rest,
Secure the lion prowls, the vulture builds her nest.

In one they find a lone sequester’d place,
Where, to a crescent curved, the shore extends
Two moony horns, that in their sweep embrace
A spacious bay, — a rock the port defends;
Inward it fronts, and broad to ocean bends
Its back, whereon each dashing billow dies,
When the wind rises and the storm descends;
While here and there two lofty crags arise,
Whose towers, far out at sea, salute the sailor’s eyes.

Safe sleep the silent seas beneath; above,
Black arching woods o’ershade the circled scene;
Within, a grotto opens in the grove,
Pleasant with flowers, with moss, with ivies green,
And waters warbling in the depth unseen;
Needed nor twisted rope nor anchor there
For weary ships: into that so serene
And shelter’d hermitage, the maiden fair
Enter’d, her slender sails unfurling from the air.

“Behold,” she said, “the cupolas and towers
That on yon mountain’s lofty summit shine!
There Christ’s lethargic champion wastes his how
In dalliance, idlesse, folly, feast, and wine:
That slipp’ry, steep ascent of palm and pine
Mount with the rising sun; nor let delay
Seem to you grievous; influences malign
Th’ important scheme to ruin will betray,
If any hour but that be fix’d for the essay.

“You yet with easy speed may reach the foot
Of the seen mountain, ere the day’s expired;”
Their lovely guide in parting they salute,
And lightly pace at length the shore desired.
They found the way so much to be admired,
So full of goodly prospects, cool with shade,
And smooth withal to tread, that nothing tired;
And when they issued from the last green glade,
High o’er the landscape yet the evening sunbeams play’d.

They see that to the mountain’s stately head
O’er nodding crags and ruins they must climb;
Below, with snows and frosts each path was spread,
For bloomy heath exchanged and odorous thyme;
Cedar, and pine, and cypress more sublime
Round its white shoulders toss’d their verdant locks;
Sweet lilies peep’d from forth the hoary rime,
While (force of magic!) pinks, geraniums, stocks,
And roses, fully flowered, hung clust’ring round the rocks.

Within a savage cave beneath the mount,
Closed in with shades, the warriors pass’d the night;
But when the Sun from heaven’s eternal fount
Through the brown forest shed his golden light,
“Up, up!” at once they cried; and either knight
With rival zeal along the track of frost
Began th’ ascent; when, on their startled sight,
Whence they knew not, in various colors gloss’d,
Their onward path a fierce and frightful serpent cross’d.

Her head and scaly crest of pallid gold
She raised erect, and swell’d her neck with ire;
Lighten’d her eyes; and, hiding as she roll’d
A length of way, she poison breathed and fire;
Now she recoil’d into herself, now nigher
Her tangled rings distending many a yard,
She slid along with mischievous desire,
Presenting all her stings the pass to guard, —
Much she the knights amazed, but did not much retard.

Already Charles, the monster to assail,
Had drawn his sword, when out Ubaldo spake:
“Soft! what is it you do? by arms so frail
How can you hope to quell th’ enchanted snake?”
His golden wand of an immortal make
He shook, so that the demon, smit with fear,
No longer hissing, sought the tangled brake;
Needed no second sound to warn its ear;
Instant it slipp’d away, and left the passage clear.

A little further on, with sour disdain
A roaring lion the strict pass denied;
Tossing aloft the terrors of his mane,
And his voracious jaws expanding wide,
He with redoubling fury lash’d his side,
And to the knights advanced with hasty tread;
But when the wand immortal he espied,
A secret instinct chill’d his heart with dread,
And quell’d his native fire; he howl’d, and howling fled.

Their track the venturous couple follow fast,
But numerous legions yet before them rise
Of savage beasts, terrific as the past,
Differing in voice, in movement, and in guise;
All monstrous forms, all wild enormities,
All the grim creatures in their sternest moods
That betwixt Nile and Atlas, Titan eyes,
Seem’d gather’d there, with all the raging broods
That haunt th’ Ercynian caves or old Hyrcanian woods.

But e’en this phalanx, massy, fierce, and bold
As it appear’d, could not the pair affright,
Much less repel; for of the wand of gold
A single motion put them all to flight.
And now they climb victorious to the height
Of the rude precipice, without delay;
Save that the Alpine cliffs and glaciers, white
With drifted snows that round austerely lay,
Of their sublime ascent more tedious make the way.

But when at length the steep acclivity
Is scaled, and pass’d the snows and breezes keen,
Beneath the sunshine of a summer sky
They find an even, smooth, and spacious green.
Here in a clime delightfully serene
His wings the everlasting Zephyr shakes,
And breathes a ceaseless sweetness o’er the scene;
For here the sun one golden measure makes,
Nor ever charms asleep, nor e’er the wind awakes.

Not as elsewhere with fervors frosts severe,
Or clouds with calms divide the happy hours;
But heaven, than whitest crystal e’en more clear,
A flood of sunshine in all seasons showers;
Nursing to fields their herbs, to herbs their flowers,
To flowers their smell, to leaves th’ immortal trees,
Here by its lake, the splendid palace towers
On marble columns rich with golden frieze,
For leagues and leagues around o’ergazing hills and seas.

The warriors weary found themselves and faint,
From their long travel up the steep rough hill;
And loitering through the pleasant gardens went,
Walking or resting at their own sweet will;
When lo, a fountain whose light music shrill
Allures the thirsty pilgrim, gleam’d in view!
In one tall column it descended chill,
And in a thousand crystal fragments flew,
Sprinkling with orient pearl the plants that round blew.

But through the grass these delicate cascades
The same deep channel in conclusion found,
And under curtain of perpetual shades
Ran warbling by, cool, tranquil, and embrown’d;
Yet still so clear, that in its depth profound
Each glist’ning wave amid the sands was seen,
With all its curls of beauty; while around,
The mossy banks form’d couches soft and green,
Inlaid with odorous herbs, and violets strown between.

‘See here the fount of laughter! see the stream
To which such fatal qualities belong!
Now,” they exclaim’d, “let us avoid the dream
Of warm desire, and in resolve be strong;
Now shut our ears to the fair Siren’s song,
And to each smile of feminine deceit
Close the fond eye!” thus warn’d, they pass along,
Until they reach to where the waters sweet
Break out a broader bed, and form a spacious sheet.

Here, served on ivory, stood all sumptuous food
That Taste could wish, or Luxury purvey,
And, chatt’ring, laughing, in the crystal flood
Two naked virgins, full of wanton play;
Now kissing, wrestling, breaking now away,
Now striving which the other should outswim;
Now diving, floating, as the waters sway,
Sometimes above, sometimes below the brim,
Marking their course conceal’d by some voluptuous limb.

These swimming damsels, beautiful and bare,
The warriors’ bosoms somewhat did subdue;
So that they stay’d to watch them, while the pair
Seem’d all intent their pastimes to pursue:
One meanwhile, starting upward, full to view
Of the clear heavens her swelling breasts display’d,
And all that might with rapture more endue
The eye; to the white waist; the waves that play’d
Round her, each limb beneath pellucidly array’d.

As from the waves the glitt’ring Star of morn
Comes, dropping nectar; or as rising slow
From Ocean’s fruitful foam when newly born,
The Queen of Love and Beauty seem’d in show,
So she appeared, so charm’d; her tresses so
From all their golden rings bright humor rain’d,
Rich with the colors of the show’ry bow;
While looking round, the knights but then she feign’d
To see, and back recoil’d, offended, shock’d, and pain’d.

Her tresses knotted in a single braid,
She in an instant loosen’d and shook down;
Which, thickly flowing to her feet, array’d
Her polish’d limbs as with a golden gown:
But O! when fell the curtain from her crown,
What an enchanting spectacle was fled!
Yet ’twas enchantment, so to find it flown:
Thus gloriously with locks and waves o’erspread,
She from them turn’d askance, rejoicing, rosy red.

She smiled, she crimson’d deep, and all the while
Her smile the sweeter show’d the more she blush’d,
And the sweet crimson sweeter for the smile
That o’er her tender face in sunshine rush’d;
Then with a voice so mild it might have hush’d
The nightingale, and taken an angel prey,
Rich from her warbling lips these accents gush’d:
“O happy pilgrims! favor’d to survey
Regions so full of peace, a Paradise so gay!

“This is the haven of the world; here Rest
Dwells with Composure, and that perfect bliss,
Which in the Golden Age fond men possess’d,
In liberty and love unknown to this;
You now may lay aside th’ incumbrances
Of arms, and safely hang them on the trees,
Sacred to Peace: all else but folly is;
Seek then soft quiet, seek indulgent ease,
Love’s the sole captain here, young Love’s the lord to please.

“The fields of battle here are mosses green
And beds of roses, where — you dream the rest;
We will conduct you to our fairy queen,
The queen whose bounty makes her servants blest.
You of that happy band shall be impress’d,
Whom she has destined for her joys; but first,
Your weary limbs of those rude arms divest,
In these cool waters be your dust dispersed,
And at yon board indulge your hunger, taste, and thirst”

Thus sang the one; her sister play’d the mime,
In act and glance outpleading her appeal,
As swift or slow to the melodious chime
Of lutes and viols the blithe dancers wheel
But to these wiles the knights in triple steel
Of stern resolve had shut their souls; and hence,
The tunes they sing, the beauties they reveal,
Their angel looks and heavenly eloquence,
But circle round and round, nor reach the seat of sense.

Or if of such sweet airs and glowing charms
Aught stirs the soil where buds unchaste Desire,
The heart soon Reason fills with her alarms,
And with strong hand roots up each rising brier:
Vanquish’d the nymphs remain; the knights retire,
And, without bidding them adieu, pass on;
These reach the palace, those with fruitless ire
Crimsoning afresh at the repulse, anon
Dive in the waves, and deep beyond all sight are gone.