Jerusalem Delivered. Torquato Tasso

So as one prince salute another wold;

      LXI

       Aletes laid his right hand on his heart,

       Bent down his head, and cast his eyes full low,

       And reverence made with courtly grace and art,

       For all that humble lore to him was know;

       His sober lips then did he softly part,

       Whence of pure rhetoric, whole streams outflow,

       And thus he said, while on the Christian lords

       Down fell the mildew of his sugared words:

      LXII

       "O only worthy, whom the earth all fears,

       High God defend thee with his heavenly shield,

       And humble so the hearts of all thy peers,

       That their stiff necks to thy sweet yoke may yield:

       These be the sheaves that honor's harvest bears,

       The seed thy valiant acts, the world the field,

       Egypt the headland is, where heaped lies

       Thy fame, worth, justice, wisdom, victories.

      LXIII

       "These altogether doth our sovereign hide

       In secret store-house of his princely thought,

       And prays he may in long accordance bide,

       With that great worthy which such wonders wrought,

       Nor that oppose against the coming tide

       Of proffered love, for that he is not taught

       Your Christian faith, for though of divers kind,

       The loving vine about her elm is twined.

      LXIV

       "Receive therefore in that unconquered hand

       The precious handle of this cup of love,

       If not religion, virtue be the band

       'Twixt you to fasten friendship not to move:

       But for our mighty king doth understand,

       You mean your power 'gainst Juda land to prove,

       He would, before this threatened tempest fell,

       I should his mind and princely will first tell.

      LXV

       "His mind is this, he prays thee be contented

       To joy in peace the conquests thou hast got,

       Be not thy death, or Sion's fall lamented,

       Forbear this land, Judea trouble not,

       Things done in haste at leisure be repented:

       Withdraw thine arms, trust not uncertain lot,

       For oft to see what least we think betide;

       He is thy friend 'gainst all the world beside.

      LXVI

       "True labour in the vineyard of thy Lord,

       Ere prime thou hast the imposed day-work done,

       What armies conquered, perished with thy sword?

       What cities sacked? what kingdoms hast thou won?

       All ears are mazed while tongues thine acts record,

       Hands quake for fear, all feet for dread do run,

       And though no realms you may to thraldom bring,

       No higher can your praise, your glory spring.

      LXVII

       "Thy sign is in his Apogaeon placed,

       And when it moveth next, must needs descend,

       Chance in uncertain, fortune double faced,

       Smiling at first, she frowneth in the end:

       Beware thine honor be not then disgraced,

       Take heed thou mar not when thou think'st to mend,

       For this the folly is of Fortune's play,

       'Gainst doubtful, certain; much, 'gainst small to lay.

      LXVIII

       "Yet still we sail while prosperous blows the wind,

       Till on some secret rock unwares we light,

       The sea of glory hath no banks assigned,

       They who are wont to win in every fight

       Still feed the fire that so inflames thy mind

       To bring more nations subject to thy might;

       This makes thee blessed peace so light to hold,

       Like summer's flies that fear not winter's cold.

      LXIX

       "They bid thee follow on the path, now made

       So plain and easy, enter Fortune's gate,

       Nor in thy scabbard sheathe that famous blade,

       Till settled by thy kingdom, and estate,

       Till Macon's sacred doctrine fall and fade,

       Till woeful Asia all lie desolate.

       Sweet words I grant, baits and allurements sweet,

       But greatest hopes oft greatest crosses meet.

      LXX

       "For, if thy courage do not blind thine eyes,

       If clouds of fury hide not reason's beams,

       Then may'st thou see this desperate enterprise.

       The field of death, watered with danger's streams;

       High state, the bed is where misfortune lies,

       Mars most unfriendly, when most kind he seems,

       Who climbeth high, on earth he hardest lights,

       And lowest falls attend the highest flights.

      LXXI

       "Tell me if, great in counsel, arms and gold,

       The Prince of Egypt war 'gainst you prepare,

       What if the valiant Turks and Persians bold,

       Unite their forces with Cassanoe's heir?

       Oh then, what marble pillar shall uphold

       The falling trophies of your conquest fair?

       Trust you the monarch of the Greekish land?

       That reed will break; and breaking, wound your hand.

      LXXII

       "The Greekish faith is like that half-cut tree

       By which men take wild elephants in Inde,

       A thousand times it hath beguiled thee,

       As firm as waves in seas, or leaves in wind.

       Will they, who erst denied you passage free,

       Passage to all men free, by use and kind,

       Fight for your sake? Or on them do you trust

       To spend their blood, that could scarce spare their dust?

      LXXIII

       "But all your hope and trust perchance is laid

       In these strong troops, which thee environ round;

       Yet foes unite are not so soon dismayed

       As when their strength you erst divided found:

       Besides, each hour thy bands are weaker made

       With hunger, slaughter, lodging on cold ground,

       Meanwhile the Turks seek succors from our king,

       Thus fade thy helps, and thus thy cumbers spring.

      LXXIV