ARIOSTO, Ludovico



Orlando furioso -

Canto 1


Argument


Angelica, whom pressing danger frights,

Flies in disorder through the greenwood shade.

Rinaldo’s horses escapes: he, following, fights

Ferreau, the Spaniard, in a forrest glade.

A second oath the haughty paynim plights,

And keeps it beter than the first he made.

King Sacripant regains his long-lost treasure;

But good Ronaldo mars his promised pleasure.

Of loves and ladies, knights and Arms, I sing,

Of coutesies, and many aDdaring feat;

And from those ancient days my story bring,

When Moors from Afric passed in hostile fleet,

And ravaged France, with Agramant their king,

Flushed with his youthful rage and furious heat,

Who on king Charles', the Roman emperor's head

Had vowed due vengeance for Troyano dead.
…..
This was that Paladin, good Aymon's seed,

Who Mount Albano had in his command;

And late Baiardo lost, his gallant steed,

Escaped by strange adventure from his hand.

As soon as seen, the maid who rode at speed

The warrior knew, and, while yet distant, scanned

The angelic features and the gentle air

Which long had held him fast in Cupid's snare.

The affrighted damsel turns her palfrey round,

And shakes the floating bridle in the wind;

Nor in her panic seeks to choose her ground,

Nor open grove prefers to thicket blind.

But reckless, pale and trembling, and astound,

Leaves to her horse the devious way to find.

He up and down the forest bore the dame,

Till to a sylvan river's bank he came.

…..

Canto 7

…..
Her breasts as milk, her neck as white as snow;

Her neck was round, most plump and large her breast,

Two ivory apples seemed there to grow,

Full tender, smooth, and fittest to be pressed;

They wave like seas when winds most calm do blow.

But Argos4 self might not discern the rest;

Yet by presumption well it might be guessed

That that which was concealed was the best.
…..

Canto 15

…..
You, sir, earned worthy praise, when you o’erbore

The lion of such might by sea, and so

Did by him, where he guarded either shore

From Francolino to the mouth of Po,

That I, though yet again I heard him roar,

If you were present, should my fear forego.

…...

Canto 23

…..
The reward for evil deeds will come,

In injury, or shame, or feel the sword.

Who harms another, Fortune will not spare,

Soon or late; the debt can ne'er be ignored.

Mountains never move, but folk, they say,

Will often meet each other, on the way.

…..

Canto 24

…..
Her heart, divided 'twixt her love and shame,

A warfare waged within her gentle breast;

Shame urged her back, while love's resistless flame

Compelled her on, and hope, and sweet unrest.

Twice, thrice, she turned, and with a faltering pace,

Retraced her steps, then paused with lingering grace.

…..


Canto 34

…..
Within that moon, by some strange virtue placed,

All things are found, that on our earth are lost.

Sighs, not of those who love, but those disgraced,

And empty hopes, and words and deeds, at cost

Of little gained, repented of too late;

These things on high are heaped by cruel fate.
…..




.....
La notte Orlando alle noiose piume

Del veloci pensier fa parte essai

Or quinci or quindi il volta, or lo rassume
tutto in un loco, e non l’afferma mai:
qual d’acqua chiara il tremolante lume,
dal sol percossa o da’ notturni rai,
per gli ampli tetti va con lungo salto
A desta et a sinistra e basso et alto
.....


…..
All night long counsel of his weary bed,
Vexed with a ceaseless care, Orlando sought;
Now here, now there, the restless fancy sped,
Now turned, now seized, but never held the thought:
As when, from sun or nightly planet shed,
Clear water has the quivering radiance caught,
The flashes through the spacious mansion fly,
With reaching leap, right, left, and low, and high.
…..


.....
Tra il fin d'ottobre e il capo di novembre,

ne la stagion che la frondosa vesta

vede levarsi e discporir le membre

trepida pianta, fin che nuda resta,

e van gli augelli a strette schiere insembre,

Orlando entrò ne l'amorosa inchiesta:

né tutto il verno lasciò quella,

né la lasciò ne la stagion novella

.....


…..
Between October and November’s moon,
In that dull season when the leafy vest
Is stript from trembling plant, whose limbs are shown
Of all their mantling foliage dispossess’d
And in close flights the swarming birds are flown,
Orlando enters on his amorous quest:
This he pursues the livelong winter through,
Nor quits when gladsome spring returns anew.
…..


…..
Egli, ch'allato avea una tasca, aprilla,

e trassene una ampolla di liquore;

e negli occhi possenti, onde sfavilla

la più cocente face ch'abbia Amore,

spruzzò di quel leggiermente una stilla,

che di farla dormire ebbe valore.

Già resupina ne l'arena giace

a tutte voglie del vecchio rapace.

…..

…..
A pocket at the ancient's side was dight,

Where he a cruise of virtuous liquor wore;

And at those puissant eyes, whence flashed the light

Of the most radiant torch Love ever bore,

Threw from the flask a little drop, of might

To make her sleep: upon the sandy shore

Already the recumbent damsel lay,

The greedy elder's unresisting prey.

…..



All excerpts translated by William Stuart Rose