BOOK THE EIGHTH.
269
Gathering his mangled limbs might him convey
To where his fathers slept.
Nor indolent 175
Did the English troops lie trembling, for the fort
Was ably garrison'd. Glacidas, the Chief,
A gallant man, sped on from place to place
Cheering the brave; or if the archer's hand,
Palsied with fear, shot wide the ill-aim'd shaft, 180
Threatening the coward who betrayed himself,
He drove him from the ramparts. In his hand
The Chief a cross-bow held; an engine dread[1]
Of such wide-wasting fury, that of yore
To where his fathers slept.
Nor indolent 175
Did the English troops lie trembling, for the fort
Was ably garrison'd. Glacidas, the Chief,
A gallant man, sped on from place to place
Cheering the brave; or if the archer's hand,
Palsied with fear, shot wide the ill-aim'd shaft, 180
Threatening the coward who betrayed himself,
He drove him from the ramparts. In his hand
The Chief a cross-bow held; an engine dread[1]
Of such wide-wasting fury, that of yore
The
- ↑ Line 185. The cross-bow was for some time laid aside in obedience to a decree of the second Lateran Council held in 1139. "Artem illam mortiferam et Deo odibilem ballistariorum adversus Christianos & Catholicos exercere de cætero sub anathemate prohibemus." This weapon was again introduced into our armies by Richard I. who being slain with a Quarrel shot from one of them, at the siege of the Castle of Chaluz in Normandy, it was considered as a judgment from Heaven inflicted upon him for his impiety. Guilliaume le Bretons relating the death of this King, puts the following into the mouth of Atropos:Hac volo, non aliâ Richardum morte perire
Ut qui Francigenis ballistæ primitus usum
Tradidit, ipse sui rem primitus experiatur,
Quemque alios docuit in se vim sentiat artis.Grose.
