BOOK THE EIGHTH.
271
Frequent in fields of battle, and from far
To many a good Knight, bearing his death wound
From hands unknown. With such an instrument, 200
Arm'd on the ramparts, Glacidas his eye
Cast on the assailing host. A keener glance
Darts not the hawk when from the feather'd tribe
He marks his victim.
On a Frank he fix'd
His gaze, who kneeling by the trebuchet,[1] 205
Charged its long sling with death. Him Glacidas
Secure behind the battlements, beheld,
And strung his bow; then, bending on one knee,
He in the groove the feather'd quarrel[2] plac'd
And levelling with firm eye, the death-wound mark'd. 210
The bow-string twang'd—on its swift way the dart
To many a good Knight, bearing his death wound
From hands unknown. With such an instrument, 200
Arm'd on the ramparts, Glacidas his eye
Cast on the assailing host. A keener glance
Darts not the hawk when from the feather'd tribe
He marks his victim.
On a Frank he fix'd
His gaze, who kneeling by the trebuchet,[1] 205
Charged its long sling with death. Him Glacidas
Secure behind the battlements, beheld,
And strung his bow; then, bending on one knee,
He in the groove the feather'd quarrel[2] plac'd
And levelling with firm eye, the death-wound mark'd. 210
The bow-string twang'd—on its swift way the dart
Whizzed
- ↑ Line 205. From the trebuchet they discharged many stones at once by a sling. It acted by means of a great weight fastened to the short arm of a lever, which being let fall, raised the end of the long arm with a great velocity. A man is represented kneeling to load one of these in an ivory carving, supposed to be of the age of Edward II. Grose.
- ↑ Line 209. Quarrels, or carreaux, were so called from their heads, which were square pyramids of iron.
