XVIII.
“Dear to the monarch, to the daughter still
“This lord was dearer, Ariodantes hight.
“Her with affection might his valour fill;
“But knowledge of his love brought more delight.
“Nor old Vesuvius, nor Sicilia’s hill[5],
“Nor Troy-town, ever, with a blaze so bright,
“Flamed, as with all his heart, the damsel learned,
“For love of her young Ariodantes burned.
XIX.
“The passion which she bore the lord, preferred
“And loved with perfect truth and all her heart,
“Was the occasion I was still unheard;
“Nor hopeful answer would she e’er impart:
“And still the more my lover’s suit I stirred,
“And to obtain his guerdon strove with art,
“Him she would censure still, and ever more
“Was strengthened in the hate she nursed before.
XX.
“My wayward lover often I excite
“So vain and bootless an emprize to quit;
“Nor idly hope to turn her stedfast sprite,
“Too deeply with another passion smit;
“And make apparent to the Scottish knight,
“Ariodantes such a flame had lit
“In the young damsel’s breast, that seas in flood
“Would not have cooled one whit her boiling blood[6].
