XLII.
“To aid me swam Mount Alban’s cavalier[1],
“And was nigh drowned amid the waves that rise;
“For a south-wind sprang up that, far and near
“Covered with sudden darkness seas and skies.
“I know not after what befel the peer:
“This while Alcina to console me tries,
“And all that day, and night which followed, me
“Detained upon that monster in mid-sea,
XLIII.
“Till to this isle we drifted with the morn,
“Of which Alcina keeps a mighty share;
“By that usurper from a sister torn,
“Who was her father’s universal heir:
“For that she only was in wedlock born,
“And for those other two false sisters were
“(So well-instructed in the story, said
“One who rehearsed the tale) in incest bred.
XLIV.
“As these are practised in iniquity,
“And full of every vice and evil art;
“So she, who ever lives in chastity,
“Wisely on better things has set her heart.
“Hence, leagued against her, in conspiracy,
“Those others are, to drive her from her part:
“And more than once their armies have o’errun
“Her realm, and towns above a hundred won.
- ↑ Rinaldo.
