LXIII.
“He, your Orlando, at his birth endowed
“With sovereign daring and with sovereign might,
“On whom, beyond all usage, God bestowed
“The grace, that weapon him should vainly smite,
“Because he was selected from the crowd
“To be defender of his Church’s right.
“As he elected Sampson, called whilere
“The Jew against the Philistine to cheer;
LXIV.
“He, your Orlando, for such gifts has made
“Unto his heavenly Lord an ill return:
“Who left his people, when most needing aid,
“Then most abandoned to the heathens’ scorn.
“Incestuous love for a fair paynim maid
“Has blinded so that knight, of grace forlorn,
“That twice and more in fell and impious strife
“The count has sought his faithful cousin’s life.
LXV.
“Hence God hath made him mad, and, in this vein,
“Belly, and breast, and naked flank expose;
“And so diseased and troubled is his brain,
“That none, and least himself, the champion knows.
“Nebuchadnezzar whilom to such pain
“God in his vengeance doomed, as story shows;
“Sent, for seven years, of savage fury full,
“To feed on grass and hay, like slavering bull.
