IX.
“All those fair graces, that, on many spent,
“Would have served many wholly to array,
“Are all united for his ornament,
“Of whom thou hast entreated me to say.
“To prop the arts, the virtues is he sent;
“And should I seek his merits to display,
“So long a time would last my tedious strain,
“Orlando might expect his wits in vain.”
X.
’Twas so Christ’s servant with the cavalier
Discoursed; they having satisfied their view
With sight of that fair mansion, far and near,
That whence conveyed were human lives, the two
Issued upon the stream, whose waves appear
Turbid with sand and of discoloured hue;
And found that ancient man upon the shore,
Who names, engraved on metal, thither bore.
XI.
I know not if you recollect; of him
I speak, whose story I erewhile suspended,
Ancient of visage, and so swift of limb,
That faster far than forest stag he wended.
With names he filled his mantle to the brim,
Aye thinned the pile, but ne’er his labour ended;
And in that stream, hight Lethe, next bestowed,
Yea, rather cast away, his costly load.
