XXX.
“So that continuing what erewhile was said,
“Poets and scholars in small number are:
“For, where they are unsheltered and unfed,
“Even beasts desert the inhospitable lair.”
As thus the blessed ancient ended, red
As two fierce fires, his eyes appeared to glare:
Then, sagely smiling on the duke, his mien
He changed anew from troubled to serene.
XXXI.
Henceforth with that apostle let the peer
Remain; for I have now to make a spring
As far as ’tis from heaven to earth; for here
I cannot hang for ever on the wing.
I to the dame return, who was whilere
Wounded by jealousy with cruel sting.
I left her where, successively o’erthrown,
Three kings she quickly upon earth had strown;
XXXII.
And afterwards arriving in a town,
At eve, which on the road to Paris lay,
Heard tidings of Rinaldo’s victory blown;
And how in Arles the vanquished paynim lay.
—Sure, her Rogero with the king is gone—
As soon as reappears the dawning day,
Towards fair Provence, whither (as she hears)
King Charlemagne pursues, her way she steers.
