LIV.
All others, taken from the paynim train,
Bradamant left suspended from the stone;
Mid these a king’s, that idly and in vain,
Had thither, seeking Frontalatte, gone:
I say his arms, that ruled Circassia’s reign;
Who, after wandering long, by dale and down,
Here to his grief another courser left,
And lightly went his way, of arms bereft.
LV.
Stript of his armour and afoot, did part
That paynim monarch from the bridge of dread;
As Rodomont permitted to depart
Those other knights that in his faith were bred:
But to his camp to wend he had no heart,
For there he was ashamed to show his head:
Since, in such fashion, thither to return
After his boasts, had been too foul a scorn.
LVI.
Yet still with new desire the warrior burned
To seek her, fixed alone in his heart’s core;
And such the monarch’s chance, he quickly learned
(I cannot tell you who the tidings bore)
She was towards her native land returned.
Hence, as Love spurs and goads him evermore,
He bowns him straight her footsteps to pursue:
But I to Bradamant return anew.
