LXIII.
“Needing to quit my home upon a day,
“And journey through the country, (as you can
“Haply remember ye) we on our way,
“Were overtaken by an Arab clan.
“Those robbers thee, Marphisa, bore away;
“While young Rogero ’scaped, who better ran.
“Bereaved of thee, thy woful loss I wept,
“And with more watchful care thy brother kept.
LXIV.
“Rogero, if Atlantes watched thee well,
“While yet he was alive, thou best dost know.
“I the fixed stars had heard of thee foretell,
“That thou shouldst perish by a treacherous foe
“In Christian land; and till their influence fell
“Was ended, laboured to avert the blow;
“Nor having power in fine thy will to guide,
“I sickened sore, and of my sorrow died.
LXV.
“But here, before my death, for in this glade
“I knew thou should’st with bold Marphisa fight,
“I with huge stones, amassed by hellish aid,
“Had this fair monument of marble dight;
“And I to Charon with loud outcries said;
‘I would not he should hence convey my sprite,
‘Till here, prepared in deadly fray to strive,
‘Rogero and his sister should arrive.’
