LVII.
If good Rinaldo gathers small supplies
From rents or cities, which his rule obey,
So these he bound by words and courtesies,
And sharing what he had with his array,
Is none that ever from his service buys
Deserter by the bribe of better pay.
Of Montalbano these are left in care,
Save pressing need demands their aid elsewhere.
LVIII.
Them now in succour of King Charles he stirred,
And left with little guard his citadel.
Among the Africans that squadron spurred,
That squadron, of whose doughty feats I tell,
Doing by them what wolf on woolly herd
Does where Galesus’ limpid waters well,
Or lion by the bearded goat and rank,
That feeds on Cinyphus’s barbarous bank[4].
LIX.
Tidings to Charles Rinaldo had conveyed,
‘That he for Paris with his squadron steers,
‘To assail, by night, the paynims ill purveyed;’
And ready and in arms the king appears.
He, when his help is needed, comes in aid,
With all his peerage, and, beside his peers,
Brings Monodantes’ son[1], amid that crew,
Of Flordelice the lover chaste and true
- ↑ Brandimart.
