XCVIII · Section 2

XCVIII Feeling his weakness, he gan musing stand, And in his troubled thought this question tossed, If he himself should murder with his hand, Because none else should of his conquest boast, Or he should save his life, when on the land Lay slain the pride of his subdued host, “At last to fortune’s power,” quoth he, “I yield, And on my flight let her her trophies build.

XCIX “Let Godfrey view my flight, and smile to see This mine unworthy second banishment, For armed again soon shall he hear of me, From his proud head the unsettled crown to rent, For, as my wrongs, my wrath etern shall be, At every hour the bow of war new bent, I will rise again, a foe, fierce, bold, Though dead, though slain, though burnt to ashes cold.”

TENTH BOOK

THE ARGUMENT. Ismen from sleep awakes the Soldan great, And into Sion brings the Prince by night Where the sad king sits fearful on his seat, Whom he emboldeneth and excites to fight; Godfredo hears his lords and knights repeat How they escaped Armida’s wrath and spite: Rinaldo known to live, Peter foresays His Offspring’s virtue, good deserts, and praise.