From the Italian of LODOVICO ARIOSTO, in the Fifth Book of his ORLANDO FURIOSO.
THE noble Rinaldo sailing to England, whither he was sent on an embassy by the emperor Charlemagne, a violent storm arose, which continuing two days and nights, drove him, at last, on the coast of Scotland: His fleet arriving safe, he ordered his retinue to meet him at Berwick, he himself, without any attendants, struck into the famous forest of Caledonia, not without a hope of meeting with some adventure worthy his courage and virtue.
While he was pleasing himself with this expectation, sometimes riding, and sometimes walking a slow pace leading his horse, night drew on, and he now began to think it necessary to go in quest of a lodging. Perceiving an abbey at some distance, he remounted his horse and rode up to it. The abbot and his monks, seeing a stranger of a noble appearance at their gate, came out, and with great civility invited him to pass the night there.
Rinaldo gratefully accepted their offer; and being conducted to a chamber, and an elegant repast served to the table, as soon as he had satisfied the cravings of an appetite made eager by travel and long fasting, he enquired of the good fathers what noble exploits in arms had been lately performed in their neighbourhood, and whether a warrior might hope to find any occasions there of signalizing his valour?
‘Tis certain, replied the abbot, that many great and wonderful adventures have been atchieved in this forest, but as the place, so are the actions obscure, and buried in oblivion: however, if honour be your pursuit, the present time affords you a fit opportunity to acquire it; the danger, indeed, is great, but if you succeed, eternal fame will be your reward. The young and beautiful Geneura, the daughter of our king, is accused by a knight named Lurcanio, of having violated her chastity; and it is provided by our Scottish laws, that all damsels, of what rank soever, who are publickly charged with incontinence, shall suffer the punishment of fire, unless a champion be found who will undertake their defence, and fight with the accuser.
Geneura, in consequence of this law, has been adjudged to die, and only a month’s space allowed her to procure a defender of her life and honour. The king, anxious for his daughter’s safety, but more for her reputation, has caused it to be proclaimed throughout his dominions, that by whatever person (provided his birth be not absolutely base) his daughter shall be delivered from the danger that threatens her, to him he will give the princess in marriage, with a portion suitable to her high rank and quality.
This enterprize, noble stranger, is worthy your youth, your courage, and generosity: the law of arms requires all true knights to undertake the defence of injured and oppressed ladies; and, surely, a fairer than Geneura is not to be found from one extremity of the globe to the other; nor, if common opinion may be relied on, a chaster.
And is it possible, said Rinaldo after a little pause, that this fair princess is condemned to die for having generously rewarded the passion of a faithful lover? Cursed be the makers of so hard a law: more cursed they that are influenced by it. For me it matters not whether Geneura be justly or unjustly accused; what has been imputed to her as a crime, were I her judge, she should be applauded for, had she taken care to have avoided discovery; but, as it is, I am resolved to defy her accuser to combat, and I trust shall be able to deliver her from the unjust and cruel punishment she has been doomed to.
The abbot and monks, overjoyed that they had procured a champion for their princess, bestowed a thousand praises on Rinaldo for his generous design; and he, full of impatience to begin the glorious enterprize, being furnished by his hosts with a guide, set out early the next morning for the Scottish court, leaving the good fathers charmed with his courage and gallantry, and offering up repeated prayers to heaven for his success.
As they were pursuing their journey through bye-roads, for the greater expedition, a cry, as of some person in distress, rouzed all their attention. Instantly Rinaldo clapped spurs to his horse, and galloping towards the place from whence the noise proceeded, he came to a deep valley, surrounded with trees, through the branches of which he perceived a young maid struggling to free herself from the hands of two russians, who were attempting to murder her. Transported with rage at this sight, the generous Rinaldo flew to the relief of the distressed damsel; his appearance so terrified the intended murderers, that they left their prey, and fled with the utmost precipitation.
Mean time the maid recovered from her fright, thanked her deliverer with a transport of joy and gratitude, and was beginning to acquaint him with the story of her misfortunes, when he, who had not alighted, being eager to pursue his journey, commanded his guide to take her up behind him; and as they travelled, having at leisure observed her countenance and behaviour, he was so much struck with the beauty of the one, and the soft and gentle modesty of the other, that his curiosity was awakened, and he became solicitous to know by what means she had been brought into so cruel a situation.
His request being inforced with kind assurances of future protection, the damsel, with a low voice, and eyes cast down in a graceful confusion, began in this manner:
Since you, my generous deliverer, have commanded me to relate my misfortunes, prepare to hear a tale more full of horror, an act of greater villainy and baseness than Athens, Thebes, or Argos ever knew. Ah! ’tis no wonder that our barren clime is curst with a long winter’s ceaseless rage, Phoebus disdains to shine upon a land where such inhuman crimes are perpetrated; deeds black as darkness, and fit to be covered with everlasting night; unhappy as I am, I bore but too great a share in those I am going to relate.
From my earliest youth I was brought up in the palace with the daughter of our king, honoured with a near attendance on her person, and happy in the possession of her affection and esteem. Long might I have enjoyed this delightful situation; but love (ah! that ever so sweet a passion should prove the source of so much misery) love interrupted my tranquility, subjected my whole soul, and gave me up to guilt, to shame, and unavailing penitence.
The duke of Alban was the object of my virgin wishes, my youth and person pleased him; skilled as he was in every deluding art by which the false and the designing part of his sex betray the unexperienced of ours, is it any wonder that I was deceived? Fond of believing what I wished, and judging of his passion by my own, I yielded to his desires, and vainly hoped this sacrifice of my honour would secure to me for ever the possession of his heart.
Our guilty commerce lasted some months, during which time I always received his visits in a summer apartment belonging to the princess my mistress, into which, as it was now the most rigid season of the year, she never entered; and being also in a part of the palace little frequented, and the windows opposite to some ruined houses, my lover could come thither unobserved, and by the help of a silken cord which I let down to him, easily ascend the chamber.
All sense of virtue being now subdued, and my whole soul sunk in a dear lethargick dream of pleasure, I never once suspected that as my passion increased, that of my lover was decreasing. Ah! my too violent love favoured his deceit, or soon I might have perceived that he feigned much, and loved but little.
At length, notwithstanding my prepossession, his coldness became visible; I sigh’d, I wept, I reproach’d; alas! how unavailing are all endeavours to revive a decaying passion, satiated by possession, and constant only to inconstancy.
Polynesso, so was my faithless lover named, languished in secret for the bright Geneura, my royal mistress; I know not if this passion commenced before my ruin was completed, or whether her more powerful charms was the cause of his infidelity; but certain it is, that relying on the fervent love I bore him, he made no scruple to confess his flame even to me, urging me by all the arguments his wicked mind could suggest, to move the heart of Geneura in his favour.
Ah my lord! judge if this cruel man was dear to me, ever solicitous to procure his happiness, and soothed by his assurances that ambition was the prevailing motive of his address to the princess, in which, if he succeeded, he vowed to keep me still his, and that I should share with her his person and his heart, I consented to all he proposed; and following his instructions, took all opportunities of praising him to my mistress.
The duke of Alban was the constant subject of my discourse; I extolled his valour, his generosity, his illustrious birth, the manly graces of his person, the mingled sweetness and dignity of his manners; the charming theme transported me out of myself. With eager pleasure I ran over all his virtues, dwelt with delight on every imputed charm; scarce could my tongue keep pace with the overflowings of my love-sick fancy, fond of the dear indulgence of talking in a personated character of him I loved.
But when, in compliance with his injunctions, I ventured to insinuate his passion for her, then only did I speak with coldness and restraint; slowly the unwilling words found way, checked by my rising sighs, and prefaced by my blushes. My emotions could not have been hid from an interested observation; but the princess was not only wholly indifferent to Polynesso, but indulged a secret passion for the all-accomplished Ariodant.
This young knight, an Italian by birth, came with his brother to the court of Scotland, either in pursuit of glory, or to transact some secret business with the king. To the graces of his form, than which nature never made one more lovely, is added a mind fraught with whatever is most great and excellent in mankind; his valour never yet found an equal in our land; his is the prize at every tournement, his the foremost honours of the field: in peace the ornament of our court, in war the defender of our country.
The king, to whom he had indeared himself by a thousand services, loaded him with riches and honours, and gave him the first employments in the kingdom; the hill of Sicily burns not with fiercer fires, nor glows Vesuvius with more ardent flames, than those which the bright eyes of our princess kindled in the heart of Ariodant.
I soon discovered that Geneura approved, encouraged and returned his passion; and being, as you may easily imagine, not greatly concerned at this obstacle to the desires of my faithless duke, I acquainted him with all I knew, and from the apparent impossibility of his ever succeeding in his attempt, drew arguments to induce him to give it over.
Polynesso, naturally haughty and vindictive, could not bear with patience, the thoughts of being rejected for a stranger, every way, as he conceived, his inferior; disdain, shame, rage, by turns, engrossed his soul, and banished thence every softer passion; his love for Geneura was now converted to the most obstinate hatred, and he resolved to accomplish her ruin by the blackest treason that ever was conceived in the heart of man.
His scheme of revenge concerted, in which I, alas! tho’ ignorantly, was to act the chief part, he one day accosted me with an air more tender and affectionate than usual.
My dear▪ Dalinda, said he, generous and kind as you have been to me, well may you think yourself injured by my inconstancy, but as trees, you know, when cropt by the pruner’s hand, shoot out into fresh luxuriant branches, so on the root of my passion for Geneura, young buds of fondness rise, and all the ripening fruit is yours.
Nor do I languish so much for the possession of Geneura’s beauties, as I disdain to be thus rejected and contemned; and, lest this grief should prey too forcibly on my heart, do thou, my fair, indulge my sick fancy with a kind deceit, and in the dress of that too haughty charmer, receive me to thy arms.
When the princess is retired to bed, put on her robes, adorn thee with her richest jewels, with her girdle bind thy swelling bosom, let her coronet glitter on thy beauteous brow, and beneath it let thy hair descend in graceful curls like hers; then, in her borrowed form, attend my coming at the well-known window; thus shall my pride be gratified, and my capricious fancy pleased.
Without reflecting on the insidious purport of this request, I promised to comply with it; and, for many succeessive nights, received him in the habit he prescribed. Having thus wrought me to his wish, his wicked arts were next played off on Ariodant.
Before the duke had any knowledge of his passion for the princess, he had lived in strict friendship with this young knight, and thence took occasion to reproach him with the breach of it, by presuming to address the princess.
In you, said he, I little expected a rival as well on account of your attachment to me, as the improbability of your succeeding in your attempt; for you are not now to be told of the mutual passion that has long joined Geneura’s heart and mine, nor that I intend soon to ask the king’s consent to espouse her; why then do you fondly thrust yourself between me and my almost certain happiness? how differently should I act were I in your place?
Why this to me, my lord? replied Ariodant hastily; ’tis you who have betrayed our friendship, you have commenced my rival, not I yours. I claim a prior right in fair Geneura, as having loved her first, and have been happy enough to inspire her with an equal flame; this you might have perceived, had you not been blinded by obstinacy; since then the laws of friendship demand one of us to yield, be yours the task, as having less right to persist, and less hope of succeeding than myself. In riches indeed you are my superior; but the king’s favour is equally shared betwixt us, and in the heart of Geneura the advantage is wholly mine.
What errors does not love occasion? replied the duke; each thinks himself the happy object of her wishes, and yet ’tis certain that only one is loved: thus then let us decide the contest; he who can give the most certain proofs of her affection shall be left by the other in the free and undisturbed possession of it: but first, let us bind ourselves by the most solemn oaths not to disclose each others secrets.
To this Ariodant, with trembling impatience agreed, and the artful duke went on in this manner:
‘Tis now almost five months since the beauteous Geneura rewarded my ardent love with the possession of her person; oft has the conscious queen of night lent me her shades to guide me to my charmer, and seen me happy in her arms.
‘Tis false, by Heaven, interrupted Ariodant, transported with rage; not that cold queen, whose name thou hast profaned, is chaster than my Geneura. Traitor, with my good sword I’ll prove thou lyest; take notice I defy thee to mortal combat, and will with thy dearest blood, wash away the slanders thou hast thrown upon my princess.
Moderate your rage, said the calm villain, I mean to give you proofs, convincing proofs, of what I have said; your own eyes shall be witnesses of the favours I enjoy.
The unhappy Ariodant, pale, trembling, and lost in speechless grief and horror at those fatal words, stood for some moments fixed in racking thought, like the sad statue of despair; then raising his eyes, overflowing with tears, to heaven, and passionately striking his groaning breast, And can it be, he cried, that my Geneura, that princess whom I loved, whom I adored with such pure reverence as mortals pay to Deities, should become the prey of loose desires, and give her faithful Ariodant to death? Oh! ’tis impossible, though a God spoke it, I should say ’twere false.
Incredulous man, said Polynesso, have I not offered to give thee proofs that cannot be denied? Thy eyes shall see the favours she bestows on me.
I take you at your word, resumed Ariodant impatiently, give me to behold her guilt and I am satisfied.
To-morrow night, said the duke, I have an appointment with her; I will conduct you to a place from whence, unperceived, you yourself shall behold me ascend her chamber window, and judge by the reception she gives me, if I am happy in her favour.
To this the almost distracted Ariodant consented; and, at the appointed time, followed the duke to those ruined houses I mentioned before, and there stood concealed from view: being doubtful of Polynesso’s intentions, he had ordered his brother Lurcanio to arm and go with him, directing him to stay at a convenient distance, so as to be within call if any treachery was offered him, but not in sight of Geneura’s window; for he would have no witness of her guilt but himself.
The duke, having placed Ariodant most conveniently for his purpose, advanced and gave the usual sign; unhappy as I am I heard, and eagerly obeyed the welcome summons; adorned in Geneura’s richest robes, and covered with the veil that princesses only wear, I appeared at the window and threw the silken ladder over to my lover.
Lurcanio, either fearing for his brother’s safety, or desirous of prying into his secrets, quitted his appointed station, and unperceived by him, walked softly forward till he came within ten paces of Ariodant; and now my faithless duke was seen by both the brothers, (though known only to Ariodant) to ascend the ladder and gain the chamber window, at which I met him with a tender embrace, wandering over his lips and eyes with eager kisses.
This sight so enflamed the soul of Ariodant with rage and grief, that drawing out his sword, and fixing the pummel of it in the ground, he was going to rush with all his force upon the point, had he not been prevented by Lurcanio, who perceiving his rash design, sprang to him in an instant, and having thrown aside the fatal instrument of death, received his sinking brother in his arms.
Ah miserable brother! said Lurcanio, by what wild fury art thou possest, to fall thus meanly for a woman? Now cursed, for ever cursed be all the kind; may they all perish in one wide ruin, blown as they are, like clouds, with every blast of wind: and this fair mischief that has betrayed thee, let us devise some glorious vengeance for her: let not thy noble life be sacrificed to her falshood; her’s is the crime, be her’s the punishment; proclaim her guilt aloud, accuse her to the king; my eyes as well as thine have seen her infamy, and with my sword I’ll make good thy assertion.
Ariodant, whose soul was torn with various and conflicting passions, smiled gloomily at the mention of revenge; a-while he seemed to bury every thought of grief and of despair in that one hope of sacrificing the guilty princess to his wrongs; but alas! the cureless wound remained behind; Geneura, base as she appeared, he loved with such unceasing fondness, that wholly unable to endure her loss, and dreading no hell like that within his bosom, once more he resolved to die.
To Lurcanio, however, he dissembled his design, and went home with him at his request; but early the next morning he departed, leaving no traces behind him from whence it might be gathered to what place he was gone.
Lurcanio dreading the fatal effects of his despair, was pierced to his inmost soul at the news of his flight: the king and the whole court took part in his affliction; no methods were left untried to discover where he was; messengers were sent in search of him to the utmost extremities of the kingdom; but all returned without any success.
At length a peasant came to court, and at his request was introduced to the princess, who informed her, that as he was travelling to the city he met Ariodant; that this unhappy knight obliged him to follow him and be witness of a deed he was going to perform; that obeying his orders they journeyed on together till they came to a steep rock that hung pendant over the sea, fronting the Irish island.
Ariodant, said the peasant, ascending this rock, commanded me to observe well what he did, to give you an account of it, and tell you his last words; which were, that he had seen too much: then springing furiously from the top of the rock, he precipitated himself into the sea. Terrified at the dreadful sight, I hastily turned back, and travelled hither to bring you the fatal news.
Geneura, overwhelmed with grief and amazement for the death of her lover, and the strange message he had sent her, abandoned herself to the most violent excesses of despair; she beat her beauteous bosom, tore her hair, and in the wildness of her woe, a thousand times invoked the dear loved name of Ariodant; repeated the mysterious words he uttered, and as often called on death to end her.
The news of his death, with the sad manner of it, spread grief and consternation through the whole city; even the remotest parts of Scotland felt and lamented the loss of their valiant defender; the king and the whole court bewailed his loss with the sincerest sorrow: but Lurcanio, superior in grief, as more nearly interested in the dear deceased, mourned his unhappy brother with all the tenderness of fraternal love, and all the warmth of friendship.
Revolving in his mind the fatal adventure of the window, which had been the cause of his brother’s distraction; the desire and hope of revenge afforded some relief to the poignancy of his woe; and obstinately bent to sacrifice the princess to the manes of his Ariodant, he presented himself before the king and council, and accused her of incontinence, relating all that Ariodant and he had seen, and the fatal effects it had upon him: he then reminded the king of the Scottish laws against unchastity, and loudly demanded justice on the princess.
Horror and amazement seized the soul of the unhappy father! Geneura, tho’ dearer to him than life, tho’ innocent in his opinion, he has not power to screen from the danger that threatens her; the laws indeed permit the accused to have a champion to fight in her defence; by whom, if the prosecutor (who is obliged to maintain by force of arms the truth of his assertion) is worsted, she is declared guiltless of the crimes laid to her charge.
To this only remedy the king has recourse, and causes it to be proclaimed throughout his dominions, that if any knight of noble birth will undertake the defence of his daughter, and by force of arms shall vanquish her accuser, on him he will bestow the princess, with a dower suitable to her quality.
Notwithstanding this proclamation no knight has yet offered himself for the enterprize, deterred therefrom by the known valour of Lurcanio: the king, no less anxious for Geneura’s reputation than her life, caused all her maids to be brought to a trial, who with one voice declared they never were privy to any intrigue of their royal mistress.
Alarmed at these proceedings, and dreading the consequence of a further scrutiny, I urged the duke to take some measures for our common security: he, with dissembled kindness, praised my secrecy and affection, and sent two men to conduct me to a castle of his at a great distance from the court.
Wholly relying on his faith, I put myself under the protection of those two villains, whom the duke, desirous of removing for ever the only person who could discover his guilt, ordered when they came to a convenient place, to murder me: happily for me chance conducted you that way; you delivered me from my impending fate, and while it shall please heaven to preserve my unhappy life, it shall be spent in grateful acknowledgments to my protector.
This account of Geneura’s innocence was extremely welcome to Rinaldo; for though confiding in his own courage he was not without hopes of delivering her, guilty as she appeared; yet the certainty he was going to fight in a just cause, animated him with double fires, and gave him almost a confirmation of victory.
Now clapping spurs to his horse, he rode on with such eager haste, that the noble town of St. Andrews soon appeared in view. There the combat was to be performed; the guards had already surrounded the lists, the challenger’s trumpet had sounded, and the unhappy king, pale, trembling, and full of eager anxiety, listened with a beating heart, and fear-check’d wishes for an accepting answer.
Mean time Rinaldo, having left the frighted Dalinda at an inn, with repeated assurances of gaining her pardon, in case he vanquished the princess’s accuser, advanced towards the city-gate: here he was met by a young page, who informed him that an unknown knight, clad all in sable armour, was arrived; that he had demanded the combat with Lurcanio, and declared he would die, or free the princess from her ignominious sentence.
Rinaldo, impatient to unfold the mystery, thundered at the city-gates, which being opened, he rode eagerly to the lists; there beholding the combatants engaged, he forced his way through the press, and crying aloud that they should cease the fight, demanded an instant audience of the king.
The marshals of the field thereupon parted the two champions, and Rinaldo was immediately conducted to the king; to whom he related the whole story of Polynesso’s treachery, as he had received it from Dalinda; adding that he would prove the truth of it by force of arms, and begged that he might be allowed to defy the traitor duke to single combat.
The noble form of Rinaldo, but chiefly the pleasing purport of his speech, gained him absolute credit with the king. Scarce could the raptured parent restrain the wild exultings of his joy of this confirmation of his Geneura’s innocence; dearer than life or empire was she loved by him, and freely would he have sacrificed both to save her honour: he hesitated therefore not a moment in permitting the requested combat, but ordered duke Polynesso to be called.
He, by his office of high constable, having the ordering of the combat, was riding proudly about the field, exulting in his successful treason, and anticipating, in his own mind, the ruin of the fair and injured Geneura. Ignorant though he was of the design of this summons, yet coward guilt suggesting the worst he had to fear, with a disordered air, and eyes expressive of the various apprehensions that struck his conscious soul, he met the reproachful look of his king, and the fierce glances of Rinaldo.
That noble warrior repeating in a few words the treasons he had been guilty of, challenged him to the field: Polynesso denied the accusation, but accepting the proferred combat, because he could not avoid it, retired to arm himself, while Rinaldo, fraught with the pious prayers and blessings of the king, entered the lists, and ordered his trumpet to sound.
At the third blast the duke appeared; pale terror and dismay were pictured in his face, his fainting heart throbbed with the conscious pangs of guilt, and horrors of impending fate: confused, distracted, not knowing what he did, he darted forward at the signal given to begin the fight; but his weak lance, ill guided by his trembling hand, fell harmless to the ground.
Not so the great Rinaldo; he, with calm courage, and brave, yet unassuming confidence, meditated the wound, and rising all collected to the blow, threw his famed lance with such unerring skill and force, that it pierced quite through the armour of Polynesso, and hid its fatal point within his side.
The traitor fell, Rinaldo eagerly dismounted, and approaching him, unlaced his helmet. With faint low voice he called for mercy, and thinking to deserve it, confessed unasked the wrong he had been guilty of to Geneura; then, as if life had been only lent him till he had cleared her innocence, scarce had he uttered another prayer for mercy, but death supprest the coward supplication, and he lay a breathless coarse at the feet of Rinaldo.
The people, transported with joy that their princess was not only delivered from death, but restored to her former sanctity of character, made the air resound with their acclamations.
Rinaldo being conducted to the king, untied the beaver of his helmet, and was immediately known to be that famous knight of Italy, whose noble exploits were noised over all the habitable world.
The king embraced him in a rapture of joy and gratitude; the nobles crouded round the deliverer of their princess, loaded him with blessings, and strove to exceed each other in praises of his invincible valour.
These congratulations over, all eyes were turned upon the unknown knight in black armour, who had so generously undertaken the defence of Geneura against her accuser Lurcanio; pensive he stood during the fight between Polynesso and Rinaldo, his eyes fixed upon the combatants, with eager attention he had listened to the dying words of the treacherous duke, and while the multitude in loud shouts expressed their joy, and the king and court were paying honours to the glorious victor, he stood apart from the throng, absorbed in thought, and wholly insensible of the tumult around him.
The king caused him to be conducted to his presence, and acknowledging himself greatly obliged to his generous intention, pressed him to let him know in what manner he could repay the obligation.
The knight made no answer, but bowing low, and throwing off his helmet, the king and court, with the utmost astonishment, beheld the lovely face of Ariodant; wonder and joy kept them all silent for a while; at length the king recovering from his surprize, clasp’d the young warrior to his breast with a tender embrace:
Is it possible, said he, in a tone of voice expressive of the strongest transport, that I behold again my Ariodant, the gallant defender of my dominions, and the brave champion for my daughter’s honour? him whom I lamented as dead, whom my whole kingdom mourned for: tell me by what strange yet happy chance I now behold thee living, whose death was so confidently affirmed, and so universally believed.
Ariodant knowing the king was acquainted with the whole story of his love, replied without reserve:
The peasant, my lord, whom I detained to be a witness of the sad effects of my despair, and to bring the news of it to the princess, informed her truly that I cast myself from the rock into the sea; but that natural repugnance we have all to death, when near, however we may despise its terrors at a distance, impelled me, involuntarily, to use measures to preserve a life which a moment before I had been so desirous of losing.
As soon as I rose again upon the surface of the waves, I applied myself to swimming, at which I was very expert, and soon reached the neighbouring shore, faint, weary, and almost breathless. I threw myself down amidst the rushes, and was found in this condition by an ancient hermit, whose cell was at a small distance.
Thither he conducted me, and in a few days his charitable cares restored me to my strength; but, alas! my mind was tortured still with various passions; love, hate, despair, and eager thirst of vengeance, by turns possessed me; in vain I sought to banish the idea of Geneura from my soul, it still returned with double force; nor could her infidelity, of which, mistaken wretch that I was, I thought I had such convincing proofs, weaken the power of her resistless charms.
Thus languishing, with a cureless wound, I heard the news of her accusation by my brother, and the danger to which her life and honour were exposed; at that moment, forgetting the injuries I had suffered, insensible to all the ties of consanguinity and friendship, and only solicitous for her safety, I determined to fight with my brother in her defence, pleasing myself with the thought, that if I did not free her, I should at least have the satisfaction of dying in her cause, and thereby proving how much superior to Polynesso was my love, who though favoured as he was by her, he wanted courage to defend her.
Having provided myself with armour that might effectually conceal me, I came hither full of fury against my brother, whom I could not but consider as my worst enemy, since he was the accuser of the still adored Geneura.
The arrival of the brave Rinaldo happily prevented the continuance of a combat, which must have ended in the death of one brother, and eternal remorse to the other.
With joy I behold the princess delivered from the ignominious death with which she was threatened; but oh! with far more rapture do I congratulate your majesty on this discovery of her innocence: Happy Rinaldo, to be at once the defender of her life, and restorer of her honour: As for me, I sought only to preserve her from death; and if that was denied me, to have the satisfaction, at least, of dying in her defence, by the hand of a friend and brother.
The king who loved him before for his virtues, was so charmed with this generous proof of his passion for his daughter, that he easily yielded to the solicitations of Rinaldo and the noblemen of his court, to bestow the princess on so faithful a lover; and endowing her with the dutchy of Albania, which, on Polynesso’s decease, reverted to the crown, he gave her hand to Ariodant in the presence of the whole court, and the nuptials were soon after celebrated with the utmost magninificence.
Rinaldo having obtained Dalinda’s pardon, who retired into a monastry, took leave of the king and happy lovers, and pursued his voyage to England.