LITMIR.BIZ

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And that each night I slept—O foul untruth!—

       Mine honor lost, by this Arontes' side:

       But Heaven I pray send down revenging fire,

       When so base love shall change my chaste desire.

      LVIII

       "Not that he sitteth on my regal throne,

       Nor that he thirst to drink my lukewarm blood,

       So grieveth me, as this despite alone,

       That my renown, which ever blameless stood,

       Hath lost the light wherewith it always shone:

       With forged lies he makes his tale so good,

       And holds my subjects' hearts in such suspense,

       That none take armor for their queen's defence.

      LIX

       "And though he do my regal throne possess,

       Clothed in purple, crowned with burnished gold;

       Yet is his hate, his rancor, ne'er the less,

       Since naught assuageth malice when 'tis old:

       He threats to burn Arontes' forteress,

       And murder him unless he yield the hold,

       And me and mine threats not with war, but death,

       Thus causeless hatred, endless is uneath.

      LX

       "And so he trusts to wash away the stain,

       And hide his shameful fact with mine offence,

       And saith he will restore the throne again

       To his late honor and due excellence,

       And therefore would I should be algates slain,

       For while I live, his right is in suspense,

       This is the cause my guiltless life is sought,

       For on my ruin is his safety wrought.

      LXI

       "And let the tyrant have his heart's desire,

       Let him perform the cruelty he meant,

       My guiltless blood must quench the ceaseless fire

       On which my endless tears were bootless spent,

       Unless thou help; to thee, renowned Sire,

       I fly, a virgin, orphan, innocent,

       And let these tears that on thy feet distil,

       Redeem the drops of blood, he thirsts to spill.

      LXII

       "By these thy glorious feet, that tread secure

       On necks of tyrants, by thy conquests brave,

       By that right hand, and by those temples pure

       Thou seek'st to free from Macon's lore, I crave

       Help for this sickness none but thou canst cure,

       My life and kingdom let thy mercy save

       From death and ruin: but in vain I prove thee,

       If right, if truth, if justice cannot move thee.

      LXIII

       "Thou who dost all thou wishest, at thy will,

       And never willest aught but what is right,

       Preserve this guiltless blood they seek to spill;

       Thine be my kingdom, save it with thy might:

       Among these captains, lords, and knights of skill,

       Appoint me ten, approved most in fight,

       Who with assistance of my friends and kin,

       May serve my kingdom lost again to win.

      LXIV

       "For lo a knight, that had a gate to ward,

       A man of chiefest trust about his king,

       Hath promised so to beguile the guard

       That me and mine he undertakes to bring

       Safe, where the tyrant haply sleepeth hard

       He counselled me to undertake this thing,

       Of these some little succor to intreat,

       Whose name alone accomplish can the feat."

      LXV

       This said, his answer did the nymph attend,

       Her looks, her sighs, her gestures all did pray him:

       But Godfrey wisely did his grant suspend,

       He doubts the worst, and that awhile did stay him,

       He knows, who fears no God, he loves no friend,

       He fears the heathen false would thus betray him:

       But yet such ruth dwelt in his princely mind,

       That gainst his wisdom, pity made him kind.

      LXVI

       Besides the kindness of his gentle thought,

       Ready to comfort each distressed wight,

       The maiden's offer profit with it brought;

       For if the Syrian kingdom were her right,

       That won, the way were easy, which he sought,

       To bring all Asia subject to his might:

       There might he raise munition, arms and treasure

       To work the Egyptian king and his displeasure.

      LXVII

       Thus was his noble heart long time betwixt

       Fear and remorse, not granting nor denying,

       Upon his eyes the dame her lookings fixed,

       As if her life and death lay on his saying,

       Some tears she shed, with sighs and sobbings mixed,

       As if her hopes were dead through his delaying;

       At last her earnest suit the duke denayed,

       But with sweet words thus would content the maid:

      LXVIII

       "If not in service of our God we fought,

       In meaner quarrel if this sword were shaken,

       Well might thou gather in thy gentle thought,

       So fair a princess should not be forsaken;

       But since these armies, from the world's end brought,

       To free this sacred town have undertaken,

       It were unfit we turned our strength away,

       And victory, even in her coming, stay.

      LXIX

       "I promise thee, and on my princely word

       The burden of thy wish and hope repose,

       That when this chosen temple of the Lord,

       Her holy doors shall to his saints unclose

       In rest and peace; then this victorious sword

       Shall execute due vengeance on thy foes;

       But if for pity of a worldly dame

       I left this work, such pity were my shame."

      LXX

       At this the princess bent her eyes to ground,

       And stood unmoved, though not unmarked, a space,

       The secret bleeding of her inward wound

       Shed heavenly dew upon her angel's face,

       "Poor wretch," quoth she, "in tears and sorrows drowned,

       Death be thy peace, the grave thy resting-place,

       Since such thy

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