The Faerie Queene (34 page)

Him backward ouerthrew, and downe him stayd

With their rude hands and griesly graplement,

Till that the villein comming to their ayd,

Vpon him fell, and lode vpon him layd;

Full litle wanted, but he had him slaine,

And of the battell balefull end had made,

Had not his gentle Squire beheld his paine,

And commen to his reskew, ere his bitter bane.

30
So greatest and most glorious thing on ground

May often need the helpe of weaker hand;

So feeble is mans state, and life vnsound,

That in assurance it may neuer stand,

Till it dissolued be from earthly band.

Proofe be thou Prince, the prowest man aliue,

And noblest borne of all in
Briton
land;

Yet thee fierce Fortune did so nearely driue,

That had not grace thee blest, thou shouldest not suruiue.

31
The Squire arriuing, fiercely in his armes

Snatcht first the one, and then the other lade,

His chiefest lets and authors of his harm.es,

And them perforce withheld with threatned blade,

Least that his Lord they should behind inuade;

The whiles the Prince prickt with reprochfull shame,

As one awakt out of long slombring shade,

Reuiuing thought of glorie and of fame,

Vnited all his powres to purge himselfe from blame.

32
Like as a fire, the which in hollow caue

Hath long bene vnderkept, and downe supprest,

With murmurous disdaine doth inly raue,

And grudge, in so streight prison to be prest,

At last breakes forth with furious vnrest,

And striues to mount vnto his natiue seat;

All that did earst it hinder and molest,

It now deuoures with flames and scorching heat,

And carries into smoake with rage and horror great.

33
So mightily the
Briton
Prince him rouzd

Out of his hold, and broke his caitiue bands,

And as a Beare whom angry curres haue touzd,

Hauing off-shakt them, and escapt their hands,

Becomes more fell, and all that him withstands

Treads downe and ouerthrowes. Now had the Carle

Alighted from his Tigre, and his hands

Discharged of his bow and deadly quar'le,

To seize vpon his foe flat lying on the marie.

34
Which now him turnd to disauantage deare;

For neither can he fly, nor other harme,

But trust vnto his strength and manhood meare,

Sith now he is farre from his monstrous swarme,

And of his weapons did himselfe disarme.

The knight yet wrothfull for his late disgrace,

Fiercely aduaunst his valorous right arme,

And him so sore smote with his yron mace,

That groueling to the ground he fell, and fild his place.

35
Well weened he, that field was then bis owne,

And all his labour brought to happie end,

When suddein vp the villein ouerthrowne,

Out of his swowne arose, fresh to contend,

And gan himselfe to second battell bend,

As hurt he had not bene. Thereby there lay

An huge great stone, which stood vpon one end,

And had not bene remoued many a day;

Some land-marke seem'd to be, or signe of sundry way.

36
The same he snatcht, and with exceeding sway

Threw at his foe, who was right well aware

To shunne the engin of his meant decay;

It .booted not to thinke that throw to beare,

But ground he gaue, and lightly leapt areare:

Eft fierce returning, as a Faulcon faire

That once hath failed of her souse full neare,

Remounts againe into the open aire,

And vnto better fortune doth her selfe prepaire.

37
So braue returning, with his brandisht blade,

He to the Carle himselfe againe addrest,

And strooke at him so sternely, that he made

An open passage through his riuen brest,

That halfe the Steele behind his back did rest;

Which drawing backe, he looked euermore

When the hart bloud should gush out of his chest,

Or his dead corse should fall vpon the flore;

But his dead corse vpon the flore fell nathemore.

38
Ne drop of bloud appeared shed to bee,

All were the wounde so wide and wonderous,

That through his carkasse one might plainely see:

Halfe in a maze with horror hideous,

And halfe in rage, to be deluded thus,

Againe through both the sides he strooke him quight,

That made his spright to grone full piteous:

Yet nathemore forth fled his groning spright,

But freshly as at first, prepard himselfe to fight.

39
Thereat he smitten was with great affright,

And trembling terror did his hart apall,

Ne wist he, what to thinke of that same sight,

Ne what to say, ne what to doe at all;

He doubted, least it were some magicall

Illusion, that did beguile his sense,

Or wandring ghost, that wanted funerall,

Or aerie spirit vnder false pretence,

Or hellish feend raysd vp through diuelish science.

40
His wonder farre exceeded reasons reach,

That he began to doubt his dazeled sight,

And oft of error did himselfe appeach:

Flesh without bloud, a person without spright,

Wounds without hurt, a bodie without might,

That could doe harme, yet could not harmed bee,

That could not die, yet seem'd a mortall wight,

That was most strong in most infirmitee;

Like did he neuer heare, like did he neuer see.

41
A while he stood in this astonishment,

Yet would he not for all his great dismay

Giue ouer to effect his first intent,

And th'vtmost meanes of victorie assay,

Or th'vtmost issew of his owne decay.

His owne good sword
Mordure,
that neuer fayld

At need, till now, he lightly threw away,

And his bright shield, that nought him now auayld,

And with his naked hands him forcibly assayld.

42
Twixt his two mightie armes him vp he snatcht,

And crusht his carkasse so against his brest,

That the disdainfull soule he thence dispatcht,

And th'idle breath all vtterly exprest:

Tho when he felt him dead, adowne he kest

The lumpish corse vnto the senselesse grownd;

Adowne he kest it with so puissant wrest,

That backe againe it did aloft rebownd,

And gaue against his mother earth a gronefull sownd.

43
As when
Iues
harnesse-bearing Bird from hie

Stoupes at a flying heron with proud disdaine,

The stone-dead quarrey fals so forciblie,

That it rebounds against the lowly plaine,

A second fall redoubling backe againe.

Then thought the Prince all perill sure was past,

And that he victor onely did remaine;

No sooner thought, then that the Carle as fast

Gan heap huge strokes on him, as ere he downe was cast

44
Nigh his wits end then woxe th'amazed knight,

And thought his labour lost and trauell vaine,

Against this lifelesse shadow so to fight:

Yet life he saw, and felt his mightie maine,

That whiles he marueild still, did still him paine:

For thy he gan some other wayes aduize,

How to take life from that dead-liuing swaine,

Whom still he marked freshly to arize

From th'earth, & from her wombe new spirits to reprize.

45
He then remembred well, that had bene sayd,

How th'Earth his mother was, and first him bore;

She eke so often, as his life decayd,

Did life with vsury to him restore,

And raysd him vp much stronger then before,

So soone as he vnto her wombe did fall;

Therefore to ground he would him cast no more,

Ne him commit to graue terrestriall,

But beare him farre from hope of succour vsuall.

46
Tho vp he caught him twixt his puissant hands,

And hauing scruzd out of his carrion corse

The lothfull life, now loosd from sinfull bands,

Vpon his shoulders carried him perforse

Aboue three furlongs, taking his full course,

Vntill he came vnto a standing lake;

Him thereinto he threw without remorse,

Ne stird, till hope of life did him forsake;

So end of that Carles dayes, and his owne paines did make.

47
Which when those wicked Hags from farre did spy,

like two mad dogs they ran about the lands,

And th'one of them with dreadfull yelling cry,

Throwing away her broken chaines and bands,

And hauing quencht her burning fier brands,

Hedlong her selfe did cast into that lake;

But
Impotence
with her owne wilfull hands,

One
of Malegers
cursed darts did take,

So riu'd her trembling hart, and wicked end did make.

48
Thus now alone he conquerour remaines;

Tho comming to his Squire, that kept his steed,

Thought to haue mounted, but his feeble vaines

Him faild thereto, and serued not his need,

Through losse of bloud, which from his wounds did bleed,

That he began to faint, and life decay:

But his good Squire him helping vp with speed,

With stedfast hand vpon his horse did stay,

And led him to the Castle by the beaten way.

49
Where many Groomes and Squiers readie were,

To take him from his steed full tenderly,

And eke the fairest
Alma
met him there

With balme and wine and costly spicery,

To comfort him in his infirmity;

Eftsoones she causd him vp to be conuayd,

And of his armes despoyled easily,

In sumptuous bed she made him to be layd,

And all the while his wounds were dressing, by him stayd.

Guyon by Palmers gouernance,
   passing through perils great,
Doth ouerthrow the Bowre of blisse,
   and Acrasie defeat.

1
Now gins this goodly frame of Temperance

Fairely to rise, and her adorned hed

To pricke of highest praise forth to aduance,

Formerly grounded, and fast setteled

On firme foundation of true bountihed;

And that braue knight, that for this vertue fights,

Now comes to point of that same perilous sted,

Where Pleasure dwelles in sensuall delights,

Mongst thousand dangers, & ten thousand magick mights.

2
Two dayes now in that sea he sayled has,

Ne euer land beheld, ne liuing wight,

Ne ought saue perill, still as he did pas:

Tho when appeared the third
Morrow
bright,

Vpon the waues to spred her trembling light,

An hideous roaring farre away they heard,

That all their senses filled with affright,

And streight they saw the raging surges reard

Vp to the skyes, that them of drowning made affeard.

3
Said then the Boteman, Palmer stere aright,

And keepe an euen course; for yonder way

We needes must passe (God do vs well acquight,)

That is the
Gulfe of Greedinesse,
they say,

That deepe engorgeth all this worldes pray:

Which hauing swallowd vp excessiuely,

He soone in vomit vp againe doth lay,

And belcheth forth his superfluity,

That all the seas for feare do seeme away to fly.

4
On th'other side an hideous Rocke is pight,

Of mightie
Magnes
stone, whose craggie clift

Depending from on high, dreadfull to sight,

Ouer the waues his rugged armes doth lift,

And threameth downe to throw his ragged rift

On who so commeth nigh; yet nigh it drawes

All passengers, that none from it can shift:

For whiles they fly that Gulfes deuouring iawes,

They on this rock are rent, and sunck in helplesse wawes.

5
Forward they passe, and strongly he them rowes,

Vntill they nigh vnto that Gulfe arriue,

“Where streame more violent and greedy growes:

Then he with all his puissance doth striue

To strike his oares, and mightily doth driue

The hollow vessell through the threatfull waue,

Which gaping wide, to swallow them aliue,

In th' huge abysse of his engulfing graue,

Doth rore at them in vaine, and with great terror raue.

6
They passing by, that griesly mouth did see,

Sucking the seas into his entralles deepe,

That seem'd more horrible then hell to bee,

Or that darke dreadfull hole of
Tartare
steepe,

Through which the damned ghosts doen often creepe

Backe to the world, bad liuers to torment:

But nought that falles into this direfull deepe,

Ne that approcheth nigh the wide descent,

May backe returne, but is condemned to be drent.

7
On th'other side, they saw that perilous Rocke,

Threatning it selfe on them to ruinate,

On whose sharpe clifts the ribs of vessels broke,

And shiuered ships, which had bene wrecked late,

Yet stuck, with carkasses exanimate

Of such, as hauing all their substance spent

In wanton ioyes, and lustes intemperate,

Did afterwards make shipwracke violent,

Both of their life, and fame for euer fowly blent.

8
For thy, this hight
The Rocke
of vile
Reproch,

A daungerous and detestable place,

To which nor fish nor fowle did once approch,

But yelling Meawes, with Seagulles hoarse and bace,

And Cormoyrants, with birds of rauenous race,

Which still sate waiting on that wastfull clift,

For spoyle of wretches, whose vnhappie cace,

After lost credite and consumed thrift,

At last them driuen hath to this despairefull drift.

9
The Palmer seeing them in safetie past,

Thus said; behold th'ensamples in our sights,

Of lustfull luxurie and thriftlesse wast:

What now is left of miserable wights,

Which spent their looser daies in lewd delights,

But shame and sad reproch, here to be red,

By these rent reliques, speaking their ill plights?

Let all that liue, hereby be counselled,

To shunne
Rocke of Reproch,
and it as death to dred.

10
So forth they rowed, and that
Ferryman

With his stifle oares did brush the sea so strong,

That the hoare waters from his frigot ran,

And the light bubbles daunced all along,

Whiles the salt brine out of the billowes sprong.

At last farre off they many Islands spy,

On euery side floting the floods emong:

Then said the knight, Loe I the land descry,

Therefore old Syre thy course do thereunto apply.

11
That may not be, said then the
Ferryman

Least we vnweeting hap to be fordonne:

For those same Islands, seeming now and than,

Are not firme lande, nor any certein wonne,

But straggling plots, which to and fro do ronne

In the wide waters: therefore are they hight

The
wandring Islands.
Therefore doe them shonne;

For they haue oft drawne many a wandring wight

Into most deadly daunger and distressed plight.

12
Yet well they seeme to him, that farre doth vew,

Both faire and fruitfull, and the ground dispred

With grassie greene of delectable hew,

And the tall trees with leaues apparelled,

Are deckt with blossomes dyde in white and red,

That mote the passengers thereto allure;

But whosoeuer once hath fastened

His foot thereon, may neuer it recure,

But wandreth euer more vncertein and vnsure.

13
As th'Isle of
Delos
whylome men report

Amid th'
Aegæan
sea long time did stray,

Ne made for shipping any certaine port,

Till that
Latona
traueiling that way,

Flying from
Iunoes
wrath and hard assay,

Of her faire twins was there deliuered,

Which afterwards did rule the night and day;

Thenceforth it firmely was established,

And for
Apolloes
honor highly herried.

14
They to him hearken, as beseemeth meete,

And passe on forward: so their way does ly,

That one of those same Islands, which doe fleet

In the wide sea, they needes must passen by,

Which seemd so sweet and pleasant to the eye,

That it would tempt a man to touchen there:

Vpon the banck they sitting did espy

A daintie damzell, dressing of her heare,

By whom a litle skippet floting did appeare.

15
She them espying, loud to them can call,

Bidding them nigher draw vnto the shore;

For she had cause to busie them withall;

And therewith loudly laught: But nathemore

Would they once turne, but kept on as afore:

Which when she saw, she left her lockes vndight,

And running to her boat withouten ore,

From the departing land it launched light,

And after them did driue with all her power and might.

16
Whom ouertaking, she in merry sort

Them gan to bord, and purpose diuersly,

Now faining dalliance and wanton sport,

Now throwing forth lewd words immodestly;

Till that the Palmer gan full bitterly

Her to rebuke, for being loose and light:

Which not abiding, but more scornefully

Scoffing at him, that did her iustly wite,

She turnd her bote about, and from them rowed quite.

17
That was the wanton
Phœdria,
which late

Did ferry him ouer the
Idle lake:

Whom nought regarding, they kept on their gate,

And all her vaine allurements did forsake,

When them the wary Boateman thus bespake;

Here now behoueth vs well to auyse,

And of our safetie good heede to take;

For here before a perlous passage lyes,

Where many Mermayds haunt, making false melodies.

18
But by the way, there is a great Quicksand,

And a whirlepoole of hidden ieopardy,

Therefore, Sir Palmer, keepe an euen hand;

For twixt them both the narrow way doth ly.

Scarse had he said, when hard at hand they spy

That quicksand nigh with water couered;

But by the checked waue they did descry

It plaine, and by the sea discoloured:

It called was the quicksand of
Vnthriftyhed.

19
They passing by, a goodly Ship did see,

Laden from far with precious merchandize,

And brauely furnished, as ship might bee,

Which through great disauenture, or mesprize,

Her selfe had runne into that hazardize;

Whose mariners and merchants with much toyle,

Labour'd in vaine, to haue recur'd their prize,

And the rich wares to saue from pitteous spoyle,

But neither toyle nor trauell might her backe recoyle.

20
On th'other side they see that perilous Poole,

That called was
the Whirlepoole of decay,

In which full many had with haplesse doole

Beene suncke, of whom no memorie did stay:

Whose circled waters rapt with whirling sway,

like to a restlesse wheele, still running round,

Did couet, as they passed by that way,

To draw the boate within the vtmost bound

Of his wide
Labyrinth,
and then to haue them dround.

21
But th'heedfull Boateman strongly forth did stretch

His brawnie armes, and all his body straine,

That th'vtmost sandy breach they shortly fetch,

Whiles the dred daunger does behind remaine.

Suddeine they see from midst of all the Maine,

The surging waters like a mountaine rise,

And the great sea puft vp with proud disdaine,

To swell aboue the measure of his guise,

As threatning to deuoure all, that his powre despise.

22
The waues come rolling, and the billowes rore

Outragiously, as they enraged were,

Or wrathful!
Neptune
did them driue before

His whirling charet, for exceeding feare:

For not one puffe of wind there did appeare,

That all the three thereat woxe much afrayd,

Vnweeting, what such horrour straunge did reare.

Eftsoones they saw an hideous hoast arrayd,

Of huge Sea monsters, such as liuing sence dismayd.

23
Most vgly shapes, and horrible aspects,

Such as Dame Nature selfe mote feare to see,

Or shame, that euer should so fowle defects

From her most cunning hand escaped bee;

All dreadfull pourtraicts of deformitee:

Spring-headed
Hydraes,
and sea-shouldring Whales,

Great whirlpooles, which all fishes make to flee,

Bright Scolopendraes, arm'd with siluer scales,

Mighty
Monoceros,
with unmeasured tayles.

24
The dreadfull Fish, that hath deseru'd the name

Of Death, and like him lookes in dreadfull hew,

The griesly Wasserman, that makes his game

The flying ships with swiftnesse to pursew,

The horrible Sea-satyre, that doth shew

His fearefull face in time of greatest storme,

Huge
Ziffius,
whom Mariners eschew

No lesse, then rockes, (as trauellers informe,)

And greedy
Rosmarines
with visages deforme.

25
All these, and thousand thousands many more,

And more deformed Monsters thousand fold,

With dreadfull noise, and hollow rombling rore,

Came rushing in the fomy waues enrold,

Which seem'd to fly for feare, them to behold:

Ne wonder, if these did the knight appall;

For all that here on earth we dreadfull hold,

Be but as bugs to fearen babes withall,

Compared to the creatures in the seas entrall.

26
Feare nought, (then said the Palmer well auiz'd;)

For these same Monsters are not these in deed,

But are into these fearefull shapes disguiz'd

By that same wicked witch, to worke vs dreed,

And draw from on this iourney to proceede.

Tho lifting vp his vertuous staffe on hye,

He smote the sea, which calmed was with speed,

And all that dreadfull Annie fast gan flye

Into great
Tethys
bosome, where they hidden lye.

27
Quit from that daunger, forth their course they kept,

And as they went, they heard a ruefull cry

Of one, that wayld and pittifully wept,

That through the sea the resounding plaints did fly:

At last they in an Island did espy

A seemely Maiden, sitting by the shore,

That with great sorrow and sad agony,

Seemed some great misfortune to deplore,

And lowd to them for succour called euermore.

28
Which
Guyon
hearing, streight his Palmer bad,

To stere the boate towards that dolefull Mayd,

That he might know, and ease her sorrow sad:

Who him auizing better, to him sayd;

Faire Sir, be not displeasd, if disobayd:

For ill it were to hearken to her cry;

For she is inly nothing ill apayd,