XXIII The prince well knew her, though her painted shield And golden helm he had not marked before, She saved her head, and with her axe well steeled Assailed the knight; but her the knight forbore, ’Gainst other foes he proved him through the field, Yet she for that refrained ne’er the more, But following, “Turn thee,” cried, in ireful wise; And so at once she threats to kill him twice.
XXIV Not once the baron lifts his armed hand To strike the maid, but gazing on her eyes, Where lordly Cupid seemed in arms to stand, No way to ward or shun her blows he tries; But softly says, “No stroke of thy strong hand Can vanquish Tancred, but thy conquest lies In those fair eyes, which fiery weapons dart, That find no lighting place except this heart.”
XXV At last resolved, although he hoped small grace, Yet ere he did to tell how much he loved, For pleasing words in women’s ears find place, And gentle hearts with humble suits are moved: “O thou,” quoth he, “withhold thy wrath a space, For if thou long to see my valor proved, Were it not better from this warlike rout Withdrawn, somewhere, alone to fight it out?
XXVI “So singled, may we both our courage try:” Clorinda to that motion yielded glad, And helmless to the forestward gan hie, Whither the prince right pensive wend and sad, And there the virgin gan him soon defy. One blow she strucken, and he warded had, When he cried, “Hold, and ere we prove our might, First hear thou some conditions of the fight.”
XXVII She stayed, and desperate love had made him bold; “Since from the fight thou wilt no respite give, The covenants be,” he said, “that thou unfold This wretched bosom, and my heart out rive, Given thee long since, and if thou, cruel, would I should be dead, let me no longer live, But pierce this breast, that all the world may say, The eagle made the turtle-dove her prey.
XXVIII “Save with thy grace, or let thine anger kill, Love hath disarmed my life of all defence; An easy labor harmless blood to spill, Strike then, and punish where is none offence.” This said the prince, and more perchance had will To have declared, to move her cruel sense. But in ill time of Pagans thither came A troop, and Christians that pursued the same.