Sordello: Book The Fourth

Meantime Ferrara lay in rueful case;     The lady-city, for whose sole embrace     Her pair of suitors struggled, felt their arms     A brawny mischief to the fragile charms     They tugged for one discovering that to twist     Her tresses twice or thrice about his wrist     Secured a point of vantage one, how best     He 'd parry that by planting in her breast     His elbow spike each party too intent     For noticing, howe'er the battle went,     The conqueror would but have a corpse to kiss.     "May Boniface be duly damned for this!"     Howled some old Ghibellin, as up he turned,     From the wet heap of rubbish where they burned     His house, a little skull with dazzling teeth:     "A boon, sweet Christ let Salinguerra seethe     "In hell for ever, Christ, and let myself     "Be there to laugh at him!" moaned some young Guelf     Stumbling upon a shrivelled hand nailed fast     To the charred lintel of the doorway, last     His father stood within to bid him speed.     The thoroughfares were overrun with weed     Docks, quitchgrass, loathy mallows no man plants.     The stranger, none of its inhabitants     Crept out of doors to taste fresh air again,     And ask the purpose of a splendid train     Admitted on a morning; every town     Of the East League was come by envoy down     To treat for Richard's ransom: here you saw     The Vicentine, here snowy oxen draw     The Paduan carroch, its vermilion cross     On its white field. A-tiptoe o'er the fosse     Looked Legate Montelungo wistfully     After the flock of steeples he might spy     In Este's time, gone (doubts he) long ago     To mend the ramparts: sure the laggards know     The Pope's as good as here! They paced the streets     More soberly. At last, "Taurello greets     "The League," announced a pursuivant, "will match     "Its courtesy, and labours to dispatch     "At earliest Tito, Friedrich's Pretor, sent     "On pressing matters from his post at Trent,     "With Mainard Count of Tyrol, simply waits     "Their going to receive the delegates."     "Tito!" Our delegates exchanged a glance,     And, keeping the main way, admired askance     The lazy engines of outlandish birth,     Couched like a king each on its bank of earth     Arbalist, manganel and catapult;     While stationed by, as waiting a result,     Lean silent gangs of mercenaries ceased     Working to watch the strangers. "This, at least,     "Were better spared; he scarce presumes gainsay     "The League's decision! Get our friend away     "And profit for the future: how else teach     "Fools 't is not safe to stray within claw's reach     "Ere Salinguerra's final gasp be blown?     "Those mere convulsive scratches find the bone.     "Who bade him bloody the spent osprey's nare?"     The carrochs halted in the public square.     Pennons of every blazon once a-flaunt,     Men prattled, freelier than the crested gaunt     White ostrich with a horse-shoe in her beak     Was missing, and whoever chose might speak     "Ecelin" boldly out: so, "Ecelin     "Needed his wife to swallow half the sin     "And sickens by himself: the devil's whelp,     "He styles his son, dwindles away, no help     "From conserves, your fine triple-curded froth     "Of virgin's blood, your Venice viper-broth     "Eh? Jubilate!" "Peace! no little word     "You utter here that 's not distinctly heard     "Up at Oliero: he was absent sick     "When we besieged Bassano who, i' the thick     "O' the work, perceived the progress Azzo made,     "Like Ecelin, through his witch Adelaide?     "She managed it so well that, night by night     "At their bed-foot stood up a soldier-sprite,     "First fresh, pale by-and-by without a wound,     "And, when it came with eyes filmed as in swound,     "They knew the place was taken." "Ominous     "That Ghibellins should get what cautelous     "Old Redbeard sought from Azzo's sire to wrench     "Vainly; Saint George contrived his town a trench     "O' the marshes, an impermeable bar."     "Young Ecelin is meant the tutelar     "Of Padua, rather; veins embrace upon     "His hand like Brenta and Bacchiglion."     What now? "The founts! God's bread, touch not a plank!     "A crawling hell of carrion every tank     "Choke-full! found out just now to Cino's cost     "The same who gave Taurello up for lost,     "And, making no account of fortune's freaks,     "Refused to budge from Padua then, but sneaks     "Back now with Concorezzi: 'faith! they drag     "Their carroch to San Vitale, plant the flag     "On his own palace, so adroitly razed     "He knew it not; a sort of Guelf folk gazed     "And laughed apart; Cino disliked their air     "Must pluck up spirit, show he does not care     "Seats himself on the tank's edge will begin     "To hum, za, za, Cavaler Ecelin     "A silence; he gets warmer, clinks to chime,     "Now both feet plough the ground, deeper each time,     "At last, za, za and up with a fierce kick     "Comes his own mother's face caught by the thick     "Grey hair about his spur!"     Which means, they lift     The covering, Salinguerra made a shift     To stretch upon the truth; as well avoid     Further disclosures; leave them thus employed.     Our dropping Autumn morning clears apace,     And poor Ferrara puts a softened face     On her misfortunes. Let us scale this tall     Huge foursquare line of red brick garden-wall     Bastioned within by trees of every sort     On three sides, slender, spreading, long and short;     Each grew as it contrived, the poplar ramped,     The fig-tree reared itself, but stark and cramped,     Made fools of, like tamed lions: whence, on the edge,     Running 'twixt trunk and trunk to smooth one ledge     Of shade, were shrubs inserted, warp and woof,     Which smothered up that variance. Scale the roof     Of solid tops, and o'er the slope you slide     Down to a grassy space level and wide,     Here and there dotted with a tree, but trees     Of rarer leaf, each foreigner at ease,     Set by itself: and in the centre spreads,     Borne upon three uneasy leopards' heads,     A laver, broad and shallow, one bright spirt     Of water bubbles in. The walls begirt     With trees leave off on either hand; pursue     Your path along a wondrous avenue     Those walls abut on, heaped of gleamy stone,     With aloes leering everywhere, grey-grown     From many a Moorish summer: how they wind     Out of the fissures! likelier to bind     The building than those rusted cramps which drop     Already in the eating sunshine. Stop,     You fleeting shapes above there! Ah, the pride     Or else despair of the whole country-side!     A range of statues, swarming o'er with wasps,     God, goddess, woman, man, the Greek rough-rasps     In crumbling Naples marble meant to look     Like those Messina marbles Constance took     Delight in, or Taurello's self conveyed     To Mantua for his mistress, Adelaide,     A certain font with caryatides     Since cloistered at Goito; only, these     Are up and doing, not abashed, a troop     Able to right themselves who see you, stoop     Their arms o' the instant after you! Unplucked     By this or that, you pass; for they conduct     To terrace raised on terrace, and, between,     Creatures of brighter mould and braver mien     Than any yet, the choicest of the Isle     No doubt. Here, left a sullen breathing-while,     Up-gathered on himself the Fighter stood     For his last fight, and, wiping treacherous blood     Out of the eyelids just held ope beneath     Those shading fingers in their iron sheath,     Steadied his strengths amid the buzz and stir     Of the dusk hideous amphitheatre     At the announcement of his over-match     To wind the day's diversion up, dispatch     The pertinactious Gaul: while, limbs one heap,     The Slave, no breath in her round mouth, watched leap     Dart after dart forth, as her hero's car     Clove dizzily the solid of the war     Let coil about his knees for pride in him.     We reach the farthest terrace, and the grim     San Pietro Palace stops us.     Such the state     Of Salinguerra's plan to emulate     Sicilian marvels, that his girlish wife     Retrude still might lead her ancient life     In her new home: whereat enlarged so much     Neighbours upon the novel princely touch     He took, who here imprisons Boniface.     Here must the Envoys come to sue for grace;     And here, emerging from the labyrinth     Below, Sordello paused beside the plinth     Of the door-pillar.     He had really left     Verona for the cornfields (a poor theft     From the morass) where Este's camp was made;     The Envoys' march, the Legate's cavalcade     All had been seen by him, but scarce as when,     Eager for cause to stand aloof from men     At every point save the fantastic tie     Acknowledged in his boyish sophistry,     He made account of such. A crowd, he meant     To task the whole of it; each part's intent     Concerned him therefore: and, the more he pried,     The less became Sordello satisfied     With his own figure at the moment. Sought     He respite from his task? Descried he aught     Novel in the anticipated sight     Of all these livers upon all delight?     This phalanx, as of myriad points combined,     Whereby he still had imaged the mankind     His youth was passed in dreams of rivalling,     His age in plans to prove at least such thing     Had been so dreamed, which now he must impress     With his own will, effect a happiness     By theirs, supply a body to his soul     Thence, and become eventually whole     With them as he had hoped to be without     Made these the mankind he once raved about?     Because a few of them were notable,     Should all be figured worthy note? As well     Expect to find Taurello's triple line     Of trees a single and prodigious pine.     Real pines rose here and there; but, close among,     Thrust into and mixed up with pines, a throng     Of shrubs, he saw, a nameless common sort     O'erpast in dreams, left out of the report     And hurried into corners, or at best     Admitted to be fancied like the rest.     Reckon that morning's proper chiefs how few!     And yet the people grew, the people grew,     Grew ever, as if the many there indeed,     More left behind and most who should succeed,     Simply in virtue of their mouths and eyes,     Petty enjoyments and huge miseries,     Mingled with, and made veritably great     Those chiefs: he overlooked not Mainard's state     Nor Concorezzi's station, but instead     Of stopping there, each dwindled to be head     Of infinite and absent Tyrolese     Or Paduans; startling all the more, that these     Seemed passive and disposed of, uncared for,     Yet doubtless on the whole (like Eglamor)     Smiling; for if a wealthy man decays     And out of store of robes must wear, all days,     One tattered suit, alike in sun and shade,     'T is commonly some tarnished gay brocade     Fit for a feast-night's flourish and no more:     Nor otherwise poor Misery from her store     Of looks is fain upgather, keep unfurled     For common wear as she goes through the world,     The faint remainder of some worn-out smile     Meant for a feast-night's service merely. While     Crowd upon crowd rose on Sordello thus,     (Crowds no way interfering to discuss,     Much less dispute, life's joys with one employed     In envying them, or, if they aught enjoyed,     Where lingered something indefinable     In every look and tone, the mirth as well     As woe, that fixed at once his estimate     Of the result, their good or bad estate)     Old memories returned with new effect:     And the new body, ere he could suspect,     Cohered, mankind and he were really fused,     The new self seemed impatient to be used     By him, but utterly another way     Than that anticipated: strange to say,     They were too much below him, more in thrall     Than he, the adjunct than the principal.     What booted scattered units? here a mind     And there, which might repay his own to find,     And stamp, and use? a few, howe'er august,     If all the rest were grovelling in the dust?     No: first a mighty equilibrium, sure,     Should he establish, privilege procure     For all, the few had long possessed! He felt     An error, an exceeding error melt:     While he was occupied with Mantuan chants,     Behoved him think of men, and take their wants,     Such as he now distinguished every side,     As his own want which might be satisfied,     And, after that, think of rare qualities     Of his own soul demanding exercise.     It followed naturally, through no claim     On their part, which made virtue of the aim     At serving them, on his, that, past retrieve,     He felt now in their toils, theirs nor could leave     Wonder how, in the eagerness to rule,     Impress his will on mankind, he (the fool!)     Had never even entertained the thought     That this his last arrangement might be fraught     with incidental good to them as well,     And that mankind's delight would help to swell     His own. So, if he sighed, as formerly     Because the merry time of life must fleet,     'T was deeplier now, for could the crowds repeat     Their poor experiences? His hand that shook     Was twice to be deplored. "The Legate, look!     "With eyes, like fresh-blown thrush-eggs on a thread,     "Faint-blue and loosely floating in his head,     "Large tongue, moist open mouth; and this long while     "That owner of the idiotic smile     "Serves them!"     He fortunately saw in time     His fault however, and since the office prime     Includes the secondary best accept     Both offices; Taurello, its adept,     Could teach him the preparatory one,     And how to do what he had fancied done     Long previously, ere take the greater task.     How render first these people happy? Ask     The people's friends: for there must be one good     One way to it the Cause! He understood     The meaning now of Palma; why the jar     Else, the ado, the trouble wide and far     Of Guelfs and Ghibellins, the Lombard hope     And Rome's despair? 'twixt Emperor and Pope     The confused shifting sort of Eden tale     Hardihood still recurring, still to fail     That foreign interloping fiend, this free     And native overbrooding deity:     Yet a dire fascination o'er the palms     The Kaiser ruined, troubling even the calms     Of paradise; or, on the other hand,     The Pontiff, as the Kaisers understand,     One snake-like cursed of God to love the ground,     Whose heavy length breaks in the noon profound     Some saving tree which needs the Kaiser, dressed     As the dislodging angel of that pest:     Yet flames that pest bedropped, flat head, full fold,     With coruscating dower of dyes. "Behold     "The secret, so to speak, and master-spring     "O' the contest! which of the two Powers shall bring     "Men good, perchance the most good: ay, it may     "Be that! the question, which best knows the way."     And hereupon Count Mainard strutted past     Out of San Pietro; never seemed the last     Of archers, slingers: and our friend began     To recollect strange modes of serving man     Arbalist, catapult, brake, manganel,     And more. "This way of theirs may, who can tell?     "Need perfecting," said he: "let all be solved     "At once! Taurello 't is, the task devolved     "On late: confront Taurello!"     And at last     He did confront him. Scarce an hour had past     When forth Sordello came, older by years     Than at his entry. Unexampled fears     Oppressed him, and he staggered off, blind, mute     And deaf, like some fresh-mutilated brute,     Into Ferrara not the empty town     That morning witnessed: he went up and down     Streets whence the veil had been stript shred by shred,     So that, in place of huddling with their dead     Indoors, to answer Salinguerra's ends,     Townsfolk make shift to crawl forth, sit like friends     With any one. A woman gave him choice     Of her two daughters, the infantile voice     Or the dimpled knee, for half a chain, his throat     Was clasped with; but an archer knew the coat     Its blue cross and eight lilies, bade beware     One dogging him in concert with the pair     Though thrumming on the sleeve that hid his knife.     Night set in early, autumn dews were rife,     They kindled great fires while the Leaguers' mass     Began at every carroch: he must pass     Between the kneeling people. Presently     The carroch of Verona caught his eye     With purple trappings; silently he bent     Over its fire, when voices violent     Began, "Affirm not whom the youth was like     "That struck me from the porch: I did not strike     "Again: I too have chestnut hair; my kin     "Hate Azzo and stand up for Ecelin.     "Here, minstrel, drive bad thoughts away! Sing! Take     "My glove for guerdon!" And for that man's sake     He turned: "A song of Eglamor's!" scarce named,     When, "Our Sordello's rather!" all exclaimed;     "Is not Sordello famousest for rhyme?"     He had been happy to deny, this time,     Profess as heretofore the aching head     And failing heart, suspect that in his stead     Some true Apollo had the charge of them,     Was champion to reward or to condemn,     So his intolerable risk might shift     Or share itself; but Naddo's precious gift     Of gifts, he owned, be certain! At the close     "I made that," said he to a youth who rose     As if to hear: 't was Palma through the band     Conducted him in silence by her hand.     Back now for Salinguerra. Tito of Trent     Gave place to Palma and her friend, who went     In turn at Montelungo's visit: one     After the other were they come and gone,     These spokesmen for the Kaiser and the Pope,     This incarnation of the People's hope,     Sordello, all the say of each was said;     And Salinguerra sat, himself instead     Of these to talk with, lingered musing yet.     'T was a drear vast presence-chamber roughly set     In order for the morning's use; full face,     The Kaiser's ominous sign-mark had first place,     The crowned grim twy-necked eagle, coarsely-blacked     With ochre on the naked wall; nor lacked     Romano's green and yellow either side;     But the new token Tito brought had tried     The Legate's patience nay, if Palma knew     What Salinguerra almost meant to do     Until the sight of her restored his lip     A certain half-smile, three months' chieftainship     Had banished! Afterward, the Legate found     No change in him, nor asked what badge he wound     And unwound carelessly. Now sat the Chief     Silent as when our couple left, whose brief     Encounter wrought so opportune effect     In thoughts he summoned not, nor would reject,     Though time 't was now if ever, to pause fix     On any sort of ending: wiles and tricks     Exhausted, judge! his charge, the crazy town,     Just managed to be hindered crashing down     His last sound troops ranged care observed to post     His best of the maimed soldiers innermost     So much was plain enough, but somehow struck     Him not before. And now with this strange luck     Of Tito's news, rewarding his address     So well, what thought he of? how the success     With Friedrich's rescript there, would either hush     Old Ecelin's scruples, bring the manly flush     To his young son's white cheek, or, last, exempt     Himself from telling what there was to tempt?     No: that this minstrel was Romano's last     Servant himself the first! Could he contrast     The whole! that minstrel's thirty years just spent     In doing nought, their notablest event     This morning's journey hither, as I told     Who yet was lean, outworn and really old,     A stammering awkward man that scarce dared raise     His eye before the magisterial gaze     And Salinguerra with his fears and hopes     Of sixty years, his Emperors and Popes,     Cares and contrivances, yet, you would say,     'T was a youth nonchalantly looked away     Through the embrasure northward o'er the sick     Expostulating trees so agile, quick     And graceful turned the head on the broad chest     Encased in pliant steel, his constant vest,     Whence split the sun off in a spray of fire     Across the room; and, loosened of its tire     Of steel, that head let breathe the comely brown     Large massive locks discoloured as if a crown     Encircled them, so frayed the basnet where     A sharp white line divided clean the hair;     Glossy above, glossy below, it swept     Curling and fine about a brow thus kept     Calm, laid coat upon coat, marble and sound:     This was the mystic mark the Tuscan found,     Mused of, turned over books about. Square-faced,     No lion more; two vivid eyes, enchased     In hollows filled with many a shade and streak     Settling from the bold nose and bearded cheek.     Nor might the half-smile reach them that deformed     A lip supremely perfect else unwarmed,     Unwidened, less or more; indifferent     Whether on trees or men his thoughts were bent,     Thoughts rarely, after all, in trim and train     As now a period was fulfilled again:     Of such, a series made his life, compressed     In each, one story serving for the rest     How his life-streams rolling arrived at last     At the barrier, whence, were it once overpast,     They would emerge, a river to the end,     Gathered themselves up, paused, bade fate befriend,     Took the leap, hung a minute at the height,     Then fell back to oblivion infinite:     Therefore he smiled. Beyond stretched garden-grounds     Where late the adversary, breaking bounds,     Had gained him an occasion, That above,     That eagle, testified he could improve     Effectually. The Kaiser's symbol lay     Beside his rescript, a new badge by way     Of baldric; while, another thing that marred     Alike emprise, achievement and reward,     Ecelin's missive was conspicuous too.     What past life did those flying thoughts pursue?     As his, few names in Mantua half so old;     But at Ferrara, where his sires enrolled     It latterly, the Adelardi spared     No pains to rival them: both factions shared     Ferrara, so that, counted out, 't would yield     A product very like the city's shield,     Half black and white, or Ghibellin and Guelf     As after Salinguerra styled himself     And Este who, till Marchesalla died,     (Last of the Adelardi) never tried     His fortune there: with Marchesalla's child     Would pass, could Blacks and Whites be reconciled     And young Taurello wed Linguetta, wealth     And sway to a sole grasp. Each treats by stealth     Already: when the Guelfs, the Ravennese     Arrive, assault the Pietro quarter, seize     Linguetta, and are gone! Men's first dismay     Abated somewhat, hurries down, to lay     The after indignation, Boniface,     This Richard's father. "Learn the full disgrace     "Averted, ere you blame us Guelfs, who rate     "Your Salinguerra, your sole potentate     "That might have been, 'mongst Este's valvassors     "Ay, Azzo's who, not privy to, abhors     "Our step; but we were zealous." Azzo then     To do with! Straight a meeting of old men:     "Old Salinguerra dead, his heir a boy,     "What if we change our ruler and decoy     "The Lombard Eagle of the azure sphere     "With Italy to build in, fix him here,     "Settle the city's troubles in a trice?     "For private wrong, let public good suffice!"     In fine, young Salinguerra's staunchest friends     Talked of the townsmen making him amends,     Gave him a goshawk, and affirmed there was     Rare sport, one morning, over the green grass     A mile or so. He sauntered through the plain,     Was restless, fell to thinking, turned again     In time for Azzo's entry with the bride;     Count Boniface rode smirking at their side;     "She brings him half Ferrara," whispers flew,     "And all Ancona! If the stripling knew!"     Anon the stripling was in Sicily     Where Heinrich ruled in right of Constance; he     Was gracious nor his guest incapable;     Each understood the other. So it fell,     One Spring, when Azzo, thoroughly at ease,     Had near forgotten by what precise degrees     He crept at first to such a downy seat,     The Count trudged over in a special heat     To bid him of God's love dislodge from each     Of Salinguerra's palaces, a breach     Might yawn else, not so readily to shut,     For who was just arrived at Mantua but     The youngster, sword on thigh and tuft on chin,     With tokens for Celano, Ecelin,     Pistore, and the like! Next news, no whit     Do any of Ferrara's domes befit     His wife of Heinrich's very blood: a band     Of foreigners assemble, understand     Garden-constructing, level and surround,     Build up and bury in. A last news crowned     The consternation: since his infant's birth,     He only waits they end his wondrous girth     Of trees that link San Pietro with Tom,     To visit Mantua. When the Podest     Ecelin, at Vicenza, called his friend     Taurello thither, what could be their end     But to restore the Ghibellins' late Head,     The Kaiser helping? He with most to dread     From vengeance and reprisal, Azzo, there     With Boniface beforehand, as aware     Of plots in progress, gave alarm, expelled     Both plotters: but the Guelfs in triumph yelled     Too hastily. The burning and the flight,     And how Taurello, occupied that night     With Ecelin, lost wife and son, I told:     Not how he bore the blow, retained his hold,     Got friends safe through, left enemies the worst     O' the fray, and hardly seemed to care at first:     But afterward men heard not constantly     Of Salinguerra's House so sure to be!     Though Azzo simply gained by the event     A shifting of his plagues the first, content     To fall behind the second and estrange     So far his nature, suffer such a change     That in Romano sought he wife and child,     And for Romano's sake seemed reconciled     To losing individual life, which shrunk     As the other prospered mortised in his trunk;     Like a dwarf palm which wanton Arabs foil     Of bearing its own proper wine and oil,     By grafting into it the stranger-vine,     Which sucks its heart out, sly and serpentine,     Till forth one vine-palm feathers to the root,     And red drops moisten the insipid fruit.     Once Adelaide set on, the subtle mate     Of the weak soldier, urged to emulate     The Church's valiant women deed for deed,     And paragon her namesake, win the meed     O' the great Matilda, soon they overbore     The rest of Lombardy, not as before     By an instinctive truculence, but patched     The Kaiser's strategy until it matched     The Pontiff's, sought old ends by novel means.     "Only, why is it Salinguerra screens     "Himself behind Romano? him we bade     "Enjoy our shine i' the front, not seek the shade!"     Asked Heinrich, somewhat of the tardiest     To comprehend. Nor Philip acquiesced     At once in the arrangement; reasoned, plied     His friend with offers of another bride,     A statelier function fruitlessly: 't was plain     Taurello through some weakness must remain     Obscure. And Otho, free to judge of both     Ecelin the unready, harsh and loth,     And this more plausible and facile wight     With every point a-sparkle chose the right,     Admiring how his predecessors harped     On the wrong man: "thus," quoth he, "wits are warped     "By outsides!" Carelessly, meanwhile, his life     Suffered its many turns of peace and strife     In many lands you hardly could surprise     The man; who shamed Sordello (recognize!)     In this as much beside, that, unconcerned     What qualities were natural or earned,     With no ideal of graces, as they came     He took them, singularly well the same     Speaking the Greek's own language, just because     Your Greek eludes you, leave the least of flaws     In contracts with him; while, since Arab lore     Holds the stars' secret take one trouble more     And master it! 'T is done, and now deter     Who may the Tuscan, once Jove trined for her,     From Friedrich's path! Friedrich, whose pilgrimage     The same man puts aside, whom he 'll engage     To leave next year John Brienne in the lurch,     Come to Bassano, see Saint Francis' church     And judge of Guido the Bolognian's piece     Which, lend Taurello credit, rivals Greece     Angels, with aureoles like golden quoits     Pitched home, applauding Ecelin's exploits.     For elegance, he strung the angelot,     Made rhymes thereto; for prowess, clove he not     Tiso, last siege, from crest to crupper? Why     Detail you thus a varied mastery     But to show how Taurello, on the watch     For men, to read their hearts and thereby catch     Their capabilities and purposes,     Displayed himself so far as displayed these:     While our Sordello only cared to know     About men as a means whereby he 'd show     Himself, and men had much or little worth     According as they kept in or drew forth     That self; the other's choicest instruments     Surmised him shallow.     Meantime, malcontents     Dropped off, town after town grew wiser. "How     "Change the world's face?" asked people; "as 't is now     "It has been, will be ever: very fine     "Subjecting things profane to things divine,     "In talk! This contumacy will fatigue     "The vigilance of Este and the League!     "The Ghibellins gain on us!" as it happed.     Old Azzo and old Boniface, entrapped     By Ponte Alto, both in one month's space     Slept at Verona: either left a brace     Of sons but, three years after, either's pair     Lost Guglielm and Aldobrand its heir:     Azzo remained and Richard all the stay     Of Este and Saint Boniface, at bay     As 't were. Then, either Ecelin grew old     Or his brain altered not o' the proper mould     For new appliances his old palm-stock     Endured no influx of strange strengths. He 'd rock     As in a drunkenness, or chuckle low     As proud of the completeness of his woe,     Then weep real tears; now make some mad onslaught     On Este, heedless of the lesson taught     So painfully, now cringe for peace, sue peace     At price of past gain, bar of fresh increase     To the fortunes of Romano. Up at last     Rose Este, down Romano sank as fast.     And men remarked these freaks of peace and war     Happened while Salinguerra was afar:     Whence every friend besought him, all in vain,     To use his old adherent's wits again.     Not he! "who had advisers in his sons,     "Could plot himself, nor needed any one's     "Advice." 'T was Adelaide's remaining staunch     Prevented his destruction root and branch     Forthwith; but when she died, doom fell, for gay     He made alliances, gave lands away     To whom it pleased accept them, and withdrew     For ever from the world. Taurello, who     Was summoned to the convent, then refused     A word at the wicket, patience thus abused,     Promptly threw off alike his imbecile     Ally's yoke, and his own frank, foolish smile.     Soon a few movements of the happier sort     Changed matters, put himself in men's report     As heretofore; he had to fight, beside,     And that became him ever. So, in pride     And flushing of this kind of second youth,     He dealt a good-will blow. Este in truth     Lay prone and men remembered, somewhat late,     A laughing old outrageous stifled hate     He bore to Este how it would outbreak     At times spite of disguise, like an earthquake     In sunny weather as that noted day     When with his hundred friends he tried to slay     Azzo before the Kaiser's face: and how,     On Azzo's calm refusal to allow     A liegeman's challenge, straight he too was calmed:     As if his hate could bear to lie embalmed,     Bricked up, the moody Pharaoh, and survive     All intermediate crumblings, to arrive     At earth's catastrophe 't was Este's crash     Not Azzo's he demanded, so, no rash     Procedure! Este's true antagonist     Rose out of Ecelin: all voices whist,     All eyes were sharpened, wits predicted. He     'T was, leaned in the embrasure absently,     Amused with his own efforts, now, to trace     With his steel-sheathed forefinger Friedrich's face     I' the dust: but as the trees waved sere, his smile     Deepened, and words expressed its thought erewhile.     "Ay, fairly housed at last, my old compeer?     "That we should stick together, all the year     "I kept Vicenza! How old Boniface,     "Old Azzo caught us in its market-place,     "He by that pillar, I at this, caught each     "In mid swing, more than fury of his speech,     "Egging the rabble on to disavow     "Allegiance to their Marquis Bacchus, how     "They boasted! Ecelin must turn their drudge,     "Nor, if released, will Salinguerra grudge     "Paying arrears of tribute due long since     "Bacchus! My man could promise then, nor wince     "The bones-and-muscles! Sound of wind and limb,     "Spoke he the set excuse I framed for him:     "And now he sits me, slavering and mute,     "Intent on chafing each starved purple foot     "Benumbed past aching with the altar slab:     "Will no vein throb there when some monk shall blab     "Spitefully to the circle of bald scalps,     "'Friedrich 's affirmed to be our side the Alps'     "Eh, brother Lactance, brother Anaclet?     "Sworn to abjure the world, its fume and fret,     "God's own now? Drop the dormitory bar,     "Enfold the scanty grey serge scapular     "Twice o'er the cowl to muffle memories out!     "So! But the midnight whisper turns a shout,     "Eyes wink, mouths open, pulses circulate     "In the stone walls: the past, the world you hate     "Is with you, ambush, open field or see     "The surging flame we fire Vicenza glee!     "Follow, let Pilio and Bernardo chafe!     "Bring up the Mantuans through San Biagio safe!     "Ah, the mad people waken? Ah, they writhe     "And reach us? If they block the gate? No tithe     "Can pass keep back, you Bassanese! The edge,     "Use the edge shear, thrust, hew, melt down the wedge,     "Let out the black of those black upturned eyes!     "Hell are they sprinkling fire too? The blood fries     "And hisses on your brass gloves as they tear     "Those upturned faces choking with despair.     "Brave! Slidder through the reeking gate! `How now?     "'You six had charge of her?' And then the vow     "Comes, and the foam spirts, hair's plucked, till one shriek     "(I hear it) and you fling you cannot speak     "Your gold-flowered basnet to a man who haled     "The Adelaide he dared scarce view unveiled     "This morn, naked across the fire: how crown     "The archer that exhausted lays you down     "Your infant, smiling at the flame, and dies?     "While one, while mine . . .     "Bacchus! I think there lies     "More than one corpse there" (and he paced the room)     " Another cinder somewhere: 't was my doom     "Beside, my doom! If Adelaide is dead,     "I live the same, this Azzo lives instead     "Of that to me, and we pull, any how,     "Este into a heap: the matter 's now     "At the true juncture slipping us so oft.     "Ay, Heinrich died and Otho, please you, doffed     "His crown at such a juncture! Still, if hold     "Our Friedrich's purpose, if this chain enfold     "The neck of . . . who but this same Ecelin     "That must recoil when the best days begin!     "Recoil? that 's nought; if the recoiler leaves     "His name for me to fight with, no one grieves:     "But he must interfere, forsooth, unlock     "His cloister to become my stumbling-block     "Just as of old! Ay, ay, there 't is again     "The land's inevitable Head explain     "The reverences that subject us! Count     "These Ecelins now! Not to say as fount,     "Originating power of thought, from twelve     "That drop i' the trenches they joined hands to delve,     "Six shall surpass him, but . . . why men must twine     "Somehow with something! Ecelin 's a fine     "Clear name! 'Twere simpler, doubtless, twine with me     "At once: our cloistered friend's capacity     "Was of a sort! I had to share myself     "In fifty portions, like an o'ertasked elf     "That 's forced illume in fifty points the vast     "Rare vapour he 's environed by. At last     "My strengths, though sorely frittered, e'en converge     "And crown . . . no, Bacchus, they have yet to urge     "The man be crowned!     "That aloe, an he durst,     "Would climb! Just such a bloated sprawler first     "I noted in Messina's castle-court     "The day I came, when Heinrich asked in sport     "If I would pledge my faith to win him back     "His right in Lombardy: 'for, once bid pack     "Marauders,' he continued, `in my stead     "'You rule, Taurello!' and upon this head     `Laid the silk glove of Constance I see her     "Too, mantled head to foot in miniver,     "Retrude following!     "I am absolved     "From further toil: the empery devolved     "On me, 't was Tito's word: I have to lay     "For once my plan, pursue my plan my way,     "Prompt nobody, and render an account     "Taurello to Taurello! Nay, I mount     "To Friedrich: he conceives the post I kept,     "Who did true service, able or inept,     "Who 's worthy guerdon, Ecelin or I.     "Me guerdoned, counsel follows: would he vie     "With the Pope really? Azzo, Boniface     "Compose a right-arm Hohenstauffen's race     "Must break ere govern Lombardy. I point     "How easy 't were to twist, once out of joint,     "The socket from the bone: my Azzo's stare     "Meanwhile! for I, this idle strap to wear,     "Shall fret myself abundantly, what end     "To serve? There 's left me twenty years to spend     "How better than my old way? Had I one     "Who laboured overthrow my work a son     "Hatching with Azzo superb treachery,     "To root my pines up and then poison me,     "Suppose 't were worth while frustrate that! Beside,     "Another life's ordained me: the world's tide     "Rolls, and what hope of parting from the press     "Of waves, a single wave though weariness     "Gently lifted aside, laid upon shore?     "My life must be lived out in foam and roar,     "No question. Fifty years the province held     "Taurello; troubles raised, and troubles quelled,     "He in the midst who leaves this quaint stone place,     "These trees a year or two, then not a trace     "Of him! How obtain hold, fetter men's tongues     "Like this poor minstrel with the foolish songs     "To which, despite our bustle, he is linked?     " Flowers one may teaze, that never grow extinct.     "Ay, that patch, surely, green as ever, where     "I set Her Moorish lentisk, by the stair,     "To overawe the aloes; and we trod     "Those flowers, how call you such? into the sod;     "A stately foreigner a world of pain     "To make it thrive, arrest rough winds all vain!     "It would decline; these would not be destroyed:     "And now, where is it? where can you avoid     "The flowers? I frighten children twenty years     "Longer! which way, too, Ecelin appears     "To thwart me, for his son's besotted youth     "Gives promise of the proper tiger tooth:     "They feel it at Vicenza! Fate, fate, fate,     "My fine Taurello! Go you, promulgate     "Friedrich's decree, and here 's shall aggrandise     "Young Ecelin your Prefect's badge! a prize     "Too precious, certainly.     "How now? Compete     "With my old comrade? shuffle from their seat     "His children? Paltry dealing! Do n't I know     "Ecelin? now, I think, and years ago!     "What 's changed the weakness? did not I compound     "For that, and undertake to keep him sound     "Despite it? Here 's Taurello hankering     "After a boy's preferment this plaything     "To carry, Bacchus!" And he laughed.     Remark     Why schemes wherein cold-blooded men embark     Prosper, when your enthusiastic sort     Fail: while these last are ever stopping short     (So much they should so little they can do!)     The careless tribe see nothing to pursue     If they desist; meantime their scheme succeeds.     Thoughts were caprices in the course of deeds     Methodic with Taurello; so, he turned,     Enough amused by fancies fairly earned     Of Este's horror-struck submitted neck,     And Richard, the cowed braggart, at his beck,     To his own petty but immediate doubt     If he could pacify the League without     Conceding Richard; just to this was brought     That interval of vain discursive thought!     As, shall I say, some Ethiop, past pursuit     Of all enslavers, dips a shackled foot     Burnt to the blood, into the drowsy black     Enormous watercourse which guides him back     To his own tribe again, where he is king;     And laughs because he guesses, numbering     The yellower poison-wattles on the pouch     Of the first lizard wrested from its couch     Under the slime (whose skin, the while, he strips     To cure his nostril with, and festered lips,     And eyeballs bloodshot through the desert-blast)     That he has reached its boundary, at last     May breathe; thinks o'er enchantments of the South     Sovereign to plague his enemies, their mouth,     Eyes, nails, and hair; but, these enchantments tried     In fancy, puts them soberly aside     For truth, projects a cool return with friends,     The likelihood of winning mere amends     Ere long; thinks that, takes comfort silently,     Then, from the river's brink, his wrongs and he,     Hugging revenge close to their hearts, are soon     Off-striding for the Mountains of the Moon.     Midnight: the watcher nodded on his spear,     Since clouds dispersing left a passage clear     For any meagre and discoloured moon     To venture forth; and such was peering soon     Above the harassed city her close lanes     Closer, not half so tapering her fanes,     As though she shrunk into herself to keep     What little life was saved, more safely. Heap     By heap the watch-fires mouldered, and beside     The blackest spoke Sordello and replied     Palma with none to listen. "'T is your cause:     "What makes a Ghibellin? There should be laws     "(Remember how my youth escaped! I trust     "To you for manhood, Palma! tell me just     "As any child) there must be laws at work     "Explaining this. Assure me, good may lurk     "Under the bad, my multitude has part     "In your designs, their welfare is at heart     "With Salinguerra, to their interest     "Refer the deeds he dwelt on, so divest     "Our conference of much that scared me. Why     "Affect that heartless tone to Tito? I     "Esteemed myself, yes, in my inmost mind     "This morn, a recreant to my race mankind     "O'erlooked till now: why boast my spirit's force,     "Such force denied its object? why divorce     "These, then admire my spirit's flight the same     "As though it bore up, helped some half-orbed flame     "Else quenched in the dead void, to living space?     "That orb cast off to chaos and disgrace,     "Why vaunt so much my unencumbered dance,     "Making a feat's facilities enhance     "Its marvel? But I front Taurello, one     "Of happier fate, and all I should have done,     "He does; the people's good being paramount     "With him, their progress may perhaps account     "For his abiding still; whereas you heard     "The talk with Tito the excuse preferred     "For burning those five hostages, and broached     "By way of blind, as you and I approached,     "I do believe."     She spoke: then he, "My thought     "Plainlier expressed! All to your profit nought     "Meantime of these, of conquests to achieve     "For them, of wretchedness he might relieve     "While profiting your party. Azzo, too,     "Supports a cause: what cause? Do Guelfs pursue     "Their ends by means like yours, or better?"     When     The Guelfs were proved alike, men weighed with men,     And deed with deed, blaze, blood, with blood and blaze,     Morn broke: "Once more, Sordello, meet its gaze     "Proudly the people's charge against thee fails     "In every point, while either party quails!     "These are the busy ones: be silent thou!     "Two parties take the world up, and allow     "No third, yet have one principle, subsist     "By the same injustice; whoso shall enlist     "With either, ranks with man's inveterate foes.     "So there is one less quarrel to compose:     "The Guelf, the Ghibellin may be to curse     "I have done nothing, but both sides do worse     "Than nothing. Nay, to me, forgotten, reft     "Of insight, lapped by trees and flowers, was left     "The notion of a service ha? What lured     "Me here, what mighty aim was I assured     "Must move Taurello? What if there remained     "A cause, intact, distinct from these, ordained     "For me, its true discoverer?"     Some one pressed     Before them here, a watcher, to suggest     The subject for a ballad: "They must know     "The tale of the dead worthy, long ago     "Consul of Rome that 's long ago for us,     "Minstrels and bowmen, idly squabbling thus     `In the world's corner but too late no doubt,     "For the brave time he sought to bring about.     " Not know Crescentius Nomentanus?" Then     He cast about for terms to tell him, when     Sordello disavowed it, how they used     Whenever their Superior introduced     A novice to the Brotherhood ("for I     "Was just a brown-sleeve brother, merrily     "Appointed too," quoth he, "till Innocent     "Bade me relinquish, to my small content,     "My wife or my brown sleeves") some brother spoke     Ere nocturns of Crescentius, to revoke     The edict issued, after his demise,     Which blotted fame alike and effigies,     All out except a floating power, a name     Including, tending to produce the same     Great act. Rome, dead, forgotten, lived at least     Within that brain, though to a vulgar priest     And a vile stranger, two not worth a slave     Of Rome's, Pope John, King Otho, fortune gave     The rule there: so, Crescentius, haply dressed     In white, called Roman Consul for a jest,     Taking the people at their word, forth stepped     As upon Brutus' heel, nor ever kept     Rome waiting, stood erect, and from his brain     Gave Rome out on its ancient place again,     Ay, bade proceed with Brutus' Rome, Kings styled     Themselves mere citizens of, and, beguiled     Into great thoughts thereby, would choose the gem     Out of a lapfull, spoil their diadem     The Senate's cypher was so hard to scratch     He flashes like a phanal, all men catch     The flame, Rome 's just accomplished! when returned     Otho, with John, the Consul's step had spurned,     And Hugo Lord of Este, to redress     The wrongs of each. Crescentius in the stress     Of adverse fortune bent. "They crucified     "Their Consul in the Forum; and abide     "E'er since such slaves at Rome, that I (for I     "Was once a brown-sleeve brother, merrily     "Appointed) I had option to keep wife     "Or keep brown sleeves, and managed in the strife     "Lose both. A song of Rome!"     And Rome, indeed,     Robed at Goito in fantastic weed,     The Mother-City of his Mantuan days,     Looked an established point of light whence rays     Traversed the world; for, all the clustered homes     Beside of men, seemed bent on being Romes     In their degree; the question was, how each     Should most resemble Rome, clean out of reach.     Nor, of the Two, did either principle     Struggle to change, but to possess Rome, still     Guelf Rome or Ghibellin Rome.     Let Rome advance!     Rome, as she struck Sordello's ignorance     How could he doubt one moment? Rome 's the Cause!     Rome of the Pandects, all the world's new laws     Of the Capitol, of Castle Angelo;     New structures, that inordinately glow,     Subdued, brought back to harmony, made ripe     By many a relic of the archetype     Extant for wonder; every upstart church     That hoped to leave old temples in the lurch,     Corrected by the Theatre forlorn     That, as a mundane shell, its world late born,     Lay and o'ershadowed it. These hints combined,     Rome typifies the scheme to put mankind     Once more in full possession of their rights.     "Let us have Rome again! On me it lights     "To build up Rome on me, the first and last:     "For such a future was endured the past!"     And thus, in the grey twilight, forth he sprung     To give his thought consistency among     The very People let their facts avail     Finish the dream grown from the archer's tale.