man sleeping on the shore, who, they think, may be fit for their purpose. To ascertain who he is, they fill a shell from the sea, and, having plucked a hair from his head, without waking him, cast it into this water. It immediately becomes troubled, and then, clearing itself, reflects a picture of tents, camels, and horses; showing the stranger to be an Arabian.
Some Farfarello, or Alchino he.
Stanza l. line 1.
Farfarello and Alichino are devils in the Inferno of Dante; but Ariosto has taken the i out of Alichino, in order to get him into his verse. Here he has (as on some other occasions) made a sacrifice of propriety to prosody, for Alichino (winged or rather wingy, from ali) has a meaning, in the Inferno, which Alchino has not in the Furioso.
About the stripling’s neck, a splendid string
Of gems, descending to mid-breast, is wound;
On each once manly arm, now glittering
With the bright hoop, a bracelet fair is bound.
Stanza liv. lines 1, 2, 3, 4.
In the beginning of the first stanza cited the reader will recognise an imitation of Homer and Virgil in the mission of Mercury to Ulysses and Æneas. Ariosto has indeed copied Virgil in many of his details. Thus Rogero’s dress—
These with her hand, such subtle toil well taught,
For him in silk and gold Alcina wrought,
Stanza liii. lines 7 and 8.
is imitated from
dives quæ munera Dido
Fecerat, et tenui telas discreverat auro;
