LXIII.
Then Cairo was not such, as common cry
Pronounces in our age that costly seat;
—That eighteen thousand districts ill supply
Lodging to those who in her markets meet;
—And though the houses are three stories high,
Numbers are forced to sleep in the open street;
And that the soldan has a palace there
Of wonderous size, and passing rich and fair;
LXIV.
And therein (Christian renegadoes all)
Keeps fifteen thousand vassals, for his needs,
Beneath one roof supplied with bower and stall,
Themselves, and wives, and families, and steeds.
The duke desired to see the river’s fall,
And how far Nile into the sea proceeds,
At Damietta; where wayfaring wight,
He heard, was prisoner made or slain outright.
LXV.
For at Nile’s outlet there, beside his bed,
A sturdy thief was sheltered in a tower,
Alike the native’s and the stranger’s dread,
Wont even to Cairo’s gate the road to scower.
Him no one could resist, and, it was said,
That man to slay the felon had no power.
A hundred thousand wounds he had in strife
Received, yet none could ever take his life.
