LXXV.
And yet again advised the martial maid,
(Counsel she had a thousand times bestowed)
Then left. Nor Bradamant through greenwood shade
More than two miles in narrow path had rode,
Before, by two fierce giants overlaid,
She saw a knight, who like Rogero showed,
So closely pressed, and labouring sore for breath,
That he appeared well nigh reduced to death.
LXXVI.
When she beheld him in such perilous strait,
Who of Rogero all the tokens wore,
She quickly lost the faith she nourished late,
Quickly her every fair design forbore.
She weens Melissa bears Rogero hate,
For some new injury unheard before;
And with unheard-of hate and wrong, her foe
Would by her hand destroy who loves him so.
LXXVII.
She cried, “And is not this Rogero, who
“Aye present to my heart, is now to sight?
“If ’tis not him whom I agnize and view,
“Whom e’er shall I agnize or view aright?
“Why should I other’s judgment deem more true
“Than the belief that’s warranted by sight?
“Even without eyes, and by my heart alone,
“If he were near or distant, would be shown.”
