Talk:Orlando Furioso (Rose)/Canto 8

Stanzas 49 and 50

In Canto 8, Stanzas 49 and 50, it says:

XLIX

(Stanza XLIX untranslated by Rose)

L

(Lines 1-2 untranslated by Rose)

But "inquiring minds want to know" what's missing here. So is there some way a footnote or link can be provided so that the missing text can be revealed from a different translation? For this purpose I recommend the earlier public domain rendering by Temple Henry Croker, done in 1755:

49.

Her he embrac'd, and touch'd her with delight;

She still slept on, unable to oppose;

Her lips he now salutes, now breast so white;

In this wild place none sees whate'er he does;

And just it is, such acts should shun the light:

His age to his desires reluctance shews;

He feeble was, borne down by age, dire weight,

And worse he was, as he with grief did fret.

50.

All ways and means he to assistance calls;

Of age in love incurable the fault:

By time worn out, the stoutest war-horse crawls,

Nor, tho' well fed, will in the manage vault:

At length asleep he near the lady falls,

And new vexation now does him assault:

When Fortune once begins, she does enough,

When she poor mortals mocks, and sets at scoff.

The gist is that the lecherous hermit gives Angelica the medieval equivalent of a date-rape drug and then tries to have sex with her while she is unconscious. But the world is a just place after all, and so he fails in his attempt because he's just too old to get it up anymore.

Fredwords (talk) 20:48, 2 September 2014 (UTC)