And, gathering up himself out of the mire, With his uneven wings did fiercely fall That to the earth him drove as stricken dead, Ne living wight would have him life be- Upon his sun-bright shield, and gript it fast hott;1 The mortal sting his angry needle shot Quite through his shield, and in his shoul der seased,2 Where fast it stuck, ne would thereout be got: The grief thereof him wondrous sore diseased, Ne might his rankling pain with patience be appeased. But yet, more mindful of his honor dear From loathed soil he gan him lightly rear, Inflamed with wrath, his raging blade he heft,3 And strook so strongly that the knotty string Of his huge tail he quite asunder cleft; Five joints thereof he hewed, and but the stump him left. withal. Much was the man encumbered with his hold, In fear to lose his weapon in his paw, Ne wist yet how his talons to unfold ; Nor harder was from Cerberus' greedy jaw To pluck a bone than from his cruel claw To reave' by strength the gripèd gage away: Thrice he assayed it from his foot to draw, And thrice in vain to draw it did assay; It booted nought to think to rob him of his prey. Tho, when he saw no power might prevail, His trusty sword he called to his last aid, Wherewith he fiercely did his foe assail, And double blows about him stoutly laid, That glancing fire out of the iron played, As sparkles from the anvil use to fly When heavy hammers on the wedge are swayed; Therewith at last he forced him to untie One of his grasping feet, him to defend thereby. The other foot, fast fixèd on his shield, Whenas no strength nor strokes mote him constrain To loose, ne yet the warlike pledge to yield, He smote thereat with all his might and main, That nought so wondrous puissance might sustain ; Upon the joint the lucky steel did light, And made such way that hewed it quite in twain; 3 Raised. 5 Determined. When gentle Una saw the second fall Of her dear Knight, who, weary of long fight And faint through loss of blood, moved not at all, But lay as in a dream of deep delight, Besmeared with precious balm whose virtuous might Did heal his wounds and scorching heat allay, Again she stricken was with sore affright, And for his safety gan devoutly pray, And watch the noyous' night and wait for joyous day. The joyous day gan early to appear, Her golden locks, for haste, were loosely shed About her ears when Una her did mark Climb to her charet, all with flowers spread, From heaven high to chase the cheerless dark; With merry note her loud salutes the mounting lark. 1 Baleful. • Chariot. • Not solid. With dreadful poyse1 is from the mainland | He suffered, but his pangs are o'er; rift, Enjoyed, but his delights are fled; And, rolling down, great Neptune doth Had friends his friends are now no more; dismay; And foes his foes are dead. So down he fell, and like an heaped moun- He loved, but whom he loved the grave tain lay. The Knight himself even trembled at his So huge and horrible a mass it seemed; But yet, at last, whenas the direful fiend That had achieved so great a conquest by his EDMUND SPENSER. THE COMMON LOT. NCE, in the flight of ages past, Hath lost in its unconscious womb; He saw whatever thou hast seen, eye The clouds and sunbeams o'er his No vestige where they flew; The annals of the human race, There lived a man; and who was he? Of him afford no other trace |