Talk:Orlando Furioso

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


 * XLIX
 * (Stanza XLIX untranslated by Rose)
 * L
 * (Lines 1-2 untranslated by Rose)
 * L
 * (Lines 1-2 untranslated by Rose)
 * (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.
 * 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)