Her eunuch tried to dissuade her because he had
been warned in a dream that she would this night meet her death. He told
her her history. Her mother was a Christian who had been compelled to put
her infant away from her. This eunuch had rescued her from death and
brought her up, failing, however, to obey an angel's command to have her
baptized a Christian.
Clorinda would not heed his caution, but went forth and fired the Frankish
machines. She and the fleeing pagans were pursued by the Christians; and
while her companions reached the city in safety, she was accidentally shut
out and met Tancred in mortal combat. She refused to tell her name until
she felt her death-wound, and then she prayed her enemy to baptize her,
that she might die a Christian. The broken-hearted Tancred fell fainting
on her corpse, and was found there the next morning by the Franks. Neither
his comrades, nor Godfrey and Peter the Hermit, were able to rouse him
from his melancholy.
Their machines destroyed, timbers were needed by the Franks to construct
new ones. Knowing this, Ismeno laid spells on the forest, so that the
warriors sent thither by Godfrey were frightened away by the sights they
saw therein. Even Tancred was put to flight when one of the demons took
the form of his beloved Clorinda. To add to the discomfort of the Franks,
excessive heat overpowered them, and they suffered tortures from lack of
water until the prayers of Godfrey moved the Ruler of the Earth with pity,
and He sent down the longed-for showers.
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