Inpiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer,
Jura neget sibi nata, nihil non arroget armis._

Tasso's chief character, Rinaldo, was a man of the same temper; for,
when he had slain Gernando in his heat of passion, he not only refused
to be judged by Godfrey, his general, but threatened that if he came
to seize him, he would right himself by arms upon him; witness these
following lines of Tasso:

_Venga egli, o mundi, io terrò fermo il piede:
Giudici fian tra noi la sorte, e l'arme;
Fera tragedia vuol che s'appresenti,
Per lor diporto, alle nemiche genti._

You see how little these great authors did esteem the point of honour,
so much magnified by the French, and so ridiculously aped by us. They
made their heroes men of honour; but so, as not to divest them quite
of human passions and frailties: they content themselves to shew you,
what men of great spirits would certainly do when they were provoked,
not what they were obliged to do by the strict rules of moral virtue.
For my own part, I declare myself for Homer and Tasso, and am more in
love with Achilles and Rinaldo, than with Cyrus and Oroondates. I
shall never subject my characters to the French standard, where love
and honour are to be weighed by drams and scruples: Yet, where I have
designed the patterns of exact virtues, such as in this play are the
parts of Almahide, of Ozmyn, and Benzayda, I may safely challenge the
best of theirs.

But Almanzor is taxed with changing sides: and what tie has he on him
to the contrary? He is not born their subject whom he serves, and he