Gerusalemme Liberata
("Jerusalem Delivered")

by

Torquato Tasso
(1544-1595)

Published 1581 in Parma, Italy. Translated by Edward Fairfax
(1560-1635); translation first published in London, 1600.


This electronic edition was edited, proofed, and prepared by
Douglas B. Killings (DeTroyes@AOL.COM), November, 1995.

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FIRST BOOK

THE ARGUMENT.
God sends his angel to Tortosa down,
Godfrey unites the Christian Peers and Knights;
And all the Lords and Princes of renown
Choose him their Duke, to rule the wares and fights.
He mustereth all his host, whose number known,
He sends them to the fort that Sion hights;
The aged tyrant Juda's land that guides,
In fear and trouble, to resist provides.