He had not advanced more than two miles when he saw before him the
superb city of Alcina. It was surrounded with a wall of gold,
which seemed to reach the skies. I know that some think that this
wall was not of real gold, but only the work of alchemy; it
matters not; I prefer to think it gold, for it certainly shone
like gold.

A broad and level road led to the gates of the city, and from this
another branched off, narrow and rough, which led to the mountain
region. Rogero took without hesitation the narrow road; but he had
no sooner entered upon it than he was assailed by a numerous troop
which opposed his passage.

You never have seen anything so ridiculous, so extraordinary, as
this host of hobgoblins were. Some of them bore the human form
from the neck to the feet, but had the head of a monkey or a cat;
others had the legs and the ears of a horse; old men and women,
bald and hideous, ran hither and thither as if out of their
senses, half clad in the shaggy skins of beasts; one rode full
speed on a horse without a bridle, another jogged along mounted on
an ass or a cow; others, full of agility, skipped about, and clung
to the tails and manes of the animals which their companions rode.
Some blew horns, others brandished drinking-cups; some were armed
with spits, and some with pitchforks. One, who appeared to be the
captain, had an enormous belly and a gross fat head; he was
mounted on a tortoise, that waddled, now this way, now that,
without keeping any one direction.

One of these monsters, who had something approaching the human