She here transformed herself into the perfect resemblance of the
old magician Atlantes, adding a palm-breadth to her height, and
enlarging her whole figure. Her chin she covered with a long
beard, and seamed her whole visage well with wrinkles. She assumed
also his voice and manner, and watched her chance to find Rogero
alone. At last she found him, dressed in a rich tunic of silk and
gold, a collar of precious stones about his neck, and his arms,
once so rough with exercise, decorated with bracelets. His air and
his every motion indicated effeminacy, and he seemed to retain
nothing of Rogero but the name; such power had the enchantress
obtained over him.

Melissa, under the form of his old instructor, presented herself
before him, wearing a stern and serious visage. "Is this, then,"
she said, "the fruit of all my labors? Is it for this that I fed
you on the marrow of bears and lions, that I taught you to subdue
dragons, and, like Hercules, strangle serpents in your youthful
grasp, only to make you, by all my cares, a feeble Adonis? My
nightly watchings of the stars, of the yet warm fibres of animals,
the lots I have cast, the points of nativity that I have
calculated, have they all falsely indicated that you were born for
greatness? Who could have believed that you would become the slave
of a base enchantress? O Rogero, learn to know this Alcina, learn
to understand her arts and to countervail them. Take this ring,
place it on your finger, return to her presence, and see for
yourself what are her real charms."

At these words, Rogero, confused, abashed, cast his eyes upon the
ground, and knew not what to answer. Melissa seized the moment,