XXXVI.
“Seek not thy death from me; for the petition
“Is made in vain; but if for death thou sigh,
“Though the whole world refused the requisition,
“A soul resolved would find the means to die.
“But ope thy gates to give thy guests dismission
“Before thine hand the knot of life untie.”
So spake the scornful dame with angry mock,
Speeding her captive still towards the rock.
XXXVII.
Bound by the conqueror with the chain he bore,
Atlantes walked, the damsel following nigh,
Who trusted not to the magician hoar,
Although he seemed subdued in port and eye.
Nor many paces went the pair, before
They at the mountain’s foot the cleft espy,
With steps by which the rugged hill to round;
And climb, till to the castle-gate they wound:
XXXVIII.
Atlantes from the threshold, graved by skill,
With characters and wondrous signs, upturned
A virtuous stone, where, underneath the sill,
Pots, with perpetual fire and secret, burned.
The enchanter breaks them; and at once the hill
To an inhospitable rock is turned.
Nor wall nor tower on any side is seen,
As if no castle there had ever been.
