LI.
“And these, because they should not scatter bruits,
“Roaming the world, of her lascivious ways,
“She, up and down the fruitful soil, transmutes
“To olive, palm, or cedar, firs or bays.
“These, as you see me changed, Alcina roots;
“While this transformed into a monster strays;
“Another melts into a liquid rill;
“As suits that haughty fairy’s wanton will.
LII.
“Thou, too, that to this fatal isle art led
“By way unwonted and till now unknown,
“That some possessor of the fairy’s bed,
“May be for thee transformed to wave or stone,
“Thou shalt, with more than mortal pleasures fed,
“Have from Alcina seigniory and throne;
“But shalt be sure to join the common flock,
“Transformed to beast or fountain, plant or rock.
LIII.
“I willingly to thee this truth impart,
“Not that I hope with profit to advise:
“Yet ’twill be better, that informed, in part,
“Of her false ways, she harm not by surprise.
“Perhaps, as faces differ, and in art
“And wit of man an equal difference lies,
“Thou may’st some remedy perchance apply
“To the ill, which thousand others could not fly.”
