He
had formerly been a heathen.
Bradamante had a cousin named Astulf, who finally by a series of events
became the owner of the winged steed, and on this animal he made the
queerest trip ever heard of, a journey to the Mountains of the Moon. The
Hippogrif soared up and up, and up, till tall palms looked like bunches
of fern beneath him, and he penetrated belts of thick white clouds, and
finally drew his bridle rein on summits laid out in lovely gardens,
where flowers and fruit abounded, and the climate was soft and balmy as
that of June. The traveler walked through a fine grove, in the centre of
which rose a stately palace of the purest ivory, large enough to shelter
a nation of kings within its walls, and ornamented throughout with
carving more exquisite than that of an Indian casket.
While Astulf was gazing on this scene of splendor he was approached by
a man of noble and courteous aspect, dressed in the toga of an ancient
Roman, and bound about the brows with a laurel chaplet, who gave him
grave and kindly salutation, saying: "Hail, noble Sir Duke, and marvel
not that I know who you are, or that I expected you to-day in these
gardens. For this is the Earthly Paradise, where poets have their
dwelling after death; and I am the Mantuan VIRGIL, who sang the
deeds of AEneas, and was the friend of the wise Emperor Augustus. But if
you wish to know the reason of your coming hither, it is appointed for
you to get back the lost wits of the peerless Count Roland, whose senses
have been put away in the moon among the rest of the earth's missing
rubbish.
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