that troops of
monsters would oppose his passage, employed by the art of Alcina to
prevent her subjects from escaping from her dominion. Rogero thanked
the myrtle, and prepared to set out on his way.

He at first thought he would mount the winged horse, and scale the
mountain on his back; but he was too uncertain of his power to control
him to wish to encounter the hazard of another flight through the air,
besides that he was almost famished for the want of food. So he led the
horse after him, and took the road on foot, which for some distance led
equally to the dominions of both the sisters.

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 form,
though he had the neck, ears, and muzzle of a dog, set himself to bark
furiously at Rogero, to make him turn off to the right, and reenter
upon the road to the gay city; but the brave chevalier exclaimed, "That
will I not, so long as I can use this sword,"--and he thrust the point
directly