ered by numbers,
applies to his uncle William for help, and the battle of Aliscans is
already half fought and more than half lost before the actual
_chanson_ of the name begins. _Aliscans_[41] itself opens with a
triplet in which the "steel clash" of the _chanson_ measure is more
than ever in place:--

"A icel jor ke la dolor fu grans,
Et la bataille orible en Aliscans:
Li quens Guillaumes i soufri grans ahans."

[Footnote 40: _Enfances Vivien_, ed. Wahlen and v. Feilitzer, Paris,
1886; _Covenant Vivien_, Jonckbloet, i. 163-213.]

[Footnote 41: Jonckbloet, i. 215 to end; separately, as noted above,
by Guessard and de Montaignon, Paris, 1870.]

[Sidenote: _Aliscans._]

And it continues in the same key. The commentators declare that the
story refers to an actual historical battle of Villedaigne. This may
be a fact: the literary excellence of _Aliscans_ is one. The scale of
the battle is represented as being enormous: and the poet is not
unworthy of his subject. Neither is William _impar sibi_: but his day
of unbroken victory is over. No one can resist him personally; but
the vast numbers of the Saracens make personal valour useless. Vivien,
already hopelessly wounded, fights on, and receives a final blow from
a giant. He is able, however, to drag himself to a tree where a
fountain flows, and there makes his confession, and prays for his
uncle's safety. As for William himself, his army is entirely cut to
pieces, and it is only a question whether he can possibly escape. He
comes to Vivien's side just as his nephew is dying, bewails him in a
very noble passage, receives his last breath, and is able before it
passes to administer the holy wafer which he carries with him. It is
Vivien's first communion as well as his last.

After this really great scene, one of the finest in all the
_chansons_, William puts the corpse of Vivien on the wounded but still
generous Baucent, and endeavours to make his way through the ring of
enemies who have held aloof but are determined not to let him go.
Night saves him: and though he has to abandon the body, he cuts his
way through a weak part of the line, gains another horse (for Baucent
can carry him no longer), and just reaches Orange. But he has taken
the arms as well as the horse of a pagan to get through his foes: and
in this guise he is refused entrance to his own city. Guibourc herself
rejects him, and only recognises her husband from the prowess which he
shows again