XLVII " `Let it not irk thee to await the peer Within my chamber, where no light will be; Till I shall make him doff his warlike gear, And, almost naked, yield him up to thee.' So did his wife into that quicksand steer Her hapless husband (it appears to me) If wife she rightly could be called; more fell And cruel than a fury sprung from hell. XLVIII "She drew my brother forth, that guilty night, With his good arms in hand, and him again Secreted in the chamber without light, Till thither came the wretched castellain. As it was ordered, all fell out aright, For seldom ill design is schemed in vain. So fell Argaeus by Philander's sword, Who for Morando took the castle's lord. XLIX "One blow divided head and neck; for nought Was there of helm, the warrior to defend. Without a struggle was Argaeus brought To his unhappy life's disastrous end, And he who slew him never had such thought, Nor this would have believed: to aid his friend Intent, (strange chance!) he wrought him in that blow The worst that could be done by mortal foe. L "When now, unknown, on earth Argaeus lay, My brother to Gabrina gave the blade, (So was she named) who lived but to betray. She, who discovery had till then delayed, Wills that Philander with a light survey The man whom he on earth has lifeless laid, And she, with the assistance of the light, Shows him Argaeus in the murdered wight. LI "And threatens, save he with desires comply To which her bosom had been long a prey, What he would be unable to deny She to the assembled household will display, And he like traitor and assassin die, Upon her tale, in ignominious way: And minds him fame is not to be despised, Albeit so little life by him be prized. LII "Philander stood oppressed with grief and fear, When his mistake to him the woman showed, And to have slain her in his wrath went near, And long be doubted, so his choler glowed; And, but that Reason whispered in his ear That he was in an enemy's abode, For lack of faulchion in his empty sheath, He would have torn her piece-meal with his teeth. LIII "As sometimes vessel by two winds which blow From different points is vext upon the main, And now one speeds the bark an-end, and now Another squall impels her back again; Still on her poop assailed, or on her prow, Till she before the strongest flies amain: Philander, so distraught by two designs, Takes what he pregnant with least ill opines. LIV "Reason demonstrates with what peril fraught His case, not more with death than lasting stain, If in the castle were that murder taught; Nor any time has he to sift his brain. Will he or nill he, in conclusion nought Is left him but the bitter cup to drain. Thus in his troubled heart prevailing more, His fear his resolution overbore.