"A word unto the wise," Morgante said, "Is wont to be enough, and you shall see How much I grieve about my brethren dead; And if the will of God seem good to me, Just, as you tell me, 'tis in Heaven obeyed-- Ashes to ashes,--merry let us be! I will cut off the hands from both their trunks, And carry them unto the holy monks. LIV. "So that all persons may be sure and certain That they are dead, and have no further fear To wander solitary this desert in, And that they may perceive my spirit clear By the Lord's grace, who hath withdrawn the curtain Of darkness, making His bright realm appear." He cut his brethren's hands off at these words, And left them to the savage beasts and birds. LV. Then to the abbey they went on together, Where waited them the Abbot in great doubt. The monks, who knew not yet the fact, ran thither To their superior, all in breathless rout, Saying with tremor, "Please to tell us whether You wish to have this person in or out?" The Abbot, looking through upon the Giant, Too greatly feared, at first, to be compliant. LVI. Orlando seeing him thus agitated, Said quickly, "Abbot, be thou of good cheer; He Christ believes, as Christian must be rated, And hath renounced his Macon false;" which here Morgante with the hands corroborated, A proof of both the giants' fate quite clear: Thence, with due thanks, the Abbot God adored, Saying, "Thou hast contented me, O Lord!" LVII. He gazed; Morgante's height he calculated, And more than once contemplated his size; And then he said, "O Giant celebrated! Know, that no more my wonder will arise, How you could tear and fling the trees you late did, When I behold your form with my own eyes. You now a true and perfect friend will show Yourself to Christ, as once you were a foe. LVIII. "And one of our apostles, Saul once named, Long persecuted sore the faith of Christ, Till, one day, by the Spirit being inflamed, 'Why dost thou persecute me thus?' said Christ; And then from his offence he was reclaimed, And went for ever after preaching Christ, And of the faith became a trump, whose sounding O'er the whole earth is echoing and rebounding. LIX. "So, my Morgante, you may do likewise: He who repents--thus writes the Evangelist-- Occasions more rejoicing in the skies Than ninety-nine of the celestial list. You may be sure, should each desire arise With just zeal for the Lord, that you'll exist Among the happy saints for evermore; But you were lost and damned to Hell before!" LX.