therefore I beseech
thee to receive me into the enjoyment of a better life when this is
ended. Let my sense and intellects be in the same measure improved as
the shadow differs from the substance." And now, grasping the flesh and
skin near his heart (as Theodoric afterwards related), he continued his
speech with bitter groanings. "O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, and of
the blessed Virgin, with my inmost soul do I confess that thou, my
Redeemer, dost live, and that at the day of judgment I shall rise, and
in my flesh behold thee, my God and my Saviour!" And thrice, thus
grasping his breast, did he repeat those words; and, laying his hand
upon his eyes in like manner, he said, "And these eyes shall behold
thee!" Uncovering them, he again looked up to heaven, and, signing
himself with the sign of the cross, he uttered, "All earthly things are
vain and unprofitable; I am now taught of Christ, that eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to
conceive, the good things that God hath prepared for them that love
him." Then, stretching his hands to heaven, he uttered this prayer for
them that perished in the battle:--

"Let thy bowels of compassion, O Lord, be open to thy faithful servants,
who have this day perished by the hand of the barbarians. Hither did
they come to vindicate thy faith; for thy sake are they fallen. Do thou,
O Lord, mercifully blot out their offences, accounting them worthy to
be delivered from the pains of hell. Send thy archangels to rescue
their souls from darkness, and bear them to the regions of light, where
thy blessed martyrs eternally live and reign with thee, who dost live
and reign with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, to all ages.
Amen!"--Immediately after this confession and prayer, his soul winged
its flight from his body, and was borne by angels to Paradise, where he
reigns in transcendent glory, united by his meritorious deeds to the
blessed choir of martyrs.

CHAPTER XXIV.

_Of Orlando's Rank and Virtue._

No longer it becomes the heart to mourn
A hero of immortal joys possessed;
Of noble rank, and noble parents born,
For nobler deeds in heaven with glory blest.

To none inferior, thine was native worth;
Thy feet still tending to the temple's bounds;
A glorious model to the wondering earth,
A faithful balsam to thy country's wounds.

The Clergy's refuge, and the Widow's friend,
Bounteous to guests, and liberal to