rs fell like rain upon the conquering host from the
hands of fair dames and damsels, from every balcony and window. So
welcomed, the mighty Emperor passed on till he reached the royal
palace, where many days he feasted, high in hall, with his lords, amid
tourney, revel, dance, and song.

When Rinaldo told his father, Duke Aymon, how he had promised his
sister to Rogero, his father heard him with indignation, having set his
heart on seeing her united to the Grecian Emperor's son. The Lady
Beatrice, her mother, also appealed to Bradamante herself to reject a
knight who had neither title nor lands, and give the preference to one
who would make her Empress of the wide Levant. But Bradamante, though
respect forbade her to refuse her mother's entreaty, would not promise
to do what her heart repelled, and answered only with a sigh, until she
was alone, and then gave a loose to tears.

Meanwhile Rogero, indignant that a stranger should presume to rob him
of his bride, determined to seek the Prince of Greece, and defy him to
mortal combat. With this design he donned his armor, but exchanged his
crest and emblazonment, and bore instead a white unicorn upon a crimson
field. He chose a trusty squire, and, commanding him not to address him
as Rogero, rode on his quest. Having crossed the Rhine and the Austrian
countries into Hungary, he followed the course of the Danube till he
reached Belgrade. There he saw the imperial ensigns spread, and white
pavilions, thronged with troops, before the town. For the Emperor
Constantine was laying siege to the city to recover it from the
Bulgarians, who had taken it from him not long before.

A river flowed between the camp of the Emperor and the Bulgarians, and
at the moment when Rogero approached, a skirmish had begun between the
parties from either camp, who had approached the stream for the purpose
of watering. The Greeks in that affray were four to one, and drove back
the Bulgarians in precipitate rout. Rogero, seeing this, and animated
only by his hatred of the Grecian prince, dashed into the middle of the
flying mass, calling aloud on the fugitives to turn. He encountered
first a leader of the Grecian host in splendid armor, a nephew of the
Emperor, as dear to him as a son. Rogero's lance pierced shield and
armor, and stretched the warrior breathless on the plain. Another and
another fell before him, and astonishment and terror arrested the
advance of the Greeks, while the Bulgarians, ca