Spite of the Knight of Thrace,—Sir Belisair.
Belisarius, whose fame was then just rising under Justinian. The Ostrogoth, Theodoric, was on the throne of Italy.
"Ah," said the Augur—"here, I comprehend
Egypt, and Typhon, and the serpent creed!
It is clear that all which the bewildered Augur could comprehend, in the theological relations by which Arthur (no doubt with equal glibness and obscurity) relieves his historical narrative, would be that, in "worsting Satan," the Emperor of Greece is demolishing the Typhon worship of the Egyptians, and enforcing the adoration of the Dorian Apollo—that deity who had passed a probation on earth, and expiated a mysterious sin by descending to the shades; and it would require a more erudite teacher than we can presume Arthur to be, before the Augur would cease to confuse with the Pagan divinity the Divine Founder of the Christian gospel.
Astolfo spoke from out the bleeding tree.
Ariosto, canto vi.
Lo, now where pure Sabrina on her breast.