Raoul de Presle says it was used in the time of Charlemagne, being the gift of the patriarch of Jerusalem. We are told that all infidels were blinded who looked upon it. Froissart says it was displayed at the battle of Rosbecq, in the reign of Charles VI., and “no sooner was it unfurled than the fog cleared away, and the sun shone on the French alone.”
I have not reared the Oriflamme of death.
... me it behooves
To spare the fallen foe.
Southey, Joan of Arc, viii. 621, etc. (1837).
Origilla, the lady-love of Gryphon, brother of Aquilant; but the faithless fair one took up with Martāno, a most impudent boaster and a coward. Being at Damascus during a tournament in which Gryphon was the victor, Martano stole the armor of Gryphon, arrayed himself in it, took the prizes, and then decamped with the lady. Aquilant happened to see them, bound them, and took them back to Damascus, where Martano was hanged, and the lady kept in bondage for the judgment of Lucīna.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Orillo, a magician and robber, who lived at the mouth of the Nile. He was the son of an imp and fairy. When any one of his limbs was lopped off, he had the power of restoring it; and when his head was cut off, he could take it up and replace it. When Astolpho encountered this magician, he was informed that his life lay in one particular hair; so instead of seeking to maim his adversary, Astolpho cut off the magic hair, and the magician fell lifeless at his feet.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Orinda, “the incomparable,” Mrs. Katherine Philipps, who lived in the reign of Charles II., and died of small-pox.
*** Her praises were sung by Cowley, Dryden, and others.
We allowed you beauty, and we did submit ...
Ah, cruel sex, will you depose us too in wit?
Orinda does in that too reign.
Cowley, On Orinda’s Poems (1647).
Ori´on, a giant of great beauty, and a famous hunter, who cleared the island of Chios of wild beasts. While in the island, Orion fell in love with Merŏpê, daughter of king Œnop´ion; but one day, in a drunken fit, having offered her violence, the king put out the giant’s eyes, and drove him from the island. Orion was told if he would travel eastward, and expose his sockets to the rising sun, he would recover his sight. Guided by the sound of a Cyclop’s hammer, he reached Lemnos, where Vulcan gave him a guide to the abode of the sun. In due time, his sight returned to him, and at death he was made a constellation. The lion’s skin was an emblem of the wild beasts which he slew in Chios, and the club was the instrument he employed for the purpose.
He [Orion]
Reeled as of yore beside the sea,
When, blinded by Œnopion,
He sought the blacksmith at his forge,
And, climbing up the mountain gorge,
Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun.
Longfellow, The Occultation of Orion.
Orion and the Blacksmith. The reference is to the blacksmith mentioned in the preceding article, whom Orion took on his back to act as guide to the place where the rising sun might be best seen.