troubles my repose.
A terrible dream inspires me with a new fury
Against this funereal enemy.
I thought I saw him; I trembled about it;
I thought he struck me with a mortal blow.
I fell at the feet of the cruel conqueror.
Nothing softened his severity
And, with an inconceivable charm,
I felt myself constrained to find him lovable,
In the fatal moment he was piercing my heart.
SIDONIA:
You trouble yourself with an ephemeral image
That sleep produced?
The nice day which shines on you
Ought to dissipate this vain chimera,
Just as it has destroyed
The shadows of the night.
(Hidraot and his suite enter.)
HIDRAOT:
Armida, that blood which joins me with you
Makes me sensitive to the cares
That are being taken to please you.
How sweet your triumph is to me!
How I love to see the fine day shine that illuminates it!
I will have no more wishes to make
If you choose a spouse.
I see nearby the death that threatens me,
And soon age, which will freeze me,
Is going to overwhelm me with its heavy burden.
It’s the last blessing to which I aspire,
To see your marriage promise to this empire
Kings formed from a blood so fine.
Without complaining of my fate, I will cease to live
If this sweet hope can follow me
Into the terrible night of the tomb.
ARMIDA:
The chain of marriage astonishes me.
I fear the most pleasant of bonds.
Ah! how unfortunate a heart becomes
When liberty abandons it!
HIDRAOT:
When you like it, all Hell is armed for you.
You are more cunning in my art than myself.
Great kings lay their diadems at your feet.
Whoever sees you for one moment is forever charmed.
Could you savor your extreme happiness better
Than with a spouse who loves you
And who is worthy of being loved?
ARMIDA:
At my pleasure, I unchain against my enemies
The black empire of Hell.
Love puts kings in my fetters.
I am the sovereign mistress of a thousand lovers.
But I do myself the greater grandeur
Of being mistress of my heart.
HIDRAOT:
Are you restricting your desires to the cruel glory
Of the ills your beauty causes?
Won’t you ever make your happiness
The joy of a faithful lover?
ARMIDA:
If I must tie myself down one day,
At least you must believe
That it will needs be glory
That delivers my heart to love.
It’s not sufficient to be king
To become my master.
It will be valor that will make me know
The one who deserves my word.
The conqueror of Renaud, if someone can do it,
Will be worthy of me.
(The people of the kingdom express through their dances and their songs, the joy that they have in the advantage that the beauty of this princess has given them over the knights of Godfrey’s camp.)
HIDRAOT:
Armida is even more loveable
Than she is formidable.
How glorious is her triumph!
Her charms are greater than those of her beautiful eyes.
She has no need to borrow it from the terrible art
That she knows, when it pleases her, to cause Hell to arm.
Her beauty finds everything possible.
Our proudest enemies quake in her fetters.
HIDRAOT AND THE CHORUS:
Armida is even more loveable
Than she is formidable.
How glorious is her triumph.
Her charms are greater than those of her beautiful eyes.
PHENICIA AND THE CHORUS:
Let’s follow Armida and sing of her victory.
The whole universe echoes her glory.
PHENICIA:
Our enemies, weakened and troubled,
Will no longer hear the progress of their arms.
Ah! what joy! Our desires are fulfilled.
Without
