Humor, indeed, is conspicuous by its absence.
Charles the Great assumes the sobriety of empire; and his camp, in its well-ordered gravity, prefigures that of Goffredo in the _Gerusalemme_.[65] Thus Tasso's originality must not be sought in the material of his work, which is precisely that of the Italian romantic school in general, nor yet in its form, which departs from the romantic tradition in details so insignificant as to be inessential.

We find it rather in his touch upon the old material, in his handling of the familiar form.

The qualities of style, sympathy, sentiment, selection in the use of phrase and image, which determined his individuality as a poet, rendered the _Rinaldo_ a novelty in literature.

It will be therefore well to concentrate attention for a while upon those subjective peculiarities by right of which the _Rinaldo_ ranks as a precursor of the _Gerusalemme_.
The first and the most salient of these is a pronounced effort to heighten style by imitation of Latin poets.

The presiding genius of the work is Virgil.