The executioners are about to set fire to the pyre where these generous young lovers are to end their days, when a young knight steps forward loudly proclaiming none of the Christians are to blame for the disappearance of the image, since Allah himself removed it from the temple because he considered it desecration to have such an image within its walls.

This young knight turns out to be the warrior maid Clorinda, who not only convinces Aladine that the young people are guiltless, but bribes him to release them, in exchange for her services in the coming war.

Touched by each other's devotion, the young couple marry as soon as released, and, instead of dying, live together as husband and wife.
Restored to life and liberty, how blest, How truly blest was young Olindo's fate! For sweet Sophronia's blushes might attest, That Love at length has touch'd her delicate And generous bosom; from the stake in state They to the altar pass; severely tried, In doom and love already made his mate, She now objects not to become his bride, And grateful live with him who would for her have died.
Meanwhile two ambassadors have come from Egypt to visit Godfrey in his camp, and try first by persuasions and then by threats to dissuade him from his projected attack upon Jerusalem.

In spite of all Alethes and Argantes can say, Godfrey insists upon carrying out his purpose, and, after dismissing these ambassadors with a haughty speech, marches on with his host.
"Know, then, that we have borne all this distress By land and sea,--war, want, reverses--all! To the sole end that we might gain access To sacred Salem's venerable wall; That we might free the Faithful from their thrall, And win from God His blessing and reward: From this no threats our spirit can appal, For this no terms will be esteem'd too hard-- Life, honors, kingdoms lost, or dignity debarr'd." _Canto III._ When they come within sight of Jerusalem, the Crusaders, overjoyed, hail the Holy City with cries of rapture, and, falling on their knees, swear to deliver it from the hands of the infidels.
Seeing them advance, the pagans make hasty preparations to oppose them, and Clorinda, at the head of a small force, volunteers to make a sortie and boldly attacks the vanguard of the Crusaders.
From the topmost tier of Jerusalem's ramparts, the Sultan Aladine watches their sortie, having beside him Erminia, daughter of the late king of Antioch, whom the Crusaders have sent on to Jerusalem, because they do not care to detain her a prisoner.

During her sojourn in her father's town, Erminia has learned to know by sight all the Crusaders, and during her brief captivity she has fallen in love with Tancred, who was detailed to guard her.