Chapter 20

[476]Kotwâl, the chief officer of police in a town.—Forbes'Hindustani Dictionary.[477]The monster forms, Chimera-like, and rude.—Chimera, a monster slain by Bellerophon."First, dire Chimera's conquest was enjoin'd,A mingled monster of no mortal kind;Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread,A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire,Her gaping throat emits infernal fire."Pope'sII. vi.[478]So Titan's son.—Briareus.[479]Before these shrines the blinded Indians bow.—In this instance, Camoëns has, with great art, deviated from the truth of history. As it was the great purpose of his hero to propagate the law of heaven in the East, it would have been highly absurd to have representedGamaand his attendants as on their knees in a pagan temple. This, however, was the case. "Gama, who had been told," says Osorius, "that there were many Christians in India, conjectured that the temple, to which the catual led him, was a Christian church. At their entrance they were met by four priests, who seemed to make crosses on their foreheads. The walls were painted with many images. In the middle was it little round chapel, in the wall of which, opposite to the entrance, stood an image which could hardly be discovered. The four priests ascending, some entered the chapel by a little brass door, and pointing to the benighted image, cried aloud, 'Mary, Mary!' The catual and his attendants prostrated themselves an the ground, while the Lusians on their bended knees adored the blessed virgin." Thus Osorius. Another writer says, that a Portuguese, having some doubt, exclaimed, "If this be the devil's image, I however worship God."[480]Here India's fate.—The description of the palace of the zamorim, situated among aromatic groves, is according to history; the embellishment of the walls is in imitation of Virgil's description of the palace of King Latinus:—Tectum augustum, ingens, centum sublime columnis,Urbe fuit summa, etc."The palace built by Picus, vast and proud,Supported by a hundred pillars stood,And round encompass'd with a rising wood.}The pile o'erlook'd the town, and drew the sight,Surprised, at once, with reverence and delight....Above the portal, carv'd in cedar wood,Placed in their ranks their godlike grandsires stood.Old Saturn, with his crooked scythe on high;And Italus, that led the colony:And ancient Janus with his double face,And bunch of keys, the porter of the place.There stood Sabinus, planter of the vines,On a short pruning-hook his head reclines;And studiously surveys his gen'rous wines.}Then warlike kings who for their country fought,And honourable wounds from battle brought.Around the posts hung helmets, darts, and spears;And captive chariots, axes, shields, and bars;And broken beaks of ships, the trophies of their wars.}Above the rest, as chief of all the bandWas Picus plac'd, a buckler in his hand;His other wav'd a long divining wand.Girt in his Gabin gown the hero sate——"Dryden, Æn. vii.[481]Behind her founder Nysa's walls were rear'd————at distance farThe Ganges lav'd the wide-extended war.—This is in the perspective manner of the beautiful descriptions of the figures on the shield of Achilles.—Il.xviii.[482]Had Semele beheld the smiling boy.—The Theban Bacchus, to whom the Greek fabulists ascribed the Indian expedition of Sesostris, king of Egypt.[483]Semiramis.[484]Call'd Jove his father.—The bon-mot of Olympias on this pretension of her son Alexander, was admired by the ancients. "This hot-headed youth, forsooth, cannot be at rest unless he embroil me in a quarrel with Juno."—Quint. Curt.[485]The tap'stried walls with gold were pictur'd o'er,And flow'ry velvet spread the marble floor.—According to Osorius.[486]A leaf.—The Betel.[487]More now we add not.—The tenor of this first conversation between the zamorim andGama, is according to the truth of history.[488]What terrors oft have thrill'd my infant breast.—The enthusiasm with which Monzaida, a Moor, talks of the Portuguese, may perhaps to some appear unnatural. Camoëns seems to be aware of this by giving a reason for that enthusiasm in the first speech of Monzaida to Gama—Heav'n sent you here for some great work divine,And Heav'n inspires my breast your sacred toils to join.And, that this Moor did conceive a great affection toGama, whose religion he embraced, and to whom he proved of the utmost service, is according to the truth of history.[489]The ruddy juice by Noah found.—Gen. ix. 20. "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine," etc.[490]His faith forbade with other tribe to joinThe sacred meal, esteem'd a rite divine.—The opinion of the sacredness of the table is very ancient in the East. It is plainly to be discovered in the history of Abraham. When Melchizedek, a king and priest, blessed Abraham, it is said, "And he brought forth bread and wine and he blessed him."—Gen. xiv. 18. The patriarchs only drank wine, according to Dr. Stukely, on their more solemn festivals, when they were saidto rejoice before the Lord. Other customs of the Hindoos are mentioned by Camoëns in this book. If a noble should touch a person of another tribe—A thousand rites, and washings o'er and o'er,Can scarce his tainted purity restore.Nothing, says Osorius, but the death of the unhappy commoner can wipe off the pollution. Yet we are told by the same author, that Hindoo nobility cannot be forfeited, or even tarnished by the basest and greatest of crimes; nor can one of mean birth become great or noble by the most illustrious actions. The noblemen, says the same writer, adopt the children of their sisters, esteeming there can be no other certainty of the relationship of their heirs.[491]The warlike song.—Though Camoëns began his Lusiad in Portugal, almost the whole of it was written while on the ocean, while in Africa, and in India.—See his Life.[492]As Canace.—Daughter of Eolus. Her father, having thrown her incestuous child to the dogs, sent her a sword, with which she slew herself. In Ovid she writes an epistle to her husband-brother, where she thus describes herself:—Dextra tenet calamum, strictum tenet altera ferrum.[493]Soon I beheld that wealth beneath the waveFor ever lost.—See the Life of Camoëns.[494]My life, like Judah's Heaven-doom'd king of yore.—Hezekiah.—See Isaiah xxxviii.[495]And left me mourning in a dreary jail.—This, and the whole paragraph from—Degraded now, by poverty abhorr'd,alludes to his fortunes in India. The latter circumstance relates particularly to the base and inhuman treatment he received on his return to Goa, after his unhappy shipwreck.—See his Life.[496]Who spurns the muse.—Similarity of condition has produced similarity of sentiment in Camoëns and Spenser. Each was the ornament of his country and his age, and each was cruelly neglected by the men of power, who, in truth, were incapable to judge of their merit, or to relish their writings. We have seen several of the strictures of Camoëns on the barbarous nobility of Portugal. The similar complaints of Spenser will show, that neglect of genius, however, was not confined to the court of Lisbon:—"O grief of griefs! O gall of all good hearts!To see that virtue should despised beOf such as first were raised for virtue's parts,And now, broad spreading like an aged tree,Let none shoot up that nigh them planted be.O let not those of whom the muse is scorn'd,Alive or dead be by the muse adorn'd."Ruins of Time.It is thought Lord Burleigh, who withheld the bounty intended by Queen Elizabeth, is here meant. But he is more clearly stigmatized in these remarkable lines, where the misery of dependence on court favour is painted in colours which must recall several strokes of the Lusiad to the mind of the reader:—"Full little knowest thou that hast not tried,What hell it is, in suing long to bide;To lose good days, that might be better spent,To waste long nights in pensive discontent;To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow,To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;To have thy princess' grace, yet want her peers';To have thy asking, yet wait many years.To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares,To eat thy heart thro' comfortless despairs;To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,To spend, to give, to want, to be undone."Mother Hubberd's Tale.These lines exasperated still more the inelegant, illiberal Burleigh. So true is the observation of Mr. Hughes, that, "even the sighs of a miserable man are sometimes resented as an affront by him that is the occasion of them."[497]Kotwâl, a sort of superintendent or inspector of police.—Forbes'Hindustani Dictionary.[498]Lusus.[499]His cluster'd bough, the same which Bacchus bore.—Camoëns immediately before, and in the former book, calls the ensign of Lusus a bough; here he calls it the green thyrsus of Bacchus:—O verde Tyrso foi de Bacco usado.The thyrsus, however, was a javelin twisted with ivy-leaves, used in the sacrifices of Bacchus.[500]In those fair lawns the bless'd Elysium feign'd.—In this assertion our author has the authority of Strabo. a foundation sufficient for a poet. Nor are there wanting several Spanish writers, particularly Barbosa, who seriously affirm that Homer drew the fine description of Elysium, in his fourth Odyssey, from the beautiful valleys of Spain, where, in one of his voyages, they say, he arrived. Egypt, however, seems to have a better title to this honour. The fable of Charon, and the judges of hell, are evidently borrowed from the Egyptian rites of burial, and are older than Homer. After a ferryman had conveyed the corpse over a lake, certain judges examined the life of the deceased, particularly his claim to the virtue of loyalty, and, according to the report, decreed or refused the honours of sepulture. The place of the catacombs, according to Diodorus Siculus, was surrounded with deep canals, beautiful meadows, and a wilderness of groves. It is universally known that the greatest part of the Grecian fables were fabricated from the customs and opinions of Egypt. Several other nations have also claimed the honour of affording the idea of the fields of the blessed. Even the Scotch challenge it. Many Grecian fables, says an author of that country, are evidently founded on the reports of the Phœnician sailors. That these navigators traded to the coasts of Britain is certain. In the middle of summer, the season when the ancients performed their voyages, for about six weeks there is no night over the Orkney Islands; the disk of the sun, during that time, scarcely sinking below the horizon. This appearance, together with the calm which usually prevails at that season, and the beautiful verdure of the islands, could not fail to excite the admiration of the Phœnicians; and their accounts of the place naturally afforded the idea that these islands were inhabited by the spirits of the just. This, says our author, is countenanced by Homer, who places his "islands of the happy" at the extremity of the ocean. That the fables of Scylla, the Gorgones, and several others, were founded on the accounts of navigators, seems probable; and, on this supposition, the Insulæ Fortunatæ, and Purpurariæ, now the Canary and Madeira islands, also claim the honour of giving colours to the description of Elysium. The truth, however, appears to be this: That a place of happiness is reserved for the spirits of the good is the natural suggestion of that anxiety and hope concerning the future which animates the human breast. All the barbarous nations of Africa and America agree in placing their heaven in beautiful islands, at an immense distance over the ocean. The idea is universal, and is natural to every nation in a state of barbarous simplicity.[501]The goddess Minerva.[502]The heav'n-built towers of Troy.—Alluding to the fable of Neptune, Apollo, and Laomedon.[503]On Europe's strand, more grateful to the skies,He bade th' eternal walls of Lisbon rise.—For some account of this tradition, see the note on Lusiad, bk. iii. p. 76. Ancient traditions, however fabulous, have a good effect in poetry. Virgil has not scrupled to insert one, which required an apology:—Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis.Spenser has given us the history of Brute and his descendants at full length in the Faerie Queene; and Milton, it is known, was so fond of that absurd legend, that he intended to write a poem on the subject; and by this fondness was induced to mention it as a truth in the introduction to his History of England.[504]The brother chief.—Paulus de Gama.[505]That gen'rous pride which Rome to Pyrrhus bore.—When Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was at war with the Romans, his physician offered to poison him. The senate rejected the proposal, and acquainted Pyrrhus of the designed treason. Florus remarks on the infamous assassination of Viriatus, that the Roman senate did him great honour;ut videretur aliter vinci non potuisse; it was a confession that they could not otherwise conquer him,—Vid. Flor. l. 17. For a fuller account of this great man, see the note on Lusiad, bk. i. p. 9.[506]Some deem the warrior of Hungarian race.—See the note on the Lusiad, bk. iii p. 67.[507]Jerusalem.[508]The first Alonzo.—King of Portugal.[509]On his young pupil's flight.—"Some, indeed most, writers say, that the queen advancing with her army towards Guimaraez, the king, without waiting till his governor joined him, engaged them and was routed: but that afterwards the remains of his army, being joined by the troops under the command of Egaz Munitz, engaged the army of the queen a second time, and gained a complete victory."—Univ. Hist.[510]Egaz behold, a chief self-doom'd to death.—See the same story in bk. iii. p. 71. Though history affords no authentic document of this transaction, tradition, the poet's authority, is not silent. And the monument of Egaz in the monastery of Paço de Souza gives it countenance. Egaz and his family are there represented, in bas relief, in the attitude and garb, says Castera, as described by Camoëns.[511]Ah Rome! no more thy gen'rous consul boast.—Sc. Posthumus, who, overpowered by the Samnites, submitted to the indignity of passing under the yoke.[512]The Moorish king.—The Alcaydes, or tributary governors under the Miramolin{*} or Emperor of Morocco, are often by the Spanish and Portuguese writers styled kings. He who was surprised and taken prisoner by Don Fuaz Roupinho was namedGama. Fuaz, after having gained the first naval victory of the Portuguese, also experienced their first defeat. With one and twenty sail he attacked fifty-four large galleys of the Moors. "The sea," says Brandan, "which had lately furnished him with trophies, now supplied him with a tomb."{*} This should be (and is evidently only a corruption of),Emir-el-Mumenin,i.e.in Arabic, Commander of the believers.—Ed.[513]A foreign navy brings the pious aid.—A navy of crusaders, mostly English.[514]And from the leaves.—This legend is mentioned by some ancient Portuguese chronicles. Homer would have availed himself, as Camoëns has done, of a tradition so enthusiastic, and characteristic of the age. Henry was a native of Bonneville near Cologne. "His tomb," says Castera, "is still to be seen in the monastery of St. Vincent, but without the palm."[515]In robes of white behold a priest advance.—Thestonius, prior of the regulars of St. Augustine of Conymbra. Some ancient chronicles relate this circumstance as mentioned by Camoëns. Modern writers assert, that he never quitted his breviary.—Castera.[516]The son of Egas.—He was named Mem Moniz, and was son of Egas Moniz, celebrated for the surrender of himself and family to the King of Castile, as already mentioned.[517]The dauntless Gerald.—"He was a man of rank, who, in order to avoid the legal punishment to which several crimes rendered him obnoxious, put himself at the head of a party of freebooters. Tiring, however, of that life, he resolved to reconcile himself to his sovereign by some noble action. Full of this idea, one evening he entered Evora, which then belonged to the Moors. In the night he killed the sentinels of one of the gates, which he opened to his companions, who soon became masters of the place. This exploit had its desired effect. The king pardoned Gerald, and made him governor of Evora. A knight with a sword in one hand, and two heads in the other, from that time became the armorial bearing of the city."—Castera.[518]Wrong'd by his king.—Don Pedro Fernando de Castro, injured by the family of Lara, and denied redress by the King of Castile, took the infamous revenge of bearing arms against his native country. At the head of a Moorish army he committed several outrages in Spain; but was totally defeated in Portugal.[519]And lo, the skies unfold.—"According to some ancient Portuguese histories, Don Matthew, bishop of Lisbon, in the reign of Alonso I, attempted to reduce Alcazar, then in possession of the Moors. His troops, being suddenly surrounded by a numerous party of the enemy, were ready to fly, when, at the prayers of the bishop, a venerable old man, clothed in white, with a red cross on his breast, appeared in the air. The miracle dispelled the fears of the Portuguese; the Moors were defeated, and the conquest of Alcazar crowned the victory."—Castera.[520]Her streets in blood deploreThe seven brave hunters murder'd by the Moor.—"During a truce with the Moors, six cavaliers of the order of St. James were, while on a hunting party, surrounded and killed, by a numerous body of the Moors. During the fight, in which the gentlemen sold their lives dear, a common carter, named Garcias Rodrigo, who chanced to pass that way, came generously to their assistance, and lost his life along with them. The poet, in giving all seven the same title, shows us that virtue constitutes true nobility. Don Payo de Correa, grand master of the order of St. James, revenged the death of these brave unfortunates by the sack of Tavila, where his just rage put the garrison to the sword."—Castera.[521]Those three bold knights how dread.—Nothing can give us a stronger picture of the romantic character of their age, than the manners of those champions, who were gentlemen of birth; and who, in the true spirit of knight-errantry, went about from court to court in quest of adventures. Their names were, Gonçalo Ribeiro; Fernando Martinez de Santarene; and Vasco Anez, foster-brother to Mary, queen of Castile, daughter of Alonzo IV. of Portugal.[522]And I, behold, am off'ring sacrifice.—This line, the simplicity which, I think, contains great dignity, is adopted from Fanshaw—"And I, ye see, am off'ring sacrifice;"who has here caught the spirit of the original—A quem lhe a dura nova estava dando,Pois eu responde estou sacrificando;i.e.To whom when they told the dreadful tidings, "And I," he replies "am sacrificing." The piety of Numa was crowned with victory.—Vid. 'Plut. in vit. Numæ.[523]The LusianScipiowell might speak his fame,But noblerNunioshines a greater name.—Castera justly observes the happiness with which Camoëns introduces the name of this truly great man. "Il va," says he, "le nommer tout à l'heure avec une adresse et une magnificence digne d'un si beau sujet."[524]Two knights of Malta.—These knights were first named Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem, afterwards Knights of Rhodes, from whence they were driven to Messina, ere Malta was assigned to them. By their oath of knighthood they were bound to protect the Holy Sepulchre from the profanation of infidels; immediately on taking this oath, they retired to their colleges, where they lived on their revenues in all the idleness of monkish luxury. Their original habit was black, with a white cross; their armsgules, a cross,argent.[525]His captive friend.—Before John I. mounted the throne of Portugal, one Vasco Porcallo was governor of Villaviciosa. Roderic de Landroal and his friend, Alvarez Cuytado, having discovered that he was in the interest of the King of Castile, drove him from his town and fortress. On the establishment of King John, Porcallo had the art to obtain the favour of that prince; but, no sooner was he re-instated in the garrison, than he delivered it up to the Castilians; and plundered the house of Cuytado, whom, with his wife, he made prisoner and, under a numerous party, ordered to be sent to Olivença. Roderic de Landroal, hearing of this, attacked and defeated the escort, and set his friend at liberty.—Castera.[526]Here treason's well-earn'd meed allures thine eyes.—While the kingdom of Portugal was divided, some holding with John the newly elected king, and others with the King of Castile, Roderic Marin, governor of Campo-Major, declared for the latter. Fernando d'Elvas endeavoured to gain him to the interest of his native prince, and a conference, with the usual assurances of safety, was agreed to. Marin, at this meeting, seized upon Elvas, and sent him prisoner to his castle. Elvas having recovered his liberty, a few days after met his enemy in the field, whom, in his turn, he made captive; and the traitorous Marin, notwithstanding the endeavours of their captain to save his life, met the reward of his treason from the soldiers of Elvas.—Partly fromCastera.[527]And safe the Lusian galleys speed away.—A numerous fleet of the Castilians being on their way to lay siege to Lisbon. Ruy Pereyra, the Portuguese commander, seeing no possibility of victory, boldly attacked the Spanish admiral. The fury of his onset put the Castilians in disorder, and allowed the Portuguese galleys a safe escape. In this brave piece of service the gallant Pereyra lost his life.—Castera.[528]The shepherd.—Viriatus.[529]Equal flame inspir'd these few.—The Castilians having laid siege to Almada, a fortress on a mountain near Lisbon, the garrison, in the utmost distress for water, were obliged at times to make sallies to the bottom of the hill in quest of it. Seventeen Portuguese thus employed were one day attacked by four hundred of the enemy. They made a brave defence, and effected a happy retreat into their fortress.—Castera.[530]Far from the succour of the Lusian host.—When Alonzo V. took Ceuta, Don Pedro de Menezes was the only officer in the army who was willing to become governor of that fortress; which, on account of the uncertainty of succour from Portugal, and the earnest desire of the Moors to regain it, was deemed untenable. He gallantly defended his post in two severe sieges.[531]That other earl.—He was the natural son of Don Pedro de Menezes. Alonzo V. one day, having ridden out from Ceuta with a few attendants, was attacked by a numerous party of the Moors, when De Vian, and some others under him, at the expense of their own lives, purchased the safe retreat of their sovereign.[532]Two brother-heroes shine.—The sons of John I. Don Pedro was called the Ulysses of his age, on account both of his eloquence and his voyages. He visited almost every court of Europe, but he principally distinguished himself in Germany, where, under the standards of the Emperor Sigismond, he signalized his valour in the war against the Turks.—Castera.[533]The glorious Henry.—In pursuance of the reasons assigned in the preface, the translator has here taken the liberty to make a transposition in the order of his author. In Camoëns, Don Pedro de Menezes, and his son De Vian, conclude the description of the pictured ensigns. Don Henry, the greatest man perhaps that ever Portugal produced, has certainly the best title to close this procession of the Lusian heroes. And, as he was the father of navigation, particularly of the voyage ofGama, to sum up the narrative with his encomium has even some critical propriety.These observations were suggested by the conduct of Camoëns, whose design, like that of Virgil, was to write a poem which might contain all the triumphs of his country. As the shield of Æneas supplies what could not be introduced in the vision of Elysium, so the ensigns ofGamacomplete the purpose of the third and fourth Lusiads. The use of that long episode, the conversation with the King of Melinda, and its connection with the subject, have been already observed. The seeming episode of the pictures, while it fulfills the promise—And all my country's wars the song adorn,is also admirably connected with the conduct of the poem. The Hindoos naturally desire to be informed of the country, the history, and power of their foreign visitors, and Paulus sets it before their eyes. In every progression of the scenery the business of the poem advances. The regent and his attendants are struck with the warlike grandeur and power of the strangers, and to accept of their friendship, or to prevent the forerunners of so martial a nation from carrying home the tidings of the discovery of India, becomes the great object of their consideration.[534]But ah, forlorn, what shame to barb'rous pride.—In the original.—Mas faltamlhes pincel, faltamlhes cores,Honra, premio, favor, que as artes criáo."But the pencil was wanting, colors were wanting, honour, reward, favour, the nourishers of the arts." This seemed to the translator as in impropriety, and contrary to the purpose of the whole speech of Paulus, which was to give the catual a high idea of Portugal. In the fate of the imaginary painter, the Lusian poet gives us the picture of his own, resentment wrung this impropriety from him. The spirit of the complaint, however, is preserved in the translation. The couplet—"Immortal fame his deathless labours gave;Poor man, he sunk neglected to the grave!"is not in the original. It is the sigh of indignation over the unworthy fate of the unhappy Camoëns.[535]The ghost-like aspect and the threat'ning look.—Mohammed, by some historians described as of a pale livid complexion, andtrux aspectus et vox terribilis, of a fierce threatening aspect, voice, and demeanour.[536]When, softly usher'd by the milky dawn,The sun first rises.—"I deceive myself greatly," says Castera, "if this simile is not the most noble and the most natural that can be found in any poem. It has been imitated by the Spanish comedian, the illustrious Lopez de Vega, in his comedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, act i. sc. 1:—"Como mirar puede serEl sol al amanecer,I quando se enciende, no."Castera adds a very loose translation of these Spanish lines in French verse. The literal English is,As the sun may be beheld at its rising, but, when illustriously kindled, cannot. Naked, however, as this is, the imitation of Camoëns is evident. As Castera is so very bold in his encomium of this fine simile of the sun, it is but justice to add his translation of it, together with the original Portuguese, and the translation of Fanshaw. Thus the French translator:—Les yeux peuvent soûtenir la clarté du soleil naissant, mais lorsqu'il s'est avancé dans sa carrière lumineuse, et que ses rayons répandent les ardeurs du midi, on tacherait en vain de l'envisager; un prompt aveuglement serait le prix de cette audace.Thus elegantly in the original:—"Em quanto he fraca a força desta gente,Ordena como em tudo se resista,Porque quando o Sol sahe, facilmenteSe pòde nelle por a aguda vista:Porem despois que sobe claro, & ardente,Se a agudeza dos olhos o conquistaTao cega fica, quando ficareis,Se raizes criar lhe nao tolheis."And thus humbled by Fanshaw:—"Nowwhilst this people's strength is not yet knit,Think how ye may resist them by all ways.For when theSunis in hisnonageyit,Upon hismorning beautymen may gaze;But let him once up to hiszenithgit,He strikes themblindwith hismeridian rays;Soblindwill ye be, if ye look not too't,If ye permit thesecedarsto take root."[537]Around him stand,With haggard looks, the hoary Magi band.—The Brahmins, the diviners of India. Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 23, says, that the Persian Magi derived their knowledge from the Brachmanes of India. And Arrianus, l. 7, expressly gives the Brahmins the name of Magi. The Magi of India, says he, told Alexander, on his pretensions to divinity, that in everything he was like other men, except that he took less rest, and did more mischief. The Brahmins are never among modern writers called Magi.[538]The hov'ring demon gives the dreadful sign.—This has an allusion to the truth of history. Barros relates, that an anger being brought before the Zamorim, "Em hum vaso de agua l'he mostrara hunas naos, que vin ham de muy longe para a India, e que a gente d'ellas seria total destruiçam dos Mouros de aquellas partes.—In a vessel of water he showed him some ships which from a great distance came to India, the people of which would effect the utter subversion of the Moors." Camoëns has certainly chosen a more poetical method of describing this divination, a method in the spirit of Virgil; nor in this is he inferior to his great master. The supernatural flame which seizes on Lavinia while assisting at the sacrifice alone excepted, every other part of the augury of Latinus, and his dream in the Albunean forest, whither he went to consult his ancestor, the god Faunus, in dignity and poetical colouring, cannot come in comparison with the divination of the Magi, and the appearance of the demon in the dream of the Moorish priest.[539]Th'eternal yoke.—This picture, it may perhaps be said, is but a bad compliment to the heroes of the Lusiad, and the fruits of their discovery. A little consideration, however, will vindicate Camoëns. It is the demon and the enemies of the Portuguese who procure this divination; everything in it is dreadful, on purpose to determine the zamorim to destroy the fleet ofGama. In a former prophecy of the conquest of India (when the catual describes the sculpture of the royal palace), our poet has been careful to ascribe the happiest effects to the discovery of his heroes:—"Beneath their sway majestic, wise, and mild,Proud of her victors' laws, thrice happier India smil'd."[540]So let the tyrant plead.—In this short declamation, a seeming excrescence, the business of the poem in reality is carried on. The zamorim, and his prime minister, the catual, are artfully characterised in it; and the assertion—Lur'd was the regent with the Moorish gold,is happily introduced by the declamatory reflections which immediately precede it.[541]The Moors——their ancient deeds relate,Their ever-faithful service of the state.—An explanation of the wordMooris here necessary. When the East afforded no more field for the sword of the conqueror, the Saracens, assisted by the Moors, who had embraced their religion, laid the finest countries in Europe in blood and desolation. As their various embarkations were from the empire of Morocco, the Europeans gave the name ofMoorsto all the professors of the Mohammedan religion. In the same manner the eastern nations blended all the armies of the Crusaders under one appellation, and theFranks, of whom the army of Godfrey was mostly composed, became their common name for all the inhabitants of the West. Before the arrival ofGama, as already observed, all the traffic of the East, from the Ethiopian side of Africa to China, was in the hands of Arabian Mohammedans, who, without incorporating with the pagan natives, had their colonies established in every country commodious for commerce. These the Portuguese called Moors; and at present the Mohammedans of India are called the Moors of Hindostan by our English writers. The intelligence these Moors gave to one another, relative to the actions ofGama; the general terror with which they beheld the appearance of Europeans, whose rivalship they dreaded as the destruction of their power; the various frauds and arts they employed to prevent the return of one man ofGama'sfleet to Europe, and their threat to withdraw from the dominions of the zamorim, are all according to the truth of history. The speeches of the zamorim and ofGama, which follow, are also founded in truth.

[476]Kotwâl, the chief officer of police in a town.—Forbes'Hindustani Dictionary.

[477]The monster forms, Chimera-like, and rude.—Chimera, a monster slain by Bellerophon."First, dire Chimera's conquest was enjoin'd,A mingled monster of no mortal kind;Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread,A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire,Her gaping throat emits infernal fire."Pope'sII. vi.

[477]The monster forms, Chimera-like, and rude.—Chimera, a monster slain by Bellerophon.

"First, dire Chimera's conquest was enjoin'd,A mingled monster of no mortal kind;Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread,A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire,Her gaping throat emits infernal fire."Pope'sII. vi.

[478]So Titan's son.—Briareus.

[479]Before these shrines the blinded Indians bow.—In this instance, Camoëns has, with great art, deviated from the truth of history. As it was the great purpose of his hero to propagate the law of heaven in the East, it would have been highly absurd to have representedGamaand his attendants as on their knees in a pagan temple. This, however, was the case. "Gama, who had been told," says Osorius, "that there were many Christians in India, conjectured that the temple, to which the catual led him, was a Christian church. At their entrance they were met by four priests, who seemed to make crosses on their foreheads. The walls were painted with many images. In the middle was it little round chapel, in the wall of which, opposite to the entrance, stood an image which could hardly be discovered. The four priests ascending, some entered the chapel by a little brass door, and pointing to the benighted image, cried aloud, 'Mary, Mary!' The catual and his attendants prostrated themselves an the ground, while the Lusians on their bended knees adored the blessed virgin." Thus Osorius. Another writer says, that a Portuguese, having some doubt, exclaimed, "If this be the devil's image, I however worship God."

[480]Here India's fate.—The description of the palace of the zamorim, situated among aromatic groves, is according to history; the embellishment of the walls is in imitation of Virgil's description of the palace of King Latinus:—Tectum augustum, ingens, centum sublime columnis,Urbe fuit summa, etc."The palace built by Picus, vast and proud,Supported by a hundred pillars stood,And round encompass'd with a rising wood.}The pile o'erlook'd the town, and drew the sight,Surprised, at once, with reverence and delight....Above the portal, carv'd in cedar wood,Placed in their ranks their godlike grandsires stood.Old Saturn, with his crooked scythe on high;And Italus, that led the colony:And ancient Janus with his double face,And bunch of keys, the porter of the place.There stood Sabinus, planter of the vines,On a short pruning-hook his head reclines;And studiously surveys his gen'rous wines.}Then warlike kings who for their country fought,And honourable wounds from battle brought.Around the posts hung helmets, darts, and spears;And captive chariots, axes, shields, and bars;And broken beaks of ships, the trophies of their wars.}Above the rest, as chief of all the bandWas Picus plac'd, a buckler in his hand;His other wav'd a long divining wand.Girt in his Gabin gown the hero sate——"Dryden, Æn. vii.

Tectum augustum, ingens, centum sublime columnis,Urbe fuit summa, etc.

The pile o'erlook'd the town, and drew the sight,Surprised, at once, with reverence and delight....Above the portal, carv'd in cedar wood,Placed in their ranks their godlike grandsires stood.Old Saturn, with his crooked scythe on high;And Italus, that led the colony:And ancient Janus with his double face,And bunch of keys, the porter of the place.

Then warlike kings who for their country fought,And honourable wounds from battle brought.

Above the rest, as chief of all the bandWas Picus plac'd, a buckler in his hand;His other wav'd a long divining wand.Girt in his Gabin gown the hero sate——"Dryden, Æn. vii.

[481]Behind her founder Nysa's walls were rear'd————at distance farThe Ganges lav'd the wide-extended war.—This is in the perspective manner of the beautiful descriptions of the figures on the shield of Achilles.—Il.xviii.

[481]

Behind her founder Nysa's walls were rear'd————at distance farThe Ganges lav'd the wide-extended war.—

This is in the perspective manner of the beautiful descriptions of the figures on the shield of Achilles.—Il.xviii.

[482]Had Semele beheld the smiling boy.—The Theban Bacchus, to whom the Greek fabulists ascribed the Indian expedition of Sesostris, king of Egypt.

[483]Semiramis.

[484]Call'd Jove his father.—The bon-mot of Olympias on this pretension of her son Alexander, was admired by the ancients. "This hot-headed youth, forsooth, cannot be at rest unless he embroil me in a quarrel with Juno."—Quint. Curt.

[485]The tap'stried walls with gold were pictur'd o'er,And flow'ry velvet spread the marble floor.—According to Osorius.

[485]

The tap'stried walls with gold were pictur'd o'er,And flow'ry velvet spread the marble floor.—

According to Osorius.

[486]A leaf.—The Betel.

[487]More now we add not.—The tenor of this first conversation between the zamorim andGama, is according to the truth of history.

[488]What terrors oft have thrill'd my infant breast.—The enthusiasm with which Monzaida, a Moor, talks of the Portuguese, may perhaps to some appear unnatural. Camoëns seems to be aware of this by giving a reason for that enthusiasm in the first speech of Monzaida to Gama—Heav'n sent you here for some great work divine,And Heav'n inspires my breast your sacred toils to join.And, that this Moor did conceive a great affection toGama, whose religion he embraced, and to whom he proved of the utmost service, is according to the truth of history.

Heav'n sent you here for some great work divine,And Heav'n inspires my breast your sacred toils to join.

And, that this Moor did conceive a great affection toGama, whose religion he embraced, and to whom he proved of the utmost service, is according to the truth of history.

[489]The ruddy juice by Noah found.—Gen. ix. 20. "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine," etc.

[490]His faith forbade with other tribe to joinThe sacred meal, esteem'd a rite divine.—The opinion of the sacredness of the table is very ancient in the East. It is plainly to be discovered in the history of Abraham. When Melchizedek, a king and priest, blessed Abraham, it is said, "And he brought forth bread and wine and he blessed him."—Gen. xiv. 18. The patriarchs only drank wine, according to Dr. Stukely, on their more solemn festivals, when they were saidto rejoice before the Lord. Other customs of the Hindoos are mentioned by Camoëns in this book. If a noble should touch a person of another tribe—A thousand rites, and washings o'er and o'er,Can scarce his tainted purity restore.Nothing, says Osorius, but the death of the unhappy commoner can wipe off the pollution. Yet we are told by the same author, that Hindoo nobility cannot be forfeited, or even tarnished by the basest and greatest of crimes; nor can one of mean birth become great or noble by the most illustrious actions. The noblemen, says the same writer, adopt the children of their sisters, esteeming there can be no other certainty of the relationship of their heirs.

[490]

His faith forbade with other tribe to joinThe sacred meal, esteem'd a rite divine.—

The opinion of the sacredness of the table is very ancient in the East. It is plainly to be discovered in the history of Abraham. When Melchizedek, a king and priest, blessed Abraham, it is said, "And he brought forth bread and wine and he blessed him."—Gen. xiv. 18. The patriarchs only drank wine, according to Dr. Stukely, on their more solemn festivals, when they were saidto rejoice before the Lord. Other customs of the Hindoos are mentioned by Camoëns in this book. If a noble should touch a person of another tribe—

A thousand rites, and washings o'er and o'er,Can scarce his tainted purity restore.

Nothing, says Osorius, but the death of the unhappy commoner can wipe off the pollution. Yet we are told by the same author, that Hindoo nobility cannot be forfeited, or even tarnished by the basest and greatest of crimes; nor can one of mean birth become great or noble by the most illustrious actions. The noblemen, says the same writer, adopt the children of their sisters, esteeming there can be no other certainty of the relationship of their heirs.

[491]The warlike song.—Though Camoëns began his Lusiad in Portugal, almost the whole of it was written while on the ocean, while in Africa, and in India.—See his Life.

[492]As Canace.—Daughter of Eolus. Her father, having thrown her incestuous child to the dogs, sent her a sword, with which she slew herself. In Ovid she writes an epistle to her husband-brother, where she thus describes herself:—Dextra tenet calamum, strictum tenet altera ferrum.

Dextra tenet calamum, strictum tenet altera ferrum.

[493]Soon I beheld that wealth beneath the waveFor ever lost.—See the Life of Camoëns.

[493]

Soon I beheld that wealth beneath the waveFor ever lost.—

See the Life of Camoëns.

[494]My life, like Judah's Heaven-doom'd king of yore.—Hezekiah.—See Isaiah xxxviii.

[495]And left me mourning in a dreary jail.—This, and the whole paragraph from—Degraded now, by poverty abhorr'd,alludes to his fortunes in India. The latter circumstance relates particularly to the base and inhuman treatment he received on his return to Goa, after his unhappy shipwreck.—See his Life.

[495]And left me mourning in a dreary jail.—This, and the whole paragraph from—

Degraded now, by poverty abhorr'd,

alludes to his fortunes in India. The latter circumstance relates particularly to the base and inhuman treatment he received on his return to Goa, after his unhappy shipwreck.—See his Life.

[496]Who spurns the muse.—Similarity of condition has produced similarity of sentiment in Camoëns and Spenser. Each was the ornament of his country and his age, and each was cruelly neglected by the men of power, who, in truth, were incapable to judge of their merit, or to relish their writings. We have seen several of the strictures of Camoëns on the barbarous nobility of Portugal. The similar complaints of Spenser will show, that neglect of genius, however, was not confined to the court of Lisbon:—"O grief of griefs! O gall of all good hearts!To see that virtue should despised beOf such as first were raised for virtue's parts,And now, broad spreading like an aged tree,Let none shoot up that nigh them planted be.O let not those of whom the muse is scorn'd,Alive or dead be by the muse adorn'd."Ruins of Time.It is thought Lord Burleigh, who withheld the bounty intended by Queen Elizabeth, is here meant. But he is more clearly stigmatized in these remarkable lines, where the misery of dependence on court favour is painted in colours which must recall several strokes of the Lusiad to the mind of the reader:—"Full little knowest thou that hast not tried,What hell it is, in suing long to bide;To lose good days, that might be better spent,To waste long nights in pensive discontent;To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow,To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;To have thy princess' grace, yet want her peers';To have thy asking, yet wait many years.To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares,To eat thy heart thro' comfortless despairs;To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,To spend, to give, to want, to be undone."Mother Hubberd's Tale.These lines exasperated still more the inelegant, illiberal Burleigh. So true is the observation of Mr. Hughes, that, "even the sighs of a miserable man are sometimes resented as an affront by him that is the occasion of them."

"O grief of griefs! O gall of all good hearts!To see that virtue should despised beOf such as first were raised for virtue's parts,And now, broad spreading like an aged tree,Let none shoot up that nigh them planted be.O let not those of whom the muse is scorn'd,Alive or dead be by the muse adorn'd."Ruins of Time.

It is thought Lord Burleigh, who withheld the bounty intended by Queen Elizabeth, is here meant. But he is more clearly stigmatized in these remarkable lines, where the misery of dependence on court favour is painted in colours which must recall several strokes of the Lusiad to the mind of the reader:—

"Full little knowest thou that hast not tried,What hell it is, in suing long to bide;To lose good days, that might be better spent,To waste long nights in pensive discontent;To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow,To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;To have thy princess' grace, yet want her peers';To have thy asking, yet wait many years.To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares,To eat thy heart thro' comfortless despairs;To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,To spend, to give, to want, to be undone."Mother Hubberd's Tale.

These lines exasperated still more the inelegant, illiberal Burleigh. So true is the observation of Mr. Hughes, that, "even the sighs of a miserable man are sometimes resented as an affront by him that is the occasion of them."

[497]Kotwâl, a sort of superintendent or inspector of police.—Forbes'Hindustani Dictionary.

[498]Lusus.

[499]His cluster'd bough, the same which Bacchus bore.—Camoëns immediately before, and in the former book, calls the ensign of Lusus a bough; here he calls it the green thyrsus of Bacchus:—O verde Tyrso foi de Bacco usado.The thyrsus, however, was a javelin twisted with ivy-leaves, used in the sacrifices of Bacchus.

[499]His cluster'd bough, the same which Bacchus bore.—Camoëns immediately before, and in the former book, calls the ensign of Lusus a bough; here he calls it the green thyrsus of Bacchus:—

O verde Tyrso foi de Bacco usado.

The thyrsus, however, was a javelin twisted with ivy-leaves, used in the sacrifices of Bacchus.

[500]In those fair lawns the bless'd Elysium feign'd.—In this assertion our author has the authority of Strabo. a foundation sufficient for a poet. Nor are there wanting several Spanish writers, particularly Barbosa, who seriously affirm that Homer drew the fine description of Elysium, in his fourth Odyssey, from the beautiful valleys of Spain, where, in one of his voyages, they say, he arrived. Egypt, however, seems to have a better title to this honour. The fable of Charon, and the judges of hell, are evidently borrowed from the Egyptian rites of burial, and are older than Homer. After a ferryman had conveyed the corpse over a lake, certain judges examined the life of the deceased, particularly his claim to the virtue of loyalty, and, according to the report, decreed or refused the honours of sepulture. The place of the catacombs, according to Diodorus Siculus, was surrounded with deep canals, beautiful meadows, and a wilderness of groves. It is universally known that the greatest part of the Grecian fables were fabricated from the customs and opinions of Egypt. Several other nations have also claimed the honour of affording the idea of the fields of the blessed. Even the Scotch challenge it. Many Grecian fables, says an author of that country, are evidently founded on the reports of the Phœnician sailors. That these navigators traded to the coasts of Britain is certain. In the middle of summer, the season when the ancients performed their voyages, for about six weeks there is no night over the Orkney Islands; the disk of the sun, during that time, scarcely sinking below the horizon. This appearance, together with the calm which usually prevails at that season, and the beautiful verdure of the islands, could not fail to excite the admiration of the Phœnicians; and their accounts of the place naturally afforded the idea that these islands were inhabited by the spirits of the just. This, says our author, is countenanced by Homer, who places his "islands of the happy" at the extremity of the ocean. That the fables of Scylla, the Gorgones, and several others, were founded on the accounts of navigators, seems probable; and, on this supposition, the Insulæ Fortunatæ, and Purpurariæ, now the Canary and Madeira islands, also claim the honour of giving colours to the description of Elysium. The truth, however, appears to be this: That a place of happiness is reserved for the spirits of the good is the natural suggestion of that anxiety and hope concerning the future which animates the human breast. All the barbarous nations of Africa and America agree in placing their heaven in beautiful islands, at an immense distance over the ocean. The idea is universal, and is natural to every nation in a state of barbarous simplicity.

[501]The goddess Minerva.

[502]The heav'n-built towers of Troy.—Alluding to the fable of Neptune, Apollo, and Laomedon.

[503]On Europe's strand, more grateful to the skies,He bade th' eternal walls of Lisbon rise.—For some account of this tradition, see the note on Lusiad, bk. iii. p. 76. Ancient traditions, however fabulous, have a good effect in poetry. Virgil has not scrupled to insert one, which required an apology:—Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis.Spenser has given us the history of Brute and his descendants at full length in the Faerie Queene; and Milton, it is known, was so fond of that absurd legend, that he intended to write a poem on the subject; and by this fondness was induced to mention it as a truth in the introduction to his History of England.

[503]

On Europe's strand, more grateful to the skies,He bade th' eternal walls of Lisbon rise.—

For some account of this tradition, see the note on Lusiad, bk. iii. p. 76. Ancient traditions, however fabulous, have a good effect in poetry. Virgil has not scrupled to insert one, which required an apology:—

Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis.

Spenser has given us the history of Brute and his descendants at full length in the Faerie Queene; and Milton, it is known, was so fond of that absurd legend, that he intended to write a poem on the subject; and by this fondness was induced to mention it as a truth in the introduction to his History of England.

[504]The brother chief.—Paulus de Gama.

[505]That gen'rous pride which Rome to Pyrrhus bore.—When Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was at war with the Romans, his physician offered to poison him. The senate rejected the proposal, and acquainted Pyrrhus of the designed treason. Florus remarks on the infamous assassination of Viriatus, that the Roman senate did him great honour;ut videretur aliter vinci non potuisse; it was a confession that they could not otherwise conquer him,—Vid. Flor. l. 17. For a fuller account of this great man, see the note on Lusiad, bk. i. p. 9.

[506]Some deem the warrior of Hungarian race.—See the note on the Lusiad, bk. iii p. 67.

[507]Jerusalem.

[508]The first Alonzo.—King of Portugal.

[509]On his young pupil's flight.—"Some, indeed most, writers say, that the queen advancing with her army towards Guimaraez, the king, without waiting till his governor joined him, engaged them and was routed: but that afterwards the remains of his army, being joined by the troops under the command of Egaz Munitz, engaged the army of the queen a second time, and gained a complete victory."—Univ. Hist.

[510]Egaz behold, a chief self-doom'd to death.—See the same story in bk. iii. p. 71. Though history affords no authentic document of this transaction, tradition, the poet's authority, is not silent. And the monument of Egaz in the monastery of Paço de Souza gives it countenance. Egaz and his family are there represented, in bas relief, in the attitude and garb, says Castera, as described by Camoëns.

[511]Ah Rome! no more thy gen'rous consul boast.—Sc. Posthumus, who, overpowered by the Samnites, submitted to the indignity of passing under the yoke.

[512]The Moorish king.—The Alcaydes, or tributary governors under the Miramolin{*} or Emperor of Morocco, are often by the Spanish and Portuguese writers styled kings. He who was surprised and taken prisoner by Don Fuaz Roupinho was namedGama. Fuaz, after having gained the first naval victory of the Portuguese, also experienced their first defeat. With one and twenty sail he attacked fifty-four large galleys of the Moors. "The sea," says Brandan, "which had lately furnished him with trophies, now supplied him with a tomb."{*} This should be (and is evidently only a corruption of),Emir-el-Mumenin,i.e.in Arabic, Commander of the believers.—Ed.

{*} This should be (and is evidently only a corruption of),Emir-el-Mumenin,i.e.in Arabic, Commander of the believers.—Ed.

[513]A foreign navy brings the pious aid.—A navy of crusaders, mostly English.

[514]And from the leaves.—This legend is mentioned by some ancient Portuguese chronicles. Homer would have availed himself, as Camoëns has done, of a tradition so enthusiastic, and characteristic of the age. Henry was a native of Bonneville near Cologne. "His tomb," says Castera, "is still to be seen in the monastery of St. Vincent, but without the palm."

[515]In robes of white behold a priest advance.—Thestonius, prior of the regulars of St. Augustine of Conymbra. Some ancient chronicles relate this circumstance as mentioned by Camoëns. Modern writers assert, that he never quitted his breviary.—Castera.

[516]The son of Egas.—He was named Mem Moniz, and was son of Egas Moniz, celebrated for the surrender of himself and family to the King of Castile, as already mentioned.

[517]The dauntless Gerald.—"He was a man of rank, who, in order to avoid the legal punishment to which several crimes rendered him obnoxious, put himself at the head of a party of freebooters. Tiring, however, of that life, he resolved to reconcile himself to his sovereign by some noble action. Full of this idea, one evening he entered Evora, which then belonged to the Moors. In the night he killed the sentinels of one of the gates, which he opened to his companions, who soon became masters of the place. This exploit had its desired effect. The king pardoned Gerald, and made him governor of Evora. A knight with a sword in one hand, and two heads in the other, from that time became the armorial bearing of the city."—Castera.

[518]Wrong'd by his king.—Don Pedro Fernando de Castro, injured by the family of Lara, and denied redress by the King of Castile, took the infamous revenge of bearing arms against his native country. At the head of a Moorish army he committed several outrages in Spain; but was totally defeated in Portugal.

[519]And lo, the skies unfold.—"According to some ancient Portuguese histories, Don Matthew, bishop of Lisbon, in the reign of Alonso I, attempted to reduce Alcazar, then in possession of the Moors. His troops, being suddenly surrounded by a numerous party of the enemy, were ready to fly, when, at the prayers of the bishop, a venerable old man, clothed in white, with a red cross on his breast, appeared in the air. The miracle dispelled the fears of the Portuguese; the Moors were defeated, and the conquest of Alcazar crowned the victory."—Castera.

[520]Her streets in blood deploreThe seven brave hunters murder'd by the Moor.—"During a truce with the Moors, six cavaliers of the order of St. James were, while on a hunting party, surrounded and killed, by a numerous body of the Moors. During the fight, in which the gentlemen sold their lives dear, a common carter, named Garcias Rodrigo, who chanced to pass that way, came generously to their assistance, and lost his life along with them. The poet, in giving all seven the same title, shows us that virtue constitutes true nobility. Don Payo de Correa, grand master of the order of St. James, revenged the death of these brave unfortunates by the sack of Tavila, where his just rage put the garrison to the sword."—Castera.

[520]

Her streets in blood deploreThe seven brave hunters murder'd by the Moor.—

"During a truce with the Moors, six cavaliers of the order of St. James were, while on a hunting party, surrounded and killed, by a numerous body of the Moors. During the fight, in which the gentlemen sold their lives dear, a common carter, named Garcias Rodrigo, who chanced to pass that way, came generously to their assistance, and lost his life along with them. The poet, in giving all seven the same title, shows us that virtue constitutes true nobility. Don Payo de Correa, grand master of the order of St. James, revenged the death of these brave unfortunates by the sack of Tavila, where his just rage put the garrison to the sword."—Castera.

[521]Those three bold knights how dread.—Nothing can give us a stronger picture of the romantic character of their age, than the manners of those champions, who were gentlemen of birth; and who, in the true spirit of knight-errantry, went about from court to court in quest of adventures. Their names were, Gonçalo Ribeiro; Fernando Martinez de Santarene; and Vasco Anez, foster-brother to Mary, queen of Castile, daughter of Alonzo IV. of Portugal.

[522]And I, behold, am off'ring sacrifice.—This line, the simplicity which, I think, contains great dignity, is adopted from Fanshaw—"And I, ye see, am off'ring sacrifice;"who has here caught the spirit of the original—A quem lhe a dura nova estava dando,Pois eu responde estou sacrificando;i.e.To whom when they told the dreadful tidings, "And I," he replies "am sacrificing." The piety of Numa was crowned with victory.—Vid. 'Plut. in vit. Numæ.

[522]And I, behold, am off'ring sacrifice.—This line, the simplicity which, I think, contains great dignity, is adopted from Fanshaw—

"And I, ye see, am off'ring sacrifice;"

who has here caught the spirit of the original—

A quem lhe a dura nova estava dando,Pois eu responde estou sacrificando;

i.e.To whom when they told the dreadful tidings, "And I," he replies "am sacrificing." The piety of Numa was crowned with victory.—Vid. 'Plut. in vit. Numæ.

[523]The LusianScipiowell might speak his fame,But noblerNunioshines a greater name.—Castera justly observes the happiness with which Camoëns introduces the name of this truly great man. "Il va," says he, "le nommer tout à l'heure avec une adresse et une magnificence digne d'un si beau sujet."

[523]

The LusianScipiowell might speak his fame,But noblerNunioshines a greater name.—

Castera justly observes the happiness with which Camoëns introduces the name of this truly great man. "Il va," says he, "le nommer tout à l'heure avec une adresse et une magnificence digne d'un si beau sujet."

[524]Two knights of Malta.—These knights were first named Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem, afterwards Knights of Rhodes, from whence they were driven to Messina, ere Malta was assigned to them. By their oath of knighthood they were bound to protect the Holy Sepulchre from the profanation of infidels; immediately on taking this oath, they retired to their colleges, where they lived on their revenues in all the idleness of monkish luxury. Their original habit was black, with a white cross; their armsgules, a cross,argent.

[525]His captive friend.—Before John I. mounted the throne of Portugal, one Vasco Porcallo was governor of Villaviciosa. Roderic de Landroal and his friend, Alvarez Cuytado, having discovered that he was in the interest of the King of Castile, drove him from his town and fortress. On the establishment of King John, Porcallo had the art to obtain the favour of that prince; but, no sooner was he re-instated in the garrison, than he delivered it up to the Castilians; and plundered the house of Cuytado, whom, with his wife, he made prisoner and, under a numerous party, ordered to be sent to Olivença. Roderic de Landroal, hearing of this, attacked and defeated the escort, and set his friend at liberty.—Castera.

[526]Here treason's well-earn'd meed allures thine eyes.—While the kingdom of Portugal was divided, some holding with John the newly elected king, and others with the King of Castile, Roderic Marin, governor of Campo-Major, declared for the latter. Fernando d'Elvas endeavoured to gain him to the interest of his native prince, and a conference, with the usual assurances of safety, was agreed to. Marin, at this meeting, seized upon Elvas, and sent him prisoner to his castle. Elvas having recovered his liberty, a few days after met his enemy in the field, whom, in his turn, he made captive; and the traitorous Marin, notwithstanding the endeavours of their captain to save his life, met the reward of his treason from the soldiers of Elvas.—Partly fromCastera.

[527]And safe the Lusian galleys speed away.—A numerous fleet of the Castilians being on their way to lay siege to Lisbon. Ruy Pereyra, the Portuguese commander, seeing no possibility of victory, boldly attacked the Spanish admiral. The fury of his onset put the Castilians in disorder, and allowed the Portuguese galleys a safe escape. In this brave piece of service the gallant Pereyra lost his life.—Castera.

[528]The shepherd.—Viriatus.

[529]Equal flame inspir'd these few.—The Castilians having laid siege to Almada, a fortress on a mountain near Lisbon, the garrison, in the utmost distress for water, were obliged at times to make sallies to the bottom of the hill in quest of it. Seventeen Portuguese thus employed were one day attacked by four hundred of the enemy. They made a brave defence, and effected a happy retreat into their fortress.—Castera.

[530]Far from the succour of the Lusian host.—When Alonzo V. took Ceuta, Don Pedro de Menezes was the only officer in the army who was willing to become governor of that fortress; which, on account of the uncertainty of succour from Portugal, and the earnest desire of the Moors to regain it, was deemed untenable. He gallantly defended his post in two severe sieges.

[531]That other earl.—He was the natural son of Don Pedro de Menezes. Alonzo V. one day, having ridden out from Ceuta with a few attendants, was attacked by a numerous party of the Moors, when De Vian, and some others under him, at the expense of their own lives, purchased the safe retreat of their sovereign.

[532]Two brother-heroes shine.—The sons of John I. Don Pedro was called the Ulysses of his age, on account both of his eloquence and his voyages. He visited almost every court of Europe, but he principally distinguished himself in Germany, where, under the standards of the Emperor Sigismond, he signalized his valour in the war against the Turks.—Castera.

[533]The glorious Henry.—In pursuance of the reasons assigned in the preface, the translator has here taken the liberty to make a transposition in the order of his author. In Camoëns, Don Pedro de Menezes, and his son De Vian, conclude the description of the pictured ensigns. Don Henry, the greatest man perhaps that ever Portugal produced, has certainly the best title to close this procession of the Lusian heroes. And, as he was the father of navigation, particularly of the voyage ofGama, to sum up the narrative with his encomium has even some critical propriety.These observations were suggested by the conduct of Camoëns, whose design, like that of Virgil, was to write a poem which might contain all the triumphs of his country. As the shield of Æneas supplies what could not be introduced in the vision of Elysium, so the ensigns ofGamacomplete the purpose of the third and fourth Lusiads. The use of that long episode, the conversation with the King of Melinda, and its connection with the subject, have been already observed. The seeming episode of the pictures, while it fulfills the promise—And all my country's wars the song adorn,is also admirably connected with the conduct of the poem. The Hindoos naturally desire to be informed of the country, the history, and power of their foreign visitors, and Paulus sets it before their eyes. In every progression of the scenery the business of the poem advances. The regent and his attendants are struck with the warlike grandeur and power of the strangers, and to accept of their friendship, or to prevent the forerunners of so martial a nation from carrying home the tidings of the discovery of India, becomes the great object of their consideration.

These observations were suggested by the conduct of Camoëns, whose design, like that of Virgil, was to write a poem which might contain all the triumphs of his country. As the shield of Æneas supplies what could not be introduced in the vision of Elysium, so the ensigns ofGamacomplete the purpose of the third and fourth Lusiads. The use of that long episode, the conversation with the King of Melinda, and its connection with the subject, have been already observed. The seeming episode of the pictures, while it fulfills the promise—

And all my country's wars the song adorn,

is also admirably connected with the conduct of the poem. The Hindoos naturally desire to be informed of the country, the history, and power of their foreign visitors, and Paulus sets it before their eyes. In every progression of the scenery the business of the poem advances. The regent and his attendants are struck with the warlike grandeur and power of the strangers, and to accept of their friendship, or to prevent the forerunners of so martial a nation from carrying home the tidings of the discovery of India, becomes the great object of their consideration.

[534]But ah, forlorn, what shame to barb'rous pride.—In the original.—Mas faltamlhes pincel, faltamlhes cores,Honra, premio, favor, que as artes criáo."But the pencil was wanting, colors were wanting, honour, reward, favour, the nourishers of the arts." This seemed to the translator as in impropriety, and contrary to the purpose of the whole speech of Paulus, which was to give the catual a high idea of Portugal. In the fate of the imaginary painter, the Lusian poet gives us the picture of his own, resentment wrung this impropriety from him. The spirit of the complaint, however, is preserved in the translation. The couplet—"Immortal fame his deathless labours gave;Poor man, he sunk neglected to the grave!"is not in the original. It is the sigh of indignation over the unworthy fate of the unhappy Camoëns.

[534]But ah, forlorn, what shame to barb'rous pride.—In the original.—

Mas faltamlhes pincel, faltamlhes cores,Honra, premio, favor, que as artes criáo.

"But the pencil was wanting, colors were wanting, honour, reward, favour, the nourishers of the arts." This seemed to the translator as in impropriety, and contrary to the purpose of the whole speech of Paulus, which was to give the catual a high idea of Portugal. In the fate of the imaginary painter, the Lusian poet gives us the picture of his own, resentment wrung this impropriety from him. The spirit of the complaint, however, is preserved in the translation. The couplet—

"Immortal fame his deathless labours gave;Poor man, he sunk neglected to the grave!"

is not in the original. It is the sigh of indignation over the unworthy fate of the unhappy Camoëns.

[535]The ghost-like aspect and the threat'ning look.—Mohammed, by some historians described as of a pale livid complexion, andtrux aspectus et vox terribilis, of a fierce threatening aspect, voice, and demeanour.

[536]When, softly usher'd by the milky dawn,The sun first rises.—"I deceive myself greatly," says Castera, "if this simile is not the most noble and the most natural that can be found in any poem. It has been imitated by the Spanish comedian, the illustrious Lopez de Vega, in his comedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, act i. sc. 1:—"Como mirar puede serEl sol al amanecer,I quando se enciende, no."Castera adds a very loose translation of these Spanish lines in French verse. The literal English is,As the sun may be beheld at its rising, but, when illustriously kindled, cannot. Naked, however, as this is, the imitation of Camoëns is evident. As Castera is so very bold in his encomium of this fine simile of the sun, it is but justice to add his translation of it, together with the original Portuguese, and the translation of Fanshaw. Thus the French translator:—Les yeux peuvent soûtenir la clarté du soleil naissant, mais lorsqu'il s'est avancé dans sa carrière lumineuse, et que ses rayons répandent les ardeurs du midi, on tacherait en vain de l'envisager; un prompt aveuglement serait le prix de cette audace.Thus elegantly in the original:—"Em quanto he fraca a força desta gente,Ordena como em tudo se resista,Porque quando o Sol sahe, facilmenteSe pòde nelle por a aguda vista:Porem despois que sobe claro, & ardente,Se a agudeza dos olhos o conquistaTao cega fica, quando ficareis,Se raizes criar lhe nao tolheis."And thus humbled by Fanshaw:—"Nowwhilst this people's strength is not yet knit,Think how ye may resist them by all ways.For when theSunis in hisnonageyit,Upon hismorning beautymen may gaze;But let him once up to hiszenithgit,He strikes themblindwith hismeridian rays;Soblindwill ye be, if ye look not too't,If ye permit thesecedarsto take root."

[536]

When, softly usher'd by the milky dawn,The sun first rises.—

"I deceive myself greatly," says Castera, "if this simile is not the most noble and the most natural that can be found in any poem. It has been imitated by the Spanish comedian, the illustrious Lopez de Vega, in his comedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, act i. sc. 1:—

"Como mirar puede serEl sol al amanecer,I quando se enciende, no."

Castera adds a very loose translation of these Spanish lines in French verse. The literal English is,As the sun may be beheld at its rising, but, when illustriously kindled, cannot. Naked, however, as this is, the imitation of Camoëns is evident. As Castera is so very bold in his encomium of this fine simile of the sun, it is but justice to add his translation of it, together with the original Portuguese, and the translation of Fanshaw. Thus the French translator:—

Les yeux peuvent soûtenir la clarté du soleil naissant, mais lorsqu'il s'est avancé dans sa carrière lumineuse, et que ses rayons répandent les ardeurs du midi, on tacherait en vain de l'envisager; un prompt aveuglement serait le prix de cette audace.

Thus elegantly in the original:—

"Em quanto he fraca a força desta gente,Ordena como em tudo se resista,Porque quando o Sol sahe, facilmenteSe pòde nelle por a aguda vista:Porem despois que sobe claro, & ardente,Se a agudeza dos olhos o conquistaTao cega fica, quando ficareis,Se raizes criar lhe nao tolheis."

And thus humbled by Fanshaw:—

"Nowwhilst this people's strength is not yet knit,Think how ye may resist them by all ways.For when theSunis in hisnonageyit,Upon hismorning beautymen may gaze;But let him once up to hiszenithgit,He strikes themblindwith hismeridian rays;Soblindwill ye be, if ye look not too't,If ye permit thesecedarsto take root."

[537]Around him stand,With haggard looks, the hoary Magi band.—The Brahmins, the diviners of India. Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 23, says, that the Persian Magi derived their knowledge from the Brachmanes of India. And Arrianus, l. 7, expressly gives the Brahmins the name of Magi. The Magi of India, says he, told Alexander, on his pretensions to divinity, that in everything he was like other men, except that he took less rest, and did more mischief. The Brahmins are never among modern writers called Magi.

[537]

Around him stand,With haggard looks, the hoary Magi band.—

The Brahmins, the diviners of India. Ammianus Marcellinus, l. 23, says, that the Persian Magi derived their knowledge from the Brachmanes of India. And Arrianus, l. 7, expressly gives the Brahmins the name of Magi. The Magi of India, says he, told Alexander, on his pretensions to divinity, that in everything he was like other men, except that he took less rest, and did more mischief. The Brahmins are never among modern writers called Magi.

[538]The hov'ring demon gives the dreadful sign.—This has an allusion to the truth of history. Barros relates, that an anger being brought before the Zamorim, "Em hum vaso de agua l'he mostrara hunas naos, que vin ham de muy longe para a India, e que a gente d'ellas seria total destruiçam dos Mouros de aquellas partes.—In a vessel of water he showed him some ships which from a great distance came to India, the people of which would effect the utter subversion of the Moors." Camoëns has certainly chosen a more poetical method of describing this divination, a method in the spirit of Virgil; nor in this is he inferior to his great master. The supernatural flame which seizes on Lavinia while assisting at the sacrifice alone excepted, every other part of the augury of Latinus, and his dream in the Albunean forest, whither he went to consult his ancestor, the god Faunus, in dignity and poetical colouring, cannot come in comparison with the divination of the Magi, and the appearance of the demon in the dream of the Moorish priest.

[539]Th'eternal yoke.—This picture, it may perhaps be said, is but a bad compliment to the heroes of the Lusiad, and the fruits of their discovery. A little consideration, however, will vindicate Camoëns. It is the demon and the enemies of the Portuguese who procure this divination; everything in it is dreadful, on purpose to determine the zamorim to destroy the fleet ofGama. In a former prophecy of the conquest of India (when the catual describes the sculpture of the royal palace), our poet has been careful to ascribe the happiest effects to the discovery of his heroes:—"Beneath their sway majestic, wise, and mild,Proud of her victors' laws, thrice happier India smil'd."

"Beneath their sway majestic, wise, and mild,Proud of her victors' laws, thrice happier India smil'd."

[540]So let the tyrant plead.—In this short declamation, a seeming excrescence, the business of the poem in reality is carried on. The zamorim, and his prime minister, the catual, are artfully characterised in it; and the assertion—Lur'd was the regent with the Moorish gold,is happily introduced by the declamatory reflections which immediately precede it.

Lur'd was the regent with the Moorish gold,

is happily introduced by the declamatory reflections which immediately precede it.

[541]The Moors——their ancient deeds relate,Their ever-faithful service of the state.—An explanation of the wordMooris here necessary. When the East afforded no more field for the sword of the conqueror, the Saracens, assisted by the Moors, who had embraced their religion, laid the finest countries in Europe in blood and desolation. As their various embarkations were from the empire of Morocco, the Europeans gave the name ofMoorsto all the professors of the Mohammedan religion. In the same manner the eastern nations blended all the armies of the Crusaders under one appellation, and theFranks, of whom the army of Godfrey was mostly composed, became their common name for all the inhabitants of the West. Before the arrival ofGama, as already observed, all the traffic of the East, from the Ethiopian side of Africa to China, was in the hands of Arabian Mohammedans, who, without incorporating with the pagan natives, had their colonies established in every country commodious for commerce. These the Portuguese called Moors; and at present the Mohammedans of India are called the Moors of Hindostan by our English writers. The intelligence these Moors gave to one another, relative to the actions ofGama; the general terror with which they beheld the appearance of Europeans, whose rivalship they dreaded as the destruction of their power; the various frauds and arts they employed to prevent the return of one man ofGama'sfleet to Europe, and their threat to withdraw from the dominions of the zamorim, are all according to the truth of history. The speeches of the zamorim and ofGama, which follow, are also founded in truth.

[541]

The Moors——their ancient deeds relate,Their ever-faithful service of the state.—

An explanation of the wordMooris here necessary. When the East afforded no more field for the sword of the conqueror, the Saracens, assisted by the Moors, who had embraced their religion, laid the finest countries in Europe in blood and desolation. As their various embarkations were from the empire of Morocco, the Europeans gave the name ofMoorsto all the professors of the Mohammedan religion. In the same manner the eastern nations blended all the armies of the Crusaders under one appellation, and theFranks, of whom the army of Godfrey was mostly composed, became their common name for all the inhabitants of the West. Before the arrival ofGama, as already observed, all the traffic of the East, from the Ethiopian side of Africa to China, was in the hands of Arabian Mohammedans, who, without incorporating with the pagan natives, had their colonies established in every country commodious for commerce. These the Portuguese called Moors; and at present the Mohammedans of India are called the Moors of Hindostan by our English writers. The intelligence these Moors gave to one another, relative to the actions ofGama; the general terror with which they beheld the appearance of Europeans, whose rivalship they dreaded as the destruction of their power; the various frauds and arts they employed to prevent the return of one man ofGama'sfleet to Europe, and their threat to withdraw from the dominions of the zamorim, are all according to the truth of history. The speeches of the zamorim and ofGama, which follow, are also founded in truth.

Back to Index Next