The fate of
Camoens has hitherto been very peculiar.
Camoens has hitherto been very peculiar.
Camoes - Lusiades
It is used on board ship to weigh the anchors, raise the
masts, etc. The versification of this passage in the original affords a
most noble example of imitative harmony:--
"Mas ja nas naos os bons trabalhadores
Volvem o cabrestante, & repartidos
Pello trabalho, huns puxao pella amarra,
Outros quebrao co peito duro a barra. "
STANZA X.
[559]
_Mozaide, whose zealous care
To Gama's eyes reveal'd each treach'rous snare. --_
Had this been mentioned sooner, the interest of the catastrophe of the
poem must have languished. Though he is not a warrior, the unexpected
friend of GAMA bears a much more considerable part in the action of the
Lusiad than the faithful Achates, the friend of the hero, bears in the
business of the AEneid.
[560] _There wast thou call'd to thy celestial home. _--This exclamatory
address to the Moor Monzaida, however it may appear digressive, has a
double propriety. The conversion of the Eastern world is the great
purpose of the expedition of GAMA, and Monzaida is the first fruits of
that conversion. The good characters of the victorious heroes, however
neglected by the great genius of Homer, have a fine effect in making an
epic poem interest us and please. It might have been said, that Monzaida
was a traitor to his friends, who crowned his villainy with apostacy.
Camoens has, therefore, wisely drawn him with other features, worthy of
the friendship of GAMA. Had this been neglected, the hero of the Lusiad
might have shared the fate of the wise Ulysses of the Iliad, against
whom, as Voltaire justly observes, every reader bears a secret ill will.
Nor is the poetical character of Monzaida unsupported by history. He was
not an Arab Moor, so he did not desert his countrymen. These Moors had
determined on the destruction of GAMA; Monzaida admired and esteemed
him, and therefore generously revealed to him his danger. By his
attachment to GAMA he lost all his effects in India, a circumstance
which his prudence and knowledge of affairs must have certainly
foreseen. By the known dangers he encountered, by the loss he thus
voluntarily sustained, and by his after constancy, his sincerity is
undoubtedly proved.
[561] _The joy of the fleet on the homeward departure from India. _--We
are now come to that part of the Lusiad, which, in the conduct of the
poem, is parallel to the great catastrophe of the Iliad, when, on the
death of Hector, Achilles thus addresses the Grecian army--
"Ye sons of Greece, in triumph bring
The corpse of Hector, and your paeons sing:
Be this the song, slow moving toward the shore,
'Hector is dead, and Ilion is no more. '"
Our Portuguese poet, who in his machinery, and many other instances, has
followed the manner of Virgil, now forsakes him. In a very bold and
masterly spirit he now models his poem by the steps of Homer. What of
the Lusiad yet remains, in poetical conduct (though not in an imitation
of circumstances), exactly resembles the latter part of the Iliad. The
games at the funeral of Patroclus, and the redemption of the body of
Hector, are the completion of the rage of Achilles. In the same manner,
the reward of the heroes, and the consequences of their expedition
complete the unity of the Lusiad. I cannot say it appears that Milton
ever read our poet (though Fanshaw's translation was published in his
time); yet no instance can be given of a more striking resemblance of
plan and conduct, than may be produced in two principal parts of the
poem of Camoens, and of the Paradise Lost. --See the Dissertation which
follows this book.
[562] _Near where the bowers of Paradise were plac'd. _--Between the
mouth of the Ganges and Euphrates.
[563] Swans.
[564] _His falling kingdom claim'd his earnest care. _--This fiction, in
poetical conduct, bears a striking resemblance to the digressive
histories with which Homer enriches and adorns his poems, particularly
to the beautiful description of the feast of the gods with "the
blameless Ethiopians. " It also contains a masterly commentary on the
machinery of the Lusiad. The Divine Love conducts GAMA to India. The
same Divine Love is represented as preparing to reform the corrupted
world, when its attention is particularly called to bestow a foretaste
of immortality on the heroes of the expedition which discovered the
eastern world. Nor do the wild fantastic loves, mentioned in this little
episode, afford any objection against this explanation, an explanation
which is expressly given in the episode itself. These wild fantastic
amours signify, in the allegory, the wild sects of different
enthusiasts, which spring up under the wings of the best and most
rational institutions; and which, however contrary to each other, all
agree in deriving their authority from the same source.
[565] _A young Actaeon. _--The French translator has the following
characteristic note: "This passage is an eternal monument of the
freedoms taken by Camoens, and at the same time a proof of the
imprudence of poets; an authentic proof of that prejudice which
sometimes blinds them, notwithstanding all the light of their genius.
The modern Actaeon of whom he speaks, was King Sebastian. He loved the
chase; but, that pleasure, which is one of the most innocent and one of
the most noble we can possibly taste, did not at all interrupt his
attention to the affairs of state, and did not render him savage, as our
author pretends. On this point the historians are rather to be believed.
And what would the lot of princes be, were they allowed no relaxation
from their toils, while they allow that privilege to their people?
Subjects as we are, let us venerate the amusements of our sovereigns;
let us believe that the august cares for our good, which employ them,
follow them often even to the very bosom of their pleasures. "
Many are the strokes in the Lusiad which must endear the character of
Camoens to every reader of sensibility. The noble freedom and manly
indignation with which he mentions the foible of his prince, and the
flatterers of his court, would do honour to the greatest names of Greece
or Rome. While the shadow of freedom remained in Portugal, the greatest
men of that nation, in the days of Lusian heroism, thought and conducted
themselves in the spirit of Camoens. A noble anecdote of this brave
spirit offers itself. Alonzo IV. , surnamed the Brave, ascended the
throne of Portugal in the vigour of his age. The pleasures of the chase
engrossed all his attention. His confidants and favourites encouraged,
and allured him to it. His time was spent in the forests of Cintra,
while the affairs of government were neglected or executed by those
whose interest it was to keep their sovereign in ignorance. His
presence, at last, being necessary at Lisbon, he entered the council
with all the brisk impetuosity of a young sportsman, and with great
familiarity and gaiety entertained his nobles with the history of a
whole month spent in hunting, in fishing, and shooting. When he had
finished his narrative, a nobleman of the first rank rose up: "Courts
and camps," said he, "were allotted for kings, not woods and deserts.
Even the affairs of private men suffer when recreation is preferred to
business. But when the whims of pleasure engross the thoughts of a king,
a whole nation is consigned to ruin. We came here for other purposes
than to hear the exploits of the chase, exploits which are only
intelligible to grooms and falconers. If your majesty will attend to the
wants, and remove the grievances of your people, you will find them
obedient subjects; if not----" The king, starting with rage, interrupted
him, "If not, what? " "If not," resumed the nobleman, in a firm tone,
"they will look for another and a better king. " Alonzo, in the highest
transport of passion, expressed his resentment, and hasted out of the
room. In a little while, however, he returned, calm and reconciled: "I
perceive," said he, "the truth of what you say. He who will not execute
the duties of a king, cannot long have good subjects. Remember, from
this day, you have nothing more to do with Alonzo the sportsman, but
with Alonzo the king of Portugal. " His majesty was as good as his
promise, and became, as a warrior and politician, one of the greatest of
the Portuguese monarchs.
[566] _With love's fierce flames his frozen heart shall burn. _--"It is
said, that upon the faith of a portrait Don Sebastian fell in love with
Margaret of France, daughter of Henry II. , and demanded her in marriage,
but was refused. The Spaniards treated him no less unfavourably, for
they also rejected his proposals for one of the daughters of Philip II.
Our author considers these refusals as the punishment of Don Sebastian's
excessive attachment to the chase; but this is only a consequence of the
prejudice with which he viewed the amusements of his prince. The truth
is, these princesses were refused for political reasons, and not with
any regard to the manner in which he filled up his moments of leisure. "
Thus Castera, who, with the same spirit of sagacity, starts and answers
the following objections: "But here is a difficulty: Camoens wrote
during the life of Don Sebastian, but the circumstance he relates (the
return of GAMA) happened several years before, under the reign of
Emmanuel. How, therefore, could he say that Cupid then saw Don Sebastian
at the chase, when that prince was not then born? The answer is easy:
Cupid, in the allegory of this work, represents the love of God, the
Holy Spirit, who is God himself. Now the Divinity admits of no
distinction of time; one glance of his eye beholds the past, the
present, and the future; everything is present before him. "
This defence of the fiction of Actaeon is not more absurd than useless.
The free and bold spirit of poetry, and in particular the nature of
allegory, defend it. The poet might easily have said, that Cupid
_foresaw_; but had he said so his satire had been much less genteel. As
the sentiments of Castera on this passage are extremely characteristic
of French ideas, another note from him will perhaps be agreeable.
"Several Portuguese writers have remarked," says he, "that the wish--
'Of these lov'd dogs that now his passions sway,
Ah! may he never fall the hapless prey! '
Had in it an air of prophecy; and fate, in effect, seemed careful to
accomplish it, in making the presaged woes to fall upon Don Sebastian.
If he did not fall a prey to his pack of hounds, we may, however, say
that he was devoured by his favourites, who misled his youth and his
great soul. But at any rate our poet has carried the similitude too far.
It was certainly injurious to Don Sebastian, who nevertheless had the
bounty not only not to punish this audacity, but to reward the just
eulogies which the author had bestowed on him in other places. As much
as the indiscretion of Camoens ought to surprise us, as much ought we to
admire the generosity of his master. "
This foppery, this slavery in thinking, cannot fail to rouse the
indignation of every manly breast, when the facts are fairly stated. Don
Sebastian, who ascended the throne when a child, was a prince of great
abilities and great spirit, but his youth was poisoned with the most
romantic ideas of military glory. The affairs of state were left to his
ministers (for whose character see the next note), his other studies
were neglected, and military exercises, of which he not unjustly
esteemed the chase a principal, were almost his sole employ. Camoens
beheld this romantic turn, and in a genteel allegorical satire foreboded
its consequences. The wish, that his prince might not fall the prey of
his favourite passion, was in vain. In a rash, ill-concerted expedition
into Africa, Don Sebastian lost his crown in his twenty-fifth year, an
event which soon after produced the fall of the Portuguese empire. Had
the nobility possessed the spirit of Camoens, had they, like him,
endeavoured to check the quixotism of a young generous prince, that
prince might have reigned long and happy, and Portugal might have
escaped the Spanish yoke, which soon followed his defeat at Alcazar; a
yoke which sunk Portugal into an abyss of misery, from which, in all
probability, she will never emerge into her former splendour.
[567]
_Enraged, he sees a venal herd, the shame
Of human race, assume the titled name. --_
"After having ridiculed all the pleasures of Don Sebastian, the author
now proceeds to his courtiers, to whom he has done no injustice. Those
who are acquainted with the Portuguese history, will readily acknowledge
this. "--CASTERA.
[568] _On the hard bosoms of the stubborn crowd. _--There in an elegance
in the original of this line, which the English language will not
admit:--
"Nos duros coracoens de plebe dura,"--
_i. e. _, In the hard hearts of the hard vulgar.
[569] Cupid.
[570]
_Thus from my native waves a hero line
Shall rise, and o'er the East illustrious shine. _--
"By the line of heroes to be produced by the union of the Portuguese
with the Nereids, is to be understood the other Portuguese, who,
following the steps of GAMA, established illustrious colonies in
India. "--CASTERA.
[571] _And Fame--a giant goddess. _--This passage affords a striking
instance of the judgment of Camoens. Virgil's celebrated description of
Fame is in his eye, but he copies it, as Virgil, in his best imitations,
copies after Homer. He adopts some circumstances, but, by adding others,
he makes a new picture, which justly may be called his own.
[572] _The wat'ry gods. _--To mention the gods in the masculine gender,
and immediately to apply to them--
"O peito feminil, que levemente
Muda quaysquer propositos tomados. "--
The ease with which the female breast changes its resolutions, may to
the hypercritical appear reprehensible. The expression, however, is
classical, and therefore retained. Virgil uses it, where AEneas is
conducted by Venus through the flames of Troy:--
"Descendo, ac ducente _Deo_, flammam inter et hostes
Expedior. "
This is in the manner of the Greek poets, who use the word ? ? ? ? for god
or goddess.
[573] _White as her swans. _--A distant fleet compared to swans on a lake
is certainly a happy thought. The allusion to the pomp of Venus, whose
agency is immediately concerned, gives it besides a peculiar propriety.
This simile, however, is not in the original. It is adopted from an
uncommon liberty taken by Fanshaw:--
"The pregnant _sails_ on Neptune's surface creep,
Like her own _swans_, in _gate_, _out-chest_, and _fether_. "
[574] _Soon as the floating verdure caught their sight. _--As the
departure of GAMA from India was abrupt, he put into one of the
beautiful islands of Anchediva for fresh water. "While he was here
careening his ships," says Faria, "a pirate named Timoja, attacked him
with eight small vessels, so linked together and covered with boughs,
that they formed the appearance of a floating island. " This, says
Castera, afforded the fiction of the floating island of Venus. "The
fictions of Camoens," says he, "are the more marvellous, because they
are all founded in history. It is not difficult to find why he makes his
island of Anchediva to wander on the waves; it is an allusion to a
singular event related by Barros. " He then proceeds to the story of
Timoja, as if the genius of Camoens stood in need of so weak an
assistance.
[575] _In friendly pity of Latona's woes. _--Latona, pregnant by Jupiter,
was persecuted by Juno, who sent the serpent Python in pursuit of her.
Neptune, in pity of her distress, raised the island of Delos for her
refuge, where she was delivered of Apollo and Diana. --OVID, Met.
[576] _Form'd in a crystal lake the waters blend. _--Castera also
attributes this to history. "The Portuguese actually found in this
island," says he, "a fine piece of water ornamented with hewn stones and
magnificent aqueducts; an ancient and superb work, of which nobody knew
the author. "
In 1505 Don Francisco Almeyda built a fort in this island. In digging
among some ancient ruins he found many crucifixes of black and red
colour, from whence the Portuguese conjectured, says Osorius, that the
Anchedivian islands had in former ages been inhabited by
Christians. --Vid. Osor. 1. iv.
[577]
_The orange here perfumes the buxom air.
And boasts the golden hue of Daphne's hair. --_
Frequent allusions to the fables of the ancients form a characteristic
feature of the poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries. A profusion of it
is pedantry; a moderate use of it, however, in a poem of those times
pleases, because it discovers the stages of composition, and has in
itself a fine effect, as it illustrates its subject by presenting the
classical reader with some little landscapes of that country through
which he has travelled. The description of forests is a favourite topic
in poetry. Chaucer, Tasso, and Spenser, have been happy in it, but both
have copied an admired passage in Statius:--
"Cadit ardua fagus,
Chaoniumque nemus, brumaeque illaesa cupressus;
Procumbunt piceae, flammis alimenta supremis,
Ornique, iliceaeque trabes, metuandaque sulco
Taxus, et infandos belli potura cruores
Fraxinus, atque situ non expugnabile robur:
Hinc audax abies, et odoro vulnere pinus
Scinditur, acclinant intonsa cacumina terrae
Alnus amica fretis, nec inhospita vitibus ulmus. "
In rural descriptions three things are necessary to render them
poetical: the happiness of epithet, of picturesque arrangement, and of
little landscape views. Without these, all the names of trees and
flowers, though strung together in tolerable numbers, contain no more
poetry than a nurseryman or a florist's catalogue. In Statius, in Tasso
and Spenser's admired forests (Ger. Liber. c. 3. st. 75, 76, and F.
Queen, b. 1 c. 1. st. 8, 9), the poetry consists entirely in the
happiness of the epithets. In Camoens, all the three requisites are
admirably attained and blended together.
[578] _And stain'd with lover's blood. _--Pyramus and Thisbe:--
"Arborei foetus aspergine caedis in atram
Vertuntur faciem: madefactaque sanguine radix
Puniceo tingit pendentia mora colore. . . . .
At tu quo ramis arbor miserabile corpus
Nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum;
Signa tene caedis: pullosque et lectibus aptos
Semper habe foetus gemini monumenta cruoris. "
OVID, Met.
[579] _The shadowy vale. _--Literal from the original,--_O sombrio
valle_--which Fanshaw, however, has translated, "the gloomy valley," and
thus has given us a funereal, where the author intended a festive,
landscape. It must be confessed, however, that the description of the
island of Venus, is infinitely the best part of all of Fanshaw's
translation. And indeed the dullest prose translation might obscure, but
could not possibly throw a total eclipse over, so admirable an original.
[580] _The woe-mark'd flower of slain Adonis--water'd by the tears of
love. _--The Anemone. "This," says Castera, "is applicable to the
celestial Venus, for, according to my theology, her amour with Adonis
had nothing in it impure, but was only the love which nature bears to
the sun. " The fables of antiquity have generally a threefold
interpretation, an historical allusion, a physical and a metaphysical
allegory. In the latter view, the fable of Adonis is only applicable to
the celestial Venus. A divine youth is outrageously slain, but shall
revive again at the restoration of the golden age. Several nations, it
is well known, under different names, celebrated the Mysteries, or the
death and resurrection of Adonis; among whom were the British Druids, as
we are told by Dr. Stukely. In the same manner Cupid, in the fable of
Psyche, is interpreted by mythologists, to signify the Divine Love
weeping over the degeneracy of human nature.
[581]
_At strife appear the lawns and purpled skies,
Who from each other stole the beauteous dyes. --_
On this passage Castera has the following sensible, though turgid, note:
"This thought," says he, "is taken from the idyllium of Ausonius on the
rose:--
'Ambigeres raperetne rosis Aurora ruborem,
An daret, et flores tingere torta dies. '
Camoens who had a genius rich of itself, still further enriched it at
the expense of the ancients. Behold what makes great authors! Those who
pretend to give us nothing but the fruits of their own growth, soon
fail, like the little rivulets which dry up in the summer, very
different from the floods, who receive in their course the tribute of a
hundred and a hundred rivers, and which even in the dog-days carry their
waves triumphant to the ocean. "
[582] _The hyacinth bewrays the doleful_ Ai. --Hyacinthus, a youth
beloved of Apollo, by whom he was accidentally slain, and afterwards
turned into a flower:--
"Tyrioque nitentior ostro
Flos oritur, formamque capit, quam lilia: si non,
Purpureus color huic, argenteus esset in illis.
Non satis hoc Phaebo est: is enim fuit auctor honoris.
Ipse suos gemitus foliis inscribit; et Ai, Ai,
Flos habet inscriptum: funestaque littera ducta est. "
OVID, Met.
[583] _The second Argonauts. _--The expedition of the Golden Fleece was
esteemed, in ancient poetry, one of the most daring adventures, the
success of which was accounted miraculous. The allusions of Camoens to
this voyage, though in the spirit of his age, are by no means improper.
[584] _Wide o'er the beauteous isle the lovely fair. _--We now come to
the passage condemned by Voltaire as so lascivious, that no nation in
Europe, except the Portuguese and Italians, could bear it.
The fate of
Camoens has hitherto been very peculiar. The mixture of Pagan and
Christian mythology in his machinery has been anathematized, and his
island of love represented as a brothel. Yet both accusations are the
arrogant assertions of the most superficial acquaintance with his works.
His poem itself, and a comparison of its parts with the similar conduct
of the greatest modern poets, will clearly evince, that in both
instances no modern epic writer of note has given less offence to true
criticism.
Not to mention Ariosto, whose descriptions will often admit of no
palliation, Tasso, Spenser, and Milton, have always been esteemed among
the chastest of poets, yet in that delicacy of warm description, which
Milton has so finely exemplified in the nuptials of our first parents,
none of them can boast the continued uniformity of the Portuguese poet.
Though there is a warmth in the colouring of Camoens which even the
genius of Tasso has not reached: and though the island of Armida is
evidently copied from the Lusiad, yet those who are possessed of the
finer feelings, will easily discover an essential difference between the
love-scenes of the two poets, a difference greatly in favour of the
delicacy of the former. Though the nymphs in Camoens are detected naked
in the woods, and in the stream, and though desirous to captivate, still
their behaviour is that of the virgin who hopes to be the spouse. They
act the part of offended modesty; even when they yield they are silent,
and behave in every respect like Milton's Eve in the state of innocence,
who--
"What was honour knew,"
And who displayed--
"Her virtue, and the conscience of her worth,
That would be wooed, and not unsought be won. "
To sum up all, the nuptial sanctity draws its hallowed curtains, and a
masterly allegory shuts up the love-scenes of Camoens.
How different from all this is the island of Armida in Tasso, and its
translation, the bower of Acrasia in Spenser! In these virtue is
seduced; the scene therefore is less delicate. The nymphs, while they
are bathing, in place of the modesty of the bride as in Camoens, employ
all the arts of the lascivious wanton. They stay not to be wooed; but,
as Spenser gives it--
_The amorous sweet spoils to greedy eyes reveal. _
One stanza from our English poet, which, however, is rather fuller than
the original, shall here suffice:--
"Withal she laughed and she blush'd withal,
That blushing to her laughter gave more grace,
And laughter to her blushing, as did fall.
Now when they spy'd the knight to slack his pace,
Them to behold, and _in his sparkling face
The secret signs of kindled lust appear_,
Their wanton merriments they did increase,
And to him beckon'd to approach more near,
_And show'd him many sights, that courage cold could rear_.
This and other descriptions--
"Upon a bed of roses she was laid
As faint through heat, or dight to pleasant sin"--
present every idea of lascivious voluptuousness. The allurements of
speech are also added. Songs, which breathe every persuasive, are heard;
and the nymphs boldly call to the beholder:--
_E' dolce campo di battaglia il letto
Fiavi, e l'herbetta morbida de' prati. _--TASSO.
"Our field of battle is the downy bed,
Or flow'ry turf amid the smiling mead. "--HOOLE.
These, and the whole scenes in the domains of Armida and Acrasia, are in
a turn of manner the reverse of the island of Venus. In these the
expression and idea are meretricious. In Camoens, though the colouring
is even warmer, yet the modesty of the Venus de Medicis is still
preserved. In everything he describes there is still something strongly
similar to the modest attitude of the arms of that celebrated statue.
Though prudery, that usual mask of the impurest minds, may condemn him,
yet those of the most chaste, though less gloomy turn, will allow, that
in comparison with others, he might say,--_Virginibus puerisque canto_.
Spenser also, where he does not follow Tasso, is often gross; and even
in some instances, where the expression is most delicate, the picture is
nevertheless indecently lascivious.
[585] _The hunter. _--Acteon.
[586] _Madd'ning as he said. _--At the end of his Homer Mr. Pope has
given an index of the instances of imitative and sentimental harmony
contained in his translations. He has also often even in his notes
pointed out the adaptation of sound to sense. The translator of the
Lusiad hopes he may for once say, that he has not been inattentive to
this great essential of good versification: how he has succeeded the
judicious only must determine. The speech of Leonard to the cursory
reader may perhaps sometimes appear careless, and sometimes turgid and
stiff. That speech, however, is an attempt at the imitative and
sentimental harmony, and with the judicious he rests its fate. As the
translation in this instance exceeds the original in length, the
objection of a foreign critic requires attention. An old pursy Abbe,
(and critics are apt to judge by themselves) may indeed be surprised
that a man out of breath with running should be able to talk so long.
But, had he consulted the experiences of others, he would have found it
was no wonderful matter for a stout and young cavalier to talk twice as
much, though fatigued with the chase of a couple of miles, provided the
supposition be allowed, that he treads on the last steps of his flying
mistress.
[587] _Hence, ye profane. _--We have already observed, that in every
other poet the love scenes are generally described as those of guilt and
remorse. The contrary character of those of Camoens not only gives them
a delicacy unknown to other moderns, but, by the fiction of the spousal
rites, the allegory and machinery of the poem are most happily
conducted.
[588] _Spread o'er the eastern world the dread alarms. _--This admonition
places the whole design of the poem before us. To extirpate
Mohammedanism, and propagate Christianity, were professed as the
principal purpose of the discoveries of Prince Henry and King Emmanuel.
In the beginning of the seventh Lusiad, the nations of Europe are
upbraided for permitting the Saracens to erect and possess an empire,
which alike threatened Europe and Christianity. The Portuguese, however,
the patriot poet concludes, will themselves overthrow their enormous
power: an event which is the proposed subject of the Lusiad, and which
is represented as, in effect, completed in the last book. On this
system, adopted by the poet, and which on every occasion was avowed by
their kings, the Portuguese made immense conquests in the East. Yet, let
it be remembered, to the honour of GAMA, and the first commanders who
followed his route, that the plots of the Moors, and their various
breaches of treaty, gave rise to the first wars which the Portuguese
waged in Asia. On finding that all the colonies of the Moors were
combined for their destruction, the Portuguese declared war against the
eastern Moors, and their allies, wherever they found them. The course of
human things, however, soon took place, and the sword of victory and
power soon became the sword of tyranny and rapine.
[589] _Far o'er the silver lake of Mexic. _--The city of Mexico is
environed with an extensive lake; or, according to Cortez, in his second
narration to Charles V. , with two lakes, one of fresh, the other of salt
water, in circuit about fifty leagues. This situation, said the
Mexicans, was appointed by their God Vitzliputzli, who, according to the
explanation of their picture-histories, led their forefathers a journey
of fourscore years, in search of the promised land. Four of the
principal priests carried the idol in a coffer of reeds. Whenever they
halted they built a tabernacle for their god in the midst of their camp,
where they placed the coffer and the altar. They then sowed the land,
and their stay or departure, without regard to the harvest, was directed
by the orders received from their idol, till at last, by his command,
they fixed their abode on the site of Mexico.
[590] _Before the love-sick Roman. _--Mark Antony.
[591] _The beverage--the fountain's cooling aid confess'd. _--It was a
custom of the ancients in warm climates to mix the coolest spring water
with their wine, immediately before drinking; not, we may suppose, to
render it less intoxicating, but on account of the cooling flavour it
thereby received. Homer tells us that the wine which Ulysses gave to
Polyphemus would bear twenty measures of water. Modern luxury has
substituted preserved ice, in place of the more ancient mixture.
[592] _Music, such as erst subdued the horrid frown of hell_,
etc. --Alluding to the fable of Orpheus. Fanshaw's translation, as
already observed, was published fourteen years before the Paradise Lost.
These lines of Milton--
"What could it less, when spirits immortal sung?
Their song was partial, but the harmony
Suspended hell, and took with ravishment
The thronging audience,"
bear a resemblance to these of Fanshaw--
"Musical instruments not wanting, such
As to the damn'd spirits once gave ease
In the dark vaults of the infernal hall. "
To _slumber_ amid their punishment, though omitted by Fanshaw, is
literal:--
"Fizerao descancar da eterna pena. "
[593] _No more the summer of my life remains. _--It is not certain when
Camoens wrote this. It seems, however, not long to have preceded the
publication of his poem, at which time he was in his fifty-fifth year.
This apostrophe to his muse may, perhaps, by some be blamed as another
digression; but, so little does it require defence, that one need not
hesitate to affirm that, had Homer, who often talks to his muse,
introduced, on these favourable opportunities, any little picture or
history of himself, these digressions would have been the most
interesting parts of his works. Had any history of Homer complained,
like this of Camoens, it would have been bedewed with the tears of ages.
[594] _Thy faith repent not, nor lament thy wrong. _--P. Alvarez Cabral,
the second Portuguese commander who sailed to India, entered into a
treaty of alliance with Trimumpara, king of Cochin, and high priest of
Malabar. The zamorim raised powerful armies to dethrone him. His
fidelity to the Portuguese was unalterable, though his affairs were
brought to the lowest ebb. --See the history in the Preface.
[595]
_His ship's strong sides shall groan beneath his weight,
And deeper waves receive the sacred freight. --_
Thus Virgil:--
"Simul accipit alveo
Ingentem AEneam. Gemuit sub pondere cymba
Sutilis, et multam accepit rimosa paludem. "--AEN. vi. 412.
That the visionary boat of Charon groaned under the weight of AEneas is a
fine poetical stroke; but that the crazy rents let in the water is
certainly lowering the image. The thought, however, as managed in
Camoens is much grander than in Virgil, and affords a happy instance
where the hyperbole is truly poetical.
The Lusiad affords many instances which must be highly pleasing to the
Portuguese, but dry to those who are unacquainted with their history.
Nor need one hesitate to assert that, were we not acquainted with the
Roman history from our childhood, a great part of the AEneid would appear
to us intolerably uninteresting. Sensible of this disadvantage which
every version of historical poetry must suffer, the translator has not
only in the notes added every incident which might elucidate the
subject, but has also, all along, in the episode in the third and fourth
books, in the description of the painted ensigns in the eighth, and in
the allusions in the present book, endeavoured to throw every historical
incident into that universal language, the picturesque of poetry. When
Hector storms the Grecian camp, when Achilles marches to battle, every
reader understands and is affected with the bold painting. But when
Nestor talks of his exploits at the funeral games of Amarynces (Iliad
xxiii. ) the critics themselves cannot comprehend him, and have vied with
each other in inventing explanations.
[596] _Proas_, or paraos, Indian vessels which lie low on the water, are
worked with oars, and carry 100 men and upwards apiece.
[597]
_His robes are sprinkled o'er,
And his proud face dash'd, with his menials' gore. --_
See the history in the Preface.
[598] _Round Lusus' fleet to pour their sulph'rous entrails. _--How
Pacheco avoided this formidable danger, see the history in the preface.
[599] _Nor Tiber's bridge. _--When Porsenna besieged Rome, Horatius
Cocles defended the pass of a bridge till the Romans destroyed it behind
him. Having thus saved the pass, heavy armed as he was, he swam across
the Tiber to his companions. Roman history, however, at this period, is
often mixed with fable. Miltiades obtained a great victory over Darius
at Marathon. The stand made by Leonidas at Thermopyl? is well known. The
battles of Pacheco were in defence of the fords by which alone the city
of Cochin could be entered. The numbers he withstood by land and sea,
and the victories he obtained, are much more astonishing than the
defence of Thermopylae.
[600] _Bound to the mast the godlike hero stands. _--English history
affords an instance of similar resolution in Admiral Bembo, who was
supported in a wooden frame, and continued the engagement after his legs
and thighs were shivered in splinters. Contrary to the advice of his
officers, the young Almeyda refused to bear off, though almost certain
to be overpowered, and though both wind and tide were against him. His
father had sharply upbraided him for a former retreat, where victory was
thought impossible. He now fell the victim of his father's ideas of
military glory.
[601] _The fleets of India fly. _--After having cleared the Indian seas,
the viceroy, Almeyda, attacked the combined fleets of Egypt, Cambaya,
and the zamorim, in the entrance and harbour of Diu, or Dio. The fleet
of the zamorim almost immediately fled. That of Melique Yaz, Lord of
Diu, suffered much; but the greatest slaughter fell upon the Egyptians
and Turks, commanded by Mir-Hocem, who had defeated and killed the young
Almeyda. Of 800 Mamelukes, or Turks, who fought under Mir-Hocem, only
22, says Osorius, survived this engagement. Melique Yaz, says Faria y
Sousa, was born in slavery, and descended of the Christians of Roxia.
The road to preferment is often a dirty one; but Melique's was much less
so than that of many. As the King of Cambaya was one day riding in
state, an unlucky kite dunged upon his royal head. His majesty in great
wrath swore he would give all he was worth to have the offender killed.
Melique, who was an expert archer, immediately despatched an arrow,
which brought the audacious hawk to the ground. For the merit of this
eminent service he was made Lord of Diu, or Dio, a considerable city,
the strongest and the most important fortress at that time in all
India. --See Faria, 1. 2, c. 2.
[602] _Great Cunia. _--Tristan da Cunha, or d'Acugna.
[603] _Heav'n indignant showers their arrows backward. _--Some writers
related that, when Albuquerque besieged Ormuz, a violent wind drove the
arrows of the enemy backward upon their own ranks. Osorius says, that
many of the dead Persians and Moors were found to have died by arrows.
But as that weapon was not used by the Portuguese he conjectures that,
in their despair of victory, many of the enemy had thus killed
themselves, rather than survive the defeat.
[604] _Muscat. _
[605] Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf.
[606] _What glorious palms on Goa's isle I see. _--This important place
was made an archbishopric, the capital of the Portuguese empire in the
east, and the seat of their viceroys; for which purposes it is
advantageously situated on the coast of Dekhan. It still remains in the
possession of the Portuguese.
[607] _Malacca. _--The conquest of this place was one of the greatest
actions of Albuquerque. It became the chief port of the eastern part of
Portuguese India, and second only to Goa. Besides a great many pieces of
ordnance which were carried away by the Moors who escaped, 3000 large
cannon remained the prize of the victors. When Albuquerque was on the
way to Malacca, he attacked a large ship; but, just as his men were
going to board her, she suddenly appeared all in flames, which obliged
the Portuguese to bear off. Three days afterwards the same vessel sent a
boat to Albuquerque, offering an alliance, which was accepted. The
flames, says Osorius, were only artificial, and did not the least
damage. Another wonderful adventure immediately happened. The admiral
soon after sent his long-boats to attack a ship commanded by one Nehoada
Beeguea. The enemy made an obstinate resistance. Nehoada himself was
pierced with several mortal wounds, but lost not one drop of blood till
a bracelet was taken off his arm, when immediately the blood gushed out.
According to Osorius, this was said to be occasioned by the virtue of a
stone in the bracelet, taken out of an animal called Cabrisia, which,
when worn on the body, could prevent the effusion of blood from the most
grievous wounds.
[608] _Yet art thou stain'd. _--A detail of all the grant actions of
Albuquerque would have been tedious and unpoetical. Camoens has chosen
the most brilliant, and has happily suppressed the rest by a display of
indignation. The French translator has the following note on this
passage: "Behold another instance of our author's prejudice! The action
which he condemns had nothing in it blameable: but, as he was of a most
amorous constitution, he thought every fault which could plead an amour
in its excuse ought to be pardoned; but true heroes, such as
Albuquerque, follow other maxims. This great man had in his palace a
beautiful Indian slave. He viewed her with the eyes of a father, and the
care of her education was his pleasure. A Portuguese soldier, named Ruy
Diaz, had the boldness to enter the general's apartment, where he
succeeded so well with the girl that he obtained his desire. When
Albuquerque heard of it, he immediately ordered him to the gallows. "
Camoens, however, was no such undistinguishing libertine as this would
represent him. In a few pages we find him praising the continence of Don
Henry de Meneses, whose victory over his passions he calls the highest
excellence of youth. Nor does it appear by what authority the Frenchman
assures us of the chaste paternal affection which Albuquerque bore to
this Indian girl. It was the great aim of Albuquerque to establish
colonies in India, and, for that purpose, he encouraged his soldiers to
marry with the natives. The most sightly girls were selected, and
educated in the religion and household arts of Portugal, and portioned
at the expense of the general. These he called his daughters, and with
great pleasure he used to attend their weddings, several couples being
usually joined together at one time. At one of these nuptials, says
Faria, the festivity having continued late, and the brides being mixed
together, several of the bridegrooms committed a blunder. The mistakes
of the night, however, as they were all equal in point of honour, were
mutually forgiven in the morning, and each man took his proper wife whom
he had received at the altar. This delicate anecdote of Albuquerque's
sons and daughters is as bad a commentary on the note of Castera as it
is on the severity which the commander showed to poor Diaz. Nor does
Camoens stand alone in the condemnation of the general. The historian
agrees with the poet. Mentioning the death of D. Antonio Noronha, "This
gentleman," says Faria, "used to moderate the violent temper of his
uncle, Albuquerque, which soon after showed itself in rigid severity. He
ordered a soldier to be hanged for an amour with one of the slaves whom
he called daughters, and whom he used to give in marriage. When some of
his officers asked him what authority he had to take the poor man's
life, he drew his sword, told them that was his commission, and
instantly broke them. " To marry his soldiers with the natives was the
plan of Albuquerque: his severity, therefore, seems unaccountable,
unless we admit the 'perhaps' of Camoens, _ou de cioso_, perhaps it was
jealousy. --But, whatever incensed the general, the execution of the
soldier was contrary to the laws of every nation;{*} and the honest
indignation of Camoens against one of the greatest of his countrymen,
one who was the grand architect of the Portuguese empire in the East,
affords a noble instance of that manly freedom of sentiment which knows
no right by which king or peer may do injustice to the meanest subject.
Nor can we omit the observation, that the above note of Castera is of a
piece with the French devotion we have already seen him pay to the name
of king, a devotion which breathes the true spirit of the blessed advice
given by Father Paul to the republic of Venice: "When a nobleman commits
an offence against a subject," says the Jesuit, "let every means be
tried to justify him. But, if a subject has offended a nobleman, let him
be punished with the utmost severity. "
{*} Osorius relates the affair of Diaz with some other circumstances;
but with no difference that affects this assertion.
[609] _Not Ammon. _--Campaspe, the most beautiful concubine of Alexander
the Great, was given by that monarch to Apelles, whom he perceived in
love with her. Araspas had strict charge of the fair captive, Panthea.
His attempt on her virtue was forgiven by Cyrus.
[610] _And Flandria's earldom on the knight bestow'd. _--"Baldwin,
surnamed Iron-arm, Grand Forester of Flanders, being in love with
Judith, the daughter of Charles the Bald, and widow of Ethelwolf, king
of England, obtained his desire by force. Charles, though at first he
highly resented, afterwards pardoned his crime, and consented to his
marriage with the princess. "--CASTERA.
* * * * *
This digression in the song of the nymph bears, in manner, a striking
resemblance to the histories which often, even in the heat of battle,
the heroes of Homer relate to each other. That these little episodes
have their beauty and propriety in an epic poem will strongly appear
from a view of M. de la Motte's translation of the Iliad into French
verse. The four and twenty books of Homer he has contracted into twelve,
and these contain no more lines than about four books of the original. A
thousand embellishments which the warm poetical feelings of Homer
suggested to him are thus thrown out by the Frenchman. But what is the
consequence of this improvement? The work of La Motte is unread, even by
his own countrymen, and despised by every foreigner who has the least
relish for poetry and Homer.
[611] _And midnight horror shakes Medina's shrine. _--Medina, the city
where Mohammed is buried. About six years after GAMA'S discovery of
India, the Sultan of Egypt sent Maurus, the abbot of the monks at
Jerusalem, who inhabit Mount Sion, on an embassy to Pope Julius II. The
sultan, with severe threats to the Christians of the East in case of
refusal, entreated the Pope to desire Emmanuel, king of Portugal, to
send no more fleets to the Indian seas. The Pope sent Maurus to
Emmanuel, who returned a very spirited answer to his holiness, assuring
him that no threats, no dangers, could make him alter his resolutions,
and lamenting that it had not yet been in his power to fulfil his
purpose of demolishing the sepulchre and erasing the memorials of
Mohammed from the earth. This, he says was the first purpose of sending
his fleets to India.
masts, etc. The versification of this passage in the original affords a
most noble example of imitative harmony:--
"Mas ja nas naos os bons trabalhadores
Volvem o cabrestante, & repartidos
Pello trabalho, huns puxao pella amarra,
Outros quebrao co peito duro a barra. "
STANZA X.
[559]
_Mozaide, whose zealous care
To Gama's eyes reveal'd each treach'rous snare. --_
Had this been mentioned sooner, the interest of the catastrophe of the
poem must have languished. Though he is not a warrior, the unexpected
friend of GAMA bears a much more considerable part in the action of the
Lusiad than the faithful Achates, the friend of the hero, bears in the
business of the AEneid.
[560] _There wast thou call'd to thy celestial home. _--This exclamatory
address to the Moor Monzaida, however it may appear digressive, has a
double propriety. The conversion of the Eastern world is the great
purpose of the expedition of GAMA, and Monzaida is the first fruits of
that conversion. The good characters of the victorious heroes, however
neglected by the great genius of Homer, have a fine effect in making an
epic poem interest us and please. It might have been said, that Monzaida
was a traitor to his friends, who crowned his villainy with apostacy.
Camoens has, therefore, wisely drawn him with other features, worthy of
the friendship of GAMA. Had this been neglected, the hero of the Lusiad
might have shared the fate of the wise Ulysses of the Iliad, against
whom, as Voltaire justly observes, every reader bears a secret ill will.
Nor is the poetical character of Monzaida unsupported by history. He was
not an Arab Moor, so he did not desert his countrymen. These Moors had
determined on the destruction of GAMA; Monzaida admired and esteemed
him, and therefore generously revealed to him his danger. By his
attachment to GAMA he lost all his effects in India, a circumstance
which his prudence and knowledge of affairs must have certainly
foreseen. By the known dangers he encountered, by the loss he thus
voluntarily sustained, and by his after constancy, his sincerity is
undoubtedly proved.
[561] _The joy of the fleet on the homeward departure from India. _--We
are now come to that part of the Lusiad, which, in the conduct of the
poem, is parallel to the great catastrophe of the Iliad, when, on the
death of Hector, Achilles thus addresses the Grecian army--
"Ye sons of Greece, in triumph bring
The corpse of Hector, and your paeons sing:
Be this the song, slow moving toward the shore,
'Hector is dead, and Ilion is no more. '"
Our Portuguese poet, who in his machinery, and many other instances, has
followed the manner of Virgil, now forsakes him. In a very bold and
masterly spirit he now models his poem by the steps of Homer. What of
the Lusiad yet remains, in poetical conduct (though not in an imitation
of circumstances), exactly resembles the latter part of the Iliad. The
games at the funeral of Patroclus, and the redemption of the body of
Hector, are the completion of the rage of Achilles. In the same manner,
the reward of the heroes, and the consequences of their expedition
complete the unity of the Lusiad. I cannot say it appears that Milton
ever read our poet (though Fanshaw's translation was published in his
time); yet no instance can be given of a more striking resemblance of
plan and conduct, than may be produced in two principal parts of the
poem of Camoens, and of the Paradise Lost. --See the Dissertation which
follows this book.
[562] _Near where the bowers of Paradise were plac'd. _--Between the
mouth of the Ganges and Euphrates.
[563] Swans.
[564] _His falling kingdom claim'd his earnest care. _--This fiction, in
poetical conduct, bears a striking resemblance to the digressive
histories with which Homer enriches and adorns his poems, particularly
to the beautiful description of the feast of the gods with "the
blameless Ethiopians. " It also contains a masterly commentary on the
machinery of the Lusiad. The Divine Love conducts GAMA to India. The
same Divine Love is represented as preparing to reform the corrupted
world, when its attention is particularly called to bestow a foretaste
of immortality on the heroes of the expedition which discovered the
eastern world. Nor do the wild fantastic loves, mentioned in this little
episode, afford any objection against this explanation, an explanation
which is expressly given in the episode itself. These wild fantastic
amours signify, in the allegory, the wild sects of different
enthusiasts, which spring up under the wings of the best and most
rational institutions; and which, however contrary to each other, all
agree in deriving their authority from the same source.
[565] _A young Actaeon. _--The French translator has the following
characteristic note: "This passage is an eternal monument of the
freedoms taken by Camoens, and at the same time a proof of the
imprudence of poets; an authentic proof of that prejudice which
sometimes blinds them, notwithstanding all the light of their genius.
The modern Actaeon of whom he speaks, was King Sebastian. He loved the
chase; but, that pleasure, which is one of the most innocent and one of
the most noble we can possibly taste, did not at all interrupt his
attention to the affairs of state, and did not render him savage, as our
author pretends. On this point the historians are rather to be believed.
And what would the lot of princes be, were they allowed no relaxation
from their toils, while they allow that privilege to their people?
Subjects as we are, let us venerate the amusements of our sovereigns;
let us believe that the august cares for our good, which employ them,
follow them often even to the very bosom of their pleasures. "
Many are the strokes in the Lusiad which must endear the character of
Camoens to every reader of sensibility. The noble freedom and manly
indignation with which he mentions the foible of his prince, and the
flatterers of his court, would do honour to the greatest names of Greece
or Rome. While the shadow of freedom remained in Portugal, the greatest
men of that nation, in the days of Lusian heroism, thought and conducted
themselves in the spirit of Camoens. A noble anecdote of this brave
spirit offers itself. Alonzo IV. , surnamed the Brave, ascended the
throne of Portugal in the vigour of his age. The pleasures of the chase
engrossed all his attention. His confidants and favourites encouraged,
and allured him to it. His time was spent in the forests of Cintra,
while the affairs of government were neglected or executed by those
whose interest it was to keep their sovereign in ignorance. His
presence, at last, being necessary at Lisbon, he entered the council
with all the brisk impetuosity of a young sportsman, and with great
familiarity and gaiety entertained his nobles with the history of a
whole month spent in hunting, in fishing, and shooting. When he had
finished his narrative, a nobleman of the first rank rose up: "Courts
and camps," said he, "were allotted for kings, not woods and deserts.
Even the affairs of private men suffer when recreation is preferred to
business. But when the whims of pleasure engross the thoughts of a king,
a whole nation is consigned to ruin. We came here for other purposes
than to hear the exploits of the chase, exploits which are only
intelligible to grooms and falconers. If your majesty will attend to the
wants, and remove the grievances of your people, you will find them
obedient subjects; if not----" The king, starting with rage, interrupted
him, "If not, what? " "If not," resumed the nobleman, in a firm tone,
"they will look for another and a better king. " Alonzo, in the highest
transport of passion, expressed his resentment, and hasted out of the
room. In a little while, however, he returned, calm and reconciled: "I
perceive," said he, "the truth of what you say. He who will not execute
the duties of a king, cannot long have good subjects. Remember, from
this day, you have nothing more to do with Alonzo the sportsman, but
with Alonzo the king of Portugal. " His majesty was as good as his
promise, and became, as a warrior and politician, one of the greatest of
the Portuguese monarchs.
[566] _With love's fierce flames his frozen heart shall burn. _--"It is
said, that upon the faith of a portrait Don Sebastian fell in love with
Margaret of France, daughter of Henry II. , and demanded her in marriage,
but was refused. The Spaniards treated him no less unfavourably, for
they also rejected his proposals for one of the daughters of Philip II.
Our author considers these refusals as the punishment of Don Sebastian's
excessive attachment to the chase; but this is only a consequence of the
prejudice with which he viewed the amusements of his prince. The truth
is, these princesses were refused for political reasons, and not with
any regard to the manner in which he filled up his moments of leisure. "
Thus Castera, who, with the same spirit of sagacity, starts and answers
the following objections: "But here is a difficulty: Camoens wrote
during the life of Don Sebastian, but the circumstance he relates (the
return of GAMA) happened several years before, under the reign of
Emmanuel. How, therefore, could he say that Cupid then saw Don Sebastian
at the chase, when that prince was not then born? The answer is easy:
Cupid, in the allegory of this work, represents the love of God, the
Holy Spirit, who is God himself. Now the Divinity admits of no
distinction of time; one glance of his eye beholds the past, the
present, and the future; everything is present before him. "
This defence of the fiction of Actaeon is not more absurd than useless.
The free and bold spirit of poetry, and in particular the nature of
allegory, defend it. The poet might easily have said, that Cupid
_foresaw_; but had he said so his satire had been much less genteel. As
the sentiments of Castera on this passage are extremely characteristic
of French ideas, another note from him will perhaps be agreeable.
"Several Portuguese writers have remarked," says he, "that the wish--
'Of these lov'd dogs that now his passions sway,
Ah! may he never fall the hapless prey! '
Had in it an air of prophecy; and fate, in effect, seemed careful to
accomplish it, in making the presaged woes to fall upon Don Sebastian.
If he did not fall a prey to his pack of hounds, we may, however, say
that he was devoured by his favourites, who misled his youth and his
great soul. But at any rate our poet has carried the similitude too far.
It was certainly injurious to Don Sebastian, who nevertheless had the
bounty not only not to punish this audacity, but to reward the just
eulogies which the author had bestowed on him in other places. As much
as the indiscretion of Camoens ought to surprise us, as much ought we to
admire the generosity of his master. "
This foppery, this slavery in thinking, cannot fail to rouse the
indignation of every manly breast, when the facts are fairly stated. Don
Sebastian, who ascended the throne when a child, was a prince of great
abilities and great spirit, but his youth was poisoned with the most
romantic ideas of military glory. The affairs of state were left to his
ministers (for whose character see the next note), his other studies
were neglected, and military exercises, of which he not unjustly
esteemed the chase a principal, were almost his sole employ. Camoens
beheld this romantic turn, and in a genteel allegorical satire foreboded
its consequences. The wish, that his prince might not fall the prey of
his favourite passion, was in vain. In a rash, ill-concerted expedition
into Africa, Don Sebastian lost his crown in his twenty-fifth year, an
event which soon after produced the fall of the Portuguese empire. Had
the nobility possessed the spirit of Camoens, had they, like him,
endeavoured to check the quixotism of a young generous prince, that
prince might have reigned long and happy, and Portugal might have
escaped the Spanish yoke, which soon followed his defeat at Alcazar; a
yoke which sunk Portugal into an abyss of misery, from which, in all
probability, she will never emerge into her former splendour.
[567]
_Enraged, he sees a venal herd, the shame
Of human race, assume the titled name. --_
"After having ridiculed all the pleasures of Don Sebastian, the author
now proceeds to his courtiers, to whom he has done no injustice. Those
who are acquainted with the Portuguese history, will readily acknowledge
this. "--CASTERA.
[568] _On the hard bosoms of the stubborn crowd. _--There in an elegance
in the original of this line, which the English language will not
admit:--
"Nos duros coracoens de plebe dura,"--
_i. e. _, In the hard hearts of the hard vulgar.
[569] Cupid.
[570]
_Thus from my native waves a hero line
Shall rise, and o'er the East illustrious shine. _--
"By the line of heroes to be produced by the union of the Portuguese
with the Nereids, is to be understood the other Portuguese, who,
following the steps of GAMA, established illustrious colonies in
India. "--CASTERA.
[571] _And Fame--a giant goddess. _--This passage affords a striking
instance of the judgment of Camoens. Virgil's celebrated description of
Fame is in his eye, but he copies it, as Virgil, in his best imitations,
copies after Homer. He adopts some circumstances, but, by adding others,
he makes a new picture, which justly may be called his own.
[572] _The wat'ry gods. _--To mention the gods in the masculine gender,
and immediately to apply to them--
"O peito feminil, que levemente
Muda quaysquer propositos tomados. "--
The ease with which the female breast changes its resolutions, may to
the hypercritical appear reprehensible. The expression, however, is
classical, and therefore retained. Virgil uses it, where AEneas is
conducted by Venus through the flames of Troy:--
"Descendo, ac ducente _Deo_, flammam inter et hostes
Expedior. "
This is in the manner of the Greek poets, who use the word ? ? ? ? for god
or goddess.
[573] _White as her swans. _--A distant fleet compared to swans on a lake
is certainly a happy thought. The allusion to the pomp of Venus, whose
agency is immediately concerned, gives it besides a peculiar propriety.
This simile, however, is not in the original. It is adopted from an
uncommon liberty taken by Fanshaw:--
"The pregnant _sails_ on Neptune's surface creep,
Like her own _swans_, in _gate_, _out-chest_, and _fether_. "
[574] _Soon as the floating verdure caught their sight. _--As the
departure of GAMA from India was abrupt, he put into one of the
beautiful islands of Anchediva for fresh water. "While he was here
careening his ships," says Faria, "a pirate named Timoja, attacked him
with eight small vessels, so linked together and covered with boughs,
that they formed the appearance of a floating island. " This, says
Castera, afforded the fiction of the floating island of Venus. "The
fictions of Camoens," says he, "are the more marvellous, because they
are all founded in history. It is not difficult to find why he makes his
island of Anchediva to wander on the waves; it is an allusion to a
singular event related by Barros. " He then proceeds to the story of
Timoja, as if the genius of Camoens stood in need of so weak an
assistance.
[575] _In friendly pity of Latona's woes. _--Latona, pregnant by Jupiter,
was persecuted by Juno, who sent the serpent Python in pursuit of her.
Neptune, in pity of her distress, raised the island of Delos for her
refuge, where she was delivered of Apollo and Diana. --OVID, Met.
[576] _Form'd in a crystal lake the waters blend. _--Castera also
attributes this to history. "The Portuguese actually found in this
island," says he, "a fine piece of water ornamented with hewn stones and
magnificent aqueducts; an ancient and superb work, of which nobody knew
the author. "
In 1505 Don Francisco Almeyda built a fort in this island. In digging
among some ancient ruins he found many crucifixes of black and red
colour, from whence the Portuguese conjectured, says Osorius, that the
Anchedivian islands had in former ages been inhabited by
Christians. --Vid. Osor. 1. iv.
[577]
_The orange here perfumes the buxom air.
And boasts the golden hue of Daphne's hair. --_
Frequent allusions to the fables of the ancients form a characteristic
feature of the poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries. A profusion of it
is pedantry; a moderate use of it, however, in a poem of those times
pleases, because it discovers the stages of composition, and has in
itself a fine effect, as it illustrates its subject by presenting the
classical reader with some little landscapes of that country through
which he has travelled. The description of forests is a favourite topic
in poetry. Chaucer, Tasso, and Spenser, have been happy in it, but both
have copied an admired passage in Statius:--
"Cadit ardua fagus,
Chaoniumque nemus, brumaeque illaesa cupressus;
Procumbunt piceae, flammis alimenta supremis,
Ornique, iliceaeque trabes, metuandaque sulco
Taxus, et infandos belli potura cruores
Fraxinus, atque situ non expugnabile robur:
Hinc audax abies, et odoro vulnere pinus
Scinditur, acclinant intonsa cacumina terrae
Alnus amica fretis, nec inhospita vitibus ulmus. "
In rural descriptions three things are necessary to render them
poetical: the happiness of epithet, of picturesque arrangement, and of
little landscape views. Without these, all the names of trees and
flowers, though strung together in tolerable numbers, contain no more
poetry than a nurseryman or a florist's catalogue. In Statius, in Tasso
and Spenser's admired forests (Ger. Liber. c. 3. st. 75, 76, and F.
Queen, b. 1 c. 1. st. 8, 9), the poetry consists entirely in the
happiness of the epithets. In Camoens, all the three requisites are
admirably attained and blended together.
[578] _And stain'd with lover's blood. _--Pyramus and Thisbe:--
"Arborei foetus aspergine caedis in atram
Vertuntur faciem: madefactaque sanguine radix
Puniceo tingit pendentia mora colore. . . . .
At tu quo ramis arbor miserabile corpus
Nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum;
Signa tene caedis: pullosque et lectibus aptos
Semper habe foetus gemini monumenta cruoris. "
OVID, Met.
[579] _The shadowy vale. _--Literal from the original,--_O sombrio
valle_--which Fanshaw, however, has translated, "the gloomy valley," and
thus has given us a funereal, where the author intended a festive,
landscape. It must be confessed, however, that the description of the
island of Venus, is infinitely the best part of all of Fanshaw's
translation. And indeed the dullest prose translation might obscure, but
could not possibly throw a total eclipse over, so admirable an original.
[580] _The woe-mark'd flower of slain Adonis--water'd by the tears of
love. _--The Anemone. "This," says Castera, "is applicable to the
celestial Venus, for, according to my theology, her amour with Adonis
had nothing in it impure, but was only the love which nature bears to
the sun. " The fables of antiquity have generally a threefold
interpretation, an historical allusion, a physical and a metaphysical
allegory. In the latter view, the fable of Adonis is only applicable to
the celestial Venus. A divine youth is outrageously slain, but shall
revive again at the restoration of the golden age. Several nations, it
is well known, under different names, celebrated the Mysteries, or the
death and resurrection of Adonis; among whom were the British Druids, as
we are told by Dr. Stukely. In the same manner Cupid, in the fable of
Psyche, is interpreted by mythologists, to signify the Divine Love
weeping over the degeneracy of human nature.
[581]
_At strife appear the lawns and purpled skies,
Who from each other stole the beauteous dyes. --_
On this passage Castera has the following sensible, though turgid, note:
"This thought," says he, "is taken from the idyllium of Ausonius on the
rose:--
'Ambigeres raperetne rosis Aurora ruborem,
An daret, et flores tingere torta dies. '
Camoens who had a genius rich of itself, still further enriched it at
the expense of the ancients. Behold what makes great authors! Those who
pretend to give us nothing but the fruits of their own growth, soon
fail, like the little rivulets which dry up in the summer, very
different from the floods, who receive in their course the tribute of a
hundred and a hundred rivers, and which even in the dog-days carry their
waves triumphant to the ocean. "
[582] _The hyacinth bewrays the doleful_ Ai. --Hyacinthus, a youth
beloved of Apollo, by whom he was accidentally slain, and afterwards
turned into a flower:--
"Tyrioque nitentior ostro
Flos oritur, formamque capit, quam lilia: si non,
Purpureus color huic, argenteus esset in illis.
Non satis hoc Phaebo est: is enim fuit auctor honoris.
Ipse suos gemitus foliis inscribit; et Ai, Ai,
Flos habet inscriptum: funestaque littera ducta est. "
OVID, Met.
[583] _The second Argonauts. _--The expedition of the Golden Fleece was
esteemed, in ancient poetry, one of the most daring adventures, the
success of which was accounted miraculous. The allusions of Camoens to
this voyage, though in the spirit of his age, are by no means improper.
[584] _Wide o'er the beauteous isle the lovely fair. _--We now come to
the passage condemned by Voltaire as so lascivious, that no nation in
Europe, except the Portuguese and Italians, could bear it.
The fate of
Camoens has hitherto been very peculiar. The mixture of Pagan and
Christian mythology in his machinery has been anathematized, and his
island of love represented as a brothel. Yet both accusations are the
arrogant assertions of the most superficial acquaintance with his works.
His poem itself, and a comparison of its parts with the similar conduct
of the greatest modern poets, will clearly evince, that in both
instances no modern epic writer of note has given less offence to true
criticism.
Not to mention Ariosto, whose descriptions will often admit of no
palliation, Tasso, Spenser, and Milton, have always been esteemed among
the chastest of poets, yet in that delicacy of warm description, which
Milton has so finely exemplified in the nuptials of our first parents,
none of them can boast the continued uniformity of the Portuguese poet.
Though there is a warmth in the colouring of Camoens which even the
genius of Tasso has not reached: and though the island of Armida is
evidently copied from the Lusiad, yet those who are possessed of the
finer feelings, will easily discover an essential difference between the
love-scenes of the two poets, a difference greatly in favour of the
delicacy of the former. Though the nymphs in Camoens are detected naked
in the woods, and in the stream, and though desirous to captivate, still
their behaviour is that of the virgin who hopes to be the spouse. They
act the part of offended modesty; even when they yield they are silent,
and behave in every respect like Milton's Eve in the state of innocence,
who--
"What was honour knew,"
And who displayed--
"Her virtue, and the conscience of her worth,
That would be wooed, and not unsought be won. "
To sum up all, the nuptial sanctity draws its hallowed curtains, and a
masterly allegory shuts up the love-scenes of Camoens.
How different from all this is the island of Armida in Tasso, and its
translation, the bower of Acrasia in Spenser! In these virtue is
seduced; the scene therefore is less delicate. The nymphs, while they
are bathing, in place of the modesty of the bride as in Camoens, employ
all the arts of the lascivious wanton. They stay not to be wooed; but,
as Spenser gives it--
_The amorous sweet spoils to greedy eyes reveal. _
One stanza from our English poet, which, however, is rather fuller than
the original, shall here suffice:--
"Withal she laughed and she blush'd withal,
That blushing to her laughter gave more grace,
And laughter to her blushing, as did fall.
Now when they spy'd the knight to slack his pace,
Them to behold, and _in his sparkling face
The secret signs of kindled lust appear_,
Their wanton merriments they did increase,
And to him beckon'd to approach more near,
_And show'd him many sights, that courage cold could rear_.
This and other descriptions--
"Upon a bed of roses she was laid
As faint through heat, or dight to pleasant sin"--
present every idea of lascivious voluptuousness. The allurements of
speech are also added. Songs, which breathe every persuasive, are heard;
and the nymphs boldly call to the beholder:--
_E' dolce campo di battaglia il letto
Fiavi, e l'herbetta morbida de' prati. _--TASSO.
"Our field of battle is the downy bed,
Or flow'ry turf amid the smiling mead. "--HOOLE.
These, and the whole scenes in the domains of Armida and Acrasia, are in
a turn of manner the reverse of the island of Venus. In these the
expression and idea are meretricious. In Camoens, though the colouring
is even warmer, yet the modesty of the Venus de Medicis is still
preserved. In everything he describes there is still something strongly
similar to the modest attitude of the arms of that celebrated statue.
Though prudery, that usual mask of the impurest minds, may condemn him,
yet those of the most chaste, though less gloomy turn, will allow, that
in comparison with others, he might say,--_Virginibus puerisque canto_.
Spenser also, where he does not follow Tasso, is often gross; and even
in some instances, where the expression is most delicate, the picture is
nevertheless indecently lascivious.
[585] _The hunter. _--Acteon.
[586] _Madd'ning as he said. _--At the end of his Homer Mr. Pope has
given an index of the instances of imitative and sentimental harmony
contained in his translations. He has also often even in his notes
pointed out the adaptation of sound to sense. The translator of the
Lusiad hopes he may for once say, that he has not been inattentive to
this great essential of good versification: how he has succeeded the
judicious only must determine. The speech of Leonard to the cursory
reader may perhaps sometimes appear careless, and sometimes turgid and
stiff. That speech, however, is an attempt at the imitative and
sentimental harmony, and with the judicious he rests its fate. As the
translation in this instance exceeds the original in length, the
objection of a foreign critic requires attention. An old pursy Abbe,
(and critics are apt to judge by themselves) may indeed be surprised
that a man out of breath with running should be able to talk so long.
But, had he consulted the experiences of others, he would have found it
was no wonderful matter for a stout and young cavalier to talk twice as
much, though fatigued with the chase of a couple of miles, provided the
supposition be allowed, that he treads on the last steps of his flying
mistress.
[587] _Hence, ye profane. _--We have already observed, that in every
other poet the love scenes are generally described as those of guilt and
remorse. The contrary character of those of Camoens not only gives them
a delicacy unknown to other moderns, but, by the fiction of the spousal
rites, the allegory and machinery of the poem are most happily
conducted.
[588] _Spread o'er the eastern world the dread alarms. _--This admonition
places the whole design of the poem before us. To extirpate
Mohammedanism, and propagate Christianity, were professed as the
principal purpose of the discoveries of Prince Henry and King Emmanuel.
In the beginning of the seventh Lusiad, the nations of Europe are
upbraided for permitting the Saracens to erect and possess an empire,
which alike threatened Europe and Christianity. The Portuguese, however,
the patriot poet concludes, will themselves overthrow their enormous
power: an event which is the proposed subject of the Lusiad, and which
is represented as, in effect, completed in the last book. On this
system, adopted by the poet, and which on every occasion was avowed by
their kings, the Portuguese made immense conquests in the East. Yet, let
it be remembered, to the honour of GAMA, and the first commanders who
followed his route, that the plots of the Moors, and their various
breaches of treaty, gave rise to the first wars which the Portuguese
waged in Asia. On finding that all the colonies of the Moors were
combined for their destruction, the Portuguese declared war against the
eastern Moors, and their allies, wherever they found them. The course of
human things, however, soon took place, and the sword of victory and
power soon became the sword of tyranny and rapine.
[589] _Far o'er the silver lake of Mexic. _--The city of Mexico is
environed with an extensive lake; or, according to Cortez, in his second
narration to Charles V. , with two lakes, one of fresh, the other of salt
water, in circuit about fifty leagues. This situation, said the
Mexicans, was appointed by their God Vitzliputzli, who, according to the
explanation of their picture-histories, led their forefathers a journey
of fourscore years, in search of the promised land. Four of the
principal priests carried the idol in a coffer of reeds. Whenever they
halted they built a tabernacle for their god in the midst of their camp,
where they placed the coffer and the altar. They then sowed the land,
and their stay or departure, without regard to the harvest, was directed
by the orders received from their idol, till at last, by his command,
they fixed their abode on the site of Mexico.
[590] _Before the love-sick Roman. _--Mark Antony.
[591] _The beverage--the fountain's cooling aid confess'd. _--It was a
custom of the ancients in warm climates to mix the coolest spring water
with their wine, immediately before drinking; not, we may suppose, to
render it less intoxicating, but on account of the cooling flavour it
thereby received. Homer tells us that the wine which Ulysses gave to
Polyphemus would bear twenty measures of water. Modern luxury has
substituted preserved ice, in place of the more ancient mixture.
[592] _Music, such as erst subdued the horrid frown of hell_,
etc. --Alluding to the fable of Orpheus. Fanshaw's translation, as
already observed, was published fourteen years before the Paradise Lost.
These lines of Milton--
"What could it less, when spirits immortal sung?
Their song was partial, but the harmony
Suspended hell, and took with ravishment
The thronging audience,"
bear a resemblance to these of Fanshaw--
"Musical instruments not wanting, such
As to the damn'd spirits once gave ease
In the dark vaults of the infernal hall. "
To _slumber_ amid their punishment, though omitted by Fanshaw, is
literal:--
"Fizerao descancar da eterna pena. "
[593] _No more the summer of my life remains. _--It is not certain when
Camoens wrote this. It seems, however, not long to have preceded the
publication of his poem, at which time he was in his fifty-fifth year.
This apostrophe to his muse may, perhaps, by some be blamed as another
digression; but, so little does it require defence, that one need not
hesitate to affirm that, had Homer, who often talks to his muse,
introduced, on these favourable opportunities, any little picture or
history of himself, these digressions would have been the most
interesting parts of his works. Had any history of Homer complained,
like this of Camoens, it would have been bedewed with the tears of ages.
[594] _Thy faith repent not, nor lament thy wrong. _--P. Alvarez Cabral,
the second Portuguese commander who sailed to India, entered into a
treaty of alliance with Trimumpara, king of Cochin, and high priest of
Malabar. The zamorim raised powerful armies to dethrone him. His
fidelity to the Portuguese was unalterable, though his affairs were
brought to the lowest ebb. --See the history in the Preface.
[595]
_His ship's strong sides shall groan beneath his weight,
And deeper waves receive the sacred freight. --_
Thus Virgil:--
"Simul accipit alveo
Ingentem AEneam. Gemuit sub pondere cymba
Sutilis, et multam accepit rimosa paludem. "--AEN. vi. 412.
That the visionary boat of Charon groaned under the weight of AEneas is a
fine poetical stroke; but that the crazy rents let in the water is
certainly lowering the image. The thought, however, as managed in
Camoens is much grander than in Virgil, and affords a happy instance
where the hyperbole is truly poetical.
The Lusiad affords many instances which must be highly pleasing to the
Portuguese, but dry to those who are unacquainted with their history.
Nor need one hesitate to assert that, were we not acquainted with the
Roman history from our childhood, a great part of the AEneid would appear
to us intolerably uninteresting. Sensible of this disadvantage which
every version of historical poetry must suffer, the translator has not
only in the notes added every incident which might elucidate the
subject, but has also, all along, in the episode in the third and fourth
books, in the description of the painted ensigns in the eighth, and in
the allusions in the present book, endeavoured to throw every historical
incident into that universal language, the picturesque of poetry. When
Hector storms the Grecian camp, when Achilles marches to battle, every
reader understands and is affected with the bold painting. But when
Nestor talks of his exploits at the funeral games of Amarynces (Iliad
xxiii. ) the critics themselves cannot comprehend him, and have vied with
each other in inventing explanations.
[596] _Proas_, or paraos, Indian vessels which lie low on the water, are
worked with oars, and carry 100 men and upwards apiece.
[597]
_His robes are sprinkled o'er,
And his proud face dash'd, with his menials' gore. --_
See the history in the Preface.
[598] _Round Lusus' fleet to pour their sulph'rous entrails. _--How
Pacheco avoided this formidable danger, see the history in the preface.
[599] _Nor Tiber's bridge. _--When Porsenna besieged Rome, Horatius
Cocles defended the pass of a bridge till the Romans destroyed it behind
him. Having thus saved the pass, heavy armed as he was, he swam across
the Tiber to his companions. Roman history, however, at this period, is
often mixed with fable. Miltiades obtained a great victory over Darius
at Marathon. The stand made by Leonidas at Thermopyl? is well known. The
battles of Pacheco were in defence of the fords by which alone the city
of Cochin could be entered. The numbers he withstood by land and sea,
and the victories he obtained, are much more astonishing than the
defence of Thermopylae.
[600] _Bound to the mast the godlike hero stands. _--English history
affords an instance of similar resolution in Admiral Bembo, who was
supported in a wooden frame, and continued the engagement after his legs
and thighs were shivered in splinters. Contrary to the advice of his
officers, the young Almeyda refused to bear off, though almost certain
to be overpowered, and though both wind and tide were against him. His
father had sharply upbraided him for a former retreat, where victory was
thought impossible. He now fell the victim of his father's ideas of
military glory.
[601] _The fleets of India fly. _--After having cleared the Indian seas,
the viceroy, Almeyda, attacked the combined fleets of Egypt, Cambaya,
and the zamorim, in the entrance and harbour of Diu, or Dio. The fleet
of the zamorim almost immediately fled. That of Melique Yaz, Lord of
Diu, suffered much; but the greatest slaughter fell upon the Egyptians
and Turks, commanded by Mir-Hocem, who had defeated and killed the young
Almeyda. Of 800 Mamelukes, or Turks, who fought under Mir-Hocem, only
22, says Osorius, survived this engagement. Melique Yaz, says Faria y
Sousa, was born in slavery, and descended of the Christians of Roxia.
The road to preferment is often a dirty one; but Melique's was much less
so than that of many. As the King of Cambaya was one day riding in
state, an unlucky kite dunged upon his royal head. His majesty in great
wrath swore he would give all he was worth to have the offender killed.
Melique, who was an expert archer, immediately despatched an arrow,
which brought the audacious hawk to the ground. For the merit of this
eminent service he was made Lord of Diu, or Dio, a considerable city,
the strongest and the most important fortress at that time in all
India. --See Faria, 1. 2, c. 2.
[602] _Great Cunia. _--Tristan da Cunha, or d'Acugna.
[603] _Heav'n indignant showers their arrows backward. _--Some writers
related that, when Albuquerque besieged Ormuz, a violent wind drove the
arrows of the enemy backward upon their own ranks. Osorius says, that
many of the dead Persians and Moors were found to have died by arrows.
But as that weapon was not used by the Portuguese he conjectures that,
in their despair of victory, many of the enemy had thus killed
themselves, rather than survive the defeat.
[604] _Muscat. _
[605] Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf.
[606] _What glorious palms on Goa's isle I see. _--This important place
was made an archbishopric, the capital of the Portuguese empire in the
east, and the seat of their viceroys; for which purposes it is
advantageously situated on the coast of Dekhan. It still remains in the
possession of the Portuguese.
[607] _Malacca. _--The conquest of this place was one of the greatest
actions of Albuquerque. It became the chief port of the eastern part of
Portuguese India, and second only to Goa. Besides a great many pieces of
ordnance which were carried away by the Moors who escaped, 3000 large
cannon remained the prize of the victors. When Albuquerque was on the
way to Malacca, he attacked a large ship; but, just as his men were
going to board her, she suddenly appeared all in flames, which obliged
the Portuguese to bear off. Three days afterwards the same vessel sent a
boat to Albuquerque, offering an alliance, which was accepted. The
flames, says Osorius, were only artificial, and did not the least
damage. Another wonderful adventure immediately happened. The admiral
soon after sent his long-boats to attack a ship commanded by one Nehoada
Beeguea. The enemy made an obstinate resistance. Nehoada himself was
pierced with several mortal wounds, but lost not one drop of blood till
a bracelet was taken off his arm, when immediately the blood gushed out.
According to Osorius, this was said to be occasioned by the virtue of a
stone in the bracelet, taken out of an animal called Cabrisia, which,
when worn on the body, could prevent the effusion of blood from the most
grievous wounds.
[608] _Yet art thou stain'd. _--A detail of all the grant actions of
Albuquerque would have been tedious and unpoetical. Camoens has chosen
the most brilliant, and has happily suppressed the rest by a display of
indignation. The French translator has the following note on this
passage: "Behold another instance of our author's prejudice! The action
which he condemns had nothing in it blameable: but, as he was of a most
amorous constitution, he thought every fault which could plead an amour
in its excuse ought to be pardoned; but true heroes, such as
Albuquerque, follow other maxims. This great man had in his palace a
beautiful Indian slave. He viewed her with the eyes of a father, and the
care of her education was his pleasure. A Portuguese soldier, named Ruy
Diaz, had the boldness to enter the general's apartment, where he
succeeded so well with the girl that he obtained his desire. When
Albuquerque heard of it, he immediately ordered him to the gallows. "
Camoens, however, was no such undistinguishing libertine as this would
represent him. In a few pages we find him praising the continence of Don
Henry de Meneses, whose victory over his passions he calls the highest
excellence of youth. Nor does it appear by what authority the Frenchman
assures us of the chaste paternal affection which Albuquerque bore to
this Indian girl. It was the great aim of Albuquerque to establish
colonies in India, and, for that purpose, he encouraged his soldiers to
marry with the natives. The most sightly girls were selected, and
educated in the religion and household arts of Portugal, and portioned
at the expense of the general. These he called his daughters, and with
great pleasure he used to attend their weddings, several couples being
usually joined together at one time. At one of these nuptials, says
Faria, the festivity having continued late, and the brides being mixed
together, several of the bridegrooms committed a blunder. The mistakes
of the night, however, as they were all equal in point of honour, were
mutually forgiven in the morning, and each man took his proper wife whom
he had received at the altar. This delicate anecdote of Albuquerque's
sons and daughters is as bad a commentary on the note of Castera as it
is on the severity which the commander showed to poor Diaz. Nor does
Camoens stand alone in the condemnation of the general. The historian
agrees with the poet. Mentioning the death of D. Antonio Noronha, "This
gentleman," says Faria, "used to moderate the violent temper of his
uncle, Albuquerque, which soon after showed itself in rigid severity. He
ordered a soldier to be hanged for an amour with one of the slaves whom
he called daughters, and whom he used to give in marriage. When some of
his officers asked him what authority he had to take the poor man's
life, he drew his sword, told them that was his commission, and
instantly broke them. " To marry his soldiers with the natives was the
plan of Albuquerque: his severity, therefore, seems unaccountable,
unless we admit the 'perhaps' of Camoens, _ou de cioso_, perhaps it was
jealousy. --But, whatever incensed the general, the execution of the
soldier was contrary to the laws of every nation;{*} and the honest
indignation of Camoens against one of the greatest of his countrymen,
one who was the grand architect of the Portuguese empire in the East,
affords a noble instance of that manly freedom of sentiment which knows
no right by which king or peer may do injustice to the meanest subject.
Nor can we omit the observation, that the above note of Castera is of a
piece with the French devotion we have already seen him pay to the name
of king, a devotion which breathes the true spirit of the blessed advice
given by Father Paul to the republic of Venice: "When a nobleman commits
an offence against a subject," says the Jesuit, "let every means be
tried to justify him. But, if a subject has offended a nobleman, let him
be punished with the utmost severity. "
{*} Osorius relates the affair of Diaz with some other circumstances;
but with no difference that affects this assertion.
[609] _Not Ammon. _--Campaspe, the most beautiful concubine of Alexander
the Great, was given by that monarch to Apelles, whom he perceived in
love with her. Araspas had strict charge of the fair captive, Panthea.
His attempt on her virtue was forgiven by Cyrus.
[610] _And Flandria's earldom on the knight bestow'd. _--"Baldwin,
surnamed Iron-arm, Grand Forester of Flanders, being in love with
Judith, the daughter of Charles the Bald, and widow of Ethelwolf, king
of England, obtained his desire by force. Charles, though at first he
highly resented, afterwards pardoned his crime, and consented to his
marriage with the princess. "--CASTERA.
* * * * *
This digression in the song of the nymph bears, in manner, a striking
resemblance to the histories which often, even in the heat of battle,
the heroes of Homer relate to each other. That these little episodes
have their beauty and propriety in an epic poem will strongly appear
from a view of M. de la Motte's translation of the Iliad into French
verse. The four and twenty books of Homer he has contracted into twelve,
and these contain no more lines than about four books of the original. A
thousand embellishments which the warm poetical feelings of Homer
suggested to him are thus thrown out by the Frenchman. But what is the
consequence of this improvement? The work of La Motte is unread, even by
his own countrymen, and despised by every foreigner who has the least
relish for poetry and Homer.
[611] _And midnight horror shakes Medina's shrine. _--Medina, the city
where Mohammed is buried. About six years after GAMA'S discovery of
India, the Sultan of Egypt sent Maurus, the abbot of the monks at
Jerusalem, who inhabit Mount Sion, on an embassy to Pope Julius II. The
sultan, with severe threats to the Christians of the East in case of
refusal, entreated the Pope to desire Emmanuel, king of Portugal, to
send no more fleets to the Indian seas. The Pope sent Maurus to
Emmanuel, who returned a very spirited answer to his holiness, assuring
him that no threats, no dangers, could make him alter his resolutions,
and lamenting that it had not yet been in his power to fulfil his
purpose of demolishing the sepulchre and erasing the memorials of
Mohammed from the earth. This, he says was the first purpose of sending
his fleets to India.
