The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem
as many readers are infected with the _sang froid_ of a Bossu or a
Perrault, an observation in defence of our poet cannot be thought
impertinent. If we examine the finest effusions of genius, we shall find
that the most genuine poetical feeling has often dictated those similes
which are drawn from familiar and low objects. The sacred writers, and
the greatest poets of every nation, have used them. We may, therefore,
conclude that the criticism which condemns them is a refinement not
founded on nature. But, allowing them admissible, it must be observed,
that to render them pleasing requires a peculiar happiness and delicacy
of management. When the poet attains this indispensable point, he gives
a striking proof of his elegance, and of his mastership in his art. That
the similes of the emmets and of the frogs in Camoëns are happily
expressed and applied, is indisputable. In that of the frogs there is a
peculiar propriety, both in the comparison itself, and in the allusion
to the fable, as it was the intent of the poet to represent not only the
flight, but the baseness of the Moors. The simile he seems to have
copied from Dante, Inf. Cant. 9--
_Come le rane innanzi a la nemica
Biscia per l'acqua si dileguan tutte
Fin che a la terra ciascuna s'abbica. _
And Cant. 22--
_E come a l'orlo de l'acqua d'un fosso
Stan li ranocchi pur col muso fuori
Sì che celano i piedi, e l'altro grosso. _
[128] Barros and Castaneda, in relating this part of the voyage of Gama,
say that the fleet, just as they were entering the port of Mombas, were
driven back as it were by an invisible hand. By a subsequent note it
will appear that the safety of the Armada depended upon this
circumstance.
[129] Venus.
[130] As the planet of Jupiter is in the sixth heaven, the author has
with propriety there placed the throne of that god.--CASTERA.
[131] "I am aware of the objection, that this passage is by no means
applicable to the celestial Venus. I answer once for all, that the names
and adventures of the pagan divinities are so blended and uncertain in
mythology, that a poet is at great liberty to adapt them to his allegory
as he pleases. Even the fables, which may appear as profane, even these
contain historical, physical, and moral truths, which fully atone for
the seeming licentiousness of the letter. I could prove this in many
instances, but let the present suffice. Paris, son of Priam, king of
Troy, spent his first years as a shepherd in the country. At this time
Juno, Minerva, and Venus disputed for the apple of gold, which was
destined to be given to the most beautiful goddess. They consented that
Paris should be their judge. His equity claimed this honour. He saw them
all naked. Juno promised him riches, Minerva the sciences, but he
decided in favour of Venus, who promised him the possession of the most
beautiful woman. What a ray of light is contained in this philosophical
fable! Paris represents a studious man, who, in the silence of solitude,
seeks the supreme good. Juno is the emblem of riches and dignities;
Minerva, that of the sciences purely human; Venus is that of religion,
which contains the sciences both human and divine; the charming female,
which she promises to the Trojan shepherd, is that divine wisdom which
gives tranquillity of heart. A judge so philosophical as Paris would not
hesitate a moment to whom to give the apple of gold."--CASTERA.
[132] "The allegory of Camoëns is here obvious. If Acteon, and the
slaves of their violent passions, could discover the beauties of true
religion, they would be astonished and reclaimed: according to the
expression of Seneca, 'Si virtus cerni posset oculis corporeis, omnes ad
amorem suum pelliceret.'"--CASTERA.
[133] "That is Divine love, which always accompanies religion. Behold
how our author insinuates the excellence of his moral!"--CASTERA.
As the French translator has acknowledged, there is no doubt but several
readers will be apt to decry this allegorical interpretation of the
machinery of Camoëns. Indeed there is nothing more easy than to discover
a system of allegory in the simplest narrative. The reign of Henry VIII.
is as susceptible of it as any fable in the heathen mythology. Nay,
perhaps, more so. Under the names of Henry, More, Wolsey, Cromwell,
Pole, Cranmer, etc., all the war of the passions, with their different
catastrophes, might be delineated. Though it may be difficult to
determine how far, yet one may venture to affirm that Homer and Virgil
sometimes allegorised. The poets, however, who wrote on the revival of
letters have left us in no doubt; we have their own authority for it
that their machinery is allegorical. Not only the pagan deities, but the
more modern adventures of enchantment were used by them to delineate the
affections, and the trials and rewards of the virtues and vices. Tasso
published a treatise to prove that his _Gerusalemme Liberata_ is no
other than the Christian spiritual warfare. And Camoëns, as observed in
the preface, has twice asserted that his machinery is allegorical. The
poet's assertion, and the taste of the age in which he wrote,
sufficiently vindicate and explain the allegory of the Lusiad.
[134] The following speech of Venus and the reply of Jupiter, are a fine
imitation from the first Æneid, and do great honour to the classical
taste of the Portuguese poet.
[135] Imitated from Virg. Æn. i.--
_Olli subridens hominum sator atque Deorum,
Vultu, quo coelum tempestatesque serenat,
Oscula libavit natæ_----
[136] Ulysses, king of Ithaka.--_Ed._
[137] _i.e._, the slave of Calypso, who offered Ulysses immortality on
condition that he would live with her.
[138] Æneas.--_Ed._
[139]
"Far on the right her dogs foul Scylla hides,
Charybdis roaring on the left presides,
And in her greedy whirlpool sucks the tides."
DRYDEN'S Virg. Æn. iii.--_Ed._
[140] After the Portuguese had made great conquests in India, GAMA had
the honour to be appointed Viceroy. In 1524, when sailing thither to
take possession of his government, his fleet was so becalmed on the
coast of Cambaya that the ships stood motionless on the water, when in
an instant, without the least change of the weather, the waves were
shaken with a violent agitation, like trembling. The ships were tossed
about, the sailors were terrified, and in the utmost confusion, thinking
themselves lost. Gama, perceiving it to be the effect of an earthquake,
with his wonted heroism and prudence, exclaimed, "_Of what are you
afraid? Do you not see how the ocean trembles under its sovereigns!_"
Barros, l. 9, c. 1, and Faria, c. 9, say, that such as lay sick of
fevers were cured by the fright.
[141] Ormuz, or Hormuz, an island at the entrance of the Persian Gulf,
once a great commercial dépôt.--_Ed._
[142] Both Barros and Castaneda relate this fact. Albuquerque, during
the war of Ormuz, having given battle to the Persians and Moors, by the
violence of a sudden wind the arrows of the latter were driven back upon
themselves, whereby many of their troops were wounded.
[143] Calicut was a seaport town of Malabar, more properly _Colicodu_.
[144]
_Hinc ope barbarica, variisque Antonius armis,
Victor ab Auroræ populis et littore rubro,
Ægyptum, viresque Orientis, et ultima secum
Bactra vehit: sequiturque nefas! Ægyptia conjux.
Una omnes ruere, ac totum spumare, reductis
Convulsum remis rostrisque tridentibus, æquor.
Alta petunt: pelago credas innare revulsas
Cycladas, aut montes concurrere montibus altos:
Tanta mole viri turritis puppibus instant.
Stuppea flamma manu telisque volatile ferrum
Spargitur: arva nova Neptunia cæde rubescunt.
----Sævit medio in certamine Maxors._
VIRG. Æn. viii.
[145] Antony.
[146] Gades, now Cadiz, an ancient and still flourishing seaport of
Spain.--_Ed._
[147] _The Lusian pride, etc._--Magalhaens, a most celebrated navigator,
neglected by Emmanuel, king of Portugal, offered his service to the king
of Spain, under whom he made most important discoveries round the
Straits which bear his name, and in parts of South America. Of this hero
see further, Lusiad X., in the notes.
[148] Mercury.
[149] Mombas, a seaport town on an island of the same name off the coast
of Zanguebar, East Africa.--_Ed._
[150] Mercury, so called from Cyll{=e}n{=e}, the highest mountain in the
Peloponnesus, where he had a temple, and on which spot he is said to
have been born.--_Ed._
[151] Petasus.
[152] The caduceus, twined with serpents.--_Ed._
[153]
"But first he grasps within his awful hand
The mark of sovereign power, the magic wand:
With this he draws the ghosts from hollow graves,
With this he drives them down the Stygian waves,
With this he seals in sleep the wakeful sight,
And eyes, though closed in death, restores to light."
ÆNEID, iv. 242. (Dryden's Trans.)
[154] Mercury.
[155] Diomede, a tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses with human flesh;
a thing, says the grave Castera, almost incredible. Busiris was a king
of Egypt, who sacrificed strangers.
_Quis ... illaudati nescit Busiridis aras?_
VIRG. Geor. iii.
Hercules vanquished both these tyrants, and put them to the same
punishments which their cruelty had inflicted on others. Isocrates
composed an oration in honour of Busiris; a masterly example of Attic
raillery and satire.
[156] _i.e._ the equator.
[157] Hermes is the Greek name for the god Mercury.
[158] Having mentioned the escape of the Moorish pilots, Osorius
proceeds: Rex deinde homines magno cum silentio scaphis et lintribus
submittebat, qui securibus anchoralia nocte præciderent. Quod nisi
fuisset à nostris singulari Gamæ industria vigilatum, et insidiis
scelerati illius regis occursum, nostri in summum vitæ discrimen
incidissent.
[159] Mercury.
[160] A city and kingdom of the same name on the east coast of Africa.
[161] Ascension Day.
[162] Jesus Christ.
[163]
_Vimen erat dum stagna subit, processerat undis
Gemma fuit._
CLAUD.
_Sic et coralium, quo primum contigit auras,
Tempore durescit, mollis fuit herba sub undis._
OVID.
[164] There were on board Gama's fleet several persons skilled in the
Oriental languages.--OSOR.
[165] See the Eighth Odyssey, etc.
[166] Castera's note on this place is so characteristic of a Frenchman,
that the reader will perhaps be pleased to see it transcribed. In his
text he says, "_Toi qui occupes si dignement le rang supreme._" "_Le
Poete dit_," says he, in the note, "_Tens de Rey o officio, Toi qui sais
le metier de Roi_. (The poet says, _thou who holdest the business of a
king_.) I confess," he adds, "I found a strong inclination to translate
this sentence literally. I find much nobleness in it. However, I
submitted to the opinion of some friends, who were afraid that the ears
of Frenchmen would be shocked at the word _business_ applied to a king.
It is true, nevertheless, that Royalty is a _business_. Philip II. of
Spain was convinced of it, as we may discern from one of his letters.
_Hallo_, says he, _me muy embaraçado_, &c. _I am so entangled and
encumbered with the multiplicity of business, that I have not a moment
to myself. In truth, we kings hold a laborious office_ (or trade);
_there is little reason to envy us._"
[167] The propriety and artfulness of Homer's speeches have been often
and justly admired. Camoëns is peculiarly happy in the same department
of the Epopæa. The speech of Gama's herald to the King of Melinda is a
striking instance of it. The compliments with which it begins have a
direct tendency to the favours afterwards to be asked. The assurances of
the innocence, the purpose of the voyagers, and the greatness of their