The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem
[275] Dom John was a natural brother of Fernando, being an illegitimate
son of Pedro.--_Ed._
[276] _A cradled infant gave the wondrous sign._--No circumstance has
ever been more ridiculed by the ancient and modern pedants than
Alexander's pretensions to divinity. Some of his courtiers expostulating
with him one day on the absurdity of such claim, he replied, "I know the
truth of what you say, but these," (pointing to a crowd of Persians)
"these know no better." The report that the Grecian army was commanded
by a son of Jupiter spread terror through the East, and greatly
facilitated the operations of the conqueror. The miraculous speech of
the infant, attested by a few monks, was adapted to the superstition of
the age of John I. and, as he was illegitimate, was of infinite service
to his cause. The pretended fact, however, is differently related.
[277] Lisbon, or Ulyssipolis, supposed to be founded by Ulysses.--_Ed._
[278] _The mitred head._--Don Martin, bishop of Lisbon, a man of
exemplary life. He was by birth a Castilian, which was esteemed a
sufficient reason to murder him, as of the queen's party. He was thrown
from the tower of his own cathedral, whither he had fled to avoid the
popular fury.
[279] _The queen beheld her power, her honours lost._--Possessed of
great beauty and great abilities, this bad woman was a disgrace to her
sex, and a curse to the age and country which gave her birth. Her
sister, Donna Maria, a lady of unblemished virtue, had been secretly
married to the infant, Don Juan, the king's brother, who was
passionately attached to her. Donna Maria had formerly endeavoured to
dissuade her sister from the adulterous marriage with the king. In
revenge of this, the queen, Leonora, persuaded Don Juan that her sister
was unfaithful to his bed. The enraged husband hastened to his wife,
and, without enquiry or expostulation, says Mariana, dispatched her with
two strokes of his dagger. He was afterwards convinced of her innocence.
Having sacrificed her honour, and her first husband, to a king, (says
Faria), Leonora soon sacrificed that king to a wicked gallant, a
Castilian nobleman, named Don Juan Fernandez de Andeyro. An unjust war
with Castile, wherein the Portuguese were defeated by sea and land, was
the first fruits of the policy of the new favourite. Andeyro one day
being in a great perspiration, by some military exercise, the queen tore
her veil, and publicly gave it him to wipe his face. The grand master of
Avis, the king's illegitimate brother, afterwards John I., and some
others, expostulated with her on the indecency of this behaviour. She
dissembled her resentment, but, soon after, they were seized and
committed to the castle of Evora, where a forged order for their
execution was sent; but the governor suspecting some fraud, showed it to
the king. Yet, such was her ascendancy over Fernando, that though
convinced of her guilt, he ordered his brother to kiss the queen's hand,
and thank her for his life. Soon after, Fernando died, but not till he
was fully convinced of the queen's conjugal infidelity, and had given an
order for the assassination of the gallant. Not long after the death of
the king, the favourite Andeyro was stabbed in the palace by the
grandmaster of Avis, and Don Ruy de Pereyra. The queen expressed all the
transport of grief and rage, and declared she would undergo the
trial-ordeal in vindication of his, and her, innocence. But this she
never performed: in her vows of revenge, however, she was more punctual.
Don Juan, king of Castile, who had married her only daughter and
heiress, at her earnest entreaties invaded Portugal, and was proclaimed
king. Don John, grand master of Avis, was proclaimed by the people
protector and regent. A desperate war ensued. Queen Leonora, treated
with indifference by her daughter and son-in-law, resolved on the murder
of the latter, but the plot was discovered, and she was sent prisoner to
Castile. The regent was besieged in Lisbon, and the city reduced to the
utmost extremities, when an epidemic broke out in the Castilian army,
and made such devastation, that the king suddenly raised the siege, and
abandoned his views on Portugal. The happy inhabitants ascribed their
deliverance to the valour and vigilance of the regent. The regent
reproved their ardour, exhorted them to repair to their churches, and
return thanks to God, to whose interposition he solely ascribed their
safety. This behaviour increased the admiration of the people; the
nobility of the first rank joined the regent's party, and many garrisons
in the interest of the king of Castile opened their gates to him. An
assembly of the states met at Coimbra, where it was proposed to invest
the regent with the regal dignity. This he pretended to decline. Don
John, son of Pedro the Just and the beautiful Inez de Castro, was by the
people esteemed their lawful sovereign, but was, and had been long,
detained a prisoner by the King of Castile. If the states would declare
the infant, Don John, their king, the regent professed his willingness
to swear allegiance to him, that he would continue to expose himself to
every danger, and act as regent, till Providence restored to Portugal
her lawful sovereign. The states, however, saw the necessity that the
nation should have a head. The regent was unanimously elected king, and
some articles in favour of liberty were added to those agreed upon at
the coronation of Don Alonzo Enriquez, the first king of Portugal.
Don John I., one of the greatest of the Portuguese monarchs, was the
natural son of Pedro the Just, by Donna Teresa Lorenza, a Galician lady,
and was born some years after the death of Inez. At seven years of age
he was made grand master of Avis, where he received an excellent
education, which, joined to his great parts, brought him out early on
the political theatre. He was a brave commander, and a deep politician,
yet never forfeited the character of candour and honour. To be humble to
his friends, and haughty to his enemies, was his leading maxim. His
prudence gained him the confidence of the wise; his steadiness and
gratitude the friendship of the brave; his liberality the bulk of the
people. He was in the twenty-seventh year of his age when declared
protector, and in his twenty-eighth when proclaimed king.
The following anecdote is much to the honour of this prince when regent.
A Castilian officer, having six Portuguese gentleman prisoners, cut off
their noses and hands, and sent them to Don John. Highly incensed, the
protector commanded six Castilian gentlemen to be treated in the same
manner. But, before the officer, to whom he gave the orders, had quitted
the room, he relented. "I have given enough to resentment," said he, "in
giving such a command. It were infamous to put it in execution. See that
the Castilian prisoners receive no harm."
[280] Beatrice.
[281] _By Rodrick given._--The celebrated hero of Corneille's tragedy of
the Cid.
[282] [283] Cadiz: in ancient times a Phoenician colony, whose coins
bear the emblem of two pillars--the pillars of Hercules
(Alcides).--_Ed._
[284] The Gascons or Basques, a very ancient and singular people. Their
language has no relation to that of any other people. They are regarded
as the earliest inhabitants of the Spanish peninsula.--_Ed._
[285] See Judges xvi. 17-19.
[286] This speech in the original has been much admired by foreign
critics, as a model of military eloquence. The critic, it is hoped, will
perceive that the translator has endeavoured to support the character of
the speaker.
[287] This was the famous P. Corn. Scipio Africanus. The fact, somewhat
differently related by Livy, is this. After the defeat at Cannæ, a
considerable body of Romans fled to Canusium, and appointed Scipio and
Ap. Claudius their commanders. While they remained there, it was told
Scipio, that some of his chief officers, at the head of whom was
Cæcilius Metellus, were taking measures to transport themselves out of
Italy. He went immediately to their assembly; and drawing his sword,
said, _I swear that I will not desert the Commonwealth of Rome, nor
suffer any other citizen to do it. The same oath I require of you,
Cæcilius, and of all present; whoever refuses, let him know that this
sword is drawn against him._ The historian adds, that they were as
terrified by this, as if they had beheld the face of their conqueror,
Hannibal. They all swore, and submitted themselves to Scipio.--Vid.
Livy, bk. 22. c. 53.
[288] Sestos was a city of Thrace, on the Dardanelles, opposite
Abydos.--_Ed._
[289] The Guadiana, one of the two great rivers of Spain.--_Ed._
[290] The Douro.
[291] Homer and Virgil have, with great art, gradually heightened the
fury of every battle, till the last efforts of their genius were
lavished in describing the superior prowess of the hero in the decisive
engagement. Camoëns, in like manner, has bestowed his utmost attention
on this his principal battle. The circumstances preparatory to the
engagement are happily imagined, and solemnly conducted, and the fury of
the combat is supported with a poetical heat, and a variety of imagery,
which, one need not hesitate to affirm, would do honour to an ancient
classic author.
[292] _And his own brothers shake the hostile lance._--The just
indignation with which Camoëns treats the kindred of the brave Nunio
Alvaro de Pereyra, is condemned by the French translator. "The
Pereyras," says he, "deserve no stain on their memory for joining the
King of Castile, whose title to the crown of Portugal was infinitely
more just and solid than that of Don John." Castera, however, is grossly
mistaken. Don Alonzo Enriquez, the first King of Portugal, was elected
by the people, who had recovered their liberties at the glorious battle
of Ourique. At the election the constitution of the kingdom was settled
in eighteen short statutes, wherein it is expressly provided, that none
but a Portuguese can be king of Portugal; that if an infanta marry a
foreign prince, he shall not, in her right, become King of Portugal, and
a new election of a king, in case of the failure of the male line, is,
by these statutes, supposed legal. By the treaty of marriage between the
King of Castile and Donna Beatrix, the heiress of Fernando of Portugal,
it was agreed, that only their children should succeed to the Portuguese
crown; and that, in case the throne became vacant ere such children were
born, the Queen-dowager, Leonora, should govern with the title of
Regent. Thus, neither by the original constitution, nor by the treaty of
marriage, could the King of Castile succeed to the throne of Portugal.
And any pretence he might found on the marriage contract was already
forfeited; for he caused himself and his queen to be proclaimed, added
Portugal to his titles, coined Portuguese money with his bust, deposed
the queen regent, and afterwards sent her prisoner to Castile. The
lawful heir, Don Juan, the son of Inez de Castro, was kept in prison by
his rival, the King of Castile; and, as before observed, a new election
was, by the original statutes, supposed legal in cases of emergency.
These facts, added to the consideration of the tyranny of the King of
Castile, and the great services which Don John had rendered his country,
fully vindicate the indignation of Camoëns against the traitorous
Pereyras.
[293] Near Pharsalus was fought the decisive battle between Cæsar and
Pompey, B.C. 48.--_Ed._
[294] Ceuta, a small Spanish possession on the Mediterranean coast of
Morocco.--_Ed._
[295] Tetuan, a city of Morocco.--_Ed._
[296] _Through the fierce Brigians._--The Castilians, so called from one
of their ancient kings, named Brix, or Brigus, whom the monkish writers
call the grandson of Noah.
[297] These lines are not in the common editions of Camoëns. They