The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem
consist of three stanzas in the Portuguese, and are said to have been
left out by the author himself in his second edition. The translator,
however, as they breathe the true spirit of Virgil, was willing to
preserve them with this acknowledgment.
[298] Massylia, a province in Numidia, greatly infested with lions,
particularly that part of it called _Os sete montes irmaõs_, the seven
brother mountains.
[299] _And many a gasping warrior sigh'd his last._--This, which is
almost literal from--
_Muitos lançaraõ o ultimo suspiro,--_
and the preceding circumstance of Don John's brandishing his lance four
times--
_E sopesando a lança quatro vezes,_
are poetical, and in the spirit of Homer. Besides Maldonat, Castera has,
in this battle, introduced several other names which have no place in
Camoëns. Carrillo, Robledo, John of Lorca, Salazar of Seville were
killed, he tells us: And, "Velasques and Sanches, natives of Toledo,
Galbes, surnamed the 'Soldier without Fear,' Montanches, Oropesa, and
Mondonedo, all six of proved valour, fell by the hand of young Antony,
who brought to the fight either more address, or better fortune than
these." Not a word of this is in the Portuguese.
[300] _Their swords seem dipp'd in fire._--This is as literal as the
idiom of the two languages would allow. Dryden has a thought like that
of this couplet, but which is not in his original:--
"Their bucklers clash; thick blows descend from high,
And flakes of fire from their hard helmets fly."
DRYD. Virg. Æn. xii.
[301] Grand master of the order of St. James, named Don Pedro Nunio. He
was not killed, however, in this battle, which was fought on the plains
of Aljubarota, but in that of Valverda, which immediately followed. The
reader may, perhaps, be surprised to find that every soldier mentioned
in these notes is a Don, a _Lord_. The following piece of history will
account for the number of the Portuguese nobles. Don Alonzo Enriquez,
Count of Portugal, was saluted king by his army at the battle of
Ourique; in return, his majesty dignified every man in his army with the
rank of nobility.--Vide the 9th of the Statutes of Lamego.
[302] Cerberus.
[303] The Spaniards.
[304] This tyrant, whose unjust pretensions to the crown of Portugal
laid his own, and that, kingdom in blood, was on his final defeat
overwhelmed with all the frenzy of grief. In the night after the
decisive battle of Aljubarota, he fled upwards of thirty miles upon a
mule. Don Laurence, archbishop of Braga, in a letter written in old
Portuguese to Don John, abbot of Alcobaza, gives this account of his
behaviour: "The constable has informed me that he saw the King of
Castile at Santaren, who behaved as a madman, cursing his existence, and
tearing the hairs of his beard. And, in good faith, my good friend, it
is better that he should do so to himself than to us; the man who thus
plucks his own beard, would be much better pleased to do so to others."
The writer of this letter, though a prelate, fought at the battle of
Aljubarota, where he received on the face a large wound from a sabre.
[305] _The festive days by heroes old ordain'd._--As a certain proof of
the victory, it was required, by the honour of these ages, that the
victor should encamp three days on the field of battle. By this
knight-errantry the advantages which ought to have been pursued were
frequently lost. Don John, however, though he complied with the reigning
ideas of honour, sent Don Nunio, with a proper army, to reap the fruits
of his victory.
[306] John of Portugal, about a year after the battle of Aljubarota,
married Philippa, eldest daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster,
son of Edward III. who assisted the king, his son-in-law, in an
irruption into Castile, and, at the end of the campaign, promised to
return with more numerous forces for the next. But this was prevented by
the marriage of his youngest daughter, Catalina, with Don Henry, eldest
son of the King of Castile. The King of Portugal on this entered
Galicia, and reduced the cities of Tui and Salvaterra. A truce followed.
While the tyrant of Castile meditated a new war, he was killed by a fall
from his horse, and, leaving no issue by his queen, Beatrix (the King of
Portugal's daughter), all pretension to that crown ceased. The truce was
now prolonged for fifteen years, and, though not strictly kept, yet, at
last the influence of the English queen, Catalina, prevailed, and a long
peace, happy for both kingdoms, ensued.
[307] The Pillars of Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar.--_Ed._
[308] The character of this great prince claims a place in these notes,
as it affords a comment on the enthusiasm of Camoëns, who has made him
the hero of his episode. His birth, excellent education, and masterly
conduct when regent, have already been mentioned. The same justice,
prudence, and heroism always accompanied him when king. He had the art
to join the most winning affability with all the manly dignity of the
sovereign. To those who were his friends, when a private man, he was
particularly attentive. His nobility dined at his table, he frequently
made visits to them, and introduced among them the taste for, and the
love of, letters. As he felt the advantages of education, he took the
utmost care of that of his children. He had many sons, and he himself
often instructed them in solid and useful knowledge, and was amply
repaid. He lived to see them men, men of parts and of action, whose only
emulation was to show affection to his person, and to support his
administration by their great abilities. One of his sons, Don Henry,
duke of Viseo, was that great prince whose ardent passion for maritime
affairs gave birth to all the modern improvements in navigation. The
clergy, who had disturbed almost every other reign, were so convinced of
the wisdom of his, that they confessed he ought to be supported out of
the treasures of the church, and granted him the church plate to be
coined. When the pope ordered a rigorous inquiry to be made into his
having brought ecclesiastics before lay tribunals, the clergy had the
singular honesty to desert what was styled the church immunities, and to
own that justice had been impartially administered. He died in the
seventy-sixth year of his age, and in the forty-eighth of his reign. His
affection to his queen, Philippa, made him fond of the English, whose
friendship he cultivated, and by whom he was frequently assisted.
[309] Camoëns, in this instance, has raised the character of one brother
at the other's expense, to give his poem an air of solemnity. The siege
of Tangier was proposed. The king's brothers differed in their opinions:
that of Don Fernand, though a knight-errant adventure, was approved of
by the young nobility. The infants, Henry and Fernand, at the head of
7000 men, laid siege to Tangier, and were surrounded by a numerous army
of Moors, some writers say six hundred thousand. On condition that the
Portuguese army should be allowed to return home, the infants promised
to surrender Ceuta. The Moors gladly accepted of the terms, but demanded
one of the infants as a hostage. Fernand offered himself, and was left.
The king was willing to comply with the terms to relieve his brother,
but the court considered the value of Ceuta, and would not consent. The
pope also interposed his authority, that Ceuta should be kept as a check
on the infidels, and proposed to raise a crusade for the delivery of
Fernand. In the meanwhile large offers were made for his liberty. These
were rejected by the Moors, who would accept of nothing but Ceuta, to
whose vast importance they were no strangers. When negotiations failed,
King Edward assembled a large army to effect his brother's release, but,
just as he was setting out, he was seized with the plague, and died,
leaving orders with his queen to deliver up Ceuta for the release of his
brother. This, however, was never performed. Don Fernand remained with
the Moors till his death. The magnanimity of his behaviour gained him
their esteem and admiration, nor is there good proof that he received
any very rigorous treatment; the contrary is rather to be inferred from
the romantic notions of military honour which then prevailed among the
Moors. Don Fernand is to this day esteemed as a saint and martyr in
Portugal, and his memory is commemorated on the fifth of June. King
Edward reigned only five years and a month. He was the most eloquent man
in his dominions, spoke and wrote Latin elegantly, was author of several
books, one on horsemanship, in which art he excelled. He was brave in
the field, active in business, and rendered his country infinite service
by reducing the laws to a regular code. He was knight of the Order of
the Garter, which honour was conferred upon him by his cousin, Henry V.
of England. In one instance he gave great offence to the superstitious
populace. He despised the advice of a Jew astrologer, who entreated him
to delay his coronation because the stars that day were unfavourable. To
this the misfortune of Tangier was ascribed, and the people were always
on the alarm, as if some terrible disaster were impending over them.
[310] The Moors.
[311] When Henry IV. of Castile died, he declared that the infanta
Joanna, was his heiress, in preference to his sister, Donna Isabella,
married to Don Ferdinand, son to the King of Arragon. In hopes to attain
the kingdom of Castile, Don Alonzo, king of Portugal, obtained a
dispensation from the pope to marry his niece, Donna Joanna. After a
bloody war, the ambitious views of Alonzo and his courtiers were
defeated.
[312] The Pyrenees which separate France from Spain.--_Ed._
[313] The Prince of Portugal.
[314] Julius Cæsar.
[315] Naples.
[316] Parthenope was one of the Syrens. Enraged because she could not
allure Ulysses, she threw herself into the sea. Her corpse was thrown
ashore, and buried where Naples now stands.
[317] The coast of Alexandria.
[318] Among the Christians of Abyssinia.
[319] Sandy, the French sable = sand.--_Ed._
[320] The Nabathean mountains; so named from Nabaoth, the son of
Ishmael.
[321] _Beyond where Trajan._--The Emperor Trajan extended the bounds of
the Roman Empire in the East far beyond any of his predecessors. His
conquests reached to the river Tigris, near which stood the city of
Ctesiphon, which he subdued. The Roman historians boasted that India was
entirely conquered by him; but they could only mean Arabia Felix.--Vid.
Dion. Cass. Euseb. Chron. p. 206.
[322] _Qui mores hominum multorum vidit._--HOR.
[323] Emmanuel was cousin to the late king, John II. and grandson to
king Edward, son of John I.
[324] The river Indus, which gave name to India.
[325] Vasco de Gama, who is, in a certain sense, the hero of the Lusiad,
was born in 1469, at Sines, a fishing town on the Atlantic, midway
between Lisbon and Cape St. Vincent, where, in a small church on a
cliff, built by the great navigator after his appointment as Viceroy of
India, is an inscription to his memory.--_Ed._
[326] Hercules.
[327] _Orac'lous Argo._--According to the fable, the vessel of the
Argonauts spoke and prophesied. See _The Argonautics_ of Apollonius
Rhodius.--_Ed._
[328] This fact is according to history: Aberat Olysippone prope littus
quatuor passuum millia templum sanè religiosum et sanctum ab Henrico in
honorem Sanctissimæ Virginis edificatum.... In id Gama pridie illius
diei, quo erat navem conscensurus, se recepit, ut noctem cum religiosis
hominibus qui in ædibus templo conjunctis habitabant, in precibus et
votis consumeret. Sequenti die cum multi non illius tantùm gratia, sed
aliorum etiam, qui illi comites erant, convenissent, fuit ab omnibus in
scaphis deductus. Neque solùm homines religiosi, sed reliqui omnes voce