The Lusiad Part 47

"Soliman' Solimano, i tuoi silenti Riposi a miglior tempo homai riserva: Che sotto il giogo de straniere genti La patria, ove regnasti, ancor' e serva.

In questa terra dormi, e non rammenti, Ch'insepolte de' tuoi l'ossa conserva?

Ove si gran' vestigio e del tuo scorno, Tu neghittoso aspetti il nuovo giorno?"

Thus elegantly translated by Mr. Hoole:--

"Oh! Solyman, regardless chief, awake!

In happier hours thy grateful slumber take: Beneath a foreign yoke thy subjects bend, And strangers o'er thy land their rule extend: Here dost thou sleep? here close thy careless eyes, While uninterr'd each lov'd a.s.sociate lies?

Here where thy fame has felt the hostile scorn, Canst thou, unthinking, wait the rising morn?"

The conclusion of this canto has been slightly altered by the translator. Camoens, adhering to history, makes GAMA (when his factors are detained on sh.o.r.e) seize upon some of the native merchants as hostages. At the intreaty of their wives and children the zamorim liberates his captives; while GAMA, having recovered his men and the merchandise, sailed away, carrying with him the unfortunate natives, whom he had seized as hostages.

As there is nothing heroic in this dishonourable action of GAMA'S, Mickle has omitted it, and has altered the conclusion of the canto.--_Ed._

[550] Mickle, in place of the first seventeen stanzas of this canto, has inserted about three hundred lines of his own composition; in this respect availing himself of the licence he had claimed in his preface.--_Ed._

[551] _Thy sails, and rudders too, my will demands._--According to history.

[552] _My sov'reign's fleet I yield not to your sway._--The circ.u.mstance of GAMA'S refusing to put his fleet into the power of the zamorim, is thus rendered by Fanshaw:--

"The Malabar protests that he shall rot In prison, if he send not for the _ships_.

_He_ (_constant_, and with n.o.ble _anger_ hot) His haughty _menace_ weighs not at _two chips_."

[553] _Through Gata's hills._--The hills of Gata or Gate, mountains which form a natural barrier on the eastern side of the kingdom of Malabar.

"Nature's rude wall, against the fierce Canar They guard the fertile walls of Malabar."

LUSIAD, vii.

[554] _Then, furious, rushing to the darken'd bay._--For the circ.u.mstances of the battle, and the tempest which then happened, see the Life of GAMA.

[555] _I left my fix'd command my navy's guard._--See the Life of GAMA.

[556] _Unmindful of my fate on India's sh.o.r.e._--This most magnanimous resolution, to sacrifice his own safety or his life for the safe return of the fleet, is strictly true.--See the Life of GAMA.

[557] _Abrupt--the monarch cries_--"_What yet may save!_"--GAMA'S declaration, that no message from him to the fleet could alter the orders he had already left, and his rejection of any further treaty, have a necessary effect in the conduct of the poem. They hasten the catastrophe, and give a verisimilitude to the abrupt and full submission of the zamorim.

[558] _The rollers_--_i.e._ the capstans.--The capstan is a cylindrical windla.s.s, worked with bars, which are moved from hole to hole as it turns round. It is used on board ship to weigh the anchors, raise the masts, etc. The versification of this pa.s.sage in the original affords a most n.o.ble 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 circ.u.mstance 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 sh.o.r.e, '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 circ.u.mstances), 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 princ.i.p.al 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 G.o.ds 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 inst.i.tutions; 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 pa.s.sage 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 n.o.ble 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 amus.e.m.e.nts 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 n.o.ble 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 n.o.ble 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 n.o.bles with the history of a whole month spent in hunting, in fishing, and shooting. When he had finished his narrative, a n.o.bleman 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 n.o.bleman, in a firm tone, "they will look for another and a better king." Alonzo, in the highest transport of pa.s.sion, 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 amus.e.m.e.nts 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 circ.u.mstance 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 G.o.d, the Holy Spirit, who is G.o.d 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sions 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 princ.i.p.al, 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 pa.s.sion, 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 n.o.bility 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, a.s.sume the t.i.tled 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.