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 RECORDACAO DO TRICENTENARIO 
 
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 JAMES EDWIN HEWITT 
 
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 RECORDACAO DO TRICENTENARIO 
 
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 O PRIMEIRO CANTO 
 
 LUSIADAS 
 
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 JAMES EDWIN HEWITT 
 
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 IMI^RENSxV NACIONAL 
 
 188. 
 
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 JOAQUIM DA SILVA MELLO GUIMARAES 
 
 O EDn ok AGRADECIDO.
 
 The appearance of Mr. Aubertin's translation of Ca- 
 moens called our attention once more to our own un- 
 finished translation which incessant occupations had 
 compelled us for a time to abandon. Although we have 
 not had the pleasure of perusing Mr. Aubertin's work, 
 we know from trustworthy sources that that gentleman 
 has achieved a remarkable degree of success. When a 
 translation can be pronounced the best in a language 
 which boasts of the splendid but loose translation of 
 Mickle, the translator has certainly reason to congra- 
 tulate himself on the result of his eftbrts. 
 
 Nearly four years ago, the extract below, although 
 in a cruder form, was first published in the columns 
 of this newspaper, then the South American Mail, at 
 the request of our esteemed friend and predecessor, 
 Mr. Chas. F. de Vivaldi. Uncertain as to the real value 
 t)f our production, and hesitating before undertaking 
 so arduous a task, we sought in the English and Ame- 
 rican literary world for a name, from whose judgment 
 there could be no appeal. The honoured name of the
 
 great American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 
 occurred to us as the most competent authority, both 
 from his character as a poet and his unusual skill in 
 modern languages. 
 
 Amid many apologies we submitted the selection to 
 that gentleman, and he graciously replied by the letter 
 below. This letter, now published for the first time, has 
 been our incentive during the progress of the work, the 
 rough draft of which is now completed. As, however, 
 the corrections will take a long time we shall possibly 
 publish now and then different selections as we pre- 
 pare them, subject to final revision. 
 
 The letter runs thus : 
 
 Cambridge, Jan. 27th, iSyS. 
 
 My Dear Sir. 
 
 I have had the pleasure of receiving the specimen of your 
 translation of the Lusiad, and hasten to thank you for your 
 kindness in sending it to me. 
 
 I have read it with great satisfaction. Youha\e made 
 an excellent beginning; and I am particularly delighted that 
 you preserve the stanzas of the original and do not attempt 
 to recast the poem into another form. This Mickle did, and 
 almost destroyed the identity of the work. Form is so much 
 in poetry! 
 
 You have a long task before j'ou, but not one of parti- 
 cular difficulty. If you take your time for it, you will find 
 it pleasant and not painful ; and if you do the whole as you 
 have done this portion, the result will be a great success. 
 
 I encourage you by all means to persevere. If you add 
 but a few stanzas daily, you \\i\\ find the -work done sooner 
 than you think. 
 
 With mj' best wishes for its completion, I am, my Dear 
 Sir, 
 
 Yours very truly 
 
 Henry W. Longfellow. 
 Mr. James E. Hewitt.
 
 THE LUSIAD 
 
 CANTO I 
 
 INTRODUCTION AND INVOCATION 
 
 I rms, and the Men of a redoubted name, 
 Far from the western Lusitanian shore, 
 
 '< Through seas where never prior vessel came, 
 Who further yet than Taprobana bore : 
 In dangers valiant, and in wars the same. 
 Exceeding what was pledged of human store. 
 And, among people of a distant clime 
 New kingdom built and rendered so sublime : 
 
 II 
 
 And more the glorious memories of the Kings, 
 The Faith, the Empire forth who went to spread, 
 And, bearing upon Devastation's wings, 
 Through baleful Africa and Asia sped: 
 And those by reason of right valorous things 
 Enfranchised from the law of death who tread : 
 I singing will dilfuse on every side 
 If skill and art so far my ellbrt guide.
 
 HI 
 
 Let the great voyages in silence rest 
 
 The learned Grecian and the Trojan made: 
 
 The famous victories be unconfessed 
 
 Of Alexander's and of Trajan's blade : 
 
 Since I rehearse the noble Lusian breast, 
 
 To which obedience Mars and Neptune paid; 
 
 Let all be hushed which sings the Muse of old, 
 
 Since rises other worth of higher mould. 
 
 IV 
 
 And ye, my nymphs of Tagus, since ye own 
 A new and glowing talent born in me : 
 If ever in my humble ^•erse have flown 
 The praises of your river chanted free: 
 Now grant a lofty and exalted tone, 
 Grandiloquent and fluent style decree, 
 So Phoebus may anent your waves decide 
 That naught they envy Hippocrene's tide. 
 
 Be mine a mightv and sonorous rage. 
 
 And not of rustic lliite and reedlet base, 
 
 But of canorous trump to battle wage. 
 
 Which fires the bosom and disturbs the face; 
 
 A song bestow me the exploits to gage 
 
 Of those whom Mars assists, your famous race. 
 
 Let through the world men spread it and rehearse, 
 
 If so sublime a tribute fall to verse.
 
 VI 
 
 And you, O surety, born in happy chance. 
 
 Of ancient freedom in the Lusian state, 
 
 Of httle Christianity's advance 
 
 Not less moreo'er the hope of surest weight; 
 
 You, O new terror of the Moorish lance, 
 
 The fatal prodigy of this our date, 
 
 Bestowed the world by God all things to sway, 
 
 Wide tribute of the world to Him to pay. 
 
 VII 
 
 You tender, blooming branch, that fresh expands 
 From tree of Christ a more intense delight 
 Than any born in Occidental lands. 
 Be it Cesarean or most Christian hight: 
 (View it upon your shield : before you stands 
 The bye-gone victory revealed to sight, 
 In which for arms He gave you and bequeathed 
 Those for himself that on the Cross He wreathed) : 
 
 VIII 
 
 You, potent Monarch, whose exalted sway 
 The sun lirst greets upon his dawning flight. 
 Sees it moreover in the flush of day. 
 And leaves it last when he descends in night: 
 You whom opprobrium and yoke we pray 
 Of ignominious Ishmaelitish knight. 
 Of Oriental Turk and Paynim blood 
 Which drinks the liquor of the sacred flood ;
 
 IX 
 
 The Majesty a little season hcnd 
 Which in this gentle mien of yours I greet, 
 Since now it beams as when you shall ascend 
 To the eternal fane, the years complete; 
 To earth the eyes of Royal bounty send : 
 You straightway shall a new example meet 
 Of love of valorous deeds for country wrought, 
 In numerous verse harmoniously taught. 
 
 You, love of home, by no base meed controlled. 
 
 But of a lofty nigh eternal chord, 
 
 Shall witness; for to be a stay enrolled 
 
 Of my paternal nest's no base reward ; 
 
 List you shall contemplate the name extolled 
 
 Of those of whom you are the lofty lord : 
 
 And you shall ponder which the choicest place. 
 
 King of the world to be or such a race. 
 
 XI 
 
 Listen : for yours you ^\■ill not see extolled 
 With empty, feigned, fantastic, l}'ing deed. 
 As in the stranger Muses you behold. 
 Themselves to aggrandize their only heed : 
 Your true achievements are of such a mould 
 That they the fables and the dreams exceed : 
 Pass Rodomante and vain Ru^irier bv, 
 Orlando, though he had been true, ()ut\ie.
 
 XII 
 
 A valiant Nuno in their stead I sa\-e, 
 Who did such service to the state and throne: 
 An Egas, a Dom Fuas : for I cra\e 
 The lyre of Homer but for these alone. 
 Then also for the Peers, the twelve I \vai\e. 
 The twelve of England their Magrico own. 
 I give you Gama too, illustrious name, 
 Who taketh for himself Eneas' fame. 
 
 XIII 
 
 Then if in lieu of Charles the king of France, 
 Or Caisar you would equal memory claim. 
 The tirst Alphonso see, of whom the lance 
 Obscure doth render e\ery foreign fame : 
 And him who left his realm the steadfast trance 
 Which great and happy A'ictory o'ercame : 
 Another John, a doughty cavalier. 
 The third, the fourth, the fifth Alphonsos here. 
 
 XIV 
 
 Nor shall my verses lea\e involved in night 
 
 Those in Aurora's kingdom's far a^^•ay, 
 
 Who raised themselves by arms to such a height. 
 
 Victorious your banner ever lav: 
 
 Pacheco, all but peerless in his might, 
 
 The dread Almeidas Tajo weepeth aye. 
 
 The fearful Albuquerque, (]astro strong, 
 
 And others Death was stript of power to wrong.
 
 XV 
 
 And while of these and not of you my strains, 
 Since dare I not so much O King sublime, 
 Assume yourself at once your kingdom's reins. 
 You theme shall give to never uttered rhyme, 
 Let now begin to feel the heavy pains 
 (That terror may be spread through every clime), 
 Of singular exploits and hostile bands 
 The seas of Orient and the Afric lands. 
 
 XVI 
 
 On you hath fixed his eyes the frigid Moor, 
 In whom he vieweth his destruction traced: 
 But at the sight of you the Paynim boor 
 Straight for the yoke reveals his neck abased: 
 The whole cerulean lordship as a lure 
 Immediate for you hath Tethys placed: 
 Since amorous of the fair and tender lines, 
 To buy you as a son-in-law she pines. 
 
 XVII 
 
 The souls of tN\ o forefathers here renowned 
 In you arc seen from the Olympic halls: 
 Angelic golden peace one spirit crowned, 
 The other tierce and sanguinary brawls : 
 Their memory they hope to see abound 
 And 'N'alorous \\'orks in you, and thither calls 
 A place they hold you at the end of days, 
 Where fane supreme I'lternity arrays.
 
 XVIll 
 
 But while this time doth tardily incline 
 hi governing the peoples, as they plead, 
 Your favour the new hardihood assi^n, 
 That these my verses may be yours indeed : 
 And piercing you shall see the silvery brine 
 These Argonauts of yours ; so they ma\' heed 
 That you descry them on the wrathful sea, 
 And now invoked inure yourself to be.
 
 THE CELESTIAL COUNCIL 
 
 XIX 
 
 They now upon the vasty Ocean sailed, 
 Asunder sweeping the unquiet wave, 
 The breezes in full gentle guise exhaled. 
 The vessels' hollow canvass swelling brave: 
 With snowy foam the seas were over^'eiled, 
 Right forward where the prows unceasing cla\e 
 The consecrated waters of the main, 
 By Proteus' cattle which are cleft in twain. 
 
 XX 
 
 What time the gods the bright Olympus nigh. 
 Where dwelleth the dominion of mankind. 
 In glorious consistory ally. 
 The future matters of the East to bind : 
 Treading the crvstallinc and lovelv skv. 
 Conjoined along the Milky Way the\' wind. 
 The call convoking them the Thunderer sped, 
 By lioar}' Atlas's fair grandson spread.
 
 XXI 
 
 The rule of the seven heavens they leave behind, 
 Which them the most exalted power supplied; 
 Exalted power, that only with the mind 
 Governs the heaven, and earth, and wrathful tide: 
 There swittly in a moment are combined 
 Who in Arcturus' frozen realms abide. 
 And those the Austral has, the parts besides, 
 Where dawns Aurora, and the bright Sun hides. 
 
 XXII 
 
 Sublime and worthy sate the Father there. 
 Who Vulcan's cruel bolts expellcth wide, 
 Upon a crystalline and stcllary chair. 
 With lofty, and severe, and sovran pride : 
 Breathed from his countenance a godlike air, 
 Which might a human frame divine have plied. 
 With crown, and with a dazzling sceptre dight. 
 Of other stone than diamond more bright. 
 
 XXIII 
 
 On sparkling seats, rcsplendently inlaid 
 
 With orient display of pearls and gold. 
 
 The other deities were all arrayed. 
 
 As right in unison with reason told: 
 
 The ancients, most revered, the prior grade. 
 
 The lesser ones the lower station hold 
 
 When, with a voice whose tones were grave and dread. 
 
 Thus Jupiter commencing, loudly said:
 
 XXIV 
 
 Eternal dwellers of the lucid zone, 
 
 And of the sparkling and stelliferous pole; 
 
 If still from you the memory hath not flown 
 
 Of Luso's lusty people's mighty soul, 
 
 How, for their sake, you must have clearly known, 
 
 'Tis the great destinies' unerring goal, 
 
 That men no more the deeds of Roman speak. 
 
 Of Persian, of Assyrian, and of Greek. 
 
 XXV 
 
 'Twas granted them ere this, you well have seen, 
 Away the doughty garnished Moor to wrest. 
 With power so plain and small, the whole demesne 
 Which the mild waters of the Tagus breast: 
 Then aye they gained the grace of Heaven serene 
 Against the dread Castilian when they pressed : 
 Thus ever last, with fame and glory swelled. 
 The trophies cast from \ictory they held. 
 
 XXVI 
 
 I leave, () Gods, behind the ancient fame, 
 
 Which with the race of Romulus they found. 
 
 What time with Mriatus they became 
 
 In hostile Roman war so wide renowned: 
 
 I leave the memory, to the mighty name 
 
 Which bindeth them, moreover, when they crowned 
 
 A stranger for their captain, who to find 
 
 A ghost divine pretended in the Hind.
 
 XXVII 
 
 The doubtful Ocean, in a vessel slight, 
 Adventuring, you now may well behold, 
 Of Africus and Notus scorned the might. 
 By trackless paths, to more they make them bold : 
 Since, having now so long the regions' sight. 
 Where young the day expires, where grows it old. 
 Their resolution they dispose, and strife. 
 To see the cradles where the dav hath life. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 The pledge of the eternal Fate have they. 
 Whose lofty law can broken be of none, 
 To bear lor many a year the Ocean's sway, 
 Which sees the purple entrance of the Sun : 
 Harsh winter on the waves hath passed away ; 
 The people come aweary and undone; 
 Now seems it well, to them revealed should be 
 The new dominion they would haply see. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 And since they have, by you as was descried 
 Such rugged dangers on the voyage passed, 
 So many firmaments and climates tried, 
 Such vehemency of the hostile blast: 
 That they, as friends, already I decide. 
 Upon this Afric coast be sheltered fast. 
 And, having trimmed again the weary fleet. 
 Anew upon their distant pathway beat.
 
 XXX 
 
 These \verc the words from Jupiter that surged : 
 When, answering the deities in turn, 
 Each in his judgment from the rest diverged, 
 The reasons various they give, and earn. 
 Sire Bacchus to what Jupiter there urged 
 Consented not, for it was his to learn. 
 That in the Orient his deeds were lost, 
 If there the Lusitanian people crossed. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 He from the Fates had heard, that there should go 
 A mighty race along the distant waves 
 From out the Spanish land, reducing low 
 All India wheresoever Doris laves : 
 Which should with later vict' ries o'erthrow 
 The ancient fame, of his or stranger glaives ; 
 To lose the glory gives him grievous fret. 
 Which Nysa celebrateth even yet. 
 
 XXXII 
 
 He sees, already he the Ind has quelled, 
 And chance, or fortune ne'er to him denied. 
 As conqueror of India to be swelled, 
 By all soe'er who drink Parnassus' tide: 
 Now fears he lest his name, so famous held. 
 Interred within the sombre vase abide 
 Of the oblivious wave, if those who sail. 
 The sturdy Portuguese, the land should hail.
 
 XXXIII 
 
 The ever beauteous Venus him assailed, 
 
 Whom love towards the Lusian people bore, 
 
 For all the qualities in them she hailed 
 
 Of her beloved Roman race of yore : 
 
 In sturdy hearts, the mighty star unveiled, 
 
 By them upon the Tingitanian shore: 
 
 And in the tongue, on which, when fancy gleams, 
 
 The Latin she, with slight corruption, deems. 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 These were the causes Cytherea stirred. 
 
 And more since clearly learns she from the Fates, 
 
 The praise of the bright goddess must be heard. 
 
 Where'er the race belligerent dilates. 
 
 Thus, one through infamy he fears incurred 
 
 The other for the honours she awaits, 
 
 Keenly dispute, and in the strife remain, 
 
 To each the favours of their friends attain. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 As Auster fierce, or Boreas doth bound, 
 In the dense thicket of the sylvan glade. 
 The branches breaking of the sombre ground. 
 With wildness and with impetus unweighed, 
 Roars all the mountain, murmurs thence the sound, 
 The leaves are rent, the lofty ridge is frayed: 
 Among the gods the tumult unassuaged. 
 Thus in the consecrate Olympus raged. 
 
 i3
 
 XXXVI 
 
 But Mars, in disputation who sustained 
 Amid the voice of all the goddess' case, 
 Either because the ancient love constrained, 
 Or thus because deserved the doughty race. 
 Rose to his feet among the gods arraigned. 
 While melancholy figured on his face. 
 The sturdy shield about his neck engaged, 
 Inclining backward, fearful, and enraged: 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 The visor of his diamond helmet shown 
 A little raised, right confident he broke 
 In front of Jove, to make his judgment known, 
 The strong and rugged Jove, in martial cloak: 
 And, giving there upon the lucid throne 
 Straight with his sceptre's hilt a piercing stroke, 
 The Heavens trembled, and, as though he quailed. 
 His beam perturbed Apollo somewhat failed. 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 And thus he said : O Father, thou whose reign 
 The things thou hast created all obey; 
 This people which another sphere would gain. 
 The worth and works of whom thou lovedst aye, 
 If scorn thou wouldst not they should sfiU sustain, 
 As now thou hast ordained for many a day, 
 No longer hear, since righteous Judge thou art. 
 The pleas of those on whom suspicions dart: 
 
 •4
 
 XXXIX 
 
 Because, if reason were not here displayed 
 Unduly vanquished of excessive fear, 
 Bacchus had meetly granted them his aid, 
 Since they from Luso come his comrade near; 
 But naught let this intent of his he weighed. 
 Since poisoned breast, in tine, consigns it here; 
 For never shall a stranger envy seize 
 The good another earns, and Heaven decrees. 
 
 XL 
 
 And thou, O Father of exceeding might. 
 From this determination formed of thine, 
 Turn not again, for it is weakness hight 
 The matter once commenced in to decline. 
 Let Mercury, since passeth he in flight 
 The lightsome breeze, the arrow sharpened fine, 
 Go show the land where India may be learned, 
 And where refreshment for the people earned. 
 
 XLI 
 
 As this was uttered, bowing low his head, 
 The powerful Father testified consent 
 To what the valorous Mavort had said. 
 And nectar over all of them he spent. 
 Along the glorious road, the Lactean bed, 
 Fach of the deities immediate went, 
 Their royal salutations duly made, 
 Towards the palaces for ihem arraved.
 
 THE ARRIVAL AT MOZAMBIQUE 
 
 XLIl 
 
 Thus matters in the fair ethereal dome 
 Of the omnipotent Olympus stand, 
 While now the warlike people cleft the foam 
 There on the Auster and the Orient hand, 
 Twixt Madagascar's famous island home 
 And the opposing Ethiopian strand: 
 And ardent Sol the deities then burned. 
 Whom Typheus through dread to fishes turned. 
 
 XLIII 
 
 So tenderly the breezes them impelled. 
 
 As though whom Heaven esteemed a friend was there: 
 
 Without a cloud the season was beheld. 
 
 Or fear of danger, and serene the air : 
 
 Beyond the Prassus point, the name of Eld, 
 
 On E]thiopia's margin now they bare: 
 
 When, drawn the veil, to them revealed the wave 
 
 New isles, it there doth hem about and lave.
 
 XLIV 
 
 Vasco da Gama then, the lusty Guide, 
 Who dedicates himself to equal schemes. 
 With heart attempered to a haughty pride. 
 On whom the smile of Fortune ever beams, 
 No reason here perceiving to abide, 
 Since habited to him the country seems, 
 His way determined forward to impel. 
 But not as he imagined it befell. 
 
 XLV 
 
 Behold conjoined immediate appear 
 
 Some little boats, that hasten from the one 
 
 Which to the mainland seemed to lie most near, 
 
 With spreading sail the spacious ocean won ; 
 
 Excited are the people, and with cheer 
 
 Except to see the cause aught knoweth none: 
 
 What people can be this!' (they said alone), 
 
 What modes, what Law, what Monarch will they own:' 
 
 XLVI 
 
 Constructed were the vessels of a mode 
 Right narrow, long, and swift before the blast. 
 Of matting were the sails with which they rode. 
 Of leaves of palm-tree interwoven fast; 
 The people with the real colour glowed, 
 Which PhcCton in the flaming countries cast 
 Upon the World, in bold, imprudent throes. 
 As Lampethusa feels and Padus knows. 
 
 '7
 
 XLVII 
 
 In cotton garments dressed they hasted there 
 Of many-shaded colours, striped and white : 
 Some round their bodies girt their raiment wear, 
 Others about their arms in graceful plight: 
 They upward from the waist present them bare, 
 With targets clad and sabres for the fight, 
 A cap upon their heads moreover lay. 
 And, sailing, they sonorous trumpets play. 
 
 XLVIII 
 
 The signals with their hands and clothing caught 
 The Lusian people, bidding them abide : 
 The speedy prows howe'er already sought 
 The Islands, in their neighbourhood to ride: 
 The people and the sailors bravely wrought. 
 As though their labours then and there had died : 
 They furl the sails, haul in the lofty yard. 
 Leaps up the ocean by the anchor marred. 
 
 XLIX 
 
 Not anchored were they, when the stranger race 
 Already up along the cordage strained: 
 They come with merriment upon their face. 
 The noble Chief them kindly entertained : 
 He bids his men at once the tables place; 
 They fill with liquor which Lyoeus feigned 
 The crystal vases ; and of what they lay 
 Those burned of Phaiton nothing put away. 
 
 i8
 
 They asked them, as they ate in gladsome frame, 
 
 By the Arabic language, whence they hailed; 
 
 Who were they, from what country, what their aim; 
 
 The regions of the sea through which they sailed. 
 
 Discret responses, such as them became, 
 
 The sturdy Lusitanians availed: 
 
 The Lusians we are, the West our home, 
 
 To seek the Oriental lands we roam. 
 
 LI 
 
 We've scoured and sailed all regions of the sea. 
 That' twixt Antarctic and Callistus lies, 
 Swept the whole circuit of the Afric lea, 
 Have various countries gazed upon and skies : 
 From forth a potent cherished king are we. 
 Endeared to all, and loved in such a wise. 
 That through the spacious sea not ours to break, 
 But, glad the front, the Acherontine lake. 
 
 LII 
 
 And we by his commandment searching go 
 The Orient country, which the Ind bedews: 
 For him we navigate the ocean slow. 
 The ugly walruses alone which cruise. 
 But now it seemeth right for us to know, 
 II" truth among you owns its native hues. 
 Who ye are; what this country where ye li^■e, 
 Or if of India you have signs to give.
 
 LIU 
 
 One from the Isles replied him, We are naught 
 
 But foreigners in nation, land, and creed ; 
 
 The proper natives those, whom Nature wrought, 
 
 Not paying or to law or reason heed. 
 
 We hold the sure commandment which was taught 
 
 By Him, of Abraham the lustrous seed, 
 
 Who hath to-day the lordship of the earth, 
 
 With Gentile sire, though Jewess gave him birth. 
 
 LIV 
 
 This little island whereupon we dwell. 
 Of this whole country is the certain post 
 Of all who navigate Quiloa's swell, 
 Or past Mombaca, or Sofala's coast : 
 And here to live, since thus our needs compel, 
 We seek, as natives of the land almost : 
 And, finally, that you may learn of all, 
 The little isle wc Mozambique call. 
 
 LV 
 
 And searching since you sail so far and wide 
 The hid Hydaspes, and the burning land, 
 You here shall have a pilot, who shall guide 
 You through the billows with a cunning hand : 
 It will be well moreover, that supplied 
 You go with some refreshment from the strand; 
 And that the Regent, who this country leads, 
 May see you and provide your urgent needs.
 
 LVI 
 
 This saying then, the Moor himself betook. 
 With all his comrades to his boats away, 
 The Captain, and the people he forsook 
 With courtesy in every due display. 
 Here Phoebus with the car of crystal stro(jk 
 Within the waves the term to sparkling day. 
 While on his sister he the charge bestows, 
 To light the spacious world in his repose.
 
 THE VISIT OF THE KING OF MOZAMBIQUE 
 
 I.Vll 
 
 The slackened fleet consumed the night afloat 
 
 With strange delight and dissipated care, 
 
 At finding trom their country so remote 
 
 A new one for so long a time their prayer. 
 
 Then each one with himself doth weigh and note 
 
 The people, and their unaccustomed air ; 
 
 And how who on the erring faith relied, 
 
 Had spread them through the world on every side. 
 
 LVIII 
 
 The Moon's refulgent rays illumed the crest 
 Of all the argent and Neptunian waves; 
 The stars attending on the heavens expressed 
 The semblance of a field the daisy paves : 
 The furious winds were lying down to rest 
 Within the marvellous and darksome caves. 
 But watching were the people of the fleet, 
 As had their custom been through many a beat.
 
 LIX 
 
 Rut as Aurora the bespangled strowcJ 
 Her lovely tresses on the placid height, 
 Immediate opening the purple road 
 To him who rose, Hyperion the bright; 
 The whole armada soon with banners glowed. 
 And gallantly with awnings gay was dight, 
 Thus to recei^■e with merriment, and rout. 
 The Ruler of the isles, who there set out. 
 
 LX 
 
 Set out to view the speedy Lusian sails 
 On merry voyage, bearing in his hands 
 Refreshment from the country, while prevails 
 The thought that they are those inhuman hands. 
 Who, erst inhabiting the Caspian vales, 
 Came forth to overcome the Asian lands ; 
 And who, moreover, by decree of fate 
 Carried away from Constantine the state. 
 
 LXI 
 
 The Moor and all the company he bore 
 
 The Captain merrily receiveth near; 
 
 A present giveth him of sumptuous store, 
 
 Which only for this end he carried here ; 
 
 He gives him sweet preserve, and gives him more 
 
 The liquor, hot and rare, which giveth cheer. 
 
 The Moor receiveth all \\ith right good will ; 
 
 And eats, and drinks, with more contentment still.
 
 LXIl 
 
 The people of the sea, the Liisian bands, 
 Astonished on the shrouds aloft are fixed, 
 To note the mode, and use of stranger lands, 
 And tongue so barbarous, and intermixed. 
 The cunning Moor bewildered also stands, 
 The hue, the dress, the lusty fleet betwixt; 
 And, everything interrogating, said 
 If they from Turkey peradventure sped!' 
 
 LXIIl 
 
 And, furthermore, he tells him he would see 
 The books of their commandment, law, or creed. 
 To see if in accord with his they be. 
 Or if, as he believes, of Christ indeed. 
 And all that he may weigh, and nought may fiee, 
 The Captain he petitioned to concede 
 A sample of the sturdy arms they wore, 
 When they against their adversaries bore. 
 
 LXIV 
 
 One answers in the valorous Captain's place, 
 
 The darksome tongue who comprehended fair: 
 
 I will, illustrious Sire, the story trace 
 
 Of me, the law, the armour which I bear. 
 
 Not or the territory, or the race 
 
 -Of Turkey's noxious peoples do 1 share : 
 
 But I from strong and warlike Europe go, 
 
 The famous lands of India to know.
 
 LXV 
 
 His law 1 cherish, whose imperial horn 
 
 Invisible and visible obey: 
 
 His, at whose hands the hemisphere was born, 
 
 All that which fecleth, and all senseless clay: 
 
 Who took upon himself disgrace, and scorn, 
 
 'Neath death unjust, insufferable lay. 
 
 And who at last from Heaven to earth declined, 
 
 To lift from earth to Heaven the human kind. 
 
 LXVI 
 
 Of this God-Man, the infinite, and high. 
 The books I carried not, which thou hast sought: 
 Since well indeed, what in the soul should lie 
 Can I dispense to bring on paper wrought. 
 If peradventure thou the arms wouldst eye, 
 As thou hast said, fulfilled shall be thy thought: 
 As friend shalt thou behold them ; for I know, 
 That never wouldst thou see them as a foe. 
 
 LXVII 
 
 He bids the active ministers draw near, 
 As this he says, the trappings to reveal : 
 Refulgent breastplates, panoplies appear, 
 Fine coats-ol-mail, and blades which never reel : 
 The shields of varying adornments here, 
 The bullets, and the guns refined of steel, 
 The bows and arrow-bearing quivers piled, 
 The pointed partisans, the pikes full wild.
 
 LXVIII 
 
 Together \\ ith the bombs of fire are blent 
 Sulphureous stinkpots, of such havoc dire : 
 But gave he not to Vulcan's men consent 
 To set to the terrific mortars fire : 
 Since hath the soul of generous valiant bent, 
 With folk so few and fearful, no desire 
 To show its total strength: and rightly aye, 
 For weak the lion among sheep to play. 
 
 LXIX 
 
 But yet of this which here the Paynim weighed. 
 And all that with attentive eye he viewed, 
 Within his soul a certain hatred stayed. 
 An c\\\ yearning of the thought pursued ; 
 This not in signs or gesture he displayed; 
 But, with a gay and laughing guile imbued. 
 Mildly determineth with them to deal, 
 Till he what he imagines may reveal. 
 
 LXX 
 
 The Captain pilots at his hand besought. 
 Who might conduct him to the Indian soil; 
 He tells him furthermore, that those who wrought 
 Large recompense would earn for this their toil. 
 These the Moor vows to give him, with the thought 
 Of bosom, where such spleen and poison boil. 
 That death he w^ould have given him on that day 
 Instead of pilots, if with him it lay.
 
 I. XXI 
 
 Such was the hatred and the evil tone 
 
 He suddenly towards the strangers turned, 
 
 Them knowing followers of the truth alone, 
 
 That from the son of David \\e have learned. 
 
 O mysteries of that Eternal zone, 
 
 Which not an understanding hath discerned! 
 
 That ever a perfidious foe should blend 
 
 With those, of whom wast thou so great a friend ! 
 
 I.XXII 
 
 Farewell hereon the fickle Paynim bowed, 
 Departed from the vessels with his band. 
 With courtesy both fraudulent and loud, 
 With gesture counterfeit to all, and bland. 
 The boats the narrow passage quickly ploughed 
 Of Neptune's waters : and upon the land 
 By the obsequious assemblage hailed. 
 The Moor to his familiar mansion trailed. 
 
 27
 
 THE DESCENT OF BACCHUS 
 
 LXXIII 
 
 From out the brilliant and ethereal fane, 
 
 The Thehan the paternal thigh distilled 
 
 Descrying that the Lusitanian train 
 
 The Moor with hatred and annoyance filled, 
 
 Imagines in his mind a fickle bane, 
 
 With which they there may utterly be killed ; 
 
 And while this only in his soul he feiiined 
 
 He with himself this utterance maintained: 
 
 LXXIV 
 
 Already the decree of fate hath run, 
 That victories like these, of such renown 
 The Lusitanians shall indeed have won 
 From warlike Indian peoples stricken down : 
 And I alone, the lofty Father's son, 
 Whom generous qualities profusely crown. 
 Shall I submit the fate shall others grace. 
 Through whom my name is growing dim apace 1^ 
 
 28
 
 LXXV 
 
 Ercwhilc the gods that so much power should wield 
 
 The son of Philip in this region spoke, 
 
 That valiant Mars made everything to yield, 
 
 And how submissive underneath his yoke: 
 
 But shall the fate be suffered then to shield 
 
 With energy and art, such scanty folk. 
 
 So Roman, Macedonian and I, 
 
 We with the Lusian name no longer vie!' 
 
 LXXV I 
 
 It shall not thus betide; for ere the soil 
 
 This Captain shall approach, with cunning hands 
 
 So much of falsity for him shall coil. 
 
 That he shall never see the Orient lands : 
 
 To earth will I descend, and there embroil 
 
 The wrathful bosom of the Moorish bands ; 
 
 F'or ever on unerring path he moves, 
 
 The opportune occasion who improves. 
 
 LXXVII 
 
 This saying irate, and well nigh insane, 
 
 He downward on the Afric region strook. 
 
 And donning there the human form and ^■ein, 
 
 His way toward the famous Prassus took: 
 
 And better the astute deceit to feign, 
 
 Himself con^'erted to the native look 
 
 Of one, a Moor in Mozambique known, 
 
 Old, wise, to whom the Sheikh was greatly prone. 
 
 29
 
 LXXVIII 
 
 And entering thus to speak to him, when most 
 
 The hour and season for his guile was meet, 
 
 He telleth him, that hut a robber host 
 
 Was this, which latterly had thither beat : 
 
 That from the nations dwellers on the coast 
 
 Of rapine came the rumour flying fleet 
 
 Wrought by these men, who nathless without cease, 
 
 As on they went, had moored with vows of peace. 
 
 LXXIX 
 
 And further know, how I have learned, says he, 
 Anent these Christians of bloody names, 
 That they have ravaged almost all the sea 
 With deeds of rapine and with furious fiames : 
 And now they carry from a distant lea 
 Deceit against us weaved ; and sole their aims 
 Are these to plunder and destroy us all. 
 And wives and little children to enthrall. 
 
 LXXX 
 
 And furthermore I know, that now hath planned 
 Right soon for water to the shore to steer 
 The Captain fast attended by his band ; 
 Since from corrupt intention springeth fear. 
 Thou too with thine shouldst hasten sword in hand. 
 In still and secret ambush lie him near; 
 Since, forth the people speeding free from care 
 Will stumble easily within the snare. 
 
 3o
 
 LXXXI 
 
 And if destroyed or altogether slain 
 
 They ne'ertheless be not in equal style, 
 
 I further have imagined in my brain, 
 
 Thee to content, another plot and wile, 
 
 Send them a pilot of such prudent vein 
 
 So shrewd and cunning who may be in guile 
 
 That where they be destroyed they may be tossed, 
 
 Destroyed, or put to rout, or slain, or lost. 
 
 LXXXII 
 
 Soon as these words to a conclusion drew 
 The Moor, in all such cases old and nice, 
 His arms around his neck the Monarch threw, 
 Him thanking very much for such advice : 
 And the belligerent apparel too 
 He for the war made ready in a trice ; 
 So that to purple blood might swiftly turn 
 llic water, he, the Lusian, would earn. 
 
 LXXXIII 
 
 And seeks he further for the fraud designed, 
 A Moor as pilot to the ship to speed, 
 Keen, wise and shrewd in hurt of every kind. 
 From whom he may assure a mightv deed: 
 He bids him, with the Lusian combined. 
 Along such shores and seas to then proceed, 
 So if he thence escape, that on before 
 He go and fall, whence he mav rise no more.
 
 THE TREACHERY AND DEFEAT OF THE MOORS 
 
 LXXXIV 
 
 Illumined now, the Apollincan ray 
 Had sped the Nabathean mountains prone, 
 When Gama to the shore with his relay 
 For water willed to come in martial tone: 
 The people in the boats, moreover, lay, 
 As though already the deceit were known ; 
 But easily suspicion may arise; 
 Since never the presaging bosom lies. 
 
 LXXXV 
 
 And furthermore the necessary guide 
 He had upon the shore before time sought: 
 And then the tone of war to him replied ; 
 Event divergent far from \\hat he thought. 
 For this, and since he knows how strayeth wide 
 "Who trusts his fickle adversary aught. 
 Munitioned, as he might, he goes ashore 
 Within three only boats, the which he bore.
 
 LXXXVI 
 
 But now the Moors, along the beach who paced, 
 The water there desired to ban the foe, 
 One with a dart, and with a shield embraced, 
 With poisoned arrow one, and bended bow, 
 Wait for the warlike people forth to haste; 
 In ambush many more are placed below; 
 And lightly that the matter they may scan, 
 Some for decoy are stationed in the van. 
 
 LXXXVII 
 
 Along the white and arenaceous shore. 
 
 Belligerent the Moors now beckoning go 
 
 With shield, and dangerous javelin before, 
 
 The sturdy Portuguese inciting so. 
 
 Not long the space the generous people bore 
 
 That there to them the dogs their teeth should show 
 
 So swiftly leapeth each one to the hank. 
 
 That none can tell of \\hom the prior rank. 
 
 LXXXVIII 
 
 Like in the sanguine ring the lover gay. 
 The dame, desired and fair, before his eyes, 
 Seeks out the bull, and blocking up his way. 
 Leaps, runs and whistles, beckons on, and cries: 
 But instant the atrocious beast at bay. 
 With prone cornigerous front right forward hies, 
 Full harshly roaring, and with blinded gaze. 
 Overturns, and casts to earth, and wounds, and slays. 
 
 33
 
 LXXXIX 
 
 Lo riscth thus the fire the boats about, 
 The harsh and furious artillery fills, 
 The leaden bullet slays, affrights the shout, 
 The wounded atmosphere resounds, and shrills ; 
 The courage of the Moors is ebbing out : 
 Exceeding fear the sanguine current chills : 
 Already quaking the concealed one flies, 
 And the adventurer discovered dies. 
 
 xc 
 
 Not thus content the Lusitanian race : 
 
 Rut blast and slav, the victory bearing out: 
 
 Without defence, and battlement, the place 
 
 They straight bombard, and tire, and put to rout. 
 
 Already weigheth on the Moor the chase. 
 
 To cheaper buy it, who had ne'er a doubt : 
 
 He now blasphemes the war, the ancient cursed. 
 
 And her, the mother who her offspring nursed. 
 
 XCI 
 
 The Moor the arrow launchelh as he hies 
 (.oward, precipitate, and void of harms, 
 The stone, the boulder, and the club he plies. 
 Unbridled fury ministers his arms: 
 'I'he island now, and all the rest he flies. 
 Speeds to the solid earth amid alarms: 
 The sea's strait armlet cleaves and overleaps. 
 In small expanse around the isle that sweeps.
 
 XCll 
 
 Some in the almadics bcladcn wend; 
 
 One swiftly swimming cleaves the humid space; 
 
 One drowncth where the curling billows bend; 
 
 One drinks the sea, and vomits it apace. 
 
 The frequent firings of the mortars rend 
 
 The light pangaios of the brutal race : 
 
 The Lusian visits thus at last the guile 
 
 Perfidious, inimical, and vile. 
 
 xcill 
 
 Victorious to the lleet return the band 
 With all the spoil of war, and richest prey, 
 And there to water at their pleasure land, 
 Nor conflict, nor defence encounter they, 
 The Moorish people deeply wounded stand. 
 In ancient hatred kindled more than aye: 
 And unavenged so much of havoc seen, 
 Alone upon their next decepition lean. 
 
 XCIV 
 
 Repentant straightway sends for peace to sue 
 The Governor of that unrighteous soil, 
 While not as yet the Lusitanians knew, 
 That in the shape of peace he sends them broil ; 
 Because the fickle pilot who was due, 
 Whose breast encloseth all intent of spoil, 
 He sent that on to death he might them guide, 
 As token of the peace tVjr which he tried. 
 
 33
 
 xcv 
 
 The Captain, whom it then became ahead 
 To travel once again his wonted road ; 
 Since breezes and a better weather led, 
 To go and search the hid's desired abode ; 
 The pilot taking in, who thither sped, 
 (A gladsome welcome was of him bestowed) 
 And answering the messenger, intent 
 Bids to the swelling breeze the canvass sent. 
 
 ?(i
 
 THE VOYAGE TO MOMBAZA 
 
 XCVI 
 
 Thus having bid farewell, the sturdy fleet 
 
 The billows of Amphitrite divide, 
 
 A company, right trusty, gay and sweet. 
 
 The daughters of Nereus, at their side : 
 
 The Captain, who, of the astute deceit 
 
 That weavcd the Paynim, not a thing descried, 
 
 Full largely of all India inquired, 
 
 And of the coasts from which they then retired. 
 
 XCVII 
 
 The Moor, howe'er, instructed in the trains 
 Which Bacchus the malevolent instilled, 
 Prepareth him, ere India he attains, 
 New hurt by which he be ensla^-ed or killed : 
 The tale of Indian harbours he explains : 
 Declare they also everything he willed : 
 Because as truth adjudging what he said. 
 Of nothing were the sturdy race in dread.
 
 XCVIIl 
 
 And more he tells him with the fickle guile, 
 With which towards the Phrygians Sinon dealt, 
 That lieth in their neighbourhood an isle. 
 Where ancient Christian people aye have dwelt. 
 The Captain, who was listing all the while, 
 So much of gladness at these tidings felt. 
 That, with large gifts, he begged him to the place 
 That he would bear him, where abode this race. 
 
 XCIX 
 
 The fickle Moor the very matter aims, 
 That the reliant Christian asks, and pleads; 
 Since the malicious race the island claims, 
 Whom the iniquitous Mahomet leads : 
 Guile and destruction here for him he frames. 
 For Mozambique far this isle exceeds 
 In power and in resistence, and its name 
 Quiloa, wide is recognized by fame. 
 
 The glad armada thither bent its tack: 
 But who in Cytherea is revered. 
 Perceiving how they left the certain track, 
 hi search of death unwary how they steered; 
 Brooks not, that in such distant land shall wrack 
 The people to the goddess so endeared; 
 And carries them with hostile winds aside, 
 Whence bears and leads them the deceitful guide 
 
 38
 
 CI 
 
 The wicked Moor, howc'cr, of power despoiled 
 
 This his determination to fulfill, 
 
 At other base unrighteousness now toiled, 
 
 Unswerving in his resolution still; 
 
 He tells him, since the counter waves had foiled 
 
 And borne them on ahead against their will, 
 
 That near another island have they there, 
 
 Whose people Moors and Christians mingled were. 
 
 CII 
 
 He also in these words of his deceived. 
 As was indeed the standard of his thought; 
 Since people here were none to Christ who cleaved. 
 But those who incense to Mahomet brought. 
 The Captain, who in all the Moor belie^■ed, 
 The canvass veering round, the island sought: 
 But, as the guardian goddess chose to mar, 
 He enters not, and lies without the bar. 
 
 cm 
 
 So closely to the shore the island neared. 
 That but a narrow channel swept beside; 
 A city situate therein appeared, 
 Arising on the frontlet of the tide, 
 Magniticent with editices reared. 
 As far away without was there descried. 
 Held by a king of hoary age the crown, 
 Mombaca is the name of isle and town. 
 
 3,j
 
 CIV 
 
 And strangely full of joyance to the strand 
 The Captain having come; because alone 
 He hopes to look upon the christened hand, 
 Like as the fickle pilot him had shown : 
 Lo boats with royal message quit the land, 
 F^or who the people to the King was known ; 
 Since Bacchus had advised him long before, 
 When of another Moor the shape he wore. 
 
 cv 
 
 The message is of friends, which now they bear, 
 But underneath the poison comes concealed; 
 Because the thoughts of adversaries were. 
 According to the artifice revealed. 
 Oh mighty dangers, fraught with gravest care! 
 Oh wav of life, an ave uncertain field! 
 That wheresoever men their hope repose, 
 So small security existence knows! 
 
 CVI 
 
 So much of storm and havoc on the sea, 
 Before the vision looming death so rife! 
 So much of war and guile upon the lea. 
 So much of harsh inevitable strife! 
 Oh whither can a fragile mortal fiee, 
 Where shall he hold secure his fleeting life!' 
 That arm and wax not \\roth the Hea\'en serene 
 Against a creature of the earth so mean !'
 
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