“Then from all Indus-land thus swept the foes, 66
the Conqu’eror, coming scepter’d state to claim,
finds no resistance where none dare oppose,
for nations tremble at his terrible name.
Alone shall risk of War the scourging woes
Baticala and dree Be’adala’s shame:
Here blood and corpses shall defile the land
deformed by thund’erous gun and fiery brand.
“This shall be Martin, who the name of Mart 67
beareth and eke the deeds the name that gave:
As much esteemed for arms in every part,
as wise in stratagem, in counsel grave
Castro succeeds, who Lusia’s estandart
shall bear for ever in the front to wave;
Successor the Succeeded’s work who endeth;
that buildeth Diu, this buildéd Diu defendeth.
“The fightful Perse, th’ Abassian, and the Rume 68
who hath revived the name of Rome, their liege,
of varied customs, various in costume,
fell tribes a thousand flocking to the siege;
on Earth against the Heav’ens shall vainly fume
that gars such handful so their lands abridge:
In blood of Portingalls this Paynimry
voweth its crookt and curved moustache to dye.
“Dread Basiliscos, Lyons’ fiery flare, 69
fierce Catapults, and mines that hidden spring,
shall Mascarenhas and his Barons dare,
and to th’ assured Death glad mien shall bring:
Till, when all Hope is fled and reigns Despair,
Castro, the saviour, cometh offering
his sons’ young lives, and wills their names survive
God’s sacrifices aye in Death to live.
“One son, Fernando, sci’on of tree so high, 70
where violentest flames with loudest roar
blow shatter’d ramparts to the smoky sky,
there, stricken down on Earth, shall Heav’enward soar:
Alvaro, when mankind dread Winter fly
and shift from humid path for arid shore,
opens the waters ‘spite what risks oppose,
and fighteth winds and waves to fight the foes.
“When, see! the Father cuts the wavy waste, 71
leading what resteth of the Lusitan;
with warman’s arm and arts which e’er be best
he offers battle’s rem’edy sovereign:
These scale the remparts and at gateways jest,
those cut broad gates through squads with rage insane:
Deeds they shall do so digne memorious glory,
song shall not suit nor Hist’ory hold the story.
“He shall once more upon the field appear 72
a strong intrepid victor, where his sight
Cambaya’s puissant King shall strike with fear,
and hideous hosts of quadrupeds affright:
Nor less shall fail his puissant reign t’ uprear
the Hydalcham, when mighty arms shall smite
chastiséd Dabul, mistress of the coast,
nor shall spare Ponda’s distant inland post.
“Barons like these, with peers from various parts, 73
all worthy marvel and all mastering Fame,
raised to rank of Mart by martial arts,
shall come the pleasures of this Isle to claim:
Their hands shall wave triumphant estandarts
wherever keel-edge cutteth Ocean-stream:
Such men these Nymphs these banquets aye shall find,
Honours and Glories to high Gestes assign’d.”
Thus sang the Siren, while her sister-choir 74
with their sonorous plaudits filled the hall;
wherewith to hail the hour of glad desire
crowning the happy marriage-festival.
“However Fortune’s wheel shall turn its tire,”
with one harmonious accent chaunted all,
“renowned People! rest your souls secure
of Honour, Valour, Fame, while worlds endure!”
When man’s corporeal necessity 75
was with the noble viands satisfied,
and when in sweet melodious suavity,
all had their lofty future feats descried;
Tethys, with grace adorned and gravity,
that with a higher pomp and double pride
be crowned the revels of this joyous day,
to glad and happy Gama thus ‘gan say: —
“To thee Supremest Wisdom guerdon gave, 76
Baron! who hast beheld with fleshly eyne
what things the Future hath the pow’er to save
from Mortals’ petty pride and science vain.
Follow me firmly, prudent as thou’rt brave,
to yonder craggy brake with all thy train!”
Thus she, and straightway through a long wood led
arduous, gloomy, fere for foot to tread,
Nor far they stepped when on culm’inant height 77
where stretcht a gem-enamel’d mead they stood;
Smaragd and Ruby-strewn, so rich the sight
presumed ’twas Paradisial floor they trod:
Here swimmeth air a Globe, through which the light
of purest radiance pierced in such mode
that as its polisht surface clearest clear,
so doth its centre and its core appear.
What mote its matter be escapes their eyes, 78
yet ‘scapes them not it holdeth in embrace
various Orbs, by wand of Him All-wise
disposed to circle round one central place:
Rolling it sinks and then returns to rise,
and yet ne sinks ne rises; while one face
is shown to all and every part, each part
begins in fine and ends with heav’enly art:
Uniform, perfect, and self-poised it be, 79
like th’ Archetype who drew the grand design.
Stood Gama overwhelmed this globe to see
with joy, and hope its nature to divine:
When thus the Goddess:—” Here th’ Epitome,
in little volume, to those eyes of thine
I give the gen’eral World, so shalt thou view
where goest thou, shalt go, and what shalt do.
“Here see the mighty World-machine appear, 80
ethereal where the fourfold el’ements blend,
made by His deep design, His lofty lere,
who lacks beginning and who has no end.
He who surrounding holds this shapely sphere,
this globe in filed surface packt and pen’d,
is God: But what God is th’ intelligence
of mortal genius ne’er shall dare pretence.
“This primal Orb, that rolling doth enclose 81
the lesser circles in its lines confin’d;
this Sphere, whose flood of clearest radiance flows
blinding man’s vision and his vulgar mind
is hight th’ Empyrean: Here the Blest repose,
here perfect Spirits bliss eternal find,
ineffable joys which He alone may ken
Who hath no likeness in the World of Men.
“Only to this Imperial Sphere belong 82
the Gods of Truth; for Saturn, Janus, I,
Jove and his Juno are a fabled throng,
a mortal figment, a blind phantasy:
Only to deck the Poet’s sprightly song
we served; and, if more humanity
we gained of man, ’twas that his wit hath given
our names and natures to the stars of Heaven:
“And, eke, because that Holy Providence, — 83
the Jupiter of mythologick strain, —
by thousand Spirits wise in perfect sense,
ruleth all mundane things it doth sustain.
Prophetick Science doth this Truth dispense,
/> a Truth so many instances maintain:
Sprites that be good aye guide and favour man,
the bad his course impede whene’er they can.
“Here willed Picture, lief with change to play 84
pleasing and teaching, mixing gay and grave,
to give them titles which your olden lay
to fabled Gods in poet-fables gave:
For even th’ Angels of th’ eternal day
as Gods enrolled were in sacred stave;
which e’en denies not such exalted name
sometimes to sinner though with falsest claim.
“In fine the God Supreme who works His will 85
by second worldly causes, all commands:
Return we now the works profound to tell
of His divine and venerated Hands.
Beneath this circle, where all blissful dwell
pure godly Sprites, which fixt for ever stands,
another rolleth, and so swift none see
its course: This is the Primum Mobile’:
“And with its rapt and rapid whirl it drags 86
all lesser spherelets which its womb containeth:
By work of this the Sun who never flags
with alien courses Day and Night sustaineth:
‘Neath this swift orb another orb slow lags,
so slow, so hard a curb its ardour reineth,
while Phoebus makes, with ever splendid face,
two hundred rounds, this moves a single pace.
“Lower this other view, enamel’d gay 87
with burnisht figures gleaming radiant bright;
which in it too hold constant ordered way,
orbs on their axes scintillant empight:
Thou seest well ’tis dight with brave array
of broad and golden Zone, the Zodiac hight,
wherein twelve starry forms of an’imals shine,
that Phoebus’ mansions limit and define.
“Behold in other parts the portraiture, 88
limned by the Stars that sparkling glances shed:
Behold the Wain, attend the Cynosure,
and, with her fierce Worm-father, Andromed:
See Cassiopeia’s beauty lovely pure,
with turbulent Orion’s gesture dread:
Behold the Swan that doth in song expire,
the Hare and Hounds, the Ship and dulcet Lyre.
“Beneath this firmamental canopy 89
thou seest Saturn’s sky, that Godhead old:
With faster flight doth Jove below him fly,
and Mars yet lower, bellick planet bold:
In the fourth seat shines Heaven’s radiant eye;
then Venus leadeth all her Loves enrol’d;
Mercury wends with eloquence divine;
and ‘neath him Dian showeth faces trine.
In all these orbits motion different 90
shalt see; in these ’tis swift, in those ’tis slow;
now fly they farthest from the firmament,
then sweep they nearest earth that lurks below;
even so willed the Sire Omnipotent,
who made the Fire and Air, the Wind and Snow:
These lie more inward, as thou shalt be shown,
and Earth with Ocean for their centre own.
“Within this centre, Inn of humankind, 91
whose reckless spirits not alone defy
sufferings and ills to stable Earth confine’d,
but e’en the Sea’s fierce instability;
thou shalt see various Continents define’d
by blindly raging tides, where parted lie
the various Realms which various monarchs sway,
whose varied Customs varied laws obey.
“See high, haught Europe that adores the Rood, 92
for pow’er and polity o’er all renown’d:
See Africk grudging ev’ery worldly good,
you rough, incult and monster-haunted ground;
whose Stormy Cape till now your search withstood,
by Nature ‘stablished as her Austral bound:
Behold this quarter where the Blackmoors dwell
sans-loys, sans-foys, whose numbers none can tell.
“Behold the Ben’omotapa’s puissant reign 93
of salvage Negros, nude and noisome race,
where shall for Holy Faith be foully slain
martyr’d Gongalo, suffering sore disgrace:
This hidden Hemisphere to golden vein
gives birth, which man must win by sweat of face
See from you Lake, whence Nilus rolls his tide,
how springs Cuama from the farther side.
“Behold those Blackmoors and their huts that stand 94
sans doors, each castled in his natal nest,
they trust of Royal Justice the command,
and in the candour of the neighbour’s breast:
Behold how furious flies the bestial band
like flock of dingy stares thick packt and prest;
to fight Sofala’s fortress they pretend
which dext’erous Nhaia’s arm and wits defend:
“See there the Lakes that cradle Father Nyle 95
whose ultime sources men of old ne’er knew:
See how he waters, ‘gend’ering cockadrille,
Abassia-lond whose sons to CHRIST be true:
Behold how bare of bulwarks (novel style)
they show a better front against the foe:
See Meroe-island whilom known to fame,
which now the wild inhabitants Noba name.
95 a. Not in Camoens.
“And see you twain from Britain’s foggy shore
set forth dark Africk’s jungle-plain to span;
thy furthest fount, O Nilus! they explore,
and where Zaire springs to seek the Main:
The Veil of Isis hides thy land no more,
whose ways wide open to the world are lain:
They deem, vain fools! to win fair HONOUR’S prize: —
This exiled lives, and that untimely dies.
“On distant Africk hills a son of thee 96
in Turkish wars shall win the fame of Brave;
hight Dom Christovam shall the hero be,
but flesh from destined Death no skill shall save.
Here view the Coast where shelter from the sea
and glad relief to thee Melinde gave:
Note how you Rhaptus stream, whose wide expanse
natives call Obi, ent’ereth in Quilmance.
“The Cape which Antients ‘ Aromatic’ clepe 97
behold, yclept by Moderns Guardafú;
where opes the Red Sea mouth, so wide and deep,
the Sea whose ruddy bed lends blushing hue:
This as a bourne was far thrust out to keep
Asia distinct from Africk, and a few
of the best markets Negro seaboards claim
Arquico are, Masua and Suanquem.
“View extreme Suez where, old Annals say, 98
once stood the city hight Hero’opolis;
by some Arsin’oe called, and in our day
she holdeth Egypt’s fleets and argosies:
Behold the watery depths, where clove his way
Moses the mighty in past centuries:
Asia beginneth here her huge extent
in regions, kingdoms, empires opulent.
“See Sinai mountain, with her boast and pride 99
the silver bier of saintly Catherine:
See Toro-port and Gida, scant supplied
with fountain-water soft and crystalline:
Behold the Straits which end the southern side
of arid Aden-realms, that here confine
with tall Arziran range, nude stone and live,
whence soft sweet rains of Heaven ne’er derive.
“See threefold Ar’aby, covering so much ground, 100
where tawny peoples vague o’er vasty space;
whence come the Rabytes, best fo
r battle found,
light-limbed, high-fettled, noble-blooded race.
Behold the coast that trends to bind and bound
you other Persian Strait, where sight can trace
the Headland proud the potent name to own
of Fartak-city, erst to Fame well-known.
“Behold insign Dofar that doth command 101
for Christian altars sweetest incense-store:
But note, beginning now on further band
of Rosalgate’s ever greedy shore,
you Hormuz Kingdom strown along the strand,
whose fame for riches still shall higher soar
when the Turk’s galleys, and his fierce Armade
see Castel-Branco bare his deadly blade.
“Behold of Asabón the Head, now hight 102
Mosandam, by the men who plough the Main:
Here lies the Gulf whose long and lake-like Bight
parts Araby from fertile Persia’s plain.
Attend you Barem Isle, with depths bedight
by the rich pearly shell whose blushes feign
Auroran tints; and view in Ocean brine
Euphrate and Tygre in one bed conjoin.
“Great Persia’s noble Empire here behold, 103
ever on Destr’ier or in Camp of War,
whose sons disdain the copper-tube to mould,
and hands not horny with the Cymitar.
But see you Gerum Isle the tale unfold
of mighty things which Time can make or mar;
for of Armuza-town you shore upon
the name and glory this her rival won.
“Here Dom Philippe de Menezes view 104
approved a doughty valiant man-at-arms,
who with his Portughueze exceeding few
shall quell the Lara Parsi’s potent swarms:
Pedro de Sousa too shall make them rue
reversed Fortunes, Warfare’s deadliest harms,
who had his prowess in Ampaza shown,
and took the land by sweep of sword alone.
“But now the Narrows and their noted head 105
Cape Jask, Carpella called by those of yore,
quit we, the dry terrene scant favoured
by Nature niggard of her normal store:
Whilere Carmania ’twas intituled:
But view fair Indus-flood whose waters pour
adown his natal heights, and in the range
of neighbour-mountains see the source of Gange.
“Behold Ulcinde’s most luxuriant land 106
and of Jaqueta-shore you intime bay;
the monster Bore which roaring floods the strand,
and ebb which flieth with like force away.
See where Cambaya’s rich feracious band
boundeth re-entering seas, the Gulf Cambay;
and thousand Cities which I leave untold,
here hoard their wealth for you to have and hold.
“See, runs the cel’ebrate seaboard Hindostanian 107
Luis de Camoes Collected Poetical Works Page 27
