in Almayne, where him fiercely challenged
a wily German, who had planned such plot
his life depended from a single thread.”
Velloso ceasing here, his mates besought
he would not leave the glorious tale unsaid
anent Magrico, and the meed he met,
nor e’en the caitiff German Knight forget.
70
Mas, neste passo, assim prontos estando
Eis o mestre, que olhando os ares anda,
O apito toca; acordam despertando
Os marinheiros duma e doutra banda;
E porque o vento vinha refrescando,
Os traquetes das gáveas tomar manda:
“Alerta, disse, estai, que o vento cresce
Daquela nuvem negra que aparece.”
But at this passage when each prickt his ear, 70
behold! the Master conning sky and cloud,
pipeth his whistle; waken as they hear
starboard and larboard all the startled crowd:
And, as the breeze blew freshening shrill and sheer,
he bade them take in topsails shouting loud
“Yarely, my lads! look out, the wind increases
from you black thunder-cloud before our faces.”
71
Não eram os traquetes bem tomados,
Quando dá a grande e súbita procela:
“Amaina, disse o mestre a grandes brados,
Amaina, disse, amaina a grande vela!”
Não esperam os ventos indinados
Que amainassem; mas juntos dando nela,
Em pedaços a fazem, com um ruído
Que o mundo pareceu ser destruído.
Scarce were the foresails hurr’iedly taken in, 71
when sharp and sudden bursts the roaring gale:
“Furl!” cried the Master with as loud a din,
“Furl!” cried he, “Furl for life the mainmastsail!”
The furious gusts wait not till they begin
furling the canvas; but conjoint assail
and tear it with such crash to shreds and tatters
as though a ruined world the Storm-wind shatters.
72
O céu fere com gritos nisto a gente,
Com súbito temor e desacordo,
Que, no romper da vela, a nau pendente
Toma grã suma d’água pelo bordo:
“Alija, disse o mestre rijamente,
Alija tudo ao mar; não falte acordo.
Vão outros dar à bomba, não cessando;
A bomba, que nos imos alagando!”
Meanwhile the Crew with cries the welkin tore, 72
in panick fear and gen’eral disaccord;
for as the canvas split, the hull heel’d o’er,
broad sheets of water shipping by the board.
“Heave!” roared the Master with a mighty roar,
“Heave overboard your all, tog’ether’s the word!
Others go work the pumps, and with a will:
The pumps! and sharp, look sharp, before she fill!”
73
Correm logo os soldados animosos
A dar à bomba; e, tanto que chegaram,
Os balanços que os mares temerosos
Deram à nau, num bordo os derribaram.
Três marinheiros, duros e forçosos,
A menear o leme não bastaram;
Talhas lhe punham duma e doutra parte,
Sem aproveitar dos homens força e arte.
Hurrieth to ply the pumps the soldier-host, 73
but ere they reached them, the rolling sea
and tem’erous waves the ship so pitcht and tost,
all lost their footing falling to the lee.
Three stalwart sailors who best thews could boast,
sufficed not to make the helm work free;
tackles to starboard, yokes to port they lashed,
yet all their pow’er and practice stood abashed.
74
Os ventos eram tais, que não puderam
Mostrar mais força do ímpeto cruel,
Se para derribar então vieram
A fortíssima torre de Babel.
Nos altíssimos mares, que cresceram,
A pequena grandura dum batel
Mostra a possante nau, que move espanto,
Vendo que se sustém nas ondas tanto.
Such were the gale-gusts, never Tempest blew 74
with more of cruel will, of feller stowre,
as though its mission were t’ uproot and strew
on plain of Babel, Babel’s tallest tow’er:
‘Mid the great washing waves that greater grew,
dwindled the puissant Ship to stature lower
than her own cock; and ’twas a thing of fear,
seeing her in such surges swim and steer.
75
A nau grande, em que vai Paulo da Gama,
Quebrado leva o masto pelo meio.
Quase toda alagada: a gente chama
Aquele que a salvar o mundo veio.
Não menos gritos vãos ao ar derrama
Toda a nau de Coelho, com receio,
Conquanto teve o mestre tanto tento,
Que primeiro amainou, que desse o vento.
The sturdy craft that Paul da Gama bears, 75
beareth her mainmast broken clean in twain
and well-nigh water-logged: The crew in prayers,
calls upon Him who came to ransom men.
Nor less vain clamours to the empty airs
Coelho’s vessel casts by fear o’ertane;
though there the Master had more caution shown,
furling his canvas ere the storm came down.
76
Agora sobre as nuvens os subiam
As ondas de Netuno furibundo;
Agora a ver parece que desciam
As íntimas entranhas do Profundo.
Noto, Austro, Bóreas, Aquilo queriam
Arruinar a máquina do mundo:
A noite negra e feia se alumia
Com os raios, em que o Pólo todo ardia.
In air the Ships are thrown with ev’ery throw 76
of furious Neptune’s crests that kissed the cloud:
Anon appeared the keels to settle low
where horrid Glooms the deep sea-bowels shroud.
While Notus, Auster, Boreas, Aquilo
the world-machine to wreck and ruin crowd:
Gleamed and glared pitchy hideous night
with Leven burning all the polar height.
77
As Alcióneas aves triste canto
Junto da costa brava levantaram,
Lembrando-se do seu passado pranto,
Que as furiosas águas lhe causaram.
Os delfins namorados entretanto
Lá nas covas marítimas entraram,
Fugindo à tempestade e ventos duros,
Que nem no fundo os deixa estar segui-os.
The Halcyon birds their melancholy wail 77
piped, as they cowered on the salvage shore;
remembering aye the wrongful long-past tale
of woes the waters wrought to them of yore:
Meanwhile th’enamoured Dolphins fled the gale
to sheltering grottos in the deep-sea floor,
although the mighty winds and mightier waves
threatened danger in their deepest caves.
78
Nunca tão vivos raios fabricou
Contra a fera soberba dos Gigantes
O grã ferreiro sórdido, que obrou
Do enteado as armas radiantes;
Nem tanto o grã Tonante arremessou
Relâmpagos ao mundo fulminantes,
No grã dilúvio, donde sós viveram
Os dois que em gente as pedras converteram.
Ne’er forged such lightning-bolts of living fire 78
against the Giants’ haught rebellious band,
the great toil-sordid Blacksmith, in desire
to
grace with radiant arms his stepson’s hand.
Never was known the mighty Thunderer’s ire
to rain such fulm’inant fulgor o’er the land
in the great Deluge, which alone withstood
the pair that changed stones to flesh and blood.
79
Quantos montes, então, que derribaram
As ondas que batiam denodadas!
Quantas árvores velhas arrancaram
Do vento bravo as fúrias indinadas!
As forçosas raízes não cuidaram
Que nunca para o céu fossem viradas,
Nem as fundas areias que pudessem
Tanto os mares que em cima as revolvessem.
How many mountains levelled with the lea 79
those Waves that burst and brake with awful might!
How many a gnarled trunk of ancient tree
the Winds uptore with wild and wilful spite!
Ne’er reckt those bulky cable-roots to see
their heels upturned to meet the heav’enly light;
nor thought the deep-laid sands that floods could flow
so fierce, and raise aloft what lay below.
80
Vendo Vasco da Gama que tão perto
Do fim de seu desejo se perdia;
Vendo ora o mar até o inferno aberto,
Ora com nova fúria ao céu subia,
Confuso de temor, da vida incerto,
Onde nenhum remédio lhe valia,
Chama aquele remédio santo é forte,
Que o impossível pode, desta sorte:
Da Gama, seeing that so near the scope 80
of his long voyage, ev’ery chance had failed;
seeing the seas to depths infernal ope,
then with redoubled rage the Lift assailed:
By nat’ural Fear confused, and sans a hope
of Life, where nought of heart or art availed,
to that high Puissance, and that certain Aid
which makes th’impossible possible, thus pray’d: —
81
“Divina Guarda, angélica, celeste,
Que os céus, o mar e terra senhoreias;
Tu, que a todo Israel refúgio deste
Por metade das águas Eritreias;
Tu, que livraste Paulo e o defendeste
Das Sirtes arenosas e ondas feias,
E guardaste com os filhos o segundo
Povoador do alagado e vácuo mundo;
“Celestial Guard! divine, angelical 81
of Skies and Earth and Sea sole Suzerain;
Thou, who didst lead Thy people Israel
thro’ Erythrean waters cleft in twain:
Thou, who didst deign defend thy servant Paul
from sandy Syrtes and the monstrous Main,
Who deign’edst the second Sire and children save
to fill the regions emptied by the Wave:
82
“Se tenho novos modos perigosos
Doutra Cila e Caríbdis já passados,
Outras Sirtes e baixos arenosos,
Outros Acroceráunios infamados,
No fim de tantos casos trabalhosos,
Por que somos de ti desamparados,
Se este nosso trabalho não te ofende,
Mas antes teu serviço só pretende?
“If through new perilous paths a way I wore 82
through other Scyllas and Charybdes came,
Saw other Syrtes reef the sandy floor,
other Acroceraunian rocks infame:
Why, when such labours are wellnigh no more,
why are we thus abandoned, left to shame,
if by our travails Thou be not offended
Nay, if Thy greater glory be intended?
83
“Ó ditosos aqueles que puderam
Entre as agudas lanças Africanas
Morrer, enquanto fortes sostiveram
A santa Fé nas terras Mauritanas!
De quem feitos ilustres se souberam,
De quem ficam memórias soberanas,
De quem se ganha a vida com perdê-la,
Doce fazendo a morte as honras dela!”
“Oh happy they whose hap it was to die 83
on grided points of lances African;
to fall, while striving still to bear on high
our Holy Faith in regions Mauritan!
Whose feats illustrious live in ear and eye,
whose mem’ories aye shall haunt the heart of man;
whose Lives by ending life win living name,
whose Deaths are sweeten’d by a deathless Fame!”
84
Assim dizendo, os ventos que lutavam
Como touros indómitos bramando,
Mais e mais a tormenta acrescentavam
Pela miúda enxárcia assoviando.
Relâmpados medonhos não cessavam,
Feros trovões, que vêm representando
Cair o céu dos eixos sobre a terra,
Consigo os elementos terem guerra.
Thus he, while battling Winds still fiercer clashed, 84
like raging Bulls indomitably wood;
to greater rage the raging gale was lashed,
hissing and howling through the twiney shroud:
The lightnings’ dreadful night-light brighter flashed,
and dreadful thunders rolled and rent the cloud,
as though the Heavens to Earth unaxled fell,
and the four El’ements in battle mell.
85
Mas já a amorosa estrela cintilava
Diante do Sol claro, no Horizonte,
Mensageira do dia, e visitava
A terra e o largo mar, com leda fronte.
A densa que nos céus a governava,
De quem foge o ensífero Orionte,
Tanto que o mar e a cara armada vira,
Tocada junto foi de medo e de ira.
But now the lovely Star with sparkling ray, 85
led forth clear Sol in Eastern hemisphere;
Day’s lovely Herald hasting to display
her gladdening brow, and Earth and Sea to cheer:
The Goddess-ruler of its skyey way,
whom faulchion-girt Orion flies in fear
when seen the billows and her dear-loved Fleet
with equal anger and with fear was smit.
86
“Estas obras de Baco são, por certo,
Disse; mas não será que avante leve
Tão danada tenção, que descoberto
Me será sempre o mil a que se atreve.”
Isto dizendo, desce ao mar aberto,
No caminho gastando espaço breve,
Enquanto manda as Ninfas amorosas
Grinaldas nas cabeças pôr de rosas.
“Here, certes, Bacchus’ handwork I descry,” 86
quoth she, “but Fortune ne’er shall gar him gain
his wicked object, nor shall ‘scape mine eye
the damn’d intention which he plans in vain:”
Thus she; and slipping instant from the sky
lightly she ‘lighteth on the spacious Main,
bidding her Nymphs to wear as on she sped
a rosy garland on each golden head.
87
Grinaldas manda pôr de várias cores
Sobre cabelo; louros à porfia.
Quem não dirá que nascem roxas flores
Sobre ouro natural, que Amor enfia?
Abrandar determina, por amores,
Dos ventos a nojosa companhia,
Mostrando-lhe as amadas Ninfas belas,
Que mais formosas vinham que as estrelas.
Garlands she bade them wear of varied hue, 87
on blondest tresses of the purest shine:
Who had not said the ruddy florets grew
on nat’ural gold, which Love had loved to ‘twine?
To tame and blandish by the charming view
the noisome crew of Winds, she doth design
her galaxy of Nymphs, a train as fair
> as Planets dancing on the plains of air.
88
Assim foi; porque, tanto que chegaram
A vista delas, logo lhe falecem
As forças com que dantes pelejaram,
E já como rendidos lhe obedecem.
Os pés e mãos parece que lhe ataram
Os cabelos que os raios escurecem.
A Bóreas, que do peito mais queria,
Assim disse a belíssima Oritia:
And thus it was: For when in Beauty’s pride 88
showed the fair Bevy, faded straight away
the force wherewith each windy Warrior vied,
and all surrender’d happy to obey:
It seemed their mighty feet and hands were tied
by hanks of hair that dimmed the leven-ray;
meanwhile her Boreas, she who ruled his breast,
loveliest Orithyia, thus addrest: —
89
“Não creias, fero Bóreas, que te creio
Que me tiveste nunca amor constante,
Que brandura é de amor mais certo arreio,
E não convém furor a firme amante.
Se já não pões a tanta insânia freio,
Não esperes de mi, daqui em diante,
Que possa mais amar-te, mas temer-te;
Que amor contigo em medo se converte.”
“Think not, fere Boreas! e’er ’twas thought of mine 89
that thou hast loved me with constant love;
for gentle ways be Love’s securest sign;
wrath has no power the lover’s heart to move:
See, an thou bridle not that rage indign,
expect no grace of me, whom ‘twill behove
henceforth to murther Love by deadly Fear;
for Love is terror when Fear draweth near.”
90
Assim mesmo a formosa Galateia
Dizia ao fero Noto, que bem sabe
Que dias há que em vê-la se recreia,
E bem crê que com ele tudo acabe.
Não sabe o bravo tanto bem se o creia,
Que o coração no peito lhe não cabe,
De contente de ver que a dama o manda,
Pouco cuida que faz, se logo abranda.
Bespake fair Galatea in such strain 90
her furious Notus; for she wots right well
long in her presence pleasure he had tane,
and now she feeleth he must feel her spell.
The Salvage scarcely can his joy contain,
nor will his heart within his bosom dwell;
o’erjoyed to view his Dame vouchsafe command,
he deems ’tis little to wax soft and bland.
91
Desta maneira as outras amansavam
Subitamente os outros amadores;
E logo à linda Vénus se entregavam,
Amansadas as iras e os furores.
Ela lhe prometeu, vendo que amavam,
Sempiterno favor em seus amores,
Nas belas mãos tomando-lhe homenagem
De lhe serem leais esta viagem.
Thus eke had others equal pow’er to tame 91
Luis de Camoes Collected Poetical Works Page 62
