While the defeated Sultan, facing death,
Will damn Mohammed with his final breath.
51 ‘Goa, you will see, seized from the Muslims
And come in the fullness of time to be
Queen of the Orient, raised up
By the triumphs of her conquerors.
From that proud, noble eminence,
They will rule with an iron fist
Idol-worshipping Hindus, and everyone
Throughout that land with thoughts of rebellion.
52 ‘You will see them hold with the tiniest
Garrison the fortress of Cannanore;
You will see the powerful and populous
City of Calicut laid waste;
In Cochin, you will see Pacheco Pereira,
That matchless hero, prove himself;
No poet ever praised a victory
So deserving of eternal glory.
53 ‘Not even in the seas at Actium,* during
Rome’s civil war, were witnessed
Such flames, such hotly contested lines,
When bold Augustus conquered Antony,
Faithless in glory as he returned
From the Orient and the Nile
And from Afghanistan, laden with spoils,
Though himself caught in Cleopatra’s coils,
54 ‘As the very ocean boils with the fires
Ignited by your people, battling,
Taking both Hindu and Muslim captive,
Subduing the different nations,
Conquering the Golden Chersonese,*
Venturing as far as remote China
And the most distant isles of the Orient,
Until every sea-way is subservient.
55 ‘In this way, my daughter, they will show
Superhuman fortitude, never matched
From the sea which drinks the Ganges
To the Atlantic in the far west,
Or from the northern passage to the Straits
Named for Magellan,* who deserved better,
Never, though the world resurrect its dead
In search of braver men or better led.’
56 With these words, Jove dispatched
Divine Mercury down to the earth,
His mission to find a harbour the fleet
Could approach without forebodings,
And to prevent da Gama lingering
Further in treacherous Mombasa,
To convey to him in his dreams which port
Would offer the tranquillity he sought.
57 The God from Cyllene* set off at once;
With his winged feet he descended to earth;
He bore in his hand the magic wand
Which brings sleep to tired eyes;
With it, he recalls from the underworld
Sad souls, and harnesses the winds;
With his usual winged helmet on his head,
Malindi* was the port to which he sped.
58 With him he took Rumour to proclaim
The rare worth of the Portuguese,
For reputation constrains respect
And he who has it, is cherished.
And so were the people made receptive
By the legend of da Gama’s true fame.
In no time, all Malindi longed to see
What kind of men these Portuguese might be.
59 From there, Mercury flew to Mombasa
Where the ships rode warily at anchor,
And warned our people to abandon
That dangerous bar and dissembling land,
For numbers and skill could achieve
Little against such hellish designs,
Nor subtlety nor courage ward off harm,
Had not heaven itself raised the alarm.
60 Night was now half-way down its road;
The stars in the heavens with their
Borrowed light illumined the broad world,
And sleep was the crew’s sole pleasure.
The illustrious captain, worn out,
By the anxieties of a night watch
Was giving his weary eyes a brief respite
(Others remained on watch throughout the night),
61 When Mercury appeared to him in a dream
Urging: ‘Fly! Fly! Lusitanian
From the plot the king is weaving
To put an end to you all. Fly!
The wind and the heavens favour you;
The weather is calm, the ocean still;
Just along the coast is another king
Honourable, powerful and welcoming!
62 ‘What awaits you here is the reception
Cruel Diomedes* offered travellers,
Feeding the people who were his guests
To his dreadful, flesh-eating horses;
What awaits you is the human sacrifice
Busiris* made of his visitors.
Your fate will be no different if you pause;
Fly! Fly these ruthless, barbaric shores!
63 ‘Sail further along the coast; there,
Near to the point where the burning sun
Makes night and day equal,* you will find
A different, more honourable country;
A king there, greeting your joyful
Fleet with many acts of friendship,
Will secure you as his guests and provide
For India a skilled and faithful guide.’
64 So Mercury spoke, and the vision
Astonished the captain, who awoke,
Seeing a ray of divine light
Striking through the thick darkness;
And understanding it was a sign
Not to remain in that evil place,
With recharged spirit he ordered the bo’sun
To spread all sails and head for the ocean.
65 —‘Let out sail to the winds,’ he cried,
‘Heaven favours us and God has sent them;
I have seen a messenger from on high
Who looks kindly on our passage.’
At this there rose the bustle
Of the mariners on this side and that,
Hauling the anchors, chanting as a team,
With just that show of muscle they esteem.
66 Even as the anchors were being raised,
The Muslims down in the darkness
Were secretly trying to cut the cables
To wreck the ships on the sand-bar;
But the Portuguese with lynx-like
Eyes were keeping constant vigil,
And hearing all the sudden to-and-froing,
The Muslims scattered, but flying, not rowing!
67 Soon the sharp prows were cleaving
The silver highway of the seas;
The light monsoon breezes blew
With their safe, persistent pressure;
The sailors talked of the perils
They had passed, for tension eases
Slowly from the mind when mere chance contrives
To bring us through great hazards with our lives.
68 The hot sun had circled the earth once
And another day begun, when they saw
Two ships on the horizon cruising
Peacefully in the pleasant winds.
They could belong only to the Muslims
So they set sail to give chase.
At this the first, not waiting to see more,
Turned tail and headed for the nearest shore.
69 The second showed no such resource
But was captured by the Lusitanians
Without any martial gestures
Or any thunder from Vulcan’s cannon;
The crew being only a handful, timid
And lacking spirit, offered
No resistance; but had any the heart
It could only have been futile on their part.
70 Da Gama’s desire being to obtain
A guide to the India of his ambition,
He hoped to find one among these Moors
B
ut was doomed to disappointment,
No one managing a word of where
In the wide world India might be;
But they all said Malindi was the port
He’d obtain for sure the pilot that he sought.
71 They praised the Sultan’s munificence,
Generous disposition, honest heart,
And breadth of vision and humanity,
All qualities compelling respect.
The captain took this as the truth,
Confirming Mercury’s message
As he slept, and so the armada sped
Where the Muslims pointed and the dream had said.
72 It was the happy time of the year
When the Sun was entering Taurus,*
When Jupiter loved Europa,
And flowers adorn the horn of plenty;
The speedy sun which circles the earth
Restores the memory of that day
When Christ, who is Lord of every nation,
Rose to put His seal on all creation;
73 Malindi* could be seen on the horizon
As the fleet entered the wide bay,
Bedecked with colourful banners
As befitted Holy Easter Sunday;
Flags were unfurled, the standard flew
Its purples visible from afar;
Timbrels clattered, drums banged a refrain;
So they approached in happy martial strain.
74 People crowded Malindi’s beaches
Coming down to stare at the happy fleet,
People more open and more humane;
Than any in the countries left behind.
The Portuguese ships moored before them,
The heavy anchors taking grip,
And one of the captives was dispatched to bring
Their landfall to the notice of the king.
75 The Sultan already knew that nobility
Was the mark of the Portuguese,
Being proud it was his harbour
The courageous people had put into;
And with the true, honourable spirit
That distinguishes generous hearts,
He welcomed them to the comforts of the shore;
Everything in his realm was theirs, and more.
76 Such genuine tributes, such sincere
Promises with not a hint of duplicity,
The Sultan pledged the noble knights
Who had crossed such lands and seas;
Yet for all he sent, woolly sheep,
Domestic fowl, the ripest, choicest,
Most succulent fruits of the season, still
His gifts could not exhaust his generous will.
77 The captain received with great joy
The happy envoy and his message,
And made the Sultan a further present
Brought with him for just such occasions:
Scarlet cloth, its colours flaming,
Rich, delicately branching coral,
Which grows on the sea-bed in spongy gardens,
Till in the broad light of day it hardens.
78 He also sent one, skilled in diplomacy,
To seal with the noble Sultan a pact,
Inviting him not to take it amiss
That he did not disembark at once.
The adroit ambassador left for the shore
Seeking an audience with the Sultan
And, with a skilful rhetoric taught him
By subtle Minerva,* he besought him:
79 —‘Sublime king, to whom was delegated
By the supreme Justice on pure Olympus
The governance of a splendid people,
And no less loved by them than feared;
As a strong refuge more secure
Than any throughout the Orient,
We have sailed far to find you, in our need
Of the assistance we know is guaranteed.
80 ‘We are not pirates who, coming upon
Undefended, unsuspecting cities,
Commit massacre by fire and sword
To rob people of what they treasure,
But we have voyaged from proud Europe,
Crossing the wide seas in search
Of India’s opulent and spacious land,
Obedient to our great king’s great command.
81 ‘In what age were there such hard hearts,
Such bad faith and barbarous manners,
Not only to deny us harbours
But even the asylum of desert sands!
What minds are so given to suspicion,
Or are so afraid of such a few,
That with armed contrivance, cunningly deployed,
They should labour to see us all destroyed?
82 ‘But you, on whom we may surely depend
For true friendship, O benign king,
Securing the sure help which once
Shipwrecked Ulysses* found in Alcinous,
We have journeyed safely to your port
Steered by the divine helmsman;
In guiding us to you, God has made it clear
How generous is your heart and how sincere.
83 ‘Do not think, O King, that if our captain
Has not disembarked to attend on you,
Or do you service, it is because
He suspects you of double-dealing;
You should know it is all done
In obedience to his royal master,
Who strictly ordered him never to be caught
Away from his fleet, at any beach or port.
84 ‘And because it is the vassal’s duty
To be ruled, as limbs must be, by the head,
Do not, as a king, question why
No one disobeys his king;
But he undertakes that the story
Of your nobility and great kindness
Will be told by him and his, unstintingly,
As long as rivers press on to the sea.’
85 So he spoke, and all the company,
Talking naturally among themselves,
Were full of praise for those who had passed
Such constellations and such seas;
And the illustrious Sultan pondered
Da Gama’s great devotion to duty,
Deeply intrigued, and marvelling as he thought
Of the king so much obeyed so far from court.
86 And with a face full of smiles, he responded
To the envoy who had also impressed him,
—‘Remove all fear from your heart,
And banish all suspicion.
The world holds you in such esteem
For your worth and achievements,
They must be strangely lacking in respect
Those people, who desired to see you wrecked.
87 ‘As for your men not stepping ashore
To observe the normal courtesies,
It weighs on me a little strangely,
But I place more value on obedience.
If their instructions will not permit it,
Nor am I willing that spirits
So loyal should be forced to feel contrition,
Simply to countenance my own ambition.
88 ‘However, when crystal daylight dawns
On the world, I with my dhows
Will go to visit the mighty armada
I have desired many days to see;
And having long been buffeted by the seas,
By the raging winds, and the long journey,
Here you will be given in honest guise
Your pilots, munitions, and fresh supplies.’
89 As he finished Apollo, Latona’s son,
Plunged in the sea, and the messenger
With his cheerful news returned
In his tiny boat to the fleet.
All hearts were were filled with joy
They had at long last encountered
Firm news of their yearned-for destination,
And spent the night in raucous jubilation.
90 There was no shortage of fireworks,
Imitating the quivering comets;
The bombardiers did their office,
Blasting land and waves and sky;
It was like the Cyclops* at the smithy
As the firebombs were exploded,
While the crew’s voices, shrill with vehemence,
Shook the heavens, strumming their instruments.
91 On the shore, they responded at once,
With rockets leaping and whistling;
Burning wheels spun in the air;
Hidden sulphur powders exploded;
Shouting rose to the night skies;
The sea was lit up by flames and the land
No less, as if both sides were emulating
The other party in their celebrating.
92 But soon the restless stars revolved
To awake mankind to its labours,
And Memnon’s* mother, bringing light,
Put an end to the longest dream;
The shadows were slowly withdrawing
From the dew-drenched flowers of the fields,
When the Sultan embarked in full array
To review the armada anchored in the bay.
93 There came behind, crowding the beaches,
A happy multitude, eager to watch;
They wore purple tunics with wide sleeves
The finely woven silk gleaming.
In the place of warriors’ assegais
Or bows shaped like the horned moon,
They wielded coconut branches on high
Like the green palms of a Roman victory.
94 A large and lavish dhow, with awnings
Draped with multicoloured silks,
Conveyed the Sultan of Malindi, along
With the nobles and lords of his kingdom;
He came gorgeously attired,
After their fashion and style of beauty;
On his head was a turban finely rolled,
Embroidered splendidly with silk and gold;
95 His robe was of the finest damask,
And dyed the Tyrian* purple they admire;
His glittering collar, prized yet more
For its workmanship than its gold,
Was refulgent with diamonds;
In his belt was a richly carved dagger;
Gold and pearls, to make ornament complete,
Studded the velvet slippers on his feet.
96 An attendant with a silk umbrella,
Raised high on a gold-draped pole,
Prohibited the hot sun from burning
Or discomforting the great Sultan.
Music was in the prow, in sharp
Unrhythmic blasts, harsh to our ears,
From instruments like trumpets, but half bent
Like bows, cacophonous and discordant.
97 No less resplendent, the Lusitanian
Took to the boats and left the fleet
To meet the Malindian on the water
With a noble and distinguished retinue.
Da Gama was dressed in Iberian style
Though his cloak, of Venetian satin,
The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics) Page 7
