By thee upborne, his name ascends the skies.
This Ammon396* knew, and own’d his Homer’s lyre
The noblest glory of Pelides’ ire.397*
This knew Augustus, and from Mantua’s shade
To courtly ease the Roman bard convey’d;398*
And soon exulting flow’d the song divine,
The noblest glory of the Roman line.
Dear was the Muse to Julius; ever dear
To Scipio, though the pond’rous, conquering spear
Roughen’d his hand, th’ immortal pen he knew,
And, to the tented field the gentle Muses drew.
Each glorious chief of Greek or Latian line,
Or barb’rous race, adorn’d the Aonian shrine;
Each glorious name, e’er to the Muse endear’d.
Or woo’d the Muses, or, the Muse rever’d.
Alas, on Tago’s hapless shores alone
The Muse is slighted, and her charms unknown;
For this, no Virgil here attunes the lyre,
No Homer here awakes the hero’s fire.
On Tago’s shores are Scipios, Cæsars born,
And Alexanders Lisbon’s clime adorn;
But, Heaven has stamp’d them in a rougher mould,
Nor gave the polish to their genuine gold.
Careless and rude, or to be known or know,
In vain, to them, the sweetest numbers flow:
Unheard, in vain their native poet sings,
And cold neglect weighs down the Muse’s wings,
Ev’n he whose veins the blood of Gama warms,399*
Walks by, unconscious of the Muse’s charms:
For him no Muse shall leave her golden loom,
No palm shall blossom, and no wreath shall bloom:
Yet, shall my labours and my cares be paid
By fame immortal, and by Gama’s shade:
Him shall the song on ev’ry shore proclaim,
The first of heroes, first of naval fame.
Rude, and ungrateful, though my country be,
This proud example shall be taught by me —
“Where’er the hero’s worth demands the skies,
To crown that worth some gen’rous bard shall rise!”
END OF THE FIFTH BOOK.
BOOK VI.
THE ARGUMENT.
Gama’s long recital being concluded, the poet resumes the thread of his story in his own person. The Portuguese admiral enters into an alliance with the King of Melinda, assures him that the vessels of his nation will always in future anchor on his shores. Gama receives from the monarch a faithful pilot to conduct him to India. Bacchus now has recourse to Neptune, at whose palace the divinities of the sea assemble. The gods of the sea consent to let loose the winds and waves against the daring navigators. During the night the sailors on the watch relate to each other amusing stories. Veloso urges them to relate some proud feats of war. The history of the contest of the twelve knights of England with the twelve of Portugal is then told. A violent tempest assails the fleet. Vivid picture of a storm at sea. Gama addresses his prayer to God; and Venus, with her nymphs so captivates the storm-gods that a calm ensues. The boy at the mast-head raises a joyful cry of Land! re-echoed by the whole crew. The pilot informs the Portuguese that they are now approaching the kingdom of Calicut. The poet’s reflections.
WITH heart sincere the royal pagan joy’d,
And hospitable rites each hour employ’d,
For much the king the Lusian band admir’d,
And, much their friendship and their aid desir’d;
Each hour the gay festivity prolongs,
Melindian dances, and Arabian songs;
Each hour in mirthful transport steals away,
By night the banquet, and the chase by day;
And now, the bosom of the deep invites,
And all the pride of Neptune’s festive rites;
Their silken banners waving o’er the tide,
A jovial band, the painted galleys ride;
The net and angle various hands employ,
And Moorish timbrels sound the notes of joy.
Such was the pomp, when Egypt’s beauteous400* queen
Bade all the pride of naval show convene,
In pleasure’s downy bosom, to beguile
Her love-sick warrior:401* o’er the breast of Nile,
Dazzling with gold, the purple ensigns flow’d,
And to the lute the gilded barges row’d;
While from the wave, of many a shining hue,
The anglers’ lines the panting fishes drew.
Now, from the West the sounding breezes blow,
And far the hoary flood was yet to plough:
The fountain and the field bestow’d their store,
And friendly pilots from the friendly shore,
Train’d in the Indian deep, were now aboard,
When Gama, parting from Melinda’s lord,
The holy vows of lasting peace renew’d,
For, still the king for lasting friendship sued;
That Lusus’ heroes in his port supplied,
And tasted rest, he own’d his dearest pride,
And vow’d, that ever while the seas they roam,
The Lusian fleets should find a bounteous home,
And, ever from the gen’rous shore receive
Whate’er his port, whate’er his land could give.402*
Nor less his joy the grateful chief declar’d;
And now, to seize the valued hours prepar’d.
Full to the wind the swelling sails he gave,
And, his red prows divide the foamy wave:
Full to the rising sun the pilot steers,
And, far from shore through middle ocean bears.
The vaulted sky now widens o’er their heads,
Where first the infant morn his radiance sheds.
And now, with transport sparkling in his eyes,
Keen to behold the Indian mountains rise,
High on the decks each Lusian hero smiles,
And, proudly in his thoughts reviews his toils.
When the stern demon, burning with disdain,
Beheld the fleet triumphant plough the main:
The powers of heav’n, and heav’n’s dread lord he knew,
Resolv’d in Lisbon glorious to renew
The Roman honours — raging with despair
From high Olympus’ brow he cleaves the air,
On earth new hopes of vengeance to devise,
And sue that aid denied him in the skies;
Blaspheming Heav’n, he pierc’d the dread abode
Of ocean’s lord, and sought the ocean’s god.
Deep, where the bases of the hills extend,
And earth’s huge ribs of rock enormous bend,
Where, roaring through the caverns, roll the waves
Responsive as the aërial tempest raves,
The ocean’s monarch, by the Nereid train,
And wat’ry gods encircled, holds his reign.
Wide o’er the deep, which line could ne’er explore,
Shining with hoary sand of silver ore,
Extends the level, where the palace rears
Its crystal towers, and emulates the spheres;
So, starry bright, the lofty turrets blaze,
And, vie in lustre with the diamond’s rays.
Adorn’d with pillars, and with roofs of gold,
The golden gates their massy leaves unfold:
Inwrought with pearl the lordly pillars shine,
The sculptur’d walls confess a hand divine.
Here, various colours in confusion lost,
Old Chaos’ face and troubled image boast.
Here, rising from the mass, distinct and clear,
Apart, the four fair elements appear.
High o’er the rest ascends the blaze of fire,
Nor, fed by matter did the rays aspire,
But, glow’d ætherial, as the living flame,
Which, stol’n from heav’n, inspir’d the vital frame.
Next, all-embracing air was spread around,
Thin as the light, incapable of wound;
The subtle power the burning south pervades,
And penetrates the depth of polar shades.
Here, mother Earth, with mountains crown’d, is seen,
Her trees in blossom, and her lawns in green;
The lowing beeves adorn the clover vales,
The fleecy dams bespread the sloping dales;
Here, land from land the silver streams divide;
The sportive fishes through the crystal tide,
Bedropt with gold their shining sides display:
And here, old Ocean rolls his billows gray:
Beneath the moon’s pale orb his current flows,
And, round the earth, his giant arms he throws.
Another scene display’d the dread alarms
Of war in heav’n, and mighty Jove in arms;
Here, Titan’s race their swelling nerves distend
Like knotted oaks, and from their bases rend
And tower the mountains to the thund’ring sky,
While round their heads the forky lightnings fly;
Beneath huge Etna vanquish’d Typhon lies,403*
And vomits smoke and fire against the darken’d skies.
Here, seems the pictur’d wall possess’d of life:
Two gods contending404* in the noble strife,
The choicest boon to humankind to give,
Their toils to lighten, or their wants relieve:
While Pallas here appears to wave her hand,405*
The peaceful olive’s silver boughs expand:
Here, while the ocean’s god indignant frown’d,
And rais’d his trident from the wounded ground,
As yet entangled in the earth, appears
The warrior horse; his ample chest he rears,
His wide red nostrils smoke, his eye-balls glare,
And his fore-hoofs, high pawing, smite the air.
Though wide, and various, o’er the sculptur’d stone406*
The feats of gods, and godlike heroes shone;
On speed the vengeful demon views no more:
Forward he rushes through the golden door,
Where ocean’s king, enclos’d with nymphs divine,
In regal state receives the king of wine:407*
“O Neptune!” instant as he came, he cries,
“Here let my presence wake no cold surprise.
A friend I come, your friendship to implore
Against the Fates unjust, and Fortune’s power;
Beneath whose shafts the great Celestials bow,
Yet ere I more, if more you wish to know,
The wat’ry gods in awful senate call,
For all should hear the wrong that touches all.”
Neptune alarm’d, with instant speed commands
From ev’ry shore to call the wat’ry bands:
Triton, who boasts his high Neptunian race,
Sprung from the god by Salacé’s408* embrace,
Attendant on his sire the trumpet sounds,
Or, through the yielding waves, his herald, bounds:
Huge is his bulk, deform’d, and dark his hue;
His bushy beard, and hairs that never knew
The smoothing comb, of seaweed rank and long,
Around his breast and shoulders dangling hung,
And, on the matted locks black mussels clung;
}
A shell of purple on his head he bore,409*
Around his loins no tangling garb he wore,
But all was cover’d with the slimy brood,
The snaily offspring of the unctuous flood;
And now, obedient to his dreadful sire,
High o’er the wave his brawny arms aspire;
To his black mouth his crooked shell applied,
The blast rebellows o’er the ocean wide:
Wide o’er their shores, where’er their waters flow,
The wat’ry powers the awful summons know;
And instant, darting to the palace hall,
Attend the founder of the Dardan wall;410*
Old Father Ocean, with his num’rous race
Of daughters and of sons, was first in place.
Nereus and Doris, from whose nuptials sprung
The lovely Nereid train, for ever young,
Who people ev’ry sea on ev’ry strand,
Appear’d, attended with their filial band;
And changeful Proteus, whose prophetic mind411*
The secret cause of Bacchus’ rage divin’d,
Attending, left the flocks, his scaly charge,
To graze the bitter, weedy foam at large.
In charms of power the raging waves to tame,
The lovely spouse of ocean’s sov’reign came.412*
From Heaven and Vesta sprung the birth divine,
Her snowy limbs bright through the vestments shine.
Here, with the dolphin, who persuasive led
Her modest steps to Neptune’s spousal bed,
Fair Amphitrité mov’d, more sweet, more gay
Than vernal fragrance, and the flowers of May;
Together with her sister-spouse she came,
The same their wedded lord, their love the same;
The same the brightness of their sparkling eyes,
Bright as the sun, and azure as the skies.
She, who, the rage of Athamas to shun,414*
Plung’d in the billows with her infant son;
A goddess now, a god the smiling boy,
Together sped; and Glaucus lost to joy,415*
Curs’d in his love by vengeful Circé’s hate,
Attending, wept his Scylla’s hapless fate.
And now, assembled in the hall divine,
The ocean gods in solemn council join;
The goddesses on pearl embroid’ry sat,
The gods, on sparkling crystal chairs of state,
And, proudly honour’d, on the regal throne,
Beside the ocean’s lord, Thyoneus416* shone.
High from the roof the living amber glows,417*
High from the roof the stream of glory flows,
And, richer fragrance far around exhales
Than that which breathes on fair Arabia’s gales.
Attention now, in list’ning silence waits:
The power, whose bosom rag’d against the Fates,
Rising, casts round his vengeful eyes, while rage
Spread o’er his brows the wrinkled seams of age.
“O thou,” he cries, “whose birthright sov’reign sway,
From pole to pole, the raging waves obey;
Of human race ’tis thine to fix the bounds,
And fence the nations with thy wat’ry mounds:
And thou, dread power, O Father Ocean, hear,
Thou, whose wide arms embrace the world’s wide sphere,
’Tis thine the haughtiest victor to restrain,
And bind each nation in its own domain:
And you, ye gods, to whom the seas are giv’n,
Your just partition with the gods of heav’n;
You who, of old unpunish’d never bore
The daring trespass of a foreign oar;
You who beheld, when Earth’s dread offspring strove418*
To scale the vaulted sky, the seat of Jove:
Indignant Jove deep to the nether world
The rebel band in blazing thunders hurl’d.
Alas! the great monition lost on you,
Supine you slumber, while a roving crew,
With impious search, explore the wat’ry way,
And, unresisted, through your empire stray:
To seize the sacred treasures of the main,
Their fearless prows your ancient laws disdain:
Where, far from mortal sight his hoary head
Old Ocean hides, their daring sails they spread,
&n
bsp; And their glad shouts are echo’d where the roar
Of mounting billows only howl’d before.
In wonder, silent, ready Boreas419* sees
Your passive languor, and neglectful ease;
Ready, with force auxiliar, to restrain
The bold intruders on your awful reign;
Prepar’d to burst his tempests, as of old,
When his black whirlwinds o’er the ocean roll’d,
And rent the Mynian420* sails, whose impious pride
First brav’d their fury, and your power defied.
Nor deem that, fraudful, I my hope deny;
My darken’d glory sped me from the sky.
How high my honours on the Indian shore!
How soon these honours must avail no more!
Unless these rovers, who with doubled shame
To stain my conquests, bear my vassal’s421* name,
Unless they perish on the billowy way.
Then rouse, ye gods, and vindicate your sway.
The powers of heaven, in vengeful anguish, see
The tyrant of the skies, and Fate’s decree;
The dread decree, that to the Lusian train
Consigns, betrays your empire of the main:
Say, shall your wrong alarm the high abodes?
Are men exalted to the rank of gods?
O’er you exalted, while in careless ease
You yield the wrested trident of the seas,
Usurp’d your monarchy, your honours stain’d,
Your birthright ravish’d, and your waves profan’d!
Alike the daring wrong to me, to you,
And, shall my lips in vain your vengeance sue!
This, this to sue from high Olympus bore — —”
More he attempts, but rage permits no more.
Fierce, bursting wrath the wat’ry gods inspires,
And, their red eye-balls burn with livid fires:
Heaving and panting struggles evr’y breast,
With the fierce billows of hot ire oppress’d.
Twice from his seat divining Proteus rose,
And twice he shook, enrag’d, his sedgy brows:
In vain; the mandate was already giv’n,
From Neptune sent, to loose the winds of heav’n:
In vain; though prophecy his lips inspir’d,
The ocean’s queen his silent lips requir’d.
Nor less the storm of headlong rage denies,
Or counsel to debate, or thought to rise.
And now, the God of Tempests swift unbinds
From their dark caves the various rushing winds:
High o’er the storm the power impetuous rides,
His howling voice the roaring tempest guides;
Right to the dauntless fleet their rage he pours,
Luis de Camoes Collected Poetical Works Page 106