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The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics)

Page 21

by Luis Vaz de Camoes


  He could envisage all the profit

  If, with truth and honour, he concluded

  The long-term treaty, just and mutual,

  Offered him by the King of Portugal.

  60 But taking counsel on this matter,

  He found many opposing opinions,

  For on those from whom he sought advice,

  Money was exerting its power.

  He summoned da Gama and pronounced

  As he arrived: ‘If here and now,

  In my presence, hiding nothing, you confess,

  You will be pardoned for your wickedness.

  61 ‘My informers tell me the document

  You presented from your king is forged,

  For you have no king, nor loved homeland,

  But live the life of a vagabond;

  What king or lord so far away,

  In the utmost west would commit such folly

  As to venture not just a ship but a fleet

  On a voyage so distant, so indiscreet?

  62 ‘Suppose there exists some great king

  Holding sway over mighty realms,

  What precious gifts* do you bring me

  As proof of your improbable claim?

  Sumptuous fabrics, magnificent gifts

  Are what seal the friendship of rulers;

  So far, every proposal we have heard

  Hangs on a wandering mariner’s word.

  63 ‘If, by chance, you come here as exiles

  Having once been men of high fortune,

  You will be guests in my kingdom,

  For to the brave all the world is home;

  Or if you are pirates on the high seas,

  Admit it, without fearing blame or death,

  Because all men, in every age, contrive

  To act as best equips them to survive.’

  64 As he finished, da Gama, who had quickly

  Guessed that only Muslim intrigue

  Could be the source of the insinuations

  To which the king had given voice,

  With the confidence the case demanded,

  Advancing his credit, was inspired

  By Venus of Acidalia* to impart

  These words of wisdom from a steadfast heart:

  65 —‘Had not the crimes which sinful Man

  Committed in the earliest age

  Caused that vessel of iniquity,

  That cruel scourge of Christendom,

  To sow with his lies perpetual hatred

  Among Adam’s sons, then you, O king,

  Would never have descended to suspect

  The things alleged by this dangerous sect.

  66 ‘Because no venture is carried forward

  Without vexations, and in every quest

  Fear follows in hope’s footsteps

  And only sweat keeps hope alive,

  You allow yourself scant confidence

  In my good faith, without considering

  The counter-arguments which would seem just

  Had you not trusted men you should not trust.

  67 ‘For to be frank, were I a buccaneer.

  Roaming the seas in perpetual exile,

  Why do you think I should voyage so far

  Seeking so unknown and remote a port?

  From what ambition, or for what motive,

  Would I come risking turbulent seas,

  Antarctic blizzards, or the sultry rays

  Endured beneath the sign of Aries?*

  68 ‘If you ask for gifts of great worth

  As the warrant for what I report,

  I come as simply as explorer, to find

  Where nature placed your ancient kingdom;

  But if Fortune should so reward me

  That I behold my dear king and country,

  You will see then what merchandise you earn

  As the sure evidence of my return.

  69 ‘If it seems beyond belief that a king

  In the Hesperides sends me to you,

  That noble heart, that royal breast

  Rejects what is merely possible.

  Indeed, it appears the exalted aims

  Of the Lusitanian spirit require

  Larger ambitions, faith of a higher state,

  Before crediting a feat as truly great.

  70 ‘Learn, then, it is many decades since

  Our former kings first determined

  To surmount the toils and dangers

  That attend all great achievements;

  And, exploring the ocean, that enemy

  Of repose, they took as their goal

  To locate the seas’ frontiers, to behold

  The uttermost beaches where breakers rolled.

  71 ‘It was a task worthy of the brilliant

  Son of our most favoured King João,

  Who first crossed the sea to drive

  From their homes the people of Ceuta.

  Then Henrique, by industry and genius,

  Built and dispatched ship after ship

  To investigate the southern hemisphere*

  Of Argo, Hydra, Ara, and the Hare.

  72 ‘Fired by their first successes to take

  Still greater risks, voyage by voyage

  They discovered new seaways which,

  Ship after ship, they explored;

  In the far south where the Pleiades

  Never dawn, we saw the remotest peoples

  Of Africa, leaving astern legions

  Of the sun-scorched in the tropic regions.

  73 ‘And so, with steadfast hearts and great

  Ends in view, we conquered Fortune

  And reached your distant country

  To plant the last of our stone columns;

  Conquering the power of dead calms,

  Of sudden and awesome tempests,

  We have voyaged to your court. I have spoken.

  What remains is to take my king some token.

  74 ‘This, king, is the truth; were it

  Otherwise, I would not spin so long

  And so fanciful a yarn, for such

  Uncertain benefit, so feeble a reward.

  It would, indeed, profit me more

  To spend my days as a pirate

  On the never-resting bosom of the sea,

  Amassing wealth from others’ industry.

  75 ‘And so, O king, if you accept my story

  For what it is, free of deceit,

  Grant me your reply, and soon,

  To speed my pleasure in returning home;

  Or if it still appears falsehood,

  Judge by reason, by what can be proved,

  Which an open mind will always recognize

  For truth declares itself without disguise.’

  76 The Samorin was struck by the confidence

  Which reinforced all da Gama said;

  And began to give complete credit

  To everything he had asserted.

  He pondered the sufficiency of his words

  Sensing their great authority;

  And judged his Catuals wrong in what they warned,

  Not comprehending they had been suborned.

  77 That, with his greed for the profits

  Expected from the Portuguese treaty,

  Led him to trust and respect the captain

  And not the Muslim conspiracy.

  At length, he bade da Gama return

  Directly to the ships, secure from harm,

  And send ashore whatever merchandise

  He wished to sell, or to exchange for spice.

  78 He begged especially for textiles

  Not found in the kingdoms of the Ganges,

  If he had brought anything fine from there

  Where the land ends and the sea begins.

  Then, taking leave of the royal presence,

  The captain returned to the Catual,

  His custodian, but had to implore

  A boat to convey him, his being offshore.

  79 A boat he requested, to re-embark;r />
  But the churlish governor, planning

  Fresh obstacles, interposed problems

  And delays, conceding him nothing.

  He escorted him as far as the quay,

  Well beyond earshot of the king,

  Where he could risk exposing his malice

  Without tidings returning to the palace.

  80 There, at a safe distance, he promised

  A boat suitable for da Gama’s purpose,

  But not today; till tomorrow’s light

  He should postpone his departure.

  By now, the captain was well aware

  From such tardiness, the Hindu made one

  With the stratagems the Muslims had devised,

  Something he had not fully realized.

  81 For this Catual was another of those

  Bought over by the Muslim leaders,

  Being the chief of those governing

  The cities of the powerful Samorin;

  From him principally the Muslims hoped

  For success in their wicked plans;

  He was committed to their machinations

  And did not fail them in their expectations.

  82 Urgently, da Gama pressed his need

  To return to the ships, but uselessly;

  Despite this being the express order

  Of Perimal’s noble descendant.

  Why was he prevented and delayed

  From bringing the Portuguese goods ashore?

  No subject had the right to countermand

  Orders issued under the king’s own hand.

  83 The corrupted Catual paid scant heed

  To such complaints, spinning instead

  Elaborate day-dreams, subtle,

  Ingenious, and diabolical, such

  As bathing his sword in the blood

  He detested, standing there before him,

  Or burning the fleet down to the waterline

  So no one would return to hearth and shrine.

  84 That none should return home was the sole

  Purpose of the Muslims’ strategy,

  So Portugal’s king should never know

  Where the lands of the east lay.

  There da Gama remained, in the custody

  Of those uncivil people’s governor;

  To leave without permission was denied him,

  Canoe men forbidden to provide him.

  85 To the captain’s arguments and complaints,

  The Catual replied he should instruct

  The ships to anchor in shore

  So he could come and go more freely.

  —‘It is a hostile act,’ he said,

  For the fleet to stand so far off;

  ‘A sure and faithful friend would soon forget

  He had been under any kind of threat.’

  86 At these words, wary da Gama discerned

  The Catual wanted the ships nearer

  To storm them with fire and sword,

  Venting his hatred in open attack.

  He fell to weighing his various options,

  Planning in advance with what

  Feint to react whatever might befall;

  So fearing all, he was prepared for all.

  87 As the reflected light* from a mirror

  Of burnished steel or lovely crystal,

  A ray of sunlight, perhaps, glancing

  Sideways to focus somewhere else,

  Is directed by the idle hand

  Of a curious youngster, up

  Walls and across roof-tiles like a will-

  o-the-wisp, ever-quivering, never still:

  88 So da Gama, held captive, let his mind

  Wander, and remembered Coelho*

  Still, by chance, waiting on the beach

  With boats as he had been ordered.

  At once, he mandated him to leave

  Secretly to return to the fleet,

  And not to be caught napping by the plans

  He foresaw of the fierce Mohammedans.

  89 So must the captain be, who wishes

  To copy or equal the great in war:

  Flying in thought to every part,

  Scenting dangers and averting them,

  Knowing the enemy, and outwitting him

  With strategy and subtle design;

  Considering all, in sum: for he who says

  ‘I failed to foresee that,’ forfeits any praise.

  90 The Malabari continued to imprison him

  Till he ordered the ships inshore;

  But da Gama was fired with noble anger

  And was in no way cowed by his threats;

  Rather, he sought to take on himself

  Whatever malice or dishonour

  Was mounting, than to put in jeopardy

  The king’s fleet, riding beyond harm at sea.

  91 All that night he was detained there

  And part of the day, when he resolved

  To return to the king; but his guard

  Was large enough to prevent him.

  The Hindu then tried another tactic,

  By now fearing to be punished

  For his plots, of which the Samorin would know

  Unless very soon he let da Gama go.

  92 He insisted all the commodities

  We had on board should be landed

  To be traded or bartered at leisure,

  For to deny commerce was to declare war.

  Though he saw clearly the evil motive

  Concealed in this, da Gama agreed,

  For he recognized at once that a handsome

  Show of merchandise could be his ransom.

  93 They agreed the Catual should provide

  Boats suitable for conveying the goods,

  For he did not wish to risk his own

  Where the enemy might detain them.

  So canoes set out accordingly

  To ferry the Iberian wares,

  And he told his brother* to be sure to send

  Means to bring his entrapment to an end.

  94 The goods were brought ashore and at once

  The corrupt Catual took them in charge;

  Álvaro and Diogo* accompanied them

  To sell them for what they were worth:

  But that profit mattered to him far more

  Than honour, orders, or obligation,

  The Catual showed to any who had eyes,

  Releasing da Gama for the merchandise.

  95 He freed him, convinced he had in hand

  Sufficient stake to guarantee him

  Greater gain than would accrue

  By detaining the captain longer.

  Da Gama accepted it would be foolish

  To return ashore and risk being

  Re-imprisoned, so having boarded ship.

  He rested and reflected on his trip.

  96 He stayed with the fleet, relaxing

  Until the future should declare itself,

  For he put no trust in the avaricious,

  Corrupt, and ignoble governor.

  Here discerning judges may consider

  How, with the rich as with the poor,

  Vile self-interest and the sordid thirst

  For gold compels us to our very worst.

  97 The king of Thrace* murdered Polydorus

  Solely to command his great treasure;

  Jupiter breached the walls protecting

  Acrisius’ daughter as a shower of gold;

  Avarice worked on Tarpeia so grimly

  That, for payment in gold bracelets,

  She betrayed to the Sabines Rome’s guard

  And perished under the weight of her reward.

  98 Gold conquers the strongest citadels,

  Turns friends into traitors and liars;

  Persuades the noblest to acts of infamy,

  Betraying their leaders to the enemy;

  It corrupts maidens, who ignore

  The threat to honour or reputation;

  Even scholarship at times has been bought,


  Blinding discernment and impartial thought.

  99 It glosses and glozes authorities

  Subtly making and unmaking laws;

  It leads people to perjure themselves

  And makes tyrants of a thousand kings;

  Even of those sworn only to God

  Countless more times you will hear

  How this enchanter can corrupt and tarnish,

  But all the while preserving virtue’s varnish!

  Canto Nine

  1 The two factors remained in the city

  Many days without trading the goods,

  For the Muslims, mixing guile and falsehood,

  Ensured no merchant would buy them:

  Their whole purpose and intention

  Was to detain the discoverers, until

  The annual fleet from Mecca should descend

  Bringing Portuguese endeavours to an end.

  2 Far off in the Red Sea, where Ptolemy*

  The Egyptian once founded Arsinoe

  —Naming it after his sister, though

  It was afterwards better known as Suez—

  Nearby is the port of the famous

  City of Mecca, which came to greatness

  Because its well of Zemzem was rumoured

  Wholly belonging, and holy to Mohammed.

  3 Jidda is that port’s name, centre

  Of the Red Sea’s flourishing trade,

  A large source of agreeable

  Profit to the Sultan of that realm.

  From Jidda to the Indian Ocean

  Under contract to the Malabaris,

  A great fleet, sailing on the monsoons, made

  Its annual voyage* in the spice trade.

  4 These ships, the Muslims hoped, given

  Their great size and number, would oust

  The interlopers seizing the commerce

  In sheets of crackling flames.

  So much they trusted in this recourse,

  They sought nothing more than to delay

  The navigators, letting them survive

  Until the fleet from Mecca could arrive.

  5 But the Ruler of Heaven and of mankind

  Who, in whatever He has ordained,

  Finds in advance some suitable means

  To accomplish what is determined,

  Made certain impulses work in the mind

  Of Monsayeed, who became His instrument,

  Alerting da Gama (for which advice

  The Moor deserves to enter Paradise).

  6 Being a Muslim, and one from whom

  His fellow Muslims had no reserves

  (Having been party to former intrigues),

  He knew what mischief they were plotting.

  Many times he had visited the ships

  Offshore, and was distressed

  And saddened by the unfair stratagem

  The malign Saracens had in store for them.

  7 So he told wary da Gama of the ships

  Which sailed each year from Arabian Mecca,

  And which his own people now awaited

 

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