The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics)

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The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics) Page 25

by Luis Vaz de Camoes


  He will punish proud Ormuz for revolt

  By making it pay double tribute.

  You, too, da Gama, as prize for this

  And your future exile, will return

  With a count’s title, honoured overlord

  To govern the great region you explored.

  54 ‘But Death, that dire necessity

  No human being can avoid,

  Will remove you, amid royal dignity,

  From this world and all its deceit.

  Then a second Meneses,* a youth

  Far wiser than his years, will rule

  And the fortunate Henrique will perform

  Such deeds as will keep his memory warm.

  55 ‘Defeating not just the Malabaris,

  Destroying Ponnani along with Coulete,

  Spiking guns whose volleys could target

  Only the bodies which stormed them;

  Rarer still, he will overcome

  The seven enemies of the human soul;

  He will conquer greed and concupiscence,

  In one so young the sum of excellence.

  56 ‘He, too, will be summoned to the heavens,

  And you, brave Mascarenhas,* will succeed,

  And though enemies oust you from power

  I vouch your fame will be eternal.

  For even they are forced to confess

  Your immense courage, as Fortune

  Reinstates you in command, but made great

  More by your victories than a just fate.

  57 ‘On the island of Bintan, for so long

  The scourge of Malacca, your valiant

  Company will avenge in a single day

  The injuries of a thousand years.

  Superhuman toils and dangers,

  Iron caltrops, narrow tracks,

  Will be overcome and mastered, as all

  Ramparts will be scaled, all stockades fall.

  58 ‘But in India, envy and ambition

  Boldly setting their faces against God

  And all justice, will cause you—

  No, not shame, no—but sorrow!

  He who abuses his powers to commit

  A vile and irrational crime

  Will not win—for victory’s truly won

  When full, transparent justice is seen done.

  59 ‘But I do not deny Sampaio,* the usurper’s,

  Valour and distinction, as he drops

  Like lightning on an ocean packed

  With a thousand enemy ships.

  In Bacanore he will strike such a blow

  Against Malabar that ever afterwards

  Kutti Ali, for all his enormous fleet,

  Will sail in terror of a fresh defeat.

  60 ‘Likewise, Diu’s ferocious armada,

  Whose size and daring daunts Chaul,

  The mere sight of Heitor de Silveira,

  Will be enough to rout and destroy it:

  —That Portuguese, they prophesy,

  Raiding along the Cambay coast, will

  Be to the Gujeratis such a spectre

  As haunted the Greeks in mighty Hector.

  61 ‘To fierce Sampaio there will succeed

  Da Cunha,* at the helm for many years;

  He will build the fortress of Chale

  Making famous Diu quake at his name;

  Strong Bassein will surrender to him

  Though not without much blood,

  Its governor grieving, as with swords alone

  His mighty palisade is overthrown.

  62 ‘After will come Noronha,* destined

  To repulse from Diu the Turkish siege

  —Diu, defended by the strategy

  And courage of Antonio da Silveira.

  When death in turn claims Noronha,

  Your son,* da Gama, will try his hand

  At ruling the empire, when at his sight

  The Red Sea will turn yellow in sheer fright.

  63 ‘From your Estêvão the reins will pass

  To one already honoured in Brazil,

  Martim Afonso de Sousa,* scourge

  Of French pirates infesting the seas;

  As captain-general of the Indian Ocean,

  He will scale the ramparts of Daman

  And, breaching the gate, be furthest forward

  Though a thousand bowmen have it covered.

  64 ‘The King of Cambay, for all his pride,

  Will surrender rich Diu’s citadel,

  In return for protecting his kingdom

  From the all-conquering Mogul;

  Later, in a tactic of great daring,

  He will block the Samorin in Calicut,

  Despite the multitudes he brings that day,

  Driving him back in bloody disarray.

  65 ‘He will destroy the city of Etapilly

  Routing the king with his many followers,

  Then afterwards, off Cape Comorin,

  Performs his most famous exploit;

  The Samorin’s first fleet, cocksure

  It would sweep the world’s oceans,

  Is vanquished in a hail of fire and iron,

  And Beadala city, too will burn.

  66 ‘Having cleared India of enemies

  He will take up the viceroy’s sceptre

  With no opposition, nor any danger,

  For all fear him and none complain,

  Except Bhatkal, which brings on itself

  The pains Beadala already suffered;

  Corpses will strew the streets, and shells burst

  As fire and thundering cannon do their worst.

  67 ‘So Martinho, his mighty name deriving

  From deeds themselves derived from Mars,

  As famed, throughout the empire, for arms

  As for wise and thoughtful counsel.

  João de Castro* will follow him

  Hoisting Portugal’s banner high;

  The inheritor will match the inherited;

  One building Diu, the other saving it.

  68 ‘Ferocious Persians, Abyssinians, and Turks

  (Rumes, they are called, after ancient Rome),

  Varied in faces, varied in dress

  (A thousand nations will join the siege),

  Will curse the heavens that a mere handful

  Down on earth withstands them,

  Vowing in Portuguese blood and ashes

  To baptize their scimitar moustaches.

  69 ‘Outfacing ordnance and cannon,

  Fierce catapults and buried mines,

  Mascarenhas and the heroes

  Delight in their certain death,

  Until, where the crisis is greatest,

  Castro the liberator will sacrifice

  His dear sons, asking of each the same

  —To give their lives to God and eternal fame.

  70 ‘Fernando, the elder, true to his lineage,

  There where a land-mine blasts the rampart

  To fragments in a ball of fire,

  Will be snatched away and ascend to heaven;

  Álvaro, his brother, despite winter’s

  Waves blocking the ocean roads

  Will force them open, subduing the sea

  With its gales to confront the enemy.

  71 ‘And here in his wake, their father comes

  Ploughing the waves with reinforcements,

  And with power and skill, which counts for more,

  Prospers and prevails in battle.

  Some leap the walls, dodging the gate;

  Others, hacking savagely, breach it.

  Their deeds that day will live in memory,

  Greater than verse records, or history.

  72 ‘Afterwards, he will battle again,*

  Intrepid conqueror of the all-powerful

  King of Cambay, striking panic

  Into his squadrons of elephants;

  Not even Hidel Khan will secure

  His kingdom from that triumphant arm,

  Which sacks both Dabhol on its coastal sand,

 
And Ponda too, despite being far inland.

  73 ‘All these heroes, and others worthy

  In different ways of fame and esteem,

  Performing great feats in war

  Will taste this island’s pleasures,

  Their sharp keels cutting the waves

  Under triumphant banners, to find

  These lovely nymphs, these tables richly furnished

  The glorious rewards for tasks accomplished.’

  74 So sang the nymph: and all the others

  Gave voice in sonorous applause,

  Rejoicing in the happy vows

  Pledged with such mutual delight:

  ‘For longer than Fortune’s wheel revolves’

  (All sang, blending their voices)

  ‘Most noble people, just will be your claim

  To honour, esteem, and everlasting fame.’

  75 When all had feasted to the full

  From the noble dishes set before them,

  And from the nymph’s harmonious strains

  Had glimpsed those noble deeds to come,

  Then, radiant in her serious grace

  And eager to redouble the glory

  And pleasures of that bright and joyful day,

  Tethys addressed da Gama in this way:

  76 —‘God in supreme wisdom* favours you,

  O hero, to behold with bodily eyes

  What is beyond the shallow knowledge

  Of erring and wretched mortals.

  Follow me, with courage and wisdom,

  You and your men, by this mountain path’:

  And saying this, she led him through a wood

  Too dark and dense for humans to intrude.

  77 Soon they found themselves on a summit

  And in a meadow so thickly sown

  With emeralds and rubies, they perceived

  They were treading on holy ground.

  Here, in the air, they saw suspended

  A lustrous and translucent globe,

  Its brilliant centre shining just as clear

  As the bright surface of the outer sphere.

  78 Its substance they could not discern,

  But saw plainly it was composed

  Of different spheres the divine rod

  Had shaped with one fixed centre.

  As each revolved, falling or rising,

  The whole neither rose nor fell,

  But looked the same all round, while every part

  Revealed a handiwork of sacred art,

  79 Uniform, perfect, and self-sustained

  As the very Creator who fashioned it.

  Da Gama, seeing it, stood transfixed,

  Torn between fear and eagerness.

  Then the goddess spoke: ‘This sphere

  I set before you, represents

  The whole created world, so you may see

  Where you have been, and are, and wish to be.

  80 ‘This is the great machine of the universe

  Ethereal and elemental, as made

  By the deepest and highest Wisdom,

  Who is without beginning and end.

  He who with his very essence

  Hedges this polished and perfect globe

  Is God; but who God is none comprehends

  For human wit cannot attain such ends.

  81 ‘The first sphere which circles round

  The lesser orbs which it contains

  And which radiates with such brightness

  It dazzles mortal sight and mind,

  Is named the Empyrean, where pure souls

  Dwell and enjoy that infinite Good

  Whose essence is entirely self-defined;

  Nothing resembles it among mankind.

  82 ‘Here dwell in glory only the genuine

  Gods, because I, Saturn and Janus,

  Jupiter and Juno, are mere fables

  Dreamed by mankind in his blindness.

  We serve only* to fashion delightful

  Verses, and if human usage offers

  Us more, it is your imagination

  Awards us each in heaven a constellation.

  83 ‘Given, however, that Sacred Providence

  —Represented here by Jupiter—

  Governs the whole world it sustains

  By means of a thousand prescient angels

  (Prophetic knowledge speaks of them

  With many examples, showing how

  The good are favoured in the sacred plan;

  The bad they try to hinder if they can);

  84 ‘The painter with words, in his varied aims,

  At times to delight, at times instruct,

  Applies to them names the ancient poets

  Once gave their imagined gods;

  Even the Bible describes as “gods”

  The angels of the sacred company,

  Though this pre-eminent name is misapplied

  To fallen angels, wrongly deified.

  85 ‘Ultimately, one all-powerful God

  Works in the world through His agents.

  Now, turning to speak of the profound

  Handiwork of the mysterious Creator,

  Inside this first, motionless sphere

  Where the pure souls live in their bliss,

  Another, too swift and volatile to see,

  Spins round: it is the Primum Mobile.

  86 ‘Each of the spheres that lie within

  Is impelled by this rapturous movement:

  The sun, obeying a course not its own.

  Meticulously creates day and night;

  Within this, another rotates

  Measuredly, on so tight a rein*

  That, ever generous with its light, the sun

  Circles two hundred times while this makes one.

  87 ‘Look further inside at the next sphere,

  Enamelled with radiant, polished bodies,

  Moving on its predestined course

  As it turns on its shining poles.

  See how it dazzles and is adorned

  With the starry belt of the Zodiac.

  Twelve beasts are represented, and their signs

  Are the twelve stages from which Phoebus shines.

  88 ‘Look in these other parts at the pictures

  The glistening stars are fashioning;

  Behold the Great and Little Bears,

  Andromeda, and Cepheus the Dragon;

  See Cassiopeia in all her beauty,

  And the wild countenance of Orion;

  See Cygnus sighing, before she must expire,

  The Hare, the Dogs, the Argo, and sweet Lyre.

  89 ‘Beneath this spacious firmament

  Is the heaven of the old god Saturn;

  Jupiter is revolving close by,

  Above Mars, his belligerent enemy;

  Fourth is the heaven of the sun’s brilliance,

  Then Venus with all her loves in tow;

  Sweet-tongued Mercury is next in line,

  Then Diana (huntress, moon, and Proserpine).

  90 ‘Each of these planets moves in a different

  Course, some ponderous, others swift,

  Wandering far off from the centre

  Or just a short distance from earth,

  Following the almighty Father’s plan,

  Who made fire, air, wind, and snow,

  Which can be seen located right within

  At the centre where sea and land begin.

  91 ‘This is the hostel of humanity,*

  Who, too ambitious to be content

  With the afflictions of solid land,

  Have launched out on the restless oceans.

  Look at the various regions, divided

  By turbulent seas, where there are lodged

  Nations and tribes with various kings and chiefs,

  Contrasting customs, various beliefs.

  92 ‘Here is Christian Europe, advanced and envied

  For its might and for its governance;

  Here is Africa, desperate to share

  The world�
��s goods, and racked by violence,

  With the Cape which till now has barred

  All passage, nature’s southern home;

  Look at this huge, inhabited region

  Without boundaries, without religion;

  93 ‘Look at the empire of Monomotapa*

  With its forest peoples, black and naked,

  Where Gonçalo da Silveira* will undergo

  Insult and death for the holy Church.

  This unknown hemisphere abounds

  With the metal for which men most sweat;

  Behold the lake which is the Nile’s source

  And the green Zambesi, too, begins its course.

  94 ‘See how the Negroes’ houses are like nests,

  Without doors, entirely confident

  Of royal justice and protection

  And the honesty of their neighbours;

  Then see this brutal multitude,

  Like a thick black cloud of starlings,

  Besieging the fortress at Sofala,*

  Well built, and well defended by Anhaia.

  95 ‘Yonder are the great lakes, unknown

  To the ancients, where the Nile springs;

  Watch it watering, with its crocodiles,

  The Christian peoples of Abyssinia;

  Look how their defence takes the novel form

  Of living without any defences;

  And see Meroé,* that island of such fame

  Which now has Nubia as its local name.

  96 ‘In that remote land, your unborn child*

  Will win great victories over the Turks

  (Dom Cristovão will be his name),

  But his death will be the price.

  Note here on the coast, rich Malindi

  That received you with such kindness;

  And give the river Rapto, too, your glance,

  Also called Obi; its bar is at Quilmance.

  97 ‘Now see Cape Guardafui, once known

  By its inhabitants as Aromata,

  Guarding the entrance to the famous

  Red Sea, so named for its coloured sands.

  Its waters mark the frontier

  Where Africa ends, and the best towns

  Just where Asia is about to begin,

  Are Massawa, Arkiko, and Suakin.

  98 ‘Far to the left is Suez, known of old

  (Some maintain) as Heroopolis

  (Arsinoe, say others), and which today

  Harbours the mighty Egyptian fleet.

  Behold waters where in olden times

  Great Moses opened a causeway.

  Here Asia starts, the famous Orient

  With its many kingdoms, vast and opulent.

  99 ‘See Mount Sinai,* further ennobled

  By the sepulchre of St Catherine.

  See Tur and Jiddah, a town starved

  Of refreshing, crystal fountains,

  And the portals of that strait which ends

  In Aden’s desert kingdom, bordering

  The mountains known as Asir, living stone

  Where heaven’s refreshing rains are never known.

 

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