The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics)

Home > Other > The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics) > Page 26
The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics) Page 26

by Luis Vaz de Camoes


  100 ‘See the three Arabias, so bountiful

  With land for their dark nomads;

  From there come the noble steeds prized

  By warriors for their fire and pace;

  Look how the coast barricades

  The Straits of Ormuz, and marks out

  The promontory of Ras Fartak, so named

  From its city which is equally famed.

  101 ‘Notice Dhofar,* source of the loveliest,

  Most aromatic of all altar-incense;

  But now attend; for there opposite

  Ras el Hadd with its barren beaches,

  Begins the coast of the kingdom

  Of Ormuz, shores destined to be known

  When a fleet of galleys, with Turks aboard,

  Confronts Castelo-Branco’s naked sword.

  102 ‘This Cape nearby is Asaborus, now

  Known to sailors as Ras Mussendum;

  It marks the entrance to that gulf enclosed

  By Arabia and opulent Persia;

  See Bahrain Island where the ocean bed

  Is bedecked with pearls, matching the dawn,

  And watch the Tigris and Euphrates merge,

  Sharing one delta in their seaward surge.

  103 ‘See mighty Persia,* that noble empire,

  Its warriors for ever in the saddle,

  Scorning the use of smelted bronze,

  Or to have hands uncalloused by weapons.

  Note Gerum, the island which reveals

  What the passage of time can do;

  While old Ormuz was green in memory,

  It stole the name and with it all the glory.

  104 ‘Here Dom Filipe de Meneses, the governor,

  Will show his aptitude for battle

  When, with a handful of Portuguese,

  He routs a Persian host at Lar;

  They will know further blows and reverses

  From Dom Pedro de Sousa, who showed

  His powers at Ampaza, brought to heel

  By soldiers armed with nothing more than steel.

  105 ‘But we leave the Straits of Ormuz

  And Cape Ras Jaskah, formerly Carpela,

  And the land nearby, so ill-favoured

  By nature and her customary gifts

  (Carmania this desert was once called);

  Instead, gaze now on the beautiful

  Indus,* its source high amid yonder snows

  While, from the nearby crest, the Ganges flows.

  106 ‘See the most fertile land of Sind

  And the deep-seated Gulf of Cutch

  Where the flood tide is like a torrent

  And the ebb retreats as impetuously;

  See the treasure-laden land of Cambay

  Where the sea bites deeply into the coast;

  I pass by a thousand other cities

  Awaiting you with their amenities.

  107 ‘See how the famous Indian coast runs

  All the way south to Cape Comorin,

  Once called Cape Cori, with Taprobana

  (Afterwards Ceylon) lying offshore;

  These are the coasts where Portuguese

  Who come in your wake will levy war,

  Conquering cities and kingdoms in their prime,

  And holding them in partnership with time.

  108 ‘The realms between the two rivers

  Are beyond count and thronged with peoples,

  Some kingdoms Muslim, others Hindu,

  The devil himself writing their laws.

  Now behold the land of Narsinga

  Where lie the most blessed remains

  Of St Thomas,* whom our risen Christ defied

  To thrust his hand into His very side.

  109 ‘Here was an elegant city named.

  Mylapore,* vast and prosperous,

  Worshipping its ancient idols;

  As the pagans do to this day.

  It was far inland in those days,

  And the religion of the risen Christ

  Was newly broadcast, when St Thomas trod

  A thousand regions with the word of God.

  110 ‘As he came here, preaching, and dispensing

  Health to the sick, life to the dead,

  One day the sea threw up on shore

  A tree-trunk of enormous girth.

  The king, who was building, sought

  To use it as timber, never doubting

  To drag it ashore through the contrivance

  Of strong men with machines and elephants.

  111 ‘So heavy was the trunk that nothing

  The king devised could shift it;

  But the ambassador of the true Christ

  Made little work of the matter:

  He simply tied his girdle to the log,

  Raised it, and carried it for use

  As the corner-post of a splendid shrine

  Which would serve to the future as a sign.

  112 ‘He understood that, if perfect faith

  Could move even a deaf mountain,

  It would respond at once to Christ’s

  Injunction, and so it came to pass.

  Excitement spread among the people;

  The Brahmins took it as a miracle;

  But eyeing such wonders and such sanctity,

  They feared to forfeit their authority.

  113 ‘These are the priests among the Hindus

  And them envy had pierced the most;

  They cast around for a thousand means

  To silence Thomas, or to kill him.

  Their leader, who wore their threads of office,*

  Did a fearful thing—showing the world

  There is nothing false virtue will eschew

  When it fights without scruple with the true.

  114 ‘He killed his own son and laid the crime

  At the innocent hands of Thomas;

  They called false witnesses, as could be done;

  They condemned him promptly to death.

  The saint, who could see his only recourse

  Lay in his all-powerful father,

  Before the king and lords in the packed hall

  Prayed for the greatest miracle of all.

  115 ‘He ordered the corpse brought before him

  And restored it to life, and enquired

  Who was his killer, as the one witness

  Whose testimony would be credited.

  All saw the youth alive, raised up

  In the name of the crucified Christ;

  He thanked Thomas as his true deliverer

  And denounced his father as the murderer.

  116 ‘This miracle so astounded everyone

  The king submitted at once to baptism,

  And many more; some kissed his gown,

  Others sang hymns to Thomas’s God.

  But the Brahmins were hostile, and envy

  So poisoned their thinking, they resolved

  To use the rabble to enforce their will

  Inciting mayhem with the aim to kill.

  117 ‘One day as St Thomas was preaching

  They feigned a disturbance among the people

  —Now Christ had, in that hour, ordained

  His martyr should join him in glory—

  As the multitude of stones descended

  The saint was a willing sacrifice;

  One of the villains, to fulfil his part

  With a cruel lance stabbed the apostle’s heart.

  118 ‘The Ganges and Indus mourn you, Thomas;

  Every land weeps where you trod;

  But those souls lament the most who remain

  Clothed in the holy faith you taught them!

  God’s angels, with joy and singing,

  Welcomed you to your glorious reward;

  And with God we pray you will intercede

  To help your Lusitanians in their need.

  119 ‘As for you others, who usurp the name

  Envoy of God, as was Thomas, tell me:

  If you are missionaries, why do you
not

  Go forth to preach the holy faith?

  If, being earth’s salt,* you lose savour

  At home, where no man is a prophet,

  Wherewith will you salt, in times like these

  (Forget the infidel), such heresies?

  120 ‘But I pass over such perilous matters

  To return to the coast* passing below:

  For with this famous city of Mylapore

  The Bay of Bengal begins its curve;

  Pass by rich and mighty Narsinga,

  Pass by Orissa, with its busy looms;

  At its head, the famous and (to some) occult

  River Ganges joins the domain of salt;

  121 ‘The Ganges, in which when people die

  They are baptized, it being their creed

  That, even having been great sinners,

  That sacred water will cleanse them.

  Behold Chittagong, the finest city

  Of Bengal, a province which boasts

  Of its wealth, just beyond the Ganges’s mouth,

  Where the coastline turns sharply to the south.

  122 ‘See the Arakan kingdom and the throne

  Of Pegu, once peopled by monsters

  —Children of the horrible coupling

  Of a solitary woman and a dog:

  Today, men wear on their genitals

  Tiny tinkling bells, a custom

  Invented very subtly by their queen

  To put pay to behaviour so obscene.

  123 ‘See the city of Tavoy, on the border

  Of the long, broad empire of Siam;

  Then Tenasserim, and Kedah, where

  The region’s pepper is harvested.

  But you must go further on to view

  Malacca, that vast sea’s emporium,

  Where every kingdom of whatever size,

  Dispatches all its richest merchandise.

  124 ‘There is a saying that in ancient times

  The noble isle of Sumatra was joined

  To the main, until mountainous seas

  Eroded its base and cut it off.

  It was known as “The Chersonese”

  And, from its seams of the precious metal,

  The epithet “Golden” came to adhere

  (Some think it was the biblical Ophir).

  125 ‘The peninsula’s tip is Singapore

  Where the straits are at their narrowest;

  Then, curving to face the Lesser Bear,

  The coast points east* towards the dawn.

  See Pahang and Patani, and the shores

  Of Siam to which these are subject;

  And behold the Menam River flowing by

  From a lake in Siam named Chieng-Mai.

  126 ‘In this vast land are a thousand nations

  Of which even the names are unknown:

  The Laos, mighty in extent and numbers;

  The Avas and Burmese, high in their hills.

  And the Karens, rumoured to be savages,

  Remoter still in the mountains beyond:

  They eat human flesh (inhuman!) and they char

  Their own flesh with iron brands (bizarre!).

  127 ‘Look: dividing Cambodia is the great

  River Mekong,* the “prince of waters”;

  Its tributaries are such, it floods

  The wide plains even in summer;

  Its inundations resemble the Nile’s;

  Its people believe, in their ignorance,

  That at death, even animals are consigned

  To be punished or rewarded, like mankind.’

  128 Gently, compassionately, he will receive

  On his broad bosom these Cantos, snatched

  Soaking from sad, wretched shipwreck,

  Surviving treacherous shoals, and hunger

  And countless other dangers, when

  An unjust mandate is imposed on him

  Whose lyre, played with such sweet dexterity

  Will bring him fame, but not prosperity.

  129 ‘The coast beyond is called Tsian Pa;

  In its forests grow fragrant aloes;

  See Cochin-China, still scarcely known,

  And Hainan in its undiscovered gulf.

  Here begins the mighty, famous empire

  Of China, its lands and riches

  Unimaginable, its dominion felt

  From the Arctic Circle to the tropic belt.

  130 ‘See the Great Wall, incredible structure,

  Dividing one empire from another,

  Most certain and obvious proof

  Of sovereign power in its pride and wealth.

  Yet their emperors are not born princes,

  Nor do sons succeed their fathers,

  But they elect one already famous,

  Accomplished, discerning, and virtuous.

  131 ‘There are lands beyond, veiled from you

  Until the time is ripe to reveal them;

  But do not omit the oceans’ islands

  Where nature seems most inventive;

  This one, half hidden, facing the coast

  Of China, from whence it may be reached,

  Is Japan, with its reefs of silver ore,

  And soon to be illumined by God’s law.

  132 ‘Look there, how the seas of the Orient,

  Are scattered with islands beyond number;*

  See Tidore, then Ternate with its burning

  Summit,* leaping with volcanic flames.

  Observe the orchards of hot cloves

  Portuguese will buy with their blood;

  And birds of paradise, which never alight,*

  But fall to earth the day they end their flight.

  133 ‘Behold the Banda Islands, enamelled

  With the changing colours of the nutmeg;

  And the various birds which leap about

  Exacting their own tribute in nuts.

  See Borneo where will be found

  Tear-drops of a liquor that sets,

  Oozing from the bark of the camphor tree,

  Which gives the island its celebrity.

  134 ‘And here is Timor, with its forests

  Of scented, invigorating sandalwood.

  Look at Java, so vast its southern

  Mountains to this day are unexplored.

  The forest people who travel the land

  Talk of a magic river, in whose

  Uppermost reaches, where it flows alone,

  The twigs that fall in it are turned to stone.

  135 ‘And again, Sumatra, made an island

  By time, with its tremulous crest of fire;

  Here is a spring which issues oil,

  And the marvel of the aromatic tears,

  Wept by a tree, which surpass

  In fragrance all Arabia’s myrrh;

  And matching what the other have, behold

  It yields as well soft silks and finest gold.

  136 ‘Observe in Ceylon, a mountain so high

  It tops the clouds and eludes sight;

  It is believed sacred, for there

  On a rock is the footprint of a man.

  In the Maldive Islands, the coconut palm

  Springs from the sea-bed, its milk

  For the most atrocious poison, take note,

  Being said to be the perfect antidote.

  137 ‘Further on, facing the Red Sea strait,

  Is Socotra, with its bitter aloes;

  And other islands, subject to you

  Along the desert coast of Africa,

  Are the source of ambergris, most secret

  And precious perfume known to man.

  And here is Madagascar, better famed

  When it honoured St Lawrence and was so named.

  138 ‘Such are the new regions of the East

  You Portuguese are adding to the world,

  Opening the gates to that vast ocean

  Which you navigate with such courage.

  But it is fitting you glance westwards*

  To observe the ex
ploit of a Portuguese

  Who, believing himself snubbed by his king,

  Made another voyage beyond imagining.

  139 ‘Behold a vast continent which stretches

  From the Great Bear to the opposite pole,

  Soon to be famous for its mines

  Of metal gleaming like Apollo’s hair;

  Castile, your friend, will have the honour

  Of bringing these rough lands under her sway;

  Various peoples in the various regions,

  All differ in their customs and religions.

  140 ‘Here where it bulges, you will colonize

  Brazil, named for its red brazil-wood,

  Though first christened Santa Cruz

  When your fleet is the first to find it.

  Along this coast, which you will own,

  Will sail, exploring the remotest parts,

  Magellan—in all his actions Portuguese

  If not completely in his loyalties.

  141 ‘After crossing more than half-way

  From the equator to the Antarctic pole

  He will come upon men, in the lands

  Of that latitude, giants in their stature.

  Further still, in the straits now bearing

  His own name, his voyage will lead

  To another sea, and to those dominions

  The South hides under her frozen pinions.

  142 ‘Thus far, Portuguese, you are permitted

  To see into the future, learning

  Of the deeds heroes will accomplish

  On oceans no longer unmapped.

  Now, having glimpsed the scale

  Of your exploits, so admired

  By your inseparable and loving wives

  Who weave the coronets that crown your lives,

  143 ‘Now you may embark, with following winds

  And a tranquil sea, for your homeland.’

  So she spoke: and at once they made ready

  To set sail from that happy lovers’ isle.

  They took cool water and the finest food;

  They took the delectable company

  Of the nymphs, bound to them eternally

  Longer than sunlight warms the earth and sea.

  144 So behold them ploughing the calm seas,

  With friendly winds, not a hint of a storm,

  Until their homeland, the country long

  Yearned for, rose before their sight.

  They entered the pleasant Tagus, and gave

  Their country and their honoured king

  The prize for which they sailed at his command,

  Placing still greater titles in his hand.

  145 No more, Muse, no more,* my lyre

  Is out of tune and my throat hoarse,

  Not from singing but from wasting song

  On a deaf and coarsened people.

  Those rewards which encourage genius

  My country ignores, being given over

  To avarice and Philistinism,

  Heartlessness and degrading pessimism.

  146 I do not know by what twist of fate

 

‹ Prev