The Lusiads (Oxford World's Classics)

by Luis Vaz de Camoes

  O generous king: the passage imitates Aeneas’ address to Dido, Aeneid, i. 597–610.

  Aeolus: the god who kept the winds in a bag.

  The proud Titans . . . : references follow to the Titans who made war against the gods on Olympus (see canto 5. 51), and to Pirithous and Theseus who tried to kidnap Proserpina, wife of Pluto, king of the Underworld. Pirithous was eaten by the dog Cerberus and Theseus made prisoner until released by Hercules. For Nereus, see canto 2. 19.

  Ctesiphon: the architect of Diana’s temple at Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Herostratus is said to have burned it with the sole aim of being remembered.

  Canto Three

  Calliope: the epic muse, invoked in Aeneid, ix. 525.

  Apollo: god of medicine, and Orpheus’ father by Calliope, though compulsively unfaithful to her.

  Hyperborean: literally ‘beyond the north’, here the back of beyond of Russia.

  Scythians: Russians, in legend rivalling Egyptians in antiquity. Damascus is said to have been founded by Adam.

  Helle: escaped with her brother on the ram with the Golden Fleece, and fell into the strait which bears her name while on the way to Colchis.

  Constantine the Great: the Turks took Constantinople (Byzantium) in 1453 (cf. canto 1. 60).

  Antenor: see canto 2. 45.

  the Keeper of the Keys: St Peter’s descendants as popes.

  Pyrene: a nymph who fled from her angry father after yielding to Hercules and was eaten by animals in these mountains.

  last labour: Hercules’ last labour was to open the Straits of Gibraltar, sealing them with the pillars of Calpe and Abyla (supposedly the origins of the name Gibraltar, but see also note on p. 53 below).

  Naples: conquered in 1442 by Alfonso V of Aragon.

  all restored: the conquest of Spain was completed with the capture of Granada in 1492.

  Lusus: see canto 1. 24.

  Viriatus: see canto 1. 26 (Camões is punning on the Latin virtus, manliness, strength).

  Alfonso: Alfonso VI (1065–1109) of Castile who captured Toledo, ancient capital of the Visigoth kings, in 1085.

  Henrique: Henry of Burgundy (not Hungary), who married Teresa, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VI, and fathered the first king of Portugal, Afonso I (1143–85).

  Ishmaelites: Camões makes a curious distinction between Saracens, meaning descendants of Sarah, Abraham’s legitimate wife, and Ishmaelites, descendants of Hagar, Abraham’s ‘mistress’. Visigoth Spain was invaded in 711 by a Berber army from Morocco, said to have been led by Tariq who gave his name to the rock (jebel) where he landed (Jebel Tariq: Gibraltar), and by 715 most of what became Spain and Portugal was under Arab rule. Initially, Muslim Iberia was ruled by governors based in Córdoba appointed by the Umayyad caliphs in Damascus, but after the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty by the Abbasids in 750, it became a semi-independent outpost of Islam, racked by internal divisions between the Arab rulers and the Berber majority, and eventually, after the decline of Córdoba c.1000, split into separate states or taifas. It was these taifas which began to be attacked by the kings of Spain and Portugal in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, beginning effectively with the capture of Toledo (see st. 23) in 1085. Meanwhile, Iberia was invaded from Morocco by successive revivalist groups which had come to power there and which brought some unity to the Muslim states. These were the Almoravids, orthodox and puritan, who began to intervene in 1086, and the Almohads, equally orthodox but stressing spiritual renewal, who succeeded them from the mid-twelfth century. It was against Almoravid- and Almohad-led armies that Portugal was captured piecemeal between the Battle of Ourique 1139 and the conquest of the Algarve, completed by 1249.

  the Holy City: references are to the First Crusade (1096–9) and its leader, Godfrey of Boulogne. It is disputed whether Henry was present.

  his mother: Queen Teresa. She is said to have been mistress, not wife, of Fernando Peres, Count of Trava.

  So at Guimarães: the Battle of Guimarães (1128) is taken to mark the beginning of Portuguese independence from Castile.

  cruel Procne . . . Medea: references follow to Procne, who avenged her husband’s rape of her sister Philomena by killing her son Itys and feeding him to Tereus, his father; to Medea who, abandoned by her husband Jason, murdered their two sons; and to Scylla, who killed her father, king of Megara, in order to deliver his head to King Minos of Crete whom she loved and who was besieging the city.

  Faithful Egas: the legend of Egas Moniz, Afonso’s tutor, provides one model of personal fealty. There are other models as Camões’s history proceeds. Even here, no reflection is intended on Afonso’s honour.

  Sinis . . . : references are to Sinis, a thief slain by Theseus, who bent branches to the ground and tied his victims to them, tearing them to pieces; and to Perillus, who invented for his master Phalaris of Agrigentum a brazen bull in which to roast his enemies.

  Zophyrus: one of Darius I’s generals who, when besieging Babylon, mutilated himself to deceive the defenders into believing he had changed sides and so captured the city.

  the plain of Ourique: for the Battle of Ourique 1139, see canto 1. 7.

  Penthesilea: Queen of the Amazons, of the River Thermodon in Asia Minor.

  the proud white buckler: this explanation of the shields on Portugal’s escutcheon supplements canto 1. 7.

  Leiria . . . Arronches: captured 1140.

  Santarém: captured 1147.

  Mafra: taken 1146.

  Sintra: taken 1147. The Promontory of the Moon was named by Ptolemy. Camões seems to be indicating Cabo da Roca.

  most noble Lisbon: the legend is that Lisbon, named ‘Ulysippo’ in Latin, was founded by Ulysses. The city fell in 1147 after a five-month siege with the aid of knights en route to the Second Crusade.

  Vandals: Visigoth invaders, including ‘Vandals’ after whom, Camões claims wrongly, the Spanish province of Andalusia is named.

  Estremadura: the province bordering Lisbon to the north, containing Óbidos, Torres Vedras, and Alenquer, captured 1147–8.

  lands of the Alentejo: the strongholds listed in this stanza, beyond the Tagus, were taken 1166. Ceres was the goddess of agriculture, with whom even the conquering Portuguese admitted the ‘Moors’ were on good terms.

  even Évora yielded: once Sertorius’ capital (see canto 1. 26), captured 1165 by Gerald the Fearless after the bloody exploit described in canto 8. 21. The famous aqueduct was built by João III.

  Beja: captured 1162.

  Trancoso: far to the north, in Beira Alta province, had been destroyed in 1140.

  Sesimbra: captured 1165. Afonso’s defeat of the Almoravid ruler of Badajoz was followed by the fall of Palmela in 1166.

  laid siege to Badajoz: Afonso captured Badajoz from the Almohads in 1169. He was then himself besieged by his son-in-law Ferdinand II of León and taken prisoner after breaking his leg.

  grieve no longer: Pompey was defeated by Julius Caesar, his father-in-law, at Pharsalia in Thessaly, 48 BC. The following stanzas refer to the various lands conquered by Pompey, from Asia to the Atlas Mountains.

  engines of God’s ire: see st. 33.

  Santarém: besieged 1173; the presumed remains of St Vincent, Lisbon’s patron, were translated in 1175.

  Sancho: later Sancho I (1185–1211), conducted these southern campaigns in 1179.

  They came together: Camões has conflated several invasions, beginning with the capture of Granada in 1154, by the Almohads under their spiritual leader Amir ‘Abd al-mu’nin (see note to p. 53 below). The Amir died in 1163. It was his successor, Yusuf I, who died at the siege of Santarém in 1184.

  Atlas Mountains: the giant Atlas was petrified by sight of the head of the gorgon Medusa.

  Antaeus: the giant Antaeus, killed by Hercules and buried near Tangier.

  Afonso: the Great, d. 1185.

  Silves: ancient capital of the Algarve, taken 1189 with the help of English (not German) knights sailing to join Emperor Frederick (Barbarossa) I on
the Third Crusade. Guy de Lusignan was defeated by Saladin in the waterless plain of Tiberias (1187) where he had encamped.

  the splendid frontier city: Sancho I campaigned against Alfonso IX, capturing the frontier town of Tuy in 1197.

  second Afonso: Afonso II (1211–23), retook Alcácer do Sal finally in 1217.

  Sancho the second: (1223–47). References in the following stanzas are to Roman emperors Nero (AD 54–68) and Heliogabalus (AD 218–22); to Sardanapalus, the last Assyrian king of Nineveh (9th century BC); and to Phalaris, the Sicilian tyrant (d. 552 BC), for whom Perillus devised the brazen bull (cf. st. 39).

  his brother: Sancho II was deposed 1245 by the Count of Boulogne, who became Afonso III (1248–79) on Sancho’s death.

  The land assigned by fate to Portugal: the conquest of the Algarve was completed in Afonso III’s reign.

  King Dinis: Dinis I (1279–1325), was known as O Lavrador (the worker). He founded Portugal’s first university, created the great state forest of Leiria, reformed local government, rebuilt much of Portugal, and was Portugal’s first patron of the arts. He was also a fine poet, no less than 137 of his cantigas being preserved in the song-books.

  army of Moors: though by c.1300 all of Portugal and most of Spain was under Christian rule, Grenada remained an amirate. In 1340 the Amir summoned reinforcements from Morocco in a last attempt to recapture Spain. They were defeated at the Battle of the River Salado, near Tarifa, by the combined forces of Afonso IV and his son-in-law Alfonso XI of Castile (1312–50). Camões highlights it as one of the three major battles of The Lusíads, partly because of Portugal’s central role but principally because it marked the last serious threat from North Africa.

  Semiramis: legendary Queen of Assyria.

  Attila: (433–53), leader of the Huns (not Goths, as suggested here).

  Ishmaelites: see note to p. 53.

  robust and brutal giant: for David and Goliath, see I Samuel 17. 20–54.

  Santiago: St James, patron saint of Castile.

  home of Tethys: one of Neptune’s wives, hence, the ocean.

  Roman Marius . . . : references follow to the victory of Marius over the Teutons (101 BC); of Hannibal over the Romans at Cannae (216 BC); and to the destruction of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus (AD 70), prophesied in the Old Testament and by Christ (Luke 21. 20–4).

  But now the tragic history: in the tragedy of Inês de Castro, all the actors existed historically. Yet the story sounds like myth, being capable of different interpretations. She came from a noble Galician family and her two brothers were ambitious for thrones. Her long-standing affair with Pedro, the crown prince, began when she was lady-in-waiting to Princess Constança, Pedro’s wife. When she bore him four children and when, after Constança’s death, Pedro refused to marry, she became a danger to the succession and national fervour demanded her removal. Was Inês, in all this, the hapless victim of statecraft? This is the version Camões presents. Or was she a manipulator, dangerously ambitious for her sons and for Spain? And what was the role of Pedro? Was it her death that turned him into Pedro the Cruel? The story (see st. 118) that he had her body exhumed at his succession and crowned queen speaks of some derangement. Yet his decree that they should be buried feet to feet in the great monastery at Alcobaça, so that hers will be the first face he sees at the resurrection, seems the action of a lover.

  little children: the legendary rearing of Semiramis by doves (cf. st. 100), and of Romulus and Remus by the she-wolf.

  Polyxena: daughter of Priam of Troy, sacrificed by Pyrrhus in the presence of her mother Hecuba to appease the ghost of Achilles.

  Atreus: king of Mycenae, who took this terrible revenge against Thyestes, his adulterous brother.

  Pedro was avenged: Pedro I (1357–67) persuaded his contemporary, Pedro the Cruel of Castile (1350–69) to hand back Inês’s killers for execution. The two ‘Peters’ are compared to the triumvirate of Octavius, Mark Antony, and Lepidus who likewise disposed of their enemies.

  harsher penalties: Hercules and Theseus were known for killing outlaws.

  Gentle Fernando: Fernando (1367–83) was dominated by his mistress, Leonor Teles, and left Portugal exposed to the Castilean invasion of 1373—events to be settled by the Battle of Aljubarrota (see canto 4. 7–45).

  Lust always has the consequences: the canto concludes with reflections on the power of love to destroy and to transform. Paris stole Helen; Appius Claudius raped Virginia, following the example of Sextus Tarquinius, violator of Lucretia, and afterwards committed suicide; King David stole Bathsheba from her husband; the tribe of Benjamin was massacred after its members raped a woman of the tribe of Levi; Pharaoh’s passion for Sarah, Abraham’s wife passing herself off as his sister, resulted in the plagues afflicting Egypt; Shechem raped Dinah, Jacob’s daughter and was killed; Hercules, infatuated with Omphale of Lydia, swapped clothing and weapons with her; Anthony lost an empire for Cleopatra; and Hannibal, after the Battle of Cannae (see st. 116) all but threw his victory away for a woman from Apulia.

  Canto Four

  longed for a hero: King Fernando’s death in 1383 bequeathed a succession crisis, presided over by his former mistress, the hated Leonor Teles, and her lover, the Count of Ourém. The principal claimant was Juan of Castile, husband of Fernando’s daughter Beatrice, whose accession would have meant subjugation to Spain. The Portuguese pretender was the popular João of Avis, a bastard son of King Pedro. Camões (see st. 7) doubts Beatrice’s legitimacy but that question aside, Juan of Castile had the better claim while João of Avis seemed likely to make the better king. At this point in The Lusíads loyalty to country and the ‘common will’ supersedes feudal fealty of the kind demonstrated by Egas Moniz (canto 3. 35–41).

  an infant girl: Burton points out the ‘Delphian adroitness’ of the ‘loyal and loquacious child’ in uttering a name which fitted both contenders.

  outright cruelties: in the civil disorders, the Count of Ourém was stabbed to death by João of Avis, and the Castilian Bishop of Lisbon, Martinho, suffered the fate of Astyanax, hurled by the Greeks from the walls of Troy.

  cruel Marius . . . : references follow to Marius (157–86 BC) and Sulla (138–78 BC), political rivals in Rome’s civil war.

  Assembled his troops: the Battle of Aljubarrota (1385), one of the great set-pieces of The Lusíads, sealed Portugal’s independence from Spain. Camões describes the massing of an immense Spanish army (st. 8–11), the rallying of Portugal’s weak forces (st. 12–22), the departure from Abrantes (st. 23–7), and finally the battle itself, more than matching Ourique and Salado (canto 3. 44–53 and 109–16) in ferocity.

  Derives its name . . . : references follow to Brigus, legendary founder of Burgos, to Fernán González (930?–70), first count of Castile, and to El Cid, Rodrigo Díaz de Bivar (c. 1043–99).

  Vandals: see canto 3. 60.

  pillars of Hercules: see canto 3. 18.

  Dom Nuno Álvares: Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira (1360?–1431), constable of the Kingdom, was military leader of this revolution and is one of Portugal’s most revered heroes. His brothers, Diogo and Pedro, like the majority of Portugal’s noblemen (together with Camões’s own ancestor Vasco Lopes de Camões), fought with Castile.

  ferocious Henrique: the victory of Afonso I at Arcos de Valdevez (cf. canto 3. 34).