_--
"By the line of heroes to be produced by the union of the Portuguese
with the Nereids, is to be understood the other Portuguese, who,
following the steps of GAMA, established illustrious colonies in
India.
"By the line of heroes to be produced by the union of the Portuguese
with the Nereids, is to be understood the other Portuguese, who,
following the steps of GAMA, established illustrious colonies in
India.
Camoes - Lusiades
The affairs of state were left to his
ministers (for whose character see the next note), his other studies
were neglected, and military exercises, of which he not unjustly
esteemed the chase a principal, were almost his sole employ. Camoens
beheld this romantic turn, and in a genteel allegorical satire foreboded
its consequences. The wish, that his prince might not fall the prey of
his favourite passion, was in vain. In a rash, ill-concerted expedition
into Africa, Don Sebastian lost his crown in his twenty-fifth year, an
event which soon after produced the fall of the Portuguese empire. Had
the nobility possessed the spirit of Camoens, had they, like him,
endeavoured to check the quixotism of a young generous prince, that
prince might have reigned long and happy, and Portugal might have
escaped the Spanish yoke, which soon followed his defeat at Alcazar; a
yoke which sunk Portugal into an abyss of misery, from which, in all
probability, she will never emerge into her former splendour.
[567]
_Enraged, he sees a venal herd, the shame
Of human race, assume the titled name. --_
"After having ridiculed all the pleasures of Don Sebastian, the author
now proceeds to his courtiers, to whom he has done no injustice. Those
who are acquainted with the Portuguese history, will readily acknowledge
this. "--CASTERA.
[568] _On the hard bosoms of the stubborn crowd. _--There in an elegance
in the original of this line, which the English language will not
admit:--
"Nos duros coracoens de plebe dura,"--
_i. e. _, In the hard hearts of the hard vulgar.
[569] Cupid.
[570]
_Thus from my native waves a hero line
Shall rise, and o'er the East illustrious shine.
_--
"By the line of heroes to be produced by the union of the Portuguese
with the Nereids, is to be understood the other Portuguese, who,
following the steps of GAMA, established illustrious colonies in
India. "--CASTERA.
[571] _And Fame--a giant goddess. _--This passage affords a striking
instance of the judgment of Camoens. Virgil's celebrated description of
Fame is in his eye, but he copies it, as Virgil, in his best imitations,
copies after Homer. He adopts some circumstances, but, by adding others,
he makes a new picture, which justly may be called his own.
[572] _The wat'ry gods. _--To mention the gods in the masculine gender,
and immediately to apply to them--
"O peito feminil, que levemente
Muda quaysquer propositos tomados. "--
The ease with which the female breast changes its resolutions, may to
the hypercritical appear reprehensible. The expression, however, is
classical, and therefore retained. Virgil uses it, where AEneas is
conducted by Venus through the flames of Troy:--
"Descendo, ac ducente _Deo_, flammam inter et hostes
Expedior. "
This is in the manner of the Greek poets, who use the word ? ? ? ? for god
or goddess.
ministers (for whose character see the next note), his other studies
were neglected, and military exercises, of which he not unjustly
esteemed the chase a principal, were almost his sole employ. Camoens
beheld this romantic turn, and in a genteel allegorical satire foreboded
its consequences. The wish, that his prince might not fall the prey of
his favourite passion, was in vain. In a rash, ill-concerted expedition
into Africa, Don Sebastian lost his crown in his twenty-fifth year, an
event which soon after produced the fall of the Portuguese empire. Had
the nobility possessed the spirit of Camoens, had they, like him,
endeavoured to check the quixotism of a young generous prince, that
prince might have reigned long and happy, and Portugal might have
escaped the Spanish yoke, which soon followed his defeat at Alcazar; a
yoke which sunk Portugal into an abyss of misery, from which, in all
probability, she will never emerge into her former splendour.
[567]
_Enraged, he sees a venal herd, the shame
Of human race, assume the titled name. --_
"After having ridiculed all the pleasures of Don Sebastian, the author
now proceeds to his courtiers, to whom he has done no injustice. Those
who are acquainted with the Portuguese history, will readily acknowledge
this. "--CASTERA.
[568] _On the hard bosoms of the stubborn crowd. _--There in an elegance
in the original of this line, which the English language will not
admit:--
"Nos duros coracoens de plebe dura,"--
_i. e. _, In the hard hearts of the hard vulgar.
[569] Cupid.
[570]
_Thus from my native waves a hero line
Shall rise, and o'er the East illustrious shine.
_--
"By the line of heroes to be produced by the union of the Portuguese
with the Nereids, is to be understood the other Portuguese, who,
following the steps of GAMA, established illustrious colonies in
India. "--CASTERA.
[571] _And Fame--a giant goddess. _--This passage affords a striking
instance of the judgment of Camoens. Virgil's celebrated description of
Fame is in his eye, but he copies it, as Virgil, in his best imitations,
copies after Homer. He adopts some circumstances, but, by adding others,
he makes a new picture, which justly may be called his own.
[572] _The wat'ry gods. _--To mention the gods in the masculine gender,
and immediately to apply to them--
"O peito feminil, que levemente
Muda quaysquer propositos tomados. "--
The ease with which the female breast changes its resolutions, may to
the hypercritical appear reprehensible. The expression, however, is
classical, and therefore retained. Virgil uses it, where AEneas is
conducted by Venus through the flames of Troy:--
"Descendo, ac ducente _Deo_, flammam inter et hostes
Expedior. "
This is in the manner of the Greek poets, who use the word ? ? ? ? for god
or goddess.
