Duperron de
Castera, who has given a French prose translation, or rather paraphrase,
of the Lusiad, has a long note on this passage, which, he tells us, must
not be understood literally.
Castera, who has given a French prose translation, or rather paraphrase,
of the Lusiad, has a long note on this passage, which, he tells us, must
not be understood literally.
Camoes - Lusiades
--_Ed.
_
[60] Faria y Sousa.
[61] It was the custom of the first discoverers to erect crosses at
various places remarkable in their voyage. Gama erected six: one,
dedicated to St. Raphael, at the river of Good Signs; one to St. George,
at Mozambique; one to St. Stephen, at Melinda; one to St. Gabriel, at
Calicut; and one to St. Mary, at the island thence named, near
Anchediva.
[62] _The Lusiad_; in the original, Os Lusiadas, The Lusiads, from the
Latin name (_Lusitania_) of Portugal, derived from Lusus or Lysas, the
companion of Bacchus in his travels, who settled a colony in Lusitania,
See Plin. 1, iii. c. i.
[63] _Thro' seas where sail was never spread before. _--M.
Duperron de
Castera, who has given a French prose translation, or rather paraphrase,
of the Lusiad, has a long note on this passage, which, he tells us, must
not be understood literally. Our author, he says, could not be ignorant
that the African and Indian Oceans had been navigated before the times
of the Portuguese. The Phoenicians, whose fleets passed the straits of
Gibraltar, made frequent voyages in these seas, though they carefully
concealed the course of their navigation that other nations might not
become partakers of their lucrative traffic. --See the Periplus of Hanno,
in Cory's Ancient Fragments. --_Ed. _
[64] _And all my country's wars. _--He interweaves artfully the history
of Portugal. --VOLTAIRE.
[65] _To Holy Faith unnumber'd altars rear'd. _--In no period of history
does human nature appear with more shocking, more diabolical features
than in the wars of Cortez, and the Spanish conquerors of South America.
Zeal for the Christian religion was esteemed, at the time of the
Portuguese grandeur, as the most cardinal virtue, and to propagate
Christianity and extirpate Mohammedanism were the most certain proofs of
that zeal. In all their expeditions this was professedly a principal
motive of the Lusitanian monarchs, and Camoens understood the nature of
epic poetry too well to omit it.
[66] Ulysses, who is the subject of the Odyssey.
[67] The voyage of AEneas, described in the AEneid of Virgil.
[68] Alexander the Great, who claimed to be the son of Jupiter Ammon.
[69] Vasco de Gama is, in a great measure, though not exclusively, the
hero of the Lusiad.
[60] Faria y Sousa.
[61] It was the custom of the first discoverers to erect crosses at
various places remarkable in their voyage. Gama erected six: one,
dedicated to St. Raphael, at the river of Good Signs; one to St. George,
at Mozambique; one to St. Stephen, at Melinda; one to St. Gabriel, at
Calicut; and one to St. Mary, at the island thence named, near
Anchediva.
[62] _The Lusiad_; in the original, Os Lusiadas, The Lusiads, from the
Latin name (_Lusitania_) of Portugal, derived from Lusus or Lysas, the
companion of Bacchus in his travels, who settled a colony in Lusitania,
See Plin. 1, iii. c. i.
[63] _Thro' seas where sail was never spread before. _--M.
Duperron de
Castera, who has given a French prose translation, or rather paraphrase,
of the Lusiad, has a long note on this passage, which, he tells us, must
not be understood literally. Our author, he says, could not be ignorant
that the African and Indian Oceans had been navigated before the times
of the Portuguese. The Phoenicians, whose fleets passed the straits of
Gibraltar, made frequent voyages in these seas, though they carefully
concealed the course of their navigation that other nations might not
become partakers of their lucrative traffic. --See the Periplus of Hanno,
in Cory's Ancient Fragments. --_Ed. _
[64] _And all my country's wars. _--He interweaves artfully the history
of Portugal. --VOLTAIRE.
[65] _To Holy Faith unnumber'd altars rear'd. _--In no period of history
does human nature appear with more shocking, more diabolical features
than in the wars of Cortez, and the Spanish conquerors of South America.
Zeal for the Christian religion was esteemed, at the time of the
Portuguese grandeur, as the most cardinal virtue, and to propagate
Christianity and extirpate Mohammedanism were the most certain proofs of
that zeal. In all their expeditions this was professedly a principal
motive of the Lusitanian monarchs, and Camoens understood the nature of
epic poetry too well to omit it.
[66] Ulysses, who is the subject of the Odyssey.
[67] The voyage of AEneas, described in the AEneid of Virgil.
[68] Alexander the Great, who claimed to be the son of Jupiter Ammon.
[69] Vasco de Gama is, in a great measure, though not exclusively, the
hero of the Lusiad.
