Thomas, by which
apostle their ancestors had been converted.
apostle their ancestors had been converted.
Camoes - Lusiades
--_Ed.
_
[119]
_On it, the picture of that shape he placed,
In which the Holy Spirit did alight,
The picture of the dove, so white, so chaste,
On the blest Virgin's head, so chaste, so white. _
In these lines, the best of all Fanshaw's, the happy repetition "so
chaste, so white," is a beauty which, though not contained in the
original, the present translator was unwilling to lose.
[120] See the Preface.
[121] When GAMA lay at anchor among the islands of St. George, near
Mozambique, "there came three Ethiopians on board (says Faria y Sousa)
who, seeing St. Gabriel painted on the poop, fell on their knees in
token of their Christianity, which had been preached to them in the
primitive times, though now corrupted. " Barros, c. 4, and Castaneda, l.
i. c. 9, report, that the Portuguese found two or three Abyssinian
Christians in the city of Mombas, who had an oratory in their house. The
following short account of the Christians of the East may perhaps be
acceptable. In the south parts of Malabar, about 200,000 of the
inhabitants professed Christianity before the arrival of the Portuguese.
They use the Syriac language in their services, and read the Scriptures
in that tongue, and call themselves Christians of St.
Thomas, by which
apostle their ancestors had been converted. For 1300 years they had been
under the Patriarch of Babylon, who appointed their _Mutran_, or
archbishop. Dr. Geddes, in his History of the Church of Malabar, relates
that Francisco Roz, a Jesuit missionary, complained to Menezes, the
Portuguese archbishop of Goa, that when he showed these people an image
of the Virgin Mary, they cried out, "Away with that filthiness, we are
Christians, and do not adore idols. "
Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes, archbishop of Goa, "endeavoured to thrust
upon the church of Malabar the whole mass of popery, which they were
before unacquainted with. "--Millar's History of the Propag. of
Christianity.
[122] Venus.
[123] _Proud of her kindred birth. _--The French translator has the
following note on this place:--"This is one of the places which discover
our author's intimate acquaintance with mythology, and at the same time
how much attention his allegory requires. Many readers, on finding that
the protectress of the Lusians sprung from the sea, would be apt to
exclaim, Behold, the birth of the terrestrial Venus! How can a nativity
so infamous be ascribed to the celestial Venus, who represents Religion?
I answer, that Camoens had not his eye on those fables, which derive the
birth of Venus from the foam of the waves, mixed with the blood which
flowed from the dishonest wound of Saturn: he carries his views higher;
his Venus is from a fable more noble. Nigidius relates that two fishes
one day conveyed an egg to the seashore. This egg was hatched by two
pigeons whiter than snow, and gave birth to the Assyrian Venus, which,
in the pagan theology, is the same with the celestial. She instructed
mankind in religion, gave them the lessons of virtue and the laws of
equity.
[119]
_On it, the picture of that shape he placed,
In which the Holy Spirit did alight,
The picture of the dove, so white, so chaste,
On the blest Virgin's head, so chaste, so white. _
In these lines, the best of all Fanshaw's, the happy repetition "so
chaste, so white," is a beauty which, though not contained in the
original, the present translator was unwilling to lose.
[120] See the Preface.
[121] When GAMA lay at anchor among the islands of St. George, near
Mozambique, "there came three Ethiopians on board (says Faria y Sousa)
who, seeing St. Gabriel painted on the poop, fell on their knees in
token of their Christianity, which had been preached to them in the
primitive times, though now corrupted. " Barros, c. 4, and Castaneda, l.
i. c. 9, report, that the Portuguese found two or three Abyssinian
Christians in the city of Mombas, who had an oratory in their house. The
following short account of the Christians of the East may perhaps be
acceptable. In the south parts of Malabar, about 200,000 of the
inhabitants professed Christianity before the arrival of the Portuguese.
They use the Syriac language in their services, and read the Scriptures
in that tongue, and call themselves Christians of St.
Thomas, by which
apostle their ancestors had been converted. For 1300 years they had been
under the Patriarch of Babylon, who appointed their _Mutran_, or
archbishop. Dr. Geddes, in his History of the Church of Malabar, relates
that Francisco Roz, a Jesuit missionary, complained to Menezes, the
Portuguese archbishop of Goa, that when he showed these people an image
of the Virgin Mary, they cried out, "Away with that filthiness, we are
Christians, and do not adore idols. "
Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes, archbishop of Goa, "endeavoured to thrust
upon the church of Malabar the whole mass of popery, which they were
before unacquainted with. "--Millar's History of the Propag. of
Christianity.
[122] Venus.
[123] _Proud of her kindred birth. _--The French translator has the
following note on this place:--"This is one of the places which discover
our author's intimate acquaintance with mythology, and at the same time
how much attention his allegory requires. Many readers, on finding that
the protectress of the Lusians sprung from the sea, would be apt to
exclaim, Behold, the birth of the terrestrial Venus! How can a nativity
so infamous be ascribed to the celestial Venus, who represents Religion?
I answer, that Camoens had not his eye on those fables, which derive the
birth of Venus from the foam of the waves, mixed with the blood which
flowed from the dishonest wound of Saturn: he carries his views higher;
his Venus is from a fable more noble. Nigidius relates that two fishes
one day conveyed an egg to the seashore. This egg was hatched by two
pigeons whiter than snow, and gave birth to the Assyrian Venus, which,
in the pagan theology, is the same with the celestial. She instructed
mankind in religion, gave them the lessons of virtue and the laws of
equity.
