No More Learning

According to Osorius, this was said to be occasioned by the virtue of a
stone in the bracelet, taken out of an animal called Cabrisia, which,
when worn on the body, could prevent the effusion of blood from the most
grievous wounds.

[608] _Yet art thou stain'd. _--A detail of all the grant actions of
Albuquerque would have been tedious and unpoetical. Camoens has chosen
the most brilliant, and has happily suppressed the rest by a display of
indignation. The French translator has the following note on this
passage: "Behold another instance of our author's prejudice! The action
which he condemns had nothing in it blameable: but, as he was of a most
amorous constitution, he thought every fault which could plead an amour
in its excuse ought to be pardoned; but true heroes, such as
Albuquerque, follow other maxims. This great man had in his palace a
beautiful Indian slave. He viewed her with the eyes of a father, and the
care of her education was his pleasure. A Portuguese soldier, named Ruy
Diaz, had the boldness to enter the general's apartment, where he
succeeded so well with the girl that he obtained his desire. When
Albuquerque heard of it, he immediately ordered him to the gallows. "

Camoens, however, was no such undistinguishing libertine as this would
represent him. In a few pages we find him praising the continence of Don
Henry de Meneses, whose victory over his passions he calls the highest
excellence of youth. Nor does it appear by what authority the Frenchman
assures us of the chaste paternal affection which Albuquerque bore to
this Indian girl. It was the great aim of Albuquerque to establish
colonies in India, and, for that purpose, he encouraged his soldiers to
marry with the natives. The most sightly girls were selected, and
educated in the religion and household arts of Portugal, and portioned
at the expense of the general.
These he called his daughters, and with
great pleasure he used to attend their weddings, several couples being
usually joined together at one time. At one of these nuptials, says
Faria, the festivity having continued late, and the brides being mixed
together, several of the bridegrooms committed a blunder. The mistakes
of the night, however, as they were all equal in point of honour, were
mutually forgiven in the morning, and each man took his proper wife whom
he had received at the altar. This delicate anecdote of Albuquerque's
sons and daughters is as bad a commentary on the note of Castera as it
is on the severity which the commander showed to poor Diaz. Nor does
Camoens stand alone in the condemnation of the general. The historian
agrees with the poet. Mentioning the death of D. Antonio Noronha, "This
gentleman," says Faria, "used to moderate the violent temper of his
uncle, Albuquerque, which soon after showed itself in rigid severity. He
ordered a soldier to be hanged for an amour with one of the slaves whom
he called daughters, and whom he used to give in marriage. When some of
his officers asked him what authority he had to take the poor man's
life, he drew his sword, told them that was his commission, and
instantly broke them. " To marry his soldiers with the natives was the
plan of Albuquerque: his severity, therefore, seems unaccountable,
unless we admit the 'perhaps' of Camoens, _ou de cioso_, perhaps it was
jealousy. --But, whatever incensed the general, the execution of the
soldier was contrary to the laws of every nation;{*} and the honest
indignation of Camoens against one of the greatest of his countrymen,
one who was the grand architect of the Portuguese empire in the East,
affords a noble instance of that manly freedom of sentiment which knows
no right by which king or peer may do injustice to the meanest subject.
Nor can we omit the observation, that the above note of Castera is of a
piece with the French devotion we have already seen him pay to the name
of king, a devotion which breathes the true spirit of the blessed advice
given by Father Paul to the republic of Venice: "When a nobleman commits
an offence against a subject," says the Jesuit, "let every means be
tried to justify him. But, if a subject has offended a nobleman, let him
be punished with the utmost severity. "

{*} Osorius relates the affair of Diaz with some other circumstances;
but with no difference that affects this assertion.

[609] _Not Ammon.