It
is the demon and the enemies of the Portuguese who procure this
divination; everything in it is dreadful, on purpose to determine the
zamorim to destroy the fleet of GAMA.
is the demon and the enemies of the Portuguese who procure this
divination; everything in it is dreadful, on purpose to determine the
zamorim to destroy the fleet of GAMA.
Camoes - Lusiades
Ammianus Marcellinus, l.
23, says,
that the Persian Magi derived their knowledge from the Brachmanes of
India. And Arrianus, l. 7, expressly gives the Brahmins the name of
Magi. The Magi of India, says he, told Alexander, on his pretensions to
divinity, that in everything he was like other men, except that he took
less rest, and did more mischief. The Brahmins are never among modern
writers called Magi.
[538] _The hov'ring demon gives the dreadful sign. _--This has an
allusion to the truth of history. Barros relates, that an anger being
brought before the Zamorim, "_Em hum vaso de agua l'he mostrara hunas
naos, que vin ham de muy longe para a India, e que a gente d'ellas seria
total destruicam dos Mouros de aquellas partes. _--In a vessel of water
he showed him some ships which from a great distance came to India, the
people of which would effect the utter subversion of the Moors. " Camoens
has certainly chosen a more poetical method of describing this
divination, a method in the spirit of Virgil; nor in this is he inferior
to his great master. The supernatural flame which seizes on Lavinia
while assisting at the sacrifice alone excepted, every other part of the
augury of Latinus, and his dream in the Albunean forest, whither he went
to consult his ancestor, the god Faunus, in dignity and poetical
colouring, cannot come in comparison with the divination of the Magi,
and the appearance of the demon in the dream of the Moorish priest.
[539] _Th'eternal yoke. _--This picture, it may perhaps be said, is but a
bad compliment to the heroes of the Lusiad, and the fruits of their
discovery. A little consideration, however, will vindicate Camoens.
It
is the demon and the enemies of the Portuguese who procure this
divination; everything in it is dreadful, on purpose to determine the
zamorim to destroy the fleet of GAMA. In a former prophecy of the
conquest of India (when the catual describes the sculpture of the royal
palace), our poet has been careful to ascribe the happiest effects to
the discovery of his heroes:--
"Beneath their sway majestic, wise, and mild,
Proud of her victors' laws, thrice happier India smil'd. "
[540] _So let the tyrant plead. _--In this short declamation, a seeming
excrescence, the business of the poem in reality is carried on. The
zamorim, and his prime minister, the catual, are artfully characterised
in it; and the assertion--
_Lur'd was the regent with the Moorish gold,_
is happily introduced by the declamatory reflections which immediately
precede it.
[541]
_The Moors----their ancient deeds relate,
Their ever-faithful service of the state. --_
An explanation of the word _Moor_ is here necessary. When the East
afforded no more field for the sword of the conqueror, the Saracens,
assisted by the Moors, who had embraced their religion, laid the finest
countries in Europe in blood and desolation. As their various
embarkations were from the empire of Morocco, the Europeans gave the
name of _Moors_ to all the professors of the Mohammedan religion. In the
same manner the eastern nations blended all the armies of the Crusaders
under one appellation, and the _Franks_, of whom the army of Godfrey was
mostly composed, became their common name for all the inhabitants of the
West. Before the arrival of GAMA, as already observed, all the traffic
of the East, from the Ethiopian side of Africa to China, was in the
hands of Arabian Mohammedans, who, without incorporating with the pagan
natives, had their colonies established in every country commodious for
commerce. These the Portuguese called Moors; and at present the
Mohammedans of India are called the Moors of Hindostan by our English
writers. The intelligence these Moors gave to one another, relative to
the actions of GAMA; the general terror with which they beheld the
appearance of Europeans, whose rivalship they dreaded as the destruction
of their power; the various frauds and arts they employed to prevent the
return of one man of GAMA'S fleet to Europe, and their threat to
withdraw from the dominions of the zamorim, are all according to the
truth of history. The speeches of the zamorim and of GAMA, which follow,
are also founded in truth.
[542] Troy.
[543] _No sumptuous gift thou bring'st.
that the Persian Magi derived their knowledge from the Brachmanes of
India. And Arrianus, l. 7, expressly gives the Brahmins the name of
Magi. The Magi of India, says he, told Alexander, on his pretensions to
divinity, that in everything he was like other men, except that he took
less rest, and did more mischief. The Brahmins are never among modern
writers called Magi.
[538] _The hov'ring demon gives the dreadful sign. _--This has an
allusion to the truth of history. Barros relates, that an anger being
brought before the Zamorim, "_Em hum vaso de agua l'he mostrara hunas
naos, que vin ham de muy longe para a India, e que a gente d'ellas seria
total destruicam dos Mouros de aquellas partes. _--In a vessel of water
he showed him some ships which from a great distance came to India, the
people of which would effect the utter subversion of the Moors. " Camoens
has certainly chosen a more poetical method of describing this
divination, a method in the spirit of Virgil; nor in this is he inferior
to his great master. The supernatural flame which seizes on Lavinia
while assisting at the sacrifice alone excepted, every other part of the
augury of Latinus, and his dream in the Albunean forest, whither he went
to consult his ancestor, the god Faunus, in dignity and poetical
colouring, cannot come in comparison with the divination of the Magi,
and the appearance of the demon in the dream of the Moorish priest.
[539] _Th'eternal yoke. _--This picture, it may perhaps be said, is but a
bad compliment to the heroes of the Lusiad, and the fruits of their
discovery. A little consideration, however, will vindicate Camoens.
It
is the demon and the enemies of the Portuguese who procure this
divination; everything in it is dreadful, on purpose to determine the
zamorim to destroy the fleet of GAMA. In a former prophecy of the
conquest of India (when the catual describes the sculpture of the royal
palace), our poet has been careful to ascribe the happiest effects to
the discovery of his heroes:--
"Beneath their sway majestic, wise, and mild,
Proud of her victors' laws, thrice happier India smil'd. "
[540] _So let the tyrant plead. _--In this short declamation, a seeming
excrescence, the business of the poem in reality is carried on. The
zamorim, and his prime minister, the catual, are artfully characterised
in it; and the assertion--
_Lur'd was the regent with the Moorish gold,_
is happily introduced by the declamatory reflections which immediately
precede it.
[541]
_The Moors----their ancient deeds relate,
Their ever-faithful service of the state. --_
An explanation of the word _Moor_ is here necessary. When the East
afforded no more field for the sword of the conqueror, the Saracens,
assisted by the Moors, who had embraced their religion, laid the finest
countries in Europe in blood and desolation. As their various
embarkations were from the empire of Morocco, the Europeans gave the
name of _Moors_ to all the professors of the Mohammedan religion. In the
same manner the eastern nations blended all the armies of the Crusaders
under one appellation, and the _Franks_, of whom the army of Godfrey was
mostly composed, became their common name for all the inhabitants of the
West. Before the arrival of GAMA, as already observed, all the traffic
of the East, from the Ethiopian side of Africa to China, was in the
hands of Arabian Mohammedans, who, without incorporating with the pagan
natives, had their colonies established in every country commodious for
commerce. These the Portuguese called Moors; and at present the
Mohammedans of India are called the Moors of Hindostan by our English
writers. The intelligence these Moors gave to one another, relative to
the actions of GAMA; the general terror with which they beheld the
appearance of Europeans, whose rivalship they dreaded as the destruction
of their power; the various frauds and arts they employed to prevent the
return of one man of GAMA'S fleet to Europe, and their threat to
withdraw from the dominions of the zamorim, are all according to the
truth of history. The speeches of the zamorim and of GAMA, which follow,
are also founded in truth.
[542] Troy.
[543] _No sumptuous gift thou bring'st.
