The
Brahmins
are never among modern
writers called Magi.
writers called Magi.
Camoes - Lusiades
_"
Castera adds a very loose translation of these Spanish lines in French
verse. The literal English is, _As the sun may be beheld at its rising,
but, when illustriously kindled, cannot_. Naked, however, as this is,
the imitation of Camoens is evident. As Castera is so very bold in his
encomium of this fine simile of the sun, it is but justice to add his
translation of it, together with the original Portuguese, and the
translation of Fanshaw. Thus the French translator:--
_Les yeux peuvent soutenir la clarte du soleil naissant, mais lorsqu'il
s'est avance dans sa carriere lumineuse, et que ses rayons repandent les
ardeurs du midi, on tacherait en vain de l'envisager; un prompt
aveuglement serait le prix de cette audace. _
Thus elegantly in the original:--
"Em quanto he fraca a forca desta gente,
Ordena como em tudo se resista,
Porque quando o Sol sahe, facilmente
Se pode nelle por a aguda vista:
Porem despois que sobe claro, & ardente,
Se a agudeza dos olhos o conquista
Tao cega fica, quando ficareis,
Se raizes criar lhe nao tolheis. "
And thus humbled by Fanshaw:--
"_Now_ whilst this people's strength is not yet knit,
Think how ye may resist them by all ways.
For when the _Sun_ is in his _nonage_ yit,
Upon his _morning beauty_ men may gaze;
But let him once up to his _zenith_ git,
He strikes them _blind_ with his _meridian rays_;
So _blind_ will ye be, if ye look not too't,
If ye permit these _cedars_ to take root. "
[537]
_Around him stand,
With haggard looks, the hoary Magi band. --_
The Brahmins, the diviners of India. 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.
Castera adds a very loose translation of these Spanish lines in French
verse. The literal English is, _As the sun may be beheld at its rising,
but, when illustriously kindled, cannot_. Naked, however, as this is,
the imitation of Camoens is evident. As Castera is so very bold in his
encomium of this fine simile of the sun, it is but justice to add his
translation of it, together with the original Portuguese, and the
translation of Fanshaw. Thus the French translator:--
_Les yeux peuvent soutenir la clarte du soleil naissant, mais lorsqu'il
s'est avance dans sa carriere lumineuse, et que ses rayons repandent les
ardeurs du midi, on tacherait en vain de l'envisager; un prompt
aveuglement serait le prix de cette audace. _
Thus elegantly in the original:--
"Em quanto he fraca a forca desta gente,
Ordena como em tudo se resista,
Porque quando o Sol sahe, facilmente
Se pode nelle por a aguda vista:
Porem despois que sobe claro, & ardente,
Se a agudeza dos olhos o conquista
Tao cega fica, quando ficareis,
Se raizes criar lhe nao tolheis. "
And thus humbled by Fanshaw:--
"_Now_ whilst this people's strength is not yet knit,
Think how ye may resist them by all ways.
For when the _Sun_ is in his _nonage_ yit,
Upon his _morning beauty_ men may gaze;
But let him once up to his _zenith_ git,
He strikes them _blind_ with his _meridian rays_;
So _blind_ will ye be, if ye look not too't,
If ye permit these _cedars_ to take root. "
[537]
_Around him stand,
With haggard looks, the hoary Magi band. --_
The Brahmins, the diviners of India. 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.
