_--This is as literal as the
idiom of the two languages would allow.
idiom of the two languages would allow.
Camoes - Lusiades
--_Ed.
_
[295] Tetuan, a city of Morocco. --_Ed. _
[296] _Through the fierce Brigians. _--The Castilians, so called from one
of their ancient kings, named Brix, or Brigus, whom the monkish writers
call the grandson of Noah.
[297] These lines are not in the common editions of Camoens. They
consist of three stanzas in the Portuguese, and are said to have been
left out by the author himself in his second edition. The translator,
however, as they breathe the true spirit of Virgil, was willing to
preserve them with this acknowledgment.
[298] Massylia, a province in Numidia, greatly infested with lions,
particularly that part of it called _Os sete montes irmaos_, the seven
brother mountains.
[299] _And many a gasping warrior sigh'd his last. _--This, which is
almost literal from--
_Muitos lancarao o ultimo suspiro,--_
and the preceding circumstance of Don John's brandishing his lance four
times--
_E sopesando a lanca quatro vezes,_
are poetical, and in the spirit of Homer. Besides Maldonat, Castera has,
in this battle, introduced several other names which have no place in
Camoens. Carrillo, Robledo, John of Lorca, Salazar of Seville were
killed, he tells us: And, "Velasques and Sanches, natives of Toledo,
Galbes, surnamed the 'Soldier without Fear,' Montanches, Oropesa, and
Mondonedo, all six of proved valour, fell by the hand of young Antony,
who brought to the fight either more address, or better fortune than
these. " Not a word of this is in the Portuguese.
[300] _Their swords seem dipp'd in fire.
_--This is as literal as the
idiom of the two languages would allow. Dryden has a thought like that
of this couplet, but which is not in his original:--
"Their bucklers clash; thick blows descend from high,
And flakes of fire from their hard helmets fly. "
DRYD. Virg. AEn. xii.
[301] Grand master of the order of St. James, named Don Pedro Nunio. He
was not killed, however, in this battle, which was fought on the plains
of Aljubarota, but in that of Valverda, which immediately followed. The
reader may, perhaps, be surprised to find that every soldier mentioned
in these notes is a Don, a _Lord_. The following piece of history will
account for the number of the Portuguese nobles. Don Alonzo Enriquez,
Count of Portugal, was saluted king by his army at the battle of
Ourique; in return, his majesty dignified every man in his army with the
rank of nobility. --Vide the 9th of the Statutes of Lamego.
[302] Cerberus.
[303] The Spaniards.
[304] This tyrant, whose unjust pretensions to the crown of Portugal
laid his own, and that, kingdom in blood, was on his final defeat
overwhelmed with all the frenzy of grief.
[295] Tetuan, a city of Morocco. --_Ed. _
[296] _Through the fierce Brigians. _--The Castilians, so called from one
of their ancient kings, named Brix, or Brigus, whom the monkish writers
call the grandson of Noah.
[297] These lines are not in the common editions of Camoens. They
consist of three stanzas in the Portuguese, and are said to have been
left out by the author himself in his second edition. The translator,
however, as they breathe the true spirit of Virgil, was willing to
preserve them with this acknowledgment.
[298] Massylia, a province in Numidia, greatly infested with lions,
particularly that part of it called _Os sete montes irmaos_, the seven
brother mountains.
[299] _And many a gasping warrior sigh'd his last. _--This, which is
almost literal from--
_Muitos lancarao o ultimo suspiro,--_
and the preceding circumstance of Don John's brandishing his lance four
times--
_E sopesando a lanca quatro vezes,_
are poetical, and in the spirit of Homer. Besides Maldonat, Castera has,
in this battle, introduced several other names which have no place in
Camoens. Carrillo, Robledo, John of Lorca, Salazar of Seville were
killed, he tells us: And, "Velasques and Sanches, natives of Toledo,
Galbes, surnamed the 'Soldier without Fear,' Montanches, Oropesa, and
Mondonedo, all six of proved valour, fell by the hand of young Antony,
who brought to the fight either more address, or better fortune than
these. " Not a word of this is in the Portuguese.
[300] _Their swords seem dipp'd in fire.
_--This is as literal as the
idiom of the two languages would allow. Dryden has a thought like that
of this couplet, but which is not in his original:--
"Their bucklers clash; thick blows descend from high,
And flakes of fire from their hard helmets fly. "
DRYD. Virg. AEn. xii.
[301] Grand master of the order of St. James, named Don Pedro Nunio. He
was not killed, however, in this battle, which was fought on the plains
of Aljubarota, but in that of Valverda, which immediately followed. The
reader may, perhaps, be surprised to find that every soldier mentioned
in these notes is a Don, a _Lord_. The following piece of history will
account for the number of the Portuguese nobles. Don Alonzo Enriquez,
Count of Portugal, was saluted king by his army at the battle of
Ourique; in return, his majesty dignified every man in his army with the
rank of nobility. --Vide the 9th of the Statutes of Lamego.
[302] Cerberus.
[303] The Spaniards.
[304] This tyrant, whose unjust pretensions to the crown of Portugal
laid his own, and that, kingdom in blood, was on his final defeat
overwhelmed with all the frenzy of grief.
