To introduce them, therefore, in the
picture of a storm is a proof, both of the taste and judgment of
Camoens.
picture of a storm is a proof, both of the taste and judgment of
Camoens.
Camoes - Lusiades
Here we ought to remark the address of our
author; he describes at length the injury and grief of the English
ladies, the voyage of the twelve champions to England, and the prowess
they there displayed. When Veloso relates these, the sea is calm; but no
sooner does it begin to be troubled, than the soldier abridges his
recital: we see him follow by degrees the preludes of the storm, we
perceive the anxiety of his mind on the view of the approaching danger,
hastening his narration to an end. Behold the strokes of a
master! --_This note, and the one preceding, are from Castera. _
[432] _The halcyons, mindful of their fate, deplore. _--Ceyx, king of
Trachinia, son of Lucifer, married Alcyone, the daughter of Eolus. On a
voyage to consult the Delphic Oracle, he was shipwrecked. His corpse was
thrown ashore in the view of his spouse, who, in the agonies of her love
and despair, threw herself into the sea. The gods, in pity of her pious
fidelity, metamorphosed them into the birds which bear her name. The
halcyon is a little bird about the size of a thrush, its plumage of a
beautiful sky blue, mixed with some traits of white and carnation. It is
vulgarly called the kingfisher. The halcyons very seldom appear but in
the finest weather, whence they are fabled to build their nests on the
waves. The female is no less remarkable than the turtle, for her
conjugal affection. She nourishes and attends the male when sick, and
survives his death but a few days. When the halcyons are surprised in a
tempest, they fly about as in the utmost terror, with the most
lamentable and doleful cries.
To introduce them, therefore, in the
picture of a storm is a proof, both of the taste and judgment of
Camoens.
[433] _With shrill, faint voice, th' untimely ghost complains. _--It may
not perhaps be unentertaining to cite Madame Dacier and Mr. Pope on the
voices of the dead. It will, at least, afford a critical observation
which appears to have escaped them both. "The shades of the suitors,"
observes Dacier, "when they are summoned by Mercury out of the palace of
Ulysses, emit a feeble, plaintive, inarticulate sound, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ,
strident: whereas Agamemnon, and the shades that have been long in the
state of the dead, speak articulately. I doubt not but Homer intended to
show, by the former description, that when the soul is separated from
the organs of the body, it ceases to act after the same manner as while
it was joined to it; but how the dead recover their voices afterwards is
not easy to understand. In other respects Virgil paints after Homer:--
_Pars tollere vocem
Exiguam: inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes.
author; he describes at length the injury and grief of the English
ladies, the voyage of the twelve champions to England, and the prowess
they there displayed. When Veloso relates these, the sea is calm; but no
sooner does it begin to be troubled, than the soldier abridges his
recital: we see him follow by degrees the preludes of the storm, we
perceive the anxiety of his mind on the view of the approaching danger,
hastening his narration to an end. Behold the strokes of a
master! --_This note, and the one preceding, are from Castera. _
[432] _The halcyons, mindful of their fate, deplore. _--Ceyx, king of
Trachinia, son of Lucifer, married Alcyone, the daughter of Eolus. On a
voyage to consult the Delphic Oracle, he was shipwrecked. His corpse was
thrown ashore in the view of his spouse, who, in the agonies of her love
and despair, threw herself into the sea. The gods, in pity of her pious
fidelity, metamorphosed them into the birds which bear her name. The
halcyon is a little bird about the size of a thrush, its plumage of a
beautiful sky blue, mixed with some traits of white and carnation. It is
vulgarly called the kingfisher. The halcyons very seldom appear but in
the finest weather, whence they are fabled to build their nests on the
waves. The female is no less remarkable than the turtle, for her
conjugal affection. She nourishes and attends the male when sick, and
survives his death but a few days. When the halcyons are surprised in a
tempest, they fly about as in the utmost terror, with the most
lamentable and doleful cries.
To introduce them, therefore, in the
picture of a storm is a proof, both of the taste and judgment of
Camoens.
[433] _With shrill, faint voice, th' untimely ghost complains. _--It may
not perhaps be unentertaining to cite Madame Dacier and Mr. Pope on the
voices of the dead. It will, at least, afford a critical observation
which appears to have escaped them both. "The shades of the suitors,"
observes Dacier, "when they are summoned by Mercury out of the palace of
Ulysses, emit a feeble, plaintive, inarticulate sound, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ,
strident: whereas Agamemnon, and the shades that have been long in the
state of the dead, speak articulately. I doubt not but Homer intended to
show, by the former description, that when the soul is separated from
the organs of the body, it ceases to act after the same manner as while
it was joined to it; but how the dead recover their voices afterwards is
not easy to understand. In other respects Virgil paints after Homer:--
_Pars tollere vocem
Exiguam: inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes.
