[556]
_Unmindful
of my fate on India's shore.
Camoes - Lusiades
_
[550] Mickle, in place of the first seventeen stanzas of this canto, has
inserted about three hundred lines of his own composition; in this
respect availing himself of the licence he had claimed in his
preface. --_Ed. _
[551] _Thy sails, and rudders too, my will demands. _--According to
history.
[552] _My sov'reign's fleet I yield not to your sway. _--The circumstance
of GAMA'S refusing to put his fleet into the power of the zamorim, is
thus rendered by Fanshaw:--
"The Malabar protests that he shall rot
In prison, if he send not for the _ships_.
_He_ (_constant_, and with noble _anger_ hot)
His haughty _menace_ weighs not at _two chips_. "
[553] _Through Gata's hills. _--The hills of Gata or Gate, mountains
which form a natural barrier on the eastern side of the kingdom of
Malabar.
"Nature's rude wall, against the fierce Canar
They guard the fertile walls of Malabar. "
LUSIAD, vii.
[554] _Then, furious, rushing to the darken'd bay. _--For the
circumstances of the battle, and the tempest which then happened, see
the Life of GAMA.
[555] _I left my fix'd command my navy's guard. _--See the Life of GAMA.
[556] _Unmindful of my fate on India's shore. _--This most magnanimous
resolution, to sacrifice his own safety or his life for the safe return
of the fleet, is strictly true. --See the Life of GAMA.
[557] _Abrupt--the monarch cries_--"_What yet may save! _"--GAMA'S
declaration, that no message from him to the fleet could alter the
orders he had already left, and his rejection of any further treaty,
have a necessary effect in the conduct of the poem. They hasten the
catastrophe, and give a verisimilitude to the abrupt and full submission
of the zamorim.
[558] _The rollers_--_i. e. _ the capstans. --The capstan is a cylindrical
windlass, worked with bars, which are moved from hole to hole as it
turns round. It is used on board ship to weigh the anchors, raise the
masts, etc. The versification of this passage in the original affords a
most noble example of imitative harmony:--
"Mas ja nas naos os bons trabalhadores
Volvem o cabrestante, & repartidos
Pello trabalho, huns puxao pella amarra,
Outros quebrao co peito duro a barra. "
STANZA X.
[559]
_Mozaide, whose zealous care
To Gama's eyes reveal'd each treach'rous snare. --_
Had this been mentioned sooner, the interest of the catastrophe of the
poem must have languished. Though he is not a warrior, the unexpected
friend of GAMA bears a much more considerable part in the action of the
Lusiad than the faithful Achates, the friend of the hero, bears in the
business of the AEneid.
[550] Mickle, in place of the first seventeen stanzas of this canto, has
inserted about three hundred lines of his own composition; in this
respect availing himself of the licence he had claimed in his
preface. --_Ed. _
[551] _Thy sails, and rudders too, my will demands. _--According to
history.
[552] _My sov'reign's fleet I yield not to your sway. _--The circumstance
of GAMA'S refusing to put his fleet into the power of the zamorim, is
thus rendered by Fanshaw:--
"The Malabar protests that he shall rot
In prison, if he send not for the _ships_.
_He_ (_constant_, and with noble _anger_ hot)
His haughty _menace_ weighs not at _two chips_. "
[553] _Through Gata's hills. _--The hills of Gata or Gate, mountains
which form a natural barrier on the eastern side of the kingdom of
Malabar.
"Nature's rude wall, against the fierce Canar
They guard the fertile walls of Malabar. "
LUSIAD, vii.
[554] _Then, furious, rushing to the darken'd bay. _--For the
circumstances of the battle, and the tempest which then happened, see
the Life of GAMA.
[555] _I left my fix'd command my navy's guard. _--See the Life of GAMA.
[556] _Unmindful of my fate on India's shore. _--This most magnanimous
resolution, to sacrifice his own safety or his life for the safe return
of the fleet, is strictly true. --See the Life of GAMA.
[557] _Abrupt--the monarch cries_--"_What yet may save! _"--GAMA'S
declaration, that no message from him to the fleet could alter the
orders he had already left, and his rejection of any further treaty,
have a necessary effect in the conduct of the poem. They hasten the
catastrophe, and give a verisimilitude to the abrupt and full submission
of the zamorim.
[558] _The rollers_--_i. e. _ the capstans. --The capstan is a cylindrical
windlass, worked with bars, which are moved from hole to hole as it
turns round. It is used on board ship to weigh the anchors, raise the
masts, etc. The versification of this passage in the original affords a
most noble example of imitative harmony:--
"Mas ja nas naos os bons trabalhadores
Volvem o cabrestante, & repartidos
Pello trabalho, huns puxao pella amarra,
Outros quebrao co peito duro a barra. "
STANZA X.
[559]
_Mozaide, whose zealous care
To Gama's eyes reveal'd each treach'rous snare. --_
Had this been mentioned sooner, the interest of the catastrophe of the
poem must have languished. Though he is not a warrior, the unexpected
friend of GAMA bears a much more considerable part in the action of the
Lusiad than the faithful Achates, the friend of the hero, bears in the
business of the AEneid.
