_ To whom when they told the
dreadful
tidings, "And I," he replies
"am sacrificing.
"am sacrificing.
Camoes - Lusiades
[520]
_Her streets in blood deplore
The seven brave hunters murder'd by the Moor. --_
"During a truce with the Moors, six cavaliers of the order of St. James
were, while on a hunting party, surrounded and killed, by a numerous
body of the Moors. During the fight, in which the gentlemen sold their
lives dear, a common carter, named Garcias Rodrigo, who chanced to pass
that way, came generously to their assistance, and lost his life along
with them. The poet, in giving all seven the same title, shows us that
virtue constitutes true nobility. Don Payo de Correa, grand master of
the order of St. James, revenged the death of these brave unfortunates
by the sack of Tavila, where his just rage put the garrison to the
sword. "--CASTERA.
[521] _Those three bold knights how dread. _--Nothing can give us a
stronger picture of the romantic character of their age, than the
manners of those champions, who were gentlemen of birth; and who, in the
true spirit of knight-errantry, went about from court to court in quest
of adventures. Their names were, Goncalo Ribeiro; Fernando Martinez de
Santarene; and Vasco Anez, foster-brother to Mary, queen of Castile,
daughter of Alonzo IV. of Portugal.
[522] _And I, behold, am off'ring sacrifice. _--This line, the simplicity
which, I think, contains great dignity, is adopted from Fanshaw--
"And I, ye see, am off'ring sacrifice;"
who has here caught the spirit of the original--
_A quem lhe a dura nova estava dando,
Pois eu responde estou sacrificando;_
_i. e.
_ To whom when they told the dreadful tidings, "And I," he replies
"am sacrificing. " The piety of Numa was crowned with victory. --Vid.
'Plut. in vit. Numae.
[523]
_The Lusian_ Scipio _well might speak his fame,
But nobler_ Nunio _shines a greater name_. --
Castera justly observes the happiness with which Camoens introduces the
name of this truly great man. "_Il va_," says he, "_le nommer tout a
l'heure avec une adresse et une magnificence digne d'un si beau sujet_. "
[524] _Two knights of Malta. _--These knights were first named Knights
Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem, afterwards Knights of Rhodes, from
whence they were driven to Messina, ere Malta was assigned to them. By
their oath of knighthood they were bound to protect the Holy Sepulchre
from the profanation of infidels; immediately on taking this oath, they
retired to their colleges, where they lived on their revenues in all the
idleness of monkish luxury. Their original habit was black, with a white
cross; their arms _gules_, a cross, _argent_.
[525] _His captive friend. _--Before John I.
