Sensible of this disadvantage which
every version of historical poetry must suffer, the translator has not
only in the notes added every
incident
which might elucidate the
subject, but has also, all along, in the episode in the third and fourth
books, in the description of the painted ensigns in the eighth, and in
the allusions in the present book, endeavoured to throw every historical
incident into that universal language, the picturesque of poetry.
Camoes - Lusiades
_--P. Alvarez Cabral,
the second Portuguese commander who sailed to India, entered into a
treaty of alliance with Trimumpara, king of Cochin, and high priest of
Malabar. The zamorim raised powerful armies to dethrone him. His
fidelity to the Portuguese was unalterable, though his affairs were
brought to the lowest ebb.--See the history in the Preface.
[595]
_His ship's strong sides shall groan beneath his weight,
And deeper waves receive the sacred freight.--_
Thus Virgil:--
"Simul accipit alveo
Ingentem AEneam. Gemuit sub pondere cymba
Sutilis, et multam accepit rimosa paludem."--AEN. vi. 412.
That the visionary boat of Charon groaned under the weight of AEneas is a
fine poetical stroke; but that the crazy rents let in the water is
certainly lowering the image. The thought, however, as managed in
Camoens is much grander than in Virgil, and affords a happy instance
where the hyperbole is truly poetical.
The Lusiad affords many instances which must be highly pleasing to the
Portuguese, but dry to those who are unacquainted with their history.
Nor need one hesitate to assert that, were we not acquainted with the
Roman history from our childhood, a great part of the AEneid would appear
to us intolerably uninteresting.
Sensible of this disadvantage which
every version of historical poetry must suffer, the translator has not
only in the notes added every
incident
which might elucidate the
subject, but has also, all along, in the episode in the third and fourth
books, in the description of the painted ensigns in the eighth, and in
the allusions in the present book, endeavoured to throw every historical
incident into that universal language, the picturesque of poetry.
When
Hector storms the Grecian camp, when Achilles marches to battle, every
reader understands and is affected with the bold painting. But when
Nestor talks of his exploits at the funeral games of Amarynces (Iliad
xxiii.) the critics themselves cannot comprehend him, and have vied with
each other in inventing explanations.
[596] _Proas_, or paraos, Indian vessels which lie low on the water, are
worked with oars, and carry 100 men and upwards apiece.
[597]
_His robes are sprinkled o'er,
And his proud face dash'd, with his menials' gore.--_
See the history in the Preface.
[598] _Round Lusus' fleet to pour their sulph'rous entrails._--How
Pacheco avoided this formidable danger, see the history in the preface.
[599] _Nor Tiber's bridge._--When Porsenna besieged Rome, Horatius
Cocles defended the pass of a bridge till the Romans destroyed it behind
him. Having thus saved the pass, heavy armed as he was, he swam across
the Tiber to his companions. Roman history, however, at this period, is
often mixed with fable. Miltiades obtained a great victory over Darius
at Marathon. The stand made by Leonidas at Thermopyl? is well known.
