Having
wandered
one
day from her lover, she was destroyed by wild beasts, on one of the
mountains which bear her name.
day from her lover, she was destroyed by wild beasts, on one of the
mountains which bear her name.
Camoes - Lusiades
I answer once for all, that the names
and adventures of the pagan divinities are so blended and uncertain in
mythology, that a poet is at great liberty to adapt them to his allegory
as he pleases. Even the fables, which may appear as profane, even these
contain historical, physical, and moral truths, which fully atone for
the seeming licentiousness of the letter. I could prove this in many
instances, but let the present suffice. Paris, son of Priam, king of
Troy, spent his first years as a shepherd in the country. At this time
Juno, Minerva, and Venus disputed for the apple of gold, which was
destined to be given to the most beautiful goddess. They consented that
Paris should be their judge. His equity claimed this honour. He saw them
all naked. Juno promised him riches, Minerva the sciences, but he
decided in favour of Venus, who promised him the possession of the most
beautiful woman. What a ray of light is contained in this philosophical
fable! Paris represents a studious man, who, in the silence of solitude,
seeks the supreme good. Juno is the emblem of riches and dignities;
Minerva, that of the sciences purely human; Venus is that of religion,
which contains the sciences both human and divine; the charming female,
which she promises to the Trojan shepherd, is that divine wisdom which
gives tranquillity of heart. A judge so philosophical as Paris would not
hesitate a moment to whom to give the apple of gold. "--CASTERA.
[132] "The allegory of Camoens is here obvious. If Acteon, and the
slaves of their violent passions, could discover the beauties of true
religion, they would be astonished and reclaimed: according to the
expression of Seneca, 'Si virtus cerni posset oculis corporeis, omnes ad
amorem suum pelliceret. '"--CASTERA.
[133] "That is Divine love, which always accompanies religion. Behold
how our author insinuates the excellence of his moral! "--CASTERA.
As the French translator has acknowledged, there is no doubt but several
readers will be apt to decry this allegorical interpretation of the
machinery of Camoens. Indeed there is nothing more easy than to discover
a system of allegory in the simplest narrative. The reign of Henry VIII.
is as susceptible of it as any fable in the heathen mythology. Nay,
perhaps, more so. Under the names of Henry, More, Wolsey, Cromwell,
Pole, Cranmer, etc. , all the war of the passions, with their different
catastrophes, might be delineated. Though it may be difficult to
determine how far, yet one may venture to affirm that Homer and Virgil
sometimes allegorised. The poets, however, who wrote on the revival of
letters have left us in no doubt; we have their own authority for it
that their machinery is allegorical. Not only the pagan deities, but the
more modern adventures of enchantment were used by them to delineate the
affections, and the trials and rewards of the virtues and vices. Tasso
published a treatise to prove that his _Gerusalemme Liberata_ is no
other than the Christian spiritual warfare. And Camoens, as observed in
the preface, has twice asserted that his machinery is allegorical. The
poet's assertion, and the taste of the age in which he wrote,
sufficiently vindicate and explain the allegory of the Lusiad.
[134] The following speech of Venus and the reply of Jupiter, are a fine
imitation from the first AEneid, and do great honour to the classical
taste of the Portuguese poet.
[135] Imitated from Virg. AEn. i. --
_Olli subridens hominum sator atque Deorum,
Vultu, quo coelum tempestatesque serenat,
Oscula libavit natae_----
[136] Ulysses, king of Ithaka. --_Ed. _
[137] _i. e. _, the slave of Calypso, who offered Ulysses immortality on
condition that he would live with her.
[138] AEneas. --_Ed. _
[139]
"Far on the right her dogs foul Scylla hides,
Charybdis roaring on the left presides,
And in her greedy whirlpool sucks the tides. "
DRYDEN'S Virg. AEn. iii. --_Ed. _
[140] After the Portuguese had made great conquests in India, GAMA had
the honour to be appointed Viceroy. In 1524, when sailing thither to
take possession of his government, his fleet was so becalmed on the
coast of Cambaya that the ships stood motionless on the water, when in
an instant, without the least change of the weather, the waves were
shaken with a violent agitation, like trembling. The ships were tossed
about, the sailors were terrified, and in the utmost confusion, thinking
themselves lost. Gama, perceiving it to be the effect of an earthquake,
with his wonted heroism and prudence, exclaimed, "_Of what are you
afraid? Do you not see how the ocean trembles under its sovereigns! _"
Barros, l. 9, c. 1, and Faria, c. 9, say, that such as lay sick of
fevers were cured by the fright.
[141] Ormuz, or Hormuz, an island at the entrance of the Persian Gulf,
once a great commercial depot. --_Ed. _
[142] Both Barros and Castaneda relate this fact. Albuquerque, during
the war of Ormuz, having given battle to the Persians and Moors, by the
violence of a sudden wind the arrows of the latter were driven back upon
themselves, whereby many of their troops were wounded.
[143] Calicut was a seaport town of Malabar, more properly _Colicodu_.
[144]
_Hinc ope barbarica, variisque Antonius armis,
Victor ab Aurorae populis et littore rubro,
AEgyptum, viresque Orientis, et ultima secum
Bactra vehit: sequiturque nefas! AEgyptia conjux.
Una omnes ruere, ac totum spumare, reductis
Convulsum remis rostrisque tridentibus, aequor.
Alta petunt: pelago credas innare revulsas
Cycladas, aut montes concurrere montibus altos:
Tanta mole viri turritis puppibus instant.
Stuppea flamma manu telisque volatile ferrum
Spargitur: arva nova Neptunia caede rubescunt.
----Saevit medio in certamine Maxors. _
VIRG. AEn. viii.
[145] Antony.
[146] Gades, now Cadiz, an ancient and still flourishing seaport of
Spain. --_Ed. _
[147] _The Lusian pride, etc. _--Magalhaens, a most celebrated navigator,
neglected by Emmanuel, king of Portugal, offered his service to the king
of Spain, under whom he made most important discoveries round the
Straits which bear his name, and in parts of South America. Of this hero
see further, Lusiad X. , in the notes.
[148] Mercury.
[149] Mombas, a seaport town on an island of the same name off the coast
of Zanguebar, East Africa. --_Ed. _
[150] Mercury, so called from Cyll? n? , the highest mountain in the
Peloponnesus, where he had a temple, and on which spot he is said to
have been born. --_Ed. _
[151] Petasus.
[152] The caduceus, twined with serpents. --_Ed. _
[153]
"But first he grasps within his awful hand
The mark of sovereign power, the magic wand:
With this he draws the ghosts from hollow graves,
With this he drives them down the Stygian waves,
With this he seals in sleep the wakeful sight,
And eyes, though closed in death, restores to light. "
AENEID, iv. 242. (Dryden's Trans. )
[154] Mercury.
[155] Diomede, a tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses with human flesh;
a thing, says the grave Castera, almost incredible. Busiris was a king
of Egypt, who sacrificed strangers.
_Quis . . . illaudati nescit Busiridis aras? _
VIRG. Geor. iii.
Hercules vanquished both these tyrants, and put them to the same
punishments which their cruelty had inflicted on others. Isocrates
composed an oration in honour of Busiris; a masterly example of Attic
raillery and satire.
[156] _i. e. _ the equator.
[157] Hermes is the Greek name for the god Mercury.
[158] Having mentioned the escape of the Moorish pilots, Osorius
proceeds: Rex deinde homines magno cum silentio scaphis et lintribus
submittebat, qui securibus anchoralia nocte praeciderent. Quod nisi
fuisset a nostris singulari Gamae industria vigilatum, et insidiis
scelerati illius regis occursum, nostri in summum vitae discrimen
incidissent.
[159] Mercury.
[160] A city and kingdom of the same name on the east coast of Africa.
[161] Ascension Day.
[162] Jesus Christ.
[163]
_Vimen erat dum stagna subit, processerat undis
Gemma fuit. _
CLAUD.
_Sic et coralium, quo primum contigit auras,
Tempore durescit, mollis fuit herba sub undis. _
OVID.
[164] There were on board Gama's fleet several persons skilled in the
Oriental languages. --OSOR.
[165] See the Eighth Odyssey, etc.
[166] Castera's note on this place is so characteristic of a Frenchman,
that the reader will perhaps be pleased to see it transcribed. In his
text he says, "_Toi qui occupes si dignement le rang supreme. _" "_Le
Poete dit_," says he, in the note, "_Tens de Rey o officio, Toi qui sais
le metier de Roi_. (The poet says, _thou who holdest the business of a
king_. ) I confess," he adds, "I found a strong inclination to translate
this sentence literally. I find much nobleness in it. However, I
submitted to the opinion of some friends, who were afraid that the ears
of Frenchmen would be shocked at the word _business_ applied to a king.
It is true, nevertheless, that Royalty is a _business_. Philip II. of
Spain was convinced of it, as we may discern from one of his letters.
_Hallo_, says he, _me muy embaracado_, &c. _I am so entangled and
encumbered with the multiplicity of business, that I have not a moment
to myself. In truth, we kings hold a laborious office_ (or trade);
_there is little reason to envy us. _"
[167] The propriety and artfulness of Homer's speeches have been often
and justly admired. Camoens is peculiarly happy in the same department
of the Epopaea. The speech of Gama's herald to the King of Melinda is a
striking instance of it. The compliments with which it begins have a
direct tendency to the favours afterwards to be asked. The assurances of
the innocence, the purpose of the voyagers, and the greatness of their
king, are happily touched. The exclamation on the barbarous treatment
they had experienced--"Not wisdom saved us, but Heaven's own care"--are
masterly insinuations. Their barbarous treatment is again repeated in a
manner to move compassion: Alas! what could they fear? etc. , is
reasoning joined with pathos. That they were conducted to the King of
Melinda by Heaven, and were by Heaven assured of his truth, is a most
delicate compliment, and in the true spirit of the epic poem. The
apology for Gama's refusal to come on shore is exceeding artful. It
conveys a proof of the greatness of the Portuguese sovereign, and
affords a compliment to loyalty, which could not fail to be acceptable
to a monarch.
[168] Rockets.
[169] The Tyrian purple, obtained from the _murex_, a species of
shell-fish, was very famous among the ancients. --_Ed. _
[170] A girdle, or ornamented belt, worn over one shoulder and across
the breast. --_Ed. _
[171] Camoens seems to have his eye on the picture of Gama, which is
thus described by _Faria y Sousa_: "He is painted with a black cap,
cloak, and breeches edged with velvet, all slashed, through which
appears the crimson lining, the doublet of crimson satin, and over it
his armour inlaid with gold. "
[172] The admiration and friendship of the King of Melinda, so much
insisted on by Camoens, is a judicious imitation of Virgil's Dido. In
both cases such preparation was necessary to introduce the long episodes
which follow.
[173] The Moors, who are Mohammedans, disciples of the Arabian prophet,
who was descended from Abraham through the line of Hagar. --_Ed. _
[174] The famous temple of the goddess Diana at Ephesus. --_Ed. _
[175] Apollo.
[176] _Calliope. _--The Muse of epic poesy, and mother of Orpheus.
Daphne, daughter of the river Peneus, flying from Apollo, was turned
into the laurel. Clytia was metamorphosed into the sun-flower, and
Leucothoe, who was buried alive by her father for yielding to the
solicitations of Apollo, was by her lover changed into an incense tree.
[177] A fountain of Boeotia sacred to the Muses. --_Ed. _
[178] The preface to the speech of Gama, and the description of Europe
which follows, are happy imitations of the manner of Homer. When Camoens
describes countries, or musters an army, it is after the example of the
great models of antiquity: by adding some characteristical feature of
the climate or people, he renders his narrative pleasing, picturesque,
and poetical.
[179] The Mediterranean.
[180] The Don. --_Ed. _
[181] The Sea of Azof. --_Ed. _
[182] Italy. In the year 409 the city of Rome was sacked, and Italy laid
desolate by Alaric, king of the Gothic tribes. In mentioning this
circumstance Camoens has not fallen into the common error of little
poets, who on every occasion bewail the outrage which the Goths and
Vandals did to the arts and sciences. A complaint founded on ignorance.
The Southern nations of Europe were sunk into the most contemptible
degeneracy. The sciences, with every branch of manly literature, were
almost unknown. For near two centuries no poet of note had adorned the
Roman empire. Those arts only, the abuse of which have a certain and
fatal tendency to enervate the mind, the arts of music and cookery, were
passionately cultivated in all the refinement of effeminate abuse. The
art of war was too laborious for their delicacy, and the generous warmth
of heroism and patriotism was incompatible with their effeminacy. On
these despicable Sybarites{*} the North poured her brave and hardy sons,
who, though ignorant of polite literature, were possessed of all the
manly virtues in a high degree. Under their conquests Europe wore a new
face, which, however rude, was infinitely preferable to that which it
had lately worn. And, however ignorance may talk of their barbarity, it
is to them that England owes her constitution, which, as Montesquieu
observes, they brought from the woods of Saxony.
{*} _Sybaris_, a city in Magna Grecia (South Italy), whose inhabitants
were so effeminate, that they ordered all the cocks to be killed, that
they might not be disturbed by their early crowing.
[183] The river Don.
[184] This was the name of an extensive forest in Germany. It exists now
under different names, as the _Black Forest_, the Bohemian and the
Thuringian Forest, the Hartz, etc. --_Ed. _
[185] The Hellespont, or Straits of the Dardanelles. --_Ed. _
[186] The Balkan Mountains separating Greece and Macedonia from the
basin of the Danube, and extending from the Adriatic to the Black
Sea. --_Ed. _
[187] Now Constantinople.
[188] Julius Caesar, the conqueror of Gaul, or France. --_Ed. _
[189] _Faithless to the vows of lost Pyrene_, etc. --She was daughter to
Bebryx, a king of Spain, and concubine to Hercules.
Having wandered one
day from her lover, she was destroyed by wild beasts, on one of the
mountains which bear her name.
[190] Hercules, says the fable, to crown his labours, separated the two
mountains Calpe and Abyla, the one in Spain, the other in Africa, in
order to open a canal for the benefit of commerce; on which the ocean
rushed in, and formed the Mediterranean, the AEgean, and Euxine seas. The
twin mountains Abyla and Calpe were known to the ancients by the name of
the Pillars of Hercules. --See Cory's _Ancient Fragments_.
[191] The river Guadalquivir; _i. e. _, in Arabic, _the great
river_. --_Ed. _
[192] Viriatus. --See the note on Book I. p. 9.
[193] The assassination of Viriatus. --See the note on Book I. p. 9.
[194] The name of _Saracen_ is derived from the Arabic _Es-shurk_, _the
East_, and designates the Arabs who followed the banner of
Mohammed. --_Ed. _
[195] Don Alonzo, king of Spain, apprehensive of the superior number of
the Moors, with whom he was at war, demanded assistance from Philip I.
of France, and the Duke of Burgundy. According to the military spirit of
the nobility of that age, no sooner was his desire known than numerous
bodies of troops thronged to his standard. These, in the course of a few
years, having shown signal proofs of their courage, the king
distinguished the leaders with different marks of his regard. To Henry,
a younger son of the Duke of Burgundy, he gave his daughter Teresa in
marriage, with the sovereignty of the countries to the south of Galicia,
commissioning him to enlarge his boundaries by the expulsion of the
Moors. Under the government of this great man, who reigned by the title
of Count, his dominion was greatly enlarged, and became more rich and
populous than before. The two provinces of Entre Minho e Douro, and Tras
os Montes, were subdued, with that part of Beira which was held by the
Moorish king of Lamego, whom he constrained to pay tribute. Many
thousands of Christians, who had either lived in miserable subjection to
the Moors, or in desolate independency in the mountains, took shelter
under the protection of Count Henry. Great multitudes of the Moors also
chose rather to submit, than be exposed to the severities and the
continual feuds and seditions of their own governors. These advantages,
added to the great fertility of the soil of Henry's dominions, will
account for the numerous armies, and the frequent wars of the first
sovereigns of Portugal.
[196] Camoens, in making the founder of the Portuguese monarchy a
younger son of the King of Hungary, has followed the old chronologist
Galvan. The Spanish and Portuguese historians differ widely in their
accounts of the parentage of this gallant stranger. Some bring him from
Constantinople, and others from the house of Lorraine. But the clearest
and most probable account of him is in the chronicle of Fleury, wherein
is preserved a fragment of French history, written by a Benedictine monk
in the beginning of the twelfth century, and in the time of Count Henry.
By this it appears, that he was a younger son of Henry, the only son of
Robert, the first duke of Burgundy, who was a younger brother of Henry
I. of France. Fanshaw having an eye to this history, has taken the
unwarrantable liberty to alter the fact as mentioned by his author.
_Amongst these Henry, saith the history,
A younger son of France, and a brave prince,
Had Portugal in lot. ----
And the same king did his own daughter tie
To him in wedlock, to infer from thence
His firmer love. _
Nor are the historians agreed on the birth of Donna Teresa, the spouse
of Count Henry. Brandam, and other Portuguese historians, are at great
pains to prove she was the legitimate daughter of Alonzo and the
beautiful Ximena de Guzman. But it appears from the more authentic
chronicle of Fleury, that Ximena was only his concubine. And it is
evident from all the historians, that Donna Urraca, the heiress of her
father's kingdom, was younger than her half-sister, the wife of Count
Henry.
[197] The Mohammedan Arabs.
[198] _Deliver'd Judah Henry's might confess'd_. --His expedition to the
Holy Land is mentioned by some monkish writers, but from the other parts
of his history it is highly improbable.
[199] Jerusalem.
[200] Godfrey of Bouillon.
[201] Don Alonzo Enriquez, son of Count Henry, had only entered into his
third year when his father died. His mother assumed the reins of
government, and appointed Don Fernando Perez de Traba to be her
minister. When the young prince was in his eighteenth year, some of the
nobility, who either envied the power of Don Perez, or suspected his
intention to marry the queen, and exclude the lawful heir, easily
persuaded the young Count to take arms, and assume the sovereignty. A
battle ensued, in which the prince was victorious. Teresa, it is said,
retired into the castle of Legonaso, where she was taken prisoner by her
son, who condemned her to perpetual imprisonment, and ordered chains to
be put upon her legs. That Don Alonso made war against his mother,
vanquished her party, and that she died in prison about two years after,
A. D. 1130, are certain. But the cause of the war, that his mother was
married to, or intended to marry, Don Perez, and that she was put in
chains, are uncertain.
[202] Guimaraens was the scene of a very sanguinary battle. --_Ed. _
[203] The Scylla here alluded to was, according to fable, the daughter
of Nisus, king of Megara, who had a purple lock, in which lay the fate
of his kingdom. Minos of Crete made war against him, for whom Scylla
conceived so violent a passion, that she cut off the fatal lock while
her father slept. Minos on this was victorious, but rejected the love of
the unnatural daughter, who in despair flung herself from a rock, and in
the fall was changed into a lark.
[204] Guimaraens, the scene of a famous battle. --_Ed. _
[205] Some historians having related this story of Egas, add, "All this
is very pleasant and entertaining, but we see no sufficient reason to
affirm that there is one syllable of it true. "
[206] When Darius laid siege to Babylon, one of his lords, named
Zopyrus, having cut off his own nose and ears, persuaded the enemy that
he had received these indignities from the cruelty of his master. Being
appointed to a chief command in Babylon, he betrayed the city to
Darius. --Vid. Justin's History.
[207] Spanish and Portuguese histories afford several instances of the
Moorish chiefs being attended in the field of battle by their
mistresses, and of the romantic gallantry and Amazonian courage of these
ladies.
[208] Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, who, after having signalized
her valour at the siege of Troy, was killed by Achilles.
[209] The Greek name of Troy. --_Ed. _
[210] The Amazons.
[211] Thermodon, a river of Scythia in the country of the Amazons.
_Quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis
Pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis:
Seu circum Hippolyten, seu cum se Martia curru
Penthesilea refert: magnoque ululante tumultu
Foeminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis. _ VIRG. AEn. xi. 659.
[212] It may, perhaps, be agreeable to the reader, to see the
description of a bull-fight as given by Homer.
_As when a lion, rushing from his den,
Amidst the plain of some wide-water'd fen,_
(_Where num'rous oxen, as at ease they feed,
At large expatiate o'er the ranker mead_;)
_Leaps on the herds before the herdsman's eyes:
The trembling herdsman far to distance flies:
Some lordly bull_ (_the rest dispers'd and fled_)
_He singles out, arrests, and lays him dead.
Thus from the rage of Jove-like Hector flew
All Greece in heaps; but one he seiz'd, and slew
Mycenian Periphas. ----_
POPE, II. xv.
[213] A shirt of mail, formed of small iron rings.
[214] Mohammed.
[215] There is a passage in Xenophon, upon which perhaps Camoens had his
eye. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ,
&c. "When the battle was over, one might behold through the whole extent
of the field the ground purpled with blood; the bodies of friends and
enemies stretched over each other, the shields pierced, the spears
broken, and the drawn swords, some scattered on the earth, some plunged
in the bosoms of the slain, and some yet grasped in the hands of the
dead soldiers. "
[216] This memorable battle was fought in the plains of _Ourique_, in
1139. The engagement lasted six hours; the Moors were totally routed
with incredible slaughter. On the field of battle Alonzo was proclaimed
King of Portugal. The Portuguese writers have given many fabulous
accounts of this victory. Some affirm that the Moorish army amounted to
380,000, others, 480,000, and others swell it to 600,000, whereas Don
Alonzo's did not exceed 13,000. Miracles must also be added. Alonzo,
they tell us, being in great perplexity, sat down to comfort his mind by
the perusal of the Holy Scriptures. Having read the story of Gideon, he
sunk into a deep sleep, in which he saw a very old man in a remarkable
dress come into his tent, and assure him of victory. His chamberlain
coming in, awoke him, and told him there was an old man very importunate
to speak with him. Don Alonzo ordered him to be brought in, and no
sooner saw him than he knew him to be the old man whom he had seen in
his dream. This venerable person acquainted him that he was a fisherman,
and had led a life of penance for sixty years on an adjacent rock, where
it had been revealed to him, that if the count marched his army the next
morning, as soon as he heard a certain bell ring, he should receive the
strongest assurance of victory. Accordingly, at the ringing of the bell,
the count put his army in motion, and suddenly beheld in the eastern sky
the figure of the cross, and Christ upon it, who promised him a complete
victory, and commanded him to accept the title of king, if it were
offered him by the army. The same writers add, that as a standing
memorial of this miraculous event, Don Alonzo changed the arms which his
father had given, of a cross azure in a field argent, for five
escutcheons, each charged with five bezants, in memory of the wounds of
Christ. Others assert, that he gave, in a field argent, five escutcheons
azure in the form of a cross, each charged with five bezants argent,
placed saltierwise, with a point sable, in memory of five wounds he
himself received, and of five Moorish kings slain in the battle. There
is an old record, said to be written by Don Alonzo, in which the story
of the vision is related upon his majesty's oath. The Spanish critics,
however, have discovered many inconsistencies in it. They find the
language intermixed with phrases not then in use: and it bears the date
of the year of our Lord, at a time when that era had not been introduced
into Spain.
[217] Troy.
[218] The tradition, that Lisbon was built by Ulysses, and thence called
_Olyssipolis_, is as common as, and of equal authority with, that which
says, that Brute landed a colony of Trojans in England, and gave the
name of Britannia to the island.
[219] The conquest of Lisbon was of the utmost importance to the infant
monarchy. It is one of the finest ports in the world, and before the
invention of cannon, was of great strength. The old Moorish wall was
flanked by seventy-seven towers, was about six miles in length, and
fourteen in circumference. When besieged by Don Alonzo, according to
some, it was garrisoned by an army of 200,000 men. This is highly
incredible. However, that it was strong and well garrisoned is certain,
as also that Alonzo owed the conquest of it to a fleet of adventurers,
who were going to the Holy Land, the greater part of whom were English.
One Udal op Rhys, in his tour through Portugal, says, that Alonzo gave
them Almada, on the side of the Tagus opposite to Lisbon, and that Villa
Franca was peopled by them, which they called Cornualla, either in
honour of their native country, or from the rich meadows in its
neighbourhood, where immense herds of cattle are kept, as in the English
Cornwall.
[220] Jerusalem.
[221] _Unconquer'd towers. _--This assertion of Camoens is not without
foundation, for it was by treachery that Herimeneric, the Goth, got
possession of Lisbon.
[222] The aqueduct of Sertorius, here mentioned, is one of the grandest
remains of antiquity. It was repaired by John III. of Portugal about
A. D. 1540.
[223] Badajoz.
[224] The history of this battle wants authenticity.
[225] As already observed, there is no authentic proof that Don Alonzo
used such severity to his mother as to put her in chains. Brandan says
it was reported that Don Alonzo was born with both his legs growing
together, and that he was cured by the prayers of his tutor, Egas Nunio.
Legendary as this may appear, this however is deducible from it, that
from his birth there was something amiss about his legs. When he was
prisoner to his son-in-law, Don Fernando, king of Leon, he recovered his
liberty ere his leg, which was fractured in the battle, was restored, on
condition that as soon as he was able to mount on horseback, he should
come to Leon, and in person do homage for his dominions. This condition,
so contrary to his coronation agreement, he found means to avoid. He
ever after affected to drive in a calash, and would never mount on
horseback more. The superstitious of those days ascribed this infirmity
to the curses of his mother.
[226] _Phasis. _--A river of Colchis.
[227] A frontier town on the Nile, bordering on Nubia.
[228] _Colchis. _--A country of Asia Minor bordering on the Black
Sea. --_Ed. _
[229]
_Tu quoque littoribus nostris, AEneia nutrix, AEternam moriens famam,
Caieta, dedisti. _ VIRG. AEn. vii.
[230] _i. e. _ Tangiers, opposite to Gibraltar. --_Ed. _
[231] This should be _Emir el Moumeneen_, _i. e. _, Commander of the
Faithful. --_Ed.
and adventures of the pagan divinities are so blended and uncertain in
mythology, that a poet is at great liberty to adapt them to his allegory
as he pleases. Even the fables, which may appear as profane, even these
contain historical, physical, and moral truths, which fully atone for
the seeming licentiousness of the letter. I could prove this in many
instances, but let the present suffice. Paris, son of Priam, king of
Troy, spent his first years as a shepherd in the country. At this time
Juno, Minerva, and Venus disputed for the apple of gold, which was
destined to be given to the most beautiful goddess. They consented that
Paris should be their judge. His equity claimed this honour. He saw them
all naked. Juno promised him riches, Minerva the sciences, but he
decided in favour of Venus, who promised him the possession of the most
beautiful woman. What a ray of light is contained in this philosophical
fable! Paris represents a studious man, who, in the silence of solitude,
seeks the supreme good. Juno is the emblem of riches and dignities;
Minerva, that of the sciences purely human; Venus is that of religion,
which contains the sciences both human and divine; the charming female,
which she promises to the Trojan shepherd, is that divine wisdom which
gives tranquillity of heart. A judge so philosophical as Paris would not
hesitate a moment to whom to give the apple of gold. "--CASTERA.
[132] "The allegory of Camoens is here obvious. If Acteon, and the
slaves of their violent passions, could discover the beauties of true
religion, they would be astonished and reclaimed: according to the
expression of Seneca, 'Si virtus cerni posset oculis corporeis, omnes ad
amorem suum pelliceret. '"--CASTERA.
[133] "That is Divine love, which always accompanies religion. Behold
how our author insinuates the excellence of his moral! "--CASTERA.
As the French translator has acknowledged, there is no doubt but several
readers will be apt to decry this allegorical interpretation of the
machinery of Camoens. Indeed there is nothing more easy than to discover
a system of allegory in the simplest narrative. The reign of Henry VIII.
is as susceptible of it as any fable in the heathen mythology. Nay,
perhaps, more so. Under the names of Henry, More, Wolsey, Cromwell,
Pole, Cranmer, etc. , all the war of the passions, with their different
catastrophes, might be delineated. Though it may be difficult to
determine how far, yet one may venture to affirm that Homer and Virgil
sometimes allegorised. The poets, however, who wrote on the revival of
letters have left us in no doubt; we have their own authority for it
that their machinery is allegorical. Not only the pagan deities, but the
more modern adventures of enchantment were used by them to delineate the
affections, and the trials and rewards of the virtues and vices. Tasso
published a treatise to prove that his _Gerusalemme Liberata_ is no
other than the Christian spiritual warfare. And Camoens, as observed in
the preface, has twice asserted that his machinery is allegorical. The
poet's assertion, and the taste of the age in which he wrote,
sufficiently vindicate and explain the allegory of the Lusiad.
[134] The following speech of Venus and the reply of Jupiter, are a fine
imitation from the first AEneid, and do great honour to the classical
taste of the Portuguese poet.
[135] Imitated from Virg. AEn. i. --
_Olli subridens hominum sator atque Deorum,
Vultu, quo coelum tempestatesque serenat,
Oscula libavit natae_----
[136] Ulysses, king of Ithaka. --_Ed. _
[137] _i. e. _, the slave of Calypso, who offered Ulysses immortality on
condition that he would live with her.
[138] AEneas. --_Ed. _
[139]
"Far on the right her dogs foul Scylla hides,
Charybdis roaring on the left presides,
And in her greedy whirlpool sucks the tides. "
DRYDEN'S Virg. AEn. iii. --_Ed. _
[140] After the Portuguese had made great conquests in India, GAMA had
the honour to be appointed Viceroy. In 1524, when sailing thither to
take possession of his government, his fleet was so becalmed on the
coast of Cambaya that the ships stood motionless on the water, when in
an instant, without the least change of the weather, the waves were
shaken with a violent agitation, like trembling. The ships were tossed
about, the sailors were terrified, and in the utmost confusion, thinking
themselves lost. Gama, perceiving it to be the effect of an earthquake,
with his wonted heroism and prudence, exclaimed, "_Of what are you
afraid? Do you not see how the ocean trembles under its sovereigns! _"
Barros, l. 9, c. 1, and Faria, c. 9, say, that such as lay sick of
fevers were cured by the fright.
[141] Ormuz, or Hormuz, an island at the entrance of the Persian Gulf,
once a great commercial depot. --_Ed. _
[142] Both Barros and Castaneda relate this fact. Albuquerque, during
the war of Ormuz, having given battle to the Persians and Moors, by the
violence of a sudden wind the arrows of the latter were driven back upon
themselves, whereby many of their troops were wounded.
[143] Calicut was a seaport town of Malabar, more properly _Colicodu_.
[144]
_Hinc ope barbarica, variisque Antonius armis,
Victor ab Aurorae populis et littore rubro,
AEgyptum, viresque Orientis, et ultima secum
Bactra vehit: sequiturque nefas! AEgyptia conjux.
Una omnes ruere, ac totum spumare, reductis
Convulsum remis rostrisque tridentibus, aequor.
Alta petunt: pelago credas innare revulsas
Cycladas, aut montes concurrere montibus altos:
Tanta mole viri turritis puppibus instant.
Stuppea flamma manu telisque volatile ferrum
Spargitur: arva nova Neptunia caede rubescunt.
----Saevit medio in certamine Maxors. _
VIRG. AEn. viii.
[145] Antony.
[146] Gades, now Cadiz, an ancient and still flourishing seaport of
Spain. --_Ed. _
[147] _The Lusian pride, etc. _--Magalhaens, a most celebrated navigator,
neglected by Emmanuel, king of Portugal, offered his service to the king
of Spain, under whom he made most important discoveries round the
Straits which bear his name, and in parts of South America. Of this hero
see further, Lusiad X. , in the notes.
[148] Mercury.
[149] Mombas, a seaport town on an island of the same name off the coast
of Zanguebar, East Africa. --_Ed. _
[150] Mercury, so called from Cyll? n? , the highest mountain in the
Peloponnesus, where he had a temple, and on which spot he is said to
have been born. --_Ed. _
[151] Petasus.
[152] The caduceus, twined with serpents. --_Ed. _
[153]
"But first he grasps within his awful hand
The mark of sovereign power, the magic wand:
With this he draws the ghosts from hollow graves,
With this he drives them down the Stygian waves,
With this he seals in sleep the wakeful sight,
And eyes, though closed in death, restores to light. "
AENEID, iv. 242. (Dryden's Trans. )
[154] Mercury.
[155] Diomede, a tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses with human flesh;
a thing, says the grave Castera, almost incredible. Busiris was a king
of Egypt, who sacrificed strangers.
_Quis . . . illaudati nescit Busiridis aras? _
VIRG. Geor. iii.
Hercules vanquished both these tyrants, and put them to the same
punishments which their cruelty had inflicted on others. Isocrates
composed an oration in honour of Busiris; a masterly example of Attic
raillery and satire.
[156] _i. e. _ the equator.
[157] Hermes is the Greek name for the god Mercury.
[158] Having mentioned the escape of the Moorish pilots, Osorius
proceeds: Rex deinde homines magno cum silentio scaphis et lintribus
submittebat, qui securibus anchoralia nocte praeciderent. Quod nisi
fuisset a nostris singulari Gamae industria vigilatum, et insidiis
scelerati illius regis occursum, nostri in summum vitae discrimen
incidissent.
[159] Mercury.
[160] A city and kingdom of the same name on the east coast of Africa.
[161] Ascension Day.
[162] Jesus Christ.
[163]
_Vimen erat dum stagna subit, processerat undis
Gemma fuit. _
CLAUD.
_Sic et coralium, quo primum contigit auras,
Tempore durescit, mollis fuit herba sub undis. _
OVID.
[164] There were on board Gama's fleet several persons skilled in the
Oriental languages. --OSOR.
[165] See the Eighth Odyssey, etc.
[166] Castera's note on this place is so characteristic of a Frenchman,
that the reader will perhaps be pleased to see it transcribed. In his
text he says, "_Toi qui occupes si dignement le rang supreme. _" "_Le
Poete dit_," says he, in the note, "_Tens de Rey o officio, Toi qui sais
le metier de Roi_. (The poet says, _thou who holdest the business of a
king_. ) I confess," he adds, "I found a strong inclination to translate
this sentence literally. I find much nobleness in it. However, I
submitted to the opinion of some friends, who were afraid that the ears
of Frenchmen would be shocked at the word _business_ applied to a king.
It is true, nevertheless, that Royalty is a _business_. Philip II. of
Spain was convinced of it, as we may discern from one of his letters.
_Hallo_, says he, _me muy embaracado_, &c. _I am so entangled and
encumbered with the multiplicity of business, that I have not a moment
to myself. In truth, we kings hold a laborious office_ (or trade);
_there is little reason to envy us. _"
[167] The propriety and artfulness of Homer's speeches have been often
and justly admired. Camoens is peculiarly happy in the same department
of the Epopaea. The speech of Gama's herald to the King of Melinda is a
striking instance of it. The compliments with which it begins have a
direct tendency to the favours afterwards to be asked. The assurances of
the innocence, the purpose of the voyagers, and the greatness of their
king, are happily touched. The exclamation on the barbarous treatment
they had experienced--"Not wisdom saved us, but Heaven's own care"--are
masterly insinuations. Their barbarous treatment is again repeated in a
manner to move compassion: Alas! what could they fear? etc. , is
reasoning joined with pathos. That they were conducted to the King of
Melinda by Heaven, and were by Heaven assured of his truth, is a most
delicate compliment, and in the true spirit of the epic poem. The
apology for Gama's refusal to come on shore is exceeding artful. It
conveys a proof of the greatness of the Portuguese sovereign, and
affords a compliment to loyalty, which could not fail to be acceptable
to a monarch.
[168] Rockets.
[169] The Tyrian purple, obtained from the _murex_, a species of
shell-fish, was very famous among the ancients. --_Ed. _
[170] A girdle, or ornamented belt, worn over one shoulder and across
the breast. --_Ed. _
[171] Camoens seems to have his eye on the picture of Gama, which is
thus described by _Faria y Sousa_: "He is painted with a black cap,
cloak, and breeches edged with velvet, all slashed, through which
appears the crimson lining, the doublet of crimson satin, and over it
his armour inlaid with gold. "
[172] The admiration and friendship of the King of Melinda, so much
insisted on by Camoens, is a judicious imitation of Virgil's Dido. In
both cases such preparation was necessary to introduce the long episodes
which follow.
[173] The Moors, who are Mohammedans, disciples of the Arabian prophet,
who was descended from Abraham through the line of Hagar. --_Ed. _
[174] The famous temple of the goddess Diana at Ephesus. --_Ed. _
[175] Apollo.
[176] _Calliope. _--The Muse of epic poesy, and mother of Orpheus.
Daphne, daughter of the river Peneus, flying from Apollo, was turned
into the laurel. Clytia was metamorphosed into the sun-flower, and
Leucothoe, who was buried alive by her father for yielding to the
solicitations of Apollo, was by her lover changed into an incense tree.
[177] A fountain of Boeotia sacred to the Muses. --_Ed. _
[178] The preface to the speech of Gama, and the description of Europe
which follows, are happy imitations of the manner of Homer. When Camoens
describes countries, or musters an army, it is after the example of the
great models of antiquity: by adding some characteristical feature of
the climate or people, he renders his narrative pleasing, picturesque,
and poetical.
[179] The Mediterranean.
[180] The Don. --_Ed. _
[181] The Sea of Azof. --_Ed. _
[182] Italy. In the year 409 the city of Rome was sacked, and Italy laid
desolate by Alaric, king of the Gothic tribes. In mentioning this
circumstance Camoens has not fallen into the common error of little
poets, who on every occasion bewail the outrage which the Goths and
Vandals did to the arts and sciences. A complaint founded on ignorance.
The Southern nations of Europe were sunk into the most contemptible
degeneracy. The sciences, with every branch of manly literature, were
almost unknown. For near two centuries no poet of note had adorned the
Roman empire. Those arts only, the abuse of which have a certain and
fatal tendency to enervate the mind, the arts of music and cookery, were
passionately cultivated in all the refinement of effeminate abuse. The
art of war was too laborious for their delicacy, and the generous warmth
of heroism and patriotism was incompatible with their effeminacy. On
these despicable Sybarites{*} the North poured her brave and hardy sons,
who, though ignorant of polite literature, were possessed of all the
manly virtues in a high degree. Under their conquests Europe wore a new
face, which, however rude, was infinitely preferable to that which it
had lately worn. And, however ignorance may talk of their barbarity, it
is to them that England owes her constitution, which, as Montesquieu
observes, they brought from the woods of Saxony.
{*} _Sybaris_, a city in Magna Grecia (South Italy), whose inhabitants
were so effeminate, that they ordered all the cocks to be killed, that
they might not be disturbed by their early crowing.
[183] The river Don.
[184] This was the name of an extensive forest in Germany. It exists now
under different names, as the _Black Forest_, the Bohemian and the
Thuringian Forest, the Hartz, etc. --_Ed. _
[185] The Hellespont, or Straits of the Dardanelles. --_Ed. _
[186] The Balkan Mountains separating Greece and Macedonia from the
basin of the Danube, and extending from the Adriatic to the Black
Sea. --_Ed. _
[187] Now Constantinople.
[188] Julius Caesar, the conqueror of Gaul, or France. --_Ed. _
[189] _Faithless to the vows of lost Pyrene_, etc. --She was daughter to
Bebryx, a king of Spain, and concubine to Hercules.
Having wandered one
day from her lover, she was destroyed by wild beasts, on one of the
mountains which bear her name.
[190] Hercules, says the fable, to crown his labours, separated the two
mountains Calpe and Abyla, the one in Spain, the other in Africa, in
order to open a canal for the benefit of commerce; on which the ocean
rushed in, and formed the Mediterranean, the AEgean, and Euxine seas. The
twin mountains Abyla and Calpe were known to the ancients by the name of
the Pillars of Hercules. --See Cory's _Ancient Fragments_.
[191] The river Guadalquivir; _i. e. _, in Arabic, _the great
river_. --_Ed. _
[192] Viriatus. --See the note on Book I. p. 9.
[193] The assassination of Viriatus. --See the note on Book I. p. 9.
[194] The name of _Saracen_ is derived from the Arabic _Es-shurk_, _the
East_, and designates the Arabs who followed the banner of
Mohammed. --_Ed. _
[195] Don Alonzo, king of Spain, apprehensive of the superior number of
the Moors, with whom he was at war, demanded assistance from Philip I.
of France, and the Duke of Burgundy. According to the military spirit of
the nobility of that age, no sooner was his desire known than numerous
bodies of troops thronged to his standard. These, in the course of a few
years, having shown signal proofs of their courage, the king
distinguished the leaders with different marks of his regard. To Henry,
a younger son of the Duke of Burgundy, he gave his daughter Teresa in
marriage, with the sovereignty of the countries to the south of Galicia,
commissioning him to enlarge his boundaries by the expulsion of the
Moors. Under the government of this great man, who reigned by the title
of Count, his dominion was greatly enlarged, and became more rich and
populous than before. The two provinces of Entre Minho e Douro, and Tras
os Montes, were subdued, with that part of Beira which was held by the
Moorish king of Lamego, whom he constrained to pay tribute. Many
thousands of Christians, who had either lived in miserable subjection to
the Moors, or in desolate independency in the mountains, took shelter
under the protection of Count Henry. Great multitudes of the Moors also
chose rather to submit, than be exposed to the severities and the
continual feuds and seditions of their own governors. These advantages,
added to the great fertility of the soil of Henry's dominions, will
account for the numerous armies, and the frequent wars of the first
sovereigns of Portugal.
[196] Camoens, in making the founder of the Portuguese monarchy a
younger son of the King of Hungary, has followed the old chronologist
Galvan. The Spanish and Portuguese historians differ widely in their
accounts of the parentage of this gallant stranger. Some bring him from
Constantinople, and others from the house of Lorraine. But the clearest
and most probable account of him is in the chronicle of Fleury, wherein
is preserved a fragment of French history, written by a Benedictine monk
in the beginning of the twelfth century, and in the time of Count Henry.
By this it appears, that he was a younger son of Henry, the only son of
Robert, the first duke of Burgundy, who was a younger brother of Henry
I. of France. Fanshaw having an eye to this history, has taken the
unwarrantable liberty to alter the fact as mentioned by his author.
_Amongst these Henry, saith the history,
A younger son of France, and a brave prince,
Had Portugal in lot. ----
And the same king did his own daughter tie
To him in wedlock, to infer from thence
His firmer love. _
Nor are the historians agreed on the birth of Donna Teresa, the spouse
of Count Henry. Brandam, and other Portuguese historians, are at great
pains to prove she was the legitimate daughter of Alonzo and the
beautiful Ximena de Guzman. But it appears from the more authentic
chronicle of Fleury, that Ximena was only his concubine. And it is
evident from all the historians, that Donna Urraca, the heiress of her
father's kingdom, was younger than her half-sister, the wife of Count
Henry.
[197] The Mohammedan Arabs.
[198] _Deliver'd Judah Henry's might confess'd_. --His expedition to the
Holy Land is mentioned by some monkish writers, but from the other parts
of his history it is highly improbable.
[199] Jerusalem.
[200] Godfrey of Bouillon.
[201] Don Alonzo Enriquez, son of Count Henry, had only entered into his
third year when his father died. His mother assumed the reins of
government, and appointed Don Fernando Perez de Traba to be her
minister. When the young prince was in his eighteenth year, some of the
nobility, who either envied the power of Don Perez, or suspected his
intention to marry the queen, and exclude the lawful heir, easily
persuaded the young Count to take arms, and assume the sovereignty. A
battle ensued, in which the prince was victorious. Teresa, it is said,
retired into the castle of Legonaso, where she was taken prisoner by her
son, who condemned her to perpetual imprisonment, and ordered chains to
be put upon her legs. That Don Alonso made war against his mother,
vanquished her party, and that she died in prison about two years after,
A. D. 1130, are certain. But the cause of the war, that his mother was
married to, or intended to marry, Don Perez, and that she was put in
chains, are uncertain.
[202] Guimaraens was the scene of a very sanguinary battle. --_Ed. _
[203] The Scylla here alluded to was, according to fable, the daughter
of Nisus, king of Megara, who had a purple lock, in which lay the fate
of his kingdom. Minos of Crete made war against him, for whom Scylla
conceived so violent a passion, that she cut off the fatal lock while
her father slept. Minos on this was victorious, but rejected the love of
the unnatural daughter, who in despair flung herself from a rock, and in
the fall was changed into a lark.
[204] Guimaraens, the scene of a famous battle. --_Ed. _
[205] Some historians having related this story of Egas, add, "All this
is very pleasant and entertaining, but we see no sufficient reason to
affirm that there is one syllable of it true. "
[206] When Darius laid siege to Babylon, one of his lords, named
Zopyrus, having cut off his own nose and ears, persuaded the enemy that
he had received these indignities from the cruelty of his master. Being
appointed to a chief command in Babylon, he betrayed the city to
Darius. --Vid. Justin's History.
[207] Spanish and Portuguese histories afford several instances of the
Moorish chiefs being attended in the field of battle by their
mistresses, and of the romantic gallantry and Amazonian courage of these
ladies.
[208] Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, who, after having signalized
her valour at the siege of Troy, was killed by Achilles.
[209] The Greek name of Troy. --_Ed. _
[210] The Amazons.
[211] Thermodon, a river of Scythia in the country of the Amazons.
_Quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis
Pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis:
Seu circum Hippolyten, seu cum se Martia curru
Penthesilea refert: magnoque ululante tumultu
Foeminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis. _ VIRG. AEn. xi. 659.
[212] It may, perhaps, be agreeable to the reader, to see the
description of a bull-fight as given by Homer.
_As when a lion, rushing from his den,
Amidst the plain of some wide-water'd fen,_
(_Where num'rous oxen, as at ease they feed,
At large expatiate o'er the ranker mead_;)
_Leaps on the herds before the herdsman's eyes:
The trembling herdsman far to distance flies:
Some lordly bull_ (_the rest dispers'd and fled_)
_He singles out, arrests, and lays him dead.
Thus from the rage of Jove-like Hector flew
All Greece in heaps; but one he seiz'd, and slew
Mycenian Periphas. ----_
POPE, II. xv.
[213] A shirt of mail, formed of small iron rings.
[214] Mohammed.
[215] There is a passage in Xenophon, upon which perhaps Camoens had his
eye. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ,
&c. "When the battle was over, one might behold through the whole extent
of the field the ground purpled with blood; the bodies of friends and
enemies stretched over each other, the shields pierced, the spears
broken, and the drawn swords, some scattered on the earth, some plunged
in the bosoms of the slain, and some yet grasped in the hands of the
dead soldiers. "
[216] This memorable battle was fought in the plains of _Ourique_, in
1139. The engagement lasted six hours; the Moors were totally routed
with incredible slaughter. On the field of battle Alonzo was proclaimed
King of Portugal. The Portuguese writers have given many fabulous
accounts of this victory. Some affirm that the Moorish army amounted to
380,000, others, 480,000, and others swell it to 600,000, whereas Don
Alonzo's did not exceed 13,000. Miracles must also be added. Alonzo,
they tell us, being in great perplexity, sat down to comfort his mind by
the perusal of the Holy Scriptures. Having read the story of Gideon, he
sunk into a deep sleep, in which he saw a very old man in a remarkable
dress come into his tent, and assure him of victory. His chamberlain
coming in, awoke him, and told him there was an old man very importunate
to speak with him. Don Alonzo ordered him to be brought in, and no
sooner saw him than he knew him to be the old man whom he had seen in
his dream. This venerable person acquainted him that he was a fisherman,
and had led a life of penance for sixty years on an adjacent rock, where
it had been revealed to him, that if the count marched his army the next
morning, as soon as he heard a certain bell ring, he should receive the
strongest assurance of victory. Accordingly, at the ringing of the bell,
the count put his army in motion, and suddenly beheld in the eastern sky
the figure of the cross, and Christ upon it, who promised him a complete
victory, and commanded him to accept the title of king, if it were
offered him by the army. The same writers add, that as a standing
memorial of this miraculous event, Don Alonzo changed the arms which his
father had given, of a cross azure in a field argent, for five
escutcheons, each charged with five bezants, in memory of the wounds of
Christ. Others assert, that he gave, in a field argent, five escutcheons
azure in the form of a cross, each charged with five bezants argent,
placed saltierwise, with a point sable, in memory of five wounds he
himself received, and of five Moorish kings slain in the battle. There
is an old record, said to be written by Don Alonzo, in which the story
of the vision is related upon his majesty's oath. The Spanish critics,
however, have discovered many inconsistencies in it. They find the
language intermixed with phrases not then in use: and it bears the date
of the year of our Lord, at a time when that era had not been introduced
into Spain.
[217] Troy.
[218] The tradition, that Lisbon was built by Ulysses, and thence called
_Olyssipolis_, is as common as, and of equal authority with, that which
says, that Brute landed a colony of Trojans in England, and gave the
name of Britannia to the island.
[219] The conquest of Lisbon was of the utmost importance to the infant
monarchy. It is one of the finest ports in the world, and before the
invention of cannon, was of great strength. The old Moorish wall was
flanked by seventy-seven towers, was about six miles in length, and
fourteen in circumference. When besieged by Don Alonzo, according to
some, it was garrisoned by an army of 200,000 men. This is highly
incredible. However, that it was strong and well garrisoned is certain,
as also that Alonzo owed the conquest of it to a fleet of adventurers,
who were going to the Holy Land, the greater part of whom were English.
One Udal op Rhys, in his tour through Portugal, says, that Alonzo gave
them Almada, on the side of the Tagus opposite to Lisbon, and that Villa
Franca was peopled by them, which they called Cornualla, either in
honour of their native country, or from the rich meadows in its
neighbourhood, where immense herds of cattle are kept, as in the English
Cornwall.
[220] Jerusalem.
[221] _Unconquer'd towers. _--This assertion of Camoens is not without
foundation, for it was by treachery that Herimeneric, the Goth, got
possession of Lisbon.
[222] The aqueduct of Sertorius, here mentioned, is one of the grandest
remains of antiquity. It was repaired by John III. of Portugal about
A. D. 1540.
[223] Badajoz.
[224] The history of this battle wants authenticity.
[225] As already observed, there is no authentic proof that Don Alonzo
used such severity to his mother as to put her in chains. Brandan says
it was reported that Don Alonzo was born with both his legs growing
together, and that he was cured by the prayers of his tutor, Egas Nunio.
Legendary as this may appear, this however is deducible from it, that
from his birth there was something amiss about his legs. When he was
prisoner to his son-in-law, Don Fernando, king of Leon, he recovered his
liberty ere his leg, which was fractured in the battle, was restored, on
condition that as soon as he was able to mount on horseback, he should
come to Leon, and in person do homage for his dominions. This condition,
so contrary to his coronation agreement, he found means to avoid. He
ever after affected to drive in a calash, and would never mount on
horseback more. The superstitious of those days ascribed this infirmity
to the curses of his mother.
[226] _Phasis. _--A river of Colchis.
[227] A frontier town on the Nile, bordering on Nubia.
[228] _Colchis. _--A country of Asia Minor bordering on the Black
Sea. --_Ed. _
[229]
_Tu quoque littoribus nostris, AEneia nutrix, AEternam moriens famam,
Caieta, dedisti. _ VIRG. AEn. vii.
[230] _i. e. _ Tangiers, opposite to Gibraltar. --_Ed. _
[231] This should be _Emir el Moumeneen_, _i. e. _, Commander of the
Faithful. --_Ed.
