The Lusiad Part 27

Long shall the gen'rous Nunio's blissful sway Command supreme. In Dio's hopeless day The sov'reign toil the brave Noronha takes; } Awed by his fame[617] the fierce-soul'd Rumien shakes, } And Dio's open'd walls in sudden flight forsakes. } A son of thine, O GAMA,[618] now shall hold The helm of empire, prudent, wise, and bold: Malacca sav'd and strengthen'd by his arms, The banks of Tor shall echo his alarms; His worth shall bless the kingdoms of the morn, For all thy virtues shall his soul adorn.

When fate resigns thy hero to the skies, A vet'ran, fam'd on Brazil's sh.o.r.e[619] shall rise: The wide Atlantic and the Indian main, By turns, shall own the terrors of his reign.

His aid the proud Cambayan king implores, His potent aid Cambaya's king restores.

The dread Mogul with all his thousands flies, And Dio's towers are Souza's well-earn'd prize.

Nor less the zamorim o'er blood-stain'd ground[620]

Shall speed his legions, torn with many a wound, In headlong rout. Nor shall the boastful pride Of India's navy, though the shaded tide Around the squadron'd masts appear the down Of some wide forest, other fate renown.

Loud rattling through the hills of Cape Camore[621]

I hear the tempest of the battle roar!

Clung to the splinter'd masts I see the dead Badala's sh.o.r.e with horrid wreck bespread; Baticala inflam'd by treach'rous hate, Provokes the horrors of Badala's fate: Her seas in blood, her skies enwrapt in fire, Confess the sweeping storm of Souza's ire.

No hostile spear now rear'd on sea or strand, The awful sceptre graces Souza's hand; Peaceful he reigns, in counsel just and wise; And glorious Castro now his throne supplies: Castro, the boast of gen'rous fame, afar From Dio's strand shall sway the glorious war.

Madd'ning with rage to view the Lusian band, A troop so few, proud Dio's towers command, The cruel Ethiop Moor to heav'n complains, And the proud Persian's languid zeal arraigns.

The Rumien fierce, who boasts the name of Rome,[622]

With these conspires, and vows the Lusians' doom.

A thousand barb'rous nations join their powers To bathe with Lusian blood the Dion towers.

Dark rolling sheets, forth belch'd from brazen wombs, And bor'd, like show'ring clouds, with hailing bombs, O'er Dio's sky spread the black shades of death; The mine's dread earthquakes shake the ground beneath.

No hope, bold Mascarene,[623] mayst thou respire, A glorious fall alone, thy just desire.

When lo, his gallant son brave Castro sends-- Ah heav'n, what fate the hapless youth attends!

In vain the terrors of his falchion glare: The cavern'd mine bursts, high in pitchy air Rampire and squadron whirl'd convulsive, borne To heav'n, the hero dies in fragments torn.

His loftiest bough though fall'n, the gen'rous sire His living hope devotes with Roman ire.

On wings of fury flies the brave Alvar Through oceans howling with the wintry war, Through skies of snow his brother's vengeance bears; And, soon in arms, the valiant sire appears: Before him vict'ry spreads her eagle wing Wide sweeping o'er Cambaya's haughty king.

In vain his thund'ring coursers shake the ground, Cambaya bleeding of his might's last wound Sinks pale in dust: fierce Hydal-Kan[624] in vain Wakes war on war; he bites his iron chain.

O'er Indus' banks, o'er Ganges' smiling vales, No more the hind his plunder'd field bewails: O'er ev'ry field, O Peace, thy blossoms glow, The golden blossoms of thy olive bough; Firm bas'd on wisest laws great Castro crowns, And the wide East the Lusian empire owns.

"These warlike chiefs, the sons of thy renown, And thousands more, O VASCO, doom'd to crown Thy glorious toils, shall through these seas unfold Their victor-standards blaz'd with Indian gold; And in the bosom of our flow'ry isle, Embath'd in joy shall o'er their labours smile.

Their nymphs like yours, their feast divine the same, The raptur'd foretaste of immortal fame."

So sang the G.o.ddess, while the sister train With joyful anthem close the sacred strain: "Though Fortune from her whirling sphere bestow Her gifts capricious in unconstant flow, Yet laurell'd honour and immortal fame Shall ever constant grace the Lusian name."

So sung the joyful chorus, while around The silver roofs the lofty notes resound.

The song prophetic, and the sacred feast, Now shed the glow of strength through ev'ry breast.

When with the grace and majesty divine, Which round immortals when enamour'd s.h.i.+ne, To crown the banquet of their deathless fame, To happy GAMA thus the sov'reign dame: "O lov'd of Heav'n, what never man before, What wand'ring science never might explore, By Heav'n's high will, with mortal eyes to see Great nature's face unveil'd, is given to thee.

Thou and thy warriors follow where I lead: Firm be your steps, for arduous to the tread, Through matted brakes of thorn and brier, bestrew'd With splinter'd flint, winds the steep slipp'ry road."

She spake, and smiling caught the hero's hand, And on the mountain's summit soon they stand; A beauteous lawn with pearl enamell'd o'er, Emerald and ruby, as the G.o.ds of yore Had sported here. Here in the fragrant air A wondrous globe appear'd, divinely fair!

Through ev'ry part the light transparent flow'd, And in the centre, as the surface, glow'd.

The frame ethereal various...o...b.. compose, In whirling circles now they fell, now rose; Yet never rose nor fell,[625] for still the same Was ev'ry movement of the wondrous frame; Each movement still beginning, still complete, Its author's type, self-pois'd, perfection's seat.

Great VASCO, thrill'd with reverential awe, And rapt with keen desire, the wonder saw.

The G.o.ddess mark'd the language of his eyes, "And here," she cried, "thy largest wish suffice."

Great nature's fabric thou dost here behold, Th' ethereal, pure, and elemental mould In pattern shown complete, as nature's G.o.d Ordain'd the world's great frame, His dread abode; For ev'ry part the Power Divine pervades, The sun's bright radiance, and the central shades; Yet, let not haughty reason's bounded line Explore the boundless G.o.d, or where define, Where in Himself, in uncreated light (While all His worlds around seem wrapp'd in night), He holds His loftiest state.[626] By primal laws Impos'd on Nature's birth (Himself the cause), By her own ministry, through ev'ry maze, Nature in all her walks, unseen, He sways.

These spheres behold;[627] the first in wide embrace Surrounds the lesser orbs of various face; The Empyrean this, the holiest heav'n To the pure spirits of the bless'd is giv'n: No mortal eye its splendid rays may bear, No mortal bosom feel the raptures there.

The earth, in all her summer pride array'd, To this might seem a drear sepulchral shade.

Unmov'd it stands; within its s.h.i.+ning frame, In motion swifter than the lightning's flame, Swifter than sight the moving parts may spy, Another sphere whirls round its rapid sky.

Hence motion darts its force,[628] impulsive draws, And on the other orbs impresses laws; The sun's bright car attentive to its force Gives night and day, and shapes his yearly course; Its force stupendous asks a pond'rous sphere To poise its fury, and its weight to bear: Slow moves that pond'rous...o...b.. the stiff, slow pace One step scarce gains, while wide his annual race Two hundred times the sun triumphant rides; The crystal heav'n is this, whose rigour guides And binds the starry sphere:[629] That sphere behold, With diamonds spangled, and emblaz'd with gold!

What radiant orbs that azure sky adorn, Fair o'er the night in rapid motion borne!

Swift as they trace the heav'n's wide circling line, Whirl'd on their proper axles, bright they s.h.i.+ne.

Wide o'er this heav'n a golden belt displays Twelve various forms; behold the glitt'ring blaze!

Through these the sun in annual journey towers, And o'er each clime their various tempers pours; In gold and silver of celestial mine How rich far round the constellations s.h.i.+ne!

Lo, bright emerging o'er the polar tides, In s.h.i.+ning frost the Northern Chariot rides;[630]

Mid treasur'd snows here gleams the grisly Bear, And icy flakes incrust his s.h.a.ggy hair.

Here fair Andromeda, of heav'n belov'd; Her vengeful sire, and, by the G.o.ds reprov'd, Beauteous Ca.s.siope. Here, fierce and red, } Portending storms, Orion lifts his head; } And here the Dogs their raging fury shed. } The Swan, sweet melodist, in death he sings, The milder Swan here spreads his silver wings.

Here Orpheus' Lyre, the melancholy Hare, And here the watchful Dragon's eye-b.a.l.l.s glare; And Theseus' s.h.i.+p, oh, less renown'd than thine, Shall ever o'er these skies ill.u.s.trious s.h.i.+ne.

Beneath this radiant firmament behold The various planets in their orbits roll'd: Here, in cold twilight, h.o.a.ry Saturn rides; Here Jove s.h.i.+nes mild, here fiery Mars presides; Apollo here, enthron'd in light, appears The eye of heav'n, emblazer of the spheres; Beneath him beauteous glows the Queen of Love-- The proudest hearts her sacred influence prove; Here Hermes, fam'd for eloquence divine, And here Diana's various faces s.h.i.+ne; Lowest she rides, and, through the shadowy night, Pours on the glist'ning earth her silver light.

These various...o...b.., behold, in various speed Pursue the journeys at their birth decreed.

Now, from the centre far impell'd they fly, Now, nearer earth they sail a lower sky, A shorten'd course: Such are their laws impress'd By G.o.d's dread will,[631] that will for ever best.

"The yellow earth, the centre of the whole, There lordly rests sustain'd on either pole.

The limpid air enfolds in soft embrace The pond'rous...o...b.. and brightens o'er her face.

Here, softly floating o'er th' aerial blue, Fringed with the purple and the golden hue, The fleecy clouds their swelling sides display; From whence, fermented by the sulph'rous ray, The lightnings blaze, and heat spreads wide and rare; And now, in fierce embrace with frozen air, Their wombs, compress'd, soon feel parturient throws, And white wing'd gales bear wide the teeming snows.

Thus, cold and heat their warring empires hold, Averse yet mingling, each by each controll'd, The highest air and ocean's bed they pierce, And earth's dark centre feels their struggles fierce.

"The seat of man, the earth's fair breast, behold; Here wood-crown'd islands wave their locks of gold.

Here spread wide continents their bosoms green, And h.o.a.ry Ocean heaves his breast between.

Yet, not th' inconstant ocean's furious tide May fix the dreadful bounds of human pride.

What madd'ning seas between these nations roar!

Yet Lusus' hero-race shall visit ev'ry sh.o.r.e.

What thousand tribes, whom various customs sway, And various rites, these countless sh.o.r.es display!

Queen of the world, supreme in s.h.i.+ning arms, Hers ev'ry art, and hers all wisdom's charms, Each nation's tribute round her foot-stool spread, Here Christian Europe[632] lifts the regal head.

Afric behold,[633] alas, what alter'd view!

Her lands uncultur'd, and her son's untrue; Ungraced with all that sweetens human life, Savage and fierce they roam in brutal strife; Eager they grasp the gifts which culture yields, Yet, naked roam their own neglected fields.

Lo, here enrich'd with hills of golden ore, Monomotapa's empire hems the sh.o.r.e.

There round the Cape, great Afric's dreadful bound, Array'd in storms (by you first compa.s.s'd round), Unnumber'd tribes as b.e.s.t.i.a.l grazers stray, By laws unform'd, unform'd by reason's sway: Far inward stretch the mournful sterile dales, Where, on the parch'd hill-side, pale Famine wails.

On gold in vain the naked savage treads; Low, clay-built huts, behold, and reedy sheds, Their dreary towns. Gonzalo's zeal shall glow[634]

To these dark minds the path of light to show: His toils to humanize the barb'rous mind Shall, with the martyr's palms, his holy temples bind.

Great Naya,[635] too, shall glorious here display His G.o.d's dread might: behold, in black array, Num'rous and thick as when in evil hour The feather'd race whole harvest fields devour, So thick, so num'rous round Sofala's towers Her barb'rous hordes remotest Africa pours: In vain; Heav'n's vengeance on their souls impress'd, They fly, wide scatter'd as the driving mist.

Lo, Quama there, and there the fertile Nile Curs'd with that gorging fiend, the crocodile, Wind their long way: the parent lake behold, Great Nilus' fount, unseen, unknown of old, From whence, diffusing plenty as he glides, Wide Abyssinia's realm the stream divides.

In Abyssinia Heav'n's own altars blaze,[636]

And hallow'd anthems chant Messiah's praise.

In Nile's wide breast the isle of Meroe see!

Near these rude sh.o.r.es a hero sprung from thee, Thy son, brave GAMA,[637] shall his lineage show In glorious triumphs o'er the paynim[638] foe.

There by the rapid Ob her friendly breast Melinda spreads, thy place of grateful rest.

Cape Aromata there the gulf defends, Where by the Red Sea wave great Afric ends.

Ill.u.s.trious Suez, seat of heroes old, Fam'd Hierapolis, high-tower'd, behold.

Here Egypt's shelter'd fleets at anchor ride, And hence, in squadrons, sweep the eastern tide.

And lo, the waves that aw'd by Moses' rod, While the dry bottom Israel's armies trod, On either hand roll'd back their frothy might, And stood, like h.o.a.ry rocks, in cloudy height.

Here Asia, rich in ev'ry precious mine, In realms immense, begins her western line.

Sinai behold, whose trembling cliffs of yore In fire and darkness, deep pavilion'd, bore The Hebrews' G.o.d, while day, with awful brow, Gleam'd pale on Israel's wand'ring tents below.

The pilgrim now the lonely hill ascends, And, when the ev'ning raven homeward bends, Before the virgin-martyr's tomb[639] he pays His mournful vespers, and his vows of praise.

Jidda behold, and Aden's parch'd domain Girt by Arzira's rock, where never rain Yet fell from heav'n; where never from the dale The crystal riv'let murmur'd to the vale.

The three Arabias here their b.r.e.a.s.t.s unfold, Here breathing incense, here a rocky wold; O'er Dofar's plain the richest incense breathes, That round the sacred shrine its vapour wreathes; Here the proud war-steed glories in his force, As, fleeter than the gale, he holds the course.

Here, with his spouse and household lodg'd in wains, The Arab's camp s.h.i.+fts, wand'ring o'er the plains, The merchant's dread, what time from eastern soil His burthen'd camels seek the land of Nile.

Here Rosalgate and Farthac stretch their arms, And point to Ormuz, fam'd for war's alarms; Ormuz, decreed full oft to quake with dread Beneath the Lusian heroes' hostile tread, Shall see the Turkish moons,[640] with slaughter gor'd, Shrink from the lightning of De Branco's sword.[641]

There on the gulf that laves the Persian sh.o.r.e, Far through the surges bends Cape Asabore.

There Barem's isle;[642] her rocks with diamonds blaze, And emulate Aurora's glitt'ring rays.

From Barem's sh.o.r.e Euphrates' flood is seen, And Tigris' waters, through the waves of green In yellowy currents many a league extend, As with the darker waves averse they blend.

Lo, Persia there her empire wide unfolds!

In tented camp his state the monarch holds: Her warrior sons disdain the arms of fire,[643]

And, with the pointed steel, to fame aspire; Their springy shoulders stretching to the blow, Their sweepy sabres hew the shrieking foe.

There Gerum's isle the h.o.a.ry ruin wears Where Time has trod:[644] there shall the dreadful spears Of Sousa and Menezes strew the sh.o.r.e With Persian sabres, and embathe with gore.

Carpella's cape, and sad Carmania's strand, There, parch'd and bare, their dreary wastes expand.

A fairer landscape here delights the view; From these green hills beneath the clouds of blue, The Indus and the Ganges roll the wave, And many a smiling field propitious lave.

Luxurious here, Ulcinda's harvests smile, And here, disdainful of the seaman's toil, The whirling tides of Jaquet furious roar; Alike their rage when swelling to the sh.o.r.e, Or, tumbling backward to the deep, they force The boiling fury of their gulfy course: Against their headlong rage nor oars nor sails, The stemming prow alone, hard toil'd, prevails.