The toils of culture and of art they scorn,
The warrior's plumes their haughty brows adorn;
The fhining faulchion brandish'd in the right,
Their left arm wields the target in the fight;
Of danger fcornful, ever arm'd they ftand
Around the king, a ftern barbarian band.
Whate'er in India holds the facred name
Of piety or lore, the Brahmins claim:
In wildest rituals, vain and painful, loft,
Brahma their founder as a god they boast.
To crown their meal no meanest life expires,
Pulfe, fruit, and herbs alone their board requires
Alone in lewdnefs riotous and free,
No fpoufal ties with-hold, and no degree:
Loft to the heart-ties, to his neighbour's arms
The willing husband yields his spouse's charms:
In unendear'd embraces free they blend;
Yet but the husband's kindred may afcend
The nuptial couch: alas, too bleft, they know
Nor jealoufy's fufpence, nor burning woe;
The bitter drops which oft from dear affection flow.
But should my lips each wond'rous scene unfold,
Which your glad eyes will foon amazed behold,
Oh, long before the various tale could run,
Deep in the west would fink yon eastern fun.
In few, all wealth from China to the Nile,
All balfams, fruit, and gold on India's bofom smile.
While thus the Moor his faithful tale reveal'd,
Wide o'er the coaft the voice of rumour swell'd;
As first fome upland vapour feems to float
Small as the fmoke of lonely fhepherd cot,
Soon o'er the dales the rolling darkness spreads,
And wraps in hazy clouds the mountain heads,
The leafless forest and the utmost lea;
And wide its black wings hover o'er the fea:
The tear-dropt bough hangs weeping in the vale,
And distant navies rear the mist-wet fail.
So fame increasing, loud and louder grew,
And to the fylvan camp refounding flew ;
A lordly band, she cries, of warlike mien,
Of face and garb in India never seen,
Of tongue unknown, through gulphs undared before,
Unknown their aim, have reach'd the Indian shore.
To hail their chief the Indian lord prepares,
And to the fleet he fends his banner'd Nayres :
As to the bay the nobles prefs along,
The wondering city pours th' unnumber'd throng.
And now brave GAMA and his fplendid train,
Himself adorn'd in all the pride of Spain,
In gilded barges flowly bend to shore,
While to the lute the gently-falling oar
Now breaks the furges of the briny tide,
And now the ftrokes the cold fresh stream divide.
Pleased with the fplendour of the Lufian band,
On every bank the crouded thousands stand.
Begirt with high-plumed nobles, by the flood
The first great minister of India stood,
The Catual his name in India's tongue;
To GAMA fwift the lordly regent sprung:
His open arms the valiant chief enfold,
And now he lands him on the fhore of gold:
With pomp unwonted India's nobles greet
The fearless heroes of the warlike fleet.
A couch on fhoulders borne, in India's mode,
With gold the canopy and purple glow'd,
Receives the Lufian captain; equal rides
The lordly Catual, and onward guides,
While GAMA's train, and thousands of the throng
If India's fons, encircling pour along.
To hold difcourfe in various tongues they try;
In vain; the accents unremember'd die
Inftant as utter'd. Thus on Babel's plain
Each builder heard his mate, and heard in vain.
GAMA the while, and India's fecond lord,
Hold glad refponfes, as the various word
The faithful Moor unfolds. The city gate
They paft, and onward, tower'd in fumptuous ftate,
Before them now the facred temple rose;
The portals wide the sculptured shrines disclose.
The chiefs advance, and, entered now, behold
The gods of wood, cold ftone, and shining gold;
Various of figure, and of various face,
As the foul dæmon will'd the likenefs bafe.
Taught to behold the rays of godhead shine
Fair imaged in the human face divine,
With facred horror thrill'd, the Lufians viewed
The monfter forms, chimera-like, and rude.
Here fpreading horns an human visage bore;
So frown'd ftern Jove in Lybia's fane of yore.
One body here two various faces rear'd;
So ancient Janus o'er his fhrine appear'd.
An hundred arms another brandifh'd wide;
So Titan's fon the race of heaven a defy'd.
And here a dog his snarling tusks display'd :
Anubis thus in Memphis' hallowed fhade
Grinn'd horrible. With vile proftrations low
Before these fhrines the blinded Indians bow.
z The monfter forms, chimera-like, and rude Chimera, a monster slain by Bellerophon.
Firft, dire chimera's conqueft was enjoyn'd,
A mingled monster of no mortal kind;
Behind a dragon's fiery tail was fpread,
A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;
Her pitchy noftrils flaky flames expire,
Her gaping throat emits infernal fire.
a Sa Titan's fon-Briareus.
Before thefe forines the blinded Indians bow.-In this inftance, Camoëns has with great art deviated from the truth of hiftory. As it was the great purpose of his hero to propagate the law of heaven in the Eaft, it would have been highly abfurd to have reprefented Gama and his attendants as on their knees in a Pagan temple. This, however, was the cafe. "Gama, who had been told, fays Oforius, that there were many Christians in India, conjectured that the temple, to which the Catual led him, was a Christian church. At their entrance they were met by four priefts, who feemed to
And now again the splendid pomp proceeds;
To India's lord the haughty regent leads. .
To view the glorious leader of the fleet
Increafing thousands fwell o'er every street;
High o'er the roofs the ftruggling youths afcend,
The hoary fathers o'er the portals bend,
The windows fparkle with the glowing blaze
Of female eyes, and mingling diamonds' rays.
And now the train with folemn state and flow,
Approach the royal gate, through many a row
Of fragrant wood walks, and of balmy bowers,
Radiant with fruitage, ever gay with flowers.
Spacious the dome its pillar'd grandeur spread,
Nor to the burning day high tower'd the head;
The citron groves around the windows glow'd,
And branching palms their grateful shade bestow'd;
The mellow light a pleasing radiance cast;
The marble walls Dædalian fculpture graced.
make croffes on their foreheads. The walls were painted with many images, In the middle was a little round chapel, in the wall of which, oppofite to the entrance, stood an image which could hardly be difcovered; Erat enim locus ita ab omni folis radio feclufus, ut vix aliquis malignæ lucis fplendor in eum penetraret. The four priests afcending, fome entered the chapel by a little brass door, and pointing to the benighted image, cried aloud, Mary, Mary. The Catual and his attendants proftrated themselves on the ground, while the Lufians on their bended knees adored the bleffed Virgin. " Virginemque Dei matrem more noftris ufitato venerantur.” Thus Oforius. Another writer fays, that a Portuguese failor, having fome doubt, exclaimed, If this be the Devil's image, I however worship God.
|