138
THE LUSIAD.
Book V.
When full in view the giant Cape appears,
Wide spreads its limbs, and high its shoulders rears;
Behind us now it curves the bending side,
And our bold vessels plough the eastern tide.
Nor long excursive off at sea we stand,
A cultur'd shore invites us to the land.
Here their sweet scenes the rural joys bestow,
And give our wearied minds a lively glow.[1]
The tenants of the coast, a festive band,
With dances meet uson the yellow sand;
Their brides on slow-paced oxen rode behind;
The spreading horns with flowery garlands twined,
Bespoke the dew-lapt beeves their proudest boast,
Of all their bestial store they valued most.
By
- ↑ And give our wearied minds a lively glow.—Variety is no less delightful to the reader than to the traveller, and the imagination of Camoëns gave an abundant supply. The insertion of this pastoral landscape, between the terrific scenes which precede and follow, has a fine effect. "Variety," says Pope, in one of his notes on the Odyssey, "gives life and delight; and it is much more necessary in epic than in comic or tragic poetry, sometimes to shift the scenes to diversify and embellish the story." The authority of another celebrated writer offers itself: "Les Portugais naviguant sur l'océan Atlantique , decouvrirent la pointe la plus méridionale de l'Afrique; ils virent une vaste mer: elle les porta aux Indes Orientales; leurs périls sur cette mer, et la decouverte de Mozambique, de Melinde, et de Calecut, ont été chantés par le Camoëns, dont le poëme fait sentir quelque chose des charmes de l'Odyssée, et de la magnificence de l'Eneïde." i.e. The Portuguese, sailing upon the Atlantic ocean discovered the most southern point of Africa: here they found an immense sea, which carried them to the East Indies. The dangers they encountered in the voyage, the discovery of Mozambique, of Melinda, and of Calicut, have been sung by Camoëns, whose poem recalls to our minds the charms of the Odyssey, and the magnificence of the Eneid. Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws, bk. xxi. c. 21.
