Page:The Lusiad (Camões, tr. Mickle, 1791), Volume 2.djvu/94

And holy peace assum'd her blissful reign,
Again the peasant joy'd, the landscape smiled again.

But John's brave breast to warlike cares inured,
With conscious shame the sloth of ease endured,
When not a foe awaked his rage in Spain,
The valiant hero braved the foamy main;
The first, nor meanest, of our kings who bore
The Lusian thunders to the Afric shore.
O'er the wild waves the victor-banners flow'd,
Their silver wings a thousand eagles shew'd;
And proudly swelling to the whistling gales
The seas were whiten'd with a thousand sails.
Beyond the columns by Alcides placed
To bound the world, the zealous warrior past.
The shrines of Hagar's race, the shrines of lust,
And moon-crown'd mosques lay smoking in the dust.
O'er Abyla's high steep his lance he raised,
On Ceuta's lofty towers his standard blazed:
Ceuta, the refuge of the traitor train,
His vassal now, insures the peace of Spain.

But ah, how soon the blaze of glory dies!
Illustrious John ascends his native skies.

His