The Lusiads (Classics) by De Camões Luis Vaz & William Atkinson

The Lusiads (Classics) by De Camões Luis Vaz & William Atkinson

Author:De Camões, Luis Vaz & William Atkinson [De Camões, Luis Vaz & William Atkinson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-14-196246-7
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2007-04-26T00:00:00+00:00


CANTO

6

THE pagan king was at pains to give the brave seafarers such entertainment as might win him the friendship of the king of Portugal and of so powerful a people. It grieved him that his lot had been cast in a spot so far removed from the fertile lands of Europe, and not rather in the region of the Strait of Gibraltar. He regaled them accordingly, in the best traditions of Malindi, with games, dances, and other festivities day by day, with agreeable fishing expeditions – so Antony was wont to amuse and beguile Cleopatra – and with banquets of fruit, fish, meat, game, and many a strange dish besides.

Da Gama grew conscious that he was prolonging his stay unduly. There was still a vast expanse of ocean to be crossed, the fresh breeze urged him to take on pilots and supplies and be off, and he resolved to stay no longer. As they took leave, their kindly host desired of the Portuguese that there might always be friendship between them, and requested that in their successive voyagings they would make that a regular port of call. He could wish for no higher boon, he said, than to be allowed to place his kingdom and estate at the disposal of men of such worth, and while he lived he would always be ready to serve so excellent a monarch and so great a people with all his resources, even, at need, with his very life.

The Captain made fitting reply, and then, spreading his sails, set out once more for the lands of the dawn that for so long now had been his goal. This time he had a pilot above suspicion of double-dealing, who straightway showed that he knew his job, and he sailed in consequence with an easier mind than he had known till then. They were launched now on the waters of the Indian Ocean, with their eyes fixed on the cradle of the sun where it rises resplendent in the East.

And now the wicked Bacchus, sore distraught to think the Portuguese should be on the threshold of the good fortune they deserved, was consumed with anger and began to rage and blaspheme. He saw that the rest of the gods were determined to make of Lisbon a second Rome, and that he was powerless to prevent it, for so it had been decreed by a higher and absolute power. In desperation he left Olympus, and came down to earth to seek some remedy for the situation.

It was to the watery court of Neptune, lord of the seas, that he directed his steps, down to the farthest depths of the deep-lofty caverns whither the sea withdraws and whence, at the challenge of the raging winds, it lashes its waves into fury and sends them forth.

There Neptune dwelt, in the company of the blithe Nereids and other deities of the sea, the waters respecting such space as was necessary for their abode. The unplumbed depths revealed sands of fine



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.