New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE LUsIAD OF CAMOENs.

RsciAnD FRANCIS BURTON; s Losc1ue sX "psrraT3
NJ question In literary history has been more
a., discussed than-What constitutes transiar
non, And none has been answered less eaus-
ssctoriIy. Two things are Indispensable 10
translator knowledge of the language tnat no
proposes to translate from. and knowieese u
the language that he proposes to translate mo-
and 1t IL not easy In some cases 10 ten mniSn 70
the more important. The transiators OF 1ns.s"u
are better equipped for their task to-day than they
we're q. the dave of Dryden and POPE, for the aver
acs knowleoge of Greek and Latin is higher, ana
the average usage of English is more exact
. and poetic Dryden's Virgil aud Popes DO
mef are brilliant productions, no doubt, out
they are in no sense translatons. for though toer
ablv faithful to the sense Of the authors, they are
entirely false to their style or manner. 1t Is
pretty poem, Mr. Pope" said the learned Bentley 10
the little Queen Anne's man. but you must mol
call It Homer" One can almost count on his myers
all the readable English TRANSACTIONS OF tine oo po''
and of these the most readable are those thar repro
suce the spirit rather than the sense oil their org
nal. Cbapnap's Homer and Fairfaxe's Tosso fulfil
,h,s condition. and Hooles Tasso and MIckle's
Camoens do not. Mickle was q toerable poet when
he was at bis best. as in his homely Scotch song,
.Tbere,s nae luck about the house," which CONTAINS
the immortal eouplet,
His very foot has music int.
AS he comes up the stair,
but he was by no means at bis best In MS
version of the Lusiad. Fanshawe preceded MIN Dy
one hundred and twenty years, ana Is sa'o W
have exceeded him as much as he did hooie thousn
n ia not easy to test the truth OF this statement as
,,e Is no longer read. He certainly respected the
form of Camoens for be rendered 1t In the octave
stanza, and Mckle did not respect 1t, Tor ne rem
dered it in the heroic measure, which was anything
INIT heroic in his hands. Mckle was thought at the
time to have succeeded in his version. which cost
him the labor Of three years. bat it soon ceased TO
be read, and was followed during the next hity
years by the version of Mussrave us26l aud tne
versions of Quillinan 1s53D. and Sir Thomas
Mitchell 1854 There have been three later trans
lators-Aubertin. Daft and Hewitt-aud now comes
the fourth 10 the person of Captain Burton the we'll
known explorer and lingust. Nine different English
TRANSACTIONS of the Lusiad in two and quarter Gen.
turies-was it worth It'll
Before ous attempts to answer that question ne
should consider the period at which the Lusiad was
written and the intention of the writers he should
consider, IN a word, the personality OF Camoens.
and the social condition of Portugal in the sixteenth
century To Judge it by the standard that we apply
to the plays of Shakespeare or the metrical ro-
inances of Scott is to judge 1T unjusty. Tor there
was no such standard in the days OF
Camoens. The only standard known then was
that of Homer and Virgil, the epic standard,
and there was but one European poem 10
which it could apply, even loosey-the Divlna Com
media of Dante. Finished in the first quarter
of the fourteenth century, the Dvina Com
media was followed, in the last quarter of
the next century, by tne Orlando In
namorato of Boiardo 1495) and ths Orlando
Furioso of Ariosto 1916 Published 10 1872 when
Shakespeare was eight years DID, the Lusiad was
the fourth European epic. The inspiration of Dante.
which concerned itself with man in the spiritual
world, was q religious one; the inspiration OF
Boiardo and AroSto. which concerned itself with
the adventures of an imaginary hero, was roman
tic one; the inspiration Of Camoens. which con-
cerned itself with the voyages OF Vasco ola CANA
was national one. The Lusiad was the first ma
tonal poem. 1t is the epos Of Lusitania. An in
terest attached to it when 1T was fresh
from the brain of Camoens, which does not attach
to it now 1t celebrated events which were recent,
or comparatively recent. and 1T celebrated a man
whose memory was respondent. Vasco da CANA
lis hero was one of the greatest navigators il not
indeed, the great navigator, of the fifteenth CEN
tury and his VOYAGES 70 India were the brightest
Jewels in the crown of Portugal. To celebrate them
aud HIM in verse was royal road to the hearts OF
the Portuguese people Camoens found such, for his
poem passed through thrty-eight editions in about
hundred years. besides being translated in Greek,
Latin Hebrew. Italian, French, German, Dutch.
Polish, Bohemian, Danish, Swedish RuSslan ana
English, as we have seen.
The ruling passion of Gama's day was maritime
discovery, of which he SO eminent representa-
tive He was of the stuff out Of which the old poets
made their heroes and the bares recital Of his adj
ventures was in itself an epie Camoens knew this.
for he was well read in epic literature and he knew,
also that no one was we'll fitted to be the poet of
CANA as himself. He delighted in the sea. as Cana
did; he visited India. Cana did; and his soul,
like Gama's, was stepped with the Luz CT OTieate.
A scholar, q courter, poet and lover, he fought
against the Moors at Ceuta and lost his right eye,
end, drifting back to Lisbon was drawn at last In
the great stream that set from Europe to ASIA and
finally borne. at the age of thirty, to Goa. In
selecting CANA as the hero of the Lusiad. Camoens
bonOred the family to which he belonged on his
mothers side. the Gamss of Agarve. and if the life
of Cana had lacked incidents that were necessary
to render 1t poetical he could have supplied thom
from his own. For he. too. had braved the dangers
of the Deep and had fought against perdiOus native
kings and more perfdious MOOrs. They still show
at Macao the grottO in which he wrote the iusiad,
and his biographers never weary OF telling OF
his misfortunes; of his shipwreck of the mouth OF
the river Meekong, and of his swimming ashore with
the manuscript Of his poem; Of his faithful Javanese
slave, Antonio. who begged food for him at night:
of the poor muiatto woman who, from tho profits of
her fruit stall, supplied him with few coins; and
CAST scene Of all this strange. eventual history of
bis melancholy death in the hospital at Lisbon.
The life of CANA was che glorious epic of discovery;
the life of Canosns was the gloomy epic OF poetry.
Aud his epitaph might we'll have been the epitaph
Of poor old Thomas Churchgard, who. like himself,
was a soldier and poet
- Poetry and poverty this tomb doth enclose.
Wherefore, good neighbors, be merry In prose,
Before We can judge the Lusiad justly we must
carefully consider the intention of the writer and