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LUIS VAZ DE CAMOENS [CAMOES] (1524-1580)
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LUIS VAZ DE See also:CAMOENS [CAMOES] (1524-1580)
, the See also:prince of Portuguese poets, sprang from an illustrious and wealthy See also:family of Galician origin, whose seat, called the See also:castle of See also:Camoens, See also:lay near Cape Finisterre
.
His ancestor, the poet Vasco Pires de Camoens, followed the party of See also:Peter the Cruel of See also:Castile against See also: The See also:possession of classical culture was regarded as the See also:mark of a See also:gentleman; the colleges of Santa Cruz required conversation within the walls to be in See also:Greek or Latin, and the university, when it absorbed the colleges, adopted the same See also:rule . In these surroundings. aided by a retentive memory, Camoens steeped himself in the literature and See also:mythology of the ancients, as his See also:works show, and he was thus able in after years to perfect the Portuguese See also:language and to enrich it with many neologisms of classical origin . It is fortunate, however, for his country and his fame that he never followed the See also:fashion of See also:writing in Latin; on the contrary, except for his Spanish poems, he always employed his native See also:tongue . After completing his See also:grammar and See also:rhetoric the poet entered on his university course for the degree of See also:bachelor of arts, which lasted for three years, from 1539 to 1542, and during this See also:period he met Jorge See also:friends, who would have preferred a better match for her, she repelled her See also:lover . See also:Jealousy then seized him, and sick of See also:court See also:life for the moment, he gladly accompanied his See also:patron to the latter's country See also:house; but once there he recognized that Lisbon, was the centre of attraction for him and that he could not be happy at a distance . His verses at this time reveal his parlous See also:condition . He oscillates between joy and depression . He passes from See also:tender regrets to violent outbursts, which are followed by See also:calm and See also:peace, while expressions of passionate love alternate with bold desires and lofty ambitions . It is clear tat there was an understanding between him and Catherina and that they looked forward to a happy ending, and this encouraged him in his weary waiting and his See also:search for a lucrative See also:post which would enable him to approach her family and ask for her See also:hand . From this period date the greater See also:part of his roundels and sonnets, some of the odes and nearly all the eclogues . His fifth See also:eclogue shows that he was seriously thinking of his patriotic poem in 1544; and from the See also:fourth it seems likely that the Lusiads were in course of See also:composition, and that cantos 3 and 4 were practically completed . He had by now established his fame and was known as the Lusitanian See also:Virgil, but presently he had a See also:rude awakening from his dreams of love and See also:glory . He had shown his See also:affection too openly, and some infraction of court See also:etiquette, about which the See also:queen was strict, caused the tongue of See also:scandal to wag; perhaps it was an affair with one of Catherina's See also:brothers, even a See also:duel, that led to the See also:decree which exiled him from Lisbon . Camoens's rashness, self-confidence and want of respect for the authorities all contributed to the See also:penalty, and the composition of the See also:play El Rei Seleuco would aggravate his offence in the eyes of John III . Produced in 1545 and derived from See also:Plutarch, the See also:plot was calculated to draw See also:attention to the relations between the king and his stepmother, and to recall the See also:action of D . Manoel in robbing his son John III. of his intended See also:bride . Camoens composed it for a See also:wedding festivity in the house of Estacio da See also:Fonseca, and some of the verses refer so openly to his See also:passion, that if, as is likely, he spoke them himself, emphasizing them with See also:voice and gesture so as to publish his love to the See also:world, this new boldness, combined with the subject of the piece, must have rendered his See also:exile a certainty . All we know definitely, however, is that the court was henceforth closed to him, and in 1546 he had to leave Lisbon, the See also:abode of his love and the See also:scene of his See also:triumph . Tradition says that he went to the Ribatejo and spent seven or eight months with his See also:mother's relatives in or near See also:Santarem, whence he poured out a number of his finest poems; including his See also:Elegy of Exile and some magnificent sonnets, which, in vigour of ideas and beauty of expression, exceeded anything he had hitherto produced . Poets cannot live on bays, however, and pressed by See also:necessity he determined to become a soldier . One of his best See also:modern biographers thinks that he petitioned the king for See also:liberty to commute his penalty into military service in See also:Africa; but whether this be so, or whether he merely went there to gain his spurs, certain it is that in the autumn of 1547 he proceeded to See also:Ceuta . For the next two years, the usual period of service there, he lived the routine life of a See also:common soldier in this famous See also:trade See also:emporium and outpost-See also:town, and he lost his right See also:eye in a skirmish with the Moroccans, though some writers make the incident occur on the voyage across the straits when his See also:ship was attacked by Sallee rovers . Elegy ii. and a couple of odes date from his stay in Ceuta . He is full of sadness and almost in despair, but is saved from See also:suicide by love and memory of the past .
He has intervals of calm and resignation, even of satirical See also:humour, and these become more frequent as the See also:term of his exile draws near, and in one of them he wrote his See also:prose See also:letter to a " Lisbon friend." The octaves on the Discontent of the World, which breathe a philosophic equanimity and lift'the reader out of the tumult of daily life, go to show that his restless See also:heart had found peace at last and that he had accustomed himself to solitude
.
In See also:November 1549 the aged See also:governor of Ceuta, D
.
Affonso de Noronha, was summoned to court and created See also:viceroy of India,
It6
de See also:Montemayor, the author of See also:Diana, who was then studying See also:music
.
He seems to have imbibed much of that encyclopaedic instruction to which the humanists aspired, for his writings show a very extensive See also:reading, and his scientific knowledge and See also:faculty of observation compelled the admiration of the See also:great See also:Humboldt
.
The thoroughness of his teaching is apparent when we remember that he wrote his epic in the fortresses of Africa and See also:Asia, far from books, and yet gave See also:proof of acquaintance with universal See also:history, See also:geography, See also:astronomy, Greek and Latin literature, and the modern See also:poetry of See also:Italy and See also:Spain
.
Much of the See also:credit for this learning must be attributed to the encouragement of D
.
Bento, now See also:prior of Santa Cruz, who became See also:chancellor of the university the very year when Camoens entered it
.
There is a tradition that this uncle destined him for the See also: Lisbon, which impressed Cervantes so much as to draw from him a classic description in the novel Persiles y Sigismunda, made an even greater impression on the youthful Camoens, and the Lusiads are full of eulogistic epithets on the city and the See also:Tagus . Arriving in 1543, it has been conjectured that he became See also:tutor to D . See also:Antonio de Noronha, son of the great noble D . Francisco de Noronha, See also:count of Linhares, who had lately returned from a See also:French See also:embassy to his See also:palace at Xabregas . The poet's See also:birth and talents admitted him to the society of men like D . See also:Constantine de See also:Braganza, the See also:duke of See also:Aveiro, the See also:marquis of Cascaes, the count of Redondo, D . Manoel de Portugal and D . Goncalo da Silveira, son of the count of Sortelha, who died a See also:Christian See also:martyr in See also:Monomotapa . At Xabregas Carnoens must have met Francisco de See also:Moraes (q.v.), who had served as secretary to the count of Linhares on his embassy, and there he probably read the MS. of Palmeirim; this would explain the origin of two of his roundels which are clearly founded on passages in the See also:romance . Camoens had had a youthful love affair in Coimbra, but on See also:Good See also:Friday of the year 1544 he experienced the passion of his life . On that See also:day in some Lisbon church he caught sight of D . Catherina de Ataide (daughter of D .
Antonio de See also:Lima, high See also:
He took part in their extravagances and gained the name of " Trinca-fortes " (" Crack-braves ") from his bohemian companions, while there were ladies who mocked at his disfigurement, dubbing him " See also:devil " and " eyeless See also:face." In the course of his adventures he had often to draw his See also:sword, either as attacker or attacked, and he boasted that he had seen the soles of the feet of many but none had seen his
.
When the reply to his application came from the palace it was a negative one, and he had now nothing further to expect
.
His stock of See also:money brought from Ceuta was certainly exhausted, and misery stared him' in the face, making him desperate
.
On the feast of Corpus Christi, the 16th Of 'See also:June 1552, he found two masked friends of his engaged in a Street fight near St See also:Dominic's See also:convent, and joining in. the fray he wounded one Goncalo Borges, a palace servant, with the result that he was apprehended and lodged in See also:gaol
.
This unprovoked attack upon a royal servant on so See also:holy a day constituted a serious offence and cost him eight months' imprisonment
.
In a pathetic See also:sonnet he describes his terrible experiences, which made such an impression on him that years afterwards he recurred to them in his great autobiographical Canzon 1o
.
When Borges' wound was completely healed, the poet's friends intervened to assist him, and it was arranged that on his formally imploring See also:pardon Borges should See also: In those days the sailors navigated the See also:ships, while the men-at-arms kept the day and See also:night watches, helped in the cleaning and, in case of necessity, at the pumps, but the See also:rank of Camoens doubtless saved him from See also:manual See also:work . He had much time to himself in his six months' voyage and was able to lay in a See also:store of nautical knowledge, while tempestuous See also:weather off the Cape of Good See also:Hope led him to conceive the dramatic See also:episode of Adamastor (Lusiads, See also:canto 5) . The " S . Bento," the best ship of the fleet, weathered the Cape safely, and without touching at See also:Mozambique, the watering-See also:place of ships See also:bound for India, anchored at See also:Goa in See also:September . It seems probable that the See also:idea of the Lusiads took further shape on the voyage out, and that Camoens modified his See also:plan; cantos 3 and 4 were already written, but from an See also:historical he now made it a maritime epic . The See also:discovery of India became the main theme, while the history of Portugal was interlaced with it, and the poem ended with the espousals between Portugal and the ocean, and a prophecy of the future greatness of the fatherland . At the time of his arrival Goa boasted roo,000 inhabitants, and with its magnificent See also:harbour was the commercial capital of the See also:west of India . The first viceroy had been content with a sea dominion, but the great Affonso de See also:Albuquerque saw that this was not enough to secure the supremacy of the Portuguese;recpgnizing the strategic value' of Goa, he seized it and made it the capital of a See also:land See also:empire, and built fortresses in every important point through the East . Since his See also:death a See also:succession of remark-able victories had made the See also:flag of Portugal predominant, but the enervating See also:climate, the pleasures and the See also:plunder of . Asia, began to tell on the conquerors . Corruption was rife from the governor downwards, because the ruling ambition was to get See also:rich and return See also:home, and the See also:hero of one day was a pirate the next . After all, it was only human nature, for a governorship lasted but three years and Portugal was far away, so the saying went See also:round—" They are installed the first year, they rob the second, and then See also:pack up in the third to sail away" Camoens was well received at first, owing to his talents and bravery, and he found the life cheap and merry, but having left his country with high ideals, the injustice and demoralization of See also:manners he found in India soon disgusted him . He compared Goa to See also:Babylon, and called it " the mother of villains and the stepmother of honest men." His first military service in the East took place in November 1553, when he went with a force led by the viceroy to chastise a See also:petty king on the See also:Malabar See also:coast . The expedition only lasted two or three months, and after some trivial combats it returned to Goa . In February of the following year Camoens accompanied the viceroy's son, D . Fernando de Menezes, who led an armada to the mouth of the Red Sea and thence up the Arabian coast to snap up hostile merchantmen and suppress piracy . Next the fleet went on to Ormuz, as was the See also:custom with these See also:annual cruises; and then to Bassora, where the poet helped to make some valuable prizes, and wrote a sonnet—it was ever, with him, " in one hand the sword, in the other the See also:pen" ! Returning to Goa in November he learnt of the deaths of Prince John, and of his friend and See also:pupil the young D . Antonio de Noronha, and paid his See also:tribute in a feeling sonnet and eclogue, In February 1555 he sailed on another pirate See also:hunt and spent six weary months off Cape Guardafui, varied by a visit to See also:Mombasa and by further work on his epic, and only got back to Goa in the following September . His experiences are recorded in the profound and sad loth Canzon . Meanwhile Francisco Barreto, an honourable and generous man, had become governor-See also:general of India in the June of 1555, and, his See also:appointment being popular, a reign of festivities began in See also:Golden Goa to welcome his succession, in the course of which Camoens produced his Filodemo, a dramatized novel written in his court days . The same occasion probably gave birth to the Disparates na India (" Follies of India "), and certainly to the Satyra do Torneio (" See also:Satire of the Tourney "), which confirmed the poet's reputation as a See also:sayer of See also:sharp things and gave considerable umbrage to those whom the cap fitted . However, it was not the enmities thus aroused but military See also:duty which compelled him to quit Goa once more in the spring of 1556 . He had enlisted in Lisbon for five years, the usual term, and in compliance with the orders of the governor he sailed for the See also:Moluccas in See also:April and there fought and versified for two years, though nearly all is guesswork at this period of his life . 
He appears to have spent the time between September 1556 and February 1557 in the See also:island of See also:Ternate, where he wrote Canzon 6, revealing a See also:state of moral depression similar to that of Canzon 1o, and he perhaps visited See also:Banda and Amboina . In the following year he took part in the military occupation of See also:Macao, which the See also:emperor of See also:China had presented to the Portuguese in return for their destruction of a pirate fleet which had besieged See also:Canton . The poet's five years' term of service was now over, and he remained at Macao many months waiting for a ship to carry him back to India . He had made some profit out of the Mercf de Viagem, granted by the governor Barreto to See also:free him from the poverty in which he habitually lived, and he spent his money royally . At the same time he continued his epic, working in the grotto which still bears his name . All seemed to be going smoothly with him until suddenly his fortunes took a serious turn for the worse . As the result of an intrigue the See also:captain of the yearly ship from China to India, who acted as governor of Macao during his stay in See also:port, imprisoned Camoens, and took him on board with a view of bringing him to trial in India . The ship, however, was wrecked in See also:October 1559 at the mouth of the See also:Mekong See also:river, and the poet had to See also:save his life and his Lusiads by See also:swimming to See also:shore, and though he preserved the six or seven finished cantos of the poem, he lost everything else . While wandering about on the Cambodian coast awaiting the See also:monsoon and a See also:vessel to take him to Malacca, he composed those magnificent stanzas " By the See also:Waters of Babylon," called by Lope de See also:Vega " the See also:pearl of all poetry," in which he recalls the happy days of his youth, sighs for Lisbon (See also:Sion) and his love, and mourns his See also:long exile from home . He got somehow to Malacca, and after a See also:short stay there reached Goa, still as prisoner, in June 1561 . He was straightway lodged in gaol, where he heard for the first time of the death of Catherina, and he poured out his grief in the great sonnet, See also:Alma Minna Gentil . The viceroy, D .
See also:Constantius de Braganca, had recently returned from Jafanapatam, bringing as See also: |