Page:The Lusiad (Camões, tr. Mickle, 1791), Volume 1.djvu/398

 With prowess more than human forc'd their way To the fair kingdoms of the rising day: What wars they wag'd, what seas, what dangers past, What glorious empire crown'd their toils at last, other nations might not become partakers of their lucrative traffic. It is certain that Solomon, and Hiram king of Tyre, sent ships to the East by the Red Sea. It is also certain that Hanno, a Carthaginian captain, made a voyage round the whole coast of Africa, as is evident from the history of the expedition, written by himself in the Punic language; a Greek translation of which is now extant. Besides, Pliny, Pomponius Mela, Ptolomy and Strabo, assure us, that Mozambic and the adjacent islands, and some parts of India, were known to the Romans: and these words of Macrobius, Sed nec monstruosis carnibus abstinetis, inserentes poculis testiculos Castorum et venenata corpora Viperarum; quibus admiscetis quidquid India nutrit, sufficiently prove that they carried on a considerable traffic with the East. From all which, says M. Castera, we may conclude that the Portuguese were rather the restorers than the discoverers of the navigation to the Indies. In this first book, and throughout the whole poem, Camöens frequently describes his heroes as passing through seas which had never before been navigated; and

That this supposition afforded our author a number of poetical images, and adds a solemn grandeur to his subject, might perhaps with M. Castera be esteemed a sufficient apology for the poetical licence in such a violation of historical truth. Yet whatever liberties an epic or a tragic poet may commendably take in embellishing the actions of his heroes, an assertion relative to the scene where his poem opens, if false, must be equally ridiculous as to call Vespasian the first who had ever assumed the title of Cæsar. But it will be found that Camoens has not fallen into such absurdity. The poem opens with a description of the Lusitanian fleet, after having doubled the Cape of Hope, driving about in the great Ethiopian Ocean, so far from land that it required the care of the Gods to conduct it to some hospitable shore. Therefore, though it is certain that the Phœnicians passed the Ne plus ultra of the ancients; though it is probable they traded on the coast of Cornwall, and the isles of Scilly; though there is some reason to believe that the Madeiras and Carribees were known to them; and though it has Vent'rous