“Shalt see, in fine, conspire all India, ’drest 1
To bellick apparatus; peoples rush
Cháúl, Maláca, Goa-town t’ invest,
At once such different sites to seize and crush.
But see, now Cháúl City sorely prest,
The seas with em’inent billows flies to brush
Castro, in haste his Portingalls to save
When only God in Mercy’s aid they crave.
2
“Vês qual o Rei gentio presuroso
Arde, cerca, discorre, e anda listo,
Incitando o exercito espantoso
A destruir hum esquadrão de Christo?
Mas nota o ponto-de-honra generoso,
Em cerco, nem batalha nunca visto;
Os soldados fugindo do seguro,
Passar-se ao posto perigoso e duro.
“Se’est thou yon Paynim King so fain of fight 2
Burn, overrun, beleaguer, firm persist
In throwing forces which the land affright
Against a little squad that loveth CHRIST?
But bear that gen’erous Pundonor in sight,
Ne siege ne battle e’er before hath wist;
See how the sold’iery flying posts secure,
Pass to the post of peril dire and dure.
3
“Ali o prudentissimo Ataíde,
Confortado da ajuda soberana,
Onde a necessidade e tempo o pide,
Socorrerá com força mais que humana.
Até que com seus damnos se despide
Do cru intento a gente vil, profana,
Que em batalhas, e encontros mil vencidos,
Virão a pedir paz arrependidos.
“There shall Ataide, most for prudence known, 3
Strong in the ghostly comfort of the Lord,
Where Time and Need demand such force be shown,
With more than human valour aid afford.
Until its salvage object shall disown
With grievous losses yon vile Pagan horde,
Who crusht in thousand cruel fights shall rue
The war, and hurry for a truce to sue.
4
“Em quanto isto passar cá na lumiosa
Costa de Asia, e America sombria,
Não menos lá na Europa bellicosa,
E nas terras da inculta Barbaria,
Mostrará a gente elysia valerosa
Seu preço, de temor tornando fria
A zona ardente, em ver que huma conquista
Lhe não paz que das outras tres desista.
“While here so happeth on the coast that glows 4
Of Asia and Am’erica sombre cold,
There not the less in Europe bellicose,
And Barb’ary’s wild uncultivated wold,
Shall show thy Race, Elysian, valorous
Its worth and with a freezing fear enfold
The seething Zone, that sees one conquest won
Pass to three other and ne’er pause till done.
5
“Verão o valentissimo Barriga,
Adail de Zafim, grande, afamado,
Sem ter por armas quem lh’o contradiga,
Correr de Mauritania serra, e prado.
Mas vê como a infiel gente inimiga
O prende por hum caso desastrado,
E com elle outra gente leva presa;
Que em tal caso não póde ter defeza.
“Barriga, brave of braves, they here shall sight, 5
Guide of Zafim,[134] in war of prime account,
Who finds no man-at-arms to foil his might,
O’errun the Mauritanian plain and mount.
But see how th’ Infidels, by luck of fight
And doom disastrous, in the very brunt
Make him and his Bellona’s battle-prize
For in such chances Valour hopeless lies.
6
“Mas passado este trance perigoso,
Olha onde preso vai, como arrebata
A lança de hum dos Mouros, e furioso
Com ella a seu senhor derriba e mata.
E revolvendo o braço poderoso,
Os seus livra, e os imigos desbarata:
E assi todos alegres e triumphantes,
Se tornam d’onde foram presos antes.
“But past the perils of this imm’inent chance, 6
See how he snatcheth while to durance led
From grasp of Moorish foe the beamy lance,
And lays with single lunge its lancer dead.
Then with strong arm the weapon swung askance,
He saves his friends the while his foes have fled:
Thus all triumphant wend his men their way
Whither their lot was sad captivity.
7
“Ei-lo cá por engano outra vez preso,
Está na escura e vil estrebaria,
Carregado de ferros, de tal peso,
Que de hum logar mover-se não podia.
Vê-lo de generoso fogo acceso,
Que o páo ensanguentado sacudia,
Com que ao soberbo Mouro a morte dera,
Que em sua honrada barba a mão pozera?
“Lo! here is he by snare once more beset, 7
And in the darkness of vile stable lain,
Loaded with iron fetters of such weight,
From off the floor he mote not rise again.
But see the heart with gen’erous fire irate,
Tear up the stake that showed a bloody stain,
And brain the haughty Moor who had not fear’d
Foul hand to fasten on his honoured beard?
8
“Mas vê como os infidos Agarenos,
Per mandado lhe dão do Rei descrido
Tanto acoute por isto, que em pequenos
Lhe fazem sobre as costas o vestido,
Sem que ao forte Varão vozes, nem menos
Ouvissem dar um intimo gemido:
Já vai a Portugal despedaçado
O vestido a pedir ser resgatado.
“Yet further see yon faithless Hagarene, 8
By the commandment of his Inf’idel King,
Visit the daring deed with scourge so keen
That strips from ribs his robes with stripes that sting.
Yet the brave Baron scorns one word, nor e’en
An ‘Ah!’ a murmur, may his tortures wring:
To Portugale the ragged vesture goes
Wherewith to raise a ransom for the foes.
9
“Olha cabo de Aguer aqui tomado
Per culpa dos soldados de soccorro:
Vês o grande Carvalho ali cercado
De imigos, como touro em duro corro?
De trinta Mouros mortos rodeado,
Revolvendo o montante, diz: ‘Pois morro,
Celebrem mortos minha morte escura,
E façam-me de mortos sepultura.’
“Behold yon Aguer Headland tane, and lost 9
By fault of tardy succouring soldiery:
And see’st thou great Carvalho ’mid the host
Hostile, like baited bull the ring o’erfly?
Hear him ’mid thirty Moorish corpses boast
Whirling his broadsword, crying:--‘Since I die
Let dead atone for this mine òbscure doom,
These carrion deadlings form my fittest tomb!’
10
“Ambas pernas quebradas, que passando
Hum tiro, espedaçado lh’as havia;
Dos giolhos, e braços se ajudando,
Com nunca visto esforço e valentia:
Em torno pelo campo retirando,
Vai a Agarena, dura companhia,
Que com dardos e settas, que tiravam,
De longe dar-lhe a morte procuravam.”
“See how when both his legs a passing ball 10
In pieces dasht and shanks from trunk had mown;
On arms and knees he doth his best to crawl
And fight with force and valour never known:
Round and about the field evanish all
Hagar’s hard children who no pity own;
And with their shafts and javelins far they deal,
The death they dare not by a nearer steel.”