Os Lusiadas (The Lusiads)
Richard Francis Burton translation
Englished by Richard Francis Burton
(Edited by His Wife, Isabel Burton).
In Two Volumes - Vol. I.
London: Bernard Quaritch, 15 Piccadilly, W. 1880. All Rights Reserved.
Wyman and Sons, Printers, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, London, W.C.
To H. I. M. Dom Pedro de Alcantara, (D. Pedro II.) Constitutional Emperor, and Perpetual Defender of The Brazil; to the Man rather than the Monarch this Version of a Poem, so dear to the heart of every Brazilian, is offered by His Emperial Majesty’s most obedient humble Servant, The Translator.
Il far un libro è meno che niente, Se il libro fatto non rifà la gente. Giusti. Place, riches, favour, Prizes of accident as oft as merit. Shakespeare. Ora toma a espada, agora a penna (Now with the sword-hilt, then with pen in hand). Cam., Sonn. 192. Bramo assai,—poco spero,—nulla chiedo. Tasso. Tout cela prouve enfin que l’ouvrage est plein de grandes beautés, puisque depuis deux cents ans il fait les délices d’une nation spirituelle qui doit en connôitre les fautes. Voltaire, Essai, etc.
To my Master Camoens: (Tu se’ lo mio maestro, e ’l mio autore). Great Pilgrim-poet of the Sea and Land; Thou life-long sport of Fortune’s ficklest will; Doomed to all human and inhuman ill, Despite thy lover-heart, thy hero-hand: Enrollèd by thy pen what marv’ellous band Of god-like Forms thy golden pages fill; Love, Honour, Justice, Valour, Glory thrill The Soul, obedient to thy strong command: Amid the Prophets highest sits the Bard, At once Revealer of the Heav’en and Earth, To Heav’en the guide, of Earth the noblest guard; And, ’mid the Poets thine the peerless worth, Whose glorious song, thy Genius’ sole reward, Bids all the Ages, Camoens! bless thy birth. R. F. B.