grand in his lofty gest of sovran sway:
Respirèd from his brow such air divine,
that to divine could change dull human clay;
bearing the crown and sceptre rutilant,
of clearer stone than clearest diamant.
23
On sparkling seats, with marquetry inlaid
of gold and pearl-work, sat in lower state
the minor Godheads, marshall’d and array’d,
e’en as demanded reason, rank, and rate:
Highest the seniors of most honour’d grade;
lower adown the lower Deities sate:
When thus high Jove the deathless throng addrest
with awful accents, dealing gravest hest:—
24
“Immortal Peoples of the starlit Pole,
whose seats adorn this constellated sphere;
if the stout Race of valour-breathing soul
from Lusus springing still to thought be dear,
Your high Intelligences lief unroll
the writ of mighty Fate: her will is clear,
this Deed to cold Oblivion’s shade shall doom
the fame of Persia, ’Assyria, Greece, and Rome.
25
“To them ’twas erst, and well you wot it, given,
albeit a Pow’r so single, simple, small,
to see the doughty Moor from ’trenchments driven
where gentle Tagus feeds and floods the vale:
Then with the dreadful Spaniard have they striven,
by boon of Heav’n serene ne’er known to fail;
and urged their fortune’s ever-glorious claim
to victor-trophies hung in fane of Fame.
26
“Godheads! I leave that antique fame unsaid,
reft from the race of Romulus their foes;
when, by their warrior Viriátus led,
so high in Roman wars their names arose:
Eke leave I mem’ries which to meritèd
Honour obligèd when for chief they chose
that perfect Captain, erst a peregrine foe,
who feign’d a Daemon in his milk-white Doe.11
27
“Now well you see how steel’d their souls to steer
a fragile barque through dubious wat’ery way,
by paths unused, and holding nought in fear
Notus and Afer’s force, wax bolder they:
How whilom ev’ry region left arear,
where suns or shorten or draw long the day,
on wings of stubborn will these men be borne
to sight the cradles of the nascent Morn.
28
“Promised them Fate’s eternal covenant,
whose high commandments none shall dare despise,
for years full many they shall rule th’ extent
of seas that see the ruddy suns arise.
On wavy wastes hard winter have they spent;
o’erworked they come by travailing emprize;
’twere meet we show them, thus it seemeth me,
the fair new region which they fain would see.
29
“And as their valour, so you trow, defied
on aspe’rous voyage cruel harm and sore,
so many changing skies their manhood tried,
such climes where storm-winds blow and billows roar;
my sov’ereign mandate ’tis, be theirs to ride
in friendly haven, on the Blackmoor shore;
whence shall the weary Fleet, with ev’ery need
garnisht, once more her long-drawn voyage speed.”
30
Thus hearing Jupiter’s decree pronouncèd,
each God responsive spoke, in order due,
contrasting judgment one and all announcèd
giving and taking various divers view.
But Father Bacchus then and there renouncèd,
homage to Jove’s command, who right well knew
his deeds on Orient-lond would leave no trace,
were furth’erance granted to the Lusian race.
31
The Fatal Sisters he had heard declare,
how from Hispanian bounds a hero-band
should span the pathless deep, and nought should spare
wherever Doris batheth Indian strand:
Should with new victo’ries eve’ry deed out-dare
done or by his or other stranger hand:
Profound he sorrows lest he lose the glory,
the name still cel’ebrate in the Nyssan story.
32
He sees, while Indus he of yore hath tamèd,
Fortune or favou’ring chance had aye denied
to hear him India’s conqueror acclaimèd
by bardic men who drain Parnassus’ tide:
And now he dreadeth lest a name so famèd
be doomed for ever in the mire to hide
of Lethe-fountain, if on Inde debark
these vagueing Portingalls so strong and stark.
33
But him opposèd Venus, lovely fair,
whose heart her Lusian sons had won the more,
since in them seen the qualities high and rare,
the gifts that deckt her Romans dear of yore:
The heart of valour, and the potent star,
whose splendour dazzled Tingitánan shore;
and e’en the music of their speech appears
soft bastard Latin to her loving ears.
34
These causes movèd Cytheréa’s sprite;
and more when learnt she that the Fates intendèd
the Queen of Beauty should be glorious hight
where’er their warrior sway her sons extendèd.
Thus He, who fearèd future stain and blight,
and She, whose heart to honours high pretended
urge the debate in obstinate strife remaining;
with fav’ouring friends each rival right maintaining:
35
As the fierce South, or Boreas in the shade
of sylvan upland where the tree-boles cluster,
the branches shatt’ering crash through glooming glade
with horrid hurry and infuriate fluster:
Roars all the mountain, Echo moans in dread;
torn is the leaf’ery, hill-heads boil and bluster:
Such gusty tumults rise amid the Gods
within Olympus’ consecrate abodes.
36
But Mars, for ever wont t’espouse the part
of his dear Goddess, whatsoe’er the case;
or for old love that flicker’d in his heart,
or for the merits of her fighting race;
forth from the Gods upsprang with sudden start:
Stern melancholy markt his gest and face;
the pond’erous pavoise from his gorget hung
behind his shoulders full of wrath he flung!
37
His beavoir’d helmet of the diamant stone
opeing a little, of his strength right sure,
his sense to speak he strode and stood alone
Jupiter facing, armèd, dour and dure:
Then with hard pen’etrant blow he bore adown
his steely spear-heel on the pavement pure;
quakèd the welkin; and Apollo’s ray
waxt somewhat wan as though by cold dismay.
38
And thus:—“Omnipo’tent Sire! whose awful reign
perforce obeyeth all thy pow’er hath made;
if these, who seek a new half-world to gain,
whose deeds of brav’ery hast with love survey’d,
thou wouldst not guerdon with a shame and stain,
that erst were favoured through the years that fade
listen no longer thou, sole Judge direct,
to glozing reasons all we Gods suspect:
39
“For, did not Reason in this matter show
herself the victim of unmeasure’d fear,
better beseems it Bacchus love bestow
on Lusus’ children, once his comrade dear:
But, let this vain and splen’etick purpose go,
since bred of evil stomach; for ’tis clear
that alien envy ne’er shall
