115
“He bids be brought the body of the slain
that it may live again, and be affied
to name its slayer, and its word be tane
as proof of testimony certified.
All saw the youth revive, arise again
in name of Jesu Christ the Crucified:
Thomé he thanks when raised to life anew
and names his father as the man who slew.
116
“So much of marvel did this Mir’acle claim,
straightway in Holy Water bathes the King
followed by many: These kiss Thomé’s hem
while those the praises of his Godhead sing.
Such ire the Brahmans and such furies ’flame,
Envy so pricks them with her venom’d sting,
that rousing ruffian-rout to wrath condign
a second slaughter-plot the priests design.
117
“One day when preaching to the folk he stood
they feigned a quarrel ’mid the mob to ’rise:
Already Christ his Holy man endow’d
with saintly martyrdom that opes the skies.
Rainèd innumerable stones the crowd
upon the victim, sacred sacrifice,
and last a villain, hast’ier than the rest,
pierced with a cruel spear his godly breast.
118
“Wept Gange and Indus, true Thomé! thy fate,
wept thee whatever lands thy foot had trod;
yet weep thee more the souls in blissful state
thou led’st to don the robes of Holy Rood.
But Angels waiting at the Par’adise-gate
meet thee with smiling faces, hymning God.
We pray thee, pray that still vouchsafe thy Lord
unto thy Lusians His good aid afford.
119
“And you, ye others, who usurp the name
of God’s Apostles, miss’ioners like Thomé,
say, an ye boast of apostolick claim
why fare not Holy Faith to preach and pray?
If ye be salt see how yourselves ye shame,
cleaving to home, where none the Prophet play;
how shall be salted in dark days as these
(Pagans I leave) such hosts of heresies?
120
“But now this per’ilous theme I pass beyond;
gain we again the limnèd shore and site.
Here with the City whereof Fame is fond,
bends the long bow-line of Gangetick Bight:
Runneth Narsinga rich and potent lond,
runneth Orissa vaunting tissues bright,
and at the bottom of the Bay’s long line,
illustrious Ganges seeks his home, the brine:
121
“Ganges whose acc’olents bathe, and bathing die,
and die in lively faith withal secure
whatever sins upon their spirits lie,
the Holy Waters lave them sinless-pure.
See Cathigam,251 amid the highest high
in Bengal-province, proud of varied store
abundant, but behold how placed the Post
where sweeps the shore-line t’wards the southing coast.
122
“Arracan-realm behold, behold the seat
of Pegu peopled by a monster-brood;
monsters that ’gendered meeting most unmeet
of whelp and woman in the lonely wood.
Here bells of sounding orichalc they fit
upon their bodies, by the craftihood
of subtle Queen, who such new custom plan’d
to ’bate th’ accursèd Sin and Crime nefand.
123
“Behold Táváí City,252 whence begin
Siam’s dominions, Reign of vast extent;
Tenassarí, Quedá of towns the Queen
that bear the burden of the hot piment.
There farther forwards shall ye make, I ween,
Maláca’s market grand and opulent,
whither each Province of the long seaboard
shall send of merchantry rich varied hoard.
124
“From this Peninsula, they say, the sea
parted with puissant waves, and ent’ering tore
Samátra’s noble island, wont to be
joined to the Main as seen by men of yore.
’Twas callèd Chersonèse, and such degree
it gained by earth that yielded golden ore,
they gave a golden ep’ithet to the ground:
Some be who fancy Ophir here was found.
125
“But on her Lands-end throned see Cingapúr,
where the wide sea-road shrinks to narrow way:
Thence curves the coast to face the Cynosure,
and lastly trends Aurora-ward its lay:
See Pam, Patáne,253 and in length obscure,
Siam, that ruleth all with royal sway;
behold Menam, who rolls his lordly tide
from Source Chiámái called, Lake long and wide.
126
“Thou see’st in spaces of such vast extent
nations of thousand names and yet unnamèd;
Láós in land and people prepotent,
Avás and Bramás254 for vast ranges famèd.
See how in distant wilds and wolds lie pent
the self-styled Gueons,255 salvage folk untamèd:
Man’s flesh they eat: their own they paint and sear,
branding with burning iron—usage fere!
127
“See Mecom river fret Cambodia’s coast,
his name by ‘Water-Captain’ men explain;
in summer only when he swelleth most,
he leaves his bed to flood and feed the Plain:
As the frore Nyle he doth his freshets boast;
his peoples hold the fond belief and vain,
that pains and glories after death are ’signed
to brutes and soulless beasts of basest kind.
128
“This Stream with gentle, bland repose shall greet
in his embrace the Song,256 that swam to land
from sad and piteous shipwreck dripping wet,
’scaped from the reefs and rocks that fang the strand;
from hunger-tortures and the perilous strait,
what time went forth the dour unjust command
on him, whose high sonorous lyre shall claim
such want of Fortune and such wealth of Fame.
129
“Here courseth, see, the callèd Champa257 shore,
with woods of od’orous wood ’tis deckt and dight:
See Cauchichina still of note obscure,
and of Ainam258 yon undiscoverèd Bight:
Here the proud Empire famed evermore
for wide-spread lands and wealth and matchless might,
of China runs, and boasts the whole her own
’twixt torrid Cancer and the frigid Zone.
130
“Behold yon wondrous and incred’ible Wall,
this and that other Region built to part;
most certain symbol this which shows to all,
Imperial Puissance proud in arm and art:
These their born Princes to the throne ne’er call,
Nor Son succeedeth Sire in subject heart;
the prop’erest man as Monarch they devise,
Some Knight for virtue famèd, brave and wise.
131
“Parforce hide other vasty lands from thee
until what time no land remain unfound:
But leave thou not those Islands of the Sea,259
where Nature rises to Fame’s highest round:
This Realm half-shadowed, China’s empery
afar reflecting, whither ships are bound,
is the Japan, whose virgin silver mine
shall shine still sheen’ier with the Law Divine.260
132
“Here see o’er
