'He then related that when they had o'er
That mountain gone, the negroes, as I say,
Forbid him to move forward one step more,
Ready, unless he turned, him there to slay.
And turning, they in ambush went before,
In order, when we sought for him, that they
Might seize and send us to the realms obscure,
And more at leisure of their prey make sure.
'But now we had five suns pass over seen,
Since thence we had departed, cutting through
Seas, which by none had navigated been,
And still the winds all prosperously blew ;
When lo one night, standing in thought serene,
Watching upon the sharp prow as she flew,
A frowning cloud which darkened all the air,
Appeared above our heads, and hovered there.
'So terrible it came, and charged so sore, That all our hearts with fear it did constrain ; The sea was roaring, and afar did roar,
As if it beat against some rock in vain :
"O Power sublime !" I cried, "whom I adore,
What threat divine is this, what secret pain
Does now this clime, this sea, to us present,
What mighty fact appeareth to torment ?"
'It moved not; when a figure to appal,
Robust and vigorous, in the air appeared;
Enormous, and of stature very tall,
The visage frowning, and with squalid beard;
The eyes were hollow, and the gesture all
Threatening and bad; the colour pale and seared;
And full of earth and grizzly was the hair;
The mouth was black, the teeth all yellow were.
'Tão grande era de membros, que bem posso Certificar-te, que este era o segundo
De Rhodes estranhissimo colosso,
Que hum dos sete milagres foi do mundo :
C'hum tom de voz nos falla horrendo e grosso,
Que pareceo sahir do mar profundo :
Arrepiam-se as carnes e o cabello
A mi, e a todos, só de ouvil-o e vel-o.
"E disse: "O gente ousada mais, que quantas
No mundo commetteram grandes cousas,
Tu, que por guerras cruas, taes e tantas,
E por trabalhos vãos nunca repousas :
Pois os vedados terminos quebrantas,
E navegar meus longos mares ousas,
Que eu tanto tempo ha já que guardo, e tenho,
Nunca arados d'estranho, ou proprio lenho:
""Pois vens ver os segredos escondidos
Da natureza, e do humido elemento,
A nenhum grande humano concedidos
De nobre ou de immortal merecimento;
Ouve os damnos de mi, que apercebidos
Estão a teu sobejo atrevimento
Por todo o largo mar, e pela terra,
Que inda has de sobjugar com dura guerra.
"Sabe, que, quantas náos esta viagem, Que tu fazes, fizerem de atrevidas, Inimiga terão esta paragem,
Com ventos, e tormentas desmedidas:
E da primeira armada, que passagem
Fizer por estas ondas insoffridas,
Eu farei d'improviso tal castigo,
Que seja mór o damno, que o perigo.
'So vast he was of limb, that well I can
Assure thee he was second of the size
Of Rhodes' most marvellous colossal man,
Who of the world's seven wonders one supplies :
With voice deep-toned and horrid, he began,
Which seemed from Ocean's very depth to rise;
It made flesh creep, hair stand on end, in me
And all, if but to hear him and to see!
""O race!" he said, "of will more desperate
Than all who've dared great things on earth, like these,
Who from harsh wars, so many and so great,
And from your labours vain ne'er rest at ease;
Since these forbidden terms ye violate,
And dare to traverse my unbounded seas,
Which I, so long, still guard and hold alone,
Ne'er ploughed by others' vessel or my own;
"Since ye are come the depths to penetrate
Of secret nature, and the liquid main,
Conceded ne'er to man however great,
Who could immortal noble merit gain :
Now, hear me all the future ills relate
Which thy surpassing boldness shall sustain,
O'er all the vasty deep, and on the land,
Which yet ye shall subdue with war and brand.
"Know that all ships that henceforth shall intrude,
Daring to make the voyage that now ye dare,
Shall malice find within this latitude,
With winds and monstrous storms too hard to bear :
And the first fleet that through these waters rude
And restless, shall presume its course to steer,
Straight will I strike with chastisement so great,
The suffering shall surpass the apparent threat.
"Aqui espero tomar, se não me engano, De quem me descobrio, summa vingança : E não se acabará só nisto o dano
De vossa pertinace confiança;
Antes em vossas náos vereis cada anno (Se he verdade o, que meu juizo alcança) Naufragios, perdições de toda sorte,
Que o menor mal de todos seja a morte.
"E do primeiro illustre, que a ventura
Com fama alta fizer tocar os céos,
Serei eterna, e nova sepultura,
Por juizos incognitos de Deos :
Aqui porá da Turca armada dura
Os soberbos e prosperos tropheos,
Comigo de seus damnos o ameaça
A destruida Quíloa com Mombaça.
""Outro tambem virá de honrada fama, Liberal, cavalleiro, e namorado,
E comsigo trará a formosa dama,
Que Amor por grão mercê lhe terá dado:
Triste ventura, e negro fado os chama
Neste terreno meu, que duro e irado
Os deixará d'hum cru naufragio vivos,
Para verem trabalhos excessivos.
""Verão morrer com fome os filhos charos,
Em tanto amor gerados e nascidos :
Verão os Cafres asperos e avaros
Tirar á linda dama seus vestidos:
Os crystallinos membros, e preclaros
Á calma, ao frio, ao ar verão despidos,
Despois de ter pizada longamente
Co'os delicados pés a arêa ardente.
""And here I hope to take, if not misled,
'Gainst him deep vengeance who discovered me," Nor shall the mischief thus be limited,
Of your persistence and temerity;
But on your ships, each year, ye shall instead
(If in my judgment's dictates truth there be)
See loss and shipwrecks of such kind befall,
That death shall be the lightest ill of all.
""And of the first renowned, whom fortune free With lofty fame unto the skies shall raise,
The new and the eternal tomb I'll be,
According unto God's mysterious ways;
Here of his naval Turkish victory
He shall lay down the proud and prosperous bays;
Quiloa and Mombaça, both o'erthrown,
Threaten, with me, their loss he shall atone.7
""Another, too, shall come, of honoured fame,
Liberal and generous, and with heart enchained,
And with him he shall bring a lovely dame,
Whom through love's favouring grace he shall have gained:
Sad fate, dark fortune, nought can e'er reclaim,
Call them to this my realm, where rage unreined
Shall leave them, after cruel wreck, alive,
With labours insupportable to strive.
"Their children shall die starving in their sight,
Who were in such affection bred and born;
They shall behold by Caffres' grasping might
Her clothing from the lovely lady torn;
Shall see her form, so beautiful and white,
To heat, cold, wind, exposed, and all forlorn,
When she has trod, o'er leagues and leagues of land,
With tender feet upon the burning sand.
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