"Nos duros coraçoens de plebe dura,"—
i.e., In the hard hearts of the hard vulgar.
[569] Cupid.
Thus from my native waves a hero line
Shall rise, and o'er the East illustrious shine.—
"By the line of heroes to be produced by the union of the Portuguese with the Nereids, is to be understood the other Portuguese, who, following the steps of Gama, established illustrious colonies in India."—Castera.
[571] And Fame—a giant goddess.—This passage affords a striking instance of the judgment of Camoëns. Virgil's celebrated description of Fame is in his eye, but he copies it, as Virgil, in his best imitations, copies after Homer. He adopts some circumstances, but, by adding others, he makes a new picture, which justly may be called his own.
[572] The wat'ry gods.—To mention the gods in the masculine gender, and immediately to apply to them—
"O peito feminil, que levemente
Muda quaysquer propositos tomados."—
The ease with which the female breast changes its resolutions, may to the hypercritical appear reprehensible. The expression, however, is classical, and therefore retained. Virgil uses it, where Æneas is conducted by Venus through the flames of Troy:—