[483] Semiramis.
[484] Call'd Jove his father.—The bon-mot of Olympias on this pretension of her son Alexander, was admired by the ancients. "This hot-headed youth, forsooth, cannot be at rest unless he embroil me in a quarrel with Juno."—Quint. Curt.
The tap'stried walls with gold were pictur'd o'er,
And flow'ry velvet spread the marble floor.—
According to Osorius.
[486] A leaf.—The Betel.
[487] More now we add not.—The tenor of this first conversation between the zamorim and Gama, is according to the truth of history.
[488] What terrors oft have thrill'd my infant breast.—The enthusiasm with which Monzaida, a Moor, talks of the Portuguese, may perhaps to some appear unnatural. Camoëns seems to be aware of this by giving a reason for that enthusiasm in the first speech of Monzaida to Gama—
Heav'n sent you here for some great work divine,
And Heav'n inspires my breast your sacred toils to join.
And, that this Moor did conceive a great affection to Gama, whose religion he embraced, and to whom he proved of the utmost service, is according to the truth of history.