Os Lusíadas (), usually translated as The Lusiads, is a Portuguese epic poem written by Luís Vaz de Camões ( – 1580) and first published in 1572. It is widely regarded as the most important work of Portuguese-language literature and is frequently compared to Virgil's Aeneid (1st c. BC). The work celebrates the discovery of a sea route to India by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1469–1524). The ten cantos of the poem are in ottava rima and total 1,102 stanzas. much as Virgil's Aeneid was for the Ancient Romans, or Homer's Iliad and Odyssey for the Ancient Greeks. It was written when Camões was an exile in Macau and was first printed in 1572, three years after the author returned from the Indies. It is normally classified as a lyric, thus distinguishing it from the more common war episodes. The episode discusses destiny, and leads the action to its tragic end, even something close to the coir (apostrophes).
The nobility of the characters is also emphasised, in a way that is intended to create feelings of sympathy when the protagonist suffers. This technique is used most strongly when Inês fears the orphaning of her children more than losing her own life and she begs for the commutation of capital punishment for an exile in Siberia (Cítia) or in Libya in order to have an opportunity to raise her children, and she is compared with "the young beautiful Policena". Strophes 134 and 135 are written to evoke this pity.
Adamastor
The Adamastor episode is divided into three segments. The first, a theophany, goes from strophe 37 to 40; the second, which in chronological-narrative terms is a prolepsis, occupies strophes 41 to 48; finally, the third part, a marine eclogue with some points of contact with Écloga III of Camões, ends in strophe 59.
The vigorous theophany that the first part describes is in the following verses: "Chill the flesh and the hairs/ to me and all [the others] only by listening and seeing him" ("Arrepiam-se as carnes e os cabelos / a mi e a todos só de ouvi-lo e vê-lo"). This is intended to convey pure fear, the imminent threat of annihilation. The evil demigod is preceded by a black cloud, which appears above the heads of the sailors. Expressing the surprise he experiences, Gama quotes himself: "Oh divine power – [I] said – sublimated, / what divine threat or what secret / this clime and this sea presents to us / that seems a bigger thing than a storm?" ("Ó potestade – disse – sublimada, / que ameaço divino ou que segredo / este clima e este mar nos apresenta, / que mor cousa parece que tormenta?") The "strange Colossus" ("estranhíssimo Colosso"): "Rude son of the Earth" ("Filho aspérrimo da Terra") is described as having: "huge stature", "squalid beard", "earthy colour", "full of earth and crinkly of hairs / blacken the mouth, yellow the teeth" ("disforme estatura", "barba esquálida", "cor terrena", "cheios de terra e crespos os cabelos / a boca negra, os dentes, amarelos").
Such emphasis on the appearance of Adamastor is intended to contrast with the preceding scenery, which was expressed as: "seas of the South" ("mares do Sul"): "(...) / the winds blowing favourably / when one night, being careless/ watching in the cutting bow, / (...)" ("(...) / prosperamente os ventos assoprando, / quando hua noite, estando descuidados / na cortadora proa vigiando, / (...)"). The final marine eclogue conforms to a pattern that is common to many of Camões' lyrical compositions: falling in love, forced separation, grieving over the frustrated dream.
The eclogue of the Island of Love
thumbnail|Pictorial book in Municipal Library of Campo Maior, in [[Piauí, Brazil.]]
The locus amoenus: the strophes that come after strophe 52 of Canto IX, and some of the main parts that appear from strophe 68 to 95 describe the scenery where the love encountered between the sailors and the Nymphs take place. The poet also talks about the fauna that live there and of fruits produced instantly. It is portrayed as a paradise.
The allegory in the second part of Canto IX sees Camões describing the scene between the sailors – whom the Nymphs were expecting – prepared by Venus. Given in an allegoric sense:
The Canto is ended with the poet communicating to the reader:
The Machine of the World
In Canto X, before the sailors return home the Siren invites Gama to the spectacle of the Machine of the World (Máquina do Mundo) with these words:
The Machine of the World is presented as the spectacle unique, divine, seen by "corporeal eyes". In the words of literary historian António José Saraiva, "it is one of the supreme successes of Camões", "the spheres are transparent, luminous, all of them are seen at the same time with equal clarity; they move, and the movement is perceptible, although the visible surface is always the same. To be able to translate this by the "painting that talks" is to achieve one of the highest points in universal literature."
Responses
Manuel de Faria e Sousa wrote a commentary about the work in the 17th century. Published after Sousa's death, the work was originally written in Spanish and eventually translated into Portuguese in the 19th century.