CAMOENS, Luis LIE, the epic poet of Portugal, was b. about 1524, at Lisbon, and studied the ancient classics at Coimbra. On his return to Lisbon, he fell in love with a lady of honor, Catharina d'Atavada. This affair was the beginning of all the poet's misfortunes. Having been banished by royal authority to Santarem, C. joined the expe dition of John III. against Morocco, and lost his right eye in a naval engagement with the Moors in the strait of Gibraltar. On his return to Lisbon, his bravery as a soldier was no more honored than his genius as a poet. Disappointed in all his hopes, he deter mined to leave forever his native land, and sailed for India, 1553. Offended by certain abuses of the Portuguese authorities in India, C. ventured to expose them in a satire, entitled Disparates na India, "Follies in India," in which lie treated even the viceroy with ridicule. For this offense the poet was banished, 1556, to Macao, where he lived several years, and was engaged in writing Os Lusiadas, Here C. held the unpoetical but probably lucrative post of administrator. of the effects of 'deceased persons; and having saved, as he thought, a competency for his future life, was recalled from his banish ment, 1561. Unhappily, in returning to Goa, he suffered shipwreck, and lost all his property, excepting his epic poem. After other wanderings and misfortunes, C. took ship for Lisbon, where he arrived in 1569, with no other wealth but his epic. He dedi cated The Lusiad to the young king, Sebastian, who was very gracious; but, neverthe less, all the real patronage bestowed on C. consisted of a very small pension (about £4), and permission to remain at the court of Lisbon. Even this small pittance was taken away after the death of Sebastian, and C. was left in such poverty, that a faithful Indian
servant begged in the streets of Lisbon for the support of the great epic poet of Portugal. C.'s lyric poems, written during this time of destitution, contain many pathetic lamen tations. He died obscurely in the hospital at Lisbon, 1579; and 16 years afterwards, when it was proposed to erect a splendid monument to his memory, there was some dif ficulty in finding his burial-place.
The Lusiad (Os Lusiadas," the Lusitanians") celebrates the chief events in the history of Portugal, and is remarkable as the only modern epic poem which is pervaded by any thing like the true national and popular spirit of ancient epic poems. It is a gallery of epic pictures, in which all the great achievements of Portuguese heroism are represented. Among the most famous passages are the tragical story of Inez de Castro, and the appa rition of the giant Adamastor, who appears as the Spirit of the Storm to Vasco da Gama, when crossing the cape. The versification of The Lusiad is extremely charming. Patri otic sentiments pervade the whole work. Besides his epic poem, C. wrote sonnets, odes, elegies, eclogues, epigrams, satires, epistles, and three comedies—Os Amphitryoes (after Plautus), King Seleucus, and Filodemo. The latest and best complete edition of his poems appeared in three volumes (Hamburg, 1834). The best edition of The Lusiad was published in Paris (1817), reprinted in 1819, and again, with emendations by Berdier, in 1823. The Lusiad has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, English, Polish, and German.