Robe, Collar, and Sword
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Cabaia de Damasco rico e dino, Da Tíria cor, entre eles estimada, Um colar ao pescoço, de ouro fino, Onde a matéria da obra é superada, C'um resplendor reluze adamantino; Na cinta, a rica bem lavrada; Nas alparcas dos pés, em fim de tudo, Cobrem ouro e aljôfar ao veludo.
A robe of rich and worthy damask, of the Tyrian color they prize; a collar of fine gold at his neck, where the craftsmanship outdoes even the material, shining with a diamond-bright radiance; at his belt, the rich, finely wrought sword; and on the sandals of his feet, to finish it all, gold and seed-pearl cover the velvet.
In Canto II the fleet has reached Melinde on the East African coast, and its welcoming king comes out to visit Gama's ship. This stanza inventories his sumptuous dress, from robe to sandals.
This is a head-to-foot inventory of the king of Melinde's dress as he comes out to receive Gama: damask, Tyrian purple, gold, diamond, pearl, velvet. Camões dresses the East in its own luxury and lets the catalogue move down the body, neck to waist to feet, so the reader sees the whole figure assembled.
The line a first reader glides past is "Onde a matéria da obra é superada": the workmanship surpasses even the costly stuff it is made of. That is Ovid's line about the doors of the Sun's palace, "materiam superabat opus," quietly reset inside an African king's collar. Camões plants a Latin poet in an Eastern wardrobe, so the eye that knows the source hears European art claiming to out-value the wealth it is describing.
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