Father Ocean and His Household
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Vinha o padre Oceano acompanhado Dos filhos e das filhas que gerara; Vem Nereu, que com Dóris foi casado, Que todo o mar de Ninfas povoara; O profeta Proteu, deixando o gado Marítimo pascer pela água amara, Ali veio também, mas já sabia O que o padre Lieu no mar queria.
Father Ocean was coming, accompanied by the sons and daughters he had begotten. Nereus comes, who was married to Doris and who had peopled the whole sea with Nymphs. The prophet Proteus, leaving his sea-flock to graze through the bitter water, came there too — but he already knew what father Lyaeus wanted in the sea.
The sea-gods assemble for Bacchus' council in Neptune's palace beneath the waves. Camões parades the old marine deities in order of rank, ending with Proteus, who already knows what the meeting is for.
This is a guest list. Camões brings the sea-gods into Neptune's hall in order of seniority: Ocean first, with his enormous brood, then Nereus and Doris, whose marriage accounts for the Nymphs, then Proteus, the herdsman of seals. The stanza is doing genealogy — each god is introduced by what he fathered or married, not by what he does.
The last two lines quietly break the pattern. Everyone else arrives to hear Bacchus' complaint; Proteus arrives already knowing it. He is the prophet, so the meeting's outcome is settled before it opens — and that is the joke Camões is setting up, because Proteus will be shouted down and never gets to speak. The gods hold a council whose one member who knows the answer is silenced.
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