The Lady Without a Knight
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Mas aquela, a quem fora em sorte dado Magriço, que não vinha, com tristeza Se veste, por não ter quem nomeado Seja seu cavaleiro nesta empresa; Bem que os onze apregoam, que acabado Será o negócio assim na corte Inglesa, Que as damas vencedoras se conheçam, Posto que dois e três dos seus faleçam.
But the lady to whom Magriço had fallen by lot, and who had not come, dresses herself in mourning, since she has no one to be named her knight in this enterprise; even though the eleven proclaim that the business will be brought to an end all the same at the English court, so that the ladies will be known as the winners, even if two or three of their own should die.
In the tale of the Twelve of England, eleven Portuguese champions have reached London, but the twelfth, Magriço, has not arrived. The English lady assigned to him is left without a defender on the eve of the combat.
The stanza pauses on the one person the story could easily skip: the twelfth lady, left partnerless when Magriço fails to appear. Camões gives her a gesture rather than a speech. She puts on mourning clothes before anyone has been hurt, and that is her whole part in the scene.
What a first reader misses is that the eleven's reassurance is not really reassurance. Their promise is that the ladies will be vindicated even if two or three Portuguese die making it happen. The arithmetic is cold, and it is offered as comfort. Camões lets the reader hear both at once: the confidence of men who have already counted the cost, and a woman dressed for a funeral that has not been arranged yet.
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Os Lusíadas 6.59 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/lusiadas/6.59/