True Nobility Is Rare
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Não nego que há contudo descendentes Do generoso tronco, e casa rica, Que com costumes altos e excelentes, Sustentam a nobreza que lhe fica; E se a luz dos antigos seus parentes Neles mais o valor não clarifica, Não falta ao menos, nem se faz escura. Mas destes acha poucos a pintura.
I do not deny that there are, even so, descendants of that noble stock and wealthy house who, with lofty and excellent manners, uphold the nobility they have inherited. And if the light of their ancient forebears kindles no brighter valor in them, at least it is not wanting, nor does it grow dim. But of such men the portrait finds only a few.
In the passage on lineage and worth, the speaker concedes a point: some heirs of great houses truly do sustain their rank by their own virtue. But he closes by noting how few such men the record actually holds.
The stanza is a concession inside an argument. Having pressed the case that virtue, not blood, makes true nobility, the speaker grants the other side its due: yes, some heirs of great houses really do live up to their line, keeping by their own conduct the rank they were handed. He is fair before he is sharp.
The sting is saved for the last line. "A pintura" is the painted gallery of ancestors, the heraldry a noble house hangs on its walls, and it "finds few" who match it. The image quietly inverts the boast: the portraits meant to prove a family's worth become the measure that most of its living members fail. It is the old Renaissance quarrel over nobilitas, the same one Juvenal aimed at Rome, turned on Camoes's own aristocracy.
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Os Lusíadas 8.42 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/lusiadas/8.42/