Venus Prepares the Reward
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Porém a deusa Cípria, que ordenada Era para favor dos Lusitanos Do Padre eterno, e por bom génio dada, Que sempre os guia já de longos anos; A glória por trabalhos alcançada, Satisfação de bem sofridos danos, Lhe andava já ordenando, e pretendia Dar-lhe nos mares tristes alegria.
But the Cyprian goddess, who had been appointed by the eternal Father to favor the Lusitanians, and given to them as a good guardian spirit that has guided them now for long years, was already arranging for them a glory won through their labors and a recompense for hardships well endured; and she meant to give them, upon the sad seas, joy.
Venus, the 'Cyprian goddess' appointed by the eternal Father as guardian of the Portuguese, is planning to reward them after their labors. This sets up the Isle of Love episode that fills the rest of Canto 9.
The stanza pauses the action to name the sailors' patron: Venus, the "Cyprian goddess," whom the eternal Father appointed to favor the Portuguese as their good genius. After the long voyage, she is now arranging their reward, turning the bitter sea into joy. It is the hinge that opens the Isle of Love, the reward filling the rest of the canto.
What a first reader misses is how deliberately Camões fuses two theologies here. The Christian "Padre eterno" issues the decree, but a pagan goddess carries it out, and the "joy in the sad seas" she is preparing is a literal island of nymphs. Camões will later have to insist that whole episode stands for fame and honor, not sensual pleasure, once the machinery threatens to look too pagan for a Christian epic.
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