The Chase Along the Riverbanks
Read the full text in our reader
Sigamos estas Deusas, e vejamos Se fantásticas são, se verdadeiras. Isto dito, velozes mais que gamos, Se lançam a correr pelas ribeiras. Fugindo as Ninfas vão por entre os ramos, Mas, mais industriosas que ligeiras, Pouco e pouco sorrindo e gritos dando, Se deixam ir dos galgos alcançando.
"Let us follow these Goddesses, and see whether they are illusions or real." This said, swifter than fallow deer, they hurl themselves into a run along the riverbanks. The Nymphs go fleeing among the branches, but, more resourceful than fast, little by little, smiling and crying out, they let themselves be overtaken by the greyhounds.
On the Isle of Love, Gama's men resolve to chase the nymphs to learn whether they are real or phantoms. The sailors bolt after them; the nymphs flee only enough to be caught.
The stanza turns the pastoral idyll into a chase. Gama's men decide to test whether the nymphs are phantoms or flesh, and take off running along the banks like released hounds. Camões piles on speed words, swifter than deer, and the flight of the nymphs through the woods, only to undercut the whole sprint in the last line.
The key is that word "industriosas," cunning rather than fast. The nymphs flee just enough to be caught, smiling and calling out as they slow. Venus staged this reward, and the mock-hunt of the previous stanza is now a mock-flight: the quarry sets the pace and lets the hunters win. A first reader takes the chase at face value and misses that the pursued are in charge of it.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Os Lusíadas 9.70 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
You are reading a page of the Os Lusíadas — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Os Lusíadas 9.70 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/lusiadas/9.70/