The Rejected Stanzas.
(Estancias Desprezadas)
Note.
These Stanzas, omitted by Camoens, were discovered by Manoel de Faria y Sousa, and published in his Commentaries (Juan Sanches, 1639). The whole are extant in three manuscripts. Number I., the better of the two first, contains only six cantos: Number II., belonging to M. Correia Montenegro, embraces the whole poem. The third MS., in the hands of M. Luiz Franco, is given by Viscount Juromenha (Vol. VI. 419). It has only four “rejected stanzas”; the first three are those of Faria y Sousa; and the fourth is that of the established text (Canto I. 79) with a few unimportant changes of words and rhymes.
The Stanzas number:—
| MS. | No. | 1, | 48 + 2 fragments | = | 49 |
| ” | ” | 2, | (Correia Montenegro’s) | = | 26 |
| ” | ” | 3, | (Luiz Franco’s) | = | 4 |
| Total | 79 | ||||
I will not here enter into the consideration why the Stanzas were left out. Many of them fully equal those retained in the popular “Lusiads”; but almost all contain something opposed to public, or rather to priestly, sentiment. A cursory glance shows that not a few want the polish and finish which distinguish the Poem. I have purposely followed suit for the sake of contrast and fidelity. Juromenha’s original text is printed in verso, that the reader may judge how literal is my version, which, for additional security, was submitted to Mr. J. J. Aubertin, the translator of “The Lusiads.”