Camoens - The Lyrics part 1 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)

THE TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD. 3nation be brought to us insuch manner that we regardhim as our own; the other, on the contrary,demands that we transport ourselves to him, andadopt his situation, his mode of speaking, his peculiarities."For authority may be quoted the greatexample of my Master, who, in his Triumphos,translated from Petrarch's Trionfi, sinks his individualityand attempts the replica. Here once moreI have aimed at " Englishing ; 'the style, the idioms*the ifsissima verba of Camoens; I have attemptednot only fidelity, but literality, by making the mostconscientious possible portrait. Perfection may beunattainable in this matter ;but the more we strivefor the beau ideal of translation the less we waste ourtime and our trouble.A few words concerning the contents of this volume.By way of general preface I have prefixed the originalPrologo of Camoens 7 Lyricks which ushered in theEditio Princeps of theRhythmas. The Poems follow inthe order adopted by their earliest Portuguese editors,Faria y Sousa; Joseph Lopes Ferreira; Viscondede Juromenha, and the Bibliotheca da Actualidade(Theophilo Braga). For facility of reference theinitial lines of the texts have been prefixed to thetranslations. In Appendix I. I have offered a fewobservations upon the Lyricks of the "PortugueseApollo." To avoid troubling my readers and cumberingmy pages with notes I have inserted the fewabsolutely required into the Index of First Lines(Appendix II.), after the fashion of certain PortugueseB 2