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

8 LYRICKS OF CAMOENS.Ms Dialogo Tusculano (Enquiry IX.). Nor doth thisadmit of doubt, for the Corpus of every manner ofPoem iscomposed of Number and whenceHarmony',the definition of Posidonius, the Stoick, "NumberedDiction," consisting of a certain measure or metre,as Laertius hath it in his Life of Zeno. So true it isthat Socrates, having been counselledby an Oraclethat, if he would attain to happiness, he must applyhis mind to Musick, understood thereby that hewould satisfy the intent of such counsel by employinghimself wholly in making Verses, the Numbersor Harmony of which are part of the sameMusick, even as relateth Celio Calcagnino? in theOration which he made in Praise of the Arts. Hencealso proceeded the Etymology of this term " Poet,"which, conformably with the opinion of Eustathius,followed by Rhodiginus^ in his fourth Book, is derivedfrom TTOicT^ in the sense of l/z/zeVpwc ae/^av, meaningamtare, to sing. This wise also affirmeth the sameNicolao Perotto (on the fifthEpigram) ; and, therefore,Dante called Poetry 5 a "rhetorical Fiction setto Musick."That the Title of Rhythmas besitteth this workalso appeareth clearly from a Discourse made byCardinal Pietro Bembo, 6 in the second Book of hisProsas, wherein he saith that Rhyihmas (or "Rimas?as he writeth the word) be of three modes ; for theyare either regulate or they or aiQfreey they are partlyfree and partly regulate.Regulate we term those Rhythmas which are ever