Page:The Lusiad (Camões, tr. Mickle, 1791), Volume 2.djvu/230

Begirt with high-plumed nobles, by the flood
The first great minister of India stood,
The Catual his name in India's tongue;
To GAMA swift the lordly regent sprung:
His open arms the valiant chief enfold,
And now he lands him on the shore of gold:
With pomp unwonted India's nobles greet
The fearless heroes of the warlike fleet.
A couch on shoulders borne, in India's mode,
With gold the canopy and purple glow'd,
Receives the Lusian captain; equal rides
The lordly catual, and onward guides,
While GAMA's train, and thousands of the throng
Of India's sons, encircling pour along.
To hold discourse in various tongues they try;
In vain; the accents unremember'd die
Instant as utter'd. Thus on Babel's plain
Each builder heard his mate, and heard in vain.
GAMA the while, and India's second lord,
Hold glad responses, as the various word
The faithful Moor unfolds. The city gate
They past, and onward, tower'd in sumptuous state,
Before them now the sacred temple rose;
The portals wide the sculptured shrines disclose.
The chiefs advance, and, entered now, behold
The gods of wood, cold stone, and shining gold;
Various of figure, and of various face,
As the foul Demon will'd the likeness base.

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