Camoens (Camões), LUIS DE, the greatest poet of Portugal, was born at Lisbon in 1524. In 1537 Camoens was entered at the lately-reformed university at Coimbra as one of the 'honourable poor students.' As by the reforms of John III. the new methods and studies of the revival of learning had been introduced into that university, Camoens had here the opportunity, not only of studying Latin and Greek in the new spirit, but was brought into contact with the best thought of his time. A few years later this would have been impossible, as the university fell completely under the dominion of the Jesuits. It was the wish of his friends that Camoens should enter the church, but this he resolutely declined to do. While he was still a student he wrote his Amphitriões, which was acted before the authorities of the university. He returned to Lisbon probably in 1542. He now fell in love with Donna Caterina Ataíde, who filled such a large place in his thoughts till her death, long afterwards, near the close of his stay in the East. The lady returned his affection, but her father prohibited their union; and the poet had to content himself with passionate protestations in his Rimas—short poems after the model of the Italians. For reasons not ascertained Camoens was banished from Lisbon for a year, at the close of which he joined a Portuguese force at Ceuta, and served there for two years, losing his right eye by a chance splinter. In 1550 he again returned to Lisbon, where for the next three years he seems to have led a somewhat discreditable life. On the occasion of a procession on the festival of Corpus Christi, one of Camoens' friends having become involved in a quarrel with one of the king's equestrians, Camoens interfered and wounded the equestrian. Having been thrown into prison, he was released only on his volunteering to proceed to India. Accordingly, in 1553 Camoens sailed for that country, and reached Goa that year. While here he engaged in two military expeditions, by way it would seem of escaping from Goa, whose society was but little to his mind. His bold denunciations of the Portuguese officials in that town at length led to his banishment to Macao in 1556. This exile was, however, an honourable one, as he held a lucrative post, from which, in two years, he realised a considerable fortune. During his stay in Macao he may have written the first six books of his chief poem, The Lusíads. Returning to Goa in 1558, Camoens was shipwrecked and lost everything except his poem. Arrived at Goa, he was shortly afterwards thrown into prison through the machinations of his former enemies; but at length, after an exile of sixteen years, Camoens returned to Portugal as poor as he had left it. The remainder of his life he spent at Lisbon in poverty and obscurity. In 1572 he published The Lusíads, with a dedication to King Sebastian. It had an immediate and brilliant success, but did little for the fortunes of its author, who died in a public hospital, 10th June 1580.
Few poets have had a career so chequered and full of adventure as Camoens. From the very outset misfortune attended him, and though to a certain extent his misadventures were due to his own indiscretions, these indiscretions were the faults of a bold, earnest, and upright nature. In India his ill-fortune was largely due to his outspoken scorn for the unscrupulous conduct of his countrymen. His contempt for the arts of the courtier accounts for his neglect at home. But if he was neglected in his lifetime, his countrymen have made him ample amends since his death. They have indeed insisted on assigning a rank to The Lusians (Os Lusianos, 'the Lusitanians') which other nations have not recognised as its due. There is, however, good reason why the Portuguese should value it so highly. In this poem Camoens did for the Portuguese language what Chaucer did for English and Dante for Italian, and made himself, moreover, the interpreter of the deepest feelings and aspirations of the Portuguese nation. It has been called 'The Epos of Commerce,' and the Portuguese regard it as their national epic. The radical faults of the poem are its inartistic construction, and its puerile use of the classical mythology; and as in translation the felicity of the language and the smoothness of the rhythm by which the original is specially distinguished are in large measure lost, these faults have told greatly against its popularity with foreign readers.
Of Camoens' 352 sonnets, 70 have been well translated by Aubertin (1881); and there is a complete version by Sir R. Burton (2 vols. 1885). We have no fewer than six English renderings of The Lusians—by Sir R. Fanshawe (1655), Mickel (1771-75; 6th ed. 1877), Musgrave (1826), Quillinan (books i.-v. 1853), Sir L. Mitchell (1854), Aubertin (2 vols. 1878), and Sir R. Burton (2 vols. 1881). For the countless editions, see the Bibliographia Camoniana of Braga (Lisbon, 1880) and Vasconcellos (Oporto, 1880); also Sir R. Burton's Camoens: his Life and his Lusians; a Commentary (2 vols. 1882).