The Lusiads by Luis Vaz e Camoes & The Prince

This study will examine The Lusiads by Luis Vaz de Camoes (Camoens) and The Prince by Machiavelli, focusing on the two works as examples naturalism, secularism and individualism. These elements of the two books exemplify the characteristics of the Renaissance.

Both works were written in an era which was casting off the religious elements of the Middle Ages and were practicing instead perspectives on man and the world which saw man instead of God at the center of reality. Camoens' book focuses on the exploits of explorer Vasco da Gama as examples of the individualist and activist encounters with the world of nature, while Machiavelli focuses on the political recipe for a ruthless and successful leader.

Both writers and their perspectives were humanistic in that they saw man as the shaper of his own destiny, instead of being at the mercy of natural or supernatural forces, as the thinkers of the Middle Ages and earlier had believed.

Whereas Machiavelli leaves no doubt that the gods or God have nothing to do with the political affairs of man, Camoens seems to grant that God and Christ play a role in the affairs of man, but the heart and soul of the work is the effort to honor the individualistic exploits of the explorers of Portugal. Machiavelli makes mention of the Church, but only in terms of the role it plays in weakening leaders and creating fear in them which prevents them from leading effectively. He compares such a fearful and compromised position with the bold and

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wisely led still had in its power to be what it had been and to provide the stuff of epics yet unwritten. Camoens sought to re-enliven the national will not by preaching the kind of ruthless, practical political leadership Machiavelli advocated, but by championing the exploits of da Gama and by putting those exploits in the context of an earlier heroic age which was overseen not by God but by gods. In either case, Camoens placed at the core of reality the courage of individual men who lived in a naturalistic world. Camoens in his final plea to the King emphasizes neither God nor Gods but the role that the King might play in re-enlivening Portugal's spirit: I appeal to you, my King. . . . Look round at other peoples and reflect on the excellence of these vassals who call you their lord. . . . Prepared for any sacrifice in your service, unswerving in obedience to their so distant king, receiving with a ready and unquestioning alacrity your every command, however harsh: with the knowledge that your eye is upon them they will attack in your name the very devils of hell, and I doubt not but they will make you the victor, not the vanquished, in the struggle. So while Camoens gives lip service to God and the Church, and while h

Category: History - T