SOURCE: “The Place of Mythology in The Lusiads,” in Comparative Literature, Vol. 6, No. 2, Spring 1954, pp. 97-122.

In this essay, Pierce offers an overview of past critical analyses of Camões' incorporation of pagan mythology into The Lusiads. The critic suggests that Camões was able to include references to pagan gods in his Christian epic by presenting them as merely allegorical figures.

It is a surprising fact that a poem of the stature of Camões' epic, which has for so long been the subject of much comment and criticism, should still present a major problem of interpretation.¹ The problem may be put briefly: Camões envisages his theme from the comprehensive standpoint common to his age, that is, he sees human history as including and being ultimately justified by a divine plan; but this plan manifests itself through a whole pagan supernatural scheme inserted between Vasco da...