by Luís de Camões

In bold Renaissance fashion, Luís de Camões (1524?-80) fashioned himself into a scholar, a poet, and a soldier. The following description is found in an anonymous early-seventeenthcentury memoir: “That famous poet Luís de Camões—who, speaking in absolutes, was the prince of them all—was a tall man with broad shoulders and reddish hair. His face was freckled and he was blind in one eye. He was a man of sharp mind, clear judgement and rare wit. He was well-read in the humanities, well-versed in the sciences, skilled at arms, and valiant of spirit” (Lund, p. 170).

Of his otherwise undocumented soldiering, we know that he lost the use of that one eye in Ceuta. Yet if he was ready to defend his own honor or that of others with his sword, it would be his pen...