the queen was strict, caused
the tongue of scandal to wag; perhaps it was an affair with one of
Catherina's brothers, even a duel, that led to the decree which exiled
him from Lisbon.

Camoens's rashness, self-confidence and want of respect for the
authorities all contributed to the penalty, and the composition of the
play _El Rei Seleuco_ would aggravate his offence in the eyes of John
III. Produced in 1545 and derived from Plutarch, the plot was calculated
to draw attention to the relations between the king and his stepmother,
and to recall the action of D. Manoel in robbing his son John III. of
his intended bride. Camoens composed it for a wedding festivity in the
house of Estacio da Fonseca, and some of the verses refer so openly to
his passion, that if, as is likely, he spoke them himself, emphasizing
them with voice and gesture so as to publish his love to the world, this
new boldness, combined with the subject of the piece, must have rendered
his exile a certainty. All we know definitely, however, is that the
court was henceforth closed to him, and in 1546 he had to leave Lisbon,
the abode of his love and the scene of his triumph. Tradition says that
he went to the Ribatejo and spent seven or eight months with his
mother's relatives in or near Santarem, whence he poured out a number of
his finest poems, including his _Elegy of Exile_ and some magnificent
sonnets, which, in vigour of ideas and beauty of expression, exceeded
anything he had hitherto produced. Poets cannot live on bays, however,
and pressed by necessity he determined to become a soldier.

One of his best modern biographers thinks that he petitioned the king
for liberty to commute his penalty into military service in Africa; but
whether this be so, or whether he merely went there to gain his spurs,
certain it is that in the autumn of 1547 he proceeded to Ceuta. For the
next two years, the usual period of service there, he lived the routine
life of a common soldier in this famous trade emporium and outpost-town,
and he lost his right eye in a skirmish with the Moroccans, though some
writers make the incident occur on the voyage across the straits when
his ship was attacked by Sallee rovers. Elegy ii. and a couple of odes
date from his stay in Ceuta. He is full of sadness and almost in
despair, but is saved from suicide by love and memory of the past. He
has intervals of calm and resignation, even of satirical humour, and
these become more frequent as