ome troops.

[Sidenote: Decadence of Portugal]

But even more than Spain Portugal overtaxed her strength in her grasp
for sudden riches. The cup that her mariners took from the gorgeous
Eastern enchantress had a subtle, transforming drug mingled with its
spices, whereby they were metamorphosed, if not into animals, at least
into orientals, or Africans. While Lisbon grew by leaps and bounds the
country-side was denuded, and the landowners, to fill the places of the
peasants who had become sailors, imported quantities of negro slaves.
Thus not only the Portuguese abroad, but those at home, undeterred by
racial antipathy, adulterated their blood with that of the dark
peoples. Add to this that the trade, immensely lucrative as it seemed,
was an enormous drain on the population of the little state; and the
causes of Portugal's decline, almost as sudden as its rise, are in
large part explained. So rapid was it, indeed, that it was noticed not
only by foreign travellers but by the natives. Camoens, though he
dedicated his life to composing an epic in honor of Vasco da Gama,
lamented his country's decay in these terms:

{445}
O pride of empire! O vain covetise
Of that vain glory that we men call fame . . .
What punishment and what just penalties
Thou dost inflict on those thou dost inflame . . .
Thou dost depopulate our ancient state
Till dissipation brings debility.

Nor were artificial causes wanting to make the colonies expensive and
the home treasury insolvent. The governors as royal favorites regarded
their appointments as easy roads to quick wealth, and they plundered
not only the inhabitants but their royal master. The inefficient and
extravagant management of trade, which was a government monopoly,
furnished a lamentable example of the effects of public ownership. And
when possible the church interfered to add the burden of bigotry to
that of corruption. An amusing example of this occurred when a
supposed tooth of Buddha was brought to Goa, to redeem which the Rajah
of Pegu offered a sum equal to half a million dollars. While the
government was inclined to sell, the archbishop forbade the acceptance
of such tainted money and ordered the relic destroyed.

[Sidenote: 1521-80]

Within Portugal itself other factors aided the decline. From the
accession of John III to the amalgamation with Spain sixty years later,
the Cortes was rarely summoned. The expulsion of many Jews in 1497,