a, and see the Portuguese sail happily off with the
beauteous brides they have won in Venus' Isle of Joy. The return home
is safely effected, and our bold sailors are welcomed in Lisbon with
delirious joy, for their journey has crowned Portugal with glory. The
poem concludes, as it began, with an apostrophe from the poet to the
king.

The Lusiad is so smoothly written, so harmonious, and so full of
similes that ever since Camoens' day it has served as a model for
Portuguese poetry and is even yet an accepted and highly prized
classic in Portuguese Literature.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 14: See the author's "Story of the Thirteen Colonies."]

[Footnote 15: All the quotations in this chapter are from Mickle's
translation of the "Lusiad."]

ITALIAN EPICS

The fact that Latin remained so long the chief literary language of
Europe prevented an early development of literature in the Italian
language. Not only were all the popular European epics and romances
current in Italy in Latin, but many of them were also known in
Provencal in the northern part of the peninsula. It was, therefore,
chiefly imitations of the Provencal bards' work which first appeared
in Italian, in the thirteenth century, one of the best poets of that
time being the Sordello with whom Dante converses in Purgatory.

Stories relating to the Charlemagne cycle found particular favor in
Northern Italy, and especially at Venice. In consequence there were
many Italian versions of these old epics, as well as of the
allegorical Roman de la Rose.

It was at the court of Frederick II, in Sicily, that the first real
school of Italian poetry developed, and from there the custom of
composing exclusively in the vernacular spread over the remainder of
the country. These early poets chose love as their main topic, and
closely imitated the Provencal style. Then the "dolce stil nuovo," or
sweet new style, was introduced by Guinicelli, who is rightly
considered the first true Italian poet of any note. The earliest
Italian epic, the "Buovo d'Antona," and an adaptation of Reynard the
Fox, were current in the first half of the thirteenth century at
Venice and elsewhere. In the second half appeared prose romances, such
as tales about Arthur and his knights, the journey of Marco Polo, and
new renderings of the old story of Troy.

Professional story-tellers now began to wander from place to place in
Northern and Central Italy, entertaining auditors of all classes an