Die Gesprächspartner sahen ihn mit Interesse an.
29. August 2017
Diese Übersetzung: 01.09.2017 03:25
XIV. The tale of the dance of Vasco da Gama.
The day of December 2, 1497 was excellent. Portuguese caravels, heading from Lisbon to the Lands of Spices, stood in the South African Bay, which has the modern name Mossel Bay.
The Cape of Storms (today's Cape of Good Hope) was left behind, the caravels safely passed through hurricanes and storms. The revolts were suppressed by the squadron commander.
"What next?" - thought Vasco da Gama, the commander of the squadron. This question was asked probably by all the members of the expedition.
Still none of Europeans reached by the ships to legendary Lands of Spices, having rounded the southernmost tip of Africa.
Somehow the squadron commander himself came to the idea: "We will find a pilot and we will pass from the coast of Africa through the Indian Ocean."
And for some reason there was no alarm. And for some reason filled with confidence.
The Portuguese caravels, battered by storms, but showed naval power. Team, gained experience, reduced to obedience. Fearless, skillful soldiers.
They are waiting for the Lands of Spices.
The lands of Spices is wealth!
The lands of Spices is an abundance!
The lands of Spices is an success!
What can stop him, Vasco da Gama? What can stop his sailors?
Storms? They passed through the storms!
Lack of knowledge? They have the knowledges!
Opponents? With reasonable care, at least one ship will return to homeland. And from there comes ten times more ships, on which there will be twenty times more guns and thirty times more soldiers! And victory will be achieved.
Suddenly, visions, fragments of legends, thought-memories flashed in his mind.
... Years-decades-a centuries of exhausting survival at the limit of opportunities, on a narrow strip of coastal mountains - in the most inaccessible and insignificant areas of the fertile peninsula. A desperate, infinitely difficult struggle for survival, which left without strength, but filled with gloomy, ruthless energy ...
...Some change in the Higher - HEAVENLY - spheres, and changes on the earth, on the Peninsula...
... And now - suddenly - the Portuguese kingdom!...
... Their Portugal! ..
... Their homeland! ..
...The legendary Prince Henry the Navigator (Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), who opened new perspectives! New ships! New campaigns! New knowledge! New hopes! Aspiration for the legendary Lands of Spices! ..
The commander of the squadron of Vasco da Gama prayed.
He set off on the deck of the caravel, standing in the South African gulf.
Through the clouds, a ray of the sun fell on him.
And suddenly he, the commander of the squadron, realized that in him, a lucky, courageous and decisive, and at times a gloomy, cruel and merciless man, energy and history were pressed, were concentrated.
And no one and nothing can, can not resist him. There will be a victory!
Destiny sent Vasco da Gama along the life path of the seafarer, the discoverer, the warrior. It would be strange to see in such a man a subtle sentimentality. The facts of his biography allow us to assume in him the courage and composure, perseverance, indifference (sometimes) and to life, and to death, waves of fury. All these qualities reach - in certain cases - a level of gloom, exceptional cruelty.
What was hidden behind the equanimity and waves of rage, behind the incomprehensible unusual cruelty of this outstanding navigator?
Years, decades, centuries of life in the inaccessible mountainous seaside Asturias of those people whose descendants eventually became Portuguese? Attempts to preserve independence in inaccessible mountainous seaside areas to the north of the Douro River? Centuries of life without of safety on the mountainous, pinned to the sea shore, relatively cramped areas of the earth. When it was impossible to admit a single significant error, not a single significant defeat?
Even on the southern slopes of the Pyrenees was, perhaps, at that time easier. In the rear was Europe, and not the sea.
How could these people hope to preserve their independence on these a few relatively close, mountainous seaside areas of the earth - people whose descendants have become Portuguese?
Only by supernatural help.
They hoped and - received it. And - at the same time - their (some of them) gradually filled with a grim, cold-blooded, merciless to themselves and others, a stubborn, furious, cruel energy of survival.
Biography of Vasco da Gama suggests the connection in him and this mystical luck, and this survival energy - gloomy, accumulated over the years, decades, centuries.
Of course, there was also the energy of civilization, the energy of knowledge.
Perhaps the Portuguese king understood that he, at the head of the state, was part of this complex energy ...
Fearlessness, energy, and luck were characteristic of all seafarers and pioneers. However, hardly the Portuguese king could write an excuse letter, nobody except Vasco da Gama, in this style:
"Dear Admiral, we order you to remain in our Kingdom until the end of December this year, and we hope that during this time you will see the mistake you wanted to make, and wish to continue to serve us and not to engage in your planned dangerous path. But if you still want to leave, we will not delay neither you nor wife, nor your children, nor your personal property.
This in Lisbon. August 17, 1518.
King".
The speech in this letter - under threat of the Admiral's intention to move to Spain - was about part of the (unfulfilled) obligations of the King before Vasco da Gama and about the intention to execute them in full - albeit with delay.
Someone discerns in this letter the emerging contours of rights and liberties (fueros), which were then granted on the Iberian peninsula in special letters and protected from the tyranny of kings.
Difficult time. The Portuguese state is formed. It accumulates forces, opportunities. But there was a threat no only for those - a few - people who defended their independence on several relatively close, mountainous coastal areas.
