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Home  »  The Sonnets of Europe  »  Luís de Camões (c. 1524–1580)

Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

Audaces Fortuna Juvat

Luís de Camões (c. 1524–1580)

Translated by J. J. Aubertin

NEVER did love his boldness hurtful find;

Fortune hath ever favours for the bold;

For cowardice, that shivers in the cold,

Hangs like a stone on freedom of the mind.

Who dares the Firmament sublime ascend,

Meets there a star, whereby his course is told;

The good mere Fancy in its range doth hold

Illusive is, soon scattered by the wind.

A path for fortune should be opened free;

To none, without himself, will greatness fall;

Chance moving only in first steps appears.

To dare is valour, madness ’twill not be;

He to whom fortune shows thee, loses all,

If, coward like, he doth not scorn his fears.