ensured
him a ready welcome, and his fifth idyll, addressed to his patron on
this occasion, paved the way for his entrance. Though inferior to his
later compositions, it excels in harmony any verse previously written in
Portuguese. At first his suit probably met with few difficulties, and if
Catherina's family regarded it seriously, their poverty, combined with
the fact that the poet came of a good stock and had the future in his
hands, may have prevented any real opposition. It was his own imprudence
that marred his fortunes, and his consciousness of this fact gave his
muse that moving expression, truth and _saudade_, which are lacking in
the somewhat artificial productions of the sentimental Petrarch. But
while Camoens gained protectors and admirers, his temperament and
conduct ensured him envious foes, and the secret of his love got out and
became the subject of gossip. All was not smooth with the lady, who
showed herself coy; now yielding to her heart, she was kind; and then
listening to her friends, who would have preferred a better match for
her, she repelled her lover. Jealousy then seized him, and sick of court
life for the moment, he gladly accompanied his patron to the latter's
country house; but once there he recognized that Lisbon was the centre
of attraction for him and that he could not be happy at a distance. His
verses at this time reveal his parlous condition. He oscillates between
joy and depression. He passes from tender regrets to violent outbursts,
which are followed by calm and peace, while expressions of passionate
love alternate with bold desires and lofty ambitions. It is clear that
there was an understanding between him and Catherina and that they
looked forward to a happy ending, and this encouraged him in his weary
waiting and his search for a lucrative post which would enable him to
approach her family and ask for her hand. From this period date the
greater part of his roundels and sonnets, some of the odes and nearly
all the eclogues.

His fifth eclogue shows that he was seriously thinking of his patriotic
poem in 1544; and from the fourth it seems likely that the _Lusiads_
were in course of composition, and that cantos 3 and 4 were practically
completed. He had by now established his fame and was known as the
Lusitanian Virgil, but presently he had a rude awakening from his dreams
of love and glory. He had shown his affection too openly, and some
infraction of court etiquette, about which