Luís de Camões, Cá nesta Babilónia, donde mana, translated by William Baer.
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Here in this Babylon, that’s festering forth as much evil as the rest of the earth; Here where true Love deprecates his worth, as his powerful mother pollutes everything. Here where evil is refined and good is cursed, and tyranny, not honor, has its way; Here where the Monarchy, in disarray, blindly attempts to mislead God, and worse. Here in this labyrinth, where Royalty, willingly, chooses to succumb before the Gates of Greed and Infamy; Here in this murky chaos and delirium, I carry out my tragic destiny, but never will I forget you, Jerusalem!

— Luís de Camões on Exile

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Here in this Babylon, that’s festering forth as much evil as the rest of the earth; Here where true Love deprecates his worth, as his powerful mother pollutes everything. Here where evil is refined and good is cursed, and tyranny, not honor, has its way; Here where the Monarchy, in disarray, blindly attempts to mislead God, and worse. Here in this labyrinth, where Royalty, willingly, chooses to succumb before the Gates of Greed and Infamy; Here in this murky chaos and delirium, I carry out my tragic destiny, but never will I forget you, Jerusalem!" in the context of "Luís de Camões, Cá nesta Babilónia, donde mana, translated by William Baer." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Exile" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Luís de Camões

About Luís de Camões

Luís Vaz de Camões (or de Camoens) (c. 1524 – June 10 1580) is considered the national poet of Portugal and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama, but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), the influence of which is so profound that Portuguese is sometimes called the "language of Camões".