The third part of the history of this ill-fated poet is the most melancholy. On his return he found Lisbon ravaged by the plague. During this calamity it was not to be expected that much regard should be paid to poetry, and the last hope of Camoens rested on his poem, the only treasure which he had brought with him from India. Considerable changes had likewise taken place at the court. King Sebastian was concerting the plan of his unfortunate expedition to Morocco. In so romantic an enterprise Camoens was predisposed to take an interest, and it served to stimulate his zeal in dedicating his poem to the youthful sovereign. The dedication was graciously received, but the poet obtained no other reward than a wretched pension, just sufficient to mark but not to relieve his misery. The honour was conceded to him of constantly accompanying the court, while he wanted means to procure the necessaries of life. It is said that a faithful slave who had accompanied him to Europe, begged in the streets of Lisbon at night, in order to enable the poet, whose name was now celebrated throughout Portugal and Spain, to appear decently in public during the day. The last blow which the patriotic heart of Camoens received, was the fatal issue of the African expedition. The poet’s hitherto robust constitution now sank under the pressure of sorrow and indigence. His last hope had vanished, and overwhelmed with affliction, he withdrew himself from the world. A few monks were the last individuals with whom he maintained any intercourse. Shortly before his death, he is said to have written a letter, which, if it be genuine, proves that he himself considered his misfortunes unparalleled. He styles it a sort of presumptuousness to attempt to oppose that fate, which had at length compressed all his sorrows within the narrow limits of a sick-bed. It appears that he ended his life in an hospital, in the year 1579, at the age of fifty-five. It was not until sixteen years after his decease that the spot where his ashes repose, was distinguished by a monument erected by one of his admirers. During the same year the learned Rodriguez Lobo Zurupita, who must not be confounded with the poet Rodriguez Lobo, published the first collection of the hitherto scattered poems of Camoens.[135]