[11] The poet Luis de Camões, after his return from the East, supported life on less than a third of that amount. [Illustration: AFFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE. From Gaspar Correa, _Lendas da India_, frontispiece to vol. ii. pt. 1.] VI AFFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE (1462?-1515) Aquelle invencivel e espantoso capitão Affonso de Albuquerque.--HEITOR PINTO, _Imagem da Vida Christam_. O sem segundo Affonso de Albuquerque, honra de todos os advertidos e scientes capitães que teve o mundo.--JOÃO RIBEIRO, _Fatalidade historica da Ilha de Ceilão_. Albuquerque terribil, Castro forte.--CAMÕES, _Os Lusiadas_. Had Affonso de Albuquerque died five or six years before he did the world would never have realised that it had lost one of the greatest men of all nations and ages. Born of an ancient family[12] about the year 1460,[13] Albuquerque had in 1514 seen thirty-eight years’ service. He won the regard of Prince João in the campaign against Spain in which that prince saved his father from irretrievable defeat, and he became his equerry when he had succeeded to the throne as João II. He also served with distinction in Africa. It was in 1503, when he was over forty, that he first went to India. In April of that year he sailed with his cousin Francisco de Albuquerque in command of six ships, the chief object of the expedition being to establish the friendship existing between the King of Cochin and the Portuguese and to build a fort at Cochin. Albuquerque made no long stay in India, and in July of the following year was back in Lisbon. But he remained long enough to see the vast possibilities there of failure or success for Portugal, and when, two years later, he again went out, although he sailed as the subordinate of Tristão da Cunha, it was on the understanding that he should soon obtain independent command and with the provisional appointment as Governor of India in his pocket. Smooth co-operation with other officials was not Albuquerque’s strong point, and he felt no doubt that if he was to serve his King and country as he would wish he must be able to act freely. It is significant of his commanding personality that during his two years’ presence at Court he succeeded in imposing his views. In his absence later his enemies were often able to tie him hand and foot even though he was Governor of India. There were two opposed policies. Hitherto the Portuguese in India had been confined to the sea, and many considered that this situation should continue. In a sense they were right, since it was obviously impossible in so vast an empire to conquer and hold large tracts of land. But Albuquerque considered that this floating empire should be nailed down at cardinal points by capturing important towns and building strong forts, and it was with this purpose that he went out to India.