The Lusiads seems to follow a blueprint like all the other epics. The idea of fate, however, is a very interesting idea that is worth talking about. Fate in the Lusiads seems to follow in  a similar manner to that of the other epics like the Iliad, Odyssey, and also the Aeneid. The prophecy can be found on page 44. It states, “He was already aware of the prophecy that a redoubtable Iberian race should cross over the seas to india and subjugate its coastal regions, and that their victories should overshadow all those of each history told.” I find that this quote is very unique for a specific reason. It is interesting how Camões only mentions the Iberian race, not specifically the people belonging to Portugal. It seems that he is trying to claim that the Portuguese are the sole Iberian people, not the Spanish. This idea of the Portuguese being the true Iberian people also alludes to the fact that the Romans felt similarly  about being the true Italian people. Romans felt that all other non Roman Italians were inferior. This also helps reinforce the notion of how Portugal is claiming to be the new Rome. Rome ruled the Mediterranean world, but Portugal will rule the Atlantic World.

It seems, however, that this prophecy was really referring to the Spanish, not Portugal. I ultimately think it would be interesting to see the Spanish response to this reading. I wonder if any Spanish contemporaries read this book and felt offended by how the Portuguese claimed to be the true Iberian populace. If you look at history though, one will see that the Portuguese global empire did not last as long as the Spanish empire. The Spanish also had a much larger empire to govern, so it seems that there must have been an opposite effect of what this epic actually claims. It was the Spanish who were the true Iberian people who had a larger empire that lasted for a much longer time than the Portuguese.