Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

“ It is Numantia, and only she,
Who with her blood her life will dearly sell;
Who with her sword unsheathed, and flashing free,
Defends the Liberty she loves so well.
But now her race is over, woe is me!
The hour, the fated hour is on the knell,
When she must part with life, but not with fame,
Like Phœnix rising fresh from out the flame.
Those Romans there, a countless timid band,
Who in a thousand ways their conquests seek,
Decline to measure swords, and hand to hand,
With these brave Numantines, so few and weak. ”

“ The great merit of Cervantes is not that he founded or perfected a national dramatic school. This was reserved for Lope de Vega, who submitted his genius to the taste of the people, and for Calderon de la Barca, who refined and exalted it to the utmost pitch of which it was capable. But this merit he may certainly claim, that he was the first to give a certain form and fulness to what before his time was formless and void. His Numantia, if not a perfect drama and a model for imitation, has an unwonted elevation and grandeur. ”

“ They sound to arms with great vehemence, and at the alarm there enter on the stage Scipio, Jugurtha, and Caius Marius.
Scipio.
What meaneth this? Who sounds the call to arm
At such a time, my captains? Have ye found
Some maddened straggling men, who to their harm
Would seek a sepulchre within this ground?
Or hath some mutiny the war alarm
Provoked with such an urgent, deafening sound?
For this proud foe I hold so firmly now
I have more terror of the friend, I vow.
Enter Quintus Fabius, with sword unsheathed.
Quintus Fabius. ”

“ What Cervantes thought of Philip as a man and a ruler we can only conjecture. Twelve years after, in 1598, when the life of this monster of cruel bigotry had come to an end, and pompous funeral rites were everywhere being celebrated, we find Cervantes standing in the cathedral of Seville gazing on the astounding catafalque raised in honour of the deceased, and reciting with a roguish air that famous sonnet of his, beginning, "I vow to God this grandeur stuns my brain!" ”

“ Ye saw Marquino swallowed in the tomb;
Our bold defiance hath to nothing led;
What more remains to do I cannot tell,
Except to speed our passage to the dead.
This night let each Numantian bosom swell
With ardour suited to our past renown,
And let our actions match our purpose well;
Let us with might the hostile wall break down,
And on the field die fighting with the foe,
And not like cowards in this straitened town.
This deed will only serve, full well I know,
To change the mode in which we have to die,
For Death will march with us where'er we go.
Corabino. ”

“ Of two friends, by luck forsaken.
[Lyra enters with some robes, which she is taking to be burned, and says:
Lyra.
What is this mine eyes behold?
Morandro.
Him, whom soon no more thou'lt see,
For my pains are crushing me
With a speed I cannot hold.
Ended, Lyra, is the strife,
And my promise kept have I,
That thou shouldst not have to die
While I have one spark of life.
Even better might I say,
That thou soon wilt come to know,
How thy strength with food will grow,
And my life will pass away.
[88]
Lyra.
What say'st thou, Morandro dear?
Morandro. ”

“ The cruel scythe of death shall work in vain,
And eke the flight of time, to hinder me
From sounding forth in song, without control,
Numantia's powerful arm, and constant soul!
In her alone I find such worth extreme
As claims a record in the proudest lays;
Such wealth of matter for the poet's theme,
I That thousand ages may rehearse always
Her deathless courage, and her strength supreme,
Which claim in prose and verse the loftiest praise;
'Tis mine, in trust, to garner so much glory,
And so give happy ending to our story!
END OF THE TRAGEDY.
[117]
NOTES. Note 1, Page 1. ”

“ In the Dedication we have ventured to link the name of Gordon with that of Cervantes, and in so doing we feel we do no dishonour to the name of either. Though differing in language and creed, and separated by well-nigh three centuries, they are, nevertheless, kindred souls. In both the Quixotic spirit, in its noblest sense, is clearly displayed. Cervantes was the inventor of Quixotism because it lay deep in his nature. This Quixotism, what is it but the sublime of imprudence? To do what the enthusiasm of the soul prompts and compels; to do it with single-hearted unselfishness ”

“ Here enter certain people laden with robes, who go in by one door, and out by the other.
Turn thee to see a sight of misery!
See, how our swarming folk of every name
With quickened steps and eager faces fly
To feed the fury of the maddened flame!
And not with faggots green, or fodder dry,
Or any worthless fuel like the same,
But with their garnered wealth, and luckless treasure,
Which in its burning gives them greater pleasure. ”

“ The square and streets are crowded with the dead!
I mean to leap within and see the whole.
[Jugurtha leaps into the city, and Quintus Fabius says:
[108]
Quintus Fabius.
Without a doubt these fiery Numantines,
By their barbaric fury goaded on,
Have chosen rather to consign their lives
Unto the sharp edge of their very swords,
Than yield them up to our victorious hands,
Whose sight and touch are horrible to them.
Scipio.
If but one living being had remained,
In Rome they had not me the triumph grudged
Of having curbed and crushed this haughty race,
The fierce and mortal foemen of our name ”

“ It seems to us that the little ray of sunshine let into the surrounding gloom, and then suddenly extinguished, gives a deeper intensity to the supervening darkness. These love-scenes, moreover, if such they may be called, for they are very saddening, lead up to some of the most tragic scenes of the drama. Ticknor has rendered the whole scene with much spirit, but not in the metre, nor with the simplicity, of the original. ”

“ At all events Cervantes was no dilettante soldier. If he talks of the horrors and glories of war and siege he talks of things he knew and had felt. In his early manhood he was one of those high-spirited youths (Mozos de gran brio) , of good birth and breeding, who crowded the ranks of the Spanish army in Italy, to do service to their country and gain honour thereby. ”

“ Strange to say, a number of years afterwards, it sprang to life as an acting drama during the memorable siege of Saragossa by the French, where it had a besieged city for its stage, and patriots and heroes for its actors and audience. A work that has such a history, and has shown such [viii] persistent vitality, must have something in it worthy of the study of all lovers of the Drama, and no apology seems needful for presenting it now in an English version, which preserves the original metres, and pays due regard to accuracy and idiomatic expression. ”

“ In Spain such writers as Juan del Encina, Torres del Naharro, Gil de Vicente, and the authors of the famous Tragi-Comedy, Celestina, at the beginning and middle of the sixteenth century, had done good service to Spanish Literature, but had settled nothing as to the form which the Spanish drama should take. Cervantes himself looked upon Lope de Rueda as the true originator of a genuine national theatre. ”

“ It was their joint fate during life to be an enigma to most, a wonder to many, and in death or after death to be beloved by all. It is not for us to say more of the noble man whose name is now a household word amongst us. It is to be hoped when his Diaries are brought to [xviii] light, and the true story of his sufferings and death is known, that one of our gifted poets may do for the Hero of Khartoum what Cervantes has done for the heroes of Numantia, with a higher harp if not with loftier patriotism. ”

“ Theogenes and Corabino, with four other Numantines, Governors of Numantia, Marquino, a wizard, and a Corpse which will appear in due time. They are seated in council, and the four nameless Numantines are distinguished by First, Second, Third, and Fourth.
Theogenes.
Ye valiant men, it seems to me this day
That every adverse fate and direful sign
Conspire to crush us with their baleful sway,
And cause our force and fury to decline.
The Romans shut us in, do what we may,
With cruel craft our strength to undermine. ”