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The Fourth BookChapter XX.
Chapter XX.
Wherein Is Prosecuted The Manner Of Don Quixote`s Enchantment, With Other
Famous Occurrences
When Don Quixote saw himself to be encaged after that manner, and placed
in the cart, he said, `I have read many and very grave histories of knights -
errant, but I never read, saw, nor heard that they were wont to carry knights
- errant enchanted after this manner, and with the leisure that those slothful
and heavy beasts do threaten; for they were ever accustomed to be carried in
the air with wonderful speed, shut in some dusky and obscure cloud, or in some
fiery chariot, or on some hippogriff, or some other such like beast; but that
they carry me now on a team of oxen, I protest it drives me into a great
amazement; but perhaps both chivalry, and the enchantments of these our times,
do follow a course different from those of former ages; and per - adventure it
may also be, that as I am a new knight in the world, and the first that hath
again revived the now neglected and forgotten exercise of arms, so have they
also newly invented other kinds of enchantments, and other manners of carrying
away enchanted knights. What dost thou think of this, son Sancho?` `I know
not,` quoth Sancho, `what to think, because I am not so well seen in
scriptures - errant as you are; but for all this I durst affirm and swear,
that these visions which go up and down in this place are not altogether
catholic.` `Catholics! my father!` quoth Don Quixote; `how can they be
catholics, when they be all devils, which have assumed phantastical bodies to
come and put me into this state? And if thou wilt prove the truth hereof, do
but touch and feel them, and thou shalt find them to have no bodies but of
air, and that they consist of nothing but an outward appearance.` `Now, by my
faith, sir,` quoth Sancho, `I have already touched them, and find this devil
that goeth there so busily up and down, both plump and soft - fleshed; and
that he hath besides another property very different from that which I have
heard say devils have; for it is said that they smell all of brimstone and
other filthy things, but one may feel, at least half a league off, the amber
that this devil smells of.` Sancho spoke this of Don Fernando, who belike, as
lords of his rank are wont, had his attire perfumed with amber.
`Marvel not thereat, friend Sancho,` quoth Don Quixote; `for the devils
are very crafty, and although they bring smells or perfumes about them, yet
they themselves smell nothing, because they are spirits; or if they do smell
aught, it is not good, but evil and stinking savours: the reason is, for that
as they do always bear, wheresoever they be, their hell about them, and can
receive no kind of ease of their torments, and good smells be things that
delight and please, it is not possible that they can smell any good thing; and
if it seem to thee that that devil whom thou dost mention smells of amber,
either thou art deceived, or he would deceive thee, by making thee to think
that he is no devil.` All these discourses passed between the master and the
man, the whilst Don Fernando and Cardenio, fearing lest Sancho should find out
the deceit whereto he was already come very near, resolved to hasten the
knight`s departure; and therefore, calling the innkeeper aside, they commanded
him to saddle Rozinante, and empannel Sancho`s beast, which he did with all
expedition. And the curate agreed with the troopers for so much a day, to
accompany him unto his village. Cardenio hanged, at the pommel of Rozinante`s
saddle, the target on the one side, and on the other basin; and by signs he
commanded Sancho to get up on his ass, and to lead Rozinante along by the
bridle, and afterwards placed on either side of the cart two troopers, with
their firelocks.
But before the cart departed, the hostess, her daughter, and Maritornes
came out to bid Don Quixote farewell, feigning that they wept for sorrow of
his disaster; to whom Don Quixote said, `My good ladies, do not weep; for all
these mischances are incident to those which profess that which I do, and if
these calamities had not befallen me, I would never have accounted myself for
a famous knight - errant; for the like chances never happen to knights of
little name or renown, because there [is] none in the world that makes any
mention of them; but they often befall to the valorous, who have emulators of
their virtue and valour, both many princes and many other knights, that strive
by indirect means to destroy them. But for all that, virtue is so potent, as
by herself alone, in spite of all the necromancy that ever the first inventor
thereof, Zoroaster, knew, she will come off victorious from every danger, and
will shine in the world as the sun doth in heaven. Pardon me, fair ladies, if
by any carelessness I have done you any displeasure, for with my will and
knowledge I never wronged any. And pray unto God for me, that he will please
to deliver me out of this prison, whereinto some ill - meaning enchanter hath
trust me; for if I once may see myself at liberty again, I will never forget
the favours which you have done me in this castle, but greatly acknowledge and
recompense them as they deserve.` Whilst the ladies of the castle were thus
entertained by Don Quixote, the curate and barber took leave of Don Fernando
and his companions, of the captain and his brother, and of all the contented
ladies, especially of Dorothea and Lucinda. All of them embraced, and promised
to acquaint one another with their succeeding fortunes; Don Fernando
entreating the curate to write unto him what became of Don Quixote, assuring
him that no affair he could inform him of should please him better than that,
and that he would, in lieu thereof, acquaint him with all occurrences which he
though would delight him, either concerning his own marriage or Zoraida`s
baptism, or the success of Don Louis, and Lucinda`s return into her house.
The curate offered willingly to accomplish to a hair all that he had
commanded him; and so they returned once again to embrace one another, and to
renew their mutual and complimentary offers. The innkeeper came also to the
curate, and gave him certain papers, saying that he had found them within one
of the linings of the wallet wherein the Tale of the Curious - Impertinent was
had, and that, since the owner did not return to fetch it, he bade him take
them all with him; for, seeing he could not read, he would keep them no
longer. Master curate yielded him many thanks; and then, opening them, found
in the beginning thereof these words, The Tale of Riconete and Cortadillo, by
which he understood that it was some history, and collected that it must be a
good one, seeing that of the Curious - Impertinent, contrived perhaps by the
same author, had proved so well; and therefore he laid it up, with an
intention to read it as soon as he had opportunity. Then he mounted on
horseback with his friend the barber; and both of them, putting on their
masks, that they might not quickly be known by Don Quixote, they travelled
after the team, which held on in this order: first went the cart, guided by
the carter; on both sides thereof the troopers rode, with their firelocks;
then followed Sancho upon his ass, leading Rozinante by the bridle; and last
of all came the curate and barber, upon their mighty mules, and with their
faces covered; all in grave posture, and with an alderman - like pace, and
travelling no faster than the slow steps of the heavy oxen permitted them. Don
Quixote sat with his hands tied, his legs stretched out, and leaning against
the bar of the cage, with such a silence and patience as he rather seemed a
statue than a man. In this quiet and leisurely manner they travelled for the
space of two leagues, when, arriving to a valley, it seemed to their conductor
a fit place to repose and bait his oxen; and, acquainting the curate with his
purpose, the barber was of opinion that they should yet go on a little
farther, because he knew that there lay behind a little mountain, which was
within their view, a certain vale, much better furnished with grass than that
wherein he meant to abide. The barber`s opinion was allowed; and therefore
they continued on their travel: when the curate, looking by chance behind him,
say coming after them six or seven men on horseback, and very well appointed,
who quickly got ground of them; for they came not the lazy and phlegmatic pace
of oxen, but as men that were mounted on canons` mules, and pricked forward
with a desire to pass over the heat of the day in their inn, which was not
much more than a league from thence. Finally, those diligent travellers
overtook our slothful ones, and saluted them courteously; and one of them,
that was a canon of Toledo and master of the rest, noting the orderly
procession of the cart, troopers, Sancho, Rozinante, the curate and barber,
but chiefly the encaged Don Quixote, he could not forbear to demand what meant
the carriage of that man in so strange a manner, although he did already
conjecture, by observation of the troopers, that he was some notable robber,
or other delinquent, the punishment of whom belonged to the Holy Brotherhood.
One of the troopers, to whom the demand was made, did answer in this manner:
`Sir, we know not wherefore this knight is carried in this form; and therefore
let he himself, who best may, tell you the reason thereof.`
Don Quixote had overheard their discourse, and said, `If, gentlemen, you
be conversant and skilful in matters of chivalry, I will communicate my
misfortunes with you; but if you be not, I have no reason to trouble myself to
recount them.` The curate and barber, seeing the travellers in talk with Don
Quixote, drew near to make answer for him in such sort that their invention
might not be discovered; the whilst the canon replied to the knight, and said,
`Truly, brother, I am better acquainted with books of knighthood than with
Villalpando`s Logic; and therefore, if all the difficulty rest only in that,
you may safely communicate whatsoever you will with me.` `A God`s name be it,`
quoth Don Quixote; `you shall therefore understand, sir knight, that I am
carried away enchanted in this cage, through the envy and fraud of wicked
magicians; for virtue is much more persecuted of the wicked than honoured of
the good. I am a knight - errant; but none of those whose names are not
recorded in the books of fame, but one of those who, in despite of envy
itself, and of all the magicians of Persia, the Brahmins of India, or of the
Gymnosophists of Ethiopia, shall hang his name in the temple of eternity, that
it may serve as a model and pattern to ensuing ages, wherein knights - errant
may view the steps which they are to follow, if they mean to aspire to the top
and honourable height of arms.` `The knight Sir Don Quixote saith true,` quoth
the curate, speaking to the travellers, `that he is carried away in this
chariot enchanted, not through his own default or sins, but through the
malignant treachery of those to whom virtue is loathsome and valour odious.
This is, good sir, the Knight of the Sad Countenance (if you have at any time
heard speak of him), whose valorous acts shall remain ensculped in stubborn
brass and time - surviving marble, though envy and malice do labour never so
much to obscure them.`
When the canon heard the imprisoned man and the three speak thus in one
tenor, he was about to bless himself for wonder, and could not conjecture what
had befallen him; and into no less admiration were they brought that came with
him. But Sancho Panza having in the meantime approached to hear their speech,
to plaster up the matter, added: `Now, sirs, whether you will love me well or
ill for what I shall say, the very truth of the matter is, that my lord, Don
Quixote, is as much enchanted as my mother, and no more; for his judgment is
yet whole and sound - he eats and drinks, and doth his necessities as other
men do, and as he himself did yesterday and other days before they encaged
him: all which being so, how can you make me believe that he goeth enchanted?
for I have heard many persons avouch that enchanted persons neither eat, nor
drink, nor speak; and yet, my lord, if he be not thwarted, will talk more than
twenty barristers.` And then, turning towards the curate, he said, `O master
curate, master curate do you think that I do not know you? And think you that
I do not suppose, yea, and presage whereto these new enchantments are
addressed? Well, know then that I know you well, although you cover your face
never so much, and that I understand your meaning, how deeply soever you
smother your drifts. But in fine, where emulation and envy reign, virtue
cannot live; where pinching sways, liberality goes by. A pox take the devil!
for, but for your reverence, my lord had e`er this time been wedded to the
Princess Micomicona, and I myself had been created an earl at least; for no
less might be expected either from the bounty of my lord or the greatness of
my deserts. But now I perceive that to be true which is commonly said, "that
the wheel of fortune turns about more swiftly than that of a mill," and that
they which were yesterday on the top thereof, lie to - day along on the
ground. I am chiefly grieved for my wife and children; for whereas they ought
and might hope to see their father come in at his gates made a governor or
viceroy of some isle or kingdom, they shall now see him return unto them no
better than a poor horse - boy. All which I have urged so much, master curate,
only to intimate to your paternity how you ought to have remorse, and make a
scruple of conscience, of treating my dear lord as you do; and look to it
well, that God do not one day demand at your hands, in the other life, amends
for the prison whereinto you carry him, and that you be not answerable for all
the succours and good deeds which he would have afforded the world in this
time of his captivity.`
`Snuff me those candles,` quoth the barber, hearing him speak so. `What,
Sancho! art thou also of thy master`s fraternity? I swear by the Lord, I begin
to see that thou art very like to keep him company in the cage, and that thou
shalt be as deeply enchanted as he, for the portion which thou hast of humour
and chivalry. Thou wast in an ill hour begotten with child by his promises,
and in a worse did the isle, which thou so greatly longest for, sink into thy
pate.` `I am not with child by anybody,` said Sancho; `nor am I a man of
humour, to let anybody get me with child, no, though it were the king himself;
and although I be poor, yet am I a Christian, and owe nothing to any one; and
if I desire islands, others there are that desire worse things, and every one
is the son of his own works; and under the name of a man, I may become pope,
how much more the governor of an island, and chiefly seeing my lord may gain
so many as he may want men to bestow them on? And therefore, master barber,
you should take heed how you speak; for all consists not in trimming of
beards; and there is some difference between Peter and Peter. I say it,
because all of us know one another, and no man shall unperceived put a false
dye upon me. As concerning my lord`s enchantment, God knows the truth; and
therefore let it rest as it is, seeing it is the worse for the stirring in.`
The barber would not reply unto Sancho, lest that, with this simplicities, he
should discover what the curate and himself did labour so much to conceal. And
the curate, doubting the same, had entreated the canon to prick on a little
forward, and he would unfold to him the mystery of the encaged knight, with
other matters of delight. The canon did so, and, taking his men along with
them, was very attentive to all that he rehearsed of the condition, life,
madness, and fashion of Don Quixote. There did he briefly acquaint him with
the original cause of his distraction, and all the progress of his adventures,
until his shutting up in that cage; and their own design in carrying him home
to his country, to try whether they might by any means find out a remedy for
his frenzy. The canon and his men again admired to hear so strange a history
as that of Don Quixote; and as soon as the curate had ended his relation, the
canon said:
`Verily, master curate, I do find by experience that those books which
are instituted of chivalry or knighthood are very prejudicial to well -
governed commonwealths; and although, borne away by an idle and curious
desire, I have read the beginning of almost as many as are imprinted of that
subject, yet could I never endure myself to finish and read any one of them
through; for methinks that somewhat, more or less, they all import one thing,
and this hath no more than that, nor the other more than his fellow. And in
mine opinion, this kind of writing and invention falls within the compass of
the fables called Milesiae, which are wandering and idle tales, whose only
scope is delight, and not instruction; quite contrary to the project of those
called Fabulae Apologae, which delight and instruct together. And though that
the principal end of such books be recreation, yet cannot I perceive how they
can yield it, seeing they be forced with so many and so proportionless
untruths; for the delight that the mind conceives must proceed from the beauty
and conformity which it sees or contemplates in such things as the sight or
imagination represents unto it, and all things that are deformed and
discordant must produce the contrary effect. Now, then, what beauty can there
be, or what proportion between the parts and the whole, or the whole and the
parts, in a book or fable wherein a youth of sixteen years of age gives a blow
to a giant as great as a tower, and with that blow divides him in two as
easily as if he were a pellet of sugar? And when they describe a battle, after
that they have told us how there were at least a million of men on the adverse
side, yet if the knight of the book be against them, we must of force, and
whether we will or no, understand that the said knight obtained the victory
through the invincible strength of his arm. What, then, shall we say of the
facility wherewithal the inheritrix of a kingdom or empire falls between the
arms of those errant and unknown knights? What understanding, if it be not
altogether barren or barbarous, can delight itself, reading how a great tower
full of knights doth pass through the sea as fast as a ship with the most
prosperous wind? and that going to bed a man is in Lombardy, and the next
morning finds himself in Prester John`s country, among the Indians, or in some
other region which never was discovered by Ptolemy, nor seen by Marco Polo?
And if I should be answered, that the inventors of such books do write them as
fables, and therefore are not bound any respect of circumstances or
observation of truth, I would reply, that an untruth is so much the more
pleasing by how much the nearer it resembles a truth, and so much the more
grateful by how much the more it is doubtful and possible; for lying fables
must be suited unto the reader`s understanding, and so written as that,
facilitating impossible things, levelling untrue things, and holding the mind
in suspense, they may ravish a more delight, and entertain such manners, as
pleasure and wonder may step by step walk together: all which things he that
writes not likelihoods shall never be able to perform. And as touching
imitation (wherein consists the perfection of that which is written), I have
not seen in any books of knighthood an entire bulk of a fable so proportioned
in all the members thereof, as that the middle may answer the beginning, and
the end the beginning and middle; but rather they have composed them of so
many members, as it more probably seems that the authors intended to frame
chimeras or monsters than to deliver proportionate figures, most harsh in
their style, incredible in exploits, impudent in love matters, absurd in
compliments, prolix in battles, fond in discourses, uncertain and senseless in
voyages; and finally, devoid of all discretion, art, and ingenious
disposition: and therefore they deserve, as most idle and frivolous things, to
be banished out of all Christian commonwealths.`
Master curate did listen to the canon with very great attention; and he
seemed unto him to be a man of good understanding, and that he had great
reason for what he had alleged; and therefore said that, in respect they did
concur in opinions, and that he had an old grudge to the vanity of such books,
he had likewise fired all Don Quixote`s library, consisting of many books of
that subject. And then he recounted to him the search and inquisition he had
made of them; and which he had condemned, and which reserved: whereat the
canon laughed heartily, and said that, `notwithstanding all the evil he had
spoken of such books, yet did he find one good in them, to wit, the subject
they offered a good wit to work upon and show itself in them; for they
displayed a large and open plain, through which the pen might run without let
or encumbrances, describing of shipwrecks, tempests, encounters, and battles;
delineating a valorous captain with all the properties required in him - as
wisdom to frustrate the designs of his enemy, eloquence to persuade or
dissuade his soldiers, ripeness in advice, promptness in execution, as much
valour in attending as in assaulting of an enemy; deciphering now a lamentable
and tragical success, then a joyful and unexpected event; there a most
beautiful, honest, and discreet lady, here a valiant, courteous, and Christian
knight; there an unmeasurable, barbarous braggart, here a gentle, valorous,
and wise prince; representing the goodness and loyalty of subjects, the
magnificence and bounty of lords. Sometimes he may show himself an astrologer,
sometimes a cosmographer, sometimes a musician, sometimes a statist, and
sometimes, if he please, he may have occasion to show himself a necromancer.
There may he demonstrate the subtlety of Ulysses, the piety of Aeneas, the
valour of Achilles, the misfortunes of Hector, the treachery of Sinon, the
amity of Euryalus, the liberality of Alexander, the resolution of Caesar, the
clemency and truth of Trajan, the fidelity of Zopyrus, the prudence of Cato,
and finally, all those parts that make a worthy man perfect; one whiles by
placing them all in one subject, another by distributing them among many; and
this being done, and set out in a pleasing style and a witty fashion, that
approacheth as near as is possible unto the truth, will questionless remain a
work of many fair drafts, which being accomplished will represent such beauty
and perfection as shall fully attain to the best end aimed at in all writing;
that is, as I have said, jointly to instruct and delight: for the irregularity
and liberality of those books give[s] to the author the means to show himself
an epic, lyric, tragedian, and comedian, with all other things which the most
graceful and pleasant sciences of poetry and oratory include in themselves;
for epics may be as well written in prose as in verse.`
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