Part 8
In the preface Monardes makes the following observations: “From the new regions, new kingdoms, and new provinces, which Spaniards have discovered, they have brought home with them new medicines and new remedies for the cure of many diseases, which if neglected, would prove incurable. These things, though some few persons are acquainted with them, are not known to every one; for which reason I propose to treat in this work of those substances, the products of our Western Indies,[66] which are employed in medicine as remedies against the diseases and infirmities to which the human frame is liable. By this means I may render no small service and benefit to my contemporaries, as well as to future generations, and my labours will serve as a groundwork for those who may follow me, and who may add their increased knowledge and experience to mine. This city of Seville, being the port for vessels coming from the Western Indies, the products of those regions are brought hither before they reach other parts of Spain, so that we obtain here the earliest knowledge and experience of them. In addition to my own experience in the use of those articles in the forty years during which I have practised medicine in this city, I have carefully collected information from those who have brought them to Spain, and I have with great assiduity and attention observed their effects on many and various individuals.”
Though the works whose titles are quoted, are the most celebrated writings of Monardes, yet he is the author of many others on the subject of Medicine. In the _Biblioteca Hispana_, the learned Nicolás Antonio, gives a list of his writings.
In the Museum of Gonzalo Argote de Molina, at Seville, there is a portrait of Monardes; and under a drawing of an Armadillo, in the same collection, Monardes himself wrote some lines of which the following is a translation:--“This drawing is from an animal in the Museum of Gonzalo de Molina of this city; which museum contains a great number of books on various subjects, together with many kinds of animals, birds, &c., from Eastern and Western India and other parts of the world: also a great quantity of coins, antique stones, and different kinds of arms which have been collected together by dint of much curious research and liberal expense.”
The Museum of Argote de Molina, at Seville, was one of the first institutions of its kind in Europe, and at that time probably the only one existing in Spain.
(D).
“Now, had it so happened that instead of going from Madrid to Toledo, we had been journeying from Toledo to Madrid, I could have shewn you two excellent books, which have been sent to me as a present from Señor Arcediano. These books are so full of knowledge, and they treat of so many things that are or may be in this world, &c. (Page 109).”
Don Adolpho de Castro supposes that allusion is here made to two curious old books, respecting which he furnishes the following bibliographical particulars:--
One of the first books printed in Spain was entitled _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, originally written in Latin, by Father Vicente de Burgos, and afterwards translated into Castilian by the author, under the title of _Libro de las Propiedades de las Cosas_. It is described as a “Natural History, which treats of the properties of all things--a Catholic and very useful work, containing much theological doctrine in reference to God; and much moral and natural philosophy in reference to his creatures--accompanied by great secrets relating to astrology, medicine, surgery, geometry, music and cosmography, together with other sciences, the whole in twenty books, as here subjoined:--
“I. Of God and his essence. II. Of the angels, good and bad. III. Of the soul. IV. Of matter and element. V. Of man and the parts of the human body. VI. Of ages. VII. Of diseases. VIII. Of heaven, earth, and the planets. IX. Of time. X. Of substance and form. XI. Of the air and its impressions. XII. Of birds. XIII. Of water. XIV. Of the earth and mountains. XV. Of the divisions of the world. XVI. Of stones and metals. XVII. Of trees, plants, and herbs. XVIII. Of minerals. XIX. Of colours, smells and tastes. XX. Of numbers, measures, weights, instruments and sounds.”
At the end of the work is the following note:--
“Printed in the noble city of Toulouse, by Henry Meyer of Germany, for the honour of God, and of our Lord, and for the benefit of many ignorant persons. Finished in the year of our Lord, one thousand four hundred and forty-nine, and the nineteenth day of September.”
This curious Encyclopædia was reprinted some years afterwards. At the end of this second edition are the following words:--
“Thus ends the Catholic and very useful book of the properties of all things, translated from the Latin into the Romance (Castilian) language, by the Reverend Father Vicente de Burgos, and now newly edited and reprinted in the city of Toledo, by Gaspar de Ávila, printer of books, at the cost and expense of the most noble Juan Tomás Fabio Milanés, of Segovia. Finished on the tenth day of July, in the year one thousand, five hundred and twenty.”
Hence there is no doubt that the _Libro de las Propiedades de las Cosas_ was originally written in the Latin tongue, by Father Vicente de Burgos, and after being translated into Castilian by the author, it was a second time submitted to the press, with the view of rendering it more accessible to the mass of readers.
The dates of the Latin edition, and of the first Castilian edition, were unknown to Nicolás Antonio, who was also ignorant of the name of the author of this work, to which, in the _Biblioteca Hispana_, he affixes the word _Anonimus_.
Indeed, some of the most learned Spanish Bibliographers appear to have known very little about it. It is mentioned by the celebrated Ambrosio Morales, in his narrative of the journey he undertook in the year 1572, by command of King Don Philip II.,[67] when speaking of the MS. works he examined in the monastery of the Order of San Geronimo de la Mejorada, near Olmeda, says:--“_De proprietatibus rerum_ in Latin, and the same in Castilian; very ancient and rare books.”
Father Vicente de Burgos concludes his work with the following observations:--
“I here protest, as I affirmed at the beginning of this work, that the facts mentioned and contained in it, are not inferred by me, but that I have cited the sayings and opinions of learned saints and philosophers, who are allowed to have been profoundly versed in the subjects of which they treat. I have done this, to the end that persons who, by reason of their indigence, cannot obtain sight of many books, may be made acquainted with the properties of things mentioned in Holy Writ, by having them all brought together in this one book.”
Don Tomás Fabio Milanés, at whose cost the _Libro de las propiedades de las cosas_ was printed in 1529, in his dedication to Don Diego de Ribera, Bishop of Segovia, says:--
“No little honour is due to the author by whom this book was compiled, for though it does not contain much new information proceeding from himself; yet he has, on every subject, given the best intelligence supplied by ancient authors, and he has served up the whole so free from errors and prejudiced opinions, that it is at once savory to the taste, and wholesome to the understanding.”
The other book supposed to be alluded to by the bachelor in that passage of the text to which the present note refers, is entitled _Suma de todas las cronicas del mundo_. According to some authorities, its author was Frai Diego de Bérgano, and according to others, Filipo Jacobo Bérgano. A translation from Latin into Castilian, by Narcis Viñoles, was printed in Valencia in the year 1510.
To these two old works, the one a sort of Enciclopœdia, and the other a History of the World from the time of the Creation, there is reason to believe that Cervantes alludes in that part of the _Buscapié_ in which the student mentions the two excellent books sent to him “as a present from Señor Arcediana.”
(E).
“Pedro de Ezinas.” (Page 109).
Father Pedro de Ezinas, a monk of the order of the Predicadores, in the Convent of St. Domingo at Huete, was preparing to submit several of his poems to the press when he suddenly died. Some monks of his order, determined on carrying out the intention of the writer, and the poems were accordingly printed under the following title, Versos espirituales que tratan de la convercion del pecador, menosprecio del mundo, y vida de Nuestro Señor, con unas sucintas declaraciones sobre algunos pasos del libro, compuestos por el Reverende Padre, Fray Pedro de Ezinas de la orden de Santo Domingo. En Cuenca en casa de Miguel Serrano de Vargas, año de, 1597.
(F).
“Greatly as you admire the verses of Ezinas, I must confess that they are not so pleasing to me, nor do they sound so harmoniously to my ear as the poetry of Aldana, or that of an Aragonian writer named Alonzo de la Sierra.” (Page 112).
Francisco de Aldana, the writer here alluded to was honoured by his contemporaries with the surname of the Divine. He had, however, but little claim to that distinction, for his versification is frequently inharmonious and his language harsh. A collection of his poems was published at Milan, in the year 1589, under the following title, _La primera parte de las obras que hasta agora se han podido hallar del Capitan Francisco de Aldana, Alcaide de San Sebastian, el qual murio peleando en la jornada de Africa. Agora nuevamente puestas en luz por su hermano Cosme de Aldana gentil hombre del Rey Don Felipe nuestro Señor, &c._ The first part of the works (hitherto found) of Captain Francisco de Aldana, Alcalde of San Sebastian, who died in battle in Africa. Now published by his brother, Cosme de Aldana, Gentleman in the service of King Don Philip, our Lord, &c.
(G).
“Al buen callar llaman Sago.” (Page 118).
The meaning of this proverb is that it is wise to know when to hold one’s tongue. As _sabio_, not _sago_, is the Spanish adjective meaning _wise_, it has been conjectured that _sago_ is a corruption of some other word. This appears the more probable, as the proverb, both in speaking and writing is frequently quoted thus, “Al buen callar llaman _Sancho_,” which literally construed is, _he who knows when to hold his tongue is called Sancho_, possibly in allusion to King Don Sancho of Navarre, surnamed _The Wise_. But be this as it may, the proverb occurs in the poem of the Conde Lucanor, and in other old Spanish writings with the word _Sago_, as it is given by Cervantes in the _Buscapié_.
A shrewd French writer has observed that proverbs are the wisdom of a nation, and with equal truth it may be said that no people possess so large a share of this sort of national wisdom as the Spaniards. There is scarcely one of their countless stock of every day proverbs that is not a wise maxim founded on experience and truth. Two classes of proverbs with which the Spanish language abounds, viz.: those embodying philosophic and medical maxims, have furnished materials for two curious old treatises, the one entitled _La Filosofía vulgar_, by Juan de Mal Lara, published at Salamanca in 1568, the other, _La Medecina española contenida en proverbios vulgares de nuestra lengua_[68] by Doctor Juan Sorapan de Rieros, Granada, 1616.
In the preface to this last mentioned work, the author states that he has opened a new road, previously unknown to any author, ancient or modern, Greek, Latin, or Spanish. For though it is true that many have collected proverbs and made comments on them, yet no one has written a word on the proverbs of the class to which this work refers: no one has collected the Spanish proverbs relating to medicine and formed upon them a system for preserving human health. “I have,” he says, “been the first to enter upon this new path, in which, short and crooked though it be, the reader will find all the essential knowledge transmitted to us by the Arab and Greek masters of rational medicine; the superfluous knowledge being left to those who are disposed to travel by the broad and even path which learning has opened.”
“Inasmuch as it has been my wish to exempt mankind from the prescription of the physician, the spatula of the apothecary, and the tape of the barber, I have deemed it expedient to write this book in my mother tongue, to render it more useful to my nation, in which though there are many latinists, yet there are many more romancistas;[69] and there is no reason why the latter should not enjoy the benefit of those old Spanish aphorisms on which I have commented. These maxims coming as they do from our forefathers ought to be venerated instead of being despised; and to show that this book is derived therefrom, I have given it the title of _Medecina Española_. If among my readers there should be any who despise their genuine native language, they will find on the margin in Latin, the substance of what is written in the text, together with references to the works of learned authors who have written on the subject.”
(H).
“He presented himself after the victory to the illustrious emperor, who was at that moment engaged in dictating to his _Maestre de Campo_, Alonzo Vivas, the three notable words of Julius Cæsar, altering the third as became a Christian prince, &c.” (Page 120).
In the commentary on the war in Flanders, by Luis de Ávila y Zuñiga,[70] the following passage occurs:--
“This great victory (which terminated the battle fought on the river Albis, on the 24th of August, 1547), his Majesty attributed to God, as a thing wrought by God’s hand, and therefore he repeated those three words of Cæsar, changing the third as became a Christian prince, acknowledging the favour which God conferred on him, _Vine, vi y Dios venció_.”
This and other allusions to Charles V., would seem to have given rise to the idea that the _Buscapié_ contained the avowal of Cervantes that his principal object in writing _Don Quixote_, had been to satirize certain acts of the renowned emperor, no less extravagant than those which are recorded of the knights-errant of old. This idea, though wholly unfounded, received some degree of confirmation from a letter of Don Antonio Ruidiaz, published by Vicente de los Ríos, in his Life of Cervantes. In that letter Ruidiaz mentions having had an opportunity of perusing a copy of the Buscapié,[71] and that it appeared to him to be merely a satire on several celebrated individuals, among whom were the Emperor Charles V., and the Duke de Lerma. Cervantes, doubtless means to censure the taste cherished by those personages for chivalrous entertainments, when, in allusion to the famous festivities at Binche, he says in the _Buscapié_:--“The knights actually performed these feats or rather these fooleries, and they were approved by the Emperor and the Prince Don Philip, who derived therefrom much entertainment. And will it be said that there are not other madmen in the world besides the ingenious Knight of La Mancha, when such madness finds favour in the eyes of emperors and kings?”
But because Cervantes has here censured Charles V.’s taste for chivalrous diversions, by what process of reasoning is it to be inferred that he intended _Don Quixote_ as a satire on that monarch? It may also be asked what acts in the life of Charles V. bear any resemblance to the achievements of the Knight of La Mancha? Certainly none! yet, nevertheless, some able critics have racked their ingenuity in endeavouring to discover allusions where none exist.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that in _Don Quixote_ there is no lack of ridicule and censure on many customs and abuses which prevailed in the time of Cervantes. An amusing satire on the Inquisition occurs in vol. iv., where Don Quixote and Sancho are overtaken and made prisoners by the duke’s servants, who ever and anon address them thus:--“Go on, ye Troglodytes! peace, ye barbarians! pay, ye Anthropophagi! complain not, ye Scythians! open not your eyes, ye muttering Polyphemuses! ye carnivorous lions!” &c. Thereby imitating the language which the ministers of the holy tribunal were wont to address to criminals, or presumed criminals. Then follows the description of the _auto de fe_ which takes place when Don Quixote and Sancho are conducted to the court-yard of the castle, “around which about a hundred torches were placed in sockets, and in the galleries of the court there were more than five hundred lights, insomuch that in spite of the night, which was somewhat dark, there seemed to be no want of the day.”
The arrangement of the place is minutely described, and the seats allotted to the different personages present at the _auto_ are specified thus: “On one side of the court a sort of stage or platform was erected, and on it were two chairs. On these chairs were seated two personages (Minos and Rhadamanthus, the presiding judges in Pandemonium), whose crowns on their heads and sceptres in their hands denoted them to be kings, either real or feigned. And now, two great persons ascended the platform with a numerous attendance whom Don Quixote presently knew to be the Duke and Duchess whose guest he had been:”--The following passage is intended as a parody on the cruel threats which the inquisitors held out to criminals. “At this juncture an officer crossed the place, and coming to Sancho, threw over him a robe of black buckram, all painted over with flames, and taking off his cap, put on his head a pasteboard mitre three feet high, like those used by penitents, and whispering in his ear bade him not to open his lips because if he did they would put a gag in his mouth or kill him.” A little further on is depicted the refinement of cruelty with which the Inquisition excited the merriment as well as the terror of the populace, by showing the criminals dressed up in masquerade, and covered with fantastic emblems and devices. “Sancho viewed himself from top to toe, and saw himself all covered with flames, but finding that they did not burn him he cared not two _ardites_. He took off his mitre and saw it all painted over with devils; he then put it on again saying within himself, well these flames do not burn me, nor do these demons carry me away. Don Quixote also surveyed him, and though dismay suspended his senses, he could not but smile to behold Sancho’s figure.” And in the conclusion of the chapter, the scene descriptive of the resurrection of Altisidora, Cervantes evidently ridicules the fatuity of the inquisitorial judges, who after having tormented a prisoner into the confession of a crime of which he was innocent, would gravely congratulate themselves on having effected a conversion.
Those who wish to verify the truthfulness of the satire dealt out by Cervantes on the _Autos de fe_, may be referred to a work by a learned Spanish writer, better known to foreigners than to the author’s own countrymen. It is entitled _La Inquisicion sin Mascara_, by the late Don Antonio Puigblanch, published at Cádiz, in the year 1811; the author screening himself under the fictitious name of Natanael Jomtob.[72]
Clemencin doubts whether, in painting the burlesque scene in the duke’s court-yard, Cervantes had any intention of ridiculing the Inquisition; but his doubt is grounded merely on the fact that Cervantes, in several of his other works, eulogizes this barbarous tribunal. However, in the chapter of _Don Quixote_, above commented on, Cervantes pays himself the compliment of saying that all the arrangements for the pretended resurrection of Altisidora were made “so to the life, that there was but little difference between them and reality.” His avowed aim was to exhibit the inquisitors in no less ridiculous a light than Don Quixote and Sancho, for he makes the grave historian, Cid Hamet Benengeli, observe, that “to his thinking the mockers were as mad as the mocked.”--(_Afirmando que tiene para si ser tan locos los burladores como los burlados._)
(I).
“Hereupon the bachelor ran into a string of questions worthy of that most indefatigable questioner, the lately defunct Almirante.” (Page 122).
Our author no doubt here alludes to the questions addressed by Don Fadrique Enríquez, who filled the high post of Admiral of Castile, to Luis de Escobar, a Franciscan Monk. Escobar published, at Saragossa, in the year 1543, the first volume of a work, entitled _Preguntas del Almirante_, (Queries of the Admiral.) The favour with which this volume was received by some of the most learned men of the age, encouraged the author to submit to the press a second part, which terminates with a curious paragraph, of which the following is a translation:--
“To the honour and glory of Our Lord and Saviour, and of his blessed Mother Our Lady, here ends the second part of the four hundred replies to the Admiral of Castile, Don Fadrique Enriques, and other persons answered but not named by the author. To these are added two hundred answers, which, with the four hundred of the first part, and the four hundred of this second part, complete one thousand. This work was printed in the most noble city of Valladolid (anciently called Pincia.) Finished on the second of January of this present year, MDLII.”
This work is a collection of replies, some in verse, some in prose, written in answer to questions addressed to the Padre Escobar by various individuals. One of the principal interrogators is Dr. Céspedes, who is distinguished by the titles of _medico famoso, clérigo i catedrátigo in Valladolid_. The names of several monks and Spanish grandees are attached to many of the queries, of which, however, the majority emanates from the Almirante de Castilla, and for that reason the book is called, _Preguntas del Almirante_. These questions relate chiefly to points of religion and history, and some refer to matters connected with medicine and the phenomena of nature. The task of replying to many of them must have put Escobar’s ingenuity and learning to a severe test.
(J).
“Can any one persuade himself into the belief that Palmerius of England, Florindos, and Floriandos are to be seen going about armed _cap-à-pie_, like the figures in old tapestry on tavern walls?” (Page 123).
The “History of Palmerin of England” is one of the curious old books of chivalry once popular in Spain. It is entitled, _Libro del muy esforzado caballero Palmerin de Inglaterra, hijo del Rey Don Duardos, y de sus grandes provezas; y de Floriano del Desierto su hermano; con algunos del Príncipe Florendos hijo de Primaleon. Toledo, año de MDXLVII_.[73]
In the year following, a second part, entitled, _Libro segundo de Palmerin de Inglaterra; en el cual se prosiguen y han fin los muy dulces amores que tuvo con la Infanta Polinarda, dando cima à muchas aventuras y ganando immortal con sus muchos fechos, y de Floriano del Desierto, con algunos del Príncipe Florendos. Toledo, MDXLVIII_.[74]