Chapter 15

[279] =apresuramiento=, _haste_: long words in Spanish are often very transparent: here the stem is =pres=; =-amiento= (=-imiento= with =-er= and =-ir= verbs) is so uniformly added to verb stems that its force should be clear: 'act or manner or time of'. There are about 1000 such words in =-miento=: note =consentimiento= and =ofrecimiento=, in the same letter.

[280] =¡Habrá judío!= _Can there be any Jew_ (_so base_)! Alarcón was always ready to cast a slur at the Jew. So in his story of _El Afrancesado_: =¡Por judío!= _For_ [_his being_] _a Jew!_ For the tense, cf. the future in: =Una vieja lo cuidaba, sin reparar que era un enemigo...= (=¡Muchos años de gloria llevará ya la viejecita por aquella buena acción=!)... (_She must have been a good many years in glory for that good action._) Giese ed., p. 58. Cf. =¿Usted irá...?= _You are going where?_ as a more polite form than =¿A dónde va usted?= _Ibid._, p. 61.

[281] =¡A ver!= = =vamos a ver=, _Let's see._ Often 'Let me see, show me.'

[282] =como yo=: =yo= as usual, not =mí=. Reminds one of Shakespeare, "not gone to tell my lord that I kiss aught but he", _Cymbeline_ II, 3.

[283] =zorro viejo=, _old fox_: good naturedly, and not as Jesus called Herod an old fox.

[284] =tirando al florete=, _flourishing_ [_his cane_] _like a sword_; cf. =a la oriental=, _oriental fashion_; [=hablaba=] =a lo general antiguo=; =como Napoleón en las pirámides=, _like an old-time general_; _like Napoleon at the_ [_battle of the_] _pyramids_. _Diario_ II, 210.

[285] =hace quince días que sostiene usted=, _for fifteen days you have been supporting_. Present as usual after =hacer... que=, to correspond to our progressive perfect.

[286] =culebrinas=, _cannon_: not especially good to swear with, except that it begins with a =k= sound like =Cristo=. Cf. =canastos=, =caminos=, =canales=, etc.

[287] =¡Se acabó la conferencia!= _The interview is over_: =se acabó= is often heard (e.g. at the end of a play): _It is all over_, _it's all gone_, etc. This is an idiomatic use of the preterite.

[288] =¡Que valen cuatro cuartos!= _And they are worth_ _about two cents!_ This is his gruff way. The house is really well furnished.

[289] =¡Valgan lo que valieren!= =valga= in the 10th edition, and some others. Both forms should be plural. Alarcón's penmanship was not the best, and he had no typewriter, and the printer doesn't always help.

[290] =no faltaba más, estando yo en el mundo= = =no faltaría más=.

[291] =supo=: translate _heard_ or _learned_, as often in letters.

[292] =maravedises= = =maravedíes= = =maravedís=: three plurals of =maravedí=.

[293] =aunque tenga más orgullo que D. Rodrigo en la horca.= Other variants of this proverbial saying are: =tener más vanidad q. D. R. en la horca=; =tener más fantasía q. D. R. e. l. h.=; =tener más gravedad q. D. R. e. l. h.=; and =andar más honrado q. D. R. e. l. h.= All these phrases are supposed to refer to the bearing maintained by the notorious Marqués de Siete Iglesias, D. Rodrigo Calderón, who was the favorite of Philip III, and who was executed October 21, 1621, after conviction in a trial during which two hundred and thirty accusations for misdeeds were lodged against him. Despite the appropriateness of the phrases as descriptive of his bearing at the execution, the fact remains that the phrase =Tiene más fantasía que D. Rodrigo en la horca= occurs in a book published in Zaragoza in 1560, cf. Luis Montoto y Rautenstrauch, _Personajes, personas y personillas_, Sevilla, 1912, vol. III, pp. 25-26. Cf. also _Enciclopedia Universal_, etc. (Espasa), vol. 10, p. 653.

[294] =¡Caminos, canales y puertos!= He repeats her word as people do in quarrels, and adds any word, with sense or without, that comes to his mind. Cf. English "Oh, your way in the world, nonsense!" or "Your way nothing!" or "Your way your granny!" The word =demonio= in l. 11 has a similar element: "or any old thing".

[295] =o un demonio=: see preceding note.

[296] =¡Dale que dale!= _Keep it up! Keep it up!_ or _Go for him!_ or our colloquial _Hit him again_ (_he has no friends_), referring of course to the subject under discussion, and not to a person. Cf. McPherson's Spanish translation of _Hamlet_: Polonius: Still harping on my daughter: =¡Dale con mi hija!=--Here the captain gives us another sample of asseverations. He uses many throughout the story.

[297] =nadie creería que estaba= (or =fuese=): =creer=, =ver=, =saber=, =decir= may keep the indicative after a negative. Usage varies.

[298] =prefiero=: again the captain repeats her word. Cf. note 128, 4.

[299] =ésta es la vida=, _such is life_, not _this is the life_; similarly some soldiers translate =C'est la guerre=, _It is the war_, instead of _It is war_.

[300] =nada santo=, _not at all saintly_; not _nothing holy_.

[301] =a sabiendas=, _fully aware_: feminine form like =de veras=, =a solas=, =a una=, =las de Caín=.

[302] =su blanca mano=, _your white hand_: color adjectives follow their nouns, but any adjective used in a (real or pretended) complimentary way may precede.

[303] =inquebrantable=, _unalterable_ [purpose]; but there is no such thing for him. It is a contest between the wind and the sun.

[304] =ni=: in questions and exclamations and after negatives, or even implied negatives, as in this case, =ni= = _or_ as well as _nor_. Cf. _Lazarillo de Tormes_, _Tractado V_: =El mayor echador dellas que jamás yo vi, ni ver espero, ni pienso nadie vio=, _Greatest booster_ (_seller_, _distributor_) _of them that I ever saw or hope to see, or anybody ever saw, I think_.

[305] =lo que me digo=: not _what I say to myself_, but _what I am saying_. The =me= is ethical like Shakespeare's _He plucked me ope his doublet_.

[306] =hermanos=: translate, _brother and sister_. Cf. note, 50, 5.

[307] =me bañaré en agua de rosas=, _I shall be bathing in rosewater_, i.e. 'and I shall not care a snap of my fingers about it', which of course he does not mean.

[308] =¡Por algo...!= _For some cause_, _with good reason_.

[309] =Ni=, _Or_ again, as usual in questions.

[310] =rorro=: nurse's word for _baby_, from =ro ro= repeated like English _la la_ to soothe the little ones, "=para arrullar a los niños=", _Diccionario de la Academia_.

[311] =Jesucristo=: another oath. Note the shortened form =Jesu=.

[312] =dando calabazas=: each nation has a humorous term for refusing an offer of marriage. Ours is "to give the mitten". Spanish here says _give gourds_.

[313] =a fin de marcharme=: careless rhetoric for =a fin de que me marche=.

[314] =que se jugaba el todo por el todo=, _that it was win all or lose all_, _that all was at stake_: a phrase often used by Alarcón.

[315] =ninguna falta nos haces=, _we don't need you at all_. Cf. =¿Qué falta te hace el dinero?= _How much do you need money?_

[316] =se prendó= = _had been struck_: preterit with sense of pluperfect, as often.

[317] =¿Acepta usted?...= (144, 1) =Pues ¿no he de aceptar?= =haber de= with an infinitive occurs often thus after a present or future tense of the same verb; cf. =Si se le podrá ver... ¿Por qué no se le ha de poder ver?= (_I ask_) _whether I can see him... Why shouldn't you see him?_

[318] =¡Jorge!... ¿Crees tú...?= note the bare name for the first time from her, and the "thou" form.

[319] =se sintió morir de ventura=: reminds us of Gil y Zarate's _Guzmán el Bueno_ I, 4: =me siento fallecer de ventura=, when doña Sol admits she loves him. In this story there are nine places strikingly like Guzmán and close together.

[320] =Etiamsi Omnes=: this Latin, literally, "though all (should)", seems to be for _etiam sic omnes_, 'even so all', or, freely, _it is ever thus_, or _all are alike_. The Bible has _etsi omnes_, 'even though all be offended yet will I never leave thee'; Matthew 26:33: _Etsi omnes scandalizati fuerint in te, ego nunquam scandalizabor_; and verse 35: _Etiamsi oportuerit me mori tecum, non te negabo_, 'Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee'. Alarcón often uses biblical phrases playfully, e.g. =En verdad os digo= often in _Diario_. The Latin here is erroneous, as it is several times in Alarcón, e.g. =tememos abutere patientia vestra= for =abuti=. _Mayo_, p. 316, ed. Rivadeneyra, 1905.

[321] =levitón=: as Alarcón called woman =faldas=, _petticoats_, so he calls this servant in livery a _swallow-tail_ and a _piece of broadcloth_.

[322] =quitándose=: that is at mention of the dead.

[323] =Pedro=, etc.: say _like Jack in his own house_. Cf. _Diario_ I, 273, =para andar por este país como Pedro por su casa=. Pedro is used in several common expressions. Cf. =Mucho va de Pedro a Pedro=, _There is a big difference between one man and another_, or _No two men are alike_.

[324] =El capitán= has done everything he swore he would never do, and the children are in no danger of the =Inclusa=.

[325] There isn't in all Denmark an infamous man who isn't a great villain.--_Hamlet_ I. 13.

End of Project Gutenberg's El Capitán Veneno, by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón