C1 · Part Two, Chapter 42
Don Quixote's advice to Sancho the governor
Before Sancho leaves to govern his island, don Quixote gives him a list of advice in the style of the old mirrors for princes. It is serious, wise and addressed to a man who once kept pigs, a detail Sancho corrects at once. This unit is about haber de as the verb of duty, and about a conversation in two registers that respect each other.
The passage, exactly as Cervantes wrote it
Miguel de Cervantes, Part Two, Chapter 42. Unadapted.
Primeramente, ¡oh hijo!, has de temer a Dios, porque en el temerle está la sabiduría, y siendo sabio no podrás errar en nada. Lo segundo, has de poner los ojos en quien eres, procurando conocerte a ti mismo, que es el más difícil conocimiento que puede imaginarse. Del conocerte saldrá el no hincharte como la rana que quiso igualarse con el buey, que si esto haces, vendrá a ser feos pies de la rueda de tu locura la consideración de haber guardado puercos en tu tierra. — Así es la verdad —respondió Sancho—, pero fue cuando muchacho; pero después, algo hombrecillo, gansos fueron los que guardé, que no puercos; pero esto paréceme a mí que no hace al caso, que no todos los que gobiernan vienen de casta de reyes.
First of all, O my son, you must fear God, for in fearing him lies wisdom, and being wise you cannot go wrong in anything. Secondly, you must keep your eyes on who you are, trying to know yourself, which is the most difficult knowledge that can be imagined. From knowing yourself will come not puffing yourself up like the frog that wanted to be as big as the ox, for if you do that, the memory of having kept pigs in your village will be the ugly feet under the spread tail of your folly. That is the truth, answered Sancho, but that was when I was a boy. Later, when I was a bit of a man, it was geese I kept and not pigs. But it seems to me that this is beside the point, because not everyone who governs comes of a line of kings.
The same thing in Spanish as it is written today
Read the two side by side. What has changed between them is the syllabus of this level.
En primer lugar, hijo mío, has de temer a Dios, porque en temerle está la sabiduría, y siendo sabio no podrás equivocarte en nada. En segundo lugar, tienes que fijarte en quién eres y procurar conocerte a ti mismo, que es el conocimiento más difícil que puede imaginarse. De conocerte saldrá el no hincharte como la rana que quiso igualarse al buey, porque si lo haces, el recuerdo de haber guardado cerdos en tu pueblo será como las patas feas del pavo real bajo la cola abierta de tu locura. Así es, respondió Sancho, pero eso fue de niño. Después, ya un poco hombre, lo que guardé fueron gansos, no cerdos. Pero me parece que eso no viene al caso, que no todos los que gobiernan vienen de familia de reyes.
What changed, form by form
| In the text | Today | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| has de temer | debes temer, tienes que temer | Haber de for duty. The whole list of advice is built on it. |
| en el temerle | en temerle | An infinitive with an article and a pronoun attached, used as a noun. |
| poner los ojos en | fijarse en | To set your eyes on. Still used. |
| Del conocerte saldrá el no hincharte | de conocerte saldrá el no hincharte | Two infinitives with articles, the second one negated. A very compact way of saying that one thing leads to another. |
| la rana que quiso igualarse con el buey | lo mismo hoy | Aesop's frog, which burst trying to be as big as an ox. |
| feos pies de la rueda | las patas feas del pavo real | The peacock admires its spread tail, its rueda, until it looks down at its feet. A commonplace of the period. |
| cuando muchacho | cuando era niño | Cuando with a noun and no verb. Still alive: cuando niño, cuando joven. |
| algo hombrecillo | ya un poco hombre | A diminutive with algo in front. A bit of a little man. |
| no hace al caso | no viene al caso | Hacer al caso, to be relevant. Still used, and so is venir al caso. |
| casta de reyes | familia de reyes | Casta for lineage, the word that later took on a darker meaning. |
The syntax
The advice is numbered, primeramente, lo segundo, and each item is built on haber de with an infinitive, has de temer, has de poner, the formal Spanish of obligation. The logic runs by consequence: from fear comes wisdom, from wisdom no error, from knowing yourself no pride, each step introduced by a noun made out of an infinitive. Sancho replies with three short clauses, each opening with pero, which is how an ordinary speaker corrects the facts without contradicting the argument.
What a Spanish reader hears
This is the most serious passage in the second part, and everyone in it is sincere except the duke and duchess, who have set up the whole governorship as a practical joke. Don Quixote's advice is genuinely good, drawn from the classical tradition of counsel to rulers, and Sancho will follow it. And his correction is perfect: it was geese, not pigs. He is not offended by the reminder of where he comes from, only by the inaccuracy, and his last line, that not everyone who governs comes of a line of kings, is a political statement no one at the duke's table would dare to make.
Where the course prepares you for this
- How an official document talksLesson 78Sancho governs Barataria