C2 · Part Two, Chapter 54
Ricote: we weep for Spain wherever we are
Ricote, the morisco neighbour who has come back in disguise, tells Sancho about the expulsion. He says it was just, and then says that wherever the exiles go they weep for Spain. Few passages in Spanish literature are argued over more. This unit reads it closely, because what it means depends on hearing two voices in one speech.
The passage, exactly as Cervantes wrote it
Miguel de Cervantes, Part Two, Chapter 54. Unadapted.
forzábame a creer esta verdad saber yo los ruines y disparatados intentos que los nuestros tenían, y tales, que me parece que fue inspiración divina la que movió a Su Majestad a poner en efecto tan gallarda resolución, no porque todos fuésemos culpados, que algunos había cristianos firmes y verdaderos; pero eran tan pocos que no se podían oponer a los que no lo eran, y no era bien criar la sierpe en el seno, teniendo los enemigos dentro de casa. Finalmente, con justa razón fuimos castigados con la pena del destierro, blanda y suave al parecer de algunos, pero al nuestro, la más terrible que se nos podía dar. Doquiera que estamos lloramos por España, que, en fin, nacimos en ella y es nuestra patria natural; en ninguna parte hallamos el acogimiento que nuestra desventura desea, y en Berbería, y en todas las partes de África, donde esperábamos ser recebidos, acogidos y regalados, allí es donde más nos ofenden y maltratan. No hemos conocido el bien hasta que le hemos perdido
what forced me to believe this truth was knowing the base and senseless designs our people had, and they were such that it seems to me it was divine inspiration that moved His Majesty to carry out so bold a resolution. Not that we were all guilty, for there were some firm and true Christians among us, but they were so few that they could not stand against those who were not, and it was not wise to nurse the serpent in one's bosom, with the enemy inside the house. In the end, with just reason we were punished with the penalty of exile, mild and gentle in the opinion of some, but in ours the most terrible that could be given us. Wherever we are we weep for Spain, for after all we were born in her and she is our native land. Nowhere do we find the welcome our misfortune longs for, and in Barbary and in every part of Africa, where we hoped to be received, welcomed and cherished, that is where they offend and ill treat us most. We did not know what we had until we lost it
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.
me obligaba a creer esta verdad el conocer los planes viles y disparatados que tenían los nuestros, y eran tales que me parece que fue inspiración divina la que movió a Su Majestad a llevar a cabo una resolución tan audaz. No porque todos fuéramos culpables, que había algunos cristianos firmes y sinceros, pero eran tan pocos que no podían oponerse a los que no lo eran, y no convenía criar a la serpiente en el pecho, teniendo al enemigo dentro de casa. En fin, con razón fuimos castigados con la pena del destierro, suave y blanda en opinión de algunos, pero en la nuestra, la más terrible que se nos podía dar. Dondequiera que estemos lloramos por España, que, al fin y al cabo, nacimos en ella y es nuestra patria. En ninguna parte encontramos la acogida que nuestra desgracia desea, y en Berbería y en toda África, donde esperábamos que nos recibieran, nos acogieran y nos trataran bien, es donde más nos ofenden y maltratan. No hemos sabido lo que teníamos hasta que lo hemos perdido
What changed, form by form
| In the text | Today | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| forzábame | me obligaba | Enclitic pronoun on an imperfect at the head of the sentence. |
| saber yo | el conocer yo | An infinitive with its own subject, yo, acting as the subject of forzábame. |
| los nuestros | los nuestros | Our people. Ricote speaks as a member of a community, not as an individual. |
| gallarda resolución | resolución audaz | Gallardo meaning bold, spirited. A word of praise, and a strange one for the decree that exiled him. |
| no porque todos fuésemos culpados | no porque todos fuéramos culpables | Subjunctive after no porque, the denied reason. And culpado for culpable. |
| criar la sierpe en el seno | criar cuervos | The proverbial serpent nursed in the bosom. Spanish today says cría cuervos y te sacarán los ojos. |
| al parecer de algunos, pero al nuestro | en opinión de algunos, pero en la nuestra | Parecer as a noun meaning opinion, with the second one reduced to al nuestro. |
| Doquiera que estamos | dondequiera que estemos | Doquiera, the older form, and the indicative, because it is a fact and not a hypothesis. |
| patria natural | patria | The land where one was born, as against the one that claims you. |
| Berbería | el norte de África | The Barbary coast, the Maghreb. |
| regalados | bien tratados | Regalar in its old sense of treating well, pampering. |
| No hemos conocido el bien hasta que le hemos perdido | lo mismo hoy | A proverb still in use, with le for a thing. |
The syntax
The speech falls into two halves that do not agree. The first is an official argument, built on reasons and concessions: forzábame a creer, me parece que fue inspiración divina, no porque todos fuésemos culpados, pero eran tan pocos, con justa razón fuimos castigados. The second has no argument at all. It is short clauses of feeling: lloramos por España, nacimos en ella, es nuestra patria natural, en ninguna parte hallamos. The hinge between the two is a single word, pero, inside the sentence about the punishment: blanda y suave al parecer de algunos, pero al nuestro, la más terrible.
What a Spanish reader hears
Ricote says the expulsion was just, and he says it to a Christian neighbour, in 1615, in a book that had to pass the censors. Readers have long argued about whether Cervantes meant it. What the text lets you hear is the effort: a man repeating the official reasons in the official language, and then, as soon as he says the word destierro, speaking in his own voice about a country that is his and will not have him. Whatever Cervantes thought of the decree, he gave its victim the most moving lines in the chapter.
Where the course prepares you for this
- The subjunctive, all of it at onceLesson 82Ricote, the exiled neighbour