Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote
The weapons of gownsmen, like those of women, are their
tongues.
Keep company with the good, and you will be one of them.
Not where you were born, but where you were bred.
Well sheltered shall he be
Who leans against a sturdy tree.
An affront must come from a person who not only gives it,
but who can maintain it when it is given; an injury may come
from any hand.
He who can receive no affront can give none.
One must live long to see much.
He who lives long; must suffer much.
To deprive a knight-errant of his mistress is to rob him of
the eyes with which he sees, the sun by which he is
enlightened, and the support by which he is maintained. I
have many times said, and now I repeat the observation, that
a knight-errant without a mistress is like a tree without
leaves, a building without cement, and a shadow without the
substance by which it is produced.
Possessing beauty without blemish, dignity without pride,
love with modesty, politeness springing from courtesy, and
courtesy from good breeding, and, finally, of illustrious
descent: for the beauty that is of a noble race shines with
more splendor than that which is meanly born.
Virtue ennobles blood, and a virtuous person of humble birth
is more estimable than a vicious person of rank.
I must inform your graces that Sancho Panza is one of the
most pleasant squires that ever served a knight-errant.
Sometimes his simplicity is so arch, that to consider
whether he is more fool or wag yields abundance of pleasure.
He has roguery enough to pass for a knave, and absurdities
sufficient to confirm him a fool. He doubts everything and
believes everything; and often, when I think he is going to
discharge nonsense, he will utter apothegms that will raise
him to the skies. In a word, I would not exchange him for
any other squire, even with a city to boot; and therefore I
am in doubt whether or not it will be expedient to send him
to that government which your grace has been so good as to
bestow upon him, although I can perceive in him a certain
aptitude for such an office; so that, when his understanding
is a very little polished, he will agree with any
government, like the king with his customs; for we know by
repeated experience that great talents and learning are not
necessary in a governor, as there are a hundred at least who
govern like gerfalcons, though they can hardly read their
mother tongue. Provided their intention is righteous and
their desire to do justice, they will never want counsellors
to direct them in every transaction, like your military
governors, who being illiterate themselves, never decide
without the advice of an assessor. I shall advise him
corruption to eschew, but never quit his due, and inculcate
some other small matters that are in my head, which, in
process of time, may redound to his own interest as well as
to the advantage of the island under his command.
The customs of countries, or of great men's houses, are good
as far as they are agreeable.
"Faith, madam," quoth Sancho, "that same scruple is an honest scruple,
and need not speak in a whisper, but plain out, or as it lists; for I
know it says true, and had I been wise, I should long since have left my
master but such is my lot, or such my evil-errantry, I cannot help
it,--follow him I must. We are both of the same town; I have eaten his
bread; I love him, and he returns my love; he gave me his ass-colts.
Above all, I am faithful, so that nothing in the world, can part us but
the sexton's spade and shovel; and if your highness does not choose to
give me the government you promised, God made me without it, and perhaps
it may be all the better for my conscience if I do not get it; for fool
as I am, I understand the proverb, 'The pismire had wings to her
sorrow;' and perhaps it may be easier for Sancho the squire to get to
heaven than for Sancho the governor. They make as good bread here as in
France, and by night all cats are gray. Unhappy is he who has not
breakfasted at three, and no stomach is a span bigger than another, and
may be filled as they say, with straw or with hay.
"Of the little birds in the air, God himself takes the care; and four
yards of coarse cloth of Cuenza are warmer than as many of fine Segovia
serge; and in travelling from this world to the next, the road is no
wider for the prince than the peasant. The Pope's body takes up no more
room than that of the sexton, though a loftier person, for in the grave
we must pack close together whether we like it or not; so good-night to
all.
"And let me tell you again that if your highness will not give me the
island because I am a fool, I will be wise enough not to care a fig for
it. I have heard say the devil lurks behind the cross; all is not gold
that glitters. From the plough-tail Bamba was raised to the throne of
Spain, and from his riches and revels was Roderigo cast down to be
devoured by serpents, if ancient ballads tell the truth."
None shall dare the loaf to steal
From him that sifts and kneads the meal.
An old dog is not to be coaxed with a crust.
No man is ever a scholar at his birth, and bishops are made
of men, not of stones.
There is a Judge in heaven who knows the heart.
A good name is better than tons of gold.
"And you, Signor Panza, be quiet and leave the care of making much of
Dapple to me; for being a jewel of Sancho's, I will lay him upon the
apple of my eye."
"Let him lie in the stable, my good lady," answered Sancho, "for upon
the apple of your grandeur's eye neither he nor I are worthy to lie one
single moment,--'slife! they should stick me like a sheep sooner than I
would consent to such a thing; for though my master says that, in
respect to good manners, we should rather lose the game by a card too
much than too little, yet, when the business in hand is about asses and
eyes, we should step warily, with compass in hand."
"Carry him, Sancho," quoth the Duchess, "to your government, and there
you may regale him as you please, and set him free from further labor."
"Think not, my lady Duchess," quoth Sancho, "that you have said much,
for I have seen more asses than one go to governments, and therefore, if
I should carry mine, it would be nothing new."
SANCHO'S PLIGHT.
The Duke and Duchess were extremely diverted with the humors of their
two guests; and resolving to improve their sport by practising some
pleasantries that should have the appearance of a romantic adventure,
they contrived to dress up a very choice entertainment from Don
Quixote's account of the Cave of Montesinos, taking that subject
because the Duchess had observed with astonishment that Sancho now
believed his lady Dulcinea was really enchanted, although he himself had
been her sole enchanter! Accordingly, after the servants had been well
instructed as to their deportment towards Don Quixote, a boar-hunt was
proposed, and it was determined to set out in five or six days with a
princely train of huntsmen. The knight was presented with a hunting suit
proper for the occasion, which, however, he declined, saying that he
must soon return to the severe duties of his profession, when, having no
sumpters nor wardrobes, such things would be superfluous. But Sancho
readily accepted a suit of fine green cloth which was offered to him,
intending to sell it the first opportunity.
The appointed day being come, Don Quixote armed himself, and Sancho in
his new suit mounted Dapple (which he preferred to a horse that was
offered him) and joined the troop of hunters. The Duchess issued forth
magnificently attired, and Don Quixote, out of pure politeness, would
hold the reins of the palfrey, though the Duke was unwilling to allow
it. Having arrived at the proposed scene of their diversion, which was
in a wood between two lofty mountains, they posted themselves in places
where the toils were to be pitched; and all the party having taken their
different stations, the sport began with prodigious noise and clamor,
insomuch that between the shouts of the huntsmen, the cry of the hounds,
and the sound of the horns, they could not hear each other.
The Duchess alighted, and with a boar-spear in her hand, took her stand
in a place where she expected the boars would pass. The Duke and Don
Quixote dismounted also, and placed themselves by her side; while Sancho
took his station behind them all, with his Dapple, whom he would not
quit, lest some mischance should befall him. Scarcely had they ranged
themselves in order when a hideous boar of monstrous size rushed out of
cover, pursued by the dogs and hunters, and made directly towards them,
gnashing his teeth and tossing foam with his mouth.
Don Quixote, on seeing him approach, braced his shield, and drawing his
sword, stepped before the rest to meet him. The Duke joined him with his
boar-spear, and the Duchess would have been the foremost had not the
Duke prevented her. Sancho alone stood aghast, and at the sight of the
fierce animal, leaving even his Dapple, ran in terror towards a lofty
oak, in which he hoped to be secure; but his hopes were in vain, for, as
he was struggling to reach the top, and had got half-way up,
unfortunately a branch to which he clung, gave way, and falling with it,
he was caught by the stump of another, and here left suspended in the
air, so that he could neither get up nor down.
Finding himself in this situation, with his new green coat tearing, and
almost in reach of the terrible creature should it chance to come that
way, he began to bawl so loud and to call for help so vehemently, that
all who heard him and did not see him thought verily he was between the
teeth of some wild beast. The tusked boar, however, was soon laid at
length by the numerous spears that were levelled at him from all sides,
at which time Sancho's cries and lamentations reached the ears of Don
Quixote, who, turning round, beheld him hanging from the oak with his
head downwards, and close by him stood Dapple, who never forsook him in
adversity,--indeed, it was remarked by Cid Hamet, that he seldom saw
Sancho Panza without Dapple, or Dapple without Sancho Panza, such was
the amity and cordial love that subsisted between them!
Don Quixote hastened to the assistance of his squire, who was no sooner
released than he began to examine the rent in his hunting suit, which
grieved him to the soul, for he looked upon that suit as a rich
inheritance.
The huge animal they had slain was laid across a sumpter-mule, and after
covering it with branches of rosemary and myrtle, they carried it, as
the spoils of victory, to a large field-tent, erected in the midst of
the wood, where a sumptuous entertainment was prepared, worthy of the
magnificence of the donor. Sancho, showing the wounds of the torn
garments to the Duchess, said: "Had hares or birds been our game, I
should not have had this misfortune. For my part I cannot think what
pleasure there can be in beating about for a monster that, if it reaches
you with a tusk, may be the death of you. There is an old ballad which
says,--
"'May fate of Fabila be thine,
And make thee food for bears or swine.'"
"That Fabila," said Don Quixote, "was a king of the Goths, who, going to
the chase, was devoured by a bear."
"What I mean," quoth Sancho, "is, that I would not have kings and other
great folks run into such dangers merely for pleasure; and, indeed,
methinks it ought to be none to kill poor beasts that never meant any
harm."
"You are mistaken, Sancho," said the duke, "hunting wild beasts is the
most proper exercise for knights and princes. The chase is an image of
war: there you have stratagems, artifices, and ambuscades to be