Don Quixote [Trans. by Edith Grossman] (153 page)

10. The archbishop of Reims, whose
Fables
(1527) are a fictional Carolingian chronicle. He is constantly cited for his veracity in
The Mirror of Chivalry.

11. Matteo Boiardo was the author of
Orlando innamorato;
Ludovico Ariosto, who wrote
Orlando furioso,
referred only to the Christian God in his work. Cervantes disliked the Spanish translations of Ariosto, including the one by Captain Jerónimo de Urrea (1549), which he refers to in the next paragraph.

12. The references are to two poems, the first by Agustín Alonso (1585) and the second by Francisco Garrido Vicena (1555).

13. The first of the Palmerín novels, published in 1511, is of uncertain authorship. The
Palmerín of England
was the third novel in the series; it was written in Portuguese by Francisco Moraes Cabral and translated into Castilian by Luis Hurtado (1547).

14. Written by Jerónimo Fernández and published in 1547.

15. As indicated earlier, this was first published in 1490; composed in Catalan by Johanot Martorell and continued by Martí Johan de Galba, the anonymous Castilian translation was published in 1511.

16. In the translation of this sentence, which has been called the most obscure in the entire novel, I have followed the interpretation offered by Martín de Riquer. One of the problematic issues in Spanish is the word
galeras,
or “galleys,” which can mean either ships or publisher’s proofs.

17. As indicated earlier, this was the first pastoral novel in Spanish.

18. A very poor continuation by Alonso Pérez, a Salamancan physician, printed in 1564; also published in 1564 is the highly esteemed
Diana enamorada (Diana in Love
) by Gil Polo.

19. Published in 1573; according to Martín de Riquer, Cervantes’s praise is ironic, since he mocked the book in his
Viaje del Parnaso (Voyage from Parnassus
).

21. Published in 1582 by Luis Gálvez de Montalvo.

22. Published in 1580 by Pedro de Padilla.

23. Published in 1586 by Gabriel López Maldonado and his collaborator, Miguel de Cervantes.

24. This pastoral novel was the first work published by Cervantes, in 1585; the often promised second part was never published and has been lost.

25. Epic poems of the Spanish Renaissance, they were published in 1569, 1584, and 1588, respectively.

26. Published in 1586 by Luis Barahona de Soto.

1. The first two are epic poems by Jerónimo Sempere (1560) and Pedro de la Vecilla Castellanos (1586); the third work is not known, although Luis de Ávila did write a prose commentary on Spain’s wars with the German Protestants. Martín de Riquer believes that Cervantes intended to cite the poem
Carlo famoso
(1566) by Luis Zapata.

2. The enchanter Frestón is the alleged author of
Don Belianís of Greece,
a chivalric novel.

3. A Latinate word for “island” that appeared frequently in novels of chivalry; Cervantes uses it throughout for comic effect.

1. A monstrous giant in Greek mythology who had fifty heads and a hundred arms.

2. An entrance to the mountains of the Sierra Morena, between La Mancha and Andalucía.

3. A historical figure of the thirteenth century.

4. Agrajes, a character in
Amadís of Gaul,
would say these words before doing battle; it became a proverbial expression used at the beginning of a fight.

5. The “second author” is Cervantes (that is, the narrator), who claims, in the following chapter, to have arranged for the translation of another (fictional) author’s book. This device was common in novels of chivalry.

6. Cervantes originally divided the 1605 novel (commonly called the “first part” of
Don Quixote
) into four parts. The break in the narrative action between parts was typical of novels of chivalry.

1. These lines, probably taken from a ballad, appeared in Alvar Gómez’s Spanish translation of Petrarch’s
Trionfi,
although nothing comparable is in the Italian original.

2. A commonplace in chivalric fiction was that the knight’s adventures (Platir’s, for example) had been recorded by a wise man and then translated, the translation being the novel.

3. Published in 1586 and 1587, respectively.

4. A Moor who had been converted to Christianity.

5. An allusion to Hebrew, spoken by the Jews who were merchants in the Alcaná.

6.
Cide
is the equivalent of
señor; Hamete
is the Arabic name
Hamid; Benengeli (berenjena
in Spanish) means “eggplant,” a favorite food of Spanish Moors and Jews. In chapter II of the second volume (1615), the “first author” is, in fact, referred to as Cide Hamete Berenjena.

7. Two
arrobas
is approximately fifty pounds; two
fanegas
is a little more than three bushels.

8.
Zancas
means “shanks”;
panza,
as indicated earlier, means “belly” or “paunch.”

1. Cervantes apparently divided this portion of the text into chapters after he had written it, and he did so in haste: the adventure with the Basque is concluded, and the Galicians do not appear for another five chapters.

2. The
Santa Hermandad,
or Holy Brotherhood, was an armed force that policed the countryside and the roads.

3. Sancho confuses
homicidios
(“homicides”) and
omecillos
(“grudges”).

4. Lint was used in much the same way that absorbent cotton is used in modern medicine.

6. An
azumbre
was the equivalent of a little more than two liters.

7. Loosely based on an episode in Ariosto’s
Orlando furioso,
in which Reinaldos de Montalbán takes the enchanted helmet of the Moorish king Mambrino from Dardinel (not Sacripante) and kills him in the process.

8. A reference to an episode in Boiardo’s
Orlando innamorato,
in which Agricane’s army, consisting of “twenty-two hundred thousand knights,” laid siege to Albracca.

9. This name appears in a novel of chivalry,
Clamades y Clarmonda
(1562); in later editions of
Don Quixote
it was changed to “Sobradisa,” a kingdom mentioned in
Amadís of Gaul.

1. Don Quixote’s soliloquy incorporates all the elements traditionally associated with the classical idea of the Golden Age.

2. A precursor of the violin, mentioned frequently in pastoral novels.

1. The lines are from
Orlando furioso.
“Roland” is the English (and French) for “Orlando.” The Spanish version of the name is “Roldán.”

2. Virgil requested that the
Aeneid
be burned at his death.

1. According to a medieval legend, the wounds of a murder victim would bleed in the presence of the killer.

1. There is a Yanguas in the modern province of Soria and another in the province of Segovia; in the first edition, however, Cervantes calls the drovers “Galicians.” For the sake of clarity, I have called them “Yanguesans,” which is how they are referred to in part II.

2. Sancho misremembers the name (Fierabrás) associated with the healing potion.

3. The humor here stems from wordplay based on
costas
(“costs”) and
costillas
(“ribs”).

4. The “merry god” is Bacchus.

5. Cervantes erroneously describes the city entered by Silenus as having one hundred gates, which refers to Egyptian Thebes; Silenus rode into Thebes in Boeotia, which had seven gates.

1. A span is approximately eight inches.

2. Sancho is mistaken (or lying): he and Don Quixote have been traveling for three days.

3. According to Martín de Riquer, muledrivers were usually Moriscos, and Cervantes is suggesting a connection between this character and Cide Hamete Benengeli.

4. A book of chivalry based on an earlier French poem and published in Spanish in 1513.

1. The phrase recalls the opening of a traditional ballad about El Cid.

2. A coin of little value, worth about one-sixth of a
maravedí.

3. Tossing a dog in a blanket was a Carnival diversion.

4. An ancient Spanish coin of very little value.

1. The reference is to Amadís of Greece, the great-grandson of Amadís of Gaul.

2. The Greek and Roman name for Sri Lanka. The names of the warriors in this section are parodies of the kinds of grandiloquent names typical of novels of chivalry (
Alifanfarón
is roughly equivalent to “Alibombast,”
Pentapolín
to “Pentaroller”). The listing of combatants appears to be a brief detour by Cervantes into the world of the epic poem.

3. The names in this section suggest ludicrous associations:
Laurcalco,
“Laurelfacsimile”;
Micocolembo,
“Monkeywedge”;
Brandabarbarán de Boliche,
“Brandabarbarian of Ninepins”;
Timonel de Carcajona,
“Helmsman of Guffawjona”;
Nueva Vizcaya,
“New Basqueland”;
Miulina,
“Mewlina”;
Alfeñiquén del Algarbe,
“Mollycoddle of Babble”;
Pierres Papín,
“Pierres Bonbon”;
Espartafilardo del Bosque,
“Esparragrass of the Forest.”

4. In heraldry, these are blue and white cups, or bells, that fit together perfectly.

5. The legend,
Rastrea mi Suerte,
is ambiguous and can be interpreted in several ways, including “Look into my fate,” “Delve into my fate,” “My fate creeps along,” and “Follow [the trail of] my fate.”

7. The Spanish word
peladilla
can mean either “pebble” or “sugared almond.” In the next sentence, Cervantes confirms the wordplay by using
almendra,
directly equivalent to “almond.”

8. Andrés Laguna, an eminent sixteenth-century physician, translated and commented on the medical treatise by Dioscorides, a Greek physician of the first century
C.E
.

1. Sancho does not remember the name “Mambrino” and confuses it with
malandrín
(“scoundrel” or “rascal”).

2. The reference is to soldiers who wore shirts of a specific color over their armor during night battles so they would not be mistaken for the enemy.

3. All of these are fictional except for the Knight of the Griffon, a count who lived during the reign of Philip II.

4. This is part of a phrase established by the Council of Trent for excommunicating those who committed violence against a member of the clergy.

5. The incident is narrated in several ballads about El Cid (Rodrigo de Vivar, also called Ruy Díaz).

1. The Horn is the constellation of Ursa Minor; Sancho refers to a method of telling the time by the stars in which the person would extend his arms in the shape of a cross and calculate the hour by determining the position of the Horn in relationship to his arms.

2. Sancho is alluding to Cato the Censor, or
Cato Censorino,
who was popularly considered to be a source of proverbs and sayings; in the process, he mispronounces his title, calling him
zonzorino,
which suggests “simpleminded.”

4. For the next few sentences, Don Quixote uses a more formal mode of address with Sancho (a change that cannot be rendered in modern English) to indicate extreme displeasure and his desire for distance between them.

5. Latin for “in the Turkish manner.”

6. This is the second half of a proverb: “It doesn’t matter if the pitcher hits the stone or the stone hits the pitcher: it will be bad for the pitcher.”

1. An enchanted helmet worn by Reinaldos de Montalbán.

2. Sancho is citing part of a proverb—“May it please God that this is oregano and not caraway”—which warns against fool’s gold (oregano was considered more valuable than caraway).

3. Castor, a strong-smelling secretion of the beaver’s sexual glands, was used in making perfume.

4. Vulcan made armor for Mars, but not a helmet.

5. Sancho means “Mambrino.”

6. An idiom, used earlier, that means to flee an unexpected danger.

8. It should be noted that Don Quixote’s tale is a perfect plot summary of a novel of chivalry.

9. Under certain circumstances, it was a privilege of the gentry to collect five hundred
sueldos
as recompense for damages or injuries.

1. The speech of the galley slaves is peppered with underworld slang. Here, for example, the convict says that his sentence was a hundred lashes plus a term of three years in the galleys.

2. The allusion is to the public flogging and humiliation of convicted criminals.

3. There is a certain intentional confusion or ambiguity regarding “go-between” in the ensuing dialogue, where it alternately implies “matchmaker” and “procurer.”

4. A kind of metal collar placed under the chin, which prevented a prisoner from lowering his head.

5. Cervantes is alluding to the picaresque novel in Ginés’s discussion of his book, just as he suggests the pastoral in the story of Marcela. These genres, along with novels of chivalry, were the most popular forms of prose fiction in Spain during the sixteenth century.