PART I - CHAPTER XXXVIII.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　WHICH TREATS OF THE CURIOUS DISCOURSE DON QUIXOTE DELIVERED ON ARMS ANDLETTERSContinuing his discourse Don Quixote said: "As we began in the student'scase with poverty and its accompaniments, let us see now if the soldieris richer, and we shall find that in poverty itself there is no onepoorer; for he is dependent on his miserable pay, which comes late ornever, or else on what he can plunder, seriously imperilling his life andconscience; and sometimes his nakedness will be so great that a slasheddoublet serves him for uniform and shirt, and in the depth of winter hehas to defend himself against the inclemency of the weather in the openfield with nothing better than the breath of his mouth, which I need notsay, coming from an empty place, must come out cold, contrary to the lawsof nature. To be sure he looks forward to the approach of night to makeup for all these discomforts on the bed that awaits him, which, unless bysome fault of his, never sins by being over narrow, for he can easilymeasure out on the ground as he likes, and roll himself about in it tohis heart's content without any fear of the sheets slipping away fromhim. Then, after all this, suppose the day and hour for taking his degreein his calling to have come; suppose the day of battle to have arrived,when they invest him with the doctor's cap made of lint, to mend somebullet-hole, perhaps, that has gone through his temples, or left him witha crippled arm or leg. Or if this does not happen, and merciful Heavenwatches over him and keeps him safe and sound, it may be he will be inthe same poverty he was in before, and he must go through moreengagements and more battles, and come victorious out of all before hebetters himself; but miracles of that sort are seldom seen. For tell me,sirs, if you have ever reflected upon it, by how much do those who havegained by war fall short of the number of those who have perished in it?No doubt you will reply that there can be no comparison, that the deadcannot be numbered, while the living who have been rewarded may be summedup with three figures. All which is the reverse in the case of men ofletters; for by skirts, to say nothing of sleeves, they all find means ofsupport; so that though the soldier has more to endure, his reward ismuch less. But against all this it may be urged that it is easier toreward two thousand soldiers, for the former may be remunerated by givingthem places, which must perforce be conferred upon men of their calling,while the latter can only be recompensed out of the very property of themaster they serve; but this impossibility only strengthens my argument."Putting this, however, aside, for it is a puzzling question for which itis difficult to find a solution, let us return to the superiority of armsover letters, a matter still undecided, so many are the arguments putforward on each side; for besides those I have mentioned, letters saythat without them arms cannot maintain themselves, for war, too, has itslaws and is governed by them, and laws belong to the domain of lettersand men of letters. To this arms make answer that without them lawscannot be maintained, for by arms states are defended, kingdomspreserved, cities protected, roads made safe, seas cleared of pirates;and, in short, if it were not for them, states, kingdoms, monarchies,cities, ways by sea and land would be exposed to the violence andconfusion which war brings with it, so long as it lasts and is free tomake use of its privileges and powers. And then it is plain that whatevercosts most is valued and deserves to be valued most. To attain toeminence in letters costs a man time, watching, hunger, nakedness,headaches, indigestions, and other things of the sort, some of which Ihave already referred to. But for a man to come in the ordinary course ofthings to be a good soldier costs him all the student suffers, and in anincomparably higher degree, for at every step he runs the risk of losinghis life. For what dread of want or poverty that can reach or harass thestudent can compare with what the soldier feels, who finds himselfbeleaguered in some stronghold mounting guard in some ravelin orcavalier, knows that the enemy is pushing a mine towards the post wherehe is stationed, and cannot under any circumstances retire or fly fromthe imminent danger that threatens him? All he can do is to inform hiscaptain of what is going on so that he may try to remedy it by acounter-mine, and then stand his ground in fear and expectation of themoment when he will fly up to the clouds without wings and descend intothe deep against his will. And if this seems a trifling risk, let us seewhether it is equalled or surpassed by the encounter of two galleys stemto stem, in the midst of the open sea, locked and entangled one with theother, when the soldier has no more standing room than two feet of theplank of the spur; and yet, though he sees before him threatening him asmany ministers of death as there are cannon of the foe pointed at him,not a lance length from his body, and sees too that with the firstheedless step he will go down to visit the profundities of Neptune'sbosom, still with dauntless heart, urged on by honour that nerves him, hemakes himself a target for all that musketry, and struggles to cross thatnarrow path to the enemy's ship. And what is still more marvellous, nosooner has one gone down into the depths he will never rise from till theend of the world, than another takes his place; and if he too falls intothe sea that waits for him like an enemy, another and another willsucceed him without a moment's pause between their deaths: courage anddaring the greatest that all the chances of war can show. Happy the blestages that knew not the dread fury of those devilish engines of artillery,whose inventor I am persuaded is in hell receiving the reward of hisdiabolical invention, by which he made it easy for a base and cowardlyarm to take the life of a gallant gentleman; and that, when he knows nothow or whence, in the height of the ardour and enthusiasm that fire andanimate brave hearts, there should come some random bullet, dischargedperhaps by one who fled in terror at the flash when he fired off hisaccursed machine, which in an instant puts an end to the projects andcuts off the life of one who deserved to live for ages to come. And thuswhen I reflect on this, I am almost tempted to say that in my heart Irepent of having adopted this profession of knight-errant in sodetestable an age as we live in now; for though no peril can make mefear, still it gives me some uneasiness to think that powder and lead mayrob me of the opportunity of making myself famous and renowned throughoutthe known earth by the might of my arm and the edge of my sword. ButHeaven's will be done; if I succeed in my attempt I shall be all the morehonoured, as I have faced greater dangers than the knights-errant of yoreexposed themselves to."All this lengthy discourse Don Quixote delivered while the others supped,forgetting to raise a morsel to his lips, though Sancho more than oncetold him to eat his supper, as he would have time enough afterwards tosay all he wanted. It excited fresh pity in those who had heard him tosee a man of apparently sound sense, and with rational views on everysubject he discussed, so hopelessly wanting in all, when his wretchedunlucky chivalry was in question. The curate told him he was quite rightin all he had said in favour of arms, and that he himself, though a manof letters and a graduate, was of the same opinion.They finished their supper, the cloth was removed, and while the hostess,her daughter, and Maritornes were getting Don Quixote of La Mancha'sgarret ready, in which it was arranged that the women were to bequartered by themselves for the night, Don Fernando begged the captive totell them the story of his life, for it could not fail to be strange andinteresting, to judge by the hints he had let fall on his arrival incompany with Zoraida. To this the captive replied that he would verywillingly yield to his request, only he feared his tale would not givethem as much pleasure as he wished; nevertheless, not to be wanting incompliance, he would tell it. The curate and the others thanked him andadded their entreaties, and he finding himself so pressed said there wasno occasion ask, where a command had such weight, and added, "If yourworships will give me your attention you will hear a true story which,perhaps, fictitious ones constructed with ingenious and studied artcannot come up to." These words made them settle themselves in theirplaces and preserve a deep silence, and he seeing them waiting on hiswords in mute expectation, began thus in a pleasant quiet voice.