Omniana/Volume 2/Tirante el Blanco

by Robert Southey

225. Tirante el Blanco.

What could possibly have induced Cervantes to speak of this book in terms which look like praise, or which could possibly be supposed to imply any thing like commendation? I persevered through the Italian translation, and the disgust which it excited was certainly rewarded by many curious passages; but considered as a whole, never did I meet with any work which implied so beastly a stale of feeling in the author.

It begins with a Count William of Varoich taking leave of his wife, under a pretense of going to the Holy Land, and turning hermit near his own home. So far it is the story of my old friend Guy. This hermit recovers England from the Moors, and then returns to his hermitage. Great feasts are made for his victories Tirante sees him as he is on the way to court upon this occasion, and visits him again on his return, when the history of his exploits there is related by his kinsman Deofebo. Tirante then goes to Rhodes, which the Genoese were about to betray to the Soldan, but he saves the island, and destroys the infidels. His next adventure is to make Ricomana, the Princess of Sicily, marry Filippo, a younger son of the King of France who is under his protection. This Filippo is half a fool, and the instances of his ill-breeding and want of all princely dignity, and of Tirante's address in concealing them, and interpreting them in a favourable manner, are not a little whimsical. This done, Tilante offers his services to the Emperor of Constantinople, falls in love with his daughter the Princess Carmesina, and lets her know it by means of a mirror in which he bids her look for the picture of his mistress. His wars with the Turks, and his amours, occupy the remainder of the first book, and a great part of the second. The damsel Piacer de mia vita is his great friend, and a certain Vedova riposata, who is amorous of him herself, his great enemy.

A storm drives him from Constantinople to Barbary, where he is made a slave, but gradually obtains such power, that at last he conquers and converts all the Kings in that country, and returns with them, as his allies, to relieve the Emperor. Then he defeats the Turks, reconquers all the places which they had taken, and makes a peace for an hundred years. Carmesina is given him in marriage, as the reward of these services; but as he is returning to complete the ceremonies, he is seized with a pleurisy, makes his will, and dies. The Emperor dies next. Carmesina dies a few hours afterwards of grief, and the Empress then marries Hippolito, a cousin of Tirante, with whom she had long carried on an adulterous intercourse.

The worst romance which I ever before met with is pure when compared with this. Its obscenity, however, is not so extraordinary as the grossness of manners which it represents, and which exceeds every thing I ever heard of elsewhere. I should like to see how much of it is imputable to the Italian^[1] translator. Nothing can be so strange as the mixture of these abominations with the grave theology of the book. In one place there is a discourse upon the Trinity, and in another there is a sermon! The personages write letters, make long speeches, and quote the fathers and the philosophers.

There is not a single adventure of chivalry throughout the whole book; in this it differs from all other romances of its age: but its total want of the spirit of chivalry is still more remarkable, and I am at a loss to conceive where or how the spirit in which it is written could have been learnt. This can only be understood from a few specimens. The hermit, Count William, having knighted his young son, stops in the midst of a battle, and gives him a Moor of unusual stature, whom he had taken prisoner, that the boy may try his hand at killing him. This proves a long piece of butchery for the urchin; when, however, he has at last accomplished it, the Count throws him upon the dead body, and rubs his face upon it, till his eyes and cheeks are covered with blood, and makes him dip his hands in the wounds, et cosi lo rincorò, incarnandolo nel sangue di quel Moro. An English knight, and a right brave one, having been overpowered by Tirante in a tournament, refuses to kneel down and beg his life, as the conqueror requires. "'God forbid, (he says) that I should ever do an act of such dishonour; . . do with me as you think fit; I would rather die bravely than live with shame.' When Tirante henrd this his evil resolution, he said, 'all knights who will follow arms, and perform the rules of arms for the sake of renown, ought to be cruel, and to have a scat in the midst of Hell;' and he took out his dagger, and placed the point of it upon one of the knight's eyes, holding it in one hand, and with the other hand be struck a great blow upon the head of the hilt of the dagger, so that he drove it through and through." The judges of the field were twelve in number, six of them had a book of the conquerors, and the other six had a book of the vanquished, and those who died without yielding were written down as martyrs of arms; but those who yielded and cried for mercy had their process made as bad knights, and were held in great dishonour and infamy. Tirante fights the Lord of Vill'Ermes, according to the terms of the combat, in his shirt, with a garland on his head, and a paper shield^[2]; the weapon is a Genoese knife, two palms in length, with a sharp point, and a double edge. The shirts were made a little longer than usual, but with sleeves which reached only to the elbow. But the most extraordinary single combat in which this hero engages is with a great dog. The dog attacks him, and runs away when Tirante alights and draws his sword to defend himself. "Seeing that thou art afraid of my arms, (said the knight,") I will not have it said of me that I have combated thee with that advantage;" so he throws away his sword, grapples with the dog, and gives him bite ror bite till he kills him. And then the King went out with the Judges, and they said unto Tirante, that because they had seen the combat between him and the dog, which had been fought with equal arms, inasmuch as he had thrown away his sword, they gave him the same meed and honour for that battle as if he had conquered a knight in the lists; and they give order to the Kings at Arms, Heralds, and Pursuivants, that the honour which had been awarded to Tirante that day, should be proclaimed in all the Courts, and through the city.

The morals of the book are such as might be expected to accompany such notions of chivalry. The only instance which can be adduced without coming under the cognizance of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, is a modest request of Tirante to the Princess Carmesina, that she would be pleased to give him the shift which she has on, as being the thing nearest her precious body, and that he may take it off with his own hands. Carmesina has the grace to exclaim, "Santa Maria, et che è quello che mi dite!" She gives him the shift, but has decency enough to retire and take it off herself" . . it is the only mark of decency which she ever discovers.

In a coronation procession at London, all the wives, widows, and maidens, walk; next all the religioners of both sexes, by special licence of the Pope; the rear is brought up by all the common strumpets and their bellies. The author has several odd things about England. The morning collation at the English court, he says, was green ginger, with good malmsey, which was their custom, because of the coldness of the land. He tells the story of the Institution of the Garter, and writes the motto, Puni soyt qui mal lu pense: and here is the story of a stag being taken with a collar round its neck, and an inscription thereon, saying that it was put there by Julius Cæsar. It was a gold collar, inserted under the skin of the animal, and the skin sewn over it. Its shape was wholly of esses, SSS, because in the whole A B C there is no letter of greater authority and perfection than the S; standing for Santità, Saviezza, Sapientia, Signoria, &c. . . and this is the origin of the collar of the Garter. He describes a radical reform of the English law. It begins by hanging six lawyers, upon which the King says to the Duke who hung them, "You could not have done me a greater service in the world, nor a greater pleasure than this thing;" and he makes a law, that from thenceforth there shall be only two lawyers in England, who shall decide every cause which is brought before them within fifteen days; they are to have a good salary, and be hanged and quartered if they take money from any person.

1. The King of France (T. 1, P. 139) is said to be superior in dignity to all other Kings in Christendom. From this and other passages of like import, I suspect that the translator, being a partizan of France, has interpolated the book with language which could not have proceeded from a Spaniard. He may therefore very probably have cantharidized it to the taste of the French court.
2. A combat as savage, and still more shocking in appearance is described in that most interesting work, the life of Scanderbeg, by Barletius. It is one of that extraordinary man's first exploits, and is thus related in the original latin. "Reverso Adrianopolim, quum folis sublatus esset hostis, domi non defuit; venerat numque ex Scythia quidam ferox magis et insanus, quam fortis beliator, qui familiam omnem Tyranni provocabat, si quis ferro secum vellet decernere. Genus vero certaminis id proposuerat ut in angusto loco nudi ambo relicti, singulis tantum gladiis fortunam experirentur. Ceperat tam stolidum consilium Barbarus, vel quod prodigus vitæ et sanguinis sui esset, vel ea fortasse inani spe, quod nullum tam ancipitem impendentis periculi sortem petiturum credebat, indeque et laudem eam se et præmia sine certamine laturum sperabat. Nam propesuerat non indigna quoque munera victori Amurathes, ut illorum saltem spe, excitaretur aliquis, quum nudæ tantum gloriæ fructus segnius alliciat homines. Omnes tamen tam funestum decus, præmiaque eodem tenore aspernabontur. Sed surgens, stupentibus singulis, plenus animi Epirensis; non incruentus, inquit, Scytha, hæc præmia laudemque domum feres, aut honoratior me occiso, et iis quoque spoliis onustior ibis. Agedum agitur, accipe tamdiu quæsitum hostem. Licet accommodatius feris bestris hoc cortaminus genus, spermi à fortibus viris, salvo pudore, et possit et debeal; veruntamen liceat semel et mihi hoc corpus contemnere, quippe quum par membrorum et sanguinis servandi ratio tibi esse debuerit; sed nihil vilius est homini quærenti laudem. Donabo proinde hoc et ipse cruoris hodie Amurathi, sociisque.
   "Scytha nihil territus, ferocioribus adhuc verbis injicere pavorem ei conabatur, puerum appellans: adhuc enim in annis pubertatis erat, neque dum hispida prorsus lanugo grata ora exusperaverat. Tum deducti ad Tyrannum ingenti clamore vulgi sunt, et assignatus, ut petie ad Barbarus, certamini locus, depositâ ocius ambo veste ultimisque tunicis, nudi prosilientes in medium, novo genere, spectaculi omnium oculos hausere. Et quamvis fiduciam ingentem vultu verbisque ostende et Castriotus, ingens tamen cura mixto dolore spectantium animos incessit: et simul ætas simul pulchrituda ipse corporis, ac decor membrorum subjectus oculis, multum et pietatis et favoris excitaverant. Statura celsa proceraque, brachia in homine pulchriora non visa, collum robustum obstippumque, ut laudatur in athletis, humerorum mira latitudo, color candidus, latente velut purpura suffusus; aspectus oculorum non torvus, non vanus, sed gratissimus. Adjuvabant hæc multum cæteras virtutes, atque animi bona augere videbantur. Intrepidi acceptis brevibus gladiis, non enim congiores loci angustia patiebatur, ingressi locum, ac ibi dimissi sunt maximo populi silentio. Non consilio ullo ibi, non multum animo, sed impigra quadam et veloci dextera agendum erat. Erecti ad ictus ambo, Scytha prior incubuit in hostem, et punctim intenso ferro ilia ejus petiit. Scanderbegus toto maxime carpore inflexus, ac velut in arcum deductus, et læva simul apprehendens barbari dexteram, ictum inhibuit, et adacto cæsim gladio, guttur illi cum singulis arteriis impigre abscidit. Balbutienti adhuc lingua, ille collapsus humi locum ferme totum corporis mole complevit. Sublatus repente ab his qui spectaculo aderant, et accurrentes regii juvenem illæsum invio atumque læti ad Amurathem perducunt. Caput cæsi hostis cruentis ipse manibus Tyranno alacer obtulit, Præmia invitus accepit, quum non argenti aurive causa, sed domestici decoris tuendi, et reprimendæ barburicæ arrogantiæ, susceptum sibi id oneris diceret.
   
   De Vita et Gestis Scanderbegi. Apud Chron. Turc. Francofurti, 1578, T. 3, P. 4.