Translation:Aurora de Chile/28/Apologue.

by Anonymous

APOLOGO.[1]	APOLOGUE.[1]
ERROR , hijo mui caro de la noche sombria,	ERROR, very dear son of the shadowy night,
Furiosos è insensibles à los hombres hacia.	Made men furious and insensitive.
Respiraban los unos sangre y atrocidades ;	They breathed in the blood and atrocities;
Toleraban los otros insultos y maldades.	They tolerated the other insults and evil deeds;
Estos entre los riesgos mui tranquilos vivian,	Those among the risks lived very tranquil,
Y en su seno y sus lechos las vivoras[2] dormian.	And in their bosom and their beds the vipers slept.
Incautos ! El malvado dicen que se ocultaba	Incautious men! Evil says that it hid
Detras de un quadro[3] antiguo de uno que se llamaba	Behind an ancient painting of one who calls himself
Don Sebastian.[4] Apolo[5] decretò que el perverso	Don Sebastian.[4] Apollo[5] decreed that the perverse
Saliese de estampida del mísero universo.	Stampede out of the miserable universe.
Sus luces le dirige, mas ¡ quan[6] inutilmente !	His lights direct them, more, how useless!
Porque el error se oculta tras el biombo indecente.	Because error hides behind the obscene screen.
Apolo invoca entonces á Marte[7] generoso.	Apollo then calls on generous Mars[7].
Marte, que odia à los viles, se presenta glorioso,	Mars, who hates the vile, appears glorious,
Y de un golpe (oh ! que golpe !) echó aquel biombo	And in one blow (oh! what a blow!) he threw that screen
à tierra.	to the ground.
Asi auxilia á las luces el numen[8] de la guerra.	Like so the divine[8] helps the light of the war.

Notes

1. An apólogo, the word here translated as "apologue," is a moral allegory using fantastical and dramatic elements. See Wikipedia's "Apologue".
2. Corrected from Auroradechile.cl's transcription ("viveras").
3. "cuadro"
4. The precise reference here is unknown. The most famous Sebastián would have been the martyr, Saint Sebastian, who was to be executed by being riddled with arrows, and survived. The most relevant Don Sebastían may be Sebastián de Belalcázar, the early conquistador who conquered Quito and searched for El Dorado, before being executed for crimes during his later governorship. However, the most well-known painting of a Don Sebastián would probably have been Diego Velázquez's 1640s painting of the dwarf El bufón Don Sebastián de Morra (The Jester Don Sebastián de Morra), pictured here.
5. Apollo is the Roman (and Greek) god of light, the arts, and prophecy. In Latin, he was often known as "Phoebus," or "shining one," and Averruncus, or "averter of evil," both of which are invoked here.
6. "cuán"
7. Mars, the Roman god of war and mythical ancestor to the Romans by fathering Romulus, was one of the most revered Roman deities.
8. Numen, the word here translated as "the divine," is a Latin term for the supernatural force of a deity which may be present in any location or object.

Source

• Scan of original document: pg.2, pg. 3
• Spanish transcription from Auroradechile.cl