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Towards the end of the sixteenth century, Spain produced an epic poem, celebrated for the singularity of the subject, as well as for some peculiar beauties, but more so for the character of the author.

Don Alonso de Ercilla y Zuñiga, knight of the order of Santiago, and one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to the emperor Rodolf II. was born in Biscay about the year 1540. He was brought up from his youth in the palace, and in the service of the emperor Charles V. he was afterwards page to king Philip II. and accompanied that prince in his travels through the Netherlands and Germany. 4

Don Alonso fought in the battle of St Quintin, and afterwards, “impelled by an insatiable avidity of acquiring true knowledge, that is to say, to know men and to see the world,” travelled through Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and England. When he was in London, he heard that several provinces of Peru, and of Chili, had taken arms against the Spaniards, their conquerors (this attempt of the Americans to recover their liberty, is treated as rebellion by the Spanish authors); the passion he had for glory, and the desire of seeing and undertaking extraordinary things, made him return to Spain, and embark for those parts of the new world. He landed in Chili with a few troops, and remained there during the whole time of the war.

On the southern frontiers of Chili is a little mountainous country, called Araucana, inhabited by a more ferocious and robust race of men than is found in any other part of America. They fought in defence of their liberty longer, and with more courage than the rest of the Americans, and they were the last that were subdued by the Spaniards. Don Alonso was exposed to many dangers during the prosecution of the war; he saw, and performed many surprising actions, of which the only reward was the honour of conquering rocks, and of reducing a few barren lands under the obedience of the king of Spain.

Don Alonso during the war conceived the design of immortalizing his enemies, by immortalizing himself: he was at the same time the conqueror and the poet, writing at night the actions of the day, 5 and was frequently obliged to lay down his pen and take up his sword; he fought in seven pitched battles, and returned to Spain with the first part of his Araucana finished, when he had not yet attained to the age of twenty-nine years. In 1577, he published the above-mentioned first part; and, in 1590, the entire poem. He was then about forty-three years old; after which there is no mention made of him in history, either regarding his station, his works, or the time and place of his death.

His poem is divided into three parts, containing 37 cantos, and the total number of stanzas is 2603, which is more than double the number of those of the Lusiad.

A continuation of the Araucana, by Don Diego de Santistevan: Osorio, is usually bound with the original poem, in the Spanish editions. This continuation is comprised in 20 cantos, or about 2300 stanzas.

The poem is called Araucana from the country where the events happened which are commemorated in it. 6 It begins with a geographical description of Chili, and with an account of the manners and customs of the inhabitants. Such a beginning, which would be insupportable in any other poem, is necessary here, where the scene is laid beyond the other tropic, and where the heroes are savages, who would always have remained unknown to us, if they had not been conquered, and thus celebrated. The subject which is novel, gave rise to singular thoughts. I shall give the reader one example, as a spark of the noble fire which sometimes animated our author.

“The Araucanians, says he, were greatly astonished when they saw creatures like men, carrying fire in their hands, and mounted upon monsters, which fought under them; they at first thought them to be gods descended from heaven, armed with thunder, and followed by destruction, which made them submit, however reluctantly. But after a time, becoming familiarised with their conquerors, they discovered their passions and their vices, and judged that they were men. Ashamed then of having crouched under mortals similar to themselves, they swore they would wash their error in the blood of those who were the cause of it, and to execute an exemplary, terrible, and memorable vengeance on them †.” 7

Voltaire has very justly made a comparison between Don Alonso and Homer, in regard to a particular passage in the works of each of those poets; and, in order to do justice to the Spaniard, I shall give an extract of the whole passage, together with Voltaire’s judgment on it.

Part of the second canto contains a subject which much resembles the beginning of the Iliad, but by being treated in a different manner, deserves to be placed under the eye of the impartial reader. The first action of the Araucana is a quarrel which arises among the barbarian chiefs, as that between Achilles and Agamemnon in Homer. The dispute is not about a captive, but about the command of the army. Each of the savage generals vaunts his merit and his exploits, and the dispute grows so warm, that they are ready to come to blows. Then one of the Caciques (named Colocolo) as old as Nestor, but less prejudiced in his own favour than the Grecian hero, makes the following harangue.

“Caciques, illustrious defenders of our country, it is not the ambitious desire of commanding which engages me to speak to you. I do not complain that you should so warmly dispute an honour which would be perhaps due to my age, and which would adorn my decline. It is my tenderness for you, it is the love that I owe to my country, which sollicits me to demand your attention to my feeble voice. Alas! how can we have an opinion of ourselves good enough to pretend to any grandeur, and to be ambitious of pompous titles; we who have been the unhappy subjects, and the slaves of the Spaniards. Your anger, O Caciques, your fury, should they not be rather exercised against our tyrants? Why do you turn against yourselves those arms which might exterminate our enemies, and revenge our country? Ah! if you will perish, seek a death which will obtain glory. With one hand break the shameful yoke, and with the other attack the Spaniards, and do not spill in a sterile quarrel the precious remains of that blood which the gods have left you to revenge yourselves.

“I applaud, I own, the haughty emulation of your courage: that same pride, which I condemn, augments the hopes which I conceive. But, let not your blind valour combat against itself, and let it not, itself, destroy the country it ought to defend. If you are resolved not to cease your quarrels, plunge your blades into my frozen blood. I have lived too long: happy he who dies without seeing his country-men unhappy, and unhappy by their own fault! Listen then to what I venture to propose to you: your valour, O Caciques, is equal; you are all equally illustrious by your birth, by your power, by your riches, by your exploits: your souls are equally worthy of commanding, equally capable of subjugating the universe. It is those celestial presents, which cause your quarrels. You want a chief, and each of you deserves to be it; thus, as there is no distinction between your courages, let strength of body decide what the equality of your virtues would never have decided, &c.” The old man then proposes an exercise worthy of a barbarian nation, to carry a large and heavy beam, and to grant the honour of command to him who bears the weight of it longest.

As the best method of perfecting our taste, is to compare together things of a similar nature, let us oppose the discourse of Nestor to that of Colocolo, and renouncing that adoration which our justly prejudiced senses pay to the great name of Homer, let us weigh the two harangues in the balance of equity and reason.

After Achilles, instructed and inspired by Minerva, the goddess of Wisdom, has called Agamemnon a drunkard and a dog; the sage Nestor rises to calm the irritated spirits of those two heroes, and speaks thus:

“What a satisfaction will the Trojans have when they hear of your discords? Your youth ought to respect my years, and submit itself to my counsels. I have formerly feen heroes superior to you. No, my eyes will never more behold men similar to the invincible Pirithous, to the brave Cineus, to the divine Theseus, &c. I went to the wars with them, and though I was young, yet my persuasive eloquence had power over their minds. They listened to Nestor: hearken then, young warriors, to the advice which my age gives you. Atrides, you must not retain the slave of Achilles; son of Thetis you must not treat the chief of the army haughtily. Achilles is the greatest, the most courageous of warriors; Agamemnon is the greatest of kings, &c.”

His speech was infructuous; Agamemnon praised his eloquence, and despised his advice.

Let us consider on one side the art with which the barbarian Colocolo insinuates himself into the minds of the Caciques, the respectable sweetness with which he calms their animosity, the majestic tenderness of his words, how much the love of his country animates him; how much the sentiments of true glory penetrate his heart; with what prudence he praises their courage, while he represses their fury; with what skill he gives the superiority to no one: he is at once a dexterous censor and panegyrist, so that all submit to his reasonings, acknowledging the force of his eloquence, not by vain praises, but by speedy obedience. On the other side let us judge whether Nestor is wise in talking so much about his wisdom; whether to contemn the Grecian princes, and to place them below their ancestors, be a sure method of engaging their attention; whether the whole assembly with pleasure hears Nestor say, that Achilles is the most courageous of all the chiefs who are present. After having compared the presumptuous and unpolite babbling of Nestor with the modest and measured discourse of Colocolo the odious difference which he puts between the rank of Agamemnon and the merit of Achilles, with the equal portion of grandeur and courage artfully attributed to all the Caciques, let the reader pronounce; and if there be a general in the world, who willingly suffers his inferior to be preferred to him in point of courage; if there be an assembly, the members of which will patiently endure an orator to talk of them contemptuously, and brag of their ancestors at their expence, then Homer may be preferred to Alonso in this particular case.

It is true, that if Alonso in one only passage is superior to Homer, he is in almost all the rest of his poem inferior to the least of poets: one is surprised to see him fall so low after having taken such a high flight. There is, without doubt, much fire in his battles, but no invention, no plan, no variety in the descriptions, no unity in the design. His poem is more savage than the nations which are the subject of it. Towards the end of the work, the author, who is one of the principal heroes of the poem, performs a long and tedious march during the night, followed by a few soldiers, and, to pass the time, he disputes with them about Virgil, and principally on the episode of Dido. He takes this opportunity of entertaining his soldiers with an account of Dido’s death, as it is told by ancient historians; and, in order the better to give Virgil the lie, and restore the reputation of the queen of Carthage, he amuses himself with discoursing upon this subject during the greatest part of two cantos (32d and 33d).

There are no other works of Don Alonso extant besides the Araucana, except a small Elegy of four stanzas, which is published in the second volume of the Spanish Parnassus, together with a head of the author, engraven by Carmona.

The Araucana has never (to the best of my knowledge) been translated.

As a specimen of the author’s poetry, I shall insert the speech of Colocolo to the Caciques.

Colocolo, el cacique mas anciano,
A razonar así, tomó la mano.

“Caciques del Estado defensores,
Codicia de mandar no me convida
A pesarme de veros pretensores
De cosa, que a mi tanto era debida;
Porque según mi edad, ya veis, señores,
Que estoy al otro mundo de partida;
Mas el amor, que siempre os he mostrado,
A bien aconsejaros me ha incitado.

“Por que cargos honrosos pretendemos,
Y ser en opinión grande tenidos,
Pues que negar al mundo no podemos
Haber sido sujetos, y vencidos?
Y en esto averiguarnos no queremos,
Estando aun de Españoles oprimidos:
Mejor fuera esta furia egecutalla.
Contra el fiero enemigo en la batalla.

“Qué furor es el vuestro, o Araucanos
Que a perdicion os lleva sin sentillo?
Contra vuestras entrañas teneis manos.
Y no contra el tirano en resistillo?
Teniendo tan a golpe a los Christianos,
Volveis contra vosotros el cuchillo?
Si gana de morir os ha movido,
No sea en tan bajo estado, y abatido.

“Volved las armas, y animo furioso
A los pechos de aquellos que os han puesto
En dura sujecion con afrentoso
Partido, a todo el mundo manifiesto:
Lanzad de vos el yugo vergonzoso:
Mostrad vuestro valor y fuerza en esto:
No derrameis la sangre del Estado,
Que para redimir nos ha quedado.

“No me pesa de ver la lozanía
De vuestro corazon, antes me esfuerza;
Mas temo que esta vuestra valentía
Por mal gobierno, el buen camino tuerza:
Que vuelta entre nosotros la porfía,
Degollais vuestra patria con su fuerza:
Cortad, pues, si ha de ser de esta manera,
Esta vieja garganta, la primera.

“Que esta flaca persona, atormentada
De golpes de fortuna, no procura
Sino el agudo filo de una espada,
Pues no la acaba tanta desventura:
Aquella vida es bien afortunada,
Que la temprana muerte la asegura;
Pero a nuestro bien público atendiendo,
Quiero decir en esto lo que entiendo.

“Pares sois en valor y fortaleza:
El cielo os igualó en el nacimiento:
De linage, de estado, y de riqueza
Hizo a todos igual repartimiento;
Y en singular por ánimo y grandeza
Podeis tener del mundo el regimiento:
Que este gracioso don no agradecido,
Nos ha al presente término traido.

“En la virtud de vuestro brazo espero,
Que puede en breve tiempo remediarse;
Mas hà de haber un capitan primero,
Que todos por él quieran gobernarse:
Este será quien mas un gran madero
Sustentarse en el hombro sin pararse;
Y pues que sois iguales en la suerte,
Procure cada qual de ser mas fuerte."

Ningun hombre dejó de estar atento,
Oyendo del anciano las razones;
Y puesto ya silencio al parlamento,
Hubo entre ellos diversas opiniones:
Al fin, de general consentimiento,
Siguiendo las mejores intenciones,
Por todos los Caciques acordado
Lo propuesto del viejo fue aceptado.

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