King Escariano's Reply to Tirant

[edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com]

Poster: edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com

[When Tirant asked how such a noble king could embrace
tyranny (in attacking the Kingdom of Tlemcen), the king
replied that Tirant was lucky he had diplomatic immunity.
He then explained that the King of Tlemcen had reneged on
his promise of the hand of Princess Emeraldine.
He then elaborated in words of this tenor:]

"I have read of many brave and ancient women like the
Amazon Queen Hippolyte, to whom King Eurysteus sent
Hercules, knowing all the while she was too valient to conquer.
Likewise one reads of the Assyrian Queen Semiramis, who not
only reigned but subdued the Medes and founded Babylon.  One
day when she was combing her hair in her chamber, they told
her the Baabylonians had risen in rebellion.  She combed one half,
left the rest, and took up arms against the city, which she won
back in less time than it would have taken to finish her hair.  A
copper statue of this queen was placed above Babylon, with half
her hair combed and the other half uncombed.

"One also reads of the Scythian Queen Tomyris, whose
courage was just as great and who, to avenge her sons, killed
King Cyrus of Asia after defeating his army of two hundred
thousand Persians.  Then she had his head cut off and soaked in a
wineskin full of blood, which she declared a fit tomb for such a
bloodthirsty man, and what shall I say of stalwart Zenobia,
Queen of the Orient?  Though her story is too long to tell, her
deeds are so worthy of glorious memory that when Cornelius
bested her, he was as proud as if he had vanquished the
mightiest prince alive.  Neither am I unaware of the Amazon
Queen Penthesilea's amazing feats in the battle of Troy or of
stalwart Camilla's ardent deeds in Italy.  Who can deny the arts
Minerva taught us, or how she surpassed all Greeks in wisdom
and ingenuity?  Who can describe King Mithradates of Pontus's
devoted wife?  Not only did she follow her husband in his long
war with Rome, but even in defeat she followed him armed and
on horseback, laying aside her womanly garb and delicate nature.

"What of Cato's daughter Portia?  When she heard of her
husband's death and could find no sword to slay herself, she
swallowed burning coal's, nor was Julius Caesar's daughter Julia
less brave.  Seeing her husband Pompey's bloody clothes and
finding  him nowhere at home, she chose to kill herself and her
unborn child.  Even more heartfelt and memorable was Queen
Artemisia's love for her husband Mausolus, whose ashes she had
pulverized after his solemn last rites and then drank the powder,
saying she wished to be his tomb, and what of Emilia, Scipio
Africanus's wife?  When her husband committed adultery with a
slave girl, she shielded him from disgrace, and as soon as he was
dead she freed his former mistress.  You will recall that after the
knight Mirilla killed a man in Saint John Lateran and was
condemned to death by starvation, his wife visited him every
day in prison, and though the guards searched her carefully, she
gave him her breast to suck, thus keeping him alive without his
captors' knowledge.  Once her good deed was discovered, they
commuted her husband's sentence, and all the aforesaid ladies
were braver than any man who ever lived.  They deserve still
more glorious fame, since through diligence they overcame their
weaknesses, yet I recall their deeds to show how my
beloved outshines them all.  For her this war began and for her it
must end; this is my answer."

* The translator's footnote reveals that this discourse is taken
  from some earlier source, but I don't have the book on hand.

* I read of many brave and ancient women (from the bulletin board
  at work (during Women's History Month)) and I don't recall any
  of these ladies.  Do you?

* Isn't Mausolos famous for having a rather more permanent tomb?

* There is no record in TlB of the Princess of Tlemcen doing much
  of anything to outshine all these famous women.  Is Escariano
  throwing piropos?

* Qui e's el cavaller encobert que figura -que hauria de figurar-
  al colofo' del llibre?

* I have finished rereading TlB, and this the last excerpt I will
  post from it.  There is a rousing speech Tirant makes before setting
  sail back to Constantinople.  Would someone else care to post it?

* Does anyone feel like sharing from another book altogether?

-- Alfredo
 
Alfredo el Bufon
Elvegast, Windmaster's Hill, Atlantia
edh@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com
______________________________________
D'eau: a goute, a silver goute.      D'or: a drop of golden sun.
D'huile: a name for olive goutes.    Poix: a pitch-drop on the run.
Sangue: a needle-prick that's bled.  L'armes: the tears of blue that flow.
Vin: a drink with thou and bread.    That will bring us back to d'eau.

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