Galatea

by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Am I perchance so lowly in estate
That I may not behold thy eyes so fair,
Or poor or niggard? Have I proved ingrate
Or false since I beheld their beauty rare?
I am in naught changed from my former state,
Does not my soul hang ever from thy hair?
Then wherefore dost thou go so far from me?
Harder than marble to my agony!

Let thy o'erweening pride a warning take,
When it beholds my will, once free, subdued,
My ancient daring, see, I now forsake,
To loving purpose changed my former mood;
Behold, the forest life, that doth not make
A care of aught, 'gainst Love is nowise good,
Now stay thy steps, why wearied should they be?
Harder than marble to my agony!

Once I was as thou art, now I behold
That I can ne'er be what I was before,
The force of my desire doth wax so bold,
So great my love, I love myself no more;
Love can me now within his prison hold;
This is thy palm, thy trophy in the war,
Victorious o'er me, dost complain of me?
Harder than marble to my agony!

While the hapless shepherd was intoning his piteous plaints, the other shepherds were reproving Galercio for his evil design, condemning the wicked purpose he had displayed. But the despairing youth replied to nothing, whereat Maurisa was not a little distressed, believing that, if left alone, he must carry out his evil thought. In the meantime Galatea and Florisa, going aside with Teolinda, asked her what was the cause of her return, and if by chance she had already heard of her Artidoro. To which she replied weeping:

'I know not what to say to you, friends and ladies mine, save that Heaven wished that I should find Artidoro, to lose him utterly; for you must know that that same unconsiderate and traitorous sister of mine, who was the beginning of my misfortune, has been the cause of the end and termination of my happiness. For learning, as we came with Galercio and Maurisa to their village, that Artidoro was on a mountain not far from there with his flock, she went away to look for him without telling me anything. She found him, and, pretending that she was I (since for this wrong alone Heaven ordained that we should be alike), with little difficulty gave him to understand that the shepherdess who had disdained him in our village was a sister of hers, who was exceedingly like her; in a word, she recounted to him, as though they were hers, all the actions I have done for his sake, and the extremes of grief I have suffered. And as the heart of the shepherd was so tender and loving, with far less than the traitress told him would she have been believed by him, as indeed he did believe her, so much to my hurt, that without waiting for fortune to mingle any new obstacle with his pleasure, straightway at the very moment he gave his hand to Leonarda, to be her lawful husband, believing he was giving it to Teolinda. Here you see, shepherdesses, where the fruit of my tears and sighs has ended; here you see all my hope already torn up by the root; and what I feel most is that it has been by the hand that was most bound to sustain it. Leonarda enjoys Artidoro by means of the false deception I have told you, and although he already knows it, though he must have perceived the trick, he has kept it to himself like a wise man. The tidings of his marriage came straightway to the village, and with them those of the end of my happiness; the stratagem of my sister was also known, who gave as excuse that she saw Galercio, whom she loved so much, going to ruin through the shepherdess Gelasia, and that therefore it seemed to her easier to bring to her will the loving will of Artidoro than Galercio's despairing one, and that since the two were but one as regards outward appearance and nobility, she counted herself happy and fortunate, indeed, with Artidoro's companionship. With this the enemy of my bliss excuses herself, as I have said; and so I, not to see her enjoy that which was rightly due to me, left the village and Artidoro's presence, and accompanied by the saddest fancies that can be fancied, came to give you the news of my misery in the company of Maurisa, who likewise comes with the intention of telling you what Grisaldo has done since he learnt Rosaura's abduction. And this morning at sunrise we fell in with Galercio, who with tender and loving words was urging Gelasia to love him well; but she with the strongest disdain and scorn that can be told, bade him leave her presence, nor dare ever to speak to her. And the hapless shepherd, crushed by so harsh a bidding, and by cruelty so strange, wished to fulfil it, doing what you have seen. All this is what has happened to me, my friends, since I went from your presence. Think now whether I have more to weep for than before, and whether the cause has grown for you to busy yourselves in consoling me, if perchance my woe might admit of consolation.'

Teolinda said no more, for the countless tears that came to her eyes, and the sighs she wrung from her soul, hindered her tongue in its office; and though the tongues of Galatea and Florisa wished to show themselves skilful and eloquent in consoling her, their toil was of little avail. And while this converse was passing between the shepherdesses, the paper which Thyrsis had taken from Galercio's bosom became dry, and being anxious to read it he took it and saw that it ran thus:

GALERCIO TO GELASIA.

Angel in the guise of maid,
Fury with a lady's face,
Cold, and yet a glowing blaze,
Wherein my soul is assayed;
Hearken to the bitter wrong,
By thy lack of passion wrought,
Which hath from my soul been brought
And set these sad lines among.

I write, not to move thine heart,
Since against thy breast of mail
Prayers nor cleverness avail,
Loyal service hath no part;
But that thou the wrong mayst see
Which thou dost inflict, I write,
And how ill thou dost requite
All the worth there is in thee.

Just it is that liberty
Thou shouldst praise, and thou art right,
Yet, behold, 'tis held upright
Only by thy cruelty;
Just it is not to ordain
That thou wouldst be free from strife,
And yet thine unfettered life
On so many deaths sustain.