The Siege of Numantia, a play by Cervantes

I can hear you asking “Cervantes? Miguel de Cervantes?”. Yep, that’s him, the author of Don Quixote. 

But first, context. The Siege of Numantia, if Wikipedia can be trusted, was written circa 1582—before Lope de Vega’s career, before the Spanish Armada, before the first play by Christopher Marlowe. This is important to keep in mind. 

1/ Scipio, the new Roman general, finds morale low among his troops so he scolds them: 

“SCIPIO From your fierce mien, and from your sprightly show, 

Comrades, that you are Romans, well I know—

Romans both strong and lusty for the fight—

But in your hands so delicate and white, 

And in that pink that’s on your face written, 

Why, anyone would you think you reared in Britain…”

(Act 1) 

Excuse me??? 

The year is 135 BC. This makes The Siege of Numantia very different from the Spanish Golden Age plays I’ve been reading. 

2/ There are good bits in the play. 

“SCIPIO […] I do not wish the wasted blood 

Of any other Romans to discolour 

This ground again. Enough blood has been shed 

By these cursed Spaniards, in this long, hard war, 

Now let us all exert our hands in breaking 

And digging this hard earth. Let friends be friends

Be covered with the dust they raise, no longer 

Covered with blood by enemies…”

(ibid.) 

This version is translated by South African poet Roy Campbell. 

Cervantes starts with the Roman point of view, then writes an exchange between the Roman general Scipio and a few Numantines, and then switches to the Numantine point of view. 

“FIRST PRIEST With a pure thought and spirit cleansed of sin 

Just as I plunge and stain my knife within 

This ram’s pure blood, so may Numantia stain 

Her hard earth with the blood of Romans slain, 

And prove a mighty grave to whelm them in! 

[…] 

SECOND PRIEST But who has reft the victim from my hands? 

Ye gods, what’s this? What monstrous prodigies 

Are these we see? Have our laments not touched 

Your hearts, though coming from a tribe afflicted 

And full of tears? Have our harped hymns not softened 

Your hearts? No! they have hardened them the more

To judge from all these signs of cruel wrath. 

The remedies of life are fatal to us: 

Neglect of prayer would profit us far more. 

Our good is alien, but our ills are native.” 

(Act 2) 

That’s good. I wish I could read it in the original. 

3/ As I wrote at the beginning of the blog post, The Siege of Numantia was written around 1582—before the advent of Lope de Vega—so in many ways, it is old-fashioned. For example, there is a character representing Spain, with one representing the River Duero and three boys representing Tributary Streams. There are also personifications of War, Pestilence, Hunger, and Fame, as in morality plays.  

My impression is that Lope de Vega has a better sense of structure, pacing, and tension than Cervantes—the latter’s medium is the novel—Cervantes writes too many long speeches that the characters sometimes seem to be talking at rather than talking to each other and it affects the pacing, and the transition from one thing to another is often messy. The play as a whole, I think, is a bit of a mess. There’s even a scene involving a Numantine magician (Marquino) and a corpse! 

But there are good moments in it. The exchange between Marandro and Leonicio about love, for instance. The scene where some Numantine soldiers want to “break through the hostile wall, and rush to die” and get stopped by their wives is also good. 

I like many images throughout the play, and the descriptions of war and famine and the burning. 

“SECOND NUMANTINE […] Already 

Up in the central square they’ve made a huge 

Blazing and hungry conflagration, which, 

Fed with our riches, soars to the fourth sphere. 

There with sad, fearful haste runs everyone, 

As with a sacred offering, to feast, 

The roaring flames with his own goods and chattels, 

Sustaining them with households and estates. 

[…] The roaring mad inferno of the flames—

And not with green wood or with dried-up straw 

Nor with such things as men consign to flames

But with the homes and properties and wealth 

They can no longer live with or enjoy.” 

(Act 3) 

Some characters’ speeches before they die are also moving. 

Overall, the play is okay.