Chap. XII.
TRANSLATION.
197
the request, "and as the last favour and service done to me, go from thence to Toboso;" the translations of Smollet and Motteux are, perhaps, nearly equal in point of solemnity, but the simplicity of the original is better preserved by Smollet[1].
Sancho, after endeavouring in vain to dissuade his master from engaging in
- ↑ Perhaps a parody was here intended of the famous epitaph of Simonides, on the brave Spartans who fell at Thermopylæ:
Ω ξειν, αγγειλον Λακεδαιμονιοις, οτι τηδε
Κειμεθα τοις κεινων ρημασι πειθομενοι."O stranger, carry back the news to Lacedemon, that we died here to prove our obedience to her laws." This, it will be observed, may be translated, or at least closely imitated, in the very words of Cervantes; diras—que su caballero murió por acometer cosas que le hiciesen digno de poder llamarse suyo.
this
