Noli me tángere. English

by José Rizal

  CHAPTER LIX

  Patriotism and Private Interests

  Secretly the telegraph transmitted the report to Manila, and thirty-sixhours later the newspapers commented on it with great mystery and nota few dark hints--augmented, corrected, or mutilated by the censor. Inthe meantime, private reports, emanating from the convents, were thefirst to gain secret currency from mouth to mouth, to the great terrorof those who heard them. The fact, distorted in a thousand ways,was believed with greater or less ease according to whether it wasflattering or worked contrary to the passions and ways of thinkingof each hearer.

  Without public tranquillity seeming disturbed, at least outwardly,yet the peace of mind of each home was whirled about like the water ina pond: while the surface appears smooth and clear, in the depths thesilent fishes swarm, dive about, and chase one another. For one partof the population crosses, decorations, epaulets, offices, prestige,power, importance, dignities began to whirl about like butterfliesin a golden atmosphere. For the other part a dark cloud arose on thehorizon, projecting from its gray depths, like black silhouettes,bars, chains, and even the fateful gibbet. In the air there seemed tobe heard investigations, condemnations, and the cries from the torturechamber; Marianas [145] and Bagumbayan presented themselves wrappedin a torn and bloody veil, fishers and fished confused. Fate picturedthe event to the imaginations of the Manilans like certain Chinesefans--one side painted black, the other gilded with bright-coloredbirds and flowers.

  In the convents the greatest excitement prevailed. Carriageswere harnessed, the Provincials exchanged visits and held secretconferences; they presented themselves in the palaces to offer theiraid to _the government in its perilous crisis_. Again there was talkof comets and omens.

  "_A Te Deum! A Te Deum!_" cried a friar in one convent. "This timelet no one be absent from the chorus! It's no small mercy from Godto make it clear just now, especially in these hopeless times, howmuch we are worth!"

  "The little general _Mal-Aguero_ [146] can gnaw his lips over thislesson," responded another.

  "What would have become of him if not for the religious corporations?"

  "And to celebrate the fiesta better, serve notice on the cook andthe refectioner. _Gaudeamus_ for three days!"

  "Amen!" "Viva Salvi!" "Amen!"

  In another convent they talked differently.

  "You see, now, that fellow is a pupil of the Jesuits. The filibusterscome from the Ateneo."

  "And the anti-friars."

  "I told you so. The Jesuits are ruining the country, they're corruptingthe youth, but they are tolerated because they trace a few scrawlson a piece of paper when there is an earthquake."

  "And God knows how they are made!"

  "Yes, but don't contradict them. When everything is shaking and movingabout, who draws diagrams? Nothing, Padre Secchi--" [147]

  And they smiled with sovereign disdain.

  "But what about the weather forecasts and the typhoons?" asked anotherironically. "Aren't they divine?"

  "Any fisherman foretells them!"

  "When he who governs is a fool--tell me how your head is and I'lltell you how your foot is! But you'll see if the friends favor oneanother. The newspapers very nearly ask a miter for Padre Salvi."

  "He's going to get it! He'll lick it right up!"

  "Do you think so?"

  "Why not! Nowadays they grant one for anything whatsoever. I knowof a fellow who got one for less. He wrote a cheap little workdemonstrating that the Indians are not capable of being anything butmechanics. Pshaw, old-fogyisms!"

  "That's right! So much favoritism injures Religion!" exclaimedanother. "If the miters only had eyes and could see what heads theywere upon--"

  "If the miters were natural objects," added another in a nasal tone,"_Natura abhorrer vacuum_."

  "That's why they grab for them, their emptiness attracts!" respondedanother.

  These and many more things were said in the convents, but we willspare our reader other comments of a political, metaphysical, orpiquant nature and conduct him to a private house. As we have fewacquaintances in Manila, let us enter the home of Capitan Tinong,the polite individual whom we saw so profusely inviting Ibarra tohonor him with a visit.

  In the rich and spacious sala of his Tondo house, Capitan Tinong wasseated in a wide armchair, rubbing his hands in a gesture of despairover his face and the nape of his neck, while his wife, CapitanaTinchang, was weeping and preaching to him. From the corner theirtwo daughters listened silently and stupidly, yet greatly affected.

  "Ay, Virgin of Antipolo!" cried the woman. "Ay, Virgin of the Rosaryand of the Girdle! [148] Ay, ay! Our Lady of Novaliches!"

  "Mother!" responded the elder of the daughters.

  "I told you so!" continued the wife in an accusing tone. "I told youso! Ay, Virgin of Carmen, [149] ay!"

  "But you didn't tell me anything," Capitan Tinong dared to answertearfully. "On the contrary, you told me that I was doing well tofrequent Capitan Tiago's house and cultivate friendship with him,because he's rich--and you told me--"

  "What! What did I tell you? I didn't tell you that, I didn't tellyou anything! Ay, if you had only listened to me!"

  "Now you're throwing the blame on _me_," he replied bitterly, slappingthe arm of his chair. "Didn't you tell me that I had done well toinvite him to dine with us, because he was wealthy? Didn't you saythat we ought to have friends only among the wealthy? _Aba!_"

  "It's true that I told you so, because--because there wasn't anythingelse for me to do. You did nothing but sing his praises: _Don Ibarra_here, _Don Ibarra_ there, _Don Ibarra_ everywhere. _Abaa!_ But Ididn't advise you to hunt him up and talk to him at that reception! Youcan't deny that!"

  "Did I know that he was to be there, perhaps?"

  "But you ought to have known it!"

  "How so, if I didn't even know him?"

  "But you ought to have known him!"

  "But, Tinchang, it was the first time that I ever saw him, that Iever heard him spoken of!"

  "Well then, you ought to have known him before and heard him spokenof. That's what you're a man for and wear trousers and read _El Diariode Manila_," [150] answered his unterrified spouse, casting on hima terrible look.

  To this Capitan Tinong did not know what to reply. Capitana Tinchang,however, was not satisfied with this victory, but wished to silence himcompletely. So she approached him with clenched fists. "Is this whatI've worked for, year after year, toiling and saving, that you by yourstupidity may throw away the fruits of my labor?" she scolded. "Nowthey'll come to deport you, they'll take away all our property, justas they did from the wife of--Oh, if I were a man, if I were a man!"

  Seeing that her husband bowed his head, she again fell to sobbing,but still repeating, "Ay, if I were a man, if I were a man!"

  "Well, if you were a man," the provoked husband at length asked,"what would you do?"

  "What would I do? Well--well--well, this very minute I'd go to theCaptain-General and offer to fight against the rebels, this veryminute!"

  "But haven't you seen what the _Diario_ says? Read it: 'The vileand infamous treason has been suppressed with energy, strength, andvigor, and soon the rebellious enemies of the Fatherland and theiraccomplices will feel all the weight and severity of the law.' Don'tyou see it? There isn't any more rebellion."

  "That doesn't matter! You ought to offer yourself as they did in '72;[151] they saved themselves."

  "Yes, that's what was done by Padre Burg--"

  But he was unable to finish this name, for his wife ran to him andslapped her hand over his mouth. "Shut up! Are you saying that nameso that they may garrote you tomorrow on Bagumbayan? Don't you knowthat to pronounce it is enough to get yourself condemned withouttrial? Keep quiet!"

  However Capitan Tinong may have felt about obeying her, he couldhardly have done otherwise, for she had his mouth covered with bothher hands, pressing his little head against the back of the chair,so that the poor fellow might have been smothered to death had nota new personage appe
ared on the scene. This was their cousin, DonPrimitivo, who had memorized the "Amat," a man of some forty years,plump, big-paunched, and elegantly dressed.

  "_Quid video?_" he exclaimed as he entered. "What'shappening? _Quare?_" [152]

  "Ay, cousin!" cried the woman, running toward him in tears, "I'vesent for you because I don't know what's going to become of us. Whatdo you advise? Speak, you've studied Latin and know how to argue."

  "But first, _quid quaeritis? Nihil est in intellectu quod prius nonfuerit in sensu; nihil volitum quin praecognitum_." [153]

  He sat down gravely and, just as if the Latin phrases had possesseda soothing virtue, the couple ceased weeping and drew nearer to himto hang upon the advice from his lips, as at one time the Greeks didbefore the words of salvation from the oracle that was to free themfrom the Persian invaders.

  "Why do you weep? _Ubinam gentium sumus?_" [154]

  "You've already heard of the uprising?"

  "_Alzamentum Ibarrae ab alferesio Guardiae Civilis destructum? Etnunc?_ [155] What! Does Don Crisostomo owe you anything?"

  "No, but you know, Tinong invited him to dinner and spoke to himon the Bridge of Spain--in broad daylight! They'll say that he's afriend of his!"

  "A friend of his!" exclaimed the startled Latinist, rising. "_Amice,amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas_. Birds of a feather flocktogether. _Malum est negotium et est timendum rerum istarumhorrendissimum resultatum!_ [156] Ahem!"

  Capitan Tinong turned deathly pale at hearing so many words in _um_;such a sound presaged ill. His wife clasped her hands supplicatinglyand said:

  "Cousin, don't talk to us in Latin now. You know that we're notphilosophers like you. Let's talk in Spanish or Tagalog. Give ussome advice."

  "It's a pity that you don't understand Latin, cousin. Truths inLatin are lies in Tagalog; for example, _contra principia negantemfustibus est arguendum_ [157] in Latin is a truth like Noah's ark,but I put it into practise once and I was the one who got whipped. So,it's a pity that you don't know Latin. In Latin everything would bestraightened out."

  "We, too, know many _oremus, parcenobis_, and _Agnus Dei Catolis_,[158] but now we shouldn't understand one another. Provide Tinongwith an argument so that they won't hang him!"

  "You're done wrong, very wrong, cousin, in cultivating friendshipwith that young man," replied the Latinist.

  "The righteous suffer for the sinners. I was almost going to advise youto make your will. _Vae illis! Ubi est fumus ibi est ignis! Similissimili audet; atqui Ibarra ahorcatur, ergo ahorcaberis--_" [159]With this he shook his head from side to side disgustedly.

  "Saturnino, what's the matter?" cried Capitana Tinchang in dismay. "Ay,he's dead! A doctor! Tinong, Tinongoy!"

  The two daughters ran to her, and all three fell to weeping. "It'snothing more than a swoon, cousin! I would have been more pleasedthat--that--but unfortunately it's only a swoon. _Non timeo mortemin catre sed super espaldonem Bagumbayanis_. [160] Get some water!"

  "Don't die!" sobbed the wife. "Don't die, for they'll come and arrestyou! Ay, if you die and the soldiers come, ay, ay!"

  The learned cousin rubbed the victim's face with water until herecovered consciousness. "Come, don't cry. _Inveni remedium_: I'vefound a remedy. Let's carry him to bed. Come, take courage! Here I amwith you--and all the wisdom of the ancients. Call a doctor, and you,cousin, go right away to the Captain-General and take him a present--agold ring, a chain. _Dadivae quebrantant penas_. [161] Say that it'sa Christmas gift. Close the windows, the doors, and if any one asksfor my cousin, say that he is seriously ill. Meanwhile, I'll burn allhis letters, papers, and books, so that they can't find anything,just as Don Crisostomo did. _Scripti testes sunt! Quod medicamentanon sanant, ferrum sanat, quod ferrum non sanat, ignis sanat._" [162]

  "Yes, do so, cousin, burn everything!" said Capitana Tinchang. "Hereare the keys, here are the letters from Capitan Tiago. Burn them! Don'tleave a single European newspaper, for they're very dangerous. Hereare the copies of _The Times_ that I've kept for wrapping up soapand old clothes. Here are the books."

  "Go to the Captain-General, cousin," said Don Primitivo, "and leaveus alone. _In extremis extrema_. [163] Give me the authority of aRoman dictator, and you'll see how soon I'll save the coun--I mean,my cousin."

  He began to give orders and more orders, to upset bookcases, to tearup papers, books, and letters. Soon a big fire was burning in thekitchen. Old shotguns were smashed with axes, rusty revolvers werethrown away. The maidservant who wanted to keep the barrel of onefor a blowpipe received a reprimand:

  "_Conservare etiam sperasti, perfida?_ [164] Into the fire!" Sohe continued his auto da fe. Seeing an old volume in vellum,he read the title, _Revolutions of the Celestial Globes_,by Copernicus. Whew! "_Ite, maledicti, in ignem kalanis!_"[165] he exclaimed, hurling it into the flames. "Revolutions andCopernicus! Crimes on crimes! If I hadn't come in time! _Liberty inthe Philippines!_ Ta, ta, ta! What books! Into the fire!"

  Harmless books, written by simple authors, were burned; not even themost innocent work escaped. Cousin Primitivo was right: the righteoussuffer for the sinners.

  Four or five hours later, at a pretentious reception in the WalledCity, current events were being commented upon. There were presenta lot of old women and maidens of marriageable age, the wives anddaughters of government employees, dressed in loose gowns, fanningthemselves and yawning. Among the men, who, like the women, showedin their faces their education and origin, was an elderly gentleman,small and one-armed, whom the others treated with great respect. Hehimself maintained a disdainful silence.

  "To tell the truth, formerly I couldn't endure the friars and thecivil-guards, they're so rude," said a corpulent dame, "but now thatI see their usefulness and their services, I would almost marry anyone of them gladly. I'm a patriot."

  "That's what I say!" added a thin lady. "What a pity that we haven'tour former governor. He would leave the country as clean as a platter."

  "And the whole race of filibusters would be exterminated!"

  "Don't they say that there are still a lot of islands to bepopulated? Why don't they deport all these crazy Indians to them? IfI were the Captain-General--"

  "Senoras," interrupted the one-armed individual, "the Captain-Generalknows his duty. As I've heard, he's very much irritated, for he hadheaped favors on that Ibarra."

  "Heaped favors on him!" echoed the thin lady, fanning herselffuriously. "Look how ungrateful these Indians are! Is it possible totreat them as if they were human beings? _Jesus!_"

  "Do you know what I've heard?" asked a military official.

  "What's that?"

  "Let's hear it!"

  "What do they say?"

  "Reputable persons," replied the officer in the midst of a profoundsilence, "state that this agitation for building a schoolhouse wasa pure fairy tale."

  "_Jesus!_ Just see that!" the senoras exclaimed, already believingin the trick.

  "The school was a pretext. What he wanted to build was a fort fromwhich he could safely defend himself when we should come to attackhim."

  "What infamy! Only an Indian is capable of such cowardly thoughts,"exclaimed the fat lady. "If I were the Captain-General they wouldsoon seem they would soon see--"

  "That's what I say!" exclaimed the thin lady, turning to the one-armedman. "Arrest all the little lawyers, priestlings, merchants, andwithout trial banish or deport them! Tear out the evil by the roots!"

  "But it's said that this filibuster is the descendant of Spaniards,"observed the one-armed man, without looking at any one in particular.

  "Oh, yes!" exclaimed the fat lady, unterrified. "It's always thecreoles! No Indian knows anything about revolution! Rear crows,rear crows!" [166]

  "Do you know what I've heard?" asked a creole lady, to change the topicof conversation. "The wife of Capitan Tinong, you remember her, thewoman in whose house we danced and dined during the fiesta of Tondo--"

  "The one who has two daughters? What about her?"

  "Well, that woman just this aft
ernoon presented the Captain-Generalwith a ring worth a thousand pesos!"

  The one-armed man turned around. "Is that so? Why?" he asked withshining eyes.

  "She said that it was a Christmas gift--"

  "But Christmas doesn't come for a month yet!"

  "Perhaps she's afraid the storm is blowing her way," observed thefat lady.

  "And is getting under cover," added the thin senora.

  "When no return is asked, it's a confession of guilt."

  "This must be carefully looked into," declared the one-armed manthoughtfully. "I fear that there's a cat in the bag."

  "A cat in the bag, yes! That's just what I was going to say," echoedthe thin lady.

  "And so was I," said the other, taking the words out of her mouth,"the wife of Capitan Tinong is so stingy--she hasn't yet sent usany present and that after we've been in her house. So, when sucha grasping and covetous woman lets go of a little present worth athousand pesos--"

  "But, is it a fact?" inquired the one-armed man.

  "Certainly! Most certainly! My cousin's sweetheart, his Excellency'sadjutant, told her so. And I'm of the opinion that it's the very samering that the older daughter wore on the day of the fiesta. She'salways covered with diamonds."

  "A walking show-case!"

  "A way of attracting attention, like any other! Instead of buying afashion plate or paying a dressmaker--"

  Giving some pretext, the one-armed man left the gathering. Two hourslater, when the world slept, various residents of Tondo received aninvitation through some soldiers. The authorities could not consentto having certain persons of position and property sleep in suchpoorly guarded and badly ventilated houses--in Fort Santiago andother government buildings their sleep would be calmer and morerefreshing. Among these favored persons was included the unfortunateCapitan Tinong.