Candide — Chapter 30 in Spanish
By Voltaire
En lo interior de su corazon no tenia Candido ganas ningunas de casarse con Cunegunda; pero la mucha insolencia del baron le determinó á acelerar las bodas, sin contar que la baronesita le apretaba tanto, que no las podía dilatar mas. Candide had, in truth, no great inclination to marry Cunegund; but the extreme impertinence of the baron determined him to conclude the match; and Cunegund pressed him so warmly that he could not recant. Consultó pues á Panglós, á Martin y al fiel Cacambo. He consulted Pangloss, Martin, and the faithful Cacambo. Panglós compuso una erudita memoria, probando que no tenia el baron derecho ninguno en su hermana, y que segun todas las leyes del imperio podia Cunegunda casarse con Candido, dándole la mano izquierda; Martin fué de parecer de que tiraran con el baron al mar; y Cacambo de que se le entregaran al arraez levantisco, el qual le volveria á poner á remar á la galera, ínterin le enviaban al padre general por la primera embarcacion que diese á la vela para Roma. Pangloss composed a fine memorial, by which he proved that the Baron had no right over his sister; and that she might, according to all the laws of the Empire, marry Candide with the left hand. Martin concluded that they should throw the Baron into the sea: Cacambo decided that he must be delivered to the Turkish captain and sent to the galleys; after which he should be conveyed by the first ship to the Father General at Rome. Pareció bien esta idea: aprobóla la vieja; y sin decir palabra á Cunegunda, se puso en execucion mediante algun dinero: teniendo así la satisfaccion de jugar pieza á un jesuita, y escarmentar la vanidad de un baron aleman. This advice was found to be very good; the old woman approved of it, and not a syllable was said to his sister; the business was executed for a little money: and they had the pleasure of tricking a Jesuit and punishing the pride of a German baron.
Cosa natural era pensar que despues de tantas desgracias Candido casado con su amada, viviendo en compañía del filósofo Panglós, del filósofo Martin, del prudente Cacambo y de la vieja, y habiendo traído tantos diamantes de la patria de los antiguos Incas, disfrutaria la vida mas feliz; pero tanto le estafáron los Judíos, que no le quedáron mas bienes que su pobre cortijo. It was altogether natural to imagine that after undergoing so many disasters, Candide married to his mistress, and living with the philosopher Pangloss, the philosopher Martin, the prudent Cacambo, and the old woman, having besides brought home so many diamonds from the country of the ancient Incas, would lead the most agreeable life in the world. Su muger, que cada dia era mas fea, se hizo de una condicion de vinagre inaguantable; y la vieja cayó enferma, y era mas regañona, todavía que Cunegunda. But he had been so much cheated by the Jews that he had nothing else left but his little farm; his wife, every day growing more and more ugly, became ill-natured and insupportable; the old woman was infirm, and more bad-tempered yet than Cunegund. Cacambo que cavaba el huerto y llevaba á vender la hortaliza á Constantinopla, estaba rendido de faena, y maldecia su suerte. Cacambo, who worked in the garden, and carried the produce of it to sell at Constantinople, was past his labour, and cursed his fate. Panglós se desesperaba, porque no lucia su saber en alguna universidad de Alemania: solo Martin, firmemente convencido de que en todas partes el hombre se encuentra mal, llevaba las cosas en paciencia. Pangloss despaired of making a figure in any of the German universities. And as to Martin, he was firmly persuaded that a person is equally ill-situated everywhere. Llevaba las cosas con paciencia. He took things with patience. Algunas veces disputaban Candido, Martin y Panglós sobre metafísica y moral. Candide, Martin, and Pangloss disputed sometimes about metaphysics and morality. Por las ventanas del coitijo sovían pasar con mucha freqüencia barcos cargados de efendis, baxáes y cadíes, que iban desterrados á Lemnos, Mitylene y Erzerum; y llegar otros cadíes, otros baxáes y otros efendis, que ocupaban el lugar de los depuestos, y que lo eran ellos luego; y se vían cabezas rellenas con mucho aseo de paja, que se llevaban de regalo á la Sublime Puerta. Boats were often seen passing under the windows of the farm fraught with effendis, pashas, and cadis, that were going into banishment to Lemnos, Mytilene, and Erzeroum. And other cadis, pashas, and effendis were seen coming back to succeed the place of the exiles, and were driven out in their turns. Se veían varias cabezas muy curiosamente rellenas de paja, que se llevaban de regalo á la Sublime Puerta. They saw several heads very curiously stuffed with straw, being carried as presents to the Sublime Porte. Such sights gave occasion to frequent dissertations; and when no disputes were carried on, the irksomeness was so excessive that the old woman ventured one day to say to them:
Estas escenas daban materia á nuevas disertaciones; y quando no disputaban se aburrian tanto, que la vieja se aventuró á decirles un dia: Quisiera yo saber qué es peor, ¿ser violada cien veces al dia por piratas negros, verse cortar una nalga, pasar baquetas entre los Bulgaros, ser azotado y ahorcado en un auto de fe, ser disecado, remar en galeras, finalmente padecer todas quantas desventuras hemos pasado, ó estar aquí sin hacer nada? “I would be glad to know which is worst, to be ravished a hundred times by negro pirates, to have one buttock cut off, to run the gauntlet among the Bulgarians, to be whipped and hanged at an auto-da-fé, to be dissected, to be chained to an oar in a galley, and in short to experience all the miseries through which every one of us hath passed,—or to remain here doing nothing?”
Ardua es la qüestion, dixo Candido. “This,” said Candide, “is a big question.”