Chapter VIII: La Argentina

[Sidenote: Barco Centenera]

[Sidenote: Voyage to America]

Centenera’s “historical poem” called _La Argentina_ deals with the events relating to Spanish colonization in the south-eastern part of the continent. The first edition was published in Lisbon in 1602. Martín del Barco Centenera was born at Logrosán in Estremadura in 1535. It is reported, or it is a tradition, that he studied at Salamanca, but no positive record of the fact has been found at the university. When Juan Ortiz de Zárate was preparing his American venture, Centenera joined the expedition, and obtained through the Council of the Indies the title of archdeacon of the Church in Paraguay. The five vessels of Zárate’s expedition sailed from Spain in October, 1572, and on the 7th of the following January from the Cape Verde Islands. By a storm one of the vessels was driven into the bay of Río Janeiro, and at a conference of the captains of the other vessels with some of the leaders of the expedition it was decided to halt at Santa Catalina. On leaving Santa Catalina near the end of October 1573 it was discovered that the expedition had lost one hundred and twenty of its members by desertion and disease. Having entered the Río de la Plata, the colonists remained for some months on the island of Martín García and afterwards established a settlement called Zaratina de San Salvador. From this place Centenera passed to Asunción, where he arrived on the 8th of February, 1575. He began his ecclesiastical work at once, hearing confessions and preaching to the Spaniards; his labour with the Guaranís had to be postponed on account of his inability to use their language. The language of the Indians was more generally adopted by the Spaniards in Paraguay than in other colonies.

[Sidenote: Centenera with Garay]

Centenera joined the expedition against the Indians undertaken in 1579 by Juan de Garay, who at this time was exercising the functions of lieutenant-governor and captain-general, with authority delegated by Juan Torres de Vera y Aragón, the legitimate successor of Zárate. The twentieth canto of _La Argentina_ contains an account of this expedition. Early in 1580 Garay returned to Asunción and prepared for the execution of his plan to re-establish Buenos Aires, and before his departure from Asunción he appointed Centenera protector of the Indians. At the same time he petitioned the king to provide an appropriate salary for the office. The province of Río de la Plata during these years gave evidence of the turbulent spirit that characterized it later. Opposition to Garay appeared both in Asunción and in Santa Fe, based on the fact that the viceroy of Peru had not recognized Garay’s authority.

[Sidenote: Centenera in Peru]

A little later Centenera obtained permission to go to Peru for two years. After his arrival at Chuquisaca the audiencia appointed him its chaplain. He held this post, however, for only a few months, and the next year he appeared occupying the position of vicar at Porco. In August, 1581, Archbishop Toribio de Mogrovejo called his suffragan bishops to a council to be held in Lima, and appointed Centenera one of the secretaries. The clergy of Cuzco had brought charges against their bishop, Sebastián de Lartain, who wished to have the case considered by the council, but the archbishop decided to send it to Rome. Centenera took the side of Lartain, and by this act incurred the displeasure of Mogrovejo, with the consequent loss of his means of support. While under this embarrassment the Bishop of Charcas appointed him his vicar, and the Inquisition constituted him its commissary for the district of Cochabamba.

[Sidenote: Bishop of Paraguay arrested]

While in possession of this office Juan Ruiz del Prado, the inspector of the Inquisition, appointed by Philip II, arrived at Lima, and in August, 1590, Centenera, in consequence of Prado’s investigation, was removed from office and subjected to a fine of two hundred pesos. In this year Alonso Guerra, who had arrived in Asunción as Bishop of Paraguay in 1585, was arrested and despatched to Buenos Aires as a prisoner. The bishop’s offence appears to have been a too rigorous pursuit of funds for the Church and threatening to excommunicate the inhabitants of Asunción for delay in paying the tithes. From Buenos Aires Bishop Guerra went to Charcas, where the audiencia rehabilitated him. Later the king appointed him Bishop of Michoacán, where he died in 1594.

[Sidenote: Centenera governor of bishopric]

The sentence removing Centenera from his position as commissary of the Inquisition made his further residence in Peru undesirable, and thus, after an absence of nine years he returned to Asunción, where he arrived shortly after the popular uprising against Bishop Guerra. As the bishop had been expelled and the dean was dead, Archdeacon Centenera found himself the highest ecclesiastical dignitary in the province, and he became governor of the bishopric, the see being vacant. The date of his departure from Paraguay has not become known and investigation has as yet thrown little light on the last years of his life. Ricardo Palma accepts as a fact that he died in Portugal in 1605, having returned to Europe after twenty-four years spent in America.

[Sidenote: Attainments of Centenera]

Not much is known concerning the literary attainments of Centenera. As a priest he must have known the Latin of the Breviary, but there seems to be no evidence of an extensive knowledge of that language, “since in all of his poem there is no indication of the least influence of the classical Latin poets, either in the conception, in the figures, or in the expressions. Even the locution of the poem, wanting in nobility and elegance, proves that the author was not familiar either with the good society or the good poets of his nation, although in one of the passages of his poem he manifests (Canto XXIV) the highest respect for the author of _La Araucana_.”[89] He had, however, a certain knowledge of Tasso and Petrarch.[90]

[Sidenote: The editions of _La Argentina_]

In the archives of the Indies there is a letter, without signature or date, ascribed by Trelles to Centenera, in which the writer, addressing the king, says, “I have a complete history which, with the favour of your Majesty, will be published; in it there is given an account of Río de la Plata and of Peru.” This reference is set down as the first mention of _La Argentina_. The writer affirms that this letter was written fifteen years after he left Spain; if, therefore, Centenera was the author of the letter it was written in 1587. Fifteen years later the first edition of _La Argentina_ appeared in Lisbon (1602). The second edition was published in 1749 by González de Barcia in his _Historiadores primitivos_, Vol. III; the third is contained in Angelis’ _Colección de obras y documentos, etc._, Madrid, 1836; a fourth appeared in the third volume of the reprint of Díaz de Guzmán’s _Historia argentina_, Buenos Aires, 1854; the fifth is in the reprint of 1900 of Angelis’ _Colección_. In 1912 two separate facsimile reprints of the Lisbon Edition of 1602 were published in Buenos Aires, one in the _Biblioteca de la Junta de Historia y Numismática Americana_, the other in the series _Fuentes de la historia argentina_; the former has bio-bibliographical notes by Enrique Peña and a critical study of the poem by J. M. Gutiérrez, the latter notes by Carlos Navarro y Lamarca.

[Sidenote: Centenera’s spirit]

Centenera presented no great characters, like those immortalized by Ercilla. But Ercilla was not an ecclesiastic. Centenera had entered the New World to contribute whatever power he possessed to the destruction of paganism, and any especially strong characters presenting themselves among the Indians naturally appeared to him as exaggerated manifestations of the evil he was commissioned to combat. His mission was to transform pagan heroic qualities into Christian virtues, and not to make them live in the admiration of later generations. What appealed to Ercilla, the knight, as noble and worthy of honour, appeared to the archdeacon as something to be eliminated and forgotten.

[Sidenote: Story of the voyage]

The expedition of Ortiz de Zárate or the voyage from San Lucar to Santa Catalina is described in the eighth canto. It was carried in two small and three larger vessels. In receiving his appointment as governor of Paraguay Zárate had agreed to introduce into the colony a number of labourers as colonists, a quantity of arms, and also a large number of horses, cows, sheep and goats within a period of three years. The greater part of the animals were to be brought from the ranges near Charcas and Tarija. The little fleet halted at Gomera, the Cape Verde Islands, and Santa Catalina; and on this passage from Santa Lucar and during the stay at Santa Catalina the expedition lost three hundred persons. Among the survivors was the Franciscan missionary, Luis Bolanos, who was the first to apply grammatical rules to the Guaraní language, and the first dictionary of the language is attributed to him.

[Sidenote: Famine at Santa Catalina]

In spite of storms, the voyage was fortunate until the vessels passed into the calm and heat of the tropics, where all suffered to such a degree that they would gladly have returned to Spain. But their sufferings were greatly intensified after they reached the island of Santa Catalina, where scores of Spaniards died of starvation. The ninth canto sets forth the horrors of this episode, and it is dedicated to “las damas.”

El canto vuestro es, pues que contiene
De damas y galanes la caída:

Centenera exposes the details of the famine, pointing out that every animal and reptile, however repugnant at first, was at last found to be as savoury as the flesh of a kid, for

La gran hambre prestaba salmorejo.

The extremes to which men were driven by hunger are narrated at length, the crimes committed to obtain food, and the unusual punishments meted out to the criminals who were detected. But many escaped detection. Some persons encountered a dog alone. They killed him immediately, and without waiting to have him well cooked or roasted, devoured him, in order to avoid being recognized as the offenders by the arrival of the owner. Another person, having stealthily entered an inn kept by two women, was apprehended by them; then without pity they cut off his ears, and nailed them up on the house, either for decoration or as a warning to other thieves. Recognizing that they had acted without justice, and that they ran a risk of being punished, they returned the ears to their owner accompanied by a quantity of food sent “to shut up his mouth.”

[Sidenote: Last stage of the voyage]

Zárate, having determined to proceed to Río de la Plata, sought from every source food to serve for the voyage, and in this search the Indians were deprived of whatever they possessed. By this their good-will was completely alienated. The incidents of the voyage and the landing constitute the theme of the tenth canto. The company had apparently not learned by their experience to view with calmness the varying phases of the sea, and when the sparkling waves rose to the stars, the women wept and the men uttered great cries, all assured that they were to be buried in the ocean. And after the storm had subsided, and they had approached the port of San Gabriel, a furious south wind arose, wrought havoc in the rigging of the vessels, and drove one of them upon the shore. Thus after a day of joy the passengers were overwhelmed in grief and agony (Canto X, Oct. 14):

Pilotos y maestres, marineros,
Grumetes, pajes, frailes y soldados,
Mujeres y muchachos, pasajeros,
Andaban dando voces muy turbados.

[Sidenote: Among the Charrúas]

Having landed, after the storm, they found themselves among the Charrúas, who seemed to Centenera to possess qualities that entitled them to be ranked with the Araucanians (Canto X, Oct. 27).

La gente que aquí habita en esta parte
Charruahas se dicen, de gran brío,
A quien ha repartido el fiero Marte
Su fuerza, su valor y poderío....

Es gente muy crecida y animosa,
Empero sin labranza y sementera:
En guerras y batallas, belicosa,
Osada y atrevida en gran manera.

[Sidenote: Fight with the Indians]

The Charrúas occupied the region between Maldonado and the Uruguay. They had met with hostility the earlier explorers of the Río de la Plata, and they continued in hostile relations with the Europeans until they were finally exterminated in 1831. In an encounter between the forces of the chief Zapicán and Zárate’s soldiers, all but a few of the Spaniards were either killed or captured by the Indians. Centenera presents an abundance of details concerning this encounter, and refers to the action of Zapicán’s forces in the following spirited lines (Canto XI, Oct. 18):

El zapicano ejército venía
Con trompas y bocinas resonando;
Al sol la polvareda obscurecía,
La tierra del tropel está temblando:
De sangre el suelo todo se cubría,
Y el zapicano ejército gritando,
Cantaba la victoria lastimosa
Contra la gente triste y dolorosa.[91]

[Sidenote: Character of _La Argentina_]

_La Argentina_ must be viewed in its two aspects, as poetry and history, and the passages illustrating these two phases are widely different in spirit, even when the unlike passages are both founded on a basis of facts. But in the poetic figures there are fewer references to the fancies of pagan literature and mythology than may be found in the other poems with which Centenera’s work may be compared. Now and then the writer’s lamentations, raised to heaven because of the want and misery of the company, reveal the ecclesiastic and suggest passages of the Psalms.

Volved con piedad, Señor, la mano,
Doleos de los tristes afligidos,
Doleos de los niños inocentes,
Que gritan con sus ojos hechos fuentes,
Doleos de las tristes afligidas
Que quedan sin abrigo y compañía:
También de las doncellas doloridas
Que pierden a sus padres y alegría.[92]

[Sidenote: Topics of later cantos]

[Sidenote: Spaniards’ views of their calamities]

From battles with the Indians in the region of Río de la Plata, the founding of Buenos Aires by Juan de Garay, and the insurrection of the mestizos at Santa Fe, Centenera, in his later cantos, turned to happenings of his time on the western coast, to the exploits of Francis Drake, the earthquake of Arequipa, and the council at Lima called by Archbishop Mogrovejo. This change of subject appears to have been due to the writer’s removal from the south-eastern province to Peru. Drake had appeared about five years before this event, whence it may be presumed the very favourable opinion of him expressed in _La Argentina_ was that entertained by at least a part of contemporary Peruvian society. Centenera found “this English and noble cavalier, given to the art of the sea, a skilful pilot and sailor, a good soldier, astute, sagacious, discrete, courteous, well-bred, brave, magnanimous, and a good friend, but wanting in the greater and more necessary quality, _que es el amor a Jesucristo_.” Centenera, as an ecclesiastic, was obliged by the spirit of the Spanish Church in the sixteenth century to make this limitation on the character of a Protestant. It is noteworthy, however, that he was able to discover so much excellence in a subject of the “Babylonian woman”; still this is partially accounted for when it is recalled that the Spaniards in America regarded their calamities, whether brought about by an English corsair or an earthquake, as a divinely directed punishment for their shortcomings, and in this view the piratical agent of God might appear to stand nearer the throne of heaven than those who suffered the infliction. But they feared the invader not merely for his direct influence, but as well for the influence he might have in awakening the spirit of revolt among the Indians.

In the beginning of the twenty-third canto Centenera expresses his wish to write of what he saw in Peru during the meetings of the council called by Archbishop Mogrovejo. This was the council that met on August 13, 1582, and held its last session on October 18, 1583. Its purpose was to reform the discipline of the Church and to correct the manners and customs of this part of the continent, but it was brought near to disruption through the introduction of a question in dispute between the Bishop and Canons of Cuzco.

[Sidenote: Dress reform in Lima]

[Sidenote: Decree of church council]

But the council acquired a difficult task when it undertook to reform the dress of the women of Lima. It was the fashion for the women to appear in the streets, in the churches, and in other public places with their faces completely concealed by the rebozo. While protected by this veil it was impossible for their identity to be observed or detected, whence arose numerous abuses and scandals. Centenera refers to their conduct: “In the streets and the square, they place themselves at the windows, where it is a pleasure to see them, with their rich and very gay dresses, and whoever wishes may speak with them; they do not appear shy or severe, and listen to whomsoever wishes to flirt with them, and under their rebozos they utter their little nothings, with which they sometimes fool little boobies.” A proposition in relation to the conduct of the women and their manner of dressing was brought before the council, which threatened with excommunication those who persisted in wearing the rebozo to conceal the face. Women should remain in their houses, or, if they appeared in public places, it should be with their faces uncovered. For the time being the majority of the women preferred to remain in their houses, but a few of the rich, not objecting to the regulation, appeared in public unveiled, for it gave them an opportunity to display their jewels. The resolution of the council was, however, ineffective; the use of the rebozo as a veil was continued. But about forty years later the Marqués de Guadalcázar as viceroy (1622-1629) issued a royal ordinance, providing that “no woman of whatever state, quality, or condition she may be, may be veiled with a manto or in any other manner while going on the streets of this city, or the alameda or other public places, whether on foot or in a carriage or a sedan chair, or in balconies or windows, but that all shall be obliged to go with their faces uncovered, to the end that they may be seen and known, and the identity of each be recognized.”[93]

[Sidenote: Centenera’s motive in writing in verse]

The real character of _La Argentina_ is that of a contemporary chronicle, and considering the breadth of his experience, the writer’s serious mistake was that he adopted the form of verse instead of prose for communicating his experience and his observations. But in his dedication to the governor of Portugal, then united with Spain, Centenera affirms that he has written in verse, although “poco polido y menos limado,” in order that the Marqués de Castel Rodrigo, burdened with the grave affairs of the government, might read it with greater facility than the long and prolix histories he was accustomed to receive. The fact that it is written in verse is perhaps the principal reason for including it in a list with _La Araucana_; moreover, like _La Araucana_, it deals with a colonial undertaking, the privations incident to a voyage from Spain, and conflicts with the Indians. Juan María Gutiérrez finds its indisputable merit in the frank sincerity with which the author communicates what he saw and what he felt, and in this manner presented important data for the early history of Río de la Plata.

[Sidenote: Nature of poetry]

[Sidenote: Poetry and music]

If one conceives of poetry not as the written metrical lines merely, but as these lines uttered orally, he will have no difficulty in answering the question critics have raised regarding the nature of the foregoing metrical compositions. In this view, the words written in measured lines may be compared with printed musical notes. These notes are not music, but only directions for the production of vocal or instrumental sounds, or combinations of sounds, which constitute music. In like manner, the verses that stand on the printed page are indications of tone, accent, and rhythm, and poetry is the utterance of these verses in accordance with their proper indications. Endowed with a certain form and degree of cultivation, one may derive sensations akin to those enjoyed in listening to music, by reading the printed musical notes; and in the same way by passing the eye silently over the printed verses one may experience some of the emotions poetry is designed to awaken; but in neither case are the emotions experienced more than a faint shadow of those aroused by the voice of the skilful reader or by the violinist or the orchestra. Poetry thus conceived is not the utterance of any distinct and exclusive body of ideas, or of ideas that cannot be expressed except in metrical language. There are no ideas set forth in the _Iliad_ or in _Childe Harold_ that cannot be expressed in prose, and the same may be said of _La Araucana_ or _Arauco domado_, treating not of the Trojan war, but of the war against the Araucanians.

[Sidenote: What of _La Araucana_?]

Exalted ideas, or striking images, or mere commonplace thoughts may be presented in prose, and verse possesses the same capacity; the main difference between them would, therefore, seem to be that in verse alone the words are selected so as to conform in their utterance to a prescribed measure. Inevitably in different verses there is a more or a less complete compliance with this rule; and this is characteristic of the verses in question, as well as of many other verses; but when the perfect verses of _La Araucana_ or _Arauco domado_ are pronounced in their sonorous Spanish tones there is no doubt that we have before us examples of poetry.