Baltasar del Alcázar

But give to mortal man a jealous wife,
Then misery,—galleys,—fetters,—frowns,—despair,—
Loss,—shame,—dishonour,—folly:—What are they?

Baltasar del Alcázar (1530 – 16 February 1606) was a Spanish poet.

Quotes

• Ningun hombre se llame desdichado
  Aunque le siga el hado executivo,
  Supuesto que en Argel viva cautivo,
  O al remo en las galeras condenado.
    Ni el propio loco por furioso atado,
  O el que perdido llora estado altivo
  Ni el que á deshonra truxo el tiempo esquivo,
  O por necesidad á humilde estado.
    Sufrir qualquiera pena es fácil cosa,
  Que ninguna atormenta tan deveras,
  Que no la venza el sufrimiento tanto;
    Mas el que tiene la muger zelosa,
  Ese tiene desdicha, Argel, galeras,
  Locura, perdicion, deshonra y llanto.
  • Talk not to me of all the frowns of fate,
    Or adverse fortune; nor offend my ears
    With tales of slavery's suffering in Algiers,
    Nor galley's chains, heavy, disconsolate.
    Speak not to me of fetter'd maniacs' woes,
    Nor proud one from his glory tumbled down:
    Dimm'd honour,—friend-abandon'd,—broken crown:
    These may be heavy sorrows; but who knows
    To bend his head beneath the storms of life
    With holy patience, he the shock will bear,
    And see the thundering clouds disperse away.
    But give to mortal man a jealous wife,
    Then misery,—galleys,—fetters,—frowns,—despair,—
    Loss,—shame,—dishonour,—folly:—What are they?
  • La Muger Zelosa ('Woman's Jealousy') in Correo Literario de Sevilta (1806) p. 229. Translated by John Bowring, Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain (1824) p. 7

External links

• La mujer celosa at Spanish Wikisource