No More Learning

' It would betray an ignorance of world-literature and of
its worth should one in a tone of irritation exclaim, "Goethe's
'Faust' without end. "
This poem roots itself deep in the past, and is not of less
worth because it grew out of the 'Volksbücher' and popular
plays; for in the realm of poetry the worth of a popular origin
is fully recognized. The age in which it was written, the stamp
of which the poem bears, was one of the richest in ideas and in
deeds which man has ever seen; and never before has such an


## p. 5772 (#356) ###########################################

KUNO FISCHER
5772
age developed in so short a time. When the 'Fragment' of our
'Faust' appeared, the French Revolution had just begun; it had
run its course and had given birth to a Cæsar, who was already
the ruler of the world when the First Part of 'Faust' saw the
light of day. In the same year Napoleon appeared in Erfurt,
where he called to him the author of 'Werther' and advised him
to compose a Cæsar,' since the destiny of the world now lay in
politics.
When Goethe was asked which one among modern philoso-
phers he considered the greatest, he answered, "Kant, unquestion-
ably; for he is the one whose doctrine proves permanent and has
penetrated most deeply into our German culture. " Contempora-
neous with the origin of Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' was
the origin of Goethe's 'Faust. ' Contemporaneous with the 'Cri-
tique of the Judgment,' Kant's last great work, appeared the
'Fragment. ' The Königsberg philosopher stood at that time at
the summit of his mental activity. The philosophers Fichte,
Schelling, and Hegel had followed him and had filled the world
with their ideas, when Goethe published in 1808 the First Part
of his 'Faust. ' Some seventy poems have dared to vie with it,
but in the light of the great star have quickly paled. No one
of these had the power so to express and reveal the spiritual
fullness of this age, rich in thought and events, as did Goethe's
'Faust. ' All influential thinkers of the time compared their
ideas with this work, and endeavored to show their spiritual re-
lationship with the same, in order thereby to establish their own
worth and import.
•
It is impossible that a poem which rules so great a past and
present, and which has so great a following, should be so short-
lived that scarcely two generations after its completion it has
lived out its life, its fundamental thought exhausted. Indeed,
the vast and always growing number of expositions of Goethe's
'Faust' proves to us that the world desires an interpretation of
this work, and that the attempts hitherto made have either failed
in their purpose or have not solved the problem completely and
fundamentally enough. It may, I trust, be permitted me in the
present discourse, so far as the time permits, to examine into
the nature of these attempts and to pass judgment upon them.


## p. 5773 (#357) ###########################################

KUNO FISCHER
5773
II. THE PHILOSOPHICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION
THE kernel of all Faust literature is a religious fable. A
nobly striving and highly gifted man, impelled by thirst for
truth and also for the pleasures of the world, becomes untrue to
the service of God, strives after the powers of magic, calls up
the Devil and subscribes to him his soul, which shall remain
forever in hell after he has enjoyed a proud and wanton world-
career. This fable contains, even in its rudest form, momentous
thoughts concerning the struggle between good and evil in the
heart of man, concerning the motives to guilt and destruction,-
clearly the profoundest themes both of religion and of philos-
ophy.
In the course of the sixteenth century, the age of the German
new birth of Christianity and of ancient art, there arose under
the influence of the religious and philosophical ideas of that time
the myth of Doctor Faust, whose religious tendency stamped it-
self clearly in the 'Volksbücher. ' In the years from 1771-1831,-
an age deeply moved by religious and philosophical ideas, the
greatest age of German philosophy, reaching from the beginning
of the epoch of Kant to the death of Hegel,-there arose, de-
veloped, and was completed, Goethe's 'Faust. ' The old fable of
the German magician of the sixteenth century, and the new ideas
of German philosophy which stirred the last generation of the
eighteenth century and the first generation of the nineteenth,—
these are the elements our poem must needs take up and unite;
for it could deny neither its inheritance nor its birth. Therefore
this work is by virtue of its origin a religious and philosophical
poem, which cannot be thoroughly comprehended without a
knowledge of the ideas contained therein. The meaning of this
poem was and still is, therefore, a philosophical problem.
Therefore the first attempts at interpretation, which followed
immediately upon the publication of the poem, took this direc-
tion. Their problem was to explain the fable of our 'Faust'
and to find its moral. This was considered as the fundamental
idea, which was intended to be allegorically portrayed in the
persons and events of the poem. So the philosophical interpre-
tation became allegorical interpretation, and then forced and
absurd interpretations. The entire poem appeared at last like a
magic sphere, wherein one could no more trust his senses, but
must look upon the most natural things as something entirely


## p. 5774 (#358) ###########################################

KUNO FISCHER
5774
different from what they seemed to be. One was taught the
recondite signification of the pedestrians before the gate, of the
dance under the linden tree, of the rat which gnawed the penta-
gram, of the revelers in Auerbach's cellar, of the wine which
flowed from the table, of the jewel casket in Gretchen's press, of
the bunch of keys and the night lamp with which Faust entered
Gretchen's prison, and of various other similar riddles.
It was
even asked, What is the meaning of Gretchen?
The fundamental error of all these interpretations was that
they assumed as the basis of the poem a wholly invented, en-
tirely original, not partly inherited, fundamental idea; in accord-
ance with which, it was said, the poem grew,-i. e. , the fable
grew out of the moral. However, concerning this fundamental
idea the interpreters were by no means agreed. But they inter-
preted the poem as though Goethe had himself wholly invented.
his Faust legend, and had then completed the poem in accord-
ance with the requirements of the invented legend, according to
one plan and in a white heat of composition; whereas in truth
the Faust legend was already two centuries old when Goethe
appropriated it, and Goethe's 'Faust' was two generations old
when it was brought to completion.
The problem could not be solved by these methods of inter-
pretation, because of the underlying false conceptions of the
origin and production of the poem.
IV. THE EXTREME POSITIONS TAKEN BY BOTH SCHOOLS
OVER against the earlier philosophical — i. e. , allegorical — in-
terpretations I have placed the historical investigations of to-day,
and shown how widely the latter method has extended its ques-
tions and subdivided into so many individual investigations.
Opposed as are their tendencies, so also are the byways into
which both methods of interpretation get astray. If the allego-
rists consult tradition not at all, or too little at least, and prefer
to ascribe everything to the assumed inventions of the poet, so
on the other hand, many of the historical expositors of to-day
are inclined to exaggerate tradition to such an extent that they
would leave nothing to the ideas and power of invention of the
poet. The former would, if possible, make everything invented;
the latter make everything borrowed. We find that the former
ascribed to the poet of Faust' ideas,- the latter borrowings,-
of which he never thought. Here extremes meet.


## p. 5775 (#359) ###########################################

KUNO FISCHER
5775
VIII. THE RELIGIOUS IDEA OF THE POEM
I HAVE attempted to show the directions which the expositions
of Goethe's 'Faust' have taken, by the philosophic methods of
exposition as well as by the historical and the philological. The
poem needs an explanation of the entire circumference of its
ideas, as well as of its origin, which can succeed only when
both methods of exposition-the philosophical as well as the
historical, which includes also the philological-are united. Sep-
arated from each other, neither takes the right way. The philo-
sophical consideration which to-day deserves this name is itself
of a historical nature. It must recognize, through the course of
development of the poet, the ideas which have in truth inspired
and filled his work. Where the poem itself takes the form of
allegory, the philosophical interpretation must proceed allegori-
cally. It must ask, for example, What means the Witches'
Kitchen, the Witches' Sabbath, the Mothers, the Homunculus, the
classical Walpurgis Night?
The legend of Faust was a religious fable, and its theme was
the guilt and condemnation of a nobly striving man entangled
in the pleasures of the world. Goethe's 'Faust' is a religious
poem, and its theme is the guilt and purification of a high-
minded man, whom the pleasures of the world entice and sweep
along but never satisfy. Were this non-satisfaction the final
theme of the 'Faust,' as is commonly held, I should not call the
poem a religious poem. It would then be merely pessimistic, as
are the poems of Byron. There is a religious view of the mis-
ery in the world and a pessimistic view; the latter finds the
world evil because it is not rich enough in enjoyment. This
pessimism, which in our day is the fashion, is at bottom nothing
but unsatisfied pleasure-seeking.
This was not the view of Goethe, not that of his 'Faust. ' In
his second monologue he portrays the wretchedness of human
existence in a manner which can be compared only with the
famous monologue of Hamlet. To Faust also, death appears to
be a goal to be desired most fervently. He wishes to shuffle off
the mortal coil of life as a burden. Then the Easter song
moves him with admonition. Life is no burden; it is a test,-a
painful but a wholesome one!
"Christ is ascended!
Bliss hath invested him,-


## p. 5776 (#360) ###########################################

5776
KUNO FISCHER
more.
Woes that molested him,
Trials that tested him,
Gloriously ended! "
Life has the importance of a trial which is to be endured by
continued purification: this is the fundamental religious thought
which Goethe introduces into his 'Faust' tragedy in the 'Prologue
in Heaven,' and makes it the theme of the same. He permits
his Faust' to strive upward, and reach a height where the
enjoyments of the world and the evil of the world touch him no
Upon this height he answers the tempter who places before
his eyes the glories and enjoyments of the world:-"Base and
modern Sardanapalus! Enjoyment makes common! "
From this height he says to Care, who paints to him again.
the misery of the world, "I will not recognize you. " The energy
of endeavor and striving is not to be dispirited by the misery of
life's cares. There is a genuine and real non-satisfaction; it
springs not from the misery of the world, but from the wants
and weakness of one's own powers:
"Firm let him stand, and look around him well!
This World means something to the Capable.
In marching onwards, bliss and torment find,
Though every moment with unsated mind! »
However, it is not the province of this address to go into the
course of development of the poem itself, since I only wished to
present and to criticize the methods of exposition. The work
progressed with the poet and with his views of life, and it was
two generations of men in coming into being.
In order to appre-
ciate it correctly, and to apprehend the ideas which this world-
poem presents, let us take as a prototype that view of the
world, full of love, which the Lord in the Prologue commends
to his own:-
"But ye, God's sons in love and duty,
Enjoy the rich, the ever-living Beauty!
Creative Power, that works eternal schemes,
Clasp you in bonds of love, relaxing never,
And what in wavering apparition gleams
Fix in its place with thoughts that stand forever! "
Translated for A Library of the World's Best Literature,' by Professor
Richard Jones


## p. 5777 (#361) ###########################################

5777
JOHN FISKE
(1842-)
OHN FISKE was born in Hartford, Connecticut, March 30th,
1842, the son of Edmund Brewster Green, of Smyrna, Dela-
ware. The son's name was originally Edmund Fiske Green;
but in 1855 he took the name of his maternal great-grandfather John
Fiske. His father had died, and his mother had been married to
Edwin W. Stoughton, a distinguished lawyer, since known as United
States Minister to Russia. An authentic account shows him to have
been a boy of extraordinary industry and
acquisition. Thus, at thirteen, he had read
a great deal of the best Latin literature.
He could read Plato and Herodotus at sight
when fifteen years old. A little later he
took up in rapid succession French, Italian,
Portuguese, Hebrew, and Sanskrit. His
studies in science and mathematics were as
extensive as in the languages. During his
college course the young man is said to
have averaged throughout the year fifteen
hours of study daily. He was graduated at
Harvard in 1863, and at the Harvard Law
School in 1865. Mr. Fiske has never prac-
ticed law, however, his preferences for
literary life having declared themselves early. He had married
while in the law school, and was even then using his pen for the
support of his family.
JOHN FISKE
John Fiske's career as an author began with the publication, when
he was nineteen years of age, of an article on Buckle, in which he
made an exposition of the fallacies of that writer; which is as good
to-day as at the time it was written. For two years, from 1869 to
1871, he was a lecturer on philosophy at Harvard. He was after-
wards assistant librarian of that university, and has since served as
a member of the board of overseers. The most serious work of his
earlier years was his 'Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy,' in which he
appeared as an expounder of the philosophy of Herbert Spencer.
was written with that attractive lucidity which characterizes all his
books. Darwin wrote him, "I never in my life read so lucid an
expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are. " This work claims only

X-362


## p. 5778 (#362) ###########################################

5778
JOHN FISKE
to be a representation of Spencer; but in the course of it Mr. Fiske
made one original contribution in support of the Darwinian theory,
which is now recognized to be of high importance. This concerns
the subject of infancy. The idea is that actions which in the case of
the simpler animals are matured before birth, must in the higher and
more complex animals be acquired after birth. Hence the necessity
of a period of infancy, to be prolonged in proportion to the degree
of elevation of the animal in the scale of existence.
-
Since the publication of his 'Cosmic Philosophy,' Mr. Fiske's la-
bors have been given almost entirely to history. That his attention
has been turned to American history seems to have been due to
chance. If it had been left to him to select a subject, he would
probably have chosen the conflicts of Christianity and Mohammedan-
ism on the shores of the Mediterranean- a theme that has always had
a special attraction for him. But this was not to be. In the late
seventies an effort, which proved to be successful, was made to save
the Old South Meeting-House in Boston. Had the attempt been made
earlier it would probably have failed. But the fate of John Hancock's
house had served as an example, and by 1879 people were begin-
ning to feel that this country had a history that deserved attention.
Mr. Fiske was invited to deliver a course of lectures on American
political ideas at the Old South Meeting-House. Since that time he
has been writing American history. He has written The Beginnings
of New England,' 'The American Revolution,' 'The Critical Period
of the American Revolution,' etc. The book which perhaps has had
the widest attention is 'The Discovery of America. ' The first part
of this work is taken up with a description of the aboriginal society
which Columbus and his successors found on this continent. This
subject is closely connected with that of prehistoric society in Europe,
which attracted the writer very early in his career.
In 1869 he had sketched out a work on the early Aryans, when he
was turned aside for five years to write his 'Cosmic Philosophy. '
During that period he also wrote Myths and Myth-Makers,' as a side
work to his projected book on the Aryans. He again took up his
task in 1874, but laid it aside after he had reached the conclusion
that the subject could not be rightly treated without widening the
field of study. It was necessary to know more of the barbaric world.
With this view he set about the study of aboriginal American society,
with which, he contends, no other field can be compared for fruitful-
ness. The part of the 'Discovery of America' which treats of this
subject has great interest; but it is less generally attractive than his
narration of the romantic incidents and characters of the period of
discovery. Here we have at its best the writer's talent for clear
exposition and attractive narration. There is no better example of


## p. 5779 (#363) ###########################################

JOHN FISKE
5779
his literary powers than his account of the first voyage of Columbus.
It is worthy of the possibilities of the story. Of all stories with a
good ending, that, to an American mind at any rate, is perhaps the
best. If there is a piece of American literature which has taken a
strong hold of the popular mind, it is that chapter on the voyage of
Columbus in 'Peter Parley' now known to have been written by
Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is high praise of Mr. Fiske, to say that his
more elaborate version of the ever-delightful story is worthy of the
ideal of dramatic interest left by that youthful reading.
Besides his investigations upon history and politics, science and phi-
losophy, Mr. Fiske has also been an inquirer upon religious themes.
Perhaps none of his writings have attracted more attention or been
read with a livelier interest than two little books which set forth his
views on this subject. They were first delivered as addresses before
the Concord School of Philosophy. The aim of The Destiny of Man'
is to show that the theory of natural selection consists perfectly with
the highest conception that can be formed of the dignity of human
nature. It is true that the Darwinian theory made some such altera-
tion in the position of man in the creation as had been done by the
Copernican theory. With the establishment of the Copernican theory,
man ceased to be the center of the universe. Darwin's theory taught
him that even on this planet he had not a separate origin from the
rest of animal existence. This view was at first regarded as a great
derogation from human dignity. But Mr. Fiske claims that it accords
with the highest conception of man's position in the universe. Man,
and especially his spiritual part, is by this view made the goal to
which nature has been all the while tending. The origin of man is
fixed at that moment when psychical variations become of more use
than physical ones. With this period is connected consciousness, the
great increase of brain surface, and the necessity of a period of in-
fancy. To the length of infancy of the human being Mr. Fiske attrib-
utes the rise of the family. Then comes the rise of the clan. Then
comes the period when during some time of peace, the clan learns
to obtain food by agriculture instead of by hunting; and we have the
beginnings of the State.
Again, the gentler sentiments which we recognize in men, the altru-
istic feelings, are due to the existence of infancy. These sentiments
can have, however, only a very feeble and narrow existence during
the period when man is a nomad and hunter, and when the strife
for life is necessarily ferocious. Agriculture, on the other hand, has
been a great educator of the milder qualities of mankind. So long
as strife raged over food already in existence, such as game, the
supply of which was limited, the battle must necessarily be to the
uttermost. But from the soil mankind could get food without strife.


## p. 5780 (#364) ###########################################

5780
JOHN FISKE
War, however, still does not cease. The strife which formerly raged
among families and clans continues between nations. But strife is
nevertheless on the wane. This sentence of Mr. Fiske, written twelve
years ago, is of especial interest in view of recent discussions:-
"Sooner or later it [strife] must come to an end, and the pacific prin-
ciple of federacy, whereby the questions between States are settled
like questions between individuals, by due process of law, must reign
supreme over all the earth. " Original sin is, according to Mr. Fiske,
that brute inheritance which we have received from our warring and
selfish ancestors. The disciple of Darwin finds new meanings in the
beatitude "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "
A concluding chapter asserts a belief in a future life, while admitting
that it cannot be proved from the facts of nature. The creation of
man, and of the perfected man, is thus the goal towards which, dur-
ing all these ages, nature has been tending through natural selection.
When asked to make a second address before the Concord School
of Philosophy, he took for his subject 'The Idea of God as Affected
by Modern Knowledge. ' In this address he contends that science is
not atheistic, that there is no conflict between science and religion,
and that the notion that science substitutes force for the idea of a
God is a mistake. There has been, he says, a metaphysical miscon-
ception of the term "force. "
This brief reference to Mr. Fiske's philosophy is necessary to ac-
quaint the reader to whom the works of this able writer may not be
well known with the scope of his inquiries and the range of his sym-
pathies. The field of his investigations embraces the history of the
material universe, of organic life and of the mind of man. Man's
course he follows from the moment of dawning intelligence, studies
him in his prehistoric stage, and lastly, as a member of highly civil-
ized communities on this continent, at the same time throwing a
strong glance forward upon his individual and social destiny.


## p. 5781 (#365) ###########################################

JOHN FISKE
5781
FERDINAND MAGELLAN
From The Discover of America. Copyright 1892, by John Fiske. Re-
printed by permission of and special agreement with Houghton, Mifflin
& Co. , publishers, Boston.
F
ERDINAND MAGELLAN, as we call him in English, was a Portu-
guese nobleman of the fourth grade, but of family as old
and blood as blue as any in the peninsula. He was born
at Sabrosa, near Chaves, in one of the wildest and gloomiest
nooks of Tras-os-Montes, in or about the year 1480. The people
of that province have always been distinguished for a rugged
fidelity, combined with unconquerable toughness of fibre, that
reminds one of the Scotch; and from those lonely mountains
there never came forth a sturdier character than Ferdinand
Magellan. Difficulty and danger fit to baffle the keenest mind
and daunt the strongest heart only incited this man to efforts
well-nigh superhuman. In his portrait, as given in Navarrete,
with the great arching brows, the fiery black eyes, the firm-set
lips and mastiff jaw, covered but not concealed by the shaggy
beard, the strength is almost appalling.
Yet in all this power
there was nothing cruel. Magellan was kind-hearted and unself-
ish, and on more than one occasion we see him risking his life
in behalf of others with generosity worthy of a paladin.
Nothing is known of his childhood and youth except that at
an early age he went to Lisbon and was brought up in the royal
household. In 1505 he embarked as a volunteer in the armada
which the brilliant and high-souled Almeida, first Portuguese
viceroy of India, was taking to the East.
There followed seven
years of service under this commander and his successor Albu-
querque. Seven years of anxious sailing over strange waters,
checkered with wild fights against Arabs and Malays, trained
Magellan for the supreme work that was to come. He was in
Sequeira's expedition to Malacca in 1508-9, the first time that
European ships had ventured east of Ceylon. While they were
preparing to take in a cargo of pepper and ginger, the astute
Malay king was plotting their destruction. His friendly overtures
deceived the frank and somewhat too unsuspicious Sequeira.
Malay sailors and traders were allowed to come on board the
four ships, and all but one of the boats were sent to the beach,
under command of Francisco Serrano, to hasten the bringing of
the cargo.
Upon the quarter-deck of his flagship Sequeira sat


## p. 5782 (#366) ###########################################

5782
JOHN FISKE
absorbed in a game of chess, with half a dozen dark faces intently
watching him, their deadly purpose veiled with polite words and
smiles. Ashore the houses rose terrace-like upon the hillside,
while in the foreground the tall tower of the citadel-square
with pyramidal apex, like an Italian bell-tower-glistened in the
September sunshine. The parties of Malays on the ships and
down on the bustling beach cast furtive glances at this summit,
from which a puff of smoke was presently to announce the fatal
moment. The captains and principal officers on shipboard were
at once to be stabbed and their vessels. seized, while the white
men ashore were to be massacred. But a Persian woman in love
with one of the officers had given tardy warning, so that just
before the firing of the signal the Portuguese sailors began chas-
ing the squads of Malays from their decks, while Magellan, in
the only boat, rowed for the flag-ship, and his stentorian shout
of "Treason! » came just in time to save Sequeira. Then in
wild confusion, as wreaths of white smoke curled about the fatal
tower, Serrano and a few of his party sprang upon their boats
and pushed out to sea. Most of their comrades, less fortunate,
were surrounded and slaughtered on the beach. Nimble Malay
skiffs pursued and engaged Serrano, and while he was struggling
against overwhelming odds, Magellan rowed up and joined battle
with such desperate fury that Serrano was saved. No sooner
were all the surviving Portuguese brought together on shipboard
than the Malays attacked in full force; but European guns were
too much for them, and after several of their craft had been
sent to the bottom they withdrew.
This affair was the beginning of a devoted friendship between
Magellan and Serrano, sealed by many touching and romantic
incidents, like the friendship between Gerard and Denys in 'The
Cloister and the Hearth'; and it was out of this friendship that
in great measure grew the most wonderful voyage recorded in
history. After Albuquerque had taken Malacca in 1511, Serrano
commanded one of the ships that made the first voyage to the
Moluccas. On his return course his vessel, loaded with spices,
was wrecked upon a lonely island which had long served as a
lair for pirates. Fragments of wreckage strewn upon the beach
lured ashore a passing gang of such ruffians; and while they
were intent upon delving and searching, Serrano's men, who had
hidden among the rocks, crept forth and seized the pirate ship.
The nearest place of retreat was the island of Amboina, and this


## p. 5783 (#367) ###########################################

JOHN FISKE
5783
accident led Serrano back to the Moluccas, where he established
himself as an ally or quasi-protector of the king of Ternate, and
remained for the rest of his short life. Letters from Serrano
aroused in Magellan a strong desire to follow his friend to that
new world" in the Indian waves, the goal so long dreamed of,
so eagerly sought by Columbus and many another, but now for
the first time actually reached and grasped. But circumstances
came in to modify most curiously this aim of Magellan's. He
had come to learn something about the great ocean intervening
between the Malay seas and Mundus Novus, but failed to form.
any conception of its width at all approaching the reality. It
therefore seemed to him that the line of demarcation antipodal
to Borgia's meridian must fall to the west of the Moluccas, and
that his friend Serrano had ventured into a region which must
ultimately be resigned to Spain. In this opinion he was wrong,
for the meridian which cuts through the site of Adelaide in
Australia would have come near the line that on that side of the
globe marked the end of the Portuguese half and the beginning
of the Spanish half; but the mistake was easy to make and hard
to correct.
About this time some cause unknown took Magellan back to
Lisbon, where we find him in the midsummer of 1512.
His hope
of a speedy return to India was disappointed. Whether on
account of a slight disagreement he had once had with Albu-
querque, or for some other reason, he found himself out of favor
with the King. A year or more of service in Morocco followed,
in the course of which a Moorish lance wounded Magellan in the
knee and lamed him for life. After his return to Portugal in
1514, it became evident that King Emanuel had no further em-
ployment for him. He became absorbed in the study of naviga-
tion and cosmography, in which he had always felt an interest.
It would have been strange if an inquiring mind, trained in the
court of Lisbon in those days, had not been stirred by the fas-
cination of such studies. How early in life Magellan had begun
to breathe in the art of seamanship with the salt breezes from
the Atlantic, we do not know; but at some time the results of
scientific study were combined with his long experience in East-
Indian waters to make him a consummate master. He conceived
the vast scheme of circumnavigating the globe. Somewhere upon
that long coast of Mundus Novus, explored by Vespucius and
Coelho, Jaques and Solis, there was doubtless a passage through
་


## p. 5784 (#368) ###########################################

5784
JOHN FISKE
which he could sail westward and greet his friend Serrano in the
Moluccas!
Upon both of Schöner's globes, of 1515 and 1520, such a strait
is depicted, connecting the southern Atlantic with an ocean to
the west of Mundus Novus. This has raised the question whether
any one had ever discovered it before Magellan. That there was
in many minds a belief in the existence of such a passage seems
certain; whether because the wish was father to the thought, or
because the mouth of La Plata had been reported as the mouth
of a strait, or because Jaques had perhaps looked into the strait
of Magellan, is by no means clear. But without threading that
blind and tortuous labyrinth, as Magellan did, for more than 300
geographical miles, successfully avoiding its treacherous bays and
channels with no outlet, no one could prove that there was a
practicable passage there; and there is no good reason for sup-
posing that any one had accomplished such a feat of navigation.
before Magellan.
The scheme of thus reaching the Moluccas by the westward
voyage was first submitted to King Emanuel. To him was
offered the first opportunity for ascertaining whether these islands.
lay within his half of the heathen world or not. He did not
smile upon the scheme, though he may have laughed at it.
papal bulls and the treaty of Tordesillas prohibited the Spaniards
from sailing to the Indies by way of the Cape of Good Hope;
and unless they could get through the barrier of Mundus Novus.
there was no danger of their coming by a westerly route. Why
not let well enough alone? Apparently Emanuel did not put
much faith in the strait. We are told by Gaspar Correa that
Magellan then asked the royal permission to go and offer his
services to some other master. "The King said he might do
what he pleased. Upon this Magellan desired to kiss his hand
at parting, but the King would not offer it. "
The alternative was thus offered to Magellan of abandoning
his scheme of discovery or entering the service of Spain, and he
chose the latter course. For this he has been roundly abused,
not only by Portuguese writers from that day to this, but by
others who seem to forget that a man has as clear a right to
change his country and his allegiance as to move his home from
one town to another. In the relations between State and in-
dividual the duty is not all on one side. As Faria y Sousa,
more sensible than many of his countrymen, observes, the great


## p. 5785 (#369) ###########################################

JOHN FISKE
5785
>
navigator did all that honor demanded, when by a special clause.
in his agreement with Spain, he pledged himself to do nothing
prejudicial to the interests of Portugal.
It was in October 1517 that Magellan arrived in Seville and
became the guest of Diego Barbosa, alcaide of the arsenal there,
a Portuguese gentleman who had for several years been in the
Spanish service. Before Christmas of that year he was married
to his host's daughter Beatriz de Barbosa, who accompanied him
to the court. Magellan found favor in the eyes of the boy king
Charles V. , and even obtained active support from Bishop Fon-
seca, in spite of that prelate's ingrained hostility to noble schemes
and honorable men. It was decided to fit out an expedition to
pursue the search in which Solis had lately lost his life. More
than a year was consumed in the needful preparations; and it
was not until September 20th, 1519, that the little fleet cleared
the mouth of the Guadalquivir and stood out to sea.
There were five small ships, commanded as follows:
I. Trinidad, 110 tons, captain-general Ferdinand Magellan,
pilot Estevan Gomez.
2. San Antonio, 120 tons, captain Juan de Cartagena.
3. Concepcion, 90 tons, captain Gaspar Quesada.
4. Victoria, 85 tons, captain Luis de Mendoza.
5.
Santiago, 75 tons, captain Juan Serrano.
It is a striking illustration of the shiftlessness with which
things were apt to be done by the government, and the diffi-
culties under which great navigators accomplished their arduous
work, that these five ships were all old and decidedly the worse
for wear.
All seem to have been decked, with castles at the
stern and fore. About 280 men were on board, a motley crew
of Spaniards and Portuguese, Genoese and Sicilians, Flemings
and French, Germans and Greeks, with one Englishman from
Bristol, and a few negroes and Malays. Of Portuguese there
were at least seven-and-thirty, for the most part men attached to
Magellan and who had left their country with him. It was for-
tunate that he had so many such, for the wiles of King Emanuel
had pursued him into Spain and out upon the ocean. When
that sovereign learned that the voyage was really to be made,
he determined that it must not be allowed to succeed. Hired
ruffians lurked about street corners in Seville, waiting for a
chance that never came for rushing forth and stabbing the wary
navigator; orders were sent to captains in the East Indies -


## p. 5786 (#370) ###########################################

5786
JOHN FISKE
among them the gallant Sequeira whom Magellan had saved-
to intercept and arrest the fleet if it should ever reach those
waters; and worst of all, the seeds of mutiny were busily and
but too successfully sown in Magellan's own ships. Of the four
subordinate captains only one was faithful. Upon Juan Serrano,
the brother of his dearest friend, Magellan could absolutely rely.
The others, Cartagena, Mendoza, and Quesada, sailed out from
port with treason in their hearts. A few days after their start
a small caravel overtook the Trinidad, with an anxious message
to Magellan from his wife's father, Barbosa, begging him to be
watchful, since it had come to his knowledge that his captains.
had told their friends and relations that if they had any trouble
with him they would kill him. " For reply the commander coun-
seled Barbosa to be of good cheer, for be they true men or
false he feared them not, and would do his appointed work all
the same. For Beatriz, left with her little son Rodrigo, six
months old, the outlook must have been anxious enough.
«<
-
Our chief source of information for the events of the voyage
is the journal kept by a gentleman from Vicenza, the Chevalier
Antonio Pigafetta, who obtained permission to accompany the
expedition, "for to see the marvels of the ocean. " After leaving
the Canaries on the 3d of October the armada ran down toward
Sierra Leone and was becalmed, making only three leagues in
three weeks. Then "the upper air burst into life" and the frail
ships were driven along under bare poles, now and then dipping
their yard-arms. During a month of this dreadful weather, the
food and water grew scarce, and the rations were diminished.
The spirit of mutiny began to show itself. The Spanish captains
whispered among the crews that this man from Portugal had
not their interests at heart and was not loyal to the Emperor.
Toward the captain-general their demeanor grew more and more
insubordinate; and Cartagena one day, having come on board the
flag-ship, faced him with threats and insults. To his astonish-
ment Magellan promptly collared him, and sent him, a prisoner
in irons, on board the Victoria (whose captain was unfortunately.
also one of the traitors), while the command of the San Antonio
was given to another officer. This example made things quiet
for the moment.
On the 29th of November they reached the Brazilian coast
near Pernambuco; and on the 11th of January they arrived at
the mouth of La Plata, which they investigated sufficiently to


## p. 5787 (#371) ###########################################

JOHN FISKE
5787
convince them that it was a river's mouth and not a strait.
Three weeks were consumed in this work. Their course through
February and March along the coast of Patagonia was marked
by incessant and violent storms; and the cold became so intense
that, finding a sheltered harbor with plenty of fish at Port St.
Julian, they chose it for winter quarters and anchored there on
the last day of March. On the next day, which was Easter Sun-
day, the mutiny that so long had smoldered broke out in all its
fury.
The hardships of the voyage had thus far been what stanch
seamen called unusually severe, and it was felt that they had
done enough. No one except Vespucius and Jaques had ever
approached so near to the South Pole; and if they had not yet
found a strait, it was doubtless because there was none to find.
The rations of bread and wine were becoming very short, and
common prudence demanded that they should return to Spain.
If their voyage was practically a failure, it was not their fault;
there was ample excuse in the frightful storms they had suffered
and the dangerous strains that had been put upon their worn-out
ships. Such was the general feeling, but when expressed to
Magellan it fell upon deaf ears. No excuses, nothing but per-
formance, would serve his turn; for him hardships were made
only to be despised and dangers to be laughed at: and in short,
go on they must, until a strait was found or the end of that
continent reached. Then they would doubtless find an open way
to the Moluccas; and while he held out hopes of rich rewards.
for all, he appealed to their pride as Castilians. For the inflex-
ible determination of this man was not embittered by harshness,
and he could wield as well as any one the language that soothes
and persuades.
So long as all were busy in the fight against wind and wave,
the captain-general's arguments were of avail. But the delib-
erate halt to face the hardships of an antarctic winter, with
no prospect of stirring until toward September, was too much.
Patience under enforced inactivity was a virtue higher than these
sailors had yet been called upon to exhibit. The treacherous
captains had found their opportunity, and sowed distrust broad-
cast by hinting that a Portuguese commander could not better
serve his king than by leading a Spanish armada to destruction.
They had evidently secured their men and prepared their blow
before the fleet came to anchor. The ringleaders of the mutiny


## p. 5788 (#372) ###########################################

5788
JOHN FISKE
were the captains Quesada of the Concepcion and Mendoza of
the Victoria, with Juan de Cartagena, the deposed captain of the
San Antonio, which was now commanded by Magellan's cousin
Alvaro de Mesquita. On the night of Easter Sunday, Cartagena
and Quesada, with thirty men, boarded the San Antonio, seized
Mesquita and put him in irons; in the brief affray the mate of
the San Antonio was mortally wounded. One of the mutineers,
Sebastian Elcano, was put in command of the ship, such of the
surprised and bewildered crew as were likely to be loyal were
disarmed, and food and wine were handed about in token of
the more generous policy now to be adopted. All was done so
quickly and quietly that no suspicion of it reached the captain-
general or anybody on board the Trinidad.
On Monday morning the traitor captains felt themselves mas-
ters of the situation. Three of the five ships were in their
hands, and if they chose to go back to Spain, who could stop
them? If they should decide to capture the flag-ship and murder
their commander, they had a fair chance of success; for the faith-
ful Serrano in his little ship Santiago was no match for any one
of the three. Defiance seemed quite safe; and in the forenoon,
when a boat from the flag-ship happened to approach the San
Antonio she was insolently told to keep away, since Magellan no
longer had command over that ship. When this challenge was
carried to Magellan he sent the boat from ship to ship as a test,
and soon learned that only the Santiago remained loyal. Pres-
ently Quesada sent a message to the Trinidad requesting a con-
ference between the chief commander and the revolted captains.
Very well, said Magellan, only the conference must of course
be held on board the Trinidad; but for Quesada and his accom-
plices thus to venture in the lion's jaws was out of the ques-
tion, and they impudently insisted that the captain-general should
come on board the San Antonio.
Little did they realize with what a man they were dealing.
Magellan knew how to make them come to him. He had reason
to believe that the crew of the Victoria was less disloyal than
the others, and selected that ship for the scene of his first coup
de main. While he kept a boat in readiness, with a score of
trusty men armed to the teeth and led by his wife's brother
Barbosa, he sent another boat ahead to the Victoria, with his
alguazil or constable Espinosa, and five other men. Luis de Men-
doza, captain of the Victoria, suffered this small party to come.


## p. 5789 (#373) ###########################################

JOHN FISKE
5789
on board. Espinosa then served on Mendoza a formal sum-
mons to come to the flag-ship; and upon his refusal, quick as
lightning sprang upon him and plunged a dagger into his throat.
As the corpse of the rebellious captain dropped upon the deck,
Barbosa's party rushed over the ship's side with drawn cutlasses,
the dazed crew at once surrendered, and Barbosa took command.
The tables were now turned, and with three ships in loyal
hands Magellan blockaded the other two in the harbor. At night
he opened fire upon the San Antonio, and strong parties from
the Trinidad and the Victoria boarding her on both sides at
once, Quesada and his accomplices were captured. The Concep-
cion thereupon, overawed and crestfallen, lost no time in surren-
dering; and so the formidable mutiny was completely quelled in
less than four-and-twenty hours. Quesada was beheaded; Carta-
gena and a guilty priest, Pero Sanchez, were kept in irons until
the fleet sailed, when they were set ashore and left to their fate;
all the rest were pardoned, and open defiance of the captain-
general was no more dreamed of. In the course of the winter
the Santiago was wrecked while on a reconnoissance, but her
men were rescued after dreadful sufferings, and Serrano was
placed in command of the Concepcion.
At length on the 24th of August, with the earliest symptoms
of spring weather, the ships, which had been carefully over-
hauled and repaired, proceeded on their way. Violent storms
harassed them, and it was not until the 21st of October (St.
Ursula's day) that they reached the headland still known as Cape
Virgins. Passing beyond Dungeness they entered a large open
bay, which some hailed as the long-sought strait, while others
averred that no passage would be found there.
It was, says
Pigafetta, in Eden's version, "the straight now cauled the straight
of Magellanus, beinge in sum place C. x. leaques in length: and
in breadth sumwhere very large and in other places lyttle more
than halfe a leaque in bredth. On both the sydes of this strayght
are great and hygh mountaynes couered with snowe, beyonde the
whiche is the enteraunce into the sea of Sur.
Here one
of the shyppes stole away priuilic and returned into Spayne. "
More than five weeks were consumed in passing through the
strait, and among its labyrinthine twists and half-hidden bays
there was ample opportunity for desertion. As advanced recon-
noissances kept reporting the water as deep and salt, the convic-
tion grew that the strait was found, and then the question once


## p. 5790 (#374) ###########################################

5790
JOHN FISKE
more arose whether it would not be best to go back to Spain,
satisfied with this discovery, since with all these wretched delays
the provisions were again running short. Magellan's answer,
uttered in measured and quiet tones, was simply that he would
go on and do his work "if he had to eat the leather off the
ship's yards. " Upon the San Antonio there had always been a
large proportion of the malcontents, and the chief pilot, Estevan
Gomez, having been detailed for duty on that ship, lent himself
to their purposes.
The captain, Mesquita, was again seized and
put in irons, a new captain was chosen by the mutineers, and
Gomez piloted the ship back to Spain, where they arrived after
a voyage of six months, and screened themselves for a while by
lying about Magellan.
As for that commander, in Richard Eden's words, "when the
capitayne Magalianes was past the strayght and sawe the way
open to the other mayne sea, he was so gladde therof that for
ioy the teares fell from his eyes, and named the poynt of the
lande from whense he fyrst sawe that sea Capo Desiderato. Sup-
posing that the shyp which stole away had byn loste, they erected
a crosse uppon the top of a hyghe hyll to direct their course
in the straight yf it were theyr chaunce to coome that way. "
The broad expanse of waters before him seemed so pleasant to
Magellan, after the heavy storms through which he had passed,
that he called it by the name it still bears, Pacific. But the
worst hardships were still before him. Once more a Sea of
Darkness must be crossed by brave hearts sickening with hope
deferred. If the mid-Atlantic waters had been strange to Colum-
bus and his men, here before Magellan's people all was thrice
unknown.
«< They were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea;"
and as they sailed month after month over the waste of waters,
the huge size of our planet began to make itself felt. Until
after the middle of December they kept a northward course, near
the coast of the continent, running away from the antarctic cold.
Then northwesterly and westerly courses were taken, and on the
24th of January, 1521, a small wooded islet was found in water
where the longest plummet-lines failed to reach bottom. Already
the voyage since issuing from the strait was nearly twice as long
as that of Columbus in 1492 from the Canaries to Guanahani. .


## p. 5791 (#375) ###########################################

JOHN FISKE
5791
From the useless island, which they called San Pablo, a further
run of eleven days brought them to another uninhabited rock,
which they called Tiburones, from the quantity of sharks observed
in the neighborhood. There was neither food nor water to be
had there, and a voyage of unknown duration, in reality not less
than 5,000 English miles, was yet to be accomplished before a
trace of land was again to greet their yearning gaze. Their
sufferings may best be told in the quaint and touching words in
which Shakespeare read them:-"And hauynge in this tyme con-
sumed all theyr bysket and other vyttayles, they fell into such
necessitie that they were inforced to eate the pouder that re-
mayned therof beinge now full of woormes.
Theyre
freshe water was also putrifyed and become yelow. They dyd
eate skynnes and pieces of lether which were foulded abowt cer-
teyne great ropes of the shyps. [Thus did the captain-general's
words come true. ] But these skynnes being made verye harde
by reason of the soonne, rayne, and wynde, they hunge them by
a corde in the sea for the space of foure or fiue dayse to mollifie
them, and sodde them, and eate them. By reason of this famen
and vnclene feedynge, summe of theyr gummes grewe so ouer
theyr teethe [a symptom of scurvy], that they dyed miserably
for hunger. And by this occasion dyed xix. men, and
besyde these that dyed, xxv. or. xxx. were so sicke that they
were not able to doo any seruice with theyr handes or arms for
feeblenesse: So that was in maner none without sum disease. In
three monethes and xx. dayes, they sayled foure thousande
leaques in one goulfe by the sayde sea cauled Pacificum (that is)
peaceable, whiche may well bee so cauled forasmuch as in all
this tyme hauyng no syght of any lande, they had no misfortune
of wynde or any other tempest.
So that in fine, if god
of his mercy had not gyuen them good wether, it was necessary
that in this soo greate a sea they shuld all haue dyed for hun-
Whiche neuertheless they escaped soo hardely, that it may
bee doubted whether euer the like viage may be attempted with
so goode successe. "
ger.
One would gladly know-albeit Pigafetta's journal and the
still more laconic pilot's log-book leave us in the dark on this
point-how the ignorant and suffering crews interpreted this
everlasting stretch of sea, vaster, said Maximilian Transylvanus,
"than the human mind could conceive. " To them it may well
have seemed that the theory of a round and limited earth was
·
1


## p. 5792 (#376) ###########################################

5792
JOHN FISKE
wrong after all, and that their infatuated commander was leading
them out into the fathomless abysses of space, with no welcom-
ing shore beyond. But that heart of triple bronze, we may be
sure, did not flinch. The situation had got beyond the point
where mutiny could be suggested as a remedy. The very des-
perateness of it was all in Magellan's favor; for so far away had
they come from the known world that retreat meant certain
death. The only chance of escape lay in pressing forward.