Note 59 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
Perhaps a parody was here intended of the famous epitaph of Simonides, on the brave Spartans who fell at Thermopylæ:
Ω ξειν, αγγειλον Λακεδαιμονιοις, οτι τηδε Κειμεθα, τοις κεινων ρημασι πειθομενοι.
“O stranger, carry back the news to Lacedemon, that we died here to prove our obedience to her laws.” This, it will be observed, may be translated, or at least closely imitated, in the very words of Cervantes; diras—que su caballero murio por acometer cosas, que le hiciesen digno de poder llamarse suyo.