''The Siege of Numantia'' () is a

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

set at the

siege of Numantia The Celtiberian oppidum of Numantia was attacked more than once by Roman forces, but the siege of Numantia refers to the culminating and pacifying action of the long-running Numantine War between the forces of the Roman Republic and those of ...

, captured and razed by

Scipio Aemilianus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus (185 BC – 129 BC), known as Scipio Aemilianus or Scipio Africanus the Younger, was a Roman general and statesman noted for his military exploits in the Third Punic War against Carthage and durin ...

in 133 BC. The play is divided into four acts, (''jornadas'', or "days"). The

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

is sometimes in

tercet A tercet is composed of three lines of poetry, forming a stanza or a complete poem. Examples of tercet forms English-language haiku is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem. A poetic triplet is a tercet in which all three lines follow the same r ...

s and sometimes in ''redondillas'', but for the most part in

octaves In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

. The work was composed ''circa'' 1582 and was apparently very successful in the years before the advent of the playwright

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

. It remained unpublished until the eighteenth-century. Since then, it has been hailed by many as a “rare specimen of Spanish tragedy” and even as the best Spanish tragedy not only from the period before Lope de Vega, but of all its literature. Some critics have seen resemblances between Cervantes' tragedy and

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

's ''

The Persians ''The Persians'' (, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. It is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost trilog ...

'', while others reject that the play is a conventional tragedy. Some envision the play as containing epic elements or even exhibiting opposing epics:

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'' and

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...

's ''

Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'' (, neuter plural), is a Latin literature, Roman Epic poetry, epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the Caesar's civil war, civil war between Ju ...

'', while Barbara Simerka argues for generic instability and the counter-epic

Plot

In the first act, Scipio appears with his generals in the Roman camp before

Numantia Numantia () is an ancient Celtiberian settlement, whose remains are located on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the current municipality of Garray ( Soria), Spain. Numantia is famous for its role in the Celtiberian Wars. In 153 BC, Num ...

. He explains that this war has been going on for many years and that the Roman Senate has sent him to finish the task. He reprimands his troops, whose martial spirit has begun to be superseded by the pleasures of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

and

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

. The soldiers are re-inspired with courage. Numantian ambassadors enter with proposals for peace, which are rejected. The Greek Chorus, in Cervantes' work is replaced by allegorical figures. Spain appears, and she summons the river

Duero The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

, on whose banks Numantia stands. The old river god appears, attended by a retinue of the deities of the smaller rivers of the surrounding country. These allegorical characters consult fate, in the guise of

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus ( ; ) is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" (''hálios gérôn''). Some who ascribe a specific domain to Prote ...

and discover that Numantia cannot be saved. The lengthy speech dealing with Spanish history has been taken as a moment of praise for the future Spanish empire, and as containing elements that question imperial expansionism. In Act Two, the scene is now transferred to Numantia. The senate is assembled to deliberate on the affairs of the city. The senate adopts bold resolutions. The story moves into light redondillas - the loves of a young Numantian, named Marandro for Lira. Although

is invoked, Marandro assures his friend Leoncio that true love (as opposed to Roman lust) does not impede his duties as citizen and soldier. A solemn sacrifice is prepared; but amidst the ceremony an evil spirit appears, seizes the sacrificial ram, and extinguishes the fire. The confusion in the town increases. A dead man is resuscitated by magic in a dramatic scene reminiscent of the necromantic revivification by the witch Erichto in the

. In the third act, all hope for a successful resolution of the dispute between Romans and Numantians has now vanished. While the men would go out and fight the Romans in the field rather than die of hunger in the siege, the women of the play prevent them from doing this. It is they who recommend a mass suicide, for, in this manner, they will not become enslaved to the Romans. It is the women, then, who impel Theagenes to carry out this fatal action, thus playing a key role in the tragic denouement. The city resolves to burn all their valuable property, to put their wives and children to death, and to throw themselves into the flames, lest any of the inhabitants of the town should become the slaves of the Romans. Scenes of domestic misery and of patriotism ensue. Famine rages in Numantia. Marandro, accompanied by his friend, Leoncio, ventures to enter the Roman camp. The tragic denouement ensues in Act Four. Here, Marandro returns with some bread smeared with blood in order to feed Lira, but he falls at her feet mortally wounded, foregrounding the theme of sacrifice. Scenes of destruction and mass suicide ensue, as men kill their women and then turn the sword on themselves or duel with each other. The allegorical figures of War, Sickness and Hunger take over the stage in an apocalyptic ambiance.Brian N. Stiegler, "The Coming of the New Jerusalem: Apocalyptic Vision in Cervantes' ''La Numancia''," ''Neophilologus'', 80.4 (1996): 569-81. When Bariato, the last youth left alive, commits suicide by throwing himself from a tower, the Roman general realizes that he cannot go home with slaves and spoil, and that the small city of Numantia has triumphed over the power of the Romans. His lament signals for some critics the final catastrophe and his role as tragic hero. His hubris and desire for domination rather than negotiation has brought him to his knees. The allegorical figure of Fame enters at the end of the piece, and announces the future glory of Spain, a great power that will rise out of the ashes of Numantia like the phoenix.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Numantia, The 1580s plays Plays by Miguel de Cervantes Plays set in the 2nd century BC Plays set in Spain Plays set in ancient Rome