Hello everyone, I am the stern of the boat, with you to experience the joy of reading people!
When the Stars Shine is one of the "best biographers in history" of humanity, Stephen Zweig. In this book, Zweig presents his creations with the brushstrokes of a poet and artist, with a completely personal and unique vision. The book was first published in 1927 and has been expanded from the first five articles to 14.
Meet the author --- Stephen Zweig --- a brilliant biographer!
Stephen Zweig: Austrian novelist, poet, playwright and biographer.
Coming from a wealthy Jewish family, the author studied philosophy and literature in Vienna and Berlin in his youth, and later traveled the world to meet and influence roman Rolland and Freud. He is the author of poetry, novels, plays, essays, and biographies, most famous for his biographical and novel achievements.
The author is a Jew, he personally experienced the First World War and the Second World War, the First World War, he engaged in anti-war work, during the Second World War, he was expelled by the Nazis, exiled to Britain, Brazil, in 1942 in loneliness and ideal disillusionment with his wife both committed suicide, can be described as a rich life experience. Perhaps also because he experienced two world wars, Zweig also suffered from war, hunger, and riots.
In his works, you can experience his deep thinking about time, life, history and other aspects!
Representative works: short story "The Story of Chess", "Letter from a Strange Woman"
Memoirs "Yesterday's World"
and biographies of writers and historical figures, The Three Masters
Trivia: Three of the most prominent biographers of the Twentieth Century in the West
This article is based on the first story of "When the Stars Shine" of Humanity: An Important Excerpt from the Immortal Fugitive.
Immortal Fugitives: A Journey of Discovery of the Pacific ocean in Balboa
Also at the star-studded moment of the history of human geographical discovery, Zweig did not choose Columbus to discover the Americas, because this history is too well-known, but chose the relatively less well-known, and therefore more necessary, Balboa discovery of the Pacific Ocean.
Classic passages:
Now it is greed that brings them together. Not only did the decent nobles who wanted to gild their heraldic shields all gold, but also the daring adventurers and brave soldiers, and all the garbage and dregs of Spain drifted to Palos and Cadiz. The burglars with fire marks, the robbers who blocked the road, the pickpockets who were in the way — they all wanted to go to El Dorado to get a vote. There are also debtors who want to escape their creditors, who want to get rid of their wives' husbands, all the desperate bandits, the poor eggs who live poorly, the lawbreakers with branding [illustrations] and the wanted criminals who are hunted down by the police, all sign up for the voyage. A bunch of rabble-rousers, desperate, looking forward to getting rich overnight. In order to achieve their goals, no matter how violent and criminal, they have no scruples. Columbus's falsehood spread among them, making them think that in those places they could get a whole bunch of shiny gold with a gentle dig with a shovel.
In 1493, Columbus returned from the Americas for the first time, and triumphantly showed the Spanish people countless rare treasures, which aroused the extreme fantasies of the Spanish people, especially the bottom and the poor and indebted. The dream of a ragtag bunch of people jumping on the page.
While telling the story, add the impression that the classic sentences in many books actually appear in this position in the book, which has something to do with the author's personal experience of the world's First and Second World Wars. The more life and death experiences, the deeper the perception of events.
The governor of Espagnola (later Santo Domingo or Haiti) watched in horror as these uninvited guests poured in and overwhelmed the island that the king had entrusted him with. Year after year, new cargo was brought in by seagoing ships, along with a bunch of guys who were getting harder and harder to control. However, the newcomers were equally bitter and disappointed, for there was no gold all over the streets; the unfortunate natives of the area had been so plundered by this group of blonde beasts that they could no longer squeeze out even a single grain of gold from them. Thus these rabble-rousers wandered around, looking for trouble and robbery, which worried the suffering Indians all day and made the governor worried. In order to attract the fellows to reclaim the new land, the governor tried everything he could to give them land, to give them livestock, and even generously gave them talking animals, that is, to each of them 60 to 70 Indians as slaves, but to no avail. Both the knights of Hidalgo, who were born in the nobility, or the road robbers of the past, knew nothing about running a farm. They did not travel here to grow wheat and raise livestock; so they never took sowing and harvesting to heart, but only to bully the bitter Indians—in a few short years they had exterminated the entire race of the region—or spent time in tavern gambling caves. Before long, the vast majority of the men were in debt, forced to sell their belongings, and finally even to sell their coats, hats, and last shirts, forcing them to be feared by merchants and usurers.
The rabble-rousers delusional about how fate would go, and the dreams of the Spaniards who went to the City of Gold to pan for gold were shattered in reality. They didn't come here for farming and animal husbandry, they were here to pan for gold. Moreover, most of these Spaniards were restless people at the bottom of society, to put it bluntly, "hooligans", and it was understandable why they slaughtered Indians, as chickens and dogs.
Suddenly, the wooden box unexpectedly opened itself, and out of it came a man of about thirty-five years of age, heavily armed, wearing a long sword, wearing armor, and holding a shield, resembling Santiago, the patron saint of the kingdom of Castile. He is Basco Nunez de Barboa. It was also the first time he proved to the world that he had amazing courage and wit.
On the ship to the City of Gold, the protagonist of this chapter, Balboa, appears: Basco Nunez de Barboa, born in 1475 (the eleventh year of Ming Chenghua) and died in 1519 (the fourteenth year of Ming Zhengde), Spanish conquistadors, adventurers and geographical discoverers. He was the first European to look out over the Pacific Ocean from the American continent.
He was clever and managed to board the ship of the expedition under the cover of a wooden box. Previously, he was also heavily indebted, and in the face of the temptation of gold and the courage to get rid of debt, the golden dream of the chaotic tyrant opened!
After listening to Pizarro's account, the people of Sisso were no longer interested in going to the remote colony to face the terrible swamp climate and the poisonous arrows of the indigenous people. They felt that the only thing that was feasible now was to return to Espagnola. At this critical juncture, Balboa suddenly stepped forward and said that his first voyage was to explore the coast with Rodrigo de Bastidas, so he knew very well the whole coastal region of Central America. He remembered that they had been to a place called Darien, which clinged to a river rich in gold sand, and the natives there were friendly, so they should go there to establish a new settlement, not in that hapless old place.
The entire staff immediately agreed. They followed his advice and headed for Darien next to the Isthmus of Panama. Once there, according to the usual aggressive methods of the conquerors, they first carried out a brutal massacre among the natives. Having found gold in looted belongings, this group of outlaws decided to build a new settlement here, and with great gratitude they called the new city "The Virgin Mary of Dallian Antigua."
When the opportunity to make a fortune was discovered, this group of Spaniards was greedy. In other words, they crave wealth and they crave success.
However, their approach seems to be unworthy of their dreams.
The colonial practices of Westerners and the psychology of slaughtering indigenous peoples can be seen in the degree of brutality.
This is their cultural attribute.
When dreams and killing are intertwined, they don't seem positive, at least not in today's society.
Now, Balboa— the man who came out of the wooden box — was the master of the colony. However, despite his success, he did not feel very happy. Because he had openly created the king's rebellion, and the governor sent by the king had also died because of him, it was difficult for him to get the king's forgiveness. He knew that the fleeing Ensiso was on his way to Spain with a complaint and that sooner or later his rebellion would be tried by the courts. But Spain was so far away, after all, that he had plenty of time before a ship crossed the ocean twice. In order to retain his usurped power for a long time, he must use his wisdom and courage to find the only way. He knew that in those days, success could justify any crime, and that giving a lot of gold to the royal family could quell or delay the lawsuit. In other words, first get gold, because gold is power!
What is crime and what is not crime?
To have money, to have gold is to have rights, is to have no sin!
Justice then was to have wealth, to have gold!
This is history, the history of the Golden Age.
This was the era, the so-called "rationality"!
Balboa realized that in order to wash away all his sins and earn the honor of the ages, he had to do it: he would be the first to cross the Isthmus of Panama to the "Mar del Sur", or "South Sea", through which one could reach India and occupy the new Ophia for the Spanish crown. At this moment, in the palace of Chief Comagle, his fate was already predestined. From this moment on, this man who inadvertently became an adventurer, his life will acquire a sublime meaning beyond time.
Balvoya's story ushered in a critical period, and although he was guilty, his starting point for chasing his dreams also had a positive side.
Extending the meaning of the story at the node of the story is worth learning from.
On September 1, 1513, Balboa, a hero and bandit, explorer and rebel, began his immortal journey to escape hanging or imprisonment.
At this moment, Balboa ordered all the men to stop advancing. No one was allowed to follow him, for he was unwilling to share with anyone the honor of looking at the unknown ocean for the first time. He was to go alone, and after crossing one of our largest oceans, the Atlantic Ocean, he wanted to be the first Spaniard, the first European, and the first Christian to see with his own eyes another, yet unknown ocean, the Pacific, and he wanted to be unparalleled and forever recorded in history. Deeply moved by the great significance of this moment, he jumped with his heart pounding, holding a flag in his left hand and a sword in his right hand, slowly climbing upwards, a lonely figure in the vast heavens and the earth. He climbed calmly and was not in a hurry at all, because the work was done. It just takes a few more steps up, and the target is getting closer and closer. Yes, when he finally stood at the top of the mountain, it was really an extraordinary sight in front of him. Beneath the gradually sloping peaks, behind the lush hills, is a vast stretch of endless sea, sparkling and shining. This is the sea, the strange sea, the sea that is not yet known, the sea of legend, which so far has only haunted people's dreams, and no one has ever seen it with their own eyes.
Subsequently, 67 people came down from the top of the mountain. On September 25, 1513, on this very day, mankind became aware of the last ocean on Earth that had hitherto been unknown.
On September 25, 1513, on this very day, mankind learned of the last sea on earth that has never been known to the west - this is only the perspective of the Westerners themselves, and it should be known that Cao Cao of China had already written "Guancang Sea" in the face of the Pacific Ocean before this!
Can you say that the Pacific Ocean in 1513 was first discovered by humans? I'm afraid not!
But, in the global sense of the Pacific. Although Cao Cao saw the Pacific Ocean (Bohai Sea), he could not possibly know what the Pacific meant. How big is the Pacific Ocean and what is opposite? At the very least, he didn't keep exploring. On the spiritual level, one layer is lost. It can be described as "seeing the ocean and not knowing the ocean." ”
The next day, on the feast of Michael on September 29, he appeared by the sea with only 22 companions, armed like St. Michael, and announced the occupation of this new sea through solemn ceremonies. He did not hurry to the sea, but like the master and master of the sea, he sat down and rested under a tree, proudly waiting for the rising sea to gently slap the waves on his feet, like a submissive puppy licking his feet with his tongue.
The details described here are really amazing. The arrogant temperament of Balboa's European colonists is vividly displayed by such a detail. Seconds!
This characterization is my favorite piece of this story.
Balboa followed the chief's outstretched hand and stared into the distance, where only the mountains disappeared into the vast sky. The soft-spoken word "Biru" was like a magic spell that was immediately remembered in the depths of his soul. His heart pounded. It was a great foreshadowing of the second time in his life that he had unexpectedly acquired it. Chief Comagle's first foreshadowing of the South China Sea being nearby has been successfully completed. He found the South China Sea and the beach of this pearl. Perhaps this second sign will go well, he will discover and conquer the Golden Nation on Earth, the Inca Empire.
The "South Sea" has been found, and the next sign is to find the Golden Empire, and the conquerors, or colonists, have a strong and firm belief in their dreams, which is another characteristic of their "brutality".
Balboa prepared his grand plan with steely perseverance. But it was precisely the success of this bold plan that brought danger to him, for Pedrarias's jealous eyes had been precariously fixed on the intentions of his subordinate. Perhaps as a result of the traitor's betrayal, he had received intelligence that Balboa was ambitious to establish his own rule; perhaps it was purely out of jealousy, fearing that this former rebel would succeed for the second time.
All in all, he suddenly sent a very earnest letter to Balboa, in which he said that he hoped that Balboa would better return to Accra [illustration] before finally starting the expedition, because there was something to discuss. Balboa, hoping for further support from Pedrellarias, returned immediately upon invitation. A small group of soldiers marched outside the city gates in his direction, as if to come to meet him. He hurried toward them happily, in order to embrace their captain—his comrade-in-arms for many years, his companion when he discovered the South China Sea, his trusted friend Francisco Pizarro.
Pizarro, however, pressed his hand heavily on his shoulder and announced that he had been arrested. Pizarro was also eager to make an immortal career and to occupy el Dorado. Therefore, when he knew that he wanted to get rid of such a bold predecessor, he did not mind very much. Governor Pedrarias began this so-called trial against the rebels and soon handed down an unjust verdict. A few days later, Balboa took to the guillotine with some of his most loyal companions. I saw the executioner's knife and axe flash, and the head that rolled to the ground closed its eyes forever in a second. This was the first pair of human eyes to see the two oceans that surrounded our planet at the same time.
Sometimes, the title of hero is jealous of others except themselves. Especially when others also have the opportunity to earn this title. Pedrarias is jealous of Balboa, and if you have found the glory of the Pacific Ocean, then give me the glory of discovering the City of Gold, and die, Balboa!
If the discovery of the Americas is the most critical first step in humanity's understanding of the Earth, then the discovery of the Pacific Ocean is an unusually critical second step. Because, with its discovery, the Americas and Asia will eventually be connected, and the most important gap in the human geographical picture will be filled.
Although a generation of tyrants, Balboa, in the end, failed to establish his own ruling kingdom.
But his efforts, his courage to brave the poisonous insects, dampness and scorching sun of the equatorial rainforest, and the courage to chase his dreams, are excellent!
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Author: Shipwing, a car engineer who loves words, reads, writes, and spreads positive energy.