1 de enero 1883. La Noche. Estoy muy triste yo. No s qu
vaga melancola, indefinida soledad ahoga el alma, semejante a la profunda tristeza de las ciudades despus de un tumultuoso jbilo, a una ciudad despus de una felicsima unin. So que imitando yo a un actor en una escena en que muere, sent vivamente que me faltaba el aliento y perda rpidamente las fuerzas. Despus se me oscureca la vista y densas tinieblas, como las de la nada, se apoderaban de m: las angustias de la muerte. Quise gritar y pedir socorro a Antonio Paterno, sintiendo que iba a morir. Despert sin fuerzas y sin aliento.
Night. Mournful am I. I do not know what vague melancholy, what
indefinable loneliness stifles the soul, similar to the profound sadness of cities after a tumultuous rejoicing, to a city after an exceedingly happy union. [Two nights ago, that is, December 30], I had a frightful nightmare when I almost died. I dreamed that imitating an actor in a scene in which he dies, I felt vividly that my breath was failing and I was rapidly losing strength. Then my vision became dim and dense darkness like that of nothingness overpowered me: the anguish of death. I wanted to shout and ask for help from Antonio Paterno, feeling that I was about to die. I awoke weak and breathless. Translated by Austin Coates and Leon Ma. Guerrero, Rizals biographers
OVERVIEW
Jose Rizal was born on 19 June 1861
at Calamba in the Philippine province of Laguna, about ten hours by ponytrap southward from Manila. Calamba, then a town of between three and four thousand inhabitants, lay in the heart of a region of agricultural prosperity its orchards being stocked with a rich variety of tropical fruits. The region forms part of what is called the rice basket of the Philippines, the most productive are in the country. (Coates 1968:5)
At the time, the birth of Jose, her
(Teodora) seventh child and second son, was remarkable only for the fact that he was a difficult birth and turned out to be a pale and sickly child with an undersized body and unusually large head The priest noticing the unusual size of the childs head, warned TeodoraTake good care of this child, he said. Someday he will be a great man.(Coates 1968:9)
Aged thirty-five, short and slender, pale
after two months in prison, he was impeccably dressed in European style, black suit, spotlessly white shirt and tie , and wearing a black derby hat, much in vogue at that time in Europe. His appearance was almost English in its formality and taste. But it was not this that drew peoples attention. It was his features and expression, and the calm dignity of his bearing. As could be seen at a glance, this was no ordinary traitor to be jeered and howled at. As he passed there was silence, while people stared, some in surprise, others with concern, and all the uneasy sense of being confronted by something they did not fully understand. (Coates 1968:xv)
This was a man who had passed far
beyond differences of race and nation. Despite being a member of a subject race, it was the face of a person the equal of any, expressive of intellectual honesty and insight , both in unusual measure. As the Madrid newspaper reports of the occasion show, there were few Spaniards present that day who, once they had seen him, remained unaware of these qualities, disconcerting as they found them. The impression the pale man conveyed was inescapable.(Coates 1968:9)
(Evolutionary Psychology) Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Lisa L. M. Welling, Todd K. Shackelford - Evolutionary Perspectives On Social Psychology (2015, Springer) PDF