Yes, Replied Sancho, I Have Seen All That

‘The crowns and sceptres of stage emperors,’ remarked Sancho, ‘were never known to be of pure gold; they are always of tinsel or tinplate.’ ‘That is the truth,’ said Don Quixote, ‘for it is only right that the accessories of a drama should be fictitious and not real, like the play itself. Speaking of that, Sancho, I would have you look kindly upon the art of the theatre and, as a consequence, upon those who write the pieces and perform in them, for they all render a service of great value to the state by holding up a mirror for us at each step we take, wherein we may observe, vividly depicted, all the varied aspects of human life; and I may add that there is nothing that shows us more clearly, by similitude, what we are and what we ought to be than do plays and players. ‘Tell me, have you not seen some comedy in which kings, emperors, pontiffs, knights, ladies, and numerous other characters are introduced? One plays the ruffian, another the cheat, this one a merchant, and that one a soldier, while yet another is the fool who is not so foolish as he appears, and still another the one of whom love has made a fool. Yet when the play is over and they have taken off their players’ garments, all the actors are once more equal.’ ‘Yes,’ replied Sancho, ‘I have seen all that.’ ‘Well,’ continued Don Quixote, ‘the same thing happens in the comedy we call life, where some play the part of emperors, others that of pontiffs – in short, all the characters that a drama may have – but when it is all over, that is to say, when life is done, death takes from each the garb that differentiates him, and all at last are equal in the grave.’ ‘It is a fine comparison,’ Sancho admitted, ‘though not so new but that I have heard it many times before. . . .’

(Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, translated by Samuel Putnam, London, 1953, Part II, Bk. iii, 12)