The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home

CHAPTER LXIII 311
[114] A similar incident occurred in Kalamba.--Author's note.
[115] "The Maid of Saragossa," noted for her heroic exploits during the siege of that city by the French in
1808-09.--TR.
[116] A region in southwestern Spain, including the provinces of Badajoz and Caceres.--TR.
[117] Author of a little book of fables in Castilian verse for the use of schools. The fable of the young
philosopher illustrates the thought in Pope's well-known lines:
"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her
face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace."--TR.
[118] Bones for those who come late.
[119] According to Spanish custom, a matron is known by prefixing her maiden name with de (possessive of)
to her husband's name.--TR.
[120] The marble-shop of Rodoreda is still in existence on Calle Carriedo, Santa Cruz.--TR.
[121] There is a play on words here, Campanario meaning belfry and Torre tower.--TR.
[122] The Roman Catholic decalogue does not contain the commandment forbidding the worship of "graven
images," its second being the prohibition against "taking His holy name in vain." To make up the ten, the
commandment against covetousness is divided into two.--TR.
[123] The famous Virgin of Saragossa, Spain, and patroness of Santa Cruz, Manila.--TR.
[124] In 1883 the old system of "tribute" was abolished and in its place a graduated personal tax imposed. The
certificate that this tax had been paid, known as the cédula personal, which also served for personal
identification, could be required at any time or place, and failure to produce it was cause for summary arrest.
It therefore became, in unscrupulous hands, a fruitful source of abuse, since any "undesirable" against whom
no specific charge could be brought might be put out of the way by this means.--TR.
[125] Tanawan or Pateros?--Author's note. The former is a town in Batangas Province, the latter a village on
the northern shore of the Lake of Bay, in what is now Rizal Province.--TR.
[126] The Spanish Parliament.--TR.
[127] Lásak, talisain, and bulik are some of the numerous terms used in the vernacular to describe
fighting-cocks.--TR.
[128] Another form of the corruption of compadre, "friend," "neighbor."--TR.
[129] It is a superstition of the cockpit that the color of the victor in the first bout decides the winners for that
session: thus, the red having won, the lásak, in whose plumage a red color predominates, should be the victor
in the succeeding bout.--TR.
[130] The dark swallows will return.
[131] General Carlos Maria de let Torte y Nava Carrada, the first "liberal" governor of the Philippines, was
Captain-General from 1869 to 1871. He issued an amnesty to the outlaws and created the Civil Guard, largely