The Adventurous Simplicissimus · Chapter
XXVIII: Of a Great Battle Wherein the Conqueror Is Captured in the Hour of Triumph explained
Simplicissimus recounts how, after his rescuer's servant carries him to safety, his master is captured due to greed for honor and gain.
What happens
Simplicissimus recounts how, after his rescuer's servant carries him to safety, his master is captured due to greed for honor and gain. He is then inherited by his master's captain, forced to serve as a horseboy and later as a lutenist and armor-bearer. Tormented by lice under his cuirass, he devises a method to catch them but is eventually captured by Imperialists while preoccupied with his battle against the vermin. He becomes the prisoner of a dragoon, his sixth master in the war.
Themes in this chapter
War and Destruction
The chapter depicts the chaos of battle, capture, and the dehumanizing cycle of service and enslavement.
Folly and Wisdom
Simplicissimus's obsessive battle with lice while a real battle rages illustrates the folly of misplaced priorities.
Greed and Money
The rescuer's greed for honor and gain leads to his capture; the dragoon sells the cuirass for profit.
Characters to notice
- Simplicissimus
Narrates his capture and service as a horseboy and lutenist; tormented by lice, he is taken prisoner while fighting them.
- Ulrich Herzbruder
Mentioned as missing after the battle; his captain inherits Simplicissimus.
Key passages
“But even then, while my rescuer’s servant conveyed me out of danger, his own master was, by reason of his greed of honour and of gain, carried so far afield that he in his turn was taken prisoner.”
Even as I was being taken to safety, my rescuer himself was captured because his desire for glory and profit led him too far.
Highlights the irony of the conqueror becoming captive.
“I discharged the same office for him that David did for Saul, for when we were in quarters I played the lute for him, and when we were on the march I must wear his cuirass after him, which was a sore burden to me.”
I served him like David served Saul: playing the lute in camp and carrying his armor on the march, which was a heavy burden.
Biblical allusion to illustrate his servile role.
“I went on so furiously in my tyrannical ways that I did not even mark how the Imperialists were at blows with my lieutenant-colonel, till at last they came to me, terrified my poor lice, and took me myself prisoner.”
I was so absorbed in killing lice that I didn't notice the Imperialists attacking my colonel until they reached me, scared away the lice, and captured me.
Comic and tragic moment of capture due to distraction.