The Unlikely Protagonist - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 32

Pedro probably did not realize that one of history's conjunctures was unraveling around
him and that his era was over.
DaCunha'sdestinywasalsoimminent.Thosewhowouldcontinuetobecentralactors
in his life surrounded him then: the minister of war, Benjamin Constant, Cândido Ron-
don,hisintimate,andfellownovelistAlfredoRangel,inwhosevillainManaushewould
begin to elaborate his Lost Paradise . There were the young cadets who would estab-
lish the new Republic—and there they stood at that moment, galvanized (in both horror
and amusement, or oblivious, like those in the back who saw nothing) as the young man
threwdownhisswordinfrontoftheministerandwalkedaway,inscribinghimselfinthe
mythos of the Republic and, in an ironic inversion of Marx, appearing in history first as
farce, later as hero.
The Republic began its bloodless revolt in the shambles of the monarchy, the end of
slavery and conspiracies of the military clubs, in the impassioned idealism of the young
cadets commanded by dreams of both freedom and control. It also began in the refusal
of Euclides da Cunha to obey the imperial minister of war.