Gozate, gozosa, madre,
gozo de la humanidad,
templo de la Trinidad,
elegida por dios padre,
Virgen que por el oydo
concebiste,
gaude, virgen, mater Christi,
y nuestro gozo infinido!
Gozate, luz reverida,
segun el Evangelista
por la madre del Baptista
anunciado la venida,
de nuestro gozo Señora
que trayas
vaso de nuestro mexias
gozate pulchra y decora, &c.
In this way the Gozate is repeated through a series of stanzas.
[83] Dieze, in his remarks on Velasquez, erroneously refers to the publication of Gregorio Mayans, for the proverbs in verse; but only the original proverbs, without versification, (refranes que dicen las viejas tras el huego) as collected by the Marquis, are given in the second volume of that work, p. 179. The greater part deserve to be better known, but many of them are unintelligible to foreigners.
[84] See the note, page 24.
[85] E que cosa es la poesia, que en nuestra vulgar (there is something equivocal here, for this term was not vernacular in the Castilian language) llamamos gaya sciencia, sino un fingimiento de cosas utiles, è veladas con muy fermosa cobertura, compuestas, distinguidas, escondidas, por certo cuento, peso, è medida.
[86] He appeals to St. Isidore, whom he cites as a guarantee for this origin of poetry:—Isidro Cartaginès, santo Arzobispo Hispalense, assi lo pruebra y testifica, e quiere, que el primero que fizo rythmos y cantó en metro hay sido Moysen, y despues Joshue, David, Salomon, y Job.
[87] Honestæ conditionis, says Nicolas Antonio, speaking of his family.
[88] Only the supplement to this poem is contained in the Cancionero general. The poem itself was probably too long to be included in that collection. However, in the editions of the collected works of Mena (for instance, that which I have now before me, intitled—Todas las obras del famosissimo poeta Juan de Mena, &c. Anveres, 1552, 8º) which Dieze notices, it fills the greater portion of the volume, and is accompanied by a copious commentary by Fernan Nuñez.
[89] The emphatic praise bestowed on this poem in Dieze’s observations on Velasquez, (page 168), according to which Juan de Mena “maintains to his advantage a comparison with all the poets of all ages,” is sufficient to prove Dieze’s deficiency in sound criticism.
[90] The second stanza contains the theme, but it is very imperfectly expressed:—