16 The metre changes to an irregular couplet in long and short lines. [[Return]]
17 The metre changes to the double asonante in e-e, which continues to the end of the drama. [[Return]]
18 Baptism by blood and fire through martyrdom. Calderon refers here evidently to the words of St. John the Baptist: "He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire"—St. Matth., c. iii. v. ii. The following passage in the Legend of St. Catherine must also have been present to his mind:
"Et cum dolerent, quod sine baptismo decederent, virgo respondit: Ne timeatis, quia effusio vestri sanguinis vobis baptismus reputabitur et corona". Legenda Aurea, c. 167. [[Return]]