ll. 8-10. An imitation of Seneca in the Epistolae ad Lucilium: “Quod unus populus eripuerit omnibus, facilius uni ab omnibus eripi posse.”
[EL BACHILLER DE LA TORRE]. In 1631 Quevedo published a small volume of poems, declaring them to be the work of a Bachiller Francisco de la Torre. L. J. Velázquez, who reprinted the poems at Madrid, 1753, maintained that they were Quevedo’s own. An Italian influence is clear in them, and it is probable that they were composed by the Francisco de la Torre to whom Quevedo ascribed them. Cf. Fernández-Guerra in vol. II, pp. 79-104 of the Discursos of the Real Academia Española (Madrid, 1861); Ticknor, II, 282 ff: Fitzmaurice-Kelly, History of Spanish Literature, 184 ff.
[FRANCISCO DE BORJA], PRÍNCIPE DE ESQUILACHE. Esquilache was of the Borgia family and partly Italian in origin. Most of his verse is natural, simple and in a light vein. Occasionally he lapses into Gongorism. See vol. II of the Poetas líricos del siglo XVI in the Biblioteca de autores españoles; and cf. Ticknor, III, 40 ff., where the Fuentecillas que reís is translated.
[Page 169].—l. 26. el aurora: the older more general use of el before feminine words beginning with a.
l. 28. An attraction of the verb by the predicate.
[FRANCISCO DE RIOJA]. A cleric, protégé of Olivares, and disciple of Herrera, he has left us a few poems characterized by perfection of form and a generally melancholy and resigned tone. Cf. his Poesías published by Barrera for the Sociedad de bibliófilos españoles, Madrid, 1867, and the Adiciones of the same editor, Seville, 1872; see also vol. I of the Líricos del siglo XVI.
[Page 171].—l. 13. asconde, i.e., esconde.
l. 14. Paro: i.e., Paros, an island in the Ægean sea, famous for its marble.
[PEDRO SOTO DE ROJAS]. A friend of Lope de Vega, and the author of lyrics and eclogues in the Italian manner, published under the title of Desengaños de amor, Madrid, 1623. Cf. the Parnaso of Sedano, Madrid, 1768, etc., vol. IV; and see Ticknor, III, 56.
[ESTEBAN MANUEL DE VILLEGAS]. An opponent of Gongorism and well trained in the humanities, Villegas shows a decided influence of the classics in his erotic verse published under the title of Eróticas ó Amatorias (1617). He has happily imitated Horace, Catullus and Anacreon. Cf. the ed. of his poems, Madrid, 1774; Sedano, Parnaso, vol. IX; vol. II of the Líricos del siglo XVI; and see Ticknor III, 36 ff.