[15] Sepulveda, Democrites, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.—Signorelli, Coltura nelle Sicilie, tom. iv. p. 318.— Tiraboschi, Letteratura Italiana, tom. vii. part. 3, lib. 3, cap. 4.— Comp. Lampillas, Saggio Storico-Apologetico de la Letteratura Spagnuola, (Genova, 1778,) tom. ii. dis. 2, sect. 5.—The patriotic Abate is greatly scandalized by the degree of influence which Tiraboschi and other Italian critics ascribe to their own language over the Castilian, especially at this period. The seven volumes, in which he has discharged his bile on the heads of the offenders, afford valuable materials for the historian of Spanish literature. Tiraboschi must be admitted to have the better of his antagonist in temper, if not in argument.
[16] Among these we find copious translations from the ancient classics, as Caesar, Appian, Plutarch, Plautus, Sallust, Aesop, Justin, Boëthius, Apulius, Herodian, affording strong evidence of the activity of the Castilian scholars in this department. Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. pp. 406, 407.—Mendez, Typographia Española, pp. 133, 139.
[17] Salazar de Mendoza, Dignidades, cap. 21.
Lucio Marineo Siculo, in his discourse above alluded to, in which he exhibits the condition of letters under the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, enumerates the names of the nobility most conspicuous for their scholarship. This valuable document was to be found only in the edition of Marineo's work, "De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus," printed at Alcalá, in 1630, whence it has been transferred by Clemencin to the sixth volume of the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of History.
[18] His work "Guerra de Granada," was first published at Madrid, in 1610, and "may be compared," says Nic. Antonio, in a judgment which has been ratified by the general consent of his countrymen, "with the compositions of Sallust, or any other ancient historian." His poetry and his celebrated picaresco novel "Lazarillo de Tormes," have made an epoch in the ornamental literature of Spain.
[19] Oviedo has devoted one of his dialogues to this nobleman, equally distinguished by his successes in arms, letters, and love; the last of which, according to that writer, he had not entirely resigned at the age of seventy.—Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 28.
[20] For an account of Santillana, see the First Chapter of this History. The cardinal, in early life, is said to have translated for his father the Aeneid, the Odyssey, Ovid, Valerius Maximus, and Sallust. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.) This Herculean feat would put modern school-boys to shame, and we may suppose that partial versions only of these authors are intended.
[21] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 16.—Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Grizio.
Señor Clemencin has examined with much care the intellectual culture of the nation under Isabella, in the sixteenth Ilustracion of his work. He has touched lightly on its poetical character, considering, no doubt, that this had been sufficiently developed by other critics. His essay, however, is rich in information in regard to the scholarship and severer studies of the period. The reader, who would pursue the inquiry still further, may find abundant materials in Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Vetus, tom. ii. lib. 10, cap. 13 et seq.—Idem, Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, (Matriti, 1783-8,) tom. i. ii. passim.
[22] See Part I. Chap. 8, of this History.