[485.] reverendo coche, elegant carriage. Reverendo, lit., "worthy of reverence," but here fam., "worthy of a prelate." Many of the higher clergy formerly lived in princely style.
[499.] Porque no vuelva el marido, Lest the husband might return.
[519.] variar, in Zerolo's edition, is varïar, as it should be in order to fill out the verse.
[521.] De mi condición, etc. An interesting parallel to the idea of this passage is found in the following from Voltaire: "Il m'a toujours paru évident que le violent Achille, l'épée nue, et ne se battant point, vingt héros dans la même attitude comme des personnages de tapisserie, Agamemnon, roi des rois, n'imposant à personnes, immobile dans le tumulte, formeraient un spectacle assez semblable au cercle de la reine en cire colorée par Benoît." ("Art dramatique" in the Dictionnaire Philosophique.)
[522.] Que me pudren, etc., That paintings vex me. Note peculiar sense of pudrir.
[529.] Susana. In the thirteenth chapter of Daniel is narrated the story of Susanna, the beautiful wife of Joachim, of whom two old men, judges during the Babylonian captivity, were enamored. They surprised her one day in her bath in the garden and, because she repelled their advances, testified that they had found her with a young man. She was condemned to death, but on the way to her execution Daniel intervened and by a clever ruse succeeded in convicting the two old men of bearing false witness. They were put to death and the innocence of Susanna proclaimed. The story has furnished a theme for many painters and from it many notable works have been produced, of which several existed in the time of Lope de Vega. In the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 450, there is a sonnet, Á una Tabla de Susana, which begins:
Tu que la tabla de Susana miras,
Si del retrato la verdad ignoras,
La historia santa justamente adoras,
La retratada injustamente admiras.
[541.] Como visto, etc., If she had not seen you an excuse would be easy to find.
[545.] Llama. From this word it would seem that this part of the play is enacted in front of the house of doña Ana.
[547.] No lo echemos á perder, Let us not spoil it.