Chapter IX: The Age of Lope De Vega (3)

Contemporary with Cervantes and Lope de Vega was the greatest of all Spanish historians, JUAN DE MARIANA (1537-1624). The natural son of a canon of Talavera, Mariana distinguished himself at Alcalá de Henares, was brought under the notice of Diego Láinez, General of the Jesuits, and joined the order, whose importance was growing daily. At twenty-four Mariana was appointed professor of theology at the great Jesuit College in Rome, whence he passed to Sicily and Paris. In 1574 he returned to Spain, and was settled in the Society's house at Toledo. He was appointed to examine into the charges made by Léon de Castro against Arias Montano, whose Polyglot Bible appeared at Antwerp in 1569-72. Montano was accused of adulterating the Hebrew text, and among the Jesuits the impression of his trickery was general. After a careful examination, extending over two years, Mariana pronounced in Montano's favour. In 1599 there appeared his treatise entitled _De Rege_, with official sanction by his superiors. No Spaniard raised his voice against the book; but its sixth chapter, which laid it down that kings may be put to death in certain circumstances, created a storm abroad. It was sought to prove that, if Mariana had never written, Ravaillac would not have assassinated Henri IV.; and, eleven years after publication, Mariana's book was publicly burned by the hangman. His seven Latin treatises, published at Köln in 1609, do not concern us here; but they must be mentioned, since two of the essays—one on immortality, the other on currency questions—led to the writer's imprisonment.

The main work of Mariana's lifetime was his _Historia de España_, written, as he says, to let Europe know what Spain had accomplished. It was not unnatural that, with a foreign audience in view, Mariana should address it in Latin; hence his first twenty books were published in that language (1592). But he bethought him of his own country, and, in a happy hour, became his own translator. His Castilian version (1601) almost amounts to a new work; for, in translating, he cut, amplified, and corrected as he saw fit. And in subsequent editions he continued to modify and improve. The result is a masterpiece of historic prose. Mariana was not minute in his methods, and his contempt for literal accuracy comes out in his answer to Lupercio de Argensola, who had pointed out an error in detail:—"I never pretended to verify each fact in a history of Spain; if I had, I should never have finished it." This is typical of the man and his method. He makes no pretence to special research, and he accepts a legend if he honestly can: even as he follows a common literary convention when he writes speeches in Livy's manner for his chief personages. But while a score of writers cared more for accuracy than did Mariana, his work survives not as a chronicle, but as a brilliant exercise in literature. His learning is more than enough to save him from radical blunders; his impartiality and his patriotism go hand in hand; his character-drawing is firm and convincing; and his style, with its faint savour of archaism, is of unsurpassed dignity and clearness in his narrative. He cared more for the spirit than for the letter, and time has justified him. "The most remarkable union of picturesque chronicling with sober history that the world has ever seen"—in such words Ticknor gives his verdict; and the praise is not excessive.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] In Felipe II.'s time the normal value of an _escudo de oro_ was 8s. 4-1/4d. The actual exchange value varied between seven and eight shillings.

[17] One _real de vellón_ = 34 _maravedís_ = 2 pence, 2 farthings, and 2/3 of a farthing. One _real de plata_ = 2 _reales de vellón_. Unless otherwise stated, a _real_ may be taken to mean a _real de plata_.

[18] See _The Athenæum_, April 12, April 19, and May 3, 1873.

[19] See Cristóbal Pérez de Pastor's _Documentos cervantinos hasta ahora inéditos_ (Madrid, 1897), pp. 135-137.

[20] British Museum Add. MSS., 20, 812.

[21] This is taken by all English writers, and appears in the British Museum Catalogue, as a real name. I only reveal an open secret if I point out that it is a perfect anagram for Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, the excellent scholar to whom we owe the _Cancionero musical de los siglos xv. y xvi._ and the new edition of Encina's theatre.

[22] The seducer is conjectured to be Olivares' son-in-law, the Duque de Medina de las Torres.

[23] Lope's popularity spread as far as America. Three of his plays were translated into the _nahuatl_ dialect by Bartolomé Alba. See José Mariano Beristain de Souza's _Biblioteca Hispano-Americana_ (Mexico, 1816), vol i. p. 64.

[24] See M. Farinelli's learned study, _Grillparzer und Lope de Vega_ (Berlin, 1894).

[25] It seems probable that Cervantes and Pérez were both anticipated by Alonso Álvarez de Soria, who was finally hanged. See Bartolomé José Gallardo, _Ensayo de una Biblioteca Española_ (Madrid, 1863, vol. i., col. 285).