Volume II Part 13 (2/2)

[7] The learned Valencian, Luis Vives, in his treatise ”De Christiana Femina,” remarks, ”Aetas noster quatuor illas Isabellae reginae filias, quas paullo ante memoravi, eruditas vidit. Non sine laudibus et admiratione refertur mihi pa.s.sim in hae terra Joannam, Philippi conjugem, Caroli hujus matrem, extempore latinis orationibus, quae de more apud novos principes oppidatim habentur, latine respondisse. Idem de regina sua, Joannae sorore, Britanni praedicant; idem omnes de duabus aliis, quae in Lusitania fato concessere.” (De Christiana Femina, cap. 4, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Il.u.s.t. 16.)--It appears, however, that Isabella was not inattentive to the more humble accomplishments, in the education of her daughters. ”Regina,” says the same author, ”nere, suere, acu pingere quatuor filias auas doctas esse voluit.” Another contemporary, the author of the Carro de las Donas, (lib. 2, cap. 62, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., Il.u.s.t. 21,) says, ”she educated her son and daughters, giving them masters of life and letters, and surrounding them with such persons as tended to make them vessels of election, and kings in Heaven.”

Erasmus notices the literary attainments of the youngest daughter of the sovereigns, the unfortunate Catharine of Aragon, with unqualified admiration. In one of his letters, he styles her ”egregie doctam;” and in another he remarks, ”Regina non tantum in s.e.xus miraculum literata est; nec minus pietate suspicienda, quam eruditione.” Epistolae, (Londini, 1642,) lib. 19, epist. 31; lib. 2, epist. 24.

[8] Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Deza.--Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Il.u.s.t. 14.

[9] Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Il.u.s.t. 14.

Juan de la Eucina, in the dedication to the prince, of his translation of Virgil's Bucolics, pays the following compliment to the enlightened and liberal taste of Prince John. ”Favoresceis tanto la sciencia andando acompanado de tantos e tan doctisimos varones, que no menos dejareis perdurable memoria de haber alargado e estendido los limites e terminos de la sciencia que los del imperio.” The extraordinary promise of this young prince made his name known in distant parts of Europe, and his untimely death, which occurred in the twentieth year of his age, was commemorated by an epitaph of the learned Greek exile, Constantine Lascaris.

[10] ”Aficionados a la guerra,” says Oviedo, speaking of some young n.o.bles of his time, ”_por su Espanola y natural inclinacion_.” Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial. 36.

[11] For some account of this eminent Italian scholar, see the postscript to Part I. Chap. 14, of this History.

[12] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 102, 103.

Lucio Marineo, in a discourse addressed to Charles V., thus notices the queen's solicitude for the instruction of her young n.o.bility. ”Isabella praesertim Regina magnanima, virtutum omnium maxima cultrix. Quae quidem multis et magnis occupata negotiis, ut aliis exemplum praeberet, a primis grammaticae rudimentis studere coepit, et omnes suae domus adolescentes utriusque s.e.xus n.o.bilium liberos, praeceptoribus liberaliter et honorifice conductis erudiendos commendabat.” Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.

Apend. 16.--See also Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 1, dial.

36.

[13] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 115.

[14] A particular account of Marineo's writings may be found in Nic.

Antonio. (Bibliotheca Nova, tom. ii. Apend. p. 369.) The most important of these is his work ”De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus,” often cited, in the Castilian, in this History. It is a rich repository of details respecting the geography, statistics, and manners of the Peninsula, with a copious historical notice of events in Ferdinand and Isabella's reign. The author's insatiable curiosity, during a long residence in the country, enabled him to collect many facts, of a kind that do not fall within the ordinary compa.s.s of history; while his extensive learning, and his familiarity with foreign models, peculiarly qualified him for estimating the inst.i.tutions he describes. It must be confessed he is sufficiently partial to the land of his adoption. The edition, referred to in this work, is in black letter, printed before, or soon after, the author's death (the date of which is uncertain), in 1539, at Alcala de Henares, by Juan Brocar, one of a family long celebrated in the annals of Castilian printing. Marineo's prologue concludes with the following n.o.ble tribute to letters. ”Porque todos los otros bienes son subjectos a la fortuna y mudables y en poco tiempo mudan muchos duenos pa.s.sando de unos senores en otros, mas los dones de letras y hystorias que se ofrescen para perpetuidad de memoria y fama son immortales y prorogan y guardan para siempre la memoria a.s.si de los que los reciben, como de los que los ofrescen.”

[15] Sepulveda, Democrites, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi.

Il.u.s.t. 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 cla.s.sics, as Caesar, Appian, Plutarch, Plautus, Sall.u.s.t, Aesop, Justin, Boethius, 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 Espanola, 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 n.o.bility most conspicuous for their scholars.h.i.+p. This valuable doc.u.ment was to be found only in the edition of Marineo's work, ”De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus,” printed at Alcala, 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 Sall.u.s.t, 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 n.o.bleman, 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 Sall.u.s.t. (Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Il.u.s.t. 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. Il.u.s.t. 16.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., dial. de Grizio.

Senor Clemencin has examined with much care the intellectual culture of the nation under Isabella, in the sixteenth _Il.u.s.tracion_ 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 scholars.h.i.+p 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. pa.s.sim.

[22] See Part I. Chap. 8, of this History.

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