503 S'chevill — Studies in Cervantes. 



these two, the heroine Auristela and her party are wrecked on the 

 island and the plot is duplicated inversely. Policarpo, the King, 

 who is a widower, falls in love with the beautiful stranger, Auristela, 

 and with the sexes changed we have an exact counterpart of the 

 widow Dido and her love for Aeneas. In accordance with the 

 curious taste of the day, the sentimental utterances of Dido on her 

 situation are put into Policarpo's mouth. ^ As widower he has 

 remained faithful to the memory of his dead spouse, but the coming 

 of these "new guests" has disconcerted his equanimity. This is the 

 counterpart of the effect produced on Sinforosa by Periandro, both 

 incidents being copied from Dido's attitude toward her Trojan 

 guest. Sinforosa in the meantime confesses her love for Periandro 

 to his putative "sister" Auristela, who promptly becomes jealous. 

 There is also in this the admixture of an episode from Heliodorus, 

 where the victorious Theagenes first impresses Chariklea by his 

 prowess in some games. While Periandro is on the island he is 

 asked to tell the history of his experiences and wanderings, which 



'AH my quotations will be from Hei'iiandez de Velasco's Eneida (Valencia, 

 1776), 2 vols., which is a reprint of the editions revised by the translator 

 himself (cf. the licencia in the edition of Toledo, 1577, and the introduction 

 by the printer in the edition of 1776) ; and from the Obras de Cervantes, 

 "Biblioteca de autores espanoles" (Rivadeneyra) ; Eneida, Vol. I, p. 1.39: 

 "la mal sana Reyna | Habla con su concorde y cara hermana. | Ana, mi 

 dulce hermana. que visiones | Turban mi sueno, y crecen mi cuidado? | Que 

 7iitcvo hncspcd vino a mis regiones? | Quien puede ser aqueste que he 

 hospedado? | Que rostro? que persona? que facciones? | Quan fuerte, 

 ilustre, grave, y respetado? etc. | Solo este ha hecho fuerza al casto intento | 

 Y mi animo hasta aora lirme y fuerte | Vacilar hace en gran desasosiego. | 

 Siento en mi un rastro del pasado fuego" (the italics are my own and 

 indicate some of the similarities). 



Persiles, p. 596, col. 1: "he guardado como has visto las leyes de la 

 viudez con toda puntualidad y recato . . . pero despues que han venido 

 estos niirras Jnu'spcdcs a niu'stra ciudad, se ha desconcertado el reloj de 

 mi entendimiento . . . nuiero por Auristela, etc." Sinforosa's love for 

 Periandro grows like Dido's: "dijole tambien como las gracias de 

 [su licrmano] Periandro habiaii despertado en ella un modo de deseo, 

 qiu' no llegaba a sor amor . . .; pero que despues con la soledad y 

 ociosidad, yendo y viniendo el pensamiento a contemplar sus gracias, el 

 amor se le fue pintando, no como honibre particular, sino cojno il un principe 

 . . . esta i)inlura uie la gralin cu c! alma, y yo iiiadvertida doje iiue 

 me la grabase, etc.," p. 594, col. 1. Eneida, Vol. 1, p. 144: "despues de; 

 divididos, en las horas | Que suele toniar vez la muda nochc | . . . Sola 

 ella en su espaciosa y viuda casa, | se consume, etc." 



