Schevill — Studies in Cervantes. 489 



that allusions to the works of ancient writers, to mythology or 

 liistory, had in his day become a part of current culture and so lay 

 in the atmosphere ; however frequently one writer took from another 

 the manner of parading bookish learning and pedantry, in the case 

 of Lope we are bound to conclude that his genuine fund of informa- 

 tion in classical matters was inexhaustible. Nothing pertaining to 

 ancient literature or history escapes mention. But, we are impelled 

 ' to ask, what percentage of his audience understood this array of 

 learned allusions ? It is certain that to-day practically no one would 

 catch the force of a reference to something in Plutarch or in Livy. 

 There can be no doubt, therefore, that owiug to the popularization of 

 the best of the ancients; chiefly through translations, a large part 

 of the theater-goers appreciated most of the stage use of classical 

 material. In all this Virgil and his Aeneid play a significant part, 

 and we may infer as a consequence that the epic had not only 

 become widely popularized, but that the mention of certain episodes 

 in it descended to the commonplace. Chief among them^ are the 

 burning of Troy, Aeneas's escape with his father upon his shoulders, 

 his wanderings, the episode in which Dido figures, the descent into 

 Hades, the friendship of Euryalus and ISTisus, and the story of 

 Camilla, the chaste maiden. Most of these had no doubt become 

 traditional through various channels, so that to refer to them was 

 like alluding to a well-known current romance. After Lope, the 

 manner of introducing classical allusions became less frequent, for, 

 with the exception of Calderon, the writers who followed his methods 

 did not have at their beck and call an equally comprehensive 

 acquaintance with the ancients. 



The influence of the Aeneid on prose fiction of the Renaissance 

 Avill now be of peculiar interest in connection with the study of 

 Cervantes. Here was a medium which could most readily absorb 

 its material; the various types of prose story attempted during 

 this epoch could find in Yirgil some source of inspiration ; whether 

 the themes were martial or sentimental, some portions of his work 

 would prove suggestive. Moreover, the Aeneid was strengthened 

 in matters of sentiment by the Eclogues; in the lamentations of 

 love, thoughts of suicide, grief over separation, the fourth book was 

 not unlike the eighth Eclogue, and their influence was no doubt 

 fused early in the Renaissance. - 



^ Cf. Appendix II, p. 520. 



^Cf. Creizenach, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 3G7: above, p. 485, n. 3. 



