i'->0 Schevill — Studies in Cervantes. 



In Menendez j Pelayo's discussion of the novela sentimental,^ 

 the first story of impoi'tance discussed at some length is Boccaccio's 

 Fiammetta. Since no better starting-point could be taken for the 

 present study, the words of the Spanish critic are of interest : 



Los defectos que la Fiammetta tiene para el gusto de ahora . . . 

 no lo eran para los contemporaneos y parecian otros tantos primores. 

 Nuestros prosistas del siglo XY la tuvieron en gran estima, procuron 

 imitarla, y . . . se ven las liuellas de este modelo de tan dudosa 

 belleza. 



Accepting, then, the influence of this work at the earliest stages in 

 the history of the novel, it is noteworthy that the little romance is 

 dominated throughout by the story of Dido.- The heroine's passion, 

 her lamentation when forsaken, her remorse, these among others 

 are but so many parallels to situations or sentiments of the fourth 

 book of the Aeneid. 



Another of the early love stories, and the next in importance in 

 the growth of the novel in Spain, is Eneas Silvio Piccolomini's curi- 

 ous Historia de dos amantes, translated from the original Latin into 

 Spanish late in the fifteenth century.^ Xo one can fail to see in it 

 the influence of Virgil's romance.* The plot is singularly bare and 



^ Origenes, op. cit., p. ccc. 



-A summary of the chapters of the Fiameta [cf. Libro Uamado Fiameta, 

 etc. (Lixboa, 1541), in the Bibliot&que Xationale, Paris] will suffice: 1. 

 Beginnings of Fiameta's love. 2. Panfilo's departure and her grief. 3. Her 

 thoughts during his absence. 4. Preparations for his promised return. 

 5. Rumors of his marriage and her despair. 6. She hears that he is not 

 married but in love with another ducFM; she desires to kill herself. 7. 

 False rumor of his return, and her consequent disappointment. 8. Com- 

 parison of her situation with that of other forsaken women: "Vieneme 

 delante con mucha mas fuerga que ningun otro, el dolor de la desemparada 

 Dido, porque mas al mio semejante le conozco quasi que otro alguno." 

 9. Moral, and parting reflections. For the mention of Dido's story in 

 Boccaccio's Lahcrinio de amor, op. cit., cf. Appendix I, p. 518. 



^ Cf. Menendez y Pelayo, Origenes, etc., oj). cit., pp. ccciii and ccexx; 

 the Spanish version has been reprinted by Foulche-Delbosc (Barcelona, 

 1907) ; the editor (dedication) calls the story "la mtis hondamente 

 humana de cuantas nos han dojado los albores del Renacimiento." 



* Dido's illness through love was of influence on the following passage; 

 Eurialo (whose name is probably taken from Virgil) is rbsent, p. 26: "en 

 tanto queda Lucrecia bien sin abrigo : cierra las ventanas, vistese de 

 tristeza, nunca fue vista salir de casa. Todos se marauillan, no saben la 



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