iUN 2 1908 



YIL— STUDIES IN CERVANTES 



BY RUDOLPH SCHEVILL 



PERSILES Y SIGISMUNDA 

 III VIRGIL'S AENEID. 



a. In Spanish literature before Cervantes. 



Having seen that a comparatively small portion of the Persiles 

 is patterned after the romance of Heliodorus/ we can now proceed 

 to the question, as to what other work of fiction could have influenced 

 Cervantes in his last production. We need not search long among 

 current books of his day, before coming upon another classic, one 

 of unexampled vogue and far-reaching influence in every succeeding 

 age, the Aeneid of Yirgil. A student of Kenaissance literature and 

 of the general culture of the sixteenth century might at once take 

 for granted that Cervantes was acquainted with the main features, 

 at least, of the Latin poem ; that he must have turned to it directly 

 and naturally, as to a kind of contemporary roman d'aventure may, 

 perhaps, be clearer from what will be set forth in this article.- 



The influence of the Aeneid on Spanish literature is of importance 

 in any study of fiction preceding the Persiles, because the Latin epic 

 was not only maintaining its traditional position as a standard 

 classic among the learned, but had become a part of popular litera- 

 ture somewhat after the fashion of the romance of Heliodorus. 

 While university students mastered the syntax of the foremost of 

 Latin poets, lay readers were enjoying in the vernacular the story 



^Modern Philology, Vol. IV, Xo. 4 (1907); the present article is the 

 third of a series of studies in the sources of Persiles y Sigismunda, the first 

 being an introduction, in the nature of a resume of what has been written 

 on the subject, and the second dealing with the indebtedness of Cervantes 

 to Heliodorus. For the first see Modern Philology, Vol. IV, No.- 1 (1906). 



- The frequency with which famous couples of legend and story were 

 mentioned together may have led Ceiwantes from Theagenes and Chariklea 

 to Aeneas and Dido. Moreover, the various editions of Mena's translation 

 of Heliodorus have marginal references to both Homer and Virgil, there 

 being more than a score to tne Aeneid. The direct influence of the latter, 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XIII. ■• 33 April, 1908. 



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