Chapter 4

=Ronda.= A city of about 20,000 in Southern Spain, founded by the Romans and occupied for many centuries by the Moors. On account of its history and its natural beauty it is one of the most interesting cities in Spain.

1. =Es cosa... de risa=, _It is enough to make one die of laughter._

3. =Lüisa=, spelled with the dieresis for metrical reasons.

4. =Narcisos.= Now a common noun and written with a small letter. In origin the word is derived from the mythological character, Narcissus, the son of the river Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. He was insensible to the charms of all the nymphs, who at last appealed to Nemesis for revenge. She made him fall in love with his own image reflected in a fountain; because he could not grasp it he longed for death and, according to Ovid, was metamorphosed into the flower which bears his name. A century before Lope it had evidently not yet passed into such common usage, for in the _Celestina_ we read: "Por fe tengo que no era tan hermoso aquel gentil Narciso, que se enamoró de su propia figura cuando se vido en las aguas de la fuente." (_Novelistas Anteriores á Cervantes_, p. 25.)

8. =consultas= are reports or advice submitted to a ruler, hence the use of _alteza_.

10. =entre otras partes.= The Parisian edition of 1886, for no evident reason, reads, entre otros partes.

12. =el duque de Medina.= Gaspar Alonzo de Guzmán, duque de Medina-Sidonia, was a relative of Olivares and head of the great house of Guzmán of which the prime minister was a descendant through a younger branch. He was immensely wealthy and enjoyed high favor at court during the first years of the reign of Philip IV. Later, as governor of Andalusia, he conceived the idea of establishing a separate kingdom, as his brother-in-law, Juan de Braganza, had done in Portugal in 1640. His plans were discovered and as punishment and humiliation he was compelled to challenge the king of Portugal to a duel for the aid the latter was to give to the projected uprising in Andalusia. He made the journey to the Portuguese border only to find that Braganza had ignored his challenge. Covered with ridicule by the affair he passed the rest of his life in obscurity and disgrace. At the time Lope de Vega was writing _La Moza de Cántaro_ he seems to have been seeking the favor of Olivares and therefore made the leading character of the play a relative of the favorite and the Duque de Medina-Sidonia.

16. =Señora= is now regularly written in such cases with a small letter, as well as similar titles hereafter encountered in the play.

17. =Lindamente... vanidad=, _You know my weakness! You are trying to flatter me._

21. =Sevilla=, the metropolis of Andalusia and a city always noted for the beauty of its women.

29. =Éste.= Supply _papel_ as suggested by line 3.

35. =quiere en la memoria de la muerte=, etc., that is, after he has died for her.

After 40. =Con hermoso=, etc. The author evidently intends to make the suitor write a wordy letter void of clear meaning, and that he is striking a blow at the then popular literary affectation known as _culteranismo_ is indicated beyond a doubt by the word _culto_ in line 43. A comparison of the passage with Cervantes' celebrated quotation from Feliciano de Silva, "La razón de la sinrazón" is interesting. (See _Don Quijote_, Part I, Chap. I.) A possible translation of the letter is as follows: "With fair though stern, not sweet, yet placid countenance, lady mine, appearances deceiving you, there gazed at me last week your disdain, imbued with all benevolence and yet rigid, and withal its brilliancy not solicitous, (benevolence) which with celestial candor illumines your face."

44. =¿Habla de aciértame aquí?= The imperative is used here as a noun after the preposition and the verse is approximately equivalent to the expression "Habla de alguna adivinanza aquí?"

54. =¿Qué nada te ha de agradar?= _Can nothing please you?_

58. =Yo no tengo de querer.= _Tener de_ is used here where we should now expect _haber de_ or _tener que_.

62. =Flandes.= In the time of Lope de Vega Spain held the Netherlands and constantly maintained a large force there.

64. Zerolo's edition has a comma instead of a period at the end of this line. Either punctuation makes good sense.

66. =que yo... aquí=, _for of all those who appear here I do not see one to whom I should direct my favor_.

70. =si va á decir verdad=, _if the truth be told_.

79. =ansí=, middle Spanish and archaic form of _así_. Cf. the French _ainsi_.

92. =La primera necedad=, etc., _They say that the greatest folly is not the one to be feared, but those which follow it seeking to undo it._

95. =deshacella==_deshacerla_. In earlier Spanish verse the assimilation of the r of the infinitive is quite common.

107. =Muchas se casan aprisa=, etc. Compare the English proverb of similar purport, "Marry in haste and repent at leisure."

121. =dél==_de él_. A contraction no longer approved by the Spanish Academy.

124. =Pedro el Cruel= (1334-1369) was proclaimed king of Castile at Seville in 1350 after the death of his father, Alphonso XI. He early became infatuated with María de Padilla, but was made to marry against his will Blanche de Bourbon whom he immediately put aside. Pedro then plunged into a career of crime seldom equaled in Spanish history. Several times he was dethroned but always succeeded in regaining the scepter. He was finally killed by his own brother, Henry of Trastamare, at Montiel. Pedro's meritorious works were his successful efforts to break down the feudal aristocracy and his encouragement of arts, commerce and industry.

133. =Don Diego de noche y coche.= The implication is that don Diego is one who would woo his lady love at night and under the cover of a carriage rather than in the more open and approved manner of a gentleman of his rank. In spite of the brilliant example of the king, horsemanship was becoming a lost art and in a complaint of a member of the Cortes, addressed to the king, the subject is treated as follows: "The art of horsemanship is dying out, and those who ought to be mounted crowd, six or eight of them together, in a coach, talking to wenches rather than learning how to ride. Very different gentlemen, indeed, will they grow up who have all their youth been lolling about in coaches instead of riding." (Martin Hume, _The Court of Philip IV_, p. 130.) There is also a flower called _dondiego de noche_, and the author may have intended to make also a subtle play on words between this and the more suggestive meaning.

138. =De noche visiones.= "Thoughts of him at night give me the nightmare!"

Stage directions: =hábito de Santiago:= The order of Santiago is one of the oldest and most distinguished of all the Spanish military orders. It is said to have been approved by the Pope in 1175 and had during the middle ages great military power. The right to confer it is now vested in the crown of Spain. The badge is a red enamel cross, in the form of a sword with a scallop-shell at the junction of the arms.

174. =agora=, archaic and poetic word, synonym of _ahora_ which is of similar origin. _Hac hora > agora_ and _ad horam > ahora_.

180. =primer licencia.= The apocapation of the feminine of the adjective _primero_ is not admissible in modern Spanish.

181. =Duque=, that is, the Duque de Medina. See v. 12 and note.

188. =Lugar... deba=, _A place which is certainly its due._

192. =la Plaza= mentioned here is evidently the Plaza de la Ciudad, which is the center of the ancient part of the city.

197. =Sanlúcar= (de Barrameda) is an important and interesting seaport town at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. It was taken from the Moors in 1264 and occupied a prominent position during the 15th and 16th centuries. Columbus sailed from this point in 1498 on his third voyage to the New World. Lope makes Sanlúcar the scene of part of his _Nuevo Mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón_ and mentions it in a number of his other plays.

198. =Le respondí=, etc. Don Bernardo's reply was intended to reveal delicately to the lover that his suit was not favored by the Duke.

228. =Aquí su mano soberbia...= For an analogous situation compare Guillen de Castro's _las Mocedades del Cid_ and its French counterpart, Corneille's _le Cid_.

231. =que tantas veces=, etc., _because an insult is renewed as many times as he who receives it tells it to him who ignores it_.

236. =con cinco letras=, that is, the five fingers of the hand which had left its imprint on his face.

245. =á el afrentado=. Not a little laxity in the observance of the rule for the contraction of the preposition and the definite article is to be noted throughout the play.

252. It is to be observed in a number of instances in the text that the initial exclamation and interrogation marks are often omitted before exclamations and interrogations if they follow other similar constructions.

301. =si sois servido=, _if you please_.

310. =La decid.= Modern usage generally requires the object after the imperative in such a case as this, but the license may occur in poetry.

324. =Desta==_De esta_.

337. =quien.= Translate in the plural. Concerning this doubtful usage we have the following from one of the best known modern authorities: "En el siglo XIV caía ya en desuso _qui_, por inútil duplicado de _quien_; éste en el siglo XVI se creó un plural: _quienes_, que aunque calificado de inelegante por Ambrosio de Salazar en 1622, se generalizó, si bien aun hoy día se dice alguna vez 'los pocos ó muchos de _quien_ ha tenido que valerse.'" (Menéndez Pidal, _Manual elemental de gramática histórica española_, p. 176.)

354. =Y sobre seguro, fácil=, _And besides sure, easy._ The assonance of final unaccented _i_ with final unaccented _e_ is permissible.

362. =Quien supo=, etc., _If anyone could determine to be yours there can be nothing to put off your pleasure._

409. =¿Hay tal gracia de monjil?= _Is there anything so graceful in widow's weeds? monjil_, "mourning garments."

413. =sugeto==_sujeto_.

441. =el río.= The Manzanares, a stream which rises in the Sierra de Guadarrama and flows by Madrid, emptying into the Jarama, which in turn flows into the Tajo a short distance east of Toledo. In the eyes of the _madrileños_ this stream assumes importance which its size scarcely merits. Its banks have been the scene of festivities from the early days of the city to the present time. In the time of Lope de Vega the banks of the Manzanares and its dry bed were, as a place for promenading, in the same class as the Prado, the Plaza Mayor and the Calle Mayor, and during the great heat of summer the populace of all classes sought refuge here. Lope makes frequent reference to the stream in many of his works.

477. =Muriósele á una casada=, _A woman's husband died._

482. =Y sin que=, etc., _And without fulfilling the obsequies_ (_as requested_). _Manda_, lit., "legacy, bequest"; but _cumplir la manda_, "to observe the religious rites (according to the will of the deceased)."

484. =vertiendo poleo=, _putting on airs_. _Poleo_, "strutting gait, pompous style."

485. =reverendo coche=, _elegant carriage_. _Reverendo_, lit., "worthy of reverence," but here fam., "worthy of a prelate." Many of the higher clergy formerly lived in princely style.

499. =Porque no vuelva el marido=, _Lest the husband might return._

519. =variar=, in Zerolo's edition, is _varïar_, as it should be in order to fill out the verse.

521. =De mi condición=, etc. An interesting parallel to the idea of this passage is found in the following from Voltaire: "Il m'a toujours paru évident que le violent Achille, l'épée nue, et ne se battant point, vingt héros dans la même attitude comme des personnages de tapisserie, Agamemnon, roi des rois, n'imposant à personnes, immobile dans le tumulte, formeraient un spectacle assez semblable au cercle de la reine en cire colorée par Benoît." ("Art dramatique" in the _Dictionnaire Philosophique_.)

522. =Que me pudren=, etc., _That paintings vex me._ Note peculiar sense of pudrir.

529. =Susana.= In the thirteenth chapter of Daniel is narrated the story of Susanna, the beautiful wife of Joachim, of whom two old men, judges during the Babylonian captivity, were enamored. They surprised her one day in her bath in the garden and, because she repelled their advances, testified that they had found her with a young man. She was condemned to death, but on the way to her execution Daniel intervened and by a clever ruse succeeded in convicting the two old men of bearing false witness. They were put to death and the innocence of Susanna proclaimed. The story has furnished a theme for many painters and from it many notable works have been produced, of which several existed in the time of Lope de Vega. In the _Obras Sueltas_, vol. IV, p. 450, there is a sonnet, _Á una Tabla de Susana_, which begins:

Tu que la tabla de Susana miras, Si del retrato la verdad ignoras, La historia santa justamente adoras, La retratada injustamente admiras.

541. =Como visto=, etc., _If she had not seen you an excuse would be easy to find._

545. =Llama.= From this word it would seem that this part of the play is enacted in front of the house of doña Ana.

547. =No lo echemos á perder=, _Let us not spoil it._

576. =No me tengo de sentar=, _I must not sit down._ Cf. v. 58 and note.

587. =comenzamos... jugadores=, _we begin by a 'rifa,' which results, as in a love-affair, that it is the third party who starts the game or at least arouses the interest of the players_. The word _rifa_ is usually used in the sense of the English word "raffle" or "auction," as for example the _baile de rifa_ narrated in Alarcón's _El Niño de la Bola_, but Lope seems to use it here referring to a game of cards. It is used as a term at cards in Portuguese. The same word from another source means a "quarrel"; the author evidently had them both in mind and makes a play upon them.

595. =Terciando mi primo el juego=, _My cousin being the third party in the game._

634. =Puesto que fué de mayor=, _Since it was by one who had attained his majority._

638. =Que encaje el marfil ansí=, _Who is as clever. Encajar el marfil_, "to manipulate, falsify." A possible proverbial reference to the corruption among government department employees of the time.

655. =Si fuere parte á obligaros=, _If it will be sufficient to oblige you._

664. =Cayó el pez en el anzuelo=, _The fish has been hooked._

666. =aquesto==_esto_. The old form is used now only in poetry.

695. =efeto==_efecto_.

699. =Cuando él... sido=, _If he should have favored me my favor would have been so_ (i.e. too great).

714. =quisistes==_quisisteis_. The obsolete form continued in general usage up to the 17th century and was still used by Calderón, though a grammar gave the modern form as early as 1555. See Menéndez Pidal's _Manual elemental de gramática histórica española_, pp. 189, 190.

745. =Adamuz= is a town of about five thousand inhabitants, situated in the mountains twenty-five miles northeast of Cordova in the midst of a prosperous olive-growing country. It has a church, three schools, two inns, an Ayuntamiento and two religious communities. There is a local tradition to the effect that Adamuz, several centuries ago, boasted of a population of about twenty thousand and was one of the important centers of the Sierra Morena, and that it was swept by an epidemic which carried away almost the entire population. However, nothing exists in the archives of the Ayuntamiento to confirm or deny the tradition. (For all the information concerning the town and its vicinity, the editor is indebted to the kindness of the Reverend Señor José Melendo, curate of Adamuz.)

748. =Adamuz, pueblo sin luz.= This refrain is not now current in the place and its origin cannot be definitely determined. It may be a reflection upon the state of intelligence of the inhabitants of the town and a pure creation of the poet, but rather would it seem to be due to the natural features of the town, for it is situated in a fold of the mountains.

750. =Sierra-Morena= is a mountainous region extending from east to west from the head waters of the Guadalquivir to the Portuguese border. It is mentioned in many of the Spanish romances and is assured of immortality as the scene of some of the adventures of the "ingenioso hidalgo" Don Quijote.

768. =El término perdonad.= The innkeeper regarded the _indiano_ as a person of distinction and offers apology for mentioning in his presence anything so lowly as a _caballo de alabarda_, "nag, hack."

770. =propria==_propia_.

793. =camino real.= A good road now extends from Cordova to Adamuz, but it does not cross the Sierra Morena. If such a royal highway from Andalusia to Madrid ever existed it has long since disappeared and given place to the railways and the important "carretera" which extends up the Guadalquivir and through the Puerto de Despeñaperros.

813. =Bien está lo hecho=, _What is done is well done._

824. =Holofernes... Judit.= The comparison suggested is based upon the story related in the Book of Judith of the Bible. Judith determined to free the children of Israel from the invading Assyrians under the leadership of Holofernes and for this purpose went to the camp of Holofernes who received her kindly and celebrated her coming with feasting. When he was sufficiently under the influence of wine she cut off his head and carried it back with her to her own people who pursued the leaderless and disorganized Assyrians and gained a complete victory over them.

835. =érades==_erais_. This obsolete form of the verb was often used by Lope de Vega and his contemporaries. It is from the Latin _eratis_. (See Menéndez Pidal, _Manual elemental de gramática histórica española_, paragraph 107, I.)

838. =Granada=, the most historic city of Southern Spain and the last stronghold of the Moors.

868. =El camino de Granada=, etc. The more probable route from Granada to the capital would have taken her some distance east of Adamuz.

876. =Traigo jornada más larga=, _I am making a longer journey._ Besides its common meanings _traer_ has that of "to be occupied in making, to have on one's hands." _Jornada_ usually means "day's journey," cf. French _étape_, but it is also used in the sense of a "journey" more or less long.

877. =vengo de las Indias.= Hence the name "Indiano," which may mean that one is a native of the Indies or simply a Spaniard who is returning from there after having made his fortune. The term has a depreciative meaning also, and then is an equivalent of our _nouveaux riches_, for which we in turn are indebted to the French. (See Introduction.)

882. =Porque me dicen=, etc., _Because they tell me that the realization of one's pretensions which one's occupation puts off, is slow in arriving, I am going to set up a household._