of humanism?  An opinion backed by the weight of classical authority must reach us with irresistible force, must it not?  However this may be, the predominant influence in De los nombres de Cristo, as in all Luis de Leon’s prose, is Scriptural and Christian.  In maturity of development, in intellectual force, in beauty of expression, and in general adequateness, De los nombres de Cristo exhibits Luis de Leon’s prose at its culmination.  The book is dedicated to Pedro Portocarrero,[267] Bishop of Calahorra, who had previously twice been rector of Salamanca University.  It seems probable that Luis de Leon’s friendship with him dates back to 1566-1567, when Portocarrero held the office of rector for the second time.  Besides De los nombres de Cristo Luis de Leon dedicated to Portocarrero In Abdiam prophetam Explanatio (1589) and the manuscript collection of his poems.  For some reason not very obvious this collection of verses was not published till 1631 when it was issued by Quevedo, who hoped that it would help to stem the current of Gongorism in Spain.  The poems, printed forty years after the author’s death, appeared too late to affect the public taste.  Gongora himself had died in 1627, but his influence was undiminished.  Quevedo, who had obtained his copies of Luis de Leon’s verses from Manuel Sarmiento de Mendoza, a canon of Seville cathedral, did his share as editor by writing two prefaces, one addressed to Sarmiento de Mendoza, and the other to Olivares who was manifestly expected to pronounce against Gongorism.  Olivares, however, had no reason to love Quevedo, and was resolved to take no active part in what he doubtless regarded as a scribblers’ quarrel.  Gongorism pursued its way unchecked.  Quevedo’s edition, though incomplete and disfigured by certain errors, was reprinted at Milan during the same year (1631), and then all interest in Luis de Leon flickered out for a while.

In the prefatory note of the 1631 Madrid edition—­entitled Obras propias, y traduciones latinas, griegas y italianas—­Luis de Leon speaks of his poems slightingly as mere playthings of his youth, now brought together at the request of an anonymous friend—­perhaps Benito Arias Montano—­to whom they had been ascribed.  Luis de Leon arranges the material in three books, containing respectively his original compositions, his translations from authors profane, and his versions of certain psalms, a hymn, and chapters from the Book of Job.  But, beyond the general statement as to the early date of composition, Luis de Leon gives no precise information as to when individual poems were written.  The assertion that the poems date back almost to the author’s childhood is contradicted by concrete facts.  Take, for instance, the celebrated Noche serena dedicated to Oloarte.  If, as I conjecture, the dedicatee of the Noche serena is identical with the Diego de Loarte, archdeacon of Ledesma, who gave evidence at Salamanca on January 27, 1573, and who on that