Lope's 1613 Answer to Cervantes

Abstract

LOPE'S 1613 ANSWER TO CERVANTES THOMAS E. CASE San Diego State University It is universally held that Cervantes and Lope de Vega knew each other personally but were never really friends.' In the more than thirty years their paths crossed in the literary world of the time, Cervantes and Lope did not hesitate to satirize each other's foibles. A favorite target of Cervantes was Lope's pretensions to nobility and the parading of supposed erudition in the prologues of works such as La Arcadia and El peregrino en su patria. Cervantes viewed the numerous quotations and allusions to writers of antiquity as false and bombastic pedantry and a flaw in Lope's character and writings.2 Little friction seems to have existed between the two in the years immediately following the publication of the first part oí Don Quijote in 1605. In 1610, Lope moved to Madrid to live permanently and became Cervantes's neighbor. Both joined the Congregación de Esclavos del Santísimo Sacramento and frequented the literary academies together. In 1613, their relationship was quite settled. In that year, Lope suffered the loss of his son and second wife and began preparing himself for the priesthood. There is no question that the two writers saw each other often at that time.3 The attack on Lope's learning and claim to classical erudition, however, continued to be a sore spot, and he was not likely to forget Cervantes' earlier satire. In November of 1613, a scene in Lope's comedia de santos, San Diego de Alcalá, appears to be a retort to the satire of eight years before in Don Quijote . In Act Three, several poor people show up at the door of the Convent of Santa Maria de Jesús in Alcalá de Henares to receive the charity doled out by Friars Diego and Alonso. Among the beggars is an old soldier, who pleads: En esta escudilla nueva, Antes que el caldo esté frío, Eche, por Dios, padre Diego; Porque estoy de arcabuzazos Tullido de pies y brazos. Another beggar, a cripple («cojo») complains: Destos soldados reniego. 125 126Bulletin ofthe Comediantes Friars Diego and Alonso beg them to keep quiet, but the soldier persists:¡Que a todos sustento den Y falte para un soldado Hecho un harnero! Friar Diego humorously answers: Por eso, Que no le di le confieso; Pero yo tendré cuidado, Que si un harnero está hecho todo el cuerpo, claro está Que el caldo se le saldrá Y no le entrará en provecho. To which the soldier replies: The scene continues: Fray Diego. Mujer. Soldado. Fray Alonso. Soldado. Cojo. Soldado.¡Oiga el relíente del Padre! Eche un sorbo solamente, Pues ha dado a tanta gente. Para su escudilla madre. Pagúesele, Dios, amén. Y yo, ¿soy algún guillote? .......................-[falta un verso]¿Qué importa que no le den?¿Qué importa? Luego el comer,¿No es negocio de importancia? No tenga tanta arrogancia. Pues, cojo de Lucifer, Está empedrando de pan Su escudilla, y yo perezco.¡Y arrogante le parezco! Pues, Padres, si no me dan, Echaréme de cabeza En ese pozo de caldo. Deje, por Dios, de aguinaldo Que moje aquesta corteza. Mire que he estado en Argel, En La Mancha, en Roma, en Troya, En Galicia y en Saboya, En Sanlúcar y en Daimiel; Lope 's 1613 Answer to Cervantes127 Y me han dado mil heridas Enemigos de la fe. The soldier argues and exchanges insults with the cripple, and ends up by smashing the other's bowl with his staff, and then mocks his adversary:¡Miren la cara que pone! Su reverencia perdone; Que soy soldado y honrado, Y no es mucha maravilla.«Mentís,» me dijo; y recelo Que dice el libro del duelo Que le quiebre la escudilla. ' Finally, when an old friend of Friar Diego, Ali the Moor, also begs for alms, the soldier becomes infuriated at the suggestion of charity to his former enemy, and runs off with the soup pot. This picaresque scene, reminiscent of Cervantes's own earthy humor, has little dramatic significance in the development of the structure of the play, except to inject a bit of...