Note 203 — BOOK VI.
Herman Oelsner translation
Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola was born in 1562 and died in 1631. He took orders, became Rector of Villahermosa, and succeeded his brother as official chronicler of Aragón. He published the Conquista de las Islas Malacas (Madrid, 1609), and the Anales de Aragón (Zaragoza, 1631)—the latter being a continuation of Jerónimo de Zurita's Anales de la Corona de Aragón (1562-1580). The poems of both brothers were issued by Lupercio's son, Gabriel Leonardo de Albión, in a volume entitled Las Rimas que se han podido recoger de Lupercio, y del Doctor Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola (Zaragoza, 1634). Lope de Vega had a great esteem for the Argensolas whose polished diction, rare in men of Aragonese birth, he regarded as an antidote to the extravagances—the frases horribles, as he says—of culteranismo. The very considerable merits of the Argensolas were likewise appreciated by Cervantes who, however, seems to have cooled somewhat towards the brothers when the Conde de Lemos, on his appointment as Viceroy of Naples, attached them to his household. It is said that Cervantes himself hoped to form part of Lemos's suite, and that he was annoyed with the Argensolas for not pushing his claims as vigorously as he expected of them. At this distance of time, it is impossible for us to know what really happened; but a passage in the Viaje del Parnaso (cap. iii.) does appear to imply that Cervantes had a grievance of some kind against the Argensolas:—
Que no sé quien me dice, y quien me exhorta, Que tienen para mi, á lo que imagino, La voluntad, como la vista corta.