Note 436 — Chapter XIV

“Auto del Repelon,” or Auto of the Brawl, being a quarrel in the market-place of Salamanca, between some students of the University and sundry shepherds. The word auto comes from the Latin actus, and was applied to any particularly solemn acts, however different in their nature and character, like the autos sacramentales of the Corpus Christi days, and the autos da fé of the Inquisition. (See Covarrubias, Tesoro, ad verb.; and the account of Lope de Vega’s drama, in the next period.) In 1514, Enzina published, at Rome, a drama entitled “Placida y Victoriano,” which he called una egloga, and which is much praised by the author of the “Diálogo de las Lenguas”; but it was put into the Index Expurgatorius, 1559, and occurs again in that of 1667, p. 733. I believe no copy of it is known to be extant.