21
«Juzga, sabio lector»
, he says, «cual estaría mi atribulada vida, viendo por tantas partes ser acosada con la horrible muerte»
. The sense of surprise and of events out of control is emphasized.
22
The use of heroic figures as a subject for murals is an echo of a classic practice found In several places in the romances of chivalry. It is particularly interesting in this case because the heroes of earlier romances of chivalry are included (since they were as «historical» as Felipe II or Dom Sebastião, who are also there), providing us with some idea of what romances Martínez knew. We find Amadís de Gaula, with his relatives, and Primaleón, «cercado de sus parientes, que por prolijidad no los cuento»
, Cristalián de España, Olivante de Laura, Belianís de Grecia, and Felixmarte de Hircania. In a similar display in the prologue to Olivante de Laura, we see mentioned, besides the Amadís and Palmerín families, only Clarián de Landanís and his son Floramante.
23
Book II, Chapter 52. Quoted from my edition, to be published soon by Espasa-Calpe, Madrid.
24
1566 edition (Hispanic Society of America copy), fol. CCXI recto.
25
Parts I and II were written and published together and form a single unit.
26
Biblioteca Nacional, R-5247.
27
Quoted by THOMAS, Sir Henry, Spanish and Portuguese Romances of Chivalry, Cambridge, England, 1920, p. 71.