the appearance of Amadis de Gaule, a work of original fiction
remodelled and extended in the fifteenth century by Garcia Ordonez de
Montalvo. During the Golden Age, Spain boasts more than two hundred
artificial epics, treating of religious, political, and historical
matters. Among these the Auracana of Erzilla, the Argentina of
Centenera, and the Austriada of Rufo can be mentioned. Then Velasco
revived the Aeneid for his countrymen's benefit, and religious themes
such as Azevedo's Creacion del Munde became popular.

The latest of the Spanish epics is that of Saavedra, who, in his El
Moro Exposito, has cleverly revived the old Spanish legend of the
Infantes of Lara. It is, however, the Cid which is always quoted as
Spain's representative epic.




THE CID


This poem, of some three thousand seven hundred lines, is divided into
two cantos-and was written about 1200. It is a compilation from extant
ballads in regard to the great Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar,
born between 1030 and 1040, whose heroic deeds were performed at the
time when the Christian kings were making special efforts to eject the
Moors, who had invaded Spain three hundred years before.

The first feat mentioned relates that Rodrigo's father, having been
insulted by Don Gomez, pined at the thought of leaving this affront
unavenged, until his son, who had never fought before, volunteered to