Two Newly Discovered Poems by Garcilaso de la Vega

Until now, only three Latin poems by Garcilaso de la Vega have been extant. In this study, I present two newly discovered odes by Garcilaso: one addressed to Pietro Bembo, and another addressed to Johann Alexander Brassicanus. I also present new critical editions of the three previously known poems in the light of the new witness. I argue that the poems constitute sophisticated meditations on the purpose of encomiastic literature and the nature of lyric poetry. In this way I aim to provide a better understanding of Garcilaso’s Latin odes and restore his reputation as a consummate Latin poet.

also plagued with textual problems (for example, line 53 is missing in the text of 'Sedes ad Cyprias' as we have known it until now). What is more, modern critics are scathing in their assessments of the literary qualities of these odes. For example, Audrey Lumsden writes of the ode 'Ad Antonium Thylesium': 'it is difficult to find any technical felicity in these rough-hewn verses.
[…] The construction is incoherent and the stanzas lack that powerful unity so typical of Horace'. She concludes of all three then-extant odes: 'The three Latin poems here discussed obviously do not provide a sufficient basis for a discussion of Garcilaso's merit as a Latin poet. […] They reveal him as a rather inadequate imitator of Horace'. 6 In recent years, attempts have been made to defend Garcilaso's literary skill in his Latin poems. This has involved in particular a recognition of Garcilaso's eclectic style of imitation from various poets and to various ends. For instance, Andrew F. Gray argues that, in Garcilaso's ode 'Ad Genesium Sepulvedam', the poet undercuts the ostensible praise of glory in war through his use of allusions to Horace and Virgil. 7 He concludes that 'Garcilaso's poetics in the odes is so eclectic and transformative that uncertainties surround most attempts at identifying sources, and in several cases source materials are adopted only to produce ironic, even puzzling, reversals of their meanings in the source texts'. 8 In my own earlier study, I presented the main source for Garcilaso's 'Sedes ad Cyprias': Erasmus' translation of one of Lucian's Dialogues of the Gods. However, I argued that allusions to various other authors such as Catullus, Lucretius and Horace served to increase the comic effect of the poem. 9 This pattern can also be seen in the new poems; while both contain substantial allusions to Horace, they also draw on a number of other Classical authors. Indeed, as we shall see, the first problematizes the difficulty of being a Horatian poet, while the second also uses allusion and a Horatian poetic voice to reject the praise of war.

A New Manuscript
I now hope to advance the study of Garcilaso's Latin poetry further by presenting two new poems by Garcilaso, as well as a new witness for all three poems known previously. The poems appear handwritten in the back of a printed book, a copy of Doctissimorum nostra aetate Italorum epigrammata (Paris: Nicolas le Riche, 1547). This book, edited by Jean de Gagny, is a verse anthology of Italian poets born in the late fifteenth century including Flaminio, Molsa, Navagero, Cotta, Lampridius and Sadoleto. The copy in question was part of the library of the counts Kinsky (the so-called Kinskyana), and is now in the National Library of the Czech Republic (shelf mark: E IX 000001). 10 In the final leaves of the book, a hand which is likely a sixteenth-century Spanish one has written out a further selection of poems by Sadoleto, Garcilaso, André de Resende, Jaime Juan Falcó, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Pietro Gravina, Juan Ramírez, Honorato Juan and Johannes Secundus. 11 The manuscript certainly bears further study. For example, it confirms the authorship of Resende's poem 'Rursum tumultu Gallia turbido', until now known from only one other witness. 12 I include an index of titles and first lines of the transcribed poems (Appendix I) for the use of other scholars.
Of the manuscript poems, only two are by Italian poets of the same generation as those in the printed book: Sadoleto (whose work also appears in the printed text) and Pietro Gravina. The last poem copied is by Johannes Secundus, often called Hagiensis ('from the Hague'), although the copyist has rendered this as 'Hegius', and used the poet's father's name (Nicolaus). The others are all Iberian poets, which suggests that the hand is Spanish. Furthermore, the Spaniards whose work is copied tend to be later than the poets printed in the anthology; note for example the dates of Honorato Juan (1507-1566) and Jaime Juan Falcó . There is also evidence to suggest the copyist or at least his source came from the university circles of Alcalá. For example, the handwritten note at the back of the book, apparently in the same hand as the poetic anthology it follows, gives an account of how Andreas Navagero stayed in Alcalá de Henares with Doctor Ramírez (that is, Juan Ramírez, professor of rhetoric at the university). While there, Navagero recited a few lines of a poem which he had begun when leaving Naples but had been unable to finish off: 13 10 See Doctissimorum nostra aetate Italorum epigrammata (Paris: Nicolas le Riche, 1547), National Library of the Czech Republic, E IX 000001; available at <https://books. google.co.uk/books?id=gwXg9zb3vwcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad= 0#v=onepage&q&f=false> (accessed 12 January 2022).
11 The date '1573' and the initials 'RL' (or LR) are found before the title page, but this appears to be in a different hand to the poems copied out in the final leaves.
(You breezes which hasten through the aether on light wings And you murmurings through the high groves with charming noise, Rustic Idmon gives you these wreaths, and scatters Baskets full of fragrant saffron. Meanwhile you assuage the heat, and separate out the empty chaff; While he tosses the grain at midday.) (40 v ) We know Navagero arrived at Alcalá on 6 June 1524, and we even have his description of the city. 15 The writer's familiarity with his visit and reference to an oral recitation suggests that the account is second-or even first-hand (not impossible given the terminus post quem of 1547, the date the book was printed). The account also confirms that the writer or his source was familiar with a European circle of intellectuals through which poems by Garcilaso could have circulated (keeping in mind that Garcilaso's Latin poetry was book, was sent once as ambassador from the Venetian senate to the Emperor Charles; when he was journeying from Alcalá on his way to Madrid, where the king was, and had stayed there for a day with Doctor Ramirez and had been received by his hospitality, he wanted very much to recall the sweet verses which he had composed, because he had been unable to finish off properly the very noble epigram which he had begun when leaving Venice, and he recited these verses') (Doctissimorum nostra aetate Italorum epigrammata, final leaf). Henceforth, the extracts of Garcilaso's Odes I to V are taken from this volume; all translations from the original Latin of this source are mine. 14 'Quos tamen postea et immutavit, et felicissime denique totum absoluit epigramma, quos reperies fol 40' ('Which, however, he later changed, and finished off the whole epigram very nicely, and you will find them on fol. 40') (final leaf).
15 Andrés Navagero, Viaje por España (1524-1526), trad. & anotado por Antonio María Fabie, prólogo de Ángel González (Madrid: Turner, 1983), 23-24. written after his exile from Spain in 1532). One other piece of evidence which suggests a link to Alcalá is the inclusion of a manuscript poem by the aforementioned Juan Ramírez, 'De morte Socratis'. The fact that, unusually, the hand has not specified his first name in the attribution suggests familiarity.
There are five poems which are listed as being by Garcilaso (the first is attributed to 'Garsilassi', and the following poems marked 'Eiusdem'). The new poems are undoubtedly by Garcilaso. Firstly, they are bookended by the previously known odes: Ode II is copied first (here entitled 'Garsilassi ode Ad Genesium Sepulvedam Doctorem theologum et regium Historiographum'), followed by the two new poems, and then by Ode I ('Ejusdem ad Tylesium') and finally Ode III ('Venus ad cupidinem'). The first new poem (which I propose to refer to as Ode IV) is addressed to Pietro Bembo, meaning for the first time we can read the ode which Bembo praised so highly. The second new poem (henceforth Ode V) is addressed to Johann Alexander Brassicanus ('Brasicanum Germanum'), and Garcilaso includes his own name in the body of the poem. Below I offer the texts of the two poems, together with my translation and some comments.
The copies of the poems already known to us are also useful. Thus far, manuscript copies of the three odes have been known in four sources: Mx (Odes I and III), V (Odes I and III); Mt (Ode III) and Mo (Ode II). 16 The texts of Odes I and III all seem to derive from Mx, which is therefore the only one I cite in the apparatus criticus for these odes. 17 However, as I shall argue in my comments, some more reliable readings in the newly discovered witnesses in my source (which I call D) show that they are not derived from Mx like the existing copies of 'Ad Antonium Thylesium' and 'Sedes ad Cyprias'. In particular, the new witness allows us to recover line 53 of 'Sedes ad Cyprias', missing until now (unfortunately disproving my own earlier conjecture of what the line could have contained). Nevertheless, the inclusion of readings which need emendation and are common to Mx suggests that both have a common source. I will therefore also present new critical texts of the three poems in light of these new readings, with particular notes on some extra lines to be found in 'Sedes ad Cyprias'. Happy since you were given by lot The trumpet which fills all corners of the earth with its sound, And scatters the mists of the inert shades Dissipating forgetfulness with its blast.' It has been noted that the three odes known until now are varied in metre, although all of them are written in Horatian metres: 'Ad Antonium Thylesium' is written in Alcaics, 'Ad Genesium Sepulvedam' in the Third Asclepiad, and 'Sedes ad Cyprias' in the Fourth Asclepiad. 21 This ode exhibits a new metre again, the Second Asclepiad (also an Horatian metre). It is addressed to Pietro Bembo, the Italian humanist, poet and future cardinal famous for his exposition of the theory of Neoplatonic love in Gli asolani (1497-1504), and for arguing that Tuscan should be the literary language of Italy in his Prose della volgar lingua (1525). In this poem, Garcilaso displays a great appreciation for the work of the older Italian, although we know from a letter from Bembo to Garcilaso that they had not met. 22 The poem begins with a captatio benevolentiae, wherein Garcilaso begs forgiveness for taking Bembo's attention away from his studies (ll. 1-3), and then asserts that he is not among the famous lyric bards (ll. 4-20). The first of the poets he refers to is Pindar, since the reference to the changes of subject matter and tone, as well as the comparison to a river ('flumine' [l. 6]), is reminiscent of Horace's description of the Greek poet. In Horace, Carmina, IV. 2, Horace refers to the various themes to be found in Pindar's poetry: 'seu deos regesque canit […] sive […] pugilemve equomve / dicit […] flebili sponsae iuvenemve raptum / plorat' ('or as he sings of gods or kings […] or as he tells of boxer or charioteer […] or as he tells of a young man torn / from his weeping bride' ). He also compares Pindar to 'a rain-fed river running down / from the mountains and bursting its banks' ('monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres / quem super noteas aluere ripas' ). 23 In the third and fourth stanzas, Garcilaso goes on to compare himself unfavourably to Horace; this is signalled firstly by the reference to being 'Nor like that lyricist who first showed the metres of Greece to Latium' ('Nec qualis Latio qui numeros prior / Ostendit fidicen' [ll. 9-10]), which recalls Horace's own assertion in Carmina, III. 30 that he was 'the first to bring Aeolian song to Italian measures' ('princeps Aeolium carmen ad Italos / deduxisse modos' ). In his poem, Horace makes reference to his origins by the Aufidus (III. 30. 10), as does Garcilaso (l. 14). Garcilaso's reference to the poet being winged ('volucer' [l. 12]; 'pennis' [l. 14]) also recalls Horace's image of himself turning into a bird to express his poetic 21 Lumsden classifies the metre of 'Sedes ad Cyprias' as the Third Asclepiadean (' Garcilaso  fame and immortality (II. 20). Finally, Garcilaso states that he has not been inserted into the number of poets by Apollo, god of the lyre (ll. 17-20).
In the following stanzas, Garcilaso asserts that if he could write lyric poetry, he would write in praise of Bembo (ll. 21-24), not because the latter needs Garcilaso's meagre skills, but because in that way Garcilaso could be associated with him as his panegyrist (ll. 25-28). Garcilaso then seamlessly does exactly what he professes not to be able to do, that is, praise his addressee: Bembo is acclaimed on Parnassus ('biceps / Collis', 'the two-peaked hill ' [ll. 27-28]); compare 'Parnasosque biceps' (Ovid, Metamorphoses, II.221). 24 and by the muse Melpomene (ll. 29-31), both for his poetry (l. 31) and for his prose history of Venice (ll. 32-35). Indeed, Iberia is jealous that Venice has someone like him to immortalize it (ll. 35-40); thus Alexander the Great wept at the tomb of Achilles, and called the young man lucky to have had Homer to immortalize him (ll. 41-56).
The poem is a sophisticated meditation on the ability of poetry and panegyric to immortalize its object. This appears on several levels: Garcilaso will celebrate Bembo, but Bembo in turn celebrates Venice. Furthermore, by celebrating Bembo, Garcilaso will secure fame for himself; significantly, although he professes not to be like the winged and immortal Horace, he states that if he had the skill to praise Bembo, then he would be lifted up on winged praises ('laudibus / Pennatis ' [ll. 21-22]). We have already seen how Garcilaso draws on Horace's claims of poetic immortality in II.20; likewise, the references to Horace's Carmina, III. 30 are also significant, since in this poem Horace famously asserts that thanks to his poetry he will not fully die ('non omnis moriar ' [III. 30. 6]). The anecdote about Alexander the Great is attested in Cicero's Pro Archia, a speech in defence of the poet Archias (see below), but also an apology for the utility of poetry to the Roman imperial project thanks to its ability to immortalize the great deeds of the Romans.
Another major theme of the poem is the anxiety of imitation. Most notably, in his assertion not to be able to compete with the Classical lyricists, Garcilaso alludes to poems where Horace himself wrestles with his relationship to his predecessors. For example, Ode IV. 2, from which Garcilaso borrows his description of Pindar, opens with a warning about competing with Pindar, comparing it to Icarus' ill-fated flight: 'Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari, / Iulle, certatis ope Daedalea / nititur' ('All those, Iullus, who aim to rival Pindar, / are struggling on feathers waxed by the art / of Daedalus' [IV. 2. 1-3]). A few lines later, Garcilaso also alludes to Horace's first ode (I. 1). In this programmatic poem, Horace asserts by way of a priamel that though there are many vocations, his is that of lyric poet. He concludes by addressing his patron Maecenas, the poem's interlocutor, with a statement of his desire to be counted among the famous lyric poets: 'quod si me lyricis vatibus inseres, / sublimi feriam sidera vertice' ('But if you enrol me among the lyric bards, my soaring head will touch the stars' [I. 1.

35-36]). Garcilaso uses similar phrasing when he claims that Apollo did not insert him in the number of bards ('Non […] numero nobilium […]
Vatum me inseruit ' [ll. 17-19]). He also refers to these lines when he writes that, if he were able to praise Bembo, he would 'touch / The high stars with my illustrious head' ('tangere et ardua / Claro vertice sydera' [ll. 23-24]). As well as expressing his inability to compete with his ancient lyric predecessors, Garcilaso suggests an anxiety about competing with contemporary ones. The reference to Bembo singing of Lalage (l. 31), an object of amorous attention in Horace's poetry (Carmina, I. 22, II. 5. 16), suggests that he is also a lyric poet with whom Garcilaso cannot compete. This reference may have been used loosely in reference to Bembo's love lyrics, since there are no extant poems where he writes of a 'Lalage'.
(How many writers Alexander the Great is said to have kept with him to record his deeds! And yet, when standing before the tomb of Achilles at Sigeum, he said: 'Lucky young man, to have had Homer to proclaim your valour!' And rightly-because, had it not been for the Iliad, the tomb which covered Achilles' body would also have buried his memory.) (Pro Archia, 24) 25 However, the source account is a prose speech, and Garcilaso adapts it for a new poetic context. For example, his 'iuvenis' (l. 49) is more poetic than Cicero's 'adulescens'. Like Cicero, Garcilaso writes that Alexander visited Achilles's tomb (ll. 41-42) and that he was keen for his exploits to be recorded in writing ( scatters the mists of oblivion is also poetic: compare 'Quae umbrarum nebulas spargit inertium' (55) to 'Styx nebulas exhalat iners, umbraeque recentes' (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 4. 434). Garcilaso seems to be demonstrating the fact that, by praising Bembo, he has indeed been given poetic wings.
Let us turn now to consider the second new poem, Ode V. This poem is written in the Third Asclepiadean metre (the same as the ode 'Ad Genesium Sepulvedam'). The poem is addressed to 'Brasicanus Germanus'; although there were two Brassicanus brothers, the mention of poetry ('carmine' [l. 8] ' [l. 17]) suggests that the addressee is Johann Alexander Brassicanus, whom Maximilian I crowned poet laureate in 1518. 28 The content of this poem suggests that Garcilaso and Brassicanus met during Garcilaso's time in Germany in 1532. In February of that year, the Spanish poet accompanied Fernando de Toledo, Duke of Alba, on his way to defend Vienna against the Ottoman army. 29 The references in the poem to camps ('castra' [l. 13]) and tents ('tentoria' [l. 15]) are likely to refer to this expedition. The mention (l. 13) of the 'two-named river' must refer to the Danube, called both the Danuvius and the Hister or Ister in Latin. The reference to oars ('remis' [l. 19]) is also telling. In his second eclogue, Garcilaso recalls how Fernando travelled down the Danube to meet Charles V at Regensburg: 'En fin al gran Danubio s'encomienda; […] El remo que deciende en fuerza suma / mueve la blanca espuma como argento' (Obra poética, 1494-99). Later, the Danube helps Charles V and Fernando row down to Vienna: El río, sin tardanza, parecía que'l agua disponía al gran viaje; allanaba el pasaje y la corriente para que fácilmente aquella armada, […] en el remar liviano y dulce viese cuánto el Danubio fuese favorable. (Obra poética, 1602-08) Whether the latter account was first-hand is the subject of debate. Garcilaso had been condemned to exile for his involvement the previous year in the wedding of his nephew, which had not been sanctioned by the king. On arriving at Regensburg, the punishment was imposed, and he began his exile on a nearby island on the Danube. 30 He was then permitted to continue his exile in Naples in the service of Pedro de Toledo. However, Herrera asserts that Garcilaso was present in the emperor's expedition against the Turks in Vienna, perhaps based on the account in the second eclogue; this would suggest that he was allowed to take part in the campaign before leaving for Naples. 31  that Garcilaso accompanied Pedro de Toledo when the latter was in Rome in August and then entered Naples on 4 September. 32 Hayward Keniston complicates the picture by suggesting that a certain 'Don Gratia di Vega', who is in the company of the Duke of Alba in October of that year, is Garcilaso. 33 In any case, Garcilaso's time in exile on the Danube began in March and ended around the middle of the year, suggesting a window of a few months when he could have met Brassicanus. 34 Garcilaso seems to have started writing his Neo-Latin poetry in Naples. 35 However, the reference to his time in Germany in this poem suggests that the poem was written not long after his arrival in Naples, which would date it to 1532-1533. This is not surprising; Eugenia Fosalba notes that the 'Ode ad Antonium Thylesium' was also written surprisingly soon after Garcilaso's arrival. 36 In that poem, Garcilaso also refers to his exile in terms that imply it was very recent. 37 The descriptions of Garcilaso's exile in Germany which have been known to us until now have been mostly negative. In the 'Ode ad Antonium Thylesium', he writes that he has been forced to abandon his wife, children, brothers and land, to experience cold places and the arrogant customs of barbarians, and alleviate his woes on the banks of the Danube (Obra poética, 1-8). Likewise, in Canción III he laments that he is 'preso y forzado y solo en tierra ajena' (Obra poética, 16). However, 'Ad Brassicanum germanum' gives us a more positive view of the exile by focusing on the friendship that he gained there; Brassicanus is 'Among the first of my companions, bonded / To Lassus by undissolvable law / To the end of my life' ('sodalibus / In primis habite, indissociabili / Lasso lege revincte / Vitae tempora ad ultima' [ll. 1-4]). 38 Indeed, a similar idea is found in the 'Ode ad Antonium Thylesium', where the poet goes on to say that the difficulties of exile have been alleviated by the friendships he has cultivated in Naples with Antonio Telesio, Mario Galeota, and Placido di Sangro, and he concludes that he would not exchange them for the Tagus after all (Obra poética, 69-72).
Once again, one of the concerns of the poems is poetry itself. Garcilaso contrasts his vocation of lyric poet to that of Brassicanus, who will write in 32 Eustaquio Fernández de Navarrete, Vida del célebre Garcilaso ' (l. 17), that is, Homeric epic metre. Strictly, this refers to poems in dactylic hexameter such as Brassicanus' 'In divum Carolum Rhomanorum Regem Invictissimum Idillium', but it may also refer more loosely to many of his poems in praise of the Holy Roman Emperor and various public figures written in other metres. 39 Garcilaso asserts that his shoulders cannot bear the burden of singing of the military camps (ll. 11-13). Instead, he will sing of the nymph of the river Danube ('Istri […] Doridem ' [l. 18]). This is in keeping with Horace's recusationes, where the poet claims he will not write epic poetry. For example, in Carmina, I. 6, he proposes Varius as a better candidate to write of Agrippa's military exploits, claiming to be too slight for those great topics ('tenues grandia'); rather, he will sing of banquets and lovers' quarrels (I. 6. 17-19). This move also occurs in Carmina, IV. 2 where, as we have seen, Horace discusses the danger of attempting to imitate Pindar. He goes on to compare his small poetic activity to a bee sipping on thyme (IV. 2. 27-32); by contrast, his addressee Antonius will sing with a 'greater plectrum' ('maiore […] plectro' [IV. 2. 33]). Garcilaso perhaps has this in mind when he refers to Brassicanus' 'Plectro' (l. 5). 40 Garcilaso's use of the future tense verb 'you will sing' ('Cantabis' [l. 17]) also recalls this poem (compare Horace's 'concines' [Carmina, IV. 2. 33]). The adoption of a poetic persona which claims not to sing of such elevated themes is consistent with Gray's argument that Garcilaso's allusions in his Latin poetry suggest discomfort with the glorification of war and imperialism, something which Isabel Torres argues can also be seen in his Second Eclogue. 41 Garcilaso's imitation of Horace's lyric persona appears throughout the poem. His assertion of friendship is very Horatian; it is reminiscent, for example, of Horace's Carmina, II. 7, where Horace calls Pompey 'meorum prime sodalium' ('first of my companions' [II. 7. 5]). Garcilaso's reference to Brassicanus being his friend to the end of his life may also recall Horace's assertion that he and Maecenas are so close that they will die on the same day (II. 17. 1-9). In the fourth stanza, Garcilaso seems to perform his Horatian aversion to writing about military themes; he compares the tents of the camp to 'mountains white with snow' ('montes nive candidi' [l. 16]), slipping into the opening of Horace's famous description of mount Soracte: 'Vides ut alta stet nive candidum / Soracte' (I. 9. 1-2).
In the last few lines, the River Danube, which has so far been the locus of military exploits, is now described in the terms of a beautiful nymph: Doris ('Doridem' [l. 18]) was a sea-nymph who appears in the ancient poets I include the final line quoted above as it may have been the inspiration for Garcilaso's description of the birds in Égloga II ('aves sin dueño, / con canto no aprendido' [Obra poética, 68-69]), and therefore seems to be a passage the poet had in mind when depicting scenes of natural beauty. Significantly, Propertius' images are also inspired by seeing his girlfriend dressed in a delicate dress ('Coa veste' [I. 2. 2]), although he contrasts the two. The idyllic setting is also suggested by the connection of this description of the nymph with those to be found in Garcilaso's vernacular poetry. For example, in lines 21-22, the nymph 'entrusts herself to the rapid waters' ('se rapidis […] aquis credit'), just like the nymphs in Égloga III who disappear into the river: 'juntas s'arrojan por el agua a nado' (Obra poética, 374). More importantly, the use of an erotic image or vignette to end a poem is an Horatian technique. For instance, Carmina, I. 9 ends by describing a nighttime rendezvous between two unnamed lovers (I. 9. 19-24), and Horace ends several of his odes by lingering on the beauty of a young boy. 44 The terms Garcilaso uses are also reminiscent of those in Horace's erotic descriptions: for example, 'shining' ('nitidam' [l. 18]) is used of Telephus in Carmina, III. 19. 25, and the comparison of the nymph's body to roses ('rosas' [l. 26]) recalls Horace's 42 While the use of the proper name may seem bold, it is more likely than understanding 'Doridem' to mean 'the Dorian woman', which would be inappropriate for the geographical context of the banks of the Danube, and which is more commonly expressed by the adjectives 'Doria' or 'Dorica'. images of young boys as rosy or redder than roses (Carmina, I. 13. 2; IV. 10. 4). Thus, by using one of Horace's closural techniques, Garcilaso cements his programmatic assertion of being a lyric poet.
In short, in both poems, Garcilaso uses an address to his friends as an occasion to explore the role of literature and the nature of his own lyric poetry. In his ode to Bembo, he asserts poetry's ability to immortalize, and explores his anxious relationship to his poetic predecessors. However, in his ode to Brassicanus, his lyric voice rejects the glorification of war in panegyric, and converts the locus of military encounter into the image of a beautiful nymph. Both poems also give us crucial insights into Garcilaso's relationships with other humanists: we can finally appraise his ode to Bembo, and his ode to Brassicanus shows us a more positive side of his exile in Germany. These poems will, I think, go some way to restoring Garcilaso's contemporary reputation as a skilled and sensitive Latin poet.
Finally, I shall now offer new editions of the three extant Latin odes. The new witness includes readings which need emendation and are common to Mx, namely, 'et invia' (l. 5), 'iam prima iuvat' (l. 21), 'animus' (l. 41), and 'avida rosidis' (l. 70). However, there is also evidence to show it does not derive from Mx, and that both derive from a common source. Most importantly, it has a better reading at line 37, where it has the reading 'bina […] compede' ('double fetters'). In this stanza, Garcilaso is referring to Thylesius' tragedy Imber aureus, which tells the story of Danäe, a princess whose father King Acrisius locked her in a tower after being informed by an oracle that Danäe's son would kill him. However, Jupiter came to her in the form of a golden shower, and she later gave birth to Perseus. The king found out and cast Danäe and her son into the sea in a wooden chest, but they survived thanks to the gods' intervention. Perseus famously grew up to slay the Gorgon Medusa. On his return, he also rescued the princess Andromeda, who had been chained to a rock to be sacrificed to a sea monster after her mother claimed to be more beautiful than the Nereids. This is clearly the episode Garcilaso is alluding to in lines 38-40: 'binaque talum compede candidum / nexam puellam coniugemque / languidulis oculis querentem' ('and the girl with her white ankles bound by double fetters, complaining of her bridegroom with weary eyes').

II
Curiously, this episode is not related in Thylesius' Imber aureus, which ends with Danäe and her son being cast into the sea; Garcilaso may be simply retelling the rest of the myth, or referring to a lost work by Thylesius on this theme. 47 In any case, D's reading 'bina' ('twin' i.e., one for each foot) fetters is preferable to the strange reading of 'viva' ('living') fetters, transmitted in Mx; it is unclear what this would refer to, and as far as I know commentators have offered no explanation. However, D is then followed by the erroneous reading 'Tialum', which seems to be interpreted 47 The edition I am using is Antonius Thylesius, Antonii Thylesii Cosentini Imber aureus tragoedia (Venice: Bernardino Vitali, 1529). as a proper name, instead of 'talum' ('ankle'). This may suggest that there is corruption in this line in the common source.
Interestingly, Ovid refers to Andromeda being tied to the rock by her arms, not her feet ('ad duras religatam bracchia cautes' [Ovid,Metamorphoses,4. 672). Garcilaso's variation may simply be an innovation; alternatively, it could have been an imperfect recollection of Ovid's description just a few lines earlier of Perseus binding both his feet with wings ('Pennis ligat ille resumptis / parte ab utraque pedes' [Ovid,Metamorphoses,).
Critics have been perplexed by 'considere' ('settle') in line 23; the context shows that this word must be infinitive ('now it pleases me to settle in the agreeable land of the Sirens […] and near the spirit, or rather ashes, of Maro [Virgil] ' [ll. 21-24]). However, the metre requires Garcilaso's usage to have a short i and long first e, whereas the Classical prosody has a long i and short first e. Keniston amends the word to 'consedere', a form which would scan metrically but which he acknowledges is not found in Classical Latin. 48 He may be right that we are dealing with a late Latin form, but since both D and Mx have the reading 'considere' it seems prudent to keep it as transmitted.
[II] Ad Genesium Sepulvedam Once again, D has one or two better, or at least clearer, readings than the existing witness Mo. I have adopted D's spelling variants of 'praevertit' for 'praevortit' (l. 10) and 'gyro' for 'giro' (l. 18), the latter of which had been corrected by Adolfo Bonilla. 'Massylas leo' (l. 18) was amended to 'Marsylas' by Bonilla, to 'Massylius' by Eugenio Mele and to 'Massylias' by Keniston; Keniston's hypothesis is confirmed here (although the copyist has corrected from 'Massylas'). However, Keniston's note stands that this is unmetrical due to the long y, and Garcilaso has possibly confused 'Massylia' with 'Massilia', which would give the correct vowel quantity. 50 Jay Reed argues instead that Garcilaso in fact intended the sense 'of Marseille', since 'it scans correctly and points to a different sphere of Charles' military aspirations (Garcilaso was to receive his mortal wound in Charles' service on the road between Marseilles and Nice)'. 51 Bonilla reported 'Homadasve' in line 19 of Mo; this was subsequently emended to 'Nomadasve' by Mele and 'Numidasve' by Keniston, with reference to Ovid, Ars amatoria, 2. 183 ('Obsequium tigrisque domat Numidasque leones'). 52 In fact, as pointed out by Reed, Mo does seem to have 'Nomadasve', and the same reading appears clearly in D. However, an adjective meaning 'Numidian' is required here, and 'Nomadas' elsewhere is always a noun, making Keniston's 'Numidasve' preferable.
None the less, both Mx and D share some errors. For example, in line 34 both have 'serat' ('sow'). Bonilla transcribed 'ferat' ('bring') and was followed by later editors. The emendation is a judicious one, since the image of planting is inappropriate to the context: the women claim that the child's birth by Caesarean section, or descent from someone so born, is the source of his rage ('furorem' [l. 35]) and thirst for hot slaughter ('caedis calidae sitim ' [l. 36]). 53 It is easy to see how the error would have occurred, needing only the omission of a stroke. The reading 'ingeneretque furorem' (l. 35) is also problematic, most importantly because it is unmetrical (the second and third short syllables of ingeneret should be one long syllable, and resolution is not permitted). The verb 'ingenero' can mean 'implant' which, as discussed, is inappropriate to the context. Mele posited an error for 'ingentemque', which would be possible as correlative -que … et is found in both poetry and prose. Although ingens does not seem to be commonly used to qualify furor, the reading can be defended by analogy to, say, ingens ira (for example at Ovid, Metamorphoses, I. 166, 'ingentes […] iras'). Given the necessity of emendation, I have adopted Mele's conjecture.
[III] Venus ad Cupidinem 54 The context suggests this is 'placent', 'please' (with short a). It is worth noting that Garcilaso very rarely opens glyconics with a long syllable followed by a short syllable (rather than two long syllables); the only other extant case, apart from the corrupt line 35 of Ode II (discussed above), is line 28 of Ode IV, 'Collis'. I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer of the Bulletin of Spanish Studies for this note. D, like Mx, contains unmetrical readings in lines 3 and 5. However, once again, it has some better readings, in particular the inclusion of line 53, missing in Mx; 'etiam in deos' (l. 18) rather than 'etiam deos' in Mx, which Mele had corrected; and 'Lunam' (l. 26) rather than 'Luna', again previously emended by Mele. This suggests once again that it does not derive from Mx¸but that the two share a common source.
In my earlier study, by comparing 'Sedes ad Cyprias' to Erasmus' translation of Lucian, I postulated that line 53 could have contained a reference to Venus's description of Cupid as a 'malum ingens' ('great evil'). In fact, the line as it appears in D extends the reference to Venus' motherly fear: 'affectu tenero, ut decet' ('with tender feeling, as is becoming'). 57 55 Alternatively, this could be punctuated with a question mark at the end of line 72, and another at the end of line 80, making the apodosis of this conditional 'fraus mea, mater, est?' rather than 'quid ego pecco tibi aut aliis?' I have chosen to punctuate lines 72-80 as one question as this more closely resembles the earlier version, where 'quid ego pecco tibi aut aliis' is the apodosis. Once again, I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer of the Bulletin of Spanish Studies for the suggestions on punctuation here. However, it is also possible that a scribe has tried to supply the missing line. 58 D contains a few errors. For example, it has the reading 'indidit' in line 20, where I have retained the Mx reading 'induit' (cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 2.850: 'induitur faciem tauri'). This must be simply a copyist's error. In line 22, the copyist corrects 'nivea' to 'nigra' in the margin, but this would be unmetrical. Indeed, the reading 'nivea' has also caused confusion among modern critics; I have suggested previously that it is a joke on Garcilaso's part. 59 Line 35 has been omitted.
The Mx reading 'Si forte Cybele' in line 56 is unmetrical as a third long syllable is needed. Reed posited that forte was an error for forsan/forsit, or that an elided monosyllable had been omitted. The latter appears in D, where the reading is 'Ne forte aut Cybele'. However, the copyist has omitted 'si' ('if'), which makes the rest of the line unmetrical and loses the sense of the passage ('if Cybele should come either come to her senses, or rather continue to be mad'). I have emended the line by adopting both D's 'aut' and Mx's 'si'.
The greatest difference occurs towards the end of the poem, where the Mx lines 73-77 are replaced by a longer passage of thirteen lines, and there are also small differences in D lines [89][90]. The small changes of D lines 89-90, as well as the fact that the portion occurs in the middle of a sentence, preclude the possibility that a portion of text was simply interpolated. Therefore, it is likely to have been either part of an early draft discarded later, or a later elaboration. One criterion that may help us is its relation to its model. As Table 1  This is not unprecedented, since Garcilaso's thirteen-line opening to the poem is also a departure from Erasmus' translation. 61 I would therefore be inclined to think that this is a later amplification in the vein of the proem. Significantly, both sections elaborate on the figure of Cupid; for example, in the proem, Garcilaso refers to Cupid's gold arrows (which inspire love) and his leaden arrows (which inspire hatred) (ll. 6-7). In these lines, the idea of providing beautiful things to love seems to have suggested a digression introducing Neo-Platonic ideas about love: Garcilaso is drawing our attention to the bottom rungs of the Platonic ladder of love: beautiful things generally, and more specifically beautiful faces, which please not only on a physical level but on a spiritual or intellectual level. Cupid then goes on to say that he is simply spurring on the work that Nature has already begun in human hearts: 'Haec somnis propero citus, / Quo leges placidae muneraque advocant / Naturae' ('I swiftly hasten these things in dreams in the direction in which the laws and gifts of kindly Nature summon them') (ll. 81-83).
It is also worth noting the changes in D lines 89-90 (Mx ll. 81-82). The opening clause of D is differentiated from that of Mx only by a change in word order; compare D 'in re ut non superans puer / es nulla' and Mx 'nulla ut non superans, puer, / in re es', in both cases meaning 'since in nothing you are not superior, my boy'. (Note that D's reading 'ulla' has been corrected to 'nulla' in the margin, and Mx's reading 'nullae' was emended in Mele's editio princeps.) The rest of line 90 in D reads 'atque odio quam celer affici' ('and moved by hatred as quickly as anything'), whereas Mx has 'quin celeri bile etiam tumes' ('indeed, even swell up with quick bile'). In fact, on a few counts, the Mx reading is superior: for example, Mx's elision 're es' is easier than D's 're ut'; the exclamation 'quam' in D is awkward with the ut 61 Czepiel, 'Garcilaso's "Sedes ad Cyprias" ', 745-46. clause which precedes it; and the Mx reading 'bile […] tumes' echoes the Horatian 'bile tumet' (Carmina,I. 13. 4), an allusion which is lost in D. Perhaps the reference to 'odio' ('hatred') rather than 'bile' ('bile' or 'bad temper') is meant to pick up on the earlier references to the gold and leaden arrows and emphasize the idea of Cupid as a god of both love and hatred.
In D line 86 (Mx l. 78), the vocative 'mater', which is also found in Erasmus' text, is replaced with the adjective 'liber' ('free'). This is presumably due to avoid the repetition of the vocative 'mater' in line 85. The implication is that Mars would be free from the captivity of his love for Venus, which embellishes Cupid's threat to withdraw his powers in Venus' case if she continues to chide him.
In short, in the longer version of the poem in D, Garcilaso gives Cupid a longer defence incorporating some philosophical ideas, before ending on the same comic note as the shorter version, with Venus capitulating to Cupid. 62 62 By contrast, Lucian ends his dialogue with Venus threatening her unruly son; see Czepiel, 'Garcilaso's "Sedes ad Cyprias" ', 749. In your company, my dear Thylesius, the man encountered me Whom I adore in the place of a father, To whom I am not ashamed to lay bare my soul As a sweet token of my love; While he unlocks the secrets of the gods, A frenzy deeply arouses his heart; Whether he shows that the heaven-dwellers Care gravely about the affairs of men, Or that sons are tormented on account of the crimes Of their parents, so that while they draw breath They do not themselves indulge in luxury, And no punishment is lacking to the parents; All listen to these things In particularly reverent silence: both my dear Marius, And Placitus, full and mindful Of many good things.
Hence this honest house receives all, And free speech is born, but not with impunity, For if you dare to make an argument Tied up in twisted knots, Hoping to draw us to your opinion Rather by ingenuity than by truth, At once the company falls upon you, Just as the company of Cicones rushed at the singing man, Orpheus.
Did you really think that, insane and forgetful, I would take the Tagus flowing with gold And the meadows moistened by the watery courses In exchange for my sweet friends?
[II] To Genesius Sepulveda Since so far the Muse has allowed only you, learned Sepulveda, To draw the bow of religion and fierce warfare so far back, That their curved ends Do not refuse to meet, And likewise since it falls to you To speak of Africa trembling Before the undaunted and pious king, Who, riding a horse distinguished by marks, Rapidly outstrips the winds among the dense throngs, Violently shaking the fatal spear In his hand; Before whom the crowd makes way Not otherwise than the light straw in a dry grove gives way to flames, Or clouds yield before the roving winds In an open sky.
While, warlike, he drives the trembling in an unbroken circle, Just like the fierce lion Puts in motion peaceful beasts Through Massylian or Numidian forests, The wives recently deprived of their beloved Sigh in their fearful breast, Accustomed to gaze over the broad expanses of the plain From high towers, and say: 'Alas, young men, Avoid the arms of and unlucky encounters with Caesar, For your strength is unequal; Since the mother who was cut open Gave the name to her descendants, While they tried to rip the feeble child from her womb, Hence comes Caesar's race, Hence a race which rejoices at fresh slaughter; Do you think that he who took his fierce step towards life Over a funereal threshold will not bring from the same place Enormous rage And thirst for hot slaughter?' [III] Venus to Cupid Venus, in her Cypriot dwelling, For whom a hundred blazing altars Are continuously fragrant with sacred incense, Her hair bound with wreaths, nude and driving the chorus, Was rejoicing, when her son approached, Having put aside the gold darts from his quiver, And his lead ones too, With which he violently subdues earth and sea, And the heavenly race. Then his mother, taking pity at once on the fate Of men and gods, First gently stroking the golden hair of the honey-sweet boy, said to him: 'Alas, my son, how long will you be so insatiable In these shameful deeds, That you do not only attack the wretched and hopeless human race, Torturing men in cruel ways, But you even dare To draw your darts against the gods? At your urging, the Thunderer often put on An image so shameful for a god! At one time he was a bull marked on his forehead with a snowy mark, But white on the rest of his body; At another, he flashes through the virginal lap As a golden shower. You often draw down the Moon through the quiet silence From the peak of sleeping heaven To the Latmian rocks beneath the sky. You make long-haired Phoebus loiter with Clymene, And, almost neglecting to perform the duty he owes to the earth, He is considered a lazy charioteer. If you are considering some wicked deed against me, Your mother, as is your wont, treacherous one, I will not bear it poorly or badly, As long as your put an end to your naughtiness. But what do you want, boy, When you delight in transfixing the mistress of Dindymus?
Even though she is aged and the parent of almost all the gods And not suitable for such play, Blind frenzy has driven her To burn hopelessly for Attis. And since the fires pass deep into her heart, Riding her yoked lions She is carried over the rocks of the green groves of Ida, And a flitting company Follows her directly, and some with rapidly moving palms Strike tambourines, And the green grove resounds with a great noise, And at once a fierce madness drives The raging breast of all. Therefore, with tender affection, as is appropriate, And fearing all things as a mother (let it be an empty apprehension!), I am tortured by sorrowful fear, Lest Cybele, if she should come to her senses, Or rather if she should continue To rage in her way, should fiercely command her lions To tear you, my tender son, Apart before her eyes, For she will either be her own avenger, or powerless over her own spirit. 'Be of good heart, mother', said the boy, 'And do not let fear trouble you, For these beasts which you fear Become so gentle for me, That taking their mane and sitting on their backs without fear in the manner of a horserider I can drive them wandering about; Meanwhile they begin to fawn on me with their tails and ears, And when I place my fingers and hand in their mouth, They return it to me unharmed. Lastly, how do I offend you or others If by creating, as an excellent craftsman, Beautiful things which offer A pleasing and lovable appearance by their nature And faces which please either the spirit Or the eyes quite profoundly, and the mind with them, I seize, rouse and carry off The hearts of those who love beauty Towards desire? Is that my deception, mother? I swiftly hasten these things in dreams In the direction in which the laws and gifts of kindly Nature summon them; And humans find so much fault with this, That even you, mother, Are averse to my shameful deed. Or perhaps would you prefer that your Mars should be set free and not love you, And that henceforth you should not love him back? I am your son, and a powerful one; command and I shall obey.' 'Since there is no matter in which you are not victorious, child, And moved by hatred as quickly as anything, Do not withdraw, child, From my embrace; I ask nothing more than that.'