AGUILAR, GASPAR HONORATO de. – Spanish man of letters, originally from Valenza and living from 1561 to 1623, he was among the first ten members of the Valencian Academy «de los Nocturnos» (1591), entrusted with drawing up its regulations; there he also read various applauded compositions in verse, published, together with those of the other members, in the Acts of the Academy itself. He often organized poetic contests, in which he also took part personally.
He is also remembered for the Fábula de Endimion y la Luna, a fine epithalamium for the wedding of the duke of Gandia, whose secretary he was until shortly before his death, and for a historical poem of eight cantos in ottava rima on the expulsion of the Moors from Spain by Philip III. This was the essential production of A. in the lyrical and epic fields; but, together with Tárrega, his frequent companion in the Academy, he was also among the first and most fervent propagators of Lope’s theatre, as well as himself a prolific dramatist: among the comedies of religious inspiration, it is sufficient here to recall La vida y muerte de San Luis Bertrán and El gran Patriarca San Juan de Ribero, and, among those depicting manners, La venganza honrada and El mercader amante, the latter praised by Cervantes. His contemporaries, to be sure, were not sparing in their praise of him: besides the author of the Quijote, Lope also remembered him honourably, and he was even called «divine». Along with one of the most competent scholars of his work, Marti Grajales, he should be credited with a fluent dialogue free of affectation, a style devoid of bombast and conceits, and very fine descriptions and thoughts, «expressed with that difficult facility encountered only in privileged talents».
Ruggero M. Ruggieri