CHAPTER IX.

THE LITERATURE OF THE PENINSULAS.

Limitations of this chapter. Late Greek romance. Its difficulties as a subject. Anna Comnena, &c. _Hysminias and Hysmine._ Its style. Its story. Its handling. Its "decadence." Lateness of Italian. The "Saracen" theory. The "folk-song" theory. Ciullo d'Alcamo. Heavy debt to France. Yet form and spirit both original. Love-lyric in different European countries. Position of Spanish. Catalan-Provençal. Galician-Portuguese. Castilian. Ballads? The _Poema del Cid_. A Spanish _chanson de geste_. In scheme and spirit. Difficulties of its prosody. Ballad-metre theory. Irregularity of line. Other poems. Apollonius and Mary of Egypt. Berceo. Alfonso el Sabio 375

CONCLUSION 412

INDEX 427

THE FLOURISHING OF ROMANCE

AND THE

RISE OF ALLEGORY.