FERNANDO DE ACUÑA (? 1500-80) comes into notice as the translator of Olivier de la Marche's popular allegorical poem, the _Chevalier Délibéré_, a favourite with Carlos Quinto. The Emperor is said to have amused himself by translating the French poem into Spanish prose, and to have commissioned Acuña to a poetic version. A courtier like Van Male gives us to understand that some part of Acuña's _Caballero determinado_ is based upon the Emperor's prose rendering, and the insinuation is that Acuña and his master should share the praise of the former's exploit. This pleasant tale is scarce plausible, for we know that the Cæsar never mastered colloquial Castilian, and that he should shine in its literary exercise is almost incredible. Be that as it may, Acuña's _Caballero determinado_, a fine example of the old _quintillas_, met with wide and instant appreciation; yet he never sought to follow up his triumph in the same kind. The new influence was irresistible, and Acuña succumbed to it, imitating the _lira_ of Garcilaso to the point of parody, singing as "Damon in absence," practising the pastoral, aspiring to Homer's dignity in his blank verses entitled the _Contienda de Ayax Telamonio y de Ulises_. Three Castilian cantos of Boiardo's _Orlando Innamorato_ won applause in Italy; but Acuña's best achievements are his sonnets, which are almost always admirable. One of them contains a line as often quoted as any other in all Castilian verse:— "_Un Monarca, un Imperio, y una Espada,_" "One Monarch, one Empire, and one Sword." And this pious aspiration after unity had perhaps been fulfilled if Spain had abounded with such prudent and accomplished figures as Fernando de Acuña.