Gongora’s innovations did not, however, tend to better his fortune; for when he died in 1627, he held merely the post of titular chaplain to the king. But his works were universally read in Spain; and in proportion as men of sound judgment emphatically protested against the absurd innovations of the Gongorists, the more vehemently did these assert their pretensions.[448] Thus Gongora in some measure attained his object. His arduous exertions to establish his style did not, it is true, promote him to a lucrative post; but they were rewarded with the unlimited admiration of a numerous party, composed of men of half-formed taste, who found it easy in the crisis of the conflict between the Spanish national style and the Italian, to raise themselves into importance. Proud of their half cultivation, they regarded every writer who did not admire and imitate the style of their master, as a man of limited talent, incapable of appreciating the beauties of their _estilo culto_.[449] But none of Gongora’s partizans possessed the talent of their leader, and their affectation became on that account still more insupportable. They soon separated into two similar yet distinct schools, one of which represented the pedantry of its founder, while the other, in order to render the art of versifying the easier, even dispensed with that precision of style which Gongora, in his wildest flights, still sought to preserve. The disciples of the first school were proud to be the commentators of their master; and in their voluminous illustrations of Gongora’s unintelligible works, they did not neglect to pour forth all the stores of their erudition.[450] These were called the _Cultoristos_, a name which was applied to them in derision. The second school of the Gongorists more nearly resembled that of the Marinists; and its disciples were distinguished by the name of _Conceptistos_, in imitation of the Italian term _Concettisti_, which was applied to the followers of Marino. The _Conceptistos_ revelled in the wildest regions of fancy, without the least regard to propriety or precision, and were only desirous of expressing preposterous and extravagant ideas (_concetti_) in the unnatural language of Gongora. Some individuals of this party were, however, inclined to imitate the careless style of Lope de Vega.