Fernand Perez De Oliva
Fernand Perez De Oliva [1]
a noted Spanish morlist, was born in Cordova about 1492. His father, who himself cultivated letters, educated him with much care. At twelve he was studying in the University of Salamanca; whence he went to Alcala, then to Paris, and finally to Rome, where, under the protection of his uncle, attached to the court of Leo X, he enjoyed all the advantages that the capital of the Christian world could offer. On the death of his uncle he was proposed to occupy the place thus left vacant; but he preferred to return to Paris, where he gave public lessons during three years. Pope Adrian VI, informed of the success of Oliva, endeavored to attract him to Rome. The love of country prevailed with the young Spaniard, who returned to Salamanca, and was one of the founders of the college of the Archbishop in 1528. He taught moral philosophy, and became the rector of the college. Shortly after having attained this elevated position he died, in 1530, though still a young man-a great loss to letters. Oliva had seen with what success Italian writers had, in imitation of the Latins, composed works in prose, and he regretted that in Spain the Latin was still the language for moral and philosophical discussions; he employed the Castilian tongue in a dialogue On the Dignity of Man. He also wrote several didactic discourses On the Faculties of the Mind and their Use, etc., and a discourse which he pronounced in Salamanca as candidate for the chair of moral philosophy. The historian Morales, his nephew, assures us that in all these treatises Oliva designed to give models of the power and resources of the Spanish tongue. His example was promptly followed by writers of merit — Sedefno, Salazar, Luis Mexia, Navarra; but none equalled for force and expression the first part of the dialogue. On the Dignity of Man. All the works of Oliva were published for the first time by his nephew, Ambrosio de Morales. (Cordova, 1585, 4to); they were reprinted (Madrid, 1787, 2 vols. 12mo). The Inquisition held them until after correction. See Razionamento que hiro en. Salamanca, in the Works of Oliva; Rezabal y Ugarte, Biblioteca de los Escritores que han sido individuos de los seis Colegios Mayores (Madrid, 1805, 4to), p. 239, etc.; Nicolas Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana nova; Ticknor, Hist. of Spanish Literature, 2:8 sq., 66; 3:401. (J. H. W.)
