upied what one
might venture to call the region of sacred mythology, as in The Sibyl of
the East, in which the profound legends identifying the Cross of Calvary
and the Tree of Life are wrought up into a poem of surpassing
beauty".[2] An excellent German version of Los dos amantes del cielo is
to be found in the second volume of the "Spanisches Theater", by Schack,
whose important work on Dramatic Art and Literature in Spain, is still
untranslated into the language of that country,--a singular neglect,
when his later and less elaborate work, "Poesie and Kunst der Araber in
Spanien und Sicilien" (Berlin, 1865), has already found an excellent
Spanish interpreter in Don Juan Valera, two volumes of whose "Poesia y
Arte de los Arabes en Espana y Sicilia" (Madrid, 1868), I was fortunate
enough to meet with during a recent visit to Spain.

The story of SS. Chrysanthus and Daria (The Two Lovers of Heaven), whose
martyrdom took place at Rome A.D. 284, and whose festival occurs on the
25th of October, is to be found in a very abridged form in the "Legenda
Aurea" of Jacobus de Voragine, c. 152. The fullest account, and that
which Calderon had evidently before him when writing The Two Lovers of
Heaven, is given by Surius in his great work, "De Probatis Sanctorum
Vitis", October, p. 378. This history is referred to by Villegas at the
conclusion of his own condensed narrative in the following passage,
which I take from the old English version of his Lives of Saints, by
John Heigham, anno 1630.

"The Church doth celebrate the feast of SS. Chrisanthus and Daria, the
25th of October, and their death was in the year of our Lord God 284, in
the raigne of Numerianus, Emperor. The martyrdom of these saints was
written by Verinus and Armenius, priests of St. Stephen, Pope and
Martyr: Metaphrastes enlarged it somewhat more. St. Damasus made
certain eloquent verses in praise of these saints, and set them on their
tombe. There is mention of them also in the Romaine Martirologe, and in
that of Usuardus: as also in the 5. tome of Surius; in Cardinal
Baronius, and Gregory of Turonensis", p. 849.

A different abridgment of the story as given by Surius, is to be found
in Ribadeneyra's "Flos Sanctorum" (the edition before me being that of
Barcelona, 1790, t. 3. p. 304). It concludes with the same list of
authorities, which, however, is given with more precision. The old
English translation by W. P. Esq., second edition: London, 1730, p. 369