_La Perfecta Casada_ is dedicated to Maria Varela Osorio, a recently wedded bride, who may have been a distant kinswoman of the author's.[265] Nowhere more clearly than in this treatise does Luis de Leon justify the statement that he had a Hebrew soul. He takes for granted the Oriental point of view, and illustrates his imperious thesis with ample quotations from writers of all types--pagans, Christians, saints, and laymen. There are references to Simonides, to Sophocles, to Euripides, to Plutarch, to Saint Clement of Alexandria, to Saint Cyprian, to Saint Ambrose, to Garcilasso de la Vega. It seems likely that _La Perfecta Casada_ was written after _De los nombres de Cristo_, which was almost certainly begun in prison. But there is perhaps nothing in the internal evidence of the style which would point to that conclusion. The style of _La Perfecta Casada_ is vigorous and clear; but it is marred by gusts of rhetoric and by an excess of copulative conjunctions. These peculiarities produce the effect of relative inexperience, and might easily mislead a too confident critic.
_De los nombres de Cristo_ is cast in the Platonic form of dialogue, and, in the section entitled _Pastor_, Plato is quoted by name. But the Hellenic influence, though present, is not dominant. Already Alonso de Orozco had anticipated Luis de Leon with _De los nueve nombres de Cristo_,[266] and there are points of contact in the handling as is inevitable from the similarity of the subject. But it cannot be denied that Luis de Leon's work is suffused with a warmer, more human interest than Orozco's brief sketch. These more intimate personal elements are present on almost every page of _De los nombres de Cristo_. Nobody can read far without perceiving that Marcello, hindered by his _poca salud y muchas occupaciones_, is manifestly a double of Luis de Leon; there are passages which gloss themes developed metrically elsewhere; there are retrospicient glances at the Valladolid trial; the scene of the dialogue is laid within view of La Flecha, and the details of the landscape are reproduced with exact fidelity; Luis de Leon has a freer hand in _De los nombres de Cristo_ than in his other prose works, but here again in his paraphrases of the Biblical passages relating to Christ his interpretation is at one with the interpretation of the prophets. And this identity of sentiment has in it nothing dramatic. Those who have alleged that Luis de Leon came of Jewish stock may have been--apparently were--mistaken; but their mistake is comprehensible, for more than any contemporary Spanish poet--more even than Herrera in his odes--is he saturated with the Jewish spirit. In all his work Luis de Leon adheres closely to the Bible. In the _De los nombres de Cristo_ he is also a Platonist within limits: not so much as regards the manner (which tends to an oratorical pomp more reminiscent of Cicero) as in his conciliatory method. With the Jewish and Hellenic blend of influence we must rate the Latin influence--that of Horace and of Virgil. The influence of Horace on Luis de Leon has been often noted. It exists no doubt, but has perhaps been exaggerated: why should we suppose that his love of moderation was learnt from Horace and was not partly, at least, temperamental? May not the references to Horace be a characteristic of humanism? An opinion backed by the weight of classical authority must reach us with irresistible force, must it not? However this may be, the predominant influence in _De los nombres de Cristo_, as in all Luis de Leon's prose, is Scriptural and Christian. In maturity of development, in intellectual force, in beauty of expression, and in general adequateness, _De los nombres de Cristo_ exhibits Luis de Leon's prose at its culmination. The book is dedicated to Pedro Portocarrero,[267] Bishop of Calahorra, who had previously twice been rector of Salamanca University. It seems probable that Luis de Leon's friendship with him dates back to 1566-1567, when Portocarrero held the office of rector for the second time. Besides _De los nombres de Cristo_ Luis de Leon dedicated to Portocarrero _In Abdiam prophetam Explanatio_ (1589) and the manuscript collection of his poems. For some reason not very obvious this collection of verses was not published till 1631 when it was issued by Quevedo, who hoped that it would help to stem the current of Gongorism in Spain. The poems, printed forty years after the author's death, appeared too late to affect the public taste. Góngora himself had died in 1627, but his influence was undiminished.