ABSTRACT
As with other themes, it is useful here to differentiate between literary topics and comments on everyday reality. The Diccionario de Autoridades might serve as a starting point, citing two meanings of the term nobility: 'the purity of blood, through which noble persons are distinguished from the rest of the population' and 'the advantage possessed by certain things over others of their species'. That is, generis claritas in the first case, and excellentia in the second. These two qualities do not always co-occur in the same person or social category, and indeed, on a number of occasions Quevedo underlines this very discrepancy Nobility as Merit
