ABSTRACT
In the Segunda parte of Alonso de Ercilla's epic poem La Araucana, the verisimilitudinous narrative of the ongoing wars in the Chilean valleys of Arauco is punctuated with three interconnected supernatural sequences. This chapter analyses its narrative sequentially, noting and evaluating its allusions to the battles on Chilean soil that precede and follow it, in order to consider Philip's impact on its evolution. It considers the question implicitly raised here of how far, according to Ercilla, the relative moral integrity upheld in this victory is capable of translation to the wars fought in Philip's name on both sides of the Atlantic. Although the situation is, of course, reversed in Chile, with the Spaniards defending rather than assaulting a 'plaza fuerte', there are certain coincidences between the two juxtaposed battle narratives of Saint-Quentin and Penco. He insisted on due proportion in its conduct given the opportunity for 'barbarians among the soldiery to commit every kind of inhuman savagery and cruelty'.
