Alderete, Diego Gratian De

, the son of Diego Garcia, one of the great officers of the house of Ferdinand and Isabella, was born about the end of the fifteenth century, and died at the age of ninety, in the reign of Philip II. His father sent him, when very young, to study at Louvain, under the care of John Louis Vives, and he made extraordinary proficiency in Greek, Latin, and philosophy. Charles V. made him his private secretary, and he was retained in the same station by Philip II. and enjoyed great favour at court. He is extolled by his countrymen, as a man of piety, wisdom, and Christian philosophy. His works are principally translations. 1. A translation of Xenophon, in elegant Spanish, Salamanca, 1552, fol. 2. Translations of the greater part of the works of Plutarch, Isocrates, Dio Chrysostom, Agapetus the deacon: 3. A Translation of Thucydides, Salamanca, 1554, fol. He also wrote a “History of the taking of Africa,” a sea-port on the coast of Barbary; and left behind him a collection of the military treatises which had appeared in Greek, Latin, andFrench, translated into Spanish for the use of his countrymen. His taste, and his rank in society, gave him a considerable influence in the progress of Spanish literature, during his long life. ²