The result of the introduction of a knowledge of the masterpieces of classical literature was bound to have a great effect upon the development of Portuguese poetry and prose, but before noticing the result of that influence in the works of the "classicists," headed by Sá de Miranda and Ferreira, and in the epic of Camoens, it is necessary to devote a little space to the life and works of the greatest Portuguese dramatist, Gil Vicente. The versatility of the Portuguese people during the heroic period is in no way better illustrated than by the fact that in their country appeared the first modern dramatist, nearly a century before Shakespeare or Calderon. The date of Gil Vicente's birth is unknown, but it is said that he came of a good family, and he is first found attached to the Court of Emmanuel as a dramatic author. He began by writing "autos" or religious pieces, resembling in their nature the miracle plays common all over Europe at the time, and the first, which attracted King Emmanuel's attention, was written to celebrate the birth of his eldest son, afterwards John III. Most of them are Christmas pieces, and the dramatist took advantage of the story of the shepherds watching their flocks by night, to introduce the elements of what may be called pastoral comedy. Far more important are his comedies and farces, which latter won for him the title of the Portuguese Plautus. Neither the plots nor the language of these productions are very refined, but they are full of dramatic vigour, and represent the life of the lower classes in Lisbon, with a vividness which strikingly recalls the works of his Roman prototype. Gil Vicente died at Evora in 1557, the same year as his patron, John III., who, in his younger days, did not disdain to act in his favourite's dramas, and he has had no successor as a comic writer worthy to be named beside him, which proves once again, how thoroughly with the extinction of the national greatness, the originality of the Portuguese people in every direction disappeared.
Side by side with Gil Vicente must be mentioned Bernardim Ribeiro, the founder of the most national school of Portuguese poetry, that of the romantic-pastoral type. Though he showed the influence of the revival of classical learning in his style, he did not show it in his ideas, and the shepherds who converse in his eclogues, are as thoroughly Portuguese as those who appear in Gil Vicente's Christmas "autos." Ribeiro, like Gil Vicente, was a favourite at the Court of King Emmanuel, where he held the office of "Gentleman of the Chamber," and it is said that the lady for whom he cherished a hopeless affection was the Donna Beatrice, daughter of the king. A modern writer on Portuguese literature, speaking of Ribeiro and his works, says: "The rivers and mountains of his native land are the natural framework of a poet's fancy, and the revival of classical learning showed him in the Eclogues of Virgil a model, which he was not slow to imitate. His Eclogues, written in 'redondilhas' (octosyllabic nine or ten-lined stanzas), are the earliest in modern Europe, and while replete with the charms and conceits of versification of the troubadours, show a truly poetic love of nature."[23] Ribeiro was the first true Portuguese poet, as Gil Vicente was the first Portuguese dramatist. While coming under the influence of the classical writers of Greece and Rome, he was not a slavish imitator of their master-pieces, and as the founder of the school of pastoral poetry, he holds an honourable place in the Portuguese literature of the heroic age.