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This article explores the functions of apostrophe and other strategies of mediated reception in Juan Latino’s Austrias Carmen (1573), a two-book epic poem in Latin on the Battle of Lepanto. Latino’s epic repeatedly invites the narratee to fix his or her gaze on remarkable spectacles, creating a tension between narrative and discursive time. In the first part of the article, I examine how Latino uses apostrophes directed at his patron Pedro de Deza to establish a close link between the addressee of the epic—Deza—and the Habsburg dynasty, while at the same time encouraging Deza to visualize the scenes described. In the second part, I question the shift within the poem from apostrophes explicitly addressing Deza towards ones directed at an implicit narratee. Latino’s purpose, I argue, is therefore to put before the eyes of the narratee his marvelous artistic skills as a painter with words.
