<P> Another current that permeated Spanish thinking was the radical departure from the medieval ideal that royal power resided in God's will, as noted in Machiavelli's The Prince (1532). Francisco Suarez's treatise On the Defense of Faith (De defensio fidei, 1613) stated that political power resided in the people and rejected the divine rights of kings, and Juan Mariana's On Kings and Kingship (1599) went even further by stating that the people had the right to murder despotic kings . </P> <P> Amidst these developments during the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain experienced a cultural blossoming referred to as the Spanish Golden Age . It saw the birth of notable works of art: Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes (1605), played with the vague line between reality and perception . Lope de Vega, in his play Fuente Ovejuna (1619), talks about a village that rebels against authority . In a time of proportion and perfection in the arts, the painter El Greco puzzled his contemporaries with exaggerated proportions and unsettling brushstrokes that embodied the terror and struggle of humanity . </P> <P> Rosaura walks through the mountains of Poland, dressed as a man . She finds Clarín, a jester, who tries to make her forget how miserably Poland receives visitors . They arrive at a tower, where they find Segismundo imprisoned, bound in chains . He tells them that his only crime was being born . Clotaldo, Segismundo's old warden and tutor, arrives and orders his guards to disarm and kill the intruders . But he recognizes Rosaura's sword as his own that he had left behind in Muskovy years ago for his child to bear . Suspecting that Rosaura is his child (he thinks she is male), he takes Rosaura and Clarin with him to court . </P> <P> At the palace, Astolfo, Duke of Muscovy, discusses with his cousin, Princess Estrella, that as they are the nephew and niece of King Basilio of Poland, they would be his successors if they married each other . Estrella is troubled by the locket that Astolfo wears, with another woman's portrait . Basilio reveals to them that he imprisoned his infant son, Segismundo, due to a prophecy by an oracle that the prince would bring disgrace to Poland and would kill his father, but he wants to grant his son a chance to prove the oracle wrong . If he finds him evil and unworthy, he will send him back to his cell, making way for Astolfo and Estrella to become the new king and queen . Clotaldo enters with Rosaura, telling Basilio that the intruders know about Segismundo . He begs for the king's pardon, as he knows he should have killed them . The king says he should not worry, for his secret has already been revealed . Rosaura tells Clotaldo that she wants revenge against Astolfo, but she won't say why . Clotaldo is reluctant to reveal that he thinks he is Rosaura's father . </P>

Why does rosaura leave her horse behind at the beginning of act 1