DIAMANTE, JUAN BAUTISTA Spanish dramatist, was born at Castillo about 1640, entered the army, and began writing for the stage in 1657. Like many other Spanish dramatists of his time, Diamante is deficient in originality, and his style is riddled with affectations; La Desgraciada Raquel, which was long considered to be his best play, is really Mira de Amescua's Judia de Toledo under another title; and the earliest of Diamante's surviving pieces, El Honrador de su padre (1658), is virtually a free translation of Corneille's Le Cid. Diamante is historically interesting as the introducer of French dramatic methods into Spain.