Sect. II. 1520-1550.
On Moral and Political Philosophy.
Influence of moral writers. 24. By moral philosophy, we are to understand not only systems of ethics, and exhortations to virtue, but that survey of the nature or customs of mankind, which men of reflecting minds are apt to take, and by which they become qualified to guide and advise their fellows. The influence of such men, through the popularity of their writings, is not the same in all periods of society; it has sensibly abated in modern times, and is chiefly exercised through fiction, or at least a more amusing style than was found sufficient for our forefathers; and from this change of fashion, as well as from the advance of real knowledge, and the greater precision of language, many books, once famous, have scarcely retained a place in our libraries, and never lie on our tables.
Cortegiano of Castiglione. 25. In this class of literature, good writing, such at least as at the time appears to be good, has always been the condition of public esteem. They form a large portion of the classical prose in every language. And it is chiefly in this point of view that several of the most distinguished can deserve any mention at present. None was more renowned in Italy than the Cortegiano of Castiglione, whose first edition is in 1528. We here find both the gracefulness of the language in this, perhaps its best age, and the rules of polished life in an Italian court. These, indeed, are rather favourably represented, if we compare them with all we know of the state of manners from other sources; but it can be no reproach to the author that he raised the standard of honourable character above the level of practice. The precepts however are somewhat trivial, and the expression diffuse; faults not a little characteristic of his contemporaries. A book that is serious, without depth of thought or warmth of feeling, cannot be read through with pleasure.
26. At some distance below Castiglione in merit, and equally in reputation, we may place the dialogues of Sperone Speroni, a writer whose long life embraced two ages of Italian literature. These dialogues belong to the first, and were published in 1544. Such of them as relate to moral subjects, which he treats more theoretically than Castiglione, are solemn and dry; they contain good sense in good language; but the one has no originality, and the other no spirit.
Marco Aurelio of Guevara. 27. A Spanish prelate in the court of Charles obtained an extraordinary reputation in Europe by a treatise so utterly forgotten at present, that Bouterwek has even omitted his name. This was Guevara, author of Marco Aurelio con el Relox de Principes, as the title-page awkwardly runs. It contains several feigned letters of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, which probably in a credulous age passed for genuine, and gave vogue to the book. It was continually reprinted in different languages for more than a century; scarce any book except the Bible, says Casaubon, has been so much translated, or so frequently printed.[739] It must be owned that Guevara is dull; but he wrote in the infancy of Spanish literature. The first part of this book is properly entitled Marco Aurelio, and is filled with the counterfeited letters; the second, Relox de Principes, the Watch or Dial of Princes, is but a farago of trite moral and religious reflections, with an intermixture of classical quotations. It is fair to observe, that Guevara seems uniformly a friend to good and just government, and that he probably employs Roman stories as a screen to his satire on the abuses of his time. Antonio and Bayle censure this as a literary forgery more severely than is quite reasonable. Andrès extols the style very highly.[740]
[739] Bayle speaks of Guevara’s Marco Aurelio with great contempt; its reputation had doubtless much declined before that time.
[740] vii. 148. In 1541, Sir Thomas Elyot published “The Image of Government, compiled of the Acts and Sentences of Alexander Severus,” as the work of Encolpius, an imaginary secretary to that emperor. Some have thought this genuine, or at least no forgery of Elyot’s; but I see little reason to doubt that he imitated Guevara. Fabric. Bibl. Lat. and Herbert.
His Menosprecio di Corte. 28. Guevara wrote better, or more pleasingly, in some other moral essays. One of them Menosprecio di Corte y Alabanza d’Aldea, indifferently translated into English by Thomas Tymme in 1575, contains some eloquent passages; and being dictated apparently by his own feelings, instead of the spirit of book-making, is far superior to the more renowned Marco Aurelio. Antonio blames Guevara for affectation of antithesis, and too studious desire to say everything well. But this sententious and antithetical style of the Spanish writers is worthy of our attention; for it was imitated by their English admirers, and formed a style much in vogue in the reigns of Elizabeth and James. Thus, to take a very short specimen from Tymme’s translation: “In the court,” says Guevara, “it profits little to be wise, forasmuch as good service is soon forgotten, friends soon fail and enemies augment, the nobility doth forget itself, science is forgotten, humility despised, truth cloaked and hid, and good counsel refused.” This elaborately condensed antithetical manner cannot have been borrowed from the Italians, of whom it is by no means a distinguishing feature.
Perez d’Oliva. 29. Bouterwek has taken notice of a moral writer contemporary with Guevara, though not so successful in his own age, Perez d’Oliva. Of him, Andrès says, that the slight specimen he has left in his dialogue on the dignity of man, displays the elegance, politeness, and vigour of his style. It is written, says Bouterwek, in a natural and easy manner; the ideas are for the most part clearly and accurately developed, and the oratorical language, particularly where it is appropriately introduced, is powerful and picturesque.[741]