Desengaño y denuncia en los Comentarios a los XXXI primeros salmos de Benito Arias Montano

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Disillusionment and condemnation in the Commentaries on the first 31 psalms by Benito Arias Montano
Author/s
Pozuelo Calero, Bartolomé
Date
2015Department
Filología ClásicaSource
Euphrosyne, - 2015, vol. 43 pp. 127-143Abstract
Each of the commentaries on the psalms in In XXXI Dauidis psalmos priores
commentaria (Antwerp, 1605) is preceded by a letter from the author dedicated to a friend or respected
person. These letters were originally meant to accompany the corresponding commentary while,
at the same time, intended for publication. This article argues that the volume has two objectives:
in the commentaries themselves, Arias Montano offers a reading of each of the psalms, and in the
letters applies the teachings of a psalm in question to his environment. Secondly, his views on what
he sees around him are tainted by disillusionment. He criticizes a world ruled by princes prepared
to declare unjust wars and by corrupt judges who rob the poor; a merciless world in which the weak
are oppressed by the powerful and virtue is constantly assailed by envy. Against this background he
praises the doctrines of stoicism and retreating within. This epistolary, the only one intended for
publication by his author, contains some of the most sincere reflections of all his work.
Subjects
Benito Arias Montano; social criticism in 16th century; neo-Stoicism; neo-Latin literatureCollections
- Artículos Científicos [4846]
- Articulos Científicos Fil. Clas. [229]