FABIO, EPISTLE MORAL TO. - A Spanish poetic composition of the 18th century in tercets of hendecasyllables, attributed to B. L. de Argensola (by Sedano, 1768), to Rioja (by Estala, 1786), to Fernández de Andrada (by A. de Castro, 1875), to Medrano (by Foulché-Delbos, 1900). It is a noble discourse in which the historical tradition and the Christian vision of Spain of the Catholic reform are fused.
The author advises his friend F., a fictitious character, to abandon hopes and corrupting pursuits, to take refuge in the fields, to hate adventure, dissimulation and ostentation, and to practice virtue in fervent silence. His ideas derive from Seneca (De tranquillitate animi, X) and, in general, from the Stoics, so well known in Spain especially through the work of Quevedo; the Horatian Beatus ille echoes in the exaltation of rural happiness, just as sentiments analogous to those of Plantin's famous sonnet Le bonheur de ce monde resurface. Despite such precedents, the Epistola is one of the most original, elegant and harmonious Spanish poems and one of those most pervaded with Christian spirituality.
Bibliography3 worksI. R. Foulché-Delbos, Les manuscrits de l'Ep. mor. à F., in Revue hispanique, 7 (1900), p. 248; M. Menéndez y Pelayo, Notas a la Ep. mor. a
BIBL.: I. R. Foulché-Delbos, Les manuscrits de l'Ep. mor. à F., in Revue hispanique, 7 (1900), p. 248; M. Menéndez y Pelayo, Notas a la Ep. mor. a F., in Boletín de la bibl. Menéndez Pelayo, 7 (1925), pp. 270-72; O. Vessler, Poesie der Einsamkeit in Spanien, I, Munich 1935-36, pp. 78-87.
Diaz-Plaja, Guglielmo. “Fabio, epistola moral a.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, col. 943. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/fabio-epistola-moral-a.
MLA
Diaz-Plaja, Guglielmo. “Fabio, epistola moral a.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, col. 943. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/fabio-epistola-moral-a.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_fabio_epistola_moral_a,
author = {Diaz-Plaja, Guglielmo},
title = {Fabio, epistola moral a},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {943},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fabio-epistola-moral-a}
}
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