Tradición clásica, politica y humanismo en la Castilla del Cuatrocientos. Las Glosas de Alonso de Cartagena a "De Providentia"

Abstract

The formation of the Modern State changed the values of the chi­valrous class: the ethos of what incorporated a letrado dimension. Clergy­men and letrados made access to the ancient texts easier for the laymen, guiding them in a moral direction. Alonso de Cartagena's translation of Seneca's De providentia is a significant evidence of this fact. His interpre­tation of Seneca's work shows the dependence of eloquence on moral va­lues. The glosses confine the reading within a very strict orthodoxy. We can distinguish three types: 1) Those that give us information about historical and mythological characters. Their sources (Plato, Orosius, Valerius Maximus, Cícero, Ovidius, the Bible, the Romulion) show an extensive classical culture. Historical accuracy js less important than exemplary morality. A cautious suspicion of mythology is shown. 2) Those that discuss doctrinal facts: suicide and free will. This is a categorical declaration of orthodoxy which does not conceal certain ten­sions. 3) Those which refer to the problems of translation: they justify the given version. Sometimes the current period is mentioned.In this way, the gloss acquires a didactic value, and, by being addressed to the king, a political value also.