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Chapter 3MenosprAldea.1.3

Capítulo II: QUE NADIE DEVE ACONSEJAR A NADIE SE VAYA A LA CORTE O SE SALGA DE LA CORTE, SINO QUE CADA UNO ELIJA EL ESTADO QUE QUISIERE

The Fickleness of Human Choice

Humanity struggles to find contentment because time and our own desires are inherently unstable and prone to change.

Aristarchus, the great Theban philosopher, used to say: you don't know what to choose or what to avoid; that is how time toys with us.1 As if he had put it more clearly: time is so changeable, and man so fickle, that he neither knows what he ought to choose nor can he hit on what he ought to hold onto.2 Nothing is more certain than what this philosopher says, since we see every day that what heals one person makes another sick, what improves one makes another worse, what lets one rise makes another fade, what makes one laugh makes another sigh, what honors one affronts another, and even what leaves one content leaves another living in despair. . When King Demetrius asked the philosopher Alquimio where the greatest hardship of this life lay, he answered: "Nothing is free of hardship, anxiety, suspicion, danger, or distress—and above all, the greatest hardship is that a person finds contentment in nothing."3 The philosopher spoke the truth, because if we were content with anything, no matter how lowly, we would make our paradise there and nowhere else. Living as discontented as we all do, we would want to try what it's like to be a king, what it's like to be a knight, what it's like to be a squire, what it's like to be married, what it's like to be a religious, what it's like to be a merchant, what it's like to be a farmer, and even a shepherd; and in the end, after trying it all, people would not easily decide which of those stations they ought to choose.4 A fool is content with anything; but a sensible man does not easily throw himself in or make up his mind; because if in a low station poverty is very hard to bear, in a high one fortune is also very suspect. In his youth, the philosopher Plautus was very much involved in human and worldly affairs; he went to war, sailed the sea, worked as a baker, traded merchandise, sold oil, and learned to be a tailor.5 When asked which occupation he had found most content and ease in, he replied: "There is no station free of change, no honor free of danger, no wealth free of toil, and no prosperity that doesn't end." He spoke as a sensible and thoroughly experienced man.6 As long as we live in this world, we desire everything, try everything, pursue everything, and put everything to the test; yet in the end, after seeing and tasting it all, we grow weary and stuffed with it all. A major part of our discontent is that what is much for us seems little, while what is little for someone else seems much. We call our own wealth the result of hard work, while claiming that rest is found in the poverty of others. We approve of the position others hold, yet we condemn our own way of life. We stay up nights trying to attain7 We stay up trying to get hold of one thing, and then we lose sleep trying to get free of it at once.8 We imagine that everyone else is living content and that we alone are the wretched ones—and the worst of all is that we believe what we dream and put no trust in what we see. What path we'll take or what station in life we'll follow, no one can know—and still less advise another—since we see that if sailing is dangerous, lying becalmed is tiresome too.9 When it comes to living, we often see the healthy drop dead while those who've been anointed for death pull through—and many a time fortune favors people who take their ease more than those who go around sweating.1011

The Danger of Prescribing Vocations

It is reckless to force others into specific professions, as true success depends on individual inclination rather than external pressure.

From everything said above, you can gather that nothing in this world is more certain than the fact that all things are uncertain. Applying what has been said, then, to our purpose, we say it is great recklessness—and I don't even know whether it is mere frivolity—to advise anyone to marry, take up learning, follow the military life, become a cleric, enter religious life, learn a trade, or go to court; because in this matter no one should bind himself to what another tells him, but look to the inclination he has. In his books on the Republic, Plutarch highly praises the divine Plato, whose Academy first tested new students for their natural inclinations rather than teaching them the sciences they requested. If they saw someone was inclined toward learning, he stayed in the Academy; if not, he went back to learn a trade in the community.12 The Greek Alcibiades was set to study from a very young age, yet he later showed much better skill at fighting than he had ever shown at his studies. For a man inclined to buckle on a sword, the stole sits very poorly.13 For someone who by nature is shy and retiring, it would be a sin to take him to court. For a woman who longs to have a husband, the black veil will feel very heavy.14 And as for the person inclined to pick at others—to talk about and hold up examples of everyone else.15 I support advising someone to choose a way of life, but I don't support picking the specific profession they should enter. Lycurgus, who established the laws for the Spartans, ordered that fathers place their sons in professions once they turned fourteen—not in the ones the fathers preferred, but in those the sons themselves were drawn to. Once someone has chosen a way of life, a friend can advise them on how to conduct themselves within it, because a person might choose the right path and still go wrong in everything they do there. Let's stop speaking in roundabout ways and fully set out what we mean, so we can see what we think and even what we advise the reader; because in a hunt it isn't enough to flush the game—you have to take it.

Virtue Transcends Station

A person's salvation depends on their own moral discipline rather than the external circumstances of their office or rank.

Whether you're advising someone to leave the court for home, or home for the court, good manners won't let you give that kind of advice, and common sense won't let you take it; there's a wide gap between what I can urge on a friend and what actually suits him. What we would dare say in this case is that a man should choose such a way of life, and live in such a place, where he can support himself most honorably, live most cleanly, and most safely dare to die.16 People often move from one country to another, from one neighborhood to another, from one house to another, and even from one circle of friends to another. Yet, if they were troubled in the first, they'll complain about the next. The reason is that they blame the location, when the real problem is their own character.17 What more can we say? Whether at court, in the city, in a village, at an inn, in the wilderness, or in the marketplace, we see virtuous people living with restraint and the wicked acting dissolutely.18 Vice and the vicious go hunting for opportunities to do wrong, but virtue and the virtuous find a way to do good wherever they are. There is no position in the Church of God so free that a person cannot be saved, nor any so secluded that temptations to fall are absent. Offices, estates, and ranks of honor are like a rose in a field: the bee makes honey from it, but the spider makes poison.1920 For a good person, there is no bad office, and for a bad person, there is no good office. Someone who claims to be good should be the kind of person who honors their position, rather than relying on the position to honor them. The prince can be saved by doing justice, and he can be damned by practicing tyranny. The knight can be saved by fighting and can be damned by robbing. The churchman can be saved by serving his church and can be damned by entering through simony.21 The religious can be saved by contemplating and can be damned by murmuring.22 The married man can be saved by raising his children, and he can be condemned by illicit adulteries. The rich man can be saved by giving alms, and he can be condemned by lending at usury. The farmer can be saved by plowing, and he can be condemned by going to law. The shepherd can be saved by watching over his flock, and he can be condemned by living off another's bread.23 So that it doesn't seem like we're speaking without grounds, let's prove everything we've said with authentic Scripture.24 In the station of kings, King David was good and King Saul was bad. In the station of priests, Mattathias was good and Onias was bad.25 In the station of prophets, Daniel was good and Balaam was bad. Among shepherds, Abel was good and Abimelech was bad. Within the married state, Tobias was good, while Ananias was bad. Within the state of widowhood, Judith was good, while Jezebel was bad.26 Within the state of the wealthy, Job was good, while Nabal was bad.27 In the state of counselors, Ahithophel was good and Hushai was bad.28 In the station of hunters, Jacob was good and Esau was bad. In the station of the apostles, Saint Peter was good and Judas was bad. This proves that being good or bad doesn't depend on the station we choose, but on whether we are well or poorly disciplined ourselves.

The Burden of Counsel

Because people will always find excuses to reject advice, one should avoid meddling in the life-altering decisions of others.

If we advise someone to live in the village, they say they don't get along with country folk. If we advise him to leave the court, he says he has business there. If we advise him to serve at the palace, he says he isn't the least bit meddlesome.29 If we advise him to become a churchman, he says he isn't cut out for it; if he should marry, he says he can't stand hearing children cry.30 If we advise him to keep continence, he says solitude is intolerable. If we advise him to learn a trade, he says he doesn't come from that kind of family.31 If we advise him to take up learning, he says he's weak-headed. If we advise him to withdraw already to his own house, he says he won't manage without company.32 Granted that all this is true—as indeed it is—no one should advise anyone in a matter that touches their honor or the peace of their life; because afterward such a person will complain more about the advice they were given then than about what they later suffer.

Read the original Latin

Aristarco, el gran filósofo te bano, dezía: quid optes aut quid fugias nescis; ita ludit tempus». Como si más claro dixese: es el tiempo tan mudable y es el hombre tan variable, que ni sabe lo que ha de descoger ni puede atinar a lo que se ha de guardar. No ay cosa más averiguada que lo que este filósofo dize, pues vemos cada día que con lo que uno sana otro enferma, con lo que uno mejora otro empeora, con lo que uno prevalesce otro se oscuresce, con lo que uno ríe otro sospira, con lo que uno se honra otro se affrenta, y aun con lo que uno está contento bive otro desesperado. .

Preguntado el filósofo Alquimio por su amo el rey Demetrio en qué estava el mayor trabajo desta vida, respondió: «No ay cosa en que no aya trabajo, no ay cosa en que no aya zoçobra, no ay coEa en que no aya sospecha, no ay cosa en que no aya peligro, ni ay cosa en que no aya congoxa, y sobre todos es el mayor trabajo no tener el hombre en ninguna cosa contentamiento. En verdad que dixo la verdad este filósofo; porque si en alguna cosa, por ínfima que fuesse, hallássemos contentamiento, en ella y no en otra porníamos nuestro paraíso. De bivir como bivimos todos tan descontentos querríamos provar a qué sabe el ser rey, a qué sabe ser cavallero, a qué sabe ser escudero, a qué sabe ser casado, a qué sabe ser religioso, a qué sabe ser mercader y a qué sabe ser labrador y aun pastor; y al fin, después de todo provado, no fácilmente se sabrían determinar quál de aquellos estados avían de eligir. El que es loco, con cualquiera cosa se contenta; mas el que es cuerdo no fácilmente se arroja ni determina; porque si en el estado pequeño es la pobreza muy enojosa, también en el estado alto es la fortuna muy sospechosa. Plauto el filósofo fué en su mocedad muy humano y aun mundano; porque anduvo en la guerra, navegó por mar, fué panadero, trató en mercadería, vendió azeite y aprendió un oficio de sastre. Preguntado este filósofo en qué oficio avía estado más contento y se avía hallado más assossegado, respondió: No ay estado en que no aya mudança, no ay honra en que no aya peligro, no ay riqueza en que no aya trabajo, no ay prosperidad que no se acabe, ni aun Como hombre cuerdo y bien experimentado habló este filósofo. En quanto en este mundo bivimos todo lo desseamos, todo lo tentamos, todo lo procuramos y aun todo lo provamos; y al fin, después de todo visto y gustado, con todo nos cansamos y con todo nos ahitamos. Muy gran parte de nuestro descontento está en que lo mucho nuestro nos paresce poco y lo poco ageno nos paresce mucho.

A la riqueza nuestra llamamos trabajo y en la pobreza agena dezimos que está el reposo. El estado que los otros tienen aprovamos y a nuestra manera de bivir condenamos. Velamos por alcan.

çar una cosa y desvelámonos por salir luego della.

Imaginamos que biven todos contentos y que solos nosotros somos los desdichados, y lo peor de todo es que creemos en lo que soñamos y no damos fe a lo que vemos. Qué camino tomaremos o qué estado seguiremos ninguno lo puede saber y menos a otro aconsejar, pues vemos que si el navegar es peligroso, también el estar en calma es enojoso.

En caso de bivir, muchas vezes vemos que se caen muertos los sanos y escapan los oleados chas vezes que la fortuna favoresce más a los que están holgando que no a los que andan sudando.

Puédese de todo lo sobredicho coligir que no ay en este mundo cosa más cierta que ser todas las cosas inciertas. Aplicando, pues, lo dicho a nuestro propósito, dezimos que es gran temeridad, y aun no sé si liviandad, aconsejar a nadie que sea casado, aprenda letras, siga la guerra, se haga clérigo, se meta religioso, aprenda officio o ande a palacio; porque en este caso nadie se ha de atar a lo que otro le dize, sino mirar la inclinación que tiene. Plutarco, en los libros De republica los mucho al divino Platón, en la academia del qual primero provavan a los discípulos que le traían las inclinaciones que tenían, que no que les enseñiassen las sciencias que querían; por manera que si velan ser inclinado a las letras, quedávase en la academia, y si no, tornávase a deprender officio en la república. Alcibíades el griego, aunque le pusieron desde muy niño al estudio, muy mejor maña se dió después en el pelear que entonces se dió en estudiar. Al que es inclinado a ceñir espada muy mal se le assienta la estola. Al que de su natural es encogido, pecado sería llevarle a palacio. A la que dessea tener marido, muy pesado se le hará el velo negro. Al que es inclinado a picar muelas dezir y exemplificar de todos los otros.

Aconsejar a uno que tome alguna manera de bivir, lóolo; mas señalarle el officio que ha de tomar, repruévolo. Licurgo, dador que fué de las leyes de los lacedemoneos, mandó que sus padres pusiessen a sus hijos a officios, cumplidos catorce años, no en los que ellos quisiessen, sino en aquellos a que los hijos se inclinassen. Después que uno uviere eligido manera de bivir puédele su amigo avisar cómo en ella se ha de governar; porque ya puede ser que acierte uno en el estado que elige y después yerre en todo lo que en él haze. Dexemos ya de hablar por circunloquios y declaremos del todo nuestros conceptos para ver lo que sentimos y aun lo que al lector aconsejamos; porque a la caça no abasta que se levante, sino que se alcance.

Aconsejar a uno que dexe la corte y se vaya a su casa, o que dexe su casa y se vaya a la corte, el tal consejo ni le admite criança darle ni cabe en cordura tomarle; porque va mucho de lo que yo puedo a mi amigo aconsejar a lo que a él le conviene hazer. Lo que en este caso ossaríamos dezir es que el hombre eligiesse tal estado y morasse en tal lugar a do más honestamente se pueda sustentar y do más limpiamente pudiesse bivir y a do más seguramente ossasse morir. Muchas vezes se muda un hombre de una tierra a otra, de un barrio a otro, de una casa a otra y aun de una compañía a otra; y al fin, si de la una tenía pena, de la otra muestra quexa; y la razón dello es porque él echava la culpa a la condición de la tierra y esta va todo el daño en su condición mala. ¡Qué más diremos sino que en la corte, en la ciudad, en la aldea, en la venta, en el yermo y en el mercado vemos al virtuoso estar corregido y vemos al malo andar dissoluto? El vicio y el vicioso son los que andan a buscar oportunidad para ser malos; que la virtud y el virtuoso a do quiera hallan lugar para ser buenos. No ay estado en la iglesia de Dios tan absoluto en que uno no se pueda salvar, ni ay estado tan recogido a do no aya ocasiones para se perder; porque los officios, estados y preeminencias son como la rosa del campo, de la qual haze au miel el abeja y aun su ponçoña la araña. Para hombre bueno no ay officio malo, ni para hombre malo ay officio bueno; porque tal ha de ser el hombre que presume de bien que el officio se honre con él y no él con el officio. El príncipe puédese salvar haziendo justizia y puédese condenar usando tiranía.

El cavallero puédese salvar peleando y puédese condenar robando. El eclesiástico puzédese salvar sirviendo su iglesia y puédese condenar entrando por simonía. El religioso puédese salvar contemplando y puédese condenar murmurando.

El casado puédese salvar criando sus hijos y puédese condenar con ilícitos adulterios. El rico puédese salvar haziendo limosnas y puédese condenar dando a usuras. El labrador puédese salvar arando y puédese condenar pleyteando. El pastor puédese salvar guardando su ganado y puédese condenar pasciendo el pan ageno. Y por que no parezca que hablamos de gracia provemos todo lo que hemos dicho con escritura auténtica. En el estado de reyes, el rey David fué bueno y el rey Saúl fué malo. En el estado de sacerdotes, Matatías fué bueno y Onías fué malo. En el estado de profetas, Daniel fué bueno y Balaam fué malo.

En el estado de pastores, Abel fué bueno y Abimelec fué malo.

En el estado de casados, Tobías fué bueno y Ananías fué malo. En el estado de biudas, Judit fué buena y Jezabel fué mala. En el estado de ricos, Job fué bueno y Nabab fué malo. En el estado de consejeros, Aquitofel fué bueno y Cusi fué malo.

En el estado de caçadores, Jacob fué bueno y Esaú fué malo. En el estado de los apóstoles, San Pedro fué bueno y Judas fué malo. He aquí, pues, provado en cómo el ser buenos o ser malos no depende del estado que eligimos, sino de ser nosotros bien o mal disciplinados. Si aconsejamos a uno que biva en el aldea, dize que no se halla con rústicos.

Si le aconsejamos que salga de la corte, dize que tiene allí negocios. Si le aconsejamos que sirva en palacio, dize que no es nada entremetido. Si le aconsejamos que sea eclesiástico, dize que no se amaña case, dize que no puede ver llorar muchachos. Si le aconsejamos que guarde continencia, dize que es intolerable la soledad. Si le aconsejamos que aprenda officio, dize que no desciende él de tales parientes. Si le aconsejamos que aprenda letras, dize que es flaco de cabeça. Si le aconsejamos que se retraiga ya a su casa, dize que no se hallará sin conversación. Presupuesto que es verdad, como es verdad, todo esto, nadie deve consejar a nadie en cosa que toca a honra o al reposo de su vida; porque después más se quexará el tal de lo que entonces le aconsejavan que no de lo que después padesce.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source reads «te bano»; taken as the split form of «tebano» (Theban). The embedded Latin is rendered in modern English rather than left untranslated.
  2. 2 ↩«descoger» rendered as «choose» (select); «guardar» as «hold onto» (keep/preserve), matching the choose-or-flee pairing of the Latin saying in s1.
  3. 3 ↩Normalized obvious source misprint «coEa» as «cosa» (nothing).
  4. 4 ↩«religioso» rendered as «a religious» (member of a religious order / vowed life), not generic «religious person».
  5. 5 ↩«humano» taken as engaged in ordinary human/secular life, paired with «mundano» (worldly), not merely «humane».
  6. 6 ↩Source runs the quoted answer into the narrator's judgment at «ni aun Como...». Most plausible reading: the list ends at «no se acabe», then authorial comment «Como hombre cuerdo...». Trailing «ni aun» left untranslated as incomplete.
  7. 7 ↩Source ends mid-word at «alcan.»; most plausible completion is «alcanzar» («to attain/gain»). The next section begins with «çar una cosa…», so the full period almost certainly continues across the section break.
  8. 8 ↩The printed unit begins mid-word as «çar…», almost certainly the second half of «alcançar» continued from the previous section’s truncated «Velamos por alcan.» The translation restores the intended reading: «Velamos por alcançar una cosa y desvelámonos por salir luego della.»
  9. 9 ↩estado rendered as 'station in life' (life-estate/calling), fitting the chapter's counsel against advising others into or out of court.
  10. 10 ↩Oleados: those who have received extreme unction (the oil of the sick / last rites)—i.e., the gravely ill expected to die.
  11. 11 ↩Source reads «chas vezes»; treated as «muchas vezes» (many times), parallel to the earlier «muchas vezes» in the same sentence—likely a truncated or typographically damaged form.
  12. 12 ↩Source reading 'los mucho al divino Platón' looks defective or elliptical (likely a missing verb such as 'alaba' / 'praises', or similar). Translated as 'greatly [praises] the divine Plato' as the most plausible intended sense. 'velan' treated as 'veían' (they saw).
  13. 13 ↩'Estola' is the clerical stole; the image contrasts military vocation (girding the sword) with the priesthood.
  14. 14 ↩'Velo negro' is the nun's black veil; the point is that forced religious life sits badly on one who wants marriage.
  15. 15 ↩Sentence appears truncated relative to the parallel pattern of s5–s7 (inclination X → consequence Y). 'Picar muelas' rendered as idle/fault-finding chatter; the clause ends without a stated outcome.
  16. 16 ↩honestamente rendered as 'honorably' (decent livelihood), not modern 'honestly'; limpiamente as moral/clean living.
  17. 17 ↩Normalized reading treats 'y esta va todo el daño en su condición mala' as 'and the whole harm is in his own bad disposition' (esta/está + va as early-modern phrasing); sense is clear even if surface is slightly awkward.
  18. 18 ↩estar corregido rendered as 'living under restraint' / self-governed discipline, opposite of andar dissoluto.
  19. 19 ↩absoluto rendered as 'free and unrestricted' (contrasted with recogido, withdrawn/secluded); could also be heard as 'lofty/exalted'—review if a more hierarchical sense is preferred.
  20. 20 ↩haze au miel read as haze la miel ('makes its honey').
  21. 21 ↩Source reading 'puzédese' treated as the intended 'puédese' (can be), matching the parallel series in this chapter.
  22. 22 ↩'Religioso' here means a member of a religious order (monk/friar), not religion in the abstract; 'murmurando' is the classic monastic vice of grumbling complaint, not mere quiet speech.
  23. 23 ↩pasciendo el pan ageno: lit. 'grazing on / feeding on another's bread'—living on goods that are not one's own.
  24. 24 ↩hablamos de gracia: early modern Spanish for speaking gratuitously / without solid grounds, not theological 'grace'; rendered as 'without grounds' to match the following appeal to Scripture.
  25. 25 ↩Author pairs Mattathias (1 Maccabees) as good with Onias as bad; several biblical Oniases exist (some traditionally praised), so the exact intended figure is not specified in the source.
  26. 26 ↩Source biudas is early-modern spelling for viudas (widows); sense is clear.
  27. 27 ↩Source Nabab rendered as Nabal (1 Sam 25), the rich churl; early Spanish often uses Nabab for that figure rather than Naboth (Nabot).
  28. 28 ↩Source pairs Aquitofel as bueno and Cusi as malo. Standard biblical characterization has Ahithophel as the treacherous counselor and Hushai (Vulgate Chusai; Spanish often Cusí/Husai) as the loyal one who thwarted him. Translated as written; may be authorial inversion rather than corrupt text.
  29. 29 ↩entremetido: a courtier who inserts himself into affairs; here an excuse that he lacks the pushiness palace service requires.
  30. 30 ↩Source runs two excuses without an explicit second 'Si le aconsejamos que se' before 'case'. Rendered as the parallel pattern of the section: clerical life vs. marriage.
  31. 31 ↩officio: craft/trade; desciende de tales parientes: birth and lineage make manual work beneath him.
  32. 32 ↩conversación here is social company/intercourse, not mere talk; hallarse sin = get on / feel at ease without.

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