The Uncommon Virtue of Don Quixote Classical virtue, prudential reason, and justice in Miguel de Cervantes’s novel Nathanael Lambert Submitted in total requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2019 School of Languages and Linguistics Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper Declaration: (i) This thesis comprises only my original work towards the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. (ii) Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. SIGNED: ............................................................. I DATED: .............................................................I :l A r�..\ L 2._o °/ . Acknowledgements: This work would not have been possible without the scholarship granted by the University of Melbourne in the beginning years of the PhD. I am also indebted to the University for providing me with additional time to pursue my goals. I am grateful to all of those from whom I have had the pleasure to receive supervision, or with whom I have had the pleasure to work. I am especially indebted to Dr Vicente Pérez de León, who was my principal supervisor for much of my candidature, and who is now Head of School & Professor in Hispanic Studies at The University of Glasgow. His expertise on Don Quixote is undeniable and has many times provided the solution to apparent difficulties in methodology or knowledge. He is also unflagging in his encouragement, for which I have much to thank. Each of my supervisors has provided me extensive personal and professional guidance and taught me a great deal about both research and life in general. I would especially like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French at the University of Melbourne, who became my principal supervisor when Vicente left for Glasgow. As my teacher and mentor, she has taught me more than I could ever give her credit for here. Not only has she shown me, by her example and through her erudition, what a good scholar should be, but she has also brought a lighthearted and generous poise to her supervisory duties. Her knowledge of my period is vast and her conversation is seasoned with a wry humour that I greatly enjoy. Nobody has been more important to me in the pursuit of this project than the members of my family. I would like to thank my parents, whose love and guidance are with me in whatever I pursue. Most importantly, I wish to thank my loving and supportive wife, Celia, and my wonderful son, Tobias, who provide unending inspiration. 3 “A dry flame is the best and wisest soul.” —Fragment 46, Heraclitus 4 Abstract: This thesis investigates the influence of classical virtue on Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605 Part I; 1615 Part II), its particular focus being two of the virtues, prudence and justice. The thesis suggests a new reading of Cervantes’s novel which takes into account the values of these essential intellectual approaches to moral behaviour in early modern Spain. Though enthralled to chivalry and its literature, Don Quixote’s thinking and acting are motivated by Aristotle’s concept of virtue, as relayed through the tradition of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas and finally Cervantes, in line with most of the humanists in the Renaissance period. Although Don Quixote strives for prudence and justice, he does so to develop his reason through his actions, his habits, his memory and his eloquent rhetorical speech. In spite of his effort, the virtuous circle of his prudential reasoning, and its impact on a hostile world, is many times upset by the mental disturbance he is suffering – his ‘illusions’ (engaños). Counterpart to Don Quixote’s uncommon state of being, this thesis argues the enactment of a steady reversal of the conviction in virtue as a telos circa 1600, right before the time when DQI was written. 5 Table of Contents Chapter One: Literature Review & General Introduction Chapter Two: Reason is integral to virtue Section I Towards an end, or ‘prudence’ or ‘cuerdo’ (sanity) in Cervantes’s DQII: LXII Integral knowledge at work in Greek and Aristotelian definitions of virtue Towards an end, or Aristotle’s Book VI of the Ethics and its impact in coining ‘prudence’ Knowledge and ‘unity of virtue’ The discourse of virtue: the assumption of knowledge & a correct desire No ‘form world’ in prudence, Aristotle’s proofs for knowledge: experience and data Know-nothings ‘know’ how to treat matters of significance Section II Virtuous societies recognise the good and the laws at the same time Discussion: impact of other traditions Don Quixote’s ‘magnanimity’ indicates his ‘unity of virtue’ He fails ‘unity of virtue’: the failure which looks like virtue Prologue, again; Choleric dilemmas, excessive imagination, period in crisis Chapter Three: Unreason integral to Don Quixote’s ‘virtue’ – paradox, choleric action, melancholic retreats, virtuous memory and glamorous eloquence Section I Imagination’s reach: how Don Alonso became Don Quixote; questions of temperament Paraphrase of Chapter I of Don Quixote Wilfred Bion’s ‘Theory of Thinking’ Applying Bion’s theory to Chapter I of Don Quixote Don Quixote and ‘madness’: Aristotle’s Problem XXX, I; nature in charge of sad age (the ‘Senectus Dolori’ emblem) Huarte’s genius theory – ‘adustion’ (humour combining) i. Huarte’s mental power: the imagination in Chapter I; ‘the guise of the good’ ii. Don Quixote’s excuse of enchantment for his ‘bad humour’ Omnipotent thinking: enemy enchanters Blamed star: stars, seasons, Saturn and melancholy Section II Thomas Aquinas and a Scholasticized mind: Cicero and prudence trebled Titian’s ‘Allegory of Prudence’ – the melancholic skills of prudence and memory ‘Habit’: Aquinas, physical discipline and training memory Self-disciplined habits in Don Quixote Medieval didactic thought in Chapter I, Feliciano de Silva and a note on copiae Such copiae! Feliciano de Silva’s ‘woody’ style in Don Quixote’s thinking Eloquence: Cicero’s legacy to humanism Conclusion Drawing together Conclusions to the Theoretical Discussions in Chapters Two and Three Chapter Four: Doing Prudence Section I: Andres and the Cruel Master Section II: Don Quixote frees the Galley Slaves 6 Chapter Five: Thinking Prudence Section I: Don Quixote’s Advice to Sancho. Section II: Quixote’s Discourse on Arms and Letters. Rhetorical argumentation (in utramque partem) as consensus (scientia civilis) DQI:XXXVII-XXXVIII Section III: The Cave of Montesinos. Allegory as Truth and Platonic Wisdom DQII: XXII-XXIV Chapter Six: Communicating Prudence Section I: Don Quixote’s Discourse on the Golden Age Section II: Sancho Panza as Governor of Barataria Chapter Seven; & Conclusion Revisiting aims of Literature Review The emergent modern prototype of Roque Guinart 7 Chapter One: Literature Review & General Introduction Literature Review Plan 1. General literature review Merging of philosophical schools Political models of Greco- Roman antiquity Classical political values become aristocratic values Theme of ‘appearance and reality’ Scepticism Escape to the past Recent interest in ‘justice’ and contemporary law 2. Thesis Statement and Summarised Main Body Chapter Subsections “And that must be how my history is: a commentary will be necessary in order to understand it (478; DQII: III).” —Y así debe de ser de mi historia, que tendrá necesidad de comento para entenderla (566; DQII: III). —Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605/1615) has left a marvellous imprint in the collective psyche of Western literature and culture that is evidently felt in each new epoch. Every age seeks its image in the adventures of the hapless knight, Don Quixote, and his ‘common man’ squire, Sancho Panza. Written by Cervantes four centuries ago, the novel is divided into two parts. The 1615 publication of the second part is the outcome of the tremendous popularity of the first, which came out itself in four sections, thus emulating the chivalric novel Amadís de Gaula. Regarding the unplanned nature of the two parts, Ian Watt wrote that The first part of Don Quixote was an instant and enormous success: there were four authorized and three pirated editions in its first year alone; further editions followed, including two in Brussels and one in Milan; very soon there were translations into French and English. In 1613 Cervantes announced that he was bringing out a sequel, a possibility which had been hinted at in the last chapter of Part I (67).1 Don Quixote is a work that achieves simple and more complex aims—largely it encompasses a fulfilment as the first novel tout court, yet there is also its claim to anathematize books of chivalry, a hackneyed genre even in Cervantes’s day. With its high repute as a satire or criticism piece against various human follies, Don Quixote will not remain merely a satire against the idealizations of chivalric life and reactionaries the world over. It achieves so much more. Of Cervantes’s knowing 1 Ian Watt, Myths of Modern Individualism: Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Robinson Crusoe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). 8 irony Manuel Durán wrote, ‘the arrow that seemed to aim at the heavens turns around and comes down at our feet.’2 Part One commences with the knight’s reading of multiple chivalric works of literature. His obsession is so overwhelming that he considers he is a knight of justice and that he must pursue his cause in the world to prove his worth. The first part of the novel sees the knight leave home twice and return back again twice. In Part Two, he leaves home for the third and final time, returning only at the end of the novel for his death. As much committed to external activity as he is driven by his introspective regard, the unseasonal knight meets with challenges and obstructions from daily life. His crucible is his ideal carried against the hard fact of the dry Spanish tableland and life there circa 1600, where the inhabitants of Don Quixote’s inns, villages and landscapes are striving to lead quotidian lives.