121
The conventional close relationship between the rustic and his ass can be appreciated in several Spanish proverbs, such as «¿Quieres hacer gran bien a un pobre aldeano? Regálale un asno» and «Sin un burro y sin un Juan pocas casas se hallarán». These and other examples are found in Luis Martinez Kleiser, Refranero general ideológico español (Madrid: Real Academia Española, 1953) 58-59. Regarding Sancho's asinine nature, it is worthwhile recalling that when he employs what could be called his «don del rebuzno», the results are quite unfortunate, as when he suffers a staffing at the end of the braying adventure in chapter twenty-seven.
122
The ass as Christian symbol of humility and innocence was protagonist of the medieval «feast of the ass» which commemorated Mary's flight to Egypt with the infant Jesus. These festivities included asinine masses in which a donkey would be brought into the church and both priest and parishioners would engage in comic braying. Regarding this and other similar festivals, see Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, trans. Hélène Iswolsky (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1968) 78.
123
This can easily be appreciated by reading Villalobos's letters. In a missive sent to Jufre, the royal quartermaster in Flanders, Villalobos speaks of the laughter caused when one of Jufre's own letters was read «ante la Majestad de la Serenísima Reina y á la Señora Camarera con las damas». See Francisco López de Villalobos, Algunas obras del doctor Francisco López de Villalobos (Madrid: Bibliófilos Españoles, 1886) 9.
124
Ernst Robert Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. Willard R. Trask (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973) 76. This is a necessary addendum to Guillén's exegesis about the relationship between letter-writing and style during the Renaissance. I state this because Curtius argues subsequently that the artes dictandi embraced both prose and poetry, even when they treat of nothing but writing prose letters (148).
125
I cite from the Spanish version: Juan Luis Vives, «Redacción epistolar» in Obras completas, ed. Lorenzo Riber, 2 vols. (Madrid: Aguilar, 1948) 2: 846.
126
Erasmus indicates practically the same thing, saying that the language of a letter should be adapted to the correspondents and to the circumstances and should always be «refined, learned, and sane». Erasmus 25: 19.
127
Vives 853.
128
This tone halfway between intimate and vulgar, carefree and ironic, in fact tipifies Guevara's familiar letters. Regarding the generic implications of Guevara's epistles, see Asunción Rallo Gruss, Antonio de Guevara en su contexto renacentista (Madrid: Cupsa, 1979) 247-268.
129
See «A un criado que embio unas frutas» and «De un secretario, a un amigo suyo, que le embio unos corales» in Gerónimo Paulo de Manzanares, Estilo y formulario de cartas familiares (Madrid, 1600) 195 and 196.
130
See María Rosa Lida, «Fray Antonio de Guevara, Edad Media y Siglo de Oro español», Revista de Filología Hispánica 7.4 (Octubre-Diciembre 1945) 375.