FUNCIÓN DE LA MITOLOGÍA CLÁSICA EN DOS ESCRITORES MURCIANOS DEL BARROCO: EL HUMANISTA CASCALES Y EL DIPLOMÁTICO SAAVEDRA FAJARDO

Abstract

This article analyses the presence of classical mythology in the main works of two Baroque Spanish authors: the humanist Cascales and the diplomat Saavedra Fajardo. These two authors, who came from Murcia, display a great deal of learning in this regard; yet their mythological allusions are seldom intended to be merely erudite. What is most interesting about them is the moralising use they make of myths, by basing themselves on their paradigmatic value. Although they sometimes have scruples in their use of pagan myths, they use them as irrefutable arguments for the demonstration and transmission of moral knowledge. Moreover, particularly in Saavedra, the symbolical values of classical myths are often exploited. The mythical images of the Empresas políticas are genuine allegories, beneath which the author encloses wisdom which the reader must discover. Thus, Saavedra merely imitates that which, according to him, was the practice of the ancients themselves when they invented their mythological fables: they concealed within them the best of their knowledge in the fields of natural science, ethics, and politics.