Friendship and Contemplation in the Carta para Arias Montano

FRIENDSHIP AND CONTEMPLATION IN THE CARTA PARA ARIAS MONTANO Terence O’Reilly University College Cork T he blending of Spanish and Italian traditions that characterises the poetry of Francisco de Aldana is evident in his verse epistle to Arias Montano,1 which is shaped in two ways by the doctrines of Florentine neoplatonism: first, in its teaching that contemplation involves an ascent from the beauty of this world to that of its Creator, and second, in its celebration of male friendship as the context in which contemplation is attained.2 This study will trace in the poem the development of these two themes, and it will show how their connection throws light on one of its most enigmatic features: the parallels and repetitions that determine its form. Part One: Arias (ll. 1-279) Scholars have described in differing ways the divisions into which the poem falls, and no consensus exists about its structure.3 They agree, however, that it begins with a play on Montano’s first surname, Arias: Montano, cuyo nombre es la primera estrellada señal por do camina el sol el cerco oblicuo de la esfera, nombrado así por voluntad divina, para mostrar que en ti comienza Apolo la luz de su celeste diciplina (ll. 1-6) Montano is compared to the constellation of Aries, which the sun (an image of the divinity itself) enters in springtime, at the start of the year, and he is said to be the mediator of Apolo’s heavenly teaching. This allusion to Montano’s wisdom as a teacher explains the three sections of the first Part that follow, in whichAldana outlines the stages of the contemplative way as he understands it. Here, as recent research has shown, there are a number of references to Montano’s own writings on the subject.4 CALÍOPE Vol. 14 No. 1 2008: pages 47-60 48 Terence O’Reilly ! ! ! ! ! In the opening section (ll. 7-66), Aldana describes his experience of the first stage in the process: conversion of heart. Looking back on his life, he sees he has been tormented by two forms of moral disorder: the desire for military glory, and sensual love.5 But now, at last, he has overcome them, and he is free to embark on a spiritual quest. To convey the struggle this has involved, he introduces the image of a goblin (un trasgo), whom he has fought in hand-to-hand combat: y con un trasgo a brazos debatiendo que al cabo, al cabo, ¡ay Dios!, de tan gran rato mi costoso sudor queda rïendo. (ll. 41-43) The next section (ll. 67-123) outlines the remaining stages of the contemplative journey that lies before him, and two comparisons are used to make the point, dear to neoplatonism, that it involves ascending from created things to the Creator: first, the image of a still, in which the scent of a rose is extracted to make perfume (ll. 70-75); and second, that of Jacob’s ladder, rising from earth to Heaven (ll.109-17). Then, in the final section (ll. 124-279), the poet appears to go over the same material again, in more detail. This repetition was interpreted by Robert Archer as a sign of Aldana’s confusion: his difficulty in articulating a teaching beyond his grasp.6 But Aldana himself explains it in other terms: having outlined the process in general, he wishes now to focus on certain practical steps a soul can take to reach the goal: quiero, para tejer tan rica tela, muy desde atrás decir lo que podría hacer el alma que a su causa vuela. (ll. 127-29) This he does in what follows. First, he describes the kind of place in which prayer is best practised: Paréceme, Montano, que debría buscar lugar que al dulce pensamiento, encaminando a Dios, abra la vía (ll. 130-33) Then he suggests as a subject for meditation the creation of the self by God out of nothing, and he notes, in particular, the divine goodness displayed in the creation of the smallest beings: Enamórese el alma en ver cuán bueno es Dios, que un gusanillo...