Карманный оракул, или Наука благоразумия

Balʹtasar Grasian-i-Morales (1601-1658) - ispanskiĭ pisatelʹ, filosof i iezuit, odna iz kli͡uchevykh figur evropeĭskogo barokko. Ego sochinenie "Karmannyĭ orakul, ili Nauka blagorazumii͡a" ("Oraculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia", 1647) vyroslo iz staroĭ kastilʹskoĭ tradit͡sii didakticheskikh "zert͡sal" i rukovodstv po zhiteĭskoĭ mudrosti, odnako preobrazilo ee pochti do neuznavaemosti. Nazidatelʹnyĭ monolog smeni͡aetsi͡a zdesʹ fragmentami, kotorye ne stolʹko soobshchai͡ut istinu, skolʹko trebui͡ut ot chitateli͡a sobstvennogo suzhdenii͡a. Trista maksim skladyvai͡utsi͡a v knigu o chelovecheskoĭ prirode - izmenchivoĭ, protivorechivoĭ i uskolʹzai͡ushcheĭ ot okonchatelʹnykh opredeleniĭ. Blagorazumie u Grasiana ne svoditsi͡a k svodu pravil: ono stanovitsi͡a iskusstvom zamechatʹ razlichii͡a i raspoznavatʹ obstoi͡atelʹstva, sokhrani͡ai͡a vnutrenni͡ui͡u svobodu tam, gde mir ne ostavli͡aet mesta dli͡a illi͡uziĭ. Na proti͡azhenii stoletiĭ "Karmannyĭ orakul" ostavalsi͡a odnim iz samykh vnimatelʹnykh sobesednikov evropeĭskoĭ moralʹnoĭ mysli: ego otgoloski slyshny v maksimakh Laroshfuko, v pessimisticheskoĭ antropologii Shopengauėra, v nit͡sshevskoĭ genealogii morali. Spusti͡a pochti chetyre stoletii͡a ėta kniga po-prezhnemu trebuet ne stolʹko soglasii͡a, skolʹko vnimatelʹnogo chtenii͡a.

Baltasar Gracian y Morales (1601-1658) was a Spanish writer, philosopher and Jesuit, one of the key figures of the European Baroque. His work The Pocket Oracle, or the Science of Prudence (Oraculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia, 1647) grew out of the old Castilian tradition of didactic mirrors and manuals on worldly wisdom, but transformed it almost beyond recognition. The edifying monologue is replaced here by fragments that do not so much tell the truth as require the reader's own judgment. Three hundred maxims add up to a book about human nature - changeable, contradictory and eluding definitive definitions. Gracian's prudence does not come down to a set of rules: it becomes the art of noticing differences and recognizing circumstances, preserving inner freedom where the world leaves no room for illusions. For centuries, the Pocket Oracle has remained one of the most attentive interlocutors of European moral thought: its echoes can be heard in the maxims of La Rochefoucauld, in the pessimistic anthropology of Schopenhauer, in the Nietzschean genealogy of morality. Almost four centuries later, this book still requires careful reading rather than consent.