Apolonio’s Pecado: Kingship and sin in the Libro de Apolonio

Abstract

The thirteenth-century Spanish poem Libro de Apolonio (LA) shares many features with other works of the cuaderna vía; among them is the frequency with which the personified figure of sin makes its appearance. One finds the word pecado in the opening scene of the LA, where the narrator says that sin, always restless, manages to stir up desire in King Antioco and makes him turn his gaze on his own daughter (6). Soon again, in reference to the same incestuous king, the narrator writes that “metiólo en locura la muebda del pecado” (26). With two early references in the LA to sinful impulses, the narrator suggests that pecado is the root cause of Byzantine-like adventures that take Apolonio across the Mediterranean world. To further underscore its importance, the author uses the word pecado in a variety of contexts a minimum of thirty-one times. Given its near omnipresence, it is essential that one consider the nature and role of sin when interpreting the work. As a window through which to view sin, this essay focuses on the hero’s status as king. If Apolonio is referred to as pilgrim on occasion, it is no less significant that the main character is referred to as king no less than thirty-five times in the work. It could be that the author wants us to bear in mind that we are not dealing with “everyman,” but with a king. By viewing Apolonio in this light, one can proceed to examine his royal performance to assess to what degree his shortcomings might be considered pecado.

KEYWORDS:

• Acedia
• Apollonius
• kingship
• Libro de Apolonio
• pecado

Notes

Notes

1 When referring to poems in the cuaderna vía, the references will be to the stanza number.

2 According to Fleming, the king of Tyre who put up a heroic resistance to Alexander’s siege was Azemilcus (64). Circa A.D. 262, around the time of the writing of the HART, the king of Tyre was Malchus (Fleming 74).

3 For his monumental edition and study of the LA, Alvar uses A. Riese’s edition (Historia Apollonii regis Tyri, Leipzig, 1871). For this study, I have consulted G. A. A. Kortekaas’s more recent edition (Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri, Groningen, 1984), which takes into account both the RA and the RB Latin versions, but I have found it more convenient to cite from Archibald’s Latin text with English translation, where she says that her Latin text is “basically that of the RA in Kortekaas” (109). For a complete discussion about the relation between the Spanish LA and the Latin texts, see “Filiación del texto español” in Alvar, Libro de Apolonio: Estudios, ediciones, concordancias, vol. 1, 35–38.

4 For this verse, see also A. D. Deyermond, “Mester es sen peccado,” Romanische Forschungen 77 (1965): 111–16, especially 111–12. During the episode of Thebes in the Libro de Alexandre, pecado refers to the audacity of the Thebans to refuse to submit to him: “mas perdonar non quiso a Tebas el pecado” (st. 242), clearly not sin in a Christian sense.

5 Similarly, later on after the main character has forgotten an important date, the narrator says that “por sus pecados graves aviélo oblidado” (662d).

6 This statue anticipates the monument erected in Mitalena later in the poem (571).

7 R. Lapesa suggests that the meaning of the expression “por malos de pecados” is “por nuestras culpas.” In “Sobre las construcciones el diablo del toro, el bueno de Minaya, ¡Ay de mí!, ¡Pobre de Juan!, Por malos de pecados,” Filología 8 (1962): 169–84. Here 183.

8 A similar usage is found in the Libro de Alexandre: “mostro-ge-lo el pecado que non sabe bien far” (st. 722).

9 In this respect, one must question the opinion of Grieve, who says regarding the LA that “the continuing theme is the masterful person who interprets well” (151).

10 From www.latin-dictionary.org/Vir_bonus,_dicendi_peritus. Accessed 16 September 2017.

11 Nudricion real. Reglas o preceptos de cómo se ha de educar a los reyes mozos, desde los siete a los catorce años. Sacados de la vida y hechos del Santo Rey don Fernando. Madrid: Bernardo de Villa-Diego, 1671.

12 “el buen rey Apolonio” (107d, 360a); “el buen rey de Tir” (44dc); “cuando fue el buen rey d’este sieglo pasado” (629a), “finó como buen rey” (650d).

13 One finds the expression “buen rey” in the following stanzas: 2216, 2223, 2228, 2231, 2311, 2466, 2538, 2588, 2596, 2620, 2669; “buen enperador” in 2182, 2191, 2517.

14 Egidio also cites from Salomón 3^o capítulo de los Proverbios: “Bienaventurado es el varón que faló la sabiduría e que ovo cumplimiento de prudencia” (98).

15 The Alexander poet asserts that the devil uses the sins as a net to trap mankind. Regarding acedia, he says that the devil “enbebda-los e mata-los con tales azedosos” (2399).

16 See also Libro de buen amor 317–20 for the sin of Açidia.