The Travel Motif in Proverbial Literature

Abstract

 In the Spanish Middle Ages, the motif of the travel appears in the 13th century collections of erudite proverbs from Eastern sources, generally providing a narrative introduction justifying the compilation of proverbs. As long as these are teachings of ancient sages, sometimes the topic is also associated to the “Translatio studii” topic, as it can be seen in the Spanish translation of Walter Burley’s Vida y costumbres de los viejos filósofos. Moreover, it is interesting to observe the subject of the travel in the same compiled proverbs, which shows, for example, the medieval conception of the “Homo viator”, an earthly pilgrim. The proverbs of Don Juan Manuel’s El conde Lucanor particularly illustrate this idea with the image of the “carrera”, road or way that a man must choose to achieve eternal salvation and wordly honors.