Juan Luis Vives’ De Epistulis Conscribendis

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Juan Luis Vives’ De Epistulis Conscribendis 

Written in a pleasant, readable - dare I say epistolary? - style, Juan Luis Vives’ De Epistulis Conscribendis is not only of practical use to those of us who aspire to write in Latin, but also a genuine pleasure to read. I imagine even intermediate students could tackle this with the aid of a dictionary. This short treatise on letter writing discusses various aspects of style relating to the writing of proper, contextually appropriate letters in Latin. Much of the word count is devoted to the importance of knowing your audience and responding accordingly. After all, a letter written to your sister will of course be vastly different from one written to a prince or pope. 

He also strongly advises against the more ornate forms of address or placing the name of the recipient first, favoring instead the more grammatical and classical formula of “[author] [recipient] salutem dicit.” More dramatic, medieval styles of opening, he suggests, make one come across as a parasite! There is a whole chapter on this, in fact, as well as one on what order to write your paragraphs in and another on endings. As far as resources for Latin letter-writing go, this is a real treasure trove of information, which cites heavily the very best classical examples, such as the letters of Cicero. Humanists like Juan Luis Vives truly were diligent, careful scholars. 

The book concludes with a chapter on notable Latin letter-writers from antiquity to the author’s own time, including mentions of such greats as Pliny, Petrarca, and Erasmus. I found this very helpful because it gave me some idea of whose work I might read next. Letters, on account of their style, tend to be less challenging and more enjoyable than more ornate, elevated forms of literary expression. For this reason and those enumerated above, I would highly suggest this work to Latin students, most particularly those interested in learning to write Latin as well as simply read. 

There exists a modern critical edition with commentary from Brill, although this appears to be out of print. The cost is also likely prohibitive for the average student. Online scans of older editions, such as this one from Google Books, are not difficult to find. However, early modern editions generally use standard abbreviations, making them more challenging to read for those who are not trained in paleography. If I come across a more readable, recent edition I will update this post. 

Works Cited:

Henderson, Judith Rice. “Defining the Genre of the Letter Juan Luis Vives’ ‘De Conscribendis Epistolis.’” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme, vol. 7, no. 2, 1983, pp. 89–105.