Introducción
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A 16th-century moral treatise for C2
The Perfect Wife La perfecta casada
Fray Luis de León, 1898
Fray Luis de León’s complete treatise from the 1898 Barcelona edition, not an adaptation: a moral commentary on marriage first published in 1583. In the catalog it is C2: about 41,000 words and 43 words per sentence on average. An introduction and 21 chapters comment, verse by verse, on the praise of the capable wife in Proverbs 31. It is a classic of Spanish Renaissance prose, and its views on women belong to its time.
- C2
- 41 035 words
- 7-11 hours
Will this text hold?
C1
Earlier
At B2 periods of 40 to 60 words, with the verb held back behind several clauses, will be hard going, and old forms like dellas, dél and “á” for a will need unpacking.
C1C2
This text
You can manage it at C2: the argument advances in long periods, but every chapter opens with a verse and keeps returning to it, so the thread can be found; translate single words, and whole sentences where the clauses pile up.
Check this passageThe average sentence has 43 words, the same as in Don Quijote de la Mancha and close to Ariel (46) and the Novelas ejemplares (49); in this catalog C2 is set by sentence length, from 38 words. Long words of 9 letters or more are only one in fifteen (6.6%), so the vocabulary is not the obstacle: the periods are, stacked with subordinate clauses and 16th-century forms such as dellas, dél and “á” for a. The difficulty varies by chapter: the introduction averages 56 words per sentence and chapters V and XX peak at 59, while the long chapter XII on dress and chapters XVI to XVIII sit at 35 to 38. Hence C2. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 41 035
- words
- 43
- words in an average sentence
- 7-11
- hours of reading
- 1898
- Montaner y Simón
Montaner y Simón, 1898. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
The treatise is addressed to doña María Varela Osorio, a friend who has just married. Fray Luis, an Augustinian friar and professor at Salamanca, takes the last chapter of Proverbs, the portrait of the capable wife, and reads it a verse at a time as a guide to running a household: trust and affection between husband and wife, work and thrift, rising early, charity to the poor, treatment of servants, dress and cosmetics, speech and staying at home, the upbringing of children. Each chapter opens with a verse that he explains with Scripture, classical authors and the Church Fathers. The final chapter, on the reward promised to such a wife, is not summarized here.
Compare two places
La perfecta casada
VII. Pondérase la obligación de madrugar en las casadas
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Choose an underlined word.
Wait for the answer
This 119-word sentence rests on one comparison: Y como suelen los que... (“and as those who... are accustomed to”) gets its answer only at así yo... la enseñaré (“so I will teach her”), and the travellers’ warnings sit in between. Find así and enseñaré and the rest falls into place; la is doña María, addressed as vuestra merced. Menudamente means “in detail”, aperciben “they warn and prepare”, and the pair no... sino... (“not... but...”) closes the sentence.
A pattern to copy
Dechado is the sampler a seamstress copies, so a model to follow, and remedador is the one who copies, from remedar, “to imitate”. Fray Luis argues that a mistress who sleeps late cannot expect her maids to rise, and he closes with Aristotle: whoever has no good model cannot be a good imitator. The same word appears in the title of chapter V, where the wife of Proverbs is called “dechado de las perfectas casadas”.
Chapters
- ·Introducción
- IAlgunas advertencias del autor para entrar á tratar de la materia
- IICuánto es menester para que una mujer sea perfecta
- IIIQué confianza ha de engendrar la buena mujer en el pecho del marido
- IVDe la obligación que tienen los casados de amarse y descansarse en los trabajos mutuamente
- VPor qué se vale el Espíritu Santo de la mujer de un labrador para dechado de las perfectas casadas
- VIDeclárase qué es ser mujer casera
- VIIPondérase la obligación de madrugar en las casadas
- VIIILa perfecta casada no sólo ha de cuidar de abastecer su casa y conservar lo que el marido adquiere
- IXCuánto debe evitar la mujer buena el ocio
- XHa de ser la perfecta casada piadosa con los pobres y necesitados
- XIDel buen trato y apacible condición con que se deben portar las señoras con sus sirvientas y criadas
- XIIDe cómo el traje y manera de vestir de la perfecta casada ha de ser conforme á lo que pide la honestidad y la razón
- XIIILa buena mujer ha de ser dicha, gloria, feliz suerte y bendición de su marido
- XIVLa industria y cuidado de la buena casada han de llegar, no sólo á lo que basta en su casa, sino aun á lo que sobra
- XVDe la templanza y medio que ha de observar la perfecta mujer en su condición y trato
- XVICuánto importa que las mujeres no hablen mucho y que sean apacibles y de condición suave
- XVIINo han de ser las buenas mujeres callejeras, visitadoras y vagabundas
- XVIIIDe cómo pertenece al oficio de la perfecta casada hacer bueno al marido
- XIXQué alabanzas merece la perfecta casada
- XXDe cómo la mujer que es buena ha de cuidar de ir limpia y aseada
- XXIDel premio y galardón que tiene Dios aparejado para la perfecta casada
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
In the introduction a single sentence runs to 119 words, “Y como suelen los que han hecho una larga navegación...”: translating the whole sentence in Reader keeps the main clause in sight among the subordinate ones.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this levelBefore you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
It is the original, not a learner’s abridgement: Fray Luis de León’s complete treatise, with the dedication to doña María Varela Osorio, the introduction and all 21 chapters. The reader follows the illustrated 1898 edition (Montaner y Simón, Barcelona) of a book first printed in 1583, with its period spelling, for example dél, dellas and “á” for a. The text comes from Project Gutenberg.
Is there an audiobook?
The Perfect Wife has no audiobook on MovaReader: here the treatise is read on screen. The translation appears when you tap a word, and you will need it most for rare or bookish words such as dechado or remedador.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, with the Reader plan. In this treatise it helps most in the long periods: one sentence of the introduction, “Y como suelen los que han hecho una larga navegación...”, runs to 119 words. Without the plan, single words are translated up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
The whole treatise takes about 7-11 hours: the pace of someone reading with translation of new words, slower than a native speaker’s. Chapters vary a lot, from about 140 words (chapter XIV) to about 10,000 (chapter XII, on dress), and most fall between 400 and 3,300 words, so one or two make an evening.
Where does the text get easier?
It never gets light, but it eases. The introduction averages 56 words per sentence and chapters V and XX peak at 59; chapter XII, the longest, is at 35, chapters XVI to XVIII at 36 to 38, and the two shortest chapters, I and XIV, at 28 and 27.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. Once you sign in, the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened, so you can come back to the treatise every evening where you left off. The introduction and any of the 21 chapters also open from the contents on this page, for example chapter I.