A Brief Note About Gracian

Balthasar Gracian was born on 8th January 1601 N.S. at Belmonte, a suburb of Calatayud, properly called Kalat Ayoub, in the kingdom of Aragon. "He was brought up in the house of his uncle, the licentiate Antonio Gracian, at Toledo, from which we may gather that both his father and his mother, a Morales, died in his early youth. He joined the Company of Jesus in 1619." We do not know much about his life, "except that he was a Jesuit, and engaged in teaching what passes with the Order for philosophy and sacred literature, and became ultimately Rector of the Jesuit College at Tarragona. Of his works only seven are now available. "Nearly all these works of Gracian were translated into most of the cultured languages of Europe, English not excepted. Part of this ecumenical fame was doubtless due to the fact that Gracian was a Jesuit, and brethren of his Order translated the works of one of whom the Order was justly proud."

Notice of Attribution: Reproduced in parts from THE ART OF WORLDLY WISDOM BY BALTHASAR GRACIAN TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY JOSEPH JACOBS Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of History, Madrid. PUBLISHED BY MACMILLAN &CO, St. Martin's Street, London, 1892. While we have taken every precaution, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reproduction. This text is not complete. It has been reproduced in parts and suitably reformatted for the online version at selfhelpvision.com. This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published prior to 1923.