ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to broaden analyses of Baltasar Gracian's Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia by not viewing prudence as embodied within the work as linked only, or even predominantly, with the conception of prudence found in seventeenth-century moral-political discourse. It shows that Gracian's exploration of prudence is also intimately indebted to Aquinas who, whilst following Aristotle in stressing that prudence is indeed central to the prince, and thus to politics, views it as something far wider and more profound. The chapter argues that significance of Aquinas to Gracian's exploration of prudence and, in so doing, to delineate some of the major differences between Gracian's exposition of the concept and that prevalent in Baroque political literature. It describes one dimension of the Thomistic impress on Gracian. Furthermore, Gracian underlines the moral dimension of prudence through his use of the scholastic term 'synderesis', especially in aphorism 96: De la gran sinderesis.
