[…] supuesto que es sentencia llana del angélico doctor Santo Tomás, que la eutropelia es virtud, la que consiste en un entretenimiento honesto, juzgo que la verdadera eutropelia está en estas Novelas, porque entretienen con su novedad, enseñan con sus ejemplos a huir vicios y seguir virtudes, y el autor cumple con su intento, con que da honra a nuestra lengua castellana, y avisa a las repúblicas de los daños que de algunos vicios se siguen.

(Since it is the clear opinion of the angelic Doctor St Thomas that eutropelia, which consists of wholesome entertainment, is a virtue, I am of the view that true eutropelia is to be found in these Novels, because they entertain by their novelty, teach by their examples to eschew vice and follow virtue, and the author has fulfilled his intention, honouring thereby our Castilian tongue and warning of the harmful effects of certain vices for the public good.)

Now forgotten by everyone except a handful of theologians, eutrapelia was well known to Cervantes’ contemporaries. Eutrapelia is a wholesome recreation, honesto entretenimiento. It is both a temporary turning away from more serious concerns and a preparation for returning to them with renewed strength. The concept of eutrapelia thus dissolves the apparent opposition in the familiar Horatian doctrine that poetry should be both pleasant and morally beneficial: poetry is beneficial because it gives pleasure.