Abstract

This essay does not propose a panegyric of Sybaritism in its most divulged acceptations. Under the guidance of influential testimonies it stresses a few points of view which invite us to revise both the most abused topoi handed down by history, literature and lexicography (studied by the author in different occasions) and the stereotype derived from recent events (not solely of the Sibaritide). «Sybarite», paradoxically, is the individual full of marked virtues, the solitary hard working man in a given field; he/she is the laborious diligent intellectual who makes his/her 'ascetism' a subject of delight; even more particularly he/she is somebody who, in addition to the ability to produce, can 'refind' the time to enjoy the fruit of his/her work.