Gábor Kecskeméti
COMMONPLACES AND EXEMPLA ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF HISTORY IN 17^th CENTURY

It seems there is an agreement in latest research to define exemplum as functional unit of text. However, there is scarcely any mention of functions and benefits of exemplum, in the course of remarks about possible sources for finding exempla, in rhetoric and homiletic handbooks of 16–18^th centuries. Meanwhile, there is a great number of texts dealing with benefits of history in all the genres of old Hungarian literature. As historical exemplum is one of the most frequent types of exempla, there is good reason to consider remarks about history to illuminate the roles and functions of exemplum as well. Author shows some frequently mentioned benefits of history, arranging them according to the system of the encyclopaedist Johann Heinrich Alsted, grouping benefits as dignitas seu ornamentum, suavitas seu voluptas, and utilitas (i.e. pietas, eloquentia, prudentia). The order of their frequency and importance is different from the succession of this categorization, and some benefits were connected to all circles of contemporary audience, others were linked to certain orders of society.