'Entretiens', vastly popular in 17th century in France, are 'erudite, but devoid of pedantry' dialogues derived from Platonian tradition, and having syncretic contents and light form. They mirror a dire need for changes awaken by a new spirituality of the epoch: the religious and the secular ethics that, both in courts and in Jesuit Colleges, was expressed as a discourse combining good speech and a good behaviour. This necessity of revival concerns also Poland: 'Les Entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugene' by Dominique Bouhours, one of the well-known dialogues of this kind in Europe, became the formal model for Stanislaw Herakliusz Lubomirski's 'Dialogues of Artakses and Ewander' - a text referring to tradition, and in many ways innovative. The search for the new political and ethical balance characteristic of the entire Central-Western Europe in 17th century was originally expressed in Lubomirski's work and simultaneously referred to the particular situation in Poland. It was effected, among others, by the recourse to a new literary medium: dialogue-monologue in a light tone and rhetorical language, apparently devoid of purpose, rich in erudite quotations and allusions, and revealing a deep emotional engagement.
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