1. De la forma d'amor
The Twofold Form of Love
Love has two forms: the essential form, which is the essence of love, and the effective form, which is the work of the essential form, gathered from the roots of love and sustaining the lover.
The form of love is twofold, for The first is the form of love that is the essence of love; the other is the form that is effective, and it is the work of the first form, which together with it gives form to the roots of love, in that it orders them and disposes them to become occasions for loving, and directs the lover to love.12 B. These3 two forms we'll carry along together in this Tree of Love. The first form, which is the essence of love, gathers the second form from all the forms of the roots — from goodness-making, greatness-making, endurance-making, and power-making, and the others; and from all of them it makes the second form of love, and from that form it lives, and by that form it sustains itself; and when that form fails, it can neither last nor live, for it has nothing to live from and nothing by which to keep itself.4 The Beloved, with his conditions, presents the forms of the roots of love to the lover, so that the lover may gather them with the essential form of love and from them make the nourishing form on which love lives; and the Beloved does this so that the lover may have something with which to love greatly.56 The more forms the lover gathers from the roots of love, the more he loves; when he gathers many, he loves much, and when he gathers few, he loves little; and sometimes he gathers so many that his body can't sustain them, and the body dies for love, and the Beloved takes pleasure because he is greatly loved.
The Lover's Trials in Greater Love
Through eight exempla, the lover experiences the trials of greater loving, seeking relief from littleness and contrariety, but ultimately being bound to greater love and upheld by Love and the Beloved.
1. The Lover was sick from loving too much, and he wanted to forget the great goodness of his Beloved; but the Beloved told Love that his Friend was failing him and wanted to flee; and Love bound the Lover more tightly, and made him double his remembrance, so that he would remember the goodness of his Beloved more strongly. 2. The lover told Love that he could not bear the greater greatness of his loving. "Friend," said Love, "your Beloved, who is greater than any other, wants to be loved with greater loving." 3. The Friend remembered Littleness of Loving, so she could help him against the greater loving that was making him languish and die.7 Littleness of Loving told the Friend that she couldn't withstand greater loving. 4. "Contrariety of love," said the lover, "could you help me against greater loving?"8 Greater concordance of love heard the words the lover was saying to contrariety of love, and reported those words to the greater greatness of goodness, duration, power, and love; and all together they bound and seized the lover, and set him with greater loving.9 5. The lover sighed, lamented, and wept, and out of love he cried for someone who would hear him for his loving.10 Contrariety and Littleness of loving heard his laments and tears; but the other roots of love would not listen to him, and as much as they could, they tormented the lover for loving.11 6. Beginning of love, could you begin the repentance for loving in me?12 for I'd gladly flee from loving too much. Friend, said the beginning of love, I have promised loyalty to greater love and to the greater greatness of virtue, and for nothing would I commit a fault or a sin against them.13 7. "Greater Love," said the Friend, "since you have such power over me that I can't part from you, could you help me?" "For I don't want to die for you." "Friend," said Greater Love, "anyone who won't die for me isn't worthy to live in the greater greatness of goodness, duration, end, and virtue in which you'd want to live." 8. The Lover longed to die, because he couldn't flee from Love, which tormented him too greatly; and Love and the Beloved upheld the Lover so that he would not die, so that Love would not be idle, and so that the Beloved would be greatly desired.
Read the original Catalan
LA forma damor es dobla; car . j. es la forma damor qui es la essència damor; autra es la forma qui es effectiva, e es obra de la primera forma qui ab ela enforma les rails damor, en quanl les ordena e les dispon a ésser occasions damar, e ordena lamic a amar. B aquestes . ij. formes menarem ensems en est Arbre damor.
La primera forma, qui es la essència damor, cuyl la segona forma de totes les formes de les rails, axí com de bonificativitat magnificativitat duraficativitat possificativitat, e les altres; e de totes fa la segona forma d amor, e daquela viu, e per ela se sosté; e can aquela defal, ela durar ni viure no pot, car no ha de que viva ni de que se mantenga.
Lamat, ab ses condicions, representa al amic les formes de les rails damor, per so que lamic les cula ab la essencial forma damor e quen fassa la forma nutritiva de que viu amor; e aysò fa lamat per so que lamic aja ab que pusca molt amar.
Aytant com lamic cuyl, de les rails damor, lurs formes, aitant ama; e con ne cuyl moltes, molt ama, e can ne cuyl poques, poc ama; e a les vegades ne cuyl tantes, que no les pot son cors sostenir, e mor lo cors per amor, e lamat ha plaer per so car es molt amat.
1. Malaute estava lamic per sobre amar, e volc ublidar la gran bonea de son amat; mas lamat dix a amor que son amic li falia e volia fugir; e amor religà lamic pus fortment, e feuli doblar lo remembrament, per so que pus fortment remembràs la bonea de son amat.
2. Dix lamic a la amor, que no podia sostenir la major granea de son amar. Amic, dix amor: lo teu amat, qui es major que altre, vol ésser amat ab major amar.
3. Membrà lamic menoritat damar, per so que li ajudàs de major amar, qui l faia languir e morir. Menoritat damar dix al amic que ela no podia contrastar a major amar.
4. Contrarietat d amor, dix lamic: purietsme ajudar contra major amar? Major concordansa damor oy les paraules que lamic deia a contrarietat damar, e recontà aqueles paraules a major granea de bontat duració poder e amor; e tots ensems ligaren e preseren lamic, e poniren lo ab major amar.
5. Suspirava planyia plorava lamic, e damor se clamava quil auseia per amar. Oyen los seus plants e plors contrarietat e menoritat damar; mas les altres rails damor noi volien escoltar, e aitant com podien turmentaven lamic per amar.
6. Comensament damor,' puries en mi comensar penediment damar? car volenter fugiria a trop amar. Amic, dix comensament damor, jo he promesa leyaltat a major amor e a major granea de vertut, e per res no faria contra eles faliment ni peccat.
7. Major amor, dix lamic: pus que en mi avets tant de poder que de vos nom pusc partir, purietsme tenir ajuda? car per vos no vul morir. Amic, dix major amor: qui per mi no vol morir, no es digne de viure en major granea de bontat duració fi e vertut en qui tu volries viure.
8. Desirà lamic morir, car no podia fuger a la amor qui trop lo trebaylava; e lamor e lamat sostengren lamic que no morís, per so que l amor no fos ociosa, e que l amat fos molt desirat.
Notes
- 1 ↩Normalized 'en quanl' read as 'en quant' (inasmuch as / insofar as), matching the work's usual 'en quant' construction.
- 2 ↩'forma … effectiva' rendered 'effective' form (operative form produced by the essential form). 'amic' rendered 'lover', consistent with the lover/beloved pair elsewhere in this run.
- 3 ↩Initial 'B' treated as a printed section letter before 'aquestes', not as the preposition 'Ab'; parallels elsewhere say 'e/E aquestes .ij. … men(ar/arem) ensems'.
- 4 ↩Old Catalan cuyl (cull/gather): rendered "gathers" for the Tree of Love's root metaphor. The four -ificativitat coinages (bonificativitat, magnificativitat, duraficativitat, possificativitat) are Llull's technical root-powers; rendered as English calques rather than left untranslated.
- 5 ↩Old Catalan cula read as cullir (gather/pluck), matching cuyl in neighboring sections 1.10.2 and 1.10.4; not taken as an unrelated lemma.
- 6 ↩Rendered nourishing form for readability; Llull’s forma nutritiva is the sustaining second form of love described in the previous section.
- 7 ↩Old Catalan 'ajudàs de major amar' taken as help concerning/against greater loving (the matter of the appeal). Neighboring section 8 uses the clearer 'ajudar contra major amar'.
- 8 ↩Old Catalan purietsme is read as podríeu-me ("could you…me"), matching parallel forms in this chapter (puries, purietsme tenir ajuda).
- 9 ↩poniren is taken as a form of posar/pondre ("they set/placed"); a less likely reading is puniren ("they punished"), which would also fit the following torment scene.
- 10 ↩Old Catalan 'auseia' is read as 'ausia' (from ausir/oir, 'to hear'): 'who would hear him.' The next sentence's 'oyen' / 'escoltar' supports this. A less likely reading is from ausar ('to dare'): 'who would dare [to help] him for loving.'
- 11 ↩'noi volien escoltar' read as no'i volien escoltar ('would not listen to him/there'). 'Menoritat damar' rendered 'Littleness of loving' to match 1.10.7's 'Littleness of Loving' and parallel 'contrariety of loving' in 1.10.8.
- 12 ↩Comensament damor is personified as one of Llull's roots/forms of love; penediment damar rendered as repentance for loving (turning back from the act of loving).
- 13 ↩faliment rendered as fault (failure/breach) beside peccat as sin; major granea de vertut kept as greater greatness of virtue to preserve Llull's philosophical phrasing.
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