De les diffinicions simples
The Foundations of Love's Attributes
This pericope defines the first four simple definitions: goodness, greatness, duration, and power, which are the foundational attributes of love.
Goodness is that by which the good does good, and by which being is a good thing and not-being is a bad thing.1 2. Greatness is that by which goodness, duration, power, and the other roots are great. 3. Duration is what allows goodness, greatness, and the other roots to endure. 4. Power is what enables goodness, greatness, and the others to be what they are and to do what they do.2
The Active Powers of Love
This pericope defines wisdom, will, and virtue as the active principles through which love operates.
5. Wisdom is that by which a wise person understands wisely. 6. Will is that with which a person wills goodness, greatness, and the others.3 7. Virtue is that which makes virtuous bonifying issue from goodness, and virtuous magnifying from greatness, and likewise from the others.4
The Relational Dimensions of Love
This pericope defines truth, glory, and difference as the relational aspects that give love clarity and distinction.
8. Truth is that by which things are true. 9. Glory is where goodness, greatness, and the others are at rest.5 10. Difference is that by which goodness, greatness, and the others are clear and real reasons.6
The Dynamics of Concord and Contrariety
This pericope defines concordance and contrariety as the principles of unity and opposition within love.
11. Concordance is that by which goodness, greatness, and the others are in78 one,9 and in many things they have concordance.10 12. Contrariety is that by which many things are contrary.
The Journey of Love: Beginning, Middle, End
This pericope defines beginning, middle, and end as the temporal structure of love's journey.
13. A Beginning is that which stands before all things so that they may begin. 14. A Middle is what stands between a beginning and an end, and it is suited to the nature of love.1112 2.13 15. An End is that in which a beginning comes to rest.
The Measure and Bond of Love
This pericope defines majority, equality, and minority as comparative measures, and concludes with love as the cord that binds the lover to the beloved.
16. Majority is the image and likeness of the greatness of goodness, duration, and the others.14 17. Equality is the subject in which the concordance of goodness, greatness, and the others finds its rest.15 18. Minority is that which is near to nothing, and it is a likeness of little goodness, greatness, and the rest.16 Love is the cord that binds the lover to the beloved.17
Read the original Catalan
Bonea es so per que' bo fa be, e per qui bona cosa es ésser e mala no ésser.
2. Granea es so per que' bonea duració poder, e les altres rails, son grans.
3. Duració es so per que bonea granea, e les altres rails, duren.
4. Poder es so per que bonea granea, e les altres, poden ésser so que son e poden fer so que fan.
5. Saviea es so per que savi entén sàviament.
6. Volentat es so ab que hom vol bonea granea, e les altres.
7. Vertút es so qui fa ixir de bontat vertuós bonificar, e de granea vertuós magnificar, e enaxí de les altres.
8. Veritat es so per qui son veres coses.
9. Glòria es ço en qui an repòs bonea granea, e les altres.
10. Differencia es so per que bonea granea, e les altres, son clares raons e reials.
11. Concordansa es so per qui bonea granea, e les altres, en . j. e en moltes coses, an concordansa.
12. Contrarietat es so per que moltes coses son contraries.
13. Comensament es so qui es denant a totes coses per comensar.
14. Mijà es so qui està enfre comensament e fi, e qui sab a la natura dam. ij.
15. Fi es so en qui comensament ha repòs.
16. Majoritat es ymage e semblansa de granea de bondat duració, e les altres.
17. Egaltat es subject en qui ha repòs la concordansa de bontat granea, e les altres.
18. Menoritat es so qui es prop a no res, e es semblansa de poca bonea granea, e les altres. Amor es corda ab la qual està lamic ligat a son amat.
Notes
- 1 ↩Bonea is Llull’s technical root-name (goodness as a simple dignity), not generic moral niceness; kept as Goodness to match the parallel simple definitions that follow (e.g. Granea).
- 2 ↩In Llull's root vocabulary, 'bonea' and 'granea' are the dignities Goodness and Greatness; 'les altres' continues the preceding section's reference to the other roots, though 'rails' is not repeated here.
- 3 ↩Old Catalan 'volentat' rendered as Will (voluntat). 'bonea' and 'granea' are Llullian dignities (goodness, greatness); 'les altres' points to the remaining dignities in the series.
- 4 ↩Old Catalan 'vertút' rendered as Virtue. 'bontat'/'granea' are Llullian dignities (goodness, greatness), matching 'bonea'/'granea' in neighboring definitions. 'bonificar' and 'magnificar' are kept as technical act-names (bonifying / magnifying), the correlative operations of those dignities; 'vertuós' modifies each act. 'les altres' points to the remaining dignities in the series.
- 5 ↩bonea / granea: Llullian Art roots, rendered here as goodness / greatness; e les altres points to the remaining roots of the Tree of Love.
- 6 ↩Catalan reials taken as 'real' (agreeing with raons), not 'royal': Llullian sense of clear and real reasons.
- 7 ↩Normalized fragment ends at 'en .'; the staged witness reads 'en .j.' (Roman numeral 1 = 'one'), with '.j.' split onto the next sentence ref. Rendered as the first half of that corrected reading.
- 8 ↩bonea / granea kept as goodness / greatness to match neighboring simple definitions; e les altres points to the remaining Llullian roots.
- 9 ↩Standalone 'j.' is the second half of witness '.j.' (Roman 1), meaning 'one' in Llull's numeral habit; not a separate sentence.
- 10 ↩Catalan 'an' read as 'han' (they have), a common medieval spelling/variant in this witness.
- 11 ↩Normalized ending reads “dam.”; the undivided source line has “natura dam.ij.” Against the work’s repeated phrase “natura damor,” this is taken as truncated “damor” (nature of love), with “ij.” split off as the next sentence.
- 12 ↩Old Catalan “sab a” could mean “is suited to / corresponds to,” “knows toward,” or, less likely in this Art definition, “tastes of.” Rendered as “is suited to” for the definitional sense.
- 13 ↩Likely a segmentation artifact from “dam.ij.” after “natura damor,” not an independent definitional clause; kept as printed roman-numeral marker.
- 14 ↩Catalan lists the roots asyndetically (bondat duració, e les altres), matching the chapter’s definition style; read as ‘greatness of goodness, duration, and the other roots,’ not as a separate genitive chain.
- 15 ↩Catalan 'subject' kept as the technical Llullian substrate/bearer; 'concordansa' rendered as 'concordance' to preserve the Art's correlative term rather than soft paraphrase as mere 'harmony'.
- 16 ↩Menoritat is Llull’s relative principle usually rendered Minority (or Smallness), paired with Majority; kept as Minority to match the technical series with Equality in the preceding definition.
- 17 ↩amic / amat are Llull’s paired terms Lover / Beloved; rendered lover / beloved to keep that technical force without archaic diction.
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