Pregueres d'amor: De vertut e amor
The Lantern of Virtue
The Friend asks the Beloved to kindle his lantern from the light of truth and prays that the virtues accompany his loving, beginning with a call for difference of virtues to fill his love.
Virtue, the Friend said: from the light of truth that stands fixed in the wall of love, ask the Beloved to kindle your lantern where it has gone out.1 ii. Justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance, faith, hope, charity, and the other virtues: the Friend prayed that they would accompany his loving, which he was sending to his Beloved, so that it might stand in His glory.2 iii. "Difference of virtues," said the Friend: "enter into my love, so that it may be filled with you."3 na.4
Concord and Resistance
The Friend prays for concordance among the virtues to dwell in his love and for patience, abstinence, humility, chastity, and piety to overcome the temptations troubling his love.
iv. Concordance of virtues: come dwell in my love, so that I may have peace with my Beloved. v. The Friend prayed that patience, abstinence, humility, chastity, and piety would overcome for him the temptations that were troubling his love.
The Hunter's Ascent to Love
The Friend prays to be kept from vicious love, to rest in the harbor of love, to catch the Beloved through virtuous hunting, to be aided by greater virtues against greater vices, to achieve equality of virtues, and to rise from lesser to greater virtue.
vi. Virtuous Love, said the Friend: don't let vicious loving begin in me. vii. The Friend was swimming through the waters of love; he prayed to Love that he might stay in its harbor with his Beloved. viii. The Friend was hunting with falcons and hounds of virtue, and he prayed to his Beloved to let himself be caught for love. ix. The Friend prayed to the greater virtues of love to help him against greater vices, for he could not overcome them with lesser love.5 x. The Friend prayed to the virtues to make themselves equal in his loving, so that his love might be full of them.6 xi. Lesser virtue of love: don't hinder my loving, which desires to rise with greater virtue of love.
Read the original Catalan
Vertut, dix lamic: de lo lum de veritat, qui està fermat en paret damor, pregats lamat que nensena vostra lanterna, en qui es apagat.
ij. Justícia prudència fortitudo tempransa, fe esperansa caritat, e les altres vertuts, pregà lamic, que acompanyassen son amar, lo qual trametia a son amat, per so que estegués en sa glòria.
iij. Differencia de vertuts, dix lamic: entrats en ma amor, per so que de vos sia ple. na.
iiij. Concordansa de vertuts: venits estar' en ma amor, per so que haja pau ab mon amat. V. Pregà lamic paciència abstinència humilitat castetat e pietat que li vencessen temptacions, qui li trebaylaven son amar.
vj. Vertuosa amor, dix lamic: no lexets comensar en mi viciós amar.
vij. Per les aygues damor nadava lamic: pregava lamic lamor que en lo seu port pogués estar ab son amat.
viij. Cassava lamic ab falcons e lebrers de vertut, e pregava son amat ques lexàs pendre per amor. viiij. Les majors vertuts damor, pregava lamic, que li ajudassen contra majors vicis, car nois podia vensre ab menor amor. X. Pregava lamic vertuts ques egualassen en son amar, per so que deies fos plena sa amor.
xj. Menor vertut d amor: no trebayiets mon amar qui desira pujar ab major vertut d amor.
Notes
- 1 ↩Catalan nensena is read as n'ensena (from encendre, 'kindle/light'); en qui es apagat refers to the lantern whose light is extinguished.
- 2 ↩sa glòria: possessive likely refers to the Beloved (His glory), though it could also be read as the glory of the Friend's loving itself.
- 3 ↩Normalized reading ends in 'ple'; the structured source has 'ple.na.', almost certainly a line-broken 'plena' (cf. LlullArbreAmor.1.56.7 'fos plena sa amor'). Sense rendered as 'filled/full'.
- 4 ↩Orphan fragment 'na.' has no independent sense; almost certainly the second half of line-broken 'plena' belonging to the previous sentence.
- 5 ↩Read as no'ls / no els ('could not [overcome] them'), with els referring to the greater vices.
- 6 ↩Most plausible reading takes deies as d'elles ('of them'), i.e. full of the virtues just named; the surface form is uncertain.
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