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Chapter 69LlullArbreAmor.1.69

2. De belea d'amor

Two Kinds of Beauty

Love and the Friend agree to speak of the Beloved's beauty by first considering natural and moral beauty in creatures.

Love and the Friend agreed to speak of the beauty of the supreme Beloved, grounded in the roots of love. Love told the Friend that they should seek out the beauties of creatures, so that through them they might better describe the Beloved's beauty of love. And Love said that the beauties of creatures are of two kinds, namely natural beauty and moral beauty: natural beauty, like the beautiful woman who has a beautiful face, beautiful hair, and a beautiful body; moral beauty is when the woman has beautiful love through goodness, justice, wisdom, and chastity; and of these1 ii.2 kinds of beautiful love Love wanted to speak of with the Friend first, so that he would want to have beautiful love and a beautiful way of loving with which to love his Beloved, who lets no one love Him who has ugly love through sin.3

Beauty Marred by Sin

Through a series of examples from nature and human life—sun, sea, tree, woman, castle, horse, miser, table, book, and cleric—Love and the Friend show how outward beauty can be corrupted by moral ugliness.

2. Friend, said Love: the sun is beautiful in color—that is, in its radiance—and it is beautiful for its goodness and for its greatness, duration, power, and virtue, because it does much good to the bodies below, which without it would have no virtue and could not endure; and the4 first5 root of the sun beautifies the other—that is, its greatness of virtue beautifies its beauty and radiance.6 3. Love, said the Friend: the sea is beautiful because it is vast and holds within itself many fish that are beautiful and large; the earth is also very beautiful because it is vast and is clothed and adorned with trees, grasses, waters, plains, mountains, birds, beasts, people, castles, towns, and cities; and all these things are beautiful in their duration, power, and virtue. 4. "Friend," said Love, "look at the great tree laden with leaves, flowers, and fruit, and consider how great its beauty is in color and how pleasing it is for the eyes to see; and the rich fragrance that rises from the flowers is beautiful and strong to smell, and the sweetness of the fruit is beautiful and strong to taste, and so it is with the other roots of the tree of love; but if the tree were beautiful in color, and its flowers had a foul smell and its fruit a bad taste, the tree would be beautiful in7 one8 way, and ugly in many ways. And this is an example for people who have many traits that make them ugly and some that make them beautiful, just like the beautiful woman who is beautiful by bodily beauty, and if she is not chaste, she is ugly through ugly love, which is evil against goodness, vicious against virtue, and false against truth; and she is uglier in the understanding of those who know she is foul than she is beautiful to their eyes, and the same is true of the will of good people who hate that woman; and she is ugly to their mouths, in that they mock her and speak great evil of her; and she is still uglier before God, who knows her to be ugly and does not love her, and who prepares for her the hells where the demons dwell, who by sin are uglier creatures than any others.91011 5. Love, said the Friend: I saw a12 beautiful castle that was very ugly, because it belonged to a knight who did much harm with that castle; and I saw13 a14 beautiful horse, but it was ugly because it had bad habits. Friend, said Love: and I saw a15 There was a very wealthy burgher who wore fine clothes, but he was incredibly stingy. Because of his avarice, he was widely mocked and despised, for he kept his Beloved's goods idle and withheld them from the poor who asked for alms for the love of God. The more riches that burgher amassed, the uglier he became in his virtues and his false love.16 6. Love, said the Friend: the table is beautiful when it's large and has beautiful tablecloths on it, and beautiful cups of gold and silver; but it's far more beautiful if the people who eat and drink at it have goodness, temperance, and almsgiving, and if they thank God for the food He gives them and for the taste they find in it. But if those people are wicked, gluttonous, and drunkards, all the natural beauty of the table is made ugly by the moral ugliness of those it serves.17 7. Friend, said Love: I saw a18 beautiful book in which a19 false judge was reading, and that book was ugly because of the baseness of its master, and he understood little of the book.20 Love, said the Friend: and I saw a21 A cleric who sang of God and recited many beautiful prayers, but his heart was set on vanities instead of on the beauties and noble qualities of the supreme Beloved; and for that reason his ugly thoughts made the words he spoke ugly, because they were not pleasing to God.2223

The Lament of Love

Love laments that the world's customs are not as beautiful as its natural beauty, and the Friend asks when Love will be as beautiful in action as in essence, leading them to turn from created beauty to the beauty of the supreme Beloved.

8. In many other ways Love and the Friend sought out the natural beauty of creatures, and the ugliness that men put into them through sins. And Love said to the Friend, "When will that time come when the world is as beautiful in its customs as it is beautiful through the natural beauties of creatures!"24 9. Love, said the friend: when will you be as beautiful, as great, as lasting, as powerful, as virtuous, true, and glorious in loving as you are in yourself? Friend, said love: it isn't my fault if I'm not as beautiful, great, lasting, powerful, and the rest in loving as I am by my essence and nature; the fault belongs to the lesser lovers who don't know how to have me or treat me as they could have me, with greater goodness, greatness, and the rest. They keep me idle and waste my natural beauty, which I have through my natural goodness, greatness, and the rest; and because of this I lament and weep, and I find no one who will help me become as beautiful in action as I am by my nature.2526 I.27 Speaking in this way about the beauty of created love, love and the friend said they should speak of the beauty of the supreme Beloved, which is as beautiful through the work the Beloved has in Himself as it is through His essential and natural beauty.

The Beauty of the Beloved

Love and the Friend contemplate the beauty of God's attributes, the creature's greatest beauty in remembering, understanding, and loving God, and the Beloved's gracious response in sending them to the lover for eternal glory.

11.28 Friend, said Love: in God there is a making-good as beautiful as the beauty of his goodness, since his making-good is as great, lasting, powerful, wise, loving, virtuous, true, and glorious as his goodness is; because if it were not so, his goodness would be idle, and it would be lesser through idleness, and vicious through lesser-ness and contrariety; and the same would follow if the Beloved did not have as great a beauty for magnifying as for his greatness, and for making eternal as for eternity, and likewise for the others, except for contrariety and lesser-ness, which cannot be in the supreme Beloved.29 12. The Friend pondered deeply the beauty of his Beloved, because of what Love had told him; and he said that the greatest beauty God can have in a creature is the greatest love God has for a creature, and the greatest beauty a creature can have is to remember, understand, and love God, and with all its power to honor, praise, and serve God and his works. 13. The beautiful words and the beautiful truths they spoke for His love greatly pleased the sovereign Beloved. He sent them to the lover, to his Love, and to his loving, so that the lover—with a love that is beautiful, good, lasting, powerful, wise, loving, virtuous, true, and glorious—might remember them, understand them, and love them, and so that in eternal glory, the Beloved might give His love to the lover.30

Read the original Catalan

Acort fo emprès enfre lamor e lamic, que parlassen de la beleza del subirà amat, segons les rails damor; e dix lamor a lamic que ensercassen les belees de les creatures, per so que ab eles sabessen mils parlar de la belea amor de lamat. E dix amor que les belees de les creatures son en dues maneres, so es a saber, belea natural e belea moral: belea natural, axí com la bela dona, qui ha bela cara bels cabels e bel cors; belea moral es con la dona ha bela amor per bontat justícia saviea e castetat; e daquestes . ij. maneres de bela amor volia parlar ab lamic primerament, per so que volgués aver bela amor e bel amar ab que amàs son amat, qui nos lexa amar a negú home qui aja leja amor per peccat.

2. Amic, dix lamor: lo sol es bel per color, so es, per sa resplandor, e es bel per sa bontat e per sa granea duració poder e vertut, car molt de be fa a los corses sejús, qui sens él no aurien vertut ni purien durar; e la . j. rayl del sol enbeleex lautra, so es assaber, que la sua granea de vertut embeleex la sua belea e resplandor.

3. Amor, dix lamic: la mar es bela, per so car es gran e conté en sí metexa molts pexs, qui son bels e grans; e la terra es molt bela, per so car es gran e es vestida e ornada darbres erbes aigües plans e muntanyes, aucels bèsties homes castels viles e ciutats; e totes aquestes coses son beles per duració poder e vertut.

4. Amic, dix amor: veges l arbre qui es gran carregat'' de fuyles flors e fruyts, e consira com la sua belea es gran per color e es bona als uyls a veer; e la gran odor qui ix de les flors es bela e gran al odorar, e la dousor deP fruyt es bela e gran al gustar, e en axí de les altres rails de l arbre damor; mas sil arbre era bel per color, e les sues flors eren de mala odor e lo seu fruyt avia mala sabor, seria l arbre bel per . j. manera, e leg per moltes maneres. E asò es exempli als homens qui an moltes condicions per que son legs e alcuna per que son bels axí com la bela dona qui es bela per belea corporal, e si no es casta, es leja per leja amor qui es mala contra bontat, e viciosa contra vertut, e falsa contra veritat; e es pus leja en l enteniment dels homes, qui saben que es orrea,2que bela als uyls daquels, e asò metex de la volentat dels bons homes qui aquela dona desamen; e leja es a lurs boques, en so que la escarnexen e deia dien gran mal; e encara es pus leja segons Deu, qui la sab leja e qui no la ama, e' li appareyla los inferns on estan los demonis, qui son les pus leges creatures, per peccat, que negunes altres creatures.

5. Amor, dix lamic: jo viu . j. bel castel qui era molt leg per so car era d un cavalef qui ab aquel castel fahia molt de mal; e viu . j. bel caval, mas era leg per so car era de males costumes. Amic, dix amor: e jo viu . j.

burgès qui era molt ric e avia bels vestiments; mas era molt avar, per la qual avaricia era molt escarnit e meinspreat, car los bens de son amat tenia ocioses e tolia als pobres qui per amor de Deu demanen almoynes; e on més aquel burguès ajustava riquees, pus leg era de vertuts e de falsa amor.

6. Amor, dix lamic: la taula es bela can es gran e ha en ela beles tovayles, beles copes daur e d argent; mas molt es pus bela si los homes qui en ela menuguen e beuen, an bontat tempransa almoyna, e si fan a Deu gràcies de les viandes quels dona e de la sabor que en eles atroben. Mas si Is homes son mals goloses embriacs, tota la belea que ha la taula per natura, es leja per la moral legea daquels a qui ela servex.

7. Amic, dix amor: jo viu . j. bel libre en qui . j. fals jutge ligia, lo qual libre era leg per la viltat de son senyor, e qui poc en lo libre entenia. Amor, dix lamic: e jo viu . j.

clergue qui cantava de Deu, e deiha moltes beles oracions; mas tenia son cor en vanitats, e no en les belees e noblees del subirà amat, e per asò ab ses leges cogitacions enlegia les paraules que deiha, per so car a Deu no eren agradables.

8. Per moltes daltres maneres ensercaren lamor e lamic la belea natural de les creatures, e la legea que en eles posaven los homes per peccats. E dix lamor al amic, quan serà aquel temps que lo mon fos tam bel per costumes, com es bel per les belees naturals de les creatures!

9. Amor, dix lamic: quan serets vos tan bela, tan gran, tan durable, tan poderosa, tan vertuosa vera e gloriosa per amar, com per vos metexa? Amic, dix amor: no es colpa de mi si jo no son tan bela gran durable poderosa, e les altres,'' per amar, com só per ma essència e natura; mas colpa es dels menors amadors qui nom saben aver ni tractar, segons quem porien aver ab major bonea granea, e les altres, e tenen me ociosa, e sís fan la mia natural belea, la qual he per ma natural bonea granea, e les altres; e per aysò planc e plor, e no trop quim vuyla ajudar a ésser aytan bela per obrar, com son per ma natura. l o. En axí parlant, l amor e l amic, de la belea d amor creada, dixeren que parlassen de la belea del subirà amat, qui es aytan bela per la obra que ha lamat en sí metex, com es per sa belea essencial e natural.

II. Amic, dix amor: en Deu ha aytan bel bonificar, com es la belea de sa bontat, com sia so que lo seu bonificar sia aytan gran durable poderós savi amorós virtuós ver e gloriós, com es la sua bonea; car si no ho era, seria la sua bonea ociosa, e seria menor per ociositat, e viciosa per menoritat e contrarietat; e assò metex se seguiria si lamat no avia aytan gran belea per magnificar com per sa granea, e per eternar com per eternitat, e enaxí de les altres, enfora contrarietat e menoritat qui no poden ésser en lo subirà amat.

12. Molt consirà lamic en la belea de son amat, per so que amor li ac dit; e dix que la major belea que pot ésser de Deu en creatura, es la major amor que Deus ha a creatura, e la major belea que creatura pot aver, es Deu membrar entendre e amar, e de tot son poder honrar lauzar e servir Deu e ses obres.

13. Molt plagren al subirà amat les beles paraules e les beles veritats que deihen per sa amor, e tramès a lamic e sa amor e son amar, per so que lamic, ab bela bona durable poderosa sàvia amorosa vertuosa vera e gloriosa amor, los membràs enteses e amàs, e que en eternal glòria lamat a lamic sa amor donàs.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source sentence ends truncated at «e daquestes .»; the sense continues after the numeral marker in s3–s4.
  2. 2 ↩Standalone Roman numeral «ij.» likely marks the second manner and interrupts the clause spanning s2–s4, parallel to similar numeral splits elsewhere in this text.
  3. 3 ↩«qui nos lexa amar a negú home qui aja leja amor per peccat» rendered as the Beloved refusing the love of anyone whose love is made ugly by sin; alternate parsing of «nos» as a clitic is possible but does not change the moral force.
  4. 4 ↩Sentence breaks mid-phrase before the printed numeral in s3; continuous reading with s3–s4 is 'and the first root of the sun…'.
  5. 5 ↩Source 'j.' is the Roman numeral 1 in the run-on phrase 'la j. rayl' ('the first root').
  6. 6 ↩'rayl' read as 'root' (cf. chapter's 'rails d'amor'), not 'ray'; 'lautra' = the other (root).
  7. 7 ↩Normalized carregat'' to carregat (laden); deP fruyt to del fruyt (of the fruit); rails read as arrels (roots) of the tree of love.
  8. 8 ↩Manuscript numeral j. treated as 'one' (una), completing bel per j. manera with the following sentence.
  9. 9 ↩Read orrea,2que as orrea que (foul than), treating the embedded 2 as an edition footnote marker.
  10. 10 ↩Read e deia dien gran mal as e deien gran mal (and speak great evil of her); the doubled deia/dien looks corrupt.
  11. 11 ↩leja amor rendered as ugly love (disordered/unchaste love), kept parallel to Llull's bela/leja contrast rather than softened to mere lust.
  12. 12 ↩Standalone 'j.' is read as the medieval numeral .j. ('one'/'a'), split from the surrounding clause by segmentation (cf. previous section 'per .j. manera').
  13. 13 ↩Source 'cavalef' treated as corrupt/OCR for 'cavaler' (knight), which fits the castle-holder sense and the chapter's moral exempla.
  14. 14 ↩Standalone 'j.' read as medieval numeral .j. ('one'/'a'), introducing the following 'bel caval'.
  15. 15 ↩Standalone 'j.' read as medieval numeral .j. ('one'/'a'); the object continues in the next section ('burgès qui era molt ric...').
  16. 16 ↩Catalan "son amat" rendered as "his Beloved," matching Llull's amic/amat dialogue frame in which God is the Beloved whose goods the miser hoards unused.
  17. 17 ↩Source reads "Is homes"; taken as "els/los homes" (those people), likely a capitalization/OCR confusion of ls/els.
  18. 18 ↩Source .j. is the Obres edition's indefinite article/numeral marker (a/one), not the letter j.
  19. 19 ↩Source .j. is the Obres edition's indefinite article/numeral marker (a/one), not the letter j.
  20. 20 ↩Relative qui most naturally refers to the false judge (who understood little); son senyor may be that same owner-judge or a distinct master of the book.
  21. 21 ↩Source .j. is the Obres edition's indefinite article/numeral marker (a/one), not the letter j. The object (clergue…) begins in the following section.
  22. 22 ↩Old Catalan enlegia (enllejar): rendered as 'made … ugly,' matching the chapter's belea/legea contrast; alternatives include 'spoiled' or 'marred.'
  23. 23 ↩subirà amat rendered as 'supreme Beloved' (Llull's sobirà Amat for God); 'sovereign Beloved' is also possible.
  24. 24 ↩Catalan 'costumes' means acquired customs/habits of life, set against innate 'belees naturals'; rendered as 'customs' to keep the moral-habit sense without modernizing into 'lifestyle.'
  25. 25 ↩Old Catalan 'sís fan' is ambiguous; rendered as 'waste' (leave unused/fruitless), parallel to 'tenen me ociosa'. Alternative senses include 'take my natural beauty for themselves' or 'make my natural beauty idle'.
  26. 26 ↩Normalized text contains a stray '','' after 'les altres'; translated as the intended list-continuation 'and the rest'.
  27. 27 ↩Source reading 'l o.' appears corrupt; rendered as Roman numeral 'I.', since the next section opens with 'II.'
  28. 28 ↩Source reads "II."; chapter sequence (9, corrupt 10, then 12) makes "11." the most plausible intended section number.
  29. 29 ↩Llull's verbal nouns bonificar / magnificar / eternar name the active operations of the divine dignities (goodness, greatness, eternity). Rendered as making-good / magnifying / making eternal to keep that correlative force without Latinizing.
  30. 30 ↩Catalan distinguishes personified amor (Love), the lover’s amar (loving as act/faculty), and the Beloved’s gift of sa amor; English keeps Love / loving / love to preserve that triad.

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