3. Del solàs d'amor
The Drunkenness of Love and Prudence's Counsel
The Lover, drunk on the Beloved's goodness, is advised by Prudence to discern the paths of love and not trust everyone.
Love and the Lover were talking about the Beloved's goodness, and the Lover said he wanted to love every good thing out of love for his Beloved's goodness; and Love said she wanted to exist so that she could make people fall in love with the Beloved's goodness. While the Lover and Love were talking about the Beloved's goodness, the Beloved's greatness came to dwell in the Lover's loving and in Love's, and the Lover was drunk on the goods he loved out of love for his Beloved's goodness.1 1. The Lover was drunk with love, and Prudence came to his love to show him the paths of great love; the Lover told Prudence that all paths of love are great, since they are good. Prudence told the Lover not to put his trust in everyone; and the Lover told Prudence that good and great love had so fully taken hold of him that it seemed true to him that all people are good and lovers of his Beloved.23
Healing and the Division of Love's Goodness
Prudence and Justice heal the friend from drunkenness, but the great goodness of love divides among memory, understanding, and will, leaving the loving sick and longing for intoxication.
3. The friend and Love were speaking of infinite and eternal goodness, and of finite and begun goodness; and Prudence told the friend to love far more the greater, longer-lasting goods than the lesser, short-lived ones; and Justice came to dwell in the friend's loving and in Love's loving, and the friend was healed of the wine of love.4 4. When the friend was healed of the drunkenness of love and had discretion and reason through prudence and justice, the great goodness of love, which had all been in the friend's loving while he was drunk with love, divided itself among remembering, understanding, and loving; and love became lesser in the loving, and the loving remained sick, and the friend longed to be drunk with love.5
Charity Restores the Wine of Love
Love tells the Beloved of the sick loving, and the Beloved sends charity to restore the wine of love without harming prudence and justice, filling all faculties.
5. Love told the Beloved that the friend's love was sick, because it felt it had been deprived of the great goodness of love, which had been divided among itself, remembering, and understanding. The Beloved sent charity to the friend's love, so that it would restore him to possession of the wine of love, without harm to the friend's remembering and understanding or to justice and prudence; and the great goodness and lastingness of charity was enough to fill the friend's love, remembering, and understanding.67
The Will's Fear and Wisdom's Power
The friend's loving fears that the Beloved's will is lesser than wisdom, but Prudence and Justice reassure; Faith complains of lack of perseverance, and Fortitude defends the lover's nature.
6. Love and the Friend were speaking of the Beloved's power, wisdom, and will, and Love said that wisdom could know all good and all evil, and that the Beloved's will could not love any evil and could love all good; and for this reason the Friend's loving grew afraid that his Beloved's will might be lesser, and wisdom greater in power—which loving complained against Love, because Love had spoken those words to the Friend about the power, wisdom, and will of loving.8910 Love recounted to the Beloved why loving was complaining: the Beloved sent Prudence and Justice to the Friend's loving, to tell him that he has as great power and goodness through his will in not loving sin as he has through his wisdom in knowing sin, and so that the Friend's loving might feel healed of the doubt it had been under.11 Yet Faith complained to the Beloved about the Friend's loving, which had not persevered against temptation; and Faith told the Beloved to punish Fortitude, who had not kept the Friend's loving in perseverance, insofar as it had doubted that the will was as great in the power of loving as wisdom is in knowing.12 Fortitude defended itself before the Beloved, saying that it is the nature of a good and great lover to fear dishonor to his Beloved.
Temperance, Hope, and the Correction of Justice
The friend hopes for glory through temperance, but Love accuses him of equating charity and temperance; Justice punishes him with contrition and penance, and multiplies his loving.
7. The friend and Love were talking about temperance and hope, which are paths by which lovers reach the Beloved, and the friend said that through temperance, a great and good virtue, he hoped to have the glory of his Beloved. Love accused the friend before the Beloved, saying that he thought there was equality between charity and temperance; and the Beloved sent Justice to the friend to punish him, because by his merits he supposed he would be saved, and told Justice to punish Love, who did not make hope be loved more through grace and charity than through temperance. Justice punished the friend by making him hope for favor, mercy, and forgiveness, and gave him contrition, and made him perform confession, penance, and satisfaction, and punished Love by multiplying the friend's loving.
The Strife of Wisdom and Love
Wisdom longs to know as much as she loves, causing pride; the friend begs for peace; the Beloved sends truth to wisdom and humility to will; Love explains that in this life, wisdom cannot love without a medium, and her sickness is greater than loving's.
8. The friend's wisdom said to the friend that she longed to know as much of her Beloved's truth as she loved Him through love; and for that reason Faith told the Beloved that wisdom had pride and envy in the friend, because she wanted to understand as much truth by succession and demonstration as the friend loved by way of supposition, devotion, and the infusion of love. Wisdom excused herself and said to Virtue that she couldn't go wrong in greatly longing to know the truth of her Beloved. The friend begged his Beloved to make peace between his understanding and his loving, for their conflict had left him sick. The Beloved sent His truth to the friend's wisdom so that it would illuminate her with as much virtue and goodness as she needed for her knowing; and He sent humility and patience to the friend's will. 9. The friend and Love were speaking of the Beloved's glory, and the friend said that his loving was sick, because he did not love the Beloved without a medium — for wisdom made a new likeness of God, which it set between him and the glory of his Beloved; and that likeness hindered him from loving his Beloved greatly.13 "Friend," said Love, "my loving and yours cannot be with the Beloved in this present life without a new likeness, in which wisdom represents the Beloved to our loving."14 "Love," said the friend, "I feel a nature in my will that desires to love my Beloved without a medium; but I do not feel such a nature in my wisdom, for if she had a desire to see the Beloved, she would not make that likeness she sets between herself and her Beloved; and for that reason I believe wisdom is small and idle — so my will and my loving want to bring complaints about her to the Beloved."15 "Friend," said Love, "through the habit of charity, which forms me in the will, you feel in yourself a natural desire by which you would want to love without a medium; but wisdom, through prudence, cannot be as fully formed to desire seeing her Beloved as I am through the habit of charity; and for that reason let neither will nor your loving complain to the Beloved about wisdom, for she cannot understand as much through prudence in this world as I do through charity; and that is why, in this world, her understanding lies in a stronger sickness than my loving."16
Seeking the Beloved by Difference and Concordance
Understanding seeks by difference, will by concordance; the friend laments that loving is not as great as understanding; Love explains the nature of her seas; loving complains and languishes, while understanding sings; the Beloved sends greater ends to both.
10. The Friend's understanding was searching for the Beloved in the seas of love, by difference; and the Friend's will was searching for him in the seas of wisdom, by concordance. The seas came together in the Friend, who told Love that the Beloved had placed difference in all creatures that exist, yet he had not placed concordance in all of them, because many creatures are contrary; and for this reason his loving, which was seeking the Beloved through concordance, was not as great as his understanding, which was seeking the Beloved through difference.17 "So I beg you, Love," said the Friend, "that through you I may have as great a loving in seeking my Beloved as I have understanding to seek my Beloved with wisdom." "Friend," said Love, "in my seas all difference exists in the concordance of Friend and Beloved without opposition, and in the seas of wisdom it exists in concordance or in opposition: it exists in concordance so that the understanding may know the difference between the Friend and the Beloved; in opposition, so that it may understand that between the Friend and the Beloved there is no opposition, nor does the Beloved have any in himself, for everything he has in himself exists in the concordance of goodness, infinity, eternity, virtue, truth, glory, and power; and therefore I could not change the nature of my loving and of your understanding, since your Beloved has willed to create it as it is."18 11. Loving complained to the Beloved about Love, who had started it in such great harmony of Friend and Beloved that it could not bear or sustain it; and for this reason it was languishing and felt itself dying. Understanding of wisdom praised the Beloved, because he had started it in such great harmony of Friend and Beloved; and the Beloved sent to loving a greater end of love, so that it would languish more, and sent to understanding a greater end of truth, so that it would have greater knowledge of the knower and the known; through that greater knowledge it would receive reward, for it will be praised for wisdom; and for this reason understanding was singing and loving was weeping.19
The Paradox of Greater Love: Adversities as Prosperities
The friend begs for equality with understanding, but the Beloved sends adversities as prosperities; greater love longs for lesser love to rest; the Beloved sends glory and patience to the middle place, uniting pleasing and laboring prosperities.
12. "Beloved," said the Friend, "the more my loving abides in greater love, the more strongly it makes me labor and languish, sigh and weep and long and attend to your honors, your worth, and your praises; but understanding, the more it abides in greater wisdom, the more I see it rejoice, sing, and rest at ease. So I beg you, Beloved: you who in glory have understanding and loving equally, without toil — please make me equal with understanding in singing, resting, and repose." The Beloved sent adversities, toils, sighs, and tears to the loving for love's sake, so that for it they would be prosperities and resting-places for love.20 13. The loving of greater love longed to be in lesser love, so that it could rest, linger, and sleep, for it felt itself too worn out by the great adversities that come through greater love. Greater love cried out to the Beloved about its loving, which said that what were its prosperities were adversities.21 The Beloved sent into the middle place of greater love glory, equality, concordance, and patience, which should join pleasing prosperities and laboring ones, and that from both they should equally clothe and adorn the loving of greater love, so that the lover might love and praise his Beloved through pleasing, laboring prosperities.22
Read the original Catalan
Amor e lamic parlaven de la bonea de lamat, e dix lamic que él volia amar tot be per amor de la bonea de son amat; e dix lamor que ela volia ésser, per so que enamoràs los homens de la bonea del amat. Dementre que lamic e lamor parlaven de la bonea de lamat, venc la granea de lamat estar en lamar de lamic e damor, e lamic fo embriac dels bens que amava per amor de la bonea de son amat.
1. Estava lamic embriac per amor, e venc prudència a son amar per so que li mostràs quals son les carreres de gran amor; e dix lamic a prudència, que totes les carreres damor son grans, pus que son bones. Prudència dix a lamic que nos fiàs en tots homes; e lamic dix a prudència que tant lavia comprès bona e gran amor, que vejarès li era que tots homes sien bons e amadors de son amat.
3. Parlaven lamic e lamor de bonea infinida e eternal, e de fínida e comensada bonea; e dix prudència a lamic, que amàs molt més los bens qui son majors e qui mais duren, que los menors e qui poc duren; e justicia venc estar en l amar del amic e damor, e lamic guarí del vi damor.
4. Can lamic fo guarit de la embriaguea damor e ac discreció e raó per prudència e per justicia, la gran bonea damor, qui tota estava en lamar del amic con era embriac per amor, se departí enfre membrar entendre e amar, e lamor fo menor en lamar, e lamar romàs malaute, e desirà lamic ésser embriac per amor.
5. Recomtà amor al amat, que lamar del amic estava malaute per so car se sentia menorificat de Ja gran bonea damor, qui serà partida enfre él el membrar e lentendre Tramès l amat caritat a l amor del amic, per so que l tornàs en possessió del vi damor, sens prejudici del membrar e entendre del amic e de justicia' e prudència; e la gran bonea e duració de caritat abastà a umplir lamar membrar e entendre del amic.
6. Lamor e lamic parlaven del poder saviea e volentat de lamat, e dix amor que la saviea pudia saber tot be e tot mal, e la volentat del amat no podia amar negun maPe pudia amar tot be; e per aysò lamar del amic ac paor que la volentat de son amat fos menor, e la saviea fos major en poder, lo qual amar se clamà damor, per so car avia dites aqueles paraules al amic, del poder saviea e volentat de lamar. Recontà lamor al amat so per que lamar se clamava: tramès lamat prudència e justícia al amar de l amic, que li dixessen que él ha aitan gran poder e bonea per sa volentat en no amar peccat, com ha persa saviea en saber peccat; e lamar de lamic sentís sanat contra la dubitació en que avia estat. Emperò fe se clamà al amat del amar de lamic, qui no avia perseverat contra temptació; e dix al amat que ponís fortitudo, qui no avia tengut en perseveransa lamar del amic, en quant avia dubtat que la volentat no fos tan gran en poder damar, com la saviea de saber. Escusàs fortitudo al amat, e dix que natura es de bo e gran amador que aja paor de la desonor de son amat.
7. Parlaven lamic e lamor de tempransa e de esperansa, qui son carreres per les quals amadors van a lamat, e dix lamic que per temprança, qui es gran e bona vertut, esperava aver la glòria de son amat. Acusà lamor lamic a lamat, dient que él consirava ésser egualtat enfre caritat e tempransa; e lamat tramès justicia a lamic per so quel ponís, per so car per sos mèrits cuydava ésser salvat, e dix a justicia que ponís lamor, qui no fahia més amar esperansa per gràcia e caritat, que per tempransa. Puní justicia lamic per esperar mercè misericòrdia e perdó, e donàli contricció, e feu li fer confessió penetencia e satisfacció, e poní amor per montiplicar lamar del amic.
8. La saviea del amic dix al amic, que ela desirava saber aitanta de veritat de son amat, com n amava per amor; e per aysò fe dix al amat que saviea avia ergull e enveja en lamic, per so car volia aitant entendre veritat per successió e demostració, com n amava lamic per subposicion devoció e infusió damar. Escusàs saviea, e dix a vertut, que ela no podia errar en molt desirar saber veritat de son amat. Pregà l amic son amat que pacificàs son entendre e amar, car per lur contrarietat estava malaute. Tramès lamat sa veritat a la saviea del amic per so que la illuminàs en tan gran vertut e bontat, com navia mester a son saber; e tramès a la volentat de lamic humilitat e paciència.
9. Parlaven lamic e lamor de la glòria del amat, e dix lamic que son amar estava malaute, per so car no amava lamatsens mejà, car la saviea faia semblansa novela de Deu, la qual posava enfre cl e la glòria de son amat; la qual semblansa lempatxa a molt amar son amat. Amic, dix lamor: lo meu el teu amar no pot ésser ab lamat, en esta present vida, sens nova semblansa, en la qual saviea representa lamat al nostre amar. Amor, dix lamic: yo sent natura en ma volentat que desira amar mon amat sens mijà; mas no sent aital natura en ma saviea, car ela, si avia desirier de veer lamat, no faria aquela semblansa que posa enfre sí e son amat; e per asò he crecnsa que la saviea sia poca e ociosa; per que ma volentat e mon amar ne volen fer clams al amat. Amic, dix lamor: per làbit de caritat, lo qual mi enforma en la volentat, sents en tu natural desirier que volries amar sens mejà; mas saviea per prudència no pot ésser tant informada a desirar veer son amat, com yo son per làbit de caritat; e per asò no fassen clams volentat ni ton amar al amat, de saviea, car ela no pot entendre tant per prudència en est mon, com jo fas per caritat; e per aysò en est mon està lo seu entendre pus fort malatite que lo meu amar.
10. Lenteniment de lamic ensercava en les mars damor, ab differencia, lamat; e la volentat de lamic lo sercava en les mars de saviea, ab concordansa. Ajustaren SC les mars en l amic, qui dix a l amor, que l amat avia feta diferencia en totes aitantes creatures com son, emperò en totes no avia posada concordansa, car moltes creatures son qui son contraries; e per aysò lo seu amar, qui ensercava l amat ab concordansa, no era tan gran com lo seu entendre, qui ensercava lamat ab differencia. Per que us prech, amor, dix lamic, que per vos aja tan gran amar en sercar mon amat, com he entendre a ensercar mon amat ab saviea. Amic, dix lamor: en les mies mars està tota differencia en concordansa d amic e d amat sens contrarietat, e en les mars de savieza està en concordansa o en contrarietat: en concordansa està per so que l enteniment conega la differencia de lamic e lamat; en contrarietat, per so que entena que enfre lamic e lamat no ha contrarietat, ni lamat no la ha en sí metex, car tot quant ha en sí metex, està en concordansa de bontat infinitat eternitat vertut veritat glòria e poder; e per aysò la natura de mon amar e del teu entendre jo no la poria mudar, pus que ton amat la ha volguda aitaP com es, crear. 11. Al amat se clamava l amar, d amor, qui lavia comensat en tan gran concordansa damic e damat, que no la podia portar ni sostenir; e per aysò estava en languiment, e sentias morir. Loavas lentendre de saviea al amat, per so car lavia comensat en tan gran concordansa damic damat); e lamat tramès a lamar major fi damor, per so que fos en major languiment, e tramès al entendre major fi de veritat, per so que aguès major conexensa de entenent e entès; per la qual major conexensa agués guardó, car de saviea sera lohat; e per aysò cantava lentendre e plorava lamar.
12. Amat, dix lamic: aitant con lo meu amar està en major amor, aitant me fa pus fortment trebailar e languir, suspirar e plorar e desirar e tractar tos honraments, tes valors e loors; mas l entendre, aitant com està en major saviea, aitant lo veg alegrar cantar e sejornar; per quet prec, amat, que tu qui has egualtat dentendre e amar en glòria sens trebayl, me vuyles egualar ab entendre en cantar sejornar e repòs. Tramès lamat adversitats trebals suspirs e plors al amar per amor, per so que fossen dél prosperitats e sejorns per amor.
13. Lamar de major amor desirava estar en menor amor, per so que pogués reposar sejornar e durmir, car trop se sentia trebaylat per les grans adversitats qui esdevenen per major amor. Clamàs major amor al amat, de son amar, qui deiha que so qui son prosperitats eren aversitats. Tramès lamat en lo mig loc de major amor, glòria egualtat concordansa e paciència qui ajustassen plaents prosperitats e trebayllants, e que damdós egualment vestissen e ornassen lamar de major amor, per so que lamic amàs e loàs, per plaents trebaylants prosperitats, son amat.
Notes
- 1 ↩embriac: Llull's mystical drunkenness of love; rendered as "drunk on" to keep the intoxication image without slang.
- 2 ↩Read as love taking hold of the Lover (l' = him; bona e gran amor as subject), which fits the surrounding drunkenness-in-love motif; alternately, the Lover had so thoroughly grasped good and great love.
- 3 ↩Uncertain Old Catalan form; rendered as 'it seemed true to him,' taking vejarès as likely veaires ('seeming/opinion') or compact vera res ('a true thing'). Sense: love has made the Lover naively sure that everyone is good.
- 4 ↩vi damor: rendered as "the wine of love," the intoxicating draught that produced the friend's love-drunkenness (cf. embriaguea d'amor in the neighboring section).
- 5 ↩Llull distinguishes amor (Love as personified force) from amar/l'amar (the act or faculty of loving). Membrar, entendre, and amar are the soul's remembering, understanding, and loving.
- 6 ↩Source corruptions corrected in sense: 'Recomtà' read as 'Recontà' (cf. 1.70.6); 'de Ja gran' as 'de la gran'; 'qui serà partida' as past 'qui s'era partida' to match 1.70.4's already completed division; stray 'justicia'' as 'justícia'. A missing stop before 'Tramès' is treated as a new sentence.
- 7 ↩caritat is kept as 'charity' to distinguish the theological gift sent by the Beloved from personified amor ('Love') and from amar/l'amar ('loving'). 'vi d'amor' is 'the wine of love', continuing the chapter's intoxication image.
- 8 ↩Normalized "negun maPe pudia" as "negun mal e podia" ("no evil, and could"), the only coherent reading.
- 9 ↩Normalized "ac paor" as Old Catalan "hac paor" ("had fear").
- 10 ↩Closing "de lamar" may be a corruption of the opening-parallel "de lamat" ("of the Beloved"); rendered as written ("of loving").
- 11 ↩Normalized "persa saviea" as "per sa saviea" ("through his wisdom"), matching the parallel "per sa volentat".
- 12 ↩After "dubtat", Catalan "que la volentat no fos" is treated as pleonastic negation after a verb of doubting ("doubted that the will was as great"), not as a true negative content clause.
- 13 ↩Normalized 'lamatsens mejà' as 'l'amat sens mejà' ('the Beloved without a medium'). 'enfre cl e' read as 'enfre ell e' ('between him and'); the letters look corrupt.
- 14 ↩Read 'lo meu el teu amar' as 'lo meu e lo teu amar' ('my loving and yours').
- 15 ↩'crecnsa' taken as 'creensa' (belief); 'ociosa' as idle/unoccupied rather than merely lazy.
- 16 ↩'làbit de caritat' rendered as 'habit of charity' (theological virtue informing the will). 'malatite' read as 'malaltia' (sickness).
- 17 ↩Reading corrupt "Ajustaren SC" as "Ajustaren-se" ("they came together / joined"), the most plausible medieval Catalan form in context.
- 18 ↩Reading corrupt "aitaP" as "aital" ("such").
- 19 ↩Ignored stray closing parenthesis after "damat)" as a source-text defect with no semantic force.
- 20 ↩dél rendered as "for it" (referring to amar, the loving); Old Catalan d'ell = of/for him/it.
- 21 ↩Relative qui most naturally attaches to son amar (its loving) as the speaker of the complaint; an alternate reading takes the clause as the content of greater love's outcry.
- 22 ↩trebayllants is elliptical: taken as laboring prosperities/things paired with plaents prosperitats; the later phrase plaents trebaylants prosperitats treats pleasing and laboring as joint modifiers of the same transformed prosperities.
Arbre de filosofia d'amor (Tree of the Philosophy of Love) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
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