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Chapter 82LlullArbreAmor.1.82

Accidents d'amor: 8. Còm l'amic espirà e morí

The Lover Cannot Die

The lover cannot be killed by the poison of love, so Death of Love seeks Wisdom's advice on how to make him die.

The lover lived on, and he could not die by anything the squires of love did to him, even if they gave him to eat and drink the poison of love that kills lovers by loving too much.1 2. The roots of love were astonished, for the friend could not die, and Death of Love asked Wisdom if she knew of any way to kill the friend. "Death of Love," Wisdom replied, "my daughter Prudence has taught the friend about Life of Love, so he cannot die. But I, who know more than she, know a way you can make the friend die."23 And Death of Love begged Wisdom urgently to show her the way to make the friend die through the pain and pleasure of love.4

The World's Sins Revealed

Following Wisdom's first counsel, the squires show the lover the many sins of the world—poverty, greed, lust, gluttony, pride, injustice, unbelief, and the vision of hell—yet he still cannot die because of the teaching of Prudence.

3. Death of Love, said Wisdom: if Love's squires carried and led the Lover through the world, here and there, and showed him the evils that are done through sin in the world, then the Lover would have such great pain and grief that through that grief he would have to die; for he could not bear the dishonor he would see done to his Beloved, nor the number of people who go to hell. Just as Wisdom said it, Death of Love said it to Love's squires, who carried the Lover through the world, here and there, so that he might see and hear the evils and the dishonors that sinful people do to the Beloved. 4. The squires of love carried the friend among the poor who were dying of hunger, thirst, sickness, and cold, and who were begging for alms from rich, greedy, and vain men; and they showed him the treasures, granaries, cellars, horses, clothes, chambers, halls, towers, and castles of those men, whom God keeps in this world highly honored and well served.5 And then the friend felt very great sorrow for the poor, and because his Beloved was little loved and served by those greedy and rich men; and through that sorrow his sickness grew worse. 5. The pages of love carried the lover into a6 land where there was much lust, and in that land the lover saw a great deal of lust being practiced, and in many ways; and he saw the women who painted and adorned themselves so that men would desire them and commit lust with them; and he saw the deceptions, and heard the false words the wives said and the false things they did, by which they deceived their husbands and practiced lust—and the husbands did the same against their wives. 6. Love's attendants led the Lover through the halls and palaces and the tables where the rich men ate, who gorge themselves by overeating and get drunk by drinking too much, and who keep men at the door who do not let the poor come in, but instead beat them with sticks and shut the door on them; and afterward they led the Lover among the proud, and among the lazy, and among the envious, and among the angry; and the Lover saw so much evil and so many sins that he felt completely sick from the distress he had in seeing and hearing so many sins.✦78 7. The young men led the lover through the courts of the kings and of the great lords, where he saw many injustices, and many false judges and lawyers; and they led him through many places where there were many hypocrites, and they led him through many lands where there were idolaters and unbelievers who neither believe in nor love God; and they led him into9 one10 great city where there are many learned men who know the truth and do not go to show it to those who have gone astray, who die as unbelievers and heretics for lack of holy teaching and belief. And then the lover, when he saw so many sins and so many people in sin who neither knew nor loved his Beloved, sighed and wept, and thought he would die from the pain of love; and the young men thought he was dead, until the lover said, weeping: Ah, Beloved! It seems you have abandoned the world, for it is little short of being wholly lost. 8. The squires of love, who saw that the lover still wasn't dead, led the lover through the lands and through the wars, so that he might see men dying in battles and for lands out of pride and vainglory; and through all this the lover couldn't die.11 Afterwards they led him to the gate of paradise and to the gate of hell, and he saw that on that day there entered ten12 souls into paradise and a thousand into hell; and then the lover heaved one13 great sigh, and said to the demons that they had far too great a power over men, and many inhabitants in hell, who all blaspheme his Beloved. Yet the lover couldn't die, for the teaching he had through prudence helped him and sustained him so that he couldn't die.

The Holy Land and the Lover's Death

Wisdom gives a new counsel: take the lover to Jerusalem and the Holy Land; when he sees the holy places and remembers Christ's passion and the holy men who died for love, his love multiplies and he dies.

9. The squires of love and the Death of Love wondered why the Lover was not dying, since he loved his Beloved and the common good so much; and the Death of Love told Wisdom to give it another counsel by which it could kill the Lover, for by that way Wisdom had already told it, it could not kill him.1415 Oh.16 Wisdom said, 'Death of Love, tell the squires of love to carry the Lover to Jerusalem, lead him through all that holy land, show him the temple of David and the temple of Solomon, and where Jesus Christ was born and died; then the Lover will die for love.' The squires of love carried the Lover into the Holy Land and to the temple of David and of Solomon. When the Lover saw the Holy Land and the temple of David and of Solomon, and remembered the holy life of the holy men who had passed away and died for love, and the passion of Jesus Christ, his love multiplied so much, and he sighed in his heart.17

Read the original Catalan

VjYiA lamic, e no podia morir per neguna cosa que li feessen los donzels damor, e si li donaven a menjar e a beure lo verí damor qui ausiu los amadors per sobre amar.

2. Molt se maravelaren les rails damor, car lamic no podia morir, e la mort damor demanà a saviea si sabia neguna cosa per que lamic pogués aucir. Mort damor, dix saviea: prudència ma fila ha donada doctrina, per vida damor, a lamic, per que no pot murir; mas jo, qui se més que ela, sé manera per la qual tu poràs lamic fer morir. E la mort damor pregà saviea molt forment que li mostràs aqucla manera per la qual poria fer morir lamic, per dolor e plaer damor.

3. Mort damor, dix saviea: si los donzels damor portaven e menaven lamic per lo mon, sà e là, e li mostraven los mals quis fan per peccat en lo mon, adones lamic àuria dolor e desplaer tan gran, que per aquel desplaer lo covenria a morir; car no poria sostenir la desonor que veuria fer a son amat, nil compte dels homes qui van en infern. Enaxí con ho dix saviea, ho dix la mort damor als donzels damor, los quals portaren lamic per lo mon, sà e là, per so que veés e ois los mals e les desonors que fan los homes peccadors al amat.

4. Portaren los donzels damor lamic per los pobres qui moren de fam set malautia e fret, e demanen als homes rics e avars e vana glorioses, almoyna; e mostraren li los tresors els graners celers cavals e vestimens cambres sales torres e castels daquels homens que Deus té en est mon molt honrats e servits. E adones l amic ac molt gran dolor dels pobres e car son amat era per aquels homens avars e rics poc amat e servit; e per aquela dolor montiplicà sa malautia.

5. Los donzels damor portaren lamic en . j. terra on avia molta de luxúria, en la qual terra lamic vehia fer molta de lucxuria, e per moltes maneres; e veia les dones quis pintaven es ornaven per so que los homes les cobeejassen e ab eles lucxuriassen; e veia los engans, e oía les paraules falses que les mulers faíen e deien, ab que enganaven lurs marits e faíen lucxuria, e aysò metex faíen los marits contra lurs muylers.

6. Menaven los donzels lamic per les sales e palaus e les taules on menjaven los homes rics quis sancfonen per trop menjar, e s embriaguen per trop beure, e qui tenen homens a la porta qui no zxzn entrar los pobres, ans los feren' ab bastons e los tanquen la porta; e en après menaren lamic per los homes erguyloses, e per los homens pereoses, e per los homens envejoses, e per los homes irats; e lamic viu tant de mal e tants de peccats, que tot se sentí malaute per lo desplaer que ac en veer e oir tants peccats.

7. Menaren los donzels lamic per les corts dels reys e dels grans senhors, en qui viu moltes de injuries, e molts de falses jutges e de avocats; e menaren lo per molts locs on avia molts homes ypòcrites, e menaren lo per moltes terres on avia ydolàtrics; e infeels qui no creen ni amen Deu; e menaren lo en . j. gran ciutat on ha molts homes letrats e qui saben veritat, e no la van mostrar als errats, qui moren infeels e eretges per defaliment de sancta doctrina e creensa. E adonchs lamic, quant viu tants peccats e tantes gents en pecat qui no conexien ni amaven son amat, suspirà e plorà, e cuydà morir per dolor damor; e los donzels cuydaren que fos mort, tro que lamic dix en plorant: A, amat! Par que lo mon ages desemparat, car en poc està que no es tot perdut.

8. Los donzels damor, qui viren que encara lamic non era mort, menaren l amic per les terres e per les guerres, per so que veés los homes morir per batayles e per terres erguyl e vana glòria; e per tot aisò lamic no poc morir. Après menaren lo a la porta de paraís e a la porta dinfern, e viu que en aquel dia entraren . x. ànimes en paraís e mil en infern; e adones lamic gità . j. gran suspir, e dix als demonis que trop avien gran poder en los homens, e molts pobladors en infern, qui tots blastomen son amat. Emperò lamic no poc morir, car la doctrina que avia per prudència, li ajudava e lo sostenia que no podia morir.

9. Los donzels e la mort damor se maravellaven per que lamic no moria, pus que tant amava son amat e públic be; e la mort damor dix a saviea que li donàs altre consel per que pogués lamic ausiure, car per aquela manera que dita li avia noi podia ausiure. O. Mort damor, dix saviea: digues als donzels damor que porten lamic en Gerussalem, e quel menen per tota aquela terra sancta, e li mostren lo temple de David e lo temple de Salamó, e on jhesucrist nasc e morí; e lamic adones morrà per amor. Los donzels damor portaren lamic en la Terra sancta e al temple de David e de Salamó. Can lamic viu la Terra sancta e lo temple de David e de Salamó, e membrà la sancta vida dels sants homens qui son passats e morts per amor, e la passió de Jhesucrist, montiplicà tant son amar, e en son cor suspirs.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.16.19-Luke.16.21 — Now there was a certain rich man, and he used to dress in purple and fine linen, celebrating every day in splendor. Luke.16.20 — And a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores. Luke.16.21 — and longing to be fed from what fell from the rich man's table; but even the dogs came and kept licking his sores.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Opening token VjYiA is corrupt in the supplied witness; translated as Vivia ("lived"), the most plausible intended reading with the following clause and with 1.82.2.
  2. 2 ↩Reading se as sé ("I know"), parallel to the following sé; Old Catalan often drops the accent in print.
  3. 3 ↩Rendered as for Life of Love, the personified figure from the previous chapter who sought Prudence's help to keep the friend alive; could also be taken more abstractly as for the life of love.
  4. 4 ↩Corrected to aquella ("that"); aqucla is a clear typographical/transmission error.
  5. 5 ↩Source reads "vana glorioses," taken as vanaglorioses (vainglorious).
  6. 6 ↩Standalone 'j.' is the medieval numeral .j. ('one'), here the indefinite article in restored 'en .j. terra' ('into a land').
  7. 7 ↩Source has corrupt 'zxzn' before 'entrar los pobres'; translated as 'deixen' ('do not let/allow the poor to enter'), the most plausible intended reading in context with door-keepers who beat the poor and shut the door.
  8. 8 ↩'sancfonen' is an uncertain medieval form; rendered as 'gorge themselves / sink themselves' (likely s'enfonsen) from overeating.
  9. 9 ↩Source sentence breaks off at «e menaren lo en .»; the continuation is the split Roman numeral in s3 and the city clause in s4. Rendered as an intentional trailing into.
  10. 10 ↩Isolated «j.» matches the chapter’s Roman-numeral splits (cf. neighboring «j. gran suspir»); read as numeral 1 modifying the following «gran ciutat».
  11. 11 ↩'per batayles e per terres erguyl e vana glòria' may mean dying in battles and for lands from pride and vainglory, or dying through battles and through lands of pride and vainglory; the motive reading is preferred.
  12. 12 ↩Standalone Roman numeral 'x.' (=10) is a print/segmentation artifact belonging to the soul-count spanning s3–s5.
  13. 13 ↩Standalone Roman numeral 'j.' (=1) is a print/segmentation artifact belonging with 'gran suspir' in s7.
  14. 14 ↩"públic be" rendered as "common good" (bé públic); could also be read as "public good."
  15. 15 ↩"noi podia" read as Old Catalan "no·i podia" / "no li podia" ("could not [thereby]" / "could not [to him]"); sense: Death could not kill the Lover by the counsel already given.
  16. 16 ↩Standalone "O." may be a vocative particle introducing Wisdom's address ("O Death of Love..."), a dialogue cue, or a print/segmentation artifact; left literal.
  17. 17 ↩Final clause "e en son cor suspirs" is elliptical; parallel Llull usage supports a shared verb: he multiplied his loving and (multiplied) sighs in his heart.

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