De les qüestions que la .j. donsel d'amor faia al amic
The Lover's Identity and Treasure
The page asks the lover about knowing his Beloved, his treasure, his will, and his belonging, and the lover responds that his Beloved is his all.
Question. The page of love asked the lover whether he knew his Beloved. Page of love, the lover said: if I did not know my Beloved, I would not have great love, nor could I bear great hardships for love.1 Lover, do you have any treasure? The lover said that his Beloved was his treasure and his loving.2 3. Lover, do you have a will? "Page," said the Lover, "I don't have a will, because I've given it to my Beloved." 4. Friend, do you have anything you could use to buy something? "Young man," said the friend, "if I could buy anything, then there would be something in me that didn't belong to my Beloved." 5. Friend, do you remain your Beloved?3 Squire, said the Friend: my Beloved is that which completes my loving, understanding, and remembering.4 6. Friend, what do you find in your Beloved? In my Beloved there is as infinite and eternal a magnifying, eternalizing, and empowering as remembering, understanding, and loving.56 7. Friend, what is your Beloved in you? My Beloved is the fulfillment within me that completes my love.7 8. Friend, what does your Beloved have in you? My Beloved has in me all my remembering, understanding, and loving; and he has me so completely that I have nothing left in myself.8 9. Friend, whose are you? I belong to my Beloved and to Love, who won't let me rest or sleep.9
The Nature and Effects of Love
The page inquires about the essence of love, the lover's sighs and tears, the reason for loving, and his enemies, revealing love as a mutual bond and the struggle against forgetfulness.
10. Friend, of what is love? Love is of the Friend and of the Beloved. 11. Friend, whose are your sighing and weeping? My sighing and weeping are of my loving. 12. Friend, why do you love? I love so that my beloved may have a lover. 13. Friend, why do you sigh? I sigh because love makes me love, and I sigh because I weep for love. 14. Friend, what are your enemies? My enemies are harmful forgettings, which make me forget my beloved.
Where Love Dwells
The page asks a series of 'where' questions about the lover's location, treasure, heart, love, loving, bed, beloved, friends, and the dwelling, death, growth, and dishonor of love, and the lover answers that all is in his Beloved.
15. Friend, where are you? Where are you going? Where do you come from? Where is your treasure? Where is your heart? I dwell in my beloved; I go to my beloved; I come from my beloved; and my treasure is in him—remembering him, honoring and serving him, loving and understanding him.10 16. Friend, where is your love? My love is in my beloved and in loving. 17. Friend, where is your loving? It is in sighing and weeping, which are messengers of the friend and of the beloved. 18. Friend, where is your bed? My bed is in the pleasures and labors of love.11 19. Friend, where is your beloved? My beloved is in my remembering, understanding, and loving; in my going, speaking, hearing, seeing, eating, and touching; in my sighing and weeping. 20. Friend, where are your friends? My friends are in the garments of those who speak of my Beloved.12 21. Friend, where does love live? Love lives in the memory that remembers my beloved, and in the understanding that understands him. 22. Friend, where does love die? Love dies in the memory that forgets my beloved, and in the understanding that does not understand him.13 23. Friend, where does love grow? Love grows in the growth of loving, which grows in the growth of the understanding and remembrance that are with my beloved. 24. Friend, where does your loving have fear and toil? My loving has fear and toil in little love and in little understanding and remembering, and in the dishonors people do to my Beloved.14 25. Friend, where was your love born? It was born in the center of love, so that it cannot flee from my Beloved.15 26. Friend, where have you found your beloved? I've found my beloved in my remembering, understanding, and loving. 27. Friend, where did you lose your beloved? I lost my beloved through forgetting, ignoring, ceasing to love, despairing, and sinning.16 28. Friend, where is your beloved dishonored? My beloved is dishonored by the honors of those who love their own honors more than my beloved's.17
The Virtues of the Lover
The page asks how the lover possesses great love, hope, faith, charity, patience, justice, prudence, courage, constancy, humility, pity, and boldness, and the lover attributes each virtue to his relationship with the Beloved.
29. Friend, how do you have such great love? I have great love without a way to love.18 30. Friend, how do you sigh and weep for love? I have a way of sighing and weeping through much remembering, understanding, and loving my Beloved.19 31. Friend, how do you have hope?20 I have hope when I remember, understand, and love the justice and mercy of my beloved.21 32. Friend, how do you have faith? I have faith by accepting as true what I don't understand about my beloved.✦22 33. Friend, how do you possess charity? I possess charity by loving my Beloved more than myself or anyone else. 34. Friend, what do you have patience with?23 I have patience with the fear and love of my Beloved. 35. Friend, with what do you have justice? With humility, charity, and loyalty. 36. Friend, by what means do you have prudence? I have prudence by loving a greater good more than a lesser one, and by fearing greater evils more than lesser ones. 37. Friend, what gives you strong courage? I have strong courage by firmly remembering, understanding, and loving the hardships I bear for my Beloved. 38. Friend, with what do you have constancy? I have constancy with truth, shame, loyalty, and hope.24 39. Friend, how do you practice humility? I practice it through the humility of my beloved, which I, as a member, understand and love.25 40. Friend, what makes you feel pity?26 I feel pity by considering my sins and baseness, and because of the hope and charity that come to me from my Beloved. 41. Friend, what gives you such boldness? I am bold because I love my Beloved deeply.
The Fruit of Love
The ladies of love commend the friend for his answers and invite him to climb and gather the fruit of love through questions of love.
The ladies of love told the friend that he knew well how to answer the questions of love, and they told him to climb up and gather the fruit of love with questions of love.
Read the original Catalan
Qüestió. Demanà lo donzel damor al amic, si conexia son amat. Donzel damor, dix lamic: si no conegués mon amat, no agra gran amar ni pogra per amor grans trebayls sostenir. Amic, as negú tresor? Dix lamic que son amat era son tresor e son amar.
3. Amic, as volentat? Donzel, dix lamic: jo no he volentat, car a mon amat la he donada.
4. Amic, as neguna cosa ab que pogués alcuna cosa comprar? Donzel, dix lamic: si jo podia comprar alcuna cosa, seria en mi alcuna cosa qui no seria de mon amat.
5. Amic, quedes ton amat? Donzel, dix lamic: mon amat es so qui complex mon amar entendre e membrar.
6. Amic, què ha en ton amat? Ha en mon amat aytan infinit e eternal magnificar cternar e possificar, com membrar entendre e amar.
7. Amic, què es en tu ton amat? Mon amat es en mi aquel compliment qui complex mon amar.
8. Amic, què ha en tu ton amat? Mon amat ha en mi tot mon membrar entendre e amar; e ha enaxí tot mi, que jo no he res en mi.
9. Amic, de qui est? Son de mon amat e amor, qui nom lexen reposar ni dormir.
10. Amic, de que es amor? Amor es d amic e d amat.
11. Amic, de qui es ton suspir e plorar? Mon suspir e plorar son de mon amar.
12. Amic, per que ames? Am per so que mon amat aja amador.
13. Amic, per que suspires? Suspir per so car amor me fa amar, e suspir per so que plor per amor.
14. Amic, quals son tos enemics? Mos enemics son mals ublidamens, quim fan ublidar mon amat.
15. Amic, on estàs? on vas? d on vens? on as ton tresor? on as ton cor? Estag en mon amat; vag a mon amat; venc de mon amat; e lo meu tresor es en él membrar onrar e servir, amar e entendre.
16. Amic, on està la tua amor? Està la mia amor en mon amat e amar.
17. Amic, on està ton amar? Està en suspirar e plorar, qui son misatges d amic e d amat.
18. Amic, on es ton lit? Mon lit es en los plaers e trebayls damor.
19. Amic, on es ton amat? Es mon amat en mon membrar entendre amar, anar parlar oir veer menjar tocar, suspirar e plorar.
20. Amic, on son tos amics? Mos amics son en les vestedures daquels qui parlen de mon amat.
21. Amic, on viu amor? Viu amor en la memòria qui membra mon amat, e en l enteniment qui l entén.
22. Amic, on mor amor? Mor amor en la memòria qui ublida mon amat, e en l enteniment qui noi entén.
23. Amic, on crex amor? Crex amor en lo creximent d amar, qui crex en lo creximent del enteniment e membrament qui estan ab mon amat.
24. Amic, on ha paor e trebayl ton amar? Ha paor e trebayl mon amar en poca amor e en poc entendre membrar, e en les desonors que hom fa a mon amat.
25. Amic, on es nat ton amar? Es nat en lo mig loc d amor, per so que no pusca fugir a mon amat.
26. Amic, on as atrobat ton amat? He atrobat mon amat en mon membrar entendre e amar.
27. Amic, on as perdut ton amat? He perdut mon amat en ublidar ignorar desamar desesperar e peccar.
28. Amic, on es desonrat ton amat? Es desonrat mon amat en les honors daquels qui més amen lurs honraments, que aqucis de mon amat.
29. Amic, còm as gran amor? He gran amor sens manera damar.
30. Amic, còm suspires e plores per amor? He manera de suspirar e plorar per manera de molt menbrar entendre e amar mon amat.
31. Amic, con as espcransa? He esperança con menbre entén e am la juslicia e misericòrdia de mon amat.
32. Amic, con as fe? He fe con sotspòs ésser ver so que no entén de mon amat.
33. Amic, còm as caritat? He caritat ab més amar mon amat que mi metex ni altre.
34. Amic, ab que as pasciencia? He pasciencia ab temor e amor de mon amat.
35. Amic, ab que as justícia? Ab humilitat caritat e leyaltat.
36. Amic, ab que as prudència? He prudència ab més amar major be que menor, e ab aver major paor de majors mals que de menors.
37. Amic, ab que as forts coratge? He forts coratge ab fort membrar entendre e amar los mals que he per mon amat.
38. Amic, ab que as costancia? He costancia ab veritat vergonya leyaltat e esperansa.
39. Amic, ab que as humilitat? He humilitat ab la humilitat que membre entén e am de mon amat.
40. Amic, ab que as pietat? He pietat ab consirar mos pecats e viltats, e ab la esperansa e caritat quim venen de mon amat.
41. Amic, ab que est ardit? Son ardit ab molt amar mon amat.
Dones damor dixeren al amic que be sabia respondre a les qüestions damor, e dixeren li que pujàs cullir lo fruyt damor ab qüestions damor.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Heb.11.1 — Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Notes
- 1 ↩Catalan amar (verbal noun) is rendered as love; the source distinguishes amar (the act/capacity of loving) from amor (love as the power for which hardships are borne).
- 2 ↩amar retained as loving (verbal noun) to keep Llull's distinction from amor; alternative natural rendering: his love.
- 3 ↩Old Catalan quedes (from quedar) most naturally means ‘do you remain / stay as’; read as an identity question: does the Friend remain (as) his Beloved. A weaker alternate would be ‘do you remain with your Beloved.’
- 4 ↩complex rendered ‘completes,’ matching nearby Llullian compliment qui complex (fulfillment that completes). amar / entendre / membrar kept as verbal nouns in source order.
- 5 ↩Reading source 'cternar' as 'eternar' (to eternalize), the standard Llullian act-noun paired with eternitat elsewhere in this work; 'cternar' recurs as a typesetting/OCR corruption.
- 6 ↩Magnificar, eternar, and possificar are Llull’s technical verbal nouns for the acts of greatness, eternity, and power in the Beloved, set in equal measure (aytan…com) with the lover’s remembering, understanding, and loving.
- 7 ↩Catalan 'compliment' rendered as 'fulfillment' (completion/perfection that fills love); 'complex' as 'completes' (makes love whole).
- 8 ↩membrar, entendre e amar echoes the classic threefold powers of the soul (memory, understanding, will/love); rendered as active verbal nouns to keep the Catalan infinitives' force.
- 9 ↩Old Catalan 'nom lexen' read as 'no'm deixen' (do not let/leave me). 'Son de mon amat e amor' taken as belonging to both the Beloved and Love.
- 10 ↩Old Catalan 'en él membrar onrar e servir, amar e entendre' may mean either that the treasure is located in the beloved and consists in these acts, or that it consists in performing these acts toward him; rendered to answer the 'where' questions while keeping both the location and the infinitives.
- 11 ↩Catalan trebayls (treballs) can mean labors, toils, or trials; rendered as labors to keep both the work and the suffering of love.
- 12 ↩Catalan vestedures can mean clothes, garments, or (more formally) vestments; the sense here is the outward dress/covering of those who speak of the Beloved.
- 13 ↩Source 'noi' read as Old Catalan no·i ('does not…him'), parallel to the previous section's 'qui l entén' ('that understands him').
- 14 ↩Source pairs 'entendre membrar' without an explicit 'e'; rendered as coordinated faculties ('understanding and remembering') to match the chapter's recurring enteniment/membrament pairing.
- 15 ↩Medieval Catalan "fugir a" can mean flee to or flee from; sense here is binding inability to escape the Beloved, not flight toward him.
- 16 ↩desamar rendered as 'ceasing to love' (the opposite of amar), to preserve the parallel with membrar/entendre/amar in the preceding exchange.
- 17 ↩Source reading "aqucis" is treated as corrupt for "aquells" (those), yielding the comparative "more than those [honors] of my beloved."
- 18 ↩Catalan 'sens manera damar' can mean either 'without a way/manner of loving' (parallel to next section's 'manera de suspirar') or 'without measure in loving' (boundlessly). Rendered as the paradoxical 'without a way of loving,' which fits the dialogue's maniera pattern.
- 19 ↩menbrar, entendre, e amar mirrors Llull's triad of memory, intellect, and will; kept as coordinated acts directed toward the Beloved.
- 20 ↩Source reading espcransa treated as esperança (hope), matching the answer's esperança and the chapter's parallel virtue questions (hope/faith).
- 21 ↩juslicia read as justícia (justice). menbre read as first-person menbrar (I remember), parallel to entendre and amar in neighboring answers.
- 22 ↩Old Catalan sotspòs rendered as 'take to be true' (suppose/assume); the force is assent to what surpasses understanding.
- 23 ↩Old Catalan pasciencia = paciència (patience).
- 24 ↩Catalan vergonya here is the medieval moral sense (honorable shame / sense of shame that guards honor), not mere embarrassment; rendered as shame to keep the virtue-term force.
- 25 ↩Reading 'de mon amat' as modifying the humility possessed (the Beloved's humility), and 'membre' as the Friend's role as member of the Beloved; 'entén' is 3rd-person in form beside 1st-person 'am', taken here as the speaker's act in keeping with the dialogue answers.
- 26 ↩Catalan pietat can mean pity/compassion or piety; rendered as pity to match the answer’s focus on considering one’s sins and baseness.
Arbre de filosofia d'amor (Tree of the Philosophy of Love) companion
A daily portion of stillness
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