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Chapter 91LlullArbreAmor.1.91

1. De Deu e d'amor

The Essence and Goodness of God

The Friend asks about difference, essence, and goodness, and learns that God is goodness itself, infinite and eternal, and that God's existence is of Himself.

Question. The friend asked Difference of Love whether it was in his Beloved. My answer, said Difference of Love, lies in the meaning of my paragraph, which is in the roots of love, and in the first chapter on difference and love, which is in the conditions of love.¹² 2. "Greatness of love," said the friend, "are there many essences in my beloved?" "Friend," said greatness of love, "in the definitions"³ —the compound ones—in my chapter it is shown that the friend is so bound to his beloved by the essence of love⁴ ij. that they cannot be parted.⁵ 2 3. Goodness of love, are you in my Beloved?⁶ "Friend," said Good Love, "if I were not in your Beloved, your Beloved would not be good, nor would he have any reason to do good, or else my simple and composite definition would be false—and that is impossible."⁷⁸⁹ 4. "Beloved," said the friend, "are you your own goodness?" "Friend," said the Beloved, "if there were a difference between me and my goodness, I would not be good by my own essence, and an infinity of greatness of goodness would fail; and my lovableness would not be very great."¹⁰ 5. Beloved, said the Lover: do you have infinite and eternal goodness? Lover, said the Beloved: ask your own will, which by nature cannot want you to be me, and it could want that if my goodness were limited and in time; and this you can prove in yourself if you want to reflect on it.¹¹ 6. "Beloved," said the Friend, "when the world was not, where were you?" "Friend," said the Beloved, "I was and I am in myself, since I am infinite and eternal and exist through myself."¹² 7. Beloved, when the world didn't exist, what were you doing?¹³ Friend, said the Beloved: I was and I am, within myself, occupied with understanding and loving—understanding and loving myself.¹⁴ 8. "Beloved," said the Friend, "what is your goodness full of?" "Friend," said the Beloved, "my goodness is full of my essential and natural goodness-making, capacity to be made good, and making-good."¹⁵ 9. What are you, Beloved? Friend, I am God and Godhead, infinity and infinitizing, eternity and eternalizing, goodness and making-good.¹⁶ 10. "Beloved," the Friend said, "of what are you?" "Friend," the Beloved said, "I am from myself and not from anything else, for if I were not from myself, I could not be eternal or infinite."¹⁷

God's Eternity, Power, and Moral Perfection

The Friend inquires about God's omnipresence, eternity, power, and inability to sin, be deceived, or will evil, and learns that these attributes are inseparable from His essence.

11.¹⁸ Beloved, where are you? Friend, the Beloved said: I am essentially throughout the whole world and infinitely outside the world, and by grace and charity I dwell in the saints.¹⁹²⁰ 12. Beloved, said the Friend: are You eternal? Friend, said the Beloved: if I were not eternal, all things that have a beginning would have been begun by²¹ j.²² who would have begun itself, and would have existed before it was; which is impossible.²³ 13. Beloved, why do you exist? Friend," said the Beloved, "I am because my essence is good, infinite, and eternal, complete with every perfection and lacking nothing.²⁴ 14. Beloved, why did you create the world? Friend, the Beloved said: I created the world primarily so that I might be remembered, known, and loved; and secondarily, I created the world so that I might give blessedness to the angels and to human beings.²⁵ 15. Beloved, how great is your goodness? "Friend," said the Beloved, "my goodness is as great as infinity." 16.²⁶ Beloved, how long will your goodness last? Friend, my goodness will last as long as eternity. 17. Beloved, do you have infinite power? Friend, my will, power, wisdom, and infinity are all within me. One²⁷ and the same essence and nature; and because all my will and wisdom are all my power, and my wisdom knows all things, and my will can will all good things, my power can accomplish as much as my wisdom can know and my will can will.²⁸ 18. Beloved, could you sin? Friend, if I could sin, I could be evil, and my goodness could be finite and not eternal. 19. My beloved, could you be deceived? Friend, if I could be deceived, I could be ignorant of the truth, and my wisdom wouldn't be eternal or infinite. 20. Beloved, could you will evil? Friend, if I could will evil, my power and will could be distinct essences and natures, and they could be finite and not eternal.

God's Dignities, Simplicity, and Concordance

The Friend asks about God's properties, moral virtues, glory, concordance, and simplicity, and learns that God is simple, without composition, greaterness, or lesserness, and possesses essential concordance.

21. Beloved, what are your properties?²⁹ Friend, my properties are my essential, natural, and substantial dignities—that is, my goodness, infinity, eternity, power, and the others that belong to me. 22. Beloved, do you have moral virtues? "Friend," said the Beloved, "if I had moral virtues, they would not be my natural properties and virtues, neither infinite nor eternal."³⁰ 23. Beloved, what do you glory in? Friend, I glory in my glorifying, understanding, loving, empowering and bringing into concord, completing, making infinite, and eternalizing.³¹ 24. Beloved, is there harmony within you? Friend, if there were not in me natural and essential concordance, I would not of myself have anything by which to be eternally and infinitely far from contrariety.³²³³ 25. Beloved, can any vice begin in you? "Friend," said the Beloved, "if any vice could begin in me, my virtue, power, and eternity would not be"³⁴ one³⁵ and the same thing.³⁶ 26. Beloved, where is your infinite and eternal act of power?³⁷ Friend, the Beloved said: my infinite and eternal act of power is in my making-good and my loving, which stand in the middle of my goodness-doing and love-doing, and my capacity to be made good and my capacity to be loved.³⁸ 27. Beloved, is your end and perfection in yourself, of yourself, and through yourself, or is it of another?³⁹⁴⁰ Friend,” said the Beloved, “my end and perfection is myself, so that I can be my own end; for if I were not my own end, I could not be through myself, nor would I be eternal or infinite.⁴¹⁴²⁴³ 28. Beloved, is there any composition in you? Friend, I am simple in myself, because my essence is eternal and infinite; and in infinity and eternity there can be no composition, for every composition is in time and in quantity. 29. Beloved, is there greaterness in you?⁴⁴ Friend, if there were greaterness in me, there would have to be lesserness in me as well, because greaterness cannot exist without lesserness; and if there were lesserness in me, I could not be eternal or infinite, in whom lesserness cannot fit.⁴⁵ 30. Beloved, is there equality in you? "Friend," said the Beloved, "if there were no equality in me, I wouldn't have a nature by which I'd be far from greatness and from littleness, and I'd be bounded and finite."⁴⁶⁴⁷

The Beloved as the Fruit and End of Love

The Friend asks why the Beloved is the fruit and end of love, and learns that God is love itself, the end in which love finds rest, and that the blessed rest in Him through remembering, understanding, and loving.

31. Beloved, why are you the fruit of love? Friend, I'm the fruit of love because I am love.⁴⁸ 32. Beloved, why are you love? Friend, I am love because I am of the lover, the lovable, and loving.⁴⁹ 33. Beloved, how are you the fruit of love? Friend, I am the fruit of love by that same way by which I am love. 34. "Beloved," said the Friend, "what is that way in which you are love?"⁵⁰ "Friend," said the Beloved, "the way I am love is this: because I am the end of love."⁵¹ 35. And why, Beloved, are you the end of love? "Friend," said the Beloved, "that is why I am the end of love: because I am infinite and eternal goodness, beyond which no love can find rest."⁵² 36. Beloved, through what are you the fruit of love? Friend,” said the Beloved, “by my dignities and by the blessed who rest in my love.⁵³ 37. Beloved, how do the blessed find rest in you? Friend, through my memorability and their remembering, through my intelligibility and their understanding, through my lovability and their loving, and through my making-good that makes good their remembering, understanding, and loving, and the same through my magnifying which magnifies them; and likewise for the others.⁵⁴⁵⁵

Read the original Catalan

Qüestió. Demanà l amic a diferencia damor si era en son amat. La mia responsió, dix differencia damor, està en lo significat del meu palagrafi, qui es en les rails damor, e en lo primer capítol de differencia e amor, qui es en les condicions damor.

2. Granea damor dix lamic: en mon amat, ha moltes essències? Amic, dix granea damor: en les diffinicions Intenció; Amor— I4. compostes, al meu capítol, es significat que lamic es tan ligat ab son amat per essència dam. ij. , que nos poden departir. 2

3. Bonea damor, és tu en mon amat? Amic, dix bona amor: si jo no era en ton amat, no seria ton amat bo, ni àuria raó ab que feés be, o seria falsa la mia difínició simpla e composta; la qual cosa es impossíboL

4. Amat, dix lamic: est tu ta metexa bontat? Amic, dix l amat, si enfre mi e ma bontat avia diferencia, no seria bo per ma metexa essència, e defalirmia infinitat de granea de bontat; e la mia amabilitat no seria molt gran.

5. Amat, dix lamic: as infinida e eternal bontat? Amic, dix lamat: demanao a la tua metexa volentat, qui naturalment no pot voler que tu sies mi, e poriao voler si la mia bontat era termenada e en tcmps; e asò pots provar en tu metex sio vols cogitar.

6. Amat, dix lamic: con lo mon no era, on eres tu? Amic, dix lamat: jo era e son en mi metex, com sia so que jo sia infinit e eternal e per mi metex.

7. Amat, con no eral mon, que faics? Amic, dix lamat: jo fahia e fas en mi metex mon entendre e amar, entenent e amant mi metex.

8. Amat, dix lamic: la tua bontat de que es plena? Amic, dix lamat: ma bontat es plena de ma essencial e natural bonificativitat e bonificabilitat e bonificació.

9. Que est tu, amat? Amic, jo son Deu e deitat, infinitat e infinir, eternitat e eternar, bonea e bonificar.

10. Amat, dix lamic: tu de que est? Amic, dix lamat: jo son de mi metex e no de neguna altra cosa, car si no era de mi metex, no poria e«ser eternal ne infinit.

ji. Amat, on estàs? Amic, dix l amat: jo cstag essencialment per tot lo mon e foral mon infinidament, e estag, per gràcia e caritat, en los sants homens.

12. Amat, dix lamic: est eternal? Amic, dix lamat: si jo no era eternal, totes coses comensades serien comensades per . j. qui àuria comensada sí metexa, e fóra ans que fos; la qual cosa es impossíbol.

13. Amat, per que és? Amic, dix lamat: yo só per so car son essència bona infinida e eternal, complida de tot compliment, e qui no ha de neguna res defaliment.

14. Amat, per que as lo mon creat? Amic, dix lamat: jo he creat lo mon principalment per so que sia membrat conegut e amat; e secundàriament he creat lo mon per so que do als àngels e als homes benauyransa.

15. Amat, quant es gran ta bontat? Amic, dix lamat: la mia bontat es aitan gran com es infinitat. í6. Amat, ta bontat, quant durarà? Amic, la mia bontat durarà aytant com eternitat.

17. Amat, as poder infinit? Amic, en mi son ma volentat poder e saviea e infinitat . j. essència e natura metexa; e car tota ma volentat e saviea son ton mon poder, e ma saviea sab totes coses, e ma volentat pot voler totes bones coses, pot mon poder complir aitant com ma saviea pot saber, e ma volentat voler.

18. Amat, puries peccar? Amic, si yo podia pecar, poria ésser mal, e la mia bontat poria ésser finida e no eternal.

19. Amat, puries ésser enganat? Amic, si jo pudia ésser enganat, poria ignorar veritat, e la mia saviea no seria eternal ne infinida.

20. Amat, pories voler mal? Amic, si podia voler mal, porien lo meu poder e volentat ésser diverses essències e natures, e porien ésser finides e no eternals.

21. Amat, quals son tes proprictats? Amic, mes proprietats son mes essencials naturals e substancials dignitats, so es a saber, ma bontat infinitat eternitat poder, e les altres a mi pertanyents.

22. Amat, as morals vertuts? Amic, dix l amat: si jo avia morals vertuts, no serien mes naturals proprietats e vertuts infinides ni eternals.

23. Amat, de que as glòria? Amic, jo he glòria de mon gloriar entendre amar possificar e concordar, complir infinir e eternar.

24. Amat, ha en tu concordansa? Amic, si en mi no avia natural e essencial concordansa, no àuria per mi metex ab que fos luyn, eternalment e infinida, a contrarietat.

25. Amat, pot en tu negú vici comensar? Amic, dix lamat: si en mi pogués negú visci comensar, no foren la mia vertut poder e eternitat . j. cosa metexa.

26. Amat, on es la tua infinida e eternal possifícació? Amic, dix lamat: la mia infinida e eternal possificació està en la mia bonificació amaficació, qui estan en lo mig de ma bonificativitat e amaficativitat, e bonificabilitat e amaficabilitat.

27. Amat, la tua fi e perfecció, asla en tu metex e de tu metex e per tu metex, o asla d altre? Amic, dix lamat: la mia fi e perfecció son jo metex, per so que jo sia ma fi metexa, car si no era ma fi metexa, no poria csser per mi metex, ni seria eternal ne infinit.

28. Amat, ha en tu neguna composició? Amic, jo son simple per mi metex, per so car la mia essència es eternal e infinida; e en infinitat e eternitat no pot ésser neguna composició, car tota composició està en temps e en quantitat.

29. Amat, ha en tu majoritat? Amic, si en mi avia majoritat, covcnria que en mi fos mcnoritat, car majoritat no pot csser sens menoritat; e si en mi avia menoritat, no poria ésser eternal ne infinit, en qui menoritat no pot caber.

30. Amat, ha en tu egaltat? Amic, dix l amat: si en mi no avia agaltat, no àuria natura ab que fos luyn a majoritat e a menoritat, e seria termenat e finit.

31. Amat, per que est fruyt damor? Amic, jo son firuyt damor per so car son amor.

32. Amat, per que est amor? Amic, jo son amor per so car son d amant amable e amar.

33. Amat, còm est fruyt damor? Amic, jo son fruyt damor per aquela manera per que son amor.

34. Amat, dix l amic: qual es í;quela manera per que tu est amor? Amic, dix l amat: la manera per que son amor es per so car son fi damor.

35. Amat, e per que est fin damor? Amic, dix lamat: jo son per so fi damor, car son infinida e eternal bontat, oltra la qual no pot neguna amor aver repòs.

36. Amat, ab que est fruyt damor? Amic, dix lamat: ab mes dignitats, e ab los benauyrats qui en ma amor an repòs.

37. Amat, ab que los benauyrats an en tu repòs? Amic, ab ma memorabilitat e ab lur membrar, e ab ma entelligibilitat e ab lur entendre, e ab ma amabilitat e ab lur amar, e ab mon bonificar qui bonifica lur membrar entendre e amar, e ayssò metex de mon magnificar qui Is magnifica; e enaxí dels altres.

Notes

1 ↩Source reading 'palagrafi' treated as corrupt for 'paragraf' / 'paragraph' (a labeled unit of Llull's doctrine).
2 ↩Source reading 'rails' treated as corrupt for 'arrels' (roots), matching the Tree of Love structure.
3 ↩OCR intrusion between 'diffinicions' and following 'compostes'; likely a running header or page mark. Continuous sense restored as 'en les diffinicions compostes'.
4 ↩Trailing 'dam.' restored as 'd'amor' (of love), broken across the following page signature.
5 ↩Read 'nos poden' as 'no·s poden' (cannot be separated), not first-person 'we'.
6 ↩Bonea damor is Llull’s personified dignity/root ‘Goodness of love,’ parallel to Granea damor (‘Greatness of love’) in the preceding section; the Friend is the implied speaker by the chapter’s Q&A pattern, though dix lamic is not present in this sentence.
7 ↩The question addresses Bonea damor (‘Goodness of love’), but the reply is spoken by bona amor (‘Good Love’). Rendered as distinct personified names; the answer’s logic follows Llull’s simple definition of Bonea (that by which the good does good).
8 ↩difínició simpla e composta keeps Llull’s Art terminology (‘simple and composite definition’), not ordinary dictionary sense.
9 ↩Normalized impossíboL as impossíbol/impossible; final capital L treated as a print/OCR artifact.
10 ↩Source 'defalirmia' taken as 'defalliria' ('would fail' / 'would be wanting').
11 ↩Normalized corrupt reading tcmps as temps (time), yielding 'limited and in time' / temporal.
12 ↩"per mi metex" rendered as "through myself" to mark divine self-existence (aseity); alternate plain options include "by myself" or "of myself."
13 ↩Reading supplied «eral mon» as «era lo mon» (“the world was not”), matching the parallel in LlullArbreAmor.1.91.6.s2 («con lo mon no era»).
14 ↩«entendre e amar» kept as verbal nouns (“understanding and loving”), naming God’s eternal acts of self-intellection and self-love rather than created faculties alone.
15 ↩Llull’s correlative triad bonificativitat / bonificabilitat / bonificació names the agentive power, passive capacity, and act of goodness. Rendered as “goodness-making,” “capacity to be made good,” and “making-good” to match this run’s established diction for -ativitat and bonificar/bonificació.
16 ↩Llull pairs each divine noun with its active verbal counterpart (infinitat/infinir, eternitat/eternar, bonea/bonificar). Rendered as noun + gerund/verbal noun to keep that correlative force without inventing scholastic English jargon.
17 ↩Normalized reading treats the garbled form e«ser as esser ("to be"), the expected Old Catalan infinitive in this clause.
18 ↩Source reads "ji."; treated as the section number "11." by sequence with §§10 and 12.
19 ↩Normalized "cstag" as "estag" (I am), parallel to the later "estag" in the same sentence; normalized "foral mon" as "fora'l mon" / "fora lo mon" (outside the world).
20 ↩"caritat" rendered as charity in the grace-and-charity pairing for divine indwelling; love is the allowed alternate under lexeme policy.
21 ↩Source sentence breaks off after 'per' (by). The likely continuation is the relative clause in s5: begun by one who would have begun itself.
22 ↩Isolated 'j.' appears corrupt (possible OCR/print fragment or signature mark) and does not yield independent sense between the truncated s3 and the relative clause in s5.
23 ↩'sí metexa' read as 'si mateixa' (itself); 'àuria' as 'hauria' (would have); 'impossíbol' as 'impossible'.
24 ↩Old Catalan "son essència" is possessive ("his/its essence"); rendered as "my essence" because the Beloved is speaking of His own being. "compliment" is taken in the scholastic sense of perfection/fullness, and "defaliment" as deficiency/lack.
25 ↩benauyransa rendered as 'blessedness' (beatitude); Llull's term names the final happiness God grants angels and humans.
26 ↩Source reads «í6.»; treated as section numeral «16.» (OCR/print corruption), matching the 15→16→17 sequence in neighboring sections.
27 ↩Source surface «j.» continues the medieval numeral «.j.» (= 1) from the unbroken witness «infinitat .j. essència e natura metexa»; rendered as the numeral sense “One,” completed by the next sentence.
28 ↩Reading source «son ton mon poder» as «són tot mon poder» (“are all my power”); “ton” is otherwise hard to construe here. Alternative candidates include «en mon poder» (“in my power”).
29 ↩Source reads proprictats; translated as proprietats (properties), matching the answer in s3 and neighboring usage.
30 ↩Old Catalan 'no serien mes naturals proprietats e vertuts infinides ni eternals' can be read with 'infinides ni eternals' modifying the coordinated 'proprietats e vertuts'. Rendered as: they would not be my natural properties and virtues, neither infinite nor eternal — i.e., moral virtues would not belong to God as His essential, infinite, eternal attributes.
31 ↩Llull’s asyndetic dignity-acts (gloriar, entendre, amar, possificar, concordar, complir, infinir, eternar) are kept as named verbal acts. possificar is rendered ‘empowering’, matching this run’s established diction (e.g. LlullArbreAmor.1.12.4, 1.87.5, 1.90.5).
32 ↩Keeps Lullian technical concordance rather than softening to harmony.
33 ↩infinida is adjectival in form beside adverbial eternalment; rendered as infinitely far from contrariety.
34 ↩Source 'visci' is a spelling variant of 'vici' (vice), matching s2; rendered as 'vice'.
35 ↩Medieval Catalan 'j.' is the numeral 'one' (un/una), not the letter j.
36 ↩'cosa metexa' = 'the same thing' (modern Catalan 'cosa mateixa'); with preceding 'j.' yields the idiom 'one and the same thing'.
37 ↩Llullian Art term: the act-correlative of posse (power/ability), not bare 'power' (poder).
38 ↩Llull's correlative triad: -ficació (act), -ficativitat (active/agent), -ficabilitat (passive/receptive). Source joins bonificació amaficació asyndetically; English supplies 'and' because qui estan is plural. The acts stand in the middle of the active pair and the passive pair.
39 ↩Keeps scholastic final-cause force of Catalan fi (end/purpose) rather than softening to purpose alone.
40 ↩Old Catalan asla read as està-la (is it?), with the feminine clitic picking up fi/perfecció.
41 ↩Source csser corrected to ésser (to be/exist); rendered as be in could not be through myself.
42 ↩Aligned with LlullArbreAmor.1.91.6.s3 rendering of per mi metex as through myself for divine self-existence.
43 ↩Catalan correlative ni...ne (nor...nor), not Latin purpose-ne; rendered as or in natural modern English after nor.
44 ↩Catalan majoritat is the correlative of menoritat in Llull’s technical vocabulary of degrees (greaterness/lesserness), not political majority.
45 ↩Normalized OCR forms covcnria→convenria, mcnoritat→menoritat, csser→ésser before translating.
46 ↩Catalan majoritat / menoritat are Llullian correlative principles (often rendered Majority / Minority in Art terminology). Here rendered as greatness / littleness to keep the modern register clear while preserving the paired contrast with egaltat / agaltat (equality).
47 ↩Question has egaltat; answer has agaltat — both read as equality (modern Catalan igualtat). luyn read as lluny (far); àuria as hauria (would have); avia as havia.
48 ↩Source reading 'firuyt' treated as intended 'fruyt' (fruit), matching the question in s2.
49 ↩Llull’s correlatives of love: amant (lover), amable (lovable/beloved), and amar (loving/the act of loving). ‘son d’amant amable e amar’ means love is constituted by these three.
50 ↩Normalized reading treats corrupted 'í;quela' as 'aquela' ('that'), matching the preceding answer's 'aquela manera'.
51 ↩'fi damor' rendered as 'end of love' in the teleological sense (goal/final cause), as the next section develops.
52 ↩Catalan fi/fin damor is the final cause or telos of love, not chronological ending; rendered as "end of love" to keep Llull's philosophical force.
53 ↩Catalan dignitats here is Llull's technical term for the divine dignities/attributes; rendered as "dignities" to keep that sense rather than flattening it to "attributes" or "perfections."
54 ↩Llull pairs three passive capacities in the Beloved (memorabilitat, entelligibilitat, amabilitat) with three answering acts in the blessed (membrar, entendre, amar), then adds the active dignities bonificar and magnificar. Rendered as memorability/remembering, intelligibility/understanding, lovability/loving, making-good, and magnifying to keep that technical parallel.
55 ↩Source "qui Is magnifica" read as Old Catalan qui·ls magnifica ("which magnifies them"); the capitalized "Is" is treated as the clitic els/ls, not a proper name.

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