Selected Works of Ramon Llull, vol. 1 [1] 0691072884

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Selected Works of Ramon Llull

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SELECTED WORKS OF

RAMONLLULL Edited and Translated by ANTHONY BONNER

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Volume I PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Copyright © 1985 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey All Rights Reserved The preparation of this volume, and its publication, have been assisted by grants from the Translations Program and the Publications Program, respectively, of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Publication of this book has also been aided by a grant from the Paul Mellon fund of Princeton University Press This book has been composed in Linotron Bembo type Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, although satisfactory for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey FR o NT Is PIE c E. Llull's trip to Tunis in 1293 and his disputation with the Muslims. From Breviculum, fol. 9v _

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Llull, Ramon, D. 1315. Selected works of Ramon Llull (1232-1316)

Bibliography: v. Includes index. Contents: v. 1. The book of the Gentile and the three wise men. Ars demonstrativa. Ars brevis- v. 2. Felix, or, The book of wonders. Principles of medicine. Flowers of love and flowers of intelhgence. 1. Philosophy-Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Theology -Addresses, essays, lectures. 3. Criticism-Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Bonner, Anthony. II. Title. B765.L82ES 1984 189'.4 83-26907 ISBN 0-691-07288-4 (set: alk. paper)

Theology Lib-ra-Py

SC�OOL Ol= T�f;OLOOY AT CLARf;MONT Cdllifo-rnin

Todo objeto cuyo fin ignoramos, es provisoriamente monstruoso. J. L. Borges, Una vindicaci6n de la cabala Burlarse de tales operaciones es facil, prefiero procurar entenderlas.

Ibid.

Lullum, antequam Lullum noscas, ne despicias. A. Oliver in Raymundi Lulli Opera Medica

Contents VOLUME I List of Illustrations and Tables 1x Preface xi List of Abbreviations xix Bibliographical Note xxvii Acknowledgments xxxi Historical Background and Life 3 Llull's Thought 53 Llull 's Influence: The History of Lullism 71

The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men

91

Introduction 93; Prologue 109; Book I 119; Book II 151; Book III, Which Treats of the Christian Religion 191; Book IV 258; Epilogue 294

Ars Demonstrativa

305

Introduction 307; Prologue 317; Distinction I 320; Distinction II, Which Treats of Conditions 338; Distinction III, Which Treats of Intention 415; Distinction IV, Which Treats of Questions 439; Appendixes 567

Ars Brevis

569

Introduction 571; Prologue 579; Part I, Which Treats of the Alphabet of This Art 580; Part II, Which Treats of the Four Figures 582; Part III, Which Treats of Definitions of the Principles 589; Part IV, Which Treats of Rules 591; Part V, Which Treats of the Table 596; Part VI, Which Treats of the Evacuation of the Third Figure 598; Part VII, Which Treats of the Multiplication of the Fourth Figure 601; Part VIII, Which Treats of the Mixture of Principles and Rules 603; Part IX, Which Treats of the Nine Subjects 605; Part X, Which Treats of Application 615; Part XI, Which Treats of Questions 626; Part XII, Which Treats of Habituation 644; Part XIII, Which Treats of the Method for Teaching This Art 645; Epilogue 646

VOLUME II List of Illustrations and Tables v1

Felix, or the Book of Wonders

647

Introduction 649; Prologue 659; Book I 661; Book II, Which Treats of Angels 719; Book III, Which Treats of the Heavens 728; Book IV, Which Treats of the Elements 735; Book V, Which Treats of Plants 755; Book VI, Which Treats of Minerals 768; Book VII, Which Treats of Beasts 780; Book VIII, Which Treats of Man 826; Book IX, Which Treats of Paradise 1080; Book X, Which Treats of Hell 1091; The End of the Book, 1103

Principles of Medicine

1107

Introduction 1109; Prologue 1119; Distinction I, Which Treats of the Dispo·sition of the Art 1120; Distinction II 1131; Distinction III 1143; Distinction IV 1157; Distinction V, In Which It Is Shown How the De­ grees Should Be Investigated 1162; Distinction VI, Which Treats of Gen­ eration and Corruption 1174; Distinction VII, Which Treats of Fevers 1184; Distinction VIII, Which Treats of Urine 1193; Distinction IX, Which Treats of Pulse 1197; Distinction X, Which Treats of Metaphor 1199

Flowers of Love and Flowers of Intelligence

1215

Introduction 1217; Part I, Flowers. of Love 1223; Part II, Flowers of Intelligence 1233; Part III, Questions concerning Love 1241; Part IV, Questions concerning Intelligence 1249 A Chronological Catalogue of Ramon Llull's Works 1257 Index of Ramon Llull's Works 1305 General Index 1314

List of Illustrations and Tables F�ONTISPIECE. . Llull's trip to Tunis in 1293 and his disputation with the Muslims. From Breviculum, fol. 9v _ MAP. The Western Mediterranean ca. 1300. Drawn by R. L. Williams. PLATE 1. Llull's visions of Christ and his two pilgrimages. From Breviculum, fol. 1v. PLATE II. Llull listening to a sermon and taking the habit. From Breviculum, fol. 2r. PLATE III. Llull's dispute with his Muslim slave. From Breviculum, fol. Y. PLATE IV. The vision of Mt. Randa and Llull teaching in Paris. From Breviculum, fol. 4r _ PLATE v. Llull's trip to Bougie (1307), where he is stoned and imprisoned. From Breviculum, fol. l0r. PLATE VI. Llull and le Myesier discussing the latter's compilations. From Breviculum, fol. 1 i v . PLATE VII. The Book of the Gentile, Tree 1. Adapted from Bologna, Bibl. Univ. 1732. PLATE vm. The Book of the Gentile, Tree 2. Adapated from Bologna, Bihl. Univ. 1732. PLATE IX. The Book of the Gentile, Tree 3. Adapted from Bologna, Bihl. Univ. 1732. PLATE x. The Book of the Gentile, Tree 4. Adapted from Bologna, Bihl. Univ. 1732. PLATE XI. The Book of the Gentile, Tree 5. Adapted from Bologna, Bihl. Univ. 1732. PLATE xn. Ars demonstrativa, Figures A S T V X Y Z. From Venice, Bibl. Marciana, VI 200, fol. 3 v _ PLATE xm. Ars demonstrativa, the Figures of Theology, Philosophy, and Law, and the Elemental and Demonstrative Figures. From Venice, Bibl. Marciana, VI 200, fol. 4r _ PLATE XIV. Ars demonstrativa, Figure S as a Hand. From Venice, Bihl. Marciana, VI 200, fol. 197v. PLATE xv. Ars brevis, The First Figure. From Escorial, Ms f-Iv-12, fol. 3. PLATE xvi. Ars brevis, The Second Figure. From Escorial, Ms f-Iv-12, fol. 4. PLATE xvn. Ars brevis, The Third Figure. From Escorial, Ms f-Iv-12, fol. 6.

xxxf. 14f. 14f. 14f. 14f. 46f. 46f. 105 106 107 108 109 318f. 318f. 319 582f. 582f. 582f.

X

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE xvm. Ars brevis, The Fourth Figure. From Escorial, Ms f-iv-12, fol. 7. PLATE xix. The Tree of the Principles of Medicine. Adapted from Palma, Bihl. Puhl. MS 1029, fol. 23 v . PLATE xx. The Night Sphere TABLE 1. Kings of Aragon, Sicily, France, and Naples. TABLE 2. Manuscripts and Printed Editions of The Book of the Gentile. TABLE 3. Manuscripts and Printed Editions of the Ars demonstrativa. TABLE 4. The Alphabet of the Ars demonstrativa. TABLE 5. The Elements and the Figure S of the Ars demonstrativa. TABLE 6. The Alphabet of the Ars brevis. TABLE 7. Manuscripts and Printed Editions of Felix. TABLE 8. Separate Editions of The Book of the Beasts (B�. vn of Felix. TABLE 9. Manuscripts and Printed Editions of The Principles of Medicine. TABLE 10. The Chart of Degrees for The Principles of Medicine.

582f. 1120f. 1209 26 101 314 318f. 318f. 581 656 657 1117 1120f.

Preface I HA v E TR IE D in this anthology to offer a selection of Ramon Llull's writings representative enough so as to give a reasonably accurate picture of the man's system and his place in the history of European thought and literature. This, of course, is a cliche of all such anthologies, and in the case of a person like Llull who wrote almost three hundred works, the cliche is particularly uto­ pian. But with Llull there is a core around which his other works gravitate: this is the Art, which he firmly believed God had given him on Mount Randa, in his native Majorca, and upon which his fame in the Renaissance was grounded. Since the Art was conceived as a system around which all other knowledge could be organized, and since it was in fact the backbone of all the rest of Llull's thought, it is naturally the basis for this anthology. I accordingly have chosen the principal work from -each of the two phases of the development of the Art, the Ars demonstrativa and the Ars brevis. The anthology opens with the Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men, the main work in the field-that of apol­ ogetics-for which Llull conceived the Art. It is placed first, not only because it preceded the other two works in point of time, but also because being a popularization of the Art, it serves as an excellent introduction to the methods of the Art. The Principles of Medicine has been included to show the reciprocal relationship be­ tween the Art and science, the former being used to articulate the basic principles of the latter, and the latter being used as the foun­ dation for the analogical reasoning of the former. It would have been wrong, however, to overweigh the balance in favor of the Art. Llull was, after all, one of the originators of Catalan literary prose and an important precursor of the novel. I accordingly have included Felix with its splendid panorama of medieval life and attitudes, thus at the same time including Llull's finest narrative work, the Book of the Beasts, which forms Book vn of Felix. Llull was also the first of the great Spanish mystics, and I have therefore included the curious but in many ways very characteristic little composition, the Flowers of Love . 1 1

In addition to these positive reasons for choice of works, there were three negative considerations: 1. a desire to avoid works already translated into Engligh (the only transgres-

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Xll

PREFACE

It is important nonetheless for the reader to realize that these different sides of Llull's output, the literary-mystical side and that of the Art, are not the manifestations of a divided personality in which the reader or critic must make some sort of choice or take sides (as did Allison Peers half a century ago in favor of the literary­ mystical). It was a question of tactics, of what audience Llull was trying to persuade; the message, however, never varied nor did the basic system by which it was articulated. One of the purposes of my notes is to bring out this overall unity, to show how the different sides are interrelated. These six works are preceded by a general introduction divided into three sections. The first contains a translation of the Contem­ porary Life, surely one of the most extraordinary of medieval au­ tobiographies. To this I have added commentary and notes to put Llull's account in its proper setting and to give the reader the essential results of modern research. The second is a short essay in which I try to give the principal aspects of Llull's thought and system, and which I hope will serve to orient the reader among the wide variety of topics and methods touched on in this an­ thology. The third is the briefest of outlines of a vast subject­ the influen�e of Llull's thought and the history of Lullism. Even though in the anthology itself I have tried to present what one might call Llull's Llull, one free from later accretions or defor­ mations, I felt it important to give the reader at least a glimpse of why and where Llull was so important in the centuries following his death. Underlying this attempt to present at least the essential core of Llull's work and to show the unity of his thought, there lies an­ other aim, that of redressing a balance. In this I can make little claim to innovation. It is now a long time since Prantl felt he had to apologize to the reader of his Geschichte der Logik im Abendland for having devoted so much space to such stupidity as Llull's, and since Littre said that "L'Ars magna a peri pour jamais, et nous trouvons aujourd'hui Leibniz bien bon d'avoir pretendu decouvrir quelque perle en ce fatras." Ever since the pioneering works of sion here was that small portion of Felix represented by the Book of the Beasts); 2. a desire to avoid giving extracts; 3. reasons of space. These three considerations made themselves felt negatively only in the case of the Flowers of Love; see the Introduction to that work, n. 23, for details.

PREFACE

Xlll

Keicher, Longpre, Carreras y Artau, and Yates, the balance has been redressed, r:iot only among specialists, but also among his­ torians of philosophy; one only has to glance at what Gilson or Copleston, for example, say about Llull to find fair and balanced accounts. The same cannot be said, however, for historians of logic; one has only to read Bochenski and the Kneales, as another example, to find puzzlement and confusion. To be sure, Llull poses a serious problem, since his system-the Art-lies outside the central tradition of formal logic, which goes in a more or less straight line from Aristotle to the mathematical logic we have inherited from Boole, Frege, and Russell. There are, however, intimations of the beginning of a change; Risse in his Logik (see the List of Abbreviations below) has a separate section entitled Die lullistische Tradition ( Kombinatorik. Lingua universalis. Mathematisi­ erung). This is the tradition that so fascinated the young Leibniz and that has important connections with modern computer science and information theory. In this area Llull was a remarkable in­ novator, and it is his innovations I hope to have presented to the English-speaking reader so that he can judge them for himself and assign them the place they deserve in that perhaps ancillary branch of the history of logic to which they belong. I have, however, tried very strictly to keep myself from inter­ preting Llull in the light of modern trends, or from seeing him through the eyes of his followers. I have tried just to present him. The notes, to be sure, contain many explanations of obscurities in the original, but I have tried to carry out this task by citing other works by Llull himself, even limiting myself to drawing, whenever possible, on works of the same period of his production as the one being commented upon. In this domain I have also, of course, relied heavily on modern scholarship, but always trying to use it in terms of presenting what before I referred to as Llull's Llull. This desire has also led me to make what might be called a critical translation. Over the centuries Llull's text, in passing from one copyist and editor to the next, has suffered countless little varia­ tions, which continually harrass the scholar trying to get at what Llull was saying. Thus when no modern critical edition was avail­ able, I went back to the oldest manuscripts in order to establish a text that is at least reasonably reliable, and I have given in the

XlV

PREFACE

notes any substantial variants from whatever editions the reader could have occasion to consult. This technique might also help to make the nonspecialist wary of anything that pretends to be the text of a medieval writer, or any edition that pretends to be "def­ initive.'' Barring very special circumstances, such a thing does not exist. There are too many places in almost any medieval work where, through the haze of variants presented by the manuscripts, we can only guess at what the author intended; and the fewer the manuscripts, the more difficult it is for us to judge what went wrong and where in the transmission of any particular passage. The only honest solution is to give the reader the variants when­ ever they seem to be important and let him judge for himself. Another purpose of my notes, in addition to stating where I got my information, has been to tell the reader where to go if he should want to look further into any particular topic, and espe­ cially where Llull himself discusses that topic. My hope is, of course, that these foci of information will prove useful for further research. Finally, a word about the translation itself. There are three prob­ lems facing anyone attempting such a task: the conceptually in­ voluted nature of some of Llull's sentences, the language of the correlatives (see below: "Historical Background and Life, " n. 128; and Book of the Gentile, Book III, n. 16) and the structural nature of Llull's technical vocabulary (see "Llull's thought, " text at nn. 44-47). The first two caused him to apologize during his first visit to Paris for his inept way of expressing himself, and to ask his university audience to attend more to the matter than the form of his discourse. In spite of these apologies, however, Llull himself knew perfectly well that the form and matter of his message were inseparable. To give in, therefore, to the translator's temptation to smooth over what he considers "rough places" would have been to falsify this message. Instead I have tried to give the modern reader an impression equivalent to that presumably received by one of Llull's contemporary readers. Involuted sentences are left involuted; for the neologisms of the correlatives I have tried to find equivalent English neologisms; and in a measure similar to that observed by Llull, I have tried to translate each concept of his technical vocabulary always by the same English term (with a warning to the reader whenever I have deviated from this prac­ tice).

PREFACE

xv

Lest the above sound forbidding, it must be said on the other hand that Llull, when the occasion demanded, was capable of dis­ playing a first-rate literary gift, one befitting his primordial place in the history of Catalan literature. My only hope is that in these occasions as well, the translation has not been too unsuccessful in finding an English equivalent. THERE remains the pleasant task of thanking the many people and organizations which have helped me in the course of this trans­ lation. First there was the initial enthusiasm of Princeton Uni­ versity Press, and above all of my editor there, William McGuire, who helped get the project started. Robert Brown ably carried out the daunting task of copyediting the vast, complicated ty­ pescript and preparing it for the press. The extended work nec­ essary to complete this anthology was made possible by grants from both the John S imon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the Translations Program of the National Endowment for the Hu­ manities. The encouragement from and facilities offered by the Maioricensis Schola Lullistica of Palma and its director, Sebastian Garcias Palau, were of enormous help not only at the beginning but throughout the entire project. The Raimundus-Lullus-Institut (of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat of Freiburg im Breisgau) and its directors Helmut Riedlinger, Alois Madre (who very kindly lent me the typescript of his forthcoming Latin edition of the Ars brevis), and Charles Lohr (about whom more in a moment) have been unfailingly kind in giving me access to a vast fund of bib­ liographical information, in answering queries, and in letting me photocopy needed material. The staff of the Biblioteca Publica in Palma, with its large collection of Lullian manuscripts and early printed editions, were most helpful. The same is true for the Bib­ lioteca Bartolome March, whose director, Lorenzo Perez, very kindly let me consult his own unpublished catalogues of the Lullian manuscript collections in various European cities (Paris, Munich, London, etc.). The Franciscan convent in Palma and its librarian Father Amengual have also been unfailingly generous in letting me consult Salvador Galmes's Lullian material which is now in the convent's possession. For specific queries, Professor Raymond S. Willis of Princeton University has patiently (and entertainingly) carried on a long correspondence with me to clear up some matters

XVI

PREFACE

of social history in Felix. John R. Ulbricht helped me in matters of astronomy, Antoni Jaume kindly put his collection of eight­ eenth-century Lullian editions at my disposal, and Arthur A. Cohen read the introduction and Book n of the translation of the Book of the Gentile and made excellent suggestions. Michael McVaugh kindly read the Principles of Medicine and gave me the benefit of his unrivaled knowlege of medieval medicine in the form of invaluable suggestions in connection with that work. And the Semitic scholar Kenneth Brown read the introduction and Book IV of the Book ofthe Gentile, not only offering countless suggestions and corrections, but also saving me from a few real howlers. Six people have, however, contributed in very special ways to this anthology. The first is David Rosenblatt, of Washington, D. C. , whose encouragement from the very first was unflagging, who has acted as my guide in matters concerning the history of logic, and who has read the general introductions and the two works of the Art and offered valuable suggestions. The second is Francese de B. Moll, who has helped not only indirectly as co­ author of perhaps the finest historical dictionary of any Romance language, the Diccionari Catala- Valencia-Ba/ear, which was con­ stantly by my side, but also directly in being forever ready to spare the time to answer queries as to meaning in the original. The third is Jocelyn Hillgarth, of the Pontifical lnsitute of Medieval Studies, Toronto, who not only helped with his advice and en­ couragement and has allowed me to consult his magnificent library at Son Torrella, but has also read and made invaluable comments on the introductory material and the entire Book of the Gentile . He moreover used my translation of that work for a seminar in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, passing on to me some inter­ esting comments made by his students there. The fourth is Jordi Gaya, of the Maioriscensis Schola Lullistica and editor of its £s­ tudios Lulianos, who, throughout the five years this anthology was in preparation, has been my surest guide in Lullian studies, who has answered queries in number far exceeding the call of duty, and who has read a great deal of the typescript and made many pertinent suggestions. The fifth is Charles Lohr, of Freiburg, who not only has made his own knowledge and that of the Raimundus­ Lullus-Institut readily available to me, but also has read all the various introductory sections and made hundreds of invaluable

PREFACE

..

xvu

suggestions and corrections of content, scholarship, focus, word­ ing, and style, all in the direction of accuracy, clarity, and read­ ability. The sixth is my wife, Eve, who has not only read the entire text twice and typed it all, but has also, with a mind better equipped and trained than mine in matters philosophical, con­ tributed with her countless suggestions and corrections more than I can say to the accuracy of the final version. To them all my deepest thanks. Whatever mistakes and awkwardnesses remain are still mine, but without this help they would have been far more numerous. Puigpunyent, Majorca February 198 1

A. E. B.

List of Abbreviations Actas del II Congreso Internacional de Lulismo. Miramar, 1 9-24 Octubre 1976. Vol. 1 , Palma, 1979; reprinted in EL 22, 1978. Anuari de l' Institut d 'Estudis Catalans, Barcelona. AIEC Antolog{a Antologia de Ramon Llull, ed. M. Batllori, 2 vols. , Madrid, 1961. Artus, Ars Brevis W . W. Artus, "The 'Ars Brevis' of Ramon Lull. A Study, " Ph. D. dissertation, St. John's University, 1967. AST Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia, Barcelona. Aviny6 J. Aviny6, Les obres autentiques de! Beat Ramon Llull : Repertori bibliogr4fic, Barcelona, 1935. BAE Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, Madrid. Batllori, Mon M. Batllori, Ramon Llull en el mon de! seu temps, Barcelona, 1960 (see below, "Historical Background and Life, " n. 26, for more de­ tails). Blaise, Lexicon A. Blaise, Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi, Turnhout, Belgium, 1975. Bonner, "Cronologia " A . Bonner, "Problemes de cronologia lul · liana, " EL 21 (1977) , 35-58. Bonner, "Notes" A. Bonner, "Notes de bibliografia i cronologia lul ·lianes, " EL 24 (1980) , 71-86. A. Bonner, "La situaci6n del L ibre del gentil Bonner, " Situaci6n" dentro de la enseiianza luliana en Miramar, " Actas 1, 49-55, EL 22 (1978) , 49-55. BRABLB Bolet{n de la Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona, Barcelona. Breviculum Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, St. Peter perg. 92 (see below, "Llull's Influ­ ence, " text at n. 23). Bru R. Brummer, Bibliographia Lulliana : RamonLlull-Schrifttum 1870- 1973, Hildesheim, 1976 (unless otherwise stated, references are to catalogue numbers). BSAL Bolet{n de la Sociedad A rqueolo