Ludovicus van Leuven, Amoris divini et humani antipathia (1629)
Table of contents ↑Credulitas Amoris [12]
Credulitas Amoris.
XII.
Phocyl.
F. Petrar.
O Anima! noli credere celerrimè antequam
verè finem videas. Multos amantes creduli-
tas sua circumuenit; libenter enim credunt quod
optant.
verè finem videas. Multos amantes creduli-
tas sua circumuenit; libenter enim credunt quod
optant.
Cat.
Vix dederat terris ignem, sua furta, Prometheus;
Pan furit, & flammis oscula ferre parat:
Quantus, ait, nitor hic? (nondum cognouerat ignem)
Et ruit, & læsas vix trahit inde manus.
Dum, quid ames, videas; properatos differ amores;
Heu scelerata Venus, cum celerata venit.
Vix dederat terris ignem, sua furta, Prometheus;
Pan furit, & flammis oscula ferre parat:
Quantus, ait, nitor hic? (nondum cognouerat ignem)
Et ruit, & læsas vix trahit inde manus.
Dum, quid ames, videas; properatos differ amores;
Heu scelerata Venus, cum celerata venit.
AMor sæculi ducet te ad aulam, noli illi crede-
re; subito forsan, & breuissimo tempore ad
summas te promouebit dignitates, sed vt citius &
altiùs te detrudat in profundissimas calamita-
tes & miserias. superbiâ inflabit te, sed vt tam-
quam pila pronior voluaris ad quæuis flagitia.
Auri, gemmarum, munerumqueue cupiditate in-
flammabit te, sed vt aureo laqueo strangulata, in
æternas flammas præcipiteris atrocissimè cru-
cianda. ad computatorium vocabit te; vtinam?
calculorum, ad computantis arbitrium instabili-
tas, tibi symbolum sit mutabilitatis honorem &
dignitatum, ad nutum Principum & Regum.
re; subito forsan, & breuissimo tempore ad
summas te promouebit dignitates, sed vt citius &
altiùs te detrudat in profundissimas calamita-
tes & miserias. superbiâ inflabit te, sed vt tam-
quam pila pronior voluaris ad quæuis flagitia.
Auri, gemmarum, munerumqueue cupiditate in-
flammabit te, sed vt aureo laqueo strangulata, in
æternas flammas præcipiteris atrocissimè cru-
cianda. ad computatorium vocabit te; vtinam?
calculorum, ad computantis arbitrium instabili-
tas, tibi symbolum sit mutabilitatis honorem &
dignitatum, ad nutum Principum & Regum.
Quod non noris, non ames.
Credulitéde l'Amour.
XII.
Le brillant de ce feu, at charméce satyre,
Comme faict la beauté, l'ame, & l'oeil, quelle attire,
Pour l'obliger tantost au mesme repentir.
Panfit de son erreur condigne penitance,
Et l'ame la ferat, lors que sans cognoissance
Elle aymera l'attrait, quelle deuroit hayr.
XII.
Le brillant de ce feu, at charméce satyre,
Comme faict la beauté, l'ame, & l'oeil, quelle attire,
Pour l'obliger tantost au mesme repentir.
Panfit de son erreur condigne penitance,
Et l'ame la ferat, lors que sans cognoissance
Elle aymera l'attrait, quelle deuroit hayr.
Translations
|
Gullibility of love. |
|
O soul! Do not believe something with utmost haste before you the see what end it has. Their own credulity misleads many lovers.
For they readily believe what they wish to believe. |
|
Barely had Prometheus given fire, his special loot, to the earth, When Pan went berserk and prepared to kiss the flames. 'How strong is this sheen?' he said (he knew not of fire yet), And he stormed forward and with difficulty retracted his wounded hands from it. You should look a little longer into what it is you love. Defer love at first sight. Woe, a scoundrel is Venus, when she is quick to appear on the scene. |
|
Love of the world will lead you to the court. Do not trust it. Chance are that it will suddenly and in the shortest of time
promote you to the highest dignities but so, that it will push you down quicker and deeper into the depths of calamity and
misery. Pride puffs you up, but so that faster than a ball you roll into any shamefulness whatsoever. Desire for gold, precious
stones, and gifts will set you aflame, but so that strangled with a golden noose you hurtle into the eternal flames to be
most horribly tortured. It will call you into its counting office. May the unsteadiness of the counting boards, subjected
as it is to what the bookmaker decides, be a symbol for you of how changeable honours and dignities are, according to the
whims of princes and kings. |
|
Do not love what you do not know. |
Sources and parallels
-
Same copperplate, slightly altered, in: Liefde is schoon in 't oog [41] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))
[Compare
]
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Pan, fire, in:Quod non noris, non ames. [4] (in: Jacob Cats, Proteus (1618))
[Compare]
-
Porteman 1975, 203. Same motto, pictura (adaptation), french subscriptio (part of Cats' comment), and same quotes
from Petrarca's De remediis utriusque fortunae and Vix dederat terris ignem (a poem, prudishly shortened). The Dutch subscriptio
is a slightly changed version of Cats' one.Quod non noris, non ames. [5] (in: Jacob Cats, Sinne- en minnebeelden (1627))
[Compare]
References, across this site, to this page:
- Quod non noris, non ames. [4] (in: Jacob Cats, Proteus (1618))
- Quod non noris, non ames. [5] (in: Jacob Cats, Sinne- en minnebeelden (1627))
- Liefde is schoon in 't oog [41] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))