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Retentio Amoris [35]


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70 ↓
Retentio Amoris.translation
XXXV.
Prouerb.
VIta hominis Christiani transitus est, ipseque
perpetuus viator. non habemus hic locum
permanentem, sed alium exspectamus. transire
igitur virtutis; hærere alibi, ignauiæ est. gaudet
motu animus Christianus, & in hoc, cœlum sibi
cognatum imitatur. in partibus Scythiæ homines
quosdam numquam domicilium figere, plaustro
se suaque identidem transferre, memoriæ prodi-
tum est. id vere Christianum decet. dolium hoc
nostrum, Diogenis more, identidem volutandum
est, sistendum raro, figendum numquam & nus-
quam. finge mihi aliquem è regione longinqua ad
patriam properantem, in cauponam aliquam le-
pidam ac facœtam incidisse, quæ benigne eum
habeat ac lautè excipiat; hunc ibi, si tanquam ad
sirenum scopulos hærentem cernamus, nunquid
excordem & insipidum iure iudicamus? ita sanè.
Vir fugiens non moratur strepitum lyræ. idem de
te cense. O Amnima1! nec illecebris ac lenocinijs
suis mundus hospes, aut caro caupona te impe-
diant, quo minus in veram ac cælestem illam pa-
triam velis, equisque properes.translation

Cat.
Hoc quod rete vides, teneri sit carcer Amoris,
Quæ sedet in medio sit Cytheræa tibi.
Rumpit, & abrumpit casses cordatus Amoris,
Degeneres Veneris molle retardat opus. translation

[70a] ↓

Non intrandum aut penetrandum. translation

En ceste amoureuse chasse,
Tu es prins, si tu ne passe.

71 ↓
L'Arrest de l'Amour.
XXXV.
Peut on veoir en Amour rien de plus ridicule,
Qu' vn amant si coüard, qu' il s'arreste ou recule,
Effrayé du hazard d'vn foible empeschement.
C'est n'auoir point de cœur, ou bien n'estre pas sage,
Car qui auroit au moins quelque peu de courage,
Ne rougiroit il pas de ne passer auant?

No sufre Amor floxedad
Ni que amaynen telarañas
El brio de sus hazañas.

Doortreft/ o liefde/ dese jacht/
Of wel/ u van het jaeghen wacht.

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70

[70a]

71

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Translations

Restraining of love.
The life of Christian man is a passing through, and he himself is perpetually on his way. We do not have a permanent place here, but we are in expectance of another. It belongs to virtue to pass through, of evil to hang on elsewhere. The Christian heart loves movement and in this imagines heaven is akin to him. It is told that in the regions of Scythia some people never set up house, but again and again transport themselves and their own on a wagon. This truly fits the Christian. This barrel of ours (in the way of Diogenes) has to be rolled along, over and over, seldom is it to be brought to a standstill, never and in no place is it to become fixed. Imagine that someone, hurrying from a remote region to his homeland, happens to meet a refined and well-spoken hostess2, who treats him in a friendly way and gives him a lavish reception. If we would see him there clinging as it were to the rocks of the Sirens, surely we would not rightfully deem him weak and insipid? Well, we would! A man on the run does not linger with the sounds of the lyre. You must judge that the same applies to you.
O soul! Let not the world as you host, the flesh as your hostess with their lures and their pimping stop you from wishing to hasten under full sail and at top speed towards heaven, that is truly your homeland.
This net that you see would be the prison of sleek love,
She who sits in the middle would be a Cytherean goddess to you:
The strong-willed breaks through and breaks off the snares of love,
The soft work of Venus slows down the degenerate.
Not to be entered or penetrated.

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    A young man points at the insects caught in a spider's web built in the empty window frame of a ruin

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    Comments

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    Notes

    1
    'Amnima' is a misprint in the original.
    2
    'hostess': it is as near as one can get to what is implied in the Latin. The host and hostess are landlord and landlady of a tavern. The implication is that they are a pimp and a prostitute respectively.