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Vinculum Amoris [49]


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100 ↓
Vinculum Amoris.translation
VII.
August. Pineda.
VIs vt seruiat caro animæ tuæ: Deo seruiat ani-
ma tua; affectus inordinatos oportet cohi-
bere & quasi in vinculis alligatos detinere, ne li-
berè per illicita vagentur aut aberrent.translation

Horatius.1
Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudauit & alsit,
Abstinuit Venere & Baccho.2 translation

Bernard. O quam compositum reddit omnem corpo-
ris statum, necnon & mentis habitum, disciplina!
ceruicem submittit, ponit supercilia, componit
vultum, mortificat oculos, ligat pedes, id est affe-
ctiones, cachinnos cohibet, moderatur linguam,
frænat gulam, sedat iram, format incessum. nullus
equus rectè sessori paret, nisi arte domitus; nul-
lum Ingenium non ferox, nisi probâ educatione
& præceptis cicuretur. qui assiduè in rebus pro-
speris ac lætis versati sunt, eos vix sapere, pruden-
tiores censent; quos verè sors aduersa aliquoties
exercuit, magis ad prudētiam ac cautionem com-
positi putantur. ad omnia necessitas naturam in-
struit, illa simias decorè saltare, Elephantes doctè
digladiari, picas ac psittacos distincte loqui do-
cet. quid multa? res dura bestias ad actiones hu-
manas, homines ad diuinas erigit. translation

[100a] ↓

Posuisti in neruo pedem meum. Iob 13.3 translation

Amour cela n'est necessaire: I'entends mon fait; laisse moy faire.

101 ↓
Lien de l'Amour.
VII.
Deuinēz moy, ce que ie vous vay dire,
Ceux que l'amour reduit soubs son Empire,
Sont ils captifs, ou bien en liberté?
Ie vous respons que les prisons d'amour,
Ses fers, ses ceps, ses liens, son sejour,
Sont les seaux de son authorité.

Si es amor el que cautiua
No se iran los prisioneros
Aunque se suelten los hierros.

Seght liefde/ waer toe dese wet?
Ke/ laet my doen/ 'k weet wat u let?

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100

[100a]

101

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Translations

Shackle of love.
You wish your flesh to serve your soul: may your soul serve God. One has to restrain inordinate emotions and to detain them bound in shackles as it were, lest they roam freely through what is not allowed, or go astray.
He who in the race strives to arrive at the longed-for finishing post
Bore much and did much as a boy, he sweated and had pain,
He abstained from Venus and Bacchus.
O how composed does discipline make every condition of the body, as also every state of the mind! It bends down the neck, lowers raised eyebrows,4 sets the face straight, mortifies the eyes, binds the feet, that is, the emotions, it restricts immoderate laughter, regulates manner of speech, reigns in the gullet, calms anger, shapes one's gait. No horse obeys its rider in the right way, unless it was subdued by expertise. No character fails to be savage, unless it is tamed by decent education and precepts. Those who from day to day have been in prosperous and happy circumstances, the more prudent judge to be hardly wise at all. Those who were put to a test on many occasions by truly adverse fortunes are regarded to be better equipped with prudence and caution. If one has no choice but to do something, nature provided the means to cope with anything: it taught apes to dance gracefully, elephants to battle expertly, magpies and parrots to deliver articulate speech. Need I say more? Dire circumstance turned beasts towards human actions, humans to divine.
You put my feet in the stocks.5

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      Notes

      1
      Hor. Epist. ad Pisones (Ars poetica) 412-414.
      2
      'Baccho': vino.
      3
      Job 13:27.
      4
      'lowers the eyebrows': supercilium, '(eye)brow', is meant both literally and figuratively here. The word is indeed the origin of the modern expression 'supercilious' ('with raised eyebrows').
      5
      Translation from NRSV. 'Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks' (KJV).