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Caligo Amoris [75]
Caligo Amoris.
XXXIII.
{?}arp.1
CAnis est symbolū odoris, odor est symbolū fi-
dei; anima hoc cane ducitur, que nudâ fide abs-
que vllâ intellectus operatione, immediatè per ar-
dorē amoris mouetur ad contemplandū Deum &
constituitur in quadā caligine, quænon potest ra-
tione aut intellectu comprehendi in quâamorosa
anima experiri incipit, quod omnis illa contēplans
& intuitiua cognitio quæ præcessit in imagini-
bus & similitudinibus, & etiā omne quod per in-
tellectum humanū & cogitationem nudam ima-
ginari valet, ab ipsa veritate diuinæ essentiæ in in-
finitum suâ dissimilitudine distant. Hinc intelle-
ctualem oculum denudans à corporalibus, spiri-
tualibus & etiam diuinis imaginibus, quantum-
libet sublimes & nobiles sint, ingreditur caligi-
nem, vbi in quâ dā Dei perfectâ ignorantiâ con-
stituitur, velut inter duas mensas, ibique fame
potius perire eligit, quam descendere ad mensam
inferiorem, vbi Deus in imaginibus & similitudi-
nibus cognoscitur: ad mensam vero superiorem
vbi Deus in nudâ sua essentiâ cognoscitur adire
non permittitur. sic igitur manet in nudâ caligine
& nihileitate cogitationis suæ, immediatè coram
ignotâ gloriosâ diuinitatis præ sentiâ.
CAnis est symbolū odoris, odor est symbolū fi-
dei; anima hoc cane ducitur, que nudâ fide abs-
que vllâ intellectus operatione, immediatè per ar-
dorē amoris mouetur ad contemplandū Deum &
constituitur in quadā caligine, quænon potest ra-
tione aut intellectu comprehendi in quâamorosa
anima experiri incipit, quod omnis illa contēplans
& intuitiua cognitio quæ præcessit in imagini-
bus & similitudinibus, & etiā omne quod per in-
tellectum humanū & cogitationem nudam ima-
ginari valet, ab ipsa veritate diuinæ essentiæ in in-
finitum suâ dissimilitudine distant. Hinc intelle-
ctualem oculum denudans à corporalibus, spiri-
tualibus & etiam diuinis imaginibus, quantum-
libet sublimes & nobiles sint, ingreditur caligi-
nem, vbi in quâ dā Dei perfectâ ignorantiâ con-
stituitur, velut inter duas mensas, ibique fame
potius perire eligit, quam descendere ad mensam
inferiorem, vbi Deus in imaginibus & similitudi-
nibus cognoscitur: ad mensam vero superiorem
vbi Deus in nudâ sua essentiâ cognoscitur adire
non permittitur. sic igitur manet in nudâ caligine
& nihileitate cogitationis suæ, immediatè coram
ignotâ gloriosâ diuinitatis præ sentiâ.
Nuict de l'Amour.
XXXIII.
Quand la splendeur de la vermeille aurore,
Et le soleil qui luy succede, & dore
Tout l'vniuers, refuseroit le jour;
Ie ne veux pas, pour faire ma carriere,
D'autre clarté, conduitte, ny lumiere,
Que le flambeau & guide de l'amour.
XXXIII.
Quand la splendeur de la vermeille aurore,
Et le soleil qui luy succede, & dore
Tout l'vniuers, refuseroit le jour;
Ie ne veux pas, pour faire ma carriere,
D'autre clarté, conduitte, ny lumiere,
Que le flambeau & guide de l'amour.
Translations
|
Darkness of love. |
|
The dog is the symbol of smell, smell is the symbol of faith. By this dog the soul is led, that by blind faith without any
operation of intellect is moved directly by the heat of love to the contemplation of God, and realises itself in a sort of
darkness, that cannot be comprehended by reason or intellect; in this darkness the soul, as it is in love, begins to experience
that all that contemplating and intuitive knowledge, that first came in images and similarities, and also all that can be
imagined through human intellect and naked knowledge, is endlessly remote from the truth itself of divine essence by its own
dissimilarity. Hence stripping the mind's eye from the corporal, the spiritual and even the divine images, no matter how sublime
and noble they are, it enters the darkness, where it constitutes itself in a kind of perfect ignorance of God,3 between two tables as it were, and it prefers to die of hunger rather than to step down to the lower table, where God is
known in images and likenesses; To the higher table, however, it is not permitted to go, where God is known in His naked essence.
Thus, therefore, it remains in the naked darkness of the nothingness of knowing, immediately in the presence of the unknown
glorious presence of the divinity. |
|
Draw me, we will run into the scent of the beloved.4 |
Literature
Sources and parallels
-
Possibly based on, different motto, nimbus given to Christ-child and background landscape added, in: Deductio amoris. [31] (in: anonymous, Amoris divini et humani antipathia (1628))
[Compare
![[compare]](/static/images/compare2.gif "Compare")
]
-
Same copperplate, slightly altered, in: Liefde is de beste leidsman [21] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))
[Compare]
-
Leader dog also in: Un Amour aveugle conduit par un Chien (in: Daniel de la Feuille, Devises et emblemes (1691))
[Compare]
-
Leader dog also in: Utinam dirigantur viæ meæ ad custodiendas iustificationes tuas! [17] (in: Justus de Harduwijn, Goddelycke wenschen (1629))
[Compare]
-
Leader dog also in: Utinam dirigantur viæ meæ ad custodiendas justificationes tuas! [17] (in: Jan Suderman, De godlievende ziel (1724))
[Compare]
-
Porteman 1975, p. 213. Same pictura, same quote in: Hugo, Pia desideria
, bk/embl. 2/23
References, across this site, to this page:
- Deductio amoris. [31] (in: anonymous, Amoris divini et humani antipathia (1628))
- Liefde is de beste leidsman [21] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))
- Un Amour aveugle conduit par un Chien (in: Daniel de la Feuille, Devises et emblemes (1691))
- Utinam dirigantur viæ meæ ad custodiendas iustificationes tuas! [17] (in: Justus de Harduwijn, Goddelycke wenschen (1629))
- Utinam dirigantur viæ meæ ad custodiendas justificationes tuas! [17] (in: Jan Suderman, De godlievende ziel (1724))
Iconclass
Just outside a village, the blindfolded soul is walking her dog who follows the scent of sacred love- God's perfections
[11A23]
- radiance emanating from persons or things
[22C31]
- low hill country
[25H114]
- outskirts of village
[25I28]
- blindfold
[31A3191]
- walking - AA - female human figure
[31AA2711]
- adolescent, young woman, maiden
[31D13]
- walking the dog
[34B114]
- Guidance (+ emblematical representation of concept)
[54E2(+4)]
- (personifications and symbolic representations of) Love; 'Amore (secondo Seneca)' (Ripa) (+ clothed)
[56F2(+133)]
- (personifications and symbolic representations of) Love; 'Amore (secondo Seneca)' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of
concept)
[56F2(+4)]
- proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT)
[86(CALIGO AMORIS)]
Comments
commentaryNotes
Illegible, maybe it is Harp.(ocration).
Cant. 8.2 probably a misreading in the transcription for Cant. 1, 2 (it should be 1:3 [= Vg; in KJV, RSV trahe me post te,
curremus is to be found in Cant. 1:4).
'Dei perfecta ignorantia', 'perfect ignorance of God': ultimately this is derived from the Neoplatonic idea that not-knowing
is the highest form of knowledge, in e.g. Damascius. Compare the famous work "De docta ignorantia" by Nicolaus Cusanus (of
Kues, of Cusa; 1401-1464).
A garbled version of a variant of Cant. 1:3, which in some MSS has the addition 'in odorem unguentorum tuorum', here it is
replaced by 'in odorem dilecti'. Hence the translation differs from Bible translations. 'Draw me, we will run after thee',
KJV.