PREFACE

 MORE than six centuries have passed since this little Majorcan classic was written, and, so far as I can find, it has never once been translated into English. Such an omission¹ can only be explained by our comparative ignorance of the treasures of Spanish Mysticism, and perhaps in part by the fact that Lull² wrote, not in Castilian, but in a little-known though beautiful idiom, that of Catalonia.

It would have been attractive to reproduce the original version of the book together with this translation, and even more so to have translated the whole of Blanquerna, of which it forms a part. I hope that both these projects may be realised in the future, together with the translations of (at least) Els Cent Noms de Deu, El Desconort, and some of the short hymns³ and poems. But it seemed best to begin by making known some of Lull’s best work to as wide a circle of readers as possible. Accordingly, while following, as a rule, the oldest text (which is of the fourteenth century) I have not scrupled⁴ to add to my translation a few passages found only in the editions of Paris (1505) and Valencia (1521), which illuminate⁵ the author’s thought, or seem in other ways to be of real value.

On the other hand, I have not allowed myself, through a desire to expound⁶ Lull’s ideas, to substitute paraphrase⁷ for faithful and exact translation. Very few liberties have been taken with the text, and[viii] these only where a slight expansion or change of construction has served to bring out the meaning of an otherwise quite obscure word or phrase. Essentially⁸, therefore, the reader has Lull’s own vivid and forceful words, with the impediment of a foreign language removed.

E. ALLISON PEERS

The University, Liverpool.

Jan. 19, 1923.

1 omission   

n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长

参考例句：

• The omission of the girls was unfair.把女孩排除在外是不公平的。
• The omission of this chapter from the third edition was a gross oversight.第三版漏印这一章是个大疏忽。

2 lull   

v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇

参考例句：

• The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
• Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后，地面战又突然爆发了。

3 hymns   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At first, they played the hymns and marches familiar to them. 起初他们只吹奏自己熟悉的赞美诗和进行曲。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• I like singing hymns. 我喜欢唱圣歌。 来自辞典例句

4 scrupled   

v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The man scrupled to perjure himself. 这人发伪誓时迟疑了起来。 来自互联网

5 illuminate   

vt.照亮，照明；用灯光装饰；说明，阐释

参考例句：

• Dreams kindle a flame to illuminate our dark roads.梦想点燃火炬照亮我们黑暗的道路。
• They use games and drawings to illuminate their subject.他们用游戏和图画来阐明他们的主题。

6 expound   

v.详述；解释；阐述

参考例句：

• Why not get a diviner to expound my dream?为什么不去叫一个占卜者来解释我的梦呢？
• The speaker has an hour to expound his views to the public.讲演者有1小时时间向公众阐明他的观点。

7 paraphrase   

vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义

参考例句：

• You may read the prose paraphrase of this poem.你可以看一下这首诗的散文释义。
• Paraphrase the following sentences or parts of sentences using your own words.用你自己的话解释下面的句子或句子的一部分。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。