CONCERNING CONJUGIAL LOVE; AFTER WHICH FOLLOW PLEASURES OF INSANITY CONCERNING SCORTATORY LOVE.. BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, A SWEDE. [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LATIN IN] BOSTON: Stereotype Edition. JOHN ALLEN, 11 SCHOOL STREET. 1833. ADVERTISEMENT. THE desire to have a literal translation of this work, expressed by many, was believed to be general, if not universal, in the New Church; and there was much reason for supposing the meaning to be, that each Latin word should, as far as possible, be represented by its correspondent English word; so that the English reader might stand on the same ground with him who reads the work in the original Latin. This cannot be perfectly accomplished; and the effort to do it has introduced some literalisms not perfectly agreeable to an English ear. It is not uncommon, in Latin books, to meet with adjectives without substantives; but they are much more frequently found in the writings of Swedenborg than in the Latin classics. Many of these which occur in this book are translated by an English adjective made into a noun, as, conjugiale, 'the conjugial;' some by an English noun, as, bonum, 'good,' verum, 'truth;' and some, which cannot be correctly and intelligibly translated by a noun or adjective alone, have generally been rendered by the correspondent English adjective, with the addition of the word thing or things. The word principle has been avoided, as often tending to confusion or misconception; and though instances may possibly exist, no one is recollected, where it is found in the translation without the word principium in the Latin as a voucher for its use. There is a difficulty in the translation of adjectives thus used as nouns. If we call in suo pleno, in its full,' the expression is unusual, and the idea confused; if we call it 'in its fulness,' we confound plenum with plenitas, or with plenitudo. With proprium and jucundum, however, the greatest difficulty has been found; as great, perhaps, when occurring with their nouns as without them. The former adjective, in its different genders and cases, has been sometimes translated 'his, or her, or its own,' which confounds it with suus; sometimes it is called 'proper,' which is not entirely clear, because 'proper,' in English, has at least two different meanings; and sometimes, by the compulsion of necessity, it is called proprium. Jucundum has been variously translated, no one word being found to express it with sufficient nearness in all cases, because, perhaps, no one word has been found which means precisely what jucundum means. meaning, when used as a noun, may be obtained from the RELATION, n. 461. It has heretofore generally been translated 'delight;' but in this work, delitium and delitia frequently occur, which must be called 'delight' and delights;' indeed, delitia is on every leaf of the first part. It could not be called 'pleasure,' without confounding it with volupe and voluptas, which also frequently occur; voluptates is on every leaf of the second part. An effort was made to distinguish it from these, by calling Its it 'enjoyment;' and, accordingly, it was so translated in most cases, until towards the latter part of the book, it was found in such connexion, that enjoyment' would be in danger of being understood the act of enjoying,' which is a common meaning of the word. It was afterwards called delight,' and frequently with jucundum attached to it, to distinguish it from delitium and delitiæ. In the original, there are instances of ill-constructed sentences, which indicate rapidity in writing them. On page 343, in the fifth line from the end of n. 438, if the word 'unless' were expunged, the sense would be complete; but if it stands as it does in the Latin, more words are wanted to finish the sentence. There are instances, too, of a sudden change of person in narration, where the person spoken of is suddenly made to speak; one of this kind occurs on page 304, line 34: also of a verb in the singular being used when there are two or more nouns signifying distinct things standing as its nominatives, which is as great a violation of Latin grammar as of English. Of the latter, several are translated literally, where the things signified by the two nouns, although distinct, in union make a one, as on page 103, lines 15 and 17. There are other faults of construction, most of which appear in the translation, because to remove them would require a change too great to be consistent with the plan of being literal. One of these, now recollected, is on page 241, line 32, where the words 'it is because with' seem to be needed instead of and to.' It is therefore desired, that, where a sentence appears obscure or awkward, the Latin may be referred to, as, by this course, any injustice done to the author by the translator may be detected and corrected in a subsequent edition. 6 There are some doubtful sentences. On page 118, line 23, the Latin is, et quod accipiat, apparet illi sicut a se. This is translated as if quod were used for ut, though no other instance of such use is recollected. It may mean, what he receives appears,' &c., or 'that he receives appears,' &c. On page 125, lines 11 and 12 of n. 144, it is doubtful whether the translation should not have been, and to the question whether there were also ultimate delights,' meaning, whether the angels enjoyed ultimate delights also. On page 136, line 8 of n. 155, it is also uncertain whether the translation should not have been, 'for the sound, separate (or separated) from the discourse of one speaking, is from the affection of love, which gives life to speech. On page 211, line 17 of n. 262, it is probable that the words ' to rule' being inserted between 'is' and 'from' would convey the idea more correctly. As they were not in the Latin, and as there was some doubt, they were omitted. There are, besides, some obscure passages, where the only safe course seemed to be, to translate them literally. The aim has been to make these as intelligible in English as they are to a Latin reader in the Latin. An instance of this kind is on page 97, line 5 of n. 106. It may be added, that, in all the chapters from n. 116 to the end of the book, the heads at the beginning of the paragraphs where they are explained always agree with the heads in the list at the beginning of the chapters, when the Latin heads thus agree, and they are different, when the Latin are different. Boston, 1833. THE DELIGHTS OF WISDOM CONCERNING CONJUGIAL LOVE. PRELIMINARIES CONCERNING THE JOYS OF HEAVEN, AND CONCERNING NUPTIALS THERE. 1. "I FORESEE that many who read the relations immediately following, and those annexed to the chapters, will believe that they are inventions of the imagination; but I assert, in truth, that they were not invented, but truly done and seen; nor seen in any state of the sleeping mind, but in full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will belong to the New Church, which is meant by the NEW JERUSALEM in the Apocalypse; for which purpose he has opened the interiors of my mind and spirit; whereby it has been given me to be in the spiritual world with angels, and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now for twenty-five years." 2. An angel was once seen by me, flying beneath the eastern heaven, who held a trumpet in his hand and to his mouth, and sounded towards the north, towards the west, and towards the south. He was clad in a robe, which flowed backwards as he flew, and was girded with a belt of carbuncles and sapphires, which, as it were, flamed and shone; he flew downwards, and alighted gently upon the earth which extended to where I was; as soon as he touched the earth, he stood erect upon his feet, and walked hither and thither, and then, seeing me, he came towards me. I was in the spirit, and was therein standing on a rising ground in the southern quarter; and when he was near, I addressed him, asking, What is about to happen? I heard the sound of your trumpet, and saw your descent through the air. The angel replied, I am sent to convoke the most celebrated for erudition, most acute in understanding, and most eminent in reputation for wisdom, amongst |