The Testament of Love Translated by R. Allen Shoaf—University of Florida May be read or copied for any non-commercial purpose with attribution, and acknowledgement to me using this email: [email protected] Please see version from 1998, hosted by the University of Rochester: https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/publication/shoaf-usk-the-testament-of-love 1 Contents Introduction to Translation ........................................................................................................................... 4 Prologue ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Book 1: Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Book 1: Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Book 1: Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 18 Book 1: Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................................... 22 Book 1: Chapter 5 ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Book 1: Chapter 6 ....................................................................................................................................... 27 Book 1: Chapter 7 ....................................................................................................................................... 32 Book 1: Chapter 8 ....................................................................................................................................... 35 Book 1: Chapter 9 ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Book 1: Chapter 10 ..................................................................................................................................... 41 Book 2: Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 44 Book 2: Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 47 Book 2: Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 51 Book 2: Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................................... 54 Book 2: Chapter 5 ....................................................................................................................................... 58 Book 2: Chapter 6 ....................................................................................................................................... 61 Book 2: Chapter 7 ....................................................................................................................................... 65 Book 2: Chapter 8 ....................................................................................................................................... 69 Book 2: Chapter 9 ....................................................................................................................................... 72 Book 2: Chapter 10 ..................................................................................................................................... 77 Book 2: Chapter 11 ..................................................................................................................................... 81 Book 2: Chapter 12 ..................................................................................................................................... 84 Book 2: Chapter 13 ..................................................................................................................................... 87 Book 2: Chapter 14 ..................................................................................................................................... 90 Book III: Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................................... 93 Book III: Chapter 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 97 Book III: Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................... 101 Book III: Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................................... 107 Book III: Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................................... 115 Book III: Chapter 6 ................................................................................................................................... 119 2 Book III: Chapter 7 ................................................................................................................................... 123 Book III: Chapter 8 ................................................................................................................................... 127 Book III: Chapter 9 ................................................................................................................................... 131 3 Introduction to Translation (Written 1998) Following are the prologue and 33 chapters of The Testament of Love in a modern English version. I would like to tell you about this version of The Testament so that you can make optimum use of it. At the same time, I would like to share with you some thoughts on the larger implications of what I am doing here. This introduction, then, will fall naturally into two parts. Strictly speaking, you need to read only part one to start using the translation. But I hope you will also read the second part because the larger implications that concern me have ramifications, I think, that should concern all scholars on the eve of the millennium. Part One This translation is not final or definitive. Nor, in my judgment, in the current state of scholarship on The Testament of Love, can it be. I refer you to the Introduction to my edition of the work (which you can find at the METS site at the University of Rochester). But the basic datum you need to know is that the text of the work is so far corrupt in so many ways that a definitive rendering is probably out of our reach at this time. All readers of this translation, then, it follows, can and should feel free to improve upon it wherever they see the need. I ask as a courtesy that any improvements or corrections or suggestions of any sort be emailed to me. I will acknowledge all such contributions. At the head of each chapter I include the line numbers of that chapter in the METS edition. I also include the page numbers of the METS edition in brackets in bold-face in the text of the translation. Readers can thus find their place in either the WWW or the print version of the edition. I do not in this translation offer any commentary on the numerous cruces in The Testament: I simply offer my effort at construal in an otherwise unmarked text; the cruces and other issues may be consulted at the METS site. As a general rule in this version of his work, I have not tried to make Usk sound “contemporary”—to the contrary, I have tried to leave him sounding medieval; what’s more, not just medieval but medieval in the way that is peculiar to him: overlong sentences, unexpected leaps among vocabularies, occasional petulance in tone, frequently vexed metaphoricity, and unpredictable bursts of lyricism. In addition, I do my best to preserve his syntax (his fondness for the ablative absolute, e. g.), and I frequently leave his technical vocabulary untranslated—arbitrement in Book 3 is a good example. Also, every change of 4 speaker, or new start by the same speaker, is marked by a paragraph and a new set of quotation marks in order to enhance readability. It is possible, I know, to sanitize Usk’s English or to “poeticize” it (he is a far more vigorous writer than he has heretofore been credited with being). But I have serious doubts about the advisability of such moves in our current state of knowledge. Given these doubts, I have tried to be as literal as possible—my translation, then, in some sense, is a “trot” (and I have no problem with that)— in the hope that I might thus help others find their way, initially, in the work of a writer who merits our attention. Part Two Because The Testament of Love exists in such a corrupt state, it is an important test case for the use of the WWW in scholarship. In other words, just because a definitive edition or translation of the Testament is very unlikely, the work is an ideal test case for scholarly cooperation on the WWW: is scholarship claustral or rhizomic, coterie or collegial—fiefdom or community? By making available a translation of the complete Testament on the WWW, where scholars can access it, test it, and use it in their own research and/or teaching, I hope