Libre del gentil e los tres savis
- Language:
- Catalan
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~84,800 words · 403 passages
Cite this work
- APARamon Llull. (n.d.). Libre del gentil e los tres savis. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ramon-llull/libre-del-gentil-e-los-tres-savis
- MLARamon Llull. Libre del gentil e los tres savis. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ramon-llull/libre-del-gentil-e-los-tres-savis.
- ChicagoRamon Llull. Libre del gentil e los tres savis. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ramon-llull/libre-del-gentil-e-los-tres-savis.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men (c. 1274): a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim argue before a pagan.
Context and history
What makes it extraordinary is the ending: the gentile leaves convinced, and the book does NOT say by which of the three. Llull leaves it open on purpose so each reader finishes the conversation. Written in the Majorca where all three communities lived side by side, it is one of the most remarkable works of interreligious dialogue of the Middle Ages. Text in MEDIEVAL CATALAN: Llull's original.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
CON ab los infaels hajam participat long de temps, e hajam enteses lurs falses oppinions e errors, per ço que eyls donen lahor de nostre senyor Deu, e que venguen a via de salut perdurable; jo qui son hom colpable, mesqui, pobre, peccador, menyspreat per les gents, indigne que mon nom sia escrit en est libre ne en altre, seguint la manera del libre arabich Del Gentil, me vuyl esforçar ab tots mos poders, confiant en la ajuda del Altisme, a ensercar noueyla manera e noueyles rahons per les quals poguessen esser endreçats los errats a gloria qui no ha fi, e que fugissen a infinits trebayls. § Cada sciencia ha mester los vocables per los quals mils sia maniffestada; e cor a aquesta sciencia demostratiua sien mester vocables escurs, e que los homens lechs no han en vs; e cor nos façam aquest libre als homens lechs, per aço breument e ab plans vocables parlarem de esta sciencia. E confiant en la gracia de aquell qui es compliment de tots bens, hauem esperança que per esta manera matexa alonguem lo libre ab pus apropriats vocables als homens letrats, amadors de la sciencia especulatiua. Injuria seria feta a aquesta sciencia e a aquesta art si no era demostrada ab los vocables que li couenen, e no era signifficada ab les subtils rahons per les quals mils es demostrable. § Aquest libre es departit en quatre libres. Lo primer libre es a prouar Deus esser, e esser en ell les flors del primer arbre, e esser resurreccio. Lo segon libre es del juheu, qui enten a prouar que sa creença es meylor que la creença del crestia e del sarrahi. Lo terç libre es del crestia, qui enten a prouar que sa creença val mes