Greco-Christian stream·Beguine Mystics·The Mirror of Simple Souls·Section V

Section V

This is Section V of a planned five-section project translation of Marguerite Porete's The Mirror of Simple Souls. Section V opens Division IV with Marguerite at the height of her apophatic-erotic writing. Six chapters in scope, each carrying one of the Mirror's signature images:

• Chapter I: the eagle of Dionysius (Marguerite is reading the Heavenly Hierarchy through Love's lens) — the Soul as the high-flying bird who beholds the brightness of the divine sun and feeds on the gum of the cedar.
• Chapter II: the two staffs — the Soul leans on the knowledge of her own poverty (left staff) and the upraised knowledge of the deity (right staff); the famous drunk of what she never drank apophasis: the Soul is more drunk on the wine she has never tasted than on what she has drunk, because the most in the divine tun is the Trinity's own draught.
• Chapter III: the fire of love — the Soul has been so burnt in the furnace of love that she has become fire, and therefore feels no fire (because to feel fire requires being something other than fire); the chapter distinguishes this pure spiritual fire from the "substantial" fires of devotion that mystical writers sometimes describe.
• Chapter IV: meditation of pure love — the Soul does not seek consolations or feelings of sweetness, because the lover with two purposes loses both; true love has but only one purpose.
• Chapter V: "I love only love" — the Soul's manumission speech to Dame Nature, parallel to her earlier speech to the Virtues; her name has been lost in the thing she loves more than herself.
• Chapter VI: the innocents-image — the freed Soul does nothing that breaks the peace of her inward being; M.N. supplies a gloss explaining that the comparison to babies who do nothing for high or low is not anti-pastoral antinomianism but a description of how the spiritual touch governs all outward action.

One M.N. signed gloss in this section — the tenth of fifteen total — on the innocents-image. Five more M.N. glosses fall in later divisions and would be covered in additional sections beyond V.

Note on overall scope. Sections I through V together cover the Mirror's long opening movement: the two Prologues, Divisions I–III in full, and the opening six chapters of Division IV. This is approximately one-third of the complete Mirror, the portion in which Marguerite establishes her vocabulary, her seven-stage doctrine, the nine points of the annihilated Soul, and her signature images. Divisions V through XX of the Mirror — including the Far-Near / Loign-prés chapters, the long allegorical court of Love, the seven estates schematic, and the closing approbations — remain outside the current five-section project and would be covered in additional sections in future sessions. The five remaining signed M.N. glosses (eleventh through fifteenth) also fall in those later divisions.

The same conventions apply: light modernization with archaic verb endings and pronouns normalized; Marguerite's technical vocabulary preserved (annihilated, Simple, the personified speakers); M.N.'s glosses footnoted in place; formal LLM-as-judge deferred per session-budget.

Division IV

Chapter I — How it is meant that this Soul has taken leave of the Virtues; and of a land of this Soul; and of the desire that those who live "in will and in desire" must have

Love, says Reason, yet I pray you to have another question. For this book says that this Soul has taken leave of the Virtues for evermore; and you say that the Virtues are always with such souls, and more perfectly than with any other. These are two contrary words, as it seems to me, says Reason. I cannot understand them.

I shall satisfy you, says Love. The truth is that this Soul has taken leave of the Virtues as concerning the exercise of them, and of all the desires that they ask. But the Virtues have not taken leave of the souls; for they are always with them, and perfectly obedient to them. And in this sense the Soul takes leave of them; and yet are they always with these souls.

For I make an example of it as thus: if a man serve a master, he is with him whom he serves; but his master is not with him. And if it so fall out that he gains much of his master, and learns so well, that he is more rich and more wise than the master, and is held better and more worthy than he be — then he who was master to him sees for certain that he who was his servant is more worth, and is more able in all manner of ways than he, and dwells with him to obey him in all right. Thus ought you to understand of these souls and of the Virtues. For at the beginning, this Soul did all that she might, of heart and of body, all that Reason taught her, who was at that time mistress; and she told her always that she should do all that the Virtues would, without any withstanding unto the death — so that Reason and the other Virtues were ladies and mistresses over the Soul, and this Soul was truly obedient unto all that they would command.

Thus must a soul do first in her beginning, if she would live spiritual life. And now this Soul has so much won and learned of the Virtues that she is above the Virtues — for such souls have in them all that the Virtues can teach, and much more without comparison. For this Soul has in her the mistress of the Virtues, who is called Divine Love, who has led her in them in all, and has made her one with him — so that she is not "with" herself, nor "with" the Virtues.

With whom then? says Reason.

With me, says Love, who have turned her wholly to me.

And what are you, Love? says Reason. Are you not a virtue with us, except that you are above us?

I am God, says Love. For Love is God, and God is Love¹; and this Soul is God by condition of love, and I am God by nature divine. And this is hers by righteousness of love, so that this precious beloved of me is learned and led of me without her working — for she is turned to me in me. And such an end, says Love, takes nurture.

This is the eagle that flies right high — and yet higher than does any other bird; for she is feathered with fine love, and she beholds above others the beauty of the sun, and the beam and the brightness of the sun; and the heat thereof gives her, as food, the gum of the high cedar.²

And then, says this Soul to her caitiff wretched nature, that so many a day has made her in servitude to dwell — "Dame Nature," says she, "I take leave of you. Love is near to me, who holds me free of him, against all, without dread."

Then, says Love, she fears not for tribulation, nor ceases for consolation, nor grows less for what is taken from her. She is common to all by largesse of pure charity, and she asks nothing of any creature, because of the nobility and courtesy of her pure bounty, with which God has fulfilled her by himself. And she is in all times demure without heaviness, and glad without dissolution; for God has in this Soul hallowed his name, and the divine Trinity has there his house.

O you little ones, who in will and in desire dwell, says this Soul, take the spoils of your food, and desire that you might be such. For he who desires the least — unless he desires the most — it is not worthy that God do to him the best of his goodness, on account of the slackness of his poor courage. All those who so live, they are always enfamined or a-hungered.

Chapter II — Of the two staffs that this free Soul leans her upon; and how she is more drunk of what she never drank, nor never shall drink, than of that she has drunk

This free Soul, says Love, leans upon two staffs: the one on the right side, and the other on the left side. On these two staffs she is strong against her enemies, as is a castle upon a hill, or that is surrounded with water which naught may wash away.

The one of these two staffs that this Soul rests on, to keep her from her enemies, is that she keeps the gifts of her riches — that is, the true knowledge that she has of the poverty of herself. This is the left staff, which she leans on always, at all times; this is to her great strength.

And the second staff, on the right side, is the upraised knowledge of the deity, that this Soul receives and keeps firmly. Upon these two staffs she is at peace, and takes no count of her enemies, neither on the right side nor on the left side.

But she is abashed, says Love, by the knowledge of her poverty, which she has of herself — that it seems to her that it is a humiliation before all the world, as it is to her inmost being. And also she is drunk of the knowing of the divine bounty, by the pure grace of the deity — of which she is always drunk; and of the beholding thereof, fulfilled with laud and hearing of divine love — not drunken of that which she has drunk, but she is right drunk, and more drunk of that which she never drank, nor never shall drink.

Ah, for God, Love, says Reason, what is this to say — that this Soul is drunk of what she never drank, nor never shall drink? It seems to me, says Reason, as I may understand these words, that it is a greater thing to this Soul to be drunken of that which her Love drinks and shall drink of the divine tun³ of his own bounty, than of that which she has not drunk and never shall drink. For she is drunken of the drink that he drinks, of the divine faucet of the same tun.

It is right, says Love, that the "most" has made her drunk — not indeed that she has drunken of the "most," as it is said before, but she has it for as much as her Love has it. For there is between him and her no severance nor contrariety of nature; whatsoever discord of love, love makes in her, of righteousness, this union, which has made her drink of the most of his highest drink; and it never shall be otherwise.

It may well be that there be many faucets in a tun. But the most clear wine, and the most fresh and profitable, and the most delectable and the most inebriating, without fail, is the wine of the sovereign faucet — of which none drinks but the Trinity; and it is of this faucet (without which she does not actually drink) that an annihilated Soul is drunk. A free Soul, drunk! A forgotten Soul, drunk! — but right drunk, and more than drunk, of that which she never drank, nor never shall drink.

Hear this if you understand it: now there is in this tun of divine drink many faucets. This knows the manhood that is knit to the person of God the Son, who drank of the most noble wine next to the Trinity; and the Virgin Mary drank of the one after, and of the most high drink is this noble Lady inebriated. After them drank the burning Seraphim, with whose wings these free souls fly.

Ah God, says Holy Church, how it behoves her to attend and cleanly keep herself — the Soul that thus high flies!

Chapter III — Of the freedom of these souls, and how they do nothing that is against the peace of inwardness

Such souls, says Love, have the mind and the understanding and the will low, by meekness, and right perceiving of knowing by subtlety of wit in divine things; and are right free in all places, of the love of the deity.

Ah Love, says Reason, when are these souls in the right freedom of pure love?

When they have no desire, says Love, nor any feeling, nor at any time affection of spirit — for whoever makes use of such practices, they are full far from the peace of freedom, where few folk suffer themselves to dwell. Nor do they anything, says Love, that is against the peace of their inward being; and thus they are in peace in the ordinance of love.

The persons who are such, they are thus called and fulfilled, that they have within them no craving of anything; and without them they have the beams of the divine sun; they keep cleanness of heart, and none but they. These souls, says Love, have knowing of the "more" without having knowing — so they may not crave nor have sufficiency of the least thing. Such souls are all one in all things, and equable in all things, for they do not unfree their being for anything that may befall them. For right as the sun has of God his light, and shines upon all things without taking any uncleanness in him — right so have these souls their being of God and in God, without taking any uncleanness in them, for any thing that they see or hear.

Eh Love, says Reason, do these souls feel no joy in their inwardness nor in their outwardness?

No, says Love, right as you said. For the nature of them is mortified, and the spirit dead, for all will is from them departed. Thus live they; thus are they in such a death, according to the divine will.

Now Reason, says Love, understand your question. He that burns has no cold; nor he that drinks has no thirst. And this Soul, says Love, is so burnt in the furnace of fire of love that she is become fire, so that she feels no fire — for she herself is fire, by the virtue of love that has brought her into himself by fine love. This fire burns of him in him in all places, and in all moments of time, without taking any substance from will, but of himself. For he who feels anything of God, through any substance that he sees or hears outside himself, or by effort that he makes of himself, that is not all fire; but there is substance mixed with this fire, for the labor of man and the desire to have some substance outside himself to increase his love — that is but some shadowing or glimmering of knowing of the bounty of God.⁴

They who burn with this fire aforesaid, without seeking substance to have or to will, see so clearly in all things, that they appraise the things according as they ought to be appreciated. For such a Soul has no substance in her that might blemish her clear sight, since she is made one and annihilated by virtue of very meekness; and she is open to all largesse of perfect charity, and she is all one in God by the divine action of pure fine love. This Soul loves no more anything in God, nor never shall love, how good soever it be, but only for God, and because God wills it. Thus she loves God in all things, and all things for God; so that for this love is this Soul alone, or all one, in the pure love of the love of God. Such a soul is so clear in knowing, that she sees herself not in God, nor God in herself.

Chapter IV — How that consolations that comfort the souls by feeling of sweetness profit not a Soul, but only meditation of pure Love; and how that has only one meaning; and what that meaning is

Now understand the remainder. Lords hearing, lords loving — by a meditation of the love that is without the hearing that comes from creatures: by such meditation, souls receive in love, without desiring any of his gifts which men call consolations that comfort souls by feeling of sweetness in prayer. These teach not the Soul, nor any other usages, but pure love. For he who would have the comforts of God by feelings of consolation breaks the price of fine love.

Meditation of pure love has but only one purpose; and that is this: that she loves always truly, without willing any reward. And this may not the Soul do, unless she be outside herself; for true love ought not to desire any consolations that come of excess of desire. No truly. Meditation of pure love knows well, moreover, that she ought not to occupy herself so, but to follow his work — that is, to will perfectly the will of God; and she must let God work, and be disposed to his will. For they who have a will that God should do their will — willing to feel his comforts — they trust not perfectly in his sole bounty, but in the gifts of his riches that he has to give.

Without fail, says this Soul, he that loves well thinks not either of taking nor of asking, but of giving — without anything withholding — that he may love truly. For in him that has two purposes at one time, the one lessens for the other. Therefore true love has but only one purpose; and that is, that she might always love truly. For of the love of her Beloved she has no doubt that he does that which is best; and she follows this, and she does that which she ought to do; and she wills only one thing, and it is that the will of God be always in her done.

She is right, says Love. For this is all she may will. She may not will by her own will, for her will is not with her; but it is — without any leading thither — in him that she loves; and this is not her work, but it is the work of all the Trinity that works in this Soul at his will.

Chapter V — Of the joy of those souls, and of the accordance of will of the Beloved and the Soul, and of the union of love

This Soul, says Love, swims in the sea of joy — that is, in the sea of delights, streaming with divine influences. She feels no joy, for she herself is joy. She swims and is drowned in joy; for she leads in joy without feeling any joy. So is joy in her that she herself is joy, by the virtue of joy that has brought her into him. Now is the will of the Beloved and the will of this Soul turned into one, as fire and flame; for Love has this Soul all drawn into him.

Ah right sweet pure divine Love, says this Soul, what a sweet union is this — that I am drawn into the thing that I love more than me! Thereby have I lost my name, for loving who so little may love. Thus am I drawn into the thing that I love more than me — that is, in Love. For I love only Love.⁵

Chapter VI — What it means that this Soul does nothing that is against the peace of her inward being; and of an example thereupon

O Lady Love, says Reason, tell us what it means, this that you say: that then is the Soul in her right freedom of pure clean love, when she does nothing that is against the asking of the peace of her inward being?

I shall tell you, says Love. It is that she does nothing, for aught that may fall out, that is against the perfect peace of her spirit. This, says Love, the very innocents do. And the being which we speak of is very innocence. Reason, says Love, I give you an example. Behold the child who is a very pure innocent: does he anything, or cease to do it, for high or for low, except as it pleases him?

I grant well, Love, says Reason, I am wise of my question.

M. This example that Love makes of the innocents — that they do nothing, nor leave to do, for high nor for low, except as it pleases them — it means that these creatures should not do, for one or for another, whatever might disturb the quiet of their spirits. For these spiritual souls, who are lovers of God (to whom Love speaks in the person of one, to be understood for all), they are so led and updrawn by the work of the Holy Ghost that they may not suffer that anything touch them but the pure touchings of love, or things which lead thereto. Nor may their spirit endure that the body obey, with considered deliberation, to set about doing anything of the outward works that might hinder this divine love, or the usages that are the means thereof and lead toward this pure love. So they stand to attend upon, and wait to follow, the Lord's work, who is sovereign master. For if they do the contrary, truly it will disturb them; and therefore Love bids them that they do nothing that may break the peace and rest of their spirits. N.⁶

Translator's footnotes (project translation)

¹ Love is God, and God is Love. The Johannine formula Deus caritas est (1 John 4:8, 4:16) preserved in the literal Old French and in M.N.'s Middle English. Marguerite presses the est of the formula very hard: she does not say Love is divine or Love is godlike, but the strict identity. The Inquisitors of 1310 will hear this as a doctrinal threat; modern scholarship (e.g., Bernard McGinn) reads it as Marguerite's deliberate Johannine maximalism, not as heretical.

² The eagle of Dionysius. Kirchberger's 1927 note here cites Pseudo-Dionysius, Heavenly Hierarchy, ch. XV, sec. 8 (in John Parker's translation): "The representation of the eagle denotes the kingly and soaring and swift in flight and quickness in search of the nourishment which makes strong, and wariness and agility and cleverness and the unimpeded, straight, and unflinching gaze toward the bounteous and brilliant splendour of the divine rays of the sun, with the robust extension of the visual power." The Latin clause Kirchberger reports from Marguerite's tradition is Et talis docta dicit dilectio doctrina capit (and such a learned love-teaching is comprehended). Marguerite weaves the Dionysian eagle into her eagle that flies right high — feathered with fine love, beholding the brightness of the divine sun, feeding on the gum of the high cedar.

³ Tun — a wine-cask. Marguerite's image, preserved by M.N. and Kirchberger. The Trinity is the divine tun; the manhood of Christ knit to the person of the Son drinks of the most noble wine "next to the Trinity"; the Virgin Mary drinks the next draught; Marguerite's noble Lady (this Soul) is inebriated of the most high drink; then the burning Seraphim drink, with whose wings these free souls fly. The image cascades the Dionysian hierarchy through a single drinking-vessel.

⁴ The chapter's distinction between the pure spiritual fire and the substantial fires that mystical writers sometimes describe is one of Marguerite's most theologically careful moments. Kirchberger's editorial note here: "this fire of love so often described by mystical writers is carefully distinguished here from all psycho-physical phenomena. The author points out that the natural human desire for devotion and increase of love for some outward assurance of God's love and demonstration of our human love leads to natural efforts which may procure some such phenomena experienced as fire, but these 'substantial' experiences are unsubstantial compared with the purely spiritual 'fire' that seeks no outward phenomena." Marguerite, in other words, is not describing the kind of mystical fire-experience that Richard Rolle or the Beguine tradition more broadly often describes; her fire is the spiritual state of the Soul-become-fire, in which the question of "feeling" fire no longer applies.

⁵ The terse manumission-formula for I love only love (car je n'aime que amour in the Old French) — Marguerite's compressed summary of her whole doctrine. Read it alongside the corresponding speech in Section I ("I take my leave of you, Virtues") and the speech to Nature in Chapter I of this Section ("Dame Nature, I take leave of you"): three manumissions in cascading order — from the Virtues, from Nature, and finally into the single object that bears her now-lost name.

⁶ The tenth of M.N.'s fifteen signed glosses. M.N. takes the innocents example — which in Marguerite's hands sounds dangerously close to a libertine reading (children do as they please) — and reframes it into a strict spiritual-attention discipline. The freed Soul "does nothing for one or for another whatever might disturb the quiet of their spirits"; the comparison is to the inviolability of the Holy Spirit's working, not to a child's caprice. M.N.'s reading is plausibly the orthodox one; whether Marguerite would have endorsed it as completely is the perennial Porete question.

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