The Book of the Rewards of Life: Liber Vitae Meritorum PDF
Preview The Book of the Rewards of Life: Liber Vitae Meritorum
HILDEGARD OF BINGEN HILDEGARD OF BINGEN The Book of the Rewards of Life (Liber Vitae Meritorum) translated by Bruce W. Hozeski Oxford University Press New York Oxford Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Bombay Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Dares Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © I 994 by Bruce W. Hozeski This edition published by arrangement with Garland Publishing. Inc. First published by Garland Publishing. Inc.. 1994 First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback. 1997 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No pan of this publication may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system. or uansrnined. in any form or by any means. elearonic. mechanical. photocopying. recording. or otherwise. without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hildegard. Saint. 1098-1179. [Liber vitae meritorum. English) The book of the rewards of life = Liber vitae meritorum I Hildegard of Bingen ; translated by Bruce W. Hozeski. p. an. Originally published: New York : Garland Pub .. 1994. (Garland library of medieval literature; v. 89t. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-19-511371-3 (Pbk.) I. Mysticism-Catholic Church-Early works to 1800. 2. Sin-Early works to 1800. 3. Vinues-Early works to 1800. 4. Catholic Church-Docuines-Early works to 1800. I. Hozeski. Bruce. II. Title. [BV5080.H5313 1997) 248.2'2-dcl1 96-39553 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS Preface vu Acknowledgments 1x Introduction x1 The First Part: Concerning the Man Looking to the East 1 and to the South The Second Part: Concerning the Man Looking to the West 67 and to the North The Third Part: Concerning the Man Looking to the North 119 and to the East The Fourth Part: Concerning the Man Looking to the South 171 and to the West The Fifth Part: Concerning the Man Looking over the 215 Whole Earth The Sixth Part: Concerning the Man Moving Himself 261 with the Four Zones of the Earth PREFACE When I began working on the writings of Hildegard von Bingen in the late 1960's, I was the only one in this country doing so at the time, but I realized very quickly that there were lifetimes of research for hundreds of scholars in this and other English-speaking countries. Since most of her writings are very long and in complex Latin, readily avail able English translations were a necessary first step, although I believed then and still do that scholarly researchers need to work with the origi nal Latin. This volume is the second of my translations of Hildegard's three collections of her mystical visions, Scivias (1986) being the first. Like Scivias, Liber Vitae Meritorum was written in Latin under Hildegard's immediate and direct supervision. My approach has been to take Hilde gard's original Latin and to render it into a Modem English version that captures as much of Hildegard's style of writing as is possible in our language, so different from hers, and yet to keep it reasonably readable. It would be inappropriate to translate in such a way that Hildegard would read like a twentieth-century novel. However, no translation can capture the beauty, complexity and subtlety of the original. Hildegard's positioning, for example, of a particular adjective and noun between two very long and complex subordinate clauses so that their meaning applies to both cannot be captured in Modem English without syntax that would be more suitable for puzzling than for reading. My aim has been to make this important writer known to a wide vari ety of readers: the many English-speaking Hildegard scholars through out the world, those interested in mysticism, those interested in the history of religion, those interested in religious reading, and those inter ested in major woman writers who have been previously neglected. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes to thank the following persons who are responsible in various ways for the completion of this translation: Joannes Baptista Pitra for his Latin edition of Hildegard's Liber Vitae Meritorum in Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis Opera Spicilegio Solesmen si Parata. Analecta Sacra 8. 1882. Reprint. Farnborough, England, 1966. Lowry Nelson, Jr., professor at Yale University; Arnold Williams and George Radimersky, professors emeriti at Michigan State University; C. Warren Vander Hill, provost, and Charles L. Houck and Linda K. Han son, successive chairs of the Department of English, Ball State Universi ty; M. John Eiden, Ball State University; the many scholars researching the various mystics and those researching Hildegard von Bingen, par ticularly Pozzi Escot, professor at Wheaton College and the New En gland Conservatory of Music as well as the current president of the International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies. Kathleen, my wife, by her continuous enthusiasm and encouragement during the length of this entire project and Alison, our daughter, whose youthful excitement and joy in learning new things are strong motivat ing forces in this scholarly pursuit. ix
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