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poured in, and it will sink to the bottom. But their intention is this, that while the humour is drying, and when it has
been turned into powder, leave it in its glass vessel for forty days, until it passes through various colours, which the
Philosophers have described. By this method of cooking the bodies put on their spirits and spiritual tinctures, and
become warm.
The Turba answereth:- Thou hast given light to us, O Effistus, and hast done excellently! Truly art thou cleared from
envy; wherefore, let one of you others speak as he pleases.
The Thirty-Ninth Dictum.
Bacsen saith:- O all ye seekers after this Art, ye can reach no useful result without a patient, laborious, and solicitous
soul, persevering courage, and continuous regimen. He, therefore, who is willing to Persevere in this disposition,
and would enjoy the result, may enter upon it, but he who desires to learn over speedily, must not have recourse to
our books, for they impose great labour before they are read in their higher sense, once, twice, or thrice. Therefore,
the Master saith:- Whosoever bends his back over the study of our books, devoting his leisure thereto, is not
occupied with vain thoughts, but fears God, and shall reign in the Kingdom without fail until he die. For what ye
seek is not of small price. Woe unto you who seek the very great and compensating treasure of God! Know ye not
that for the smallest Purpose in the world, earthly men will give themselves to death, and what, therefore, ought they
to do for this most excellent and almost impossible offering? Now, the regimen is greater than is perceived by
reason, except through divine inspiration. I once met with a person who was as well acquainted with the elements as
I myself, but when he proceeded to rule this disposition, he attained not to the joy thereof by reason of his sadness
and ignorance in ruling, and excessive eagerness, desire, and haste concerning the purpose. Woe unto you, sons of
the Doctrine! For one who plants trees does not look for fruit, save in due season; he also who sows seeds does not
expect to reap, except at harvest time. How, then, should ye desire to attain this offering when ye have read but a
single book, or have adventured only the first regimen? But the Philosophers have plainly stated that the truth is not
to be discerned except after error, and nothing creates greater pain at heart than error in this Art, while each
imagines that he has almost the whole world, and yet finds nothing in his hands. Woe unto you! Understand the
dictum of the Philosopher, and how he divided the work when he said- pound, cook, reiterate, and be thou not
weary. But when thus he divided the work, he signified commingling, cooking, assimilating, roasting, heating,
whitening, pounding, cooking Ethelia, making rust or redness, and tingeing. Here, therefore, are there many names,
and yet there is one regimen. And if men knew that one decoction and one contrition would suffice them, they
would not so often repeat their words, as they have done, and in order that the mixed body may be pounded and
cooked diligently, have admonished you not to be weary thereof. Having darkened the matter to you with their
words, it suffices me to speak in this manner. It is needful to complexionate the venom rightly, then cook many
times, and do not grow tired of the decoction. Imbue and cook it until it shall become as I have ordained that it
should be ruled by you- namely, impalpable spirits, and until ye perceive that the Ixir is clad in the garment of the
Kingdom. For when ye behold the Ixir turned into Tyrian colour, then have ye found that which the Philosophers
discovered before you. If ye understand my words (and although my words be dead, yet is there life therein for those
who understand themselves), they will forthwith explain any ambiguity occurring herein. Read, therefore,
repeatedly, for reading is a dead speech, but that which is uttered with the lips the same is living speech. Hence we
have ordered you to read frequently, and, moreover, ponder diligently over the things which we have narrated.
The Fortieth Dictum.
Jargus saith:- Thou hast left obscure a part of thy discourse, O Bacsen!
And he:- Do thou, therefore, Jargus, in thy clemency shew forth the same!
And he answereth:- The copper of which thou hast before spoken is not copper, nor is it the tin of the vulgar; it is
our true work (or body) which must be combined with the body of Magnesia, that it may be cooked and pounded
without wearying until the stone is made. Afterwards, that stone must be pounded in its vessel with the water of
nitre, and, subsequently, placed in liquefaction until it is destroyed. But, all ye investigators of this art, it is necessary
to have a water by which the more you cook, so much the more you sprinkle, until the said copper shall put on rust,
which is the foundation of our work. Cook, therefore, and pound with Egyptian vinegar.
The Forty-First Dictum.
Zimon saith:- Whatsoever thou hast uttered, O Jargos, is true, yet I do not see that the whole Turba hath spoken
concerning the rotundum.
Then he:- Speak, therefore, thine opinion concerning it, O Zimon!
Zimon saith:- I notify to Posterity that the rotundum turns into four elements, and is derived out of one thing.
The Turba answereth:- Inasmuch as thou art speaking, explain for future generations the method of ruling.
And he:- Willingly: it is necessary to take one part of our copper, but of Permanent Water three parts; then let them
be mixed and cooked until they be thickened and become one stone, concerning which the envious have said: Take
one part of the pure body, but three parts of copper of Magnesia; then commingle with rectified vinegar, mixed with
male of earth; close the vessel, observe what is in it, and cook continuously until it becomes earth.
The Forty-Second Dictum.
Ascanius saith:- Too much talking, O all ye Sons of the Doctrine, leads this subject further into error! But when ye
read in the books of the Philosophers that Nature is one only, and that she overcomes all things: Know that they are
one thing and one composite. Do ye not see that the complexion of a man is formed out of a soul and body; thus,
also, must ye conjoin these, because the Philosophers, when they prepared the matters and conjoined spouses
mutually in love with each other, behold there ascended from them a golden water!
The Turba answereth:- When thou wast treating of the first work, lo! thou didst turn unto the second! How
ambiguous hast thou made thy book, and how obscure are thy words!
Then he:- I will perform the disposition of the first work.
The Turba answereth:- Do this.
And he:- Stir up war between copper and quicksilver, until they go to destruction and are corrupted, because when
the copper conceives the quicksilver it coagulates it, but when the quicksilver conceives the copper, the copper is
congealed into earth; stir up, therefore, a fight between them; destroy the body of the copper until it becomes a
powder. But conjoin the male to the female, which are vapour and quicksilver, until the male and the female become
Ethel, for he who changes them into spirit by means of Ethel, and next makes them red, tinges every body, because,
when by diligent cooking ye pound the body, ye extract a pure, spiritual, and sublime soul therefrom, which tinges
every body.
The Turba answereth:- Inform, therefore, posterity what is that body.
And he:- It is a natural sulphureous thing which is called by the names of all bodies.
The Forty-Third Dictum. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]