(69) And the fifth was named Kâsdejâ: this is he who showed the children of men all the wicked smitings of spirits and demons, and the smitings of the embryo in the womb, that it may pass away, and [the smitings of the soul] the bites of the serpent, and the smitings which befall through the noontide heat, the son of the serpent named Tabââ‘ĕt.

(47) Munpus saith: Thou hast already treated sufficiently of Rubigo, O Attamus! I will speak, therefore, of venom, and will instruct future generations that venom is not a body, because subtle spirits have made it into a tenuous spirit, have tinged the body and burned it with venom, which venom the Philosopher asserts will tinge every body. But the Ancient Philosophers thought that he who turned gold into venom had arrived at the purpose, but he who can do not this profiteth nothing. Now I say unto you, all ye Sons of the Doctrine, that unless ye reduce the thing by fire until those things ascend like a spirit, ye effect nought. This, therefore, is a spirit avoiding the fire anda ponderous 22 St e ‘ smoke,* which when it enters the body penetrates it entirely, and makes the body rejoice.* The Philosophers have

all said: Take a black and conjoining spirit; therewith break up the bodies and torture them till they be altered.

(3) But you, O ye Daêvas! are all a seed from the Evil Mind . He who offers sacrifice to You the most is of the Lie-demon, and (he is a child) of perversion . In advance (are your) deceits whereby ye are famed in the sevenfold earth!

(26) ZENON saith: I perceive that you, O crowd of the Wise, have conjoined two bodies, which your Master by no means ordered you todo!

The Turba answereth: Inform us according to your own opinion, O Zenon, in this matter, and beware of envy! Then he: Know that the colours which shall appear to you out of it are these. Know, O Sons of the Doctrine, that it behoves you to allow the composition to putrefy for forty days, and then to sublimate five times in a vessel. Next join to a fire of dung, and cook, when these colours shall appear to you: On the first day black citrine, on the second black red, on the third like unto a dry crocus,* finally, the purple colour will appear to you; the ferment and the coin of the vulgar shall be imposed; then is the Ixir composed out of the humid and the dry, and then it tinges with an invariable tincture. Know also that it is called a body wherein there is gold. But when ye are composing the Ixir, beware lest you extract the same hastily, for it lingers.t Extract, therefore, the same as an Ixir. For this venom is, as it were, birth and life, because it is a soul extracted out of many things, and imposed upon coins:i its tincture, therefore, is life to those things with which it is joined, from which it removes evil, but it is death to the bodies from which it is extracted. Accordingly, the Masters have said that between them there exists the same desire as between male and female, and if any one, being introduced to this Art, should know these natures, he would sustain the tediousness of cooking until he gained his purpose according to the will of God.

(35) But Zimon* saith: Hast thou left anything to be said by another? And the Turba: Since the words of Nicarus and Bacsen are of little good to those who seek after this Art, tell us, therefore, what thou knowest, according as we have said. And he: Ye speak the truth, O all ye seekers after this Art! Nothing else has led you into error but the sayings of the envious,t because what ye seek is sold at the smallest possible price.* If men knew this, and how great was the thing they held in their hands, they would in no wise sell it. Therefore, the Philosophers have glorified that venom,t have treated of it variously, and in many ways, have taken and applied to it all manner of names, wherefore, certain envious persons have said: It is a stone and not a stone, but a gum of Ascotia, consequently, the Philosophers have concealed the power thereof. For this spirit which ye seek, that ye may tinge therewith, is concealed in the body, and hidden away from sight, even as the soul in the human body.} But ye IIO seekers after the Art, unless ye disintegrate this body, imbue and pound both cautiously and diligently, until ye extract it from its grossness (or grease), and turn it into a tenuous and impalpable spirit, have your labour in vain. Wherefore the Philosophers have said: Except ye turn bodies into notbodies, and incorporeal things into bodies, ye have not yet discovered the rule of operation. But the

Turba saith: ‘Tell, therefore, posterity how bodies are turned into not-bodies. And he: They are pounded with fire and Ethelia till they become a powder.* And know that this does not take place except by an exceedingly strong decoction, and continuous contrition, performed with a moderate fire,t not with hands,?

with imbibition and putrefaction, with exposure to the sun and to Ethelia. The envious caused the vulgar to err in this Art when they stated that the thing is common in its nature and is sold at a small price. They further said that the nature was more precious than all natures, wherefore they deceived those who had recourse to their books. At the same time they spoke the truth, and therefore doubt not these things. But the

Turba answereth: Seeing that thou believest the sayings of the envious, explain, therefore, to posterity the disposition of the two natures. And he: I testify to you that Art requires two natures, for the precious is not produced without the common, nor the common without the precious.

It behoves you, therefore, O all ye investigators of this Art, to follow the sayings of Victimerus,* when he said to his disciples: Nothing else helps you save to sublimate water and vapour. And the Turba: The whole work is in the vapour and the sublimation of water. Demonstrate, therefore, to them the disposition of the vapour. And he: When ye shall perceive that the natures have become water by reason of the heat of the fire, and that they have been purified, and that the whole body of Magnesia is liquefied as water; then all things have been made vapour, and rightly, for then the vapour contains its own equal, wherefore the envioust call either vapour, because both are joined in decoctions, and one contains the other. Thus our stag finds no path to escape, although flight be essential to it. The one keeps back the other, so that it has no opportunity to fly, and it finds no place to escape; hence all are made permanent, for when the one falls, being hidden in the body, it is congealed with it, and its colour varies, and it extracts its nature from the properties which God has infused into His elect, and it alienates it, lest it flee. But the blackness and redness appear, and it falls into sickness, and dies by rust and putrefaction; properly speaking, then, it has not a flight, although it is desirous to escape servitude; then when it is free it follows its spouse, that a favourable colour may befall itself and its spouse; its beauty is not as it was, but when it is placed with coins, it makes them gold. For this reason, therefore, the Philosophers have called the spirit and the soul vapour. They have also called it the black humid wanting perlution; and forasmuch as in man there are both humidity and dryness, thus our work, which the envious have concealed, is nothing else I but vapour and water.

The Turba answereth: Demonstrate vapour and water! And he: I say that the work is out of two; the envious have called it composed out of two, because these two become four, wherein are dryness and humidity, spirit and vapour.

The Turba answereth: Thou hast spoken excellently, and without envy. Let Zimon next follow.

(119) On the other hand, the devil with his poison shooteth and darteth at the seven qualifying or fountain spirits which generate the soul, intending to destroy and to kindle them, that thereby he may get the whole body for his own propriety.

(58) Barcus* saith: The whole Turba, O Acratus, has already spoken, as you have seen, but a benefactor sometimes deceives, though his intention is to do good. And they: Thou speakest truly. Proceed, therefore, according to thy opinion, and beware of envy! Then he:

You must know that the envious have described this arcanum in the shade; in physical reasoning and astronomy, and the art of images; they have also likened it to trees; they have ambiguously concealed it by the names of metals, vapours, and reptiles; as is generally perceived in all their work.

I, nevertheless, direct you, investigators of this science, to take iron and draw it into plates; finally, mix (or sprinkle) it with venom, and place it in its vessel, the mouth of which must be closed most carefully, and beware lest ye too much increase the humour, or, on the other hand, lest it be too dry, but stir it vigorously as a mass, because, if the water be in excess, it will not be contained in the chimney, while, if it be too dry, it will neither be conjoined nor cooked in the chimney; hence I direct you to confect it diligently; finally, place it in its vessel, the mouth of which must be closed internally and externally with clay, and, having kindled coals above it, after some days ye shall open it, and there shall ye find the iron plates already liquefied; while on the lid of the vessel ye shall find globules. For when the fire is kindled the vinegar* ascends, because its spiritual nature passes into the air, wherefore, I direct you to keep that part separately. Ye must also know that by multipliedt decoctions and attritions it is congealed and coloured by the fire, and its nature is changed. By a similar decoction and liquefaction Cambar is not disjoined.t I notify to you that by the said frequent decoction the weight of a third part of the water is consumed, but the residue becomes a wind in the Cambar of the second spirit.* And know ye that nothing is more precious or more excellent than the red sand of the sea, for the Sputum of Luna is united with the light of the Sun’s rays.t Luna is perfected by the coming on of night, and by the heat of the Sun the dew is congealed. Then, that being wounded, the dew of the deathdealer is joined,! and the more the days pass on the more intensely is it congealed, and is not burned. For he who cooks with the Sun is himself congealed,§’ and that signal whiteness causes it to overcome the terrene fire.

Then saith Bonites: Do you not know, O Balgus, that the Spume of Luna tinges nothing except our copper? And Bateus: Thou speakest truly, And he: Why, therefore, hast thou omitted to describe that tree, of the fruit whereof whosoever eateth shall hunger nevermore? And Barcus: A certain person,* who has followed science, has notified to me after what manner he discovered this same tree, and appropriately operating, did extract the fruit and eat of it. But when I inquired of him concerning the growth and the increment, he described that pure whiteness, thinking that the same is found without any laborious disposition. Then its perfection is the fruit thereof. But when I further asked how it is nourished with food until it fructifies, he said: Take that tree, and build a house about it, which shall wholly surround the same, which shall also be circular, dark, encircled by dew, and shall have placed on it a man of a hundred years; shut and secure the door lest dust or wind should reach them. ‘Then in the time of 180 days send them away to their homes. I say that man shall not cease to eat of the fruit of that tree to the perfection of the number [of the days] until the old man shall become young. O what marvellous natures, which have transformed the soul of that old man into a juvenile body, and the father is made into the son! Blessed be thou, O most excellent God!

(4) They who with evil scheme and will shall cherish and help on the Wrath of Rapine, and with her Râma , and (not by silent favour, but) with their very tongues, whose will and wish (run) not with good but evil deeds. These settle and support the Daêvas (in their power, not the Lord). It is the wicked's Faith and Insight (so to do. Their faith is the perverted).