(50) Thus thou seest and understandest out of what the earth and stones are come to be. But if that kindled Salitter should have continued to be thus in the whole deep of this world, then the whole place thereof would have been a dark valley; for the light was imprisoned, together with and in the third birth or geniture.

(82) Now when the bitter fire-crack was captivated by the light, then the light in its own power pressed yet higher in the deep, till it reached into the hard and cold seat of nature. And there the power of the first going forth or rising up from the sun could not get higher, but sitting, stayed there corporeally, and took possession of that place for a habitation.

(2) Within the crystal which, around the world Revolving, bears the name of its dear leader, Under whom every wickedness lay dead, Coloured like gold, on which the sunshine gleams, A stairway I beheld to such a height Uplifted, that mine eye pursued it not. Likewise beheld I down the steps descending So many splendours, that I thought each light That in the heaven appears was there diffused. And as accordant with their natural custom The rooks together at the break of day Bestir themselves to warm their feathers cold; Then some of them fly off without return, Others come back to where they started from, And others, wheeling round, still keep at home; Such fashion it appeared to me was there Within the sparkling that together came, As soon as on a certain step it struck, And that which nearest unto us remained Became so clear, that in my thought I said, "Well I perceive the love thou showest me; But she, from whom I wait the how and when Of speech and silence, standeth still; whence I Against desire do well if I ask not."

(515) made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent. You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners. Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave? True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads? And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would only see the shadows? Yes, he said. And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them 1 ? Very true. And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the passing shadow? No question, he replied. To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. That is certain. And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of

(13) Moreover, on some of the higher minor planes of this Plane of the Minerals, there is manifested the crystallization of the mineral particles according to a definite principle of design embedded in the consciousness of its particles. The crystal is built upon a definite plane, just as truly as is the acorn or the oak—and in all of these cases the pattern is but an "idea" in the consciousness of the combined particles. The Universal Builder works through the consciousness of the mineral particles just as truly and as wonderfully as through the particles of humanity which we call individual men. The study of crystals, and their formation will open up a new world of thought to the average person, and will give him a peep into the workshop of the Universal Builder in which he will see things heretofore unsuspected and undreamt.

(2) And he: "If I were made of leaded glass, Thine outward image I should not attract Sooner to me than I imprint the inner. Just now thy thoughts came in among my own, With similar attitude and similar face, So that of both one counsel sole I made. If peradventure the right bank so slope That we to the next Bolgia can descend, We shall escape from the imagined chase." Not yet he finished rendering such opinion, When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, Not far remote, with will to seize upon us. My Leader on a sudden seized me up, Even as a mother who by noise is wakened, And close beside her sees the enkindled flames, Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, Having more care of him than of herself, So that she clothes her only with a shift; And downward from the top of the hard bank Supine he gave him to the pendent rock, That one side of the other Bolgia walls. Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice To turn the wheel of any land-built mill, When nearest to the paddles it approaches,

(14) And he awoke from his sleep, and he arose, and the sun had set ; and there was a flame, and behold a furnace was smoking, and a flame of fire passed between the pieces.

(13) Thou hast a similitude of this, in that the earth and stones are proceeded out of the incomprehensibility.

(29) Then first is discerned the glance or splendour, and out of the splendour the fire-crack, and after the fire-crack the power of the kindled body; and the light, with the power of the body, elevateth itself instantly above the crack, and ruleth or reigneth much higher, deeper and more powerfully than the fire-crack.

(9) Seizing me, he led me down to the House of Darkness, the dwelling of Irkalla, to the house where those who enter do not come out, along the road of no return, to the house where those who dwell, do without light, where dirt is their drink, their food is of clay, where, like a bird, they wear garments of feathers, and light cannot be seen, they dwell in the dark, and upon the door and bolt, there lies dust. On entering the House of Dust, everywhere I looked there were royal crowns gathered in heaps, everywhere I listened, it was the bearers of crowns, who, in the past, had ruled the land, but who now served Anu and Enlil cooked meats, served confections, and poured cool water from waterskins. In the house of Dust that I entered there sat the high priest and acolyte, there sat the purification priest and ecstatic, there sat the anointed priests of the Great Gods.

(106) Now being drawn together, it looketh like azure or sky-colour blue, but when the light or flash riseth up therein, then it looketh like the precious jaspis or jasper stone, or as I may call it in my language, a glassy sea, on which the sun shineth, and that very clear and bright.

(3) When I was in it, into molten glass I would have cast me to refresh myself, So without measure was the burning there! And my sweet Father, to encourage me, Discoursing still of Beatrice went on, Saying: "Her eyes I seem to see already!" A voice, that on the other side was singing, Directed us, and we, attent alone On that, came forth where the ascent began. "Venite, benedicti Patris mei," Sounded within a splendour, which was there Such it o'ercame me, and I could not look. "The sun departs," it added, "and night cometh; Tarry ye not, but onward urge your steps, So long as yet the west becomes not dark." Straight forward through the rock the path ascended In such a way that I cut off the rays Before me of the sun, that now was low. And of few stairs we yet had made assay, Ere by the vanished shadow the sun's setting Behind us we perceived, I and my Sages. And ere in all its parts immeasurable The horizon of one aspect had become, And Night her boundless dispensation held,

(5) And then in manner of the little flame, Which followeth the fire where'er it shifts, After the spirit followeth its new form. Since afterwards it takes from this its semblance, It is called shade; and thence it organizes Thereafter every sense, even to the sight. Thence is it that we speak, and thence we laugh; Thence is it that we form the tears and sighs, That on the mountain thou mayhap hast heard. According as impress us our desires And other affections, so the shade is shaped, And this is cause of what thou wonderest at." And now unto the last of all the circles Had we arrived, and to the right hand turned, And were attentive to another care. There the embankment shoots forth flames of fire, And upward doth the cornice breathe a blast That drives them back, and from itself sequesters. Hence we must needs go on the open side, And one by one; and I did fear the fire On this side, and on that the falling down. My Leader said: "Along this place one ought To keep upon the eyes a tightened rein, Seeing that one so easily might err."

(104) Now in the body or fountain is the heat, which generateth the fire, and which is a form or kind of thing that a man can search into; and out of the heat goeth the light through all the spirits and qualities; and the light is the living spirit, which a man cannot search into.

(41) And now after that the Stars and Elements (as is mentioned before) have got their Region and the House to dwell in, then begins the mighty Strife in great Anxiety about the King of the Life. For the Chamber of the Building (or Fabrick] stands in very great Anguish, and [here] we must consider the Original of the Essence of all Essences, the eternal Birth and the Root of all Things; as that there is in the House of the Anguish, first one only Essence [or Being,] and that Essence is the Mixing of all P Essences, and it has first a Will to generate the Light, and that Will is attractive, [astringent or sour.] Or Hell, A Dwelling for the Senses and Thoughts,

(14) Well, then, that fire like a pillar, and the fire in the desert, is the symbol of the holy light which passed through from earth and returned again to heaven, by the wood [of the cross], by which also the gift of intellectual vision was bestowed on us.

(80) But when nature kindled itself thus horribly, then the house of joy came to be a house of trouble, affliction and misery. For the astringent quality became kindled in its own house, which is a very hard, cold and dark essence, like a cold, hard frosty winter, which only attracted the Salitter together, and dried it up, so that it became rugged, cold and sharp like stones, wherein the heat was captivated, imprisoned, and also attracted together, and so formed or framed into a hard, cold, dark essence.

(18) When then the mind doth free itself from the earth-body, it straightway putteth on its proper robe of fire, with which it could not dwell in an earth-body. For earth doth not bear fire; for it is all set in a blaze even by a small spark. And for this cause is water poured around earth, to be a guard and wall, to keep the blazing of the fire away. But mind, the swiftest thing of all divine outthinkings, and swifter than all elements, hath for its body fire. For mind being builder doth use the fire as tool for the construction of all things - the Mind of all [for the construction] of all things, but that of man only for things on earth. Stript of its fire the mind on earth cannot make things divine, for it is human in its dispensation.

(3) And the soul includes a faculty peculiarly addressed to Beauty- one incomparably sure in the appreciation of its own, never in doubt whenever any lovely thing presents itself for judgement.

Or perhaps the soul itself acts immediately, affirming the Beautiful where it finds something accordant with the Ideal-Form within itself, using this Idea as a canon of accuracy in its decision.

But what accordance is there between the material and that which antedates all Matter?

On what principle does the architect, when he finds the house standing before him correspondent with his inner ideal of a house, pronounce it beautiful? Is it not that the house before him, the stones apart, is the inner idea stamped upon the mass of exterior matter, the indivisible exhibited in diversity?

So with the perceptive faculty: discerning in certain objects the Ideal-Form which has bound and controlled shapeless matter, opposed in nature to Idea, seeing further stamped upon the common shapes some shape excellent above the common, it gathers into unity what still remains fragmentary, catches it up and carries it within, no longer a thing of parts, and presents it to the Ideal-Principle as something concordant and congenial, a natural friend: the joy here is like that of a good man who discerns in a youth the early signs of a virtue consonant with the achieved perfection within his own soul.

The beauty of colour is also the outcome of a unification: it derives from shape, from the conquest of the darkness inherent in Matter by the pouring-in of light, the unembodied, which is a Rational-Principle and an Ideal-Form.

Hence it is that Fire itself is splendid beyond all material bodies, holding the rank of Ideal-Principle to the other elements, making ever upwards, the subtlest and sprightliest of all bodies, as very near to the unembodied; itself alone admitting no other, all the others penetrated by it: for they take warmth but this is never cold; it has colour primally; they receive the Form of colour from it: hence the splendour of its light, the splendour that belongs to the Idea. And all that has resisted and is but uncertainly held by its light remains outside of beauty, as not having absorbed the plenitude of the Form of colour.

And harmonies unheard in sound create the harmonies we hear, and wake the soul to the consciousness of beauty, showing it the one essence in another kind: for the measures of our sensible music are not arbitrary but are determined by the Principle whose labour is to dominate Matter and bring pattern into being.

Thus far of the beauties of the realm of sense, images and shadow-pictures, fugitives that have entered into Matter- to adorn, and to ravish, where they are seen.

(8) For this is very well to be apprehended and perceived in the Earth and Stones, that the four Elements are of one only Substance, and that the Earth and Stones were generated in the Fierceness from the Kindling of the Elements. For a Stone is but Water; and therefore we should do well to consider, what Kind of Fierceness there must have been, that has drawn the Water so hard together.