(49) Betus saith: O all ye Philosophers, ye have not dealt sparingly concerning composition and contact, but composition, contact, and congelation are one thing! Take, therefore, a part from the one composition and a part out of ferment of gold,* and on these impose pure water of sulphur. This, then, is the potent (or revealed)arcanum which tinges every body.

PyTHAGORAS answereth: O Belus, why hast thou called it a potent arcanum, yet hast not shown its work? And he: In our books, O Master, we have found the same which thou hast received from the ancients! And PyTHAGORAS: Therefore have I assembled you together, that you might remove any obscurities which are in any books. And he: Willingly, O Master! It is to be noted that pure water which is from sulphur is not composed of sulphur alone, but is composed of several things, for the one sulphur is made out of several sulphurs.t How, therefore, O Master, shall I compose these things that they may become one? And he: Mix, O Belus, that which strives with the fire with that which does not strive, for things which are conjoined in a fire suitable to the same contend, because the warm venoms of the physician are cooked ina gentle, incomburent fire!* Surely ye perceive what the Philosophers have stated concerning decoction, that a little sulphur burns many strong things, and the humour which remains is called humid pitch, balsam of gum, and other like things. Therefore our Philosophers are made like to the physicians, notwithstanding that the tests of the physicians are more intense than those of the Philosophers.

The Turba answereth: I wish, O Belus, that you would also shew the disposition of this potent arcanum!

And he: I proclaim to future generations that this arcanum proceeds from two compositions, that is to say, sulphur and magnesia. But after it is reduced and conjoined into one, the Philosophers have called it water, spume of Boletus (z.e., a species of fungus), and the thickness of gold. When, however, it has been reduced into quicksilver, they call it sulphur of water; sulphur also, when it contains sulphur, they term a fiery venom, because it is a potent (or open) arcanum which ascends from those things ye know.

(1) Iximiprus saith:—I testify that the beginning of all things is a Certain Nature, which is perpetual, coequalling all things, and that the visible natures, with their births and decay, are times wherein the ends to which that nature brings them are beheld and summoned.* Now, I instruct you that the stars are igneous, and are kept within bounds by the air. If the humidity and density of the air did not exist to separate the flames of the sun from living things, then the Sun would consume all creatures. But God has provided the separating air, lest that which He has created should be burnt up. Do you not observe that the Sun when it rises in the heaven overcomes the air by its heat, and that the warmth penetrates from the upper to the lower parts of the air? If, then, the air did not presently breathe forth those winds whereby creatures are generated, the i Sun by its heat would certainly destroy all that lives. But the Sun is kept in check by the air, which thus conquers because it unites the heat of the Sun to its own heat, and the humidity of water to its own humidity. Have you not remarked how tenuous water.

is drawn up into the air by the action of the heat of the Sun, which thus helps the water against itself? If the water did not nourish the air by such tenuous moisture, assuredly the Sun would overcome the air. The fire, therefore, extracts moisture from the water, by means of which the air conquers the fire itself. Thus, fire and water are enemies between which there is no consanguinity, for the fire is hot and dry, but the water is cold and moist.. The air, which is warm and moist, joins these together by its concording medium; between the humidity of water and the heat of fire the air is thus placed to establish peace. And lock ye all how there shall arise a spirit from the tenuous vapour of the air, because the heat being joined to the humour, there necessarily issues something tenuous, which will become a wind. For the heat of the Sun extracts something tenuous out of the air, which also becomes spirit and life to all creatures. All this, however, is disposed in such manner by the will of God, and a coruscation appears when the heat of the Sun touches and breaks up a cloud.

The Turba saith:—Well hast thou described the fire, even as thou knowest concerning it, and thou hast believed the word of thy brother.

(12) And in whomsoever the eye of the soul has been blinded by ill-nurture and teaching, let him advance to the true light, to the truth, which shows by writing the things that are unwritten. "Ye that thirst, go to the waters," says Esaias, And "drink water from thine own vessels," Solomon exhorts. Accordingly in "The Laws," the philosopher who learned from the Hebrews, Plato, commands husbandmen not to irrigate or take water from others, until they have first dug down in their own ground to what is called the virgin soil, and found it dry.

(23) And there the holy Tincture is generated out of the Essences, which regards not the Fire, but sets the Essences (viz. the Soul) in its pleasant Joy. Then come the other three Elements out of their Regions, and fill themselves also by Force Or Dominion. therein, each of them would taste of the Virgin, receive her and qualify [or mingle] with her: viz. the Water, that fills itself by Force also therein, and it tastes the sweet Tincture of the Soul. And the Fire says; I would willingly keep the Water, for I can quench my Thirst therewith, and refresh myself therein. And the Air says; I am indeed the Spirit, I will blow up the Heat and Fire, that the Water do not choak thee. And the Fire says to the Air; I will keep thee, for thou upholdest my Quality for me, that I also go not out. And then comes the Element [of] (Earth) and says; What will you three do alone? You will starve and consume one another; for you depend all three on one another and devour yourselves, and when you shall have consumed the Water, then you extinguish; for the Air cannot move, unless it has some Water; for the Water is the Mother of the Air, which generates the Air: Moreover, the Fire becomes much too fierce [violent and eager] if the Water be consumed, and consumes the Body, and then our Region is out, and none of us can subsist.

(38) Erristus saith: Thou hast spoken most excellently, O Bonellus, and I bear witness to all thy words!

The Turba saith: Tell us if there be any service in the speech of Bonellus, so that those initiated in this disposition may bemore bold andcertain.

Erristus saith: Consider, all ye investigators of this Art, how Hermes, chief of the Philosophers, spoke and demonstrated when he wished to mix the natures. Take, he tells us, the stone of gold, combine with humour which is permanent water, set in its’ vessel, over a gentle fire until liquefaction takes place. Then leave it until the water dries, and the sand and water are combined, one with another; then let the fire be more intense than before, until it again becomes dry, and is made earth. When this is done, understand that here is the beginning of the arcanum; but do this many times, until two-thirds of the water perish, and colours manifest unto you. The

Turpsa answereth: Thou hast spoken excellently, O Effistus! Yet, briefly inform us further. And he: I testify to posterity that the dealbation doth not take place save by decoction.* Consequently, Agadaimon has very properly. treated of cooking, of pounding, and of imbuing,t ethelia. Yet I direct you not to pour on the whole of the water at one time, lest the Ixir be submerged, but pour it in gradually, pound and dessicate, and do this several times until the water be exhausted. Now concerning this the envious have said: Leave the water when it has all been 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.

(3) Anaxacoras saith:—I make known that the beginning of all those things which God hath created is weight and proportion,* for weight rules all things, and the weight and spissitude of the earth is manifest in proportion; but weight is not found except in body. And know, all ye Turba, that the spissitude of the four elements reposes in the earth; for the spissitude of fire falls into air, the spissitude of air, together with the spissitude received from the fire, falls into water; the spissitude also of water, increased by the spissitude of fire and air, reposes in earth. Have you not observed how the spissitude of the four elements is conjoined in earth? The same, therefore, is more inspissated than all.

Then saith the Turba: —Thou hast well spoken. Verily the earth is more inspissated than are the rest. Which, therefore, is the most rare of the four elements and is most worthy to possess the rarity of these four?

He answereth:—Fire is the most rare among all, and thereunto cometh what is rare of these four. But air is less rare than fire, because it is warm and moist, while fire is warm and dry; now that which is warm and dry is more rare than the warm and moist. They say unto him: —Which element is of less rarity than air?

He answereth:—Water, since cold and moisture inhere therein, and every cold humid is of less rarity than a warm humid.

Then do they say unto him:—Thou hast spoken truly. What, therefore, is of less rarity than water?

He answereth:-—Earth, because it is cold and dry, and that which is cold and dry is of less rarity than that which is cold and moist.

PyTHAGoRAS saith:—Well have ye provided, O Sons of the Doctrine, the description of these four natures,* out of which God hath created all things. Blessed, therefore, is he who comprehends what ye have declared, for from the apex of the world he shall not find an intention greater than his own! Let us, therefore, make perfect our discourse.

They reply:—Direct every one to take up our speech in turn. Speak thou, O Pandolfus!

To

(4) Panvotrus saith:—I signify to posterity that air is a tenuous matter of water, and that it is not separated from it. It remains above the dry earth, to wit, the air hidden in the water, which is under the earth. If this air did not exist, the earth would not remain above the humid water. They answer:—Thou hast said well; complete, therefore, thy speech. Sut he continueth: The air which is hidden in the water under the earth is that which sustains the earth, lest it should be plunged into the said water; and it, moreover, prevents the earth from being overflowed by that water. The province of the air is, therefore, to fill up and to make separation between diverse things, that is to say, water and earth, and it is constituted a peacemaker between hostile things, namely, water and fire, dividing these, lest they destroy one another.

The Turba saith:—If you gave an illustration hereof, it would be clearer to those who do not understand.

He answereth:—An egg is an illustration, for therein four things are conjoined; the visible cortex or shell represents the earth, and the albumen, or white part, is the water.* But a very thin inner cortex is joined to the outer cortex, representing, as I have signified to you, the separating medium between earth and water, namely, that air which divides the earth from the water. The yolk also of the egg represents fire; the cortex which contains the yolk corresponds to that other air which separates the water from the fire. But they are both one and the same air, namely, that which separates things frigid, the earth from the water, and that which separates the water from the fire. But the lower air is thicker than the upper air, and the upper air is more rare and subtle, being nearer to the fire than the lower air. In the egg, therefore, are four things—earth, water, air, and fire. But the point of the Sun, these four excepted, is in the centre of the yolk, and this is the chicken. Consequently, all philosophers in this most excellent art have described the egg as an example, which same thing they have set over their work.

(22) Water also springeth in every living and moving creature in this world. In the water consisteth the body of everything, as the spirit consisteth in the air, be it in animals [or in flesh] or in vegetables.

(12) He said, "I am a drawer of water; water attracts me, No drawer of water flees from water, Though it may make my hand and belly dropsical, I should say, when they asked me about my belly, 'Would that the ocean might flow into it!' Though the bottle of my belly were burst with water, And though I should die, my death would be acceptable. Wheresoever I see one seeking water, I envy him, And cry, 'Would I were in his place!' My hand is a tabor and my belly a drum,

(25) Hereupon thus say the three Elements: But so they may afterwards get a Dwelling in us, and may come to be strong and great, and then we must depart, or be in Subjection to them, and therefore we will not take them in neither, for they may come to be as rough and cold as thou art: Yet this we will do, thou mayest let thy Children dwell in our Courts and Porches, and we will come and be their Guest, and eat of their Fruit, and drink of their Drink, else the Water which is contained in the Element would be too little for us.

(54) Anaxacoras saith: Take the volatile burnt thing which lacks a body, and incorporate it. Then take the ponderous thing, having smoke, and thirsting to imbibe.

The Turba answereth: Explain, O Anaxagoras, what is this obscurity which you expound, and beware of being envious! And he: I testify to you that this volatile burnt thing, and this cther which thirsts, are Ethelia, which has been conjoined with sulphur. Therefore, place these in a glass vessel over the fire, and cook until the whole becomes Cambar. Then God will accomplish the arcanum ye seek. But I direct you to cook continuously, and not to grow tired of repeating the process. And know ye that the perfection of this work is the confection of water of sulphur with tabula;* finally, it is cooked until it becomes Rubigo, for all the Philosophers have said: He who is able to turn Rubigo into golden venom has already achieved the desired work, but otherwise his labour is vain.

(5) 'When a man is thus said to be thirsty, fire carries away what has been drunk by him. Therefore as they speak of a cow-leader (go-nâya), of a horse-leader (asva-nâya), of a man-leader (purusha-nâya), so they call fire udanyâ, thirst, i. e. water-leader. Thus (by water digested &c.), my son, know this offshoot (the body) to be brought forth: this (body) could not be without a root (cause).

(3) 'It thought , may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth fire . 'That fire thought, may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth water . 'And therefore whenever anybody anywhere is hot and perspires, water is produced on him from fire alone.

(24) Bocascus* saith: Thou hast spoken well, O Belus, and therefore I follow thy steps!

He answereth: As it may please you, but do not become envious, for that is not the part of the Wise. And Bocascus: Thou speakest the truth, and thus, therefore, I direct the Sons of the Doctrine. Take lead, and, as the Philosophers have ordained, imbue, liquefy, and afterwards congeal, until a stone is produced; then rule the stone with gluten of gold and syrup of pomegranates until it be broken up. But you have already divided the water into two parts, with one of which you have liquefied the lead, and it has become as water; cook, therefore, the same until it be dried and have become earth; then pound with the water reserved until it acquire a red colour, as you have been frequently ordered.*

The Turba answereth: Thou hast done nothing but pile up ambiguous words, Return, therefore, to the subject. And he: Ye who wish to coagulate quicksilver,t must mix it with its equal.

Afterwards cook it diligently until both become permanent water, and, again, cook this water until it be coagulated. But let this be desiccated with its own equal vapour, because ye have found the whole quicksilver to be coagulated by itself.* If ye understand, and place in your vessel what is necessary, cook it until it be coagulated, and then poundt until it becomes a crocus like to the colour of gold.

(28) Custos saith: I am surprised, O all ye Turba! at the very great force and nature of this water, for when it has entered into the said body, it turns it first into earth, and next into powder, to test the perfection of which take in the hand, and if ye find it impalpable as water, it is then most excellent;

otherwise, repeat the cooking until it is brought to the required condition, And know that if ye use any substance other than our copper, and rule with our water, it will profit you nothing.

If, on the other hand, ye rule our copper with our water, ye shall find all that has been promised by us. But the

Turba answereth: Father, the envious* created no little obscurity when they commanded us to take lead and white quicksilver, and to rule the same with dew and the sun till it becomes a coin-like stone. Then he: They meant our copper and our permanent water, when they thus directed you to cook in a gentle fire, and affirmed that there should be produced the said coinlike stone, concerning which the Wise have also observed, that Nature rejoices in Nature, by reason of the affnity which they know to exist between the two bodies, that is to say, copper and permanent water. Therefore, the nature of these two is one, for between them there is a mixed affinity, without which they would not so swiftly unite, and be held together so that they may become one. Saith the Turba: Why do the envious direct us to take the copper which we have now made, and roasted until it has become gold?

(93) Water is a symbol of life; hence Plato and the gods before Plato, call it (the Soul) at one time the whole water of vivification, and at another time a certain fountain of it.

(83) The body taketh its food from the seed of the seven spirits of God in the body of the great deep, which [body] is fire, air, water and earth.

(36) AFFLONTUS,* the Philosopher, saith: I notify to you all, O ye investigators of this Art, that unless ye sublime the substances at the commencement by cooking, without contrition of hands, until the whole become water, ye have not yet found the work. And know ye, that the copper was formerly called sand, but by others stone, and, indeed, the names vary in every regimen. Know further, that the nature and humidity become water, then a stone, if ye cause them to be well complexionated, and if ye are acquainted with the natures, because the part which is light and spiritual rises to the top, but that which is thick and heavy remains below in the vessel. Now this is the contrition of the Philosophers, namely, that which is not sublimated sinks down, but that which becomes a spiritual powder rises to the top of the vessel, and this is the contrition of decoction, not of hands. Know also, that unless ye have turned all into powder, ye have not yet pounded them completely. Cook them, therefore, successively until they become converted, and a powder. Wherefore Agadaimon* saith: Cook the copper until it become a gentle and impalpable body, and impose in its own vessel; then sublimate the same six or seven times until the water shall descend. And know that when the water has become powder then has it been ground diligently. But if ye ask, how is the water made a powder? note that the intention of the Philosophers is that the body before which before it falls into the water is not water may become water; the said water is mixed with the other. water, and they become one water.

It is to be stated, therefore, that unless ye turn the thing mentioned into water,* ye shall not attain to the work. It is, therefore, necessary for the body to be so possessed by the flame of the fire that it is disintegrated and becomes weak with the water, when the water has been added to the water, until the whole becomes water. But fools, hearing of water, think that this is water of the clouds. Had they read our books they would know that it is permanent water, which cannot become permanent without its companion, wherewith it is made one. But this is the water which the Philosophers have called Water of Gold, the Igneous, Good Venom, and that Sand of Many Names which Hermes ordered to be washed frequently, so that the blackness of the Sun might be removed, which he introduced in the solution of the body. And know, all ye seekers after this Art, that unless ye take this pure body, that is, our copper without the spirit, ye will by no means ses what ye desire, because no foreign thing enters therein, nor does anything enter unless it be pure. Therefore, all ye seekers after this Art, dismiss the multitude of obscure names, for the nature is one water;

if anyone err, he draws nigh to destruction, and loses his life. Therefore, keep this one nature, but dismiss what is foreign.

(27) And now when the Hands (in the Will) reach after the Children of the Earth (which [Reaching forth] yet is no other than a Will in the Spirit of the Child in the Mother's Body) then the Fiat is there, and makes a great Room in the Courts of the three Elements, and a tough firm Inclosure round about it, that they may not touch the Flesh: For the Flesh is afraid of the Children of the Earth, because the Earth is thrown away (for its rough stinking Darkness) and it trembles for great Fear; and it looks still about after the best [Means,] (lest the Children of the Earth should be too rough for it, and might cause a Stink) that so it might have an Opening, and might cast away the Stink and the Filth, and [so] it makes out of the Court (which is the Maw [or Stomach]) an Out-let and Gate, and environs the same with its tough [sour] Harshness, and so there is a Gut.

(68) Attamus saith: Know, O all ye investigators of this Art, that our work, of which ye have been inquiring, is produced by the generation of the sea, by which and with which, after God, the work is completed! ‘Take, therefore, Halsut and old sea stones, and boil with coals until they become white. Then extinguish in white vinegar. If 24. ounces thereof have been boiled, let the heat be extinguished with a third part of the vinegar, that is, 8 ounces; pound with white vinegar, and cook in the sun and black earth for 42 days. But the second work is performed from the tenth day of the month of September to the tenth day [or grade] of Libra. Do not impose the vinegar a second time in this work, but leave the same to be cooked until all its vinegar be dried up and it becomes a fixed earth, like Egyptian earth. And the fact that one work is congealed more quickly and another more slowly, arises from the diversity of cooking. But if the place where it is cooked be humid and dewy it is congealed more quickly, while if it be dry it is congealed more slowly.