(1) Because the charity of my native place Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. Then came we to the confine, where disparted The second round is from the third, and where A horrible form of Justice is beheld. Clearly to manifest these novel things, I say that we arrived upon a plain, Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; The dolorous forest is a garland to it All round about, as the sad moat to that; There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. The soil was of an arid and thick sand, Not of another fashion made than that Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou By each one to be dreaded, who doth read That which was manifest unto mine eyes! Of naked souls beheld I many herds, Who all were weeping very miserably, And over them seemed set a law diverse. Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; And some were sitting all drawn up together, And others went about continually.

(33) For if it be too much elevated or too preponderant in any creature, and be inflamed in the heat, then flesh and spirit separate, and the creature loseth its life and must die; for then it moveth and kindleth the element fire; and in the great heat and bitterness no flesh can subsist. But if it be kindled in the element water, and springeth [becometh active] therein, it causes debility and sickness in the flesh, and finally death. Of the Sweet Quality.

(5) That the disturbance which below is made By exhalations of the land and water, (Which far as may be follow after heat,) Might not upon mankind wage any war, This mount ascended tow'rds the heaven so high, And is exempt, from there where it is locked. Now since the universal atmosphere Turns in a circuit with the primal motion Unless the circle is broken on some side, Upon this height, that all is disengaged In living ether, doth this motion strike And make the forest sound, for it is dense; And so much power the stricken plant possesses That with its virtue it impregns the air, And this, revolving, scatters it around; And yonder earth, according as 'tis worthy In self or in its clime, conceives and bears Of divers qualities the divers trees; It should not seem a marvel then on earth, This being heard, whenever any plant Without seed manifest there taketh root. And thou must know, this holy table-land In which thou art is full of every seed, And fruit has in it never gathered there.

(15) Frictes saith:—O all ye seekers after Wisdom, know that the foundation of this Art, on account of which many have perished, is one only.t There is one thing which is stronger than all natures, and more sublime in the opinion of philosophers, whereas with fools it is more common than anything. But for us it is a thing which we reverence. Woe unto all ye fools! How ignorant are ye of this Art, for which ye would die if ye knewit! Iswear to you that if kings were familiar with it, none of us would ever attain this thing. O how this nature changeth body into spirit! O how admirable is Nature, how she presides over all, and overcomes all!

Pyruacoras saith:—Name this Nature, O Frictes!

And he:—lIt is a very sharp vinegar,* which makes gold into sheer spirit, without which vinegar, neither whiteness, nor blackness, nor redness, nor rust can be made. And know ye that when it is mixed with the body, it is contained therein, and becomes one therewith; it turns the same into a spirit, and tinges with a spiritual and invariable tincture, which is indelible. Know, also, that if ye place the body over the fire without vinegar, it will be burnt and corrupted. And know, further, that the first humour is cold. Be careful, therefore, of the fire, which is inimical to cold. Accordingly, the Wise have said: Rule gently until the sulphur becomes incombustible.* The Wise men have already shewn to those who possess reason the disposition of this Art, and the best point of their Art, which they mentioned, is, that a little of this sulphur burns a strong body. Accordingly they venerate it and name it in the beginning of their book, and the son of Adam thus described it. For this vinegar burns the body, converts it into a cinder, and also whitens the body, which, if ye cook well and deprive of blackness, is changed into a stone, so that it becomes a coin of most intense whiteness. Cook, therefore, the stone until it be disintegrated, and then dissolve and temper with water of the sea.

Know also, that the beginning of the whole work is the whitening, to which succeeds the redness, finally the perfection of the work; but after this, by means of vinegar, and by the will of Ged, there follows a complete perfection. Now, I have shewn to you, O disciples of this Turba, the disposition of the one thing, which is more perfect, more precious, and more honourable, than all natures, and I swear to you by God that I have searched for a long time in books so that I might arrive at the knowledge of this one thing, while I prayed also to God that he would teach me what itis. My prayer was heard, He shewed me clean water, whereby I knew pure vinegar, and the more I did read books, the more was I illuminated.

(101) To make these, I say, pure and clean, And, to please God, have quenched those fires, So that the fire of lust, that erst breathed flame, Has become a holy garden and a guiding light, Since you have turned the fire of wrath to meekness, And the darkness of ignorance to shining knowledge, Since you have turned the fire of greed into bounty, And the vile thorns of malice into a rose-garden; Since you have quenched all these fires of your own For my sake, so that those poisons are now pure sweets;

(6) "Summae Deus clementiae," in the bosom Of the great burning chanted then I heard, Which made me no less eager to turn round; And spirits saw I walking through the flame; Wherefore I looked, to my own steps and theirs Apportioning my sight from time to time. After the close which to that hymn is made, Aloud they shouted, "Virum non cognosco;" Then recommenced the hymn with voices low. This also ended, cried they: "To the wood Diana ran, and drove forth Helice Therefrom, who had of Venus felt the poison." Then to their song returned they; then the wives They shouted, and the husbands who were chaste. As virtue and the marriage vow imposes. And I believe that them this mode suffices, For all the time the fire is burning them; With such care is it needful, and such food, That the last wound of all should be closed up.

(3) This, therefore, it is not fit to suspect of the Gods [ viz. that they can be defiled by vapours]; but it is much more requisite to think that things of this kind are foreign to us and to our nature. For things which are divided, and also material and kindred natures, are able to have a certain communion with each other in acting and suffering; but things which are essentially different, and such as are entirely transcendent, and which employ other natures and powers, these cannot act on or receive any thing from each other. The defilement, therefore, produced by material natures, falls on things which are detained by a material body; and from these it is necessary those should be purified who are capable of being defiled by matter. But how can those beings be defiled by material essences who neither have a divisible nature nor possess the power of receiving in themselves the passions of matter? How, likewise, can divinity, who has nothing in common with us, in consequence of antecedently existing superior to human imbecility, be polluted by my passions, or by those of any other man?

(1) Soon as the blessed flame had taken up The final word to give it utterance, Began the holy millstone to revolve, And in its gyre had not turned wholly round, Before another in a ring enclosed it, And motion joined to motion, song to song; Song that as greatly doth transcend our Muses, Our Sirens, in those dulcet clarions, As primal splendour that which is reflected. And as are spanned athwart a tender cloud Two rainbows parallel and like in colour, When Juno to her handmaid gives command, (The one without born of the one within, Like to the speaking of that vagrant one Whom love consumed as doth the sun the vapours,) And make the people here, through covenant God set with Noah, presageful of the world That shall no more be covered with a flood, In such wise of those sempiternal roses The garlands twain encompassed us about, And thus the outer to the inner answered. After the dance, and other grand rejoicings, Both of the singing, and the flaming forth Effulgence with effulgence blithe and tender,

(254) 276 The Great (Uraeus) burns incense to the bull of Nn. 276 The heat of a flaming breath is against ye, who surround the chapel. 276 O Great God, whose name is unknown, an offering is on the place (i.e. in place) for the One-lord. 277 O lord of the horizon, make place for N. 277 If thou makest not place for N., N. will put a curse on his father Geb: 277 The earth will no more speak; Geb will no more be able to defend himself. 278 Whom N. finds on his way, him he eats for himself bit by bit. 278 The n.t-pelican announces, the pd.ti-pelican comes forth; the Great One arises, 278 the (Three) Enneads speak: A dam shall dam up the earth, 279 both boundaries-of-the-cultivation shall be united, both riverbanks shall be joined, 279 roads shall be closed against passengers, 279 stairs for those who would ascend shall be destroyed. 279 Adjust the cable, traverse the m.t, hit the ball on the meadow of pi. 280 O, thy fields tremble, O, 'id-star, at the column of the stars, 280 when they see the column of Kns.t, the ox (or, bull) of heaven, 280 and how the ox-herd is terrified (overwhelmed) at him. 281 O, be afraid, tremble, ye criminals, before the tempest of heaven; 281 he opened the earth with that which he knew, on the day he loved to come; 282 so said, he--he who is rich in arable-land, he who inhabits the Dt. 282 Behold, she comes to meet thee, the "Beautiful West," to meet thee, 232 with her beautiful tresses, she says: "He comes whom I have borne, 283 whose horn shines, the varnished column, the ox (or, bull) of heaven. 283 Thy figure is, exalted, pass in peace. 284 I have protected thee, says she, the "Beautiful West," to N. 284 Go, voyage to the Marsh of Offerings; 284 bring the oar to ri-.t.f. 285 So said he who is chief of his department (or, thigh offering). Thou decayest in the earth 285 as to thy thickness, as to thy girt, as to thy length 285 (but as spirit) thou seest R` in his bonds, thou adorest R` in-his freedom (from) his bonds, 285 through the great protection which is in his red robes. 286 The lord of peace gives to thee his (with W.) arm. 286 O ye, his she-monkeys, who cut off heads, 286 may N. pass by you in peace, (for) he has attached (again) his, head to his neck, 286 (for) the neck of N. is on his trunk, in his name of "Headattacher," 286 (as) he attached the head of the Apis in it (that is, in his name), the day the bull was caught with a lasso. 287 Those whom N. has made to eat (they eat of their food); (and) in their drinking, 287 they drink of their abundance. 287 O that N. be respected there by those who see him. 288 The kn-wt.t-serpent is on her d`m-sceptre, the sister (?) of N. who holds Shu aloft. 288 She makes his place wide in Busiris, in Mendes, in the necropolis of Heliopolis; 288 she erects two standards before the Great Ones; 289 she digs a pool (?) for N. in the Marsh of Reeds; 289 she establishes his field in the two Marshes of Offerings. 289 N. judges in the M.t-wr.t-cow between the two wrestlers, 290 for his strength is the strength of the eye of Tbi (R`), 290 his might is the might of the eye of Tbi. 290 N. has freed himself from those who did this against him, 290 who took from him his dinner, 291 when it was there, who took his supper from him, 291 when it was there, who took the breath from his nose, 291 who brought to an end the days of his life. 291 N. is mightier than they, appearing upon his shore. 292 Their hearts fall into his fingers, 292 their entrails to the inhabitants of heaven (birds), their blood to the inhabitants of earth (beasts), 292 their inheritance to the poor, 292 their houses to fire, their farms to high Nile (inundation). 293 Let the heart of N. be glad; let the heart of N. be glad! 293 N. is Unique, the ox (or, bull) of heaven. 293 He has exterminated those who have done this against him, he has destroyed those who are on the earth. 294a-c. Belonging to his throne, what he will take, what he will lift up, is that which his father Shu has given him in the presence of Set.

(37) But if it be kindled in the heat and bitterness, then it infecteth the element air, whereby is engendered a sudden spreading plague and sudden death. Of the Sour Quality.

(3) All the diseases in one moat were gathered, Such was it here, and such a stench came from it As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue. We had descended on the furthest bank From the long crag, upon the left hand still, And then more vivid was my power of sight Down tow'rds the bottom, where the ministress Of the high Lord, Justice infallible, Punishes forgers, which she here records. I do not think a sadder sight to see Was in Aegina the whole people sick, (When was the air so full of pestilence, The animals, down to the little worm, All fell, and afterwards the ancient people, According as the poets have affirmed, Were from the seed of ants restored again,) Than was it to behold through that dark valley The spirits languishing in divers heaps. This on the belly, that upon the back One of the other lay, and others crawling Shifted themselves along the dismal road. We step by step went onward without speech, Gazing upon and listening to the sick Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies.

(249) 264 To say: O ye two contestants, announce now to the honourable one in this his name: 264 N. is this ssss-plant which springs from the earth. 264 The hand of N. is cleansed by him who has prepared his throne. 265 N. it is who is at the nose of the powerful Great One. 265 N. comes out of the Isle of Flame, 265 (after) he, N., had set truth therein in the place of error. 265 N. it is who is the guardian of laundry, who protects the uraeusserpents, 265 in the night of the great flood, which proceeds from the Great. 266 N. appears as Nefertem, as the flower of the lotus at the nose of R`; 266 as he comes forth from the horizon every day, the gods purify themselves, when they see him.

(3) But soon the facts shall be the Naiades Who shall this difficult enigma solve, Without destruction of the flocks and harvests. Note thou; and even as by me are uttered These words, so teach them unto those who live That life which is a running unto death; And bear in mind, whene'er thou writest them, Not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant, That twice already has been pillaged here. Whoever pillages or shatters it, With blasphemy of deed offendeth God, Who made it holy for his use alone. For biting that, in pain and in desire Five thousand years and more the first-born soul Craved Him, who punished in himself the bite. Thy genius slumbers, if it deem it not For special reason so pre-eminent In height, and so inverted in its summit. And if thy vain imaginings had not been Water of Elsa round about thy mind, And Pyramus to the mulberry, their pleasure, Thou by so many circumstances only The justice of the interdict of God Morally in the tree wouldst recognize.

(4) Their litter let the beasts of Fesole Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, If any still upon their dunghill rise, In which may yet revive the consecrated Seed of those Romans, who remained there when The nest of such great malice it became." "If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled," Replied I to him, "not yet would you be In banishment from human nature placed; For in my mind is fixed, and touches now My heart the dear and good paternal image Of you, when in the world from hour to hour You taught me how a man becomes eternal; And how much I am grateful, while I live Behoves that in my language be discerned. What you narrate of my career I write, And keep it to be glossed with other text By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. This much will I have manifest to you; Provided that my conscience do not chide me, For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around As it may please her, and the churl his mattock."

(2) Those who were going round were far the more, And those were less who lay down to their torment, But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind. As Alexander, in those torrid parts Of India, beheld upon his host Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. Whence he provided with his phalanxes To trample down the soil, because the vapour Better extinguished was while it was single; Thus was descending the eternal heat, Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. Without repose forever was the dance Of miserable hands, now there, now here, Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. "Master," began I, "thou who overcomest All things except the demons dire, that issued Against us at the entrance of the gate, Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, So that the rain seems not to ripen him?"

(19) For as the exhalations which arise from the earth, and from marshes, gather into mists and cloudy masses; so the vapours of fleshly lusts bring on the soul an evil condition, scattering about the idols of pleasure before the soul.

(33) O how many Enemies has the Life among the Constellations [or Stars,] which qualify [or mingle their Influence] with the Tincture and Elements. When the Planets and the Stars have their Conjunctions, and where they cast their poisonous Rage into the Tincture, there arises in the Life of the meek Tincture, stinging, tearing, and torturing. For the sweet [or pleasant] Tincture (being a sweet and pleasing Refreshment) cannot endure any impure Thing. And therefore when such poisonous Influences are darted into it, then it resists and continually cleanses itself; but as soon as it is overwhelmed, that it is darkened, then the Flash goes out, the Life breaks, and the Body falls away, and becomes a Cadaver, Carcase, [or dead Corpse;] for the Spirit is the Life.

(2) And now begin the dolesome notes to grow Audible unto me; now am I come There where much lamentation strikes upon me. I came into a place mute of all light, Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, If by opposing winds 't is combated. The infernal hurricane that never rests Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. When they arrive before the precipice, There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, There they blaspheme the puissance divine. I understood that unto such a torment The carnal malefactors were condemned, Who reason subjugate to appetite. And as the wings of starlings bear them on In the cold season in large band and full, So doth that blast the spirits maledict; It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; No hope doth comfort them for evermore, Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, Making in air a long line of themselves, So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,

(56) And this counsellor of the smell, which is generated out of the Salitter, is also mixed with Mercurius, and so belongeth to the heavenly joyfulness, and is a glorious, excellent and fair fountain in God.

(63) "Take in the NAME of the Lord, of thy Paradisiacal Water, of heavenly Water of Mercury, as much as thou wilt, put it into a glass to dissolve, and set it in a slow heat of Ashes, that it may just feel the warmth, then have ready well purified Gold for the Red, or Silver for the White Elixir, for in both the Processes are the same. Let your Gold or Silver be beaten as thin as leaf Gold, cast it by degrees into your dissolving Glass, that contains your blessed Water, as you did in the beginning with your Salt, and it will melt like Ice in Warm Water, and continue so to do till your Gold or Silver lie therein four days without dissolving, then it has received its due Pondus. Then put this dissolution as before into a round Glass, fill it two thirds parts full, seal it hermetically as before, let your Sigillum be well dried. Set it in the furnace of Balneum Vapori, make a fire and let it remain forty days, as before, then will the Gold or Silver be dissolved radically and will turn of the deepest black in the world, which as soon as you see, have your other drying furnace in readiness."