Fetching
One moment.
Eleven books by a shoemaker of Görlitz who wrote, by his own account, because he could not help it. Ten of them stand here in the seventeenth-century English of John Sparrow, who translated Boehme within a generation of his death and whose prose is itself now four hundred years old; where that English has drifted out of reach, the facing pane carries a modern register — the same text with archaic inflection and spelling normalised by rule, never paraphrased. Nothing is reworded, and where no register appears beside a passage it is because the rules found nothing to change.
The eleventh book is not in English at all, and it is the reason this note exists.
Des trois principes de l'essence divine, printed at Paris in 1802, is the same work as Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence, which stands here as the second book — the same twenty-seven chapters in the same order, opening `Du premier principe de l'essence divine` against Sparrow's `Of the first Principle of the Divine Essence`. Its translator was Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, who gave the last years of his life to putting Boehme into French, and who has a shelf of his own in this Lycaeum.
That makes a closed circuit inside this archive, and it is worth naming plainly. Saint-Martin translates Boehme. La Iniciación, printed in Montevideo a hundred and forty years later, traces its own descent through Saint-Martin. A reader can therefore follow one thread from a German mystic of 1619, through the French philosopher who carried him into another language, to a Spanish-language monthly of the 1940s that claimed them both — and read every step of it in the original.
The two are shelved as one work rather than two because that is what they are. They are not set as facing panes: an English translation of 1619 and a French translation of 1802 are two independent readings of a lost German original, and pairing them line by line would assert a correspondence neither translator ever claimed.
19. Cela a été ci-devant représenté ainsi : l'astringence est la première mafière ou substance. Elle est âpre , attirant généralement tout avec violence 5 cela est le sel. Dans l'âpre attirement est l'amertume. Car, dans l'âpre attirement l'esprit s'aiguise de façon qu'il devient tout angoisseux. Prenez un exemple dans l'homme 5 lorsqu'il s'aigrit, combien son esprit se concentre violemment ! De-là il devient amer et frissonnant ; et s'il n'est pas bientôt comprimé et appaisé , le feu de la colère s'enilamme en lui de manière qu'il brûle dans la méchanceté 3 et jdlors dans son esprit et dans son ame , une substance, ou toute son essence, respire la vengeance. 10. C'est à cela que l'on peut comparer l'origine de la génération de la nature. Cependant il faut l'exposer plus intelligiblement. Voyez ce qu'est mercure. Il est une eau astringente , amère , ignée et sulfureuse, l'essence la plus terrible : toutefois, il ne iaut entendre ici ni autune matière , ni aucune substance saisîssable,mais tout esprit, et la source de la nature originelle. L'astringent est la première essence qui attire a soi , puisqu'elle est une puissance dure et froide 3 aussi l'esprit est-il perçant et aigu j or, l'aiguillon ou l'aigu ne peut supporter Vattire» ment , mais il s'agile et se défend , ce qui fait une opposition et le rend ennemi dtî l'astringence ; or, de cette opposition vient la première mobih'ié , co i|ui est la troisièin^ forme. 4 . l"^- i» (6) ' CH. 1.
2II. Alors Pâstringence attire toujours plus fort à soi. Elle devient ainsi rigide et âpre , eo sorte quo cette forte puissance devient dure coname les plus dures pierres : ce que l'amertume, ou Taigre aiguil* Ion lui-iuéme ne sauroit supporter j alors il y a intérieurement une grande angoisse , semblable à l'esprit de souffre ; et l'aiguillon de l'amertume pique et se froisse si fortement, que de l'angoisse il jaillit un brillant éclair qui s'élève d'une manière effrayante , et brise l'astringence. Mais comme il n6 trouve point de repos , et est sans cesse engendré ainsi de ]>lus en plus , de l'intérieur , il devient comme une roue circulante , qui se tourne dans l'angoisse et l'effroi avec ce même éclair oblique j et qui , dans son agitation , offre l'image d'une in« sensée. Là, l'éclair est changé en un feu mordant , qui cependant n'est pas un feu brûlant , mais sem- |)lable au feu dans une pierre. 13. Mais comme il n'y a là aucun repos, et que la roue tournante va aussi vite que la plus rapide pensée ( car l'aiguillon la poursuit avec la même vitesse), alors l'aiguilloB s'enflamiçe aussi fortevient que l'éclair qui est engendré entre l'astringence et l'amertume; il devient terriblement ardent et s'élève comme un feu horrible , ce dont toute la substance astringente s'effraie. Elle tombe en arrière , comme morte ou comme subjuguée , et n'ar tire plus si fortement à soi ; mais ils tendent à s'éloigner l'un de l'autre , et elle s'atténue. Car l'éclair de ieu a pris le premier rang j et cette même substance , qui , dans l'origine , étoit si âpre et si «H. I. ( 7 )
3astringente^ est maintenant com^me mcrt« et sans puissance : or 5 l'éçkir dô feu maintient désonnais' sa puiâSiOiice sur elle , car il est sa mère 5 et l'amertume sort et mont« avec l'éclair hors de l'astringence, et enflamme l'éclair ; car elle (l'amertume) est le père de l'éclair ou du feu ; la roue tournante demeure désormais dans l'éclair de feu , et l'astringence demeure soumise et impuissante. C'est alors l'esprit d'eau: et la substance de l'astringence s» compare dès lors à l'esprit de souffre; elle est comme entièrement affoiblie et grumeleuse, étant vaincue et dans l'angoisse. L'aiguillon tremble et s'agite en elle ;, il se dessèche et s'aiguise en éclairMais à force de se dessécher dans l^clair , il devient de pins en plus igné et effrayant, d'où l'astringence est toujours de plus en plus surmontée , et Tesprit d'eau toujours plus. grand. Ainsi il se rafraîchit toujours plus dans l'esprit d'eau , et apporte plus de maéièr^ ou de substance à l'éclair de feu , d'où il s'enfiamme lui-même d'autant plus, car ou peut le regarder comm-e W bois de l'éclair et de l'espiit de feu. i3. MaiutenaB/t, comprenez bien comment est ce mercurius. [ Usas ma note, dans P Aurore naissante, ck, 8, »'*. 75.] Le mot m«rest d'abord la forte as tringence , car, dans ce mot exjptrimé sur la langue, U faut eateadre qu'il provient de l'astringence, et qjue l'aiguilloii aoaer s'y trouve aussi. En effet, le mot vmr est astringeat et tremblant , car chaque mot se fgynstt de sa psopia puissance, et exprime ce que la (8) en. !• \i
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
19. That has been represented above thus: the astringency is the first matter or substance. It is harsh, attracting generally all with violence 5 that is the salt. In the harsh attraction is the bitterness. For, in the harsh attraction the spirit sharpens itself so that it becomes all anguishing. Take an example in man 5 when he embitters himself, how violently his spirit concentrates itself! Thence he becomes bitter and shuddering; and if he is not soon compressed and appeased, the fire of anger inflames itself in him so that he burns in wickedness 3 and then in his spirit and in his soul, a substance, or his whole essence, breathes vengeance. 10. It is to that that one may compare the origin of the generation of nature. Nevertheless it must be set forth more intelligibly. See what mercury is. He is an astringent, bitter, igneous and sulphureous water, the most terrible essence: nevertheless there must be understood here neither any matter, nor any seizable substance, but all spirit, and the source of original nature. The astringent is the first essence which attracts to itself, since it is a hard and cold power 3 also is the spirit piercing and sharp; now, the sting or the sharp cannot bear the attraction, but it agitates itself and defends itself, which makes an opposition and renders it enemy of the astringency; now, of that opposition comes the first mobility, which is the third form. 4 . l"^- i» (6) ' CH. 1.
2II. Then the astringency attracts always more strongly to itself. It becomes thus rigid and harsh, so that that strong power becomes hard as the hardest stones: which the bitterness, or the sharp sting itself, could not bear; then there is interiorly a great anguish, like the spirit of sulphur; and the sting of the bitterness pricks and bruises itself so strongly that from the anguish there springs a brilliant flash which rises in a frightful manner, and breaks the astringency. But as it6 finds no repose, and is without cease begotten thus more and more, from within, it becomes like a circling wheel which turns in the anguish and the fright with that same oblique flash; and which, in its agitation, offers the image of a madwoman. There, the flash is changed into a biting fire, which nevertheless is not a burning fire, but like the fire in a stone. 13. But as there is there no repose, and as the turning wheel goes as fast as the swiftest thought ( for the sting pursues it with the same swiftness ), then the sting inflames itself as strongly as the flash which is begotten between the astringency and the bitterness; it becomes terribly ardent and rises like a horrible fire, whereat all the astringent substance is affrighted. It falls backward, as dead or as subjugated, and no longer attracts so strongly to itself; but they tend to remove one from the other, and it attenuates itself. For the flash of fire has taken the first rank; and that same substance, which, in the origin, was so harsh and so «H. I. ( 7 )
3astringent, is now as it were dead and without power: now 5 the flash of fire maintains henceforth its power over it, for it is its mother 5 and the bitterness issues and mounts with the flash out of the astringency, and inflames the flash; for she ( the bitterness ) is the father of the flash or of the fire; the turning wheel remains henceforth in the flash of fire, and the astringency remains subdued and impotent. It is then the spirit of water: and the substance of the astringency compares itself thenceforth to the spirit of sulphur; it is as it were entirely weakened and clotted, being vanquished and in anguish. The sting trembles and agitates itself in it; it dries itself and sharpens itself in flash. But by dint of drying itself in the flash, it becomes more and more igneous and frightful, whence the astringency is always more and more surmounted, and the spirit of water always greater. Thus it refreshes itself always more in the spirit of water, and brings more matter or substance to the flash of fire, whence it inflames itself so much the more, for one may regard it as the wood of the flash and of the spirit of fire. i3. Now, comprehend well what this mercurius is. [ See my note, in the Aurora nascent, ch, 8, n°. 75. ] The word mer is first the strong astringency, for, in that word expressed upon the tongue, it must be understood that it proceeds from the astringency, and that the bitter sting is found there also. In effect, the word mer is astringent and trembling, for each word forms itself of its own power, and expresses what the (8) ch. !• \i
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
Saint-Martin's French rendering of Boehme's 'Von den drei Principien göttlichen Wesens'. The same work stands in this estate in English as boehme:2. The title page also advertises 'L'Aurore naissante, du même Auteur' from the same booksellers — Saint-Martin's translation of the Aurora, whose English counterpart the estate holds as boehme:1. Reading the two versions against each other shows what a Martinist made of a German shoemaker's theosophy.
→ boehme:2
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.