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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.
1on the other side all the powers of the Father affect the light of the Son of God wherefrom ariseth the Holy Spirit: * * The words printed in italics are not in Sparrow's translation, nor in the German ed. of 1656, nor in Schiebler's ed. They are in all other German eds. 43. So do the eyes work in the thing they look upon, and the thing worketh again in the eyes, and the counsellor, the eyes, bringeth it into the head before the princely seat or throne; and there it is to be approved of. 44. Now if the spirit is pleased therewith, then it bringeth the same to the heart, and the heart giveth it to the passages or issuings forth of the powers or fountainveins in the whole body; and then the mouth and hands and feet fall to work. 45. The second counsellor is the ears, which have their rise also from all the powers in the whole body through the spirit; their fountain is Mercurius or the sound, which ariseth from all the powers. 46. * And as in all the powers of God the Mercurius riseth and soundeth, wherein the heavenly tone, tune or joy consisteth, and the tone or tune goeth forth out of all the powers, and so in the attraction of the spirit in God is elevated or raised up: * "Likewise it is from all the powers of God that the Mercurius riseth and soundeth, wherein the heavenly tone or joy consisteth. The tone or tune goeth forth from all the powers, and riseth up in the attraction (Zusammenfügung) of the spirit in God; and when one power stirreth the other and soundeth, then the tone or tune goeth forth and riseth up again in all the powers of the Father, and all the powers of the Father are again affected therewith, whereby they are
2always impregnated with the tone and continually generate it again in every power " (St Martin). 47. And when one power toucheth or stirreth the other, and tuneth or soundeth, then the tune or sound goeth forth, and riseth up again in all the powers of the Father; and so all the powers of the Father are again affected therewith, whereby they are always impregnated with the tune, and continually generate it again in every power: 48. Thus the second counsellor in the head is the ears, they stand open, and in all that soundeth the sound goes forth through them. 49. Now where the Mercurius soundeth and is elevated or predominant, there the Mercurius of the spirit goeth also in, and is thereby affected, and bringeth it [the sound] before the princely throne in the head, where it is to be approved by the other four counsellors. 50. And if the spirit is pleased therewith, then it [the spirit] bringeth the same before its mother into the heart, and the heart, or the fountain of the heart, giveth it [the sound] to all the powers in the whole body; and then the mouth and hands lay hold on it. 51. But if the whole princely council in the head be not pleased, so that it [the sound] is approved, then it [the princely council] lets that go again, and bringeth it [the sound] not to the mother, the heart. 52. The third princely counsellor is the nose; there the fountain riseth up from the body in the spirit into the nose, and there it hath two open doors or gates.
353. As the excellent, precious and amiable blessed savour or smell goeth forth from all the powers of the Father and of the Son, and tempereth itself with all the powers of the Holy Ghost, whence the Holy Spirit and most precious savour riseth up from the fountain of the Holy Ghost; and floweth or boileth in all the powers of the Father, and kindleth all the powers of the Father, whereby they are impregnated again with the amiable blessed savour or saving smell, and so generate it in the Son and Holy Ghost: 54. So also in angels and men, the power of the smell riseth up out of all the powers of the body by and through the spirit, and cometh forth at the nostrils of the nose, and is affected with all smells or savours, and bringeth them through the nostrils of the nose, which is the third counsellor, into the head, before the princely seat or throne. 55. And there it is to be proved whether the smell be a good smell or savour, pleasing to man's constitution and complexion, or no: If it be good, then the counsellor bringeth the same to its mother, that the smell may be brought to effect; if it be not good, then is it expelled and thrust away. 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. 57. The fourth princely counsellor is the taste on the tongue, which also ariseth from all the powers of the body through the spirit into the tongue: for all fountainveins of the whole body go into the tongue, and the tongue is the sharpness
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.
1on the other side all the powers of the Father affect the light of the Son of God wherefrom ariseth the Holy Spirit: * * The words printed in italics are not in Sparrow's translation, nor in the German ed. of 1656, nor in Schiebler's ed. They are in all other German eds. 43. So do the eyes work in the thing they look upon, and the thing worketh again in the eyes, and the counsellor, the eyes, bringeth it into the head before the princely seat or throne; and there it is to be approved of. 44. Now if the spirit is pleased therewith, then it bringeth the same to the heart, and the heart giveth it to the passages or issuings forth of the powers or fountainveins in the whole body; and then the mouth and hands and feet fall to work. 45. The second counsellor is the ears, which have their rise also from all the powers in the whole body through the spirit; their fountain is Mercurius or the sound, which ariseth from all the powers. 46. * And as in all the powers of God the Mercurius riseth and soundeth, wherein the heavenly tone, tune or joy consisteth, and the tone or tune goeth forth out of all the powers, and so in the attraction of the spirit in God is elevated or raised up: * "Likewise it is from all the powers of God that the Mercurius riseth and soundeth, wherein the heavenly tone or joy consisteth. The tone or tune goeth forth from all the powers, and riseth up in the attraction (Zusammenfügung) of the spirit in God; and when one power stirreth the other and soundeth, then the tone or tune goeth forth and riseth up again in all the powers of the Father, and all the powers of the Father are again affected therewith, whereby they are
2always impregnated with the tone and continually generate it again in every power " (St Martin). 47. And when one power toucheth or stirreth the other, and tuneth or soundeth, then the tune or sound goeth forth, and riseth up again in all the powers of the Father; and so all the powers of the Father are again affected therewith, whereby they are always impregnated with the tune, and continually generate it again in every power: 48. Thus the second counsellor in the head is the ears, they stand open, and in all that soundeth the sound goes forth through them. 49. Now where the Mercurius soundeth and is elevated or predominant, there the Mercurius of the spirit goeth also in, and is thereby affected, and bringeth it [the sound] before the princely throne in the head, where it is to be approved by the other four counsellors. 50. And if the spirit is pleased therewith, then it [the spirit] bringeth the same before its mother into the heart, and the heart, or the fountain of the heart, giveth it [the sound] to all the powers in the whole body; and then the mouth and hands lay hold on it. 51. But if the whole princely council in the head be not pleased, so that it [the sound] is approved, then it [the princely council] lets that go again, and bringeth it [the sound] not to the mother, the heart. 52. The third princely counsellor is the nose; there the fountain riseth up from the body in the spirit into the nose, and there it hath two open doors or gates.
353. As the excellent, precious and amiable blessed savour or smell goeth forth from all the powers of the Father and of the Son, and tempereth itself with all the powers of the Holy Ghost, whence the Holy Spirit and most precious savour riseth up from the fountain of the Holy Ghost; and floweth or boileth in all the powers of the Father, and kindleth all the powers of the Father, whereby they are impregnated again with the amiable blessed savour or saving smell, and so generate it in the Son and Holy Ghost: 54. So also in angels and men, the power of the smell riseth up out of all the powers of the body by and through the spirit, and cometh forth at the nostrils of the nose, and is affected with all smells or savours, and bringeth them through the nostrils of the nose, which is the third counsellor, into the head, before the princely seat or throne. 55. And there it is to be proved whether the smell be a good smell or savour, pleasing to man's constitution and complexion, or no: If it be good, then the counsellor bringeth the same to its mother, that the smell may be brought to effect; if it be not good, then is it expelled and thrust away. 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. 57. The fourth princely counsellor is the taste on the tongue, which also ariseth from all the powers of the body through the spirit into the tongue: for all fountainveins of the whole body go into the tongue, and the tongue is the sharpness
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.
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