The Hermetic Museum, Vol. II — trans. A. E. Waite (1893)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
The translator’s English as printed (A. E. Waite). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
AN EPIGRAM
In Praise of the Phonix.
*O Marvel of the World, prodigy without a blot, unique "
- * Phoenix who givest thyself to the great Sages! Thy feathers "
- * are red, and golden the hues of thy neck ; thy nest is buiit of "
- * cassia and Saboean frankincense. When thy life is drawing " *to9 a close, thou knowest the secret way of Nature by"
- * which thou art restored to a new existence. Hence thou"
- * gladly placest thyself.on the altar of Thebes, in order that"
- * Vulcan may give thee a new body. The golden glory of thy "
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"feathers is called the Medicine of health, and the cure of" *human woc. Thou has power to cast out disease and to" "make the old young again. Thee. Blessed Bird, | would" "rather have than all the wealth of the world, and the know- " * ledge of thee was a delight which I sought for many years. * "Thou art hidden in the retreat of thine own nest, and if Pliny " * writes that he saw thee in Rome, he does greatly err. Thou" " art safc in thy home, unless some foolish boy disturb thee: if" * thou dost give thy feathers to Lu I pu thee let him be" "a Sage. v Th "UP WETEC
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On the Hermetic Medicine of the Phenzx.
- * [f all the mountains were of silver and gold, what would they "
- * profit a man who lives in constant fear of death? Hence there " *" cannot be in thé whole world anything better than our Medi- "
- * cine, which has power to heal all the diseases of the flesh. "
- * Wealth, aud riches, and gold, all yield the prize to this glori- "
- * ous possession: and whoever does not think so, is not a man,"
- * but a beast. A
* [f anyone «will not ac&nowledee the force of reason, he must needs have recourse to authority."
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VOL. 1I.
GIEIPAYPARESRE OE:
Of the Claims of our Art, its Students, and its Method.
LL men who devote their lives to the study of any art, or to any kind of occupation, have before their eyes, as the aim of their efforts, perfection in the thing which they pursue. But only few attain to the goal of their wishes: there are many architects, but few masters of the art of architecture ; many students of medicine, but few men like Hippocrates or Galen; many mathematicians, but few proficients like Archimedes ; many poets, but few worthy to rank with Homer. Yet, even men who have nothing more than a respectable knowledge of their calling, are capable of being useful to society.
Among those who devote themselves to the transmutation of metals, however, there can be no such thing as mediocrity of attainment. A man who studies this Art, must have either everything or nothing. An Alchemist who knows only half his craft, reaps nothing but disappointment and waste of time and money ; moreover, he lays himself open to the mockery of those who despise our Art. "Those, indeed, who succeed in reaching the goal of the Magistery, have not only infinite riches, but the means of continued life and health. Hence it is the most popular of all human pursuits. Anyone who has read a few * Receipts" claims the title of a Sage, and conceives the most extravagant hopes; and, in order to give themselves the appearance of very wise men indeed, such persons immediately set themselves to construct furnaces, fill their laboratories with stills and alembics, and approach the work with a wonderful appearance of profundity. "They adopt an obscure jargon, speak of the first matter of the metals, and discuss with a learned air the rotation of the elements, and the marriage of Gabritius with
P2
Bega. In the meantime, however, they do not succeed in bringing about any metamorphosis of the metals, except that of their gold and silver into copper and bronze.