The Turba Philosophorum (complete) — trans. A. E. Waite (1896)
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.
* Agathodaimon is included among the makers of gold in one of the eailier sections of the Byzantine collection. He is quoted by Olympiodorus (On the Sacred Art), and a short account of him is given by the same writer. " It is stated by some that he was a man ancient among the most ancient who philosophised in Egypt, by others that he is a mysterious angel, or that he is the good genius of Egypt," &c. M. Berthelot points out that there was an Egyptian divinity who bore a name equivalent to this. Zosimus beheld Agathodaimon in a vision when his soul ascended to the third degree. An Explanation and Gamii6 The Turba Philosophorum.
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 menfdry of Agathodaimon upon tlu Oracle of OrpAeut is extant in the Greek collection.
' * The second recension reads : " unless ye turn both into water."
The Turba Philosophorum. 117
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 see 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 deli8 The Turba Philosophorunt.
struction, and loses his life. Therefore, keep this one nature, but dismiss what is foreign.
The Thirty-Seventh Dictum. BoNELLUs saith : I will speak a little concerning Magnesia. The Turba answereth ; Speak. And he : O all ye Sons of the Doctrine, when mixing Magnesia, place it in its vessel, the mouth of which close carefully, and cook with a gentle fire until it liquefy, and all become water therein! For the heat of the water acting thereupon, it becomes water by the will of God. When ye see that the said water is about to become black, ye know that the body is already liquefied. Place again in its vessel, and cook for forty days, until it drink up the moisture of the vinegar and honey.* But certain
• There is an exceedingly curious reference to honey in the Discourse of Synesius. The question being what is the difference between the mercury which is obtained from cinnabar, and that which is obtained from arsenic, the Philosopher explains that while all mercury is one, there are still a variety of sorts, and he quotes Hermes : — " The ray of honey is white," and " the ray of honey is
The Turbo, Philosophorum. 119