The Secret of the Philosophers, once written in hexameter verse by a most learned man - Arcanum Philosophorum, per Virum doctissimum olium versu hexametro conscriptum

The Secret of the Philosophers,

once written in hexameter verse by a most learned man.

Arcanum Philosophorum, per Virum doctissimum olium versu hexametro conscriptum.

In the name of God, the Living and Life-giving.




Translated to English from the book:
Theatrum chemicum, praecipuos selectorum auctorum tractatus de chemiae et lapidis philosophici antiquitate, veritate, iure, praestantia, & operationibus, continens: in gratiam verae chemiae, et medicinae chemicae studiosorum ... congestum, et in sex partes seu volumina digestum; singulis voluminibus, suo auctorum et librorum catalogo primis pagellis: rerum vero & verborum indice postremis annexo. Volumen tertium.

1.

Earth is to me a body, fire has granted me powers,
I seek a high house, though my seat is always within;
And that moisture which quickly leaves me pours itself through me.

2.

I indeed have tears, but there is no cause of grief;
My way is toward heaven, but heavy air hinders me;
And he who begot me would not be born without me.

3.

A thin powder of water, a stone of slight weight,
Ripened by the sun, flowing in age, dry in cold,
About to become rivers, I first occupy the whole earth.

4.

I shall recount to you the marvels of our first life:
I was not yet born, nor was I then in my mother’s womb;
Already after the birth had taken place, no one saw me born.

5.

I cannot be born unless I kill my mother;
I kill my mother, but the same issue remains to me.
That suffers my death which already made my origin.

6.

Death is life to me, if I begin to be born;
But first there is the fate of death, before the origin of light;
Thus I lead to myself the shades of my parents.

7.

Indeed I am not great, but the greatest power is in me.
The spirit is great, although in a small body,
Nor does my seed have blackness, nor fault blush.

8.

Both of us are stones, we are one, both of us lie together;
Though one is sluggish, the other does not cease to act so much;
This one remains unmoved, that one does not cease to be moved.

9.

No one can split me, though many can cut me down;
But I am of many colors, though at length I shall become white.
I prefer to remain black; I fear the final destinies less.

10.

Nothing in me is fixed, nothing is in a foreign form;
There is splendor within, hidden with radiant light,
Which shows nothing unless it first sees something.

11.

I do not continually die while the spirit goes forth.
For it returns often, though it has often withdrawn;
And now my soul is great, now my power is none.

12.

I have borne more souls than one body ought.
I had three souls, all of which I had within.
Two departed; but the third scarcely followed.

One cannot be more openly denied than by saying, No.
And one cannot be more openly affirmed than by saying, Yes.
He to whom it is not given does not understand. For every gift is from above.

You will seek much and not find it;
Perhaps you will find it when you do not seek.