THE PHILOSOPHERS SECRET,
formerly composed in hexameter verse by a most learned man.
In the name of the living and life-giving God.
1.
Earth is my body, fire has granted me strength,
I seek a lofty dwelling, yet my seat is always below:
And I am drenched by the moisture that quickly abandons me.
2.
I have tears, indeed I do, yet no cause of sorrow:
There is a path to heaven, but heavy air hinders me,
And he who begot me cannot be born without me.
3.
I am the fine dust of water, falling with little weight,
Moistened by the sun, flowing in summer, dry in the cold,
To form rivers, I first seize all the lands.
4.
Wondrous things I shall tell you, the origins of our life:
I was not yet born, nor was I then in my mother’s womb;
Yet after birth was past, no one saw me as newborn.
5.
I cannot be born unless I kill my mother:
I have killed her — but the same end awaits me.
My death suffers what already my origin caused.
6.
Life is death to me; I die if I begin to be born:
But fate of death precedes the beginning of light:
Thus I count the very dead themselves as my parents.
7.
Great I am not, yet greatest virtue dwells within me.
The spirit is mighty, though in a small body,
No seed of mine bears harm, nor does guilt bring me shame.
8.
We both are stones, we are one, both we lie still:
As slow as one is, so restless is the other;
One stays unmoved, the other ceases not to move.
9.
None can split me, many may cut me.
Yet I am multicolored — sometimes I shall be white.
I’d rather remain black, I shall less fear final fate.
10.
No form is fixed for me, none is foreign.
There is brightness within me, glittering with radiant light,
Which shows nothing — unless it first has seen something.
11.
I do not immediately die when the spirit departs.
For it returns constantly, though often it withdraws:
And now great is the soul’s power within me, now it is none.
12.
I have endured more than a single body should.
I had three souls, which I held entirely within.
Two departed — the third nearly followed.
One cannot deny more clearly than by saying, No.
And one cannot affirm more clearly than by saying, Yes.
To whom it is not given, he does not understand. For every gift is from above.
You will search much and not find,
Perhaps you will find it when you stop searching.
LATIN VERSION
ARCANUM PHILOSOPHORUM, PER
Virum doctissimum olim versu hexametro conscriptum.
In nomine Dei viventis & vivificantis.
1.
Terra mihi corpus, vires mihi praestitit ignis,
Alta domus quaero, sedes est semper in imo:
Et me perfundit qui me cito deserit humor.
2.
Sunt mihi sunt lacrymae, sed non est causa doloris
Est iter ad caelum, sed me gravis impedit aer:
Et qui me genuit, sine me non nascitur ipse.
3.
Pulvis aquae tenuis, modico cum pondere lapsus,
Sole madens, aestate fluens, in frigore siccus,
Flumina facturus, totas prius occupo terras,
4.
Mira tibi referam nostrae primordia vitae:
Nondum natus eram, nec eram tum matris in alvo;
Jam posito partu, natum me nemo videbat.
5.
Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem:
Occidi matrem, sed me manet exitus idem.
Id mea mors patitur, quod jam mea fecit origo.
6.
Vita mihi mors est, morior si coepero nasci:
Sed prius est fatum lethi quam lucis origo:
Sic soles manes ipsos mihi duco parentes.
7.
Magna quidem non sum, sed inest mihi maxima virtus.
Spiritus est magnus, quamvis in corpore parvo,
Nec mihi germen habet noxam, nec culpa ruborem.
8.
Ambo sumus lapides, una sumus, ambo jacemus:
Quam piger est unus, tantum non segnis it alter;
Hic manet immotus, non desinit ille moveri.
9.
Findere me nulli possunt, praecidere multi.
Sed sum versicolor, albus quandoque futurus.
Malo manere niger, minus ultima fata verebor.
10.
Nulla mihi certa est, nulla est peregrina figura.
Fulgor inest intus, radianti luce coruscus,
Qui nihil ostendit, nisi si quid viderit ante.
11.
Non ego continuo morior dum spiritus exit.
Nam redit assidue, quamvis & saepe recedat:
Et mihi nunc magna est animae, nunc nulla facultas.
12.
Plus ego sustinui quam corpus debuit unum.
Tres animas habui, quas omnes intus habebam.
Discessere duae, sed tertia paene secuta est.
Non potest apertius negari quam dicendo, Non.
Et non potest apertius affirmari quam dicendo, Ita.
Cui non est datum, non intelligit. Omne enim donum ab alto.
Quaeres multum & non invenies,
Fortasse invenies cum non quaeres.