Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 94 of 204
Dialogue of Mercury, the Alchemist and Nature · Passage 11
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1607, Google scan PA20, PA21, PA22 · image locators
Latin
Alch.: Dic ergo mihi quis tu es in centro tuo? Et non te plus cruciabo. Merc.: Iam cogor tecum ex fundamento loqui. Si vis potes me intelligere, formam meam vides, de hac tibi non est opus. Sed quod de centro meo interrogas, centrum meum est cor omnium fixissimum, immortale et penetrans, in illo est requies Domini mei, ego vero ipse sum via et cursor peregrinus et domesticus, fidelissimus sum omnibus meis sociis, non relinquo comitantes me, cum illis maneo, cum illis pereo. Sum corpus immortale: morior quidem cum occidor, sed ad iudicium coram sagace iudice resurgo. Alch.: Ergo tu es Lapis Philosophorum? Merc.: Mater mea talis est, ex illa nascitur artificialiter unum aliquid, frater vero meus qui in arce habitat in velle suo habet quod Philosophus vult. Alch.: Esne tu senex? Merc.: Mater mea genuit me, sed ego senior sum matre. Alch.: Quis Diabolus te potest intelligere? Cum mihi ad propositum non respondeas, semper parabolas dicis. Dic mihi si tu es fontina de qua Bernardus Comes Trevisanus scripsit? Merc.: Fontina non sum, sed aqua sum, fontina me circumdedit. Alch.: Solvitur ne aurum in te cum aqua sis? Merc.: Quicquid mecum est amo sicut amicum, et quicquid mecum nascitur huic nutrimentum do, et quicquid nudum est alis meis tego. Alch.: Video ego quod tecum non est loqui, ego alia quaero, tu alia dicis. Si non vis bene respondere, certe iam tecum eo ad labores. Merc.: O Domine rogo te, esto mihi misericors, iam libenter dicam quod scio. Alch.: Dic ergo mihi si tu times ignem? Merc.: Ego ipse ignis sum. Alch.: Et quare igitur ab igne fugis? Merc.: Spiritus meus cum spiritu ignis amant se, et quo potest comitatur unus alterum. Alch.: Et quorsum soles ire quando cum igne ascendis? Merc.: Scito, omnis peregrinus semper in patriam suam tendit, et quando illuc unde egressus est venit requiescit, et semper redit sapientior quam exit. Alch.: Reverteris ne iterum aliquando? Merc.: Revertor, sed in alia forma.
English
Alchemist: Tell me who you are in your centre, and I shall torture you no further.
Mercury: Now I am forced to speak to you from the foundation. You can understand me if you wish. You see my form; you have no need of an account of that. But you ask about my centre. My centre is a heart, the most fixed of all, immortal and penetrating. In it my master rests. I myself am a path and a runner, both traveller and stay-at-home. I am utterly faithful to all my companions. I do not abandon those who accompany me; I remain with them and perish with them. I am an immortal body. I die, certainly, when I am killed, but I rise again for judgment before a discerning judge.
Alchemist: Then you are the philosophers’ stone?
Mercury: My mother is such. From her a certain single thing is born through art. My brother, who lives in the citadel, has in his will what the philosopher desires.
Alchemist: Are you old?
Mercury: My mother bore me, but I am older than my mother.
Alchemist: What devil could understand you? You never answer my question; you always speak in parables. Tell me whether you are the fountain Count Bernard of Treviso wrote about.
Mercury: I am not the fountain, but I am water. The fountain has surrounded me.
Alchemist: Since you are water, is gold dissolved in you?
Mercury: Whatever is with me I love as a friend. Whatever is born with me I nourish. Whatever is naked I cover with my wings.
Alchemist: I see there is no talking to you. I ask about one thing and you speak about another. If you will not answer properly, I shall certainly take you back to work.
Mercury: My lord, please have mercy on me. Now I shall gladly tell you what I know.
Alchemist: Tell me, then: do you fear fire?
Mercury: I myself am fire.
Alchemist: Then why do you flee from fire?
Mercury: My spirit and the spirit of fire love each other. Wherever possible, one accompanies the other.
Alchemist: Where do you usually go when you ascend with fire?
Mercury: Know that every traveller always makes for his homeland. When he reaches the place from which he set out, he rests, and he always returns wiser than when he left.
Alchemist: Do you ever return again?
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · Dialogue of Mercury, the Alchemist and Nature · Dialogue of Mercury, the Alchemist and Nature · Passage 11
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete supplied Latin–English edition of the Twelve Treatises, Epilogue, Enigma, Parable, Dialogue of Mercury and Treatise of Sulphur, with original preliminaries, John French’s historical English address and its separately labelled modernisation, 101 annotations and the complete study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
The Twelve Treatises and their concluding texts follow the selected 1606 Herzog August Bibliothek witness. The Dialogue uses the 1607 Cologne printing; the author’s preface and Alsted epigram use Frankfurt 1611. Sulphur uses the 1616 Munich and Rome witnesses. John French’s 1650 address is separately identified as historical English reception.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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The historical Latin texts and John French’s 1650 English address are in the public domain. The new translation, modernisation and editorial apparatus were prepared with AI assistance for Diotimos Editions in 2026 and are published with the site owner’s authorization.