Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Latin Page · Branch 164 of 204
On Sulphur · Passage 10
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1616 · sequence pages 67–68
Latin
Alchimista: Domine, dicunt quod Sulphur est Medicina.
Vox: Imo et ipse Medicus est, et qui illum ex carceribus liberant, illis pro gratitudine et sanguinem suum in medicinam dat.
Alchimista: Domine, habita universali Medicina, quam diu homo potest se conservare a morte?
Vox: Usque ad terminum mortis: caute tamen haec Medicina sumenda est: multi enim viri sapientes hac Medicina ante terminum interierunt.
Alchimista: Et quid dicis, mi Domine, estne venenum?
Vox: Nonne audivisti quod magna flamma ignis consumit parvam? Multi erant Philosophi, qui ex aliorum doctrina artem habuerunt, qui non ita profunde virtutem Medicinae scrutarunt; imo quo Medicina erat potentior, subtilior, eo sanior illis videbatur, et unum granum eius multa millia metalli transmeat, multo magis corpus humanum.
Alchimista: Domine, quomodo ergo uti debet?
Vox: Medicina uti debuerunt, quae calorem naturalem confortando nutriret, non superaret.
Alchimista: Domine, ego scio facere istam Medicinam.
Vox: Beatus es, si scis. Sanguis enim Sulphuris est illa intrinseca virtus et siccitas, convertens et congelans argentum vivum in aurum, tum etiam omnia metalla et corpora humana ad sanitatem.
English
Alchemist: Sir, they say sulphur is a medicine.
Voice: Indeed, it is a physician too. To those who free it from prison, it gives its own blood as medicine in gratitude.
Alchemist: Sir, once someone possesses the universal medicine, how long can he preserve himself from death?
Voice: Until death's appointed limit. Yet this medicine must be taken cautiously: many wise men have died through it before their time.
Alchemist: What do you say, sir? Is it poison?
Voice: Have you not heard that a great flame consumes a small one? Many philosophers obtained the art through others' teaching without investigating the medicine's power so deeply. Indeed, the stronger and subtler it was, the more wholesome it seemed to them. Yet one grain passes through many thousands of parts of metal, much more readily through the human body.
Alchemist: Sir, how then should it be used?
Voice: They should have used a medicine that nourished natural heat by strengthening it, rather than overwhelming it.
Alchemist: Sir, I know how to make that medicine.
Voice: You are fortunate if you know. For sulphur's blood is that inner power and dryness which converts and congeals quicksilver into gold, and also brings all metals and human bodies to health.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · On Sulphur · On Sulphur · Passage 10
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.
Rights
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.