Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
A New Light of Alchemy
With the Dialogue of Mercury and the Treatise of Sulphur
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Facing Pages · Branch 121 of 204
Sulphur · Water · Passage 12
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1616 · sequence pages 16–17
Latin
Sciant ergo omnes huius artis inquisitores, quod terra et aqua unum globum habent, et omnia simul faciunt, quia sunt Elementa tangibilia, in quibus alia duo occulta operantur. Ignis conservat terram ne submergatur, vel dissolvatur; aer conservat ignem, ne extinguatur; aqua conservat terram ne comburatur. Haec ad propositum nostrum visum est nobis utile describere, ut studiosi sciant in quibus fundamenta Elementorum consistant, et quomodo Philosophi eorum actus contrarios observaverunt, ignem cum terra, aerem cum aqua copulantes, licet quando aliquid nobile voluerunt, ignem in aqua decoxerunt, animadvertentes quod sanguis unius altero purior, sicut et lacryma purior est urina. Sufficiat igitur tibi quod diximus: Elementum aquae sperma ac menstruum mundi esse, tum et receptaculum seminis.
English
Let all seekers of this art therefore know that earth and water have one globe and do everything together. They are tangible elements, in which the other two work unseen. Fire preserves earth from being submerged or dissolved; air preserves fire from extinction; water preserves earth from burning. I have thought it useful to describe these matters for our purpose, so that students may know the foundations of the elements and how philosophers observed their contrary actions, joining fire with earth and air with water. Yet when they wished to obtain something noble, they boiled fire in water, observing that one blood is purer than another, just as a tear is purer than urine. Let what I have said suffice: the element water is the sperm and menstruum of the world, and the receptacle of seed.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · Sulphur · Water · Sulphur · Water · Passage 12
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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.
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.