Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 137 of 204
Sulphur · Fire · Passage 13
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1616 · sequence pages 35–36
Latin
et cum omnia creata ad multiplicationem inclinata sunt, proposuerunt Philosophi in hoc regno minerali hanc naturae possibilitatem experiri, qua inventa, alia innumerabilia arcana naturae inesse viderunt, de quibus ut de secretis divinis parcissime reliquerunt. Sic igitur habes quomodo elementa corrupta in subiecto cadunt et separantur, quando unum aliud superat, quia tunc fit per primam separationem putrefactio, et per putrefactionem puri ab impuro separatio, et si tunc fit coniunctio nova, tunc virtute ignis acquirit formam multo nobiliorem prima. Nam in suo primo statu corruptio fuit ex grosso admixto quod non nisi per putrefactionem purgatur et melioratur, et hoc fieri non potest, nisi coniunctis viribus quatuor elementorum, quae sunt in omni composito.
English
Since all created things incline towards multiplication, philosophers proposed to test this possibility of nature in the mineral kingdom. Having discovered it, they saw that innumerable other secrets of nature were contained in it. They left very little in writing about these, as about divine mysteries. Thus you see how corrupt elements fall apart within a subject and are separated when one overcomes another. Through the first separation putrefaction occurs, and through putrefaction the pure is separated from the impure. If a new conjunction then takes place, the subject acquires through fire's power a form much nobler than its first. For in its first state, corruption arose from the gross material mixed with it, which is purified and improved only through putrefaction. This cannot happen unless the powers of the four elements present in every compound are joined.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · Sulphur · Fire · Sulphur · Fire · Passage 13
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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.