Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 143 of 204
Sulphur · The Three Principles · Passage 4
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1616 · sequence pages 40–41
Latin
Sed quoniam supra scripsimus quod veteres Philosophi duo tantum principia nominarunt, ne inquisitor aberret, sciendum est, quod licet illi sulphur et Mercurium descripserunt, sine sale tamen nequaquam ad hoc opus accedere potuerunt, cum illud est clavis et principium huius sacrae scientiae: illud est quod aperit portas iustitiae, illud est quod claves habet ad carceres infernales, ubi sulphur ligatum iacet, sicut aliquando latius dabuntur ista in tractatu tertio principiorum, de Sale. Nunc ad propositum, quod haec tria Principia omnino sunt necessaria, quia illa sunt materia propinqua. Duplex enim est materia metallorum. Proxima, Remota. Proxima est Sulphur et Mercurius; Remota sunt quatuor Elementa ex quibus solius Dei est res creare. Relinque ergo Elementa quoniam ex illis nihil facies, nec poteris, nisi haec tria Principia producere, cum et natura ex illis nihil aliud producit. Si igitur ex Elementis nihil aliud quam ista tria Principia producere potes, ad quid tibi iste vanus labor, id quaerere vel facere velle quod iam a natura generatum est? Nonne melius est ire tria milliaria quam quatuor?
English
But since I wrote above that the ancient philosophers named only two principles, let the seeker understand this lest he go astray: although they described sulphur and mercury, they could never undertake this work without salt. Salt is the key and beginning of this sacred science. It opens the gates of justice and holds the keys to the infernal prisons where sulphur lies bound. These matters will be explained more fully another time in the treatise on salt, the third of the principles.
To our subject: these three principles are altogether necessary because they are the proximate matter. There are two kinds of matter of metals, proximate and remote. The proximate is sulphur and mercury; the remote is the four elements, from which it belongs to God alone to create things. Leave the elements, then. From them you will do nothing, nor can you do anything except produce these three principles, since nature too produces nothing else from them. If you can produce only these three principles from the elements, why undertake the vain labour of seeking or wishing to make what nature has already generated? Is it not better to travel three miles than four?
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · Sulphur · The Three Principles · Sulphur · The Three Principles · Passage 4
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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.