Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 166 of 204
On Sulphur · Passage 12
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1616 · sequence pages 69–70
Latin
Alchimista: Domine, et quid comedit?
Vox: Cibus eius ventus est: cum liber est coctus, sed in carceribus cogitur comedere crudum.
Alchimista: Domine, possintne istae inimicitiae inter illud et custodes eius reconciliari?
Vox: Imo, si quis esset tam prudens.
Alchimista: Quare cum illis de pace non tractat?
Vox: Illud non potest per seipsum: quia statim ira et furore excandescit.
Alchimista: Faciat hoc per aliquem commissarium.
Vox: Felicissimus hominum certe esset, et aeterna memoria dignus, qui inter illos sciret pacem facere; sed hoc non nisi vir sapientissimus, qui cum matre eius conveniret, et cointelligentiam habeat: nam si amici essent, unus alterum non impediret, sed coniunctis viribus facerent res immortales. Certe qui illos reconciliaret, esset vir aeternitati consecrandus.
English
Alchemist: Sir, what does it eat?
Voice: Its food is wind: cooked when it is free, but in prison it is forced to eat it raw.
Alchemist: Sir, can these hostilities between it and its guards be reconciled?
Voice: Certainly, if someone were wise enough.
Alchemist: Why does it not negotiate peace with them?
Voice: It cannot do so by itself, for it immediately flares up in anger and fury.
Alchemist: Let it act through a commissioner.
Voice: Whoever knew how to make peace between them would certainly be the happiest of people, worthy of eternal remembrance. But only a most wise man could do it, one who agrees with its mother and shares an understanding with her. If they were friends, one would not hinder the other; joining forces, they would make immortal things. Certainly, whoever reconciled them would deserve to be consecrated to eternity.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · On Sulphur · On Sulphur · 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.