Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 43 of 204
Treatise VII · Passage 3
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1606 pp. 118
Latin
Quamdiu in corpore semen est, vivit corpus, quando totum consumitur, corpus moritur, omnia autem corpora post emissionem seminis debilitantur: experientia etiam testatur, homines Veneri nimium indulgentes debiliores fieri, ut et arbores nimios fructus ferentes, fieri postea steriles. Semen igitur, ut iam multoties repetitum est, res est invisibilis, sed sperma est visibile, et fere est anima vivens, non invenitur in rebus mortuis: elicitur dupliciter, suaviter et cum violentia, sed quia hic de virtute eius saltem sermo est, dico quod nil sine semine nascatur, virtute seminis fiunt omnia, et sciant artis filii in arboribus amputatis frustra semen quaeri, quod solummodo in viridibus reperitur.
English
As long as seed is in the body, the body lives. When all of it is consumed, the body dies. All bodies are weakened after emitting seed. Experience also testifies that people who indulge excessively in Venus become weaker, and that trees bearing too much fruit afterwards become barren. Seed, then, as has already been repeated many times, is invisible, while sperm is visible; it is almost a living soul and is not found in dead things. It is drawn out in two ways, gently and violently. Since we are speaking here only of its power, I say that nothing is born without seed: all things are made through the power of seed. Let the children of the art know that seed is sought in vain in felled trees; it is found only in living, green ones.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · Treatise VII · Treatise VII · Passage 3
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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.
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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.