Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 44 of 204
Treatise VIII · Passage 1
Source reference
- Latin witness
- 1606 pp. 118–119
Latin
Caput VIII. De arte et quomodo per artem operatur natura in semine.
Omne semen per se nullius momenti est, si non ponatur, vel ab arte, vel a natura in matricem debitam, et licet semen per se nobilius sit omni creatura, tamen matrix eius est vita, quae facit putrescere sperma vel granum, et puri puncti congelationem causatur, insuper calore corporis sui illud nutrit et crescere facit: et hoc fit in omnibus supradictis tribus naturae regnis: et fit naturaliter, per menses, annos et tempora. Sagax vero ars illa est, quae in regno minerali et vegetabili aliquid abbreviare potest, sed non in animali: in minerali solummodo perficit hoc, quod natura non potest, propter aerem crudum, qui sua violentia implevit poros corporis cuiusque: non in visceribus, sed in superficie terrae, ut antea in praecedentibus capitulis dixi.
English
Treatise VIII Art and How Nature Works in Seed through Art
Every seed is of no consequence by itself unless art or nature places it in the proper womb. Although seed in itself is nobler than every created thing, its womb is nevertheless its life. The womb makes the sperm or grain putrefy and causes the pure point to congeal; it also nourishes it with the heat of its own body and makes it grow. This happens in all three kingdoms of nature mentioned above, naturally over months, years, and seasons. Discerning art is that which can shorten something in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, though not in the animal. Only in the mineral kingdom does it complete what nature cannot, because of the crude air that violently fills the pores of each body—not within the earth’s interior, but at its surface, as I said earlier in the preceding chapters.
Socrates
Reading A New Light of Alchemy · Treatise VIII · Treatise VIII · Passage 1
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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.