Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 82 of 175
Discourse on the Universal · Passage 2
German
Demnach im vergangnen 1589. Jahre mit den Schlesier Fuhr-Leuten von Görlitz / eine hohe Person bey mir zur Herberge eingekehret / und ich gleich in Alchymia magna, den Tractat gelesen: Si felicitari desideras &c. aufgestanden bin / und das Buch offen gelassen / hat dieser Freund / als ich wieder in die Stuben kommen / in Händen gehabt / mir wiedergeben / und gesagt: Ob ich auch verstünde / was ich da lese? drauf ich geantwortet: Ich wolte gerne / daß es möglich / aber es wäre mir dieses so wunderlich wider einander / daß ich mich hierin nicht richten könte / ich hätte wol 23. gelesen und Concordantiam Philosophorum gerne wissen mögen / aber je länger ich hierauff speculirete / je weiter ich hievon käme: Da sagte er: Habt ihr denn auch gearbeitet? da sagte ich: Nichts sonderliches / denn gelesen / und fing an mit ihm zu disputiren / wie daß es möglich wäre / daß die Philosophi concordiren solten / weil sie ungleich schrieben.
English
In the past year, 1589, a distinguished person came to lodge with me, travelling with the Silesian carriers from Görlitz. I had just been reading in the Alchymia magna the treatise beginning “If you desire to prosper,” and had risen, leaving the book open. When I returned to the room, this friend had it in his hands. He gave it back and asked whether I understood what I was reading. I answered that I wished I could, but that its statements seemed so strangely contradictory that I could find no guidance in them. I had read a good twenty-three works and would gladly have learned the agreement of the philosophers; yet the longer I speculated upon it, the further away I seemed to get. He asked, “Have you also worked?” I replied, “Nothing much beyond reading,” and began to dispute with him about how the philosophers could agree when they wrote differently.
Socrates
Reading Centrum Naturae Concentratum · Discourse on the Universal · Discourse on the Universal · Passage 2
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete supplied German–English edition of the 1682 collection: the main treatise attributed to Ali Puli, Helbig’s preface, distinct companion discourses, the short potable-gold preparation and the anonymous Father’s Last Testament, with four historical figures, 103 annotations and the full Diotimos study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
The governing German witness is the complete 1682 collection in Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, shelfmark 87 B 76050, with an unnumbered title and printed pages 1–80. The historical title’s Arabic and Portuguese antecedents and its authorial persona are retained as claims, not authenticated originals. Johann Otto Helbig (Hellwig), Martin de Delle, J. J. F. and the anonymous testament retain their distinct historical roles.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
The historical German source text and engraving are in the public domain. The English translation and editorial material were prepared with AI assistance for Diotimos Editions in 2026, with a supplied translation and sign commentary identified separately, and are published with the site owner’s authorization.