Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 30 of 504
The Author’s Preface
German & Latin
1723 scan 15Ein hochgeneigter Artist und Liebhaber soll mercken / daß dieser Tractat gantz simpel secundum ipsam naturam theoretice und practice durchaus gehet / mit Anzeigung und Beweisung allenthalben derer gründlich wahren Ursachen und Rationen / wie / auf was Weise / warum und aus wem dieses und jenes entstehet und wird / und dieses darum: Denn so ein Künstler den Weg der Natur nicht weiß / weiß auch nicht / wie die Natur arbeitet / derselbe kan ohnmöglich die Natur verstehen / sondern er muß blind auf die vorgeschriebene Processe fallen / solche arbeiten und vielfältig drinnen fehlen / dieweil er weder regulam noch rationem naturæ verstehet. Aus diesen Ursachen sind viele tausend den Weg ihres zeitlichen Verderbens / und auch viele aus Desperation des ewigen gelauffen.
The Golden Chain of Homer: The Author’s Preface
1723 scan 15The kindly practitioner and enthusiast should observe that this treatise proceeds throughout quite simply according to nature herself, in theory and practice. Everywhere it shows and demonstrates the true underlying causes and reasons: how, in what manner, why, and out of what this or that arises and comes to be. It does so for this reason: if an artist does not know nature’s path, and does not know how nature works, he cannot possibly understand nature. He must instead fall blindly upon prescribed processes, carry them out, and fail in them repeatedly, because he understands neither nature’s rule nor her reason. For these reasons many thousands have travelled the road to temporal ruin, and many, out of despair, to eternal ruin as well.
Socrates
Reading The Golden Chain of Homer · The Author’s Preface · PRE04S001 · 1723 scan 15
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The two-book alchemical work of 1723 in German with a new English translation, 399 notes, eight historical diagrams, chapter outlines, keyword essays, a glossary, bibliography, subject index, and 400 discussion questions.
Historical Text and Translation
Anonymous, Aurea Catena Homeri. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Johann Georg Böhme, 1723. Traditionally attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger; the attribution remains uncertain. Historical diagrams from the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung copy digitized by e-rara.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
The supplied edition identifies the 1723 German source and historical diagrams as public-domain material. Its new English translation and editorial apparatus are published with the site owner’s authorization. The complete original files are retained unchanged.