Lumen de Lumine

Relations Within the Work

Light and its source — Compare the title, the author’s candle and the first three aphorisms. What is received, and what gives it?

Vision and exposition — Compare Thalia’s appearance with the explanation of the emblem. Which details acquire a stated meaning, and which remain open?

Word and thing — Follow passages in which knowing a name is contrasted with knowing its subject. What evidence is offered for the move from one to the other?

Mother and offspring — Read the Oxford dedication beside aphorisms 6–12. How do nourishment, generation and acknowledgment change between these contexts?

Spiritual and bodily fermentation — Read the final discussion of descent without merging its two fermentations. What different functions does Vaughan assign to each?

Disclosure and reserve — Compare the preface’s sealed house, the mountain letter and the closing aphorisms. What does a reader receive, and what work remains?