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The Philosophers’ Testimonies · Original
Original English
cold and moyst but inwardly Hot and Drie. All which is confirmed by Rhodian, another Instructor (it seemes) of Kanid King of Persia; his words are these; Sperma est album & liquidum, postea rubeum. Sperma istud est lapis fugitivus & est Aereum & Volatile, & est frigidum & humidum, & calidum & siccum. The Sperm (saith hee) is white and Liquid, afterwards red. This Sperm is the flying stone, and it is aereal, and volatil, cold and moyst, hot and drie. To these subscribes the Author of that excellent Tract intituled Liber trium Verborum. Hic est Liber (saith hee) Trium verborum, Liber Lapidis preciosi, qui est Corpus aereum & volatile, frigidum & humidum, aquosum & adustivum, & in eo est Caliditas & siccitas, frigiditas & humiditas, alia virtus in occulto, alia in Manifesto. This is the Book of Three words, meaning thereby Three Principles, The Book of the Precious stone, which is a Body aereal and volatil cold and moyst, watrie and adustive, and in it is Heat and Drought, Coldnesse and Moysture, one virtue inwardly, the other outwardly. Belus the Philosopher in that famous and most Classic Synod of Arisleus, inverts the order, to conceale the practice, but if rightly understood, he speaks to the purpose. Excelsum (sayth hee) est hoc apud Philosophos magnos Lapidem non
Modern English
cold and moist, but inwardly hot and dry.” All this is confirmed by Rhodian, apparently another instructor of Kanid, king of Persia. [New translation of the Latin:] “The seed is white and liquid, afterwards red. This seed is the fugitive stone; it is aerial and volatile, cold and moist, and hot and dry.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “The seed is white and liquid, afterwards red. This seed is the flying stone; it is aerial and volatile, cold and moist, hot and dry.” The author of the excellent treatise called The Book of Three Words agrees. [New translation of the Latin:] “This is the Book of Three Words, the book of the precious stone, which is an aerial and volatile body, cold and moist, watery and burning. Within it are heat and dryness, coldness and moisture: one power hidden, another manifest.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “This is the Book of Three Words”—meaning three principles—“the book of the precious stone, an aerial and volatile body, cold and moist, watery and burning. Within it are heat and dryness, coldness and moisture, one power inwardly and the other outwardly.” Belus the philosopher, in that famous and most authoritative assembly of Arisleus, reverses the order to conceal the practice; understood rightly, however, he speaks to the point. [New translation of the Latin:] “Among great philosophers it is an exalted truth that the stone is not
Socrates
Reading Magia Adamica · The Philosophers’ Testimonies · Page 99 · Passage A
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Thomas Vaughan’s complete 1650 Magia Adamica publication, with all historical preliminaries and the complete appended Coelum Terrae, original and modern English, fresh translations of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, full poems, eight historical marginal notes, the complete recovered printed corrections, 312 annotations and the complete supplied Diotimos study apparatus.
Historical Text and Translation
Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Magia Adamica: or The Antiquitie of Magic, with Coelum Terrae. London: T. W. for H. Blunden, 1650. Governing transcription: EEBO-TCP A64768.0001.001. The Getty Research Institute copy supplies surviving first-edition page images; the 1656 issue supplies explicitly disclosed missing or defective material. The complete shared 1650 errata are recovered from the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica copy of The Man-Mouse.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
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The historical text is public domain; the EEBO-TCP Phase I transcription is released under CC0. The supplied 2026 reading, translations and Diotimos editorial material are published with the site owner’s authorization.
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