DiotimosReading Desk

Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Parallel Edition

Thomas Vaughan

Magia Adamica

The Antiquity of Magic · With the Complete Coelum Terrae

Explore the Lexicon
Magia AdamicaThe Voice of Nature · Page 107 · Passage A

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Facing Pages · Branch 230 of 318

The Voice of Nature · Page 107 · Passage A

Original English

tibi dico, quod nullo modo invenire potuimus, nec similiter invenire potuerunt Philosophi, aliquam rem perseverantem in igne, nisi solam unctuosam Humiditatem. Aqueam humiditatem videmus de facili evaporare, Arida remanet, & ideo separantur, quia non sunt Naturales. Si autem eas humiditates consydereremus, quae difficulter separantur ab his quae sunt Naturales, non invenimus aliquas nisi unctuosas, & viscosas. I tell thee further (saith hee) that wee could not possibly find, neither could the Philosophers find before us, any thing that would persist in the fire, but onely the Unctuous Humiditie. A waterie Humiditie, we see, will easily vapour away, and the Earth remains behind and the parts are therefore separated because their Composition is not natural. But if wee consider those humidities, which are hardly separated from those parts which are naturall to them, wee find not any such but the unctuous, viscous Humidities. It will be expected perhaps by some Flint, and Antimonie-Doctors, who make their Philosophicall Contrition with a Hammer, that I should discover this Thing out-right and not suffer this strange Bird-lime to hold their pride by the Plumes. To these, I say, it is water of Silver, which some have called water of the Moon, but 'tis Mercurie of the Sun, and partly of Saturn,

Modern English

I tell you that we could find nothing whatever that persists in fire except oily moisture alone; nor could the philosophers find anything else. We see watery moisture readily evaporate; the dry part remains. They separate because they are not natural to one another. But if we consider those moistures that are difficult to separate from what is natural to them, we find none except oily and viscous ones.” [Vaughan’s own English rendering:] “I tell you further that we could not possibly find, nor could the philosophers before us, anything that would persist in fire except oily moisture. Watery moisture, as we see, easily evaporates, and earth remains behind. The parts are separated because their composition is not natural. But if we consider moistures that are difficult to separate from the parts natural to them, we find none except oily, viscous moistures.” Some flint and antimony doctors, who perform their philosophical crushing with a hammer, may expect me to disclose this thing outright rather than let this strange birdlime hold their pride by its feathers. To them I say: it is water of silver, which some have called water of the moon; yet it is mercury of the sun and partly of Saturn,

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.

Rights

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.