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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Parallel Edition

Thomas Vaughan

Magia Adamica

The Antiquity of Magic · With the Complete Coelum Terrae

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Magia AdamicaP. B.’s Commendatory Poem · Original

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Original English Page · Branch 38 of 318

P. B.’s Commendatory Poem · Original

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Original English

'T was well he did assault thee, or thy Foe Could not have hit to thy Advantage so. what he styles Ignorance, is Depth in Sense; He thinks there is no skill, but Common Fense. Had Bacon liv'd in this unknowing Age, And seen Experience laugh'd at on the Stage, What Tempests would have risen in his Bloud To side an Art, which Nature hath made Good?

Modern English

It was well that he attacked you, for your foe Could otherwise not have struck so much to your advantage. What he calls ignorance is depth of meaning; He thinks no skill exists beyond common “fense.” Had Bacon lived in this unknowing age And seen experience laughed at on the stage, What tempests would have risen in his blood To support an art which Nature has made good?

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.