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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Attributed to Abraham the Jew

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures

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The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume IThe Labors of Hercules · Manuscript 48v · Scan 124

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The Labors of Hercules · Manuscript 48v · Scan 124

French

Ms. 48v

nourrir ses chevaux, c'est-à-dire pour être sucée et dévorée par les qualités des éléments.

7°. La plus grande, et néanmoins la moins sanglante de toutes les victoires d'Hercule, fut celle qu'il remporta sur Anthée, géant de Lybie, fils de la terre, que personne ne pouvait vaincre, parce que les forces lui manquant, il en reprenait sur le champ de nouvelles par le seul attouchement de sa mère, et ainsi se retirait toujours du combat sans avoir été dompté. L'ayant enfin vaincu, après l'avoir élevé de terre, il l'étouffa. Puisque dans les préparatifs de cette victoire ou (pour ainsi dire) de cette opération où le travail d'Hercule est nécessaire pour la finir, il faut que notre Anthée qui est le soufre d'or fixe ou le fils de la terre soit (l'emblème) sublimé en l'air, c'est-à-dire au sommet de la tête de l'alambic, autrement on ne le peut vaincre, c'est-à-dire réduire en quintessence afin qu'il puisse convertir les métaux par la teinture et la pénétration et devenir médecine souveraine.

8°. On doit juger du taureau furieux qui ravage presque toute la Crète, de même que le sanglier d'Érymanthe

Ms. 48v

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Labors of Hercules

Ms. 48v

feed his horses, that is, to be sucked up and devoured by the qualities of the elements.

7. The greatest, yet least bloody, of all Hercules' victories was the one he won over Antaeus, the Libyan giant and son of the earth, whom no one could defeat. Whenever his strength failed, he immediately gained new strength merely by touching his mother, and thus always withdrew from combat unsubdued. Having finally overcome him by lifting him from the ground, Hercules strangled him. Since the preparations for this victory—or, so to speak, this operation—require Hercules' labor to complete it, our Antaeus, who is fixed gold sulfur or the son of the earth (the emblem), must be sublimed into the air, that is, to the summit of the alembic's head. Otherwise he cannot be defeated—that is, reduced to quintessence—so that he may convert metals through tincture and penetration and become the sovereign medicine.

8. The raging bull that devastates almost the whole of Crete should be understood in the same way as the boar of Erymanthus

Ms. 48v

About This Reading Edition

The first manuscript in the Manly Palmer Hall collection at the Getty Research Institute: the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, presented in French and English with 463 explanatory notes, 13 manuscript plates, 25 source details, an introduction, chapter outline, glossary, bibliography, and register of readings.

Historical Text and Translation

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures (Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques), attributed in the witness to Abraham the Jew. Getty Research Institute, Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, accession 950053, Box 1, Hogart manuscript 3; French witness catalogued circa 1800. Manly Palmer Hall is the collector, not the author.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The circa 1800 source manuscript is public domain. The supplied 2026 French reading transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, outline, glossary, register, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. Source photographs are credited to the Getty Research Institute and Internet Archive in the supplied edition.