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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Attributed to Jean d’Espagnet

The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy

A Fresh English Translation from the Complete 1623 Latin Arcanum

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The Secret Work of the Hermetic PhilosophyThe 138 Canons · Canon 15

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The 138 Canons · Canon 15

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Latin

A multiplici verborum significatione studiosus lector caveat, dolosis enim anfractibus & ancipiti oratione, imò plerumque contrariâ, ut videtur, philosophi mysteria sua explicant, implicandae & occultandae, non adulterandae aut destruendae veritatis studio; ideò ipsorum scripta vocibus ambiguis & homonymis abundant: In nullo autem tam acriter contendunt, quàm in celando ramo ipsorum aureo.

quem tegit omnis Lucus, & obscuris claudunt convallibus umbrae:

nec ullis cedit viribus, sed facilis volensque sequetur eum, qui

Maternas agnoscit aves & geminae cui fortè columbae Ipsa sub ora viri Caelo venere volantes.

English

Let the studious reader beware of words with several meanings. Philosophers explain their mysteries through deceptive windings and double-edged language, indeed often through apparent contradictions, because they wish to entangle and conceal truth, not corrupt or destroy it. Their writings therefore abound in ambiguous words and words with the same sound but different meanings. On nothing do they expend greater effort than on concealing their golden bough:

The whole grove hides it, and shadows enclose it in dark valleys.

It yields to no force, but will follow easily and willingly the man who

Recognises his mother's birds, and to whom, by chance, twin doves came flying from heaven before his very face.

About This Reading Edition

The complete anonymous 1623 Arcanum, conventionally attributed to Jean d’Espagnet, with Latin and a fresh English translation, 138 canons, original marginalia and errata, 88 modern annotations, separately identified historical reception documents, and the complete supplied Diotimos study apparatus.

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Arcanum hermeticæ philosophiæ opus. Paris: Nicolas Buon, 1623. Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon copy, digitised by Google Books, uJNr_M9LDGgC. Conventionally attributed to Jean d’Espagnet; the original title page is anonymous.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Historical texts are public-domain works. The supplied 2026 fresh English translation, Latin reading transcription and Diotimos editorial material are published with the site owner’s authorization. The historical Signifer is credited to the Getty Research Institute copy and Internet Archive.