Diotimos Reading Desk

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← ExitThe Summary of Physics Restored

Reading language

The Historical Title Page

Enchiridion Physicæ Restitutæ

A HANDBOOK OF PHYSICS RESTORED, in which the true harmony of Nature is expounded, and very many errors of ancient philosophy are clearly disclosed through canons and assured demonstrations. A second treatise, entitled THE SECRET WORK OF THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY: in which the secrets of Nature and Art concerning the matter of the Philosophers’ Stone and the manner of working are made manifest in canons and in an orderly sequence. Both works are by the same anonymous author. MY HOPE IS IN THE LAMB. GENEVA, Published at the expense of Jean-Antoine and Samuel de Tournes. 1653.

What you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to another.

1.The combined title advertises two distinct works. The linked digitized part contains the Enchiridion, ending with canon 245 and FINIS on printed page 179. This edition translates that entire work, including its preliminary address and epigram. The separately paginated Arcanum is a companion work, already issued as a separate Diotimos edition; its text is not duplicated here. The original title names no author; the attribution to Jean d’Espagnet follows the library catalogue.

2.Enchiridion means a handbook or manual. The Diotimos reading title, The Summary of Physics Restored, follows the established English title tradition while retaining the sense of restitutae. Physics here means natural philosophy, encompassing matter, life, the heavens, and their divine cause. The source prints dulcidè, an unusual form where dilucidè (‘clearly’) appears to be intended; the Latin retains the printed form and the English follows that contextual sense. This is a disclosed editorial interpretation, not a claim that the scan prints dilucidè.

3.Spes mea est in Agno means ‘My hope is in the Lamb.’ It is an explicitly Christian motto. The ornamental title device is accounted for separately below; its maxim is publishing paratext rather than an additional canon.

4.The maxim is printed inside an ornamental device on the historical title page. Its wording is translated in full; the surrounding ornament is not an argument or a diagram requiring reconstruction.