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Gods, heroes and poetic fables

Atlas, Prometheus and celestial fire

A genealogy of spirits and the removal of destructive action Atlas, Atlas; Prométhée, Prometheus; Hespérus, Hesperus

Atlas, Hesperus and Prometheus are presented as brothers whose lineage encloses the secret of vessel, furnace and fire.

From the book

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Attributed to Abraham the Jew · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordAtlas, Hesperus and Prometheus are presented as brothers whose lineage encloses the secret of vessel, furnace and fire. They are glossed respectively as the greatest mineral spirit, vegetative spirit and celestial fire.
  • In the manuscriptTheir family expresses a multiplicity of fires underlying corruption. Prometheus also appears as the victim of a devouring eagle that Hercules must kill at the work's completion.
  • TranslationThe witness's genealogy and name Japeth are retained. Prometheus's liver and the eagle remain concrete images where the author interprets their material force.
  • A place to readManuscript 49r–49v, scans 125–126: the lineage and three explicit identifications are stated.

Meaning

This genealogy connects kinds of spirit with the instruments and conditions of the work. The source announces vessel, furnace and fire, then names mineral spirit, vegetative spirit and celestial fire. It does not explicitly allocate one brother to each of the three apparatus nouns in a one-to-one table. Its secure claim is that their lineage contains the secret and that a multiplicity of fires produces universal corruption.185

Prometheus has a second relation to corruption. His repeatedly renewed liver is consumed by an eagle, while Hercules's killing of that eagle belongs to final completion. The victim's renewal makes the destructive action recurrent; the victory ends it. At 60v the eagle is explicitly raw quicksilver, hostile to lead. The narrative carries an account of activity that returns until an overcoming power arrests it.

Use in the book

At 49r, scan 125, Atlas is named the son of Japeth, himself the son of Heaven and Earth. The sentence continues at 49v with the nymph Asia and the birth of Atlas, Hesperus and Prometheus. The author immediately supplies the mineral, vegetative and celestial glosses. The explanation then moves to universal corruption, placing the lineage inside the account of how material principles lose and receive life.

At 50v, scan 128, Hercules has killed the eagle devouring the ever-renewing liver of Prometheus bound upon the Caucasus. This stands beside conversion of white sulfur to red and the return of Alcestis. At 60v, scan 148, the eagle is raw quicksilver in the discussion of destructive spirits. At 64r, scan 155, the liver-eating image reappears amid deadly powers composed of quicksilver, sulfur and vitriol. The local material explanation, not a general biography of Prometheus, gives each recurrence its place.

Places to read

  1. Manuscript 49r–49v · Scans 125–1262The lineage encloses vessel, furnace and fire, and the brothers receive their explicit spiritual meanings.
  2. Manuscript 50v · Scan 128Hercules ends the eagle's destructive action in the account of final completion.
  3. Manuscript 60v · Scan 148The eagle is explicitly interpreted as raw quicksilver hostile to lead.
  4. Manuscript 64r · Scan 155Prometheus's devoured liver returns in the description of infernal and pernicious powers.

Translation

Atlas, Hesperus and Prometheus are recognizable English forms of the witness's names. Japeth remains its spelling rather than becoming a silently corrected Iapetus. Esprit minéral, esprit végétatif and feu céleste remain mineral spirit, vegetative spirit and celestial fire. These phrases state differences in the manuscript's natural philosophy; they are not replaced by modern physical substances.

Atlas

Attested: H001-S125; H001-S126. The source's genealogy and explicitly glossed mineral, vegetative and celestial powers. Lemma: Atlas; Japeth; Hespérus; Prométhée.

Japeth

Attested: H001-S125. The source's genealogy and explicitly glossed mineral, vegetative and celestial powers. Lemma: Atlas; Japeth; Hespérus; Prométhée.

Hespérus

Attested: H001-S126. The source's genealogy and explicitly glossed mineral, vegetative and celestial powers. Lemma: Atlas; Japeth; Hespérus; Prométhée.

Prométhée

Attested: H001-S126. The source's genealogy and explicitly glossed mineral, vegetative and celestial powers. Lemma: Atlas; Japeth; Hespérus; Prométhée.

foie renaissant de Prométhée

Attested: H001-S128; H001-S148. The renewing victim of the devouring eagle, which is raw quicksilver in scan 148. Lemma: foie; Prométhée.

Source note

Scans 125–126 state the three apparatus terms and the three brothers' glosses, but do not expressly say Atlas equals vessel, Hesperus equals furnace and Prometheus equals fire. The entry leaves that tempting extra correspondence unstated.