From the book
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordGeber is named twice in the primary marginalia, once as a transmitter of a maxim and once as a respected but subordinate authority.
- In KhunrathAt page 10 the German-book version of the opening maxim is attributed to Turba and Geber: seeking in a thing what it does not contain is foolish.
- In this editionThe name is kept without assigning the citations to a particular Arabic or Latin Geber corpus, which the source does not identify.
- A reading distinctionBoth named occurrences are authorial margins.
Meaning
Geber is named twice in the primary marginalia, once as a transmitter of a maxim and once as a respected but subordinate authority.
Use in the book
At page 10 the German-book version of the opening maxim is attributed to Turba and Geber: seeking in a thing what it does not contain is foolish. The saying supports the priority of the correct matter over manipulative ingenuity. The body transmits the corresponding statement through Bernard, so the marginal attribution belongs to a visible chain of textual mediation.
Page 109 calls Geber a friend alongside Ripley and Paracelsus, but makes Nature's truth the greater friend. This second use limits what the first could seem to imply: citing Geber cannot settle interpretation against natural possibility. No Geber title is specified in either gloss, and the references do not establish which historical author or recension under the name Khunrath consulted.
Places to read
- 1599 p. 10 · marginThe German-book wording joins Geber to Turba as authority for the correct-subject maxim.
- 1599 p. 109 · marginGeber’s friendship is subordinated to Nature’s truth.
Translation in this edition
The name is kept without assigning the citations to a particular Arabic or Latin Geber corpus, which the source does not identify.
Source note
Both named occurrences are authorial margins. Their evidential status differs from modern attempts to reconstruct Khunrath's library.