DiotimosReading Desk

Labour, cost and profit

laboris; labores; labor; sumptus; sumptu; lucri; lucrum; sudoris; Labor

These words make economic and bodily effort part of the preparation rhetoric.

From the book

Nine Books on the Nature of Things

Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

These words make economic and bodily effort part of the preparation rhetoric. Methods are ranked by labour and cost, and a difficult Mercury preparation is promised to repay expenses and yield extraordinary profit. Sweat in this context means exertion, distinct from the diaphoretic effect elsewhere attributed to preparations. The language encourages investment in the art; it does not document an independently verified financial return.

Places to read

  1. Book 5 · Death · Passage 13Latin“multum laboris & sudoris”