From the book
Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici
Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
The precious marguerites are pearls, not daisies, in the warning against casting treasures before swine. The image qualifies access to knowledge of preservation: the author names recipients illuminated, chosen and born of the spirit rather than promising indiscriminate understanding.
The polemical contrast of precious teaching and filthy or stupid swine belongs to Nuysement’s hierarchy of recipients. It is not the lexicon’s judgement of actual people. Nor does the qualification imply that creation’s secret is available to the same group: the passage says that secret is hidden from all, while preservation is accessible at least to the illuminated. Keeping the two claims apart explains why guarded disclosure accompanies a programme of natural inquiry.
Places to read
- Book Two · Chapter 4 · Unit 6The recipient qualification, pearl image and distinction between creation and preservation.
Attested forms
illuminez, comme esleuz & nez de l'esprit; precieuses marguerites; salles & stupides pourceaux