DiotimosReading Desk

Conscience and responsibility

Silence, hope and strength

In silentio & Spe; FORTITVDO; Symbolicè q. d. erit vobis ELIXEIR

The margin running from p. 147 to p. 148 reads Isaiah's promise of strength in silence and hope symbolically as a promise of Elixir.

From the book

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordThe margin running from p. 147 to p. 148 reads Isaiah's promise of strength in silence and hope symbolically as a promise of Elixir.
  • In KhunrathIts setting is the admonition about obligations and a faithful heart.
  • In this editionPreserve the distinction between the biblical phrase and Khunrath's explicitly symbolic gloss.
  • A reading distinctionThe primary margin cites Isaiah 30 as a chapter; the modern apparatus supplies verse 15.

Meaning

The margin running from p. 147 to p. 148 reads Isaiah's promise of strength in silence and hope symbolically as a promise of Elixir. The source explicitly labels the reinterpretation Symbolicè and directs the reader back to p. 88, where Elixir is explained through strength.

Use in the book

Its setting is the admonition about obligations and a faithful heart. The reader is warned against contempt and instructed to keep promises, while the adjacent Lilium saying makes divine revelation responsive to fidelity. The strength gloss places patient hope beside this moral account of reception.

The page turn matters because the biblical phrase begins on p. 147 but the identification with Elixir and the page reference follow on p. 148. Quoting only the first fragment would make the gloss appear merely devotional; quoting only the continuation would conceal its scriptural basis.

The passage does not order permanent silence about every doctrine. Khunrath later insists on public confession of truth. Silence here is part of a particular symbolic-scriptural application in the discussion of faithful restraint and expectation.

Places to read

  1. 1599 p. 147 · marginThe Isaiah phrase begins with silence, hope and promised strength
  2. 1599 p. 148 · marginThe continuation explicitly reads the promise as Elixir and cites p. 88
  3. 1599 p. 88The earlier account explains the Great Elixir through fortitudo

Translation in this edition

Preserve the distinction between the biblical phrase and Khunrath's explicitly symbolic gloss. Do not silently print “Elixir” as though it were Isaiah's own noun.

Source note

The primary margin cites Isaiah 30 as a chapter; the modern apparatus supplies verse 15.