From the book
The Sophic Hydrolith, Water Stone of the Wise
Anonymous and companion authors · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
These are socially charged collective names in the main treatise’s verse: the common multitude and the godless, unruly rabble. The speaker says the former should know nothing of the art and the latter seeks it in vain. The vocabulary marks exclusion from knowledge, not a neutral census of readers or an independently established claim about social classes.
The contrasting recipients are the pious, to whom God grants what money cannot buy. The English ‘rabble’ retains the disparaging force of Pöffel. The verse also says few presently receive the gift, so its assurance of quiet security should not be read as a universal promise to everyone who undertakes alchemical work.
Places to read
- Part III: benefits and their rank · unit 7The verse contrasts pious recipients of a divine gift with the excluded common multitude.
Attested forms
gemeine Hauff; Pöffel