Devil and envy

Meaning

The First Response assigns the dangerous enclosure of its treasure-mountain to the devil's envy. It defines that envy by its objects: opposition to God's honour and human happiness. Fierce beasts and birds of prey then make an already dark path dangerous. The explanatory claim belongs to the response's religious narrative, not to a zoological description of an actual treasure-site. Nor is envy simply the withholding of an alchemical recipe here; it is resistance to the good which the hidden treasure promises. The response connects the obstruction with an appointed time of discovery and the recipients' own diligence.