From the book
The Sophic Hydrolith, Water Stone of the Wise
Anonymous and companion authors · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordEnd can mean an intended purpose, a completed result, or the limit of a life.
- In the Sophic HydrolithThe introduction says that the philosophers' varied names point toward one aim and one matter.
- In this editionThe translation uses “purpose,” “aim,” “end,” “outcome,” and “complete” where a mechanical repetition of “end” would blur the source.
- A place to readThe sole legitimate aim is God's praise and honour.
Meaning
End can mean an intended purpose, a completed result, or the limit of a life. The family also includes beginning, continuing, and completing because the treatise repeatedly makes these phases answer to one another. Scopum and Ziel are directed aims; Ende and outcome language can concern what the work actually reaches. An intention is therefore not yet its successful accomplishment.
Use in the book
The introduction says that the philosophers' varied names point toward one aim and one matter. This is a claim of underlying coherence within their language, not a finding that every companion in the collected edition has the same doctrine. In the opening devotional instruction, the reader must seek the art for no purpose other than God's praise and honour. Purpose thus concerns the agent's disposition before it concerns material success.
The next stage makes that aim something like a pledge before beginning the study of Nature. The benefit section speaks of the Stone brought to its desired end, while the ethical discussion praises wise people who look toward the outcome and end of life and a lasting good name after departure. Completion in the workshop and the end of a life are associated through orientation, not literally identified.
The conclusion returns to the beginning: an undertaking ends as it begins, and premature labour without knowledge brings a ludicrous result. The author does not demand an impossible complete mastery before every movement; he allows at least an earnest beginning of spiritual and bodily preparation together. This qualification matters to his account of how an imperfect reader may start.
The closing prayer gives the clearest verbal sequence: begin rightly, continue steadfastly, complete blessedly, and enjoy with eternal gladness. These are petitions for Wisdom's guidance, not declarations that the writer has guaranteed the reader's success. The transition from temporal work to eternal enjoyment also prevents “end” from meaning only stopping an operation. The work's purpose remains answerable to its use and to the reader's final good.
Places to read
- Part I: entrance and preparation · unit 3The sole legitimate aim is God's praise and honour.
- Part III: benefits and their rank · unit 2The stone’s praise applies when brought to its desired end.
- Part III: benefits and their rank · unit 16The wise order their whole life toward its outcome and posthumous legacy.
- Opening explanation · unit 5Many different expressions point to a single intended target.
- Part I: entrance and preparation · unit 6The operator pledges to God and sets a definite aim before beginning.
- Conclusion · unit 2An untimely beginning made in ignorance produces a correspondingly poor end.
- Prayer · unit 2The prayer asks right beginning, steadfast continuance and blessed completion.
Translation
The translation uses “purpose,” “aim,” “end,” “outcome,” and “complete” where a mechanical repetition of “end” would blur the source. It preserves the prayer's three separate actions, matching anfahen, fort arbeiten, and vollenden. Each receives independent English index access here. The Latin desired-end expression in the benefits section is translated functionally rather than treated as a named technical stage.
Attested forms
zu keinem andern end; Außgang; Ende; Abschiedt; Ziel; verlobt; anzufangen; endschafft; vnzeitigen vorhabens; anfahen; fort arbeiten; vollenden; ad optatum finem; scopum