Food, livelihood and maintenance

Meaning

Food and maintenance are benefits which the philosophers are said to have obtained through the art. Their purpose is freedom for study and the pursuit of wisdom, not unlimited consumption. The passage also explains how livelihood would spare them flattering wealthy patrons, selling the secret, or suffering contempt for begging. In this context nahrung reaches beyond a particular food to sustaining a life. The statement belongs to the author's account of the philosophers' alleged advantages and should not be treated as evidence of an actual reliable income from alchemy.