From the book
The Sophic Hydrolith, Water Stone of the Wise
Anonymous and companion authors · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Name and reputation are goods that outlast money in the main treatise’s closing evaluation of benefits. Gerücht here means reputation or report, not necessarily an unfounded rumour. The desired immortal name is imperishable praise after death, joined to a life directed towards wisdom and its proper end.
The final poem distinguishes two outcomes: the figure receives the crown of heaven, while praise and a valuable good name shine upon earth. Crown and reputation should therefore both be findable without becoming synonyms. The poem’s soaring muth is rendered ‘spirit’ in English, but the sentence does not erase the preceding death and grave. Lasting honour is not a claim that the earthly body escapes mortality.
Places to read
- Part III: benefits and their rank · unit 16The main treatise values lasting good reputation above wealth through scriptural and poetic authority.
- Closing epigrams · unit 5The final poem distinguishes heavenly crown from the good name continuing on earth.
Attested forms
vnsterblichen Namen; guter Name vnd Gerücht; guten Namen; himmels Kron; Lohn; guter Nam; muth