Pi-shaped warning

Meaning

The verse explicitly displays Π and calls it a letter in the Greek alphabet which also appears elsewhere. It tells alchemists to remember it, then warns them not to deceive people through false appearances of art, on pain of death. Its function is admonitory and visual.

The exact character is retained rather than replaced by the English name ‘pi’. Modern note n29 interprets its gallows-like shape as a threat of hanging. That is a useful editorial explanation of the visual warning: the historical verse itself names a Greek letter and threatens death, without printing a separate word for gallows here. The interpretation is not an additional attested German noun or a key to a wider chemical code.