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I have treated these matters in compendious fashion, exalting you towards the truth, who yourselves omit prolixity,
for Nature is truly not improved by Nature, save with her own nature, seeing that thou thyself art not improved
except in thy son, that is to say, man in man. See, therefore, that ye do not neglect the precepts concerning her, but
make use of venerable Nature, for out of her Art cometh, and out of no other. Know also that unless you seize hold
of this Nature and rule it, ye will obtain nothing. Join, therefore, that male, who is son to the red slave, in marriage
with his fragrant wife, which having been done, Art is produced between them; add no foreign matter unto these
things, neither powder nor anything else; that conception is sufficient for us, for it is near, yet the son is nearer still.
How exceeding precious is the nature of that red slave, without which the regimen cannot endure!
Bacsen saith:- O Diomedes, thou hast publicly revealed this disposition!
He answereth:- I will even shed more light upon it. Woe unto you who fear not God, for He may deprive you of this
art! Why, therefore, are you envious towards your brethren?
They answer:- We do not flee except from fools; tell us, therefore, what is thy will?
And he:- Place Citrine with his wife after the conjunction into the bath; do not kindle the bath excessively, lest they
be deprived of sense and motion; cause them to remain in the bath until their body, and the colour thereof, shall
become a certain unity, whereupon restore unto it the sweat thereof; again suffer it to die; then give it rest, and
beware lest ye evaporate them by burning them in too strong a fire. Venerate the king and his wife, and do not burn
them, since you know not when you may have need of these things, which improve the king and his wife. Cook
them, therefore, until they become black, then white, afterwards red, and finally until a tingeing venom is produced.
O seekers after this Science, happy are ye, if ye understand, but if not, I have still performed my duty, and that
briefly, so that if ye, remain ignorant, it is God who hath concealed the truth from you! Blame not, therefore, the
Wise, but yourselves, for if God knew that ye possessed a faithful mind, most certainly he would reveal unto you the
truth. Behold, I have established you therein, and have extricated you from error!
The Thirtieth Dictum.
Bacsen saith:- Thou hast spoken well, O Diomedes, but I do not see that thou hast demonstrated the disposition of
Corsufle to posterity! Of this same Corsufle the envious have spoken in many ways, and have confused it with all
manner of names.
Then he:- Tell me, therefore, O Bacsen, according to thy opinion in these matters, and I swear by thy father that this
is the head of the work, for the true beginning hereof cometh after the completion.
Bacsen saith:- I give notice, therefore, to future seekers after this Art, that Corsufle is a composite, and that it must
be roasted seven times, because when it arrives at perfection it tinges the whole body.
The Turba answereth:- Thou hast spoken the truth, O Bacsen!
The Thirty-First Dictum.
Pythagoras Saith:- How does the discourse of Bacsen appear to you, since he has omitted to name the substance by
its artificial names?
And they:- Name it, therefore, oh Pythagoras!
And he:- Corsufle being its composition, they have applied to it all the names of bodies in the world, as, for
example, those of coin, copper, tin, gold, iron, and also the name of lead, until it be deprived of that colour and
become Ixir.
The Turba answereth:- Thou hast spoken well, O Pythagoras!
And he:- Ye have also spoken well, and some among the others may discourse concerning the residual matters.
The Thirty-Second Dictum.
Bonellus saith: According to thee, O Pythagoras, all things die and live by the will of God, because that nature from
which the humidity is removed, that nature which is left by nights, does indeed seem like unto something that is
dead; it is then turned and (again) left for certain nights, as a man is left in his tomb, when it becomes a powder.
These things being done, God will restore unto it both the soul and the spirit thereof, and the weakness being taken
away, that matter will be made strong, and after corruption will be improved, even as a man becomes stronger after
resurrection and younger than he was in this world. Therefore it behoves you, O ye Sons of the Doctrine, to consume
that matter with fire boldly until it shall become a cinder, when know that ye have mixed it excellently well, for that
cinder receives the spirit, and is imbued with the humour until it assumes a fairer colour than it previously
possessed. Consider, therefore, O ye Sons of the Doctrine, that artists are unable to paint with their own tinctures
until they convert them into a powder; similarly, the philosophers cannot combine medicines for the sick slaves until
they also turn them into powder, cooking some of them to a cinder, while others they grind with their hands. The
case is the same with those who compose the images of the ancients. But if ye understand what has already been
said, ye will know that I speak the truth, and hence I have ordered you to burn up the body and turn it into a cinder,
for if ye rule it subtly many things will proceed from it, even as much proceeds from the smallest things in the
world. It is thus because copper like man, has a body and a soul, for the inspiration of men cometh from the air,
which after God is their life, and similarly the copper is inspired by the humour from which that same copper
receiving strength is multiplied and augmented like other things. Hence, the philosophers add, that when copper is
consumed with fire and iterated several times, it becomes better than it was.
The Turba answereth:- Show, therefore, O Bonellus, to future generations after what manner it becometh better than
it was!
And he:- I will do so willingly; it is because it is augmented and multiplied, and because God extracts many things
out of one thing, since He hath created nothing which wants its own regimen, and those qualities by which its
healing must be effected. Similarly, our copper, when it is first cooked, becomes water; then the more it is cooked,
the more is it thickened until it becomes a stone, as the envious have termed it, but it is really an egg tending to
become a metal. It is afterwards broken and imbued, when ye must roast it in a fire more intense than the former,
until it shall be coloured and shall become like blood in combustion, when it is placed on coins and changes them
into gold, according to the Divine pleasure. Do you not see that sperm is not produced from the blood unless it be
diligently cooked in the liver till it has acquired an intense red colour, after which no change takes place in that
sperm? It is the same with our work, for unless it be cooked diligently until it shall become a powder, and afterwards
be putrefied until it shall become a spiritual sperm, there will in no wise proceed from it that colour which ye desire.
But if ye arrive at the conclusion of this regimen, and so obtain your purpose, ye shall be princes among the People
of your time.
The Thirty-Third Dictum.
Nicarus saith:- Now ye have made this arcanum public.
The Turba answereth:- Thus did the Master order.
And he:- Not the whole, nevertheless.
But they:- He ordered us to clear away the darkness therefrom; do thou, therefore, tell us.
And he:- I counsel posterity to take the gold which they wish to multiply and renovate, then to divide the water into
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