Turba Philosophorum

«I testify that the beginning of all things is a Certain Nature, which is perpetual, coequalling all things» — el arranque doctrinal: una Naturaleza cierta y perpetua como principio de todo.

«fire and water are enemies between which there is no consanguinity» — la enemistad elemental que estructura la cosmología de la asamblea.

«I make known that the beginning of all those things which God hath created is weight and proportion,* for weight rules all things, and the weight and spissitude of the earth is manifest in proportion ; but weight is not found except in body.» — Anaxágoras, en el Tercer Dicho; el asterisco es llamada de nota del impreso.

«Fire is the most rare among all,» — la escala de rareza elemental: el aire menos raro que el fuego, el agua menos rara que el aire, la tierra fría y seca la menos rara de todas.

«An egg is an illustration, for therein four things are conjoined;» — la alegoría del huevo: cáscara↔tierra, clara↔agua, yema↔fuego, y el fino córtex interno↔aire separador. En la misma página vive la única imagen que el digest describe en toda la obra: el diagrama del huevo.

«I affirm that God existed before all things, and with Him was nothing, as He was at first.»

«Hence the angels are more lucid than the sun, moon, and stars, because they are created from one substance, which is less dense» — «than two», al otro lado del renglón—

«The angels, therefore, are not created out of thick fire, but out of the thinnest of very thin fire» — la distinción entre el fuego finísimo (materia angélica, que no consume) y el fuego grueso.

«The definition of death is the disjunction of the composite, but there is no disjunction of that which is simple, for it is one. Death consists in the separation of the soul from the body, because anything formed out of two, three, or four components must disintegrate, and this is death.» — la muerte como disyunción del compuesto, no solo del hombre.

«But out of four elements our father Adam and his sons were created» — el hombre, de los cuatro; la enumeración fuego, aire, agua y tierra se completa al otro lado de la plana.

«Beasts are created out of fire, air, and earth ; flying things out of fire, air, and water, because flying things, and all among vegetables which have a spirit, are created out of water, while all brute animals are from earth, air, and fire. Yet in vegetables there is no fire, for they are created out of earth, water, and air.» — las bestias, los voladores y las plantas, de tres elementos cada uno.

«two of them are perceptible to the sense of touch and vision, and of these the operation and virtue are well known. These are earth and water. But there are two other elements which are neither visible nor tangible, which yield naught, whereof the place is never seen, nor are their operations and force known, save in the former elements, namely, earth and water» — dos elementos perceptibles y dos que solo se conocen por los primeros.

«that no true tincture is made except from our copper» — el «nuestro cobre» como única materia de la tintura verdadera.

«Know ye also that gold is not turned into redness save by Permanent Water, because Nature rejoices in Nature.» — lo que el texto dice del oro en esa plana es esto: la rojez viene del Agua Permanente.

«The key of this work is the art of Coins.»

«Nature rejoices in Nature.» — la máxima clásica, aquí en boca de la asamblea.

«you shall take the quicksilver from the male, and shall either impose upon iron, tin, or governed copper, and it will be whitened»

«The Flower of White Salt is Ethel from Ethelia.»

«I will repeat my words in Tyrian dye.» — Acsubofen, Catorceavo Dictum.

«FRICTES saith : O all ye seekers after Wisdom, know that the foundation of this Art, on account of which many have perished, is one only.» — el Decimoquinto Dicho; la fórmula de una naturaleza, una materia y un camino que la ficha traía es de la nota, no del dicho.

«Know, therefore, that the first virtue is vinegar» — lo que sigue en el troceo es la nota de la segunda recensión, no el texto— — Sócrates, Decimosexto Dictum: el plomo necesario en toda tintura.

El azufre incombustible se prepara de sulfuro puro, orina prepuberal y salmuera; el vinagre filosófico es la «vinagre aguda» que convierte el cuerpo en espíritu.

«The male receives a tingeing spirit from the female.» — Zimon, Decimoséptimo Dictum. En la misma página el digest reparte los principios: el plomo como masculino y el oropimente como femenino — inversión de la convención difundida, consignada como la trae la obra, sin armonizar.

«Whiten, therefore, the red, and redden the white!»

«Know, also, that the year is divided into four seasons ; the first season is of a frigid complexion, and this is Winter ; the second is of the complexion of air, and this is Spring ; then follows the third, which is summer, and is of the complexion of fire ; lastly, there is the fourth, wherein fruits are matured, which is Autumn. In this manner, therefore, ye are to rule your natures, namely, to dissolve in winter, to cook in spring, to coagulate in summer, and to gather and tinge the fruit in autumn. Having, therefore, given this example, rule the tingeing natures, but if ye err, blame no one save yourselves.» — el régimen estacional.

«Mundus» — , en el Decimoctavo Dictum, identifica la goma con el agua permanente.

«which is known to everyone, which has many names and has no name, I refer to aphroselinon» — Belus, Vigésimo Dictum: la piedra despreciada que todos conocen.

«you will find it with me and with Agathodaimon.»

«He who has tinged the venom of the wise out of the Sun and its shadow has arrived at the highest Arcanum.» — Theopilus, Vigésimo Segundo Dictum.

«until it shall have absorbed both, and do this seven times.» — la imbibición séptuple.

«Take quicksilver mixed with the male.» — Cerus, Vigésimo Tercer Dictum, sobre la afinidad del cobre con el agua permanente.

«Join the male and the female, and you will find that which is sought;»

«the tinctures which I have signified unto you are the condensed and the humid,* but the condensed is a conjoined vapour, and the humid is the water of sulphur, for sulphurs are contained by sulphurs, and rightly by these things Nature rejoices in Nature, and overcomes, and constrains.» — las dos tinturas.

«then is the Ixir composed out of the humid and the dry, and then it tinges with an invariable tincture. Know also that it is called a body wherein there is gold.» — el Ixir.

«When ye see it thus, repeatedly cook and imbue it until it assume the aforesaid colour, and it shall become hidden gold.»

«A true son is begotten.» — el «hijo verdadero» del proceso.

«Thou hast spoken well, O Diomedes!» — la fórmula de aprobación entre oradores, mecanismo del dispositivo dialógico (también «Excel-lently hast thou described the air, and given account of what thou knowest to be therein.», p. 19).

«Take the regal Corsufle, which is like to the redness of copper, and pound in the urine of a calf.»

«The whole work is in the vapour and the sublimation of water.» — Victimerus.

«The dealbation doth not take place save by decoction.» — Los tres grados por color: primero negro, segundo blanco, tercero rojo.

«Turba Phiksophorum is indisputably the most ancient extant treatise on Alchemy in the Latin tongue» — [«Phiksophorum», del OCR] — la tesis de Waite sobre el lugar de la obra.

«it was not, so far as can be ascertained, originally written in Latin ; the compiler or editor, for in many respects it can scarcely be regarded as an original composition, wrote either in Hebrew or Arabic ; however, the work, not only at the present day, but seemingly during the six or seven centuries when it was quoted as an authority by all the alchemical adepts, has been familiar only in its Latin garb.» — Waite, que firma el prefacio.

«In any case the Turba summarises the author's preceding Geber, and is therefore the most valuable, as it is the most ancient, treatise on Alchemy, which exists in the Latin language.» — la línea del prefacio, citada con su OCR sucio; la restitución propuesta sería «the authors preceding Geber», es decir, los anteriores a Geber, no Geber mismo.

«Monsieur Berthelot's invaluable text and translation of the Byzantine Alchemists has been largely made use of, to illustrate the striking analogies between the Greek Hermetic writers of the fourth century and the Turba. It is to this great scholar and scientist that we owe the discovery of these analogies, some of which are very clearly indicated in a chapter devoted to the subject, and forming part of his " Essai sur la Transmission de la Science Antique au Moyen Age.» — la p. 10 y no la 9.

«The chief printed versions of The Turba Philosophorum, are those of the " Theatrum Chemicum," the " Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa," and that of the smaller collection entitled " Artis Auriferae Tractatus.» — la transmisión impresa, en la p. 11; la Bibliothèque des Philosophes Alchimiques de Salmon se nombra unas líneas después, como versión que representa mal el original.

«There are two codices or recensions of The Turba Philosophorum, which differ considerably from one another. What is called in the following pages the second recension, is appreciably shorter, clearer, and, on the whole, the less corrupt of the two» — las dos recensiones, declaradas en el prefacio.

«This dictum is omitted in the second recension, and that which follows is put into the mouth of Emiganus.» — la omisión del Sexagésimo Sexto Dicho.

«The Turba Philosophorum does not betray anywhere the hand of a Christian compiler, and although the reference to the despised stone suggests the stone which the builders have rejected, the idea is derived from Zosimus, and not from the New Testament» — la nota del editor sobre la piedra despreciada.

Berthelot equipara la Epístola de Arisleus con el «Aristenes» de la segunda recensión.

Berthelot interpreta la «sombra del cobre» como protóxido o verdigrís.

Berthelot data un tratado siríaco comparado en los siglos X–XI — el único anclaje cronológico del digest, y no es de la Turba misma.

«Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt figure in all Hermetic literature as the most indispensable principles of the Magnum Opus.» — nota de Waite.

«It was different in the days of Zosimus, who tells us that in Egypt the divine art of operating on minera belonged to the Kings, and the alchemists of the Nile no more worked in their own interest than theminters of coin. The increase of the King's riches was the only end in view» — Zósimo en la nota del editor; Olimpiodoro es la otra autoridad recurrente sobre los elementos (pp. 21, 33, 42).

«the true metal was reaiiy multiplied by an operation comparable to fermentation» — [«reaiiy» por really, del OCR] — nota sobre la diplosis de los orfebres egipcios del papiro de Leiden.

«But the carnal Adam of Zosimus signifies material humanity in general, and therein is contained the spiritual man, whose name no one knoweth except Nicotheos, and that mysterious personage, the alchemist himself acknowledges to be undiscoverable.» — Zósimo en la nota del editor.

«Zosimus beheld Agathodaimon in a vision» — y Berthelot apunta una divinidad egipcia con nombre equivalente a Agathodaimon.

Von Franz la señala como «tratado árabe, probablemente la principal fuente del autor de la Aurora consurgens para su visión divina».

«by the church father Hippolytus, and upon the writings of Olympiodorus that compare earlier Greek philosophers with later Greco-Egyptian alchemists, but all this Greek material is translated into an Islamic context. Much of the point of the Turba is to demonstrate that the God of Islam is the Creator, that the world is of a uniform nature (monism again), and that all creatures are composed of the four elements» — Principe: el marco de sabios griegos reescribe fuentes griegas efectivamente leídas, y las traslada a contexto islámico.

«The ancient Latin treatise which passes as the work of Morien, says sententiously : " The ferment of gold is gold, even as the ferment of bread is bread." The statement is reproduced literally by the Rosary of the Philosophers.» — lo que el Rosarium reproduce es la sentencia de Morien sobre el fermento del oro, no una afirmación de la Turba sobre el agua de azufre.

«Two [elements] rise up and two fall down. The two ascending elements are fire and air ; the two descending elements are earth and water.» — no es voz de la Turba: está en la nota del editor, que cita a Olimpiodoro, On the Sacred Art.

«The Book ofEl-Habib says that the virtue of eternal water is that of a spiritual blood. It is identified with aeriform water, azure water, and water of sulphur. It is also primal sulphur. When boiled, it transforms the male (arsenic) into silver, and afterwards into gold. It is also said that copper is water of silver, which, after preparation, becomes eternal water.» — no es voz de la Turba: nota del editor, por el Libro de El-Habib.

«Mercury, according to the Greek Epistle of Synesiusi is like wax, which readily assumes any colour that is imparted to it, for Mercury whitens all bodies and attracts their souls; it digests them by coction, and takes complete possession of them.» — no es voz de la Turba: nota del editor, por Sinesio.

«The Magnesia of Alchemy is not common Magnesia, and this remark applies equally to the Greek Alchemists, who are the inspiration of the Turba Philosophorum, to that treatise, and to the later adepts.» — no es voz de la Turba: nota del editor.

«Later alchemists speak much of the Elixir at the White and the Elixir at the Red, yet the second is the first in exaltation, and so also the Elixir of metals is at the same time held to be the medicine of men.» — no es voz de la Turba: nota del editor sobre los grados del Elixir.

«It is not, of course, certain that the original is irretrievably lost, the Arabic and Syriac manuscripts treating of early chemistry are preserved in considerable numbers in the various libraries of Europe, and have only been imperiectly explored.» — el OCR imprime *imperiectly* por *imperfectly*; Waite no da el original por perdido sin remedio: dice que los manuscritos árabes y siríacos de química temprana se conservan en cantidad en las bibliotecas europeas y apenas se han explorado, y que él no tiene ni la ocasión ni las cualificaciones para la tarea.

«The longer recension has been chosen for the text of the following translation, because it seemed desirable to give the work in its entirety. The variations of the second recension are appended usually in foot-notes, but where the reading of the text is so corrupt as to be quite untranslatable, the editor has occasionally substituted that of the alternative version, and has in most cases indicated the course pursued.» — Waite declara su criterio editorial: traduce la recensión larga, manda las variantes de la segunda al pie, y admite haber sustituido el texto por el de la otra versión donde era intraducible, indicándolo casi siempre. Es lo que explica que el aparato se entrevere con el cuerpo en la misma plana.

«It follows from M. Berthelot's researches, that Latin Alchemy, which has always been rightly referred to an Arabian source, connects with the Greek Alchemy which preceded Arabian Science, because the latter was itself derived from Greece.» — Waite deriva de Berthelot el enlace: la alquimia latina remite a fuente árabe, y la árabe a la griega que la precedió.

«we now know that they are Zosimus, the Panopolite, the adepts of the school of Democritus, and the other writers preserved in the Byzantine collection.» — Waite identifica a los sabios antiguos que la literatura latina invoca sin nombrar: Zósimo el panopolitano, los adeptos de la escuela de Demócrito y los demás bizantinos.

«M. Berthelot, however, infers that the Greek influence found in The Turbo, Philosophorum was not a direct influence, but was derived mediately through channels which are now unknown» — Waite recoge la reserva de Berthelot: la influencia griega no sería directa sino mediata, por canales hoy desconocidos.

«There are some translations of the work existing in German and some also in French. Those in the latter language are specially remarkable for the very slender way in which they represent the original. The versions contained in Salmon's " Bibliotheque des Philosophes Alchimiques," and in the " Tro's Anciens Traictes de la Philosophic Naturelle," are instances in point.» — Waite sobre las traducciones vernáculas, con las francesas de Salmon como ejemplo de lo poco que representan al original.

«One English version in manuscript is known to the present editor, and it will be found in the British Museum amongst the treasures of the Sloane collection.» — Waite señala la única versión inglesa manuscrita que conoce, en la colección Sloane del British Museum; añade que está vertida del francés y le resultó inútil. Es el único dato codicológico que da.

«It may be added that the great collections of Alchemy, such as the " Theatrum Chemicum " and Mangetus, contain colloquies, commentaries, and enigmas which pretend to elucidate the mysteries of The Turba Philosophorum. While they are of a considerably later date, they at the same time belong to the early period of Latin Alchemy.» — Waite sobre la literatura derivada: coloquios, comentarios y enigmas posteriores que dicen elucidar la obra, ya dentro del período temprano de la alquimia latina.

«It may be added also that the editor has collected a considerable amount of material concerning this curious work, which the limits of the present volume preclude him from utilising.» — Waite declara material reunido y no usado por límite de espacio.

«An ancient gloss describes Arisleus as the son of Abladus.» — nota de Waite sobre la filiación del epistológrafo, distinta de la que declara la propia epístola.

«Beyond the similarity of the name, and the fact that most names are mutilated in the Turba, there seems no reason to suppose that the compiler intended to connect Pythagoras with alchemical traditions through Aristeus, the sophist of the time of Antoninus.» — Waite consigna que la mayoría de los nombres de la obra están mutilados, y por eso rehúsa identificar a Arisleo con Aristeo el sofista de tiempos de Antonino solo por el parecido.

«The Greek alchemists of the Byzantine Collection make no mention of Pythagoras, and the tradition which describes him as an adept of the Hermetic Mystery must be referred to an Arabian origin, to the treatises of El Habib, the Kitab-al-Firhirst, and the true Geber, where alchemical writings attributed to this sage are freely quoted.» — Waite: el Pitágoras alquimista no está en los griegos bizantinos, así que la tradición vendría de fuente árabe — El Habib, el Kitab-al-Firhirst y el Geber verdadero.

«the chief variation being that instead of " Occult Philosophy " the original reads " the vegetable stone.» — Waite coteja la versión francesa de Salmon contra la segunda recensión y anota la variante.

«The actions and passions thereof are known and understood only by {hose to whom a knowledge of the Sacred Art is given.» — el OCR imprime *{hose* por *those*; Waite trae en nota cómo la segunda recensión cierra el Primer Dicho: el saber reservado a quien recibe el Arte Sagrado.

«A similar comparison is used in the Arabian Book of Crates, where it is enjoined that the operation of the philosophical fire upon the philosophical matter should be regulated after the same manner as Nature regulates the influence of the four seasons ; and the same treatise, moreover, represents still older expositions of alchemical philosophy as using the same illustration.» — Waite coteja el símil estacional del Segundo Dicho con el Libro de Crates árabe.

«that the Turba in its original form antedated the Book of Crates.» — Waite lo da por probable, no por establecido; es su datación relativa más explícita.