Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens: Sources of an Alchemical Book of Emblems

«Member of the Imperial Consistory, Doctor of Medicine, Knight of the Corps d’élite, etc. 1617 printed at OPPENHEIM by Hieronymus Gallerus, at the expense of Johannes Theodor de Bry» — el pie de imprenta, en la portada de 1617 que De Jong traduce: no es voz de la autora.

«The pictures are copper-engravings of Merian the Elder, who, as appears from the agreement of form and style, had contributed to the pictures with the emblems of Maier’s book Symbola Aureae Mensae» — y el grabador, adjudicado por De Jong sobre la concordancia de forma y estilo.

«211 pp., title with marginal engraving, portrait of Maier, 50 emblematic copper plates by M. Merian (1593-1651), each emblem consisting of a motto, epigram and 2 pp. elucidation; | each emblem is set to music» — la descripción bibliográfica de las cincuenta láminas.

«Maier’s dedication of his book to the members of the Imperial Consistory at Mihlhausen in Thiiringen—especially to the jurist and Imperial Count Palatine Christoffel Reinart» — la dedicatoria, con su destinatario nominal.

«Michael Maier was born at Rendsburg in Holstein in 1568. He was a Protestant, studied at Rostock and took his degree as a doctor of medicine there in 1597» — nacimiento y formación.

«His age is defined by the inscription “Aetatis suae 49 Ao 1617» — y la inscripción del retrato.

«each emblem consists of two main elements: Word and Picture (Motto and Icon). The meaning of these two elements of the emblem is enigmatical. In order to solve this enigma, the author of the emblems introduces a third element, the text, or in Maier’s case, the texts» — la anatomía del emblema.

«by means of fifty musical fugues for three voices, of which two correspond to a simple melody, which is suited to be sung in strophes of two lines» — y la fuga a tres voces, en la portada traducida.

«Hippomenes represents the strength of the Sulphur, She the strength of the volatile Mercury» — la lectura del mito: es de MAIER, en su epigrama a la portada, citado por De Jong.

«Just as this Atalanta flees, one voice flees time and again from the other one and the other voice pursues, like Hippomenes. In the third voice they are brought to a stand-still; that third voice is simple and homogeneous in its value, like the golden apple» — y su aplicación al canon, también de Maier, en su prefacio.

«Behold, we have connected that which is Visible with that which is Audible» — el programa de unir lo visible y lo audible: Maier en su prefacio, no De Jong.

«Tabula Smaragdina, ascribed to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus. Printed in: Theatr. Chem. I, 362 (see alchem. bibl. Hermes Trismegistus), “Portavit illud ventus in ventre suo”, “The wind carried it in its belly» — la cantera del mote del Emblema I, en el bloque SOURCE OF THE MOTTO.

«The source of the motto is, just as for emblem 1, the Tabula Smaragdina (Theatr. Chem. I, 362): “Nutrix eius Terra est”, “Its nurse is the Earth» — y la del Emblema II.

«Morienus, De Transmutatione Metallorum, in: Art. Aurif., Il, 43-44: “Dealbate Latonem et libros rumpite, ne corda corrumpantur”, “Make Laton white and tear up the books, that your hearts may not be corrupted» — la del Emblema XI.

«Rosarium Philosophorum, in: Art. Aurif., U1, 258 or 302: “Draco non moritur nisi cum fratre et sorore sua, id est Sole et Luna» — y la del XXV; el impreso cierra con puntos suspensivos.

«Basilius Valentinus, Practica Cum Duodecim Clavibus et Appendice, De Magno Lapide Antiquorum Sapientia, clavis I, printed in: Musaeum Hermeticum, 393» — la del XXIV: la fuente SÍ numera la clave, y lo repite dos planas después.

«As is clear from book I of Maier’s Arcana Arcanissima, his main source was Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Diodorus Siculus, Liber I, 21, 2 sq comes nearest to the text of motto and epigram» — la del XLIV: la fuente principal es DIODORO, y la Arcana Arcanissima es el lugar desde donde se ve que lo era.

«Old Testament, Proverbs III, 18 (de sapientia): “Lignum Vit est his, qui apprehenderint eam et qui tenuerit eam beatus» — la base sapiencial del Emblema XXVI.

«In this emblem the connection between hermetic philosophy and the ideals of the Fraternity of the Rosicrucians are shown most explicitly» — y lo que De Jong lee en ese grupo.

«For the greater part Maier has taken the mottos of his emblems in the Atalanta Fugiens directly from well-known alchemical writings» — el enunciado general del mapa emblema→fuente, que la tabla de las pp. 339–342 desarrolla.

«The mottos are for the greater part taken from alchemical writings, which, translated from Arabic into Latin, have become known in Western Europe from the 12th century onwards, like Morienus’ De Transmutatione Metallorum, Senior’s Tabula Chimica, Rosinus ad Saratantam, the Turba Philosophorum and the Allegories about the Turba, the Tabula Smaragdina» — y la única enumeración de canteras que De Jong hace de su mano.

«I conclude that Artis Auriferae, Quam Chemiam vocant, Antiquissimi Authores has served as a guide to Maier when composing the emblems of the Atalanta Fugiens» — su conclusión sobre la colección que sirvió de guía.

«which also served as an example for Maier, as it occurs in Artis Auriferae» — el Rosarium como modelo.

«as long as no illustrated Lambsprinck text from before 1625, the edition in which the engravings by Merian occur, is known, Maier’s dependance on Lambsprinck can be established exclusively in connection with Lambsprinck’s text» — y el límite de la dependencia de Lambsprinck.

«The Rosarium texts are derived from the Turba Philosophorum, in: Art Aurif., I, 17: “Aqua permanens est aqua vite munda et nullum venenum tingens generatur absque sole et sua umbra» — la derivación es LOCAL a los dicta de Sol et eius umbra del Emblema XLV, no del Rosarium entero.

«The non-authentic work, ascribed to Villanova, dates for the greater part from the r4th and 15th centuries» — la datación de lo espurio arnaldiano; «r4th» es lo que imprime la capa de texto.

«This Rosarium Philosophorum in the name of Villanova should not be confused with the anonymous Rosarium Philosophorum (in: Art. Aurif., II, 220-418, incipit: “Qui desiderant artis.... .cognitionem» — y la advertencia de De Jong: hay dos Rosaria homónimos.

«I mention the Turba Philosophorum, which, translated from Arabic in the 12th century, became known in Western Europe» — la llegada de la Turba a Europa.

«the death of Muhammed ibn Umail, about 960-—in whose work passages from the Turba occurred—can be considered as a terminus ante quem for its origin» — el terminus ante quem.

«The Turba is of Arabic origin and is dated by Plessner between 850-950» — y la datación, que es de PLESSNER, no de De Jong.

«The names Anaxagoras and Pythagoras made Ruska and Plessner suppose that also the other names were Greek names in a corrupted form. By transposing them back into Arabic characters the following version of the said names resulted: Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Archelaus, Leucippus, Ecphantus, Pythagoras and Xenophanes» — quién adjudica los presocráticos, y con qué método: Ruska y Plessner, retrovirtiendo a caracteres árabes.

«The manuscript mentions St. Thomas Aquinas as the author; time of origin before about 1450» — la Aurora consurgens bajo el nombre de Aquino.

«the writing which consists of two parts, the first part of which was known only in manuscript until 1625, and the second part of which was printed in Art. Aurif., with the editor’s statement that the first part had been left out, because the equating, which occurred there, of the alchemical work with the passion and death of Christ, was in his opinion, a profanation» — y el motivo de la omisión de su primera parte en la imprenta.

«Another example is a work from the fourteenth century, which was wrongly ascribed to Raymundus Lullius (see bibliogr.), Testamentum, which was subdivided in two parts: Theorica and Practica» — el Testamentum pseudoluliano.

«ascribed to Lullius are possibly partly by the hand of a converted Jew, Raimundo de Tarrega» — y la adjudicación a Raimundo de Tarrega, de quien De Jong añade en la misma entrada que negaba la posibilidad de la transmutación.

«Salomon Trismosin, who is mentioned as the author of one of the writings included in Aureum Vellus, is wrongly mentioned in connection with the whole collective work. According to Kopp (Die Alchemie, I, 243), he is a fictitious figure» — Trismosin como figura ficticia según Kopp: lo dicho se predica del Aureum Vellus.

«A third important alchemical manuscript with coloured pictures is Splendor Solis, London, Br. Mus., Harleian ms. 3469, 16th century; the original is ascribed to Salomon Trismosin 1490» — y el Splendor Solis, que solo se le atribuye.

«The author’s name is Muhammed ibn Umail, an alchemist living during the caliphate of Al-Hakam II, who reigned in Spain from 951 till 976» — Senior identificado.

«Rosinus is possibly a corruption of Zosimos (Greek alchemist, 4rd century» — Rosinus como posible corrupción de Zósimo: la adjudicación es de Sarton y Thorndike, y en la misma entrada consta que Maier lo suponía árabe.

«He was supposed to be identical with the Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. Maier also thought so (Symbola Aureae Mensae, 201): “Geber Abenhaen..... philosophus fuit Arabs seu Maurus admirabilis ingenii et doctrinae”. Geber’s writings are inspired by Arabic alchemy, but they are not identical with those of Jabir ibn Hayyan and no Arabic texts are known» — y Geber: la identificación con Jabir se consigna como suposición ajena —y de Maier—, y los escritos no se dan por los mismos.

«Tabula Smaragdina, ascribed to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus. Printed in: Theatr. Chem. I, 362 (see alchem. bibl. Hermes Trismegistus), “Portavit illud ventus in ventre suo» — la adjudicación del mote del Emblema I, con la edición en que De Jong lo consulta.

«Basilius Valentinus, Practica Cum Duodecim Clavibus (key VIII), in: Musaeum Hermeticum, 1678» — la clave VIII, que corresponde al Emblema VI y no al XXIV.

«The manuscript Aurora Consurgens was ascribed to Thomas Aquinas by the alchemists» — la atribución de la Aurora, consignada en nota.

«Maier supposes that Rosinus is an Arabic alchemist (Symbola Aureae Mensae» — y lo que Maier suponía de Rosinus, distinto de lo que suponen Sarton y Thorndike.