Seeing the Word: John Dee and Renaissance Occultism

«Evening, May 28th, 1583. The philosopher John Dee sits in his chamber in Mortlake, deeply involved in a conversation with his assistant Edward Kelley. With trembling voice he fumes at the gossip and slander of the simple people, at the malicious whisperings about sorcery and witchcraft that seem to be humming in every street corner and every bedchamber in London.» — el prólogo abre con la escena que Håkansson reconstruye del diario: Dee en su cámara de Mortlake con Edward Kelley, indignado por las murmuraciones de hechicería que corren por Londres

«“Suddenly”, he writes in his diary, “there seemed to come out of my Oratory a Spirituall creature, like a pretty girle of 7 or 9 yeares of age”» — del diario de Dee, citado por Håkansson: la criatura espiritual que sale del oratorio con figura de niña de siete o nueve años

«The creature, dressed in a red and green gown, “seemed to play up and down and seemed to go in and out of my bokes lying in heaps, and as she should ever go between them, the bokes seemed to give place sufficiently, dividing one heap from the other, while she passed between them”» — el diario de Dee describe cómo la criatura pasaba entre los montones de libros y los libros le cedían el paso, separando un montón de otro

«“I rejoyce in the name of Jesus, and I am a poor little Maiden, Madini, I am the last but one of my Mothers children, I have little Baby-children at home.”» — la criatura se nombra Madini en el diario de Dee; la grafía isabelina va tal cual la imprime el troceo

«For three years his alchemical vessels had lain idle in his laboratory and his research in the mathematical sciences had been left untended, while he was pursuing his studies in natural philosophy by less orthodox means. He was talking to angels.» — Håkansson fija el desplazamiento y lo cierra en renglón aparte: los vasos alquímicos y la investigación matemática quedaron ociosos mientras Dee seguía la filosofía natural por vías menos ortodoxas

«He had written extensively on such widely differing subjects as navigation technology, mechanics, geometry, logic, astrology, alchemy, history, heraldry and genealogy» — Håkansson enumera la amplitud de lo que Dee escribió antes de que las conferencias espirituales se volvieran su ocupación principal

«He had become Queen Elizabeth’s confidant, treating Her Majesty’s toothache as proficiently as he calculated her horoscope. Visitors came flocking from all over Europe to his home a few miles from London to see his laboratories and his imposing library, and by correspondence and travels he kept in touch with scholars on the Continent, who at times sent him their works in the hope of a competent opinion» — según Håkansson, Dee fue confidente de Isabel I y su casa de Mortlake recibía visitantes de toda Europa y obras enviadas en busca de dictamen

«“in zeale to the best lerning and knowledge”, he confidently stated in a letter to Lord Burghley, “I know most assuredly that this land never bred any man, whose account therein can evidently be proved greater than myne”» — Håkansson cita la carta de Dee a Lord Burghley, donde Dee declara que esa tierra no ha criado hombre con mayor celo por el mejor saber

«so vehemently bent to studie, that for those yeares I did inviolably keepe this in order; only to sleepe four houres every night; to allow to meate and drink (and some refreshing after) two houres every day; and of the other eighteen houres all (except the tyme of going to and being at divine service) was spent in my studies and learning.» — Dee, en la Compendious Rehersall que Håkansson cita en sangría, declara su régimen: cuatro horas de sueño, dos de comida y dieciocho de estudio

«Despite his insatiable thirst for scholarly studies, however, he allowed himself the time to construct a mechanical scarab for the performance of Aristophanes’ drama Peace, in which an actor was flown up to Jupiter’s palace — “whereat was great wondring, and many vain reportes spread abroad of the meanes how that was effected”» — Håkansson cuenta el escarabajo mecánico que Dee construyó para la Paz de Aristófanes, y la cita de Dee sobre los relatos vanos que corrieron por el modo en que se hizo

«he was allowed to “read freely and publiquely Euclide’s Elements Geometricall” — “a thing”, he emphasized, “never done publiquely in any University in Christendome”» — según Håkansson, Dee leyó públicamente los Elementos de Euclides en París a los veintitrés años, y Dee subraya que eso no se había hecho nunca en universidad alguna de la cristiandad

«Dee’s “great Ability in Astrologie, and the more secret parts of Learning (to which he had a strong propensity and unwearyed Fancy,) drew from the Envious and Vulgar, many rash, lewd, and lying Scandalls» — Elias Ashmole, un siglo más tarde y citado por Håkansson, atribuye los escándalos a la habilidad de Dee en astrología y en las partes más secretas del saber

«Mathematics and astrology was commonly associated with sorcery and black magic and the university libraries were ransacked for dubious works.» — Håkansson describe el clima tras la muerte de Enrique VIII: matemáticas y astrología se asociaban con la hechicería y la magia negra, y se registraban las bibliotecas universitarias

«“Many manuscripts, guilty of no other superstition then Red letters in the Front, were» — Ashmole, citado por Håkansson, sobre los manuscritos que ardieron sin más superstición que las letras rojas del frente; el troceo reemite la marca de plana a media palabra y el tramo se corta ahí, la frase sigue en *demned to the Fire*

«Indeed (such was Learnings misfortune, at that great Devastation of our English Libraries, that) where a Red letter or a Mathematicall Diagram appeared they were sufficient to entitle the Booke to be Popish or Diabolicall”» — Ashmole añade que bastaban una letra roja o un diagrama matemático para que un libro quedara por papista o diabólico

«Having calculated a horoscope for the royal family, he came under suspicion of having “endeavored with enchantments to destroy Queene Mary”» — Håkansson data la sospecha bajo María Tudor: tras calcular el horóscopo de la familia real, a Dee se le imputó haber intentado destruir a la reina con encantamientos

«to make an investigation of what they termed his “lewde and vayne practices of calculing and conjuring”, his home was sealed and he spent the summer of 1555 behind locked doors under the stern supervision of Bishop Edmund Bonner. Apparently, the bishop could not find anything suspicious about Dee’s religious attitude, however, and he was soon allowed to return to his work.» — Håkansson consigna la investigación del Consejo Privado por prácticas de calcular y conjurar, el sello de la casa y el verano de 1555 bajo la vigilancia del obispo Edmund Bonner; la frase empieza en *warranted* en la plana anterior

«Why “shall any honest Student, and Modest Christian Philosopher, be counted, & called a Coniurer?” Why “shall the folly of Idiotes, and the Mallice of the Scornfull” deprive him “who seeketh ... heavenly wisdome, & knowledge of pure veritie ... his honest name and fame?”, he lamented in his colourful prose» — Dee, citado por Håkansson, pregunta por qué un estudiante honesto y filósofo cristiano modesto ha de ser tenido por conjurador

«The slander became a less impending threat when the English crown was committed to Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth Tudor, with whom Dee had already become acquainted. Before her accession, Dee was commissioned to calculate a suitable day for the coronation and the fortunate result tempted the celebrities of London to make avid use of his services as an astrologer.» — Håkansson data el alivio en la llegada de Isabel Tudor, para cuya coronación Dee calculó el día, y el efecto sobre su clientela astrológica en Londres

«When “a certain image of wax, with a great pin stuck into it about the breast of it” was found at Lincoln’s Inn Fields some time afterwards, Dee was urgently summoned to the court to “prevent the mischiefe” which the Privy Council assumed was directed against the Queen — “I did satisfie her Majesties desire ... within few houres, in godly and artificiall manner”» — el episodio de la imagen de cera con un alfiler hallada en Lincoln's Inn Fields, y la respuesta de Dee, que dice haber satisfecho el deseo de la reina de manera piadosa y artificiosa

«With his family and servants he settled down in Mortlake, a few miles from London, and over the years the house was transformed into one of the largest libraries in England, lodging more than four thousand volumes in Latin, Greek, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Hebrew, Czech, Armenian and Swedish» — Håkansson cifra la biblioteca de Mortlake en más de cuatro mil volúmenes y enumera las lenguas que reunía

«Thus it was not merely his fancy for bombast that made him dub his home Mortlacense Hospitale Philosophorum peregrinantium, “Mortlake Hospice for wandering Philosophers”, a place so well known that Gerard Mercator addressed his letter to him with the words “To the most famous Dr John Dee, his Master and most esteemed Patron. Home at Mortlake on the Thames near London.”» — Håkansson glosa el nombre con que Dee bautizó su casa, hospicio de filósofos errantes, y cita la dirección con que Gerard Mercator le escribía

«as in a manner out of a dunghill, in the corner of a Church, where very many were utterly spoiled by rotting, through the rain continually for many years before falling on them, through the decaied roofe of that Church, lying desolate and wast at this houre» — Dee describe de dónde sacó esos monumentos difícilmente obtenidos: de un rincón de iglesia donde la lluvia los pudría por el techo hundido

«Like many Renaissance scholars, Dee assiduously strove to create the Philosopher’s Stone, the substance by which all metals could be turned into gold. One has, perhaps, to assume that his attempts were as futile as everyone else’s — although his son Arthur would later claim that he as a child had used pieces of gold as toys.» — Håkansson dice que Dee buscó la piedra filosofal como tantos eruditos del Renacimiento y pone al lado, sin arbitrar, la afirmación posterior de su hijo Arthur de haber jugado de niño con trozos de oro

«“O God Almighty”, he pleads in one of his manuscripts, “thow knowest ... [t]hat I haue from my youth vp, desyred & prayed vnto the[e] for pure and sownd wisdome and vnderstanding of some of thy truthes”» — la plegaria de Dee que Håkansson cita: desde su juventud ha pedido sabiduría pura y sólida y entendimiento de algunas verdades divinas

«he had realized that the knowledge he desired could not be attained by any “vulgar Schole doctrine, or humane Invention”, but by God’s “extraordinary gift” only: “I haue red in thy bokes, & records, how Enoch enioyed thy favor and conversation, with Moyses thow wast familiar”; how “thy good Angels were sent, by thy disposition, to instruct them”» — Dee concluye que el conocimiento que busca no se alcanza por doctrina de escuela ni invención humana sino por don extraordinario de Dios, y aduce a Enoc y a Moisés instruidos por los ángeles

«Indeed, did not the Scripture itself relate how God’s angels were sent to instruct the biblical prophets even “in worldy and domesticall affaires”, as when Samuel with God’s aid found the asses which Saul had lost? “And thinking wth my self, the lack of thy wisdome, to me, to be of more importance, then the Value of an Asse or two... I did fly vnto the harty prayer, full oft, & in sundry manners...”» — Dee argumenta que si los ángeles fueron enviados a asuntos domésticos como las asnas perdidas de Saúl, con mayor razón para la falta de sabiduría

«Seated by the “show-stone” he had been given by a friend, a crystal globe of the same kind he claimed that “the high priests did vse” by God’s “owne ordering”, he raised his humble prayers to God, asking Him to send His angels to instruct him. In May 1581 he briefly noted in his diary: “I had sight in Χρυσταλλω [Crystallo] offerd me, and I saw.”» — Håkansson fecha en mayo de 1581 la anotación del diario donde Dee dice haber tenido vista ofrecida en el cristal; el troceo conserva la palabra griega en alfabeto griego dentro de la cita

«At night his sleep was disturbed by “very strange knocking and rapping” in his chamber, inexplicable fires arose in the house» — del diario de Dee: golpes y ruidos muy extraños de noche y fuegos inexplicables en la casa

«Soon, however, Dee seems to have realized that he did not possess the necessary gift himself and he made inquiries for an experienced “scryer”, capable of seeing “Spirituall apparitions, in Christalline receptacles, or in open ayre”» — según Håkansson, Dee se dio cuenta de que no tenía él mismo el don y buscó un scryer capaz de ver apariciones espirituales en receptáculos cristalinos o al aire libre

«The turning-point came in March 1582. A certain “Mr. Edward Talbot” had some days earlier been introduced to Dee by a friend who had visited him at Mortlake. In the evening on the 10th of March, Talbot arrived alone and said that he was “willing and desyrous to see or shew something in spirituall practise”» — Håkansson fija el punto de viraje en marzo de 1582, con la llegada a Mortlake de un tal Mr. Edward Talbot dispuesto a ver o mostrar algo en práctica espiritual

«At first, Dee excused himself “as not, in the vulgarly accownted Magik, neyther studied or excercised”» — Dee, en su diario, se excusa diciendo que no está estudiado ni ejercitado en lo que vulgarmente se tiene por magia

«Should I, for my xx. or xxv yeares of Studie: for two or three thousand Markes spending: seuen or eight thousand Miles going ... only for good learninges sake: And that, in all maner of wethers: in all maner of waies and passages: both early and late: in daunger of violence by man: in daunger of destruction by wilde beastes: in hunger: in thirst: in perilous heates by day ... in daungerous dampes of colde, by night, almost bereuing life.» — el pasaje en sangría de Dee que Håkansson reproduce: veinte o veinticinco años de estudio, miles de marcos gastados y millas andadas en todo tiempo y con peligro de violencia, de bestias, de hambre y de frío

«Should I (I pray you) for all this ... no more luckily, haue fished, with so large, and costly, a Nette, so long time in drawing (and that with the help and aduise of Lady Philosophie, & Queene Theologie) ... to haue catched and drawen up, a Frog? Nay, a Deuill? For, so, doth the the Common peuish Pratler Imagine and Iangle: And, so, doth the Malicious scorner, secretly wishe, & brauely and boldly face down, behinde my backe.» — la segunda mitad de ese mismo pasaje de Dee: haber pescado con red tan grande y costosa, con ayuda de la Dama Filosofía y la Reina Teología, para sacar una rana o un demonio, que es lo que imagina el charlatán

«In supplications to the Queen, Dee in vain requested royal support to preserve the literary treasures of the Middle Ages lying neglected in ruined monasteries and country churches» — según Håkansson, Dee pidió sin éxito apoyo real para preservar los tesoros literarios de la Edad Media abandonados en monasterios en ruinas e iglesias rurales

«In his library more than seven hundred manuscripts lay rescued from the desolation of the Reformation: “hardly gotten moniments”, Dee wrote, which he had found and lifted up» — Håkansson cifra en más de setecientos los manuscritos que la biblioteca de Dee guardaba rescatados de la desolación de la Reforma, y Dee los llama monumentos difícilmente obtenidos

«But Mortlake was not merely a library: it was a place dedicated to the wonders of knowledge, where the visitors could marvel at strange astronomical instruments, a magnet, a star globe on which “were set down divers Comettes, their places, and motions, as of me they have been observed”» — Håkansson describe Mortlake como lugar dedicado a las maravillas del saber: instrumentos astronómicos extraños, un imán y el globo estelar con los cometas que Dee dice haber observado él mismo

«and “an excellent watch-clock ... by which ... the time might sensibly be measured in the seconds of an hour, that is, not to fail the 360th part of an houre.”» — del inventario de Dee: el reloj con el que el tiempo podía medirse sensiblemente en segundos, sin fallar la trescientos sesentava parte de una hora

«A “great case or frame of boxes” contained hundreds of old documents, seals and coats of arms, and on the wall or in the ceiling hung “one great bladder with about 4 pound weight, of a very sweetish thing, like a brownish gum in it, artificially prepaired by thirty tymes purifying of it...”» — el arcón de cientos de documentos, sellos y escudos, y la vejiga con cerca de cuatro libras de una goma parda purificada treinta veces que colgaba del techo

«In the outbuildings Dee had installed three alchemical laboratories, “replenished with Chemical stuff” which had taken him more» — Håkansson consigna los tres laboratorios alquímicos instalados en las dependencias, provistos de material químico; el corte de chunk trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *than twenty years to collect*

«than twenty years to collect “with great pains, cost and danger...”» — la continuación: Dee cifra en más de veinte años lo que le costó reunir ese material, con grandes fatigas, gasto y peligro

«I brought furth to him my stone in the frame (which was given me of a frende), and I sayd unto him that I was credibly informed that to it (after a sort) were answerable Aliqui Angeli boni. [...] He then settled himself to the Action, and on his knees at my desk, setting the stone before him, fell into prayer and entreaty, & c. In the mean space, I in my Oratory did pray and make motion to God and his good creatures for the fundering of this Action.» — del diario de Dee en sangría: saca la piedra montada que le dio un amigo, le dice a Kelley que le son responsivos algunos ángeles buenos, y mientras Kelley reza ante ella él pide en su oratorio

«The angel that appeared in the stone turned out to be Uriel, the governor of the earth and the southern cardinal point. Over the years to come, however, they were to perform innumerable sessions which would make them acquainted with Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, as well as with lesser known spirits, such as Nalvage, Murifri, Ath, Levanael, Bnapsen, Bobogel, Azdobn, Panlacarp, Jubanladace, Aphlafben and Lundrumguffa.» — Håkansson nombra a Uriel como el primero aparecido y enumera los espíritus con que las sesiones posteriores los familiarizaron, con las grafías del troceo

«A few months later it turned out that “Talbot” in reality was an apothecary of twenty-seven from Worcester, named Edward Kelley.» — Håkansson consigna que Talbot era en realidad Edward Kelley, boticario de veintisiete años de Worcester

«Whether the rumours of his capacity to create gold are reliable is perhaps hard to ascertain, but it seems that the judicial system in Lancaster had found it warranted having his ears cropped for counterfeiting» — Håkansson se abstiene sobre los rumores de que Kelley fabricara oro y consigna en cambio que la justicia de Lancaster parece haberle cortado las orejas por falsificación

«While Kelley’s senses seemed to become increasingly acute and at times allowed him to perceive spirits without either crystal or invocations, Dee usually remained incapable of seeing the angels gathering in his house.» — según Håkansson, los sentidos de Kelley se afinaban hasta percibir espíritus sin cristal ni invocación mientras Dee seguía sin ver a los ángeles reunidos en su casa

«When Madimi strolled about amongst his books, Dee noted that he several times “heard the strokes my self”, but told the angel that “I see you onely by faith and imagination”» — Dee anota que oyó los golpes él mismo pero le dice al ángel que solo lo ve por fe e imaginación

«From time to time Kelley expressed doubts regarding the messages of the angels, and when he found information in Agrippa’s well-known work De occulta philosophia corresponding to the angelic revelations, he furiously claimed “that our spiritual Instructors were Coseners to give us a description of the World, taken out of other Books”» — Kelley, al hallar en el De occulta philosophia de Agrippa lo mismo que revelaban los ángeles, los acusa de ser embaucadores que dan una descripción del mundo sacada de otros libros

«With a noticeable lack of appropriate humility, Kelley nonchalantly rebuffed the angels for speaking foreign languages like Syrian or Greek — “Unlesse you speak some Language which I understand, I will expresse no more of this Ghybbrish.”» — Kelley rechaza a los ángeles por hablar lenguas extranjeras y les exige hablar una que entienda

«In his diary Dee noted his anxiety: “My heart did throb oftentimes this day, and thought that E. K. did intend to absent himself from me.”» — el diario de Dee registra el sobresalto de que Kelley pensara ausentarse

«The angel Il was “a very mery Creature, and skypped here and there, his apparel was like as of a vyce in a play; and so was his gesture and his scoffing”» — Håkansson pone como ejemplo de las cualidades extrañamente temporales de aquella hueste el ángel Il, alegre y vestido como un vicio de comedia

«On the other hand, they turned out to be unexpectedly musical, joining in melodious concerts with onionshaped flutes with 49 holes while they “daunsed, lepe and kissed” — “These Musiciens play, one with an other, iestingly they bobbed one an other, and then played agayn”» — Håkansson consigna los conciertos angélicos con flautas de cuarenta y nueve agujeros en forma de cebolla, con las grafías del troceo; el corte de renglón da aquí onionshaped por el compuesto impreso *onion-shaped*

«Sometimes even Dee was troubled by doubts, and in the margin of his manuscripts he noted when it seemed likely that they were dealing with “wicked” and “illuding Spirites”, rather than God’s “good Angels”» — según Håkansson, el propio Dee anotó al margen cuándo parecía tratarse de espíritus malvados e ilusorios y no de ángeles buenos

«While working at his table, “three or fowre spirituall creatures like laboring men, hauing spades in theyr hands & theyr heares hanginging [sic] abowt theyr eares” appeared beside Kelley. Dee, working in the same room, composedly “bad them be packing out of the place”» — el episodio de los tres o cuatro espíritus con azadas junto a Kelley, a los que Dee manda con calma que se vayan del sitio; el troceo imprime *hanginging [sic]*

«cryed out and sayd they had nipped him and broken his left arme by the wrest ... they assalted him, and he rose, and cryed to me they come flying on me, they come; and he put the stole, which he sat on, betwene him and them. [B]ut still they cam gaping or gryning at him. ... and then I toke the stik and cam to the place, and in the name of Jesus commaunded those Baggagis to avoyde and smitt a cross stroke at them and presently they avoyded. All thanks be to the onely one Almighty, and everlasting God.» — el pasaje en sangría donde Kelley grita que le rompieron el brazo y Dee toma el palo y traza una cruz en el nombre de Jesús para que se aparten

«To a modern reader Dee’s diaries might seem like figments of a slightly hallucinatory imagination, and it is tempting to disregard the earnest motives behind his attempts, choosing instead to narrate his efforts in the form of a comedy, or, perhaps, a tragedy — which indeed has often been his undeserved fate.» — Håkansson enuncia la tentación del lector moderno —leer los diarios como comedia o tragedia— y la llama suerte inmerecida de Dee

«If Dee’s conversations were considered controversial, they were so on account of their practical fruitfulness — he was after all convinced that he had succeeded in his attempts — and of the ethical risks they involved.» — Håkansson sostiene que lo controvertido de las conversaciones no era su posibilidad teórica sino su fecundidad práctica y los riesgos éticos que traían

«Dee’s attempts to “have help in my philosophical studies through the cumpany and information of the blessed Angels of God”, as he put it, rested on a long-standing tradition in which language was envisaged as the key to a perfect knowledge of the world.» — tesis de Håkansson: el intento de Dee se apoyaba en una tradición larga que veía el lenguaje como llave de un conocimiento perfecto del mundo

«The chief purpose of Dee’s angelic conversations was in fact to learn to understand and speak the language of the angels.» — Håkansson fija el propósito principal de las conversaciones angélicas: aprender a entender y hablar la lengua de los ángeles

«Even more toilsome were their attempts to reconstruct the intricate tables of letters dictated to them by the angels, in which seemingly random letters were placed in hundreds of small squares (fig. 1). Combined according to a set of rules that was never fully explained, these letter were intended to form a vast amount of words in the angelic language; words which would yield a complete knowledge of the things they designated.» — Håkansson describe las tablas de letras dictadas por los ángeles, combinables por reglas nunca explicadas del todo para formar palabras que darían conocimiento completo de lo que designan

«Once they had learnt to master these tables, they would yield an “Vnderstanding of all Sciences, that are past, present or ... yet to come” — “What lerning, grownded vppon wisdome, with the excellencies of Nature, cannot they manifest.”» — las tablas prometían entendimiento de todas las ciencias pasadas, presentes y por venir

«As the angel Nalvage explained, these tables of seemingly random letters contained “the mystical and holy voices of the Angles, the very language and speech of Children and Innocents”» — el ángel Nalvage llama a esas tablas las voces místicas y santas de los ángeles, la lengua de los niños y los inocentes

«Fig. 1. Table of letters from Liber Logaeth. The British Library, MS Sloane 3189, fol. 17r. Reproduced by permission of the British Library.» — pie de la figura 1, tomada del Liber Logaeth del British Library

«The angel Galua’h showed only a mild interest in Dee’s appeals: “Ah Sirra I was a weary» — el ángel Galua'h despacha a Dee con desgana; el cambio de plana parte la palabra siguiente y la frase sigue en *ask me these things tomorrow*

«“I will raze out dulnes, and at length, make» — promesa del ángel Michael al desplegar las tablas de letras; el cambio de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *the[e] clere*

«the[e] clere”, the angel Michael declared when displaying the tables of letters, bound in a book in which “all the leaves are, as thowgh they are gold, and it semeth written with blud, not dry”» — la continuación: Michael muestra las tablas encuadernadas en un libro cuyas hojas parecen de oro y escritas con sangre todavía fresca

«“What water recreateth more or cooleth ignorence deeper than the knowledg of our Celestiall speche?”» — Michael pregunta qué agua recrea más o enfría más hondo la ignorancia que el conocimiento de su habla celestial

«“easily be able to judge, not as the world doth, but perfectly of the world, and of all things within the Compasse of Nature”» — la promesa angélica que Håkansson cita: poder juzgar no como juzga el mundo sino perfectamente del mundo y de cuanto cabe en el compás de la Naturaleza

«The language Dee so desperately tried to understand constituted the key to a consummate knowledge of the entire creation.» — tesis de Håkansson: la lengua que Dee perseguía era la llave de un conocimiento consumado de la creación entera

«As the angel Gabriel explained, this language had been spoken by the very first man, Adam, when he dwelled in the Garden of Eden» — según el ángel Gabriel, citado por Dee, esa lengua la habló el primer hombre en el Edén

«Man in his Creation, being made an Innocent, was also authorised and made partaker of the Power and Spirit of God: whereby he did not onely know all things under his Creation and spoke of them properly, naming them as they were: but also was partaker of our precence and society, yea as a speaker of the mysteries of God; yea with God himself» — el pasaje en sangría de Gabriel: el hombre creado inocente participaba del poder y el espíritu de Dios, conocía todas las cosas bajo su creación y las nombraba como eran

«This angelic revelation reflects a common notion in early modern philosophy, ultimately rooted in the biblical Genesis.» — Håkansson remite la revelación angélica a una noción común de la filosofía moderna temprana, arraigada en el Génesis

«In Scripture it was stated that he accomplished this task by designating the creatures “by their own names”, nominibus suis, a phrase implying that he bestowed names upon the creatures which in some sense constituted their true and proper designation, names that were in agreement with their true natures.» — Håkansson lee el *nominibus suis* de la Escritura como nombres que constituían la designación verdadera y propia de las criaturas, acordes con su naturaleza

«Through the Fall, however, man had lost his divine speech, as well as his perfect knowledge.» — Håkansson enuncia la pérdida: con la Caída el hombre perdió a la vez el habla divina y el conocimiento perfecto

«lost the Garden of felicity, the judgement of understanding: but not utterly the favor of God, and was driven forth (as your Scriptures record) unto the Earth which was covered with brambles: where being as dumb, and not able to speak» — Gabriel describe la expulsión: perdido el jardín de la felicidad y el juicio del entendimiento, Adán quedó como mudo en una tierra de zarzas; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *he began to learn of necessity the Language*

«he began to learn of necessity the Language ... in which he uttered and delivered to his posterity, the nearest knowledge he had of God his Creatures» — la continuación: Adán aprendió por necesidad la lengua en que transmitió a su posteridad el conocimiento más próximo que le quedaba de Dios y sus criaturas

«According to this account, language and knowledge seem to have constituted two sides of the same coin. The moment Adam lost his divine comprehension, he became “as dumb, and not able to speak”, and was therefore forced to create a new language, a language which according to the angels had been closely akin to Hebrew.» — Håkansson formula lo que se sigue del relato angélico: lengua y conocimiento son dos caras de la misma moneda, y la lengua nueva de Adán era afín al hebreo

«true forms and pronuntiations ... and therefore is not of that force that it was in his own dignity, much lesse be compared with this that we deliver, which, Adam verily spake in innocency ... wherein the power of God must work, and wisdom in her true kind be delivered» — los ángeles niegan al hebreo contemporáneo sus formas y pronunciaciones verdaderas, y con ello la fuerza que tuvo en su propia dignidad

«Man’s fall from grace was, in effect, not irrevocable. Whereas contemporary tongues were “but fayned: shadows of the wordes and voyces that substantially do comprehend euery substance”, the angels were still in possession of that language by means of which Adam’s lost knowledge could be restored» — Håkansson señala que la caída no era irrevocable: las lenguas actuales son sombras fingidas de las palabras que comprenden sustancialmente cada sustancia, y los ángeles conservaban aquella otra

«By learning this language, this “lingua Angelica, vel Adamica”, Dee and Kelley would be turned into “perfect men: for Adam understood by that grace, and his eyes were opened so that he saw and knew all things that were to his understanding”» — aprender esa lengua angélica o adámica volvería a Dee y a Kelley hombres perfectos, con los ojos abiertos como los de Adán

«At the court they made inquiries for a suitable patron, pointing out that the angelic conversations also carried the prospect of an abundant profit, since Kelley had been directed by an angel to an ancient book, a scroll, and a bottle containing a mysterious powder hidden at Northwich Hill» — Håkansson consigna la busca de patrón en la corte con el aliciente del libro, el rollo y el polvo escondidos en Northwich Hill; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *by which they would learn to master the secret of gold-making*

«Shortly afterwards, the Polish count Albert Laski yielded to the promises and in September 1583, they weighed anchor to travel to Krakow via Brill, Rotterdam, and Stettin.» — Håkansson fecha en septiembre de 1583 la partida hacia Cracovia, con el conde polaco Albert Laski cediendo a las promesas

«Their work gave rise to a number of more or less imaginative rumours and Count Laski grew increasingly impatient at the lack of concrete results. The angels’ alchemical instructions were often vague and imprecise in character and were rendered even more difficult by the their habit of using the angelic language in their accounts» — según Håkansson, las instrucciones alquímicas de los ángeles eran vagas y se complicaban por su costumbre de usar la lengua angélica

«Take common Audcal, purge and work it by Rlodnr of four divers digestions ... untill it be Dlafod fixed a most red and luminous body ... Take also Lulo of red Roxtan, and work him through the four fiery degrees, until thou have his Audcal, and there gather him ... So doth it become Darr, the thing you seek for...» — la receta que dicta el ángel Levanael, con los términos de la lengua angélica dentro

«Later it was explained that dlafod meant sulphur, lulo “tartar, simply of red wine”, roxtan “pure and simple wine”, and audcal gold. Darr probably referred to the Philosopher’s Stone, but what rlodnr was supposed to mean was never clarified.» — Håkansson da las equivalencias que después se dieron y deja constancia de que *rlodnr* nunca se aclaró

«Even Kelley began to doubt that the conversations were leading anywhere and accused the angels of being “deluders, and no good, or sufficient Teachers, who has not in two years space made us understand, or do somewhat”» — Kelley acusa a los ángeles de ser engañadores que en dos años no los han hecho entender ni hacer nada

«In frustration he let his choleric temper loose on both servants and his disconsolate wife, whom he had married on the somewhat rash advice of the angels — “I cannot abide my wife, I love her not, nay I abhor her.”» — Håkansson consigna el matrimonio que Kelley contrajo por consejo de los ángeles y la frase con que lo despacha

«Once they had settled in Prague in August 1584, Kelley’s fits of rage turned even more violent. “Satan is very busy with E. K. about this time”» — Håkansson fecha en agosto de 1584 la instalación en Praga y cita la anotación de Dee sobre Satanás muy atareado con Kelley

«The rage and fury was so great in words and gestures, as might plainly prove, that the wicked enemy sought either E. K. his own destroying of himself, or of me, or his brother, &c. This might suffice to notifie the mighty temptation and vehement working of the subtile spiritual enemy Satan, wherewith God suffered E. K. to be tempted and almost overcome: to my great grief, discomfort, and most great discredit: if it should (as the truth was) have come to the Emperours understanding» — Dee describe la furia de Kelley como obra del enemigo espiritual sutil, con la incomodidad de que llegara a oídos del emperador

«“I do not come to You, O Highest Caesar, for the sake of Your wealth, so that I might myself become wealthy, but as sent by God.”» — la frase que da título al prólogo, dicha por Dee en la audiencia con el emperador Rodolfo; la nota da el latín de la fuente

«“The Angel of the Lord hath appeared to me, and rebuketh you for your sins. If you will hear me, and believe me, you shall Triumph: If you will not hear me, the Lord ... putteth his foot against your breast, and will throw you headlong down from your seat.”» — la amonestación que Dee dirige al emperador: el ángel lo reprende por sus pecados y, si no escucha, el Señor lo derribará de su asiento

«The Emperour said, at another time, he would hear and understand more. I spake yet somewhat more in the purposes before, to the intent they might get some root, or better stick in his minde. To be short, he thanked me, and said he would henceforward, take me to his recommendation and care, and some such words (of favour promised) he used, which I heard not well, he spake so low.» — el resumen que Dee hace de la reacción del emperador, que agradeció y prometió favor en voz tan baja que no lo oyó bien

«A few days later Dee was told that the emperor, in spite of his diplomatic phrases, considered the angelic conversations “either incredible, or impossible”, and Dee furiously complained that people regarded him as a “bankrupt Alchimist, a Conjurer, and Necromantist: who had sold his own goods, and given the lord Laskie the money”» — Håkansson consigna que el emperador tuvo las conversaciones por increíbles o imposibles y la queja de Dee por que lo tuvieran por alquimista en quiebra, conjurador y nigromante

«To crown it all, Dee’s pregnant wife Jane was stricken with a “grievous disease” and he reluctantly turned to the angels with his worldly concerns. During some lengthy sessions, the angels embroiled themselves in obscure discussions about the influences of celestial rays, the proportions of the soul, the patient’s time in her mother’s womb, and the deficiencies of her entrails.» — Håkansson cuenta la enfermedad de Jane Dee y las discusiones angélicas sobre rayos celestes, proporciones del alma y tiempo en el vientre materno

«A short intermission was announced — “come again after Diner” — whereupon Dee received the prescription: one pint wheat, eleven ounces amber, one ounce turpentine, and a living pheasant-cock were to be distilled and partaken» — la prescripción angélica: trigo, ámbar, trementina y un faisán vivo destilados y tomados

«A few days later, an angel dressed up as a gardener manifested himself to Kelley, serenely wandering in the garden where he “seemed very handsomly to prune some of the Trees”. In Latin, the spiritual creature asked Kelley to send for his master, “so went away as it were cutting here and there the Trees very handsomly”, whereupon “he seemed to mount up in a great pillar of fire”» — el ángel jardinero que poda los árboles, habla en latín y sube en una columna de fuego

«Left behind in the grass were some of the manuscripts which “were so diligently burnt the tenth day of April last”. When Dee arrived, they sat together under the trees, “praysing God and wondring at the miracle”» — los manuscritos quemados el diez de abril reaparecen en la hierba y Dee y Kelley se sientan a alabar a Dios y admirarse del milagro

«When Kelley returned, he told Dee how he had been guided by the angel — “his feet seemed not to touch the ground by a foot height [and] the doors did seeme to open before him” — to the oven “where all the Books and papers had been burnt...” From the oven a bright light seemed to emerge, “and so over his shoulder backward he did reach to E. K. all the rest of the standing books...”» — Kelley relata que el ángel lo llevó, sin tocar el suelo y con las puertas abriéndose, hasta el horno donde los libros se habían quemado, y le alcanzó por encima del hombro el resto de los libros

«neither any man living, nor any Book I could yet meet withal, was able to teach me those truths I desired, and longed for: And therefore I concluded with my self, to make intercession and, prayer to the giver of wisdom and all good things, to send me such wisdom, as I might know the natures of his creatures ... and at length it pleased God to send me his Light, whereby I am assured of his merciful hearing of my long, fervent, constant and continual prayer ... His holy Angels, for these two years and a half, have used to inform me» — Dee le declara al emperador que ni hombre ni libro pudo enseñarle las verdades que buscaba, que por eso rogó al dador de la sabiduría y que Dios le envió su luz y sus ángeles santos

«To their astonishment, Dee and Kelley were ordered to burn the manuscripts in which they had collected their work, and in the presence of witnesses they put a number of manuscripts on the fire in one of the ovens of the house.» — Håkansson consigna la orden angélica de quemar los manuscritos y su ejecución ante testigos

«While the weeks were passing and Jane recovered, their financial situation grew increasingly insufferable. To make ends meet, the household utensils were pawned in the Jewish districts of Prague, while Dee in vain appealed to Emperor Rudolph for the support he had been promised.» — Håkansson consigna el empeño de los enseres en los barrios judíos de Praga y las apelaciones sin efecto de Dee al emperador

«In the following weeks they travelled from Erfurt to Leipzig, back to Erfurt, and further on to Kassel. In every town it seemed impossible to find suitable accommodation, and in their trail followed the Italian priest Francisco Pucci, a former friend and member of the household, who courtly appealed to them to come to the Pope in Rome to discuss the misunderstandings which seemed to have arisen.» — Håkansson relata la expulsión de Praga y la persecución del sacerdote italiano Francisco Pucci, que los invitaba cortésmente a ir ante el papa

«The rescue from the grip of the Inquisition turned up in the form of an invitation to the country castle of Count Vilem Rozmberk in southern Bohemia.» — Håkansson consigna el refugio en el castillo del conde Vilem Rozmberk, en Bohemia del sur

«In desperation, Dee made some futile attempts to use his eight-year-old son Arthur as scryer, and during some short sessions the boy thought he discerned some vague figures in crowns and mantles, whereupon he fainted from the strain.» — Håkansson consigna el intento de usar como scryer al hijo Arthur, de ocho años, que vio figuras vagas con coronas y mantos y se desvaneció

«Madimi, who in the years had become a young woman, manifested herself to him and, patently astounded, Kelly exclaimed: “Madimi openeth all her apparel, and [shows] her self all naked; and sheweth her shame also.”» — Kelley declara que Madimi se desnuda ante él; la grafía del nombre alterna en el libro entre Madimi y Madini

«In the name of the Lord she assured them that “if you resist not God, but shut out Satan (through unity amongst you) ... [you will] become full of understanding, and in knowledge above common men.”» — el ángel promete que, si resisten a Satanás en unidad, quedarán llenos de entendimiento y por encima de los hombres comunes

«thinking that it was easie for us to perform that unity which was required to be amongst us four; understanding all after the Christian and godly sense. But E. K. who had yesterday seen and heard another meaning of this unity required, utterly abhorred to have any dealing with them farther» — Dee anota que entendía aquella unidad en sentido cristiano y piadoso, mientras Kelley, que ya había oído otro sentido, aborrecía seguir tratando con ellos

«After a moment of silence the true message of the angel finally escaped Kelley’s lips — “that we two had our wives in such sort, as we might use them in common» — según Håkansson, el mensaje del ángel resultó ser que los dos tuvieran sus mujeres en común

«he demanded an unambiguous answer to whether the unity between them concerned “Carnal use (contrary to the law of Commandment) or of Spiritual love» — Dee exige respuesta inequívoca sobre si la unidad pedida es de uso carnal contra el mandamiento o de amor espiritual

«It is of both kinds I say: [...] Because all things are possible and allowed to the divine. Neither are the sexual organs more abominable to them than the faces of the mortals.”» — la respuesta que aparece en el cristal, en latín según la nota: es de ambas clases, porque todo es posible y lícito a los divinos

«“Hereupon we were in great amazement and grief of minde”, wrote Dee, who now began to doubt the angels’ infallibility.» — Håkansson fija ahí el comienzo de la duda de Dee sobre la infalibilidad de los ángeles

«Jane, I see that there is no other remedy, but as hath been said of our cross-matching, so it must needs be done ... Thereupon she fell a weeping and trembling for a quarter of an hour: And I pacified her as well as I could; and so, in the fear of God, and in believing of his Admonishment» — Dee anota cómo persuadió a su mujer Jane, que lloró y tembló un cuarto de hora, de obedecer la amonestación; el corte de plana trunca la frase y sigue en *did perswade her*

«The following day, the archangel Gabriel gave his authoritative support to the arrangement: “All these things are from me, and permitted to you [Hec omnia à me sunt, & licita sunt] ... you are chosen from the number of men to walk with him, and to understand his mysteries...”» — Gabriel respalda el arreglo diciendo que todo eso viene de él y les es lícito, y que fueron elegidos de entre los hombres para entender sus misterios

«In the chapel the four parties signed a written affirmation to obey the command of God — even though the “profound wisdom in this most new and strange doctrine ... is above our human reason» — Håkansson consigna la afirmación escrita que los cuatro firmaron en la capilla, donde reconocen que la doctrina está por encima de su razón humana

«In the document they certified that “whosoever of us should by any means disclose the same [doctrine], and he also or she to whom the same should be disclosed, should presently and immediately be strucken dead by thy Divine power”» — el documento estipula muerte inmediata por poder divino para quien revele la doctrina y para aquel a quien se le revele

«accepted, done, or performed upon carnal lust, or wanton concupiscence; But by the way of Abraham-like faith and obedience, upon thee, our God, our Leader, Teacher, Protector and justifier, now and forever. And hereunto we call the holy Heavens to be witnesses, for thy honour and glory (O Almighty God) and our discharge, now and forever. Amen.» — la cláusula donde declaran que el cruce de matrimonios no se hace por lujuria carnal sino por fe y obediencia a la manera de Abraham

«The printed edition of Dee’s manuscripts, published by Meric Casaubon more than seventy years later, is mercifully silent about how the “cross-matching” proceeded. In Dee’s personal calendar, however, there is a terse note, “Pactum, factum”» — Håkansson señala el silencio de la edición impresa de Casaubon sobre cómo se ejecutó el arreglo, frente a la nota escueta del calendario personal de Dee

«and in the original manuscript we find a passage violently crossed out with repeated strokes of ink, beneath which one can still discern the notes from a conversation with an unnamed angel» — Håkansson describe el pasaje tachado con trazos repetidos de tinta en el manuscrito original, bajo el cual aún se distinguen las notas de una conversación con un ángel sin nombre

«Kelley: was thy brothers wife obedyent & humble vnto the[e?] EK — she was. [the angel — ] Dee was thy brothers wife obedyent vnto the[e?] ∆ — she was obedyent.» — el pasaje tachado: el ángel pregunta a Kelley y a Dee si la mujer del otro fue obediente, y ambos responden que sí; el troceo imprime el signo con que Dee se designa a sí mismo

«The angels’ request appears to have opened a chasm of doubt, coldness and envy between them all. In the manuscripts it is noted how Jane “covenanted with God to abstain from the eating of fish and flesh untill his Divine Majesty satisfie their mindes according to his Laws established”, and in a written note Kelley denied all participation in that “Doctrine damnable”» — Håkansson consigna la ruptura: Jane se compromete a abstenerse de comer pescado y carne, y Kelley niega por escrito toda participación en aquella doctrina condenable

«Gradually, the sessions diminished in number until they had ceased completely. While Dee spent his time brooding, Kelley devoted most of his time to alchemical experiments of his own and to resumed attempts to find patrons in Prague. Ironically, he had soon succeeded where Dee had so utterly failed, and in February 1588 he finally turned his back on Dee and travelled to Prague as the Imperial Alchemist of Emperor Rudolph.» — Håkansson fecha en febrero de 1588 la separación: Kelley halla patrón donde Dee fracasó y parte a Praga como alquimista imperial

«His career was brief, however, for within a few years he had been put behind bars by Emperor Rudolph, according to Ashmole’s slightly unreliable account because he “had so unwarily and openly managed the Secrets, that it had given the Emperour occasion to carry a strict Eye over all his Actions, out of a desire to be sharer, with him in his good fortune”» — Ashmole, en un relato que Håkansson llama poco fiable, atribuye el encarcelamiento de Kelley a haber manejado los secretos con demasiada apertura

«During a daring attempt to escape, in which he had tied together his sheets to climb out of his window, Kelley took a fall and was so severely hurt that he passed away a few months later, at the age of forty, in October 1595.» — Håkansson fecha la muerte de Kelley a los cuarenta años, en octubre de 1595, tras la caída en la fuga por la ventana

«After six years of incessant travelling through Europe in search of patronage and acknowledgement, he found his library in Mortlake plundered by employees and acquaintances, his laboratory instruments “most barabarously spoyled and with hammers smitt in peeces”, and the slandering voices as loud as ever.» — Håkansson cifra en seis años el viaje por Europa y describe el regreso a Mortlake: biblioteca saqueada por empleados y conocidos, instrumentos destrozados a martillazos y las murmuraciones intactas

«Despite the myths surrounding his persona, Dee’s engagement in angelic magic did not harm his position in the British capital. After his return, Queen Elizabeth’s support was as firm as ever and visitors came streaming to Mortlake in as abundant numbers as before» — Håkansson objeta el mito: la magia angélica no dañó la posición de Dee en Londres, el apoyo de Isabel I siguió firme y las visitas a Mortlake no menguaron

«When Dee’s daughter Madimi — named after the angel who initiated the “cross-matching” — was baptized in March 1590, Sir George Cary, Lady Cobham, and Lady Walsingham willingly assumed the role of her godparents» — Håkansson consigna que Dee bautizó a una hija con el nombre del ángel que inició el cruce de matrimonios y que la apadrinaron figuras de la corte

«A few days later, he made a futile attempt to help her: “I did very devowtly prepare myself, and pray for vertue and powr and Christ his blessing of the oyle to the expulsion of the wycked; and then twyse anoynted, the wycked one did resist a while.”» — Dee anota el intento de expulsión con óleo bendecido, tras el cual el malvado resistió un rato

«But the exorcism was of no avail and a week later he noted how she “wold have drowned hirself in my well, but by divine Providence I cam to take her up befor she was overcome of the water» — Håkansson consigna el intento de la nodriza de ahogarse en el pozo y la intervención de Dee

«Nurse Ann Frank most miserably did cut her owne throte, afternone abowt four of the clok, pretending to be in prayer before her keeper, and suddenly and very quickly rising from prayer, and going toward her chamber, as the mayden her keper thowght, but indede straight way down the stayrs into the hall of the other howse, behinde the doore, did that horrible act; and the mayden who wayted on her at the stayr-fote followed her, and missed to fynde her in three or fowr places, tyll at lenght she hard her rattle in her owne blud.» — la entrada del diario sobre el suicidio de la nodriza Ann Frank, con el detalle de la criada que la buscó hasta oírla estertorar en su propia sangre

«Over the years, Dee’s health grew increasingly poor and in the diary he noted how he cured “a great fit of the stone in my left kidney” with some white wine, “crab’s eys in powder with the bone in the carp’s head, and abowt four of the clok I did eat tosted cake buttered, and with suger and nutmeg on it ... and I voyded within an howr much water, and a stone as big as an Alexander seed. God be thanked!”» — Håkansson cita del diario la cura casera de un cálculo renal, con vino blanco, ojos de cangrejo en polvo y el hueso de la cabeza de la carpa

«Supported by the archbishop, he requested the office as master of the Hospital of St. Cross in Winchester, and his supplications indicate far-reaching and ambitious plans. The institute would be transformed into an academy containing the largest library in England, a printing press and laboratories for “exercises in perspective and other works philosophicall”» — Håkansson expone el proyecto de Dee para el Hospital of St. Cross: una academia con la mayor biblioteca de Inglaterra, imprenta y laboratorios para ejercicios de perspectiva

«To this place “rare and excellent men from all parts of Christendome (and perhaps some out of farder regions)” would come to work — even “special men”, he added in a cryptic passage, that “would be loath to be seene or heard of publickly» — Dee prevé que a esa casa vendrían hombres raros y excelentes de toda la cristiandad, y en pasaje críptico añade que algunos no querrían ser vistos ni oídos públicamente

«But the vision came to nought, and in his diary he petulantly noted that his request was “graunted after a sort” by the Queen but that she had left the final decision to the Archbishop, who on second thoughts had changed his mind — “I take myself confounded for all suing or hoping for anything that was. And so adiew to the court and courting tyll God direct me otherwise. The Archbishop gave me a payre of sufferings to drinke. God be my help if he is my refuge. Amen.”» — Håkansson consigna el fracaso de la petición y la entrada del diario donde Dee se despide de la corte

«He reluctantly accepted an office as warden of Christ College in Manchester, where the local authorities, faced with occurrences of demonic possession in the region, consulted his expertise in spiritual matters» — Håkansson consigna el cargo en el Christ College de Manchester, donde las autoridades locales consultaron a Dee ante casos de posesión demoníaca

«When the Queen died, his support at the court vanished and the malicious rumours were kindled again. In extravagant supplications to the King he appealed for rehabilitation by a public trial» — según Håkansson, la muerte de la reina le quitó el apoyo cortesano y Dee pidió al rey rehabilitación mediante juicio público

«willingly, to the punishment of Death: (yea, eyther to be stoned to death: or to be buried quicke: or to be burned unmercifully) If by any due, true, and just meanes, the said name of Conjurer, or Caller, or Invocator of Divels, or damned Spirites, can be proved» — Dee se ofrece a la pena de muerte, apedreado, enterrado vivo o quemado, si por medios justos se prueba el nombre de conjurador o invocador de demonios

«But his appeals are to no avail. Weak and ailing, he spends his last years with his family at Mortlake. His wife Jane has been snatched away by the plague and the visitors become fewer and less generous. Stealthily the table silver and copper vessels are sent to the pawnbroker’s shop, while his complaints about the ravages of the thieves are met with compassionate glances. With trembling hand, he notes his dreams in his diary. He is dreaming of Kelley and the Philosopher’s Stone.» — el cierre del prólogo, en presente: Dee pasa sus últimos años en Mortlake, viudo por la peste, empeñando la plata y soñando con Kelley y la piedra filosofal

«In September 1607, the angel Gabriel manifests himself in his chamber for the last time. Talking as they did in the old days, Dee complains that Emperor Rudolph’s support never seems to appear, but the angel hushes him gently. “Let it go”, he says, “let it go, and» — Håkansson fecha en septiembre de 1607 la última manifestación de Gabriel; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *speak no further of it*

«speak no further of it. The Emperour of all Emperours will be thy comfort...”» — la última palabra del ángel con que cierra el prólogo: el Emperador de todos los Emperadores será su consuelo

«In August 1590, Dee noted in his diary: “Ann my nurse had long byn tempted by a wycked spirit: but this day it was» — del diario de Dee: Ann, la nodriza, tentada largo tiempo por un espíritu malvado; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *evident how she was possessed of him*

«Thus, perhaps, would the tale of John Dee run if we crafted his diaries into a conventional biographical narrative, told with the slightly wondering tone we inevitably adopt when we confront the seemingly fabulous and incomprehensible. For a tale it is, despite the bulk of quotations and primary sources, a tale as subjective, selective and interpretive as any historical narrative by necessity must be. And yet it is a tale worth telling, a tale that conveys the “Otherness” of the past as few tales do.» — Håkansson declara el estatuto de lo que acaba de contar: un relato tan subjetivo, selectivo e interpretativo como cualquier narración histórica, y que vale por transmitir la otredad del pasado

«Until a few decades ago, the very foreignness of Renaissance occultism — taken as a comprehensive term for the various sciences dealing with invisible or non-manifest forces, such as magic, alchemy, divination and astrology88 — confined it to the margins of historiography» — Håkansson sitúa la extrañeza del ocultismo renacentista como la causa de su confinamiento en los márgenes de la historiografía, y da ahí su definición del término

«Confronted with beliefs and conceptions so strange and otherworldly that they seem to beg questions about rationality and common sense, historians were both unable and unwilling to treat occultism as way of understanding the world valid in its own right» — según Håkansson, los historiadores no podían ni querían tratar el ocultismo como un modo de entender el mundo válido por derecho propio

«Taking our own ideological framework as providing universal and natural criteria for understanding reality, historians judged occultism by modern standards of “rationality” and “science” and constructed hegemonic accounts of the past — accounts in which the sheer difference of the Other was either treated as a mark of inferiority, or suppressed through an act of interpretation that abstracted the aspect most familiar to us and took this as adequately representing the whole» — Håkansson describe el mecanismo de las historias hegemónicas: o la diferencia se marca como inferioridad o se suprime abstrayendo el aspecto más familiar; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *of that culture*

«The term “occultism” is preferable to labels like “Hermetism” or “Neoplatonism”, often invoked as more or less synonymous with occultism, since it does not ground this body of beliefs in a particular philosophical tradition or set of texts. Instead it makes us susceptible to the syncretistic and heterogeneous character of these conceptions.» — la nota donde Håkansson declara por qué prefiere el nombre *occultism* a *Hermetism* o *Neoplatonism*: no ancla ese cuerpo de creencias en una tradición filosófica ni en un corpus de textos y deja ver su carácter sincrético y heterogéneo

«As Tzvetan Todorov writes, the hegemonic relationship between “them” and “us” renders it difficult both to see “difference without its degenerating into superiority/inferiority” and “equality without its compelling us to accept identity”» — Håkansson cita a Todorov sobre la dificultad de ver la diferencia sin que degenere en superioridad o inferioridad y la igualdad sin que obligue a aceptar la identidad

«As a consequence, Renaissance occultism was thrown into the shade by its own future: either it was interpreted as a body of errors and misperceptions subsequently to be overcome, or as a world view containing the grain that would later germinate into “real science”. In both cases, occultism was subsumed under the grand narrative of the “Scientific Revolution”, which effectively excluded the meaning of occult notions — the meaning it had to “them” — from the historic account.» — tesis de Håkansson: el ocultismo renacentista quedó a la sombra de su propio futuro, o como cuerpo de errores o como grano de la ciencia real, y en ambos casos subsumido en el relato de la Revolución Científica

«To understand foreign beliefs “in their own terms” requires a different approach: it demands that we acknowledge the meaningfulness of these beliefs without judging them in terms of familiarity; or, in a beautiful phrase of Gary Tomlinson’s, an ability to “always sustain the sense of Otherness in the face of meaning”» — Håkansson enuncia lo que su método exige, con la frase que toma de Gary Tomlinson: sostener el sentido de la otredad frente al sentido

«A well-known example of the latter perspective is Frances Yates’ account of the “Hermetic Tradition”. By interpreting the occult interest in mathematics and the manipulation of natural forces as anticipating seventeenth century science, she attributed to these aspects meanings they did not have in their original context. As such, her account was essentially based on the rhetorical trope of synecdoche, in which the part is taken as representing the whole.» — en nota, Håkansson objeta a Frances Yates que al leer el interés oculto por las matemáticas como anticipo de la ciencia del siglo XVII atribuyó a esos rasgos sentidos que no tenían en su contexto, y llama a su relato una sinécdoque

«In this sense the historian shares a dilemma with the ethnographer who must “render the foreign familiar and preserve its very foreignness at one and the same time”, as Vincent Crapanzano writes» — Håkansson equipara al historiador con el etnógrafo de Vincent Crapanzano, que debe volver familiar lo extraño y preservar su extrañeza a la vez; el corte de chunk trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *a feat he tries to accomplish*

«Thomas’ breathtaking erudition and keen eye for illustrative anecdotes evokes a vivid picture of the prevalence and scope of magical beliefs in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Protective amulets, magical invocations, omens, witchcraft and astrological predictions were all accepted as normal parts of life, some of them to be shunned for moral reasons, but all of them practiced by a wide range of people and none of them dismissed as impossible by more than a handful of sceptics.» — Håkansson reconoce a Keith Thomas la erudición y el ojo para la anécdota, y resume lo que su cuadro muestra: amuletos, invocaciones, presagios, brujería y predicciones astrológicas aceptados como partes normales de la vida

«Despite its vividness, however, Thomas’ account raises more questions than it answers. For all its detail, it is curiously void of exhaustive analyses of particular cases, confining itself to a “conscientious but redundant accumulation of instances and occurrences”, as S. J. Tambiah put it, often taken out of context and presented as an entertaining panorama of bygone delusions» — Håkansson objeta que el relato de Thomas suscita más preguntas de las que responde y lo llama, con la frase de Tambiah, acumulación concienzuda pero redundante de casos

«Throughout the book, “magic” is treated as a clearly defined category of practices and beliefs that can be distinguished from — and, indeed, contrasted with — two other categories: “religion” and “science”. Whereas “religion” is understood as a comprehensive and organized system of symbols, and “science” as a collection of rational procedures for the attainment of empirical knowledge, “magic” is portrayed as an incoherent hotchpotch of miscellaneous recipes for gaining personal favours and goals. As such, it can be understood as a fallacious fusion of “religion” and “science” in which symbols are taken as physically effective means to achieve practical ends.» — Håkansson describe el reparto de categorías con que Thomas trabaja: religión como sistema organizado de símbolos, ciencia como procedimientos racionales y magia como fusión falaz de las dos

«As Hildred Geertz pointed out, the problem with this approach is that these categories took shape first when the belief in magic was in decline» — Håkansson recoge la objeción de Hildred Geertz: esas categorías tomaron forma cuando la creencia en la magia ya declinaba

«What Thomas took as valid categories for understanding the phenomenon of magic and its decline were, in other words, the rhetorical and polemic categories of mechanistic philosophers who opposed it, and of certain theological circles that spearheaded the Reformation.» — Håkansson sostiene que lo que Thomas tomó por categorías válidas eran las categorías retóricas y polémicas de los filósofos mecanicistas que se oponían a la magia y de ciertos círculos teológicos de la Reforma

«as Geertz aptly put it, it is not the decline of magic that cries out for explanation, but the emergence and rise of the label “magic” in the sense that Thomas uses it» — Håkansson hace suya la formulación de Geertz: lo que pide explicación no es el declive de la magia sino la emergencia y el ascenso de la etiqueta misma

«while the aim of Evans-Pritchard’s account was to show how magical beliefs were granted a form of local rationality by being embedded in a pattern of cultural concepts, Thomas tended to read it as a psychological theory of magic more akin to Bronislaw Malinowski’s views than Evans-Pritchard’s own account warrants» — Håkansson señala que Thomas leyó a Evans-Pritchard como teoría psicológica de la magia, más cerca de Malinowski que de lo que el propio Evans-Pritchard autoriza

«Throughout Thomas’ study, magic was defined primarily in functionalistic terms, as something that was practiced since it filled psychological or sociological needs which the practitioner did not himself recognize. In a world plagued by fluctuations of nature, hazards of fire, threats of disease and fear of evil spirits, magic could relieve man of the worries he faced in his daily life.» — Håkansson describe la definición funcionalista de la magia en Thomas: algo que se practica porque llena necesidades psicológicas o sociológicas que el practicante no reconoce

«magic can be seen as “the employment of ineffective techniques to allay anxiety when effective ones are not available”» — la frase con que Thomas cierra su libro, citada por Håkansson

«In understanding magic as by definition non-religious, non-rational and physically non-effective, Thomas suppressed the ontological basis of magic in favour of a psychological one. Although he emphasized the importance of occult philosophy to buttress “excessive beliefs” in the powers of imagination and the magical efficacy of words and rituals, he never gave this ontological legitimation of magic the same weight as the psychological need for it.» — Håkansson objeta que Thomas suprimió la base ontológica de la magia en favor de una psicológica, y que nunca dio a esa legitimación ontológica el mismo peso que a la necesidad psicológica

«Psychologism, in various forms and often based on early anthropological studies of “primitive” or “savage” societies, was until a few years ago the dominant model for understanding early modern occultism.» — Håkansson fija el psicologismo, apoyado en estudios antropológicos tempranos de sociedades primitivas o salvajes, como el modelo dominante hasta hace pocos años

«Wayne Shumaker repeatedly referred to “primitive thought” as a mode of reasoning permeating early modern intellectual occultism, rooted in a habit of “projecting” subjective categories and human endowments onto nature» — Håkansson describe el recurso de Wayne Shumaker al pensamiento primitivo como modo de razonar que impregna el ocultismo intelectual moderno temprano

«In regarding the world as a living being, scholars like Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) expressed “a primeval tendency, still operative in savage cultures and among very young children, to imagine everywhere a consciousness very like our own”» — Shumaker, citado por Håkansson, atribuye a Ficino y a Agrippa una tendencia primigenia, todavía operante en culturas salvajes y en niños muy pequeños, a imaginar consciencia en todas partes

«Shumaker’s study, which described how these “assumptions and mental habits persisted until, in ‘advanced’ thought, they were challenged, and eventually overcome, by empirical procedures”, was an unembellished tribute to a “Scientific Revolution” brought about by “scepticism of the authorities, exact instruments for making observations, controlled conditions, and, not least important, a refusal to let wishes interfere with perception”» — Håkansson llama al estudio de Shumaker un tributo sin adornos a la Revolución Científica, y cita los rasgos que Shumaker le adjudica

«Needless to say, the simplistic view of “science” as an empirical exposure of the world “as it is in itself” has long since crumbled under the weight of postmodernist, relativist and constructivist critiques» — Håkansson da por hundida bajo las críticas posmodernas, relativistas y constructivistas la visión simplista de la ciencia como exposición empírica del mundo tal como es en sí

«“Triumphalist accounts of the victory of science over magic may no longer be credible, but in the history of the so-called occult sciences, the temptation to write qualitatively about the changes wrought by the ‘scientific revolution’ has long persisted.”» — Stuart Clark, citado por Håkansson, dice que los relatos triunfalistas ya no son creíbles y que aun así persiste la tentación de escribir cualitativamente sobre los cambios de la revolución científica

«The resulting analysis was a crude but illustrative example of how the notion that “primitive ways of thought” can be contrasted with “modern” ones creates an illusory dichotomy which, in a phrase of Hildred Geertz’s, “reduces the complexities of human life to a simple negative of one’s presumed self”» — Håkansson llama al análisis resultante un ejemplo tosco de cómo la dicotomía entre pensamiento primitivo y moderno crea una ilusión que, con la frase de Hildred Geertz, reduce la complejidad de la vida humana al negativo de uno mismo

«In Vickers’ view, the fundamental difference between the “scientific” and “occult” mentalities could be located in their respective uses of language» — Håkansson sitúa en el uso del lenguaje la diferencia que Vickers pone entre mentalidad científica y mentalidad oculta

«To be sure, this idealized conception of “scientific” language, so curiously innocent of recent developments in science studies, has been forcefully criticized by a number of scholars. His characterization of “occult” language, by contrast, has been left virtually unchallenged and, indeed, has been repeated approvingly over the years by a number of historians who are usually more circumspect» — Håkansson consigna el desequilibrio de la recepción: la concepción idealizada de la lengua científica fue criticada, la caracterización de la lengua oculta quedó prácticamente sin réplica y se repite con aprobación

«Central to the “occult mode of thought”, in this view, is that analogies and metaphors are conceived of not merely as imaginary and mental connections between different entities, but as real connections.» — Håkansson enuncia el núcleo de esa lectura: analogías y metáforas no como conexiones mentales sino como conexiones reales

«Drawing on the biblical account of Adam’s naming of the animals and on Plato’s dialogue Cratylus, occultists regarded the connection between word and thing as “natural” and “real”, rather than as conventional: a word signified something, not by social agreement and custom, but by embodying the true essence or nature of the thing.» — Håkansson expone la creencia en las lenguas naturales: la palabra significa no por acuerdo social y costumbre sino por encarnar la esencia o naturaleza verdadera de la cosa

«And yet, apart from a few notable exceptions, the study of occult philosophy has remained curiously untouched by this process, having» — Håkansson señala que el estudio de la filosofía oculta ha quedado curiosamente intacto por las críticas posmodernas; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *aroused little interest*

«aroused little interest outside the domains of a more traditional history of philosophy.» — la continuación: ese interés no ha salido de los dominios de una historia de la filosofía más tradicional

«And, one might add, so has the temptation to draw on anthropological studies of “primitive cultures” to understand the nature of early modern occultism.» — Håkansson añade que persiste también la tentación de recurrir a estudios antropológicos de culturas primitivas para entender el ocultismo moderno temprano

«Whereas “science” was characterized as a uniquely progressive enterprise, based on a mentality “open” to self-criticism and change, “occultism” was described as a “closed” and self-justifying system of thought, resistant to critique and alternative explanations» — Håkansson expone la oposición que Brian Vickers trazó apoyándose en Robin Horton: la ciencia como empresa abierta a la autocrítica y el ocultismo como sistema cerrado y autojustificado

«In the scientific tradition, I hold, a clear distinction is made between words and things and between literal and metaphorical language. The occult traditions does not recognize this distinction: Words are treated as if they are equivalent to things and can be substituted for them. Manipulate the one and you manipulate the other.» — el pasaje en sangría de Vickers: en la tradición científica se distinguen palabras y cosas, y en la oculta las palabras se tratan como equivalentes a las cosas

«Analogies, instead of being, as they are in the scientific tradition, explanatory devices subordinate to argument and proof, or heuristic tools to make models that can be tested, corrected, and abandoned if necessary, are, instead, modes of conceiving relationships in the universe that reify, rigidify, and ultimately come to dominate thought. One no longer uses analogies: One is used by them. They become the only way in which one can think or experience the world.» — la segunda mitad del pasaje de Vickers: las analogías dejan de ser recursos explicativos y pasan a dominar el pensamiento, de modo que uno ya no las usa sino que es usado por ellas

«A name, as Plato says in the Cratylus, is a certain power of the thing itself [rei ipsius vis quaedam], first conceived in the mind, then expressed by the voice, finally signified by letters.”» — Ficino, en su comentario al Filebo citado por Håkansson, define el nombre como cierta fuerza de la cosa misma, concebida primero en la mente, luego expresada por la voz y al fin significada por letras

«Paraphrasing Ficino virtually verbatim, Agrippa went on to claim that words carry such powers that they “change not only the hearers, but also other bodies, and things that have no life”» — Håkansson señala que Agrippa parafrasea a Ficino casi literalmente al atribuir a las palabras poder para cambiar no solo a los oyentes sino a otros cuerpos y a cosas sin vida

«In Vickers’ view, this tendency to treat “words as things and essences” — indeed, to equate words with things — demonstrates an inability to “recognize the distinction between tenor and vehicle”» — Håkansson resume la lectura de Vickers: tratar las palabras como cosas y esencias delata para él incapacidad de reconocer la distinción entre tenor y vehículo

«Invoking the terminology of Ferdinand de Saussure, he claimed that “in this type of thinking the signifiant is confused with the signifié ”. Whereas the scientific mentality draws a clear distinction between sign and referent, between words and things, the occult tradition tends to blur the line between them, “fusing” or “collapsing” the two elements into a single set: “In the occult and magical traditions the line is removed — or rather, it is never inserted; word and thing are not discriminated.”» — Vickers, citado por Håkansson, dice que en ese modo de pensar el significante se confunde con el significado y que la línea entre palabra y cosa nunca se inserta

«Hence, the analogy between two things “collapses” into an identity: the name does not refer to the object, it is the object, and the magician does not allude to the thing he speaks of — he expresses the very thing itself.» — Håkansson expone la consecuencia que Vickers extrae: el nombre no remite al objeto, lo es, y el mago no alude a la cosa de la que habla sino que la expresa

«This “fusion” of sign and referent sustained the belief that by manipulating the one item it was possible to affect the other: the word could affect the thing it represents, an image of the heavenly constellations could draw powers from the stars, and a magical amulet tap the forces of the invisible world: “Analogy leads to identity and to actual connections between things.”» — Håkansson expone el corolario práctico que Vickers deriva: manipular un término afecta al otro, y la analogía lleva a la identidad y a conexiones reales entre las cosas

«Vickers’ analysis is by no means original, and the conception of occult symbolism and magic as based on a “fusion” of the sign and its referent has been prevalent in historiography for more than half a century» — Håkansson niega originalidad a Vickers y data en más de medio siglo la vigencia historiográfica de la fusión entre signo y referente

«On no account is it justifiable to claim that the occultist was unable to discriminate between symbol and object, mistaking the word for the thing.» — Håkansson objeta de plano que el ocultista fuera incapaz de discriminar símbolo y objeto

«The belief in natural signification and the magical power of words had its basis in an ontological and cosmological scheme which posited a different relation between sign, mind and reality than our world view does.» — tesis de Håkansson: la creencia en la significación natural y en el poder mágico de las palabras se apoyaba en un esquema ontológico y cosmológico que ponía otra relación entre signo, mente y realidad

«By imposing a modern, Saussurean conception of signification upon Renaissance occultism, this view merely evades the crucial issue: how the concept of signification itself was embedded in a set of notions about nature and culture which generated practices of interpretation quite different from ours, and how these practices in turn were employed to legitimate the occult outlook on reality.» — Håkansson sostiene que imponer una concepción saussureana moderna elude la cuestión central: cómo el propio concepto de significación estaba incrustado en nociones sobre naturaleza y cultura que generaban prácticas de interpretación distintas

«As we shall see, the simple distinction between “natural” and “conventional” signification is much too crude to be of value when we try to understand the role of language in early modern occultism. Not only do we find a range of non-occultists dwelling on “natural” languages: we find that virtually every scholar whom Vickers places in the occultist camp stressed the conventional character of signification.» — Håkansson objeta que la distinción simple entre significación natural y convencional es demasiado tosca, y que casi todo erudito que Vickers pone en el campo ocultista subrayó el carácter convencional del significar

«Although the belief in natural signification was a central feature of Renaissance occultism, it was usually regarded as an ideal form of signification, attributable solely to the original Adamic tongue and the ancient languages directly derived from it.» — matiz de Håkansson: la significación natural se tenía por forma ideal, atribuible solo a la lengua adámica original y a las lenguas antiguas derivadas directamente de ella

«How our conventional languages were to be restored to their primordial condition of natural signification, and, indeed, what it meant to say that a language signified “naturally”, were issues that occupied a range of scholars in the Renaissance, within as well as outside the boundaries of occult philosophy.» — Håkansson fija como cuestión abierta del Renacimiento, dentro y fuera de la filosofía oculta, cómo restaurar las lenguas convencionales a su condición primordial y qué significaba decir que una lengua significa naturalmente

«Writing in 1871, Edward Tylor interpreted the magic beliefs of the “primitive savage” as based on a “mistaking [of] an ideal for a real connexion”» — Håkansson data en Edward Tylor la lectura de la magia del salvaje primitivo como confusión de una conexión ideal con una real

«This idea, which was a central feature of James Frazer’s monumental production, remained an anthropological commonplace for almost a century, most elaborately expressed in Lucien Lévy-Bruhl’s conception of a “prelogical mentality”. In contrast to Western rationality, Lévy-Bruhl argued, “primitive” mentality is not governed by the law of causality and formal logic, but by the “law of mystical participation”, a term signifying the association of things to the point of identity and consubstantiality» — Håkansson traza la línea de esa idea de Frazer a la mentalidad prelógica de Lévy-Bruhl, con su ley de participación mística

«Arguing that a fundamental shift in how knowledge was organized had occurred in the middle of the seventeenth century, Foucault tried to show how knowledge before this transition was structured by the principle of “resemblance”» — Håkansson expone la tesis de Foucault: el saber anterior al cambio de mediados del siglo XVII estaba estructurado por el principio de la semejanza

«Rather, it functioned as the sign of a concealed relationship, as a mark which indicated hidden correspondences and affinities that linked all things within the universe into a coherent whole.» — según Håkansson, en Foucault la semejanza funciona como marca de correspondencias y afinidades ocultas que enlazan todas las cosas del universo en un todo coherente

«Hence, the search for knowledge could only be conceived of as a reading of signs, an exegesis by which the inner essence of a thing was uncovered by interpreting its outer form, or by a continuous mapping of the correspondences that traversed the world» — la consecuencia que Håkansson extrae de Foucault: buscar conocimiento solo podía concebirse como lectura de signos, exégesis que descubre la esencia interior por la forma exterior

«To Croll, nature was a vast text of cross-referring resemblances, disclosing to the knowledgeable the inner power of every plant and animal — “by similitude [they] manifest their Interiours, concealed in the occult Silence of Nature”» — Håkansson resume a Croll: la naturaleza como texto vasto de semejanzas que se remiten unas a otras y manifiestan por similitud sus interiores ocultos

«“[E]very Herb is a Terrene Star growing towards Heaven”, wrote Croll, “and every individual Star, is a Caelestial Herb in a Spiritual Form, in nothing differing from Herbs growing in the Earth, save only in the Matter”» — Croll formula la correspondencia entre hierbas y estrellas: cada hierba es estrella terrestre y cada estrella hierba celeste, sin más diferencia que la materia

«In his Philosophicall Key, Robert Fludd (1574-1637) elegantly expounded the commonplace notion of the human body as a microcosm, minutely mirroring the world we inhabit: just as the sun vivifies the world by its beams of light, so the human heart pumps “Vitall spirits” through the arteries, directing “the liuelÿ beames to euerÿ quarter and corner of this litle World, that by this meanes each part thereof maÿ liue”» — Robert Fludd, citado por Håkansson, expone el cuerpo humano como microcosmos: el corazón bombea espíritus vitales como el sol vivifica el mundo con sus rayos

«And just as the earth is subject to nourishing showers of rain, so “Microcosmicall showers of raÿne” takes form within the body, turning into streams that “trikle downe from the mountaynes of the stomack, liuer, and spleen” and through “the stonÿ and rockÿ cauernes of the kidneÿs”, eventually reaching the “salt sea of the bladder”» — Fludd continúa la correspondencia: lluvias microcósmicas que bajan de las montañas del estómago, el hígado y el bazo hasta el mar salado de la vejiga

«By imitating the heavenly spheres the magician could bring down celestial forces to the earthly realm, for, as Giambattista della Porta (1535-1615) wrote, “the very likenesse of one thing to another, is a sufficient bond to link them together”» — Giambattista della Porta, citado por Håkansson, dice que la sola semejanza de una cosa con otra basta para ligarlas

«According to Foucault, the constructive role of resemblance in Renaissance discourse entailed a conception of language strikingly different from the one developed in the seventeenth century. The very distinction between the sign and its referent was something that would emerge first with the “representational” épistémè in the “Classical Age”. In the Renaissance, by contrast, resemblance was conceived of as both the form and the content of the sign, forcing the elements of the sign to fuse “into a single form”» — Håkansson expone que para Foucault la semejanza era forma y contenido del signo a la vez, y fundía sus elementos en una sola forma

«In Foucault’s terminology, the Renaissance épistémè superimposed hermeneutics and semiology — that is, there existed no distinction between interpreting a sign and defining what constituted it as a sign» — Håkansson formula el punto: en Foucault la épistémè renacentista superpone hermenéutica y semiología, sin distinción entre interpretar un signo y definir qué lo constituye como signo

«To search for meaning is to bring to light a resemblance. To search for the law governing signs is to discover the things that are alike. […] The nature of things, their coexistence, the way in which they are linked together and communicate is nothing other than their resemblance. And that resemblance is visible in the network of signs that crosses the world from one end to the other.» — el pasaje de Foucault en sangría: buscar el sentido es sacar a la luz una semejanza, y la naturaleza de las cosas no es otra que su semejanza, visible en la red de signos que cruza el mundo

«In a discourse governed by the principle of resemblance, no strict distinction could exist between language and reality; both were systems of signification of equal ontological status. Language became “interwoven” with reality, forced “to reside in the world, among the plants, the herbs, the stones, and the animals”» — Håkansson expone que en ese discurso no cabe distinción estricta entre lengua y realidad, y que la lengua queda entretejida con el mundo, entre plantas, hierbas, piedras y animales

«Though Lévy-Bruhl renounced the notion of a “prelogical” mentality by the end of the 1930s, the key elements of his theory loom large — albeit couched in a different theoretical idiom — in the most notorious account of early modern occultism ever written» — Håkansson señala que, pese a la renuncia del propio Lévy-Bruhl a la mentalidad prelógica, los elementos clave de su teoría siguen presentes, con otro idioma teórico, en el relato más notorio sobre el ocultismo moderno temprano

«Foucault’s approach in this work was strictly structuralistic: what he wanted to uncover was an underlying structure of which scientific discourse was a “surface expression”, a single épistémè which functioned as the precondition for the production of all knowledge» — Håkansson describe el enfoque de Foucault como estrictamente estructuralista: sacar a la luz una estructura subyacente, una sola épistémè como precondición de toda producción de conocimiento

«have an entire Signature of the Head”, wrote Oswald Croll (c. 15601609) and described how the rind of the walnut, by resembling the cranium, revealed its power to cure wounds in the skull, whereas “the Kernel hath the figure of the Brain itself; therefore it is also helpful to the Brain, and abates the force of Venoms”» — Oswald Croll, citado por Håkansson, lee la nuez como signatura entera de la cabeza: la corteza cura heridas del cráneo y el meollo, con figura de cerebro, ayuda al cerebro; el corte de plana deja la palabra *Walnuts* del otro lado, y el guion de fin de renglón de las fechas de Croll sale fundido como *15601609* donde el impreso da 1560-1609

«Hence, Foucault asserted, knowledge in the Renaissance “consisted in relating one form of language to another form of language; in restoring the great, unbroken plain of words and things; in making everything speak”» — Foucault, citado por Håkansson, dice que el conocimiento en el Renacimiento consistía en relacionar una forma de lenguaje con otra y en hacer hablar a todo

«No account of Renaissance thought is so dazzling and overpowering as Foucault’s, a virtue — or, perhaps, vice — largely due to its evocative rather than argumentative style. Nor is any account so daring in its scope of generalization and schematicism, so bold in its persistence in suppressing individual differences and local variations, effectively forcing an entire era into a single governing scheme.» — Håkansson califica el relato de Foucault de deslumbrante y avasallador por su estilo evocativo más que argumentativo, y a la vez de audaz en su generalización y en la supresión de diferencias individuales y variaciones locales

«Though Foucault would repudiate this notion a few years later, his account of Renaissance discourse was based on the belief that the production and organization of knowledge — all knowledge — could be ascribed to a single, encompassing épistémè — “In any given culture and at any given moment, there is always only one épistémè that defines the conditions of possibility of all knowledge» — Håkansson consigna que Foucault se retractaría después, y cita la formulación donde toda cultura y todo momento tienen una sola épistémè que define las condiciones de posibilidad del conocimiento

«Yet virtually every source invoked to illustrate his analysis — Paracelsus, Croll, della Porta, Campanella, Cardano — can be placed firmly within some faction of occult philosophy, whereas humanistic and scholastic concepts are conspicuously absent from his account» — Håkansson objeta que las fuentes con que Foucault ilustra su análisis —Paracelso, Croll, della Porta, Campanella, Cardano— caben todas en alguna facción de la filosofía oculta, y que lo humanístico y lo escolástico están ausentes

«even if taken as an analysis of Renaissance occultism, Foucault’s account remains ideal-typical: it is an academic construction whose formal symmetry and sweep of abstraction is doomed to crumble when confronted with the heterogeneous amalgamation of divergent notions and practices we lump together under the label “occultism”» — Håkansson llama al relato de Foucault una construcción académica de tipo ideal, condenada a desmoronarse ante la amalgama heterogénea que se agrupa bajo la etiqueta

«Analogy functions as an allpervasive, governing principle of reasoning, generating an autonomous mode of thought in which not only the demarcations between metaphorical, symbolic and literal language are dissolved, but the very distinction between language and reality collapses» — Håkansson describe lo que Foucault repite de la antropología temprana: la analogía como principio gobernante que disuelve las demarcaciones entre lo metafórico, lo simbólico y lo literal y hunde la distinción entre lengua y realidad; el guion de fin de renglón de *all-pervasive* sale fundido como *allpervasive*

«Vickers, by contrast, reverted to a form of psychologism that brought his analysis perilously close to the Victorian anthropology of Tylor and Frazer. In his account, the distinction between “occultism” and “science” ultimately boils down to the distinction between subjectivism and objectivism.» — Håkansson sitúa a Vickers de vuelta en un psicologismo cercano a la antropología victoriana de Tylor y Frazer, donde la distinción se reduce a subjetivismo frente a objetivismo

«Whereas the “experimental scientist” derives observations from nature and uses analogies solely as a heuristic device, the occultist imposed his own categories onto reality and linked them to a network of correspondences by means of analogies that had a persuasive rather than predictive purpose, inviting mere mental recognition or agreement instead of leading to new knowledge» — Håkansson expone el reparto de Vickers: el científico experimental usa la analogía como recurso heurístico y el ocultista impone sus categorías con fin persuasivo y no predictivo

«Science is no longer seen as a revelatory enterprise, but as an interpretive one, a conceptual shift which has led to a proliferation of studies of how social and cultural factors inform scientific practices and concepts» — Håkansson consigna el giro: la ciencia ya no se ve como empresa reveladora sino interpretativa, y de ahí la proliferación de estudios sobre cómo lo social y lo cultural informan sus prácticas y conceptos

«As a result of this development the strict distinction between occultism and science appears increasingly untenable. Scientific language is no longer considered a literal, non-metaphorical idiom cutting reality at its joints, nor are scientific analogies regarded as purely heuristic devices» — según Håkansson, ese giro vuelve insostenible la distinción estricta entre ocultismo y ciencia: ni el lenguaje científico es idioma literal que corte la realidad por sus junturas ni las analogías científicas son meros recursos heurísticos

«If the use of analogy and metaphor can be said to constitute a “great divide” between occultism and science, the difference lies neither in what kinds of analogies they employed, nor in how they were employed, but simply in which analogies were constitutive of their respective interpretive approaches» — tesis de Håkansson sobre la supuesta gran divisoria: la diferencia no está en qué analogías se emplean ni en cómo, sino en cuáles fueron constitutivas de cada enfoque interpretativo

«As such, categorization is a practice thoroughly embedded in culture, dependent on the particular context in which it takes place and influenced by notions about the nature of reality, historical traditions, beliefs, myths and ideological choices» — Håkansson describe la categorización como práctica incrustada en la cultura, dependiente del contexto y modelada por creencias, mitos y elecciones ideológicas

«As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson have persuasively argued on the basis of empirical research, conceptual categories should be understood neither as “objective” nor “subjective”, but as experiential, as something both shaped by and shaping our experiences within a particular cultural and material environment» — Håkansson recoge de Lakoff y Johnson que las categorías conceptuales no son objetivas ni subjetivas sino experienciales, modeladas por la experiencia y modeladoras de ella

«Needless to say, Croll’s description boggles our mind. But it does so not because we are unable to see the resemblances he points out. It boggles our mind because his description has ontological consequences that contradict our way of conceptually structuring the world.» — Håkansson precisa por qué la descripción de Croll desconcierta: no porque no se vean las semejanzas sino porque tiene consecuencias ontológicas que contradicen nuestro modo de estructurar el mundo

«What Croll’s description illustrates is not that occultists abused analogy by projecting subjective categories upon nature and lumping them together into a nonsense grid of correspondences. Rather, it illustrates is that a fact is a fact only relative to a conceptual framework and that, relative to another framework, this fact might be a theoretical entity, an illusion, or a non-fact.» — tesis de Håkansson: la descripción de Croll no ilustra un abuso de la analogía sino que un hecho es hecho solo respecto de un marco conceptual, y respecto de otro puede ser entidad teórica, ilusión o no-hecho

«The reason for this is that reality is incapable of presenting itself as meaningful on its own; we make it meaningful by applying one or another conceptual scheme to it.» — Håkansson enuncia el fundamento: la realidad no puede presentarse como significativa por sí sola y se vuelve significativa al aplicarle un esquema conceptual

«Instead, our rejection of his claim presupposes a conceptual framework very different from what made Croll’s description meaningful to him.» — Håkansson señala que rechazar la afirmación de Croll presupone un marco conceptual muy distinto del que se la hacía significativa a él

«As Hilary Putman puts it, objects “do not exist independently of conceptual schemes. We cut up the world into objects when we introduce one or another scheme of description. […] Even our description of our own sensations, so dear as a starting point for knowledge to generations of epistemologists, is heavily affected (as are the sensations themselves for that matter) by a host of conceptual choices”» — Hilary Putnam, citado por Håkansson, sostiene que los objetos no existen con independencia de los esquemas conceptuales; el troceo imprime el apellido como *Putman* aquí y *Putnam* más abajo

«What has emerged in the humanities and social sciences is a growing awareness that truth is something made rather than found; that no language can be ascribed a privileged position over another for the simple reason that there is no extra-linguistic criterion by means of which we can break out from the web of our beliefs and language to test our claims against something known without their aid. What we know is a product of this web, because it is this web that enables us to establish the known facts.» — Håkansson resume lo que ha emergido en las humanidades y las ciencias sociales: que la verdad se hace y no se encuentra, y que no hay criterio extralingüístico para salir de la red de creencias y lenguaje

«Truth is not a correspondence between our mind and language and a reality external and independent from our conceptualization of it; it is “the coherence of our beliefs with each other and with our experiences as those experiences are themselves represented in our belief system» — según Putnam, citado por Håkansson, la verdad no es correspondencia entre mente y realidad externa sino coherencia de las creencias entre sí y con las experiencias tal como están representadas en el sistema de creencias

«the notion is not relativistic in the sense that every belief is as good as every other. Instead, it asserts that there is no neutral, common ground to which, say, the occultist and scientist can repair in order to argue out their differences. If they tried, it would seem to the occultist as well as to the scientist that his opponent was begging all the crucial questions and arguing in circles» — Håkansson acota el llamado relativismo cultural: no dice que toda creencia valga lo mismo, sino que no hay terreno común neutral donde ocultista y científico puedan dirimir sus diferencias

«simply because there are no beliefs that can be validated from someplace outside their own conceptual system, no unwobbling pivots that determine which beliefs are “objectively” valid» — Håkansson da la razón: no hay creencias validables desde fuera del propio sistema conceptual ni ejes inmóviles que determinen cuáles son objetivamente válidas

«Understanding foreign beliefs can therefore, in a phrase of Clifford Geertz’s, no longer “be a matter of finding out whether savages could distinguish facts from fancy” but becomes a question of ascertaining how they “organize their significative world”» — Håkansson toma de Clifford Geertz el desplazamiento: entender creencias ajenas deja de ser averiguar si los salvajes distinguían hechos de fantasías y pasa a ser cómo organizan su mundo significativo

«Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning.» — el pasaje de Clifford Geertz en sangría: el hombre como animal suspendido en tramas de significación que él mismo teje, y la cultura como esas tramas

«Yet there remains a crucial difference between Foucault’s and Vickers’ respective approaches. The aim of Foucault’s “archaeological” analysis was to uncover an underlying structure which established the conditions for how knowledge was constructed and for the forms it could take» — Håkansson marca la diferencia entre los dos: el análisis arqueológico de Foucault buscaba la estructura que establecía las condiciones de construcción del conocimiento y las formas que podía tomar

«To ascribe a thing to a certain category is to say what kind of thing it is, but things do not come in natural kinds, nor do the categories of our mind naturally fit the kinds of things that exists in the world. Categories are something we construct» — Håkansson niega que las cosas vengan en clases naturales o que las categorías de la mente calcen con ellas; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *something we make when we impose a scheme of description upon the world*

«Take, for instance, Oswald Croll’s fascinating demonstration of the correspondences between a tempest and an epileptic seizure: “When the Tempest is near there is a change in the air” — likewise, the epileptic suffers from “a change of Reason when the Epilepsie begins to assault”; in the heavens “Clouds succeed” — likewise, the epileptic suffers from “Dimness of sight”; the winds begin to blow — the victim suffers from “inflation of the Neck and Belly”» — la demostración de Croll sobre las correspondencias entre tempestad y ataque epiléptico, en su primer tramo: cambio de aire y cambio de razón, nubes y oscurecimiento de la vista, vientos e hinchazón del cuello y el vientre

«“Fraction and Thunder” are heard in the heavens — the epileptic suffers from “Fraction of the Bladder, and Concussion of the Body”; flashes blazes in the sky — the eyes of the epileptic turn “Fiery and sparkling”; showers of rain start to fall — the epileptic starts to foam at the mouth; thunderclaps shake the earth — the epileptic is afflicted with a “Forcing of the Spirits, and tearing of the ligaments”; finally, a serene sky returns, just as the epileptic experiences a “Return of the Senses and Speech”» — el segundo tramo de la misma demostración: trueno y fractura, relámpago y ojos chispeantes, lluvia y espuma en la boca, y al final cielo sereno y vuelta de los sentidos y del habla

«Though we are clearly able to see the similarity to which he draws attention, we lack the conceptual system which makes it possible to experience the similarity between tempests and epileptic seizures as a» — Håkansson fija la falta: no el ver la semejanza sino el sistema conceptual que permitiría vivirla como descripción de la realidad de hecho; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *meaningful description of factual reality*

«Clifford Geertz exerted a tremendous influence on this reconfiguration of the humanities and social sciences, largely due to his introduction of a “semiotic” conception of culture» — Håkansson atribuye a Clifford Geertz una influencia enorme en esa reconfiguración de las humanidades y las ciencias sociales, por su concepción semiótica de la cultura

«an approach which led him to bracket out any notion of a “reality” and “truth” existing» — la continuación: ese enfoque llevó a Foucault a poner entre paréntesis toda noción de realidad y verdad; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *independently of scientific discourse*

«Posed in this way, Geertz’s approach to cultural analysis signalled a reaction against the various social, linguistic and psychoanalytic models which postulate an underlying “base” of which cultural expressions are a mere “reflection” or “surface expression”. By assigning primacy to some underlying level — be it “the social”, a linguistic “structure” or some form of “mentality” — these models ultimately aim at explaining cultural expressions causally, while simultaneously treating the “base” as the real locus of meaning, more or less divorced from, or even inaccessible to, the actors themselves» — Håkansson sitúa el enfoque de Geertz como reacción contra los modelos que postulan una base subyacente de la que las expresiones culturales serían mero reflejo

«In regarding culture as “webs of significance” — or, in a more famous metaphor of his, as “an ensemble of texts” which the ethnographer “strains to read over the shoulders” of the natives134 — Geertz’s approach relocated meaning to the actors’ own domain of experience, a move which made the “native’s point of view” the focal point of cultural analysis» — Håkansson expone el desplazamiento de Geertz: la cultura como tramas de significación o conjunto de textos que el etnógrafo se esfuerza en leer sobre el hombro del nativo, con lo que el sentido vuelve al dominio de experiencia de los actores

«In effect, Geertz’s reconceptualization of culture implied a shift in focus from the aspiration to identify causal factors behind cultural phenomena to the explication of their meanings: from explanation to interpretation.» — Håkansson formula la consecuencia: del afán de identificar factores causales a la explicitación de los sentidos, de la explicación a la interpretación

«By focusing on how indigenous experiences and meanings are construed and expressed through a system of shared symbols, rather than on experience in itself in some unmediated sense of the word, Geertz’s semiotic definition of culture provided the historian with a concrete means through which historical subjectivity could be accessed and grasped» — Håkansson dice por qué la definición semiótica de la cultura pareció fértil a los historiadores: daba un medio concreto para acceder a la subjetividad histórica

«While emphasizing that the point of his semiotic approach to culture was to gain access to the conceptual world in which the subjects live, Geertz rendered the actual process of interpretation curiously unproblematic, portraying the symbolic systems of foreign cultures as readily accessible to the perceptive analyst — indeed, in some respects more readily accessible to the cultural analyst than to the natives themselves» — Håkansson objeta a Geertz que volviera curiosamente no problemático el proceso mismo de interpretación, con los sistemas simbólicos ajenos accesibles al analista perspicaz más que a los propios nativos

«As Vincent Crapanzano points out in his discussion of Geertz’s famous analysis of the Balinese cockfight, the Balinese themselves appear as a homogenous “they”, as “cardboard figures” bereft of individuality and personality, engaging in an equally idealized game of symbolic interaction: “Despite his phenomenological-hermeneutical pretensions, there is in fact … no understanding of the native from the native’s point of view. There is only the constructed understanding of the constructed native’s constructed point of view.”» — Vincent Crapanzano, citado por Håkansson, dice que en el análisis de la riña de gallos balinesa no hay comprensión del nativo desde su punto de vista sino solo la comprensión construida del punto de vista construido del nativo construido

«As Richard Biernacki has recently argued, this unproblematic attitude towards the interpretive act, as well as the tendency to treat cultural systems of symbols as static and encompassing entities, is to a large extent a result of an unreflecting reliance on the metaphor of “culture as a text”» — Håkansson recoge de Richard Biernacki que esa actitud viene en buena parte de una confianza irreflexiva en la metáfora de la cultura como texto

«This metaphor implies that “culture” is something that is both open to decipherment and something that provides an absolute and irreducible ground for interpretation.» — Håkansson desmenuza la metáfora: implica que la cultura es a la vez descifrable y fundamento absoluto e irreductible de la interpretación

«Insisting that symbolic systems function as a background condition underlying social events, behaviour and practices, Geertz treated them “as a grounding reality rather than as a fabricated element of analysis”, as “a general and necessary truth rather than as a useful construction”» — según Biernacki, citado por Håkansson, Geertz trató los sistemas simbólicos como realidad fundante y verdad necesaria y no como elemento fabricado del análisis

«As a consequence, Geertz’s influence on historiography has led historians to naturalize the concept of “sign” and “symbol”, much as earlier approaches naturalized concepts like “class” or “social community”, tempting historians to treat symbolic systems as “a ‘real’ and irreducible ground of history”, a “part of the natural furniture of the human world rather than as something invented by the observer”» — Håkansson señala el efecto historiográfico: naturalizar signo y símbolo como antes se naturalizó clase o comunidad, y tratar los sistemas simbólicos como parte del mobiliario natural del mundo humano

«But to stress that symbolic systems are analytical constructions is not to deny the value of an interpretive approach in favour of explanatory models. Instead, this emphasis can counteract the tendency to subsume all cultural meanings under a single homogenous system and make us sensitive to the contradictory and changeable nature of cultural meanings» — Håkansson acota su propia objeción: subrayar que los sistemas simbólicos son construcciones analíticas no niega el valor del enfoque interpretativo, y sirve para no subsumir todos los sentidos en un sistema homogéneo

«that cultural meanings are normally shared, deeply felt, fixed in content and clearly demarcated — has blocked out the question of how meanings are generated, reproduced and changed within cultural systems» — Håkansson nombra el supuesto geertziano que a su juicio bloqueó la pregunta por cómo se generan, reproducen y cambian los sentidos

«As a consequence, we have, since the beginning of the 1980s, witnessed a pervasive reaction against the notion of culture as a coherent and static “text”, a reaction which has effectively recast culture as a performative term and launched the concept of practice into the forefront of cultural studies» — Håkansson data en los años ochenta la reacción contra la cultura como texto coherente y estático, que volvió la cultura un término performativo y puso el concepto de práctica al frente

«Advocates of the study of cultural practices have often taken a rhetorical stance against the notion of culture as a system, an attitude which tends to obscure the fact that the two approaches are more complementary than opposing» — Håkansson objeta que la postura retórica contra la cultura como sistema oscurece que los dos enfoques son más complementarios que opuestos

«But, as Sewell points out, “it is equally true that the system has no existence apart from the succession of practices that instantiate, reproduce, or — most interestingly — transform it”» — Sewell, citado por Håkansson, dice que el sistema no existe aparte de la sucesión de prácticas que lo instancian, lo reproducen o lo transforman

«Rather than seeking to replace an older concept of culture-as-system with a newer concept of culture-as-practice, we can fruitfully study the dialectic between a (non-homogenous, non-uniform and non-static) “system” of cultural meanings and representations and the actual practices through which this “system” is expressed, preserved and changed» — propuesta de Håkansson: estudiar la dialéctica entre un sistema no homogéneo, no uniforme y no estático de sentidos y representaciones y las prácticas por las que ese sistema se expresa, se conserva y cambia

«Taken in its general sense — as a set of concepts and ordered procedures for the production of knowledge which provides a framework within which it is possible to treat objects as objects of knowledge — the concept of discourse represents a clear break with the objectivist view of knowledge» — Håkansson define el discurso en sentido general y lo presenta como ruptura clara con la visión objetivista del conocimiento

«To treat an object as an object of knowledge means to subsume it under some conceptual scheme and to make it subject to some interpretive procedure, both of which are constitutive rather than reflective of the reality they claim to map» — Håkansson enuncia el punto: subsumir un objeto bajo un esquema conceptual y someterlo a un procedimiento interpretativo es constitutivo y no reflejo de la realidad que se dice cartografiar

«In its post-structuralistic form, however, the concept of discourse has none of the deterministic implications it had in the works of the early Foucault. Discourses do not so much determine the forms and procedures of knowledge as they provide a framework within which certain approaches to knowledge become meaningful; they motivate certain interpretive strategies, but do not causally predict them» — Håkansson acota el concepto en su forma posestructuralista: los discursos no determinan las formas del conocimiento, motivan ciertas estrategias interpretativas sin predecirlas causalmente

«As Steve Woolgar reminds us, discourse is not “about” the praxis of science — the actual words and talk about knowledge — but “denotes a whole concatenation of activities, events, circumstances and objects which together make up a particular world-view”» — Steve Woolgar, citado por Håkansson, dice que el discurso no trata de la praxis de la ciencia sino que denota un encadenamiento entero de actividades, sucesos, circunstancias y objetos

«As such, discourses can be seen as a particular genre of cultural practices, grounded in what Stanley Fish calls “interpretive communities” of interacting and conflicting actors, rather than in some underlying, transhistorical structure or épistémè» — Håkansson propone ver los discursos como un género de prácticas culturales, arraigado en las comunidades interpretativas de Stanley Fish y no en una estructura o épistémè transhistórica

«By defining discourses in a deliberately vague terminology, as “frameworks” consisting of particular practices of signification, one avoids the temptation to reduce the construction of knowledge to explicit and clearly definable rules, procedures and concepts» — Håkansson declara por qué define el discurso con terminología deliberadamente vaga: para no reducir la construcción del conocimiento a reglas, procedimientos y conceptos explícitos

«discourses are practices of signification, thereby providing a framework for understanding the world. As such discourses are both enabling as well as constraining: they determine answers to questions, as well as the questions that can be asked. More generally, a discourse constitutes the limits within which ideas and practices are considered to be natural» — el pasaje en sangría de Barnes y Duncan: los discursos son prácticas de significación que habilitan y constriñen, y determinan las respuestas y también las preguntas que cabe hacer

«These limits are by no means fixed, however. This is because discourses are not unified, but are subject to negotiation, challenge and transformation. For power relations within a social formation are communicated, and sometimes resisted, precisely through the medium of particular discourses.» — la segunda mitad del mismo pasaje: esos límites no son fijos porque los discursos no son unificados sino sujetos a negociación, desafío y transformación

«Yehuda Elkana has used the expression “Images of Knowledge” to describe the various implicit criteria and opinions we learn and internalize when living in one or another scientific community» — Håkansson trae de Yehuda Elkana la expresión imágenes del conocimiento para los criterios y opiniones implícitos que se aprenden e internalizan al vivir en una comunidad científica

«As Elkana points out, these are questions which the body of knowledge in itself does not give us the means to judge, but which nonetheless are the very terms in which scientific problems are chosen and decisions couched.» — según Elkana, citado por Håkansson, el cuerpo del saber no da medios para juzgar esas cuestiones y sin embargo en esos términos se eligen los problemas científicos

«One way in which discourses are shaped, changed and legitimized is through metaphors.» — Håkansson enuncia la vía que va a seguir: los discursos se configuran, cambian y legitiman por metáforas

«As a consequence, metaphors and analogies can no longer be seen as mere heuristic devices that can be tested, corrected, and abandoned if necessary» — Håkansson niega que metáforas y analogías puedan verse como meros recursos heurísticos que se prueban, corrigen y abandonan

«Instead, recent studies have directed attention to how linguistic tropes can function as constitutive of scientific knowledge: how metaphors and analogies set the frames for how scientific problems are chosen and articulated, how they motivate certain interpretive approaches and, to a varying extent, construct the very “facts” used to bolster the theoretical model» — Håkansson resume lo que esos estudios muestran: los tropos lingüísticos como constitutivos del conocimiento científico, que enmarcan los problemas y construyen los hechos con que se apuntala el modelo

«In this essay, Stepan shows how scientific theories of human variation in the nineteenth century were informed and shaped by a set of analogies which linked gender to race. By regarding racial differences as analogous to sexual and gender differences, scientists “could use racial difference to explain gender difference, and vice versa”» — Håkansson expone el estudio de Nancy Leys Stepan sobre cómo las teorías decimonónicas de la variación humana se configuraron por analogías que ligaban género y raza; el pasaje en sangría que sigue reproduce las afirmaciones craneológicas de aquella ciencia

«Though Stepan’s essay focuses on what is often termed a “pseudo-science”, it serves as an illustrative example of how analogies can construct the categories used to frame and test the theoretical hypothesis — and hence the very “facts” underlying and confirming it» — Håkansson señala que el caso vale como ejemplo de cómo las analogías construyen las categorías con que se enmarca y se prueba la hipótesis, y con ello los hechos mismos que la confirman

«According to this theory, a metaphor is not merely a linguistic embellishment which obliquely expresses a simile or analogy between two different things. Instead, a metaphor brings two whole systems of associated implications into cognitive and emotional relation with each other, implying that the meanings of two subjects are a result of their cognitive interaction» — Håkansson expone la teoría interactiva de la metáfora de Max Black: la metáfora pone dos sistemas enteros de implicaciones asociadas en relación cognitiva y emocional

«By functioning in this way, metaphors and analogies introduce conceptual changes in both of the associated subjects, with the consequence that a metaphorical association cannot be substituted by a literal statement without loss of cognitive content or meaning» — consecuencia que Håkansson extrae de Black: una asociación metafórica no puede sustituirse por un enunciado literal sin pérdida de contenido cognitivo

«As Black puts it, the “presence of the primary subject incites the hearer to select some of the secondary subject’s properties”. This “invites him to construct a parallel implication-complex that can fit the primary subject”, which “reciprocally induces parallel changes in the secondary subject”» — Max Black, citado por Håkansson, describe la reciprocidad: el sujeto primario incita a seleccionar propiedades del secundario y eso induce a su vez cambios paralelos en el secundario

«In other words, the analogy created empirical “facts” by allowing scientists to see new connections, pay attention to previously unnoticed details and emphasize hitherto unimportant experiences — “facts” that thereby confirmed the validity of the analogy» — Håkansson formula el mecanismo: la analogía creaba hechos empíricos al permitir ver conexiones nuevas y atender detalles antes desapercibidos, hechos que confirmaban la analogía misma

«Metaphors and analogies therefore have an important role in the production of scientific knowledge: to some extent they construct the reality they are presumed to map by producing facts that confirm the similarity they posit and by suppressing data that contradict it.» — tesis de Håkansson: los tropos construyen en parte la realidad que se supone que cartografían, produciendo hechos que confirman la semejanza y suprimiendo datos que la contradicen

«By selecting, emphasizing, suppressing and organizing features of reality, linguistic tropes afford new ways of perceiving the world, and since they, as Terence Hawkes has pointed out, “retrench or corroborate as much as they expand our vision”, they are in a powerful way normative and consensus-building» — Håkansson añade, con la frase de Terence Hawkes, que los tropos atrincheran o corroboran tanto como amplían la visión, y por eso son normativos y constructores de consenso

«To claim that nineteenth century racial sciences can in this respect be differentiated from what we would term “proper sciences” is to revert to a positivistic view of how science works» — Håkansson objeta que separar aquellas ciencias raciales de las ciencias propias sea volver a una visión positivista del funcionamiento de la ciencia

«What a scientific theory can state “depends on the classificatory resources already present in the language”, as Michael Arbib and Mary Hesse recently phrased it; “and any observation language is theory laden with that implicit classification”. To presume that the accuracy of analogical and classificatory assumptions can be tested against the world “as it is in itself”, is, therefore, “to suppose either that we have a non-theoryladen observation language in which to make these neutral statements, or that we have an ideal scientific theory that explicitly states the true classification of the world”» — Michael Arbib y Mary Hesse, citados por Håkansson, dicen que todo lenguaje de observación está cargado de teoría y que no hay lenguaje neutral donde hacer los enunciados de contraste; el corte de renglón da aquí theory laden por el compuesto impreso *theory-laden*

«Rejecting the literalist view of scientific language as untenable, they view all language, including scientific, as essentially tropological and as “embodying the constructions and classifications of a culture”. From this position they persuasively argue that metaphors have a constitutive role in the construction of scientific knowledge: “Scientific revolutions are, in fact, metaphoric revolutions, and theoretical explanation should be seen as metaphoric redescription of the domain of phenomena”» — Arbib y Hesse, citados por Håkansson, tienen todo lenguaje por tropológico y llaman a las revoluciones científicas revoluciones metafóricas

«As many of these studies demonstrate, metaphors have both a generative and a transformative effect on discursive practices by functioning as mediums of meaning between different discourses» — Håkansson señala el doble efecto de las metáforas sobre las prácticas discursivas, generativo y transformador, por funcionar como medios de sentido entre discursos distintos

«Linguistic tropes are therefore instrumental to scientific change, since they are one of the primary means through which different discourses intersect and interfere with each other» — tesis de Håkansson: los tropos son instrumentales al cambio científico porque son una de las vías principales por las que los discursos se cruzan e interfieren

«As Bono argues, metaphoric systems often bring together discourses that are contestatory in character, a feature which allows individual scientists to select, highlight and suppress certain tropes and interpretive practices according to individual, social and ideological preferences» — según Bono, los sistemas metafóricos reúnen discursos de carácter contestatario, lo que permite a cada científico seleccionar, destacar y suprimir tropos según sus preferencias

«By focusing on how metaphors inform interpretive practices, one can therefore contest the tendency to see individual texts and authors as merely exemplary of some larger, homogenous discourse, and, instead, appreciate the “hybrid” character of all discourses — that all discourses comprise divergent, competing and contradictory metaphors and conceptual frameworks» — Håkansson recoge la consecuencia: se puede objetar la tendencia a ver textos y autores como meros ejemplares de un discurso homogéneo y apreciar el carácter híbrido de todo discurso

«Bono’s work along this line has contributed largely and fruitfully to the present study.» — Håkansson declara su deuda con la obra de Bono para este estudio

«Most important among these were the metaphor of God’s “Word”, referring to both the Scripture and to the divine principles of creation, and the metaphor of the “Book of Nature”, referring to the natural world as a material expression of God’s Word» — Håkansson nombra las dos metáforas centrales que toma de Bono: el Verbo de Dios, que remite a la Escritura y a los principios divinos de la creación, y el Libro de la Naturaleza como expresión material de ese Verbo

«These tropes were significant not only in that they situated natural philosophy within a theological and metaphysical context, but also in that they fostered interpretive practices in the natural sciences that were closely connected to textual interpretation» — Håkansson señala el doble efecto de esos tropos: situaban la filosofía natural en un contexto teológico y metafísico y fomentaban prácticas interpretativas emparentadas con la interpretación de textos

«Though early modern scientists’ preoccupation with linguistic practices such as textual exegesis, commentary, etymology and allegory has often been taken simply as a symptom of their inability to break the spell of ancient authorities, it was grounded in a metaphorical system that linked the interpretation of nature — the “reading” of the Book of Nature — to scriptural exegesis as well as language studies in general» — Håkansson objeta que la ocupación de los científicos modernos tempranos con la exégesis, el comentario, la etimología y la alegoría se lea como incapacidad de romper el hechizo de las autoridades antiguas

«At the hub of this metaphorical system lay the conception of the divine Word, the Greek Logos, as the absolute, transcendental Truth which every true Christian strove to comprehend» — Håkansson pone en el eje del sistema metafórico la concepción del Verbo divino, el Logos griego, como Verdad absoluta y trascendental; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *Manifested and*

«“expressed” in symbolic form in nature as well as Scripture, the Word was accessible to man through both scriptural exegesis and natural philosophy, which, in effect, served as complementary ways to knowledge, ultimately aimed at uncovering the very same eternal truth» — Håkansson enuncia la complementariedad: el Verbo es accesible por la exégesis escrituraria y por la filosofía natural, dos vías al mismo saber y a la misma verdad eterna

«Much of Bono’s study is devoted to showing how the metaphor of God’s Word functioned as a medium of meaning between Scripture and nature, making the interpretation of them mutually dependent upon each other. As such it fostered a wide array of practices for interpreting nature informed by exegetical techniques, practices which Bono, using a generic term, calls techniques of “symbolic exegesis”» — Håkansson toma de Bono el término genérico con que nombra esas prácticas: exégesis simbólica

«This term is appropriate in that it captures the explicitly interpretive character of this approach to nature: to “read” the Book of Nature was to uncover the underlying “meaning” — the Word — of which every natural phenomenon was a divinely instituted “sign”» — Håkansson justifica el término: leer el Libro de la Naturaleza era descubrir el sentido subyacente, el Verbo, del que todo fenómeno natural es signo instituido por Dios

«Within this group of discursive practices, however, biblical exegesis was by no means the only form of linguistic practice that served as a source of natural knowledge. Instead, language studies as a whole figure prominently as a means to decipher the natural world» — Håkansson acota que la exégesis bíblica no fue la única práctica lingüística que servía de fuente de saber natural: los estudios de lengua en conjunto figuran como medio de descifrar el mundo

«But Bono’s approach is original in that he emphasizes how these theories were simultaneously grounded and opened to individual interpretation by being embedded in various “cultural narratives”» — Håkansson señala como original en Bono el subrayar que esas teorías quedaban a la vez ancladas y abiertas a interpretación individual por estar incrustadas en narrativas culturales

«As we have seen in the prologue, Dee’s attempt to gain knowledge of the natural world by recovering the original language of mankind had its basis in the biblical narrative of Adam’s naming of the animals, the Fall and the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel» — Håkansson enlaza el prólogo con la tesis: el intento de Dee de recobrar la lengua original se apoyaba en el relato bíblico de la imposición de nombres, la Caída y la confusión de lenguas

«The biblical Genesis provided the necessary link between language and the Word that made it possible to gain access to the laws of nature through the study of language» — tesis de Håkansson: el Génesis daba el enlace entre lengua y Verbo que hacía posible acceder a las leyes de la naturaleza por el estudio de la lengua

«Depending on how this complex and ambiguous narrative was construed, however, individual authors could attribute to language different roles in the interpretation of nature, and develop different interpretive strategies for unlocking both language and nature to human comprehension» — Håkansson explica la variedad de estrategias: según cómo se interpretara ese relato ambiguo, cada autor atribuía a la lengua un papel distinto en la interpretación de la naturaleza

«Human variation and difference were not experienced “as they really are, out there in nature,” but by and through a» — Stepan, citada por Håkansson, niega que la variación humana se experimentara tal como está en la naturaleza; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *metaphorical system that structured the experience*

«metaphorical system that structured the experience and understanding of difference and that in essence created the objects of difference. The metaphorical system provided the “lenses” through which people experienced and “saw” the differences between classes, races, and sexes» — la continuación del pasaje de Stepan: el sistema metafórico creaba los objetos de la diferencia y daba las lentes con que se veían las diferencias de clase, raza y sexo

«Conversely, the metaphorical association also suppressed information by hindering» — el reverso que señala Håkansson: la asociación metafórica también suprimía información; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *them from drawing attention*

«them from drawing attention to features that did not fit the similarity implied by the metaphor» — la continuación: impedía atender a los rasgos que no calzaban con la semejanza supuesta por la metáfora

«metaphors “ground complex scientific texts and discourses in other social, political, religious, or ‘cultural’ texts and discourses”, thereby rendering the autonomy of scientific discourse impossible» — James J. Bono, citado por Håkansson, dice que las metáforas anclan los textos y discursos científicos en otros textos sociales, políticos, religiosos o culturales, con lo que la autonomía del discurso científico se vuelve imposible; el corte de plana deja del otro lado *As James J. Bono writes*

«In the 1970s Hayden White provoked a storm in history departments around the world by drawing attention to how historical “facts” to a great extent are constructed by the very narrative form in which they are presented» — Håkansson consigna el efecto de Hayden White: los hechos históricos están construidos en buena medida por la forma narrativa en que se presentan

«By crafting singular facts and events into a narrative, the historian invests these singular facts and events with a meaning and significance that originate in the chosen narrative form, rather than in the facts themselves» — Håkansson formula lo que se sigue: al labrar hechos singulares en narración, el historiador los inviste de un sentido que nace de la forma narrativa elegida

«Put in other terms, the content of our historical accounts — what they say about the past — is not merely expressed by their narrative form, but to a considerable extent created by it.» — Håkansson lo dice en otros términos: el contenido de los relatos históricos no solo se expresa por su forma narrativa sino que en buena medida lo crea ella

«White’s challenging of the “naive realism” of historical narration has had a salutary effect on historical research by forcing us to reassess some of our most deep-rooted and cherished accounts of the past» — Håkansson llama saludable el efecto de la objeción de White al realismo ingenuo de la narración histórica, por obligar a revisar los relatos más arraigados

«Grand narratives like that of the “Scientific Revolution” as a heroic quest for Truth, expelling errors and superstitions and laying open nature to the unbiased gaze of the empirical scientist, have to an increasing extent been questioned as constructions rooted in contemporary needs and values» — Håkansson consigna que los grandes relatos como el de la Revolución Científica, gesta heroica que expulsa errores y supersticiones, se cuestionan cada vez más como construcciones arraigadas en necesidades y valores contemporáneos

«Seen from this perspective, the notion of the “Scientific Revolution” can be viewed as one of most powerful cultural narratives of the contemporary Western world, a view of the past which has been essential in order to define and legitimize a particular conception of modern science and its position in history» — tesis de Håkansson: la noción de Revolución Científica puede verse como uno de los relatos culturales más poderosos del mundo occidental contemporáneo, esencial para definir y legitimar una concepción de la ciencia moderna

«Cultural narratives in this latter sense of the term, taken not merely as more or less fictitious “stories” that reflect cultural values and meanings, but as modes of representation that create and transform meanings, provide an important tool to understand the generation, reproduction and change of culture» — Håkansson define los relatos culturales no como historias más o menos ficticias que reflejan valores, sino como modos de representación que crean y transforman sentidos

«narrative provides a link between culture as system and culture as practice. If culture is more than a predetermined representation of a prior social reality, then it must depend on a continuing process of deconstruction and reconstruction of public and private narratives. Narrative is an arena in which meaning takes form, in which individuals connect to the public and social world, and in which change is therefore possible.» — el pasaje en sangría de Victoria E. Bonnell y Lynn Hunt: la narración como enlace entre cultura como sistema y cultura como práctica, y como arena donde el sentido toma forma

«An example is provided by Margaret R. Somers’ studies of how narratives serve to legitimize theories in the social sciences by situating them in what she calls “knowledge cultures”» — Håkansson trae el estudio de Margaret R. Somers sobre cómo las narraciones legitiman teorías en las ciencias sociales al situarlas en culturas del conocimiento

«By couching this development as a story of “how popular sovereignty triumphed over coercive absolutist states to ensure individual liberties”, certain concepts and categories are “naturalized”: that is, they are given the appearance of being parts of social reality rather than analytical constructions, and are therefore ascribed a privileged epistemological status» — Håkansson expone el mecanismo que Somers describe: contar el desarrollo como triunfo de la soberanía popular naturaliza ciertos conceptos, que pasan por partes de la realidad social y no por construcciones analíticas

«As Somers writes, the narrative “takes on the mantle of epistemology and endows the information it conveys with the stature of knowledge, fact, and truth”» — Somers, citada por Håkansson, dice que la narración toma el manto de la epistemología y dota a lo que transmite de la estatura de conocimiento, hecho y verdad

«By focusing on how Renaissance language theories were embedded in cultural narratives, he avoids treating the meaning of these theories as stable, and hence as determinative of certain interpretive approaches» — Håkansson describe el método de Bono: al ver las teorías renacentistas del lenguaje incrustadas en relatos culturales, evita tratar su sentido como estable y determinante de ciertos enfoques

«Since these narratives were ultimately concerned with mankind’s fall from grace and our coming redemption through the Word, they were extremely sensitive to social, religious and ideological biases, and therefore subject to constant reinterpretations in the face of the profound religious, political and social transformations of the period» — Håkansson señala que esos relatos, ocupados de la caída y la redención por el Verbo, eran sensibles a sesgos sociales, religiosos e ideológicos y se reinterpretaban sin cesar

«Renaissance cultural narratives like that of Adam’s naming of the animals and his subsequent Fall were thus essential in defining interpretive approaches to nature» — tesis de Håkansson: los relatos culturales renacentistas sobre la imposición de nombres y la Caída fueron esenciales para definir los enfoques interpretativos de la naturaleza

«Not only did they integrate human language in the theological and metaphysical framework of the logos doctrine, thereby making it possible for the metaphor of God’s Word to function as a medium of meaning between nature and language; they also provided grounds for a continuous reinterpretation of the relationship between language and nature, and were therefore decisive for how the metaphor of the Word could be employed and deployed in specific discursive practices» — Håkansson desglosa la doble función de esos relatos: integrar la lengua humana en la doctrina del logos y dar base a una reinterpretación continua de la relación entre lengua y naturaleza

«In tracing this process of continuous reinterpretation over roughly a century — from Ficino, Fernel, Reuchlin, and Paracelsus, via Bacon and Galileo, to Descartes and Mersenne — Bono shows how the metaphors of God’s Word and the Book of Nature remained current well into the seventeenth century» — Håkansson resume el recorrido de Bono, de Ficino, Fernel, Reuchlin y Paracelso a Bacon, Galileo, Descartes y Mersenne, y su resultado: las metáforas del Verbo y del Libro de la Naturaleza siguieron vigentes entrado el siglo XVII

«However, though my indebtedness to Bono’s learned and theoretically acute account is considerable, the present study takes a different turn. Rather than being a comparative study focused on scientific change and transformation, it is an attempt to show how the practices of “symbolic exegesis” could function within the works of a single scholar» — Håkansson declara en qué se aparta de Bono: no es un estudio comparativo del cambio científico sino un intento de mostrar cómo la exégesis simbólica funciona dentro de la obra de un solo erudito

«As we shall see, Dee’s interest in language as a source of natural knowledge was not confined to the relatively late angelic conversations, but seems to have run like an unbroken thread throughout his whole career» — tesis de Håkansson: el interés de Dee por la lengua como fuente de saber natural no se limita a las conversaciones angélicas tardías sino que recorre su carrera entera como hilo ininterrumpido

«By focusing on how various linguistic tropes and cultural narratives tied these divergent disciplines and conceptual frameworks into a whole, we can study how they could function as elements within a scientific discourse, without necessarily forming a coherent philosophical “system”» — Håkansson enuncia el rendimiento de su enfoque: ver cómo esas disciplinas dispares funcionan como elementos de un discurso científico sin formar por fuerza un sistema filosófico coherente

«This perspective can also make us aware both of the originality of Dee’s work, and of the heterogeneous character of Renaissance occultism as a whole. Though much of his work was based on commonplace notions, the result was a synthesis without precedent in Renaissance thought.» — Håkansson sostiene que, aunque buena parte de la obra de Dee descansa en nociones comunes, el resultado fue una síntesis sin precedente en el pensamiento renacentista

«John Dee is, in other words, not Renaissance occultism in a nutshell, and if he can be said to be representative of occultism, he is so, paradoxically, by virtue of his atypicality» — la formulación con que Håkansson acota su caso: Dee no es el ocultismo renacentista en cápsula y, si es representativo, lo es paradójicamente por atípico

«Nor, for that matter, is the occult side of Dee’s work necessarily the one that best reflects his world and career as a whole. Though this study tends to emphasize his occult notions at the expense of other, equally important aspects, we should not forget that his natural philosophy was not occult through and through» — Håkansson acota su propio énfasis: el lado oculto de la obra de Dee no es el que mejor refleja su mundo y su carrera, y su filosofía natural no era oculta de cabo a rabo

«Nicholas H. Clulee has counterpoised the earlier and much too simplistic view of Dee as a “Hermetic magus” by drawing attention to his dependence on Aristotelian and medieval philosophy» — Håkansson consigna que Nicholas H. Clulee contrapuso a la visión simplista de Dee como mago hermético su dependencia de la filosofía aristotélica y medieval

«It should be noted, however, that Clulee’s aspiration to downplay the influence of “Hermetic” and Neoplatonic sources on Dee sometimes goes to extremes. As we shall see, there is reason to believe that Dee found these sources more important than he acknowledges, especially in the context of Dee’s views on mysticism and magic» — en nota, Håkansson objeta que el afán de Clulee por rebajar la influencia de las fuentes herméticas y neoplatónicas llega a veces a extremos, y anuncia que Dee las tuvo por más importantes de lo que Clulee reconoce

«before finishing this study, I was kindly sent the manuscript of György E. Szônyi’s forthcoming book Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs: The Ideology and Iconography of John Dee, which tries to strike a balance between Clulee’s views and the earlier “Yatesian” interpretation» — Håkansson declara haber recibido, poco antes de terminar, el manuscrito del libro de György E. Szônyi, que busca equilibrio entre Clulee y la interpretación yatesiana; el troceo imprime el apellido como *Szônyi*

«These different aspects were not isolated facets of a single person’s extensive interests, but in many cases intimately related to each other — though how they were so is beyond the scope of this book» — Håkansson declara el límite de su libro: esas facetas estaban relacionadas entre sí, pero cómo lo estaban queda fuera de su alcance

«Though the biblical account of Adam’s naming of the animals, the Fall and the confusion of tongues was essential to legitimize these notions, this narrative was often coupled with the myth of a “perennial philosophy”: that is, the belief that the ancient sages of biblical times had been in possession of a consummate knowledge, granted by God and handed down to their descendants, from whom it had since scattered and been adulterated» — Håkansson enlaza el relato bíblico con el mito de una filosofía perenne: los sabios antiguos habrían poseído un saber consumado, otorgado por Dios y transmitido a sus descendientes, que después se dispersó y se adulteró

«This belief not only laid the foundation for a scientific culture that was decidedly “bookish” in character, centred on ancient texts, languages and their interpretation» — Håkansson señala lo que esa creencia fundó: una cultura científica decididamente libresca, centrada en textos y lenguas antiguos y en su interpretación

«Far from representing a break with the interpretive approach to nature, the “Scientific Revo» — según Bono en la exposición de Håkansson, la Revolución Científica no rompió con el enfoque interpretativo de la naturaleza; el corte de plana parte la palabra y la frase sigue en *lution entailed a reconfiguration*

«entailed a reconfiguration of the metaphorical associations between language, nature and the Word which divorced the interpretation of nature from the exegetical and textual practices of “symbolic exegesis”» — la continuación: según Bono, esa reconfiguración divorció la interpretación de la naturaleza de las prácticas exegéticas y textuales de la exégesis simbólica; el corte de plana parte *Revolution* en dos

«Dee can also be studied as a humanist scholar, a political thinker and royal advisor» — Håkansson consigna, siguiendo a William H. Sherman, que a Dee se le puede estudiar también como erudito humanista, pensador político y consejero real

«As Charles Schmitt pointed out in a classic essay on Agostino Steuco’s philosophy, the belief in a philosophia perennis preempts the concept of “progress” (in the form that permeates modern science and philosophy) of meaning. Instead, it lays the emphasis on both the continuity and unity of knowledge» — Håkansson recoge de Charles Schmitt que la creencia en una philosophia perennis vacía de sentido el concepto de progreso y pone el acento en la continuidad y la unidad del saber

«Since all knowledge was believed to stem from one and the same source, conflicting accounts could be interpreted as reconcilable in meaning, if not in terminology» — Håkansson enuncia la regla de lectura que se sigue: si todo saber viene de una misma fuente, los relatos en conflicto pueden interpretarse como conciliables en sentido aunque no en terminología

«famous statement in the Conclusiones that there was nothing that Aristotle and Plato did not agree on “in meaning and substance [in sensu et re], although in their words they seem to disagree”» — Pico della Mirandola, citado por Håkansson, declara en las Conclusiones que no hay nada en que Aristóteles y Platón no concuerden en sentido y sustancia aunque en palabras parezcan disentir

«Likewise, when discussing the occult powers of things, Agrippa remarked that Plato “attributes these virtues to Ideas”, whereas Avicenna “reduceth these kind of operations to intelligences, Hermes to the stars, [and] Albertus to the specifical forms of things”» — Agrippa, citado por Håkansson, reparte las virtudes ocultas entre las Ideas de Platón, las inteligencias de Avicena, las estrellas de Hermes y las formas específicas de Alberto

«But, Agrippa argued, “although these authors seem to thwart one the other, yet none of them, if they be rightly understood, goes beside the truth: since all their sayings are the same in effect in most things”» — Agrippa concluye que, bien entendidos, ninguno de esos autores se aparta de la verdad, porque en casi todo sus dichos vienen a lo mismo

«To both Pico and Agrippa this reconciliation of differing accounts was legitimized by a cultural narrative which traced all knowledge to a common source, which these textual accounts more or less accurately reflected» — Håkansson señala qué legitimaba en Pico y en Agrippa esa reconciliación: un relato cultural que remitía todo saber a una fuente común

«By focusing on how theories of language and nature were framed by cultural narratives, we can avoid using historiographic labels like “Aristotelianism” and “Platonism” as monolithic and mutually exclusive categories» — Håkansson declara el rendimiento de su enfoque: evita usar rótulos historiográficos como aristotelismo y platonismo como categorías monolíticas y mutuamente excluyentes

«Instead, it becomes possible to understand how different conceptual frameworks could intersect and fuse, fostering discourses which not only allowed individual scholars to cross the boundaries of specific philosophical schools, but in which natural philosophy was situated in much larger frameworks, comprising such fields as linguistics, metaphysics, theology, and eschatology» — Håkansson describe lo que su enfoque permite ver: marcos conceptuales que se cruzan y funden, y una filosofía natural situada en marcos mucho mayores que abarcan lingüística, metafísica, teología y escatología

«Within such discourses, cultural narratives of an ancient wisdom had a vital role in that they implicated these disciplines in a common “system” of mean» — Håkansson atribuye a los relatos de una sabiduría antigua el papel de implicar esas disciplinas en un sistema común de sentido; el corte de plana parte la palabra y la frase sigue en *ing, thereby affording metaphoric associations*

«This approach also implies a shift in focus from the origin of conceptions to their meaning in specific contexts» — Håkansson enuncia el desplazamiento que propone: del origen de las concepciones a su sentido en contextos específicos

«Such historiographic categories, however, also tend to suppress contextual meanings by being intimately linked to the idea of historiography as a search for origins. When assigning a set of conceptions to a particular “tradition”, we classify them according to a scheme that reflects the provenance of ideas, rather than their meaning in local contexts» — Håkansson objeta que esas categorías historiográficas suprimen sentidos contextuales al clasificar las concepciones por la procedencia de las ideas y no por su sentido local

«In his study of Dee’s natural philosophy, Nicholas H. Clulee commendably nuances the Yatesian characterization of Dee as a “Hermetic magus” by stressing Dee’s reliance on medieval sources like al-Kindi and Roger Bacon» — Håkansson reconoce a Clulee haber matizado la caracterización yatesiana de Dee como mago hermético subrayando su apoyo en fuentes medievales como al-Kindi y Roger Bacon

«Evading the question of how these medieval notions gained new meanings by interacting and merging with other elements, Clulee often seems to treat them as resistant to context and thus as retaining much of their “original” meaning when situated in a new framework» — Håkansson señala que Clulee elude cómo esas nociones medievales adquirieron sentidos nuevos al interactuar con otros elementos, y parece tratarlas como resistentes al contexto

«In the first part of this study I briefly discuss how the notion of a “universal grammar”, which had an important role in Dee’s philosophy, renders the perpetual dichotomy between “Platonic” and “Aristotelian” language views untenable as analytic tool» — Håkansson anuncia que la noción de gramática universal, importante en la filosofía de Dee, vuelve insostenible como herramienta analítica la dicotomía entre concepciones platónicas y aristotélicas del lenguaje

«In the various theories that posited the existence of an underlying grammar common to all languages, the distinction occasionally broke down completely, making it possible to conceptualize language as simultaneously “natural” and “conventional”, as both “imitating” reality and founded on social agreement and customs» — tesis de Håkansson: en las teorías de una gramática subyacente común a todas las lenguas la distinción llegaba a romperse del todo, y cabía concebir la lengua como natural y convencional a la vez

«In Dee’s works, the notion of a universal grammar was ultimately dependent on his conception of mathematics as both reflecting the creative principles of God, the verbum Dei, and being innate in the human mind» — tesis de Håkansson sobre Dee: la gramática universal dependía de su concepción de las matemáticas como reflejo de los principios creadores de Dios y a la vez innatas en la mente humana

«As a consequence, his view of mathematics was also intimately tied to the Christian conception of the “inner word”, the image of God’s Word in the human soul» — Håkansson enlaza esa concepción con la noción cristiana de la palabra interior, imagen del Verbo de Dios en el alma humana

«The concept of the inner word, or verbum cordis, had a fundamental role in Christian doctrine and constituted the philosophical basis on which the human soul could be conceptualized as an imago Dei» — Håkansson fija el papel del verbum cordis en la doctrina cristiana: la base filosófica que permite concebir el alma humana como imagen de Dios

«As such, it was closely associated with the Christian notion of man’s coming “reformation”, that is, when the image of God in our soul, tainted by Adam’s Fall, would be restored to its prelapsarian perfection. Man’s reformation was, in effect, synonymous with his deification, implying a return to that original state when he had been the perfect “image and similitude of God”» — Håkansson enuncia la equivalencia: la reformación del hombre es sinónima de su deificación, vuelta al estado original de imagen y semejanza de Dios

«The quest for reformation is a recurrent theme in early modern occultism and constitutes a motif that binds together many of Dee’s seemingly divergent interests» — tesis de Håkansson: la busca de reformación recorre el ocultismo moderno temprano y es el motivo que liga los intereses aparentemente dispares de Dee

«Although the idea of the soul’s coming restoration remained rooted in orthodox Christian doctrine, the Renaissance revival of pagan, Platonic and Jewish thought provided scope for more radical interpretations of this conception» — Håkansson acota: la restauración del alma seguía arraigada en la doctrina cristiana ortodoxa, y el renacer del pensamiento pagano, platónico y judío dio margen a interpretaciones más radicales

«In his earliest attempt to conceive a language which made it possible to fathom the divine Word — the Monas hieroglyphica of 1564 — Dee relied on a variety of traditions which viewed symbolism as a means to attain a mystic ascent of the soul» — Håkansson data en 1564 el primer intento de Dee de concebir una lengua que permitiera sondear el Verbo divino, apoyado en tradiciones que veían el simbolismo como medio de ascenso místico

«This work provides an illustrative example of how such traditions as hieroglyphics, kabbalah and Pythagorean number symbolism could be conflated and accommodated to a Christian framework by being embedded in the myth of a perennial philosophy» — tesis de Håkansson sobre la Mónada: jeroglíficos, cábala y simbolismo numérico pitagórico se funden y se acomodan a un marco cristiano por estar incrustados en el mito de la filosofía perenne

«By viewing these philosophical traditions as differing expressions of a once unified ancient wisdom, Dee could treat them as reconcilable in meaning and hence exploit their metaphoric associations in order to ground them in the divine Word» — Håkansson explica el mecanismo: al ver esas tradiciones como expresiones distintas de una sabiduría antigua una vez unificada, Dee podía tratarlas como conciliables y explotar sus asociaciones metafóricas

«In the third part of this study, we shall see how Dee’s conceptions — and practice — of magic were dependent on his belief in a perennial philosophy which effectively blurred the distinction between different philosophical traditions» — Håkansson anuncia la tercera parte: las concepciones y la práctica de la magia en Dee dependían de su creencia en una filosofía perenne que difuminaba la distinción entre tradiciones filosóficas

«Though the most salient feature of Dee’s angelic conversations in the 1580s is his dependence on medieval traditions of ritual magic, it is plausible that he viewed these ritual practices as corroborated by the pagan, Neoplatonic and Jewish sources made accessible in the Renaissance» — tesis de Håkansson: aunque lo más saliente de las conversaciones angélicas es la dependencia de la magia ritual medieval, es plausible que Dee viera esas prácticas corroboradas por las fuentes paganas, neoplatónicas y judías

«The appropriation of these sources to a Christian framework also tended to break down the distinction between magic and mysticism, fostering a view of mysticism and magic as two complementary and mutually dependent phenomena» — Håkansson sostiene que la apropiación cristiana de esas fuentes tendía a romper la distinción entre magia y mística y fomentaba verlas como fenómenos complementarios y mutuamente dependientes

«A lucid example of this view can be found in the classic Neoplatonic treatise on theurgy, the De mysteriis aegyptiorum of Iamblichus. Dee’s marginalia in this work strongly suggest that he viewed these Neoplatonic notions as agreeing with his own conceptions of magic» — Håkansson pone como ejemplo el De mysteriis aegyptiorum de Jámblico, cuyas marginalias de Dee sugieren con fuerza que tenía esas nociones neoplatónicas por acordes con las suyas sobre la magia

«This belief was not grounded in a “Platonic” conception of “natural” signification, but in man’s status as an imago Dei, bearing a reflection of the divine Word within his soul» — tesis de Håkansson sobre el poder mágico de las palabras: no se apoyaba en una concepción platónica de la significación natural sino en el estatuto del hombre como imagen de Dios que lleva en el alma reflejo del Verbo

«It also fostered a syncretistic approach to textual interpretation, an approach which as far as possible» — Håkansson señala el segundo efecto de la creencia en una sabiduría antigua: un enfoque sincrético de la interpretación textual; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *strove to harmonize and reconcile divergent philosophical accounts*

«strove to harmonize and reconcile divergent philosophical accounts and concepts.» — la continuación: ese enfoque se esforzaba por armonizar y reconciliar relatos y conceptos filosóficos divergentes

«Simultaneously, however, he also tends to downplay the syncretistic character of Dee’s views — a feature evident even in his earliest printed work» — Håkansson objeta a Clulee que rebaje el carácter sincrético de las ideas de Dee, rasgo que dice visible ya en su primer impreso

«by over-emphasizing the origin of these elements at the expense of their meaning» — la continuación de esa objeción: Clulee sobreacentúa el origen de esos elementos a costa de su sentido

«Though Renaissance scholars frequently invoked Plato’s dialogue Cratylus to support the notion of language as signifying “naturally”, they did not necessarily — as historians tend to do» — Håkansson objeta la inferencia usual: invocar el Crátilo para la significación natural no implicaba lo que los historiadores suelen suponer; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *regard this view as irreconcilable with Aristotle*

«regard this view as irreconcilable with Aristotle’s notion of language as “conventional”» — la continuación: no se tenía esa visión por irreconciliable con la noción aristotélica de la lengua como convencional

«A number of more or less synonymous terms were used in early modern occultism to describe man’s deification. In addition to reformatio and deificatio, terms like exaltatio, elevatus, ascensus and exultatio were frequently used to designate man’s ascent towards and union with God» — en nota, Håkansson enumera los términos que el ocultismo moderno temprano usaba para la deificación del hombre: reformatio, deificatio, exaltatio, elevatus, ascensus y exultatio

«I will hold on to “reformation”, both to lay emphasis on the orthodox background which was essential to legitimize these notions, and to stress its dependence on the narrative of Adam’s prelapsarian wisdom and subsequent Fall.» — Håkansson declara por qué conserva *reformation* frente a la *exaltatio* que propone Szônyi: para subrayar el fondo ortodoxo que legitimaba esas nociones y su dependencia del relato de la sabiduría prelapsaria de Adán

«attained by means of contemplative techniques. By focusing the mind on symbolic representations of divine principles of creation, one could raise the soul towards a complete, intuitive comprehension of God’s Word» — la continuación: fijar la mente en representaciones simbólicas de los principios divinos de la creación elevaba el alma a una comprensión intuitiva y completa del Verbo

«The study concludes with a discussion of the eschatological context of Dee’s philosophical enterprises. This theme has recently been analysed in much greater detail in Deborah Harkness’ John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature» — Håkansson anuncia que el estudio cierra con el contexto escatológico y remite el análisis detallado a Deborah Harkness

«The purpose of this brief discussion is merely to suggest that some of the religious and apocalyptic notions that came into prominence in Dee’s angelic conversations were implicit in his earlier works, a feature that would indicate a greater coherence between his different works than is usually acknowledged» — Håkansson acota el alcance de esa discusión: sugerir que nociones religiosas y apocalípticas de las conversaciones angélicas ya estaban implícitas en obras anteriores

«Though Dee’s various writings reflect a gradual appropriation of new sources, they do not indicate any fundamental shifts in his philosophical orientation» — tesis de Håkansson: los escritos de Dee reflejan una apropiación gradual de fuentes nuevas pero no indican virajes fundamentales en su orientación filosófica

«As early as in the Propaedeumata aphoristica of 1558, Dee presented a syncretistic conception of magic based on a fusion of Neoplatonic and medieval sources» — Håkansson data en 1558 la concepción sincrética de la magia en Dee, fundida de fuentes neoplatónicas y medievales

«And though the Monas hieroglyphica printed six years later includes a view of mysticism that is entirely missing from the Propaedeumata aphoristica, it echoes Dee’s earlier views on magic while simultaneously foreshadowing the religious and eschatological dimensions of his angelic conversations in the 1580s» — Håkansson traza la relación entre las dos obras: la Mónada añade una visión de la mística ausente de la Propaedeumata y a la vez repite sus ideas sobre la magia y anticipa lo escatológico de los años ochenta

«Dee’s career as natural philosopher can, perhaps, best be described as a continuous striving toward a complete restoration of the wisdom of the ancients, a restoration which ultimately would lead him to the very origin of Truth — the Word.» — la fórmula con que Håkansson resume la carrera de Dee como filósofo natural: un afán continuo de restaurar por entero la sabiduría de los antiguos hasta el origen mismo de la Verdad, el Verbo

«“God knoweth my zeale to honest and true knowledg; for which my flesh, blud, and bones shuld make marchandyse, yf the case so requyred.”» — Dee, en carta a William Cecil citada por Håkansson, dice que su carne, sangre y huesos serían mercancía por el saber honesto y verdadero

«Yet few things are more plain than Dee’s blatant taste for honour and fame of an overtly mundane cast. Futilely disguised as an “unknown friend”, he wrote a letter of acclamation of his own works, boldly claiming that “yf in the foresaid whole cours of his tyme he had found a Constant & Assistant CHRISTIAN ALEXANDER: BRYTAN, should not have bin, now, destitute of a CHRISTIAN ARISTOTELE» — Håkansson consigna el gusto de Dee por el honor y la fama y la carta de elogio de sus propias obras que firmó como amigo desconocido

«Not only was he working as a respected counsellor in the midst of the political and intellectual elite of Elizabethan society, but through a number of philosophical texts he had obtained a reputation that remained untainted by the rumours surrounding his magical activities» — Håkansson objeta que las lamentaciones de Dee se tomen al pie de la letra: fue consejero respetado en la élite isabelina y sus textos filosóficos le dieron una reputación que los rumores no mancharon

«In a renowned preface to the first English translation of Euclid’s Elementa he had given a thorough account of the important role of mathematics in the natural sciences. In Propaedeumata aphoristica he had treated the properties of the celestial influences and showed how their effects could be calculated by geometrical methods, and in a number of shorter works he had devoted himself to mechanics, navigation technology, and astronomy, as well as history and genealogy» — Håkansson inventaria la obra publicada de Dee: el prefacio a Euclides sobre el papel de las matemáticas, la Propaedeumata sobre las influencias celestes calculadas por geometría, y trabajos de mecánica, navegación, astronomía, historia y genealogía

«above all he had become renowned for the one work he himself regarded as his foremost feat — Monas hieroglyphica, “The Hieroglyphic Monad”» — Håkansson nombra la obra que el propio Dee tenía por su mayor hazaña

«In this enigmatic text of barely sixty pages Dee presented a visual symbol he had constructed by merging the common astronomical and alchemical symbols» — Håkansson describe la Mónada: un símbolo visual construido fundiendo los símbolos astronómicos y alquímicos comunes, en un texto de apenas sesenta páginas

«In twenty-four brief “theorems”, this symbol was “mathematically, magically, cabalistically, and anagogically explained”173 in order to elucidate the innumerable cosmological, alchemical, magical and spiritual meanings it was claimed to comprise.» — Håkansson consigna la fórmula con que la propia obra dice explicar el símbolo, en veinticuatro teoremas: matemática, mágica, cabalística y anagógicamente

«In his introduction to the text, Dee candidly praised the “great rarity and remarkable quality” of his work, remarking that even though his “mind had been pregnant with it during the whole course of seven years”, it had taken him only “twelve days most gently to bring it into the world”» — Dee, citado por Håkansson, dice que su mente estuvo preñada de la obra siete años y que le bastaron doce días para darla a luz

«Proudly he urged the reader to “examine its depth” carefully in order to uncover the “great secrets” and “philosophical treasures” that were “lying inwardly enveloped in the recesses of our monad”, and he assured that those who could fathom the “mysteries” of his symbol would be richly rewarded» — Dee exhorta al lector a examinar la hondura de la obra para descubrir los grandes secretos y tesoros filosóficos envueltos en los repliegues de la mónada

«The scholar formerly devoted to the study of optics would “confound the stupidity of his art” when he in this symbol witnessed how “a mirror may be formed which (even when there are clouds before the Sun) can reduce any stones or any metal to, as it were, impalpable powders» — según Dee, el estudioso de la óptica confundirá la estupidez de su arte al ver en el símbolo cómo formar un espejo que reduzca piedras o metales a polvos impalpables

«The musician would be “struck with wonder” when he perceived in this mysterious symbol “inexplicable, celestial harmonies without any movement or sound”» — Dee promete al músico armonías celestes inexplicables sin movimiento ni sonido

«And will not the astronomer be very sorry for the cold he suffered under the open sky, for [all his] vigils and labours, when here, with no discomfort to be suffered from the air, he may most exactly observe with his eyes the orbits of the heavenly bodies under [his own] roof, with windows and doors shut on all sides, and without any mechanical instruments made of wood or brass?» — Dee promete al astrónomo observar las órbitas de los cuerpos celestes bajo su propio techo, con puertas y ventanas cerradas y sin instrumentos de madera ni de bronce

«Alchemy, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, grammar, music, medicine, magic, optics, scrying and kabbalah — Dee’s “Hieroglyphic Monad” seemed to comprise a virtually inexhaustible knowledge of the world, a knowledge which somehow had been incorporated into one distinct graphical symbol.» — Håkansson resume el alcance atribuido al símbolo: un saber del mundo prácticamente inagotable incorporado en un solo signo gráfico

«Dee’s presumptuous claims aroused a certain wonder among his fellow scholars, and before he had returned from Antwerp, where the book was printed, Queen Elizabeth was forced to defend it “against such Universitie graduates of high degree, & other Gentlemen, who, therefore, dispraysed it, because they understode it not» — Håkansson consigna la extrañeza entre los colegas y la defensa que Isabel I hizo del libro frente a graduados universitarios que lo despreciaban por no entenderlo

«During his sojourn in Prague, Dee presented his book to Emperor Rudolph II, who after a few courteous phrases was compelled to conclude that it was “too hard for his Majesties capacity”» — Håkansson consigna el juicio de Rodolfo II: la obra excedía la capacidad de su majestad

«Much to Dee’s chagrin, the alchemist Andreas Libavius dismissed some of his notions in the work with the pithy epithet ineptiae — “fooleries” — while Meric Casaubon, the compiler of» — Håkansson consigna que Andreas Libavius despachó algunas nociones de la obra con el epíteto *ineptiae*; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue con Meric Casaubon

«Dee’s angelic conversations, a century later remarked that he could “extract no sense nor reason (sound and solid) out of it...”» — Meric Casaubon, un siglo después, dice no poder extraer de la obra sentido ni razón sólidos

«As William R. Newman has recently argued, Libavius did not reject Dee’s work as a whole, and in a commentary to his Alchymia Libavius described the layout of his own alchemical laboratory as based on Dee’s Monas symbol» — en nota, Håkansson recoge de William R. Newman que Libavius no rechazó la obra entera y que describió su propio laboratorio alquímico basándose en el símbolo de la Mónada

«In his monumental Oedipus aegyptiacus (1653-5) Athanasius Kircher quoted at length from Dee’s text, reproduced the clarifying diagrams and made some flamboyant elaborations of the hieroglyphic symbol to exemplify the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians» — Håkansson consigna que Athanasius Kircher citó largamente el texto de Dee, reprodujo sus diagramas y elaboró el símbolo para ejemplificar la sabiduría de los antiguos egipcios

«Kircher, however, never bothered to mention Dee as his source, obviously attributing the symbol to the venerable sage Hermes Trismegistos» — Håkansson señala que Kircher no mencionó a Dee como fuente y atribuyó el símbolo a Hermes Trismegisto

«In Dee’s own lifetime Monas hieroglyphica received laudations from alchemists like Heinrich Khunrath and Thomas Tymme» — Håkansson consigna los elogios de los alquimistas Heinrich Khunrath y Thomas Tymme en vida de Dee

«No doubt it would be utterly futile for a common man to try to penetrate the “Hieroglyphic Monad”, Dee claimed, for in reality only one man in a thousand acquired “the first taste of the fundamental truths of natural science”. And yet it was only one in a thousand of these rare men who had “intimately and thoroughly explored the explanations of the celestial influences and events [as well as] the reason of the rise, the condition and the decline of other things» — Dee sostiene que solo uno entre mil alcanza el primer gusto de las verdades fundamentales de la ciencia natural, y solo uno entre mil de esos explora las influencias celestes

«Though Dee with a humble gesture implied that his symbol had to be ascribed a lower philosophical position, giving a mere “taste of the fundamental truths of natural science”, the implication is still that his symbol contained truly marvellous secrets — indeed, that this “singular hero” who had gained an understanding of the “supracelestial virtues and metaphysical influences”, “one in a thousand millions of men of the common sort”, was no one else but John Dee himself.» — Håkansson lee el gesto humilde de Dee como implicación de lo contrario: ese héroe singular entre mil millones de hombres comunes no es otro que el propio Dee

«Having once dipped into the text, the reader soon realizes that what seem a small hors-d’oeuvre of barely sixty pages is an extremely complex philosophical tract, made up of disparate elements stemming from widely different intellectual contexts and brought together in a way which often recasts them beyond recognition» — Håkansson describe la Mónada como tratado filosófico extremadamente complejo, hecho de elementos dispares de contextos intelectuales muy distintos y recompuestos hasta volverlos irreconocibles

«Robert Fludd invoked Dee’s symbol when arguing with Johannes Kepler over the right use of mathematical symbolism» — Håkansson consigna que Robert Fludd invocó el símbolo de Dee al discutir con Kepler sobre el uso correcto del simbolismo matemático

«the Italian scholar Giulio Cesare Capaccio claimed that the literary and moral symbols used by ancient authors like Homer, Pliny, and Cicero were impossible to understand fully without studying Monas hieroglyphica by “Giouanni Dee da Londino”» — Giulio Cesare Capaccio, citado por Håkansson, tuvo por imposible entender del todo los símbolos literarios y morales de Homero, Plinio y Cicerón sin estudiar la Mónada

«In his letter of dedication to Maximilian II of Habsburg, he advised the emperor to keep the work from “the hands of the common people”, not because he was grudging towards them, but because these “po» — Dee aconseja a Maximiliano II apartar la obra de las manos del vulgo, no por mezquindad hacia ellos; el corte de plana parte la palabra y la frase sigue en *or people may not be able to extricate themselves from that labyrinth*

«extricate themselves from that labyrinth (while they torture their minds in incredible ways, and neglect their everyday affairs)» — la continuación: esa pobre gente no podría salir del laberinto mientras tortura su mente de modos increíbles y descuida sus asuntos cotidianos

«What, then, shall we say of him who, having surmounted all those difficulties, has aspired to an exploration and un» — Dee pregunta quién habrá superado todas esas dificultades y aspirado a explorar las virtudes supracelestes; el corte de plana parte la palabra y la frase sigue en *derstanding of the supracelestial virtues*

«and metaphysical influences? Where in the whole world (and in these our most deplorable times) shall we hope that there is that magnanimous, that probably singular hero?» — la continuación de la pregunta de Dee: dónde esperar, en tiempos tan deplorables, a ese héroe magnánimo y probablemente singular; el corte de chunk parte *understanding* en dos

«The most striking feature of Dee’s text is that none of the reappraisals he was laying claim to — of alchemy, arithmetic, astronomy, optics and of a host of other disciplines — were substantiated by referring to conditions in physical reality» — tesis de Håkansson sobre la Mónada: ninguna de las revaloraciones que Dee reclama —de la alquimia, la aritmética, la astronomía, la óptica— se sustenta en condiciones de la realidad física

«These reappraisals were supposed to be achieved by contemplating the symbol itself. Rather than representing a knowledge which had been grounded in the world external to it, the symbol was the very means by which the world could be explored, ultimately revealing truths that no contemporary man had any knowledge of» — Håkansson formula el punto: el símbolo no representa un saber fundado en el mundo exterior, es el medio mismo por el que el mundo se explora

«This use of images and symbols was by no means unique to Dee, but was virtually omnipresent in the occult sciences of the Renaissance» — Håkansson generaliza: ese uso de imágenes y símbolos no era exclusivo de Dee sino casi omnipresente en las ciencias ocultas del Renacimiento

«there is a “slippage” from the symbolic/metaphoric level to the level of reality... These transitions may not always be noted by such authors [as Dee] who may use the two levels simultaneously. It is as if there is an innate instability in the Renaissance signing-system which reflects an uncertainty about the placement of the signifier (the metaphor) in relation to its referent in reality.» — Urszula Szulakowska, citada por Håkansson, habla de un deslizamiento del plano simbólico al de la realidad y de una inestabilidad innata del sistema de signos renacentista

«More often than not, our proneness to characterize the distinction between symbol and reality in Renaissance occultism as “ill-defined” or even non-existent is no more than a reflection of our persistent habit of regarding our own signifying practices as indispensable for an undistorted view of reality» — Håkansson objeta que llamar mal definida o inexistente la distinción entre símbolo y realidad refleja el hábito de tener por indispensables nuestras propias prácticas de significación

«“science and Renaissance occultism are both interpretive activities, and what distinguishes them, if anything, is the manner in which the theories of language by which each is informed determine its hermeneutical practices and thus defines it as a discourse”» — James Bono, citado por Håkansson, dice que ciencia y ocultismo renacentista son actividades interpretativas y que lo que las distingue es cómo las teorías del lenguaje que informan a cada una determinan sus prácticas hermenéuticas

«To phrase it in this way is not to disavow the immense difference between Renaissance occultism and what we term “science”. Instead, this perspective allows us to stake out a shared ground from which we can properly study and understand the difference» — Håkansson acota: decirlo así no niega la diferencia inmensa entre el ocultismo renacentista y lo que llamamos ciencia, sino que da terreno común para estudiarla

«what relation did the symbol bear to reality, and how did this relationship inform the discursive practices employed to interpret nature?» — Håkansson formula la pregunta que su enfoque permite plantear: qué relación guardaba el símbolo con la realidad y cómo informaba esa relación las prácticas discursivas de interpretar la naturaleza

«However, though alchemy is a dominant theme in the text, it cannot give us an exhaustive picture of Dee’s intentions» — Håkansson acota que la alquimia, aun siendo tema dominante, no agota las intenciones de Dee

«Focusing on the magical and astrological notions of the work, Frances Yates characterized the Monas symbol as a “unified arrangement of significant signs, infused with astral power”, inciting a “unifying effect on the psyche” of the beholder which induced in a kind of mystic ascent of the soul towards God» — Håkansson expone la lectura de Frances Yates: el símbolo como disposición unificada de signos significativos infundidos de poder astral, con efecto unificador sobre la psique del contemplador

«Her interpretation was shared by Peter French who emphasized that the “process of man’s spiritual transformation is ... the deepest subject of this work, rather than the mundane alchemical quest for gold”» — Peter French, citado por Håkansson, tiene la transformación espiritual del hombre por el asunto más hondo de la obra, por encima de la busca alquímica de oro

«this visual symbol enabled the beholder to “release himself from his body and return to his original divine nature”» — según French, el símbolo permitía al contemplador soltarse del cuerpo y volver a su naturaleza divina original

«Although this interpretation to a large extent was justified, neither Yates nor French made any attempt to analyse the text in detail and therefore omitted the intellectual context underlying these conceptions» — Håkansson objeta a Yates y a French que, aun con razón en buena medida, no analizaran el texto en detalle y omitieran el contexto intelectual de esas concepciones

«The difficulties of finding an appropriate label for the work are largely due to Dee’s unconventional way of bringing together traditional “exoteric” disciplines like music, geometry and astronomy with “esoteric” disciplines like alchemy, magic and kabbalah» — Håkansson atribuye la dificultad de rotular la obra al modo poco convencional en que Dee junta disciplinas exotéricas como música, geometría y astronomía con esotéricas como alquimia, magia y cábala

«These two groups of disciplines were generally treated separately, as they lacked a common foundation from which their laws were derived» — Håkansson señala por qué esos dos grupos se trataban por separado: les faltaba un fundamento común del que derivar sus leyes

«Yet Dee seems to have believed that such a common foundation did exist — indeed, he suggests that this common foundation was the very crux of the Monas hieroglyphica» — tesis de Håkansson: Dee creía que ese fundamento común existía y sugiere que era el meollo mismo de la Mónada

«In the introduction he stated that the common symbol of Mercury, which formed the basis of the Monas symbol, “may rightly be styled by us the rebuilder and restorer of all astronomy”, both “inferior astronomy”, alchemy, and “superior astronomy”, treating the movements and properties of the heavenly bodies» — Dee llama al símbolo común de Mercurio reconstructor y restaurador de toda astronomía, tanto la inferior o alquimia como la superior

«an astronomical messenger [who was sent to us] by our IEOVA so that we might either establish this sacred art of writing [Sacra Scriptionis Ars] as the first founders of a new discipline, or by his counsel renew one that was entirely extinct and had been wholly wiped out from the memory of men.» — Dee llama al símbolo mensajero astronómico enviado por su IEOVA para fundar o renovar esa arte sagrada de escribir, del todo extinta y borrada de la memoria de los hombres

«Clearly, the real theme of the text was not any of the scientific disciplines he claimed to shed light on, but what he called a “sacred art of writing” — an art of writing revealed by the grace of God and which Dee was either the first to conceive, or which had been known in ancient times too, but since then completely forgotten» — tesis de Håkansson: el tema real del texto no es ninguna de las disciplinas científicas sino lo que Dee llama arte sagrada de escribir, revelada por gracia de Dios

«Significantly, Dee later remarked on the “the strange and vndue speeches deuised of that hieroglyphical writing”, but claimed that Queen Elizabeth had defended him against the slander, saying “Verilie, deare Doctor, you have contrived a moste economicall and ingeniouslie cunnige communication for your secrets.”» — Håkansson consigna la defensa que Dee atribuye a Isabel I: que había ideado una comunicación económica e ingeniosamente astuta para sus secretos

«As Dee explained, this “sacred” or “hieroglyphical” writing was “more divine” than any other form of writing since it was “born to us by the law of creation [Creationis Lex]” and thus it “invents new arts and explains the most abstruse arts very faithfully, as others, following our example, may try out in some other field”» — Dee dice que esa escritura sagrada o jeroglífica es más divina que cualquier otra porque nació por la ley de la creación, e inventa artes nuevas y explica fielmente las más abstrusas

«Not only did the disciplines he cited have a common foundation which could be comprehended by studying his “sacred art of writing”; since it in some way corresponded to the “law of creation”, this writing was also able to generate new disciplines, hitherto unknown to mankind» — Håkansson formula el alcance que Dee le da: por corresponder a la ley de la creación, esa escritura podía también generar disciplinas nuevas, hasta entonces desconocidas

«Rather, as Nicholas Clulee has pointed out, the text was an accompanying commentary on the symbol, merely providing a number of “examples of how the new art of hieroglyphic writing illuminates the mysteries of these arts”» — Håkansson recoge de Clulee que el texto es un comentario acompañante del símbolo, con ejemplos de cómo la nueva arte de escritura jeroglífica ilumina los misterios de esas artes

«Despite the symbol’s undeniable similarity to the traditional alchemical and astrological characters, Dee saw no contradiction in claiming to be its sole contriver/restorer. In his view, it was the Monas symbol that was the model and prototype of these characters, not vice versa» — Håkansson señala la inversión que hace Dee: el símbolo de la Mónada es el modelo y prototipo de los caracteres alquímicos y astrológicos tradicionales, y no al revés

«Not only was it possible to derive all of these traditional characters from the symbol; in doing so, he claimed, he had also “reduced or restored” them to their proper, “mystical proportions” — “As if in an age long past they had been the same, or as if our forefathers had wished that in the future they should be such.”» — Dee sostiene haber reducido o restaurado esos caracteres a sus proporciones místicas propias, como si en una edad remota hubieran sido los mismos

«[I]s it not rare, I ask, that the common astronomical symbols of the planets (instead of being dead, dumb, or, up to the present hour at least, quasi-barbaric signs [notae]) should have become characters [characteres] imbued with immortal life and should now be able to express their espe» — Dee pregunta si no es raro que los símbolos planetarios comunes, signos muertos y casi bárbaros, se vuelvan caracteres henchidos de vida inmortal; el corte de plana parte la palabra y la frase sigue en *cial meanings most eloquently in any tongue*

«However different Dee’s angelic conversations and the earlier Monas hieroglyphica were in character, they also shared a feature that was central to Dee’s approach to natural philosophy: they were both aimed at finding a language that could yield a consummate knowledge of the world, a language by means of which man would be able to comprehend “all things within the Compasse of Nature”, as one of the angels characterized the Adamic language» — tesis de Håkansson: por distintas que fueran, las conversaciones angélicas y la Mónada buscaban lo mismo, una lengua que diera conocimiento consumado del mundo

«But the metaphysical and historical conceptions underlying the Monas symbol were to a large extent identical to those bolstering the angelic conversations» — Håkansson sostiene que las concepciones metafísicas e históricas bajo la Mónada eran en buena medida idénticas a las que sostenían las conversaciones angélicas

«In both cases, the power of language to yield knowledge was intimately linked to Christian conceptions of man and human history» — Håkansson enuncia lo común a los dos casos: el poder de la lengua para dar conocimiento estaba ligado a concepciones cristianas del hombre y de la historia humana

«It was an art of writing which to some extent had the power to achieve what the “celestiall speeche” of the angels was claimed to achieve — the power to rehabilitate mankind from the consequences of the Fall.» — Håkansson equipara el alcance de las dos vías: la escritura jeroglífica tenía en parte el poder que se atribuía al habla celestial de los ángeles, rehabilitar a la humanidad de las consecuencias de la Caída

«In fact, Dee’s preoccupation with language and its relation to nature predated the Monas hieroglyphica by several years. As early as 1557 he claimed to have written a text entitled Speculum unitatis, siue apologia pro Rogero Bachone anglo, “The Mirror of Unity, or an Apology for the Englishman Roger Bacon”» — Håkansson data en 1557 el primer texto de Dee sobre la lengua y la naturaleza, el Speculum unitatis o apología de Roger Bacon, anterior a la Mónada

«Generally it is described as an alchemical work, a characterization supported by Dee’s earliest printed work, the Propaedeumata aphoristica» — Håkansson consigna la descripción usual de la Mónada como obra alquímica, apoyada en el primer impreso de Dee

«in which the hieroglyphic symbol is reproduced on the title-page and described as a “symbol” (insigne) of “inferior astronomy” (astronomia inferior), an expression commonly used to denote alchemy» — Håkansson precisa el apoyo: la Propaedeumata reproduce el símbolo jeroglífico en portada y lo llama insigne de la astronomía inferior, expresión usual para la alquimia

«The philosopher who could reveal the common grammar beneath all languages, that very grammar that “descends from one man” — the first man, Adam — would be that “magnanimous, that probably singular hero” who had obtained a perfect knowledge of the world. That philosopher would have risen through the hierarchy of knowledge, grasped “the fundamental truths of natural science”, explored “the celestial influences and events”, and attained an “understanding of the supracelestial virtues and metaphysical influences”.196 He would have obtained a consummate knowledge, not only of the laws of nature, but of the divine powers of the Creator.» — Håkansson lee el pasaje de la Mónada: el filósofo que revelara la gramática común a todas las lenguas, descendida de Adán, sería ese héroe singular con conocimiento consumado de las leyes de la naturaleza y de los poderes divinos

«In recent years Dee’s text on the “Hieroglyphic Monad” has earned a reputation that verges on the infamous. In the wake of the popular “Yates thesis” it has emerged as a key text of the early modern period, essential not only to our understanding of Dee but of the whole intellectual context he was working within. And yet, extraordinarily obscure and enigmatic even by esoteric standards, it has to a large extent resisted attempts at interpretation» — Håkansson consigna la fortuna reciente de la Mónada: tras la tesis de Yates emergió como texto clave del periodo moderno temprano y a la vez ha resistido en buena medida los intentos de interpretación

«The most thorough and elucidative analysis hitherto has been undertaken by Nicholas Clulee, who has pinpointed in an admirable way many of the sources behind Dee’s notions» — Håkansson reconoce el análisis de Nicholas Clulee como el más minucioso y esclarecedor hasta ahora, por haber precisado muchas de las fuentes de Dee

«What made the text original was not Dee’s claims with regard to the individual disciplines it was said to elucidate, but the idea of the Monas symbol as a form of writing, “a writing that reduces astronomy, alchemy, magic, and mysticism to the same discourse and in one breath speaks a knowledge of each”, as Clulee puts it» — Håkansson sitúa la originalidad del texto en la idea del símbolo como escritura, con la fórmula de Clulee: una escritura que reduce astronomía, alquimia, magia y mística al mismo discurso

«In stressing the direct sources of Dee’s notions, Clulee tends to neglect the wider contexts of Dee’s approach, thereby begging the question of why Dee found this idea meaningful» — Håkansson objeta a Clulee que, al subrayar las fuentes directas, descuide los contextos más amplios y eluda por qué a Dee esa idea le resultaba significativa

«Though duly noting Dee’s dependence on Renaissance notions of “natural” languages, hieroglyphics, kabbalah, Pythagorean number symbolism and so forth, Clulee does not discuss how these concepts were related to each other in Dee’s work» — Håkansson señala lo que Clulee no discute: cómo se relacionaban entre sí en la obra de Dee las nociones de lenguas naturales, jeroglíficos, cábala y simbolismo numérico pitagórico

«It is these relationships, however, we need to examine if we are to understand Monas hieroglyphica not merely as an amalgamation of different textual sources, but as an attempt to comprehend the world» — Håkansson declara qué hay que examinar para leer la Mónada no como amalgama de fuentes textuales sino como intento de comprender el mundo

«As Bono stresses, this generic term covers an extremely heterogeneous field of interpretive practices. Neither grounded in a monolithic “theory” of language, nor in a specific philosophical “tradition of thought”» — Håkansson acota, con Bono, que la exégesis simbólica cubre un campo heterogéneo de prácticas interpretativas, sin apoyo en una teoría monolítica del lenguaje ni en una tradición filosófica determinada

«What these scholars shared was, in loose terms, a set of assumptions about the relations between language, nature and the divine which authorized attempts to fathom nature through the medium of language» — Håkansson formula lo común a esos eruditos: supuestos sobre las relaciones entre lengua, naturaleza y lo divino que autorizaban sondear la naturaleza por medio de la lengua

«The apparent lack of stringency in this formulation is deliberate, as these relations were metaphorically defined and could be construed differently by being embedded in different cultural narratives and conceptual frameworks» — Håkansson declara deliberada la falta de rigor de esa formulación, porque las relaciones eran metafóricas y se interpretaban distinto según el relato cultural en que se incrustaran

«The most famous expression of this idea can be found in Plato’s dialogue Cratylus, in which Plato argued that a name “belongs by nature to each particular thing” and is “able to embody its form in the letters and syllables”» — Håkansson sitúa en el Crátilo la expresión más famosa: el nombre pertenece por naturaleza a cada cosa y puede encarnar su forma en letras y sílabas

«According to this theory, language was essentially mimetic: the words and the letters represent a thing “by likeness” and are “by their very nature like the things”.200 Hence, the name was a means to gain knowledge of the thing it designated» — Håkansson expone la teoría: la lengua es esencialmente mimética, palabras y letras representan por semejanza, y de ahí que el nombre sea medio de conocer la cosa

«“He who knows the names knows also the things named”, Plato’s alter ego Socrates argued in the dialogue, and “when anyone knows the nature of the name — and its nature is that of the thing — he will know the thing also, since it is like the name”» — Sócrates, en el Crátilo citado por Håkansson, sostiene que quien conoce los nombres conoce también las cosas nombradas

«However, though Plato described a name as a “vocal imitation” of the thing, one should not confuse language with the imitative arts» — Håkansson acota: aunque Platón llama al nombre imitación vocal, no cabe confundir la lengua con las artes imitativas

«Plato’s theory of language was thus dependent on the distinction that constituted the very foundation of his philosophy: the distinction between the world of Being and the world of Becoming, between the eternal Ideas and the perishable things» — Håkansson ancla la teoría platónica del lenguaje en la distinción entre el mundo del Ser y el del Devenir, entre las Ideas eternas y las cosas perecederas

«In the hands of patristic writers, Plato’s description of the transitory and changeable world as a pale shadow of an eternally constant — and thus truly existent — realm of Ideas, existing beyond the world of tangible objects, was turned into the basis of the Christian universe» — Håkansson traza cómo los patrísticos volvieron base del universo cristiano la descripción platónica del mundo transitorio como sombra pálida de un reino de Ideas

«The Christian interpretation of Plato’s work was facilitated by the apparent similarities between the biblical Genesis and Plato’s account of the Creation in Timaeus, describing how the divine Creator shaped the cosmos with the eternal Ideas as his model» — Håkansson señala qué facilitó la lectura cristiana de Platón: la semejanza aparente entre el Génesis y el relato del Timeo, donde el Creador divino forma el cosmos con las Ideas eternas por modelo

«not indeed in the same words, but to the selfsame effect, enforced by many and various reasons that ‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, dice haber hallado en ciertos libros de los platónicos, con otras palabras y el mismo efecto, el prólogo del evangelio de Juan

«To Augustine it was clear that Plato had disclosed a metaphysics in all essentials identical to the Christian world view, the metaphysics revealed to mankind through the Holy Scripture» — Håkansson consigna la lectura de Agustín: Platón habría expuesto una metafísica idéntica en lo esencial a la cristiana, la revelada por la Escritura

«When the Platonic metaphysics and the story of Creation recounted in Timaeus were conflated with the biblical account, the Word appeared as identical to the intelligible archetypes or principles enclosed in the Divine Mind» — Håkansson describe la fusión: el Verbo aparece como idéntico a los arquetipos o principios inteligibles encerrados en la Mente Divina

«But the Word was also identical to the holy Scriptures, written down by prophets illuminated by the light of God. In this text, mankind had access to Truth entire and perfect, the very Wisdom of God, hidden under a vesture of letters and words» — Håkansson señala la segunda identificación: el Verbo es también la Escritura, donde la Sabiduría de Dios está escondida bajo un vestido de letras y palabras

«In a striking passage Claudius of Turin (d. 877) described how the Word was incarnated in the body of the Scriptures just as it had been incarnated in the body of Christ» — Håkansson introduce a Claudio de Turín, que describe el Verbo encarnado en el cuerpo de las Escrituras como lo estuvo en el cuerpo de Cristo

«[T]he Word came into the world by Mary, clad in flesh; and seeing was not understanding; all saw the flesh; knowledge of the divinity was given to a chosen few. So when the Word was shown to men through the lawgiver and the prophets, it was not shown to them without suitable vesture. There it is covered by the veil of flesh, here of the letter. The letter appears as flesh; but the spiritual sense within is known as divinity. [...] Blessed are the eyes which see divine spirit through the letter’s veil.» — el pasaje en sangría de Claudio de Turín: la carne y la letra como dos velos, y la bienaventuranza de los ojos que ven el espíritu divino tras el velo de la letra

«Incarnated in a textual “body”, truth was accessible through exegesis, a continuous act of interpretation which gradually allowed man to discern the “divine spirit through the letter’s veil”» — Håkansson formula lo que se sigue: encarnada en cuerpo textual, la verdad es accesible por exégesis, acto continuo de interpretación

«Christian scriptural exegesis rested on the belief that the biblical text was a true expression of the Word, exactly mirroring, albeit in figurative language, the spiritual Truth from which it stemmed» — Håkansson enuncia el supuesto de la exégesis escrituraria cristiana: el texto bíblico refleja con exactitud, en lengua figurada, la Verdad espiritual de la que procede

«Rather than being an obstacle to man’s comprehension of the Word, the textual “veil” concealing it was the very medium making it accessible to man» — tesis de Håkansson: el velo textual no era obstáculo para comprender el Verbo sino el medio mismo que lo hacía accesible

«In Cratylus, however, Plato had also acknowledged that no human idiom in its entirety was a “true” or “natural” language in which the words mirrored “the reality of things and imitates their essential nature”. As most tongues had been created by men who had little knowledge of the essential nature of things, all languages were more or less defective imitations of reality» — Håkansson recoge la reserva del propio Platón: ningún idioma humano es entero una lengua verdadera o natural, y todas son imitaciones más o menos defectuosas de la realidad

«But the Scriptures were not a text written by man. It was the Text, dictated by the Holy Ghost and truly expressing His Wisdom» — Håkansson marca la excepción: la Escritura no es texto escrito por hombre sino el Texto dictado por el Espíritu Santo

«Elsewhere the universal practice of men as a body is to give to things names which differ from the things, so that the objects are not the same as what we call them. But with Moses the names assigned are manifest images of things, so that name and thing are inevitably the same from the first and the name and that to which the name is given differ not a whit.» — Filón de Alejandría, citado por Håkansson, opone la práctica universal de dar nombres distintos de las cosas a los nombres de Moisés, imágenes manifiestas de las cosas

«Whereas human languages were “conventional” idioms, founded on social agreement and customs, the Scripture spoke through a “natural” language, a language in which word and thing had a true relationship to each other, in which the things bore their right names and in which the words could yield knowledge of what the things really are by mirroring their nature so completely that word and object “differ not a whit”» — Håkansson resume el reparto de Filón: las lenguas humanas son convencionales y la Escritura habla una lengua natural donde palabra y cosa no difieren en nada

«Yet Philo’s strict distinction between the “conventional” character of human language and the “natural” properties of the sacred Scripture was not completely fair. For between the Word of God and the languages of man existed a link forged by biblical historiography» — Håkansson objeta que la distinción estricta de Filón no era del todo justa, porque entre el Verbo de Dios y las lenguas de los hombres la historiografía bíblica había forjado un enlace

«The notion that language can “mirror” the world so completely that it yields knowledge of the things it represents was a commonplace in» — Håkansson enuncia el lugar común: que la lengua puede reflejar el mundo hasta dar conocimiento de lo que representa; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *medieval and early modern philosophy*

«medieval and early modern philosophy, rooted deeply in classical philosophy» — la continuación: ese lugar común de la filosofía medieval y moderna temprana tenía raíz honda en la filosofía clásica

«For whereas arts like painting and music merely imitated the appearances of things, language imitated the inner “nature” of the thing, that very essence which» — Håkansson precisa la diferencia: pintura y música imitan las apariencias, la lengua imita la naturaleza interior de la cosa; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *constituted the true identity and reality of the thing*

«constituted the true identity and reality of the thing, making it what it truly was» — la continuación: esa esencia constituía la identidad y realidad verdaderas de la cosa y la hacía ser lo que era

«Using these archetypes as a pattern, God had created all things in the universe, an act of Creation accomplished by literally giving voice to the Word: “And God said...”» — Håkansson enuncia el acto de creación por la voz: con los arquetipos por patrón, Dios creó todas las cosas dando voz literalmente al Verbo

«In Genesis, Adam is clearly portrayed as a speaking being, possessing the power to use language as a communicative means. Yet the biblical story of the Creation is surprisingly reticent about the origins of this exclusively human faculty» — Håkansson señala el silencio del Génesis: Adán aparece como ser parlante y el relato de la creación calla sobre el origen de esa facultad exclusivamente humana

«In Hebrew the word “woman”, ishhà, is simply a feminine form of ish, “man”. The same conclusion could be drawn from the fact that the first man was given the name Adam since God had “formed man [Hebr. adám] of the dust of the ground [Hebr. adamá]”. Likewise, the wife of Adam was named Eve, a word closely akin to a Hebrew word meaning ‘living’, “because she was the mother of all living”» — Håkansson reúne los indicios hebreos que sugerían que la lengua primordial era el hebreo o afín: ishhà de ish, adám de adamá, y Eva emparentada con la palabra de vivir

«Irrespective of whether this primordial tongue was Hebrew or some kindred language, one conclusion seemed inevitable: that it was a “true” and “natural” language, expressing the very essence of the things it designated» — Håkansson fija la conclusión que se tenía por inevitable: aquella lengua primordial era verdadera y natural y expresaba la esencia misma de lo que designaba

«This belief was clinched by the account of how Adam named all the creatures of the earth “by their own names”, by those names they in some sense were meant to bear» — Håkansson señala qué remachaba esa creencia: el relato de la imposición de nombres por sus propios nombres

«[Adam] received the impressions made by bodies and objects in their sheer reality, and the titles he gave were fully apposite, for right well did he divine the character of the creatures he was describing, with the result that their natures were apprehended as soon as their names were uttered.» — Filón de Alejandría, citado por Håkansson, dice que Adán recibía las impresiones de los cuerpos en su pura realidad y que las naturalezas quedaban aprehendidas en cuanto se pronunciaban los nombres

«Though there is no direct indication in the biblical text of how Adam was capable of apprehending things “in their sheer reality”, scholars commonly linked this power to the Christian conception of man as an imago Dei» — Håkansson señala que los eruditos ligaban ese poder de Adán a la concepción cristiana del hombre como imagen de Dios, sin indicación directa del texto bíblico

«Created in God’s image and likeness, the first man had carried a flawless reflection of God’s Wisdom within his soul, making him perfect in knowledge and understanding» — Håkansson enuncia la premisa: creado a imagen y semejanza, el primer hombre llevaba en el alma un reflejo sin falla de la Sabiduría de Dios

«In a sermon delivered in Saint Paul’s cathedral in 1662, Robert South vividly described Adam’s intellect as “lofty and serene, free from the vapours and disturbances of the inferiour affections”, giving “the Soul a bright, and a full view into all things”» — Robert South, en un sermón de 1662 citado por Håkansson, describe el intelecto de Adán como elevado y sereno, libre de los vapores de los afectos inferiores

«Having all principles of reasoning and knowledge innate in his mind, “clear and unsullied”, Adam “came into the World a Philosopher” who could “view Essences in themselves, and read Forms without the comment of their» — South dice que Adán vino al mundo filósofo, con todos los principios innatos, capaz de ver las esencias en sí mismas y leer las formas; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *respective Properties*

«respective Properties” — “An Aristotle was but the rubbish of an Adam, and Athens but the rudiments of Paradise.”» — la continuación de South: Aristóteles no era sino el desecho de un Adán y Atenas los rudimentos del Paraíso

«The biblical account of Adam’s naming of the animals had enormous consequences for how the properties of language were understood and discussed in the Christian world» — tesis de Håkansson: el relato de la imposición de nombres tuvo consecuencias enormes para cómo se entendieron y discutieron las propiedades del lenguaje en el mundo cristiano

«For by properly representing the essential nature of things, the Adamic tongue also reflected those divine principles of creation from which the universe was formed. The biblical narrative, in other words, provided a link between the languages of man and the Word of God» — Håkansson enuncia el enlace: al representar como es debido la naturaleza esencial de las cosas, la lengua adámica reflejaba los principios divinos de la creación

«In this primordial state, man’s speech had been an undistorted reflection of the verbum Dei, enabling the speaker not only to apprehend the true nature of things, but the very Wisdom of the Creator» — Håkansson describe el estado primordial: el habla del hombre como reflejo no distorsionado del verbum Dei, que permitía aprehender la naturaleza de las cosas y la Sabiduría misma del Creador

«But Genesis is also the story of how the Adamic language was lost to mankind. Following the vivid account of the Fall, Cain’s slaying of his brother, the Flood and the hardships of Noah, language once again emerges as the significant theme: “And the whole world was of one language, and of one speech.”» — Håkansson señala que el Génesis cuenta también la pérdida, y que tras la Caída, Caín y el Diluvio la lengua vuelve a ser el tema

«God’s response to this insolent pride is one of the most notorious episodes in biblical historiography: seeing that the speech of mankind was one, God confounded their language, splitting it into a diversity of tongues and rendering it impossible for people to understand each other. Henceforth the city was called Babel, “because the Lord did there confound [Hebr. balál] the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth”» — Håkansson consigna la confusión de Babel: Dios confunde la lengua única y la parte en una diversidad de lenguas, con el juego etimológico de balál

«Due to the dramatic character of this episode, this passage became the locus classicus when scholars tried to explain the diversity of languages and nations» — Håkansson señala que ese pasaje se volvió el lugar clásico para explicar la diversidad de lenguas y naciones

«But the biblical account of the confusio linguarum is not entirely unproblematic. Even before the incident at Babel, the descendants of Japhet, Ham and Shem are stated to have been “divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families» — Håkansson objeta que el relato no es del todo limpio: ya antes de Babel los descendientes de Jafet, Cam y Sem aparecen divididos cada uno según su lengua; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«Consequently, there was a possibility that the primordial tongue had been lost a long time before the events at Babel» — Håkansson extrae la consecuencia: cabía que la lengua primordial se hubiera perdido mucho antes de Babel

«Most likely, this had happened at the Fall, when Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise and the immaculate intellect of Adam — the very faculty enabling him to apprehend the “sheer reality” of the creatures and bestow names upon them in accordance with their true natures — had been clouded and marred» — Håkansson da por más probable la pérdida en la Caída, cuando el intelecto inmaculado de Adán quedó nublado y dañado

«This deterioration of man’s mind was commonly referred to as the deformatio, alluding to how Adam’s original likeness to God was lost as a consequence of his sin against God» — Håkansson nombra ese deterioro con el término de la época, deformatio, por el que se perdió la semejanza original con Dios

«As we shall see in later chapters, the notion of man as a “deformed” imago Dei, fostering the hope of a coming “reformation”, played an important role in early modern discussions of the Adamic language and its recovery» — Håkansson anuncia el peso de la noción del hombre como imagen deformada de Dios, y de la esperanza de una reformación, en las discusiones modernas tempranas sobre la lengua adámica

«The inconsistencies of the biblical account also left room for the possibility that the confusion of tongues — at the Fall and/or the Tower of Babel — had befallen only some branches of Adam’s descendants, with the implication that the primordial language was still intact and in use among some peoples» — Håkansson señala qué dejaban abierto esas inconsistencias: que la confusión alcanzara solo a algunas ramas y la lengua primordial siguiera intacta en uso entre ciertos pueblos

«In De civitate Dei Augustine stated that when the hand of God was shaking the city of Babel, “one house was still found, that of Heber, in which the language formerly spoken by all men might persist”, a language which was “thereafter called Hebrew”» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, dice que en Babel quedó una casa, la de Heber, donde persistió la lengua antes hablada por todos, llamada después hebrea

«Augustine’s interpretation of Genesis remained prevailing — though certainly not uncontested — for more than a millennium, shared by such different scholars as Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Marsilio Ficino, Conrad Gesner and Paracelsus» — Håkansson consigna que esa lectura de Agustín prevaleció más de un milenio, aunque no sin oposición, y la compartieron Tomás de Aquino, Lutero, Ficino, Gesner y Paracelso

«Of languages, the Hebrew as it is the first and most ancient of all, so it alone seems to be pure and sincere, all the rest almost are mixt: for there is none of them which hath not certain words derived and corrupted from the Hebrew.» — Edward Leigh, citado por Håkansson, dice que el hebreo es la más antigua y la única pura, y que ninguna otra carece de palabras derivadas y corrompidas de ella

«At this point, however, the consensus came to an end, and the questions of when, if, why and how the primordial language had been lost were subject to a range of different interpretations, all having different consequences for a number of important theological and philosophical problems» — Håkansson marca dónde acaba el consenso: el cuándo, el si, el porqué y el cómo de la pérdida quedaron abiertos a interpretaciones con consecuencias teológicas y filosóficas distintas

«Indeed, what did it mean to say that the original tongue had been a “true” and “natural” language?» — la última de esas preguntas, que Håkansson deja como eje del capítulo: qué quería decir que la lengua original fuera verdadera y natural

«Claude Duret proposed that the Hebrew names bestowed upon the animals by Adam were “natural” in the sense that they comprised a kind of natural history of the creature in question» — Håkansson expone la propuesta de Claude Duret: los nombres hebreos impuestos por Adán eran naturales en el sentido de contener una historia natural del animal

«The eagle was called Nescher, “a word formed by the combination of Schor and Ischar, the first meaning to look and the second to be straight, because, above all others, the eagle is a bird of firm sight whose gaze is always directed towards the sun”» — el ejemplo de Duret: el águila llamada Nescher por composición de mirar y ser recto, porque es ave de vista firme siempre vuelta al sol

«The lion, by contrast, had been bestowed three names in Hebrew: Aryeh, which was derived from the Hebrew word for tearing and lacerating; Labi, which was related to the word leb, “heart”; and Laysch, which “bears an analogy with the verb Iosch, which means trample because this animal tramples and damages its prey”» — el segundo ejemplo de Duret: los tres nombres hebreos del león, derivados de desgarrar, de corazón y de hollar

«According to Wakefield, the Hebrew language not only “copies nature perfectly in everything” and “follows the nature of reality”, but also preserves “celestial idiom as God uses when he speaks” in its diction. Hebrew was “God’s method of speaking”, the very divine tongue He had used when communicating with Adam and the angels» — Robert Wakefield, citado por Håkansson, sostiene que el hebreo copia la naturaleza perfectamente y conserva el idioma celestial, el método de hablar de Dios con Adán y los ángeles

«The idea that the “naturalness” of Hebrew was connected to the capacities of the human vocal organs was taken several steps further by Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont» — Håkansson señala quién llevó más lejos la idea de ligar la naturalidad del hebreo a la capacidad de los órganos vocales

«van Helmont not only hailed Hebrew as the speech most easily reproduced by the vocal organs, but considered the Hebrew letters to reproduce the shape of the vocal organs — the tongue, the palate, the uvula, and the glottis — produced when uttering the words» — Håkansson expone la tesis de van Helmont: las letras hebreas reproducen la forma que toman lengua, paladar, úvula y glotis al pronunciar las palabras

«Fig. 4. The correspondence between the human vocal organs and the Hebrew letters. From Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, Alphabeti veri naturalis Hebraici brevissima delineatio, 1667, plates 25 and 26.» — pie de la figura 4, tomada del alfabeto natural verdadero de van Helmont

«The status of Hebrew as the primordial tongue did not remain uncontested, however, and virtually every European language was at some point hailed as the language, sometimes with conspicuous patriotic overtones» — Håkansson consigna la disputa: prácticamente toda lengua europea fue aclamada en algún momento como la lengua, a veces con tono patriótico llamativo

«In Arte de la lengua española castella Gonzalo Correas (c. 1571-1631) proposed that Adam had spoken Spanish in the garden of Eden. Eve, however, had been confined to speaking Italian, whereas the vicious serpent had uttered his seductive lies in German» — Gonzalo Correas, citado por Håkansson, propuso que Adán habló español en el Edén, Eva italiano y la serpiente alemán

«This complicated course of events was repeated with some essential corrections in Die Sprachen des Paradises by the Swede Andreas Kempe (1622-1689), who suggested that God had addressed Adam in Swedish, Adam replied in Danish, while Eve had been tempted by a serpent making “so artige Krumbsprünge und Fransche Minen” — “merry capers and French faces”» — Andreas Kempe, citado por Håkansson, enmienda el reparto: Dios habló a Adán en sueco, Adán respondió en danés y a Eva la tentó una serpiente con cabriolas alegres y muecas francesas

«Despite the lack of consensus among scholars, however, the various approaches to language shared a fundamental assumption: due to the biblical account, language was embedded in a narrative framework, in a history in both senses of the word, which dissolved the simple dichotomy between “conventional” and “natural” languages» — tesis de Håkansson: pese a la falta de consenso, todos los enfoques compartían que la lengua estaba incrustada en un marco narrativo, en una historia en los dos sentidos, que disolvía la dicotomía simple entre convencional y natural

«Even when Hebrew was hailed as the Adamic tongue, contemporary Hebrew was usually regarded as a slightly degenerated form of the original prelapsarian tongue — why else would the Jewish people still be in want of the pristine knowledge Adam had once possessed?» — Håkansson señala el matiz: aun aclamado como lengua adámica, el hebreo contemporáneo se tenía por forma algo degenerada de la prelapsaria

«Hence, the languages of man appeared neither as “conventional” nor as “natural” idioms; they appeared as marred reflections of reality, as images deprived of their absolute likeness to things, but whose true shapes were still possible to retrieve by uncovering their lost original form» — formulación de Håkansson: las lenguas de los hombres no eran convencionales ni naturales sino reflejos dañados de la realidad, cuyas formas verdaderas aún cabía recobrar

«As a consequence, the derivation of words, their etymology, appeared as an interpretive practise through which one could gain insight into the true nature of things — after all, the word etymology itself was derived from the Greek etumos, “true”, “real”, “unadulterated”» — Håkansson enlaza la etimología con esa creencia y recuerda que la propia palabra viene del griego etumos, verdadero y no adulterado

«the original kinship between word and object. The word corpus (body) was related to the phrase corruptis perit since our body continues into putrefaction; the word homo (man) had its origin in humus (earth) because man was created out of the dust of the earth; whereas agnus (lamb) was derived from agnoscit (to recognize) because the lamb recognizes its own mother» — Håkansson da los ejemplos de Isidoro de Sevilla: corpus de corruptis perit, homo de humus y agnus de agnoscit

«As Marian Rothstein remarks: “For Isidore res and verba can be treated as one: an etymology is the explanation of the origin and hence the inherent qualities of a thing. His underlying assumption is that the truth (the eutomon) is a guide to the essence of the thing.”» — Marian Rothstein, citada por Håkansson, dice que para Isidoro cosa y palabra pueden tratarse como una y que la etimología explica el origen y por ello las cualidades inherentes de una cosa

«Embedded in this conceptual and narrative framework, language appeared as the mirror of nature, providing a means by which man could interpret the physical world» — Håkansson formula la consecuencia: la lengua aparece como espejo de la naturaleza y medio por el que el hombre interpreta el mundo físico

«The underlying assumption was that nature itself was a reflection of the verbum Dei, the divine force from which the essences of natural things ultimately stemmed» — Håkansson nombra el supuesto de fondo: la naturaleza misma es reflejo del verbum Dei, la fuerza divina de la que provienen las esencias de las cosas naturales

«Language and nature could be attributed equal ontological status precisely because they were both symbolic expressions of the principles in the divine Mind» — tesis de Håkansson: lengua y naturaleza podían tener igual estatuto ontológico precisamente porque ambas eran expresiones simbólicas de los principios de la Mente divina

«Like the holy Scripture, the Book of Nature was a text whose true meaning — the Word — could only be uncovered by making it subject to the proper exegetical techniques» — Håkansson cierra el paralelo: como la Escritura, el Libro de la Naturaleza es un texto cuyo sentido verdadero solo se descubre con las técnicas exegéticas apropiadas

«The idea that nature constituted a “text”, declaring God’s Word as eloquently as Scripture itself, was a concept closely bound up with the particular cosmology that prevailed in the Christian world from the early Middle Ages to well into the seventeenth century» — Håkansson liga la idea de la naturaleza como texto a la cosmología que prevaleció en el mundo cristiano desde la alta Edad Media hasta entrado el siglo XVII

«This cosmology was essentially a synthesis of the metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle, merging the Platonic concept of an intelligible world of Ideas with the Aristotelian notion of the cosmos as a hierarchical structure in which “inferior” spheres were ruled by “superior” ones» — Håkansson describe esa cosmología como síntesis de Platón y Aristóteles: el mundo inteligible de las Ideas más el cosmos jerárquico donde lo inferior es regido por lo superior

«The resulting synthesis was a universe structured as an emanation: from the eternally unchangeable Ideas in the divine Mind, a series of hierarchically organized levels flowed forth, every level being of a more corruptible and material character than its preceding, superior one» — Håkansson describe el resultado: un universo estructurado como emanación, con niveles cada vez más corruptibles y materiales

«This cosmic hierarchy was commonly presented as divided into three distinct spheres; the earthly, the celestial, and the spiritual or supracelestial» — Håkansson consigna la división usual de esa jerarquía en tres esferas: terrestre, celeste y espiritual o supracelestial

«Thus hath the providence of God linked things together in their rankes and order, that all inferiour things might by their due courses be derived originally from God himself, and from him receive their Operations. [...] [T]he superior power cometh down even from the very first cause to these inferiours, deriving her force into them, like as it were a cord platted together, and stretched along from heaven to earth, in such sort as if either end of this cord be touched, it will wag the whole; therefore we might call this knitting together of things, a chain...» — della Porta, citado por Håkansson, describe la cuerda trenzada tendida del cielo a la tierra que, tocada en cualquier extremo, mueve el todo, y la llama cadena

«Due to the doctrine of emanation, Plato’s rigorous distinction between the intelligible and material worlds broke down and was replaced by a “Great Chain of Being”, linking heaven to earth» — Håkansson señala el efecto de la doctrina de la emanación: la distinción rigurosa de Platón entre mundo inteligible y material se rompe y cede a una Gran Cadena del Ser

«“[W]hatever is in the lower world is also in the higher ones, but of better stamp”, wrote Pico della Mirandola; “likewise, whatever is in the higher ones is also seen in the lowest, but in a degenerate condition and with a nature one might call adulterated”» — Pico della Mirandola, citado por Håkansson, formula la correspondencia entre niveles: lo de abajo está arriba con mejor cuño y lo de arriba abajo en condición degenerada

«As a consequence, the cosmos was, in the full sense of the word, symbolically structured. As physical expressions of the creative Word, natural entities were not merely material objects: they were, as Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) wrote, “copies of truths, shadows of things above, pictures, signs, marks or symbols” of the» — Håkansson concluye que el cosmos quedaba estructurado simbólicamente en el sentido pleno, con la fórmula de Reuchlin: copias de verdades, sombras de cosas de arriba, imágenes, signos, marcas o símbolos

«The conception of nature as a manifestation of the divine Word made the “Book of Nature” one of the most widely used metaphors in Christian thought and literature, repeated and elaborated ad infinitum by poets, clergymen and philosophers alike» — Håkansson consigna la fortuna de la metáfora del Libro de la Naturaleza, repetida y elaborada hasta el infinito por poetas, clérigos y filósofos

«The recurrent use of this metaphor in the most varied contexts should not tempt us to treat it as a mere figurative expression» — Håkansson previene contra tratar la metáfora como mera expresión figurada por lo mucho que se repite

«In viewing nature as an expression of the divine Word, early modern scholars treated natural philosophy and theology as complementary and mutually dependent disciplines» — tesis de Håkansson: al ver la naturaleza como expresión del Verbo, los eruditos modernos tempranos trataban filosofía natural y teología como disciplinas complementarias y mutuamente dependientes

«But it was also the most “natural” language for a human being to speak since “every sound made by the human throat can be indicated» — Wakefield sostiene que el hebreo es la lengua más natural porque todo sonido de la garganta humana puede indicarse con signos hebreos; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *by Hebrew signs and letters*

«by Hebrew signs and letters, [which] is not possible with the letters of other languages”» — la continuación de Wakefield: eso no es posible con las letras de otras lenguas

«Thus, biblical historiography and the metaphysics inherited from Plato laid the foundation for a set of assumptions about the nature of language which made it possible to lay bare the inherent properties of» — Håkansson resume el fundamento: la historiografía bíblica y la metafísica heredada de Platón permitían poner al descubierto las propiedades inherentes de las cosas por exégesis lingüística; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«In De doctrina christiana Augustine stressed that “in this mortal life we are like travellers away from our Lord”, and if we wish to return to God we must use this world in order “to ascertain what is eternal and spiritual from corporeal and temporal things”» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, dice que en esta vida mortal somos viajeros lejos del Señor y que hay que usar este mundo para averiguar lo eterno y espiritual desde lo corpóreo y temporal

«Augustine’s view is echoed in Johannes Scotus Eriugena’s (810-877) famous remark that “there is no visible or corporeal thing which is not the symbol of» — Håkansson recoge el eco en Juan Escoto Eriúgena: no hay cosa visible o corpórea que no sea símbolo de algo; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *something incorporeal and intelligible*

«something incorporeal and intelligible”,236 and, six centuries later, in Pico della Mirandola’s assertion that the “visible signs of nature” can “show us the invisible things of God”» — la continuación, y el eco seis siglos después en Pico della Mirandola: los signos visibles de la naturaleza muestran las cosas invisibles de Dios

«A typical example is Edward Topsell’s introductory remark in The Historie of Fovre-Footed Beastes» — Håkansson pone como ejemplo típico el prólogo de Edward Topsell a su historia de las bestias cuadrúpedas

«that the study of the natural world lays bare “that Chronicle which was made by God himselfe, every living beast being a word, every kind being a sentence, and all of them together a large history, containing admirable knowledge & learning...”» — Topsell llama al mundo natural la crónica hecha por Dios mismo, donde cada bestia es una palabra, cada especie una frase y todas juntas una historia

«God, wrote Thomas Tymme, “hath set before our eyes two most principall Bookes: the one of Nature, the other of his written Word”, both of which had been granted us so that we might gain knowledge of their omnipotent Author» — Thomas Tymme, citado por Håkansson, pone ante los ojos dos libros principales, el de la Naturaleza y el de la Palabra escrita

«Indeed, if “man had not sinned, the Booke of Nature would haue sufficed to haue kept him alwaies in the knowledge & obedience of God his Creator”, claimed Tymme; “For then he should himselfe haue carried that Booke whole & perfect, imprinted in his heart and minde”» — Tymme sostiene que sin el pecado el Libro de la Naturaleza habría bastado, porque el hombre lo habría llevado entero e impreso en el corazón y la mente

«But at the Fall, man’s soul had lost its original clarity; it had “fallen into a sinke of mire” where it had been “couered and compassed about with thicke mistes and obscure darknesse”. Hence, man was in need of “another new light brought to vs from Heauen, not naturall, as the first, but supernaturall. For this cause God hath giuen vs his sacred Booke...”» — Tymme explica por qué hizo falta la Escritura: el alma cayó en un cieno y quedó cubierta de nieblas espesas, y por eso Dios dio una luz nueva sobrenatural

«But if the Scriptures were revealed to man in order to restore the knowledge he had lost by the Fall, so was nature a text which could help us interpreting the Bible. “Surely”, Edward Topsell argued, God saved the creatures from the Flood “for that a man might gain out of them much Divine knowledge, such as is imprinted in them by nature, as a type or spark of that great wisdom whereby they were created”» — Håkansson formula la reciprocidad y la apoya en Topsell: la naturaleza es también texto que ayuda a interpretar la Biblia

«By embedding natural philosophy in the biblical narrative of Adam’s wisdom, the Fall and the Flood, scholars strengthened the ties between theology and the natural sciences which had their conceptual foundation in the logos doctrine» — tesis de Håkansson: incrustar la filosofía natural en el relato bíblico reforzaba los lazos entre teología y ciencias naturales fundados en la doctrina del logos

«This narrative also gave the pursuit of knowledge a particular direction and meaning: the scientific study of the world became a means by which man could regain Adam’s lost wisdom and once again become that true imago Dei, perfect in knowledge and understanding» — Håkansson señala el sentido que el relato daba a la busca de conocimiento: recobrar la sabiduría perdida de Adán y volver a ser imagen verdadera de Dios

«Such a perfect knowledge, however, could only be gained when Scripture and nature — God’s Word and God’s Work — were read conjointly» — Håkansson precisa la condición: ese conocimiento perfecto solo se lograba leyendo juntos la Escritura y la naturaleza, la Palabra y la Obra de Dios

«Holding the Scriptures and an armillary sphere symbolizing God’s creation in his hands, the “Christian philosopher” gazes towards the heavens while proclaiming Verbum, & Opera Iehouae Meditabor — “I shall contemplate the Word and Work of Jehova”» — Håkansson describe la estampa: el filósofo cristiano con la Escritura y una esfera armilar, que declara contemplar la Palabra y la Obra de Jehová

«Fig. 6. The “Christian philosopher” who reads both the Holy Scripture the Book of Nature. From George Hartgyll, Generall Calendars, 1594, frontispiece.» — pie de la figura 6; el troceo imprime la frase sin la preposición ante *the Book of Nature*

«George Hartgyll’s illustration of the “Christian philosopher” who reads nature as a text written by the finger of God and regards the Scriptures as a consummate reflection of reality could have been an apt portrait of his contemporary John Dee» — Håkansson propone la estampa de Hartgyll como retrato apto de Dee, que lee la naturaleza como texto escrito por el dedo de Dios

«God, he emphasized, made the heavenly bodies “for Signes” — “I wish, euery man should way this word, Signes” — and he quoted the well-known words of the Scripture: “The Heavens declare the Glorie of God: who made the Heavens in his wisedome ... Day to day uttereth talke: and night, to night declareth knowledge. Prayse him, all ye Sterres, and Light. Amen.”» — Dee subraya que Dios hizo los cuerpos celestes para signos y cita el salmo sobre los cielos que declaran la gloria de Dios

«Astronomy, Dee explained, “was to vs, from the beginning commended, and in maner commaunded by God himselfe” and the “Signes” of heaven gave us knowledge of more than the seasons and of the “Distinctions of Dayes, and yeares”. Above all, astronomy was an art devoted to reading “the Record of the heauenly booke, wherein all times are written”, a book yielding knowledge of “Sacred Prophesies, accomplished in due time, foretold» — Dee dice que la astronomía fue encomendada por Dios mismo y que sirve sobre todo para leer el registro del libro celestial donde están escritos todos los tiempos

«In Dee’s remaining books we find numerous annotations bearing witness to his interest in the prophesies proclaimed by the “heavenly booke”. In his copy of the Astronomica of Manilius we find a personal note next to a passage explaining how the constellation of Cassiopeia “bids men look for gold beneath the ground, uproot all which nature stealthily conceals, and turn earth upside down in search of gain”» — Håkansson trae las anotaciones de Dee a la Astronomica de Manilio sobre Casiopea y la busca de oro bajo tierra

«The finding of the Gold Mine 1574 and 1576 after the strange star in Cassiopeia appearing ... I did coniecture the blasing star in Cassiopeia appering ao 1572, to signify the fynding of some great Thresor or the philosophers stone ... This I told to Mr. Ed. Dier. at the same tyme. How truly it fell out in ao 1582 Martij 10 [i.e. when he had the first angelic conversation with Edward Kelley acting as scryer] it may appere in tyme to come ad stuporem Mundi.» — la nota marginal de Dee: conjeturó que la estrella nueva de Casiopea de 1572 significaba el hallazgo de un gran tesoro o de la piedra filosofal, y remite a lo ocurrido en marzo de 1582

«The heavens were not only declaring the glory of God: they were declaring the glory of Dee, the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elysian days that were at hand.» — Håkansson formula con ironía lo que Dee leía en el cielo: su propia gloria, la piedra filosofal y los días elíseos inminentes

«Dee’s belief that the voice of God was speaking through the Book of Nature is underscored by the religious mood and continual evocation of scriptural phrases in his texts. In Dee’s view, scriptural exegesis and natural science were indissolubly intertwined» — tesis de Håkansson: para Dee la exégesis escrituraria y la ciencia natural estaban entretejidas de modo indisoluble

«“This is that, which in Genesis is called Ha Rakia”, he remarked when calculating the size of the heavenly firmament: “Consider it well.”» — Dee, al calcular el tamaño del firmamento, lo identifica con el Ha Rakia del Génesis y manda considerarlo bien

«In God’s “Creatures and Creation” we could discern the faint but legible traces of the very wisdom proclaimed in the biblical text. By studying nature, this “bright glasse” reflecting the image of God, man could “truly Iudge truly of thinges” — things whose true natures and properties were also revealed in the “parables and Analogies” of the Scriptures» — Håkansson glosa el pasaje: en las criaturas se discernían las trazas tenues pero legibles de la sabiduría que el texto bíblico proclama

«he pointed out that he had always followed “the true, straight, and most narrow path, leading all true, devout, zealous, faithfull, and constant Christian students, ex valle hac miseriae, & miseria istius vallis ... ad montem sanctum Syon, & ad coelestia tabernacula” — “from this valley of misery and the misery of this valley ... to the holy mount Zion and the heavenly tabernacles”» — Dee, en la apelación al arzobispo de Canterbury, declara haber seguido siempre la senda estrecha que lleva del valle de la miseria al monte santo de Sion

«by the true Philosophical method and harmony proceeding and ascending, (as it were) gradatim, from things visible, to consider of things invisible: from things bodily, to conceive of things spirituall: from things transitory, and momentary, to mediate of things permanent: by things mortall (visible and invisible) to have some perseverance of immortality.» — Dee describe su método como un ascenso gradual de lo visible a lo invisible, de lo corpóreo a lo espiritual y de lo transitorio a lo permanente

«And yet, however fair this declaration might have been as a characterization of Dee’s approach to the natural sciences, the claim was a half-truth at best. For at the core of Dee’s spiritual pilgrimage lay his attempts to uncover a language which could yield perfect knowledge of creation and Creator alike, a language which transcended the symbolic character of both nature and Scripture, enabling man to unveil the Wisdom concealed under their visible surface» — Håkansson objeta que esa declaración es a lo sumo media verdad, porque en el núcleo de aquella peregrinación estaba la busca de una lengua que trascendiera el carácter simbólico de la naturaleza y de la Escritura

«Tutored by the angels to understand, speak, and even write this language in the original “Adamicall” letters (fig. 7), Dee was hoping to master the one true language in which the words expressed the very essence of the things they named» — Håkansson describe lo que Dee esperaba de la lengua adámica enseñada por los ángeles: una lengua donde las palabras expresaran la esencia misma de lo nombrado

«“Every Letter signifieth the member of the substance whereof it speaketh”, the archangel Gabriel explained to his two devotees; “Every word signifieth the quiddity of the substance”» — el arcángel Gabriel, citado por Dee, dice que cada letra significa el miembro de la sustancia y cada palabra la quididad de la sustancia

«The trope acted as a medium of meaning between these discursive domains, investing natural philosophy with religious meanings and fostering interpretive» — Håkansson describe la función del tropo: medio de sentido entre dominios discursivos, que inviste de sentido religioso a la filosofía natural; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *approaches to nature influenced by the exegetical techniques*

«approaches to nature influenced by the exegetical techniques applied to the Scriptures.» — la continuación: esos enfoques de la naturaleza quedaban influidos por las técnicas exegéticas aplicadas a las Escrituras

«“We must lay before our eyes two bookes which God hath given unto us to instruct us by, and to lead us to the knowledge of himselfe”, wrote Pierre de la Primaudaye» — Pierre de la Primaudaye, citado por Håkansson, manda poner ante los ojos los dos libros que Dios dio para instruirnos; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *namely the booke of nature*

«“namely the booke of nature, and the booke of his word, which we must ioyne both together...”» — la continuación de la Primaudaye: el libro de la naturaleza y el libro de su palabra, que hay que juntar

«This complementary relationship between Scripture and nature was strikingly illustrated in the Generall Calendars» — Håkansson señala dónde se ilustra con fuerza esa relación complementaria entre Escritura y naturaleza

«of George Hartgyll, a professional astrologer who, significantly, styled himself a “minister of the Word of God”» — Håkansson consigna que George Hartgyll era astrólogo profesional y se titulaba, significativamente, ministro de la Palabra de Dios

«Like Hartgyll, Dee was a practising astrologer who in his Mathematicall Praeface scolded those» — Håkansson equipara a Dee con Hartgyll como astrólogo practicante que reprende en su prefacio matemático; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *who look upon the Heaven, Sterres, and Planets*

«who “looke upon the Heaven, Sterres, and Planets, as an Oxe and an Asse doth”» — la continuación: Dee reprende a quienes miran el cielo, las estrellas y los planetas como un buey o un asno

«Well well, It is time for some to lay hold on wisedome, and to truly Iudge truly of thinges: and not so to expound the Holy word, all by Allegories: as to Neglect the wisedome, powre and Goodnes of God, in, and by his Creatures, and Creation to be seen and learned. By parables and Analogies of whose natures and properties, the course of the Holy Scripture, also, declareth to vs very many Mysteries.» — el pasaje en sangría de Dee: no exponer la palabra santa toda por alegorías y descuidar la sabiduría, el poder y la bondad de Dios visibles en sus criaturas

«The whole Frame of Gods Creatures, (which is the whole world,) is to vs, a bright glasse: from which, by reflexion, reboundeth to our knowledge and perseiuerence, Beames, and Radiations: representing the Image of his infinite goodnes, Omnipotency, and wisedome. And we therby, are thaught and persuaded to Glorifie our Creator, as God: and be thankefull therfore.» — la segunda mitad de ese pasaje: el marco entero de las criaturas es un espejo brillante que devuelve rayos con la imagen de la bondad infinita, la omnipotencia y la sabiduría de Dios

«Fig. 7. The “Adamicall Alphabet”. The British Library, MS Sloane 3188, fol. 104r. Reproduced by permission of the British Library.» — pie de la figura 7, el alfabeto adámico del manuscrito Sloane 3188

«the angels seem to suggest that the “Adamicall speeche” was not merely a “natural” tongue which mirrored the essential nature of things, but the very Language itself — the creative Word of God» — Håkansson señala el deslizamiento: a veces los ángeles dan el habla adámica no por lengua natural sino por el Lenguaje mismo, el Verbo creador de Dios

«“Beholde, Beholde”, they proclaimed when first introducing the tables of letters; “yea let heaven and earth behold: For with this they were created: and it is the voyce and speche of him, which proceded from the first, and is the first ... And it is Truth; Whose truth shall endure for euer” — “Beasts, birds, fowle and fish do all reuerence to it. In this they were all Created. In this, is all things contayned.”» — los ángeles declaran que con las tablas de letras fueron creados cielo y tierra, que son la voz y el habla del que procedió del primero, y que bestias, aves y peces las reverencian

«signifying substantially the thing that is spoken of in the center of his Creator, whereby even as the minde of man ... is easily perswaded in things that are true, so are the creatures of God stirred up in themselves, when they hear the words wherewithal they were nursed and brought forth.» — el pasaje en sangría: formar palabras propias con esas letras significaría sustancialmente la cosa en el centro de su Creador, y las criaturas se agitarían al oír las palabras con que fueron criadas

«Appropriately, the volume in which the tables of letters were collected — a volume “sometimes called liber Creationis & sometimes Tabulae Creationis”, as Dee remarked — was formally entitled Liber Logaeth by the angels: “The Book of the Speech of God”» — Håkansson consigna el título que los ángeles dieron al volumen de las tablas, Liber Logaeth, y las otras formas con que Dee lo nombraba

«The Christian notion of the Word was conceptually structured around the tripartite meaning of the Greek term logos, signifying “reason” and “speech” as well as “word”. Due to this ambiguity, the divine Word was identical to both the eternal Wisdom of God, and the creative power “expressing” this Wisdom, manifesting it in symbolic form» — Håkansson explica la indistinción por el sentido triple del logos griego —razón, habla y palabra—, que vuelve el Verbo idéntico a la Sabiduría eterna y al poder creador que la expresa

«Created in the image and likeness of God, man not only bore a reflection of God’s Wisdom within his soul; he also possessed the power to express this Wisdom by means of speech» — Håkansson enuncia el paralelo en el hombre: creado a imagen y semejanza, lleva en el alma reflejo de la Sabiduría de Dios y tiene el poder de expresarla por el habla

«Thus the conception of man as an imago Dei implied that in his prelapsarian state, before the deformatio of God’s image in his soul, Adam had spoken a language that had been a true expression of the divine Wisdom, a perfect, undistorted reflection of the verbum Dei» — tesis de Håkansson: la concepción del hombre como imagen de Dios implicaba que Adán, antes de la deformatio, hablaba una lengua que era expresión verdadera de la Sabiduría divina

«In situating human speech and God’s Word in a metaphoric relation to each other — that is, by defining and conceptualizing them in terms of each other — the logos doctrine also provided scope for viewing the Adamic language as a means by which man could regain his original likeness to God» — tesis de Håkansson: al poner habla humana y Verbo divino en relación metafórica, la doctrina del logos dejaba ver la lengua adámica como medio de recobrar la semejanza original con Dios

«Transcending the symbolic character of both nature and Scripture, it could give man a direct, unmediated insight into God’s Wisdom» — Håkansson formula el alcance atribuido a esa lengua: trascender el carácter simbólico de la naturaleza y de la Escritura y dar una intuición directa y no mediada de la Sabiduría de Dios

«a simple and pure speech, uncorrupted, holy, brief, and constant ... in which God and men, and men and angels could talk in each other’s presence, not through interpretation, but face to face ... just as usual between friends.» — Johannes Reuchlin, citado por Håkansson en una obra que Dee conocía, describe la lengua adámica como habla simple y pura donde Dios y los hombres se hablaban cara a cara, como entre amigos

«The recurrent use of this metaphor in the context of the Adamic language indicates a common belief in the redemptive properties of the prelapsarian tongue» — Håkansson lee en la reiteración de esa metáfora una creencia común en las propiedades redentoras de la lengua prelapsaria

«According to Robert Wakefield, man’s primordial tongue had been a language in which “God spoke to the fathers panim ’el panim, that is, ‘face to face’, openly and not in riddles”» — Robert Wakefield, citado por Håkansson, dice que en la lengua primordial Dios habló a los padres cara a cara, abiertamente y no en enigmas

«By recovering this language man would no longer be doomed to see God per speculum in aenigmate, through symbols and interpretation. Instead, he would see Him “as He is”, unveiled and exposed to human comprehension» — Håkansson formula la promesa: recobrada esa lengua, el hombre ya no vería a Dios por espejo y en enigma sino tal como es

«Yet there are sufficient parallels between the angelic conversations and his earlier Monas hieroglyphica to suggest that the conceptual framework underlying the Monas symbol consisted of a similar set of metaphoric associations between language, nature and the Word» — tesis de Håkansson: los paralelos bastan para sostener que bajo el símbolo de la Mónada había un juego semejante de asociaciones metafóricas entre lengua, naturaleza y Verbo

«Citing grammar among the disciplines elucidated by the Monas symbol, Dee remarked that the “very solid foundations” of this art “lie in the sacred scriptures of God Almighty”» — Dee, en el prefacio a Maximiliano II, dice que los fundamentos muy sólidos de la gramática están en las sagradas escrituras de Dios todopoderoso

«Whatever Dee had in mind when making this statement, however, it had little in common with traditional grammar. The only explicitly linguistic issue he treats in the text is the origin and shape of the letters» — Håkansson objeta que aquella declaración tiene poco que ver con la gramática tradicional, y señala que el único asunto lingüístico tratado es el origen y la forma de las letras

«By contemplating the Monas symbol, one would find proof that “the first and mystical letters of the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Latins, issued from God alone and were [by Him] entrusted to the mortals”» — según Dee, contemplar el símbolo probaría que las primeras letras místicas de hebreos, griegos y latinos salieron solo de Dios y fueron confiadas a los mortales

«Created by God according to certain divine geometrical principles, these three alphabets contained truly remarkable secrets, essential to our understanding of both nature and Scripture» — Håkansson resume la tesis de Dee sobre los tres alfabetos: creados por Dios según ciertos principios geométricos divinos, contenían secretos notables

«The paragraph is in a sense typical of early modern occult discourse in that it conflates different levels of meaning and presents scriptural imagery as statements of literal truth» — Håkansson califica el párrafo de típico del discurso oculto moderno temprano por fundir planos de sentido y presentar la imaginería escrituraria como enunciados de verdad literal

«he had revealed that the letters of the alphabet literally contained a wealth of knowledge by reflecting, in their very graphical design, His Wisdom» — Håkansson glosa la lectura de Dee: el Alfa y Omega no sería parábola ornada sino revelación de que las letras contienen literalmente un caudal de saber por su diseño gráfico

«Indeed, by contemplating this symbol, Dee claimed, one would find “conclusive proofs” that “the logos of the creative universe works by rules so that man, godly-minded and born of God, may learn by straightforward work and by theological and mystical language”» — Dee promete pruebas concluyentes de que el logos del universo creador obra por reglas, de modo que el hombre nacido de Dios pueda aprender por obra directa y por lenguaje teológico y místico

«However, despite the numerous parallels between the Monas symbol and the “Adamicall speeche”, these two languages were of a decidedly different character. As a symbolic representation of the principles of creation, based on the common alchemical and astronomical symbols, Dee’s “hieroglyphical writing” could claim neither the antiquity nor the perfection of the Adamic tongue» — Håkansson marca la diferencia entre las dos lenguas: la escritura jeroglífica de Dee no podía reclamar ni la antigüedad ni la perfección de la lengua adámica

«In the text, Dee is surprisingly vague regarding the provenance of the Monas symbol, leaving it undecided whether he was the first to conceive the symbol or whether it had been known in ancient times but since then “wholly wiped out from the memory of men”» — Håkansson consigna la vaguedad de Dee sobre la procedencia del símbolo, que deja indeciso si lo concibió él o si era antiguo y quedó borrado de la memoria de los hombres

«Yet it is clear that he viewed it as a means by which an ancient wisdom, since time immemorial lost to mankind, could be restored to its former perfection» — tesis de Håkansson: Dee veía el símbolo como medio de restaurar a su perfección antigua una sabiduría perdida desde tiempo inmemorial

«Although he had not relied “on any human authority”, he wrote, the symbol would shed light on “some notable sayings or writings of very ancient philosophers; so, for instance, with regard to certain mysteries of Hermes, Ostanes, Pythagoras, Democritus, and Anaxagoras”» — Dee dice no haberse apoyado en autoridad humana alguna y a la vez que el símbolo alumbra dichos de filósofos antiquísimos: Hermes, Ostanes, Pitágoras, Demócrito y Anaxágoras

«The notion of a “perennial philosophy”,264 a consummate wisdom which the ancient sages had once been in possession of but since then had been lost to mankind, is a common theme in Renaissance scholarship» — Håkansson define la filosofía perenne como sabiduría consumada que los sabios antiguos poseyeron y después se perdió, y la da por tema común de la erudición renacentista

«As I want to include texts attributed to biblical characters, such as Solomon and Enoch, in this tradition, I am deliberately eschewing the term prisca theologia, or “ancient theology”, which generally refers to the pagan tradition of knowledge» — en nota, Håkansson declara por qué evita el término prisca theologia: quiere incluir textos atribuidos a personajes bíblicos como Salomón y Enoc, y aquel término remite a la tradición pagana

«The metaphor of seeing God “face to face” — an allusion to the well-known words of Saint Paul, “for now we see through a glass» — Håkansson liga la metáfora de ver a Dios cara a cara con las palabras de Pablo; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *darkly; but then face to face*

«darkly; but then face to face”254 — was intimately linked to the notion of man’s coming redemption or “reformation”, when the image of God in our soul would be restored into its original clarity» — la continuación: esa metáfora queda ligada a la redención o reformación venidera, cuando la imagen de Dios en el alma recobre su claridad original

«He, who is the only author of all mysteries, has compared Himself to the first and last letter (which is to be understood not only for the Greek language, but also for the Hebrew and Latin ones, as can in various ways be proved by that art). How great, then, must be the mysteries of the intermediate [letters]?» — el primer tramo del pasaje en sangría de Dee: Dios se comparó a la primera y la última letra, y de ahí la pregunta por los misterios de las letras intermedias

«And it is not surprising that this [mystery, i.e. the Monas symbol] should be so constituted in letters [in literis sic constare]; for all things visible and invisible, manifest and most occult, emanating (through nature or art) from God Himself, are to be most diligently explored in our wanderings [through the symbol], so that thereby we may proclaim and celebrate His goodness, His wisdom, and His power. Paul taught, therefore, that mankind would be deprived of all excuse [for not doing so], even if it had no other written memorial of these [truths] than that which from the Creation has been inscribed by God’s own finger on all creatures.» — el segundo tramo: todo lo visible e invisible emanado de Dios debe explorarse en esas andanzas por el símbolo, y Pablo enseñó que no cabe excusa ante lo inscrito por el dedo de Dios en las criaturas

«language and nature constituted each other’s mirror images. By accurately representing those geometrical principles which underlay both natural phenomena and the letters of the alphabet, the Monas symbol could shed light on “all things visible and invisible» — Håkansson formula la reciprocidad: lengua y naturaleza son imágenes especulares una de otra, y el símbolo alumbra lo visible y lo invisible; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«all things, in His Wisdom, truly shining forth in the Word itself of God, as in the archetypal world. [...] This was from the beginning of the world the received doctrine about the Wisdom of God, published in the Holy Scriptures, and taught to the Greeks by the Chaldeans and Egyptians from the tradition of their ancestors ... Zoroaster and Trismegistus taught it, from whom, chiefly from Trismegistus, all the Greeks learnt it, from Orpheus to Plato.» — la continuación del pasaje de Servet: la doctrina recibida sobre la Sabiduría de Dios, enseñada a los griegos por caldeos y egipcios, por Zoroastro y Trismegisto, y de Orfeo a Platón

«Thus, God’s Wisdom had not only been granted to those peoples who lived according to Scripture. Revealed to ancient sages long before the Holy Bible was written down by Moses, the Word had been known even by the pagans and handed down from generation to generation, from the Chaldeans and the Egyptians to the venerable Greek philosophers» — Håkansson formula el alcance de la filosofía perenne: el Verbo se reveló a sabios antiguos antes de Moisés y lo conocieron también los paganos, de caldeos y egipcios a los griegos

«This belief in a perennial philosophy was of tremendous consequence to the culture of erudition in the Renaissance. Framed in this cultural narrative, pagan and classical philosophy could be viewed as reconcilable with Christian doctrines, carrying an authority that was verging on the biblical» — tesis de Håkansson: enmarcada en ese relato, la filosofía pagana y clásica podía verse conciliable con la doctrina cristiana y con autoridad rayana en la bíblica

«The myth of a perennial philosophy was also an important factor behind the syncretistic approach to textual interpretation. As more or less adulterated renditions of an originally unified knowledge, divergent philosophical accounts could be read as reconcilable in meaning, if not in terminology» — Håkansson señala el segundo efecto: como versiones más o menos adulteradas de un saber unificado, los relatos divergentes podían leerse como conciliables en sentido aunque no en terminología

«Hence, the belief in the wisdom of the ancients laid the foundation for a “bookish culture”, focused on ancient texts and their interpretation as a means to gain access to the Word» — Håkansson cierra: la creencia en la sabiduría de los antiguos fundó una cultura libresca centrada en los textos antiguos y su interpretación como vía al Verbo

«Though the notion of a perennial philosophy is often associated with the revival of Platonic philosophy in the Renaissance, it also played a prominent role in both medieval scholasticism and in Renaissance Aristotelianism» — Håkansson objeta la asociación exclusiva de la filosofía perenne con el renacer platónico: también tuvo papel en la escolástica medieval y en el aristotelismo renacentista

«Given the significance Dee attributed to the works of his compatriot Roger Bacon (c. 1220-1292), his adherence to this notion might indeed have owed more to medieval scholarship than to contemporary historiography» — tesis de Håkansson: por el peso que Dee daba a Roger Bacon, su adhesión a esa noción pudo deber más a la erudición medieval que a la historiografía contemporánea

«When Dee’s interest in Bacon was first aroused is unclear, but as early as 1557, at the academically tender age of thirty, he had sufficient knowledge of Bacon’s works to write a text in his defence, the Mirror of Unity, or an Apology for the Englishman Roger Bacon» — Håkansson data en 1557, a los treinta años de Dee, el escrito en defensa de Bacon, y declara incierto el momento en que nació ese interés

«As the work is lost we have no real knowledge of its contents, but according to the subtitle it was an attempt to prove that Bacon “did nothing by the aid of demons but» — Håkansson consigna que la obra está perdida y que el subtítulo declara su propósito: probar que Bacon no hizo nada con ayuda de demonios; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«was a great philosopher and accomplished naturally and by ways permitted to a Christian man the great works which the unlearned crowd usually ascribes to the acts of demons”» — la continuación del subtítulo: Bacon fue gran filósofo y obró naturalmente, por vías lícitas a un cristiano, lo que el vulgo indocto suele atribuir a actos de demonios

«In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Bacon’s name was commonly associated with esoteric arts such as magic and alchemy, gaining him a tarnished reputation as a “juggler and necromantic mage” who had performed his legendary deeds “not by the power of God but by operation of evil spirits”» — Håkansson consigna la reputación de Bacon en los siglos XVI y XVII: juglar y mago nigromántico cuyas hazañas se atribuían a espíritus malignos

«In Propaedeumata aphoristica he relied heavily on Bacon’s works when describing how the effects of celestial influences could be calculated mathematically» — Håkansson señala que Dee se apoyó mucho en Bacon al describir cómo calcular matemáticamente los efectos de las influencias celestes

«Collecting virtually all of Bacon’s texts, most of them existing only in manuscript, Dee seems to have considered himself the heir of this “floure of whose worthy fame, can never dye nor wither”» — Håkansson consigna que Dee reunió casi todos los textos de Bacon y parece haberse tenido por heredero suyo

«Indeed, in a supplication to Queen Elizabeth he even suggested a distant consanguinity to the medieval scholar, claiming that Bacon had been known as “David Dee of Radik” before he took the Franciscan vows» — Håkansson consigna que Dee llegó a sugerir a la reina un parentesco lejano con Bacon, a quien dice llamado David Dee de Radik antes de los votos franciscanos

«An important feature in Bacon’s philosophy was the authority he attributed to the ancients. Relying on patristic writers, he delineated a history of knowledge remarkably similar to the Renaissance notion of a philosophia perennis: “the full measure of philosophy was given to ... the holy patriarchs and prophets from the beginning of the world”» — Håkansson traza en Bacon una historia del saber muy parecida a la philosophia perennis renacentista, con la plenitud de la filosofía dada a los patriarcas y profetas desde el principio del mundo

«From the sons of Seth, who lived for six hundred years “in order that they might know by experience through the length of their life what God revealed to them”, this knowledge had been handed down from generation to generation. Noah and his sons had taught the Chaldeans, Abraham had taught the Egyptians, Moses had been taught by the Egyptians, from whose wisdom the Greeks had developed their philosophy» — Bacon, citado por Håkansson, traza la cadena: de los hijos de Set a Noé, de Abraham a los egipcios, de estos a Moisés y de su sabiduría a la filosofía griega

«A prominent position in this historiography of knowledge was attributed to the scholastic Philosopher par excellence, Aristotle. Not only had Aristotle “restored the knowledge of the ancients and brought it to light» — Håkansson consigna el lugar que Bacon da a Aristóteles: el Filósofo que restauró el conocimiento de los antiguos y lo sacó a la luz

«in the text Secretum secretorum, commonly attributed to Aristotle by medieval scholars and one of the most widely read works in the Middle Ages, Bacon found proof that the Philosopher had dealt with a number of “esoteric” disciplines excluded from the scholastic curriculum: astrology, alchemy, magic and numerology. All were disciplines that had been revealed to the ancient sages and restored to posterity by Aristotle» — Håkansson consigna que en el Secretum secretorum Bacon halló prueba de que Aristóteles trató disciplinas esotéricas excluidas del currículo escolástico: astrología, alquimia, magia y numerología

«Bacon’s encounter with Secretum secretorum, a text that contained “the greatest natural secrets to which man or human invention can attain in this life”,275 had a profound influence upon his philosophical approach. Henceforth he aspired to lay the foundation for a far-reaching reform of scholastic philosophy, ultimately aimed at restoring knowledge to its primordial perfection» — Håkansson señala el efecto de ese encuentro: Bacon aspiró a una reforma de la filosofía escolástica dirigida a restaurar el saber a su perfección primordial

«What Bacon tried to conceive was an integritas sapientiae, a unified system of thought which included all scientific disciplines while simultaneously having» — Håkansson nombra el proyecto de Bacon, la integritas sapientiae, sistema unificado que incluía todas las disciplinas científicas; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«“the moral and religious purpose of improving human life in this world through the practical utility of the sciences and of leading to salvation through a knowledge of God”» — Clulee, citado por Håkansson, añade el fin moral y religioso de ese proyecto: mejorar la vida humana por la utilidad práctica de las ciencias y llevar a la salvación por el conocimiento de Dios

«A central element in Bacon’s proposed reform was his concept of scientia experimentalis, a term that is best rendered as “science of experience” as it had little in common with our modern conception of experimental science» — Håkansson acota el término de Bacon: la scientia experimentalis se traduce mejor como ciencia de la experiencia, porque poco tiene que ver con la ciencia experimental moderna

«In Bacon’s view, scientia experimentalis was based on two distinct kinds of experience: sensual perception and divine illumination» — Håkansson expone las dos clases de experiencia en que Bacon la funda: percepción sensual e iluminación divina

«But since empirical knowledge “does not touch at all on things spiritual” it was insufficient in itself, “and for this reason the holy patriarchs and prophets, who first gave sciences to the world, received illumination within and were not dependent on sense alone”» — Bacon, citado por Håkansson, dice que el saber empírico no toca lo espiritual y que por eso los patriarcas y profetas recibieron iluminación interior

«In attaching equal significance to divine illumination and empirical knowledge, Bacon not only sought to dissolve the disciplinary boundary between natural philosophy and theology; he could also include a range of occult sciences, aimed at manipulating forces that were imperceptible to the external senses, in his unified system of knowledge» — tesis de Håkansson: al dar igual peso a la iluminación divina, Bacon disolvía la frontera entre filosofía natural y teología y podía incluir ciencias ocultas en su sistema unificado

«Revealed by God to the ancient magi, these arts had once been an integral part of that unified wisdom he aspired to restore to its original perfection» — Håkansson consigna el estatuto que Bacon daba a esas artes: reveladas por Dios a los magos antiguos y parte íntegra de aquella sabiduría unificada

«As Nicholas Clulee has noted, it is possible that the title of Dee’s lost apology for Bacon, the “Mirror of Unity”, was a deliberate allusion to Bacon’s notion of an integritas sapientiae» — Håkansson recoge de Clulee la posibilidad de que el título del escrito perdido de Dee aludiera deliberadamente a la integritas sapientiae de Bacon

«Like Bacon, Dee also regarded divine illumination as an important source of knowledge and in Monas hieroglyphica he assumed the role of an enlightened sage, claiming that the “Spirit of Jesus Christ” was writing through him and that he was the one “to whom God gave the will and the ability thus to record this divine mystery in a written memorial...”» — Håkansson señala que Dee asumió en la Mónada el papel de sabio iluminado, diciendo que el Espíritu de Jesucristo escribía por él

«As Dee writes, it “procedeth by Experiences, and searches forth the causes of Conclusions, by Experiences: and also putteth the Conclusions them selues, in Experience”, and might therefore be called “Scientia Experimentalis”» — Dee dice que la archemastrie procede por experiencias, busca las causas de las conclusiones por experiencias y pone las conclusiones mismas en experiencia

«Dee’s archemastrie was in fact closely modelled on Bacon’s conception of scientia experimentalis, which he explicitly referred to and discussed in this context. In compliance with Bacon, Dee regarded this science as based on experience rather than on experiments and included occult arts such as talismanic magic and divination within its boundaries» — Håkansson sostiene que la archemastrie está modelada de cerca sobre la scientia experimentalis de Bacon y que Dee incluía en ella artes ocultas como la magia talismánica y la adivinación

«An interesting aspect of Dee’s dependence on Roger Bacon is the close parallels between Bacon’s conception of the integritas sapientiae and what Frances Yates called the “Hermetic world view”» — Håkansson señala los paralelos estrechos entre la integritas sapientiae de Bacon y lo que Frances Yates llamó la visión hermética del mundo

«Dee’s account of this enigmatic art is elusive, but it is clear that he regarded archemastrie as the sovereign science, which both certifies all other sciences by» — Håkansson describe la archemastrie de Dee como ciencia soberana que certifica todas las demás; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *actuall experience sensible*

«“actuall experience sensible” and extends their range of practical application, leading to the “chief and finall power of Naturall and Mathematicall Artes”» — la continuación: la archemastrie extiende el alcance práctico de las ciencias y lleva al poder principal y final de las artes naturales y matemáticas

«But nor should Bacon’s importance to Dee be overstated at the expense of other sources. Dee’s syncretistic approach to textual interpretation, as well as his belief in the fundamental unity of knowledge, makes the attempt to slot him into a particular philosophical school or tradition both impossible and pointless» — Håkansson acota su propia tesis: el sincretismo de Dee y su creencia en la unidad del saber vuelven imposible y sin objeto encasillarlo en una escuela o tradición

«Whatever importance Bacon’s philosophy might have had to Dee, it only had bearing on his own work as long as it was in compliance with his conception of the ancient wisdom» — Håkansson fija el criterio: la filosofía de Bacon pesaba en la obra de Dee solo mientras concordara con su idea de la sabiduría antigua

«The importance that Bacon attached to the prisca auctoritas and the practical utility of arts, even esoteric ones, in this unified scheme of knowl» — Håkansson señala lo que Bacon daba a la prisca auctoritas y a la utilidad práctica de las artes, incluso las esotéricas; el corte de plana parte la palabra y la frase sigue en *edge makes him a more likely source*

«The monas or “monad” in title of the work, which is derived from the Greek, meaning “unity”, is in all probability a deliberately ambiguous allusion to the Neoplatonic conception of the One, the ultimate Godhead, and to the unity of knowledge expressed through the symbol» — Håkansson lee la monas del título como alusión deliberadamente ambigua a la concepción neoplatónica del Uno y a la unidad del saber expresada en el símbolo; el troceo imprime la frase sin la preposición ante *title*

«If Dee had a more detailed conception of the history of knowledge, he left it unexpressed in Monas hieroglyphica. Apart from his off-hand allusion to Adam’s wisdom and Fall, which merely suggests that he shared the common belief in Adam’s perfect knowledge of the world, there is no indication of how he conceived of the subsequent dispersion and deterioration of knowledge» — Håkansson consigna el silencio de Dee: fuera de una alusión de pasada a la sabiduría y la Caída de Adán, la Mónada no dice cómo concebía la dispersión y el deterioro del saber

«When Thomas Tymme a few years before Dee’s death planned an English translation of Monas hieroglyphica he obviously saw this as a serious omission, and introduced his commentary with a lengthy account of how the once perfect wisdom had been handed down to posterity» — Håkansson consigna que Tymme, al planear una traducción inglesa de la Mónada, vio ahí una omisión seria y abrió su comentario con la historia de la transmisión

«Before the Fall, Tymme explained, Adam had been “endowed with such excellent knowledge in naturall Philosophie” that he was able to give “all the Creatures of God their proper names, agreeing with their nature and kind”» — Tymme, citado por Håkansson, dice que antes de la Caída Adán pudo dar a todas las criaturas sus nombres propios, acordes con su naturaleza y su especie

«And although his knowledge “was much weakened by his fall”, he was the “first founder and inventor of Arte”, laying the foundation of all sciences known to mankind» — Tymme llama a Adán, pese a la Caída, primer fundador e inventor del Arte y cimiento de todas las ciencias

«After Adam’s death his descendants had “erected two Tables of Stone” on which they engraved this knowledge, “not in letters (which was not then known) but in Hieroglyphicall characters”» — Tymme cuenta que los descendientes de Adán grabaron ese saber en dos tablas de piedra, no en letras, que entonces no se conocían, sino en caracteres jeroglíficos

«Tymme’s account is vague regarding the subsequent fate of these stone tablets, only stating that Noah recovered one of them after the Flood. Over the centuries, however, the memory of Adam’s “universall knowledge in natural Philosophie” had faded, causing the once unified wisdom to break down into separate disciplines. Simultaneously it had spread over the world, to Chaldea, Persia, and Egypt, where Moses had been taught the mysteries of the “Cabalisticall art”, perhaps by the divine Hermes Trismegistus himself» — Håkansson señala la vaguedad de Tymme sobre las tablas y resume el resto: el saber se dispersó en disciplinas separadas y llegó a Caldea, Persia y Egipto, donde Moisés aprendió el arte cabalístico

«Like Tymme he regarded the occult arts, such as alchemy, magic, kabbalah and astrology, as an integral part of an ancient knowledge, hidden for posterity in the “hieroglyphic signs of the five planets” created by ancient sages» — Håkansson sostiene que Dee, como Tymme, tenía las artes ocultas por parte íntegra de un saber antiguo escondido en los signos jeroglíficos de los cinco planetas

«This narrative not only brought the unity of scientific knowledge into focus, but was also essential to legitimize the occult arts as conformable to Christian faith» — tesis de Håkansson: ese relato no solo enfocaba la unidad del saber sino que era esencial para legitimar las artes ocultas como conformes a la fe cristiana

«he invoked the scriptural examples of Moses and Daniel: “Moses was instructed in all manner of wisedome of the Aegyptians: and he was of power both in his wordes, and workes. You see this Philosophicall Power & Wisedom, which Moses had, to be nothing misliked of the Holy Ghost.”» — Dee, defendiendo en el prefacio matemático los actos maravillosos logrados por medios mecánicos, invoca a Moisés instruido en toda la sabiduría de los egipcios

«When raising his prayers to God to send His good angels to instruct him, it was with the blatant ambition of taking a seat alongside the venerable biblical prophets: “Enoch enioyed thy favor and conversation, with Moyses thow wast familiar ... to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Josua, Gedeon, Esdras, Daniel, Tobias, and sundry other, thy good Angels were sent, by thy disposition, to instruct them, informe them, help them...”» — Håkansson lee la plegaria de Dee como ambición declarada de sentarse junto a los profetas bíblicos, y cita la lista de Enoc, Moisés, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Josué, Gedeón, Esdras, Daniel y Tobías

«Claiming to be a prophet equal to Moses, Enoch and Abraham was hardly uncontroversial, however, and the angelic conversations incurred both ridicule and dismay» — Håkansson consigna el costo: pretenderse profeta igual a Moisés, Enoc y Abraham no era poco controvertido y las conversaciones angélicas trajeron burla y consternación

«During their sojourn in Prague, Dee and Kelley were contemplating making parts of their conversations public, both to refute those who considered them to be “overcredulous or doting fools who have been drawn or driven into error (a pleasant and alluring error so far) by some astute evil spirit making game of us”, and to disprove those who maintained that “in our time and in the present condition of the world, all revelation by divine communication has ceased, and that no such revelation is made or no true prophesy given to mortals...”» — Håkansson consigna el plan de publicar parte de las conversaciones para refutar a quienes los tenían por crédulos engañados por un espíritu astuto y a quienes sostenían que toda revelación había cesado

«As the angels repeatedly stressed, the secrets they were about to reveal to Dee and Kelley were identical to that wisdom once possessed by such ancient sages as Enoch, Elias and Solomon» — Håkansson consigna lo que los ángeles repetían: los secretos que iban a revelar eran los mismos que poseyeron Enoc, Elías y Salomón

«Although the volume containing the tables of letters was formally entitled “Liber Logaeth” by the angels, it was also referred to as the “Book of Enoch” as it contained “that wisdom and science, with which Enoch (by God’s will) was imbued”» — Håkansson consigna el segundo nombre del volumen de las tablas, Libro de Enoc, por contener la sabiduría de que Enoc fue henchido por voluntad de Dios

«Whereas the authentic Greek and Ethiopian Books of Enoch did not become known in Europe until the middle of the seventeenth century, the Apocrypha contained numerous references to the “books” and “writings” of Enoch, which patristic writers commonly regarded as authentic but since long lost texts» — Håkansson data en mediados del siglo XVII la llegada a Europa de los Libros de Enoc griego y etíope, y consigna que antes solo se conocían las referencias de los apócrifos

«According to the Book of Jubilees Enoch had been the first of mortals “who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote down the signs of heaven according to the order of their months in a book”. Illuminated by the light of God he “saw and understood everything ... he was moreover with the angels of God ... and they showed him everything”. Indeed, according to this text Enoch had been “taken from amongst the children of men, and we conducted him into the Garden of Eden”» — el Libro de los Jubileos, citado por Håkansson, hace de Enoc el primer mortal que aprendió la escritura y escribió los signos del cielo, y dice que fue llevado al jardín del Edén

«This tradition is explicitly echoed in the angelic conversations: “The Lord appeared unto Enoch, and was mercifull unto him, opened his eyes, that he might see and judge the earth, which was unknown to his Parents, by reason of their fall … and lo, Enoch was wise, and full of the spirit of wisdom”» — los ángeles repiten esa tradición: el Señor abrió los ojos de Enoc para que viera y juzgara la tierra, desconocida para sus padres por la caída

«But in attributing the invention of writing to Enoch, the Apocryphal tradition was also in open conflict with Plato’s well-known account of how this art was first created by Hermes Trismegistus» — Håkansson señala el conflicto: atribuir a Enoc la invención de la escritura chocaba con el relato de Platón, que la adjudica a Hermes Trismegisto

«In the pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum secretorum, for instance, Enoch/Hermes is portrayed as the very first of sages, the one who had recorded “all secret and celestial sciences” to posterity» — Håkansson consigna la identificación de Enoc con Hermes en el Secretum secretorum, donde aparece como el primero de los sabios que registró todas las ciencias secretas y celestes

«That the “Books of Enoch” were commonly regarded as occult works is suggested by Reginald Scot’s remark that “Conjurers carrie about at this daie, bookes intitled under the names of Adam, Abel, Tobie, & Enoch; which Enoch they repute the most divine fellow in such matters.”» — en nota, Håkansson trae a Reginald Scot, que dice que los conjuradores llevan consigo libros bajo los nombres de Adán, Abel, Tobías y Enoc, y tienen a Enoc por el más divino en esas materias

«Oute of this [book] shall be restored the holy bokes, which haue perished euen from the begynning, and from the first that liued. And herein shalbe deciphred perfect truth from imperfect falshode, True religion from fals and damnable errors, With all Artes: which are propre to the vse of man...» — la promesa angélica en sangría: de ese libro se restaurarán los libros santos perecidos desde el principio, descifrando la verdad perfecta de la falsedad imperfecta y la religión verdadera de los errores condenables

«The historiographic background of Dee’s work thus played an essential role in shaping and defining his philosophical approach» — tesis de Håkansson: el trasfondo historiográfico fue esencial para dar forma y definición al enfoque filosófico de Dee

«Though these relations had a metaphysical basis in the logos doctrine, it was through cultural narratives — such as those of Adam’s naming of the animals, the confusion of tongues and the perennial philosophy — that these relations could be construed in such a way that man could fathom nature through the medium of language» — Håkansson precisa el reparto: la base metafísica está en la doctrina del logos, pero son los relatos culturales los que permiten construir esas relaciones de modo que el hombre sondee la naturaleza por la lengua

«This language would not only yield perfect knowledge of nature and God, but would also make it possible to restore the lost books from which the whole perennial philosophy had sprung — those books that contained “the knowledge that God delivered to Enoch” — “the mysteries of the word of God”297 — and lay the foundation of a complete restitution of both philosophy and religion» — Håkansson enumera lo que se esperaba de la lengua adámica: conocimiento perfecto de la naturaleza y de Dios, la restauración de los libros perdidos y una restitución completa de filosofía y religión

«The fundamental difference between the angelic conversations and Monas hieroglyphica did not, therefore, lie in how the history of human knowledge was construed, but in how it was utilized» — tesis de Håkansson: la diferencia de fondo entre las conversaciones angélicas y la Mónada no está en cómo se construía la historia del saber humano sino en cómo se la usaba

«The angelic conversations were, in effect, an attempt to circumvent history and gain insight into the Word without relying on human traditions and language» — Håkansson formula el giro: las conversaciones angélicas fueron un intento de sortear la historia y acceder al Verbo sin apoyarse en tradiciones ni lenguas humanas

«When writing Monas hieroglyphica, however, Dee still believed that human traditions and language held the key to a universal knowledge of the world» — Håkansson marca el contraste: al escribir la Mónada, Dee creía todavía que las tradiciones y las lenguas humanas guardaban la llave de un conocimiento universal del mundo

«in showing how the Latin, Greek and Hebrew alphabets could be derived from the Monas symbol, he clearly implied that the geometric proportions of these letters reflected the “law of creation”» — Håkansson señala la implicación de Dee: al derivar los tres alfabetos del símbolo, daba a entender que sus proporciones geométricas reflejaban la ley de la creación

«makes him a more likely source of Dee’s conceptions than the “Hermetic” texts, whose importance to Renaissance thought Yates greatly overstated» — Håkansson objeta a Yates: Bacon es fuente más probable de las concepciones de Dee que los textos herméticos, cuya importancia para el pensamiento renacentista dice que ella exageró mucho; el corte de plana parte *knowledge* en dos

«Naïve as it may seem, not to mention dangerous should they have carried it out» — Håkansson califica de ingenuo y peligroso el plan de publicar las conversaciones angélicas; el corte de plana parte la palabra y la frase sigue en *the plan to publish the angelic conversations shows the strength of Dee’s belief*

«versations shows the strength of Dee’s belief in the revelations — and in his own momentous role in Christian history» — la continuación: aquel plan muestra la fuerza de la creencia de Dee en las revelaciones y en su propio papel trascendental en la historia cristiana

«As James Bono writes, such narratives “sanctioned man’s ability to grasp the powers of nature by» — Bono, citado por Håkansson, dice que esos relatos sancionaban la capacidad del hombre de asir los poderes de la naturaleza; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *permitting him, through language*

«permitting him, through language, special access to the revelations of the Word, the verbum Dei”» — la continuación de Bono: dándole, por la lengua, acceso especial a las revelaciones del Verbo

«Referring to the lost Speculum unitatis, he also suggested that a close examination of the symbol would reveal the existence of a “universal grammar”» — Håkansson consigna que Dee, remitiendo al Speculum unitatis perdido, sugería que un examen atento del símbolo revelaría la existencia de una gramática universal

«that the grammarian who could prove “that grammar is one science, [and] that it descends from one man” would rise through the hierarchy of knowledge and ultimately attain an “understanding of the supracelestial virtues and metaphysical influences”» — Dee sostiene que el gramático capaz de probar que la gramática es una ciencia descendida de un solo hombre subiría por la jerarquía del saber hasta entender las virtudes supracelestes

«Apart from the lost Speculum unitatis, Dee never seems to have dealt with the notion of a “universal grammar” more extensively. The only additional allusion to this notion can be found in a short poem he wrote for Henry Parry’s Egluryn Phraetineb in 1594, in which Latin, Hebrew and Welsh are suggested to share a common structura» — en nota, Håkansson consigna que fuera del Speculum unitatis perdido la única alusión de Dee a la gramática universal está en un poema de 1594 donde latín, hebreo y galés comparten una estructura común

«As Dee never elaborated the claim, it is fraught with risks to draw any definitive conclusions from this brief statement, but it might be significant that it was made in connection with Roger Bacon» — Håkansson acota su propia lectura: como Dee nunca desarrolló la afirmación, sacar conclusiones definitivas es arriesgado, aunque importa que la hiciera junto al nombre de Bacon

«Bacon clearly considered the study of language and grammar as essential to the attainment of the integritas sapientiae, the unified system of philosophy which might have been what Dee alluded to when naming his apology “The Mirror of Unity”» — Håkansson señala que Bacon tenía el estudio de la lengua y la gramática por esencial para alcanzar la integritas sapientiae

«In his Opus tertium, he asserted that “the knowledge of language is the first gate of wisdom”, and in Opus majus he gave a careful account of how the three principal languages — Latin, Hebrew and Greek — were essential to understand the true meaning of the Scripture» — Bacon, citado por Håkansson, llama al conocimiento de las lenguas la primera puerta de la sabiduría, y expone en el Opus majus cómo latín, hebreo y griego son esenciales para entender la Escritura

«As Nicholas Clulee remarks, Bacon appears to have regarded these three languages as in some way “interrelated” and the “understanding of the true grammatical reasons behind these languages [as] important for the recovery of the single perfect wisdom that was given to man by God”» — Clulee, citado por Håkansson, dice que Bacon tenía esas tres lenguas por interrelacionadas y las razones gramaticales verdaderas por importantes para recobrar la sabiduría perfecta única

«What Clulee does not seem to have noted, however, is that Bacon’s philosophy included the very notion Dee found so important: the idea of a “universal” grammar underlying all languages and “from which the various (imperfect) grammars of real languages draw their morphological and syntactic features”, as Peter H. Salus puts it» — Håkansson enmienda a Clulee: la filosofía de Bacon incluía la noción misma que a Dee le importaba, una gramática universal bajo todas las lenguas, con la formulación de Peter H. Salus

«What Bacon referred to in this context was not the conventional study of grammar, which treated “the facts relating to speech and its properties in prose, meter and rhythm ... in a puerile way by means of statements”, as he wrote in Opus majus, but a deeper form of grammar, constituting the common “causes and reasons” of language» — Håkansson precisa a qué se refería Bacon: no al estudio convencional de la gramática sino a una forma más honda que constituye las causas y razones comunes del lenguaje

«These “causes and reasons”, in other words, did not concern the accidents of language — how one speaks a particular language — but constituted a set of logical principles underlying all languages» — Håkansson formula el punto: esas causas y razones no tocan los accidentes de la lengua sino un conjunto de principios lógicos que subyacen a todas

«The close relation between logic and grammar was repeatedly stressed by Bacon, and in his Opus tertium as well as his lectures he spoke of “logica et grammatica” as if a distinction was unnecessary, characterizing them both as innate in the human mind» — Håkansson consigna que Bacon hablaba de lógica y gramática como si la distinción fuera innecesaria y tenía a ambas por innatas en la mente humana

«While the actual vocabulary of different languages had to be learnt, and had originally been invented by the ancients after the confusion of tongues, the principles underlying both grammar and logic were innate — “the science itself, all humans have from nature”» — Håkansson expone el reparto de Bacon: el vocabulario se aprende y fue inventado por los antiguos tras la confusión de lenguas, pero los principios de gramática y lógica son innatos

«Bacon’s conception of a universal grammar is of interest not only because it might have been what Dee alluded to in Monas hieroglyphica, but also because it provides an illustrative example of how misleading the distinction between “conventional” and “natural”» — Håkansson declara el interés doble de la gramática universal de Bacon: como posible referente de Dee y como ejemplo de lo engañosa que es la distinción entre concepciones convencionales y naturales del lenguaje; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«As Howard Bloch has pointed out, scholastic views of language can often be characterized as a kind of “moderate conventionalism”, implying that language was regarded as a human invention based on social agreements and customs, but nonetheless mirroring and conforming to nature» — Håkansson recoge de Howard Bloch que las concepciones escolásticas del lenguaje pueden llamarse convencionalismo moderado: lengua como invención humana por acuerdo y costumbre que aun así imita la naturaleza

«While grammar has developed to some extent, and indeed mainly, as an invention of man, still it imitates nature, from which it partly derives its origin. Furthermore, it tends, as far as possible, to conform to nature in all respects.» — Juan de Salisbury, citado por Håkansson, dice que la gramática, invención humana en lo principal, imita la naturaleza y tiende a conformarse a ella en todo

«John of Salisbury’s insistence that grammar imitates and conforms to nature did not rise out of a Platonic conception of language. Instead, it had its basis in the same assumption as Roger Bacon’s notion of grammar: that grammar is a part of logic and hence “an immanent power infused into one’s soul by nature”307 — a notion that was firmly based on the Aristotelian language view» — Håkansson niega raíz platónica a esa insistencia y la funda en el mismo supuesto que Bacon: la gramática como parte de la lógica, poder inmanente infundido en el alma por naturaleza

«In De interpretatione Aristotle not only stressed that the meaning of words are “established by convention alone” and that speech and writing are merely “symbols and signs of affections or impressions of the soul”» — Håkansson consigna lo que Aristóteles sostiene en De interpretatione: el significado de las palabras se establece solo por convención y habla y escritura son símbolos y signos de afecciones del alma

«the mental affections themselves, of which these words are primarily signs, are the same for the whole of mankind, as are also the objects of which those affections are representations or likenesses, images, copies.» — Aristóteles, citado por Håkansson, dice que las afecciones mentales son las mismas para toda la humanidad, como lo son los objetos de que son representaciones o semejanzas

«That is to say, while words were merely conventional representations of mental concepts, the mental concepts themselves were natural and universal representations of an equally universal reality» — Håkansson glosa el punto: las palabras son representaciones convencionales de conceptos mentales, y los conceptos, representaciones naturales y universales de una realidad igualmente universal

«Since Aristotle simultaneously insisted that words have meaning only by “standing for” or “indicating” mental concepts or things, there had to exist a form of correspondence between language, mind and reality if language was to be more than a jumble of noises» — Håkansson extrae la consecuencia: tenía que haber alguna correspondencia entre lengua, mente y realidad para que la lengua no fuera un amasijo de ruidos

«Aristotle’s remarks gave rise to a number of scholastic attempts to formalize the concept of a universal grammar, a grammar that did not concern the actual expression of language but described the underlying “deep-structure” (to use a modern expression) of all functional languages» — Håkansson consigna los intentos escolásticos de formalizar una gramática universal que describe la estructura profunda de todas las lenguas funcionales

«Most famous of these attempts is the grammatica speculativa developed in the early fourteenth century by the so-called Modistae, a group including, among others, Siger of Brabant, Thomas of Erfurt and Boethius of Dacia» — Håkansson nombra el intento más famoso, la grammatica speculativa de los modistas, con Sigerio de Brabante, Tomás de Erfurt y Boecio de Dacia

«Using the current scholastic terminology, the Modistae developed a complex “grammatical” system centred on the relationship between the modi essendi of things, the modi intelligendi of the mind» — Håkansson describe el sistema de los modistas, centrado en la relación entre modi essendi de las cosas, modi intelligendi de la mente y modi significandi de las palabras

«As Bursill-Hall puts it, the grammatica speculativa was a grammar which “had its basis outside language itself”» — Bursill-Hall, citado por Håkansson, dice que la grammatica speculativa tenía su base fuera del lenguaje mismo

«there was one universal grammar dependent on the structure of reality, and that the rules of grammar were quite independent of the language in which they were expressed. There was one grammatical system fixed and valid for all languages but which the philosopher of language alone is able to discover.» — el pasaje en sangría: una sola gramática universal dependiente de la estructura de la realidad, con reglas independientes de la lengua en que se expresan, que solo el filósofo del lenguaje descubre

«Needless to say, the elaborate scholastic systematizations of the Modistae cannot be projected back on to Roger Bacon’s linguistic theories. Nor, for that matter, is it plausible that Dee was influenced by medieval speculative grammar» — Håkansson acota dos veces: las sistematizaciones de los modistas no pueden proyectarse sobre Bacon y no es plausible que Dee estuviera influido por la gramática especulativa medieval

«and, more importantly, that it is so because it fails to consider the mind’s relation to reality and language. The Aristotelian position could be used to bolster the notion of language as both, and simultaneously, conventional and conformable to physical reality precisely because it suggested the existence of a linguistic “deep-structure”, innate in the human mind» — Håkansson da la razón: esa distinción no considera la relación de la mente con la realidad y con la lengua, y la posición aristotélica permitía tener la lengua por convencional y conforme a la realidad física a la vez

«In this work Dante proposed that the Italian vernacular could be restored to the status of an “eloquent” language, representing reality in an accurate and faithful form» — Håkansson expone la propuesta de Dante: el vernáculo italiano podía restaurarse al estatuto de lengua elocuente que representa la realidad con fidelidad

«Dante did not, however, suggest that the Italian vernacular was derived from the original Adamic tongue, which he explicitly identified as Hebrew. Instead he seems to have suggested that any vernacular could be turned into an “eloquent” language if only it were purged of its inherent imperfections and defects» — Håkansson precisa: Dante identificaba el hebreo con la lengua adámica y sugería que cualquier vernáculo podía volverse elocuente si se lo purgaba de sus imperfecciones

«According to Dante the vernacular tongues were “more noble” than Greek and Latin since they were acquired “without any formal instruction, by imitating our nurses” and hence more intimately related to the inherent rationality of the human mind» — Dante, citado por Håkansson, tiene los vernáculos por más nobles que el griego y el latín porque se adquieren sin instrucción formal, imitando a las nodrizas

«What God deprived humanity of at the tower of Babel, argued Dante, was not the Adamic language as such, but a mental faculty, the forma locutionis or “form of language”» — Håkansson expone la lectura de Dante sobre Babel: lo que Dios quitó no fue la lengua adámica como tal sino una facultad mental, la forma locutionis

«famous example is Bacon’s claim in his Grammatica graeca that “grammar is one and the same in substance in all languages, although it differs in accidents”» — Bacon, citado por Håkansson, sostiene que la gramática es una y la misma en sustancia en todas las lenguas aunque varíe en accidentes; el corte de plana deja del otro lado el artículo que abre la frase

«illustrates, however, is that the perennial distinction between “conventional” and “natural” language views is untenable as an analytic instrument» — tesis de Håkansson: lo que la grammatica speculativa ilustra es que la distinción perenne entre concepciones convencionales y naturales del lenguaje es insostenible como instrumento analítico; el corte de plana deja del otro lado el arranque de la frase

«a certain form of language was created by God along with the first soul; I say ‘form’ with reference both to the words used for things, and to the construction of words, and to the arrangement of the construction» — Dante, citado por Håkansson, dice que junto con la primera alma Dios creó cierta forma de lenguaje, referida a las palabras, a su construcción y a la disposición de esa construcción; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«The forma locutionis was, in other words, not only a set of principles underlying every vernacular language; it was an inherent capacity in man, making it possible to represent reality accurately in the form of language» — Håkansson glosa la forma locutionis de Dante: no solo principios bajo toda lengua vernácula sino capacidad inherente del hombre para representar la realidad con exactitud

«These principles, innate in perfect form in every human being before they were “shattered” at the confusion of tongues, could — to some degree, at least — be restored artificially through the methodical study of language, the very task to which Dante devoted the major part of the De vulgari eloquentia» — Håkansson señala que esos principios, hechos añicos en la confusión de lenguas, podían restaurarse en parte por el estudio metódico de la lengua, tarea de Dante

«Yet it is evident that he never regarded Italian as superior to other vernacular languages, as these principles could be employed to construct a variety of different languages, “conventional” since they were based on social customs and agreement, yet “natural” in the sense that they represented reality in a true and accurate form» — Håkansson precisa que Dante no tenía el italiano por superior a otros vernáculos, y que esos principios podían dar lenguas convencionales por la costumbre y naturales por representar la realidad con verdad

«In recent decades it has been widely debated whether Dante was influenced by the Modistae, but the idea that all languages were based on a common set of principles which was innate in the human mind was by no means uncommon» — Håkansson deja abierta la discusión sobre si Dante siguió a los modistas y señala que la idea de principios comunes innatos no era rara

«Central to Scaliger’s account was the notion of logic or reason (ratio) as a mental faculty given by God which enabled man to create and analyse language» — Håkansson pone en el centro de Scaliger la ratio, facultad mental dada por Dios que permite crear y analizar la lengua

«More precisely, the ratio of man was defined as the faculty by means of which we apprehend the universalia inherent in physical things and which gives us the power to represent these accurately in the form of words» — Håkansson define la ratio en Scaliger: la facultad por la que aprehendemos los universalia inherentes a las cosas físicas y los representamos con exactitud en palabras

«“In the same way as words are signs of things, they also imitate their nature.”» — Scaliger, citado por Håkansson, dice que las palabras, además de ser signos de las cosas, imitan su naturaleza

«But, as Kristian Jensen has pointed out, Scaliger’s insistence on the correspondence between language and reality should not be interpreted as a Platonic conception. Rather, it seems clear that “Scaliger did believe that words signify mental terms, which in their turn are reflections of the res, but that the mirror of the intellect is so perfect that the mental level becomes superfluous when one talks about the matter”» — Kristian Jensen, citado por Håkansson, niega que la insistencia de Scaliger sea platónica: las palabras significan términos mentales, pero el espejo del intelecto es tan perfecto que ese nivel se vuelve superfluo

«The consequences of these ideas were largely left unexplored by Scaliger, but were fully brought out by Franciscus Sanctius in his Minerva seu de causis linguae Latinae (1562, 1587), a work profusely influenced by Scaliger’s De causis. Since the concepts of the mind as well as the universalia of things were universal, the same basic principles (rationes, vera principia) had, according to Sanctius, to underlie every language — principles which, in effect, were not only linguistic in character, but constituted the very logic underlying created nature as well as the rational mind of man» — Håkansson señala que Sanctius llevó hasta el final lo que Scaliger dejó sin explorar: los mismos principios básicos bajo toda lengua, que son la lógica de la naturaleza creada y de la mente racional

«As a consequence, Sanctius could see no conflict between the views of Plato and Aristotle: all languages were “natural” in the sense that they were in accordance with the nature of things, yet also “conventional” since they were imposed on things by human will — imposed, as he put it, not through arbitrary convention, but after deliberation had taken place (adhibito consilio)» — Håkansson expone la conciliación de Sanctius: todas las lenguas son naturales por acordarse con la naturaleza de las cosas y convencionales por imponerse por voluntad humana tras deliberación

«Thus, Sanctius asserted, the notion stated in Scripture as well as in Plato’s Cratylus — that words signify naturally — was fully in agreement with Aristotle’s assertion that words signify according to convention» — Sanctius, citado por Håkansson, tiene por plenamente acorde lo que dicen la Escritura y el Crátilo con lo que sostiene Aristóteles sobre la convención

«Thus, neither the notion of a universal “grammar” nor the belief in a fundamental correspondence between language and nature presupposed a view of language as “natural”» — tesis de Håkansson: ni la gramática universal ni la correspondencia entre lengua y naturaleza presuponían tener la lengua por natural

«Instead these notions rose from a conception of human reason as a faculty in which the principles underlying both language and nature were innate» — Håkansson sitúa el origen de esas nociones en una concepción de la razón humana como facultad donde son innatos los principios de la lengua y de la naturaleza

«Dee’s interest in Roger Bacon’s conception of a universal grammar was in all probability a result of the fact that Bacon conceived of these principles in terms of mathematics» — tesis de Håkansson: el interés de Dee por la gramática universal de Bacon vendría de que Bacon concebía esos principios en términos matemáticos

«As Bacon wrote in the Opus majus, grammar and logic — again treated as virtually identical — could be regarded as “accidental parts of philosophy” which could not “be known without mathematics”. Mathematics, he asserted, is the “first among sciences and will precede others disposing us towards them”, for “comprehension of mathematical truths is innate, as it were, in us”» — Bacon, citado por Håkansson, llama a gramática y lógica partes accidentales de la filosofía que no pueden conocerse sin matemáticas, primera entre las ciencias

«The notion that mathematics constituted the basis of all true philosophy was a commonplace in the Pythagorean and Neoplatonic tradition, a tradition we find forcefully advocated in Dee’s Mathematicall Praeface» — Håkansson da por lugar común pitagórico y neoplatónico que las matemáticas son la base de toda filosofía verdadera, y lo ve defendido con fuerza en el prefacio matemático de Dee

«O comfortable allurement, O rauishing perswasion, to deale with a Science, whose Subiect, is so Auncient, so pure, so excellent, so surmounting all creatures, so vsed of the Almighty and incomprehensible wisdome of the Creator, in the distinct creation of all creatures.» — Dee, citado en sangría por Håkansson, celebra las artes matemáticas por su sujeto antiguo y puro, usado por la sabiduría incomprensible del Creador en la creación distinta de todas las criaturas

«In describing mathematics as the instrument employed by God in the creation of all creatures Dee gave expression to another commonplace in the Pythagorean tradition, perhaps most pointedly expressed in the famous dictum of Boethius (d. 524) which he quoted in his Praeface» — Håkansson liga la descripción de las matemáticas como instrumento de Dios en la creación con el dicho de Boecio que Dee cita

«All thinges (which from the very first originall being of thinges, haue bene framed and made) do appeare to be Formed by the reason of Numbers. For this was the principall example or patterne in the minde of the Creator.» — Boecio, citado por Dee, dice que todas las cosas parecen formadas por la razón de los números, porque ese fue el ejemplo principal en la mente del Creador

«In the Neoplatonic conception of mathematics, numbers were no mere human abstractions» — Håkansson enuncia la concepción neoplatónica: los números no eran meras abstracciones humanas; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *they were the pattern in the mind of the Creator*

«As an imago Dei man possessed these divine principles of creation by nature, innate in his mind» — Håkansson enlaza: como imagen de Dios, el hombre posee por naturaleza esos principios divinos de la creación, innatos en su mente

«Similarly, Dee stressed that human knowledge and reasoning — in particular, mathematical reasoning — was a reflection of the divine wisdom, the original Logos» — Håkansson consigna el paralelo en Dee: el conocimiento y el razonamiento humano, en particular el matemático, como reflejo de la sabiduría divina, el Logos original

«When man applied mathematical laws to “number” things, his soul relied on the very same principles that God employed when He “in the beginning, produced orderly and distinctly all thinges”, for God’s “numbryng” was “his Creatyng of all thinges”. Hence, by means of numbers man could comprehend both God and nature, both “thinges Spirituall” and “the least thynges that may be seen”» — Dee sostiene que el numerar de Dios fue su crear todas las cosas, y que por los números el hombre comprende lo espiritual y lo mínimo visible

«Viewed against this background, Dee’s reference to a universal grammar takes on a new significance. What Dee found support for in the works of Roger Bacon was not only the notion of an underlying grammar based on mathematical principles; in accommodating this notion within a Pythagorean scheme, he could also treat this grammar as intimately tied up with the concept of Logos» — tesis de Håkansson: acomodada en un esquema pitagórico, la gramática subyacente de base matemática quedaba en Dee íntimamente ligada al concepto de Logos

«To comprehend the common principles behind all languages was, from this perspective, tantamount to comprehending the divine wisdom underlying God’s creation, the verbum Dei — a feat that would raise the mind to an “understanding of the supracelestial virtues and metaphysical influences” governing the created universe» — Håkansson formula la consecuencia: comprender los principios comunes de todas las lenguas equivalía a comprender la sabiduría divina bajo la creación

«In a later chapter we shall return to Dee’s mathematical concepts in Monas hieroglyphica, which indeed lend credence to the suggestion that his allusion to a universal “grammar”, symbolically manifested in the “Hieroglyphic Monad”, was an oblique reference to the divine Word» — Håkansson anuncia el regreso al asunto y declara su hipótesis: la alusión de Dee a una gramática universal manifestada en la Mónada era una referencia oblicua al Verbo divino

«In the original Stoic formulation of the concept, logos had three closely interrelated meanings: it referred to the divine reason organizing matter; to the principles inherent in the human mind; and to rational discourse» — Håkansson desglosa los tres sentidos entrelazados del logos estoico: la razón divina que organiza la materia, los principios innatos de la mente humana y el discurso racional

«In one of these dialogues, Hermes states that man has received two gifts from God, mind (mens) and speech (sermo), both of which have the power to “guide him to the troop of the gods and the blessed”» — Håkansson trae el diálogo hermético traducido por Ficino: el hombre recibió de Dios dos dones, mente y habla, que lo guían a la tropa de los dioses y los bienaventurados

«They are different my son, yet speech is one; transferred by means of translation into this or that [language], one word can finally be found to exist. This word is the same among the Egyptians and Persians, as among the Greeks.» — Hermes, citado por Håkansson en la versión de Ficino, dice que las lenguas difieren pero el habla es una, y que una misma palabra se halla entre egipcios, persas y griegos

«guage would have continued to be used by all speakers, had it not been shattered through the fault of human presumption...» — la continuación de Dante: esa forma de lenguaje habría seguido en uso entre todos los hablantes si no la hubiera hecho añicos la falta de la presunción humana; el corte de plana parte *language* en dos

«Scaliger discussed the causae of the Latin language from an Aristotelian perspective, using the term “cause” to signify both the historical origin of a word and the process of derivation of speech from thought» — Håkansson expone el De causis de Scaliger: las causas del latín desde una perspectiva aristotélica, con causa como origen histórico de la palabra y como derivación del habla desde el pensamiento

«“god almyghtie infused Sapience into the Memorye of Man” by putting “certayne species or as it were sedes of thynges and rules of Artes or Sciences” in his soul» — Thomas Elyot, citado por Håkansson, dice que Dios todopoderoso infundió la Sapiencia en la memoria del hombre poniendo en su alma ciertas especies o simientes de las cosas y reglas de las artes o ciencias

«The “word” in the mind of man, which also underlay all speech, was thus a reflection of the divine Word, the original Logos» — Håkansson formula la conclusión: la palabra en la mente del hombre, que subyace a todo habla, es reflejo del Verbo divino, el Logos original

«It is quite possible that this Hermetic dialogue was one of Dee’s sources when alluding to a universal “grammar”, although this particular passage is not marked in his annotated copy of the Pimander» — Håkansson propone ese diálogo hermético como posible fuente de Dee y consigna a la vez que el pasaje no está marcado en su ejemplar anotado del Pimandro

«But the tight bonds between language, reason and the Word that this dialogue illustrates remained an integral part of the logos doctrine when it was turned into the groundwork of Christian metaphysics, a status it owed largely to Augustine’s De trinitate» — Håkansson señala que esos lazos entre lengua, razón y Verbo siguieron en la doctrina del logos al volverse cimiento de la metafísica cristiana, sobre todo por el De trinitate

«Augustine’s exposition of the logos doctrine was centred on the notion of the human mind as an image of the divine Trinity» — Håkansson centra la exposición agustiniana de la doctrina del logos en la mente humana como imagen de la Trinidad divina

«Human rationality, our capacity for rational reasoning, was understood as a reflection of the divine reason, enabling us to ascertain truth in the face of the diversity of things» — Håkansson glosa: la racionalidad humana como reflejo de la razón divina, que permite averiguar la verdad frente a la diversidad de las cosas

«True knowledge resided within our soul, not in the world of senses, and truth was revealed by judging our experiences against the eternal truth which lay enclosed within our mind — by letting the light of our mind shed its illuminating rays on the world we perceived through our senses» — Håkansson enuncia el giro introspectivo: el conocimiento verdadero reside en el alma y no en el mundo de los sentidos, y la verdad se revela al juzgar la experiencia contra la verdad eterna encerrada en la mente

«Augustine’s attempt to solve this problem led him to formulate a theory of signification which grounded linguistic representation in the heart of the logos doctrine: the theory of the verbum cordis» — Håkansson nombra la salida de Agustín: una teoría de la significación que funda la representación lingüística en el corazón de la doctrina del logos, la del verbum cordis

«We behold, then, by the sight of the mind, in that eternal truth from which all things are made, the form according to which we are, and according to which we do anything by true and right reason ... and we have the true knowledge of things, thence conceived, as it were as a word within us...» — Agustín, citado en sangría por Håkansson, dice que en la verdad eterna vemos la forma según la cual somos, y de ahí concebimos el conocimiento verdadero como una palabra dentro de nosotros

«According to Augustine, the true knowledge which arose from our intuitive perception of the divine Wisdom in our mind took the form of “a word within us”, a “word of the heart”, which preceded all acts of speech and constituted the very meaning of the spoken words» — Håkansson glosa la palabra del corazón: precede a todo acto de habla y constituye el sentido mismo de las palabras dichas

«The verbum cordis was, in other words, an inner, mentally envisioned element of cognition, not yet consciously realized as language in the human mind, but constituting the true and proper content of the spoken words» — Håkansson define el verbum cordis como elemento interior de cognición no realizado aún como lengua en la mente, pero que es el contenido propio de lo que se dice

«It was, as Augustine wrote, “a word that is before all sound, before all thought of a sound”, a word “which precedes all the signs by which it is signified, and is begotten from the knowledge that continues in the mind, when that same knowledge is spoken inwardly according as it really is”» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, la llama palabra anterior a todo sonido, engendrada del conocimiento que permanece en la mente cuando ese conocimiento se dice hacia dentro

«The concept of the verbum cordis or “inner word” enabled Augustine to forge a link between human speech and the reflection of the eternal truth in the human soul, a link which made it possible to grasp and comprehend the divine Word through the medium of language» — Håkansson formula el rendimiento del concepto: enlaza el habla humana con el reflejo de la verdad eterna en el alma y vuelve posible comprender el Verbo divino por la lengua

«As a part of the image of God in man, the inner word had the power to illuminate our mind, making the reflection of the divine Word within our soul manifest to our thought» — Håkansson señala el poder que se le atribuye: iluminar la mente y volver manifiesto al pensamiento el reflejo del Verbo divino en el alma

«Whoever, then, is able to understand a word, not only before it is uttered in sound, but also before the images of its sound are considered in thought ... is able now to see through this glass and in this enigma some likeness of that Word of whom it is said, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’.» — Agustín, citado en sangría, dice que quien entiende una palabra antes de su sonido y de sus imágenes puede ver, por este espejo y en este enigma, alguna semejanza de aquel Verbo del prólogo de Juan

«Augustine’s concept of the verbum cordis was essentially an elaboration of a notion we have already seen implied in the original Stoic formulation of the logos doctrine, at least as it was expressed in the Greek Hermetic texts: the notion of a common “word” behind all spoken tongues, defined as the image of the divine mind in the soul of man» — Håkansson enlaza el verbum cordis con la formulación estoica original y con los textos herméticos griegos: una palabra común tras todas las lenguas habladas, imagen de la mente divina en el alma

«In De trinitate Augustine describes the inner word in terms that are remarkably reminiscent of Hermes’ account, stating that the verbum cordis is a word that is “neither Greek nor Latin”, a word “which belongs to no tongue ... of those which are called the tongues of nations”, but “which precedes all the signs by which it is signified”» — Agustín describe la palabra interior como una que no es griega ni latina y no pertenece a ninguna de las lenguas de las naciones

«As Hans Arens has recently shown, Augustine’s conception of the inner word found its way into the works of John of Damascus, Anselm of Canterbury, Bonaventure, Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, thereby turning into a common notion in medieval and early modern linguistics» — Håkansson traza con Hans Arens el paso de la palabra interior a Juan Damasceno, Anselmo, Buenaventura, Alberto Magno y Tomás de Aquino

«As late as 1577, Pierre de la Primaudaye described the human gift of speech in Augustinian terms in his great compendium of commonplaces, L’Academie Francoise. Contrasting the “internal speech” in the human mind with the “outward speech” uttered by the mouth, he emphasized that “the image of the heavenly word in the speech of man” was retained in the spoken words when the “image of the minde appareth imprinted and engrauen in the speach that is vttered”» — la Primaudaye, citado por Håkansson, opone el habla interna a la externa y dice que la imagen de la mente queda impresa y grabada en el habla proferida

«The Augustinian conception of the inner word was significant in several ways. Firstly, it tied human language and speech conceptually to the divine Word. The meaning of a statement could be recognized as true because it was in agreement with the inner word, which in turn was a reflection of the verbum Dei» — Håkansson enumera lo que aporta esa concepción: primero, ata conceptualmente lengua y habla humanas al Verbo divino, y la verdad de un enunciado se reconoce por su acuerdo con la palabra interior

«Secondly, having forged this conceptual link between man’s speech and God’s Word, it was possible to conceive of human language in terms of the divine Word; that is, to conceptualize it metaphorically in relation to the verbum Dei» — el segundo aporte: forjado ese enlace, cabía concebir la lengua humana en términos del Verbo divino, es decir, conceptualizarla metafóricamente respecto de él

«In a later chapter we shall see how these conceptions were exploited in early modern scholarship to support a range of notions that patristic writers had been careful to avoid or even explicitly condemned» — Håkansson anuncia que la erudición moderna temprana explotó esas concepciones para sostener nociones que los patrísticos evitaban o condenaban expresamente

«Turning to Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia, for instance, we find a lengthy account of how the “voice of God” is present in the “intrinsical word” (verbum intrinsecum), defined as the mind’s “knowledge of itself” and expressed by means of the “extrinsical and vocal word”, the “offspring and manifestation of that [intrinsical] word”» — Agrippa, citado por Håkansson, sitúa la voz de Dios en la palabra intrínseca, conocimiento de sí de la mente, expresada por la palabra extrínseca y vocal

«Agrippa then goes on to state that our speech has no “power in magic” unless it is “formed by the divine Word”, and carries the “voice of God” enclosed within the “intrinsical word” with it» — Agrippa sostiene que el habla no tiene poder en la magia si no está formada por el Verbo divino y no lleva consigo la voz de Dios encerrada en la palabra intrínseca

«Rather than having its basis in a Platonic conception of “natural” languages, the belief in the magical power of words was bolstered by the notion of man as an imago Dei and of human speech as analogous to the creative Word of God» — tesis de Håkansson: la creencia en el poder mágico de las palabras no se apoyaba en una concepción platónica de las lenguas naturales sino en el hombre como imagen de Dios y en el habla como análoga al Verbo creador

«A third reason for giving this lengthy account of the Augustinian conception of the inner word is that it formed the background of a recurrent theme in Christian thought, namely man’s coming “reformation”» — Håkansson da la tercera razón de su exposición: la palabra interior es el trasfondo de un tema recurrente del pensamiento cristiano, la reformación venidera del hombre

«Augustine’s discussion of the verbum cordis revolved around the well-known words of Saint Paul, “for now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12), a phrase that implied an eventual perfection of the inner word» — Håkansson señala que la discusión agustiniana gira en torno al ver por espejo y en enigma de Pablo, frase que implicaba una perfección futura de la palabra interior

«When the image of God in man’s soul had been “renewed to perfection”, stated Augustine, “we shall be like God, because we shall see Him, not through a glass, but ‘as He is’ [1 John 3:4] which the Apostle Paul expresses by ‘face to face’”» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, dice que renovada a perfección la imagen de Dios en el alma seremos semejantes a él porque lo veremos no por espejo sino tal como es

«To some extent Augustine’s entire theology can be understood as revolving around the problem of how human language is able to convey knowledge of the divine truth; that is, how words can represent the Word in a form that makes it possible to grasp the meaning enclosed within the sign» — Håkansson resume la teología agustiniana entera como girando en torno a cómo la lengua humana puede transmitir conocimiento de la verdad divina y cómo las palabras representan al Verbo

«The outer, spoken words were understood as messengers of the verbum cordis, the true and proper “word” which remained fixed» — Håkansson describe el reparto: las palabras exteriores son mensajeras del verbum cordis; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *in the mind of the hearer*

«in the mind of the hearer even when the spoken words which expressed it had died away» — la continuación: esa palabra propia queda fija en la mente del oyente aun cuando el sonido que la expresó ya se apagó

«Having its scriptural basis in the writings of Saint Paul, in which the individual’s return to God through the mind’s renewal or reformation appears as a central theme,340 it was interpreted by a number of early Church Fathers as the coming restoration of our soul into its original, prelapsarian clarity» — Håkansson data en Pablo la base escrituraria de la reformación y consigna su lectura patrística como restauración venidera del alma a su claridad prelapsaria

«At the consummation of the world, wrote Origen, the soul will be restored to that state it had “when there was no need of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil”: to that “original condition”, as Gregory of Nyssa echoed, it had had when Adam “was in his first beginnings of his life”» — Orígenes y Gregorio de Nisa, citados por Håkansson, sitúan la restauración del alma en el estado anterior a comer del árbol del conocimiento

«The history of man as an imperfect being was enacted between the two climatic points of deformation and reformation, between the moment when man’s soul “turned away from the highest good and turned to lower things”, as Robert Grosseteste wrote in his Hexaëmereon, and “when the human being is raised above the good of its creation to a sharing of the form of God”» — Håkansson formula la historia del hombre imperfecto entre dos climas, deformación y reformación, con las palabras de Grosseteste

«A controversial issue, however, was whether man’s reformation into the perfect image and similitude of God (ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei) was attainable solely at the consummation of the world, or whether it was sometimes granted even in this life» — Håkansson nombra la cuestión controvertida: si la reformación a imagen y semejanza de Dios era alcanzable solo al fin del mundo o se concedía a veces en esta vida

«Though most authorities chose to tread lightly when discussing this issue, some did not hesitate to ascribe a number of ancient prophets the experience of having seen God “face to face” in this life» — Håkansson consigna que la mayoría de las autoridades pisaba con cuidado y que algunas atribuían a ciertos profetas antiguos haber visto a Dios cara a cara en esta vida

«Likewise, Augustine acknowledged that reformation in some exceptional cases had been granted to wise men in this life, numbering Moses and Paul among those who had seen God “face to face”, or “as He is” (sicuti est)» — Håkansson consigna que Agustín admitía la reformación en casos excepcionales en esta vida y contaba a Moisés y a Pablo entre quienes vieron a Dios tal como es

«As is well known, Ficino considered the Platonic and Neoplatonic texts he made available to the Latin-speaking audience to be in agreement with Augustinian concepts,344 and the notion of man as an imago Dei had a pivotal role in occult philosophy» — Håkansson consigna que Ficino tenía por acordes con lo agustiniano los textos platónicos y neoplatónicos que puso en latín, y da al hombre como imagen de Dios un papel central en la filosofía oculta

«As the Paracelsian alchemist Oswald Croll put it, the human soul was “the Image of the Archetype or originall copy and patterne of the world, that is, of the immortall Wisdome of God himselfe...” Hence man could “in himselfe, as in a kind of Deified glasse, behold and understand all things”» — Oswald Croll, citado por Håkansson, llama al alma humana imagen del arquetipo del mundo y dice que en sí misma, como en un espejo deificado, el hombre contempla y entiende todas las cosas

«In his monumental Utriusque cosmi historia Robert Fludd lucidly illustrated how man was capable of comprehending the divine realm through its reflection in the human mind» — Håkansson consigna que Fludd ilustró cómo el hombre comprende lo divino por su reflejo en la mente humana

«The human soul was analogous to Jacob’s ladder, enabling man to ascend step by step towards God, from sense perception, via imagination, reason, intellect (intellectus), and intelligence (intelligentia), until he finally reached the Cause of Causes, the verbum Dei» — Håkansson describe la escala de Fludd: del sentido a la imaginación, la razón, el intelecto y la inteligencia, hasta la Causa de las Causas, el verbum Dei

«Jacob’s ladder is a frequently recurring metaphor in early modern accounts describing how the study of philosophy ultimately leads us to a knowledge of God» — Håkansson consigna la escala de Jacob como metáfora recurrente de cómo el estudio de la filosofía lleva al conocimiento de Dios

«A well-known example is Pico della Mirandola’s famous account in De hominis dignitate of how we may ascend step by step, first by purifying our soul, then by engaging in natural philosophy, from which we rise to a contemplation of divine things until we finally “come to rest in the bosom of the Father, who is at the top of the ladder, and are consumed by a theological happiness”» — Pico della Mirandola, citado por Håkansson, describe el ascenso por purificación del alma, filosofía natural y contemplación hasta reposar en el seno del Padre

«Commenting on Plotinus’ Enneads, Ficino describes how man may ascend by separate steps along a “ladder” leading to God, beginning with purifying his soul, then in several steps contemplating inferior entities as symbolic expressions of the superior realm while raising prayers to God to grant knowledge, until, finally, he is transformed into the highest intellect — God» — Håkansson resume el comentario de Ficino a las Enéadas que llamó la atención de Dee: una escala hacia Dios que empieza por purificar el alma y acaba en la transformación en el intelecto más alto

«Fig. 9. The human soul as a Jacob’s Ladder. From Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia, 1617-1621, vol. II, Tract I, sect. I, Lib. XIII, p. 272.» — pie de la figura 9, el alma humana como escala de Jacob, tomada de la historia de los dos cosmos de Fludd

«Although the basic elements of this scheme — purification of the soul, contemplation of nature as a means to raise the mind to divine matters, and man’s ultimate deification — were an integral part of orthodox Christian doctrine, the revival of pagan, Platonic and Jewish philosophy in the Renaissance had a crucial role in how they were exploited in early modern occult thought» — Håkansson acota: los elementos básicos del esquema eran ortodoxos, y lo decisivo fue cómo los explotó el pensamiento oculto moderno temprano tras el renacer de la filosofía pagana, platónica y judía

«The influence of these sources tended to blur the distinctions between natural philosophy, theology and mysticism, fostering interpretive approaches which were aimed at fathoming both nature and God by means of contemplative techniques» — tesis de Håkansson: esas fuentes difuminaban las distinciones entre filosofía natural, teología y mística, y fomentaban enfoques dirigidos a sondear la naturaleza y a Dios por técnicas contemplativas

«With the appropriation of hieroglyphics, kabbalah, Pythagorean number symbolism and Neoplatonic theurgy, the prospect of seeing God “face to face” in this life was no longer reserved for a few biblical prophets» — Håkansson consigna el efecto de apropiarse jeroglíficos, cábala, simbolismo numérico pitagórico y teurgia neoplatónica: ver a Dios cara a cara en esta vida dejó de ser cosa de unos pocos profetas

«Instead, these conceptions laid the foundation for different forms of “mysticism” which treated man’s vision of God as attainable through contemplation of symbolic language» — Håkansson formula lo que fundaron esas concepciones: formas de mística que tenían la visión de Dios por alcanzable mediante la contemplación del lenguaje simbólico

«That is, by focusing the mind on symbolic expressions of divine truths, man could transcend the ordinary forms of human thought and attain a literally divine comprehension of the world» — Håkansson precisa la técnica: fijar la mente en expresiones simbólicas de verdades divinas para trascender las formas ordinarias del pensamiento y alcanzar una comprensión literalmente divina del mundo

«In Monas hieroglyphica Dee relied on a range of esoteric traditions in which symbolic expressions were viewed as a means to attain a mystic ascent of the soul. One of these traditions, alluded to in the title of the work, was the Renaissance tradition of hieroglyphics» — Håkansson abre la parte II señalando que la Mónada se apoya en tradiciones esotéricas que veían las expresiones simbólicas como medio de ascenso místico, entre ellas la de los jeroglíficos

«This tradition exerted a tremendous influence on early modern scholarship, including humanistic cultures of learning and traditional “exoteric” disciplines such as natural history» — Håkansson consigna el alcance de la tradición jeroglífica: llegó a las culturas humanísticas de saber y a disciplinas exotéricas como la historia natural

«Though the early modern interest in these symbols was originally fostered by the Platonic revival, they were not dependent on a specific philosophical tradition or set of epistemological assumptions» — Håkansson acota: el interés moderno temprano por esos símbolos nació del renacer platónico pero no dependía de una tradición filosófica ni de supuestos epistemológicos determinados

«Secondly, and more importantly, it will show how this conceptual fluidity made it possible to relate hieroglyphics in a variety of ways to ideas of “natural” languages, the Book of Nature, allegorical imagery, the letters of the alphabet, and, of course, the wisdom of the ancients» — Håkansson declara el segundo propósito de ese rodeo: mostrar cómo esa fluidez conceptual permitía enlazar los jeroglíficos con las lenguas naturales, el Libro de la Naturaleza, la imaginería alegórica, las letras del alfabeto y la sabiduría de los antiguos

«The hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt made their first appearance in the European world of learning in a highly dubious guise in 1419, when Cristoforo de’ Buondelmonti acquired an enigmatic Greek manuscript from the island of Andros: Horapòllonos Neiloùs ieroglyphikà — “The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo of Nilopolis”» — Håkansson data en 1419 la entrada de los jeroglíficos egipcios en el mundo docto europeo, con el manuscrito griego que Cristoforo de’ Buondelmonti compró en Andros

«In this text, slender in bulk and seemingly unpretentious in content, the otherwise unknown Horapollo had compiled a series of brief descriptions of the symbolic images used by the ancient Egyptians to visualize abstract concepts» — Håkansson describe el texto de Horapolo: descripciones breves de las imágenes simbólicas con que los egipcios visualizaban conceptos abstractos

«For example, when expressing “the Universe” they had, according to Horapollo, drawn “a serpent devouring its own tail, marked with variegated scales”» — el ejemplo de Horapolo: para el Universo dibujaban una serpiente que devora su propia cola, marcada con escamas abigarradas

«The scales represented the stars in the heavens, the smooth skin represented water» — Håkansson desglosa la lectura de Horapolo: las escamas son las estrellas del cielo y la piel lisa el agua; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«Finally, by devouring its own tail it manifested that “whatever things are generated in the world by Divine Providence are received back into it by [a gradual process of] diminution”» — Horapolo explica que al devorarse la cola manifiesta que lo engendrado por la Providencia divina vuelve a ella por disminución gradual

«The original manuscript contained no pictures, an omission repeated in most subsequent editions, but when Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg requested a Latin translation in 1514, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) provided a series of» — Håkansson consigna que el manuscrito original no traía ilustraciones y que Durero hizo dibujos para la traducción latina pedida por Maximiliano en 1514; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«Despite its brevity and — to the modern eye — evidently inauthentic content, the Hieroglyphica attracted considerable attention from philologists and philosophers alike, not least from the Florentine circle of Neoplatonists gathering around Marsilio Ficino» — Håkansson consigna la atención que la Hieroglyphica despertó entre filólogos y filósofos pese a su brevedad y a un contenido que al ojo moderno es inauténtico

«Ficino’s interest in hieroglyphics was fuelled by the status ascribed to the Egyptian language in a number of Greek texts he had translated into Latin. According to Iamblichus’ (c. 280-325) De mysteriis aegyptiorum, “On the mysteries of the Egyptians”, the hieroglyphic characters had constituted the very basis of “the theology of the Egyptians”» — Håkansson explica el interés de Ficino por el estatuto que daban a la lengua egipcia textos griegos que él mismo tradujo, entre ellos el De mysteriis de Jámblico

«the work of the gods; they also showed the images of the mystic and hidden notions in form of symbols, in the same way in which nature too expresses the hidden causes in apparent forms or in symbols, as it were, and the gods explain the truth of the ideas in manifest images. Therefore, since they understood that everything superior delights [man] through its similitudes with the inferior and since, moreover, they wish to be filled with goodness by the superior, so as to imitate it according to their ability, rightly they offer, according to their abilities, a way of action agreeing with the superior, when they put the hidden mysteries in manifest symbols...» — la continuación del pasaje de Jámblico: mostraban las nociones místicas y ocultas en forma de símbolos, como la naturaleza expresa las causas ocultas en formas aparentes y los dioses explican la verdad de las ideas en imágenes manifiestas

«In Iamblichus’ view, the ancient Egyptian imagery constituted a “natural” language which accurately reflected the symbolism inherent in creation itself» — Håkansson resume la lectura de Jámblico: la imaginería egipcia como lengua natural que refleja con exactitud el simbolismo inherente a la creación misma

«Significantly, in the Greek original Iamblichus denoted both natural entities and the Egyptian images as symbola, a word originally referring to a kind of ceramic shards that were used to verify the identity of messengers by exactly matching the original pottery they were taken from» — Håkansson señala que en el original griego Jámblico llama symbola tanto a las entidades naturales como a las imágenes egipcias, y recuerda el sentido primero de la palabra: tiestos que verificaban la identidad del mensajero por encaje exacto

«In De mysteriis Iamblichus introduced his account by asserting that the philosophy he expounded was derived from the ancient “pillars of Hermes”, on which Hermes Trismegistus, the first of the illuminated sages and inventor of the hieroglyphs, had engraved his perfect knowledge, and from which Pythagoras and Plato had learned their philosophy» — Jámblico, en la exposición de Håkansson, deriva su filosofía de los pilares de Hermes, donde el primero de los sabios iluminados grabó su conocimiento perfecto y de donde Pitágoras y Platón aprendieron

«This historiography is echoed in the vast and widely read literature of pseudo-Aristotle, in which Hermes is often identified as the source of the secret lore that Aristotle passed on to his student, Alexander the Great» — Håkansson consigna el eco de esa historiografía en la literatura pseudoaristotélica, donde Hermes aparece como fuente del saber secreto que Aristóteles pasó a Alejandro

«But, like many other scholars, Estienne found it implausible “that the Egyptians were absolutely the first Authors of this Learning” and suggested an alternative historiography» — Håkansson consigna la reserva de Estienne sobre que los egipcios fueran los primeros autores de ese saber y su propuesta de otra historiografía

«Abraham lived some certaine time in the City of Heliopolis with the Egyptian Priests, to whom he taught Astrologie, which he gloried to have received by Tradition from Enoch. And truly, the Principle of other Sciences could not be infused by Abraham into the minds of Posterity, without these kinds of Symboles and Aenigma’s, which serve as a Rind or Bark to conserve all the mysteries of our Ancestors wisdome.» — Estienne, en el pasaje en sangría, hace de Abraham el maestro de astrología de los sacerdotes egipcios, recibida por tradición de Enoc, y llama a los símbolos corteza que conserva los misterios

«Despite the differing opinions on chronology and the identity of the originators, however, many scholars agreed on the remarkable properties of these ancient symbols» — Håkansson señala el acuerdo de fondo pese a las diferencias de cronología y de identidad de los originadores

«More than that, they were a means by which man could transcend the forms of ordinary thought and attain a divine comprehension of things» — tesis de Håkansson: los símbolos antiguos se tenían por medio de trascender las formas del pensamiento ordinario y alcanzar una comprensión divina de las cosas

«In his Enneads Plotinus (c. 205-270) likened the world of divine Ideas to visual images, stating that the gods and those who dwell among them do not contemplate “propositions” when they have knowledge of the eternal Ideas. Instead they comprehend these Ideas as “likenesses” and beautiful sights, as “images not painted but real”, and “for this reason the ancients called the Ideas realities and essences”» — Plotino, citado por Håkansson, dice que los dioses no contemplan proposiciones sino que comprenden las Ideas como semejanzas y vistas hermosas, imágenes no pintadas sino reales

«What Plotinus tried to underscore was the fundamental difference between the discursive reasoning characteristic of human thoughts, and the uniform, undivided and consummate character of the divine Wisdom» — Håkansson subraya el punto de Plotino: la diferencia entre el razonar discursivo humano y el carácter uniforme, indiviso y consumado de la Sabiduría divina

«Whereas human thoughts were divided into discrete and successively proceeding propositions, much like a written sentence, the eternal Ideas were present in the divine Mind in their indivisible entirety, as images “not painted but real”» — Håkansson completa el contraste: el pensamiento humano procede por proposiciones sucesivas, como una frase escrita, y las Ideas están en la Mente divina en su entereza indivisible

«As Augustine stressed in De trinitate, God’s thoughts do not proceed successively, “nor yet are things thought severally, so that thought passes from one to another but all things simultaneously are at hand in one glance...” In contrast to the discursive character of human reasoning, God’s Wisdom was entirely non-discursive, or intuitive; the Creator “embraces all that He knows in one eternal and unchangeable and ineffable vision”» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, dice que los pensamientos de Dios no se suceden y que el Creador abraza cuanto conoce en una sola visión eterna, inmutable e inefable

«According to Augustine, man would attain this form of comprehension when his mind was finally reformed and the inner word restored to its prelapsarian clarity, a blessing that only a few biblical prophets had been granted in this life» — Håkansson consigna la condición agustiniana: esa comprensión llegará cuando la mente quede reformada y la palabra interior recobre su claridad prelapsaria

«Plotinus, however, seem to suggest that such comprehension can be attained “artificially”, as it were, by means of symbols» — Håkansson marca la diferencia: Plotino parece sugerir que esa comprensión se alcanza artificialmente, por medio de símbolos; el troceo imprime *seem* donde la concordancia pide otra forma

«Hence they did not use letters that followed the order of speech and imitated voices when they wished to signify profound mysteries. Instead, they used images which manifested the entire meaning of these mysteries in one single sight» — Håkansson resume a Plotino sobre Egipto: no usaban letras que siguen el orden del habla sino imágenes que manifestaban el sentido entero del misterio en una sola vista

«when the Egyptian priests wished to signify divine mysteries, they did not use the small characters of script, but the whole images of plants, trees, or animals; for God has knowledge of things not by way of multiple thought but like the pure and firm shape of the thing itself.» — Ficino, citado en sangría por Håkansson, dice que los sacerdotes egipcios usaban imágenes enteras de plantas, árboles o animales porque Dios conoce las cosas no por pensamiento múltiple sino como la forma pura y firme de la cosa

«Clarifying his point, Ficino invoked the example of the self-devouring serpent described in Horapollo’s Hieroglyphica, which he interpreted as a symbolic representation of Time, rather than of the Universe as Horapollo had originally stated» — Håkansson señala el desvío de Ficino: interpreta la serpiente que se devora como representación del Tiempo y no del Universo, como decía Horapolo

«Whereas human thoughts about time were “multiple and shifting”, apprehending the various qualities of time as separate aspects — how it links the beginning to the end, how it brings forth things and carries them away again, that it teaches prudence in the face of destiny — the Egyptian sages had comprehended “the whole of this discourse in one firm image”» — Håkansson expone el contraste de Ficino: el pensamiento humano sobre el tiempo es múltiple y cambiante, y los sabios egipcios comprendían todo ese discurso en una sola imagen firme

«To see God with the eyes of the heart was, in effect, to apprehend His undistorted reflection in our soul, the verbum cordis» — Håkansson glosa la fórmula: ver a Dios con los ojos del corazón es aprehender su reflejo no distorsionado en el alma, el verbum cordis

«As Dee remarks, the Monas symbol was a “magical parable” (Magica Parabola) meant to be contemplated by those select few “whose eyes reside in their hearts”, rather than by those common men “whose hearts are yet projecting from their eyes”» — Dee llama a la Mónada parábola mágica destinada a los pocos cuyos ojos residen en su corazón y no a los hombres comunes cuyo corazón sobresale de sus ojos

«By studying the symbol, these chosen ones would experience how “the hieroglyphical interpretations fall into place most gently and, as it were, of their own accord”, causing an increasingly profound understanding of the principles underlying all sciences» — Dee promete que las interpretaciones jeroglíficas caen en su sitio con suavidad y como por sí solas, con entendimiento cada vez más hondo de los principios de todas las ciencias

«Despite the emphasis that many scholars laid on the Neoplatonic background, however, we should not assume that there existed some monolithic “theory” behind early modern hieroglyphics» — Håkansson previene contra suponer una teoría monolítica tras los jeroglíficos modernos tempranos, pese al énfasis en el trasfondo neoplatónico

«For example, in his Of the Dignity and Advancement of Learning, Francis Bacon (1561-1626) contrasted “natural” signs, having “some congruity with the notion”, with “conventional” symbols, “adopted and agreed upon at pleasure”, claiming that of “the former kind are Hieroglyphs and Gestures”. Both gestures and hieroglyphs, he argued, are signs that bear “some similitude to the things signified, and are a kind of emblems”» — Francis Bacon, citado por Håkansson, cuenta jeroglíficos y gestos entre los signos naturales, con alguna congruencia con la noción, frente a los símbolos convencionales adoptados a placer

«By representing superior entities and concepts in the shape of inferior entities, the Egyptians had been able to express themselves in a true language, speaking of the superior world as na» — Håkansson glosa a Jámblico: al representar lo superior con la forma de lo inferior, los egipcios hablaban del mundo superior; el corte de plana parte *nature* en dos

«and, as the Scriptures intimate, the source from which Moses had drawn his perfect wisdom» — Estienne añade, apoyándose en la Escritura, que de ahí sacó Moisés su sabiduría perfecta

«arrive at an increasingly profound understanding of the divine mysteries they manifested, ultimately grasping the entire dimension of meaning in one ineffable vision» — la continuación: contemplarlos llevaría a un entendimiento cada vez más hondo de los misterios divinos hasta asir toda su dimensión de sentido en una visión inefable

«As Henry Estienne phrased it a century later, “a certaine divine power” seemed to have resided in the hieroglyphs, since they “illuminated the understandings of those who studyed it, by expelling those shades of darknesse occurring in the Meanders and ambiguities of so great diversity of things...”» — Estienne, citado por Håkansson, atribuye a los jeroglíficos cierto poder divino que iluminaba el entendimiento de quien los estudiaba, expulsando las sombras

«The Plotinian account of Egyptian hieroglyphics, portraying these ancient symbols as means by which man could gain access to the realm of divine Ideas, had a tremendous impact on Christian scholars» — Håkansson consigna el peso del relato plotiniano entre los eruditos cristianos: los jeroglíficos como medio de acceso al reino de las Ideas divinas

«According to the testimony of the documents of all ancient authors, the hieroglyphic wisdom of the Egyptians was nothing but the knowledge of God and the divine powers, of the order of the universe and the intelligences governing the world, which, testifies Plutarch, Pythagoras and Plato learned from the pillars of Hermes, that is, the obelisks.» — Athanasius Kircher, citado en sangría, identifica la sabiduría jeroglífica de los egipcios con el conocimiento de Dios, del orden del universo y de las inteligencias que rigen el mundo

«The Christian view of how the blessed will see God’s Wisdom as in one “unchangeable and ineffable vision” was important in legitimizing the appropriation of these Neoplatonic conceptions» — Håkansson señala qué legitimaba la apropiación de esas concepciones neoplatónicas: la visión cristiana de los bienaventurados que verán la Sabiduría de Dios en una sola visión inefable

«As Augustine wrote, “our thoughts will no longer revolve by passing and repassing from one thing to another” when our mind has been reformed to its original clarity, “but we shall see all our knowledge at once, and at one glance”» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, dice que reformada la mente los pensamientos ya no irán y vendrán de una cosa a otra sino que veremos todo el conocimiento a la vez

«A recurrent trope in this context is that hieroglyphs have the power to illuminate the “eyes of the heart”, alluding to Saint Paul’s well-known remark that God» — Håkansson consigna el tropo recurrente: los jeroglíficos iluminan los ojos del corazón, con la alusión a Pablo; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *grants wisdom by enlightening the oculi cordis*

«In Christian doctrine, this passage was commonly associated with the attainment of the beatific vision of God, when we see the Creator “face to face”. As» — Håkansson liga ese pasaje con la visión beatífica; el troceo reemite la marca de plana y trunca aquí, la frase sigue en *Augustine remarked*

«Augustine remarked, “no Christian doubts that it is with those eyes of the heart, or mind, that God will be seen, when he is seen”» — Agustín, citado por Håkansson, dice que ningún cristiano duda de que es con esos ojos del corazón o de la mente con los que se verá a Dios

«Bacon’s notion of hieroglyphics was, in fact, firmly rooted in a Aristotelian view of signification. According to this view, hieroglyphs were not “natural” characters that “embodied” divine essences and accurately represented the world of divine Ideas, but simply visual metaphors for human conceptions and ideas» — Håkansson ancla la noción de Bacon en una visión aristotélica de la significación: los jeroglíficos como metáforas visuales de concepciones humanas, no como caracteres naturales que encarnan esencias divinas

«As Robert Klein argued in a classic essay, this view was commonly used as a theoretical basis for the enormously popular offshoot of Renaissance hieroglyphics evolving in the sixteenth century, emblematics» — Håkansson recoge de Robert Klein que esa visión sirvió de base teórica a la emblemática, la rama popular de los jeroglíficos renacentistas

«In the Hypnerotomachia of Francesco Colonna, published as early as 1499, the hieroglyphs had been provided with accompanying texts, and in 1521 the Emblemata of Andrea Alciati begun to circulate in manuscript form, gaining considerable popularity before it was published in 1531» — Håkansson data el acompañamiento de textos a los jeroglíficos en la Hypnerotomachia de 1499 y la circulación manuscrita de la Emblemata de Alciato desde 1521

«In this work the visual images were provided with a short motto, as well as a slightly longer epigram, which together with the picture was intended to spark off a sudden and pleasing insight into the meaning of the emblem, in most cases a traditional lecture on morality» — Håkansson describe la forma del emblema: imagen, mote breve y epigrama algo más largo, para encender una intuición súbita y placentera del sentido

«Emblematics soon evolved into a fashionable form of entertainment in distinguished circles, in the same time losing much of the metaphysical dimension which had originally incited the interest in hieroglyphics» — Håkansson consigna el desplazamiento: la emblemática se volvió entretenimiento de moda en círculos distinguidos y perdió buena parte de la dimensión metafísica

«Often the emblem was regarded as an elegant way of expressing traditional moral lectures, as a conceit invented by the human mind, bearing no relation to the Neoplatonic realm of Ideas» — Håkansson describe el emblema tardío: modo elegante de dar lecciones morales tradicionales, concepto inventado por la mente humana y sin relación con el reino neoplatónico de las Ideas

«As Robert Klein categorically asserted, the Renaissance emblem “was linked with a particular Aristotelian doctrine which concerned solely the functions of the mind; it had no metaphysical pretensions and assumed no ‘real’ efficacy of symbols”» — Klein, citado por Håkansson, dice que el emblema renacentista se ligaba a una doctrina aristotélica sobre las funciones de la mente, sin pretensiones metafísicas ni eficacia real de los símbolos

«Klein’s essay was a direct response to Ernst Hans Gombrich’s famous account of how the Renaissance use of symbolic images was dependent on the Neoplatonic conception of the world as a mundus symbolicus, through which the image gained its power to “embody” or “participate in” the realm of divine Ideas» — Håkansson sitúa el ensayo de Klein como respuesta a Gombrich, que hacía depender el uso renacentista de las imágenes simbólicas de la concepción neoplatónica del mundo como mundus symbolicus

«And to some extent Klein’s critique was undoubtedly justified, as it is clear that emblematics was not generally discussed within a Neoplatonic framework» — Håkansson concede razón en parte a Klein: la emblemática no se discutía por lo general en un marco neoplatónico

«Yet the extreme positions taken in this debate tell us more about modern historiography and its fondness for encompassing models of explanation than about sixteenth-century realities» — Håkansson objeta a las dos partes: las posiciones extremas de esa disputa dicen más de la historiografía moderna y de su afición a los modelos abarcadores que del siglo XVI

«For, as Michel Bath has recently argued, the Neoplatonic and Aristotelian views were not always treated as mutually exclusive theories and in many Renaissance accounts the two views are presented as reconcilable and complementary» — Håkansson recoge de Michel Bath que las visiones neoplatónica y aristotélica no siempre se trataban como excluyentes y a menudo se presentaban como conciliables y complementarias; el troceo imprime el nombre como *Michel Bath*

«The conceipts of the minde are pictures of things and the tongue is interpreter of those pictures. The order of gods creatures in themselves is not only admirable and glorious but eloquent, then hee that could apprehend the consequence of things in their truth and utter his apprehension as truly, were a right orator.» — John Hoskins, citado en sangría, empieza por la teoría aristotélica de la expresión y pasa sin aviso a describir el orden de las criaturas de Dios como elocuente

«In defining eloquence, the ability to accurately and truthfully express oneself, Hoskins moved freely from a textbook example of the Aristotelian view, defining it as the accurate interpretation of mental images, to an apparently Neoplatonic conception, stressing the reading of the Book of Nature as a necessary preparation for the “right orator”» — Håkansson señala el deslizamiento de Hoskins: de la interpretación exacta de imágenes mentales a la lectura del Libro de la Naturaleza como preparación necesaria del orador verdadero

«The absence of a clear-cut demarcation between the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic views of signification is even more plain when we turn to early modern natural history» — Håkansson dice dónde se ve mejor la falta de una demarcación tajante entre las dos visiones de la significación: en la historia natural moderna temprana

«Gesner introduced every description of a particular species with a comprehensive etymology, reflecting the Isidorian tradition in which the name was intimately linked to the essential identity of the animal» — Håkansson describe el método de Gesner: cada especie abre con una etimología completa, según la tradición isidoriana que liga el nombre a la identidad esencial del animal

«This was followed by careful accounts of the outer appearance of the animal (forma), its natural habitat (victus) and its behavior (mores)» — Håkansson enumera las secciones siguientes en Gesner: forma, victus y mores

«In the concluding category, however, denoted as moralia, Gesner turns away from physical nature and presents an abundance of material taken from the world of literature and art — Christian iconography, mythology, proverbs, Aesopian fables, ancient allegories, hieroglyphs and emblems — intended to elucidate the moral significance of the animal» — Håkansson describe la sección moralia: iconografía cristiana, mitología, proverbios, fábulas esópicas, alegorías antiguas, jeroglíficos y emblemas para el sentido moral del animal

«In his chapter on the pelican, for instance, we find this species portrayed as it appears in Christian allegorical imagery: thrusting its beak into its own chest it feeds its children with its own heart’s blood, thereby gaining its role as a symbol of maternal love» — el ejemplo del pelícano en Gesner: se hiere el pecho y alimenta a sus crías con la sangre de su corazón, de donde su papel de símbolo del amor materno

«As he wrote in the introduction, the scientific study of the animal world raises man “towards a contemplation and admiration of the works of God”» — Gesner, citado por Håkansson, dice que el estudio del mundo animal eleva al hombre a la contemplación y la admiración de las obras de Dios

«As Wolfgang Harms has aptly remarked: “Any formulation of a concept of ‘reality’ to be found in Gesner’s zoological work (which in the Latin original was the standard reference work of the 16th century) would inevitably include the dimension of meaning.”» — Wolfgang Harms, citado por Håkansson, dice que cualquier concepto de realidad que se halle en la obra zoológica de Gesner incluiría por fuerza la dimensión del sentido

«Turning to Gesner’s follower Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605), we find this approach to natural history pursued almost to excess» — Håkansson señala que Aldrovandi lleva ese enfoque casi al exceso, con el material literario vuelto la categoría más voluminosa de sus trece tomos

«According to William B. Ashworth, Aldrovandi’s works are the most flagrant expression of an “emblematic world view”, based on “the belief that every kind of thing in the cosmos has myriad hidden meanings and that knowledge consists of an attempt to comprehend as many of these as possible”» — Ashworth, citado por Håkansson, llama a la obra de Aldrovandi la expresión más flagrante de una visión emblemática del mundo, donde todo tiene sentidos ocultos innumerables

«To uncover these meanings it did not suffice to study the physical appearance and behaviour of the animals: it required a comprehensive recapitulation of the symbolic values and meanings they had been attributed in the course of human history» — Håkansson formula lo que esa visión exigía: no bastaba estudiar la apariencia y la conducta de los animales, hacía falta recapitular los valores simbólicos que la historia humana les había dado

«Both Gesner’s and Aldrovandi’s works reflect the notion of nature as a “book” proclaiming the Wisdom and Word of God, a notion that had been a commonplace since the early Middle Ages» — Håkansson liga las dos obras con la noción de la naturaleza como libro que proclama la Sabiduría y el Verbo de Dios, lugar común desde la alta Edad Media

«Yet the emblematic strain in early modern natural history grew increasingly salient in the latter half of the sixteenth century, a phenomenon that Ashworth attributes to the sudden impact of hieroglyphs and the various forms of symbolic expressions evolving in their wake» — Håkansson consigna que Ashworth atribuye el auge de lo emblemático en la segunda mitad del siglo XVI al impacto súbito de los jeroglíficos y de las formas simbólicas que trajeron

«The discovery of these supposedly ancient symbols encouraged the reading of the natural world as a form of living hieroglyphs: the animals “became part of a visual language; they were symbols, but even more, they were Platonic ideas, whose meaning the mind could immediately perceive”» — Ashworth, citado por Håkansson, dice que los animales se volvieron parte de un lenguaje visual y aun ideas platónicas cuyo sentido la mente percibía de inmediato

«Yet Ashworth’s evocative account of the “emblematic world view” raises more questions than it answers. Far from constituting a monolithic “world view”, this label covers an extremely heterogeneous field of interpretive practices by which the meaning of natural phenomena were uncovered» — Håkansson objeta a Ashworth que su rótulo cubre un campo heterogéneo de prácticas interpretativas y no un mundo conceptual monolítico

«Neither Gesner nor Aldrovandi can be termed “Platonists”, nor, for that matter, did they regarded the creatures of nature as “Platonic ideas whose meaning the mind could immediately perceive”, as Ashworth phrases it» — Håkansson niega que Gesner y Aldrovandi puedan llamarse platónicos o que tuvieran a las criaturas por ideas platónicas de percepción inmediata

«to, however, was not their correspondence to the Platonic realm of Ideas, but merely their function as pictorial representations» — Håkansson precisa el alcance en Bacon: no la correspondencia con el reino platónico de las Ideas sino la mera función de representación pictórica; el corte de plana parte *referred* en dos

«The fad for hieroglyphics and emblematics sweeping over Europe in the sixteenth century exerted a» — Håkansson consigna la moda de jeroglíficos y emblemas que barrió Europa en el siglo XVI; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *tremendous influence on Renaissance natural history*

«tremendous influence on Renaissance natural history, fostering what William B. Ashworth has given the evocative term “an emblematic world view”» — la continuación: esa moda influyó enormemente en la historia natural renacentista y produjo lo que Ashworth llama una visión emblemática del mundo

«By treating the virtutes et vitia of the different species, they served as exempla and documenta to mankind, for “even in forming mans habit and virtues [mores ac virtutes in homine formandi] there is» — Gesner tiene a las especies por exempla y documenta para el hombre; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *abundant illustrating material and proofs from the animal world*

«To these scholars, the symbolic dimension of nature was something that was uncovered and expressed solely through the accumulation of literary material» — Håkansson precisa lo que la dimensión simbólica de la naturaleza era para Gesner y Aldrovandi: algo que se descubría y expresaba solo por acumulación de material literario

«what status and function this amassment of mythological facts and fictions had in relation to tangible nature; how the use of textual material was legitimized, and what status of “truth” it was ascribed in relation to empirical knowledge» — Håkansson deja planteada la pregunta que dice sin responder: qué estatuto y función tenía ese acopio de hechos y ficciones mitológicas frente a la naturaleza tangible

«Taurellus, who was professor of medicine in Basle, introduces his work by claiming that the moral devices he presents do not only concern the “emblematist” (emblematicus), but also the natural scientist (physicus) and the philosopher (philosophicus)» — Håkansson presenta a Nicolaus Taurellus, profesor de medicina en Basilea, que dice que sus divisas morales atañen también al físico y al filósofo

«For example, in a solitary ear of corn, empty on seed but rising above the other straws of the cornfield, Taurellus beheld a warning against fruitless scholarship and its presumptuous overestimation of its knowledge, as well as a tribute to the true scholars who bowed under the weight of their task, thereby remaining protected from assuming pride» — el emblema de Taurellus: la espiga vacía que se alza sobre las demás como advertencia contra la erudición estéril y su sobreestimación presuntuosa

«Taurellus defined emblematics as the pictorial representation of virtues and vices manifested by the works of God and nature, which man could apply to human use by means of “proper contemplation”» — Håkansson da la definición de Taurellus: la emblemática como representación pictórica de virtudes y vicios manifestados por las obras de Dios y de la naturaleza

«Thus, the moral lectures of nature were not a result of the spectator’s imagination. Instead, the moral lesson or natural phenomenon that constituted the res of an emblem was offered by nature itself: it was a “sacred sign” (sacrum signum) that “truly and really exists and by its unfailing essence influences our sensual perception”» — Håkansson subraya la consecuencia: la lección moral no la pone la imaginación del espectador sino la naturaleza misma, como signo sagrado que existe de veras

«As he explained, the subject of an emblem, that is, the res of nature, had three aspects: “the materia is natural, the forma is moral, and the exterior ornamentation poetic”» — Taurellus reparte el sujeto del emblema en tres aspectos: la materia natural, la forma moral y el ornamento exterior poético

«What Taurellus seems to suggest is that the inner essence, or forma, of a natural phenomenon included a moral dimension which the beholder could grasp by contemplating nature» — Håkansson lee en Taurellus que la esencia interior de un fenómeno natural incluye una dimensión moral que el contemplador puede asir

«Taurellus acknowledged that human observation of nature was a potential source of error and that man’s comprehension of these meanings were not always satisfactory, but through a “true contemplation of God’s works” we could be led to “perfect deeds of virtue”» — Håkansson consigna la reserva de Taurellus: la observación humana puede errar y la comprensión no siempre basta, pero la contemplación verdadera lleva a obras perfectas de virtud

«Like Gesner and Aldrovandi he was no adherent of Platonic philosophy, seeking instead to develop a Christian philosophy which reconciled biblical revelation with the Aristotelian world view» — Håkansson niega filiación platónica a Taurellus y lo sitúa buscando una filosofía cristiana que concilie la revelación bíblica con la visión aristotélica del mundo

«Referring to the same biblical passage as Taurellus, Estienne claimed that God had imprinted certain “Symboles and marks of his Divinity” into the souls of the ancients by letting the species — that is, the active power of the forma — influence their perception» — Håkansson expone a Estienne: Dios imprimió símbolos y marcas de su divinidad en las almas de los antiguos dejando que la species, el poder activo de la forma, influyera en su percepción

«Though both Taurellus and Estienne couched their accounts in Aristotelian terms, they grounded the representative functions of hieroglyphs and emblems in the notion of nature as symbolically structured, describing these symbols in terms remarkably similar to Iamblichus’ Neoplatonic account — as a means by which God’s Wisdom could be apprehended by the human mind» — tesis de Håkansson: aunque los dos hablan en términos aristotélicos, fundan la función representativa de jeroglíficos y emblemas en la naturaleza como estructura simbólica, muy cerca del relato neoplatónico de Jámblico

«Dee’s interest in natural history was clearly only moderate, and despite his attempts to lay the foundations for a “universal” science his fascination for the living creatures of nature was restricted to occasional remarks in his personal diary: “Sept. 2nd [1595] the spider at ten of the clock at night suddenly on my desk, and suddenly gon; a most rare one in bygnes and length of feet. I was in a great study at my desk.”» — Håkansson califica de moderado el interés de Dee por la historia natural y lo ilustra con la anotación del diario sobre la araña de patas largas

«Travelling through Zürich in 1563, however, he made sure to visit Conrad Gesner, and later in the same year he paid a visit to Ulisse Aldrovandi, with whom he had an interesting conversation on the remarkable properties of the salamander» — Håkansson consigna las visitas de Dee a Conrad Gesner en Zúrich y a Ulisse Aldrovandi, con quien conversó sobre las propiedades de la salamandra

«Yet the previous examples are important in that they demonstrate the enormous scope of interpretive possibilities that existed within the “emblematic world view”» — Håkansson declara para qué sirven esos ejemplos: mostrar el alcance enorme de posibilidades interpretativas dentro de la llamada visión emblemática del mundo

«The range of differing views on how the Book of Nature should be “read” was to a large extent due to the absence of a monolithic theory stating how nature “signified”» — Håkansson atribuye la variedad de lecturas del Libro de la Naturaleza a la ausencia de una teoría monolítica sobre cómo significa la naturaleza

«Instead, the various practices employed to uncover the meaning of natural phenomena were grounded in the metaphoric conception of nature as an “expression” or “text”, a conception which could be accommodated to different philosophical frameworks» — tesis de Håkansson: esas prácticas se fundaban en la concepción metafórica de la naturaleza como expresión o texto, acomodable a marcos filosóficos distintos

«This analogy was, of course, rooted in the commonplace notion that nature was a result of a mimetic process. As la Primaudaye wrote, “each worke liveth in the minde of the workman before he puts it in practise. So had the world perfect beeing, in the thought of God before it was builded”» — Håkansson ancla la analogía en el lugar común de la naturaleza como resultado de un proceso mimético, con la frase de la Primaudaye sobre la obra que vive en la mente del obrero

«The divine creation of nature was, in effect, conceptualized as the creation of an image in which the intellectual “meaning”, or essence, preceded its material “expression”» — Håkansson formula la conceptualización: la creación divina como creación de una imagen donde el sentido intelectual precede a su expresión material

«In a famous passage Plutarch (c. 45-120) put it thus: “Idea is a bodiless substance, which of it selfe hath no subsistence, but giveth figure and forme unto shapelesse matters, and becometh the very cause that bringeth them into shew and evidence.”» — Plutarco, citado por Håkansson, define la Idea como sustancia incorpórea que da figura y forma a materias informes y es la causa que las trae a evidencia

«Likewise, Thomas Tymme described the inner essence of a natural object as the “secret and inward beginning of procreation and off-spring”, constituting the origin and active force of the thing, and remarked: “To this Nature certaine matter is added: as to the forming of an Image, wood or metall must be put...”» — Tymme describe la esencia interior como el comienzo secreto e interior de la procreación, a la que se añade cierta materia como al formar una imagen se pone madera o metal

«The mimetic metaphor was essential to bolster the notion that pictorial language could function as a true representation of God’s Wisdom» — tesis de Håkansson: la metáfora mimética era esencial para sostener que el lenguaje pictórico puede ser representación verdadera de la Sabiduría de Dios

«As S. K. Heninger has aptly put it, the symbolically structured universe was not only viewed as a metaphor by God, but also as a metaphor for God; a “metaphor created by God, translating His archetypal idea into a palpable form, and also a metaphor for God, providing us with a means of knowing him”» — Heninger, citado por Håkansson, dice que el universo simbólico es metáfora hecha por Dios, que traduce su idea arquetípica a forma palpable, y a la vez metáfora de Dios que nos permite conocerlo

«The mimetic metaphor could also be exploited to forge conceptual links between nature and ordinary written language» — Håkansson señala el segundo uso de la metáfora mimética: forjar enlaces conceptuales entre la naturaleza y la escritura ordinaria

«As he stated, God had by his “Word of life” created everything “for Signes” which spoke to our understanding as well as our senses: “as the vpper face of any thing contented the sense, so the inward proprietie with due cogitation, should content the hart”, so that “both sense and vnderstanding” might be illuminated “by comparing the substance with the pourtrayture”» — Top sostiene que Dios creó todo para signos, de modo que la faz exterior contenta al sentido y la propiedad interior al corazón al comparar la sustancia con la figura

«Since both language and nature were creations of God, this hidden dimension of meaning was equally present in the letters of the alphabet as it was in the living creatures» — tesis que Håkansson atribuye a Top: siendo lengua y naturaleza creaciones de Dios, la dimensión oculta de sentido está igual en las letras que en las criaturas vivas

«Noting that God created twenty-two things in the first week of Genesis — that is, the exact number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet — he concluded that “euery of these seuerall Hebrew letters, should signifie or import some speciall workmanshyp of the Lordes Creation”. For each particular entity God created, He had simultaneously “created the figure, signe, or letter, of the Heavens &c. Or the very hieroglyphs of them...”» — Top cuenta veintidós cosas creadas en la primera semana, el número exacto de letras hebreas, y concluye que cada letra significa una obra especial de la creación

«Invoking Joshua 24:17, which states that God has put “great signs in our sight”, Taurellus asserted that the “usefulness of natural things consists in their signification” — a signification or “sacred virtue” residing not in the external matter of things, but in the inner» — Taurellus, citado por Håkansson, sostiene que la utilidad de las cosas naturales está en su significación, virtud sagrada que no reside en la materia externa; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *workings of the Holy Spirit*

«’Twas for the same reason that so many objects which presented themselves to the view of Adam, Enoch, Moses, and other Patriarchs, were as so many Characters illuminated by» — Estienne, en el pasaje en sangría, hace de los objetos que se presentaron a Adán, Enoc, Moisés y los patriarcas otros tantos caracteres iluminados; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *the Divine splendour*

«the Divine splendour, by means whereof the Eternall Wisdome did consigne his name into the heart of man.» — la continuación de Estienne: por ese esplendor divino la Sabiduría Eterna consignó su nombre en el corazón del hombre

«Thus, by employing the “technique” as well as “the subject matter of God’s metaphor” man could create “true” metaphors, capable of illuminating our understanding of the Creator» — Håkansson formula la consecuencia: empleando la técnica y la materia de la metáfora de Dios el hombre podía crear metáforas verdaderas que alumbraran su entendimiento del Creador

«Top introduced his tract by rhetorically posing the question whether the letters of the common Latin alphabet» — Håkansson presenta el tratado de Alexander Top, que pregunta si las letras del alfabeto latino común son invención humana o creación de Dios; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«are a human invention or a creation of God, readily giving the answer: there was but one [alphabet]; and that one, of God himselfe, the true Hagiography or Hieroglyphs of our first Fathers; to wit, the two and twentie severall vncorrupted Formes or Letters of the Hebrew tongue: Which being graunted the eldest, consequently must be thought the Mother and very Matrix of all other; so that the authoritie of all Abces ryseth from hence, as this from God.» — la respuesta de Top: hubo un solo alfabeto, de Dios mismo, las veintidós formas incorruptas de la lengua hebrea, madre y matriz de todos los demás

«Elaborating the biblical account of Adam’s naming of the animals, Top then went on to explain how Adam had combined the twenty-two Hebrew letters to bestow every creature its “proper Name” when» — Håkansson expone el remate de Top: Adán combinó las veintidós letras hebreas para dar a cada criatura su nombre propio; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«“the species and personages of things grew so abundant and so divers” that the individual letters were not sufficient» — la continuación: Adán recurrió a la combinación cuando las especies y los personajes de las cosas se volvieron tan abundantes y diversos que las letras sueltas no bastaban

«Top’s account provides an illustrative, if unusual, example of how the ambiguities of the biblical narrative of the Creation and Adam’s naming of the animals could be exploited to bolster the notion of ordinary written language as reflecting the creative principles of God» — Håkansson lee el caso de Top como ejemplo de cómo las ambigüedades del relato bíblico podían explotarse para sostener que la escritura ordinaria refleja los principios creadores de Dios

«Coupled with the notion of nature as laden with symbolic meanings, this narrative allowed Top to treat all alphabets derived from Hebrew as “hieroglyphic” characters, manifesting God’s Wisdom in their very graphical shapes» — Håkansson señala lo que ese relato permitía a Top: tratar todos los alfabetos derivados del hebreo como caracteres jeroglíficos que manifiestan la Sabiduría de Dios en su forma gráfica

«In some respects, Top’s views paralleled Dee’s conceptions in Monas hieroglyphica, in which Dee claimed that the Latin, Greek and Hebrew alphabets had been created by God alone in accordance with the “law of creation”, lex Creationis» — Håkansson señala el paralelo con Dee, que en la Mónada tiene los alfabetos latino, griego y hebreo por creados solo por Dios conforme a la ley de la creación

«Dee also attributed to the letters of these alphabets meanings that transcended their significance in ordinary written language, making their graphical shapes subject to numerological interpretations that revealed their correspondence to the divine principles of creation» — Håkansson consigna el segundo paralelo: Dee daba a esas letras sentidos que trascienden la escritura ordinaria y sometía sus formas gráficas a interpretaciones numerológicas

«A number of distinguished Renaissance scholars, such as Luca de Pacioli, Sigismondo dei Fanti, Albrecht Dürer and Gerard Mercator, composed extensive treatises on the proper geometrical principles of the alphabet, to various extents grounding their views in metaphysical and philosophical notions» — Håkansson consigna los tratados de Pacioli, Sigismondo dei Fanti, Durero y Mercator sobre los principios geométricos propios del alfabeto

«Claiming that the entire Latin alphabet was modelled on the human body (fig. 15), Tory proposed to restore the “divine perfection” of the letters,403 simultaneously making each one of them subject to intricate allegorical interpretations» — Håkansson expone el Champ Fleury de Geofroy Tory, obra que Dee poseía al escribir la Mónada: el alfabeto latino modelado sobre el cuerpo humano y sometido a interpretaciones alegóricas

«Relying on classical authors like Homer, Virgil, Horace and Cicero, Tory described the letters of the alphabet as ancient emblems, manifesting moral lectures and truths» — Håkansson describe el método de Tory: las letras como emblemas antiguos que manifiestan lecciones morales y verdades, apoyado en Homero, Virgilio, Horacio y Cicerón

«In the letter Y, for instance, Pythagoras had incorporated a sharp-witted allegory on the cross-roads of life, the point when we choose between the primrose way of pleasure and the narrow path of virtue — and the fruits these different paths yield» — el ejemplo de Tory: Pitágoras puso en la letra Y una alegoría aguda sobre la encrucijada de la vida, entre el camino florido del placer y la senda estrecha de la virtud

«Similarly, when likening the seven holes in the flute of Apollo to the seven liberal arts, Virgil had also made an ingenious allusion to the letter I. For being composed by the most simple geometrical element, the line, this letter consti» — Håkansson sigue a Tory: al comparar los siete agujeros de la flauta de Apolo con las siete artes liberales, Virgilio aludía a la letra I, compuesta por la línea, el elemento geométrico más simple; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«Likewise, in his famous allegory of the Golden Chain, linking heaven to earth, Homer had alluded to the letter I, teaching us that the letters and sciences could not have been invented without divine inspiration» — Tory, según Håkansson, lee en la Cadena de Oro de Homero una alusión a la letra I, que enseña que letras y ciencias no pudieron inventarse sin inspiración divina

«Tory’s elaborate account of the Latin alphabet has few, if any, rivals in the vast Renaissance literature on letters. In his reliance on ancient allegorical imagery, however, he can be seen as emblematic of early modern scholarship» — Håkansson tiene el tratado de Tory por sin rival en la literatura renacentista sobre las letras y a la vez por emblemático de la erudición moderna temprana en su apoyo en la imaginería alegórica antigua

«Whether we turn to Platonic, “occult” or humanistic scholars, we find that allegories, metaphors and parables were used, not as mere tropes of imagined relationships, but as privileged modes of expression, capable of representing reality in a “true” and “accurate” form» — tesis de Håkansson: alegorías, metáforas y parábolas no se usaban como meros tropos de relaciones imaginadas sino como modos privilegiados de expresión capaces de representar la realidad con verdad

«The intimate kinship between allegorical language, hieroglyphs and emblems that Tory’s work exemplifies is a pervasive theme in early modern scholarship, closely linked to the notion of a perennial philosophy» — Håkansson liga el parentesco entre lengua alegórica, jeroglíficos y emblemas con la noción de filosofía perenne

«The widespread belief that the hermetic texts had originally been engraved in hieroglyphs on Hermes’ legendary “pillars” implied that the allegorical language in these texts was a result of their translation from a pictorial mode into Greek» — Håkansson explica la inferencia: si los textos herméticos se grabaron en jeroglíficos sobre los pilares de Hermes, su lengua alegórica sería fruto de traducir un modo pictórico al griego

«Conversely, scholars who were reluctant to attribute the invention of these characters directly to the Egyptians often traced the origin of hieroglyphs to the allegorical language of the biblical prophets» — Håkansson consigna la vía contraria: quienes no querían atribuir la invención a los egipcios remitían el origen de los jeroglíficos a la lengua alegórica de los profetas bíblicos

«In his treatise The Divine Names, in which the Christian exegetical techniques were comprehensively set down, Pseudo-Dionysius described how God’s attributes are presented in Scripture under the “sacred veils” of symbols. Although unattainable to human comprehension in himself, God has made himself known to man by letting “things derived from the realm of senses” symbolize His ineffable properties» — Håkansson expone el Pseudo-Dionisio: los atributos de Dios se presentan en la Escritura bajo velos sagrados de símbolos, y lo tomado del reino de los sentidos simboliza propiedades inefables

«Pseudo-Dionysius’ views of biblical exegesis were heavily influenced by Neoplatonic conceptions and by the allegorical theory of art developed by the later Neoplatonists, a theory describing how literary allegory could be used as a “truthful” mode of expression by making use of the symbolism inherent in the universe itself» — Håkansson señala el peso neoplatónico en el Pseudo-Dionisio y en la teoría alegórica del arte de los neoplatónicos tardíos, que hace de la alegoría un modo veraz por el simbolismo inherente al universo

«This theory of literary allegory, based on the notion of the cosmos as a mimetic expression of the Creator’s Wisdom, assumed an important role in Renaissance Neoplatonism» — Håkansson consigna el papel de esa teoría de la alegoría literaria en el neoplatonismo renacentista, fundada en el cosmos como expresión mimética de la Sabiduría del Creador

«In his Heptaplus Pico della Mirandola vividly described the world as a hierarchy “bound together both by a certain harmonious kinship of nature and by regular series of ranks”, forming a continuous chain of corresponding levels or spheres. “From this principle”, he wrote, “flows the science of all allegorical interpretation”» — Pico, citado por Håkansson, describe el mundo como jerarquía ligada por parentesco armónico y series de rangos, y de ese principio hace manar la ciencia de toda interpretación alegórica

«The early Fathers could not properly represent some thing by the images of others unless trained, as I have said, in the hidden alliances and affinities of all nature. ... they aptly symbolized the natures of one world by those which they knew corresponded to them in other worlds.» — Pico, en sangría, dice que los antiguos padres no podían representar una cosa con la imagen de otra sin estar instruidos en las alianzas y afinidades ocultas de la naturaleza

«Thus, when Moses described divine entities “figuratively now as stars, now as wheels and animals, now as elements”, he made use of the natural correspondences between the different spheres of creation. In this way, wrote Pico, Moses had “buried the treasures of all true philosophy as in a field”, making it possible for man to fathom truth through techniques of scriptural exegesis» — Håkansson glosa a Pico: Moisés usó las correspondencias naturales entre esferas y así enterró los tesoros de toda filosofía verdadera como en un campo

«Though Scripture had an unprecedented status as God’s revealed Truth, the myth of a philosophia perennis made it possible to interpret ancient allegorical literature from a similar perspective» — Håkansson formula el efecto del mito de la philosophia perennis: permitía interpretar la literatura alegórica antigua desde la misma perspectiva que la Escritura

«From these poets all subsequent philosophers had taken “their grounds and initia Philosophandi”, he argued, for in their “wise and excellent fables” the ancients had expressed “the Reall Forme and Essence” of all things» — Reynolds sostiene que de esos poetas tomaron los filósofos posteriores sus fundamentos, porque en sus fábulas los antiguos expresaron la forma y esencia reales de todas las cosas

«Hence we should “be at paines of running through all the Fables of the Auncients, and out of them shew the reader, and leade him by the finger as it were ... to the speculation of the entire Secret of our great God of Nature, in his miraculous fabrick of this World...”» — Reynolds manda recorrer todas las fábulas de los antiguos para llevar al lector, como de la mano, a la especulación del secreto entero del gran Dios de la Naturaleza

«Cultural narratives of the wisdom of the ancients thus legitimized the use of literary sources in natural philosophy and fostered interpretive approaches which focused on ancient texts as “shrouded” accounts of the secrets of nature» — tesis de Håkansson: los relatos de la sabiduría antigua legitimaban el uso de fuentes literarias en filosofía natural y fomentaban leer los textos antiguos como relatos velados de los secretos de la naturaleza

«Whereas Puttenham’s assertion that the classical poets had “mounted up” to comprehend the “divine essences and substances” has an unmistakable Platonic ring, the voice of Aristotle is clearly echoed in his remark about “things generable and corruptible”. Again, Platonism and Aristotelianism were treated, not as mutually exclusive traditions, as but different expressions of an original prisca sapientia, revealed through the literature of the ancient poets» — Håkansson señala la mezcla en Puttenham: resonancia platónica en el ascenso a las esencias divinas y voz de Aristóteles en lo generable y corruptible, sin tratar las dos tradiciones como excluyentes

«Bacon explicitly renounced the idea that the myths of the ancients were based on the doctrine of correspondences, describing them instead as “resemblances and examples” which the ancients had used because the minds of men “were hardly subtle enough” in antiquity to understand proper arguments — “as hieroglyphics were before letters, so parables were before arguments”» — Håkansson consigna que Francis Bacon rechazó expresamente fundar los mitos antiguos en la doctrina de las correspondencias y los llamó semejanzas y ejemplos usados por falta de sutileza

«Almost a century later, in 1694, Isaac Newton informed his friend David Gregory that he was preparing a new edition of the Principia, revised, as Gregory wrote in a letter, to demonstrate that “the most ancient philosophy is in agreement with this hypothesis of his ... because the Egyptians and other taught the Copernican system, as he shows from their religion and hieroglyphics and images of the Gods...”» — Håkansson consigna la carta de David Gregory sobre la edición revisada de los Principia, que Newton quería mostrar acorde con la filosofía más antigua y con los jeroglíficos egipcios

«Fig. 19. “Arbor raritatis”, or the different levels of comprehension illustrated by the Pythagorean Y. From Dee, Monas Hieroglyphica, 1564, fol. 3r.» — pie de la figura 19, el arbor raritatis de la Mónada con los niveles de comprensión ilustrados por la Y pitagórica

«Given the weight that Dee attributed to the wisdom of the ancients it is hardly surprising to find a similar reliance on ancient literature in Monas hieroglyphica» — Håkansson enlaza el peso de la sabiduría antigua en Dee con su apoyo en la literatura antigua dentro de la Mónada

«When outlining the alchemical “mysteries” of his Monas symbol, for instance, he took the opportunity to recount Aesop’s fable of the scarab who “used the most subtle expedient of dung” to shatter the egg of an eagle which had caused “men and timid beasts” much pain — a fable, he claimed, that expressed the very alchemical secrets he had “set forth hieroglyphically” by means of the Monas symbol» — Håkansson trae la fábula esópica del escarabajo que rompe el huevo del águila con estiércol, que Dee dice expresar los mismos secretos alquímicos que él pone jeroglíficamente

«The use of allegory and parabolical language was a pervasive theme in occult and esoteric disciplines, often invoked as a means to protect the secret teachings from the “unworthy”» — Håkansson consigna el uso de la alegoría y la lengua parabólica en las disciplinas ocultas y esotéricas como resguardo de las enseñanzas secretas frente a los indignos

«Reminding the reader that all corporeal bodies have “a borderline in common with their shadows”, he likened the written words of his treatise to such silhouettes, claiming that “the ignorant, rash and presumptuous apes grasp mere shadows, naked and inane”» — Dee compara las palabras escritas de su tratado con siluetas y dice que los simios ignorantes y presuntuosos asen meras sombras desnudas y vanas

«Natale Conti presented a wealth of ancient myths and fables, claiming that “the universal precepts of philosophy were enclosed by the ancients within these very fables. In fact, not many years prior to the time of Aristotle, Plato and other philosophers, all the doctrines of philosophy were handed down, not openly but obscurely, under a certain veil.”» — Natale Conti, citado por Håkansson, sostiene que los preceptos universales de la filosofía estaban encerrados en esas fábulas y se transmitían no abiertamente sino bajo cierto velo

«Henry Reynolds described ancient poets like Apuleius, Orpheus and Homer as the “nurses of wisdom, from whose pregnant breasts the whole world hath suckt the best part of all the humane knowledge it hath”» — Henry Reynolds, citado por Håkansson, llama a Apuleyo, Orfeo y Homero nodrizas de la sabiduría de cuyos pechos el mundo mamó lo mejor del conocimiento humano

«George Puttenham referred to the ancient poets as the first true philosophers, describing them as “the first obseruers of all naturall causes & effects in the things generable and corruptible”» — George Puttenham, citado por Håkansson, llama a los poetas antiguos los primeros filósofos verdaderos y primeros observadores de todas las causas y efectos naturales

«From the observation of these natural causes and effects, he continued, they had “mounted vp to search after the celestiall courses and influences, & yet penetrated further to know the divine essences and substances» — Puttenham sigue: de esas observaciones ascendieron a los cursos e influencias celestes y penetraron más hondo hasta conocer las esencias y sustancias divinas

«Nevertheless, he attached to ancient literature an important role in the natural sciences, devoting his entire De Sapientia veterum, “On the Wisdom of the ancients”» — Håkansson señala la tensión en Bacon: pese a rechazar las correspondencias, dio a la literatura antigua un papel importante en las ciencias naturales y le dedicó un libro entero

«to these myths, which he regarded as expressions of an elevated but since long lost knowledge of the natural world» — la continuación: Bacon tenía esos mitos por expresiones de un saber elevado y desde hacía mucho perdido del mundo natural

«The “wiser philosophers”, by contrast, would be able to fathom the real “bodies” of which he spoke and “enjoy the solid doc» — Dee opone a los simios los filósofos más sabios, capaces de sondear los cuerpos reales de que habla; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *trine*

«Dee’s emphasis on the necessity of divine inspiration to fathom his work was in keeping with a longstanding tradition in esoteric writings» — Håkansson sitúa la exigencia de inspiración divina en Dee dentro de una tradición larga de los escritos esotéricos

«Petrus Bonus asserted that no one could truly comprehend the allegorical imagery of alchemy if he was not subject to inspiratio divina or instructed orally by the initiati — or, as Dee noted in the margin, aided “Eyther by M[ou]th or reuelation”» — Petrus Bonus, citado por Håkansson, niega que nadie comprenda la imaginería alegórica de la alquimia sin inspiración divina o instrucción oral de los iniciados, y Dee lo anota al margen

«Likewise, Pierre de la Primaudaye claimed that the ancients had been able to create their allegories by being “inspired with the same spirit, that not onely knoweth all things, but did also make all things”, adding that “the grace of the same spirit” is necessary to “vnderstand, and directly interpret such significations and allegoricall meanings”» — la Primaudaye sostiene que los antiguos crearon sus alegorías inspirados por el mismo espíritu que hizo todas las cosas, y que hace falta su gracia para interpretarlas

«In the Platonic tradition, this notion was intimately tied to the concept of furor divinus, or “divine frenzy”, a conception stemming from Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus» — Håkansson liga esa noción, en la tradición platónica, con el furor divinus del Fedro

«Plato described furor as a supernatural force stemming from the higher spheres which takes possession of the human soul and transports it to the divine realm» — Håkansson define el furor en Platón: fuerza sobrenatural de las esferas altas que se apodera del alma humana y la transporta al reino divino

«This notion was grounded in his conception of anamnesis, the recollection of the divine Truth that man bears innate in his mind» — Håkansson funda esa noción en la anamnesis: la recolección de la Verdad divina que el hombre lleva innata en la mente

«In his brief commentary on the subject, De divino furore, Ficino drew attention to Plato’s assertion that “men never remember the divine unless they are stirred by its shadows or images … which are perceived by the bodily senses”» — Ficino, citado por Håkansson, recuerda que según Platón los hombres no recuerdan lo divino si no los mueven sus sombras o imágenes percibidas por los sentidos corporales

«Referring to Romans 1:20, Ficino stated that by perceiving “the reflection of the divine beauty” — natural objects, music and poetry — man’s soul could become “possessed” by a divine frenzy and be brought to the recollection of divine Truth» — Håkansson expone a Ficino: percibiendo el reflejo de la belleza divina en objetos naturales, música y poesía, el alma queda poseída por un furor divino que la lleva a recordar la Verdad

«Though Dee did not allude explicitly to furor in Monas hieroglyphica, he clearly viewed the Monas symbol as a means to attain a form of Platonic anamnesis (though “Platonic” should in this context be understood in a wide sense» — Håkansson acota su propia lectura: Dee no alude expresamente al furor pero tiene la Mónada por medio de una anamnesis platónica, con *platónico* en sentido amplio

«In the introduction to the work Dee applied the “Pythagorean Y”, a traditional symbol of the cross-roads of life, to illustrate the different levels of comprehension that man could attain» — Håkansson describe el uso de la Y pitagórica en la introducción de la Mónada para ilustrar los niveles de comprensión que el hombre puede alcanzar

«Distinguishing between the “tyrannos”, who had chosen the path of pleasure and earthly delight, and the “pneumaticos”, treading the virtuous path of knowledge and learning, Dee characterized the highest stage of knowledge as adeptivus — the stage when we have risen above the knowledge of the “fundamental truths of nature” and “celestial influences and events” and attained an “understanding of supracelestial virtues and metaphysical influences”» — Dee distingue al tyrannos del pneumaticos y llama adeptivus al grado más alto, cuando se ha subido por encima de las verdades fundamentales y las influencias celestes

«Though Monas hieroglyphica is curiously reticent about the actual meaning of the term adeptivus, the note “mens adepta” and “adeptivus” occurs frequently in the margin of works that Dee had in his possession» — Håkansson consigna el silencio de la Mónada sobre el sentido de adeptivus y la frecuencia de las notas mens adepta y adeptivus en los márgenes de los libros de Dee

«In his copy of Ficino’s Latin translation of the Greek Corpus Hermeticum, for instance, we find the well-known dictum nosce teipsum, “know thyself”, and the words mens adepta noted in the margin next to a passage describing how man comes to know God by knowing himself: “the one who knows himself passes into God”» — Håkansson describe la anotación de Dee en su Corpus Hermeticum: nosce teipsum y mens adepta junto al pasaje donde quien se conoce a sí mismo pasa a Dios

«Similarly, Dee made several notes on “mens adepta” in Ficino’s commentaries on Plotinus’ Enneads, in one instance next to an underlined passage describing how the “active intellect” (intellectus agens) illuminates our soul, enabling it to discover things previously unknown and perform miraculous works» — Håkansson consigna las notas de Dee sobre mens adepta en los comentarios de Ficino a las Enéadas, junto al pasaje del intelecto agente que ilumina el alma

«This intellect, suggested Ficino, was what had raised Saint Paul and Moses to the beatific vision of God» — según Ficino, ese intelecto agente fue lo que elevó a Pablo y a Moisés a la visión beatífica de Dios

«This was, for instance, the view of Roger Bacon, who attributed to the active intellect a central role in human intellection» — Håkansson consigna que Bacon daba al intelecto agente un papel central en la intelección humana

«The debate concerned whether the active intellect should be understood as an inherent capacity in the individual or as a separate entity existing externally to man, identical to a divine emanation or even God Himself» — Håkansson nombra el eje del debate: si el intelecto agente es capacidad inherente al individuo o entidad separada y exterior al hombre, emanación divina o Dios mismo

«The latter position was maintained by the Averroists, who understood the intellectus agens as a single, separate substance which man joined in the act of intellection, an interpretation forcefully rejected by Thomas Aquinas, who laid emphasis on the individuality of the intellective process» — Håkansson consigna la posición averroísta, con el intelecto agente como sustancia única y separada, y el rechazo firme de Tomás de Aquino, que subrayaba la individualidad del proceso

«In early modern philosophy the range of differing interpretations widened even further and in some cases the rising influence of Platonism even led to the identification of the active intellect with Platonic anamnesis» — Håkansson consigna la ampliación moderna temprana de las lecturas, que en algunos casos identificó el intelecto agente con la anamnesis platónica

«To understand how Dee’s Monas symbol could function as a contemplative means by which the mind could grasp the divine principles inherent in the human mind, however, we must turn to two closely interrelated themes of Dee’s work: kabbalah and mathematics» — Håkansson anuncia los dos temas entrelazados a los que hay que pasar para entender la Mónada como medio contemplativo: la cábala y las matemáticas

«That the exceedingly complex branch of Jewish mysticism known as kabbalah had a significant role in Dee’s authorship has long been recognized» — Håkansson da por reconocido desde hace tiempo el papel de la cábala, rama compleja de la mística judía, en la obra de Dee

«Meric Casaubon, the seventeenth-century compiler of Dee’s angelic conversations, scornfully remarked that Dee was “a Cabalistical man, up to the ears ... as may appear to any man by his Monas Hieroglyphica, a book much valued by himself”» — Casaubon, citado por Håkansson, llama a Dee hombre cabalístico hasta las orejas y remite a la Mónada como prueba

«As an avid defender of orthodox Christian faith, Casaubon regarded Dee’s interest in kabbalah as yet another whim of a disoriented mind, wryly declaring that the Adamic language figuring in the angelic conversations “doth appear a very superstitious, foolish, fabulous writing; or to conclude in one word, Cabalistical, such as the devil might own very well, and in all probability was the author of”» — Håkansson consigna el juicio de Casaubon sobre la lengua adámica de las conversaciones: escritura supersticiosa, necia y fabulosa, cabalística, de la que el diablo bien podría ser autor

«Despite Casaubon’s flagrant hostility, however, many of his contemporaries viewed kabbalah as an immensely important body of teachings, completely in agreement with Christian faith» — Håkansson contrapone a la hostilidad de Casaubon la estima de muchos contemporáneos, que tenían la cábala por cuerpo de enseñanzas acorde con la fe cristiana

«Even a clergyman like Dean John Gordon found it appropriate when delivering a sermon in the court in 1605 to invoke “certain hebrue characters, and other cabalisticall collections” to prove that both Protestant ceremonial and King James’ kingship were in accordance with ancient prophecies» — Håkansson pone como ejemplo al deán John Gordon, que en un sermón de corte de 1605 invocó caracteres hebreos y colecciones cabalísticas para probar el ceremonial protestante y la realeza de Jacobo

«Though Jewish mysticism was far from unknown in Christian medieval culture, its influence on the Christian world reached a previously unrivalled level in the Renaissance, due to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Sicily following the fall of Granada in 1492» — Håkansson data en la expulsión de los judíos de España y Sicilia tras la caída de Granada el salto de influencia de la mística judía en el mundo cristiano

«Among the many things the diffusion of Jewish culture brought to Christian scholars was a remarkable body of exegetical techniques which treated language as a means to gain knowledge of the divine» — Håkansson nombra lo que esa difusión trajo a los eruditos cristianos: un cuerpo notable de técnicas exegéticas que trataban la lengua como medio de conocer lo divino

«The earliest kabbalistic works were written as commentaries on a short cosmogonical tract composed at some time between the third and seventh century AD, the Sepher Yetzirah, or “The Book of Creation”» — Håkansson data el Sepher Yetzirah entre los siglos III y VII y lo pone como tratado cosmogónico comentado por las obras cabalísticas más tempranas

«According to Gershom Scholem, the ten sephiroth can be described as the “fundamental attributes of God, which are in the same time ten stages through which the Divine life pulsates back and forth”» — Gershom Scholem, citado por Håkansson, describe las diez sefirot como atributos fundamentales de Dios y a la vez diez estadios por los que la vida divina late de ida y vuelta

«The most important feature of the Sepher Yetzirah, however, was the correspondence it posited between the letters of the alphabet and the principles of creation» — Håkansson destaca como rasgo más importante del Sepher Yetzirah la correspondencia que pone entre las letras del alfabeto y los principios de la creación

«Twenty-two basal letters: He designed them, He formed them, He purified them, He weighed them, and He exchanged them, each one with all; He formed by means of them the whole creation and everything that should be created subsequently.» — el pasaje en sangría del Sepher Yetzirah: veintidós letras basales que Dios diseñó, formó, purificó, pesó e intercambió, y con las que formó la creación entera

«Language was not merely the mirror of physical reality; it was the mould from which it was formed, the very instrument employed by God when creating the universe — a notion implying that reality itself could be understood as an essentially linguistic phenomenon» — Håkansson formula la tesis de esa cosmogonía: la lengua no es espejo de la realidad física sino el molde del que se formó, con lo que la realidad misma queda como fenómeno lingüístico

«To fully comprehend the secrets of the “Hieroglyphic Monad”, the interpreter had to be one of those men whose “eyes reside in their hearts”, a divinely inspired one like Dee himself» — Håkansson glosa el pasaje: solo uno de aquellos hombres cuyos ojos residen en su corazón, un inspirado como el propio Dee, comprendería del todo los secretos de la Mónada

«but generally it was understood as a “light” illuminating our mind and manifesting its innate principles to our thought» — la continuación: por lo general se lo entendía como una luz que ilumina la mente y manifiesta al pensamiento sus principios innatos

«In the Zohar, the classic kabbalistic text which began to circulate in manuscript form around the year 1280, God’s uttering of the creative Word was described as the force bridging the chasm between the inner essence of the divinity and the physical universe» — Håkansson data el Zohar hacia 1280 y expone su tesis: el proferir del Verbo creador como fuerza que salva el abismo entre la esencia interior de la divinidad y el universo físico; el corte de plana trunca la cita

«Moreover, as in the Christian world view, the divine realm was believed to be accessible to man through the Word’s incarnation in Scripture, the Jewish Torah» — Håkansson señala el paralelo: como en la visión cristiana, lo divino se vuelve accesible por la encarnación del Verbo en la Escritura, aquí la Torá

«As Gershom Scholem put it, the kabbalists conceived of the Torah “as a vast corpus symbolicum representative of that hidden life in God which the theory of Sefiroth attempts to describe”» — Scholem, citado por Håkansson, dice que los cabalistas concibieron la Torá como un vasto corpus symbolicum de esa vida oculta en Dios

«Though Christian and Jewish metaphysics shared a common foundation in the logos doctrine, a significant difference separated kabbalistic teachings from Christian exegetical techniques» — Håkansson marca la diferencia de fondo entre las técnicas cabalísticas y las exegéticas cristianas pese al cimiento común de la doctrina del logos

«The Christian interpretation of Scripture had its basis in the theory of the four levels of meaning developed in the early Middle Ages, a theory describing how the sacred text simultaneously speaks in different modes or tropes. By reading Scripture on a literal, allegorical, metaphorical and anagogical level, the Christian exegete could gradually unfold the entire meaning of the words, while leaving the text itself intact» — Håkansson describe la exégesis cristiana: los cuatro niveles de sentido, que despliegan el sentido entero dejando intacto el texto

«Kabbalistic teachings, by contrast, developed into a set of interpretive techniques aimed at uncovering the meaning of the Torah by literally reshaping and transforming the written text» — Håkansson opone las técnicas cabalísticas: descubren el sentido de la Torá reconfigurando y transformando literalmente el texto escrito

«Breaking it up into its constitutive elements, the Hebrew letters, and combining and permuting them according to certain methods, the kabbalist mimicked the creative act of God as it was envisaged in the Sepher Yetzirah, thereby gaining insight into the hidden recesses of the Word» — Håkansson describe el gesto: al partir el texto en letras y permutarlas, el cabalista imita el acto creador de Dios tal como lo imagina el Sepher Yetzirah

«From this assumption evolved a kabbalistic hermeneutics centred on three main techniques of letter permutation: notariqon, gematria and tsiruf» — Håkansson nombra las tres técnicas principales de permutación de letras: notariqon, gematria y tsiruf

«Notariqon was a technique making use of acrostics, on the assumption that passages in the Torah could be interpreted by taking the initial or final letter from a string of words to create new words» — Håkansson define el notariqon: tomar la letra inicial o final de una serie de palabras para formar palabras nuevas

«So, for instance, Moses’ question “Who shall go up for us in heaven?” (Deuteronomy 30:12) could be answered by breaking it down into the Hebrew word MYLH — “circumcision”» — el ejemplo de notariqon: la pregunta de Moisés sobre quién subirá al cielo se responde formando la palabra hebrea de circuncisión

«According to this technique, the words “Lo, three men stood by him” (Genesis 38:2) are found to have the numerical value of 701. The very same value can be deduced by adding the names Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, leading to the conclusion that the three men referred to in Genesis were the three archangels» — el ejemplo de gematria: la frase del Génesis y los nombres de Miguel, Gabriel y Rafael dan el mismo valor, setecientos uno

«Tsiruf was a technique making use of anagrams, by means of which a passage could be interpreted by rearranging the order of the letters. Employing this method, Mosé Cordovero deciphered the prohibition of wearing clothes of mixed wool and linen in Deuteronomy 22:11 by transposing the letters of the passage, thereby creating another sentence, warning Adam not to put on the skin of the serpent — a symbol of the demonic power» — Håkansson define el tsiruf y da el ejemplo de Mosé Cordovero, que transpone las letras de la prohibición de mezclar lana y lino para leer una advertencia sobre la piel de la serpiente

«Kabbalistic hermeneutics was to a large extent legitimized by being embedded in a cultural narrative which, for obvious reasons, shared many features with Christian historiography» — Håkansson señala qué legitimaba la hermenéutica cabalística: un relato cultural que, por razones obvias, comparte muchos rasgos con la historiografía cristiana

«The fundamental difference was the privileged status ascribed to the Hebrew tongue. As the original, prelapsarian language of mankind which had evaded the confusion of tongues at Babel, Hebrew truthfully reflected the fundamental spiritual nature of the world and the creative language of God, implying that it possessed an elevated status as interpretive instrument» — Håkansson fija la diferencia de fondo: el estatuto privilegiado del hebreo como lengua prelapsaria que esquivó la confusión de Babel y refleja con verdad la naturaleza espiritual del mundo

«A central feature in this cultural narrative was the notion that kabbalah, literally “receiving” or “tradition”, constituted a secret tradition of knowledge, originally given to the biblical prophets through divine illumination and passed down orally from generation to generation» — Håkansson consigna el rasgo central del relato: la cábala como tradición secreta de saber dada por iluminación divina a los profetas y transmitida oralmente

«Rabbi Halfan’s encouraging attitude was not shared by everyone, however, and many Jews denounced the Christian interpretation of kabbalah as a distortion of the original tradition» — Håkansson consigna el desacuerdo: muchos judíos denunciaron la interpretación cristiana de la cábala como distorsión de la tradición original

«For in interpreting this Jewish philosophy as part of a perennial philosophy stemming from the biblical prophets and pagan seers, a string of Christian scholars — notably Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Johannes Reuchlin, Guillaume Postel and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa — transformed kabbalah into something vastly different from its original form» — Håkansson nombra a Pico, Reuchlin, Postel y Agrippa como los que, al leer la cábala dentro de una filosofía perenne, la transformaron en algo muy distinto de su forma original

«In accordance with Jewish tradition, Pico described kabbalah as the oral Torah, “a more secret and true interpretation [enarratio] of the law” given to Moses on Mount Sinai» — Håkansson consigna que Pico describía la cábala, de acuerdo con la tradición judía, como la Torá oral dada a Moisés en el Sinaí

«But in regarding kabbalah as an integral part of a philosophia perennis which comprised both pagan and Judeo-Christian teachings, Pico also associated kabbalah with a number of new elements. Framed in this narrative, the kabbalistic teachings became closely tied to the Neoplatonic philosophy, including the Zoroastrian and Chaldean sources made available by Ficino» — tesis de Håkansson: al meter la cábala en una philosophia perennis, Pico la asoció a elementos nuevos y la ató a la filosofía neoplatónica y a las fuentes zoroástricas y caldeas de Ficino

«Through this affiliation it also became intimately connected to pagan forms of magic; indeed, it became possible to regard it as a particular kind of magic» — Håkansson señala el paso siguiente: por esa filiación la cábala quedó ligada a formas paganas de magia y pudo verse como una clase de magia

«But above all, Pico was the first to claim that kabbalah enclosed the truths of Christianity: “There is no science that better confirms the divinity of Christ than magic and kabbalah.”» — Håkansson señala lo más nuevo en Pico: fue el primero en decir que la cábala encierra las verdades del cristianismo, y que ninguna ciencia confirma mejor la divinidad de Cristo

«As Joseph Dan has recently stressed, Christian kabbalah quickly distanced itself from its Jewish origin, developing its own concepts into an increasingly complex body of beliefs. In this process, many of the concepts that had been central to Jewish kabbalah — for instance, the ten sephiroth — receded into the background, giving place to new notions fostered by the Christian and Neoplatonic context in which it had now been situated» — Håkansson recoge de Joseph Dan que la cábala cristiana se apartó pronto de su origen judío y relegó conceptos centrales como las diez sefirot

«Though Christian kabbalah did not form a homogenous “world view”, its impact on Christian scholars lent further weight to the belief that language could be used as a means to interpret nature» — tesis de Håkansson: sin formar una visión homogénea del mundo, la cábala cristiana reforzó entre los eruditos la creencia de que la lengua sirve para interpretar la naturaleza

«Thus, the impact of kabbalah on Christian scholarship not only reinforced the notion that language can yield knowledge of the natural world; it also redirected attention towards a previously disregarded linguistic element» — Håkansson señala el segundo efecto de la cábala: redirigir la atención a un elemento lingüístico antes desatendido

«In kabbalah it was neither the word that was believed to “imitate” the inner essence of an object (as in the “Platonic”» — Håkansson acota por descarte lo propio de la cábala: no la palabra que imita la esencia interior del objeto; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«Rather, it was the letters of the alphabet which, in their graphical shape as well as in their different combinations, enclosed the hidden treasures of the divine Word» — Håkansson fija el elemento: las letras del alfabeto, que en su forma gráfica y en sus combinaciones encierran los tesoros ocultos del Verbo divino

«In his Conclusiones Pico della Mirandola stated: “There are no letters in the whole law which in their forms, conjunctions, separations, greatness, crowning, shutting, opening and order ... do not reveal secrets.”» — Pico, citado por Håkansson, dice que no hay letra en toda la ley que en sus formas, conjunciones, separaciones, coronación y orden no revele secretos

«Similarly, Johannes Reuchlin claimed that King Solomon’s legendary knowledge of all natural phenomena was due to his ability to decipher the letters of the Torah» — Håkansson consigna que Reuchlin atribuía el saber natural legendario de Salomón a su destreza para descifrar las letras de la Torá

«He was wiser than all men, he would discourse on anything from the wood of the Cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the cracks of the wall; he discussed animals and birds and reptiles and fishes ... “All these things he knew through the Law, and in it he found everything by his explanation, in the minutiae of grammar, in the letters and their ornaments.”» — el pasaje en sangría de Reuchlin: Salomón discurría del cedro del Líbano al hisopo de las grietas del muro, y todo lo halló en la Ley, en las minucias de la gramática y en las letras y sus ornamentos

«Gematria was a method based on the fact that numbers in Hebrew are designated by letters, so that every word can be ascribed a» — Håkansson define la gematria: en hebreo los números se designan por letras; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *numerical value by adding up the value of the individual letters*

«In the sixteenth century, Rabbi Elijah Menahem Halfan delightedly noted that many Christians, especially “after the rise of the sect of Luther”, had approached Jewish scholars in search of knowledge» — Håkansson consigna que el rabino Elijah Menahem Halfan notó con gusto que muchos cristianos, sobre todo tras el auge de la secta de Lutero, acudían a los eruditos judíos; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«the elements of written language could be conceived of as mirroring the natural world since “the letters are the instruments of the creation of the world and the seals of the wisdom of God”» — Postel, citado por Håkansson, dice que las letras son los instrumentos de la creación del mundo y los sellos de la sabiduría de Dios

«praised kabbalah as the very quintessence of ancient wisdom: it was the “the heart of understanding, that is, an ineffable theology of supersubstantial deity, the fountain of wisdom, that is, an exact metaphysics of intelligible angels and forms, and the river of knowledge, that is, a most sure philosophy of natural things”» — Pico, citado por Håkansson, alaba la cábala como corazón del entendimiento, teología inefable de la deidad supersustancial, fuente de la sabiduría y río del conocimiento

«In his extensive commentaries on Sepher Yetzirah, Guillaume Postel (1510-1581) glossed the kabbalistic account of how all creatures and all true names had been created through God’s uttering of his Word in terms remarkably reminiscent of the Cratylus account, describing the creatures and their proper names as mirroring each other» — Håkansson señala que Postel glosa el relato cabalístico de la creación de los nombres verdaderos en términos muy cercanos al Crátilo

«It is not possible to separate the name from the creature nor the creature from the name; for the one is affected by the other. In the name the thing is explained with regard to its purpose and properties.» — Postel, en sangría, dice que no cabe separar el nombre de la criatura ni la criatura del nombre, y que en el nombre se expone la cosa con su fin y sus propiedades

«An illustrative example of how the Platonic, biblical and kabbalistic language views were conflated in the Christian interpretation of kabbalah is Agrippa’s lengthy account of the properties of language and writing» — Håkansson pone el relato de Agrippa sobre las propiedades de la lengua y la escritura como ejemplo de la fusión entre las visiones platónica, bíblica y cabalística

«Here Agrippa moved directly from the notion of natural signification advocated by “the Platonists”, relying heavily on Ficino’s commentary on Cratylus, to the biblical narrative of Adam’s naming of the animals, stating that the “proper names” of things signify according to “celestial harmony”» — Håkansson describe el salto de Agrippa: de la significación natural de los platónicos, apoyada en el comentario de Ficino al Crátilo, al relato bíblico de la imposición de nombres

«From this position he swiftly went on to describe the Hebrew characters as corresponding to the celestial constellations, eventually portraying creation itself as formed through language in a passage evidently influenced by the Sepher Yetzirah» — Håkansson sigue el movimiento: Agrippa pasa a los caracteres hebreos como correspondientes a las constelaciones celestes y a la creación formada por la lengua

«Now if there be any original [language], whose words have a natural signification, it is manifest that this is the Hebrew... There are therefore two and twenty letters which are the foundation of the world, and of creatures that are, and are named in it, and every saying, and every creature are of them, and by their revolutions receive their name, being and virtue. He therefore that will find them out, must by each joining together of the letters so long examine them, until the voice of God is manifest, and the framing of the most sacred letters be opened and discovered.» — Agrippa, en sangría, tiene al hebreo por la lengua original y a las veintidós letras por fundamento del mundo, y manda examinar sus uniones hasta que la voz de Dios se manifieste

«For Agrippa, it posed no problem to situate kabbalah in a philosophical and narrative framework which freed it from many of its original constraints» — Håkansson señala la soltura de Agrippa para situar la cábala en un marco filosófico y narrativo que la libera de muchas de sus restricciones originales

«Concluding his account of the properties of the letters by demonstrating the correspondences between Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters, as well as the astrological signs and the chiromantic characters found in the human hand (fig. 20), Agrippa had in essence disengaged kabbalah from its dependence on the Hebrew Torah» — Håkansson describe el remate de Agrippa: al mostrar las correspondencias entre letras hebreas, griegas y latinas, signos astrológicos y caracteres quirománticos, desligó la cábala de la Torá hebrea

«Instead, it became the art of interpreting written language as such, whether this language was manifested in the alphabets of the ancients or in the Book of Nature» — Håkansson formula en qué quedó convertida: el arte de interpretar la lengua escrita como tal, en los alfabetos de los antiguos o en el Libro de la Naturaleza

«What remained intact in the Christian interpretation of kabbalah was its function. As in the Jewish tradition, the characters of written language were regarded as symbolic expressions of the divine forces and essences, by means of which man could apprehend the divine realm» — Håkansson señala lo que la lectura cristiana conservó: la función, con los caracteres de la escritura como expresiones simbólicas de fuerzas y esencias divinas

«Reuchlin described kabbalah as a “contemplative art” through which “the mind of man, so far as nature allows, achieves that Godlike state which is the zenith of Blessedness”» — Reuchlin, citado por Håkansson, llama a la cábala arte contemplativa por la que la mente del hombre alcanza el estado semejante a Dios que es la cima de la bienaventuranza

«by a form of symbols [per quaedam symbola], all earthly things are thrown away, and the stuff of matter is cast of; we strip Form from Form, until we reach the primal Form, that is both the Form of all things and yet without Form.» — Reuchlin, en sangría, describe el despojamiento: por símbolos se arrojan las cosas terrenas y se despoja forma tras forma hasta la Forma primera, que es la de todas las cosas y no tiene forma

«By employing the different techniques of letter permutation, man could attain a mystic ascent of the soul, ultimately leading to the beatific vision of God: “from the lower world to the higher, and from the higher world to the Messiah ... Through the Messiah we come to the unknowable God; we come thither through these holy letters, as if on Jacob’s ladder...”» — Reuchlin describe el ascenso místico por permutación de letras: del mundo inferior al superior, de ahí al Mesías y por él al Dios incognoscible, como por la escala de Jacob

«In emphasizing the attainment of salvation through the Messiah as the ultimate goal of kabbalistic interpretation, Christian kabbalists also situated kabbalah in a grand narrative centred on Adam’s Fall and the coming redemption of mankind» — Håkansson señala el efecto: al poner la salvación por el Mesías como fin de la interpretación cabalística, los cabalistas cristianos la situaron en un relato centrado en la Caída y la redención

«In Reuchlin’s view, the aim of kabbalah was “none other than the universal restoration, after the primordial Fall of the human race, which is called salvation”» — Reuchlin declara que el fin de la cábala no es otro que la restauración universal tras la Caída primordial del género humano

«Indeed, according to Reuchlin, kabbalah predated Scripture and had its very origin in the circumstances of the Fall» — Håkansson consigna la cronología de Reuchlin: la cábala precede a la Escritura y nace en las circunstancias mismas de la Caída

«When Adam had transgressed God’s command, “God no longer talked with him face to face as he had done... now he disdained to talk face to face with the sinner man”. Instead, God sent Adam an angel to “teach him how the ruins could one day be rebuilt”, an angel bringing him “divine words, to be interpreted allegorically, in the way of Kabbalah”» — Reuchlin cuenta que tras la transgresión Dios dejó de hablar cara a cara con Adán y le envió un ángel con palabras divinas para interpretar alegóricamente, a la manera de la cábala

«As Agrippa put it in De occulta philosophia, these names signified “certain properties flowing from him [i.e. God]”, and by means of them “he doth pour down, as it were by certain conduits, on us and all his creatures many benefits and divers gifts”» — Agrippa, citado por Håkansson, dice que los nombres divinos significan propiedades que manan de Dios y por los que vierte como por conductos muchos beneficios

«In appellations like El, Emeth and above all the ineffable name known as the Tetragrammaton, man had been given “the most fit and powerful means of reconciling and uniting man with God» — Håkansson consigna los nombres que Agrippa enumera, El, Emeth y sobre todo el Tetragrámaton, como medios aptísimos de reconciliar y unir al hombre con Dios

«Framed in this cultural narrative, kabbalah was both legitimized and attributed a singular status in Christian history» — Håkansson formula el resultado: enmarcada en ese relato, la cábala quedaba legitimada y con estatuto singular en la historia cristiana; el corte de plana parte la palabra *kabbalah*

«It was a divine gift handed down from generation to generation by which man could let human history come full circle; the very means by which mankind would find redemption from the Fall and once again attain that state of blessedness when we talk “face to face” to our Creator» — Håkansson resume la promesa: la cábala como don divino que cierra el círculo de la historia humana y devuelve el estado de bienaventuranza en que se habla cara a cara con el Creador

«Given the centrality of the Adamic narrative in Dee’s angelic conversations, it comes as no surprise that kabbalah had an important role in his attempts to recover the “Celestiall speche” of the angels in the 1580s» — Håkansson enlaza la centralidad del relato adámico en Dee con el papel de la cábala en su intento de recobrar el habla celestial de los ángeles

«It was also presented to Dee and Kelley in the form of tables containing individual letters to be combined and permuted according to certain methods, a process which when complete was supposed to bring the history of mankind to its predestined conclusion» — Håkansson describe la forma en que se presentó esa lengua: tablas de letras sueltas para combinar y permutar por ciertos métodos, proceso que al completarse llevaría la historia humana a su fin predestinado

«I will open, teach, and uncover the secrets of that speech, that holy mysterie. To the intent the CABALA of NATURE, in voyce, substance of bodie, and measure in all parts may be known. For there is nothing secret, but it shall be revealed, and the son of GOD shall be known in POWER, and establish a Kingdom with righteousnesse in the earth, and then commeth the end.» — el ángel Nalvage, en sangría, promete descubrir los secretos de ese habla para que se conozca la CABALA de la NATURALEZA en voz, sustancia de cuerpo y medida

«However, though Dee occasionally referred to and compared the angelic revelations with written sources such as Reuchlin’s De arte cabalistica, these comparisons mostly underscored the differences between kabbalistic conventions and the notions disclosed by the angels» — Håkansson señala que las comparaciones de Dee con fuentes escritas como el De arte cabalistica de Reuchlin subrayaban más bien las diferencias entre las convenciones cabalísticas y lo revelado por los ángeles

«The methods to be employed to form words from the tables of letters were never fully explained, nor do they show many similarities to conventional kabbalistic techniques» — Håkansson consigna que los métodos para formar palabras con las tablas nunca se explicaron del todo y que se parecen poco a las técnicas cabalísticas convencionales

«And though the angels stressed the kinship between Hebrew and the Adamic tongue, Hebrew was clearly of minor importance in recovering the angelic language» — Håkansson señala que, pese a la afinidad declarada entre hebreo y lengua adámica, el hebreo pesó poco en la recuperación de la lengua angélica

«As Dee laconically admitted to the angels during a session: “I am not good in the hebrue tung, but, you know my meaning.”» — Dee admite ante los ángeles que no es bueno en la lengua hebrea pero que ellos saben lo que quiere decir

«As Deborah Harkness has pointed out, however, Dee’s knowledge of Hebrew should not be underestimated. At the time of his angelic conversations, his library contained more Hebrew literature than any other library in England, and he mastered the language well enough to engage in kabbalistic exegesis of Hebrew passages» — en nota, Håkansson recoge de Deborah Harkness que no hay que subestimar el hebreo de Dee: su biblioteca tenía más literatura hebrea que ninguna otra de Inglaterra y él podía hacer exégesis cabalística

«Yet it is clear that Dee very early in his career was genuinely interested in kabbalistic teachings. Of the twenty-two books he purchased over a two-year period in the early 1560s, twenty were concerned with Hebrew or kabbalah» — Håkansson cifra el interés temprano de Dee: de veintidós libros comprados en dos años a principios de los sesenta, veinte eran de hebreo o de cábala

«In his first library catalogue, by contrast, compiled in 1557 and including some three hundred titles, we find no traces of Jewish kabbalah, neither in Hebrew nor in Latin translation» — Håkansson consigna la ausencia de cábala judía en el catálogo de 1557, ni en hebreo ni en traducción latina

«What we do find is a fairly representative selection of works on Christian kabbalah, including Reuchlin’s De verbo mirifico, Francesco Giorgio’s De harmonia mundi, Pico’s Conclusiones, and Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia» — Håkansson enumera lo que sí hay en ese catálogo: el De verbo mirifico de Reuchlin, el De harmonia mundi de Francesco Giorgio, las Conclusiones de Pico y el De occulta philosophia de Agrippa

«learned men grasp a Jewish man by the hem of his» — la continuación de Halfan: los doctos agarran al judío por el borde del manto; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *garment and say: Be our master in this science*

«Thus, although the kabbalistic influence strengthened the assumption that true knowledge of the world could be attained through» — Håkansson formula el doble efecto de la cábala: refuerza el supuesto de que el saber verdadero del mundo se alcanza por vía lingüística; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«linguistic interpretation, it also made the relationship between lan guage and nature more complicated and more open to different interpretations» — la continuación: esa influencia volvió más complicada y más abierta a interpretaciones la relación entre lengua y naturaleza; el corte de plana parte la palabra *language*

«The angelic revelations, which were to a large extent taken on trust by Dee, lack the systematic character of the written kabbalistic» — Håkansson objeta que las revelaciones angélicas, en buena parte tomadas por buenas por Dee, carecen del carácter sistemático de la tradición cabalística escrita; el corte de plana parte la palabra *tradition*

«Moreover, since he claimed to have become a friend of Guillaume Postel in 1550, it is not impossible that he had» — Håkansson deja abierta la posibilidad de que Dee tuviera noticia de segunda mano del Sepher Yetzirah por su amistad declarada con Postel desde 1550; el troceo reemite la marca de plana y trunca aquí

«At the time Postel had recently returned from the Middle East and was preparing the first Latin translation of the Sepher Yetzirah, which in its extensive commentaries was profoundly influenced by the Neoplatonic and Pythagorean notions so prevalent in the Christian interpretation of kabbalah» — Håkansson sitúa a Postel recién vuelto de Oriente y preparando la primera traducción latina del Sepher Yetzirah, con comentarios impregnados de nociones neoplatónicas y pitagóricas

«Turning back to Monas hieroglyphica, we find that Christian kabbalah had a vital role in Dee’s explication of the Monas symbol» — tesis de Håkansson: la cábala cristiana tuvo papel vital en la explicación que Dee da del símbolo de la Mónada

«In the introduction, he attributed great importance to the letters of the alphabet, stressing that “reasons must be given for the shapes of the letters, for their position, for their place in the alphabet, for [their] various [ways of] joinings, for their numerical values, and for most other things”» — Dee exige dar razón de las formas de las letras, de su posición, de su lugar en el alfabeto, de sus uniones y de sus valores numéricos

«In referring to Latin and Greek letters, as well as Hebrew, Dee clearly proposed a conception of kabbalah that had little in common with the original Jewish tradition» — Håkansson señala que al incluir letras latinas y griegas Dee propone una cábala con poco en común con la tradición judía original

«When faced with the Monas symbol, he asserted, the “Hebrew kabbalist” would be forced to admit that the kabbalistic techniques — gematria, notarikon and tsiruf — could be “used outside the confines of that language called holy” and that the “most benevolent God is not only [the God] of the Jews, but of all peoples, nations, and languages...”» — Dee sostiene que el cabalista hebreo tendría que admitir que gematria, notarikon y tsiruf sirven fuera de la lengua llamada santa, porque Dios no es solo de los judíos

«In fact, Dee not only repudiated the superior status traditionally attributed to the Hebrew language; he also gave his own symbol priority in relation to it by claiming that the Monas symbol itself was a “holy language”, “more divine” than Hebrew» — Håkansson consigna el doble gesto de Dee: niega el estatuto superior del hebreo y da prioridad a su propio símbolo como lengua santa más divina que el hebreo

«the real kabbalah, or [the kabbalah] of that which is […REALEM CABALAM, sive tou ontos], as I call that other and vulgar one, which rests on well known letters that can be written by man, kabbalistical grammar or the kabbalah of that which is said […Cabalisticam GRAMMATICAM, sive tou legomenou].» — Dee reparte los dos nombres: la cábala real, de lo que es, para su símbolo, y la gramática cabalística, de lo que se dice, para la que descansa en letras escribibles por el hombre

«In contrast to Hebrew kabbalah, which treated the written letters and texts of mankind, the Monas symbol was a “real kabbalah”, “born to us by the law of creation” and in accordance with those “written memorials ... which from the Creation has been inscribed by God’s own finger on all creatures”» — Håkansson opone las dos: la cábala hebrea trata las letras y los textos de los hombres, y la Mónada es cábala real, nacida por la ley de la creación

«As such, the Monas symbol functioned as a form of “meta-language” from which the Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters could be derived, including their shapes, their position in the alphabet and their numerical value» — Håkansson llama al símbolo una especie de metalenguaje del que se derivan las letras hebreas, griegas y latinas con sus formas, posición y valor numérico

«Taking the central cross of the Monas symbol as his point of departure, he remarked that this cross was formed by four right-angled straight lines. Since the number four, “as Pythagoras himself used to say”, adds up to the number ten when written as a sequence (i.e. 1+2+3+4=10), the cross was “not without reason chosen by the oldest Latin philosophers to signify the number Ten” — that is, the Roman numeral X» — Håkansson sigue la meditación de Dee sobre la cruz central: cuatro rectas en ángulo recto y la suma pitagórica que lleva al diez

«Similarly, as the sequence 1, 2, 3 and 4 also produces the number 21 if written as (1+2)x(3+4), it was hardly a coincidence that this very character had become the twenty-first letter of the Latin alphabet» — Dee halla no casual que ese carácter sea la vigesimoprimera letra del alfabeto latino, porque la secuencia da veintiuno

«Likewise, when the ancient Latins had chosen the character ‘V’ to denote the number five, this was “not done by them irrationally”, since this character was formed simply by breaking the cross, signifying ten, into two halves» — Dee dice que no fue irracional que los latinos tomaran la V para el cinco, porque nace de partir en dos mitades la cruz que significa diez

«And considering that the two V’s formed by the broken cross could be multiplied to the sum of twenty-five, was not the hand of a most profound wisdom evident in the fact that the letter V is also the twentieth letter and the fifth vowel in the alphabet? “O MI DEVS, QVANTA HAEC MYSTERIA?” — “O my God, how great are not these mysteries?”» — Dee remata la meditación preguntando si no se ve la mano de una sabiduría profundísima en que la V sea la vigésima letra y la quinta vocal, y exclama por la grandeza de esos misterios

«Though a modern reader might find it difficult to understand how these numerological meditations could substantiate his claim that the Monas symbol was a “real kabbalah” reflecting the laws of physical reality, it is obvious that Dee considered the geometrical and numerical relationships inherent in the “Hieroglyphic Monad” fundamental not only to the meaning of the symbol itself, but also to the meaning of the letters derived from it» — Håkansson acota la distancia del lector moderno y a la vez consigna que para Dee las relaciones geométricas y numéricas de la Mónada eran fundamentales para el sentido del símbolo y de las letras

«It is also clear that Dee’s explication of the symbol was based on the three principal kabbalistic techniques. By breaking it up into its constituent components and treating each element as representing concepts in its own right, he employed the kabbalistic technique of notaricon; by rearranging and combining these different elements into new significant geometrical shapes, he employed tsiruf; and by treating the resulting geometrical shapes as having numerical values as well as conceptual meanings, he employed gematria» — Håkansson identifica las tres técnicas cabalísticas en la explicación del símbolo: notaricon al partirlo en componentes, tsiruf al recombinarlos y gematria al darles valor numérico

«In effect, Dee rejected linguistics as the true foundation of kabbalah. The “real kabbalah”, the kabbalah treating “that which is”, was, in the words of Michael T. Walton, a “geometrical kabbalah”, a kabbalah having its basis in mathematical relationships» — tesis de Håkansson: Dee rechazó la lingüística como fundamento verdadero de la cábala, y su cábala real es, con la frase de Michael T. Walton, una cábala geométrica

«One of the most persuasive impulses behind the Christian reinterpretation of kabbalah was the Pythagorean teachings» — Håkansson nombra uno de los impulsos más persuasivos tras la reinterpretación cristiana de la cábala: las enseñanzas pitagóricas

«Whereas the Jewish kabbalistic tradition was based on the assumption that the divine creation could be construed as the unfolding of the elements of language, these teachings envisaged reality as ultimately reducible to mathematics» — Håkansson marca el contraste: la cábala judía ve la creación como despliegue de los elementos de la lengua y el pitagorismo reduce la realidad a matemáticas

«In his Metaphysics Aristotle scolded the Pythagoreans for claiming “the elements of numbers to be elements of everything, and the whole world to be a proportion or number”, at the same time noting that Plato had been a disciple of Pythagoras and that his conception of the eternal Ideas was rooted in Pythagorean doctrines» — Håkansson consigna la reprensión de Aristóteles a los pitagóricos y su observación de que Platón fue discípulo suyo y de ahí venía su concepción de las Ideas eternas

«The kinship between the Platonic realm of Ideas and the Pythagorean conception of numbers impelled early Christian scholars to accommodate the Pythagorean teachings to the Christian logos doctrine» — Håkansson explica por qué los primeros eruditos cristianos acomodaron el pitagorismo a la doctrina del logos: el parentesco entre las Ideas platónicas y los números pitagóricos

«This notion was lent credence by the Scriptural dictum that God “Created all thynges, in Number, Waight, and Measure”468; a dictum that caused Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) to describe the divine Creation as a form of mathematical process in which God employed the common mathematical arts to shape the physical universe» — Håkansson consigna el apoyo escriturario, que Dios creó todo en número, peso y medida, y su efecto en Nicolás de Cusa, que describe la creación como proceso matemático

«In creating the world, God used arithmetic, geometry, music, and likewise astronomy. For through arithmetic God united things. Through geometry He shaped them ... Through music He proportioned things... And so, God, who created all things in number, weight, and measure, arranged the elements in an admirable order.» — Nicolás de Cusa, en sangría, dice que Dios usó aritmética, geometría, música y astronomía al crear el mundo: unió las cosas, las configuró y las proporcionó

«These notions prepared the grounds for a reconceptualization of Jewish kabbalistic teachings which placed mathematics at the very centre of kabbalistic interpretive techniques» — tesis de Håkansson: esas nociones prepararon una reconceptualización de la cábala judía que puso las matemáticas en el centro de sus técnicas interpretativas

«In his Conclusiones Pico della Mirandola essentially reversed the relative precedence of the letters and their numerical values, claiming that while magic operated through “characters”, kabbalah worked through “numbers”» — Håkansson señala la inversión de Pico: la magia opera por caracteres y la cábala por números

«And in his De arte cabalistica Reuchlin stated that the Pythagorean teachings originated “from the teachers of kabbalah” and that his primary reason for writing a book on kabbalah was “to make Pythagorean doctrine better known to scholars”» — Reuchlin, citado por Håkansson, hace venir las enseñanzas pitagóricas de los maestros de cábala y declara que escribió su libro para dar a conocer mejor la doctrina pitagórica

«In Monas hieroglyphica Dee made no attempt to explain why mathematics should be regarded as the very foundation of a true or “real” kabbalah, simply presenting the numerological meditations as transparent to the initiated and worthy reader» — Håkansson consigna el silencio de la Mónada: Dee no explica por qué las matemáticas serían el fundamento de una cábala verdadera y presenta las meditaciones numerológicas como transparentes al iniciado

«In his Mathematicall Praeface written six years later, by contrast, we find a comprehensive account of the traditional “Mathematicall Artes”, but not a single reference to kabbalah» — Håkansson señala el contraste: el prefacio matemático da un relato completo de las artes matemáticas y ni una sola referencia a la cábala

«At the outset of his account, Dee praises Pico’s Conclusiones, remarking that from this work “it would apeare, how sincerely, & within my boundes, I disclose the wonderfull mysteries, by numbers, to be attayned vnto”» — Dee alaba las Conclusiones de Pico y dice que por ahí se vería con qué sinceridad y dentro de qué límites descubre los misterios maravillosos que por números se alcanzan

«These seventyfour questions were simply a collection of succinct statements setting out the numerous issues that could be settled by the science of numbers: whether God exists; whether He is infinite; whether He is the cause of all things; in what way creatures differ in their essence from God; if the intellectual nature of man is always united with God; whether our rational soul is incorruptible; and so on» — Håkansson resume las setenta y cuatro preguntas de Pico que Dee recomienda leer: si Dios existe, si es infinito, si es causa de todo, si el alma racional es incorruptible; el guion de fin de renglón de *seventy-four* sale fundido como *seventyfour*

«As he noted in a manuscript of Roger Bacon’s De mathematica: “The good lies not in mathematics in itself; but in that we by mathematics are advanced towards physics as well as theology.”» — Dee anota en un manuscrito de Bacon que el bien no está en las matemáticas en sí sino en que por ellas se avanza hacia la física y hacia la teología

«This feature was a result of the unique ontological status that was attributed to mathematics: its capacity to serve as a link or bridge between the physical and spiritual domains» — Håkansson explica ese rasgo por el estatuto ontológico único de las matemáticas: su capacidad de servir de enlace o puente entre lo físico y lo espiritual

«A meruaylous newtralitie haue these thinges Mathematicall, and also a straunge participation betwene thinges supernaturall, immortall, intellectual, simple and indiuisible: and thynges naturall, mortall, sensible, compounded and diuisible.» — Dee, en sangría, celebra la neutralidad maravillosa y la extraña participación de las cosas matemáticas entre lo sobrenatural y lo natural

«As Dee pointed out in the Praeface, numbers existed in three forms: in the Mind of the Creator, in natural things and in the soul of man» — Håkansson consigna las tres formas en que Dee dice que existen los números: en la Mente del Creador, en las cosas naturales y en el alma del hombre

«Instead, by “numbering” and applying mathematical rules we seize God’s creative principles as they are manifested in creation, thereby gaining a true and reliable knowledge of nature» — Håkansson glosa la asimetría que Dee marca: nuestro numerar no crea nada, pero al numerar asimos los principios creadores de Dios manifestados en la creación

«According to the Pythagorean philosophy, the construing of the numeral system and the creation of the world could be envisaged as completely analogous processes, both having their basis in the same concept — the monad» — Håkansson expone el paralelo pitagórico: construir el sistema numeral y crear el mundo como procesos análogos con base en el mismo concepto, la mónada

«Turning to the Algoritmus vulgaris of John of Sacrobosco (d. c. 1244-1256), we find the standard definition of numbers expressed in a succinct passage: “A number is made known in two ways: materially and formally. Materially [materialiter] a number is a collection of units; formally [formaliter] it is a multitude of units extended [or spread out]. A unit [unitas] is that by which anything is said to be one.”» — Juan de Sacrobosco, citado por Håkansson, da la definición estándar: el número se conoce material y formalmente, como colección de unidades y como multitud de unidades extendidas

«As Dee pointed out in his Praeface, the term unitas or unit was the common rendering of the Greek “monad” — “Note the worde, Unit, to expresse the Greke Monas» — Håkansson consigna que Dee identifica el término unitas con la mónada griega en el prefacio matemático

«Instead, it constituted the principle of numbers, entirely conceptual in character, and became a number by being given a spatial position. The monad, in other words, turned into the number one by being imposed upon space, by bridging the gap between the conceptual and the physical» — Håkansson glosa la definición: la mónada es principio de los números, del todo conceptual, y se vuelve el uno al imponerse sobre el espacio y salvar el paso entre lo conceptual y lo físico

«This way of defining numbers, rather awkward to the modern mind, had its underlying rationale in the basic tenet of the Pythagorean teachings: the belief that divine creation could be conceived of as a mathematical process in which the elements of the universe were brought forth from the “metaphysical” monad — the Neoplatonic concept of the One — in a manner paralleling the derivation of numbers from the mathematical monad» — Håkansson da la razón de fondo: la creación divina concebida como proceso matemático en que los elementos brotan de la mónada metafísica, el Uno neoplatónico, como los números de la mónada matemática

«In his Elements of Theology, Proclus (412-485) described the divine monad as the innermost godhead from which the universe streamed forth in a series of hierarchically ordered emanations, using a terminology remarkably reminiscent of the one used in mathematical contexts» — Håkansson señala en Proclo la mónada divina como divinidad interior de la que el universo mana en emanaciones jerárquicas, con terminología muy cercana a la matemática

«The crossing of this borderline was conceived of as the gradual forming of geometrical bodies according to the Pythagorean conception of number: imposed upon space, the monad took the shape of a point; two points formed a line; three points formed a surface; and four a spatial body — the physical universe extended in three dimensions» — Håkansson describe el paso de la frontera como formación gradual de cuerpos geométricos: el punto, la línea por dos puntos, la superficie por tres y el cuerpo por cuatro

«This principle of all things is the monad or unit; arising from this monad the undefined [i.e. unlimited] dyad or two serves as material substratum to the monad, which is cause; from the monad and the undefined dyad spring numbers; from numbers points; from points, lines; from lines, plane figures; from plane figures, solid figures; from solid figures, sensible bodies, the elements of which are four, fire, water, earth and air; these elements interchange and turn into one another completely and combine to produce the universe, animate, intelligent, spherical, with the earth at its centre...» — Diógenes Laercio, en sangría, expone la derivación pitagórica: de la mónada y la díada indefinida los números, de ahí puntos, líneas, figuras planas, sólidos y cuerpos sensibles con los cuatro elementos

«This conception of the creation became a central tenet of Pythagorean and Neoplatonic philosophy, repeated and elaborated upon by a number of scholars from antiquity to the seventeenth century» — Håkansson consigna la fortuna de esa concepción de la creación en la filosofía pitagórica y neoplatónica, repetida y elaborada desde la antigüedad hasta el siglo XVII

«This scheme was not only endorsed by scholars of an overtly Neoplatonic persuasion, however; in his short tract De luce Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253) appropriated the same arithmetical progression to describe the stages of the divine creation, applying a thoroughly scholastic terminology to it» — Håkansson señala que Robert Grosseteste se apropió de la misma progresión aritmética con terminología escolástica de cabo a rabo

«“The unity of the form, the duality of the matter, the trinity of the composition and the quaternary of the compound, when they are added, make a denary.”» — Grosseteste, citado por Håkansson, suma unidad de la forma, dualidad de la materia, trinidad de la composición y cuaternario del compuesto para dar el denario

«As Grosseteste emphasized, the denary or number 10 comprised the entire arithmetical progression from monad to quaternary (i.e. 1+2+3+4=10). Moreover, as the first “circular number” which returned to unity and stability (i.e. 10=1+0=1), the number ten also set the limits of this progression, making the decad or denary a representation of everything complete and perfect» — Håkansson glosa a Grosseteste: el denario abarca la progresión entera y, como primer número circular que vuelve a la unidad, representa todo lo completo y perfecto

«Echoing these notions, Johannes Reuchlin stated that the denary was “nothing other than cognition of things in the divine mind operating in accordance with reason”» — Reuchlin, citado por Håkansson, dice que el denario no es otra cosa que la cognición de las cosas en la mente divina obrando conforme a razón

«The belief that kabbalah constituted the very core of the Pythagorean teachings impelled a number of Christian kabbalists to focus their attention on this form of number mysticism» — Håkansson explica por qué los cabalistas cristianos se volcaron a esa mística de los números: creían que la cábala era el núcleo mismo de las enseñanzas pitagóricas

«By contemplating the arithmetic progression from monad to quaternary, a progression which in its entirety constituted the perfect denary, the kabbalist believed it possible to fathom and comprehend the laws of creation, the divine Word» — Håkansson formula la promesa: contemplando la progresión de mónada a cuaternario, que entera forma el denario perfecto, el cabalista creía poder sondear las leyes de la creación

«Indeed, as Pico della Mirandola stated in one of his conclusions: “Anyone who knows the denary in formal arithmetic … will know that which I have not as yet read in the works of any kabbalist, and that is, what the foundation is of the secret of the great Jubilee in kabbalah» — Pico, citado por Håkansson, dice que quien conozca el denario en la aritmética formal sabrá lo que él no ha leído aún en cabalista alguno: el fundamento del secreto del gran Jubileo

«Appropriately, Dee’s numerological meditations on the Monas symbol, the “real kabbalah”, were centred on the three key numbers in the Pythagorean teachings: the monad (i.e. one), the quaternary (i.e. four) and the denary (i.e. ten)» — Håkansson señala en qué tres números pitagóricos se centran las meditaciones de Dee: la mónada, el cuaternario y el denario

«Will he [the ‘arithmetician’] not be filled with the greatest admiration … [when] the very wealth and value of the substance of One (the powers lying latent within the very substance), which is here put forth as chaos (capable of resolving any arithmetical doubt), is explicated by the number Ten?» — Dee, en sangría, pregunta si el aritmético no se llenará de admiración al ver que la riqueza y el valor de la sustancia del Uno, puesta como caos, se explica por el número Diez

«That is, by explicating the denary, Dee would unfold the powers lying enclosed within the One, powers constituting the “Chaos” from which the universe had sprung forth» — Håkansson glosa el pasaje: al explicar el denario, Dee desplegaría los poderes encerrados en el Uno, que forman el Caos del que brotó el universo

«As Robert Fludd put it in Utriusque cosmi maioris historia, “Chaos” was the term used by the ancients to denote the “confused matter and undigested mass” from which “the divers natures necessary both for the completion of the universe, and for the completion of the Philosophical Work [i.e. the alchemical transmutation of matter] are brought forth”» — Fludd, citado por Håkansson, dice que los antiguos llamaban Caos a la materia confusa y masa indigesta de la que se sacan las naturalezas necesarias para el universo y para la Obra filosófica

«Significantly, we find Dee treating the Pythagorean numbers represented by the “Hieroglyphic Monad” not only as embodying the» — Håkansson señala que Dee trata esos números pitagóricos no solo como encarnación de las leyes de la creación; el troceo reemite la marca de plana y trunca aquí

«laws of creation but also as embracing the laws governing the alchemical transmutation of matter» — la continuación: esos números abarcan también las leyes que rigen la transmutación alquímica de la materia

«In the twenty-third theorem he presents precise and detailed instructions for the geometrical construction of the symbol (fig. 23), emphasizing the “mystical proportions” of its “hieroglyphical measurements.”» — Håkansson describe el teorema veintitrés: instrucciones precisas para construir geométricamente el símbolo, con sus proporciones místicas y sus medidas jeroglíficas

«In doing this, Dee adopts the conventional Pythagorean schemes to derive a wealth of numbers from the quaternary by applying a variety of computational rules to the number four» — Håkansson describe el procedimiento: Dee aplica esquemas pitagóricos convencionales para derivar del cuaternario una abundancia de números

«Every order has its beginning in a monad and proceeds to a manifold co-ordinate therewith; and the manifold in any order may be carried back to a single monad» — Proclo, en sangría, dice que todo orden empieza en una mónada y procede a una multiplicidad coordinada que puede remitirse a esa sola mónada; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«Robert Fludd graphically pictured the divine creation as an arithmetical progression according to the Pythagorean scheme, beginning in the monad and concluding in the» — Håkansson describe la lámina de Fludd: la creación divina como progresión aritmética pitagórica que empieza en la mónada; el corte de plana trunca aquí y la frase sigue en *Tetractys or quaternary*

«Tetractys or quaternary, representing the creation of the four elements» — la continuación: esa progresión acaba en la Tetractys o cuaternario, que representa la creación de los cuatro elementos

«These numbers are then presented in a table (fig. 25), showing that “certain useful offices in Nature were» — Håkansson describe la tabla en que Dee recoge esos números derivados; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«monad has the relative status of an originative principle, and so generates the appropriate manifold.» — la continuación de Proclo: la mónada tiene el estatuto relativo de principio originante y por eso engendra la multiplicidad que le corresponde

«representation of the divine Mind in the process of shaping the universe according to His Ideas» — la continuación: representación de la Mente divina en el proceso de configurar el universo conforme a sus Ideas

«assigned by God to the numbers” derived from the quaternary, numbers that were indispensable “when elements are to be weighed, when measures of time are to be determined, [and] finally when the power and virtue of things have to be expressed in certain degrees”» — Dee dice que a esos números derivados del cuaternario Dios asignó oficios útiles en la naturaleza, indispensables para pesar elementos, medir tiempos y expresar en grados la virtud de las cosas

«As he stressed, the numbers presented in the table were so essential “in the explanation of Nature’s greatest mysteries” that it would be “a sin against the wisdom of Nature to violate their laws» — Dee tiene esos números por tan esenciales en la explicación de los mayores misterios de la Naturaleza que violar sus leyes sería pecado contra su sabiduría

«The association of Pythagorean mathematics with the alchemical process was far from uncommon. In De mineralibus Albertus Magnus (c. 1200-1280) referred to “certain alchemical books ascribed to Plato” in which “number or numerical proportion is called the form of a metal”» — Håkansson consigna el vínculo entre matemática pitagórica y proceso alquímico en Alberto Magno, que remite a libros alquímicos atribuidos a Platón donde el número es la forma del metal

«By mastering the correct numerical proportions, the alchemist was able to transform any element into the desired metal» — Håkansson formula la promesa: dominadas las proporciones numéricas correctas, el alquimista podía transformar cualquier elemento en el metal deseado

«A poetic expression of this conception can be found in Thomas Norton’s The Ordinall of Alchemy, a work Dee found important enough to transcribe himself and have bound in purple velvet» — Håkansson trae el Ordinall of Alchemy de Thomas Norton, obra que Dee transcribió de su mano y mandó encuadernar en terciopelo morado

«Norton’s evocation of the biblical dictum that God created all things “in number, weight and measure” to substantiate the employment of mathematics in the alchemical work was rooted in the common notion that the technical arts, including alchemy, imitated the works of nature, a notion that was central to the enterprise undertaken in Dee’s Monas hieroglyphica» — Håkansson liga esa evocación con la noción común de que las artes técnicas, la alquimia entre ellas, imitan las obras de la naturaleza

«By incorporating the numerical proportions that constituted the laws behind creation, the symbol would not only give insight into the works of the Creator but also» — Håkansson formula la promesa de la Mónada: incorporadas las proporciones numéricas de las leyes de la creación, el símbolo daría intuición de las obras del Creador; el corte de plana trunca aquí

«bring the natural sciences and technical arts virtually to completion» — la continuación: el símbolo llevaría también las ciencias naturales y las artes técnicas casi a su término

«Writing from Antwerp in 1562, Dee explained his decision to travel to the Netherlands in search for publishers and printers by pointing out that British scholars seemed to be uninterested in the “wonderfull sciences” he was treating» — Håkansson data en 1562 la carta desde Amberes donde Dee explica su viaje a los Países Bajos por la falta de interés británico en las ciencias maravillosas que trataba

«[in] our cuntry hath no man (that I ever yet could herre of) hable to set furth his fote, or shew his hand … in the Science De numeris formalibus, the Science De Ponderibus mysticis, and the Science De mensuris divinis: by which three the huge frame of this world is fashioned, compact, rered, stablished, and preserved» — Dee, en sangría, dice que en su país nadie puede poner el pie ni mostrar la mano en las ciencias de los números formales, los pesos místicos y las medidas divinas, con las que el mundo entero está fabricado

«In the very first of the theorems presented in Monas hieroglyphica Dee describes the divine creation not as an arithmetical progression according to the conventional Pythagorean scheme, but instead as a gradual unfolding of geometrical elements» — Håkansson señala el giro del primer teorema: la creación divina no como progresión aritmética pitagórica sino como despliegue gradual de elementos geométricos

«The first and most simple manifestations and representations of things, non-existent as well as latent in the folds of Nature, happened by the means of straight line and circle. Yet the circle cannot be artificially produced without a straight line, or the straight line without the point. Hence, things first began to be by way of a point, and a monad» — Dee, en sangría, dice que las primeras manifestaciones de las cosas ocurrieron por recta y círculo, que el círculo no se hace sin recta ni la recta sin punto, y que por ello las cosas empezaron por un punto y una mónada

«As Nicholas Clulee has pointed out, this scheme was clearly based on Proclus’ commentary on the Elements of Euclid, a work that Dee acquired in 1560, four years before the publication of Monas hieroglyphica» — Håkansson recoge de Clulee que ese esquema viene del comentario de Proclo a los Elementos de Euclides, obra que Dee adquirió en 1560

«In Proclus’ text we find many of the commonplace definitions that Dee presents in the Mathematicall Praeface, including the definition of the point or unity as the originative principle of the line and the circle, the basic constituents of all geometrical figures» — Håkansson consigna que muchas definiciones del prefacio matemático de Dee están ya en Proclo, entre ellas el punto o unidad como principio originante de la recta y el círculo

«As Dee would later do, Proclus also defines a line, whether straight or circular, as the “flowing of a point”, a definition referred to by Aristotle in De anima and commonly repeated in mathematical literature from antiquity to the seventeenth century» — Håkansson señala que Proclo define la línea, recta o circular, como fluir de un punto, definición que Aristóteles recoge y que se repite hasta el siglo XVII

«But throughout the text Proclus also developed a theme entirely missing from Dee’s Mathematicall Praeface but fundamental to the task undertaken in Monas hieroglyphica: the analogy between the derivation of geometrical figures from the point and the unfolding of the universe from the innermost godhead» — Håkansson nombra el tema que falta en el prefacio matemático y es central en la Mónada: la analogía entre derivar figuras del punto y desplegar el universo desde la divinidad interior

«Elaborating a notion from Plato’s Timaeus, Proclus describes how the godhead, the “demiurgic Nous”, set up “two principles in himself, the straight and the circular, and produced out of himself two monads, the one acting in a circular fashion to perfect intelligible essences, the other moving in a straight line to bring all perceptible things to birth”» — Proclo, citado por Håkansson, describe al Nous demiúrgico poniendo en sí dos principios, la recta y el círculo, y produciendo de sí dos mónadas

«Accordingly, the circle was a symbol of the incorruptible heavens, while the line signified the constantly changing world of generation» — Håkansson da el reparto simbólico en Proclo: el círculo por los cielos incorruptibles y la línea por el mundo de la generación en cambio continuo

«The meanings that Dee attributed to these geometrical elements were partly in keeping with alchemical and astrological tradition; and throughout the text he exploited the ambiguous meanings of the circle and semicircle, traditionally representing the sun and the moon as well as gold and silver, to substantiate a range of alchemical and astronomical notions» — Håkansson consigna que esos sentidos concuerdan en parte con la tradición alquímica y astrológica y que Dee explota la ambigüedad del círculo y el semicírculo, sol y luna, oro y plata

«Nonetheless, by grounding the significance of these symbols in the metaphysical scheme of creation expounded by Proclus, Dee also made room for reinterpretation» — tesis de Håkansson: al fundar el sentido de esos símbolos en el esquema metafísico de Proclo, Dee abrió espacio para reinterpretarlos

«By this move he could not only legitimize the claim that the “hieroglyphical signs of the five planets” were all composed of the circular and linear elements and originally stemming from the ancient sages, the “oldest wise men”» — Håkansson enumera lo que ese movimiento le permitía: sostener que los signos jeroglíficos de los cinco planetas se componen de elementos circulares y lineales y vienen de los sabios más antiguos