Written by Ramon Llull
Medieval European alchemy of the 13th century and much of the 14th organizes its theory about the formation and transformation of substances from the great science of nature at the time within Latin scholasticism, which was Natural Philosophy. The treatises "On Generation and Corruption" and the "Meteorological" (especially Books III and IV) of Aristotle are the fundamental works on which the cosmological edifice of medieval alchemy in the West is built. For all that, it is very important to know the opinion of Blessed Ramon Llull in his truthful texts about topics related to Natural Philosophy in order to be able to accurately determine his points of view regarding generation and transformation as it happens in his work titled "Book of Wonders" written in 1286, specifically in his books IV, V and VI. The last one is especially interesting, dedicated to metals and where there is a specific chapter on alchemy.
In it the alchemist is branded as an imitator of noble metals, rejecting the possibility of a true transmutation of a substance into another through artificial means. For Ramon Llull in the transmutation of a metal there must be a substantial and accidental conversion, that is, that the form and the matter are transmuted with all their accidents into a new substance, composed of new forms, materials and accidents and "... such operation - says Llull - cannot be done artificially, because nature has to use all its power» .
In a unique conversation between the alchemist and the fire, the author compares the results obtained by the alchemist with those of the painter, implying that there is no complete and perfect change but a remedy; says like this: "The alchemist says to the fire that ·I· the painter of colors appears on the wall ·Iª· the figure of a man. And the fire told the alchemist that the shape and matter of that figure was remote; and therefore that figure was without natural movement, which belongs to human nature" . These themes would give rise to controversial interpretations if we start from some early alchemical treatises attributed to Llull in which criticism is also poured in on certain types of alchemists, equally rejecting the impossibility of a transmutation carried out by exclusively artificial means and claiming as necessary the constant help of nature However, there are other details in the "Book of Wonders" that in my opinion come to confirm Llull's attitude against alchemy, for example, his criticism of the possibility of the separation and purification of the simple elements that supposedly made up the substances natural Said separation of the four elements, followed by their purification, was carried out by the alchemists through distillation, the basic operation on which the practice of medieval European alchemy is based and, of course, the pseudo-Lulian alchemical corpus. Ramon Llull called it madness without the slightest qualm: "The alchemist and the fire were a big issue, because the alchemist says that you can artificially simplify the elements, and purify and purify the other's element, while each simple element, by itself, simple core, composed only of a form and a simple matter with simple accidents. He greatly marveled at the folly of the alchemist's opinion, who cared more about knowing the existence of the simple elements than he; and tell the alchemist these sayings" . It ends in the chapter on alchemy with a small story in which the swindlers who, pretending to be alchemists, stole significant amounts of money from the nobility are narrated. This story has been analyzed in detail in an article by Jesús Serrano Reyes published in this same magazine "Azogue" (1) .
Jose Rodriguez Guerrero
The fourth libra begins, who is from the Germans.
Song Felix has been with the shepherd for a long time, and the shepherd has given him a connection of the heavenly courses, Felix took leave of the shepherd, who accompanied Felix for a long time through a great forest. So much did the shepherd go with Félix, as strange as he was in ·Iª· race, along which a maiden was riding on her boyfriend.
"Sir," said Felix to the shepherd, "do you know where this road goes?"
The shepherd answered, and said that that road went to ·Iª· town that was very close to that loch.
-In that town are ·II· sons of ·I· king very noble and very wise, who learn; the older son learns about nature, and the younger son learns about weapons. The maiden you see comes from the king's youngest son, who has been given to her by the queen, who loves the youngest son more than the eldest.
Félix wondered why the queen loved the younger son more than the older one. The shepherd tells Félix that the queen loved chivalry in her son more than wisdom. Felix marveled greatly at such love, for by weapons men are in danger of death, and by wisdom one knows how to avoid dangers and the occasion of death.
"Sir," said Felix, "what is the reason why the king makes the eldest son show philosophy, and the younger son show weapons?"
Answered the shepherd, and said that the king has more need to have natural wisdom, than the science of arms; for through natural science the king can have connection with God and his person, and he can know the way according to which he knew how to reign and govern himself and his people. And because the king has to have men well used in the making of arms, for this reason the king has the younger son show the making of arms, so that he is with arms the guard of the older son, who will be king after the death of his father. The captaincy of the king and his sons pleased Felix very much, and he wished that many kings had similar captaincy.
While Felix and the shepherd were washing, they saw the king coming, who was coming from his sons, whom he had seen well indoctrinated in the sciences they were learning. Felix and the shepherd bowed to the king, which suited the king, and the king greeted Felix and the shepherd. The king said these words to Felix:
- Good friend, what is the reason why you have done me reverence and honor? Nor how do you know that I am worthy that you honor me?
- Sir - says Fèlix-, in ·Iª· city there was ·I· a king who was very ill-accustomed. While the king was passing through the square of that city, the pilgrim was passing through that square, which did not pay the king the same reverence that the others did. The king was very angry with the pilgrim, because he had not bowed to him like the others. That pilgrim said these words to the king: "Two pilgrims left Jerusalem on the day I entered it. Both wept and wept for the dishonor that every Christian takes in the possession that the Saracens have in Jerusalem, which Saracens do honor to Maffumet their prophet, who says that Jesus Christ is not God. While the ·II· pilgrims wept like this, the ·I· of the ·II· said to the other that ·VI· men who are Christians, there are in the world who are kings, who could give to Christians that holy land of Ultramar, if they wanted; and those are not so careful to honor Jhesuxrist as themselves; and therefore they are not worthy of honor. And you are one of those kings; that's why you are not worthy of being revered or honored."
Cant Felix said these words to the king, he says that the king is worthy of honor, because God has honored him to honor his honor.
- And dear you, senior king, nurture your children to honor God, you are worthy of being honored.
As soon as Felix was taken away from the king and the shepherd, he set out on the road, and when he came to that town there were the king's sons. Félix came to the king's palace where the eldest son had a lesson in philosophy.
Of the simplicity and composition of the elements
In a chair stech ·I· philosoph who read to the king's son and the sons of other barons, philosophia, saying these proverbs:
-Of the ·IIII· elements, fire is a simple element in that it has its own form and its own matter, which form and matter have the appetite for the ·I· to be in another, without mixing any element; and the same follows from the simplicity that is in the other elements, which is knowledge, air, ayga and earth; for all the elements are mixed, and each is in the other. And for this reason the simple fire cannot be in loch without the other elements, with which it is composed giving its heat to the air, and reebén dry from the earth, and heating the ayga, so that it destroys it; and heat heats the air, heats the water, because the air gives heated humidity to the water, and the water receives it, which mortifies the coldness that it has in itself; which water mortifies in itself that same heat, which heat passes to the earth who receives coldness from the water, in which coldness the earth receives the heat of the fire entering the water through the air. That land receives moisture from the ayga, reebén from it coldness, which moisture enters the aygua reebén from the air humidity; which humidity contradicts in the earth to dryness, with which dryness mortifies the earth the humidity of the air; and, receiving the heat of the dry earth, it receives in itself the humidity of the air that passes into the water, and it receives the coldness that passes into the earth, and it recovers the heat that is more in the air, and that the air is more in the water, and that water more in the earth, and than the earth more in the fire; which heat is digested and mortified as it is passed through all the other elements.
In the example that the philosopher said of fire and heat, the king's son makes a connection to the simplicity and composition of fire and the other elements. And he repeated the lesson, by analogy, according to these proverbs:
-The fire has an appetite to beget the grain of the pepper, and it adjusted ·IIII· points of itself with ·III· points of the earth, and with ·II· points of the air, and it adjusted the fire ·II· points of itself , and with ·I· point of himself he adjusted another of the ayga. For this reason there were ·IIII· degrees in the pepper, in which it was heat in the fourth degree, and dryness in the third degree, and humidity in the second degree, and coldness in the first degree. What is in the fourth grade pepper is compound fire; and what is third degree is compound earth; and what is second grade is compound air, and the first grade is compound ayga. The essence of the fire, which is for the fourth, third, second and first degree, is the simple fire; the essence of the earth, which is for the third, second and first degree, is the simple earth; the essence of air, which is for all degrees, is simple air; the essence of water, which is for all grades, is simple water.
Of the generation and corruption of the elements
The philosopher says that the generation of an element is to beget itself in some elemental thing, just as the fire, which begets the grain of pepper, begets, under the completion of hot nature, the completion of dry, wet and cold nature, corrupting in the earth cold and damp complexion; in the air, moist and warm complexion; and in the water, wet and cold complexion.
When the philosopher explained the generation and corruption of the elements in the peppercorn, the king's son repeated the lesson with this simile:
-Justice wants to engender charity in ·I· sinful man in whom it was an injury; justice moves the memory of that man to remember, and the understanding to understand, and the will to love the charity of God. Wisdom gave the way to know the justice by which it moved the memory to remember, and the anticipation to understand, and the will to love. Become that injury opposes justice, and ignorance to wisdom; but fortitude helped justice, and fortitude wisdom, by which help injury, ignorance, frenzy and gluttony were overcome, and charity was engendered, in which there were justice, wisdom, fortitude and fortitude.
Felix greatly marveled at the great science of the king's son, to whom he asked for the elements, which are without discretion, how they can engender and corrupt the elemental Corsicans, neither do they know how to display or color, according to the arrangement they have, because par that they could not do that work without discretion. The son of the king says that God loves in himself a likeness, by which love God the Father begets God the Son, which Son begets the Father from his own wisdom. And for this reason God has given virtue to the elements: that in the virtue of God there may be any appetite to engender their likenesses, which they have in the corso composites, according to the disposition of those species.
"Sir," said Felix to the king's son, "by what nature does a lighted candle light another candle without diminishing its light?"
Answered the king's son, and said that the form and the matter of the fire want to have the candle burning, and in another candle that is not lit, the form of the fire can generate another form of itself, and from its matter it can engender other matter in the lit candle; and that is why the light that begets the light in the candle it lights does not diminish.
While the king's son was saying these words, his master rebuked him as he had not answered Felix by analogy; and for this reason the king's son says these words to Felix:
- God has given nature to man, to the woman, and to the plants, as each begets are similar, without corruption of their specific being, as well as to man and woman, who beget children without being corrupted by the father or the mother in the generation of the son. The same thing follows from the generation of trees, because the tree begets like a tree of itself without corruption of its specific being. These generations are so ordered that they give some semblance that there is no corruption in the generation of the Son of God.
Of the movement of the elements
The philosopher read, and says that God created ·IIII· essences, which is to know: ignitas, aeritas, aquetas, terrestritas, according to what is counted in the book who is called Cahos. Those ·IIII· essences were all created, and all were ·I· ile, which is called cahos. None of those ·IIII· essences is in form and matter; and the form is pure action, and the matter is pure passion, moving the form through all the matter, and being moved by all the matter through all the form.
Felix was very amazed by these sayings, because it seemed to him that movement could not be in the form and matter of fire, since all matter is in the form, and the form in the matter. Félix begged the philosopher to give him the pearls, and the philosopher told the king's son to certify Felix, by some resemblance, of what Felix was doubting. The son of the king says that in the essence of God there are ·III· persons, according to what is counted in the Book of the Gentile and the Book of the Articles. Those ·III· people are without all movement, begetting the Father from himself the Son, and from the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit. And dear God the Father, from all Himself and in all Himself, begets the Son and gives birth to the Holy Spirit, and this infinitely and eternally, therefore there can be no movement. So, in the sense that in the work that God has within himself there is no movement, I want God to create in the elements a nature of movement, which is in the elements by virtue and by nature, just as the form is in the matter, and the matter is in the form; which movement can be intensely there, since form and matter are distinct by essence, by dignity, majority and minority.
Félix said to the king's son, the fire how he could reveal sages, how natural it is to ride on himself, and how the hope of the air and the hope of the aygna sie between him and the earth. Answered the king's son, and said that in an elemental heart the elements are mixed, and some elements are in the others, just as in the turnip in which the wine and the ayga are mixed, each part of the wine being in each part of the water, and each part of the water being in each part of the wine, revealing and rising, the parts of the fire throughout the heart composed of the wine and the water; which, of course, makes the simple fire, so that the parts of the compound fire that are left by the parts of air, water and earth can rise.
Of lamp
The philosopher says that lamp is a smoky burning of dry vapors, in which the form and matter of the fire are close to being without mixing of the other elements. Hon, when it happens that the vapors rise so high that the sun and the fire have almost consumed the cold and the humidity, then the great heat of the fire moves from that sovereign loch, and comes suddenly, burning through the line hon finds more vapors, dry; and burn those, so that the form of the fire is in the simple matter of the fire without the other elements.
When the philosopher said these sayings and many others of the lamp, he told the king's son to repeat the lesson for some similarity:
"Master," said the king's son, "it once happened that Philosopher was going to be deported for a great plan, with no regard for his students; in which plane there are many cracks that the heat of the sun has made in the earth, consuming the humidity and coldness in the earth. That philosoph asked the ·I· of his students if the sun suddenly prayed at the ·I· moment to have made those ravages on the earth, if there was a great abundance of heat. That schoolboy answered, and said that when the fire that is small takes ·Iª· hour to burn, it could burn another fire in ·I· moment; in such a large amount of heat it could be.
"Sir," said Felix to the king's son, "the lamp, by what nature does it move crookedly, and does it not go straight down the line?"
Answered the king's son, and said that once it happened that ·I· the master gypsy through ·Iª· window ·Iª· snow, which sent thunder every hour to the earth. That teacher asked one of his students why the snowflake was curved by an oblique line, and not by a straight line. The school answered, and said that the snowflake, heart is thin and wide, falls through the air biased, making the air with its tenuity and stirring its breadth on the air.
"Sir," said Felix to the king's son, "the light that is born in the air, which seems to be hot, what is it that flashes?"
The king's son says that ·I· the school asked the same question to his teacher, who in the middle of the loch of ·I· moxell de stopa got water, and put more fire to the stopa, which suddenly burned down in the middle of the loch that tow was wet. That teacher made this similitude to the schoolboy so that in that similitude he could understand how the fire, which is in its region, due to its abundance of great heat, burns hot and dry vapors in the naked, and cannot burn the vapors great humidity and coldness.
Of thunder
The philosopher says, in the lesson, that thunder is a blow of hot and dry vapors in air moved by fighting winds, the ·I· against the other; which winds are moved by the weight of the knots that they squeeze, having water and earth appetite at their center. The king's son repeated the lesson, and said this parable:
-·The· king had besieged ·I· the castle, to which he made many giants come out. In that castle there was ·I· gin who took away the king's host. It happened once, at night, that the stone that cleared from the castle in the king's host, and the stone from the king's gin that went up to the castle, met in the air, and were wounded by such great virtue , that both pears broke, and there was such a great fire that it lit up all the king's host. The blow of both pears was so great, that it woke up all those who were sleeping in the king's guest house, and they were very afraid of the blow they made and the light they saw; which was fire that burned the hot and dry vapors that were in the air, in which both stones met.
Of the knots
He read the philosopher and said that the waves are generated from the vapors that come from the sea and the earth; and in those vapors the ·IIII· elements are chained and linked. Through the fire and through the air the vapors rise, because the fire and the air are lighter; and in the connection that water and earth have with fire and air, they rise to themselves; and the fire and the air, which are in their region, attract to themselves the vapors of the water and the earth, so that from those vapors they can purify the fire and the air, which in those vapors are mixed with the water and the earth. With those vapors they are raised up, and the fire and the air digest them, and the water and the earth are adjusted, and they make broad and tenuous hearts, and they are in the shape of a cloud; which cloud is sustained in the air, as the ship is on the water; and those clouds, they have the fire and the air, which have an appetite to go in them, and in the water and the earth they have an appetite to reveal the enjús; and that is why those clouds are movable by themselves, and also by the winds, with which they participate, which move the clouds in the air, as a ship does on water.
The king's son repeated the lesson, and said:
-In the ·Iª· mountain was the ·I· shepherd, and in the morning he lived to see if the ·Iª· cloud would be born, which ascended to him. The shepherd marveled greatly at that naked woman, and at the ascent she made to herself. While he was marveling, he saw a great fire, from which there was a great smoke that rose up to him and spread through the air. That smoke was rising because the fire was killing him; and because the fire and the air that were in the smoke, had an appetite to go themselves, that smoke could not be turned into a cloud, because there was already too much hot and dry steam due to the fire, from which the smoke was
Felix said to the king's son:
-Senior, by what nature are the knots of various colors?
The king's son said that a water passed through ·I· loch which was full of red stones, and then it passed through another loch where there were white stones; and for this reason the water, according to the lochs through which it passed, diversified in color.
Of the rain
In the lesson that the philosopher read to the king's thread, it was said that the rain was generated high in the air, from the knots that were digested into their own elemental parts, that is to know, that the fire was purified in the knots by hot and dry quality, and the air by wet and hot quality, and the water by cold and wet quality, and the earth was purified by dry and cold quality. And for this reason the parts of the elements which are mixed in the knots, separate from each other, according as they are diverse and contrary, and adjust themselves according to the fact that they are diverse and concordant. So, for this reason, fire and air are separated, in knots, from water and earth, and move by themselves because of the lightness they have. And, because of the weight of the water and the earth, the water and the earth move, so the rain is generated, which is scattered in the air in many parts of the water and the earth, in which it is greater amount of cold and dry, than hot and humid.
Felix was very surprised at the teacher, who said that in the rain there was more dryness than humidity, as if the rain was of a cold and wet nature. While the old Felix marveled, the king's son repeated the lesson saying these proverbs:
- The earth is dry by its nature, and the water is cold by its nature, and when the clouds dissolve, the rain is born, the water and the earth are more involved than they are in the hope by which the rain moves to its center; because in the air through which they move, the humidity of the rain multiplies. But because of the movement of the water that moves downwards, and because of the approach of the earth to its center, the humidity cannot prevent the dewing that the rain does.
Felix was greatly amazed at the wisdom of the king's son, who repeated the lesson in such a way that he was certified as to what he was doing wrong.
"Sir," said Felix to the king's son, "by what nature is the rain beneficial to trees and plants and other things that inhabit the earth?"
Answered the king's son, and said that the fire and the air, which are on the earth, have an appetite to go to us, and for this reason plants and animals grow in us; because the parts that are loose, move on their own due to heat and moisture; but, because the fire is hot and dry, and the earth is wise dominating the air, the humidity and the coldness are consumed wisely; and for this reason the rain pours down, so that moisture and coldness accumulate in the elemental bodies, being concordant between air and water due to their moist and cold quality; by which moist and cold quality the elemental bodies grow in amount of width and pregon, so that the courses are thick and thick. And this nature is such, that is why the air has the nature to fill, and the water to constipate what is full; and the earth does the opposite of what the air does in that it is evacuable, and fire does against water in that it is dispersive. And for this, for the fire and the earth are the plants and trees of right and thin and high quantity and situation.
Of the snow and the ice
Pbisoloff says that the snow is born in the air with the rain that falls through the air, and in the air it becomes moisture due to a great abundance of coldness, by which the water of the air is filled, and the water is constipated that air in itself. And because the air is of a moist complexion, and contains in itself white, for this reason the water is colored in the color of the air, for which coloring the snow becomes white.
Félix tells the philosopher by what nature ice is made in water. The philosopher tells the king's son to answer him, and the king's son says these words:
- In the water are the fire and the air, which have an appetite to go in themselves; and for this reason with the fire it wants to rise with its heat and with the dryness that is on the earth, air and water are contrary to that rise of heat and dryness, and water, in itself constrains the humidity so strongly, that ice is born from it, which is a solid heart, which blocks the rise of the water vapor, in which vapor the fire and the earth have an appetite to rise to themselves.
Felix said to the philosopher:
-By what nature do the bubbles of the water rise up to us through the water of the source?
The king's son says that those bubbles are inside full of air, and that clothing that is outside is water that constipates in such a way that the air cannot escape; and that, due to the levity of the air, the water that comes from below the earth can rise in the levity of the air; which water could not rise through the heart of the water of the source, without the lightness of the air, which lightness contains in itself, continent the air in itself.
of winds
He read the philosopher, and he said that wind is air moved by the pressure of knots that have an appetite in the center of the earth; which air moved is between the knots and the earth, and flees through that middle to another loch hon sie devalation of knots. These proverbs and many others say the wind philosopher in his lesson; which lesson the king's son repeated, according to this simile:
-·I· people asked ·I· the sage what wind was, and the sage told that man what wind was; but that man could not understand, because of the proverbs that the wise man said, what the wind was. The wise man filled ·Iª· an ocher with wind, on which he placed ·Iª· a large stone on top, which was very heavy; by the weight of which the wineskin burst and thus the wind of that wineskin.
Félix asked the phisoloff by what nature the ·IIII· main winds were, that is to say, the east wind, the west wind, the midday wind, and the north wind. The philosopher answered, saying that the east wind is engendered by hot and dry vapours, and the west wind is engendered by cold and moist vapours, and the wind that is at midday is engendered by moist and hot vapours, and the wind which it is engendered in tremontana, it is by dry and cold vapors. The reason why the winds are thus engendered by various vapours, is because, according as the region is different, they are different knots in concordant and contrary qualities.
The son of the king said that from the ·IIII· main winds were born ·IIII· other winds, which is to know: exaloch, master, and grech, and labeig. These ·IIII· winds are according to the mixing of the qualities hon the main winds are engendered. From these ·VIII· winds, other ·VIII· are engendered by strong qualities; and of other winds are that they are not natural, according to the dispositions of the sun, but they are natural according to the dispositions of the earth and the mountains, and according to the accidents by which some waves are moving against the others.
of time
In the lesson that the philosopher was reading, it contained time, that is to know, the ·IIII· seasons of the year: summer, winter, spring and summer. The time of stiu is for calt and for sech; winter weather is too cold and too wet; and the wine is because of soaking wet and hot quality; and the autumn weather is cold and dry.
In the time of the stiu there is agreement between the fire and the earth, because the fire, which is hot and dry, rises above the earth in the plants, and the fire consumes the cold, in those plants, with its heat and with the place of the sun, for which the fire multiplies in heat and dryness. In summer, the earth mortifies the humidity of the air in the plants, so the fire agrees with the earth, against the water and the air. And that's why in the summer the plants are digested, and the fruits ripen, and the seeds and the humors of the animals are ground, and the wheat is harvested.
At high altitudes the land is restricted by the water that restricts it; by which constipation remains the vapors below the earth, which cannot rise to itself; and there begins the generation of the seeds that are sown.
In the winter time, the seeds that are sown on the earth begin to emerge, due to the humidity of the air, which mixes with the coldness of the water; through which water passes the vapor of the desiccated and heated earth, in the altumpne; by which vapor the plants are born, which due to hot and dry and moist completion rise to the earth, growing on the earth.
When they see it, they sprout, blossom, and leaf, and the trees grow, and the fruits grow, because because of the heat and humidity they go up to themselves, and the coldness and dryness retain that humidity and heat in the lakes bays, in which the fruits ripen in stiu, due to heat and dryness.
These reasons and many others say the philosopher of the time of the year; which year he says is still in the ·IIII· times above said, and is in ·XII· months, and in ·LII· satmans, and in ·CCCLXV· days and ·VI· hours; which ·VI· hours make the lowest in the fourth year, there are ·CCCLXVI· days, and ·XXIII· hours in a calendar day.
"Senior," said Felix, "by what nature is it more cold at dawn than in the middle of the night?"
To that question the king's son answered, and said that because the sun, which is hot in the fire, begins to rise at dawn, the vapors, which are cold and humid, flee to the sun, which is hot and dry by accident; and those vapors adjust to that loch where the men are, even when it's dawn. And that's why it's colder in that loch at dawn than it was in the middle of the night, because the vapors, cold and humid, didn't fit in that loch, because the sun was far away in the middle of the night than at dawn
The philosopher asked the king's son why nature made the hills more cold than the plants, since the sun is closer to the high lochs than it is to the bay lochs.
- Master, says the son of the king, in the high lakes the fire and the air are strongly purified, moving on top of the water and the earth, which move on top of each other; that they don't do in the bay lochs, the fire and the air don't have as much power as they do in the high lochs. And for this reason, as much as the fire and the air are purified and purified in the high lochs than in the low lochs, the water and the earth are combined in the high lochs than in the bays; by which greater conjunction is greater coldness in the hills than in the plants, as it manifestly appears by the snows and the waters that are in the hills.
"Sir," said Felix to the king's son, "by what nature has put subtler air in the hills than in the plants?"
The king's son answered, and said that in the mountains the air is nearer to its hope than in the lochs bays, which hope of the air is already the hope of the fire; which spera of the air is above the spera of the water, under which spera is the spera of the earth. Where, as this is the case, then it follows that the air is more purified and more subtle, it is far from the mixture of water and earth, which mixture is formed in the vapors that are cold and thick, than in vapors that are warm and subtle.
The philosopher asked the king's son why the water in the well is hot in winter and cold in summer. The king's son answered, and said that the pores of the earth are open in it, because of it there is the heat that the fire and the sun attract to itself; and hon pus the steam of the fire rises to us, pus is cleansed of the coldness that remains in us; which vapor is greater in coldness, there is less heat. But, because in winter the water tightens the face of the earth than the steam of the fire, for this reason the steam of the fire that is under the earth heats the water in the wells and springs in winter, just like foch who heats the water in the pot.
The philosopher tells the king's son to tell him by what nature the fire heats the water in the pot. The king's son answered, and said that the water is naturally hot, because of the fire that is composed of water. But, because the heat, with which the water is composed, does not have such great power in the water that is in the pot, unless it is heated, as it itself must be, that is why the water is so cold that warm but because of the great heat who is in the fire who is behind the pot, and for this reason because its heat passes to the water through the pot, therefore the fire multiplies heat in the water, and mortifies coldness.
He read the philosopher, and he said that the sea is salty, because it moves up and down: in it, because the fire and the sun heat it and attract the hot and dry vapors to it; and, because water is heavy by nature, its cold and humid vapors move slowly; and because the water is round, it moves around and around, according to its roundness, by which the waves on the earth move, and the sea of England moves from it; because the beskuns leans to the ·Iª· part at ·I· time, and in the other time it leans to another part. And this is why the influence of the movement is made with the help of the wind, which moves the sea, by the compression of the knots, as we have already said. Where, as this happens, and due to the movement of the mixing and disturbance of winds and qualities, heat and dryness are generated, for this reason the water of the sea, which naturally has a cold and moist complexion, accidentally becomes warm, so the finish becomes salty.
Of the battle that was fought against the two sons of the king
The philosopher finished the lesson, and he entered the beautiful orchard with the king's son and other students, in whose company Felix was. While the philosopher and his students were going through the orchard, looking at the trees, and the flowers, and the water, and the other things that were pleasant to see, the teacher who was showing weapons to the other son of the king, came with the son of the king to whom he showed arms; and so that the king's son who was studying philosophy could recreate himself, he said, in ·I· beautiful meadow, the king's son and his teacher had a long conversation.
After the art of swordsmanship, the king's son mounted ·I· beautiful horse, and with many of his companions rode, and rode to the table, and made weapons, according to what his master taught him. For a long time he was deported and used the art of arms the son of the king denouncing his brother; and since the son of the old king was fighting and playing with his companions, you see that they sold a great deal of knights. In those cavaliers there was ·I· cavalier who abducted treacherously, falsely and against the truth, ·I· squire. That knight was very clever, and very strong, and well used to weapons; the squire was a man of little strength, and there was no such noble person as the knight; but he had a right, in which he trusted. The king who was in charge of both, the children, sent the knight and the squire to his son, so that they would fight before him, and that in the battle his son would learn to fight.
In the field were the knight and the squire, and at the beginning the knight made many great blows to the squire; in the end, the squire has strength and virtue, by which he overcame and killed the knight. The king's son, who was learning about weapons, marveled at the knight's victory; according to what began, and according to the greatness of the knight and the weakness of the squire, and according to the fact that the knight was more accustomed to weapons than the squire, it was similar that the knight should overcome the squire.
When the king's son was there, the philosopher knew that the king's son, who was learning about weapons, marveled, and said these proverbs, by which the king's son realized the reason why the squire had won the battle:
-In ·I· tree was ·I· rooster with many hens. Under that tree lives a fox, which lives the rooster and the hens stay in the tree. That fox moved so much, running and jumping and playing under the tree, and stayed so long in that movement, that the rooster, who was feeding the fox all the time, lost his virtue, and fell from the tree; and the fox took and killed that one.
When the philosopher said the proverbs of the fox and the rooster, the king's son who was learning philosophy took the proverbs that the philosopher had said, and said:
-Looking at the rooster, the fox was afraid, by which fear the virtue of the rooster was mortified, and the fox kept it. For so long the rooster guarded the fox, being afraid, that his virtue fell asleep and fainted, and fell from the tree.
"Good friar," says the king's son, "for what significance of the battle do you say these sayings?"
His brother answered, and said that the knight, considering the falsehood he committed against the squire, was losing strength and virtue; by which consideration, conscience wounded him and conquered him, and loyalty, truth, comforted and restored to the squire his strength and his virtue, the squire was now thinking of the good right he had.
Felix marveled greatly as the king's son who learned philosophy, he knew the nature by which the knight was defeated and killed, who is a brother who learned weapons; and praised and blessed science above all things. Felix asked the philosopher by what nature the rooster fell from the tree, and the hens did not fall. The philosopher asked the king's son, who learned weapons, to answer the question; and that son of the king was stuck, and he didn't know how to answer the question, and he told his teacher to answer the question; which teacher says that he was a master of how to move one's heart, and strike a great blow and sustain, and the philosopher was a master of how to give doctrine to the understanding of his brother, so that his understanding understood high and subtle things.
As the teacher excused himself from answering the question, the king's son, who was studying philosophy, solved the question and answered and said:
-A man and his wife were going down a road, and on that road they found a big snake. That snake was so big, that because of the great size of the snake, the man was so afraid, that he died of fear in the presence of the snake. The woman was very afraid of the snake, and she died of fear, but she trusted her husband to help her against the snake. As soon as the man was dead, the snake took that man, and brought him out of the way, and ate that man. The female ran away with great fear, and would have died of fear if the snake took her husband and crushed her.
The philosopher asked his students what is the main reason why a battle of ·II· men is found. Answered the son of the king who was learning philosophy, and said that the solution of the question was loose in the proverbs that are told about the fox, and the rooster, and the hens, which is to know, that conscience overcomes and wounds all those who those who maintain righteousness fight wrongly; and what truth and loyalty strive all those who rightfully fight.
Félix tells the king's son that sometimes it happens that some men who are wrong in battle, win over those who are right. The philosopher replied, and said that he was very lustful. That man had a son whom he loved very much, and God took away his son for the sin of lust. So that you were punished for lust, and that he had patience in the death of his son, I want the child to die; whose death was an occasion for the father, of chastity, patience and charity.
Of the plants
Begin the fifth book, who is of the plants.
Felix left the court where both the king's sons learned; he praised and blessed God, who had chosen as king such a wise man, to whom he had bestowed such noble children. While Félix was going through the great forest to find wonders, he found the squire riding on the beautiful paleffre. That squire wept and grieved greatly:
"Good friend," said Felix to the squire, "why are you crying?" Why are you so heartbroken?
The squire answered Felix, to whom he said these words:
- Sir, the wise master of philosophy has been my lord for a long time. That one has gone to this star a league, and he intends to stay there as long as he lives in this world, and he has inherited riches and honors and many blessings, which he prays to have all the time of his life. Now he intends to live in poverty and misery, and he wants to be alone in this forest. Where, because of the love I have for my lord, and how you awaken me from him, I am very angry and angry.
"My good friend," said Felix, "do you know the reason why he wants to be alone in this forest, or why he has lost the riches and blessings he had?"
"Sir," said the squire, "in the department that I am my lord's son, I asked him why he had come to be in this forest, nor why he had left his friends, and was leaving such a noble city in which he used to be of honor I had asked my lord these things and many others, he told me that in order to be able to contemplate, know and love their creator in the works of plants and trees, he came to be in this grove; because honorably, and his friends, and the blessings he had in the city, encumbered him to receive the significance that plants give from their creator.
Félix was very pleased with the holy devotion of the philosopher, and he wished very much that there were many such in the world:
- Good friend - says Félix - it is a great wonder that we have been made to cry like you because of what your dear lord does well. Your crying means that you were happy and laughed if your lord was hurt. One must cry and have sadness, as God is so little loved and known in the world, as it is something that the world was created so that God is loved and known. Why, my friend, do not weep, and be glad of your lord, for you should have had great good fortune as you had such a holy and wise lord, for by his holiness it can be followed that you are pleasing to God. Good friend, pray that you show me the way by which I know how to come to the loch, your lord.
The squire showed Félix the race and the dressage by which Félix won in those parts in which the philosoph star prevailed.
In a beautiful meadow there were many trees, the philosopher stood near a beautiful fountain; that philosopher had ·I· libre in which he read. Felix came to the philosopher, who greeted humbly; and the philosoph pleasantly withholds his greetings. Félix dries himself next to the philosopher, to whom he says these words:
-Phisoloff, senior, I wonder how you can stay in this forest all alone, nor why you have lexed the delights of this world; nor in this forest, what do you eat or drool? Didn't you have it in your room?
The philosopher answered Felix, and said these words:
- One must marvel at the men who do so well; but in time we are sold, that so many deffelliments are made in the world, that we wonder how often someone does something that is pleasing or pleasant to God. The greatest joy one can have in this world is to know and love God. In this grove, the one who does penance has committed penitence: he has been helpful who brings him some food, from which food they live together bodily. At night, if it is too cold or if it rains, I lie down in my hostel; every day I go through this forest, watching what nature does in the trees and the grass, so that in that work I can contemplate God, according to the art of philosophy and theology; which art is written in this Libre which is called the Articles , which is ordered according to the order of the demonstrative Art.
- Sir - said Fèlix-, in ·Iª· city there was ·I· noble bourgeois who had ·II· sons, who were great clergymen in theology and philosophy. The ·I· of the ·II· chose hermit life to contemplate God, according to the science she had learned; the other son was in the city, and read, and showed and prayed so that people would be led to know and love God. It was a big question for those ·II· sages which one had chosen the best career.
The philosopher answered Felix, and said these words:
-In ·Iª· city there was ·I· philosopher who was a great master in the art of philosophy. He read at length the art of philosophy in that city. The students of that teacher did not profit as strongly in science as the teacher wanted, and they were worldly men, and who little valued the science of philosophy. The teacher of those students was very worked by the lessons he read, and he was very unsatisfied, because the students did not want to learn diligently. And because of the great work that the teacher sustained, I want to leave the city, and go into the woods so that you recreate your soul and your hearts in the woods, contemplating God; and I would rather be in the company of wild beasts and trees than in the company of evil sinful men.
When the philosopher answered Felix by analogy, he returned to his contemplation in which he was when Felix came to him.
Generation of plants
Sesia lo phisoloff sots ·I· beautiful tree loaded with leaves and flowers; a beautiful fountain watered that tree, in which there were many birds that sweetly sang. According to the disposition of the tree, and of the fountain, and of the birds, the philosopher contemplated the abundance and goodness of God, who in that tree represented themselves in the manner of creator and creature. As the philosopher contemplated God for a long time, Felix said these words to him:
- Mr. Phisoloff, I am very surprised by the size of this tree. How can it be that from something as small as the grain from which the tree was born, a tree as big as this one can emerge?
-Good friend - says the philosopher-, ·I· pastor lit a fire calling ·I· a wise master in the art of philosophy. That shepherd made a big fire. As the fire was piled up in a very large quantity, the shepherd marveled at how a spire of fire could be piled up in such a large quantity; and asked the teacher the reason why that fire was so believed. The master answered, and said that it is a natural thing for the fire to convert to its likeness all the parts that partake of it, since the fire is, in its virtue, greater than the virtue of those things with which it partakes; and for this reason because fire turns many things into itself, it is multiplied by many things.
When the philosopher answered Felix by analogy, Felix said to the philosopher that, according to the analogy for which he had raised the question, it must follow that Jesus Christ, while he was in this world and had greater virtue than all other men, convert to holy life all the other men with whom he participated. And because Jesus Christ converted few men to health, while he lived in this world, and many remained after his death in the way of damnation, so it seems that the tree has greater virtue in converting to its likeness the parts with which it participates, that the nature of Christ.
The philosopher was very pleased with the question that Felix asked him, and I know that Felix was an understanding and wise man; and for this reason he tried to tell Félix proverbs and similes of high positivity and understanding:
"Good friend," said the philosopher, "the king stayed in the palace, where he dined with many knights." While that king was eating, he was walking through that palace ·And· a man who had become the guardian of the infeels as they sold in a healthy way. That man told the king and the knights and the clergy who were eating in that palace, that it should be established how the infidels were sold in connection with the holy Roman faith. That man called out and showed the way by which one could give connection of truth to those who are in error; which way is in demonstrative Art and in the Libre dels Articles. All those who heard him mocked him and despised what he said: that man cried, his clothes and hair were torn. Minstrels went through that palace, singing and playing instruments, so that the men, who ate in that palace, would enjoy it. I have eaten and drunk a lot with the king, so from the palace; a widow knelt at the king's feet, crying out for mercy to keep her son, who had served dead. The knight, to whom the woman had given money so that the king would pray for her, took the woman's words and begged the king to forgive the woman's son. In that square the knight prayed to the king, there were many men who prayed to the king to forgive the woman's son. The king forgave the maiden who by right should have died. The man who was the guardian of the salvation of the infidels, cried out loud, crying loudly, and said these proverbs: "The woman with money converted the will of the knight to love similar things to those that the woman loved; and the knight converted to his similar will the king and the men who helped him pray to the king. In that assemblage of will there was avarice, insult, vanity, repugnance to food and drink." The fool cried out and said: "Our Lady does not have similar lovers in loving her son in this square."
Then the philosopher says these sayings:
- The son of our Lady, who has created freedom in the will of men, has hired men by incarnation and by death, and even by creation, as they honor him in this world, and as they have paid our Lady by honoring her Son, who does not want to destroy freedom of will, which is a creature of the Son of our Lady.
Felix was very grateful for the solution that the philosopher made by analogy, and he praised and blessed God, who gave so much wisdom to man.
Of the corruption of trees
For a long time they pearled the philosopher and Felix of the generation of plants, and of the way according to which they mean in God to be generation, begetting Gods For Gods Son without corruption, which corruption is signified in the corruption of trees. As the philosopher and Felix had talked about this matter for a long time, they both went away through the meadow and the forest, in which there were trees of various kinds.
In ·Iª· beautiful water bank there was ·I· beautiful tree that was loaded with leaves and flowers; ·And· hour he cut down that tree. Felix wondered why that man cut down that tree, which was so beautiful and so big:
"Good friend," said Felix to the man who cut down the tree, "what is the reason why you destroy such a beautiful tree as this one that you cut down?"
The philosopher says this example to Felix, so that he understands the reason why the tree was cut down:
-In a city there was a very rich money changer of temporal goods, but of spiritual virtues he was very stingy. ·I· today I realized that ·I· poor man came to the table where the money changer had a lot of money; that poor man begged the money changer to, for God's sake, give him alms of ·I· money, since God had given him so much money. The money changer doesn't want to give alms to the poor, instead he tells him a lot of mean and poorly taught sayings. The poor is patient in his poverty, and in the villainy that the money changer owes him. That poor man considered in his courage how great a loss the life of that changer was, and how great a good his death would be; because of the great riches that that money changer had, his health will continue to be great after his death. In a short time, may God hear that money changer who used to embezzle a lot of money, which did not come to any good while he lived; and after his death that wealth was revived, and it did a lot of good to many people.
- Sir - says Félix - by what nature do trees come to corruption? The essence of this tree that this man cuts, where will it be when the tree is corrupted or burned?
The philosopher tells Fèlix the solution for this similitude:
-A wise Christian quarreled with ·I· wise Sarahi. The Saracen asked the Christian if, as God begets the Son, if anything is corrupted from which the generation is made; and the Christian says that in God he has placed a nobler generation than that which is in the trees, in which no generation can take place without corruption; because as soon as the tree is cut down, all its essence turns to corrupting that same tree, and nature generates from that tree some things corrupting that tree; the essence of which tree is restored in those, things that are begotten of that tree. But dear God Para begets from himself his Son, and dear from himself he begets him, and all Para is infinite, eternal and filled with all good, therefore it is enough for the Father to beget the Son infinitely, eternally and perfectly in everything well, no corruption; the Father and the Son always remain the same essence and the same deity and virtue.
On that bank, the man cut down the tree, which leafed and blossomed, but did not bear fruit, there was an apple tree that was so heavily loaded with apples, that many branches had broken in that apple tree, due to the great multitude of those apples.
Felix said:
-Sir, by what nature has this apple tree grown so many apples, that it itself breaks and becomes corrupt, even though the apple tree does not eat any of the apples?
Philosopher answered the question in these words:
-In a city there was a bishop and a knight who were friars. The bishop was very handsome in person and had many letters. That bishop was similar to the tree that was cut down, and he admired his letters and the beauty of his person and his honor. That bishop did not care about the final understanding why he was a bishop, and he did not make any fruit. The cavalier was an overseer of the city, and so that he could have justice, he toiled and worked night and day, by which work he confused and corrupted his person. Since the bishop was in his sojourn and his great blessing, and he was doing everything he could so that he could live long, the fool asked the bishop this question: "Sir," said the fool, "by what nature are you, who are you bishop, you love to stay and live long, as you are a bishop to honor Jesus Christ, and to be more like him while you live in this world, than your brother, who works harder than you to love and serve Jesus Christ, who for his people save you want to work in this world, and you want to be poor and dead, and not love to live in this world for a long time?" The bishop says many wicked sayings to the fool; and the wise cleric solved the question according to these proverbs: "There were two apple trees in a vineyard: the apple tree bore many leaves and many flowers every year, but it did not produce as many apples as the other apple tree, but as many leaves he did not carry flowers. ·I· day it happened that the lord of the vineyard entered the vineyard, and lives with both the apple trees: in the ·I· lives many apples, and in the other many leaves and flowers. That gentleman of the vineyard had the apple tree that did not bear apples cut down, and he took good care of that apple tree that bore many apples. The man who was cutting the apple tree asked the lord of the vineyard why he cut down the apple tree that did not bear fruit, and he had mandated that the apple tree that did bear fruit should be well thought out. The lord of the vineyard says that he's cheating was the question that the farmer asked." But even more foolish was the bishop, who, in order to stay, cared more about living than the knight his brother, who lived for what followed the final understanding why the king had elected him to be the seer of that city; for greater virtue was the final understanding that the knight preserved in praying to God long life for the knight, than the virtue that the bishop had in eating and staying; as well as the tree that bore apples, which was more agreeable to its lord for bearing fruit, than the tree that did not bear apples but bore leaves and flowers.
"Sir," said Felix to the philosopher, "by what nature is there more corruption in the heart of a dead man than in a tree that is cut down?"
The philosopher solves the question by analogy:
-In a town I was a merchant, and I had a female friend with whom I sinned. The prior of that town wanted to have that woman, and he saw that merchant, because he did not marry that woman with whom he sinned. It was a big question in that town, who had put corrupt willingly, the prior or the merchant, nor who was put against his order.
Of the virtue of plants
In a beautiful plain where the philosopher and Felix were going to be deported, there are many medicinal herbs that had great virtue. When Felix saw those herbs, he asked the philosopher:
-For what purpose has God given virtue to herbs?
Answered the philosopher:
-Because they mean the virtue of God.
"Sir," says Félix, "the saffron, what virtue does the virtue of God mean?"
The philosopher answered the question by analogy, and said these words.
-·The· bourgeois had ·I· a beautiful son, well-nourished, and full of good customs. That maiden made her father very happy, every time she saw him, and every so often with him, he felt happy in her courage; because of the joy that the bourgeois had in his son, he rejoiced in God, who had given him that son in such a beautiful disposition and in such good nourishment. While the bourgeois was rejoicing like this, it was God's will that that maiden should die. For the death of that maiden, the bourgeois was greatly saddened, and lost the joy he used to have in God. That burgher became so sad because of the death of his son, and his heart read to rejoice in God, that he became sick and close to death. ·The· doctor who thought of the bourgeois, made ·I· a latovari of gold, pearls, and precious pears, in which more saffron; because saffron has the virtue of comforting and cheering the heart, and it makes good sanch. That latovari became a doctor, so the bourgeois rejoiced by the nature and virtue of the latovari; but the bourgeois was so saddened by the death of his son, that by the virtue of saffron and other things it was done, the latovari could not help him against the curse he had for sadness. It became ·I· day that the bourgeois considered in the death of his son, and in the manner according to which he used to rejoice in him. While the old bourgeois thought, he remembered how he used to rejoice in God because of his son, but not especially because of God alone. And this is why the bourgeois thinks that God had taken his son from him: because he was dear, he was the means by which he loved God. The bourgeois surrenders much to God as guilty, with great success he thinks that God loved for his son and not for himself, as if it were something that God is so good and so noble, that for himself he is worthy to be loved. The bourgeois determined in his courage to do penance for the failure he had committed against God and against patience, and he began to rejoice in the beauty and goodness of God, and forgot the death of his son, and gave thanks to God who had enlightened from the failure in which he had long been. The burgher being for an hour in this thought, he felt sane and happy, and praised and blessed the virtue of God, who had healed and cried out of sadness.
"Sir," said Felix to the philosopher, "by what virtue does one live from the plants and fruits that he eats?"
The philosopher says that in the conversion that nature makes of plants into bone, and from bone into meat, when digestion is done in the stomach, the virtue of living is renewed, that is, living a vegetative life. And so that Félix mils could understand the virtue that plants have in hanging one's life from them, he says this example:
-In ·Iª· city it happened that ·X·M· kisses were embalmed to ·I· merchant. In such great sadness he became the merchant for the besans he had lost, and he thought so long about the damage he had taken, that he lost his sense and went mad. That merchant convinced him to bind and bind, so that he wouldn't be heard, or that he wouldn't hurt people. The wise doctor told the merchant's friends that he saved him even though he was hired. The merchant's relatives hired the doctor, here the doctor has ·X·M· besants, and told the fool that those besants were those he had lost; and there he made the merchant unfastened and untied, and laid those kisses on the merchant's head. With the merchant he stayed like that for a long time, and handled the besants, the virtue of the imaginative multiplied into virtue, and this for so long, that the merchant imagined and thought that those besants were cells he had lost. With the merchant he recovered virtue in his imagination, even his will began to rejoice, so that the imagination imagined, and the understanding moved to understand, and the memory to remember; and then, little by little, accumulating virtue in the powers of the merchant's soul, it happened that the merchant received his seyn.
- Sir - said Félix - by what virtue is rhubarb, which is hot and dry, good for heat and dryness of the liver?
The philosopher answered, and said that the merchant, who was mad because of the bezants he had lost, was cured by the bezants he felt and saw; because the heart trembles for all the members of the heart, because of the joy it has in the palpation and in the sight that the merchant made of the besants; and that joyful man trembled in the heart of his spirit, and he knew why he was in sadness and madness.
-Well, with the liver, which is too hot and dry, being the rhubarb, who is of his complexion, he also rejoices in the participation of the rhubarb, and shakes out if his inordinate heat and dryness, to be concordant with the rhubarb; at that natural point, which bores the rhubarb into digestion, so that it does not increase the heat of the liver too much, gite the rhubarb of the stomach, with which the heat and dryness of the liver is combined, which for too much heat and dryness was in sickness.
While the old philosopher spoke to Félix about the virtue of herbs, ·I· came to eat by giving them ·Iª· grass, because of which he had anger in his belly. Félix was very amazed at the industry of that dog, and of the property of that herb, and how he knew that that herb was good at purging the humor for which the dog was in illness. Felix being in this wonder, asked the philosopher by what nature the dog had industry of that grass to eat, since he was without understanding. The philosopher says these words to Felix:
-In a city there was a heretic who caused great distress to his heart. That heretic was in that city in such a way that no one knew that he was a heretic. It happened that he met on the road the canon who was very nobly dressed, and was riding on a beautiful groom. He highly regarded the heretic in the rough life he led, and in the blessings in which the canon lived. Being the heretic in such considerations, he marveled greatly, and said these words: "Oy, las, caytiu! What is the point of fasting or poverty, praying to God, or wearing bad clothes, or being despised by people, since this canon, with vanities and pride, riches and blessings, is in the world in the most noble class and most honored than yours? Similar is that in the virtue of his faith you were exalted, that you are not in virtue of your faith; because if your faith was better than his, it would follow that you helped the rough life you lead by exalting and honoring the sgleya in which it is; and he in the vanities of his worldly life would dishonor and destroy the church in which he is. Fool, become a Christian; because it seems that greater virtue is in the faith of the Christians than in yours".
Felix was very surprised at the likeness that the philosoph made to him, because it did not seem to him that it was sufficient for the question; and tell the philosoph to marry him likeness. The philosopher says that the virtue of good understanding, for which the heretic led a rough life, signified to him the virtue of the canon's faith; in that virtue the understanding of the heretic and the virtue of the holy Catholic faith converge, just as the property of the grass that the dog ate, and the appetite that the dog has to eat that grass that had virtue in purge the bad mood that the ca had in their hearts.
"Sir," said Felix, "I am amazed at the virtue that nature has in medicinal herbs, because according to what I have been able to tell, the virtue of one herb itself will be good in curing the disease of several members, as well as rhubarb, who is good at healing a scalded liver, and clarifying the sight and cleaning the eyes is very profitable.
"Good friend," says the philosopher, "in this tree in which you see leaves and flowers, the vegetative virtue is diversified in several ways; for in as many leaves and flowers as there are in the tree, the vegetative virtue is diversified in number, not one leaf being the other, nor one flower being the other flower. However, all virtue is one in itself, but according to the diversity in the things that receive the virtue, the virtue that spreads throughout the tree is diversified. Beautiful son -says the philosopher-, this similitude that I am telling you means the grace and virtue that God sends in the world to men, who receive the virtue and grace of God in different ways, according to how different they are from each other in remembering, understanding and loving, and according to how they use worldly things in various ways. This difference of virtue, which God spreads in the influential world his grace, gives significance to the virtue that God has in himself, which virtue is essentially one without difference. But because the Father, who is virtue, begets the Son, who is virtue, and the Holy Spirit is the offspring of both, being that same virtue of the Father and the Son, and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct in personal properties, so it follows that virtue, which is all without difference, communicates and is given distinctly in the divine persons, the persons being distinct from each other, and yet they are one and the same virtue by essence.
"Sir," said Felix, "for whatever virtue is in the plants, do you want Jesus Christ to be honored by the plants on the day of the Ram, when the people professed him and waved the branches through the races where he had to pass?"
Philosopher responded to the question by saying these sayings:
- On that day that Jesus Christ came riding humbly on the horse, it was meant that God participates in the human nature of Christ, with all creatures; because by the heart of Jesus it was meant that the trees participated in the vegetative of Christ, so because he wanted the vegetative of the trees to honor his heart, this is vegetable nature. And by the sumera it was meant that the sensitive virtue of Christ and irrational animals is one in creation. And for the men who gave Christ reverence and honor, it was meant that Christ was in a similar human nature to them. And because Christ is the ·Iª· person in which there are ·II· natures, that is to know Gods and man, so I want Gods that on that day all creatures bow to the deity and humanity of Christ.
Of the metals
The ·VI· libre begins, who is from the slaughterhouses.
As the philosopher had long spoken to Felix of the plants, and with them he had, in various ways, signified the nobility of God to Felix, the philosopher changed the subject of his words, and told Felix that he wanted to speak of God according to that the matallas give significance of his nobility.
From the generation of matlats
-At that time when God created the elements, it was ordered that the elements meant the glorification of the bodies that after the day of judgment will be in lasting glory. For the elements, seeking their perfection, are composed and dissolved in the elemental bodies, seeking their perfection in those in which they cannot find it. Good friend - said the philosopher to Fèlix - in hardship that is endless, no corruption occurs; and for this reason the elements have a natural appetite according to the purpose for which they were created, that is, that they are some composite bodies, they agree without any corruption.
And because the elements agree more in the metals than in any elemental heart, therefore they are composed and adjusted in the mats, there is less corruption than in any elemental heart.
The philosopher says that gold, and silver, and iron, and pears, and the other metals, can be more sustained in duration than any other elemental heart; because every other elemental choir has a better master of what is outside, than the brass, who have so much virtue in themselves, who do not have such a great need for what is outside of them, as the other Corsicans have, what that is to say, the bodies of plants and animals, which have a greater need for air, and water, and earth, and fire, which the bushes do not.
- Sir - said Félix - by what nature is there a greater concordance of elements in the bushes than in the plants or in the animals?
The philosopher answered, and said these words:
- Good friend - he says to Fèlix - in the generation that the elements make of the matals, there is no half, because they themselves beget them, without ·The· matal not begetting the other; but, as in plants, one plant begets another, and in animals ·The· animal begets another, that is why generation is stronger in the thickets than in plants or in animals. And all this, dear friends, is to give meaning to the eternal generation that is in God, which is from God the Father in God the Son, there is nothing else but God.
"Sir," says Felix, "by what nature is gold more durable than iron, just as iron is stronger than gold?"
The philosopher says that ·I· the school asked his teacher by what nature the earth was sustained, and his teacher told him that the earth's sustenance is because the ·I· element is embedded in the other, what is knowledge , that the fire enters the air, and the air into the water, and the water into the earth, and the earth into the fire; and because of the levity and the ponderosity that is equally in the elements, the earth is by itself in the middle of the firmament, which makes it equally on all sides with the influence of its movement; why the earth is surely. And when it happens that there is no blockage in that movement, because of some big steam that puts a stop to the percussion that the firmament makes on the earth, then there is an earthquake in those losses, that blockage is made.
Of the question between iron and silver
-In addition, iron and silver were a big issue, because iron was said to be more necessary to people than silver, and it was stronger than silver, and because of silver men commit many sins, and they are god disobedient On the other hand, the silver argued against the blacksmith, and said that he was more beautiful, more beautiful, and more sonorous than the blacksmith, and was more loved by the people than the blacksmith; and he accused the blacksmith, because with the blacksmith many men die in glay, that is to say, by the wound of a knife, a spear, a sword, and a dagger.
"Sir," said Felix to the philosopher, "which one of you is like to say better reasons, the iron or the silver?"
The philosopher answered, and said that in a square there were many people, two women passed by; one was beautiful, and the other was weak. That woman who was beautiful, was greedy and covetous, and had great envy; the woman who was weak, was chaste, had great charity, and had great patience, because her husband despised her for the lowliness she had, and he loved that beautiful woman with whom his wife went. In that square there are many people who speak ill of the beautiful woman, and who speak well of the lege woman. Both women went to a church, it was the eve of ·I· sant. In that sgleya there was ·Iª· squela that sounded very noble, and ·I· seyn was broken that sounded very bad. The woman who was thin said to the beautiful woman that it would be great if the fat one sounded as good as the squeal. The beautiful woman considered in her granea, which she had in beauty and in wealth, and considered in the lightness of the woman and in the goodness that she had; for which consideration there is connection of failure, which she makes against her husband and against herself. So long did the woman dwell in this consideration, connected with her failure, that she wished she were good, as well as the woman read; for which I wish to be chaste and of a holy life. And he said these words: "It is better to put iron in the plow, than gold or silver in the box; e mils sta spasa in the hand of prince, that thesaur in courage; and more is chastity in lightness than lust in beauty; and the rooster sings thousands in the dawn, that evil cleric, lustful, avaricious, in the evening; and better is the saman in the needle, than the sapphire in the gold ring; and the strength of a humble pious man cannot counter the strength of a proud man."
"Sir," says Felix, "by what nature is it more iron than silver, or gold, or precious pears?"
Answered the philosopher, and said that God has created a greater abundance of those things that are most necessary, than of those that are not so necessary, as well as fire, air, water, earth, form, salt, iron, stones, and other similar things; for all these things are useful to a man's life, which is not pepper, nor gold, nor silver, nor precious stones.
"Sir," said Felix, "since iron is more profitable than silver or gold, why do people love gold and silver more than iron?"
The philosopher replied:
- The most noble thing that one can understand and love is God, but more is in the world loved silver and gold, than it is God, who is more necessary to one, to be loved and understood, than silver and gold.
Philosopher says that the merchant had long labored in adjusting money; the merchant, who has adjusted large sums of money, he wishes to be honored by the king, and by the people of that city there was. The king, so that there could be an opportunity to have the money that the merchant had adjusted, made that merchant bailiff of that city. The merchant was very pleased to be a knight, and he lent the king many of his money. That merchant has occasion to adjust his being in the battle; and he was unjust and contrary to the office in which he was; for that merchant had no means in what he did, and loved money more than justice. And for this reason he lost what he had gained with merchandise, in the office of the battalion; because the king took away everything he had, for the injuries he had done in his battle. When the merchant lost everything he had earned, he said these words to the king: "Sir, in ·Iª· city there was ·I· a man who was blind, and from ·M· besants that he did not have, he collected ·M· besants that had lost". The king told the merchant to tell him the way in which the blind man had recovered the ·M·besants he had lost. "Sir", said the merchant, "·The blind man had ·M· besants hidden under a pear, and every day, as if whoever prayed in that lake there were ·M· besants, the blind man would come and take, of those ·M· kisses, those I had mastered all that day. ·I· his neighbor considered and realized that that orphan had seen money under that pear, which was in ·I· his field, and he came to that pear and found those ·M· besants, which he took. The next day, when the orphan came to that loch there were the ·M· besants and we found them there, I have the opinion that his neighbor had taken them. "Sir neighbor," says the orp, "I want to consult with you, and I pray that you give me advice; heart I have ·M· besants in one loch, and in another, other ·M· besants. Ask if I will adjust the ·II·M· besants in ·I· loch, yes I will leave them as they are». The neighbor of that orphan took care that the orphan put another thousand kisses in that loch, under the pear; and advised him to put all the ·II·M· besants in ·I· loch. That man who had taken the ·M· besants, returned the ·M· besants to the loch, and the orphan came the next day and took the ·M· besants. And then he said to his neighbor that with ·M· kisses that he did not have, he had collected ·M· kisses that he had lost; and I say that he was an orphan in what he did not understand, that he was an orphan in what he did not see."
Félix tells the philosopher to give him the likeness of the purpose of the question he had asked him, and the philosopher tells him that the greatest virtue that can be in a man is to love more what he does not see or understand, than what he sees and understands , and to love more to whom there is no honor, than to love God, who has connection with all things, and who is worth more than all that is created. And because the merchant wants the honor he didn't have, he is more in office of which he knew nothing, he loses what he knew and had, for what he didn't have, and for what he didn't know how to use. And the king deceived him in his office, in which he did not see what was meant for honor in the office of king; who honestly loves money more than justice. Felix marveled greatly at the likeness that the philosopher had made of him, because he had made it too dark for him; but understand that similarity according to the final understanding by which God has created all things, and understand that with what one has, one can boast of what one does not have, if he follows the end for which he was created; and if it deviates from that close goal, with what is not, what is.
Of the asaman and the ferre
- In the Asaman, God has put so much simplicity of earth, that the iron has an appetite for it. And for this reason the asaman moves the ferre to this due to the great influence of the simplicity of the earth, to which the iron moves naturally, in which the ferre has more of the simplicity of the earth than it has in any of the other mats; for which greater simplicity is the iron pus stronger than any of the other mattocks. Just as iron has an appetite for asaman, because in asaman there is greater simplicity of earth than in other metals, so asaman has a greater appetite to draw iron, than gold or silver, in which earth is not as simple as it is in iron. Hon, all these things are in the likeness of the perfection which is in God and in man naturally; for which perfection one should love God more than anything. And Gods, when a man acts against his nature, it is so contrary to him that he would not be the asaman to the iron, if he were in his nature, and iron in his atresiha more to what things there is more of simplicity of air than of land
"Sir," said Felix to the philosopher, "does the virtue of the asaman move to the blacksmith, does the virtue of the blacksmith move with the asaman?"
The philosopher said that in ·Iª· city there was a church, there was a beautiful cross, in which was the figure of Jesus Christ, and in that cross there was much gold and silver, and many precious pears. ·I· today it happened that ·II· men were kneeling before the altar where the cross was; and the ·I· had pain from the holy passion of Christ, which was broken by the representation of the figure of the cross; and the other envied the gold and silver and the precious pears that were on the cross. That man who had the pain of passion was on the way to ordination, because the greater virtue attracted the lesser; that man who envied the gold and the silver and the precious pears, was on the way to error, so as the lesser virtue moves the greater to itself.
-Son - says the philosopher-, the asaman has virtue by which the needle turns to the north and to the midday; and the asaman is so strong in its dryness, that fire cannot melt it, which fire melts iron. And because the asaman is in greater virtue than the iron, for this reason the lesser virtue naturally has an appetite for the greater virtue.
- Sir - says Félix - by what nature does fire melt iron?
The philosopher says these words to Felix:
-In a city there was a king who was very lustful. A woman from that city decorated herself and painted herself as much as she could, and was at the window every time the king passed through that race, this was the inn where the woman was. That woman showed herself to the king, so that he could covet her for carnal pleasure. In the king's company there was a knight who thought that the woman was in love with him, and he asked the woman of madness, which the knight did not want to consent to, because he loved the king.
Félix found the likeness quite dark, and asked the philosopher to marry him according to the question he had asked him.
"Good friend," says the philosopher, "the fire is hot by nature, and it is dry by the earth; and because in iron there is more of the simplicity of the earth, than of any other element, for this reason when the fire has heated the iron a lot, it becomes that, by understanding that it adjusts to the earth so strongly, that it is not the air nor the water; which water and air are consumed by way of liquidity. And the fire and the earth take the form of liquidity in the iron furnace, because of which air and water can exit; which air and water can more easily exit in a molten and soft form, than in a solid and hard form; and because the earth is transformed into liquid, take care of the water that participates more with it than with the fire, and therefore does not want to perish from the earth; and the air does the same thing, who cares that the fire has more to do with it than with the earth, which is why it transforms from solid to liquid.
"Sir," says Félix, "by what nature is the silver ringing than the iron?"
The philosopher told Felix that a woman's breasts were so dry that she could hardly speak or breathe.
-·The mad doctor thought of that woman, and gave her cold and moist things to eat, because he made sure that the illness was warm and dry. Long stech the woman in that care of the doctor; and the more the woman used the foods the doctor gave her, the worse she got. After that it happened that the doctor gave the woman hot and dry food, because he was careful that the disease was due to cold and humidity; but that cure did not benefit the woman, it was just as contrary to her as the first. Very stech lo
physician amazed at the woman's illness, and performed that cure; and by diet he had the woman cured, because the natural heat consumed the large indigestible humours, which the woman had due to over-eating and drinking; and those humours rose and poured raw through the woman's breasts, there were such great humours, that the air had no digestible movement in itself by which it could form a voice, nor could it enter or exit as it pleased.
"Sir," said Felix to the philosopher, "by what nature is iron stronger than gold or silver?"
The philosopher answered, and said that the elements are more noble by virtue of form than by virtue of matter; and for this reason, if the fire, which has more form than any other element, should be more noble element and stronger than the others, for this reason it follows that it can destroy the others; because in matter it is restrained from its illness, so it does not have as much as the other elements have; and for this reason the form cannot have as much virtue in its own matter, which is of little quantity, as it could have if the matter itself were of great quantity. And the same follows from air, which has less matter than water or earth, and has more form than water by itself, nor earth by itself; and the same follows from water, which has a greater form than the earth, and has less matter than the earth. And then all the elements are above ordered and proportioned to equal extent; but, according as some are more lordly than others in the fed races, they are those races in greater virtue than the others, just like iron, which is hard and strong because it is dry and cold, and gold is soft for hot and wet, and silver for wet and cold, being more form in gold and silver, and less matter. And because the form of iron is small and the matter is much, it is the matter of the earth more indigestible in iron, which is not in gold or silver; for which indigestion is the iron pus stronger and pus harder than gold or silver.
"Sir," says Felix, "since there is more matter in iron than in gold, by what nature is gold stronger than iron?"
Philosopher says that sponge, which is of great quantity, is lighter than gold, which is of lesser quantity; and the same follows from the iron, which is lighter than boxwood; for as much as the matter is more solid, so much more is it fescue, because of the pores in which it cannot so well enter or participate the fire or the air, which move them up due to the levity in which they are; which fire and air move the nature of the iron upwards in pertide, inasmuch as they can enter into the iron than into the gold, in which there are not so many pores as there are in the iron.
After these sayings, the philosopher says that ·Iª· the poor woman gave ·I· the poor man, for the love of God, a mesh that he had, and the king gave that poor man his royal garments, for the love of God; and it was a question of who had given more to the poor, the king or the poor woman. Felix saw this similarity, and he understood by the similarity that there is more matter in iron than in gold, as there is matter in earth; but, according to the general view of matter, there is more matter in gold than in iron, therefore as gold is thicker and more calcated than iron; as well as the will of the poor woman, hon hac pus intense alms than in the will of the king.
Of alchemy
Félix asked the philosoph if alchemy is an art by which one can transmute one form of death into another. The philosopher answered, and said that in the transmutation of ·I· element into another, substantial and accidental transmutation occurs, which is to know that form and matter are transmuted, with all their accidents, into a new substance, composed of new forms and matters and accidents:
- And such a work, my dear friends - said the philosopher to Fèlix - cannot be done artificially, because nature has mastered all its powers. "Good son," said the philosopher to Fèlix, "in every natural beginning there is meaning, for the elements, when they are composed in the generation of matalls, where they are mixed in such a way, that some parts are standing in the others, just as in the anap of wine and water, there are all the parts of wine and water mixed substantially and accidentally, that is to know, that all the form and matter and the accidents of the wine are mixed with the form and matter and water accidents. And in this mixture there are several natural meanings, according to which some parts are graded in the others, and the quantity of these parts, their degrees, and their attendances are tangible, invisible, inexhaustible, and unimaginable.
Facing the alchemist and the fire was a big issue, because the alchemist says that one can artificially simplify the elements, and purify and remove the other's element, each element being simple, by itself, a simple heart, composed so only of a form and of a simple matter with simple accidents. He greatly marveled at the folly of the alchemist's opinion, who cared more about knowing the existence of the simple elements than he; and say these words to the alchemist:
"In the woods and in all the elemental courses, the elements seek their perfection, which they cannot find, and which perfection they have sought since God created the world. That perfection is that each element was, by itself, simple, without corruption; but because God has mixed the qualities of the elements, that is to say, heat, humidity, coldness and dryness, and the subject of those qualities are forms and materials of the elements, mixed in confusion of the simple matter and the simple form, which are beginnings common to all elemental courses, for this reason it is impossible that ·I· element can be without another; because if ·I· element could exist without the other, it could be the moist air by itself, and which had no heat at all, and it would be with its own form and matter, quantity and heat, incorruptible in any compound heart; which is impossible and against the natural beginnings, which are stronger in natural appetite than in the artificial one of the alchemist".
The alchemist tells the fire that ·I· the painter of colors appears on the wall ·Iª· the figure of a man. And the fire told the alchemist that the shape and matter of that figure was remote; and therefore that figure was without natural movement, which belongs to human nature. The alchemist prayed to the fire to turn silver into gold. And the fire told the alchemist these proverbs: "In ·Iª· earth it happened that ·I· león fought for a long time with ·I· secular. That lion was trying as hard as he could to open the porch, because he wanted to eat it; and the secular defended himself, because he did not want to lose his being, nor did he want his flesh to be transmuted into the flesh of a lion, because he loved being more like a pig than like a lion".
"Sir," said Felix to the philosopher, "according to your sayings, it seems that it is impossible to transmute one element into another, nor from one element into another, according to the art of alchemy; for he says that no slaughterer has an appetite to change his being; for if he changed his being into another being, he would not be that very being which loves to be. Where, well I have understood all your reasons and all your similarities; but one thing greatly amazes me, which is to know, how can one have such great affection for the art of alchemy, if the art is not true.
The philosopher answered Felix, and said these words:
-In ·Iª· land it happened that ·I· thought how he could adjust a very large treasure, and sold everything he had. And in ·Iª· land far away he went to ·I· king, and said that he was an alchemist. That king was very pleased with his return, and had him given an inn and everything he needed. That man put a lot of gold in ·III· boxes, in which there was a decoction of herbs, and that decoction was similar to latovari. Denying the king even that man ·Iª· of those mailboxes in the caalera he made many doubles that the king had given him, so that he multiplied them. The gold that was in the chest weighed ·M· double, and the king had months ·II·M· of it in the caldera; and in the end he weighed the gold mass ·III·M· double. For ·III· times the man did this, and the king took care that he was an alchemist according to truth. In the end: that the man fled with a large copy of gold that the king had ordered him to multiply; for he was careful that the coffin that was in the mailboxes, had virtue by which the gold multiplied in the furnace.
In a city there was a very rich man who had a wife, from whom he could have no children; the woman, wife of that rich man, was very eager to have children. There was ·Iª· a sick woman in that city, and he thought how he could get a lot of money from that woman, to whom he went and said that she would give him things to eat for which he could work. That woman had such a great desire to have children, that she believed everything the woman told her. In the end, when the woman took a lot of money from the woman, she ran away and went to live in a land far away from that city.
Quote of the Day
“Now this operation or work is a thing of no great labor to him who knows and understands it; nor is the matter so dear, consideration [sic, considering?] how small a quantity does suffice, that it may cause any man to withdraw his hand from it. It is indeed, a work so short and easy, that it may well be called woman's work, and the play of children.”
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