CHAPTER X

THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT—CONCLUSION

The attachment of Michael Scot to his master, the Emperor Frederick

II., may be conceived as acting in a double sense to procure him his

mysterious fame. With the Guelfs, who bitterly opposed that great monarch

and his followers, it of course became a reason for believing him to

have practised the blackest of arts. With the Ghibellines, on the other

hand, who formed the imperial party, and saw a very Arthur in their

famous leader, it served to confirm his character as a Mage and man of

mysterious might.

Commencing then with one of the first, and certainly the most famous

of the authors who have spoken of Scot in this romantic and legendary

style, the observation just made will enable us to understand without

much difficulty the sense of Dante’s reference to the magician. The poet

represents himself as reaching the fourth division of the eighth infernal

circle, when Virgil draws his attention to one of those who suffer there,

and says:

‘Michele Scotto, fù, che veramente

Delle magiche frode seppe il giuoco.’[298]

Dante was a Ghibelline, and must therefore be supposed to have known well

the tradition of commanding supernatural power woven by his party about

the name of Scot. There is, however, a strong element of contempt and

reproof in his lines, and this must be explained by a point of view which

was peculiar to himself. The _Commedia_, and especially the _Inferno_,

where this passage occurs, is nothing if not a retrospect of the past.

In it Dante calls up the mighty dead and subjects them to review; his

principle of judgment being largely, but by no means solely, drawn from

political considerations. Even more decidedly was it moral, and thus,

while in not a few instances he displays the working of party-spirit, in

others he permits himself to part altogether with the current Ghibelline

views.

His reference to Michael Scot, then, is undoubtedly a case of the latter

kind. As a seer whose attention was fixed on the past he was naturally

impatient of those who pretended to unfold the future. Scot, as the

author of prophetical verses, seemed to Dante a fair object for censure,

as one who had degraded the sacred art of the bard to serve the purpose

of a charlatan. He placed him with Amphiareus, with Teiresias and the

other diviners, who, because they sought to pry into the future, appeared

to the poet with their heads turned backward in punishment of their

presumption. An additional proof that this was in fact the reason for

Dante’s harsh dealing with Scot may be seen in the _Dittamondo_ of Fazio

degli Uberti. This poem, composed towards the end of the fourteenth

century, was modelled on the _Divine Comedy_, and expressly formed to

expound it. Here are the lines which correspond in the _Dittamondo_ to

those of Dante relating to Michael Scot:

‘In questo tempo che m’odi contare

Michele Scotto fù, che per sua arte

Sapeva Simon Mago contraffare,

E se tu leggerai nelle sue carte

Le profezie ch’ei fece, troverai

Vere venire dove sono sparte.’

Here the reader will observe that the prophetical writings of Scot are

distinctly mentioned, and we are not left, as by Dante, to infer, merely

from the company in which we find him, the view that was taken by the

poet of his character and fame.

It was to reinforce this unfavourable judgment based on other grounds

that Dante adopted the legend already popular regarding Scot’s magical

studies. In doing so he gave the matter a turn which widely separated

his version of the tale from the prevailing Ghibelline stories, told

no doubt with bated breath, but told on the whole to Scot’s credit. In

thus dealing with the legend Dante made use of a distinction well known

to the Arabs, and now becoming familiar also in the West: that, namely,

which divided the art of magic into the real and the illusory; called by

Eastern magicians _Er Roóhhánee_ and _Es Seémiya_.[299] The former was

noble magic, and acted in power upon high spirits, subduing them to the

magician’s will; being either white or black according to the purpose

that was sought by their aid. The latter, on the other hand, produced no

real effects whatever on material things, but moved altogether in the

sphere of mind. At its highest it gave a mastery, which was perhaps

hypnotic, over the senses of those whom the magician sought to delude.

At its lowest it was the art of the juggler and his apes, cheating eye

and ear by tricks like those which have survived to form our modern

conjuring entertainments.[300] Here the apparatus of the higher magic

was still used, but so as to be degraded and distorted from its original

purpose. The circle now served to secure the mage, not from the assaults

of supernatural beings, but from the indiscreet approach of too curious

spectators. The brazier with its cloud of dense and stupifying smoke

served to affect the senses of the subject; the strange sound of recited

spells to impress his imagination; the magic mirror to fix his attention,

till he became the wizard’s captive and obedient to his every suggestion.

This was the art of _glamour_, as it used to be called, which, in one

sphere, seemed to change a ruinous and cobweb-hung hall into a bower of

delight; in another, made visions of distant places and future times

appear in mirrors or crystals; in yet another, provided the philtres

which provoked love, the ligatures which restrained it, and even dealt

in that accursed spell of _envoutement_ which promised to procure for

jealousy and hatred all their wicked will.

Such then were the _magiche frode_ of which Dante accuses Scot, and it is

easy to see that the sting of the verse lies just here; in the unreality

it attributes to this magician’s art, much as if the poet had called him

in plain prose, ‘no mage, but a common juggler.’ Resenting Scot’s pose as

a prophet, and persuaded of the futility of such dreams in comparison

with the splendid and enduring certainties of his own art, Dante used

that gift with cruel force to convey a similar accusation regarding the

romantic fame of the philosopher, holding him up to the world as no

mighty master of mysterious power, but, in this too, a mere impostor.

The anonymous Florentine, in his comment on the _Divine Comedy_, softens

the matter a little, and at the same time imports into it a confusion of

thought very difficult to unravel, when he says: ‘This art of magic may

be employed in two ways; for either magicians compose by cunning certain

bodies, all compact of air, which yet appear substantial, or else they

show things having the appearance of reality but not in truth real, and

in both these ways of working was Michael a great master.’ There is

an attempt here to vindicate for Scot a higher place than that of the

mere charlatan, but the commentator’s distinction is one not readily or

clearly to be apprehended, and we may greatly doubt if it ever entered

his author’s mind.

The hint thus given was speedily acted upon. For to it, no doubt, we

owe the numerous tales regarding Michael Scot of which Benvenuto da

Imola and the anonymous Florentine speak. Landino gives a specimen, as

follows. During the philosopher’s residence in Bologna he used to invite

his friends to dinner, but without making any preparation for their

entertainment. When the hour struck, and the guests were seated at table,

they found it nevertheless covered with the choicest viands. Their host

would then explain that one dish came from the royal kitchen at Paris,

another from that of the English king, and so on with the rest. Jacopo

della Lana repeats the same story, but with certain variations.[301]

According to this commentator, Michael Scot always kept the best company,

living in all respects as a gentleman and cavalier. In his tricks of

the table he did not spare even his own master, but, while choosing

his boiled meat from Paris, and his roasts from London, would always

procure his _entrées_ from the King of Sicily’s provision. The anonymous

Florentine adds another tale to the same purpose, saying that his guests

once asked Scot to show them a new marvel. The month was January, yet, in

spite of the season, he caused vines with fresh shoots and ripe clusters

of grapes to appear on the table. The company were bidden each of them

to choose a bunch, but their host warned them not to put forth their

hands till he should give the sign. At the word ‘cut,’ lo, the grapes

disappeared, and the guests found themselves each with a knife in one

hand, and in the other his neighbours sleeve. Francesco da Buti adds the

significant note, ‘all this was nothing but a cheat; for they only seemed

to feast, and either did not really do so, or else took the dishes for

something quite other than they really were.’ This is enough to show that

the sense we have given to Dante’s words is one which found favour in

early times.

Boccaccio, commencing his lectures on Dante in the Church of San Stefano

at Florence in October 1373, proceeded in them no further, unfortunately,

than the seventeenth canto of the _Inferno_, so that we are deprived

of his notes on the passage which refers to Michael Scot. In the

_Decamerone_, however, he treats the subject in a passing way; making a

citizen of Bologna speak of the magician’s residence in that town.[302]

Scot, he said, had performed many prodigies there, to the delight of

sundry gentlemen his friends, and at their request had, on his departure,

left behind him two scholars, who kept up fairly the traditions of his

art. This seems to indicate that Boccaccio had in mind the stories told

by the other commentators on Dante, and the tone of his novel supports

the conjecture that he agreed with the great poet and with Da Buti, in

regarding these prodigies as pertaining to the department of fictitious

magic.

More interesting, perhaps, are the tales which involve Michael the

magician with the fates of his great master, Frederick II. In the

_Paradiso degli Alberti_,[303] for example, we read how, at the feast

given by the Emperor to celebrate his coronation at Rome, which had taken

place on November 22, 1220, the company were entertained by a strange

event. They were just in the act of washing their hands before sitting

down to table in the great hall at Palermo. The pages were still on foot

with ewers and basins of perfumed water and embroidered towels, when

suddenly Michael Scot appeared with a companion, both of them dressed

in Eastern robes, and offered to show the guests a marvel. The weather

was oppressively warm, so Frederick asked him to procure them a shower

of rain which might bring coolness. This the magicians accordingly

did, raising a great storm, which as suddenly vanished again at their

pleasure. Being required by the Emperor to name his reward, Scot asked

leave to choose one of the company to be the champion of himself and his

friend against certain enemies of theirs. This being freely granted,

their choice fell on Ulfo, a German baron. As it seemed to Ulfo, they

set off at once on their expedition, leaving the coasts of Sicily in two

great galleys, and with a mighty following of armed men. They sailed

through the Gulf of Lyons, and passed by the Pillars of Hercules, into

the unknown and western sea. Here they found smiling coasts, received a

welcome from the strange people, and joined themselves to the army of

the place; Ulfo taking the supreme command. Two pitched battles and a

successful siege formed the incidents of the campaign. Ulfo killed the

hostile king, married his lovely daughter, and reigned in his stead;

Michael and his companion having left to seek other adventures. Of this

marriage sons and daughters were begotten, and twenty years passed like a

dream ere the magicians returned, and invited their champion to revisit

the Sicilian court. Ulfo went back with them, but what was his amazement,

on entering the palace at Palermo, to find everything just as it had been

at the moment of their departure so long before; even the pages were

still going the rounds with water for the hands of the Emperor’s guests.

This prodigy performed, Michael and the other withdrew and were seen no

more, but Ulfo, it is said, remained ever inconsolable for the lost land

of loveliness and the joys of wedded life he had left behind for ever in

a dream not to be repeated. This tale appears also in the _Cento Novelle

Antiche_,[304] but in that collection the place of Michael Scot and his

companion is taken by ‘three masters of necromancy.’

In the _Pseudo Boccaccio_[305] we find another tale, referring to the

later and less happy period of the imperial fortunes. The scene is laid

in Vittoria, the armed camp which Frederick pitched so long before the

walls of rebellious Parma. The Parmigiani had made a successful sally,

forced the defences of Vittoria, and were plundering the place. A poor

shoemaker of Parma, who made one of this expedition, was lucky enough to

come upon the imperial tent itself. Entering, he found a small barrel,

which he caught up and carried back to his home. On trial it proved to

contain excellent wine, which the shoemaker and his wife drank from day

to day, till at last it occurred to them to wonder why the supply never

came to an end. They opened the barrel to see, and found within it a

small silver figure of an angel with his foot planted on a grape, also of

silver, from which flowed constantly the delicious wine they had so long

enjoyed. ‘Now, this was made by magic art,’ continues the commentator,

‘and by necromancy, and it was Thales, otherwise called Michael Scot,

who contrived it by his skill and power.’ Needless to add that, by this

indiscreet curiosity, the charm was broken, and the generous wine flowed

no longer to gladden the hearts of the shoemaker and his wife.

We have thus traced the development of the legend as far as the close of

the fourteenth century. During the next hundred years no notable addition

seems to have been made to it, nor does it appear to have attained any

further expression of a remarkable kind in the region of pure literature.

But the fifteenth century had by no means forgotten Michael Scot, nor

the tales that embodied his mysterious fame. This, in fact, seems to

have been the period when most of the magical works attributed to the

philosopher’s pen were composed, and commended to the world under the

reputation attaching to so great a name. Such are the spell, which exists

in writing of this age, in the Laurentian Library of Florence,[306] the

_Geomantia_ of the Munich Library,[307] and, perhaps, the _Cheiromantia_.

As, however, a tract on at least one of these latter subjects is

attributed to Gerard of Cremona in the Vatican list,[308] it is possible

there may here have been only some not unnatural confusion between two

authors who were closely associated in much of the literary work they

accomplished in Spain.

To the sixteenth century belongs the mock-heroic poem entitled _De Gestis

Baldi_, composed by the famous macaronic writer Teofilo Folengo, who

wrote under the assumed name of Merlin Coccajo. A considerable passage

in this curious production is devoted to Michael Scot, of whom the poet

speaks in the following terms:

‘Ecce Michaelis de incantu regula Scoti,

Qua, post sex formas, cerae fabricatur imago

Demonii Sathan Saturni facta plumbo

Cui suffimigio per serica rubra cremato

Hac, licet obsistant, coguntur amore puellae.

Ecce idem Scotus qui stando sub arboris umbra

Ante characteribus designet millibus orbem.

Quatuor inde vocat magna cum voce diablos.

Unus ab occasu properat, venit alter ab ortu,

Meridies terzum mandat, septentrio quartum.

Consecrare facit freno conforme per ipsos

Cum quo vincit equum nigrum, nulloque vedutum,

Quem, quo vult, tanquam Turchesca sagitta, cavalcat,

Sacrificatque comas eiusdem saepe cavalli.

En quoque dipingit Magus idem in littore navem

Quae vogat totum octo remis ducta per orbem.

Humanae spinae suffimigat inde medullam.

En docet ut magicis cappam sacrare susurris

Quam sacrando fremunt plorantque per aera turbae

Spiritum quoniam verbis nolendo tiramur.

Hanc quicumque gerit gradiens ubicumque locorum

Aspicitur nusquam; caveat tamen ire per altum

Solis splendorem, quia tunc sua cernitur umbra.’[309]

Here the legend is not only considerably enriched, but it has recovered

much of its original tone. Michael Scot again appears rather as the

mighty mage than as the adroit juggler which Dante had represented him to

be. One would say Folengo had read the spell of Cordova, where a circle

similar to that described by him is actually proposed. The use of magical

images too, on which he insists, is the very art which the Arabian author

of the _Picatrix_ professes to teach.

These then, or such as these, must have been the ‘old wives’ tales’

spoken of by Dempster, who says that store of them passed current in his

day.[310] He was, like Michael Scot himself, a Scotsman long resident

in Italy, who taught in the universities of Pisa and Bologna at the

commencement of the seventeenth century:[311] an origin and situation

very favourable to the knowledge of these stories, both in their Italian

and Scottish form. That they had at an early period become part of the

romantic heritage of Scotland seems very certain. An anonymous author

supplies us with the Italian view of the matter when he says that the

great magician taught the Scots his art to such a degree ‘that they

will not take a step without some magical practice,’ and adds that he

introduced into Scotland the fashion of ‘white hose, and gowns with the

sleeves sewed together.’[312]

Perhaps the best known of these Scottish tales is that which relates how

Michael Scot had a particular spirit as his familiar, and describes the

difficulty he felt in discovering new tasks for his supernatural servant.

Sir Walter Scott says that this story had made so deep an impression,

that in his day any ancient work of unknown origin was ascribed by the

country people either to Sir William Wallace, Michael Scot, or the

devil himself.[313] But, as commonly told, the legend refers to certain

outstanding features of the country which are natural and not artificial;

a fact which may possibly account for its persistence and survival in

this form and not in the others. Michael is said to have commanded his

spirit to divide Eildon Hill into three.[314] The feat was accomplished

in a single night, but, the magician’s instructions being very precise,

and the spirit finding one of the peaks he had formed greater, and

another less than the mean, accommodated the matter very skilfully

by transferring what seems like a spadeful of earth, still visible as

a distinct prominence on the sky-line of the hill. Next night brought

the need for another task, and Michael gave orders that the river Tweed

should be bound in its course by a curb of stone. The remarkable basaltic

dyke which crosses the bed of the stream near Ednam is said to have been

the result of this command. On the third night, finding his familiar

still keen for employment, Scot bade him go spin ropes of sand at the

river mouth. This task proved so difficult as to relieve the magician

from further embarrassment. It is said to be still in progress, and the

successive attempts and failures of the spirit are pointed out as every

tide casts up, or receding, uncovers, the ever-shifting sands of Berwick

bar.

Another Scottish story, borrowed perhaps from the relations between

Michael Scot and Frederick II., and possibly suggested by the

philosopher’s journey in 1230, speaks of a high commission he once held

from the King of Scotland.[315] Some Frenchmen, it is said, had commenced

pirates, and had plundered Scottish ships. The King chose Michael as

his ambassador, sending him to Paris to demand justice and redress.

The magician, however, made none of the ordinary preparations for so

considerable a journey, but opened his _Book of Might_ and read a spell

therein; whereupon his familiar appeared in the form of a black horse,

just as Folengo describes him. In this shape the demon carried his rider

through the air with incredible speed. When the channel lay beneath

them, he asked Michael what words the old wives in Scotland muttered

ere they went to sleep. A less adroit wizard would have simply repeated

the _Paternoster_, and thus furnished the excuse sought by the demon,

who would then have hurled his rider into the sea. Michael, however,

contented himself by sternly replying; ‘What is that to thee? Mount

Diabolus, and fly;’ and, the demon being thus outwitted and compelled,

they presently arrived in Paris. Finding the French King unwilling to

hear his representations, Scot asked him to delay giving a final refusal

till he should have heard the horse stamp three times. At the first

hoof-stroke, all the bells in Paris rang. At the second, three towers in

the palace fell; and the horse had raised his foot to stamp once more,

when the King cried, ‘Hold,’ and yielded him to do as his cousin of

Scotland desired.

A more trivial and domestic tale is that which relates how Michael met

and overcame the Witch of Falsehope.[316] He was then residing at Oakwood

Tower, and, hearing much talk of this woman’s craft, he set forth one day

to prove her. The witch was cunning, and denied that she had any skill

in the black art, but, when Scot absently laid his staff of power upon

the table, she caught it to her and used it upon him with such effect

that he became a hare; in which shape he was hotly coursed by his own

hounds. Taking refuge in a drain, he had just time to reverse the spell

and resume his own form before the hunt reached his hiding-place. Thus

Michael returned to Oakwood with a high impression of his neighbour’s

skill and malice, and fully resolved to have his revenge at the first

opportunity. This occurred next harvest, when, under pretext of sport, he

sent his servant to the witch’s house to beg some bread for the hounds.

Met with the refusal that was expected, the man acted upon his master’s

instructions by privately fixing to the door a scroll containing, amid

magical characters, the following rhyme:

‘Maister Michael Scot’s man

Socht breid and gat nane.’

Meanwhile the witch-wife had returned to her work; which was that of

boiling porridge for the shearers. As soon, however, as Scot’s man had

left the door, she began to run round the fire like one crazy, repeating

as she ran the words of the spell. In a little the harvesters returned

from the field to their dinner, but, as each passed the enchanted door,

the spell took him, and he joined the dance within. Meanwhile Michael

and his men and dogs stood not far off on the hill, whence they could

command a full view of what went on. The last to leave the field was the

goodman, who, suspecting something more than common from the attention

Scot was paying to his house, was too cautious to enter immediately,

as the rest had done. He went to the window, and through it beheld the

orgy, now become terrible, and in the midst of all his wife, half dead

from compulsion and exhaustion, dragged around the house and through the

fire by the bewitched servants. Suspecting how matters stood, he went to

Scot, who, relenting, told him how to remove the spell by entering the

house backwards, and then taking the scroll down from the door. This he

did, and the unearthly dance ceased, but it was long ere those who had

taken part in it forgot the power of the magician, or ventured again to

provoke his resentment.

The northern tales had much to say of Michael’s _Book of Might_,

from which he learned his art, and of his burial-place, where it lay

interred with him. Dempster tells us that, in his boyhood, it used to

be said in Scotland that Scot’s magical works were still extant, but

might not be touched for fear of the powerful demons that waited on

their opening.[317] This form of the legend belongs then to the latter

part of the sixteenth century. In the beginning of the next age, and

precisely in the year 1629, occurred the traditional visit of Satchells

to Burgh-under-Bowness.[318] This author declares that one named Lancelot

Scot showed him in that place something taken from the works of the

mighty magician:

‘He said the book which he gave me

Was of Sir Michael Scot’s Historie;

Which Historie was never yet read through,

Nor never will, for no man dare it do.

Young scholars have pick’d out some thing

From the contents, that dare not read within.

He carried me along the castle then,

And shew’d his written Book hanging on an iron pin.

His writing pen did seem to me to be

Of harden’d metal, like steel or accumie,

The volume of it did seem so large to me

As the Book of Martyrs and Turks Historie.

Then in the church he let me see

A stone where Mr. Michael Scot did lie.

I ask’d at him how that could appear:

Mr. Michael had been dead above five hundred year?

He shew’d me none durst bury under that stone

More than he had been dead a few years agone,

For Mr. Michael’s name does terrifie each one.’

It will be observed that Satchells hesitates here between the title of

knighthood which had been bestowed on Scot for a century past on the

authority of Hector Boëce, and the more authentic dignity of Master which

was really his. He also antedates the philosopher’s lifetime by more than

a hundred years; so that plainly what we have in these verses is legend

and tradition rather than history.

This is probably the latest appearance in literature of the old

stories concerning Michael Scot told in the old way. Naudè[319] and

Schmutzer[320] presently came on the scene, in the late seventeenth and

early eighteenth century, with their critical defences of Scot, all too

imperfectly informed regarding his real reputation. In our own age the

poems of Sir Walter Scott and Rossetti, while serving to show that so

great a name has not been forgotten, breathe, it is plain, an entirely

different spirit. They are but the romantic and sentimental revival of

tales that the poets and their world had already ceased to believe.

Changed habits of thought, reaching and affecting every class of society,

make it useless now to seek in Scotland for any new developments of

the legend of Michael Scot. This is not so certainly true, however, of

the South of Europe; of Italy, Sicily, and Spain, where he was once

a familiar figure. There the slow progress of education has left the

common people still in possession of much legendary lore, and even of

the living faculty by which in past ages such tales have been formed.

To ascertain what an Italian story-teller in the present year of grace

would make of the name and fame of Michael Scot were clearly a curious

and interesting inquiry. It is one which, on actual trial, has yielded

two tales differing considerably from any hitherto published.[321] As

these are certainly the very latest additions to the legend, they deserve

a place here at the close of our collection. Freely rendered into English

they run as follows:

‘Mengot was a notable astrologer and magician. Mengot was his true

name,[322] but he had many surnames besides; among which was that of

Scotto. This name of Scotto was given him by a princess. One night the

Prince, her husband, happened to be in a company where the talk turned

on the virtue of women, and the Prince said he would put his hand in the

fire if his wife were not faithful to him; so sure was he of her virtue.

Then spoke up another of the company, who made light of the caresses and

compliments with which women use to deceive, and told a tale for the

Prince’s warning. “There was once a man,” said he, “who thought as you

do, dear Prince; for he took his wife for a pattern of virtue, and would

have pledged, not his hand only, but his very life that she was so. It

happened, however, that he had a friend who knew of the wizard whom they

call Mengot, dwelling without the Croce Gate of Florence, and having

his house below the ground, closed by a flat stone of the field so as

to be secret. Those who would inquire of him must pass to the place and

cry ‘Mengot! Master Mengot! I seek a favour of thee, and, if thou tell

me true, I shall not stint thy reward;’ whereupon he doth straightway

appear. This then was what the friend of the too confident husband did,

for he summoned Mengot, and, in presence of all, said to him: ‘Tell me

the truth, and whether the wife of this gentleman deserves his confidence

or not.’ After some thought, the wizard replied, ‘Do you wish a true

answer, or one made to please? I should be sorry to hurt the husband’s

feelings.’ When all desired to have the truth, Mengot told them that

the lady in question had gone to a place in the Via Calzaiuoli where

disguises were arranged, and that she would be found next day dressed as

a servant in the course of carrying on a vulgar intrigue in the Ghetto.

Now all this was verified; for the wizard told them even the very house

in the Via delle Ceste where she would be found with her lover, and it

proved to be exactly as he had said.” When this tale was done, all who

heard it cried that Mengot should be summoned again, to see whether the

Princess were faithful or not. So they called him, as had been done in

the other case, but with the same result; for here also the Prince’s

confidence had been misplaced, and that in a high degree. Then said the

Princess, between rage and shame, “Hast thou scotched me this time; but

next time I will scotch thee.”[323] She straightway sought a witch, said

to be more powerful than Mengot himself, and, telling what had happened,

promised her gold by handfuls if she would revenge her on the wizard. The

woman told her to be easy, for she would arrange the matter. She paid

Mengot a visit as if to take his advice, and, stealing his magic rod,

struck the ground three times, whereupon Mengot was turned into a hare,

and fled from his habitation. Having foreseen, however, by his art that

such danger might arise, Mengot had prepared a pool of enchanted water at

his door. Into this he now leaped, and by its virtue was able to resume

his proper form. The first thing he did was to seek the magic rod, and,

finding it still in his house, he struck the witch on the head. She

became a skinless[324] cat, and in that form haunted the guilty Princess

for her sins; while Mengot was ever afterwards distinguished by the name

of Scot.’

The second tale is to this effect:

‘Michael Scotti the wizard was a mighty master of witchcraft. There came

to him one day a young lady, richly dressed, and wearing a thick veil.

She told him that she wished to become a witch that she might cast a

spell upon the child of a man who had forsaken her for another woman,

now his wife; for she said that to bewitch this child would be the best

revenge she could have. Michael was willing to content her; but we must

here remark that wizards and witches gain their power, either at birth

or as a legacy from some dying person who has the gift. In either of

these cases, when the wizard or witch takes the form of an animal, both

body and soul are present wherever the form may appear. If, on the other

hand, any one becomes a witch of her own desire, as in the case before

us, her spirit may move and act under such a form, but her body lies all

the while where she left it. But to our tale.

‘Michael accordingly took his Magic Book, and the skin of a cat, and

kindling some hempen fibre[325] in an earthen pot, he commenced to read

his spells, which had such effect that the spirit of the young lady

entered into the skin of the cat. In the form of that animal she then

went about her business, while her body remained still in the chair

where she was sitting. At her return the wizard read again in his book,

whereupon the spirit of the new-made witch returned to her body as

before. Michael gave her a book of this kind, and the skin he had used,

and every night she turned herself into a witch, and became so wicked as

to cast ill upon many children, and even on an infant brother of her own.

‘Thus the sorceress was hardly entered on her power ere she brought about

the death of her rival’s child, and killed many others, but an end was

presently put to these ill-doings. Her brother, whom she had bewitched

out of jealousy, wasted away, and the parents were in despair, as none of

the physicians whom they consulted could understand the case. One morning

the child told them he had suffered much during the night from a cat,

which leaped upon his bed, howled, and played the most frightful antics.

They then began to suspect witchcraft, and resolved that the household

should watch during the next night. On the stroke of twelve a cat was

seen coming out of their daughter’s room. One of the servants gave chase,

and another went into the room, fearing that the young lady had also been

bewitched, and saw her lying on the bed as cold as marble. The cry arose

that she was killed. The parents, mad with grief, made after the cat to

destroy it, but with leaps and bounds, it kept them busy all night as

if they had been huntsmen chasing a hare, and all in vain. As the bells

began to sound for matins the cat ran into the young lady’s room, and

the mother, beating her brow, exclaimed: “she who has bewitched my son

is none other than his sister.” Rushing into the room they found her,

no longer like a dead body, but all panting from the night-long chase.

Her mother searched all the corners, and finding the book and earthen

pot, bade throw them into the Arno. They then besought their daughter to

undo the mischief she had wrought upon her brother, and so many more,

and to promise she would never do the like again; but to nothing of this

would she consent. Then they threw her out of window in fear and to the

breaking of her bones. The servants came and took her up; laying her on

her bed again; telling her to heal her brother. Not even in the last

moments of life, however, would she repent. She could not die till Mengot

had read for her a spell of loosing, and on him therefore she still lay

crying. The servants told this to her parents, who bade put horses to

the carriage and fetch the wizard, who was presently with them. First

he commanded her to cure her brother, and then he read for her in his

Magic Book that she might be loosed, and so she died. But when the skin

and earthen pot were cast away, they sank straight underground. Thus the

witch, who still came back every night to get the skin, and take the form

of a cat, found all her magic art in vain; for Michael Scotti had taken

her power away.’

‘Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne!’ To such vain and trivial

conclusions has a reputation, justly renowned in its own day, been

reduced in ours. Michael Scot, now become a _troglodyte_, lifts his head

timidly and occasionally from a den in the Florence fields; he who, while

alive, filled Europe with his fame, and, by his _Averroës_, ruled the

schools of Padua as late as the seventeenth century. If a remedy is still

to be had for this, the fruit of Guelphic rancour, it must be found in

the direction we have sought to keep throughout these pages: that of a

serious and impartial study of Scot’s life, and of those labours of his

in philosophy and science which are so really, though remotely, connected

with the intellectual attainments of our own times.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX I

✠ Experimentum Michaelis Scoti nigromantici.[326]

Si volueris per daemones haberi scientem, qui in forma magistri ad te

veniet cum tibi placuerit, expedit tibi primo habere quandam cameram

fulgentem et nitidam, in qua nunquam mulier non conversetur, nec vir ante

inchoationem triginta diebus, computato itaque tempore taliter quod xxxj

die fit luna crescens[327] –o– ☿ eius hora, castus per septimanam, rasus

totus, ac etiam lotus, necnon vestimentis albis indutus. Solus in ortu

solis, in quo, et ipsa hora ☿ habeas quoddam vas in quo sit lignum

aloes camphora et cipressum cum igne, ex quibus fiat fumus, et primo te

totum suffumiga, scilicet primo faciem, deinde alia, postea etiam totam

cameram. Quo facto, habeas oleum bacharum et totum te unge a capite

usque ad pedes, hoc facto, volve te primo versus 🜚 ortum, et sic dic,

flexis genibus: O admirabilis et ineffabilis et incomprehensibilis, Qui

omnia ex nihilo formasti, apud quem nihil impossibile est, te deprecor

cum humilitate vehementi ut mihi, famulo tuo tali, tribuas gratiam

cognoscendi potentiam tuam, Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre per omnia

saecula saeculorum, Amen. Praesta quaesumus mihi tutellam angeli tui,

qui me custodiat, protegat, atque defendat, et adjuvet ad huius operis

consummationem, et faciat me potentem contra omnes spiritus ut vincam

etiam dominer eis, et ipsi adversus me terrendi vel laedendi nullam

habeant potestatem, Amen, [here follow verses 25-28 of Psalm 119.]

Similiter versus occasum, meridiem, et septentrionem, et debes scire

quod, quando vertis te, debes te totum expoliare nudum, deinde dicere has

orationes: quo facto, debes te induere dicendo hunc psalmum, [Psalm 76:

1-.] usque _quomodo cogitatio hominis_, etc. quo dicto, et inducto, dic

tu haec verba [Psalm 37: 30.] Quibus dictis habeas unum frustrum panni

albi de lana, quae nunquam fuerit in usu, et habeas quandam columbam

albam totam vel –o– cuiuscumque coloris sit, et trunca eius collum, et

collige eius sanguinem in vase vitreo, et de dicta columba sive –ͨoͦ–ͬ

sanguinando dictum cor in 1º. o. Fac cum dicto corde cruentato, in dicto

panno, circulum, ut apparet inferius, quo facto, intra circulum cum ense

in manu: qui ensis debet esse lucidissimus, cum quo ense avis caput debet

truncari ut dictum est, et ipsum tenendo per cuspidem, aspiciendo versus

orientem, dic sic: O misericordissime Deus, Creator omnium, et omnium

scientiarum Largitor, Qui vis magis peccatorem vivere, ut ad penitentiam

valeat pervenire, quam ipsum mori sordidum in peccatis, Te deprecor toto

mentis affectu ut cogas et liges istos tres demones, videlicet Appolyin,

Maraloch, Berich, ut debeant per virtutem et potentiam tuam mihi obedire,

servire, et parere, sine aliquo fraude, malignatione vel furore, in

omnibus quae praecipio: Qui vivis et regnas in unitate Spiritus Sancti,

Amen. Debet haec enim oratio dici novies versus orientem, deinde debes

dicere, Appolyin, Maraloch, Berich, Ego talis vos exorcizo et conjuro

ex parte Dei Omnipotentis Qui vos vestra elatione jussit antra subire

profundi, ut debeatis mittere quendam spiritum peritum dogmate omnium

scientiarum, qui mihi sit benivolus, fidelis, et placidus ad docendum

omnem scientiam quam voluero, veniens in formam magistri ut nullam

formidinem percipere valeam, fiat, fiat, fiat. Item conjuro vos per

Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum ut per haec sancta nomina quorum

virtute ligamen, scilicet Dober, Uriel, Sabaoth, Semonyi, Adonayi,

Tetragramaton, Albumayzi, Loch, Morech, Sadabyin, Rodeber, Donnel,

Parabyiel, Alatuel, Nominam, et Ysober, quatenus vos tres reges maximi

et mihi socii, mihi petenti, unum de subditis vestris mittere laboretis,

qui sit magister omnium scientiarum et artium, veniens in forma humana,

placibilis aplaudens mihi et erudens me cum amore ita et taliter quod in

termino xxxta dierum talem scientiam valeam adipisci, promittens post

sumptionem scientiae dare libi licentiam recedendi, ut hoc etiam totiens

dici debet. Hac oratione vero dicta, ensem depone et involve in dicto

panno, et facto vasiculo, cuba super ipso ut aliquantulum dormias. Post

sompnum vero surge et induas te: quia facto vasiculo homo se spoliat

et intrat cubiculum ponendo dictum vasiculum super capite. Est autem

sciendum quod dictis his conjurationibus somnus acculit virtute divina,

in somno autem apparebunt tibi tres maximi reges, cum famulis innumeris

militibus peditibus, inter quos est etiam quidam magister apparens, cui

ipsi tres reges jubent ad te ipsum venire paratam. Videbis enim tres

reges fulgentes mira pulcritudine, qui tibi in dicto sompno viva voce

loquentur dicentes, Ecce tibi Domini quod multotiens postulasti, et

dicent illi magistro, Sit iste tuus discipulus quem docere tibi jubemus

omnem scientiam sive artem quam audire voluerit. Doce illum taliter et

erudi ut in termino xxx dierum in qualem scientiam voluerit, ut summus

inter alios habeatur:[328] et ipsum audies et videbis eum respondere,

dictum mei libentissime faciam quicquid vultis. His dictis reges abibunt

et magister solus remanebit, qui tibi dicet, Surge, ecce tuus magister.

His vero dictis, excitaberis statim et aperies occulos et videbis quendam

magistrum optime indutum, qui tibi dicet, Da mihi ensem quem sub capite

tenes. Tu vero dices Ecce discipulus vester paratus est facere quicquid

vultis; tamen debes habere pugillarem et scribere omnia quae tibi dicet.

Primo debes quaerere, O magister, quod est nomen vestrum: ipse dicet, et

tu scribes; secundo, de quo ordine, et similiter scribe: his scriptis,

dabis ensem, quo habito, ipse recedet dicens, Expecta me donec veniam:

tu nihil dices. Magister vero recedet et secum portabit ensem, post

cuius recessu tu solves pannum, ut apparet inferius,[329] etiam scribes

in dicto circulo nomen eius scriptum per te, et scribi debet etiam cum

supradicto, O, quo scripto involve dictum pannum et bene reconde: his

factis debes prandere solo pane et pura aqua, et illa die non egredi

cameram et cum pransus fueris accipe pannum et intra circulum versus

Appolyim et dic sic, O rex Appolyim magne potens et venerabilis ego

famulus tuus in te credens, et omnino confidens, quia tu es fortior, et

valens per incomprehensibilem majestatem tuam, ut famulus et subditus

tuus talis, magister meus, debeat ad me venire quam citius fieri potest,

per virtutem et potentiam tuam quae est magna et maxima in saecula

saeculorum, Amen. et similiter dicere versus Maraloth, mutando nomen, et

versus Berith similiter, his dictis accipe de dicto sanguine et scribe in

circulo nomen tuum cum supradicto corde ut hic apparet inferius. Deinde

scribe cum dicto corde in angulis panni illa nomina ut hic apparent. Si

autem sanguis unius avis non tibi sufficeret, potes interficere quot

tibi placent: quibus omnibus factis, sedebis per totum diem in circulo

aspiciens ipsum, nihil loquendo; cum vero sero fuerit, plica dictum

pannum spoliato, et intra cubiculum ponendo ipsum sub capite tuo, et

cum posueris dici sit plana voce, O Appolyin, Maraloch, Berich, Sathan,

Belyal, Belzebuch, Lucifer, supplico vobis ut precipiatis magistro

meo, nominando eius nomen, ut ipse debeat venire solus ante eras ad me,

et docere me talem scientiam sine aliqua alia fallacia, per Illum Qui

venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos et saeculum per ignem, Amen. Cave

igitur et praecave ne signum ✠ facias, propter magnum periculum. In

sompno scies quia videbis magistrum tota nocte loqui tecum, interrogans

a te qualem scientiam vis adiscere, et tu dices, talem. Itaque ut dictus

est tota nocte cum eo loqueris. Cum itaque excitatus fueris in ipsa

nocte, surge et accende candelam, et accipe dictum pannum et dissolve,

et sede in eo, scilicet in circulo, ubi nomen tuum scriptum est, ad tuum

commodum, et voca nomen magistri tui, sic dicens, O talis de talis (sic)

ordine, in magistrum meum datum per majores reges tuos, te deprecor

ut venies in forma benigna ad docendum me in tali scientia, quia sim

probīor omnibus mortalibus docens ipsam cum magno gaudio, sine aliquo

labore, ac omni tedio derelicto. Veni igitur ex tuorum parte majoris

qui regnat per infinita saecula saeculorum, Amen, fiat, fiat, fiat. His

itaque dictis, ter aspicias versus occidentem, videbis magistrum venire

cum multis discipulis, quem rogabis ut omnes abire jubeat, et statim

recedent: quo facto, ipse magister dicet quam scientiam audire desideras;

tu dices talem, et tunc incipies, memento enim quia tantum adiscens

memoriae commodabis et omnem scientiam quam habere volueris adisces in

termino xxx dierum. Et quando ipsum de camera abire volueris, plica

pannum et reconde, et statim recedet: et quando ipsum venire volueris,

aperi pannum, et subito ibidem apparebit continuando lectiones. Post

vero terminum xxx dierum, doctus optime in illa scientia evades, et

fac tibi dare ensem tuum, et dic ut vadat, et cum pace recedat. Debes

iterum dicere cum pro alia ipsum invocabis habenda scientia, quod tibi

dicet ad tuum libitum esse paratum. Finis capituli scientiae. Explicit

nicromantiae experimentum illustrissimi doctoris Domini Magistri

Michaelis Scoti, qui summus inter alios nominatur Magister, qui fuit

Scotus, et servus praeclarissimo Domino suo Domino Philipo Regis Ceciliae

coronato; quod destinavit sibi dum esset aegrotus in civitate Cordubae,

etc. Finis

APPENDIX II

Fondo Vaticano 4428, ms. perg. in fol. saec. xiii. cum min.

p. 1 recto. ‘Incipit Logica Avicennae. Studiosam animam meam

ad appetitum translationis lib. avicennae quem asschiphe i.

sufficientiam nuncupavit invitare cupiens, et quaedam capitula

… in latinum eloquium ex arabico transmutare.’ Then follows

a column and a half commencing: ‘Dixit abunbeidi filius ab,’

(? avicennae) which seems to give an account of the manner in

which he was wont to compose. At the middle of col. 2 begins a

new paragraph:—‘Dixit princeps abualy alhysenni filius abdillei

filius sciue’ noted in the margin as: ‘Vita avicennae.’ This

closes at the middle of the first col. of p. 1, verso.

p. 8 recto. A footnote says ‘translatus ab auendbuch de libro

avicennae de logico.’

p. 9 recto. ‘Incipit collectio secundi libri sufficientiae a

principiis ph’ici prologus. Dixit princeps Avicenna. Postquam

expedivimus nos auxilio dei.’ A short prologue follows extending

to three-quarters of a col. Then follows the treatise: ‘Iam nosti

ex tractatu.’ It closes on p. 20 _recto_ with the words ‘per se

notae sunt. Explicit liber phisicorum avicennae Amen.’

p. 20 verso. ‘Incipit liber Avicennae de celo et mundo, seu

collectiones expositionum ab antiquis graecis in librum

Aristotelis. Expositiones autem istae in quatuordecim continentur

capitulis. Per unum quod corpus perficiens.’ This tract closes on

p. 27 recto. with the words ‘completum xv capitulum, et ideo

completione completus est liber totus, et laus sit creatori

nostro et largitori … et sic pax et salus omni animae modestae et

benignae. Amen.

p. 27 verso. ‘Incipit particula prima Methaᶜᵉ avicennae cap.

1. de inquisitione … ad hoc ut ostendatur ipsam esse de numero

scientiarum liberalium. Avicenna de philosophia prima, sive

scientia prima divina. Postquam autem auxilio Dei explevimus

tractatum scientiarum logicalium et naturalium et doctrinalium,

convenientius est accedere ad cogitationem intentionum

spiritualium.’

p. 78 recto. The Metaphysica end here with the words:—‘quia

ipse est rex terreni mundi, et vicarius dei in illo. Completus

est liber. Laudetur deus super omnia … quem transtulit diaconus

gundissalui archidyaco’ tholeti de arabico in latinum.’

p. 78 verso. ‘Incipit liber primus Avicennae de anima et

dicitur sextus de naturalibus. Reverentissimo tholetanae sedis

archiepiscopo et yspaniarum primati Johannes Avendaut israelita

philosophus gratiam et vitae futuris obsequium.’ … ‘Incipiunt

capitula totius libri. Liber iste dividitur in partes.’ …

‘Ordinatio librorum Avicennae. Iam explevimus in primo libro.’ …

p. 79 recto. ‘Capitulum 1. Dicemus ergo …’ The De Anima closes on

p. 114 verso. with these words: ‘sicut postea scies cum loquitur

de animalibus. Explicit sextus naturalium Avicennae. Deo gratias

et nunc et semper Amen. Qui scripsit hunc librum Dominus

benedicat illum. Ffinito libro sit laus et gloria Christo.

Incipit sermo de generatione lapidum Avicennae. Terra pura non

fit lapis quia continuationem non facit.’ The second chapter is:

‘De generatione montium’ and the third ‘De generatione corporum

mineralium.’ In the latter chapter occurs the curious passage:

‘Sciant autem artifices alkimiae … et salem amoniacum’ which we

have translated on p. 74.

p. 115 recto. The short tract on minerals closes at the foot

of this page with the words: ‘exhibere res quaedam extraneae.

Explicit vere.’

p. 115 verso. is blank.

p. 116 recto. ‘De animalibus Avicennae. Frederice, romanorum

imperator, domine mundi, suscipe devote hunc librum michaelis

scoti ut sit gratia capiti tuo et torques collo tuo. Incipit

abbreviatio avicennae super librum animalium aristotelis. Et

animalia quaedam communicant in membris, sicut equus et homo.’

The treatise closes on

p. 158 recto, in the usual way: ‘sed de dentium utilitatibus jam

scis ex alio loco. Completus est liber avicennae de animalibus

scriptus per magistrum henricum coloniensem ad exemplar magnifici

imperatoris domini frederici apud meffiam civitatem Apuliae ubi

dominus imperator eidem magistro hunc librum permissum comodavit

anno domini mº ccº xxxijº in vigilio beati laurentii in domo

magistri volmari medici imperialis liber iste inceptus est et

expletus cum adiutorio iesu christi qui vivit.…

Frenata penna, finito nunc avicenna

Libro Caesario gloria summa Deo

Dextera scriptoris careat gravitate doloris.’

In the second col. of this page commences the arabo-latin

glossary (_see_ facsimile):—

‘Ex libro animalium aristotelis domini imperatoris in margine.’

‘Passer dicitur pscipsci,’

‘Rumbus. sciathi.’

‘Delfinis, delfinus.’

…

‘Fehed. leopardus.’

…

‘Ex libro secundo.’

…

‘Ex tertio libro.’

…

‘Glosa magistri al.’ ‘Explicit anno domini mº ccº x.’

…

Fondo Vaticano 2089 ms. in fol. perg. finiss. saec. xiii. The first

265 pages of this volume contain the _De Causis_ (pp. 1-5) and the

following commentaries by Averroës: _De coelo et mundo_ (pp. 6-195);

_De generatione et corruptione_ (pp. 195-254); on the fourth book of

the _Meteora_ (pp. 254-260); _De substantia orbis_, (pp. 260-265). Then

follow the commentaries by Avicenna in this order:—

p. 266 recto. ‘Titulus, Collectio secunda libri sufficientiae

avicennae principis philosophi. Prologus. Dixit princeps,

Postquam expedivimus nos auxilio dei ab eo quod opus fuit.’ …

‘Liber primus de quaestionibus et principiis naturalium Capitulum

de affligenda via qua pervenitur ad scientiam naturalium per

principia eorum. Iam scisti ex tractatu.’

p. 282 verso. ‘et consummate certo fine cessabit interrogatione.

Completus est primus tractatus de naturalibus cum auxilio Dei et

gratia. Incipit tractatus secundus de motu et de quiete et de

consimilibus. Capitulum de motu. Postquam perfecimus librum de

principiis.’

p. 306 verso. ‘cuius tempus non habet (?) esse initium. Completa

est pars secunda de collectione naturalium. Et ei qui dedit

intelligere gratiae sint infinitae. Pars tertia de hiis quae

habent naturalia ex hoc quod habent quantitatem. Prologus de

qualitate tractandi precipue in hoc libro. Naturalia sunt

corpora.’

p. 307 recto. ‘et haec propositiones per se notae sunt. Explicit

liber sufficientiae avicennae. Prologus in sextum naturalium

Avicennae. Reverentissimo toletanae sedis archiepiscopo et

yspanorum primati auendeueth israelita philosophus gratiam et

vitae futuris obsequium.… Quapropter, domine, jussum vestrum

de transferendo librum avicenae (cod. 4428 p. 78 verso reads

_aristotelis_) philosophi de anima effectui mancipare curavi

ut vestro munere et meo (4428 _nostro_) labore latinis fieret

certum quod hactenus extitit incognitum scilicet an sit anima,

et quid et qualis sit, secundum essentiam rationibus verissimis

comprobatum. Haberis (4428 _habes_) ergo librum vobis precipiente

(4428 _percipientibus_) et me (4428 omits _me_) singula verba

vulgariter proferente et dominico archidiacono singula in latinum

convertente ex arabico translatum quo quidquid aristotelis dixit

in libro suo de anima et de sensu et sensato et de intellecto et

intellectu ab auctore libri scias esse collectum. Unde postquam

deo volente hunc habes. In hoc illos tres plenissime vos habere

non dubiteris.’

p. 307 verso. ‘Incipit sextus de naturalibus auicenae translatus

a magistro Girardo cremonensi de arabico in latinum in toleto.

Iam explevimus in primo libro.’ … ‘Capitulum in quo affirmatur

esse anima et diffinitur secundum quod est anima. Dicemus igitur

quia quod primum.’

p. 315 verso. ‘Expleta est pars prima sexti libri de collectione

naturalium. Incipit pars secunda eius. Capitulum de certificando

virtutes quae sunt propriae animae vegetabilis. Incipiemus nunc

notificare sigillatim.’

p. 322 recto. ‘Completa est pars secunda sexti libri de

collectione naturalium. Deo sit gratia. Incipit pars eius tertia

de visu. Debemus loqui de visu.’

p. 335 recto. ‘non habet sensum communem ullo modo. Completa est

pars tertia sexti libri de naturalibus, Deo sint gratiae. Incipit

iiij vj libri de naturalibus. Capitulum in quo est verbum commune

de sensibilibus interioribus quos habent animalia. Sensus autem

qui est communis.’

p. 344 verso. ‘et hic est finis eius quod transtulit Auohaueth

ex capitulis illius libri ad hunc locum huius libri de anima.

Completa est quarta pars sexti libri de naturalibus auxilio Dei.

Incipit pars quinta libri eiusdem. Capitulum de proprietatibus

actionum et passionum hominis, et de assignatione contemplationis

et actionis. Quoniam jam explevimus tractatum de virtutibus

sensibilibus.’

p. 356 verso. ‘quorum quaedam attrahunt materiam et quaedam

expellunt sicut postea scies cum loquitur de animalibus.

Completus est liber de anima qui est sextus liber collectionis

secundae de naturalibus. Et ei qui dedit intelligere sint gratiae

infinitae. Post hunc sequitur liber septimus de vegetabilibus et

viijº de animalibus qui et finis scientiae naturalis. Post ipsum

autem sequitur collectio tercia de disciplinalibus in quatuor

libris, seu arismetica, geometria, musica, astrologia, et post

hunc sequitur liber de causa causarum.’ Then follows an index to

the chapters of the _De Anima_ which ends the whole codex on p.

357 recto.

I have thought it well to give this complete account of these two

remarkable manuscripts not only because they show the exact place held

by the _De animalibus_ in the body of commentaries written by Avicenna,

but also on account of the view they give of the translations made by

the early Toledan school. In this respect they serve in some measure

to correct and extend the conclusions of Jourdain. It is evident, for

instance, that Avendeath did not finish translating the _De Anima_, but

only proceeded in it as far as the end of the fourth part.

APPENDIX III

I have thought it best to print these parallel texts with

as close adherence to the manuscript as is consistent with

intelligibility, and they therefore appear in these pages with

all the mistakes of the copyist.

[I have re-arranged the paragraphs of this treatise so as to

fall opposite the corresponding parts of the Liber Luminis, but

have numbered them according to their original order so that by

following the numbers the book can be read in its own proper

form.]

Transcriber’s Note: The author’s decision described in the above

paragraph is impossible to replicate in this e-text, which does

not have opposite pages! So the Liber Luminis is here presented

in full first, followed by the full text of the Liber Dedali

Philosophi (with the paragraphs in the author’s chosen order).

Use of the HTML version may allow for a better comparison.

LIBER LUMINIS LUMINUM

Riccardian Library, Florence, L. III. 13, 119, p. 35 verso, middle of 2nd

col.

Incipit liber luminis luminum translatus a magistro michahele scotto

philosopho.

Cum rimarer et inquirerem secreta nature ex libris antiquorum

philosophorum qui tractaverunt de natura salium alluminum et omnium

corporum et spirituum minere pertinentium nullum inveni qui completam

dixisset doctrinam. Quedam tamen utilia extraxi et ea secretis nature

adiunxi procedo (?) quidem brevitati et addendo quae utilia sunt in

hac arte que alkimia nuncupatur. In quo talia continentur Invencio (?

Intencio) causa intentionis et utilitas. Invencio (? Intencio) eius est

tractare de transformatione metallorum secundum quod hermes dixit parum

enim desint marti quod non fiat luna non desint aliud nisi quod non

fiat tanta decoctio in eo sicut luna. Et notum est quod sicut 7 sunt

metalla ita 7 sunt planete et quodlibet metallum habet suum planetam.

Dixerunt ergo philosophi quod aurum est filius solis Argentum filius lune

Aes filius veneris Argentum vivum filius mercurii stagnum filius jovis

Plumbum filius Saturni Ferrum filius martis. Causa intentionis est ut

ex tali mutatione nobiliora fient metalla. Utilitas quod habita notitia

huius libri qui lumen luminum appellatur transfigurari possit mars in

lunam et venus in solem et constringere omnes spiritus volantes. Quorum

quaedam sunt subtilia et quaedam volativa. Volant enim sicut sulphur et

arsenicum et ex illis est etiam argentum vivum. Sed primo de salibus

loquamur 2º de alluminibus 3º de atramentis, 4º de pulveribus. Salium

autem sunt diversorum specierum scilicet Masse Alcali Rubeum Armoniacum

Nitrum salsum Agrum Allebrot albo et communis.

PRIMO DE SALE COMMUNI.

Sal autem commune convenientior est omnibus salibus scilicet marti. Dixit

philosophus quod [si] quisquis ipsum prius ipsius separationem acceperit

et quater per atramenta transire fecerit postea cum ana sui ydragor

sublimati in aquam redire fecerit ac coagulati quod es [sic pro “aes”]

cum ipso mirabiliter dealbabit et isto fit sal tostum quod tali modo fit.

℞ ex eo libram. 1. et pone in patellam ferream et combure sufficienter et

iste est sal tostus.

Sal masse ponit qualiter sal in massam naturaliter redactus ut gemma

Alexandrinus ungarricus Sardonicus et hermoni (?).

Sal autem alkali est nobilior omnibus salibus excepto sali alebrot facit

autem coagulare alios sales. Iste autem sal fit de herba salsifera que

juxta mare complicatis foliis invenitur, sive de allumine gattivo quod

extrahitur de supradicta herba. Salem autem alkali prius ipsius meram

separationem si quis ter per atramenta transire fecerit et eodem modo de

communi masse armoniaco egerit ipsius quoque in unum redactis iterum per

atramenta transire fecerit ac cum ana sui ydragor in aquam redire fecerit

et coagulaverit quod convertet martem in lunam et constringet omnes

spiritus volantes.

Iste autem sal inter reliquos sales retinet naturam vetetabilitatis et

minere.

DE SALE RUBEO

Dictis de salibus et eorum virtutibus sequitur de sale rubeo sive Indico.

Dicitur autem Indicum eo quod apportatur de India est enim durissime

odorifere nature rubedine quadam cum citrinitate participans. Habet autem

fortem virtutem super venerem rubificandam et dando ei colorem bonum.

Verum est quod hoc non facit per se solum sed cum tercia parte sui salis

alebrot rubei et virtute pulveris talparum[332] et camfore et masticis

et virtutis omnia simul terantur et cum urina taxy vel gāgelis usque

7 distemperetur et cum hoc pulvere venerem tinges martemque in lunam

transmutat.

DE ARMONIACO

Sal autem armoniacum est magne virtutis quoniam ex fumositate eq. ā (_sic

pro_ fimositate equorum) fit est autem multiplex naturale et fictitium.

Naturale aliud album aliud rubeum. Album longus est super quem lamina

velociter currit. Rubeum rotundum est et sale alebrot rubeo affiliatur

velociter enim currit sine fumi emissione super laminam. Primus in lunam

secundus in solem cum ana sui pulveris talparum super omnia metalla per

optime laborat. Ficticium etiam secundum predictos modos diversificatur

ad optinendam supradictam virtutem.

DE SALE NITRO SALSO

Sal nitrum est multiplex. Est enim nitrum qui est pulvis niger. Est etiam

sal nitrum allexandrinum et Indicum sive rubeum salsum isti similiter in

massa lata reducti funditur et findere facit.

Est etiam nitrum salsum de isto due sunt maneries folliatum ut talcum.

Alter depillatur ut allumen de pluma in eo autem est salsedo cum

punctuositate et magnus philosophus [dicit] quod si quis acceperit ex eo

ʒ · 1 · et tantundem pulvis talparum et exsiccaverit cum urina tassi sive

gāgelis convertet martem in lunam et constringet omnes spiritus volantes.

Item tolle de predicto pulvere ʒ · 1 · et 5 et callaminare et trita simul

et incorpora cum urina tassi vel gāgellis usque 9 cum isto pulvere super

omnia metalla in solem obrigō laborare possis.

℞ Sossile rubificate ʒ · 1 · gutte rubee ʒ · 1 · et 5 pulvis talparum ʒ

· 1 · et parum nitri salsi ac simul trita et incorpora cum aceto et pone

cum aceto et pone super m. [mercurium] et habebis solem obrigō.

DE SALE AGRO

De sale agro in quo est virtus magna quam pauci sciunt et sapientes

constringunt cum eo m. mundant cum eo corpora (?) et albificant ea

sufficienti albedine et reddit ea clara et lucida. Et iste a quibusdam

philosophis alibrot appellatur licet in veritate non sit idem et diversus

quod sit frigidus et siccus quamvis videatur hoc esse contra naturam et

de proprietate eius est constringere m. et omnes spiritus volantes et

quanto magis studueris in eo tunc invenies eius albedinem ultra quam

aliquis possit excogitare quia cum eo albificantur corpora et non cum

alio deus novit. Et dixit magnus philosophus cum moriebatur filio suo O

fili mi secretum tuum habeas in corde tuo nec dices alicui nec filio tuo

nisi cum amplius non poteris retinere.

Desiderio desideraverunt philosophi sapientes scire veritatem huius

salis. Sed pauci eam sciverunt et qui eam noverunt non dixerunt in libris

suis veritatem eius secundum quod viderunt. Illinant enim martem et

clarificat a superfluitatibus terreis et facit quod mars transmutatur in

lunam hoc modo ℞ ex eo libra 1. gutte rubee que inveniuntur in allumine

de pluma l · 1. pulvis talparum l · 1. sal armoniaci alkali arborum

separatorum ʒ · 6. trita omnia simul nonies et impastina et exsicca cum

urina illuminata.

Postea soliatī suttus et supras es in pecia madescam pone et cola et

cave ne discooperias ante quam fundatur quoniam perderis opus tuum. Sed

quum liquatum fuerit deice super ipsum parum ydragor resolutum in aqua

et coagula vel parum lapidis alcotar preparati sed melius est ydragon

cum parum de predicto sale balneato cum aqua et deice in aqua et habebis

bonam lunam.

℞ sal atincar libra 1. gutte rubee et pulvis talparum ana l. 1. ydragor ʒ

· 1 · trita simul et impastrina cum urina soliata sel’ postea fac redire

in aquam et coagula. De isto pulvere si posueris super m. bulliendo

pulverem cum aqua dulci habebis de m. nobilem lunam.

DE SALE ALEBROT[333]

Sal allebrot album sali acro assimilatur in colore et longitudine

fixionis autem et unctuositatis est fb’e locoque ipsius poni potest.

Separatio autem eius ut asserant sapientes secundum hunc modum. ℞ ex eo

l. i. vel gutte albe vel azuree que inveniuntur in allumine de pluma ʒ

· 1 · sanguis hominis rubei ʒ · 3 · talchi mortificati ʒ · 1 · et 5 et

parum sulphuris albi omnia simul trita et inpastina cum sanguine et sale

et desicca ad solem. Et cum volueris operare utere eo spargendo super

m. igne super accenso retinebit enim eum nec sinet volare et quantitas

m. l. 5, et non plus et non moveatur ab igne usque ad magnum tempus

postea in aquam proiciatur poterit enim optime malleari. Item accipe v.

buffones[334] et pone eos in aliquo vase unde non valeant exire postea

accipe suci affodillorum vel ermodatilorum et eleboris albi extracti

cum aceto quia aliter non poterit extrahi l · 2 · et pone in vase ubi

sunt buffones et dimitte eos bibere per 9 dies vel quousque bene sint

inflati tunc eos pone infra (sic) duas scutellas ad comburendum et cave

ne spitare (sic) possint ne fumus exeat tunc pulverisa et ℞ de dicto

pulvere ʒ · 1 · salis alebrot ʒ · 1 · et 5 salis armoniaci et salis

alkali ana ʒ · 5 · omnia simul trita et in pastina et deinde exsicca

usque nonies cum urina tassi vel gāgellis cum pulvere isto poteris facere

mirabilia pulvis iste constringit m. et mutat ipsum in lunam purissimam

et perfectam clarificat martem et mundificat eum a superfluitatibus

terreis et feculentis et facit quod mars transmutatur in lunam mutatione

perfecta. Si acceperis de pulvere isto ʒ · 1 · et 1 eris et miscueris

cum eo secundum quod docet in igne ubi fuerit spiritus gaudebis super

operationem eius quoniam exaltavit illum super omnes sales. Loco autem

ipsius potest poni sal acrum. Item et afronitrum. Item et salsedo

muidorum (?) dummodo per atramenta transeant. Item et salacrum dummodo

per atramenta transeat ter. Dum vero sales hēb’ ad hoc separatos ad

meron. Sal alkali Semen communis. Armoniacum allm̄s jam simul fac in

aquam redire et duplum aquam quam spiritus deice et super marmor pone et

congela et ista est p’a (? pura) ceraton propter quod vos omnes erratis

credentes vos habere secundam nec primam habetis. Postea pone inter duas

scutellas vel in vase vitreo quod melius est et claude os eius et dicoque

per dimedium diem tunc extrahe et ablue salem et invenies ipsum in

speciem ceruse sed et fixe sb’e (? sublimate) non timens ignem. Separatur

enim hoc in calcinationem ut ubicumque spiritus calcinatus intromiseris

sine dubio ex m. bonum opus habebis. Dealbat enim spiritus. Calcinat

martem ad modum mercurii nec ultra vestigia albedinis amittit excepto sub

experimento veneris. Sed si in aquam reduxeris et postmodo teraveris sub

experimento noveris. Sed si in aquam reduxeris et postmodo teraveris sub

experimento perfectissime durabit. Incalcinatio eorum in sole unde potest

fieri ut Archelaus docuit. Ac tum unde potest fieri in aqua atramenti

rubificati ac per se in aqua solutiones calcinationes melius est in vase

vitreo quam in alio.

Explicit prima pars et Incipit secunda de alluminibus. Et primo de

allumine Jammeno.

Allumen Jammeni triplex vocatur. Jammenum de pluma Scagloli. Aportatur

autem de Spania.

Est autem frigide nature et sicce hoc bonitatis in se continens ut

si jungatur cum re rubea facit ruborem acquirere in ea sicut alba

albedine augmentare facit in ipsa. Sicut illuminat pannos ita illuminat

martem ut recipiat formam lune ut enim lana illuminatur ita et metalla

illuminantur.[335] Et quante magis mars fuerit illuminatus et depuratus

a superfluitalibus a (? et) feculenciis terreis tanto efficiatur ex eo

melior operatis. Illuminatur autem sic. Accipe urinam puerilem et per

7 dies in vase vitreo esse permitte vase obturato postea per alios 7

dies in vase transmuta distillando per nitrum semper sel’ postea bulli

ipsum usque ad terciam sui partem et dispuma et distilla per filtrum

bis vel ter postea pondera ipsum si est libra 1, adde ʒ · 11 · et 5

salis armoniaci separati ab atramento et ʒ · 8 · alluminis jammeni et

bulli insimul et permitte requiescere clarum solummodo accipiendo et

feculentum abjiciendo et in ista urina es calefactum et intus extinctum

et per alios 9 dies in ipsam stare permitte et est optime illuminatus.

Omnia etiam metalla in hac aqua taliter illuminare possis et abiliora

erunt ad recipienda colorem. Dixerunt enim vnay et melchia philosophi

quod ubi mars fuerit taliter illuminatus non convertetur perfecte in

lunam. Consentiendum est eis quia philosophi fuerunt. Oro enim quod talis

illuminatio metallorum valet et utilis est omni creature Dei.

DE ALLUMINE RUBEO

Allumen rubeum apportatur de buzea (? Bugia) depillatur autem ut

allumen de pluma. Istud autem a quibusdam philosophis allebrot rubeum

appellatur eius proprietas est cum ana sui auripigmenti sublimatum rubei

m. in solem transmutare. Quidam autem de philosophis scilicet Seno et

Rogiel accipiebant de isto allumine rubeo et ja. et gut. et de roco sal

armoniaci semine amborum arsenicorum sulphuris Tartari talci Cinabrii

omnium ana ponebant super m. et ex ipso extrahebunt lunam pretiosam.

DE ALLUMINE ET MAROCCO

Allumen de maroc est pulvis subrufus acetositatem parvam in se continens

est autem mundificative et depurative nature.

DE ALLUMINE ZUCHARINO

Allumen zucharinum est albissime nature acetositatem mordacem in se

continens locoque alluminis jameni post poni (? potest poni).

DE ROCCO

Allumen de rocco est in massa redactus acetositatem subtilem in se

continens cum isto et pinguedine colcotar et melle sophisticatur borax.

DE ALLUMINE ROMANO

Allumen romanum borbaci (? boraci) assimilatur acetositatem minimam in

se continens de minera atramenti sive alluminis Jameni extrahitur cuius

proprietas est per se solvere vel cum ana sui sulphuris albificati m. ad

naturam lune transformare.

Explicit secunda pars. Incipit tertia,

DE ATRAMENTIS

Ratio autem atramentorum est secundum hunc modum. Atramentorum autem

sunt multe species Colcotar Calcadis vitriolum nigrum capernum viridis

Cuperose.[336]

Ex colcotar et calcadis secundum Platonem extrahuntur lapides rubei vel

trahentes ad rubedinem qui loco salis indici possunt poni.

Vitriolum nigrum apportatur de Francia et idcirco dicitur terra

francigena cum isto mulieres vulvam constringunt ut virgines appareant

non est autem magne utilitatis in ista arte. Est autem utilis ad

sublimandum ydragor cum vis facere sal naticum. Cipernum est crocei

coloris mollitiem in se continens requiritur autem multum in arte ista

secundum Archelaum. Viride dicitur vitriolum romanum loco etiam caperni

potest poni sed nobilior est eo ut Hermes philosophus testatur in libro

alluminum.[337] Atramentum nunquam pro alio ponitur. Sed cuperosum est

album subazurii coloris fitque de superfluitate martis cum de minera

extrahitur que quidem etiam locoalluminis romani recipiunt licet in

veritate non sit idem. Explicit tertia pars.

INCIPIT QUARTA DE SPIRITIBUS

Sunt quidam spiritus qui ad ignem in fumum convertuntur et converti

faciunt alias res, Sulphur et Arsenicum et ex illis est argentum vivum.

De sulphure flavo. De sulphure croceo. De sulphure rubeo. De sulphure

albo. De arsenico croceo. De arsenico rubeo. Sulphuris quatuor sunt

species scilicet croceum flavum rubeum et album. Croceum est magis

depuratum et istud dicitur cannellatum quoniam in canellis terreis ad

hec factis deicitur. Rubeum aportatur de India et valet a quibusdam sal

indicum dicitur licet in veritate non sit cuius proprietas est venerem

cum ana sui ydragor sublimati in obrizō solem transmutare.

Album portatur de hyspania de insula quadam que belle appellatur.[338]

Recipitur etiam pro nitro salso sed non equiperatur ei quoniam ille

funditur et fundere facit. Istud vero fugit ab igne. Arsenici tres sunt

species scilicet croceum rubeum et album. Croceum cum teritur lucens

apparet ut aurum foliatum quasi ut talcum. Rubeum non ita folliatur immo

est in massam reductum minorem in se ignitatem continens quam primum.

Album est aliquantulum crocei subalbique coloris et minoris igneitatis

est quam reliqua duo. Istud de Turciae partibus apportatur reliqua vero

duo de Armenia. Explicit quarta pars.

INCIPIT QUINTA DE PREPARATIONE ALLUMINUM

In preparatione allumini sufficit ut solvatur in aqua vel in urina

distillata et coletur per pannum et coaguletur.

In atramentis sufficit ut fundatur in ciato (? scyatho) super carbones

et buliat quousque humiditas evaporet. Preparatio boracis est ut in

testa super ignem modicum ponatur nam statim inflatur et siccatur cumque

stringi ceperit tollatur nam infrigidata faciliter pulverisatur. Tunc

pulverizata a massa cum modica porcine (? portione) asungia (? axungiae)

donec sit sicut terra et teratur et amassetur cum ea media pars salis

petrae et hoc totum sicut terra amassetur et erit tibi cerotum pretiosum

corpora et spiritus terans. Sic autem boracis partem 1 · salis petrae

partem 1 · ceruse partem 1 · ana de tribus addideris et miscueris ea

fortiter cum eius oleo vel simpliciter capillorum vel ovorum donec sit

sicut massa cere et massam illam bene siccaveris. Pro certo scias quod

ceroneum istud ferrum et cristallum et quocumque volueris lapides calces

ignis huius violentia remollit et resolvit in resolutione liquida omnia

ingrediens et penetrans et ignea virtute dissolvens. Ceraton fit de

oleis vel aquis rectificatis · 6 · per alembich. Fit autem spiritum ut

aggerentur utrumque partes in eis ex multis fiat unum scilicet corpus

fiat dissolubile hoc autem ex ceratione olei vel aque. Quia spiritus

corpore vel corpus spiritibus ingredi non potest nisi oleo vel aqua

duce videlicet cum quo ceratur. Ut enim temperatura ferrum affirmat sic

cerato spiritus in corpore nec sine ceratione potest aliquod corpus plene

rectificare. Agnoscitur autem res cerata hiis signis. Res cerata sine

ulla fumi emissione velociter super laminam currit ignitam quod incerata

minime agit. Fit autem ceracio cum oleo vel aqua rectificata hoc modo.

℞ rem quam cirari debet et pone in vase argenteo aureo vel stagneo et

desuper pone de oleo preparata (sic) donec fundatur ut sagimen. Dum ita

videris velociter ab igne remove et infrigidari permitte. Eo infrigidato

prova ipsum super laminam et sic resolvitur super ipsam sicut cera

ceratum est et si non reduc eam ad crucibulum et fac sicut predixi donec

sic contingat.

QUOMODO MEDICINE DEBENT SOLVI

Solutio cuiuslibet rei fit super lapidem vel in viscere (?) sub fimo

seu in aqua tepida fumi resolvis melius aprobo fit ea de cā resolutio

ut spiritus vel res in lapidibus possit coagulari nam spiritibus crudis

nisi sint in lapidem constricti volueris operari non augmentum sed

decrementum volueris incurrere nisi forte essent incalcinati vel cerati

hanc scientiam (?) firmiter teneas.

℞ calcis testarum ovorum libre 5 · arsenici sublimati ʒ · 3 · Ag’ omnia

fac redire in aquam cum alembich et super marmor productam confice

quousque in similitudinem lactis redigas laminas eris x in hac aqua

extingue vel intringa et cola sic enim ipsum durum et album in speciem

meron te invenisse letaberis. M. cum sossile et nitro salso ana in aqua

resolutis ac coagulatis es ad naturam lune reduxi.[339] ℞ vitrioli romani

libra 1 · salis nitri libra 1 · salis armoniaci ʒ · 3 · hec omnia comisce

in unum terendo et pone in curcubita cum alembico et quod distillaverit

serva et pone cum m. crudo ita quod in ʒ aque fundatur super mediam

libram m. in una ampulla et pone in cineribus bene clausam et da lentum

ignem per unam diem et postea invenies m. in aquam purissimam. ℞ m.

congelatum cum odore saturni partes 3 de allumine jameno partes 2 de

corticibus ovorum ʒ · 1 · et tere per diem 1 · et inbibe cum aceto

fortissimo et ita fac 7 vicibus et solve et solvetur in aquam clarissimam

et optimam pro lavandis dissolvens etiam omnia corpora calcinata in

aquam. Hermes ergo alu (minis) ʒ · 3 · ydragor sublimati et ʒ sossile

separate accipi (_sic_) et in aqua reduxi totamque in lapidem congelavi

et cum isto es ad naturam lune reduxi. Ydragor et piron ana sublimatis

fac redire in aquam et coagula confectio ista ex stagno lunam procreat.

Pastor Saturnus dominus est yndorum et omnis voluntas populorum in illo

est sicut ergo mollificatur acrem cerusam veneris et tantundem salis

armoniaci et fac in viscere (?) redire aquam similiter in hac aqua

Saturnum 7 · extingue et sic enim de facili colatur et purum in speciem

aneron te invenisse letaberis. Recipe sulphurem vivum et ipsum cum leni

igne funde et extingue in lixivio facto de calce viva et cineribus.

LIBER DEDALI PHILOSOPHI

Riccardian Library, Florence, L. III. 13, 119, p. 195 verso and p. 196,

recto.

Aristotle in the _De Anima_ (i. 3) says that there was a legend

of Daedalus which represented him as having given motion to a

Venus of wood by filling it with mercury. This may have suggested

the adoption of his name to the author who wrote this alchemical

treatise.

1. De natura salium et quot sunt. Sales autem sunt diversarum specierum

est enim sal commune sal masse sal gemme sal rubeum sal nitrum sal alkali

sal armoniacum sal elebrot album.

8. Sal gema aportatur de Hispania. Sal autem commune convenientior est

omnibus creaturis. Utuntur enim ex eo in condimentis mundat enim corpora

et reddit ea clara propter hoc dedit eum omnipotens Deus in cognitionem

ut per eum omnia corpora conservarentur in sanitate bona. Dedit enim

bestiis cognoscere eum nedum hominibus. Condiuntur enim omnia animalia

cum eo et dolcan̄tur (? deliciantur) pecudes in eo. Et scias si sal

iste accipiatur in quantitate una et ponatur in sartagine et comburatur

combustione forti quod iste sal appellatur tostus. Et cum inveneris in

arte ista sal tostum accipias ex isto secundum quod volueris. Verum

est quod non inveni ipsum congruum in hac arte nisi raro. Eius tamen

receptō est valde utilis in talem quia fingitur cum aliis salibus ad

purificationem martis in lunam et est peroptimus.

7. Sal autem alkali est nobilior omnibus salibus excepto sale tabor vel

alebrot. Facit enim coagulare alias sales et iste sal alcali fit de herba

quadam in partibus baldrach coagulat vitrum et facit ipsum clarum atque

currentem (?) mundat corpora albificat a superfluitatibus terreis ultra

modum. Sal autem alkali si adjungatur cum sale masse et terantur simul

et ponantur cum x partibus aque dulcis et dimittantur bulire usque ad

consumptionem quarti partis et ponatur in vase virtreo ut clarificetur

et cum clarificatum fuerit suaviter coletur et quod purum erit in aliquo

vase mittatur et quod tenerum est abiciatur et dimittatur usque quo

coagulatum fuerit et non operabis cum eo nisi tritum dissolutus quoniam

operacio eius esset inutilis et si admisceris cum eo aliquantulum

salis armoniaci vel boeci vel alebrot erit operacio eius fortior et

convenientior omnibus operationibus. Dixit enim Abymelech quod sal alkali

erit nobilior omnibus salibus et convenientior in omnibus operationibus

excepto sali tabor vel alebrot. Preterea quod fit ex vegetabilibus unde

retinet naturam minere et vegitabilitatis. Unde solvit vitrum et facit

ipsum coagulari et clarificat ipsum clarificatione bona.

4. De sale indico rubeo. Sal autem rubeum apportatur de India et id circo

vocatur sal indicum. Habet enim fortem virtutem super venere rubificando

ipsum et dando ei colorem bonum. Verum est quod hoc non facit per se

sed cum adjutorio videlicet cum duabus partibus istius et 3 bus salis

alebrot dissolvendo totum simul et addendo etiam huic terram armenie

rubeam masticem et camforam ad quantitatem ʒ · 11, et salis armoniaci

ʒ · 111. ista omnia simul misceantur et cum urina tapsi distemperentur

et iterum exsiccentur hoc 7 in omnibus fiat. Pulvis iste stringit

spiritus volantes albificat corpora et reddit clara et lucida et mutat

martem in lunam mutatione perfecta et bona. Addit enim in tm̄ (? talem)

rubificationem veneri quod mutat venus in solem.

5. Aliud quod est utile mulieribus multum et maxime dominabus. Accipe

etiam de sale indico ʒ. 11. diligenter teratur et distemperatur cum urina

pueri virginis et sit urina libra· 1· et ponatur in vase terreo in quo

ponuntur rose et cum fit aqua rosa et supponatur alembicho et accendatur

ignis sub eo et non multum fortis et cum videris fumum ascendere in cufa

superius tunc facias ignem levem et quod inde exierit collige et in

ampulla vitri reconde. Talis enim aqua vero ultra modum in pannis faciei

et betiginibus adalbat sēd pigines destruit omnem maculam et si posueris

in calaminas eris erit albior ad recipiendum colorem quam scis.

14. Sal autem armoniacum est magne virtutis quoniam de stercoribus

animalium scilicet camelorum pecudum et asinorum fit in hunc modum.

In quibusdam partibus terre sarracenorum non habentes ligna etiam ex

paupertate lignorum calefaciunt balneum cum stercoribus predictorum

animalium et ille fumus resolutus ab eis condensatur in balnea et

accipitur illa talis condensatio et teritur et bulitur cum urina puerorum

tam diu quod coagulari incipit et post modum projicitur in peraside et

colatur. Cum isto enim sale fit azurum optimum et fit in hunc modum.

Accipe de sale armoniaco et tere ipsum diligenter et distempera cum

urina pueri virginis ponendo ipsum in vase vitreo et sepiliendo ipsum in

letamine pecudum per dies 3. Post modo habeas plagellas factas de argento

et pone eas cum filo legatas ita quod non tangas urinam et lamine sint

abrase et dimittantur per diem et noctem. Et cum autem fuerint denigrate

iterum abradantur et iterum sepiliatur et quod habebis in laminibus a

prima vice in antea erit azurum optimum et quanto plus durabunt tanto

melius erit. Verum est quod alio modo fit azurum quia invenitur quedam

vena terre juxta venam argenti illa terra optime teritur et distemperatur

cum aqua calida et ponitur super linteum positum super aliquo vase et

colatur subtiliter et quod grassum et feculentum cadit in vase proice

quando autem fuerit purum vel juxta illud exsiccabitur et recondetur.

Si autem non fuerit bene purum terantur adhuc bene et ponantur in aqua

calida et accipiatur · pix · cera et masticis et dissolvatur et ducatur

ita cum manu per vas ubi est azurum et depurabit eum a superfluitatibus

terreis et si vena fuerit bona azurium erit bonum. Si mala azurium erit

malum.

9. Sal nitri est plurium specierum. Una species est salis nitri que

apportatur de Alexandria et ille est vere sal nitrum cum illo vero

lavant mulieres sarracenorum pannos lineos et faciunt eos albissimos

ut nix, lavant etiam facies earum et corpora sua in balneis. Destruit

enim pannum faciei lentiginis et albicat optima albedine. Non extendo

sermonem meum in laudes eius quia non est magne utilitatis in hac arte

nec etiam recipitur in ea quod sciatur. Alia species salis nitri que

vere nitrum salsum appellatur et de eo sunt due maneries. Una quarum

foliatur et altera filatur et depilatur sicut caro porcina macra et in

ea est salsedo cum ponticitate. Dico enim tibi per Deum omnipotentem

quod in eo est tanta virtus et utilitas quod pauci fuerunt de sapientes

(sic) qui eam potuissent cognoscere quoniam in eo est secretum nature

quod nullus stolidus et insipiens potest cognoscere. Sed qui sapiens est

et discretus extractabit multum circa eum. Ille forte inveniet de quo

cor suum gaudebit. Dixit enim hermes filius Gelbeo cum exaltatus fuerit

sal nitrum salsum et acrum si in vinctum fuerit cum sale alcali erit

operacio eius nobilior et magis utilis. Et dixit magnus philosophus qui

multum doctus fuit in talibus quod si acceperis ex eo aliquem quantitatem

et triveris eum fortiter et postea miscueris cum eo urinam tapsi et

exsiccaveris ipsum et tuttueris eum fortiter usque septies et accipies

tantum de pulvere cullaxe i. [e.] illius animalis que talpa vocatur

quantum fuit pulvis salis nitri convertetur mars in lunam et venus in

solem et constringet omnes spiritus volantes. Constringitur enim argentum

vivum cum isto et non cum alio Deus scit et novit.

10. Pulvis autem culaxe debet fieri secundum hunc modum. Accipiantur enim

ex eis 4 vel 6 secundum quod poteris invenire quia sub terra morantur et

pones eas in testa terrea et luta ipsam luto sapientie ita quod fumus non

exeat aliquo modo pone eam in furno bene calido et dimitte a mano usque

ad sero vel a sero usque ad mane postea extrahe et pulveriza subtiliter

et reconde et cum opus fuerit operare cum ea et scias firmiter quod

pulvis iste valet plus quam aurum et est utilis et multum conveniens

multis operacionibus et habeas eum valde carum quia pauci fuerunt de

sapientibus qui bene cognoscerent virtutem eius nisi magnus philosophus

qui dixit in libris suis et est in eo id quod deest et ego temptavi et

operacionem eius inveni maximam efficaciam in eo. Sed ponebam in duplo de

pulvere nitri salsi.

2. Et postea est sal acrum et in eo est virtus maxima quam pauci

sciunt invenitur enim in hispania et sapientes constringunt cum eo

mercurium. Clarificat enim corpora munda et albificat ea albedine

sufficienti. Mutat enim martem in lunam et defendit eum a superaciis et

a superfluitatibus terreis et dat ei colorem bonum et clarum. Et iste a

quibusdam philosophis sal alebrot vocatur et de quod scit et sint (?)

generalius videatur hoc esse contra naturam et de proprietate eius est

retinere omnes spiritus volantes et quanto magis studueris in eo tanto

magis inveneris eius altitudinem ultra quod possit excogitari quia cum eo

aluminantur (sic) vel albificantur corpora et non cum alio Deus novit. Et

dixit magnus philosophus cum moriebatur O fili mi secretum tuum habeas in

sinu tuo nec dicas filio tuo nisi cum eum amplius non poteris retinere

quoniam in eo invenies secreta nature quam desiderio desideraverunt

sapientes sed pauci intraverunt in eum et qui intraverunt operationem

eius non dixerunt in suis libris secundum (? scilicet) quod viderant.

11. Aliud ad preparacionem martis. Accipe de sale alcali ʒ· x. et de sale

armoniaco ʒ· 2. et tere subtiliter et distempera cum urina zāzel et cum

casus ad libram 1. pone in aliquo vase terreo vitreato et luta cum luto

sapientie et pone in furno mediocriter calido et dimitte a mane usque ad

sero vel converso. postea extrahe de vase illo si coagulatum fuerit. Si

non iterum ponatur in furno super vase optime lutato et cum coagulatum

fuerit teras ipsum et misce cum 3 libris aque dulcis et dimitte residere

in vase vitreo et quod clarum fuerit repone ipsam aquam (?) et quod

feculentum fuerit t’i eum ejice. Postea accipe laminas factas ex marte

factas tot quot possunt submergi in aqua ista et dimitte ibi per ix dies.

Decimo autem die pone ad ignem et dimitte bulire per magnum tempus. Et

ipsis laminibus extractis et exsiccatis in igne debes accipere pannum

lineum novum et balneare ipsum aliquantulum et stringe intra manus et

debes ponere laminas in panno isto p’ns pulvere supradicto asperso et

ponendo laminas et spargendo pulverem usque ad finem et involvendo eas

in tali panno. Accipe fortiter exstringendo et pone ipsum pannum cum

laminibus in vase qui dicitur alludel ponendo ipsum in fornace et super

sufflando cum manticello ac bonum ignem faciendo donec sit solutum.

Et caveas quod non discooperiatur donec bene dissolutum fuerit quia

amitteres operacionem tuam. Eciam non peneteas in prolongacione ignis

quoniam si ignis prolongatur aliquantulum magis ultra quam tibi videatur

erit operacio tua multum melior. Sed ex abreviatione possit operacio tua

destrui et in idem revertens quod prius fuerat. Stude autem inquantum

potes ut videas sine discopercione magno ignis nec is quod est cruciolo

albē (? albescere) videatur. Sed discooperiendo plane et si dissolutum

fuerit ipsum prioce in aqua ut refrigescat. Et cum frigidum fuerit

accipies in manu tua. Dico enim in veritate quod tu gaudebis de eo quia

habebis lunam pretiosissimam in omni operacione.

12. Alia operacio que fit cum pulvere isto, Accipe m. et pone ipsum in

luteollo in quo artifices infundunt argentum ad quantitatem quam vis

et super pone de pulvere supradicto super m. cum tribus qº teis aq̃.

miscendo cum digito leviter et pone ad ignem in furnello et suprapone

carbones accensos in luteollo et fiat ignis mediocriter nec nimis magnus

nec nimis parvus et non discooperiatur usque ad magnum tempus et postmodo

proiciatur in aqua et habebis quod utile est et habebis illud bonum quod

omnes sapientes desideraverunt.

13. Aliud similiter de pulvere isto adhuc expertum. Accipe ʒ · 1. de

supradicto pulvere et pone ʒ · 5. ematicis in ʒ · 5. talci merabilis et

diligenter teras et accipe ʒ · x. veneris et pone in panno lineo faciendo

laminas de venere et spargendo pulverem super pannum et super laminas

et sit pannus madefactus et stringendo totum simul et ponendo ipsum in

luteollo in igne et cooperiendo ipsum carbonibus faciendo ignem nec

nimis fortem nec nimis levem usque quo dissolutum fuerit et cum fuerit

dissolutum proice ipsum in aquam. Habebis enim nobilem operacionem ad

quam pauci devenerunt.

3. Operacio allebrot ut asserunt sapientes est secundum hunc modum.

Accipe ex eo secundum quantitatem quam vis s. ʒ · 5 · et tere diligenter

postea habeas sanguinem alicuius hominis rubei ad quantitatem ʒ · 3

· et comisce cum eo et degutta. Aut accipe ʒ · 5 · de talco parum

sulfuris albi et tere omnia diligenter et incorpora cum sanguine et

sale et dimitte siccari in furno vel ad solem, et cum exsiccatum fuerit

teratur id totum in mortario lapideo subtiliter et cum opus fuerit utere

eo spargendo super m. igne super accenso et sufflando cum manticello

retinebit enim eum et non sinet eum volare. Sit quantitas m. librae 5

et non plus et non removeatur ab igne usque ad magnum tempus postea in

aqua proiiciatur poterit hec enim optime malleari. Accipe decem bufones

tenentes venenum et fiant vive et ponantur in aliquo vase unde non

valeant exire. Postea accipe anfodillos recentes et eleborum album in

bona quantitate extrahe inde succum cum eis quantum pones (sic), pone

succum in vase illo in quo sunt rane et dimitte eas bibere per ix dies.

Tunc accipe eas et pone in olla rudi et luta eam luto sapientie et pone

ipsam in furno ita ut animalia comburantur combustione sufficienti et

extrahe inde ea et tere diligenter et cum opus fuerit de illo pulvere

accipe ʒ · 1 · de sale alebrot ʒ · 1 · de sale alcali ʒ · 5 · de sale

armoniaco tantundem et teras diligenter permiscendo cum ea urinam tassi

et iterum exsicca et tere et hoc nonies fiat et de illo pulvere poteris

facere mirabilia. Pulvis iste constringit m. mutat jovem in lunam et

albificat martem clarificat eum et dat ei colorem bonum et clarum et

mundat eum a superfluitatibus terreis et facit quod mars transmutatur in

lunam. Mirabilis enim in suo effectu. Si vero accipies de pulvere isto ad

quantitatem ʒ · 1 · et miscueris cum ere secundum quod docet et in igne

fuerit. Sapientia et sit quantitas eris ʒ · viiij. gaudebis. Sal rubeum

gummum rubeum terram armenie gerssam vel gerussam et pulverem bufonis

equaliter et operati sunt valde in suis operibus. Habuerunt enim talem

scientiam quam pauci noverunt et benedixit eam Deus omnipotens qui causa

prima fuit omnium rerum. Dico tibi firmiter quod cum istis rebus omnia

necessaria possunt acquiri. Idcirco tacuerunt onēs et verterunt se ad

salem armoniacum nec dixerunt de eo quicquam aperte.

16. Racio autem alluminum est secundum hunc modum. Est enim allumen

salsum et alumen de rocha et alumen de bolkar et alumen jameni et alumen

scaiole et alumen de pluma. Sed nota quod alumen de pluma jameni sissi

idem sunt secundum quod ego credo quia inveni in libris philosophi quod

eadem est virtus jameni cum virtute de pluma et sissi et est eius virtus

modo albatione et retinet colorem cum conjungitur. Si vero conjungitur

cum re alba facit ipsam albam et si conjungitur cum re rubea facit

rubedinem acquiri in ea. Sed quidam dicunt quod sint idem in genere sed

diversi in specie. Et quod alia est species aluminis jameni alia scissi

et alia de pluma. Dicotamen tibi in veritate quod una et eadem est

operatio etsi diversificantur in omnibus. Et scias ipsum esse frigidum et

siccum tamen nec dissolvitur ab igne nisi misceretur cum rebus humidis

et cum illis dissolvitur et sicut illuminat pannos ita illuminat martem

ut recipiat forma lune. Et quanto magis mars fuerit illuminatus et magis

depuratus a superfluitatibus terreis et feculentis tanto efficitur

ex eo melior operatio. Illuminat autem secundum quod ego dixi tibi

multociens faciendo laminas ex marte et accipiendo etiam alumen de pluma

ad quantitatem quam vis scilicet si mars fuerit ʒ · ix · aluminis debes

accipere ʒ · 2 · et tere subtiliter et misce cum ʒ · 1 · salis armoniaci

triti subtiliter et debes ponere libra 1, urina (sic) pueri virginis

secundum quod ego dixi tibi multocies et bulire omnia simul in vase

vitreato. Postea dimitte residere et cola quod clarum est accipe et quod

feculentum proice et pone laminas illas in aqua illa et dimitte ita stare

per 8 dies postmodo extrahi eas et exsicca et operare cum (sic) sicut

scis et habebis nobilem operacionem si bene scivisti ea que processerunt.

Non habeas hoc vile quia istud est secretum maximum et non obliviscaris

pannum faū et pulverem ex nitro salso acro. Aliter enim non valeat

operatio tua.

6. Dixerunt cuidam (_sic_) philosophi quod aqua ista preparat martem

ut recipiat formam lune et consentiendum est eis. Scito enimvero quod

preparatio eius est optima ad recipiendum formam bonam que est utilis

omni creature.

17. Alumen autem de rocha non durat in igne sed siccatur et facit sicut

borax de petra ex isto sophisticatur borax cum pinguedine calchatam et

melle. Unde cum ponitur super ignem funditur alumen sicut et illud. De

isto autem alumine nichil ad nos quoniam nullam facit utilitatem in arte

ista et idcirco non curamus multum de eo loqui.

18. Aliud experimentum quod extractum fuit de libris quorundam

philosophorum. Habeatur pro maximo secreto scilicet haninan camescia[330]

qui summi fuerunt in arte alchimie et fuerunt de lamacha sarracenorum

qui dixerunt ita nisi mars fuerit expoliatus a superfluitatibus suis

non convertetur perfecte in lunam. Purgatur enim cum aqua virginum et

aluminum secundum quod tu scivisti superius si tu intellexisti quod

narratum est. Sed concordati sunt isti philosophi in hoc cum dixerunt.

Si quis acceperit ʒ · 3· de nitro salso et adiunxeris ʒ · 2· de sale

alkali et ʒ · 1· de sale armoniaco ista simul terantur et cum urina pueri

virginis distemperantur ad quantitatem ʒ · viiii et de urina animalis

qui tapsus dicitur ʒ · viiij. et ponatur totum in vase vitreato et sit

vas lutatum luto sapientie circumcirca ita quod fumus non possit inde

exire et accendatur ignis levis sub eo et dimittantur bulire valde plane

a mane usque ad terciam vel a tercia usque ad nonam. Postea accipiatur

et ponatur in letamine pecudum et dimittatur ix dies. Postea accipiatur

et discooperiatur. Si coagulatum fuerit bene erit sin autem non fuerit

adhuc coagulatum in vase lutato reverteris adhuc in letamine pecudum et

dimittatur ibi per 6 dies erit coagulatum si Deus voluerit. Tunc accipies

vas et extrahes totum id de vase et teras illum diligenter trituratione

bona. Postmodo accipe de pulvere isto ʒ · 1· et talem camphore et ʒ ·

1· lapidis armenie et unam terre rubee et tantundem de alumine jameni

et terantur omnia ista simul et cum opus fuerit accipe de pulvere isto.

1· de laminibus sublimatis ʒ · ix· accipiendo pannum lineum grossum et

balneando ipsum cum aqua parum exprimendo ipsum et supra aspergendo

istam pulverem. Postea spargendo eodem modo pulverem supradictum super

laminas preparatas ponendo iterum laminas et pulverem desuper usque ad

complementum. Et scire debes quod in fine debes plus ponere pulverem et

stringendo istas laminas in panno isto fortiter ponendo eas in luteolo

et postea in igne faciendo ignem circumcirca et sufflando fortiter cum

manticello donec bene dissolutum fuerit. Tempore autem dissolutionis

potest esse in duabus horis si bene meditaberis et in usu habueris

omnia bene habeantur usu. Et scias quod tu debes magis ponere modum in

dissolutione quam in alio quia per te ipsum debes dissolvere et videre

quantum tempus habes dissolutionis et secundum quod tu videris in hora

secundum hoc poteris comprehendere dissolutionem eius cum pulvere et

aliquantulum plus ut non decipiaris quia si aliquantulum plus fuerit in

igne quam tibi videatur erit operatio tua melior. Sed si nondum esset

dissolutum tu discoperiens amitteres tuam operationem.

19. Aliud secretum in quo concordati sunt omnes sapientes qui aliquid

cognoverunt de arte ista.[331] Et est secundum hunc modum. Accipe

libra 1· sanguinis alicujus hominis rubei et sanguinem xi talparum et

sex bufones ranam magnam habentem venenum et accipe libra· 11· succi

anfodillorum et libra· 1· succi elebori albi extracti cum aceto quia

aliter extrahi non potest. Ista ponantur omnia in una olla. Postmodo

habeatur alia olla in duplo maior ea vel in triplo ita quod parva possit

stare in ea et distet ab alia per x digitos et plus et ponatur parva bene

lutata cum rebus supradictis in olla magna et ponantur carbones inter

ollam magnam et parvam et accendatur ignis circumcirca et dimittantur

ita semper faciendo ignem per dies duos postea extrahe ab olla et

discoperi eam et videbis pulverem nigrum. Postea accipe pellem ericii

et comburatur fortiter et tere omnia trituratione forte videbis quasi

argentum et miscebis talem de alio pulvere cum isto et habebis urinam

tapsi et distemperabis cum ea istem pulverem ponendo ipsum ad solem per

3 dies et totidem noctes ad rorem et miscendo ipsum semper quousque

desiccatum fuerit. Postea accipe de sale nitro acro quartam partem et

terciam de sale alcali et tantundem de sale allap et alluminis de pluma

tantundem omnia terantur simul et usui serventur. Dico enim tibi et juro

quod si tu scis legere librum istum et intelligere accipere sublimare

mundificare constringere ignem facere et componere res secundum quod

debent componi in veritate tu habebis lunam perfectam et solem perfectum

ita quod cor tuum gaudebit in ea. Sed huic arti necessarium est studium

vehemens ut scias et sic forte poteris scire artem istam. Ego quidem

multum studui in ea atque sudavi an̄quā invenirem artem istam et id quod

volebam et non potui pervenire ad hoc nisi cum magno studio et labore

exercitando artem usque quod inveni in ea que volui. Et ita dico tibi

fili h’mē ut non sis piger in probacione huius artis quia tibi dico

veritatem. Si tu probaveris artem istam invenies in ea omne bonum quod

erit utile omnibus hominibus.

15. Racio alluminum et de diversis ipsorum generibus. Racio autem

alluminis et atramentorum secundum hunc modum. Atramentorum vero x sunt

species scilicet Colcotar Calcandis Vitriolus et viride es. Ideo enim

tinguntur et denigrantur. Calcari est nobilius et magnopere valet in

operatione alchimie. Purificantur enim corpora ex eo mundificantur a

superfluitatibus terreis ut meliorem recipiant formam et nobiliorem. Et

fit secundum hunc modum. Accipe Calcatar libra 1 · et dissolve ipsa cum

urina pueri virginis. Et quare dico cum urina pueri virginis quia est

magis mundificata et penetrativa est et inveni quod maximus philosophus

laudavit multum in suis operationibus et debet esse ad quantitatem trium

librarum et facias eam bulire in vase vitreato usque ad consumationem

tertie partis: Postea dimitte residere et quod clarum fuerit collige et

quod feculentum et terreum proice. In ista enim aqua apponantur lamine

martis et dimittatur usque ad ix dies postea extrahe et operentur et fit

cum eis luna secundum modum in igne quo modo tu pluries intellexisti.

Calcandis utitur in veneris et non est eius utilitas multum in hac arte.

Sed inveniuntur in eo lapides rubei qui valent multum in operatione

alchimie mutando corpora planetarum. Secundum quod enim audivisti in

libris cuiusdam philosophi ex calcadis vel calcatar extrahuntur lapides

rubei vel tendentes ad rubedinem qui valent multum ad mutacionem

metallorum naturalium transformando ea secundum quod oportet et dando ei

colorem optimum. Et ego credo quod isti lapides sint de specie alluminis

et si hoc esset non esset mirum si poterint perficere solem et dare

ei colorem bonum. Unde sicut luna illuminatur ita metalla illuminari

possunt. Verum est quod ista scientia scribi non potest nisi cum maximo

studio et labore. Sed in quo tu magis debes studere est in igne et

sublimationibus pulveribus et mundificare metalla secundum quod tu

scivisti et intexisti superius.

CAPITULUM DE SPIRITIBUS VOLANTIBUS

20. Sunt autem quidam spiritus qui recedunt ab igne et in fumum

convertuntur et faciunt convertere alias res sicut est sulphur arsenicum

ex illis est argentum vivum. Sulphuris tres sunt species. Est enim

sulphur croceum flavum et est album. Flavum autem est sicut extrahitur

de vena et tunc non est purum. Purificatur enim sic quia ponitur tritum

in patella ferrea et dissolvitur ab igne et cum dissolutum est tollatur

et iterum ponatur in patella super ignem ut eo dissoluto ponitur in

canellis factis de ferre (sic) et istud sulfur dicitur canelatum et est

valde purum a superfluitatibus. Operatur autem aliquid de eo in arte

al-chimie sed illud est valde purum. Verum est quia preparat artem (?

martem) et dat ei colorem lune. Quidam autem accipiunt laminas eris et

ponunt eas in igne et cum sunt bene rubee extinguunt eas in sulfure bene

trito miscendo fortiter cum aliquo ligno. Postmodo accipiunt laminas

illas et ponunt in igne et dimittunt purificari et cum volunt operari

accipiunt et componunt eas secundum quod scis et intellexisti superius.

Et quidam ponunt etiam de eo parum cum pulvere supradicto quando apponunt

martem in panno et bene accidit eis quia sapienter agunt.

Album enim sulfur invenitur in hispania et portatur de insula que

heble appellatur. Accipitur etiam pro nitro salso sed non equiparatur

ei quoniam igne fugit sicut spiritus, ille autem stat et non solvitur

ab igne sed funditur et tu audisti satis de eo in superioribus. Nec

loquar de eo tibi amplius. Arsenici autem due sunt species. Una est

crocei coloris et alia est rubei coloris. Croceum autem multum valet

quia mulieres utuntur eo faciendo depilatorium et preparando facies

earum a pilis. Quidam de sophistis accipiunt ʒ · 1· auri limati, libra

1· auripigmenti et terent ipsum fortiter et balneant ipsum cum urina et

ponunt totum simul in sacculo corei et stringunt ipsum et dimittunt ita

stare usque ad mensem et videtur aurum. De rubeo arsenico fit realgar.

Ista sufficiant. Et sic est finis huius libri. Explicit liber dedali in

arte alchimie.

APPENDIX IV

Text in the author’s possession.—Ms. in 4to perg. saec. xvi. vel. xvii.,

red, black, and green ink.

Interpretacio et Instruccio pro Discipulis seu Amatoribus Artis Magice

pro iis scilicet ad quorum manus post obitum meum libellus iste fortuito

aliquando perventurus est.

Parvi licet Compendii libellus iste sit, magni tamen momenti esse eundem

experieris. Nam scias velim, Curiose Lector, opus hoc in Arabica lingua

conscriptum esse cuius ego per multos quidem annos possessor virtutis

in eiusdem ob linguae insciciam ignarus semper permanseram; donec

tandem auxilio Rabbi cuiusdam extraneam hanc linguam optime callentis

ad genuinum verborum sensum, rerumque contentarum noticiam pervenissem.

Quae autem exinde expertus et adeptus sum et tu experiri adipiscique

poteris si vir constans et intrepidus sis moreve prescripto processeris.

Ast cum spiritibus astutissimis et humano generi infensissimis tibi

agendum est: Quare cum previa sane mentis deliberacione et cautela maxima

procedas necesse est. Quod si vero rem rite tractaveris grandia et

mirabilia perpetrare poteris. Reliqua te opus ipsum satis docebit. Unum

hoc ultimatim te enixe adhortamus ut libellum istum optime custodias, ne

in manus curiose juventutis seu ignorancium hominum incidat. Siquidem

per eius lecturam, nisi more prescripto fiat, funestissime tragedie

orirentur. Quare ipse autor in prima pagina admonet ut in silencio

legatur. Nemo igitur quiscumque sit absque circulo clara et alto voce

insertas Spirituum citaciones legere presumat nisi miserrimum sui

detrimentum et interitum preceps ruere velit. Quapropter quicquid agis

prudenter agas et respice Finem. Vale. Michael Scotus Prage in Bohemia

pridie Id. Febr. Anno mcclv.

Sequitur interpretacio tocius operis.

Aspice Inspice pervolve alta sed

legere voce omnino cave.

Almuchabola Absegalim Alkakib Albaon _i.e._ Compendium Magie Innaturalis

Nigre, continens Citaciones et Vincula diversorum Spirituum.

Primum et maxime necessarium requisitum in experimentis Magicis

Composicio Circuli est. Nam sine eo nemo a malis Spiritibus tutus foret.

Quare Magister ex pelle caprina _i.e._ charta virginea faciat Circulum

in latitudine novem pedum ad quem cum sanguine Columbe scribi debent

nomina que videntur in figura pag. iij. (this refers to the other

quire containing the Arabic original which alone has illustrations).

Quodsi vero illum forcius munire cupis poteris pro lubitu addere plura

ex sanctissimis Dei Nominibus Hebraicis v.g. Elohim Adonai Zebaoth

Agla Jehovah, item nomina iiij Evangelistarum et iiij Archangelorum et

adhuc alia que ex rituali Ecclesiastico sive aliis libris sat colligas.

Secundo habeatur baculus qui abscindatur Corilo in quem inscindi et

cum sanguine columbe inscribi debent verba et nomina in figura pag.

iij indicata. Tereio fiat Mitra pariter ex pelle capre Alba posterior

Nigra et scribantur m. ad illam cum sanguine columbe nomina que habet

figura pag. iiij. Quarto Magister habeat habitum nigrum longum usque

ad pedes super habitum vero Scapulare sive pentaculum factum ex ante

dicta charta virginea et iterum cum sanguine columbe scribantur ad illud

nomina, uti monstrat figura pag. iv. Proinde omnia hec predicta requisita

debent preparari in novilunio in diebus Mercurii et Veneris horisque

hisce Planetis propriis. Que autem sint hore Planetarum ex libris

Astrologorum satis aliunde patet. Quinto formetur Sigillum sive titulus

characteristicus illius Spiritus quem citare intendis: debet autem scribi

cum sanguine corvi nigerini ad pellem capre nigre factam et appendatur ad

baculum quoque abscissum corilo erigaturque ad margines circuli uti docet

figura pag. v. Sexto Magister sive debet esse solus sive si velint esse

plures sit numerus semper impar. Septimo requiritur locus securus absitus

et solitudinarius quod si in domo fiat operacio habeat cubile aptum

versus Orientem et relinquatur sive porta sive fenestra aperta; nec sint

plures in domo persone quam que ad operacionem pertinent; quare semper

melius et securius est ut experimenta fiant sub celo, in eremis, silvis,

pratisque desertis nullorumque hominum conspectui et auditu obnoxiis.

Octavo experimenta fiant in diebus Mercurii sive Veneris sive in prima

hora noctis sive in sexta post solis occasum; de die autem debent fieri

in ipsissimis horis Planetarum Veneris seu Mercurii. Nono Magister ante

Operacionem bene deliberet quale negocium tractare velit cum spiritibus

ne medio experimenti fiat confusio seu perturbacio. Magistrum itaque

oportet esse virum gravem animosum, qui in lingua et pronunciacione non

paciatur defectum. Socii omnes nec verbum loquantur sed solus Magister

cum spiritibus tractare audeat. Hiis omnibus denique bene preparatis et

ordinatis Magister adhibeat fumigia ex sequentibus speciebus:

℞: Semen papaveris nigri

Herba Cicuta

Coriandrum

Apium et crocus et hec in equali pondere.

Decimo si Magister rem habet quam Spiritus adimplere resisterent,

accipiat baculum et cum eo feriat eorum Sigilla, sed si nimium pertinaces

forent, appropinquet ea ad carbones cum quibus fumigatum est, faciat

quasi assare et successive ardescere velit et statim eos obedientes

habebit.

Circulum cum Sociis ingressurus dicat:

Harim Kasistacos Enet miram Baal Alisa mamutai arista Kappi Megiarath

Sagisiya Suratbakar.

Sequuntur Citaciones Nomina et Sigilla Spirituum qui per hoc opus

advocari et citari possunt.

Sigillum primi Principis vid. pag. viij.

CITACIO PRIMI ALMUCHABZAR

Asib Hecon Anthios Rarapafta Kylim Almuchabzar alge Zorionoso Amilech

Amias Segir Almetubele Halimasten Rarapafta Kylim O Almuchabzar horet

Kylim.

CITACIO SECUNDA PRIMI PRINCIPIS

Aritepas Oulyri Hecon asib alperiga O Almuchabzar! Rabet Almetubele

Syrath alecla icarim alderez Aldemel met cadir Measdi Algir aleclar Ryia

sothus Alchantum ioradio Ealusi Amilkamar Alenzod:

CITACIO TERCIA ALMUCHABZAR

Albantum alenzod Almuchabzar! Hecon asip Amilcamar alperiga algir

filastaros aleclar Syrath asyngarum berumistas legistas Ruppa sastaraya

aronthas Baracasti hemla Omisyrath abdilbak Amilkamar alcubel taris Algir

alasaff megastar Magin horet Karapatta Kylim O! Almuchabzar.

Quam primum apparent Spiritus in forma humana visibili Magister eos

interroget utrum isti sint qui ab eo fuerunt citati? et si spiritus hoc

iureiurando cum iureiurando (sic) cum imposicione manuum super baculum

[qui ex circulo iis porrigi debet] confirmaverint; salutet eos et sistat

modo subsequenti in fine pag. xv. et pag. xxxv. Hunc Principem vero modo

sequenti:

Alkumkazar medidosta Asaristatos falusi algir abdilbak = karis helotim

latintos O Almuchabzar! milasarintha iubarath mimas Amka Solit karytos

Faribai aliasi miron kylim arastaton tyrantus Almuchabzar.

His dictis Spiritus ipsum interrogabunt quare fuerint vocati? etc.

Magister illis negocium proponat et si adimpleverint dimittat illos prout

sequitur in fine pag. xv. et pag. xxx istum vero specialiter sic:

Sarmistaros labyratha Asanta bartha Megimaia karapatta horet kylim O

Almuchabzar!

SIGILLUM ACHUNCHAB vid. pag. xi.

Citacio.

Asip hecon anthios karapatta kylim Achunchab Perificanthus alasaff haram

astarladip Megastar hagiasesta parit hemla pantustata amagarim kalip

kisolastar aleclar elgir altemel alperiga Horet kylim O Achunchab!

SIGILLUM AGHIZIKKE vid. pag. xii.

Citacio.

Hamagit hecon asip Kampatta kylim Aghizikke sisalmaz alenzod alcubel

algir sarmistaros alasat Abdilbak Guscharasch heam diadrasas dalasai

Betaran herik iulem Megastar Helib istam horet kylim O Aghizikke!

SIGILLUM BALTUZARAZ vid. pag. xiii.

Citacio.

Megaras Galim asip hecon kylim Baltuzaraz negyrus haleai amith aresatos

gimastas permasai alar aluhazi Hacub salataya almetubeli algir Abilbak

mirastatos Alenzod medagasti O Baltuzaras kylim horet.

Sequuntur alia adhuc sigilla aliquorum Spirituum qui per subsequentem

coniuracionem advocantur. Sigilla vide pag. xiiij. Nomina eorum numeres

secundum ordinem sigillorum a manu dextra ad sinistram suntque sequentia:

KAPULIPH, SUHUB; GALHABARI ET ALMISCHAK.

Citacio.

Mabgatusta berenata sarmistaros gorisgatba Helotim latintos aciton

Axagiatum amka iaribai artas gilgarkipka Selingarasch alberalabon

gimistas Kateraptas amogiorith miagastos Diadrasi Radistar dalasa

hagaigia Belzop hecon asip Karapatta kylim O Suhub Galhabari O Almischak

Kapuliph antios guschorasch Alcubel alenzod algir Rabet almetubele

Abdilbak mirastatos alasaff algir megastar ioradip faluli zorionoso

alget kapkar imat Abdilbaim eralim fiascar albirastos perifiantus

Berapkukagapharam Abdilbaim erasin Zakarip Aresatos Talmasten Karapatta

kylim horet kylim.

INSTICIO SIVE CONSISTENCIA SPIRITUUM.

Harim kelit Amogar Bail namutai aristakappi Megiarath agualim Segirit

beranabtar Cesastus megarustat amargim Bargastaton ioratkar Karistacao

Alim Miron anasterisatos horet kylim.

VALEDICCIO SPIRITUUM.

Bedarit labyratha Asonta barda Meles kalas hemastar Bemtsstaras Bedarit

Enet elmisistar Almiranthus.

Quando Magister cum Sociis egreditur circulo dicat hec sequentia verba

vide pag. xvi.

Begarsten alengip Harim Gantalsa stai Becekym Dingiltas Mecarkayrup

Hermagastus aganton Badaky Gragaim Bemdastoras Argint.

FINIS.

APPENDIX V

Regesta Vaticana, Tom. xii., fol. 136 vo., epist. 170.

… archiepiscopo Cantuariensi sancte Romane ecclesie cardinali. De

provisione dilecti filii magistri Michaelis Scoti, cuius eminentis

sciencie titulus de ipso testimonium perhibet, quod inter litteratos

alios dono vigeat sciencie singulari patris intimo cogitantes affectu,

pro eo tibi, quod inter ceteros per orbem sciencia preditos eminenti

litteratura et profundioris prerogativa doctrine coruscas, fiducialiter

affectione plena dirigimus scripta nostra, firmam spem fiduciamque

tenentes, quod probos clericos diligas et delecteris in illis ac per hoc

ad providendum tante sciencie clerico promptus et facilis inveniri debeas

per te (137ro.) ipsum. Quocirca fraternitati tue per apostolica scripta

mandamus, quatinus tam liberaliter quam libenter predicto magistro infra

provinciam tuam auctoritate nostra provideas in beneficio quod recipiente

congruat et deceat providentem, ita quod ex hoc devocionem et diligenciam

tuam in Domino commendare possimus et nos illud habeamus acceptum qui

nollemus omnino quod dictus magister, qui maioribus dignus esset, gracie

nostre, que reputatur ei debitum, frustraretur effectu, contradictores

autem per censuras ecclesiasticas appellacione remota compescas. Dat.

Lateran. xvii Kal. februar. anno octavo.

This extract, which has not hitherto been fully printed in any of the

authorities (Pressutti, _Regesta Honorii Pape III._ vol. ii. pp. 194,

258; Bliss, _Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers_, vol. i. pp. 94,

97) has reached me from the Vatican just before going to press. I owe

it to the kindness of Monsignor Ehrle, the Prefect of the Bibliotheca

Apostolica, and am glad to reproduce it here, not only because of the

light it throws on the events mentioned in Chapter viii., but as a

testimony to the opinion then held of Scot’s attainments in science.

Incidentally too, it places beyond question the fact mentioned on p.

14, namely, that he was in holy orders. With regard to the title of

‘Master,’ here repeated, I may add that this would seem to have been

equivalent among the Regulars to that of ‘Doctor’ among the secular

clergy; so that there is a further probability that Scot belonged to one

of the monastic orders. Should any one still doubt that the ‘M. Scotus’

whom Honorius named for Cashel is the same person as Michael Scot, this

extract may help to resolve the matter. Honorius evidently held Michael

in the highest esteem, and it will be difficult to find another M. Scotus

so likely to have been preferred by him in the very same year.

FOOTNOTES

[1] _De Michaele Scoto Veneficii injuste damnato_, Lipsiae, 1739.

[2] Some account of Scottish grammar-schools in the twelfth century will

be found in Sir James Dalrymple’s _Collections_, pp. 226, 255 (Advocates’

Library, Edinburgh); also in Chalmers’s _Caledonia_, vol. i. p. 76.

[3] _Compendium Studii_, vol. i. p. 471, ed. Master of the Rolls. London,

Longmans, 1859.

[4] Boncompagni _Vita di Gherardo Cremonense_, Roma, 1851, and the _De

Astronomia Tractatus_ x. of Guido Bonatti, printed at Bâle, 1550.

[5] _Historia Ecclesiastica_, xii. 494.

[6] In the last edition of Chambers’s Encyclopædia, _sub nomine_.

[7] See _infra_, ch. vii.

[8] Leland’s work was published in 1549.

[9] _Comento alla Divina Commedia, Inf._, canto xx. Bologna, Fanfani,

1866-74.

[10] The _Scotorum Historia_ of Boëce in which this statement appears was

published at Paris in 1526.

[11] Between 1260 and 1280. See Cartulary of Dunfermline.

[12] Exchequer Rolls.

[13] See _infra_, p. 55.

[14] Bulaeus _Historia Univ. Paris._, vol. iii. pp. 701, 702.

[15] Sir James Dalrymple’s _Collections_, pp. 226, 255. There was also a

school at Dryburgh, where Sibbald says Sacrobosco studied, but had Scot

entered here he would hardly have been distinguished in later years as a

man in close relation with another order—the Cistercian.

[16] Not excepting the north. ‘Morebatur eo tempore (_c._ 1180) apud

Oxenfordiam studiorum causa clericus quidam Stephanus nomine de

Eboracensi regione oriundus,’ _Acta Sanctorum_, Oct. 29, p. 579. At the

exodus in 1209, no less than three thousand students are said to have

left Oxford.

[17] _Opus Majus_, ed. Jebbi, pp. 36, 37. The words are ‘Tempore

Michaelis Scoti, qui, annis 1230 transactis, apparuit, deferens librorum

Aristotelis partes aliquas,’ etc. See _infra_, ch. viii.

[18] See Anderson, _Scottish Nation_, _sub nomine_.

[19] _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Note Y. See _infra_, ch. x.

[20] See _infra_, p. 18.

[21] Romance of _Elinando_.

[22] He probably joined the Cistercian Order.

[23] _Compendium Studii_, p. 425.

[24] In the printed edition of Dempster, the reference is ‘lib. 3

sententiarum, quaest. iii.,’ but I have not been able to verify it.

[25] _Hist. Litt. de la France_, vol. ix. p. 65.

[26] _Opus Majus_, p. 84.

[27] _Elinando._

[28] _Decamerone_, viii. 9.

[29] See _infra_, chap. x.

[30] The MS. of Scot’s _Physionomia_ in the Vatican Library (_Fondo della

Regina di Svezia_ 1151, saec. xvi?) has joined to it some extravagant

lines in praise of the Parisian schools, where the writer compares them

to Paradise. There is no reason to suppose Scot wrote these verses, but

they fully support the statement made in the text.

[31] Pl. lxxxix. _sup._ cod. 38. See Appendix, No. 1.

[32] See p. 244 of the MS.

[33] _Domini Magistri._

[34] _Philipo._

[35] _Coronato._

[36] _Destinavit sibi._

[37] See Ducange, _sub voce_.

[38] Huillard-Bréholles, _Hist. Dip. Frid. II._, vol. i. pp. 44, 68, 242,

255.

[39] No. 354.

[40] See _infra_, p. 37.

[41] L’Anonimo Fiorentino, _Comento alla Divina Commedia_. Bologna,

Fanfani, 1866-74.

[42] See especially the preface to the _Physionomia_.

[43] Smith’s _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, _sub voce_ ‘Magister.’

[44] From August 1200 to January 1208. See Amari, _Storia dei Musulmani

di Sicilia_.

[45] See the _Hist. Dip. Frid._, _passim_.

[46] Amari.

[47] See _infra_, pp. 26, 59, and ch. vi.

[48] _Compendium Studii_, p. 434.

[49] See the preface to the _Secreta_.

[50] Amari. See _infra_, p. 83.

[51] Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Canon Misc. 555; cod. memb. in 4to ff. 97, saec.

xiv. ineunt., with a portrait of Michael Scot in one of the initials.

The preface opens thus:—‘Cum ars astronomie sit grandis sermonibus

philosophorum.’ The book begins:—‘Cronica Grece Latine dicitur series

ut temporis temporum sicut dominorum,’ and closes thus:—‘De expositione

fundamenti terrae volentes his finere secundum librum quem incepimus

in nomine Dei, Cui ex parte nostra sit semper grandis laus et gloria,

benedictio et triumphus in omnibus per infinita saecula saeculorum Amen.’

Other MSS. of the _Astronomia_ are found at Milan, Bibl. Ambros. L. 92,

_sup. cum figuris_; and at Munich, see Halm and Meyer’s _Catalogue_, vol.

ii. part i. p. 156, No. 1242, saec. xviii.

[52] ‘Quasi vulgariter.’

[53] Bodl. MS. 266, chart. in fol. saec. xv. 218 leaves; Bibl. Nat.

Paris, Nouv. acq. 1401; the Escorial has another MS. of this work on

paper, in writing of the fourteenth century. The _Liber Introductorius_

commences thus: ‘Quicumque vult esse bonus astrologus’—an expression

which betrays the churchman in Scot. It closes with these words:

‘finitur tractatus de notitia pronosticorum.’ Extracts from the _Liber

Introductorius_ are found in the MS. Fondo Vaticano 4087, p. 38, ro.

and vo., MS. in fol. chart. saec. xvi., and in the Bibl. del Seminario

Vescovile, Padua, MS. 48, in fol. chart. saec. xiv.; also Bibl. Ambros,

Milan, MS. I. 90.

[54] The Paris MS. reads ‘in Astronomia,’ a good example of the confusion

mentioned above.

[55] ‘Leviter.’

[56] This is a mistake common to both the MSS. Innocent IV. did not begin

to reign till 1243, when Scot was long in his grave. Innocent III.,

who was Pope from 1198-1216, is the person meant. He was guardian to

Frederick II. during his minority.

[57] According to the line: ‘Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus,

Angulus, Astra,’ in which the Trivium and Quadrivium were succinctly and

memorably expressed.

[58] His mother was nearly fifty years old at his birth.

[59] See the description of this palace in the poem by Peter of Eboli.

[60] Zurita says that Sancia, the Queen Dowager of Aragon, claimed the

crown of Sicily for her son Fernando, in case there were no heir of

Frederick II. by Constance.

[61] See on this whole subject three most learned and satisfactory works

by Prof. R. Foerster of Breslau—_De Arist. quae feruntur physiognomonicis

recensendis_, Kiliae, 1882; _De trans. lat. physiognomonicorum_, Kiliae,

1884; and especially his _Scriptores Graeci Physiognomonici_, Teubner,

1894.

[62] A _Physionomia_ ascribed to Al Mansour himself was commented on by

Jacopo da Samminiato. It is preserved in the Bibl. Naz. of Florence, MS.

xx. 55.

[63] See Book II. chap. xxvi. _et seq._

[64] B. J. II., 8. § 6. See also the Church Histories of Neander (i. 61,

83) and Kurtz (i. 65).

[65] The word Ἀβράξας read numerically gives the total of 365 = the

number of days in which the sun completes his circle through the twelve

signs. In this way it is equivalent to _Mithras_. These gems often bear

the figure of a cock = the sun-bird, not without reference to Æsculapius.

They were worn to recover or preserve health.

[66] This reminds one of the somewhat similar introduction to the alchemy

of Crates, which speaks of a youth called Rissoures, the scion of a

family of adepts, who made love to a maid-servant of Ephestelios, chief

diviner in the Temple of Serapis at Alexandria, thus inducing her to

steal the book and fly with him. The tradition of discovery is common

to both legends, but the Crates has a colour of worldly passion and the

Sirr-el-Asrar a shade of ascetic practice which agrees admirably with

what we know of the Therapeutae. _Crates_ is probably Democritus. The

Arabic version was due to Khalid ben Yezid, and bears the title of _Kenz

el Konouz_, or treasure of treasures. It is found in MS. 440 of Leyden.

In a later chapter we shall recur to this subject with the view of

showing that alchemy as well as physiognomy owed much to the Therapeutic

philosophy.

[67] The printed copy—in fol. Venice, Bernardinus de Vitalibus, s. a. but

probably 1501—reads ‘romanam,’ which would be neo-Greek or Romaic.

[68] See on this whole subject the excellent remarks of Foerster in his

treatise _De Aristotelis quae feruntur Secretis Secretorum_, Kiliae,

1888, pp. 22-25.

[69] Wright’s _Cat. of the Syriac MSS._, Nos. 250 and 366.

[70] _Recherches_, pp. 117, 118.

[71] _Op. cit._ pp. 26, 27.

[72] Viz., P. xiii. sin. cod. 6; P. xxx. cod. 29; and P. lxxxix. _sup._

cod. 76. There is also one at Paris, Fonds de Sorbonne, 955.

[73] See the MS. of the Laurentian Library, p. lxxxviii. cod. 24.

[74] By transposition ‘G. de Valentia vere civitatis,’ etc. (Bibl. Naz.

Flor. xxv. 10, 632); by corruption ‘vere de violentia’ (Barberini MS.),

or ‘grosso pontifici’ (Fondo Vaticano, 5047). This bishop has not yet

been identified.

[75] MSS. of the _Secreta Secretorum_ are found in Florence, Bibl. Naz.,

xxv. 10, 632, chart. saec. xv.; Bibl. Laur. (S. Crucis) xv. sin. 9; Rome,

Fondo Vaticano, 5047; Oxford, Bibl. Bod. Can. Misc., 562; Troyes and St.

Omer, _v._ Cat. MSS. des Depart., vol. ii. pp. 517, 518, and iii. 295;

Berne, v. Sinner’s Cat., vol. iii. p. 525. It is interesting to note that

the title of this last MS. is _Physionomia_, just as the _Physionomia_

of Scot is called _De Secretis_ in the editions of 1584 and 1598. This

confirms the relation between his work and that of Philippus Clericus.

MSS. of the Italian version of the _Secreta Secretorum_ are found at

Florence, Bibl. Riccard., Q. I. xxii. 1297; R. I. xx. 2224; L. I. xxxiv.

108. The first of these is dated 1450. In the Bibl. Naz., Florence,

there is another, and a similar one of the _Physionomia Aristotelis_.

In the Chigi Library of Rome there is a MS., chart. saec. xvii., with

the curious title: ‘Migel franzas, auctor obscurioris nominis, ad

_Physionomiam_ Aristotelis Commentarium.’ It is numbered E. vi. 205, and

consists of 326 pages. The _Secreta Secretorum_ with the _De Mineralibus_

was printed at Venice (? 1501), by Bernardinus de Vitalibus, and a new

version by G. Manente, comprehending the _Morals_ and the _Physionomia_

as well as the _Secreta_, issued from the same place in 1538. It was

printed in 4to by Tacuino da Trino.

[76] MSS. of the _Physionomia_: Oxford, Bibl. Bod. MSS. Canon. Misc.

555 (with the _Liber Particularis_) saec. xiv.; Milan, Bibl. Ambros. L

92 _sup._ (with the _Liber Particularis_); Padua, Bibl. Anton. xxiii.

616, chart. saec. xvii; Vatican, Fondo della Regina 1151 perhaps saec.

xvi. Printed editions: 1477 perhaps double; 1485 Louvain and Leipsic;

1499 s. l. and five or six others of this century in 4to, s. l. et a.;

1508 Cologne, Venice, and Paris, the last in 8vo; 1514 Venice 8vo; 1515

s. l.; 1519 Venice 8vo; 1584 Lyons 24mo along with the _Abbreviatio

Avicennae_ and the _De animalibus ad Caesarem_ under the general title

of _De Secretis Naturae_; 1598 Lyons, _De Secretis Naturae_ cum tractatu

_De Secretis Mulierum_ Alberti Magni; 1615 Frankfort 8vo; 1655 and 1660

Amsterdam 12mo. Editions of the Italian version appeared at Venice in

1533, 8vo, and 1537. During the sixteenth century an edition of the Latin

text in 8vo appeared from the press of Pietro Gaudoul without date.

[77] _Histoire Littéraire de la France._ The list given above will show

that this statement rather falls short of the truth than exceeds it.

[78] See Ticknor’s _History of Spanish Literature_, p. 395.

[79] _Recherches sur l’âge et l’origine des trad. latines d’Aristote_,

Paris, 1843, chap. iii. passim.

[80] The bones of Aristotle were said to lie in the Mosque of Palermo,

where they were highly reverenced. See _Charles III. of Naples_, by St.

Clair Baddeley, London, 1894, p. 122.