A detailed 17th-century engraving shows a landscape with a massive vertical cliff on the left. This cliff serves as a monumental stone tablet. Three blocks of text in Latin and German are inscribed on the rock. A waterfall flows from a dark crevice in the center of the rock face and cascades into a river. In the middle ground, a wooden bridge crosses the river. Several figures are on the bridge, including one leading a pack animal. A small boat is moored near the riverbank. In the distant background, seen through a gap in the rocks, is a town with half-timbered buildings and a tall church spire. To the right, two swans swim in the water near the base of a gnarled tree. A large bird is in flight in the sky above the cliff. On the far right, a small rectangular box contains the initials E P flanking a caduceus symbol. A long, dense paragraph of Latin text occupies the bottom margin of the plate.

...THE SECRET WORDS...

...OF HERMES.

original: "VERBA SECRETORUM HERMETIS." This is the title of the famous Emerald Tablet, the brief but foundational text of alchemy.

...WITHOUT FALSE-
...HOOD, CERTAIN AND MOST TRUE:
...THAT WHICH IS BELOW, IS LIKE
...THAT WHICH IS ABOVE; AND THAT WHICH IS ABOVE IS LIKE
...THAT WHICH IS BELOW: TO PERPETUATE THE MIRACLES
...OF THE ONE THING. AND AS ALL THINGS WERE BORN
...FROM THE MEDITATION OF THE ONE: SO ALL THINGS
...WERE BORN FROM THIS ONE THING, BY ADAPTATION. ITS FATHER
...IS THE SUN; ITS MOTHER THE MOON. THE WIND CARRIED IT IN ITS BELLY;
...ITS NURSE IS THE EARTH: THE FATHER OF ALL PERFECTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
...ITS POWER IS ENTIRE IF IT IS CONVERTED INTO EARTH. SEPARATE
...THE EARTH FROM THE FIRE, THE SUBTLE FROM THE GROSS,
...GENTLY AND WITH GREAT SKILL. IT ASCENDS
...FROM THE EARTH TO THE SKY, AND AGAIN IT DESCENDS TO THE EARTH, AND RECEIVES THE POWER
...OF THE SUPERIOR AND INFERIOR THINGS. SO YOU SHALL HAVE THE GLORY OF THE WHOLE WORLD! THEREFORE
...ALL OBSCURITY SHALL FLEE FROM YOU. THIS IS THE STRONG FORTITUDE OF ALL FORTITUDE:
...BECAUSE IT WILL CONQUER EVERY SUBTLE THING AND PENETRATE EVERY SOLID THING. THUS THE WORLD
...WAS CREATED. FROM THIS ARE WONDERFUL ADAPTATIONS, OF WHICH THIS IS THE MANNER. THEREFORE
...I AM CALLED HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, HAVING THE THREE PARTS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
...THAT WHICH I HAVE SAID CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF THE SUN IS FINISHED.

In German:

original: "Auff Deutch." This is a vernacular translation of the Latin Emerald Tablet text above.
...Truthful, this which is BELOW is like that which is ABOVE.
...By this one can obtain and perform miracles or wonders.
...ALL THINGS were created from ONE THING ALONE,
...by thought. Thus all things arise and come from
...this union and joining. THE SUN is its FATHER, and
...carried in its belly. Its NOURISHER or nurse is
...the perfection of this entire world. ITS POWER
...TO EARTH, as soon as the earth is separated from the FIRE, and
...with great modesty and understanding. It ascends from the
...EARTH, and so wins the power of the upper and
...KNOWLEDGE OF THE WHOLE WORLD. Therefore, let all
...STRENGTH OF STRENGTHS, for it can
...fire. THUS THE WORLD IS CREATED. From this
...MANY WONDERS are worked; which is the way
...HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, having three parts of WISDOM
...I have asked concerning the WORK of the SUN.

...TRISMEGISTUS in the PIMANDER.

The Pimander is the first book of the Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of Greek and Latin texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. It describes a vision of the creation of the universe.
...to raise up to HIGH THINGS, the stone of the senses of the body, just as it happens...
...they are accustomed: suddenly I seemed to see a certain immense magnitude...
...Who is it, O Mercury, that you desire both to HEAR and to BEHOLD? What...
...I said: I am, said He, PIMANDER, the DIVINE MIND. PO...
...I said, I DESIRE TO LEARN THE NATURE OF THINGS, TO KNOW GOD...
...AND I SHALL INSTRUCT YOU IN ALL THINGS WHICH YOU DESIRE. When...
...HE SAID.

metz? Of the new Earth (after the dissolution of the Heavens by fire, and the melting of the glowing Elements, and the Earth and the works that are in it).
... of the Doctrine? of the deeper MAGNESIA Magnesia refers to the raw material or "First Matter" of the alchemical stone., the proper subject of the Universal Philosophers' Stone The legendary substance capable of transmuting metals and granting long life., and from there the Primary Material of the Eight Sages.
... of the present? FIRE. The rocks resonate, and all things judge, by Burning, Corruption, Purgation, and Renovation.
... from the hands:? as of one who is vigilant and laborious in ALCHEMY, the Art of Arts according to the Ancients. It is Certain, Wise, and Holy.
... by the decree? of the Deity and the Light of NATURE the Wise, I have come to the prepared decree of Philosophy, like a sacred anchor.
... in the writing? which is not deceptive. Faithfully warn me to search out and examine Theosophical Philosophy with Mind, Sense, and Vessel.
Out of Wonder, Love, Honor, and a Grateful Soul, he freely made these things in the year 1602 after the birth of Christ.