The Universal Art of Music, Volume II

A POEM OF THREE PARTS FOR VOLUME II.

original: "Tristychon in Tomum II." While "tristychon" usually refers to a three-line stanza, Kircher uses it here for a six-line poem composed of three couplets.

The World plays like a vocal organ with its ten registers;
As many beings as exist within it, so many are its musical rhythms.
GOD is the Harmonizer, original: "Harmostes," a term derived from Greek meaning one who fits things together or a master of harmony. in whom the Wisdom of the Father,
Which has ordered all things well, is united by the Spirit as Love.
This love is harmony; the world is bound together by this love;
O mortal, original: "ψαῦτ’" (psaut'). This likely refers to the reader or "one who touches/perceives" the physical world. do you deny that this world belongs to the Divinity?

A complex cosmological and psychological diagram is enclosed within a large circle, illustrating the interconnectedness of the divine, the human mind, and the universe. At the top apex is a small circle with a triangle inside labeled "GOD" original: "DEVS". Below it, a central vertical axis contains a series of horizontal labels representing the hierarchy of existence: "MAN" original: "HOMO", "REASON" original: "RATIO", "SENSE" original: "SENSVS", "LIFE" original: "VITA", "HEAVEN" original: "CŒLVM", "ELEMENT" original: "ELEMENTVM", and "ANGEL" original: "ANGELVS". To the left of this central axis is a circle labeled "INTELLECT" original: "INTELLECTVS", and to the right is one labeled "MEMORY" original: "MEMORIA". Lines of connection radiate from both "INTELLECT" and "MEMORY" to each of the labels on the central axis, suggesting that human cognition encompasses all levels of reality. At the very bottom, mirroring the top, is another circle labeled "GOD," signifying that the Divine is both the source and the foundation of all things.

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS IN THE ASCLEPIUS.

Hermes Trismegistus is the legendary figure to whom many "Hermetic" philosophical and occult texts are attributed; the Asclepius is a famous dialogue concerning the nature of the divine and the cosmos.

original Greek: "ἡ μουσικὴ οὐδὲν ἐστὶν ἕτερον, ἢ πάντων τάξιν εἰδέναι." Kircher provides the Latin translation immediately below: "Musica nihil aliud est, quam omnium ordinem scire."