Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy

Horizontal ornamental band featuring a row of eleven repeating stylized floral fleurons.

To the Author, on his Translation of Cornelius Agrippa.

Does Apollo original: "Phœbus" cease to answer to our demands?
Or will he not accept from mortals' hands
A sacrifice for a place struck by lightning? original: "Bidental" — a Roman sacrifice performed on a spot struck by lightning, which was then considered sacred and forbidden to tread upon. And is the Sibyl's cave
Uninhabitable? Or may Tiresias A famous blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes. have
No successor nor rival? How shall we
Then direct Oedipus to the world? If he
Adds incest to parricide, they are dumb
Who could predict what things should surely come;
And they are silent who knew when to apply
Purging and bloodletting original: "Phlebotomy" to our body-politic.
How will bold thieves rob our treasures? Who shall
Regain lost goods, or by his charms recall
The guilty? original: "nocent" The Art is by you reprieved;
In you the Magi Ancient Persian priests or magicians; the root of the word "magic." seem to be revived.
Apollo is not brain-sick, Jove’s doves are not dead,
The Oracles have not ceased: Agrippa’s bed
(Like the Arabian bird’s The Phoenix. self-built nest,
Which first proves to be her funeral urn, then her place of rebirth)
Has produced you, who are surely more than his equal;
Otherwise, this Art would have remained obscure until now—
A miracle to the common people original: "vulgars", well known to none,
Scarcely understood by those of the deepest intellect.
Then I will conclude: since you explain him so well,
The younger brother The translator, following after the original author. has the better brain.