SYMBOLS OF THE GOLDEN

TABLE OF TWELVE NA-

TIONS.

BOOK ONE.

The cause and occasion for this Philosophical gathering.

After original: "Post." In the original Latin, the text begins with a large decorative initial 'P'. the horrible threats and most grave out-
bursts which Pyrgopolynices A character name borrowed from the Roman playwright Plautus, meaning "the Boastful Soldier." Here, Maier uses it to represent the arrogant and loud-mouthed critics who attacked the legitimacy of alchemy. had long since poured out
against the Virgin CHEMISTRY, Chemia At this time, "Chemia" referred to both what we now call chemistry and alchemy. Maier personifies the Art as a noble, persecuted virgin to defend its purity and divine origin. an orphan abandoned
by all (proclaiming her a bastard, a harlot,
an adulteress, deformed, weak, powerless,
a liar, a beggar, dishonest, indeed the most
wicked of all, sacrilegious, and one to be banished
or destroyed by the worst of deaths), she, unable to endure
this grief of soul, summoned an Assembly of all as many as
would acknowledge her as MISTRESS, especially the ELDERS, Senioribus In alchemical literature, "Seniors" or "Elders" refers to the ancient masters and authoritative authors of the hermetic tradition. who might respond to that un-
bridled madness and defend her as chaste
and untouched to the best of their ability. And so, an assembly having been held from the foremost nations of our world, twelve in particular appeared, each [divided] into their TRIBES...