THE PHILOSOPHY TO THE ATHENIANS

First they lay and were, and that in three ways: Upon the Vegetable Vegetabilischen: Refers to the life-force of plants and the process of growth., upon the Elements, and upon the Sensible original: "Sensibilia." Beings possessing the power of perception and sensation.. Upon the Vegetable there were many hundreds and many thousands: for every species had its own particularity in the Great Mystery Mysterium Magnum: The primordial, chaotic source or "womb" from which God separated all specific forms of matter and life.. Thus, there were only four upon the Elements, for those have only four beginnings, but many hundreds upon Humans. For the Loripedes Loripedes: Literally "strap-footed." In the folklore of the time, these were considered a "monstrous" race of humans with flexible or crawling limbs. are a special kind, the Cyclopes a special kind, the Giants a special kind, the Mechili original: "Mechili." Likely referring to a class of monstrous or hybrid beings described in Paracelsian biology. a special kind; likewise those who dwell in the Earth, those who dwell in the Air, those who dwell in the Water, and those in the Fire. And especially all plants: every species had its own particular Mystery in the Great Mystery, and all manner of creatures were there. For as many kinds of trees as there are, so many kinds of humans, and so many Mysteries. And yet, the eternal alone reigns in man and in all their Mysteries, no more in one than in another. There was no Species original: "Genus." in the Great Mystery that was not formed and colored in a hundredfold way or more, unlike one another, yet all such things must pass away. But what may further become of them, that we shall let be: for it is insane to speculate on a new Great Mystery, unless it becomes much stranger, so that we cannot contemplate it for the sheer wonder of it.

Conclusion of the second Part of the Prince THEOPHRASTUS

on the creation of all things, and the separation of the

creatures, with the use of the Mysteries.

And as mentioned, the Prince Theophrastus The author, Paracelsus, whose full name was Theophrastus von Hohenheim. in this second part of the first volume On the Generation of Things original: "de Generatione Rerum."—so he concludes therein, that all things which are transient were created at one single point: and after that, no further species was created. He sets down first the Elements, thereafter how the Procreations The various offspring or specialized forms of life. were separated out of the four elements: thereafter the final Mysteries, which grow and are separated out of the procreations. And finally, he concludes that in the rational being there is an eternal element: wherein he acknowledges a Last Judgment, and an Eternal Life, and a perishing and consumption of all things, and an end to the world: he also indicates that every Species is here from a particular Mystery, and that no Mystery has left behind more than one Species, and he sets an end to all things.

Preface to the third Part of the Great Prince

THEOPHRASTUS.

A large historiated woodcut initial 'I' depicting a person in a landscape with buildings and foliage.
In this part, the Prince Theophrastus shows us the First Matter Prima Materia: The original, undifferentiated substance from which the elements were formed. of the four elements, each one contained in particular: what Fire is, and what Air, what Water, and what Earth is: how they became elements, and in what way they are elements. Thereafter he describes what the First Matter is of the Firmament, stars, planets, and all heavenly things that are transient. After that, the Principles of Spirits and Fates original: "Principia Spirituum vnd Fatorum.", how they received their birth in the separation. Following that, he sets down the origin of the Nymphs, Lorind Lorind: A Paracelsian term for water spirits, often associated with sirens., Sea-monsters, and all flesh that is generated in the water, what their Beginning and End original: "Principium vnnd Finis." contain. After that, the earthly Mysteries of the minerals, the various forms of humans, of rational animals, of herbs, of trees, of stones: likewise of the Dwarves original: "Zwergel." In Paracelsian thought, dwarves or gnomes were the elemental spirits of the Earth., of the natural ones. And so he concludes the third part with this First Matter, wherein he acknowledges from the Philosophical Nature an eternal and a transient part, and the mixing of the transient and the eternal. Likewise, he mentions the birth of CHRIST, and of the Virgin MARY: he gives us to understand how the transient may become untransient, with a wonderful interpretation; he gives us to recognize a distinction of the world, one eternal, and one transient: and how the transient becomes an eternal one: and thus concludes the final text with this.

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