Collection of Military Machines with the Alphabet of Trithemius (1620) - Page 20

PREFACE

Strength will find itself brought down, and soon humiliated,

Without the thunder of the Heavens.

Thus man will be (a thing yet unheard of)

The mechanical craftsman,

The poet emphasizes that man is no longer just a soldier, but a "mechanical" creator of destruction. Who will plot within his home this cursed science,

To be his own murderer.

But do not be astonished if the noise climbs toward you

From his furious strikes,

Which will not be able to ruin, though they may shake Olympus,

Without knocking it off its hinges.

A poetic exaggeration suggesting that the roar of cannons is loud enough to rattle the very home of the gods. Jupiter was pleased, and celebrated greatly

The advice of the German:

original: "le Germain." This refers to Berthold Schwarz, a legendary 14th-century German monk and alchemist often credited with the invention of gunpowder in Europe. Then, thanking him, he bowed his head,

And suddenly departed.

Pluto did not fail to keep his promise,

And to carry it out:

For from then on, he gave Berthold the skill

To burn and to kill.

And since this misfortune, all the earth is full

Of fear, of fire, of dread,

And of a hundred thousand evils that inhuman war

Brings along with it.

The father is no longer safe from his parricidal son

Through this cruel scourge:

Since, without thinking, man is his own killer

And his own Executioner.

original: "Bourreau." The poet laments how technology has made killing so efficient and impersonal that man inadvertently destroys himself.