ON THE CABALISTIC ART

BOOK ONE

[PAGE 11]

ii A

“...from how far away? Or who are you, or where have you come from?” “From Byzantium,” he replied, “the city of Constantine, which many call the New Rome. For I am
A a Byzantine by birth, varied in my studies—whether you prefer Greek, or Hebrew, or rather Latin—yet being more skilled in the doctrine of the Arabs. And unless it is a bother, do not refuse in turn to indicate who you yourself are.” “They call me Philolaus,” the other said, “an Alan by nationality The Alans were an Iranian nomadic people; here, Philolaus represents the "outsider" seeking ancient wisdom, a Pythagorean by training, and perhaps a talkative fellow not unlike yourself. But what, I ask, is your name?”
B g/ concise [unclear: Jufsans] prepuce + “The people of Constantinople call me Marranus,” he said, “a name known to scholars from Cerinthus and Ebion Cerinthus and Ebion were early Christian figures often labeled as heretics for maintaining Jewish practices; Reuchlin uses them to explain Marranus’s hybrid identity, because I am both dipped in water baptized and circumcised original: recutitus - a Latin term for circumcision. In other respects, I have been initiated into both the laws of Moses and the doctrine of the Christians. You mention scholars?” Philolaus replied to this, “I ask then: are there schools of humanity the liberal arts in Constantinople now, among those most cruel and savage Turks?” “Very many,” he said, “to which men of the most excellent talents have dedicated themselves. For there are more than ten thousand students there, from Persia, Greece, Latium Italy, and Judaism, all within one set of walls. Since I have been a student of many arts there for eighteen years, I finally decided to travel elsewhere, to see if perhaps even across the Alps I might find those endowed with a zeal for wisdom who are able to discourse copiously and plausibly on the greatest questions.” Then Philolaus asked what kind of philosophy he sought. Marranus replied, “Any kind, since I am bound by the laws of no single discipline; thus, I am not prohibited from defending whatever I feel, even within a sect of faith.” “Certainly you have a desire for exploration equal to my own,” Philolaus said, “as I see. For I joined myself as a companion to merchants migrating from Thrace to this
C The Cabalistic art noble German market-town of Frankfurt, because I heard there was a Jew here of great fame in Cabalistic work and of enormous reputation. Many most learned men in my presence have judged this single faculty—overflowing as it is with sweet leisure and the richest counsels—to be more closely related than all others to the Pythagorean philosophy, as if nothing were more similar. For they say that Pythagoras fished out almost all his dogmas from that source. They say that Jew’s name is Simon, the son of Eleazar, from the ancient lineage of the Yochaites Refers to the family of Shimon bar Yochai, the traditional author of the Zohar, whom I am now determined to approach once the tables are cleared i.e., after the meal.” “Indeed,” said Marranus, “if you permit it, I will approach the man with you, even though I am little instructed in Pythagorean matters. For the Arabs have always been more held in veneration by me: Al-Ghazali, Al-Farabi, Abu-Katen, Hali, Abu-Maron, Ibn Sina—whom the Latins call Avicenna—and Ibn Rushd—whom they call Averroes—and the rest of the similar Peripatetics Aristotelian philosophers. Although in my time in Constantinople, no one was ever denied the opportunity to pursue any kind of philosophy of almost all languages and sects, especially...”