A Pious and Useful Admonition Concerning the Brothers of the Rosy Cross

...even [considered], legislators original: "Legislatores." of old decreed that money should have no value, as if the love of money and integrity could not exist together. In which sense (to explain it more broadly) it is denied in holy scripture that one can serve God and Mammon original: "Mammoni." A biblical term for wealth, often personified as a false god or evil influence that distracts from spiritual devotion. at the same time.

5. The brothers seem not to devote effort to studies, because they speak obscurely in all their writings. Now, obscurity is a sign of "either ignorance or unskillfulness, or of envy." original: "aut inscitię seu impitię, aut inuidiæ." The author suggests that if someone's writing is hard to understand, they are either hiding their own lack of knowledge or are too jealous to share the truth clearly. If, therefore, they were dealing with such unrefined studies, and were those who truly wished to serve the commonwealth of letters commonwealth of letters original: "reipub. literariæ." Also known as the "Republic of Letters," this was the long-distance intellectual community of scholars and philosophers in Europe. from the heart, without any doubt they would explain the matter more fully and in accepted or customary terms. Since, however, this is not done, one could infer the opposite from this.

6. It supports this negative opinion that (as will be seen below) those members boast that they know almost everything. But just as he who lives everywhere, lives nowhere, provided one confesses himself to be human: so also is he who desires to know all things. From this comes that common saying: Something of everything, nothing in the whole. original: "Ex omnibus aliquid, in toto nihil." To which also the German proverb refers, Nine trades, ten misfortunes, original: "Neun Handwerck/zehen Unglück." This is a classic German proverb equivalent to the English "Jack of all trades, master of none." insofar as such perfection does not fall within human nature,