Previously Unpublished Works, Fascicle 5

Regarding the book which in Arabic is called Sirr al-Asrar, that is, the Secret of Secrets, which Aristotle the philosopher wrote, as I have said, for Alexander the Great concerning the arrangement of governance, in which many things useful to kings are contained. He This refers to the legendary translator, often identified as Yahya ibn al-Batriq. sought these things from many by the command of his emperor, and regarding its discovery he says this:

“I went out to diligently inquire after what was commanded of me by the emperor, and I did not cease to carefully search the places and temples where I suspected the works of the philosophers might be hidden, until I came to a certain altar which Hermes Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary figure from whom the "hermetic" tradition of alchemy and magic takes its name. had built for himself, where the Sun was worshipped by some; there I found a certain wise and religious man. I clung to him and strove to please him, flattering him with very sweet words until he revealed the secret place to me. In that place, I found many secret writings of the philosophers. There I found this book written in letters of gold, and having thus found what I was seeking, I returned with joy.”

That which was translated from Greek into Arabic, I have translated into Latin. May your nobility possess this work, God willing, along with bodily health.

There are a large number of manuscripts of this version in Paris, London, and elsewhere.

THE TRANSLATION OF PHILIP.

At some time in the first half of the thirteenth century a translation of the longer Arabic text was made by a certain Philip, of whom we know nothing, for an Archbishop Guido, of whom we know equally nothing.

The earliest quotations from this version are to be found in Roger Bacon’s Letter on the Accidents of Old Age original: "epistola de accidentibus senectutis" written between 1243 and 1254, probably about 1247. These quotations are not from the tract of John of Seville.

It is quoted by Guibert de Tournai in his Instruction of Kings and Princes original: "Eruditio Regum et Principum", written at Paris "at the house of the Friars Minor" in October 1259 (pp. 57, 58, 59, 66-7, 69, 70, 76).

It is also known to Albertus Magnus, in his work On Animals original: "de Animalibus", book 1, chapter 2, who quotes from the section on Physiognomy the story of Hippocrates, and makes several other citations. The date of this work is put at about 1260. A quotation appears in the early comment on Boethius, On the Consolation and Discipline of Scholars original: "de consolatione et disciplina scolarium", and in Michael Scot, On the Nature of the Sun and... original: "de natura Solis et..."