The Most Secret Rosary of the Philosophers

nothing can pass from the first to the third, except through the second. Gold and silver, therefore, are justly and equally composed, and are truly tempered beyond all other stones that are under the sky, pertaining to the species of our most precious stone. And certainly gold is the Lord of stones, the noblest of bodies, the king and the best head of them; for it is not corrupted by air, nor by water, nor by earth, nor does fire diminish it; rather, fire moistens, decorates, and rectifies it, and things that burn do not burn it, nor do things that corrupt corrupt it, because its mixture is tempered, and its nature directed in equal heat, and cold, moisture, and dryness; nor is there anything superfluous in it, nor diminished. No stones, therefore, however dear they may seem, are worth more than gold. They are indeed dearer, not because they exceed the price of gold, but because they are found more rarely and in fewer numbers. Of all things that can be known, gold is of more value, since it is the ferment agent of transformation of the Elixir the transformative agent.