Latin — 1533, repaired
Magica facultas potestatis plurimae compos, altissimis plena mysteriis, profundissimam rerum secretissimarum contemplationem, naturam, potentiam, qualitatem, substantiam, et virtutem, totiusque naturae cognitionem complectitur: et quomodo res inter se differunt, et quomodo conveniunt nos instruit; hinc mirabiles effectus suos producens, uniendo virtutes rerum per applicationem earum ad invicem, et ad sua passa congruentia inferiora, superiorum dotibus ac virtutibus passim copulans atque maritans. Haec perfectissima summaque scientia, haec altior sanctiorque philosophia, haec denique totius nobilissimae philosophiae absoluta consummatio. Nam cum omnis philosophia regulativa divisa sit in physicam, mathematicam et theologiam: physica docet naturam eorum, quae sunt in mundo, illorumque causas, effectus, tempora, loca, modos, eventus, integritates et partes investigat atque rimatur:
[†verse, ~12 lines, unreconstructed — see flag] Quid tantum, quaerunt, res elementa vocantur, Quid calor efficiat, quid terra, quid humidus aer, Quid generent, unde et magni primordia caeli, Unde maris fluxus, variis vel coloribus iris, Reddere quid faciat clamosa tonitrua nubes: Unde vel aetherea fulmen iaculetur ab aula. Quae secreta faces noctu, quae causa cometas Proferat, et tumidas quae caeca potentia terras Concutiat, quae sunt auri, quae semina ferri, Totaque naturae vis ingeniosa latentis.
Haec omnia naturarum speculatrix physica complectitur, et quae canit Vergilius:
[†verse, ~7 lines, unreconstructed — see flag] Unde hominum genus, et pecudum, simul imber, et ignes, Unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant Obicibus ruptis, rursusque in seipsa residant. Herbarum vires, animos, irasque ferarum, Omne genus fruticum, lapidum quoque, reptiliumque.
Mathematica vero docet nos planam, et in tres porrectam dimensiones naturam cognoscere, motumque ac caelestium progressus suspicere.
[†verse, ~3 lines, unreconstructed — see flag] Aurea quo caeli rapiantur sidera motu, Quid caligantem modo cogat hebescere lunam, Pascentesque pati desit sine lumine soles.
Et quae canit Vergilius:
[†verse, ~8 lines, unreconstructed — see flag] Quo circa certis dimensum partibus orbem Per duodena regat mundi sol aureus astra: Ostendit caelique vias, et sidera monstrat, Defectus solis varios, lunaeque labores, Arcturum, pleiadas, hyadas, geminosque triones, Quid tantum oceano properent se tingere soles Hyberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.
Quae omnia per ipsam mathematicam dignoscuntur:
[†verse, ~5 lines, unreconstructed — see flag] Hinc tempestates dubio praediscere caelo Possumus, hinc messisque diem, tempusque ferendi, Et quando infidum remis impellere marmor Conveniat, quando armatas deducere classes, Aut tempestivam in silvis evertere pinum.
Theologia autem quid deus, ipsa docet, quid mens, quid intelligentia, quid angelus, quid denique daemon, quid anima, quid religio, quae sacra instituta ritus, fana, observationes sacraque mysteria: instruit quoque de fide, de miraculis, de virtute verborum et figurarum, de arcanis operationibus et mysteriis sigillorum. Et quod ait Apuleius, docet nos rite scire atque callere leges ceremoniales, sacrum atque ius religionum.
Sed iam ea recolligam. Has tres imperiosissimas facultates Magia ipsa complectitur, unit atque actuat: merito ergo ab antiquis summa sanctissimaque scientia habita est.
Haec gravissimis auctoribus clarissimisque scriptoribus reperitur illustrata: inter quos praecipue Zamolxis, et Zoroaster effulserunt adeo, ut inventores huius scientiae a pluribus crediti sint. Horum vestigia secuti Abaris Hyperboreus, Charmondas, Damigeron, Eudoxus, Hermippus: et clariores alii extiterunt antistites, ut Trismegistus Mercurius, Porphyrius, Iamblichus, Plotinus, Proclus, Dardanus, Orpheus Threicius, Gog Graecus, Germa Babylonicus, Apollonius Tyaneus, Ostanes etiam egregie scripsit in hac arte: cuius libros e sepulchro erutos Abderites Democritus suis commentariis illustravit. Praeterea ad hanc artem Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, Plato et plures nobilissimi philosophi discendam navigarunt: hacque reversi summa sanctitate praedicaverunt, hanc in arcanis habuerunt. Quin et Pythagoram Platonemque ob eam discendam compertum habemus, Memphiticos vates accessisse, et pene totam Syriam, Aegyptum, Iudaeam, et Chaldaeorum scholas peragrasse, ne sanctissima eos Magiae monumenta laterent, divinisque rebus imbuerentur.
Quicunque igitur nunc in hac facultate studere affectat, si non fuerit eruditus in Physica, in qua declarantur qualitates rerum, et in qua aperiuntur proprietates occultae cuiuslibet entis, et si non fuerit opifex mathematicae in aspectibus et figuris stellarum, ex quibus cuiuslibet rei sublimis virtus et proprietas dependet: et si non fuerit doctus in theologia, ubi manifestantur substantiae immateriales, quae dispensant et administrant omnia, non poterit intelligere Magiae rationabilitatem: nullum enim opus ab ipsa magia perfectum extat, nec est aliquod opus vere magicum, quod non tres istas facultates complectatur.
Close translation
Magic is a faculty of very great power, full of the loftiest mysteries. It takes in the deepest contemplation of the most secret things — their nature, power, quality, substance, and force — and the knowledge of the whole of nature. It instructs us in how things differ from one another and how they agree, and from this it produces its wonderful effects: uniting the powers of things by applying them to each other, and to the suitable inferior subjects that can receive them, coupling and marrying them everywhere to the gifts and powers of the higher things.
This is the most perfect and highest knowledge. This is the higher and holier philosophy. This, finally, is the absolute consummation of the whole of the noblest philosophy. For since all regulative philosophy is divided into natural philosophy, mathematics, and theology — natural philosophy teaches the nature of the things that are in the world, and searches out and probes their causes, effects, times, places, forms, occurrences, wholes and parts.
Agrippa here quotes a verse passage (verse, summarized — see flag) on the questions natural philosophy asks: what the elements are and why they bear their names, what heat does, what earth and moist air do, whence things are generated and whence the beginnings of the great sky, whence the sea's flowing and the rainbow's varied colors, what makes the roaring clouds give out thunder, whence the lightning is hurled from the ethereal hall, what secret torches by night, what cause brings forth comets, and what blind power shakes the swollen earth, what are the seeds of gold, what the seeds of iron, and the whole ingenious force of hidden nature.
Natural philosophy, the observer of natures, takes in all of this — and what Vergil sings (verse, summarized — see flag): whence the race of men, and of cattle, together with rain and fires; whence the trembling of the earth, by what force the deep seas swell up, their barriers burst, and settle back again into themselves; the powers of herbs, the tempers and rages of wild beasts, every kind of shrub, and of stone, and of creeping thing.
Mathematics, for its part, teaches us to know the nature that is extended flat and drawn out into three dimensions, and to observe the motion and the courses of the heavenly bodies.
(verse, summarized — see flag): by what golden motion the stars of heaven are swept along, what makes the darkening moon grow dim, and the grazing suns fail to lack their light.
And what Vergil sings (verse, summarized — see flag): how the golden sun, in fixed measured parts, governs the world's circle through its twelve constellations; he shows the paths of the sky, and points out the stars, the varied eclipses of the sun, and the moon's labors, Arcturus, the Pleiades and the Hyades, and the twin Bears; why the winter suns hurry so to dip themselves in ocean, or what delay holds back the slow nights.
All of which are discerned through mathematics itself (verse, summarized — see flag): from this we can foretell the weather from a doubtful sky, from this the day of harvest, and the season for sowing, and when it is fitting to drive the oars through the treacherous marble sea, when to launch the armed fleets, or to fell the timely pine in the woods.
Theology teaches what God is; what mind, what intelligence, what angel, what demon, what soul, what religion are; what sacred institutions, rites, temples, observances and sacred mysteries are. It instructs us also concerning faith, miracles, the power of words and figures, and the secret operations and mysteries of seals. And, as Apuleius says, it teaches us to know rightly and to be skilled in the ceremonial laws, the sacred duty, and the right of religions.
But let me now gather this up. Magic itself takes in these three most powerful faculties, joins them, and puts them into action. Rightly, then, was it held by the ancients to be the highest and holiest knowledge.
This was found illustrated by the weightiest authors and the most distinguished writers: among whom Zamolxis and Zoroaster shone forth especially, so that they have been believed by many to be the inventors of this science. Following their footsteps were Abaris the Hyperborean, Charmondas, Damigeron, Eudoxus, Hermippus: and other more distinguished masters arose, such as Hermes Trismegistus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Plotinus, Proclus, Dardanus, Orpheus the Thracian, Gog the Greek, Germa the Babylonian, Apollonius of Tyana; Ostanes too wrote excellently in this art, whose books, dug up out of a tomb, Democritus of Abdera illustrated with his own commentaries. Besides these, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, Plato, and many of the most noble philosophers sailed abroad to learn it: and returning from it, preached it with the greatest holiness, and held it among their secret things. Indeed we have it on record that Pythagoras and Plato, to learn it, went to the prophets of Memphis, and traveled through nearly the whole of Syria, Egypt, Judaea, and the schools of the Chaldeans, so that the most holy monuments of Magic should not lie hidden from them, and so that they might be steeped in divine matters.
Therefore whoever aspires to study in this faculty now: if he is not skilled in natural philosophy, in which are made clear the qualities of things and in which are opened up the hidden properties of every being; and if he is not a craftsman of mathematics, and of the aspects and figures of the stars, on which the sublime power and property of every thing depends; and if he is not learned in theology, in which are made manifest the immaterial substances that dispense and administer all things — he will not be able to understand the rationality of magic. For no work is brought to completion by magic itself, nor is any work truly magical, that does not take in these three faculties.
Modern rendering
Magic is a discipline of enormous power, full of the deepest mysteries. It covers the deepest study of the most hidden things — what they are, what they can do, what they're like, what they're made of, how strong they are — and the knowledge of nature entire. It teaches us how things differ and how they match. That is where its remarkable results come from: it unites the powers of things by bringing them together — and by bringing them to the lower things able to receive them — pairing and marrying them to the gifts and powers of what stands above.
This is the most complete and the highest knowledge. This is the higher, holier philosophy. This is where the noblest philosophy finally arrives. Philosophy that governs practice divides into three: natural philosophy, mathematics, and theology. Natural philosophy teaches what the things in the world are, and digs into their causes, effects, timings, places, forms, events, wholes and parts.
Agrippa quotes a verse passage here (verse, summarized — see flag) on the questions natural philosophy asks: what the elements are and why they're named that, what heat does, what earth and moist air do, where things come from and where the great sky's beginnings lie, where the sea's tides and the rainbow's colors come from, what makes the roaring clouds thunder, where lightning gets hurled from out of the upper air, what secret fires burn at night, what causes comets, what unseen force shakes the swollen earth, what the seeds of gold and iron are, and the whole ingenious force of hidden nature.
Natural philosophy, which studies the natures of things, covers all of this — plus what Vergil sings of (verse, summarized — see flag): where humans and animals come from, along with rain and fire; where earthquakes come from, what force makes the deep seas swell, break their banks, and settle back into themselves; the powers of plants, the moods and tempers of wild animals, every kind of shrub, stone, and creeping thing.
Mathematics, meanwhile, teaches us to understand flat, two-dimensional shapes as well as three-dimensional ones, and to track the motion and paths of the heavenly bodies.
(verse, summarized — see flag): by what golden motion the stars are carried, what makes the moon darken and dim, and the sun stop giving its light to the fields.
And what Vergil sings (verse, summarized — see flag): how the golden sun, moving through fixed measured stages, governs the sky's circle across its twelve constellations; it shows the paths of heaven, points out the stars, the sun's various eclipses and the moon's labors, Arcturus, the Pleiades and Hyades, the two Bears, why winter suns rush to dip into the ocean, and what holds the slow nights back.
Mathematics reveals all of this (verse, summarized — see flag): from it we can predict weather from an uncertain sky, the day for harvest and the season for sowing, when it's right to row through the treacherous marble sea, when to launch the armed fleets, or to fell timber in the woods at the right season.
Theology teaches what God is — and mind, intelligence, angel, demon, soul, religion; and what sacred institutions, rites, temples, observances and mysteries are. It also covers faith, miracles, the power of words and figures, and the hidden workings and mysteries of seals. And, as Apuleius says, it teaches us to properly understand and master the ceremonial laws, the sacred duty, and the rights of religions.
Let me pull this together. Magic takes in all three of these powerful disciplines, joins them, and puts them to work. No wonder the ancients held it to be the highest and holiest knowledge.
It was made famous by the weightiest authorities and most distinguished writers. Zamolxis and Zoroaster stood out so much that many believed them to be the inventors of this science. Following them came Abaris the Hyperborean, Charmondas, Damigeron, Eudoxus, and Hermippus; and other, even more famous masters emerged — Hermes Trismegistus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Plotinus, Proclus, Dardanus, Orpheus the Thracian, Gog the Greek, Germa the Babylonian, and Apollonius of Tyana. Ostanes also wrote excellently on this art; Democritus of Abdera dug his books out of a tomb and illuminated them with his own commentary. Beyond these, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, Plato, and many other highly distinguished philosophers sailed far to learn this art, and on returning taught it with the greatest reverence and kept it among their secrets. In fact, it's on record that Pythagoras and Plato traveled to the prophets of Memphis to learn it, and crossed nearly all of Syria, Egypt, Judaea, and the schools of the Chaldeans — so that none of Magic's holiest monuments would escape them, and so they could steep themselves in divine matters.
So anyone who wants to study this now needs all three. Without natural philosophy, which shows the qualities of things and opens up the hidden properties of everything that exists — without real skill in mathematics, and in the aspects and figures of the stars, which every thing's higher power and property depends on — without training in theology, which reveals the immaterial substances that distribute and run everything — he will not understand why magic works. No magical work gets finished, and no work is truly magical, unless it takes in all three.
Editorial flags — draft status
- verse: lines ~1 (10 lines), on the questions natural philosophy asks (elements, heat, tides, comets, gold and iron) — likely a florilegium/commonplace verse, source not certain, possibly pseudo-Ovidian or a school tag; OCR too damaged to reconstruct or attribute confidently
- verse: lines ~2 (5 lines), attributed by Agrippa to Vergil ('quae canit Vergilius') — on the origins of man, beasts, rain, fire, earthquakes, seas, herbs, wild animals; not located in surviving Vergil corpus in this exact form, may be a paraphrase/cento; do not reconstruct or versify
- verse: lines ~3 (3 lines), on the motion of the stars, the moon's dimming, and the sun — source not given by Agrippa, likely another astronomical tag verse (cf. Manilius-style astronomica); unattributed
- verse: lines ~4 (7 lines), attributed to Vergil ('quae canit Vergilius') — on the sun's course through the zodiac, eclipses, Arcturus, the Pleiades and Hyades, the Bears; closely paraphrases Georgics I but OCR too damaged to quote the actual Vergilian text; kept as OCR lines only
- verse: lines ~5 (5 lines), continuing the mathematics passage — on forecasting weather, harvest, sowing, seafaring, and felling timber; echoes Georgics I subject matter but not reconstructed
- uncertain: 'compos' for 'copos' in the OCR of the chapter's second word — morphology (potestatis plurimae compos) is standard Latin idiom and near-certain, logged rather than flagged as lacuna