Latin — 1533, repaired
Quatuor sunt elementa et primaria corpora omnium corporalium, ignis, terra, aqua, aer: ex quibus omnia elementata in istis inferioribus componuntur, non per modum coacervationis, sed secundum transmutationem et unionem: rursusque cum corrumpuntur in elementa resolvuntur. Nullum autem sensibilium elementorum purum est, sed secundum magis et minus mixtum est, et in se invicem transmutabile; quemadmodum terra iure dicitur dissoluta cum fit aqua, atque illa ingrossata dehinc facta fit terra; per calorem autem evaporata transit in aerem, et ille supercalescens in ignem: et hic extinctus revertitur in aerem, infrigidatus autem ex superadustione, fit terra aut lapis, aut sulphur, sicut hoc ex fulmine manifestum est. Plato autem censet terram omnino intransmutabilem esse, caetera autem elementa et in hanc, et in se invicem transmutari. Dividitur itaque terra a subtilioribus non transmutata, sed soluta aut permixta in illa, quae illam dissoluunt, rursusque in seipsam remigrans. Unumquodque autem elementorum duas specificas qualitates habet, quarum priorem sibi propriam retinet, in altera tanquam media convenit cum sequenti. Est enim ignis calidus et siccus, terra sicca et frigida, aqua frigida et humida, aer humidus et calidus. Atque hoc modo secundum duas qualitates contrarias elementa sibi contraria sunt, ut ignis aquae, et terra aeri. Adhuc secundum alium modum elementa sibi opponuntur: nam quaedam gravia sunt, ut terra et aqua: et alia levia, ut aer et ignis, quamobrem priora passiva, posteriora vero activa Stoici nuncuparunt. Proinde adhuc Plato secundum alium modum distinguens, tres unicuique assignat qualitates: igni videlicet acuitatem, raritatem et motum: terrae autem obtusitatem, densitatem et quietem. Et secundum has qualitates contraria sunt elementa ignis et terra. Reliqua autem elementa ab illis qualitates mutuantur, ita ut aer duas accipiat qualitates ignis, raritatem et motum, atque unam terrae, videlicet obtusitatem. Contra aqua duas quidem terrae, obscuritatem et densitatem: et unam ignis, videlicet motum. Sed ignis aere duplo rarior, triplo mobilior, quadruplo acutior: aer autem duplo acutior aqua, triplo rarior, quadruplo mobilior. Proinde aqua duplo acutior terra, triplo rarior, quadruplo mobilior. Quemadmodum itaque se habet ignis ad aerem, sic aer ad aquam, aqua ad terram; rursusque, sicut terra ad aquam, sic illa ad aerem, atque hic ad ignem. Atque haec est radix et fundamentum omnium corporum, naturae virtutum et operum mirabilium: et qui has elementorum qualitates, et eorundem mixtiones cognoverit, facile perficiet opera miranda atque stupenda, eritque consummatus in Magia naturali.
Close translation
Four are the elements, and the primary bodies of all corporeal things — fire, earth, water, air — out of which all compounded things in these lower regions are put together, not by way of heaping up, but by transmutation and union; and again, when they are corrupted, they are resolved back into the elements. None of the sensible elements is pure, but each is mixed according to more and less, and each is transmutable into the others: as earth is rightly said to be dissolved when it becomes water, and that water, thickened, thereafter becomes earth; while by heat, evaporated, it passes over into air, and that air, overheated, into fire; and fire, extinguished, reverts into air, and air, chilled by an excess of burning, becomes earth, or stone, or sulphur, as is evident from lightning-stone. Plato, however, holds that earth is altogether untransmutable, but that the remaining elements are transmuted both into earth and into one another. Earth, therefore, is divided from the finer elements not by being transmuted, but by being dissolved or mixed within those things that dissolve it, and afterward migrating back into itself. Each of the elements has two specific qualities, of which it keeps the first as properly its own, and in the second, as a kind of middle term, agrees with the element that follows it. For fire is hot and dry, earth dry and cold, water cold and moist, air moist and hot. And in this way, according to the two contrary qualities, the elements are contrary to one another, as fire to water, and earth to air. Further, in another way the elements are opposed to one another: for some are heavy, as earth and water, and others light, as air and fire; for which reason the Stoics called the former passive and the latter active. Further still, Plato, distinguishing in another way, assigns to each three qualities: to fire, namely, sharpness, thinness, and motion; to earth, on the other hand, bluntness, density, and rest. And according to these qualities, fire and earth are the contrary elements. The remaining elements borrow their qualities from these, so that air takes on two qualities of fire — thinness and motion — and one of earth, namely bluntness. Water, conversely, takes two qualities indeed of earth — obscurity and density — and one of fire, namely motion. But fire is twice as thin as air, three times as mobile, four times as sharp; air, in turn, is twice as sharp as water, three times as thin, four times as mobile; and water, accordingly, is twice as sharp as earth, three times as thin, four times as mobile. So then, as fire stands to air, so air stands to water, and water to earth; and conversely, as earth stands to water, so water stands to air, and air to fire. And this is the root and foundation of all bodies, of the powers of nature, and of marvelous works: and whoever shall have come to know these qualities of the elements and their mixtures will easily accomplish wonderful and astonishing works, and will be consummate in natural Magic.
Modern rendering
There are four elements — the primary bodies underlying everything material: fire, earth, water, air. Everything compounded in this lower world is built from them, not by simply piling them together but through real transmutation and union; and when a compound breaks down, it resolves back into the elements. None of these elements is ever found pure — each is mixed with the others in varying degrees, and each can turn into the others. Earth, properly speaking, dissolves into water; that water, thickened, later turns back into earth. Heated, water evaporates into air; air, overheated, becomes fire; fire, put out, reverts to air; and air, chilled by too much burning, becomes earth, or stone, or sulphur — as is clear from thunderbolt-stone. Plato, though, holds that earth alone cannot be transmuted, while the other three elements can turn both into earth and into each other. So earth is set apart from the finer elements not by transmuting into them, but by dissolving or mixing into whatever dissolves it, and later migrating back into itself. Each element carries two defining qualities: it keeps one as fully its own, and shares the other, as a kind of hinge, with the element next to it. Fire is hot and dry; earth, dry and cold; water, cold and moist; air, moist and hot. On this basis the elements oppose each other by contrary qualities — fire against water, earth against air. There is also another way they oppose one another: some are heavy, like earth and water, others light, like air and fire — which is why the Stoics called the heavy ones passive and the light ones active. Plato has still another way of distinguishing them, assigning three qualities to each: fire gets sharpness, thinness, and motion; earth gets bluntness, density, and rest. By this measure fire and earth are the truly opposite elements, and the other two borrow their qualities from them: air takes two qualities from fire — thinness and motion — and one from earth, bluntness; water takes two from earth — dimness and density — and one from fire, motion. But fire is twice as thin as air, three times as mobile, four times as sharp; air is twice as sharp as water, three times as thin, four times as mobile; and water is twice as sharp as earth, three times as thin, four times as mobile. So the ratio of fire to air matches that of air to water and water to earth — and, run the other way, of earth to water as water to air and air to fire. This is the root and foundation of every body, of nature's powers, and of marvelous effects: whoever grasps these qualities of the elements and how they mix will easily produce astonishing works, and will have mastered natural Magic.
Editorial flags — draft status
- uncertain: Paragraph 1 (elemental transmutation cycle: earth->water->air->fire->air->earth/stone/sulphur) is one of the most heavily OCR-damaged stretches in the chapter; reading is sense-reconstructed from the standard cyclic doctrine rather than letter-by-letter recovery. Recommend page-image check.
- uncertain: 'ficut hoc ex sulmine maniscftum est' -> 'sicut hoc ex fulmine manifestum est' (lightning/thunderbolt-stone, i.e. fulgurite/keraunia, as evidence of vitrified earth) — reading is confident but the specific noun 'fulmen' worth flagging as the one technical claim in the passage.