attributed to the Comte de Saint-Germain [1933]

The Most Holy Trinosophia is an enigmatic manuscript attributed to the Comte de Saint-Germain, the legendary eighteenth-century adept whose true identity, origins, and extraordinary longevity have been subjects of speculation for centuries. The manuscript, written in French with passages in several cipher alphabets, was discovered in the archives of the Inquisition at Rome and later acquired by the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica.

This 1933 edition, with introduction, commentary, and partial translation by Manly P. Hall, presents the work as an allegorical account of alchemical and spiritual initiation. The text describes a series of transformative experiences through symbolic chambers and encounters with archetypal figures, drawing on the imagery of alchemy, Freemasonry, and the ancient mystery schools. Whether the work genuinely originated with Saint-Germain or was attributed to him posthumously remains uncertain.

The text stands as a fascinating artifact of the esoteric tradition, blending alchemical symbolism with initiatory narrative in a format that echoes the visionary literature of both Eastern and Western mysticism.

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LA TRÈS SAINTE TRINOSOPHIE

PAR LE COMTE DE ST.-GERMAIN

A PARALLEL FRENCH AND ENGLISH TEXT OF THE MOST HOLY TRINOSOPHIA OF THE COMTE DE ST.-GERMAIN WITH INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL AND COMMENTARY BY MANLY HALL ILLUSTRATED WITH THE FIGURES FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE TROYES THE PHOENIX PRESS LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA MCMXXXIII
Cover Spine Title Page Second Title Page Verso Curieux scrutateur de la Nature entière, J’ai connu du grand tout le principe et la fin. J’ai vu l’or en puissance au fond de sa rivière J’ai saisi sa matière et surpris son levain.

J’expliquai par quel art l’âme aux flancs d’une mère Fait sa maison, l’emporte, et comment un pépin Mis contre un grain de blé, sous l’humide poussière; L’un plante et l’autre cep, sont le pain et le vin.
Rien n’était, Dieu voulant, rien devint quelque chose, J’en doutais, je cherchai sur quoi l’univers pose.
Rien gardait l’équilibre et servait de soutien.

Enfin avec le poids de l’éloge et du blâme Je pesai l’éternel; il appella mon âme: Je mourrai, j’adorai, je ne savais plus rien. —Comte de St.-Germain

Table of Contents

PART ONE

THE MAN WHO DOES NOT DIE

PART TWO

THE RAREST OF OCCULT MANUSCRIPTS

PART THREE

PARALLEL FRENCH AND ENGLISH TEXT OF THE MOST HOLY TRINOSOPHIA

PART FOUR

NOTES AND COMMENTARIES

Part One: The Man Who Does Not Die

p. 8 p. 9

THE MAN WHO DOES NOT DIE

HE GREAT ILLUMINIST, Rosicrucian and Freemason who termed himself the Comte de St.-Germain is without question the most baffling personality of modern history. His name was so nearly a synonym of mystery that the enigma of his true identity was as insolvable to his contemporaries as it has been to later investigators. No one questioned the Comte’s noble birth or illustrious estate. His whole personality bore the indelible stamp of gentle breeding.

The grace and dignity that characterized his conduct, together with his perfect composure in every situation, attested the innate refinement and culture of one accustomed to high station.
A London publication makes the following brief analysis of his ancestry: "Did he in his old age tell the truth to his protector and enthusiastic admirer, Prince Charles of Hesse Cassel? According to the story told by his last friend, he was the son of Prince Rakoczy, of Transylvania, and his first wife, a Takely. He was placed, when an infant, under the protection of the last of the Medici (Gian Gastone). When he grew up and heard that his two brothers, sons of the Princess Hesse Rheinfels, of Rothenburg, had received the names of St. Charles and St. Elizabeth, he determined to take the name of their holy brother, St. Germanus. What was the truth? One thing alone is certain, that he was the protege of the last Medici." Caesare Cantu, librarian at Milan, also substantiates the [paragraph continues] Ragoczy hypothesis, adding that St.-Germain was educated in the University at Sienna.

In her excellent monograph, The Comte de St.-Germain, the Secret of Kings, Mrs. Cooper-Oakley lists the more important names under which this amazing person masqueraded between the years 1710 and 1822. "During this time," she writes, "we have M. de St.-Germain as the Marquis de Montferrat, Comte Bellamarre or Aymar at Venice, Chevalier Schoening at Pisa, Chevalier Weldon at Milan and Leipzig, Comte Soltikoff at Genoa and Leghorn, Graf Tzarogy at Schwalback and Triesdorf, Prinz Ragoczy at Dresden, and Comte de St.-Germain at Paris, The Hague, London, and St. Petersburg." To this list it may be added that there has been a tendency among mystical writers to connect him with the mysterious Comte de Gabalais who appeared to the Abbe Villiers and delivered several discourses on sub-mundane spirits. Nor is it impossible that he is the same as the remarkable Signor Gualdi whose exploits Hargreave Jennings recounts in his book The Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries. He is also suspected of being identical with Count Hompesch the last Grand Master of the Knights of Malta.

In personal appearance, the Comte de St.-Germain has been described as of medium height, well proportioned in body and of regular and pleasing features. His complexion was somewhat swarthy and his hair dark, though often powdered. He dressed simply,' usually in black, but his clothes were well fitting and of the best quality. His eyes possessed a great fascination and those who looked into them were profoundly influenced. According to Madame de Pompadour, he claimed to possess the secret of eternal youth, and upon a certain occasion claimed having been personally acquainted with Cleopatra, and at another time of having "chatted familiarly with the Queen of Sheba"! Had it not been for his striking personality and apparently supernatural powers, the Comte would undoubtedly have been considered insane, but his transcending genius was so evident that he was merely termed eccentric.
From Souvenirs de Marie Antoinette, by Madame la Comtesse d’Adhemar, we have an excellent description of the Comte, whom Frederick the Great referred to as "the man who does not die": "It was in 1743 the rumour spread that a foreigner, enormously rich, judging by the magnificence of his jewelry, had just arrived at Versailles. Where he came from, no one has ever been able to find out. His figure was well-knit and graceful, his hands delicate, his feet small, and the shapely legs enhanced by well-fitting silk stockings. His nether garments, which fitted very closely, suggested a rare perfection of form. His smile showed magnificent teeth, a pretty dimple marked his chin, his hair was black, and his glance soft and penetrating. And, oh, what eyes! Never have I seen their like. He looked about forty or forty-five years old. He was often to be met within the royal private apartments, where he had unrestricted admission at the beginning of 1768."

The Comte de St.-Germain was recognized as an outstanding scholar and linguist of his day. His linguistic proficiency verged on the supernatural. He spoke German, English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French with a Piedmontese accent, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese with such fluency that in every land in which he visited he was accepted as a native. "Learned," writes one author, "speaking every civilized language admirably, a great musician, an excellent chemist, he played the part of a prodigy and played it to perfection." Even his most relentless detractors admitted that the Comte was possessed of almost incredible attainments in every department of learning.

Madame de Pompadour extols the genius of St.-Germain in the following words: "A thorough knowledge of all languages, ancient and modern; a prodigious memory; erudition, of which glimpses could be caught between the caprices of his conversation, which was always amusing and occasionally very engaging; an inexhaustible skill in varying the tone and subjects of his converse; in being always fresh and in infusing the unexpected into the most trivial discourses made him a superb talker. Sometimes he recounted anecdotes of the court of the Valois or of princes still more remote, with such precise accuracy in every detail as almost to create the illusion that he had been an eyewitness to what he narrated. He had traveled the whole world over and the king lent a willing ear to the narratives of his voyages over Asia and Africa, and to his tales about the courts of Russia, Turkey and Austria. He appeared to be more imtimately acquainted with the secrets of each court than the charge d’affaires of the king."

The Comte was ambidextrous to such a degree that he could write the same article with both hands simultaneously. When the two pieces of paper were afterwards placed one upon the other with the light behind them the writing on one sheet exactly covered the writing on the other. He could repeat pages of print after one reading. To prove that the two lobes of his brain could work independently he wrote a love letter with his right hand and a set of mystical verses with his left, both at the same time. He also sang beautifully.
By something akin to telepathy this remarkable person was able to feel when his presence was needed in some distant city or state and it has even been recorded of him that he had the disconcerting habit of appearing in his own apartments and those of his friends without resorting to the conventionality of the door.

He was, by some curious circumstances, a patron of railroads and steamboats. Franz Graeffer, in his Recollections of Vienna, recounts the following incident in the life of the astonishing Comte: "St.-Germain then gradually passed into a solemn mood. For a few seconds he became rigid as a statue; his eyes, which were always expressive beyond words, became dull and colourless. Presently, however, his whole being became reanimated. He made a movement with his hand as if in signal of departure, then said 'I am leaving (ich scheide) do not visit me. Once again will you see me. Tomorrow night I am off; I am much needed in Constantinople, then in England, there to prepare two inventions which you will have in the next century—trains and steamboats'."

As an historian the Comte possessed an uncanny knowledge of every occurrence of the preceding two thousand years and in his reminiscences he described in intimate detail events of the previous centuries in which he had played important roles. "He spoke of scenes at the court of Francis I as if he had seen them, describing exactly the appearance of the king, imitating his voice, manner and language—affecting throughout the character of an eyewitness. In like style he edified his audience with pleasant stories of Louis XIVth, and regaled them with vivid descriptions of places and persons." (See All the Year Round).

Most of St.-Germain’s biographers have noted his peculiar habits with regard to eating. It was diet, he declared, combined with his marvellous elixir, which constituted the true secret of longevity, and although invited to the most sumptuous repasts he resolutely refused to eat any food but such as had been specially prepared for him and according to his recipes. His food consisted mostly of oatmeal, groats and the white meat of chicken. He is known on rare occasions to have taken a little wine and he always took the most elaborate precautions against the possibility of contracting cold. Frequently invited to dinner, he devoted the time during which he naturally should have eaten to regaling the other guests with tales of magic and sorcery, unbelievable adventures in remote places and intimate episodes from the lives of the great.
In one of his tales concerning vampires, St.-Germain mentioned in an offhand way that he possessed the wand or staff with which Moses brought water from the rock, adding that it had been presented to him at Babylon during the reign of Cyrus the Great. The memoir writers admit themselves at a loss as to how many of the [paragraph continues] Comte’s statements could be believed. Common sense, as then defined, assured them that most of the accounts must be fashioned out of whole cloth. On the other hand, his information was of such precise nature and his learning so transcendent in every respect that his words carried the weight of conviction. Once while relating an anecdote regarding his own experiences at some remote time and suddenly failing to recollect clearly what he considered a relevant detail, he turned to his valet and said, "Am I not mistaken, Roger?" The good man instantly replied: "Monsieur le Comte forgets that I have only been with him for five hundred years. I could not, therefore, have been present at that occasion. It must have been my predecessor."

The smallest doings of so unusual a person as St.-Germain would, of course, be meticulously noted. Several interesting and amusing bits of information are available relative to the establishment which he maintained in Paris. He had two valets de chambre. The first, Roger, already mentioned, and the second a Parisien engaged for his knowledge of the city and other useful local information. "Besides this, his household consisted of four lackeys in snuff-colored livery and gold braiding. He hired a carriage at five hundred francs a month. As he often changed his coats and waistcoats, he had a rich and expensive collection of them but nothing approached the mangificence of his buttons, studs, watches, rings, chains, diamonds, and other precious stones. Of these he possessed a very large value and varied them every week."

Meeting St.-Germain one day at dinner Baron Gleichen chanced to focus the conversation upon Italy and had the good fortune to please St.-Germain, who, turning to him remarked: "I have taken a great fancy to you, and will show you a dozen pictures, the like of which you have not seen in Italy." In the words of Gleichen: "Actually, he almost kept his word, for the pictures he showed me were all stamped either with singularity or perfection, which rendered them more interesting than many first-class works. Above all was a Holy Family by Murillo, equal in beauty to that by Rafaelle at Versailles. But he showed me other wonders—a large quantity of jewels and colored diamonds of extraordinary size and perfection. I thought I beheld the treasures of the Wonderful Lamp. Among other gems were an opal of monstrous size, and a white sapphire (?) as large as an egg, which, by its brilliancy, dimmed all the stones compared with it. I flatter myself that I am a connoisseur in gems, but I can declare that it was impossible to perceive any reason for doubting the genuineness of these jewels, the more so that they were not mounted."
As an art critic St.-Germain could instantly detect the most cleverly perpetrated forgeries. He did considerable painting himself, achieving an incredible brilliance of color. He was so successful that Vanloo the French artist begged him to divulge the secret of his pigments but he refused. He is accredited with having secured astonishing results in the painting of jewelry by mixing powdered mother-of-pearl with his colors. What occurred to his priceless collection of paintings and jewels after his death or disappearance is unknown. It is possible that the Comte’s chemical knowledge comprehended the manufacture of luminous paint such as is now used on watch dials. His skill as a chemist was so profound that he could remove flaws from diamonds and emeralds, which feat he actually performed at the request of Louis XV in 1757. Stones of comparatively little value were thus transformed into gems of the first water after remaining for a short time in his possession. He frequently performed this last experiment, if the statements of his friends can be relied upon. There is also a popular story to the effect that he placed gems worth thousands of dollars on the place cards at the banquets he gave.
It was in the court at Versailles that the Comte de St.-Germain was brought face to face with the elderly Comtesse de Gergy. Upon beholding the celebrated magician, the aged lady stepped back in amazement and the following well-authenticated conversation took place between the two: "Fifty years ago," the Comtesse said, "I was ambassadress at Venice and I remember seeing you there looking just as you do now, only somewhat riper in age perhaps, for you have grown younger since then."

Bowing low, the Comte answered with dignity: "I have always thought myself happy in being able to make myself agreeable to the ladies."

Madame de Gergy then continued: "You then called yourself the Marquis Balletti."

The Comte bowed again and replied: "And Comtesse Gergy’s memory is still as good as it was fifty years ago."

The Comtesse smiled. "That I owe to an elixir you gave me at our first meeting. You are really an extraordinary man."
St.-Germain assumed a grave expression. "Did this Marquis Balletti have a bad reputation?" he asked. "On the contrary," replied the Comtesse, "he was in very good society."
The Comte shrugged his shoulders expressively saying: "Well, as no one complains of him, I adopt him willingly as my grandfather."

The Comtesse d’Adhemar was present during the entire conversation and vouches for its accuracy in every detail.
Madame du Hausset, femme de chambre to Madame de Pompadour, writes at some length of the astonishing man who often called upon her mistress. She records a conversation which took place between la Pompadour and St.-Germain: "It is true, Madame, that I knew Madame de Gergy long ago," the Comte affirmed quietly. "But, according to that," replied the Marquise, "you must now be more than a hundred years old." "That is not impossible," enigmatically returned the Comte with a slight smile, "but I admit that it is more possible that this lady, for whom I have infinite respect, talks nonsense."

It was answers such as this which led Gustave Bord to write of St.-Germain that, "he allows a certain mystery to hover about him, a mystery which awakens curiosity and sympathy. Being a virtuoso in the art of misleading he says nothing that is untrue. * * * He has the rare gift of remaining silent and profiting by it." (See La Franc-Macennerie en France, etc.)

But to return to Madame du Hausset’s story. "You gave Madame de Gergy," pressed la Pompadour, "an elixir surprising in its effects; she pretends that tor a long while she appeared to be no older than twenty-four. Why should you not give some to the king?"

St.-Germain allowed an expression feigning terror to spread over his face, "Ah! Madame, I should be mad indeed to take it into my head to give the king an unknown drug!"
The Comte was on very friendly terms with Louis XV with whom he had long discussions on the subject of precious stones, their manufacture and purification. Louis was amused and thrilled by turns. Never before had so extraordinary a person trod the sacred precincts of Versailles. The whole court was topsy-turvy and miracles were the order of the day. Courtiers of depleted fortunes envisioned the magical multiplication of their gold and grandames of uncertain age had dreams of youth and favor restored by the mystery man’s fabled elixirs. It is easy to understand how so fascinating a character could relieve the boredom of a king who had spent his life a martyr to royal fashions and was deprived by his position of the pleasure of honest work. Then, again, rulers become victims to the fads of the moment and Louis himself was dabbling in alchemy and other occult arts. True, the king was only a dilletante whose will was not strong enough to bind him to any lasting purpose, but St.-Germain appealed to several qualities in the royal nature. The Comte’s fund of knowledge, the skill with. which he assembled his facts to the amusement and edification of his audiences, the mystery which surrounded his appearances and disappearances, his consummate skill both as a critic and technician in the arts and sciences, to say nothing of his jewels and wealth, endeared him to the king. Had Louis but profited by the wisdom and prophetic warnings of the mysterious Comte, the Reign of Terror might have been averted. St.-Germain was ever the patron, never the patronized. Louis had found the diplomat in whom there was no guile.

De Pompadour writes, "He enriched the cabinet of the king by his pictures by Valasquez and Murillo, and he presented to the Marquise the most precious and priceless gems. For this singular man passed for being fabulously rich and he distributed diamonds and jewels with astonishing liberality."
Not the least admirable evidence of the Comte’s genius was his penetrating grasp of the political situation of Europe and the consummate skill with which he parried the thrusts of his diplomatic adversaries. At all times he bore credentials which gave him entry to the most exclusive circles of European nobility. During the reign of Peter the Great M. de St.-Germain was in Russia, and between the years 1737 and 1742 in the court of the Shah of Persia as an honored guest. On the subject of his wanderings, Una Birch writes: "The travels of the Comte de Saint-Germain covered a long period of years and a great range of countries. From Persia to France and from Calcutta to Rome he was known and respected. Horace Walpole spoke with him in London in 1745; Clive knew him in India in 1756; Madame d’Adhemar alleges that she met him in Paris in 1789, five years after his supposed death; while other persons pretend to have held conversations with him in the early nineteenth century. He was on familiar and intimate terms with the crowned heads of Europe and the honoured friend of many distinguished persons of all nationalities. He is even mentioned in the memoirs and letters of the day, and always as a man of mystery. Frederick the Great, Voltaire, Madame de Pompadour, Rousseau, Chatham, and Walpole, all of whom knew him personally, rivalled each other in curiosity as to his origin. During the many decades in which he was before the world, however, no one succeeded in discovering why he appeared as a Jacobite agent in London, as a conspirator in Petersburg, as an alchemist and connoisseur of pictures in Paris, or as a Russian general at Naples. * * * Now and again the curtain which shrouds his actions is drawn aside, and we are permitted to see him fiddling in the music room at Versailles, gossiping with Horace Walpole in London, sitting in Frederick the Great’s library at Berlin, or conducting illuminist meetings in caverns by the Rhine." (See The Nineteenth Century, January, 1908.)

In the realm of music St.-Germain was equally a master. While at Versailles he gave concerts on the violin and on at least one occasion during an eventful life he conducted a symphony orchestra without a score. In Paris St.-Germain was the diplomat and the alchemist, in London he was the musician. "He left a musical record behind him to remind English people of his sojourn in this country. Many of his compositions were published by Walsh, in Catherine Street, Strand, and his earliest English song, Oh, wouldst thou, know what sacred charms, came out while he was still on his first visit to London; but on quitting this city he entrusted certain other settings of words to Walsh, such as Jove, when he saw, and the arias out of his little opera L’Inconstanza Delusa, both of which compositions were published during his absence from England. When he returned, in 1760, he gave the world a great many new songs, followed in 1780 by a set of solos for the violin. He was an industrious and capable artist, and attracted a great deal of fashionable attention to himself both as composer and executant."

An old English newspaper, The London Chronicle, for June, 1760, contains the following anecdote: "With regard to music, he not only played but composed; and both in high taste. Nay, his very ideas were accommodated to the art; and in those occurrences which had no relation to music he found means to express himself in figurative terms deduced from this science. There could not be a more artful way of showing his attention to the subject. I remember an incident which impressed it strongly upon my memory. I had the honour to be at an assembly of Lady , who to many other good and great accomplishments added a taste for music so delicate that she was made a judge in the dispute of masters. This stranger was to be of the party; and towards evening he came in his usual free and polite manner, but with more hurry than was customary, and with his fingers stopped in his ears. I can conceive easily that in most men this would have been a very ungraceful attitude, and I am afraid it would have been construed into an ungenteel entrance; but he had a manner that made everything agreeable. They had been emptying a cartload of stones just at the door, to mend the pavement; he threw himself into a chair and, when the lady asked what was the matter, he pointed to the place and said, 'I am stunned with a whole cart-load of discords'."

In his memoirs the Italian adventurer Jacques de Casanova de Seingalt makes numerous references to his acquaintance with St.-Germain. Casanova grudgingly admits that the Comte was an adept at magical arts, a skilled linguist, musician and chemist who won the favor of the ladies of the French court not only by the general air of mystery surrounding him but by his surpassing skill in preparing pigments and cosmetics by which he preserved for them at least a shadow of swift departing youth.

Casanova describes a meeting with St.-Germain which occurred "in Belgium under most unusual circumstances. Having arrived at Tournay, Casanova was surprised to see some grooms walking spirited horses up and down. He asked to whom the fine animals belonged and was told: "To the Comte de St.-Germain, the adept, who has been here a month and never goes out. Everybody who passes through the place wants to see him, but he makes himself visible to no one." This was sufficient to excite the curiosity of Casanova, who wrote requesting an appointment. He received the following answer: "The gravity of my occupation compels me to exclude everyone, but in your case I will make an exception. Come whenever you like and you will be shown in. You need not mention my name nor your own. I do not ask you to share my repast, for my food is not suitable to others, to you least of all, if your appetite is what it used to be." At nine o’clock Casanova called and found that the Comte had grown a beard two inches long. In discussion with Casanova, the Comte explained his presence in Belgium by stating that Count Cobenzl, the Austrian ambassador at Brussels, desired to establish a hat factory and that he was taking care of the details. Upon his telling St.-Germain that he was suffering from an acute disease, the Comte invited Casanova to remain for treatment, saying that he would prepare fifteen pills which in three days would restore the Italian to perfect health.
Casanova writes: "Then he showed me his magistrum, which he called athoeter. It was a white liquid contained in a well stopped phial. He told me that this liquid was the universal spirit of Nature and that if the wax of the stopper was pricked even so slightly, the whole of the contents would disappear. I begged him to make the experiment. He thereupon gave me the phial and the pin and I myself pricked the wax, when, lo, the phial was empty." Casanova, being somewhat of a rogue himself, doubted all other men. Therefore, he refused to permit St.-Germain to treat his malady. He could not deny, however, that St.-Germain was a chemist of extraordinary skill, whose accomplishments were astonishing if not practical. The adept refused to disclose the purpose for which these chemical experiments were intended, maintaining that such information could not be communicated.

Casanova further records an incident in which St.-Germain changed a twelve-sols piece into a pure gold coin. Being a doubting Thomas, Casanova declared that he felt sure that St.-Germain had substituted one coin for another. He intimated so to the Comte who replied: "Those who are capable of entertaining doubts of my work are not worthy to speak to me," and bowed the Italian out. This was the last time Casanova ever saw St.-Germain.

There is other evidence that the celebrated Comte possessed the alchemical powder by which it is possible to transmute base metals into gold. He actually performed this feat on at least two occasions, as attested by the writings of contemporaries. The Marquis de Valbelle, visiting St.-Germain in his laboratory, found the alchemist busy with his furnaces. He asked the Marquis for a silver six-franc piece and, covering it with a black substance, exposed it to the heat of a small flame or furnace. M. de Valbelle saw the coin change color until it turned a bright red. Some minutes after, when it had cooled a little, the adept took it out of the cooling vessel and returned it to the Marquis. The piece was no longer of silver but of the purest gold. Transmutation had been complete. The Comtesse d’Adhemar had possession of this coin until 1786 when it was stolen from her secretary.

One author tells us that, "Saint-Germain always attributed his knowledge of occult chemistry to his sojourn in Asia. In 1755 he went to the East again for the second time, and writing to Count von Lamberg he said, 'I am indebted for my knowledge of melting jewels to my second journey to India'."

There are too many authentic cases of metallic transmutations to condemn St.-Germain as a charlatan for such a feat. The Leopold-Hoffman medal, still in the possession of that family, is the most outstanding example of the transmutation of metals ever recorded. Two-thirds of this medal was transformed into gold by the monk Wenzel Seiler, leaving the balance silver which was its original state. In this case fraud was impossible as there was but one copy of the medal extant. The ease with which we condemn as fraudulent and unreal anything which transcends our understanding has brought unjustified calumny upon the names and memories of many illustrious persons.
The popular belief that Comte de St.-Germain was merely an adventurer is not supported by even a shred of evidence. He was never detected in any subterfuge nor did he betray, even to the slightest degree, the confidence entrusted to him. His great wealth—for he was always amply supplied with this world’s goods—was not extracted from those with whom he came in contact. Every effort to determine the source and size of his fortune was fruitless. He made use of neither bank nor banker yet moved in a sphere of unlimited credit, which was neither questioned by others nor abused by himself.

Referring to the attacks upon his character, H. P. Blavatsky wrote in The Theosophist of March, 1881: "Do charlatans enjoy the confidence and admiration of the cleverest statesmen and nobles of Europe, for long years, and not even at their deaths show in one thing that they were undeserving? Some encyclopaedists (see New American Cyclopedia, xiv. 266) say: 'He is supposed to have been employed during the greater part of his life as a spy at the courts at which he resided.' But upon what evidence is this supposition based? Has anyone found it in any of the state papers in the secret archives of either of those courts? Not one word, not one shred of fact to build this base calumny upon, has ever been found. It is simply a malicious lie. The treatment this great man, this pupil of Indian and Egyptian hierophants, this proficient in the secret wisdom of the East, has had from Western writers, is a stigma upon human nature."

Nothing is known concerning the source of the Comte de St.Germain’s occult knowledge. Most certainly he not only intimated his possession of a vast amount of wisdom but he also gave many examples in support of his claims. When asked once about himself, he replied that his father was the Secret Doctrine and his mother the Mysteries. St.-Germain was thoroughly conversant with the principles of Oriental esotericism. He practiced the Eastern system of meditation and concentration, upon several occasions having been seen seated with his feet crossed and hands folded in the posture of a Hindu Buddha. He had a retreat in the heart of the Himalayas to which he retired periodically from the world. On one occasion he declared that he would remain in India for eighty-five years and then return to the scene of his European labors. At various times he admitted that he was obeying the orders of a power higher and greater than himself. What he did not say was that this superior power was the Mystery School which had sent him into the world to accomplish a definite mission. The Comte de St.-Germain and Sir Francis Bacon are the two greatest emissaries sent into the world by the Secret Brotherhood in the last thousand years.
The principles disseminated by the Comte de St.-Germain were undoubtedly Rosicrucian in origin and permeated with the doctrines of the Gnostics. The Comte was the moving spirit of Rosicrucianism during the eighteenth century—possibly the actual head of that order—and is suspected of being the great power behind the French Revolution. There is also reason to believe that Lord Bulwer-Lytton’s famous novel, Zanoni, is actually concerned with the life and activities of St.-Germain. He is generally regarded as an important figure in the early activities of the Freemasons. Repeated efforts, however, probably with an ulterior motive, have been made to discredit his Masonic affiliations. Maags of London are offering for sale a Masonic minute book in which the signatures of both Comte de St.-Germain and the Marquis de Lafayette appear. It will yet be established beyond all doubt that the Comte was both a Mason and a Templar; in fact, the memoirs of Cagliostro contain a direct statement of his own initiation into the order of the Knights Ternplars at the hands of St.-Germain. Many of the illustrious personages with whom the Comte associated were high Masons, and sufficient memoranda have been preserved concerning the discussions which they held to prove that he was a Chaster of Freemasonic lore.
Madame d’Adhemar, who has preserved so many anecdotes of the life of the "wonder man", copied from one of St.-Germain’s letters the following prophetic verses pertaining to the downfall of the French Empire: "The time is fast approaching when imprudent France, Surrounded by misfortune she might have spared herself, Will call to mind such hell as Dante painted.
Falling shall we see sceptre, censer, scales, Towers and escutcheons, even the white flag.
Great streams of blood are flowing in each town; Sobs only do I hear, and exiles see.
On all sides civil discord loudly roars And uttering cries, on all sides virtue flees As from the Assembly votes of death arise.
Great God, who can reply to murderous judges?
And on what brows august I see the swords descend!

Marie Antoinette was much disturbed by the direful nature of the prophecies and questioned Madame d’Adhemar as to her opinion of their significance. Madame replied, "They are dismaying but certainly they cannot affect Your Majesty."
Madame d’Adhemar also recounts a dramatic incident. St.-Germain offered to meet the good lady at the Church of the Recollets about the hour of the eight o’clock mass. Madame went to the appointed place in her sedan chair and recorded the following conversation between herself and the mysterious adept:

St.-Germain: I am Cassandra, prophet of evil . . . Madame, he who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind . . . I can do nothing; my hands are tied by a stronger than myself.

Madame: Will you see the Queen?

St.-Germain: No; she is doomed.

Madame: Doomed to what?

St.-Germain: Death.

Madame: And you—you too?

St.-Germain: Yes—like Cazotte—Return to the Palace; tell the Queen to take heed of herself, that this day will be fatal to her . . .

Madame: But M. de Lafayette . . .

St.-Germain: A balloon inflated with wind. Even now, they are settling what to do with him, whether he shall be instrument or victim; by noon all will be decided . . . The hour of repose is past, and the decrees of Providence must be fulfilled.

Madame: What do they want?

St.-Germain: The complete ruin of the Bourbons. They will expel them from all the thrones they occupy and in less than a century they will return in all their different branches to the rank of simple private individuals. France as Kingdom, Republic, Empire, and mixed Government will be tormented, agitated, torn. From the hands of class tyrants she will pass to those who are ambitious and without merit.
Comte de St.-Germain disappeared from the stage of French mysticism as suddenly and inexplicably as he had appeared. Nothing is known with positive certainty after that disappearance. It is claimed by transcendentalists that he retired into the secret order which had sent him into the world for a particular and peculiar purpose. Having accomplished this mission, he vanished. From the Memoirs de Mon Temps of Charles, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, we gain several particulars concerning the last years before the death or disappearance of the Hungarian adept. Charles was deeply interested in occult and Masonic mysteries, and a secret society, of which he was the moving spirit, held occasional meetings upon his estate. The purposes of this organization were similar to, if not identical with, Cagliostro’s Egyptian Rite. In fact, after studying the fragments left by the Landgrave, Cagliostro’s contention that he was initiated into Egyptian Masonry by St.-Germain is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The "Wonder Man" attended at least some of these secret meetings and of all whom he met and knew during life, he confided more in Prince Charles than in any other man. The last years of St.-Germain’s known life were therefore divided between his experimental research work in alchemy with Charles of Hesse and the Mystery School at Louisenlund, in Schleswig, where philosophic and political problems were under discussion.

According to popular tradition, it was on the estate of Prince Charles that St.-Germain finally died at a date given out as 1784. The strange circumstances connected with his passing lead us to suspect that is was a mock funeral similar to that given the English adept, Lord Bacon. It has been noted that, "Great uncertainty and vagueness surround his latter days, for no confidence can be reposed in the announcement of the death of one illuminate by another, for, as is well known, all means to secure the end were in their code justifiable, and it may have been to the interest of the society that St.-Germain should have been thought dead."

H. P. Blavatsky remarks: "Is it not absurd to suppose that if he really died at the time and place mentioned, he would have been laid in the ground without the pomp and ceremony, the official supervision, the police registration which attend the funerals of men of his rank and notoriety? Where are these data? He passed out of public sight more than a century ago, yet no memoirs contain them. A man who so lived in the full blaze of publicity could not have vanished, if he really died then and there, and left no trace behind. Moreover, to this negative we have the alleged positive proof that he was living several years after 1784. He is said to have had a most important private conference with the Empress of Russia in 1785 or 1786 and to have appeared to the Princess de Lambelle when she stood before the tribunal, a few minutes before she was struck down with a billet, and a butcher-boy cut off her head; and to Jeanne Dubarry, the mistress of Louis XV as she waited on her scaffold at Paris the stroke of the guillotine in the Days of Terror of 1793."
It should be added that the Comte de Chalons, on his return from an embassy to Venice in 1788, said that he had conversed with the Comte de St.-Germain in the square at St. Mark’s the evening before his departure. The Comtesse d’Adhemar also saw and talked with him after his presumed decease, and the Encyclopedia Britannica notes that he is said to have attended a Masonic conference several years after his death had been reported. In concluding an article on the identity of the inscrutable Comte, Andrew Lang writes: "Did Saint-Germain really die in the palace of Prince Charles of Hesse about 1780-85? Did he, on the other hand, escape from the French prison where Grosley thought he saw him, during the Revolution? Was he known to Lord Lytton about 1860? * * * Is he the mysterious Muscovite adviser of the Dalai Lama? Who knows? He is a will-o’-the-wisp of the memoir-writers of the eighteenth century." (See Historical Mysteries.)

The true purpose for which St.-Germain labored must remain obscure until the dawn of a new era. Homer refers to the Golden Chain by which the gods conspired to bind the earth to the pinnacle of Olympus. In each age there appears some few persons whose words and actions demonstrate clearly that they are of an order different from the rest of society. Humanity is guided over critical periods in the development of civilization by mysterious forces such as were personified in the eccentric Comte de St.-Germain. Until we recognize the reality of the occult forces at work in every-day life, we cannot grasp the significance of either the man or his work. To the wise, St.-Germain is no wonder—to those who are limited by belief in the inevitability of the commonplace, he is indeed a magician, defying the laws of nature and violating the smugness of the pseudo-learned.

Part Two: The Rarest of Occult Manuscripts

p. 26 p. 27

THE RAREST OF OCCULT MANUSCRIPTS

F THE UTMOST SIGNIficance to all students of Freemasonry and the occult sciences is this unique manuscript La Très Sainte Trinosophie. Not only is it the only known mystical writing of the Comte de St.-Germain, but it is one of the most extraordinary documents relating to the Hermetic sciences ever compiled. Though the libraries of European Rosicrucians and Cabbalists contain many rare treasures of ancient philosophical lore, it is extremely doubtful if any of them include a treatise of greater value or significance. There is a persistent rumor that St.-Germain possessed a magnificent library, and that he prepared a number of manuscripts on the secret sciences for the use of his disciples. At the time of his death . . . or disappearance . . . these books and papers vanished, probably into the archives of his society, and no trustworthy information is now available as to their whereabouts.
The mysterious Comte is known to have possessed at one time a copy of the Vatican manuscript of the Cabbala, a work of extraordinary profundity setting forth the doctrines of the Luciferians, Lucianiasts and the Gnostics. The second volume of The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky (pp. 582-83 of the original edition) contains two quotations from a manuscript "supposed to be by the Comte St.-Germain". The parts of the paragraphs attributed to the Hungarian adept are not clearly indicated, but as the entire text deals with the significance of numbers, it is reasonable to infer that his commentaries are mystical interpretations of the numerals 4 and 5. Both paragraphs are in substance similar to the Puissance des nombres d’après Pythagore by Jean Marie Ragon. The Mahatma Koot Hoomi mentions a "ciphered MS." by St.-Germain which remained with his staunch friend and patron the benevolent Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel (See Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett). Comparatively unimportant references to St.-Germain, and wild speculations concerning his origin and the purpose of his European activities, are available in abundance, but the most exhaustive search of the work of eighteenth century memoir writers for information regarding the Masonic and metaphysical doctrines which he promulgated has proved fruitless. So far as it has been possible to ascertain, the present translation and publication of La Très Sainte Trinosophie affords the first opportunity to possess a work setting forth . . . in the usual veiled and symbolic manner . . . the esoteric doctrines of St.-Germain, and his associates.

La Très Sainte Trinosophie is MS. No. 2400 in the French Library at Troyes. The work is of no great length, consisting of ninety-six leaves written upon one side only. The calligraphy is excellent. Although somewhat irregular in spelling and accenting, the French is scholarly and dramatic, and the text is embellished with numerous figures, well drawn and brilliantly colored. In addition to the full-page drawings there are small symbols at the beginning and end of each of the sections. Throughout the French text there are scattered letters, words, and phrases in several ancient languages . . There are also magical symbols, figures resembling Egyptian hieroglyphics, and a few words in characters resembling cuneiform. At the end of the manuscript are a number of leaves written in arbitrary ciphers, possibly the code used by St.-Germain’s secret society. The work was probably executed in the latter part of the eighteenth century, though most of the material belongs to a considerably earlier period.
As to the history of this remarkable manuscript, too little, unfortunately, is known. The illustrious Freemasonic martyr, the Comte Allesandro Cagliostro, carried this book amongst others with him on his ill-fated journey to Rome. After Cagliostro’s incarceration in the Castle San Leo, all trace of the manuscript was temporarily lost. Eventually Cagliostro’s literary effects came into the possession of a general in Napoleon’s army, and upon this officer’s death La Très Sainte Trinosophie was bought at a nominal price by the Bibliothèque de Troyes. In his Musée des Sorciers, Grillot de Givry adds somewhat to the meager notes concerning the manuscript. He states that the volume was bought at the sale of Messena’s effects; that in the front of the book is a note by a philosopher who signs himself [paragraph continues] "I.B.C. Philotaume" who states that the manuscript belonged to him and is the sole existing copy of the famous Trinosophie of the Comte de St.-Germain, the original of which the Comte himself destroyed on one of his journeys.The note then adds that Cagliostro had owned the volume, but that the Inquisition had seized it in Rome when he was arrested at the end of 1789. (It should be remembered that Cagliostro and his wife had visited St.-Germain at a castle in Holstein.) De Givry sums up the contents of La Très Sainte Trinosophie as "Cabbalized alchemy" and describes St.-Germain as "one of the enigmatic personages of the eighteenth century . . . an alchemist and man of the world who passed through the drawing rooms of all Europe and ended by falling into the dungeons of the Inquisition at Rome, if the manuscript is to be believed".

The title of the manuscript, La Très Sainte Trinosophie, translated into English means "The Most Holy Trinisophia" or "The Most Holy Three-fold Wisdom". The title itself opens a considerable field of speculation. Is there any connection between La Très Sainte Trinosophie and the Masonic brotherhood of Les Trinosophists which was founded in 1805 by the distinguished Belgian Freemason and mystic Jean Marie Ragon, already referred to? The knowledge of occultism possessed by Ragon is mentioned in terms of the highest respect by H. P. Blavatsky who says of him that "for fifty years he studied the ancient mysteries wherever he could find accounts of them". Is it not possible that Ragon as a young man either knew St.-Germain or contacted his secret society? Ragon was termed by his contemporaries "the most learned Mason of the nineteenth century". In 1818, before the Lodge of Les Trinosophists, he delivered a course of lectures on ancient and modern initiation which he repeated at the request of that lodge in 1841. These lectures were published under the title Cours Philosophique et Interprétatif des Initiations Anciennes et Modernes. In 1853 Ragon published his most important work Orthodoxie Maçonnique. Ragon died in Paris about 1866 and two years later his unfinished manuscripts were purchased from his heirs by the Grand Orient of France for one thousand francs. A high Mason told Madam Blavatsky that Ragon had corresponded for years with two Orientalists in Syria and Egypt, one of whom was a Copt gentleman.
Ragon defined the Lodge of the Trinosophists as "those who study three sciences". Madame Blavatsky writes: "It is on the occult properties of the three equal lines or sides of the Triangle that Ragon based his studies and founded the famous Masonic Society of the Trinosophists". Ragon describes the symbolism of the triangle in substance as follows: The first side or line represents the mineral kingdom which is the proper study for Apprentices; the second line represents the vegetable kingdom which the Companions should learn to understand because in this kingdom generation of bodies begins; the third line represents the animal kingdom from the exploration of which the Master Mason must complete his education. It has been said of the Lodge of the Trinosophists that "it was at one time the most intelligent society of Freemasons ever known. It adhered to the ancient Landmarks but gave clearer and more satisfactory interpretations to the symbols of Freemasonry than are afforded in the symbolical Lodges". It practiced five degrees. In the Third, candidates for initiation received a philosophic and astronomic explanation of the Hiramic Legend.

The Egyptianized interpretation of Freemasonic symbolism which is so evident in the writings of Ragon and other French Masonic scholars of the same period (such as Court de Gabelin and Alexandre Lenoir) is also present in the figures and text of the St.-Germain manuscript. In his comments on the Rite of Misraim, called the Egyptian Rite, Ragon distinguishes 90 degrees of Masonic Mysteries. The Ist to 33rd degrees he terms symbolic; the 34th to 66th degrees, philosophic; the 67th to 77th, mystic; and the 78th to 90th, Cabbalistic. The Egyptian Freemasonry of Cagliostro may also have been derived from St.-Germain or from some common body of Illuminists of whom St.-Germain was the moving spirit. Cagliostro’s memoirs contain a direct statement of his initiation into the Order of Knights Templars at the hands of St.-Germain. De Luchet gives what a modern writer on Cagliostro calls a fantastic account of the visit paid by Allesandro and his wife the Comtesse Felicitas to St.-Germain in Germany, and their subsequent initiation by him into the sect of the Rosicrucians—of which he was the Grand Master or chief. There is nothing improbable in the assumption that Cagliostro secured La Très Sainte Trinosophie from St.-Germain and that the manuscript is in every respect an authentic ritual of this society.

The word Trinosophie quite properly infers a triple meaning to the contents of the book, in other words that its meaning should be interpreted with the aid of three keys. From the symbolism it seems that one of these keys is alchemy, or soul-chemistry; another Essenian Cabbalism; and the third Alexandrian Hermetism, the mysticism of the later Egyptians. From such fragments of the Rosicrucian lore as now exists, it is evident that the Brethren of the Rose Cross were especially addicted to these three forms of the ancient wisdom, and chose the symbols of these schools as the vehicles of their ideas.
The technical task of decoding the hieroglyphics occurring throughout La Très Sainte Trinosophie was assigned to Dr. Edward C. Getsinger, an eminent authority on ancient alphabets and languages, who is now engaged in the decoding of the primitive ciphers in the Book of Genesis. A few words from his notes will give an idea of the difficulties involved in decoding: "Archaic writings are usually in one system of letters or characters, but those among the ancients who were in possession of the sacred mysteries of life and certain secret astronomical cycles never trusted this knowledge to ordinary writing, but devised secret codes by which they concealed their wisdom from the unworthy. Each of these communities or brotherhoods of the enlightened devised its own code. About 3000 B. C. only the Initiates and their scribes could read and write. At that period the simpler methods of concealment were in vogue, one of which was to drop certain letters from words in such a manner that the remaining letters still formed a word which, however, conveyed an entirely different sense. As ages progressed other systems were invented, until human ingenuity was taxed to the utmost in an endeavor to conceal and yet perpetuate sacred knowledge. "In order to decipher ancient writings of a religious or philisophic nature, it is first necessary to discover the code or method of concealment used by the scribe. In all my twenty years of experience as a reader of archaic writings I have never encountered such ingenious codes and methods of concealment as are found in this manuscript. In only a few instances are complete phrases written in the same alphabet; usually two or three forms of writing are employed, with letters written upside down, reversed, or with the text written backwards. Vowels are often omitted, and at times several letters are missing with merely dots to indicate their number. Every combination of hieroglyphics seemed hopeless at the beginning, yet, after hours of alphabetic dissection, one familiar word would appear. This gave a clue as to the language used, and established a place where word combination might begin, and then a sentence would gra dually unfold. "The various texts are written in Chaldean Hebrew, Ionic Greek, Arabic, Syriac, cuneiform, Greek hieroglyphics, and ideographs. The keynote throughout this material is that of the approach of the age when the Leg of the Grand Man and the Waterman of the Zodiac shall meet in conjunction at the equinox and end a grand 400,000-year cycle. This points to a culmination of eons, as mentioned in the Apocalypse: "Behold! I make a new heaven and a new earth," meaning a series of new cycles and a new humanity. "The personage who gathered the material in this manuscript was indeed one whose spiritual understanding might be envied. He found these various texts in different parts of Europe, no doubt, and that he had a true knowledge of their import is proved by the fact that he attempted to conceal some forty fragmentary ancient texts by scattering them within the lines of his own writing. Yet his own text does not appear to have any connection with these ancient writings. If a decipherer were to be guided by what this eminent scholar wrote he would never decipher the mystery concealed within the cryptic words. There is a marvelous spiritual story written by this savant, and a more wonderful one he interwove within the pattern of his own narrative. The result is a story within a story."

In the reprinting of the Freneh text of the Trinosophia, the spelling and punctuation is according to the original. It has been impossible, however, to reproduce certain peculiarities of the calligraphy. In some cases the punctuation is obscure, accents are omitted, and dashes of varying lengths are inserted to fill out lines. The present manuscript is undoubtedly a copy, as "Philotaume" stated. The archaic characters and the hieroglyphics reveal minor imperfections of formation due to the copyist being unfamiliar with the alphabets employed.

The considerable extent of the notes and commentaries has made it advisable to place them together at the end of the work rather than break up the continuity of the text by over-frequent interpolations.

La Très Sainte Trinosophie is not a manuscript for the tyro. Only deep study and consideration will unravel the complicated skein of its symbolism.Although the text matter is treated with the utmost simplicity, every line is a profound enigma. Careful perusal of the book, and meditation upon its contents, will convince the scholar that it has been well designated "the most precious known manuscript of occultism."

Section One

PARALLEL FRENCH AND ENGLISH TEXT OF THE MOST HOLY TRINOSOPHIA

THE MOST HOLY TRINOSOPHIA SECTION ONE

C’EST dans l’azile des criminels dans les cachots de l’Inquisition, que votre ami trace ces lignes qui doivent servir à votre instruction. En songeant aux avantages inapréciables que doit vous procurer cet écrit de l’amitié, je sens s’adoucir les horreurs d’une captivité aussi longue que peu méritée . . . j’ai du plaisir à penser qu’environné de gardes, chargé de fers, un esclave peut encore élever son ami au dessus des puissants, des monarques qui gouvernent ce lieu d’éxil.

Vous allez pénétrer mon chèr Philochate dans le sanctuaire des sciences sublimes, ma main va lever pour vous le voile impénétrable qui derobe aux yeux du vulguaire, le tabernacle, le sanctuaire ou l’éternel déposa les secrets de la nature, secrets qu’il reserve pour quelques êtres privilégiés, pour les Elus que sa toute puissance créat pour VOIR pour planer à sa suite dans l’immensité de sa Gloire, et détourner sur l’espèce humaine un des Rayons qui brillent au tour de son Throne d’or.

IT is in the retreat of criminals in the dungeons of the Inquisition that your friend writes these lines which are to serve for your instruction. At the thought of the inestimable advantages which this document of friendship will procure for you, the horrors of a long and little deserved captivity seem to be mitigated . . . It gives me pleasure to think that while surrounded by guards and encumbered by chains, a slave may still be able to raise his friend above the mighty, the monarchs who rule this place of exile.

My dear Philochatus, you are about to penetrate into the sanctuary of the sublime sciences; my hand is about to raise for you the impenetrable veil which hides from the eyes of common men the tabernacle, the sanctuary wherein the Eternal has lodged the secrets of nature, kept for a few that are privileged, the few Elect whom His omnipotence created that they may SEE, and seeing, may soar after Him in the vast expanse of His Glory and deflect upon mankind one of the Rays that shine round about His golden Throne.

Puisse l’exemple de votre ami être pour vous une leçon salutaire et je bénirai les longues années d’épreuves que les méchans m’ont fait subir.

Deux écueuils également dangereux se présenteront sans cesse sur vos pas l’un outrageroit les droits sacrés de chaque individu c’est l’Abus du pouvoir que DIEU vous auroit confié, l’autre causeroit votre perte c’est L’Indiscrétion . . . tous deux sont nés d’une même mère, tous deux doivent l’existence à l’Orgueil, la foiblesse humaine les allaita, ils sont aveugles, leur mère les conduit, par son secours ces deux Monstres, vont porter leur soufle impur jusque dans les coeurs des ELUS du très haut malheur à celui qui abuser-oit des dons du ciel pour servir ses passions la main toute puissante qui lui soumit les Elemens, le briseroit comme un foible Roseau une éternité de tour-mens pourrait . . . à peine expier son crime les Esprits Infernaux souriroient avec dédain aux pleurs de l’être dont la voix menaçante les fit si souvent trembler au sein de leurs abimes de feu.
Ce n’est pas pour vous . . . Philochate que j’esquisse ce tableau Effrayant, l’ami de l’humanité ne deviendra jamais son persécuteur . . . mais l’Indiscretion mon fils ce besoin impérieux d’inspirer l’étonnement, l’admiration, voila le précipice que je redoute pour vous, DIEU laisse aux hommes le soin de punir le ministre imprudent qui permet à l’oeuil du Prophâne de pénétrer dans le sanctuaire mystérieux; Ô Philochate que mes malheurs soient sans cesse présens à votre esprit, & moi aussi j’ai connu le bonheur, comblé des bienfaits If your friend’s example proves a salutary lesson for you, I shall bless the long years of tribulation which the wicked have made me suffer.

Two stumbling blocks equally dangerous will constantly present themselves to you. One of them would outrage the sacred rights of every individual. It is Misuse of the power which God will have entrusted to you; the other, which would bring ruin upon you, is Indiscretion. . . Both are born of the same mother, both owe their existence to pride. Human frailty nourishes them; they are blind; their mother leads them. With her aid these two Monsters carry their foul breath even into the hearts of the Lord’s Elect. Woe unto him who misuses the gifts of heaven in order to serve his passions. The Almighty Hand that made the elements subject to him, would break him like a fragile reed. An eternity of torments could hardly expiate his crime. The Infernal Spirits would smile with contempt at the tears of the one whose menacing voice had so often made them tremble in the bosom of their fiery depths.
It is not for you, Philochatus, that I sketch this dreadful picture. The friend of humanity will never become its persecutor . . . The precipice, my son, which I fear for you, is Indiscretion, the imperious craving to inspire astonishment and admiration. God leaves to men the task of punishing the imprudent minister who permits the eye of the profane to look into the mysterious sanctuary. Oh Philochatus, may my sorrows be ever present in your mind. I, too, have known happiness, was showered with the blessings of heaven du ciel . . . entouré d’une puissance telle que l’entendement humain ne peut la concevoir . . . commandant aux génies qui dirigent le monde, heureux du bonheur que je faisais naître, je goutais au sein d’une famille adorée la félicité que l’Eternel accorde à ses enfans chéris . . . un instant à tout détruit, j’ai parlé et tout s’est évanoui comme un nuage, ô mon fils ne suivez pas mes traces. . .qu’un vain désir de briller aux yeux du monde ne cause pas aussi votre perte . . . pensez à moi . . . c’est dans un cachot, le corps brisé par les tortures que votre ami vous écrit; Philocate réfléchissez que la main qui trace ces caracteres porte l’empreinte des fers qui l’accablent . . . Dieu m’a puni, mais quai-je fait aux hommes cruels qui me persécutent? Quel droit ont ils pour interroger le ministre de l’Eternel? ils me demandent quelles sont les preuves de ma 'mission, mes témoins sont des prodiges, mes deffensseurs mes vertus, une vie intacte, un coeur pur, que dis-je ai-je encore le droit de me plaindre, j’ai parlé le tres haut ma livré sans force et sans puissance aux fureurs de lavare fanatisme, le bras qui jadis pouvoit renverser une armée, peut à peine aujourd’hui soulever les chaines qui l’appesantisent.
Je mégare je dois rendre grace a l’éternelle Justice . . . le dieu vengeur à pardonné à son enfant repentant un esprit Aerien à franchit les murs qui me séparent du monde; resplendissant de lumiere, il s’est présenté devant moi il a fixé le terme de ma captivité . . . dans deux ans mes malheurs finiront mes bourreaux en entrant dans mon cachot le trouveront désert et bientot purifié par les 4 élémens . . . pur comme le and surrounded by power such as the human mind cannot conceive. Commanding the genii that guide the world, happy in the happiness that I created, I enjoyed within the bosom of an adored family the felicity which the Eternal accords to His beloved children. One moment destroyed everything. I spoke, and it all vanished like a cloud. O my son, follow not in my steps . . . Let no vain desire to shine before men bring you, too, to disaster . . . Think of me, your friend, writing to you from this dungeon, my body broken by torture! Remember, Philochatus, that the hand which traces these characters bears the marks of the chains which weigh it down. God has punished me, but what have I done to the cruel men that persecute me? What right have they to interrogate the minister of the Eternal? They ask me what are the proofs of my mission. My witnesses are prodigies, and my virtues are my defenders—a clean life, a pure heart. But what am I saying! Have I still the right to complain? I spoke, and the Lord delivered me, deprived of strength and power, to the furies of greedy fanaticism. The arm which once could overthrow an army can today hardly lift the chains that weigh it down.
I wander. I should give thanks to eternal Justice . . . The avenging God has pardoned His repentant child. An aerial spirit has entered through the walls which separate me from the world; he has shown himself to me resplendent with light and has determined the duration of my captivity. Within two years my sufferings will end. My torturers upon entering my cell will find it empty and, soon purified génie du feu je reprendrai le rang glorieux ou la bonté Divine ma élevé mais combien ce terme est encore éloigné combien deux années parois-sent longues à celui qui les passe dans les souffrances, dans les humiliations, non contens de me faire souffrir les supplices les plus horribles mes persécuteurs ont employé pour me tourmenter des moyens plus surs plus odieux encore, ils ont appellé l’infamie sur ma tête, ils ont fait de mon nom un objet d’opprobre, les enfants des hommes reculent avec effroi quand le hazard les a fait approcher des murs de ma prison, ils craignent qu’une vapeur mortelle ne s’échappe par louverture etroite qui laisse passer comme a regret un rayon de lumière dans mon cachot. Ô Philocate . . . c’est la le coup le plus cruel dont ils pouvoient m’accabler . . .

Jignore encore si je pourrai vous faire parvenir cet ouvrage . . . Je juge des difficultés que j’eprouverai pour le faire sortir de ce lieu de tourmens, par celles qu’il a fallu vaincre pour le terminer, privé de tout secours jai moi même composé les agens qui métaient nécessaires. Le feu de ma lampe quelques pièces de monnaies et peu de subsubstances chimiques échappées aux regards scrutateurs de mes bourreaux ont produit les couleurs qui ornent ce fruit des loisirs d’un prisonnier.
Profitez des instructions de votre malheureux ami. elles sont tellement claires qu’il seroit a craindre que cet écrit tombat en dautres mains que les votres . . . souvenez vous seulement que tout doit vous servir . . . une ligne mal expliquée un caractere oublié, vous empêcheroient de lever le voile que la main du créateur à posé Sur le Sphinx. by the four elements, pure as the genius of fire, I shall resume the glorious station to which Divine goodness has raised me. But how distant as yet is this time! How long two years seem to one who spends them in suffering and humiliation. Not content with making me undergo the most horrible agony, my oppressors, to torture me further have devised still surer, still more revolting means. They have brought infamy on my head, have made my name a thing of disgrace. The children of men recoil in terror when by chance they approach the walls of my prison; they fear lest some deadly vapour escape through the narrow slit that reluctantly admits a ray of light to my cell. That, O Philochatus, is the cruelest of all blows that they could bear down upon me.

I know not whether I shall be able to get this document into your hands . . . I judge the difficulty I shall have in contriving for it a way out of this place of torture by those I have had in order to write it. Deprived of all help, I myself have composed the agents I needed. The flame of my lamp, some coins, and a few chemical substances overlooked by the scrutinizing eyes of my tormentors have yielded the colours which adorn this fruit of a prisoner’s leisure.

Profit by the instructions of your unhappy friend! They are so clear that danger exists for them to fall into hands other than yours . . . Remember only that all of it is to serve you . . . an obscure line, an omitted character would prevent your lifting the veil which the hand of the Creator has placed over the Sphinx.

Adieu Philocate ne me plaignez pas la clemence de l’Eternel égale sa justice. àla premiere assemblée mystérieuse vous reverez votre ami. Je vous salue en Dieu, bientôt je donnerai le baiser de paix à mon frère.

Adieu, Philochatus! Do not mourn me. The clemency of the Eternal equals His justice. At the first mysterious assembly you will see your friend again. I salute you in the name of God. Soon I shall give the kiss of peace to my brother.

Section Two

SECTION TWO IL étoit nuit la lune cachée par des nuages sombres ne jettoit qu’une lueur incertaine sur les blocs de lave qui environnent la Solfatara, la tête couverte du voile de Lin, tenant dans mes mains le rameau d’or je m’avançais sans crainte vèrs le lieu ou javois reçu l’ordre de passer la nuit. Errant sur un sable brûlant je le sentois a chaque instant s’affaisser sous mes pas les nuages s’ammoncelaient . . . sur ma tête, l’éclair sillonnait la nue, et donnait une teinte sanglante aux flammes du volcan . . . Enfin j’arrive, je trouve un autel de fer j’y place le rameau mysteriéux . . . Je prononce les mots redoutables . . . à l’instant la terre tremble sous mes pieds le tonnerre éclate . . . les mugissements du Vésuve • répondent à ces coups redoublés ses feux se joignent aux feux de la foudre . . . les coeurs des Genies s’élevent dans les airs et font répéter aux échos les louanges du créateur . . . la branche consacrée que j’avais placé sur l’autel triangulaire s’enflâme tout à coup une épaisse fumée m’environne, je cesse de voir, plongé dans les ténebres je crus descendre dans un abime, Jignore combien de temps je restai dans cètte IT WAS night. The moon, veiled by dark clouds, cast but an uncertain light on the crags of lava that hemmed in the Solfatara. My head covered with the linen veil, holding in my hands the golden bough, I advanced without fear toward the spot where I had been ordered to pass the night. I was groping over hot sand which I felt give way under my every step. The clouds gathered overhead. Lightning flashed through the night and gave to the flames of the volcano a bloodlike appearance. At last I arrived and found an iron altar where I placed the mysterious bough . . . I pronounce the formidable words . . . instantly the earth trembles under my feet, thunder peals . . . Vesuvius roars in answer to the repeated strokes; its fires join the fires of lightning . . . The choirs of the genii rise into the air and make the echoes repeat the praises of the Creator . . . The hallowed bough which I had placed on the triangular altar suddenly is ablaze. A thick smoke envelops me. I cease to see. Wrapped in darkness, I seemed to descend into an abyss. I know not how long I remained in that situation. When I opened my eyes, I situation mais en ouvrant les yeux, je cherchai vainement les objets qui m’entouraient quelquetems auparavant; l’autel le Vésuve la campagne de Naples avoient fui loin de mes yeux j’étois dans un vaste souterrain, seul, éloigné du monde entier . . . près de moi était une robe longue, blanche, son tissu délié me sembla composé de fil de lin, sur une masse de granit etait posée une lampe de cuivre au dessus une table noire chargée de caracteres grecs m’indiquaient la route que je devois suivre je pris la lampe et après avoir revetu la robe je m’engageai dans un chemin étroit dont les parois étaient revetus de marbre noir . . . Il avait trois mille de longueur, mes pas retentissaient d’une maniere effrayante sous ces voutes silencieuses enfin je trouvai une porte elle conduisait à des dégrés, je les descendis . . . après avoir marché longtems je crus appercevoir une lueur errante devant moi je cachai ma lampe je fixai mes yeux sur l’objet que j’entre, voyais il se dissipa s’évanouit comme une ombre.
Sans reproches sur le passé sans crainte sur l’avenir je continuai ma route elle devenait de plus en plus penible . . . toujours engagé dans des galeries composées de quartiers de pierres noires . . . je n’osais fixer le terme de mon voyage souterrain enfin après une marche immense, jarrivai à une place quarrée: une porte souvrait au milieu de chacune de ses quatre faces elles étaient de couleur différente et placée chacune à l’un des quatre points cardinaux, j’entrai par celle du septentrion elle étoit noire, celle qui me faisoit face étoit rouge, la porte de l’orient étoit bleue, celle qui lui etait opposée etait d’une blancheur éclatante vainly looked for the objects which had surrounded me a little time ago. The altar, Vesuvius, the country round Naples had vanished far from my sight. I was in a vast cavern, alone, far away from the whole world . . . Near by me lay a long, white robe; its loosely woven tissue seemed to me to be of linen. On a granite boulder stood a copper lamp upon a black table covered with Greek words indicating the way I was to follow. I took the lamp, and after having put on the robe I entered a narrow passage the walls of which were covered with black marble . . . It was three miles long and my steps resounded fearfully under its silent vault. At last I found a door that opened on a flight of steps which I descended. After having walked a long time I seemed to see a wandering light before me. I hid my lamp and fixed my eyes on the object which I beheld. It dissipated, vanishing like a shadow.
Without reproach of the past, without fear of the future, I went on. The way became increasingly difficult . . . always confined within galleries composed of black stone blocks . . . I did not dare to guess at the length of my underground travel. At last, after a long, long march I came to a square chamber. A door in the middle of each of its four sides opened; they were of different colours, and each door was placed at one of the four cardinal points. I entered through the north door which was black; the opposite one was red; the door to the east was blue and the one facing it was of dazzling white . . . In the middle of this chamber . . au centre de cette salle était une masse quarrée, une étoile de cristal brillait sur son milieu. On voyait une peinture sur la face septentrionale elle représentait une femme nue jusqu’a la ceinture, une draperie noire lui tomboit sur les genoux deux bandes d’argent ornaient son vêtement, dans sa main était une baguette, elle la posoit sur le front d’un homme placé vis-à-vis d’elle. une table terminée par un seul pied était entre eux deux sur la table était une coupe et un fer de lance, Une flame soudaine s’élevait de terre. et sembloit se diriger vers l’homme une inscription expliquait le sujet de cette peinture. Une autre m’indiquait les moyens que je devois employer pour sortir de cette salle.
Je voulus me retirer après avoir considéré le tableau et l’étoile, jallais entrer dans la porte rouge quand tournant sur ses gonds avec un bruit épouvantable elle se referma devant moi, je voulois tenter la même épreuve sur celle que décoroit la couleur de ciel, elle ne se ferma point mais un bruit soudain me fit détourner la tête, je vis l’étoile sagiter, elle se détache, roule et se plonge rapidement dans l’ouverture de la porte blanche, je la suivis aussitôt. was a square mass; on its center shone a crystal star. On the north side was a painting representing a woman naked to the waist; a black drapery fell over her knees and two silver bands adorned her garment. In her hand was a rod which she placed against the forehead of a man facing her across a table which stood on a single support and bore a cup and a lance-head. A sudden flame rose from the ground and seemed to turn toward the man. An inscription explained this picture; another indicated the means I was to employ in order to leave this chamber.

After having contemplated the picture and the star I was about to pass through the red door when, turning on its hinges with terrific noise, it closed before me. I made the same attempt with the door of sky-blue colour; it did not close but a sudden noise induced me to turn my head. I saw the star flicker, rise from its place, revolve, then dart rapidly through the opening of the white door. I followed it at once.

Section Three

SECTION THREE UN vent impétueux s’éleva jeus peine a conserver ma lampe allumée enfin un perron de marbre blanc s’offrit à ma vue j’y montai par neuf marches arrivé à la derniere j’apperçus une immense étendue d’eau; des torrens impétueux se faisaient entendre à ma droite, à gauche une pluie froide mellée de masses de grêle tombait près de moi je considérais cètte sçene majestueuse quand l’étoile qui m’avait guidé sur le perron et qui se balançait lentement sur ma tête se plongea dans le gouffre je crus lire les ordres du très haut je me precipitai au milieu des vagues une main invisible saisit ma lampe et la posa sur le sommet de ma tête. Je fendis l’onde écumeuse et m’efforçai de gagner le point opposé à celui dont j’étois parti, enfin je vis à l’horison une foible clarté, je me hatai, jétois au milieu des eaux et la sueur couvroit mon visage, je mépuisais en vains efforts la rive que je pouvois à peine appercevoir sembloit fuir devant moi à mesure que j’avançais, mes forces m’abandonnaient, je ne craignois pas de mourir, mais de mourir sans être illuminé . . . je perdis courage et levant vèrs la voute mes yeux baignés de pleurs. Je m’écriai "Judica judicium
A STRONG wind arose and I had difficulty in keeping my lamp alight. At last I saw a white marble platform to which I mounted by nine steps. Arrived at the last one I beheld a vast expanse of water. To my right I heard the impetuous tumbling of torrents; to my left a cold rain mixed with masses of hail fell near me. I was contemplating this majestic scene when the star which had guided me to the platform and which was slowly swinging overhead, plunged into the gulf. Believing that I was reading the commands of the Most High, I threw myself into the midst of the waves. An invisible hand seized my lamp and placed it on the crown of my head. I breasted the foamy wave and struggled to reach the side opposite the one which I had left. At last I saw on the horizon a feeble gleam and hastened forward. Perspiration streamed down my face and I exhausted myself in vain efforts. The shore which I could scarcely discern seemed to recede to the degree 1 advanced. My strength was ebbing. I feared not to die, but to die without illumination . . . I lost courage, and lifting to the vault my tear-streaming eyes meum et redime me, propter eloquium tuum vivifica me," à peine pouvois-je agiter mes membres fatigués j’enfonçais de plus en plus quand j’apperçus près de moi une barque, un homme couvert de riches habits, la conduisoit, je remarquai que la proue etoit tournée vèrs la rive que j’avois quitté, il s’approcha, une couronne d’or brillait sur son front vade me cum me dit-il, mecum principium in terris, instruam te in via hac qua gradueras. Je lui répondis à l’instant bonum est sperare in Domino quam considere in principibus . . . à l’instant la barque et le monarque s’abimerent dans le fleuve une force nouvelle sembla couler dans mes veines je parvins à gagner le bût de mes fatigues, je me trouvai sur un rivage semé de sable vert. Un mur d’argent étoit devant moi deux lames de marbre rouge étaient incrustées dans son épaisseur, j’approchai l’une était chargé de caracteres sacrés sur l’autre étoit gravée une ligne de lettres grecques entre les deux lames etait un cercle de fer deux lions, l’un rouge et l’autre noir, reposaient sur des nuages et semblaient garder une couronne d’or placée au dessus deux, on voyoit encore près du cercle un arc et deux fleches je lus quelques caracteres écrits sur les flancs d’un des lions. à peine avais-je observé ces différens emblêmes, qu’ils disparurent avec la muraille qui les contenait.

I cried out: "Judica judicium meum et redime me, propter eloquium tuum vivifica me." (Judge thou my judgment and redeem me, by thy eloquence make me live.) I could hardly move my tired limbs and was sinking more and more when near me I saw a boat. A richly dressed man guided it. I noticed that the prow was turned toward the shore which I had left. He drew near. A golden crown shone on his forehead. "Vade me cum," said he, "mecum principium in terris, instruam to in via hac qua gradueris." (Come with me, with me, the foremost in the world; I will show thee the way thou must follow.) I instantly answered him: "Bonum est sperare in Domino quam considere in principibus."(It is better to trust in the Lord than to sit among the mighty.) Whereupon the boat sank and the monarch with it. Fresh energy seemed to course through my veins and I gained the goal of my efforts. I found myself on a shore covered with green sand. A silver wall was before me inlaid with two panels of red marble. Approaching I noticed on one of them sacred script, the other being engraved with a line of Greek letters; between the two plates was an iron circle. Two lions, one red and the other black, rested on clouds and appeared to guard a golden crown above them. Also near the circle were to be seen a bow and two arrows. I read several characters written on the flanks of one of the lions. I had barely observed these different emblems when they vanished together with the wall which contained them.

Section Four

A sa place un lac de feu se présenta devant moi, le soufre et le bitume roulaient leurs flots enflammés je frémis, une voix éclatante m’ordonna de traverser ces flammes, j’obeis et les flammes semblerent avoir perdu leur activité longtems je marchai au milieu de l’incendie, arrivé dans un espace circulaire, je contemplai le pompeux spectacle dont la bonté du ciel daignait me faire jouir.

Quarante colonnes de feu décoraient la salle dans laqu’elle je me trouvois un coté des colonnes brilloit d’un feu blanc et vif, l’autre sembloit dans l’ombre une flamme noirâtre le couvrait; au centre de ce lieu s’elevait un autel en forme de serpent, un or verd embel, lissoit son écaille diaprée sur la qu’elle se réflettaient les flammes qui l’environ, naient, ses yeux semblaient des rubis, une inscription argentée etait posée près de lui. Une riche épée était plantée en terre près du serpent, une coupe reposoit sur sa tête . . . J’entendis le coeur des esprits célestes, une voix me dit le terme be tes travaux approche, prends le glaive, frappe le serpent.

IN its place a lake of fire presented itself to my sight. Sulphur and bitumen rolled in flaming waves. I trembled. A loud voice commanded me to pass through the flames. I obeyed, and the flames seemed tb have lost their power. For a long time I walked within the conflagration. Arrived at a circular space I contemplated the gorgeous spectacle which by the grace of heaven it was given me to enjoy.

Forty columns of fire ornamented the hall in which I found myself. One side of the columns shone with a white and vivid fire, the other side seemed to be in shadow; a blackish flame covered it. In the center of this place stood an altar in the form of a serpent. A greenish gold embellished its diapered scales in which the surrounding flames were reflected. Its eyes looked like rubies. A silvery inscription was placed near it and a rich sword had been driven into the ground near the serpent, on whose head rested a cup . . . I heard the choir of the celestial spirits and a voice said to me: "The end of thy labours draws near. Take the sword and smite the serpent."

Je tirai l’épée de son fourreau et m’approchant de l’autel je pris la coupe d’une main et de l’autre je portai un coup terrible sur le col du serpent, l’épée rebondit, le coup raisonna comme si javois frappé une cloche d’airain, à peine avois-je obéi a la voix que l’autel disparût les colonnes se perdirent dans l’immensité, le son que j’avois entendu en frappant l’autel se répéta comme si mille coups etaient frappés en même temps, une main me saisit par les cheveux et m’éleva vers la voute, elle souvrit pour me livrer passage, des vains fantômes se présenterent devant moi, des Hydres, des Lamies m’entourerent de serpens, la vue de l’epée que je tenois à la main écarta cette foule immonde comme les premiers rayons du jour dissipent les songes frêles enfans de la nuit. Après être monté par une ligne perpendiculaire à travers les couches qui composent les parrois du globe. Je revis la lumière du Jour.

I drew the sword from its sheath and approaching the altar I took the cup with one hand and with the other I struck a terrific blow upon the neck of the serpent. The sword rebounded and the blow re-echoed as if I had struck on a brass bell. No sooner had I obeyed the voice than the altar disappeared and the columns vanished in boundless space. The sound which I had heard when striking the altar repeated itself as if a thousand blows had been struck at the same time. A hand seized me by the hair and lifted me toward the vault which opened to let me through. Shadowy phantoms appeared before me—Hydras, Lamias and serpents surrounded me. The sight of the sword in my hand scattered the foul throng even as the first rays of light dissipate the frail dream-children of the night. After mounting straight upward through the layers that composed the walls of the globe, I saw again the light of day.

Section Five

SECTION FIVE A PEINE étais-je parvenu à la surface de la terre, que mon conducteur invisible m’entraina plus rapidement encore, la vélocité avec laqu’, elle nous parcourions les espaces aeriens ne peut être comparée à rien qu’a elle même; en un instant j’eus perdu de vue les plaines sur les qu’elles je dominais . . . j’avais observé avec étonnement, que j’étais sorti du sein de la terre loin des campagnes de Naples une plaine déserte quelques masses triangulaires étaient les seuls objets que j’eusse apperçu. Bientot malgré les épreuves que j’avois subies, une nouvelle terreur vint m’assaillir, la terre ne me semblait plus qu’un nuage confus, j’étois élevé à une hauteur immense mon guide invisible m’abandonna je redescendis pendant un assez long tems je roulai dans l’espace; déja la terre se deployait a mes regards troublés . . . je pouvois calculer combien de minutes se passeraient avant que j’aille me briser contre un rocher. Bientot prompt comme la pensée mon conducteur se précipe après moi il me reprend m’enleve encore une fois, il me laisse retomber, enfin il m’eleve avec lui à une distance incommensurable, je voyois des globes rouler autour de moi, des terres SCARCELY had I risen to the surface of the earth, when my unseen guide led me still more swiftly. The velocity with which we sped through space can be compared with naught but itself. In an instant I had lost sight of the plains below. I noticed with astonishment that I had emerged from the bowels of the earth far from the country about Naples. A desert and some triangular masses were the only objects I could see. Soon, in spite of the trials which I had undergone, a new terror assailed me. The earth seemed to me only a vague cloud. I had been lifted to a tremendous height. My invisible guide left me and I descended again. For quite a long time I rolled through space; already the earth spread out before my confused vision . . . I could estimate how many minutes would pass until I would be crushed on the rocks. But quick as thought my guide darts down beside me, takes hold of me, lifts me up again, and again lets me fall. Finally he raises me with him to an immeasurable distance. I saw globes revolve around me and earths gravitate at my feet. Suddenly the genius who bore me touched my eyes and I swooned. I know not graviter à mes peids tout à coup le genie qui me portois me touche les yeux, je perdis le sentiment. J’ignore combien de temps je passai en cet etat, à mon reveil je me trouvai couché sur un riche coussin, des fleurs des aromates, embaumaient l’air que je respirais . . . Une robe bleu semée d’étoiles d’or avoit remplacé le vetement de lin. vis-à-vis de moi était un autel Jaune. un feu pûr s’en exallait sans qu’aucune autre substance que l’autel même l’alimentat. Des caracteres noirs etaient gravés sur sa baze. Auprès etoit un flambeau allumé qui brilloit comme le soleil, au dessus etoit un oiseau dont les pieds etaient noirs, le corps d’argent; la tête rouge les ailes noires et Le Col d’or. Il s’agitait sans cesse mais sans faire usage de ses ailes. Il ne pouvoit voler que lorsqu’il se trouvoit au milieu des flammes. dans son bec etoit une branche verte son nom est celui de l’autel est l’autel, l’oiseau et le flambeau sont le simbole de tout, rien ne peut être fait sans eux, eux même sont tout ce qui est bon et grand. le flambeau se nomme Quatre inscriptions entouraient ces différents emblêmes. how long I remained in this condition. When I awoke I was lying on a luxurious cushion; the air I breathed was saturated with the fragrance of flowers . . . A blue robe spangled with golden stars had replaced my linen garment. A yellow altar stood opposite me from which a pure flame ascended having no other substance for its alimentation than the altar itself. Letters in black were engraved at the base of the altar. A lighted torch stood beside it, shining like the sun; hovering above it was a bird with black feet, silvery body, a red head, black wings and a golden neck. It was in constant motion without however using its wings. It could only fly when in the midst of the flames. In its beak was a green branch; its name is the name of the altar is Altar, bird and torch are the symbol of all things. Nothing can be done without them. They themselves are all that is good and great. The name of the torch is Four inscriptions surrounded these different emblems.

Section Six

JE me détournai et j’apperçus un palais immense, sa baze reposoit sur des nuages, des marbres composaient sa masse; sa forme étoit triangulaire quatre étages de colonnes s’élevaient les uns sur les autres. Une boule dorée terminoit cet édifice le premier rang de colonne étoit blanc, le second noir, le troisieme verd le dernier etoit d’un rouge brillant, je voulus après avoir admiré cet ouvrage des artistes éternels retourner au lieu où etoient l’autel, l’Oiseau et le flambeau, je voulois encore les observer ils étoient disparus, je les cherchois des yeux quand les portes du palais s’ouvrirent, un vieillard vénérable en sortit, sa robe etoit semblable à la mienne excepté qu’un soleil doré brilloit sur sa poitrine sa main droite tenoit une branche verte, l’autre soutenoit un encensoir, une chaine de bois etoit attachée à son col une thiare pointue comme celle de Zoroastre couvroit sa tête blanchie il s’approcha de moi; le sourire de la bienveillance erroit sur ses levres, Adore Dieu me dit-il en langue Persane, c’est lui qui ta soutenu dans les épreuves son esprit I TURNED aside and noticed an immense palace the base of which rested on clouds. Its mass was composed of marble and its form was triangular. Four tiers of columns were raised one above the other. A golden ball topped the edifice. The first tier of columns was white, the second black, the third green and the last one a brilliant red. I intended, after having admired this work of immortal artists, to return to the place of the altar, the bird and the torch; I desired to study them further. They had disappeared and with my eyes I was searching for them when the doors of the palace opened. A venerable old man came forth clad in a robe like mine, except that a golden sun shone on his breast. His right hand held a green branch, the other upheld a censer. A wooden chain was about his neck and a pointed tiara like that of Zoroaster covered his white head. He came toward me, a benevolent smile on his lips. "Adore God" said he to me in Persian. "It is He who sustained thee in thy trials; His spirit was with thee. My son, thou hast let étoit avec toi, mon fils,tu as laissé fuir l’occasion tu pouvais à l’instant saisir l’oiseau le flambeau, et l’autel tu serois serois devenu à la fois Autel, Oiseau et Flambeau. Il faut à présent pour parvenir au lieu le plus secret du Palais des sciences sublimes que tu en parcours tous les détours. viens . . . Je dois avant tout te présenter à mes frères. Il me prit la main et m’introduisit dans une vaste salle.
Des yeux vulgaires ne peuvent concevoir la forme et la richesse des orne-mens qui l’embellissoient trois cent soixante colonnes l’entouraient de toutes parts, au plafond étoit une croix rouge, blanche, bleue et noire. un anneau d’or la soutenoit. Au centre de la salle étoit un autel triangulaire composé des quatre élemens sur ses trois points étaient posés l’oiseau, l’autel et le flambeau. Ils ont changé de nom me dit mon guide, ici on nomme l’oiseau l’autel et le flambeau la salle est appellée l’autel triangulaire slip by the opportunity. Thou couldst have seized instantly the bird, the torch and the altar Thou wouldst have become altar, bird and torch at one and the same time. Now, in order to arrive at the most secret place of the Palace of sublime sciences, it will be necessary for thee to pass through all by-ways. Come . . . I must first of all present thee to my brothers." He took me by the hand and led me into a vast hall.
The eyes of the vulgar cannot conceive the form and richness of the ornaments which embellished it. Three hundred and sixty columns enclosed it on all sides. Suspended from a golden ring in the ceiling was a cross of red, white, blue and black. In the center of the hall was a triangular altar composed of the four elements; on its three points were placed the bird, the altar and the torch. "Their names are now changed," said my guide. Here the bird is called the altar and the torch The hall is called and the triangular altar Autour de l’autel etaient placés quatre-vingt-un Thrônes; on montait à chacun par neuf marches de hauteur inégale; des housses rouges les couvraient.
Pendant que j’examinois les thrônes, le son d’une trompette se fit entendre: a ce bruit les portes de la salle tournerent sur leurs gonds pour laisser passer soix an t ed i xn e u f personnes, toutes vetues comme mon conducteur. Elles s’approcherent lentement et s’assirent sur les thrônes, mon guide se tint de bout auprès de moi. Un viellard distingué de ses frères par un manteau de pourpre dont les bords etaient chargée de caracteres en broderies, se leva et mon guide prenant la parole en langue sacrée Voila dit-il un de nos enfans que Dieu veut rendre aussi grand que ses peres. Que la volanté du seigneur s’accomplisse répondit le vieillard. Mon fils ajoutatil en s’adressant à moi votre temps d’épreuves physiques est accompli . . . Il vous reste à faire de grands voyage, désormais vous vous appellerez avant de parcourir cet édifice, huit de mes frères et moi allons vous faire chacun un présent il vint à moi et me donna avec le baiser de paix. un cûbed e terre grise on le nomme le second trois cylindres de pierre noire appelée Around the altar were placed eighty-one thrones, to each of which one mounted by nine steps of unequal height, the treads being covered with red carpets.
While I was examining the thrones, a trumpet sounded whereupon the doors of the hall swung on theirhinges to let pass seventy-nine persons, all attired like my guide. Slowly they came near and seated themselves on the thrones while my guide stood beside me. An old man, distinguished from his brothers by a purple mantle the hem of which was covered with embroidered characters, arose, and my guide, addressing them in the sacred tongue, said: "Behold one of our children whom it is the will of God to make as great as his fathers." "May the will of the Lord be done," responded the old man, and turning to me he added: "My son, the time of thy physical trials is now ended . . . There remain long journeys for thee to undertake. Henceforth thy name shall be Before thou visit this edifice, each of my eight brothers and myself will present thee with a gift." He walked up to me and with the kiss of peace gave me a cube of grey earth called the second gave me three cylinders of black stone called le troisième un morçeau de cristal arrondi, on l’appelle le quatrieme une aigrette de plumes bleues nommée le cinquieme y joignit un vase d’argent, qui porte le nom de le sixieme une grappe de raisin connue parmi les sages sous le nom de le septième me presenta une figure d’oiseau semblable pour la forme à mais il n’avoit pas ses brillantes couleurs, il étoit d’argent, il porte le même nom me dit-il, c’est à toi a lui donner les mêmes vertus. le huitième me donna un petit autel ressemblant aussi à l’autel enfin mon conducteur me mit dans main un flambeau composé comme de particules brillantes mais il etoit eteint. c’est à toi ajoutatil comme ceux qui l’avoient précédé à lui donner les mêmes vertus, réfléchis sur ces dons, me dit ensuite le chef des sages tous tendent également à la perfection, mais nul n’est parfait par lui même, c’est de leur mélange que doit sortir l’ouvrage divin. Sache encore que tous sont nuls si tu ne les emploie suivant l’ordre dans le qu’el ils t’ont the third a small piece of rounded crystal called the fourth a crest of blue plumes named the fifth added a silver vase which carries the name of the sixth gave me a cluster of grapes known by the sages under the name of the seventh presented me with the figure of a bird similar in its form to but it had not its brilliant hues; it was of silver. "It has the same name," he said to me; "it is for thee to give it the same virtues." The eighth gave me a small altar, resembling the altar Finally my guide placed in my hand a torch composed, like of brilliant particles; however, it was not lighted. "It is for thee," he added, "like those that have preceded it to give it the same virtues." "Reflect on these gifts" then said the chief sage. "They all lead equally to perfection, but none of them is perfect in itself. It is from their admixture that the divine product must come. Know also that all of them are null if thou employ them not in the order in which thou hast received them. The second, which serves for the use of the first, remains merely été donné le second qui sert a employer le premier ne seroit qu’une matiere brute sans chaleur, sans utilité sans le secours de celui qui vient après lui, garde soigneusement les présens que tu as reçu et commence les voyages après avoir bû dans la coupe de vie. Il me présenta dans une coupe de cristal une liqueur brillante et safranée son gout étoit delicieux un parfum exquis s’en éxalloit. Je voulus rendre la coupe après avoir trempé mes levres dans la liqueur . . . achêve me dit le vieillard, ce breuvage sera la seule nouriture que tu prendras pendant le temps de tes voyages. J’obéis et je sentis un feu divin parcourir tous les fibres de mon corps, j’étois plus fort, plus courageux, mes facultés même intellectuelles, semblaient être doublées.
Je me hatai de donner le salut des sages à l’auguste assemblée que j’allais quitter, et par les ordres de mon conducteur, je m’enfonçai dans une longue galerie qui se trouvoit à ma droite. crude matter without warmth and without usefulness unless in its turn it is aided by that which comes after it. Guard carefully the gifts thou hast received and set out upon thy journeys after thou hast drunk from the cup of life." Hereupon he handed me in a crystal cup a shining liquor of saffron hue; its taste was delicious and it emitted an exquisite aroma. I was about to hand the cup back to him after moistening my lips in the liquor, when the old man said: "Drink it all; it will be thy only nourishment during thy journeys." I obeyed and felt a divine fire course through all the fibers of my body. I was stronger, braver; even my intellectual powers seemed doubled.

I hastened to give the greeting of the wise men to the august assembly I was about to leave, and at my guide’s command I entered a long gallery on my right hand.

Section Seven

A L’entrée de la galerie dans la qu’elle je me trouvois étoit posée une cuve d’acier, a mon approche elle se remplit d’une eau pure comme le cristal, qui vint s’épurer sur un sable blanc et fin. la cuve étoit ovale; Elle étoit soutenue sur trois pieds d’airain. une lame noire incrustée sur le coté qui regardoit la porte renfermoit quelques caractères. près de la cuve etoit un voile de lin. au dessus d’elle deux colonnes de marbre vert supportoit une plaque de marbre arrondie. On y voyoit entourée de deux inscriptions la figure du cachet sacré. . . formée d’une croix de quatre coleurs, attachée à une traverse d’or qui soutient 1 deux autres cercles concentriques le plus grand, noir. l’autre rouge. à l’une des colonnes étoit attachée une hache d’argent dont la hampe étoit bleue elle s’appelle après avoir lû les inscriptions, je m’approchai de la cuve et je my lavai, en commençant par les mains, je finis par m’y plonger, tout entier. J’y restai trois jours, en sortant de l’eau je m’apperçus qu’elle avoit AT the entrance of this gallery stood an oval steel vessel which upon my approach filled with crystal-clear water, purified by fine white sand. The vessel rested on three brass feet. A black panel had engraved on it several characters on the side facing the door. Near the vessel was a linen veil and above the vessel two green marble columns supported a round marble placque. One saw there, surrounded by two inscriptions, the figure of the sacred seal formed of a cross in four colours, attached to a golden crosspiece which upheld 2 two other concentric circles, the larger one being black, the other red. To one of the columns was attached a silver ax with a blue handle; it is called After reading the inscriptions I went up to the vessel and washed, first my hands, but finished by plunging in bodily. I stayed there three days, and on coming out of the water I saw that it had lost its transparency. Its sand had become grayish and rust-coloured particles stirred in perdu sa transparence. son sable étoit devenu grisâtre, des particules couleur de rouille s’agittaient dans le fluide. Je voulus me secher avec le secours du voile de lin, mais de nouvelles gouttes d’eau remplaçaient sans cesse celles dont le linge s’imbibait je renonçai à me sécher avec le voile et me tenant à l’ombre j’y restai immobile pendant six jours entiers; au bout de ce temps la source de ces eaux fut tarie je me trouvai sec et plus leger quoique mes forces me parussent augmentées. après m’être promené quelque temps je retournai a la Cuve, l’eau quelle contenoit étoit épuisée, a sa place étoit une liqueur rougeâtre, le sable étoit gris et métallique. Je m’y baignai de nouveau, en observant cependant de n’y rester que quelques instans, en me retirant je vis que j’avois absorbé une partie du liquide. cètte fois je ne tentai pas de tarir avec le linge, la liqueur dont j’étois imprégné, elle l’auroit détruit à l’instant; tant elle étoit forte et cor, rosive. Je fut à l’autre bout de la gallerie m’étendre sur un lit de sable chaud, j’y passai sept jours au bout de ce temps je revins à la cuve l’eau étoit semblable ala premiere, je m’y replongeai et en ressortis apres m’être lavé avec soin. cètte fois je parvins sans peine à m’essuyer, enfin après m’être purifié selon les instructions que j’avois reçu, je me disposai à sortir de cètte galerie après y être resté seize jours. the fluid. I tried to dry myself with the linen veil but fresh drops of water kept taking the place of those the linen absorbed. I gave up trying to dry myself with the veil and, keeping in the shade, I remained there motionless for six whole days. At the end of this time the source of these waters was exhausted. I found that I was dry and lighter though my strength seemed to be increased. After walking about for a little while I returned to the vessel. The water which had been in it was gone. In its place was a reddish liquid; the sand was gray and metallic. I again bathed in it, being careful however to remain there only a few moments. When stepping out of it I noticed that I had absorbed part of the liquid. This time I did not try to dry myself with the cloth, for the liquor with which I was saturated was so strong and corrosive that it would have instantly destroyed the fabric. I found myself at the other end of the gallery stretched out on a bed of warm sand where I spent seven days. After this time I returned to the vessel. The water was as it had first appeared. Once more I plunged into it and after having washed myself carefully, came out. This time I had no difficulty in drying myself. Finally, after having purified myself according to the mstructions I had received, I prepared to leave this gallery in which I had spent sixteen days.

Footnotes 59:1 deux cercles qu’entourent.

59:2 two circles which surround

Section Eight

SECTION EIGHT JE quittai la galerie par une porte basse et étroite et j’entrai dans un appartement circulaire . . . ses lambris étoient de bois de frêne et de sandal. au fond de l’appartement sur un socle composé de seps de vigne reposait une masse de sel blanc et brillant, au dessus étoit un tableau il représentoit un lion blanc couronné. et une grappe de raisin, ils etoient posés sur un même plateau, que la fumée d’un brasier allumé élevoit dans les airs. A ma droite et à ma gauche souvraient deux portes l’une donnoit sur une plaine aride. Un vent sec et brulant y régnoit en tout temps. l’autre porte souvroit sur un lac à l’extrémité du quel on appercevoit une façade de marbre noir.
Je m’approchai près de l’autel et pris dans mes mains du sel blanc et brillant. que les sages appellent Je m’en frottai tout le corps. Je m’en pénétrai et après avoir lu les hierogliphes qui accompagnoient le tableau je m’apprêtai a quitter cètte salle. mon premier dessein etoit de sortir Dar la porte aui donnoit I LEFT the gallery by a low and narrow door and entered a circular apartment the panelling of which was made of ash and sandal wood. At the further end of the apartment on a pedestal composed of the trunk of a vine lay a mass of white and shining salt. Above was a picture showing a crowned white lion and a cluster of grapes; both rested on a salver sustained in the air by the smoke of a lighted brazier. To my right and left two doors opened, one giving unto an arid plain. A dry and scorching wind blew over it continually. The other door opened on a lake at the extreme end of which a black marble façade could be seen.
I approached the altar and took into my hands some of the white and shining salt which the sages call and rubbed my entire body with it. I impregnated myself with it, and after having read the hieroglyphics accompanying the picture I prepared to leave this hall. My first intention was to leave sur la plaine, mais une vapeur brûlante s’en exalloit, je préférai le chemin opposé, j’avois la liberté de choisir, avec la condition cependant de ne pas quitter celui que j’aurois pris . . . Je me décidai à passer le lac, ses eaux étoient sombres et dormantes, j’appercevois bien à une certaine distance un pont nommé mais je préférai traverser le lac à la longue route que j’aurois été obligé de faire pour atteindre le pont, en suivant les sinuosités d’un rivage semé de rochers. j’entrai dans l’eau, elle étoit épaisse comme du ciment, je m’apperçus qu’il m’étoit inutile de nager, par tout mes pieds rencontrêrent le sol. Je marchai dans le lac pendant treize jours. Enfin je parvins à l’autre bord. by the door opening upon the plain, but there issued therefrom a hot vapor and I preferred the opposite path. I had the freedom of choice with the condition, however, not to leave the one once chosen. . . I decided to cross the lake; its waters were sombre and sleeping. At a certain distance I clearly noticed a bridge called To reach it I would have been obliged to follow the windings of a shore covered with rocks, and I preferred to cross the lake. I entered the water which was as thick as cement. I noticed that it was useless for me to swim since my feet touched bottom everywhere. I walked in the lake for thirteen days. At last I came to the other shore.

Section Nine

LA terre étoit d’une couleur foncée comme l’eau dans la qu’elle j’avois voyagé, une pente insensible me conduisit au pied de l’édifice que j’avois apperçu de loin, sa forme étoit un quarré long, sur le fronton étoient gravés quelques caracteres, semblables a ceux qu’employaient les Prêtres des anciens Persans. l’édifice entier étoit bâtide Basalte noir dépoli: les portes étoient de bois de ciprès; Elles s’ouvrirent pour me laisser passer; un vent chaud et humide s’élevant tout à coup me poussa rapidement jusqu’au milieu de la salle et en même temps referma les portes sur moi . . . Je me trouvai dans l’obscurité, peu à peu mes yeux s’accoutumerent au peu de lumiere qui régnoit dans cette enceinte, et je pûs distinguer les objets qui m’entouraient. la voute, les parois, le plancher de la salle étoient noirs comme l’ébène, deux tableaux peints sur la muraille fixerent mon attention l’un représentoit un cheval tel que les poetes nous peignent celui qui causa la ruine de Troie. De ses flancs entreuverts sortoit un cadavre humain. L’autre peinture offroit l’image d’un homme mort depuis longtems, les vils insectes enfans de la putréfaction, THE earth was as dark as the water through which I had come. A hardly perceptible slope led me to the base of the building which I had seen from afar. On its long square front several characters were engraved like those used by the priests of ancient Persia. The entire building was made of rough black basalt; the doors, of cypress wood, opened to let me pass. A warm, moist wind arose suddenly and pushed me rapidly to the middle of the chamber at the same time closing the doors upon me . . . I was in darkness, but gradually my eyes grew accustomed to the meager light which reigned in this enclosure and I was able to discern the surrounding objects. The vaulting, the walls and the floor of the chamber were as black as ebony. Two mural paintings arrested my attention; one represented a horse such as our poets describe as having caused the downfall of Troy. From its gaping flanks a human corpse protruded. The other image showed a man long dead. Vile insects bred by putrefaction swarmed over his face and devoured the substance which had given them birth. One of the arms of the dead man, stripped of its flesh, already showed s’agittaient sur son visage et dévoraient la substance qui les avoit fait naître, un des bras décharnés de la figure morte, loissoit déja aperçevoir les os; placé près du cadavre, un homme vetu de rouge s’efferçoit de le relever, une étoille brilloit . . . sur son front, des brodequins noirs couvroient ses jambes, trois lames noires chargées de caractères d’argent etoient posées au dessus, entre et au dessous des tableaux. Je les lus, et m’occupai à parcourir la salle où je devois passer neuf jours.

Dans un coin plus obscur se trouvoit un monçeau de terre noire, grasse et saturée de particules animales, je voulus en prendre, une voix éclatante comme le son d’une trompette me le défendit, il n’y a que quatre vingt sept ans que cette terre est posée dans cette salle me dit-elle . . . quand treize autres années seront écoulées, toi et les autres enfans de Dieu pourront en user. La voix se tut mais les derniers sons vibrêrent long temps dans ce temple du silence et de la mort. Apres y être resté le temps prescrit je sortis par la porte opposée à celle par la qu’elle j’étois entré. Je revis la lumiere, mais elle n’étoit pas assez vive autour de la salle noire, pour fatiguer mes yeux habitués à l’obscurité.
Je vis avec étonnement qu’il me falboit pour joindre les autres édifices traverser un lac plus large que le premier, je marchai dans l’eau pendant dix huit jours. Je me souvins que dans la premiere traversée les eaux du lac devenoient plus noires et plus épaisses à mesure que j avançois, au contraire dans celle ici plus j’approchais de la rive, et plus les eaux s’éclaircissoient. Ma robe qui dans le palais étoit devenue the bones. A man, dressed in red, standing by the corpse, endeavoured to lift it. A star shone on his forehead; his legs were enclosed in black buskins. Above, between and below the picture were three black panels bearing silver characters. I read them and then occupied the time by making the rounds of the hall where I was to spend nine days.

In a dark corner I found a pile of black earth which was fat and saturated with animal particles. I was about to take some of it when a thundering voice, like the sound of a trumpet, forbade me to do so, saying: "This earth has lain in this hall only eighty-seven years; when thirteen more years have elapsed, thou and the other children of God may use it." The voice fell silent, but its last ringing sounds continued to vibrate a long time in that temple of silence and death. After remaining in it the time prescribed, I departed by the door opposite to the one through which I had entered. I again saw the light, but it was not so strong around the black hall as to tire my eyes habituated to darkness.
I saw with surprise that in order to reach the other buildings I should have to cross a wider lake than the first one. For eighteen days I walked in the water. I recalled that when crossing the first lake its waters became darker and thicker as I advanced. The waters of this lake, on the contrary, became ever clearer the closer I approached the shore. My robe, which had in the palace become as black as the walls, seemed noire comme les murailles me parut alors d’une teinte grisâtre, elle reprit peu à peu ses couleurs, cependant elle n’étoit pas entierement bleue, mais approchant d’un beau verd.
Après dix huit jours je montai sur le rivage par un perron de marbre blanc; la salle est nommée le premier lac le second to me to be of a grayish hue; gradually it resumed its colours; however, it did not become entirely blue but was nearer to a beautiful green.
After eighteen days I ascended the embankment by means of a white marble platform. The name of the hall is the first lake the second

Section Ten

AQUEL que distance du rivage un palais somptueux élevoit dans les airs ses colonnes d’albâtre, ses différentes parties étoient jointes par des portiques couleur de feu, tous l’édifice étoit d’une architecture légère et aérienne. Je m’approchai des portes, sur le fronton était représenté un papillon. Les portes étoient ouvertes. J’entrai, le palais entier ne formait qu’une seule salle . . . trois rangs de colonnes l’entouraient, chaque rang était composé de vingt sept colonnes d’albâtre. Au centre de l’édifice était une figure d’homme, elle sortait d’un tombeau sa main appuyée sur une lance frappait le pierre qui la renfermait autrefois, une draperie verte, ceignit ses reins l’or brillait au bas de son vêtement sur sa poitrine était une table quarrée, sur laquelle je distinguai quelques lettres. Au dessus de la figure était suspendue une couronne d’or, elle semblait s’élever dans les airs pour la saisir. Au dessus de la couronne étoit une table de pierre jaune, sur la qu’elle étoient gravés quelques emblêmes, je les expliquai par le secours de l’inscription que j’apperçus sur le tombeau, et par celle que j’avais vûe sur la poitrine de l’homme.

AT some distance from the shore a sumptuous palace raised aloft its alabaster columns; its different parts were joined by porticos of flame colour. The entire edifice was of light and airy architecture. As I approached the portals, I saw that the front was decorated with the figure of a butterfly. The doors stood open . . . I entered. The entire palace consisted of a single hall . . . surrounded by a triple colonnade, each rank composed of twenty-seven alabaster columns. In the middle of the building stood the figure of a man issuing from a tomb; his hand, holding up a lance, struck the stone which previously confined him. His loins were girt about with a green garment; gold gleamed from its hem. On his breast was a square tablet bearing several letters. Above this figure hung a golden crown and the figure seemed to lift itself into the air in order to seize the crown. Above it was a yellow stone tablet bearing several emblems which I explained by means of the inscription I saw on the tomb and by the one I had seen on the breast of the man.
Je restai dans cètte salle appellée le temps nécessaire pour en contempler tous les détours et j’en sortis bientôt dans l’intention de me rendre à travers une vaste plaine à une tour que j apperçus a une assez grande distance.
I stayed in that hall which is called the time needful for contemplating all its aisles, and soon I left it with the intention of crossing a vast plain in order to reach a tower that I had perceived at quite some distance.

Section Eleven

SECTION ELEVEN APEINE j’avois quitté les marches du palais, que j’apperçus voltiger devant moi un oiseau semblable à mais celui ci avoit deux ailes de papillon outre les siennes, une voix sortant d’un nuage m’ordonna de le saisir et de l’attacher. Je m’élançai àprès lui, il ne voloit pas mais il se servoit de ses ailes pour courir avec la plus grande rapidité, je le poursuivis, il fuyoit devant moi et me fit plusieurs fois parcourir la plaine dans toute son étendue, Je le suivis sans m’arreter, enfin après neuf jours de course je le contraignis d’entrer dans la tour que j’avois vû de loin en sortant de les murailles de cet édifice étoit de fer . . . trente six pilliers de même métal les soutenoit l’intérieur étoit de même matiere, incrusté d’acier brillant. Les fondemens de la tour étoient construits de telle maniere que sa hauteur etoit doublée sous terre. à peine l’oiseau fut il entré dans cette enceinte qu’un froid glacial sembla s’emparer de lui il fit de vains efforts pour mouvoir ses ailes NO sooner had I quitted the steps of the palace when I saw fluttering in front of me a bird similar to this one, however, having two wings like a butterfly’s besides its own. A voice issuing from a cloud commanded me to seize and to affix it and I darted forth after it. It did not fly but used its wings in order to run with the greatest rapidity. I pursued it; it fled before me and made me cover the entire plain several times. I followed it without pause. Finally, after pursuing it for nine days, I forced it to enter the tower which I had seen in the distance as I was leaving The walls of this edifice were of iron. Thirty-six columns of the same metal supported it. The interior was of the same material, incrusted with shining steel. The foundations of the tower were so constructed as to be twice as deep in the earth as they were high above ground. The bird had barely entered this enclosure when an icy cold seemed to overcome it. In vain it engourdies. Il s’agittoit encore, essayait de fuir, mais si foiblement que je l’atteignis avec la plus grande facilité.
Je le saisis, et lui passant un clou d’acier a travers les ailes je l’attachai sur le plancher de la tour. à l’aide d’un marteau appellé à peine avois-je fini que l’oiseau reprit de nouvelles forces, il ne s’agitta plus, mais ses yeux devinrent brillants comme des topazes j’étois occupé à l’examiner quand un grouppe placé au centre de la salle attira mon attention, il représentoit un bel homme dans la fleur de rage il tenoit à la main une verge qu’entouraient deux serpens entrelacés, et s’efforçait de s’échapper des mains d’un autre homme grand et vigoureux, armé d’une ceinture et d’un casque de fer sur le qu’el flottoit une aigrette rouge; une épée étoit près de lui elle etoit appuyée sur un bouclier chargé d’hieroglyphes; l’homme armé tenoit dans ses mains une forte chaine il en lioit les pieds et le corps de l’adolescent qui cherchoit vainement à fuir son terrible adversaire; deux tables rouges renfermaient des caracteres.
Je quittai, la tour et ouvrant une porte qui se trouvoit entre deux pillers je me trouvai dans une vaste salle. tried to move its numbed wings. It still fluttered, trying to flee, but so feebly that I reached it with the greatest ease.
I seized the bird, and driving a steel nail through its wings, I affixed it to the floor of the tower with the aid of a hammer called Hardly had I finished when the bird acquired new strength. It did not move, however, but its eyes began to shine like topaz. I was gazing at it when my attention was attracted by a group in the center of the hall. It showed a handsome man in the prime of life. In his hand he held a staff about which two serpents were interlaced. The young man was striving to escape a larger and more powerful man who wore a girdle and a helmet of iron surmounted by waving red plumes. Near him a sword lay on a buckler covered with hieroglyphs. The armed man held in his hand a heavy chain with which he shackled the feet and body of the youth who tried in vain to flee from his terrible adversary. Two red tablets bore certain characters.

I departed from the tower, and opening a door between two pillars I found myself in a vast hall.

Section Twelve

LA SALLE dans la qu’elle je venois d’entrer étoit éxactement ronde, elle ressembloit à l’intérieur d’une boule, composée d’une matiere dure et diaphane comme le cristal—elle reçevoit du jour par toutes ses parties. La partie inférieure étoit posée sur un vaste bassin rempli de sable rouge, une chaleur douce et égale régnoit dans cette enceinte circulaire. Les sages nomment cètte salle le bassin de sable qui la soutient porte le nom de je considerois avec étonnement ce globe de cristal quand un phénomène nouveau exita mon admiration: du plancher de la salle s’éleva une vapeur douce, moite et safranée elle m’environna, me souleva doucement et dans l’espace de trente six jours me porta jusqu’a la partie supérieure du globe, après ce temps la vapeur s’affaiblit je descendis peu à peu enfin je me retrouvai sur le plancher. ma robe changea de couleur, elle étoit verte lorsque j’entrai dans la salle, elle devint alors d’une couleur rouge éclatante. Par un effet contraire le sable sur lequel THE hall into which I had just entered was perfectly round; it resembled the interior of a globe composed of hard and transparent matter, as crystal, so that the light entered from all sides. Its lower part rested upon a vast basin filled with red sand. A gentle and equable warmth reigned in this circular enclosure. The sages call this hall The basin of sand sustaining it is called With astonishment I gazed around this crystal globe when a new phenomenon excited my admiration. From the floor of the hall ascended a gentle vapor, moist and saffron yellow. It enveloped me, raised me gently and within thirty-six days bore me up to the upper part of the globe. Thereafter the vapor thinned; little by little I descended and finally found myself again on the floor. My robe had changed its colour. It had been green when I entered the hall, but now changed to a brilliant red. A contrary effect had taken place in the sand on which the globe rested. Gradually reposait le globe, quitta sa couleur rouge et devint noir par dégrés je demeurai encore trois jours dans la salle après la fin de mon ascension.

Après ce temps j’en sortis pour entrer dans une vaste place environnée de colonnades et de portiques dorés au milieu de la place étoit un pied d’estal de bronze, il supportoit un grouppe qui présentoit l’image d’un homme grand et fort, sa tête majestueuse étoit couverte d’un casque couronné; à travers les mailles de son armure d’or, sortoit un vêtement bleu; il tenoit d’une main un bâton blanc, chargé de caracteres, et tendoit l’autre à une belle femme; aucun vêtement ne couvroit sa compagne, un soleil brilloit sur son sein, sa main droite supportoit trois globes joints par des anneaux d’or; une couronne de fleurs rouges ceignoit ses beaux cheveux, elle s’elançoit dans les airs et sembloit y élever avec elle le guerrier qui l’accompagnoit; tous les deux etoient portés sur des nuages autour de groupe, sur les chapiteaux de quatre colonnes de marbre blanc, etoient posées quatre statues de bronze; elles avoient des ailes et paroissaient sonner de la trompette.
Je traversai la place, et montant un perron de marbre qui se trouvoit devant moi, je vis avec étonnement que je rentrois dans la salle des thrônes, (la premiere où je m’étois trouvé en arrivant au palais de la sagesse) l’autel triangulaire étoit toujours au centre de cètte salle mais l’oiseau, l’autel et le flambeau étoient reunis et ne formoient plus qu’un corps. Près deux étoit posé un soleil d’or, lépée que j’avois apporté de la salle de feu, reposoit à quel que pas de là sur le coussin d’un des thrônes; its red colour had been transformed into black. After finishing my ascent I remained three more days in that hall.

After that time I left it in order to enter a large place surrounded by colonades and guilded porticos. In the center of the place stood a bronze pedestal supporting a group representing a large strong man whose majestic head was covered with a crowned helmet. A blue garment protruded through the meshes of his golden armour. In one hand he held a white staff bearing certain characters, the other hand he extended toward a beautiful woman. His companion wore no garment,but a sun radiated from her breast. Her right hand held three globes joined by golden rings; a coronet of red flowers confined her beautiful hair. She sprang into the air and seemed to lift with her the warrior who accompanied her; both were borne up by the clouds about the group. On the capitals of four white marble columns were set four bronze statues; they had wings and appeared to sound trumpets.
I crossed the place, and mounting on a marble platform which was before me, I noticed with astonishment that I had re-entered the hall of Thrones (the first in which I had found myself when entering the Palace of Wisdom). The triangular altar was still in the center of this hall but the bird, the altar and the torch were joined and formed a single body. Near them was a golden sun. The sword which I had brought from the hall of fire lay a few paces distant on the cushion of one of the je prie l’épée et frappant le soleil je le réduisis en poussiere, je le touchai ensuite et chaque molécule devint un soleil d’or semblable à celui que j’avois brisé. l’oeuvre est parfait s’écria à l’instant une voix forte et mélodieuse, à ce cri les enfans de la lumière s’empresserent de venir me joindre, les portes de l’immortalité me furent ouvertes, le nuage qui couvre les yeux des mortels, se dissipa, JE VIS et les esprits qui président aux élémens, me reconnurent pour leur maître.
FIN thrones; I took up the sword and struck the sun, reducing it to dust. I then touched it and each molecule became a golden sun like the one I had broken. At that instant a loud and melodious voice exclaimed,"The work is perfect!" Hearing this, the children of light hastened to join me, the doors of immortality were opened to me, and the cloud which covers the eyes of mortals, was dissipated. I SAW and the spirits which preside over the elements knew me for their master.

FINIS

Colophon

The Most Holy Trinosophia of the Comte de Saint-Germain. With introductory material by Manly P. Hall. Los Angeles: The Philosophical Research Society, 1933.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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