This is a central manuscript to Alchemical science.
Hermes Trimegistus, the Greek adoption of Thoth, is said to have created
the Art of Writing for mankind. This manuscript (most likely a papyrus
scroll) is said to have been found in his sepulchre (burial vault).
It would seem logical that the work was translated from Egyptian hieroglyphic
to Arabic to Greek and then to Latin.
For the Alchemist the best known version is the translation with
glosses by John Everard, Doctor of Divinity finished at Fulham on Sunday
August 9, 1640. This brings Hermes Trismegistus from the Egyptian/Greek
world into the Christian era with the Alchemical science of the Philosopher's
Stone. The Everard Translation.
For those who interested in Magick, there are two translations which
stick to the original intent of the scroll. The
Literal Translations.
For those interested in the translation of Latin to English, we have
included a line by line comparison of the various translations. The
Various Translations.
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Tabula Smaragdina
Verum, sine mendacio, certum,
et verissimum: Quod est inferious est sicut quod est superius, et quod
est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius.
Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab
uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re, adaptatione.
Pater eius est sol; mater eius
est luna. Portavit illud ventus in ventre suo; nutrix ius terra est. Pater
omnis telesmi totius mundi est hic. Virtus eius integra est, si versa fuerit
in terram.
Separabis terram ab igne, subtile
ab pisso, suaviter, magno cum ingenio. Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque
descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum.
Sic habebis gloriam totius mundi.
Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas. Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo
fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit.
Sic mundus creatus est. Hinc
erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est his.
Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus,
habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi.
Completum est quod dixi de operatione
solis.
....
