1. Lodovico Enoch Lazzarelli Septempedanus, once a poet, but now by new regeneration a son of the true wisdom, sends greetings to Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio. Dear teacher, dearly beloved father Giovanni Mercurio: I have become so absorbed in the study of the divine books of Hermes Trismegistus and also in the most holy words of Moses and the prophets, and most of all in those of Jesus Christ our Savior, that all other writings, whether of ancients or of moderns, have completely lost their appeal to me and make me sick to my stomach. For they are all sitting at one table, and with friendly faces serve their fellow dinner guests the fragrant dishes of the gods, and their refreshing drinks. Here is the food of the angels, here is the substance of God which attends to everyone's will, here is prepared the bread of heaven that has in it all delight and all that is sweet to the taste, here is the fountain of the water of life that springs up to eternal life, here is the consonant harmony of the words of God that reach into the soul, here the life-bestowing apples of the tree of life offer themselves to accommodate all wishes. Here, finally, is the fullness of the garden of all delights. And any man that will taste of them will be able to understand himself, to free himself from his ties with the material world, break free from the motions of the celestial harmony, escape from the light of obscurity, transcend the seven spheres, and thus join the ranks of the powers. All those who devote themselves to other authors and scriptures: what else do they find but the fleeting food of Tantalus, the substance of sin, a bread devised to draw down souls, a cup of forgetfulness, opinions that are at variance amongst themselves, the deadly apples of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—in one word, all the deadly lures of Hell? Having become entangled in them, man, who once had existed supreme above the harmony, has fallen into the harmony and has become a slave of death. So farewell, Aonian Parnassus, for henceforth I will sedulously celebrate Mount Zion. Farewell, well of Helicon, for henceforth I will be refreshed by the crystal-clear waters of that other well, which at the time of regeneration gush forth copiously in the heavenly city of Jerusalem descending from the sky, from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Farewell, Tymbrian Apollo, for henceforth and forever the Nazarene Christ will be my Guide and my God, my Godhead, my Father, and my Good. And finally, farewell to the nymphs, the daughters of King Pierus, for although there may be sixty queens and eighty concubines, and slave-girls without number, one only is my dove, and undefiled; she is her mother’s only one and the chosen of her that gave birth to her, rising from Lebanon overflowing with delights, fair as the Moon, beautiful as the Sun, terrible as an army in array. Only she now has ravished my heart. She has ravished my heart with one of her eyes, and one hair of her neck. What then shall I give you in return for such a gift, O guide, O most wise ruler of my life, who by your work has made me able to enjoy the delights of such a lovely maid? At the moment I really have nothing else but to dedicate all my works to you, freely and gratefully, for what they are worth. So while I read through all the books of Hermes that I possibly could, as a student of true wisdom, I did not omit the preface by Marsilio Ficino to those books that he recently translated into Latin, and which I am now sending you, with these others, as a token of my esteem. In it, I found many things that were quite elegantly, gracefully, and eloquently written about our Hermes, which filled me with love for the translator of the work, Marsilio, to a wonderful degree, because he had celebrated your father (and my grandfather) with so many excellent praises although the tongues of all the scholars together could not express and do justice to the merits of this truly perfect and godly man. One thing only I considered incorrectly said in the beginning of the preface, namely what he tells us later generations about the lifetime of this Hermes. For Trismegistus did not live after the times of Moses, as he tells us there, but, rather, a long time before, as can clearly be gathered from the books of Diodorus. For in his description of the dynasties of Egypt he relates how first the gods and then men reigned in Egypt. And it is a known fact that this Mercurius Trismegistus lived among the gods in the time of the gods: and it is well established that these gods were perfect and true men and sages. But Moses, as is quite clear from the sacred scriptures and many records of the ancients, lived in a period when the Pharaohs reigned in Egypt: people who were neither divine nor true and perfect men, but can scarcely be called human at all. For no one can be called human if he has not reached the true and proper form and force of a man, that is to say the light, the life, the mind, the word of God, and judgment and dominion over all things in the world: such as Hermes has not only reached himself, but has also abundantly poured forth to others in his sacred writings and teachings, and in his divine Crater. Now just think over this point of view of mine and as always give me your precise and true opinion, since you always bring light to dark and mysterious questions , for you know not only the origin, succession, duration, and end of the world, but also by your generosity make them known to me. You also bring about (if love does not blind me) that by your work the road to true wisdom, which had long been lost and put in doubt, has been made visible, straight and clear to all people. Goodbye, my guiding star, and love me as you always do. 2. An ode to Giovanni Mercurio of Correggio, by Lodovico Enoch Lazzarelli of Sanseverino, a born-again son of true wisdom. Counsel of our days, whom our era has given us;  O hope and salvation of your times, Father Mercurius, teacher by fatherly love, Hail to you, who are like a god to me. You have begotten me anew by ethereal seed, And taught me to be born again without deceit. As on wings of a bird you lift me to heaven, Who was pressed to the ground by the weight of the body. Already now you show me the teachings of Almighty Christ, Fathomed to the depths: a sweet work of salvation. The impassable roads were laid open by you; Those that used to be steep have become even. You alone have gone through the secret caves of father Hermes, By roads unknown to all, and have returned from there; You alone have unveiled the secrets of threefold nature, By you the sacred bosom of Pallas Athena was embraced. See, Father, I send you the cherished presents of your father, Look, I send you the sacred books of Hermes. He begat you, and behold, as a father you have made me new. You are my father, so I should call him grandfather. What he was the first to teach men, now you yourself Have begun to teach, yes, father, you may teach even better things. So his sacred name rightly belongs to you as well. The Word is in you and the high grace of the greatest God. See, by God's command, through you the golden ages now arise again, And once again man will own the gift that is his own. Poem. In the counsel of our fleeting days, a figure stands, Father Mercurius, a beacon to our lands. With fatherly love and guiding hand so true, Hail to the one who feels as a god anew. Through ethereal seeds, you've sown a rebirth, Taught me to rise above the weight of earth. Like a bird on wings, you lift me high, From the shadows of the ground to the open sky. Your teachings of Christ, vast as the sea, A sweet work of salvation, setting spirits free. You paved clear the once impassable road, Made smooth the paths that once heavily slowed. Through secret caves of Hermes, you alone did tread, Paths unseen, where others feared to tread. You revealed the threefold wisdom we seek, And embraced the sacred knowledge, unique. Father, I send you these cherished scrolls, The sacred books where Hermes’ wisdom unrolls. As he begot you, you’ve made me anew, In this lineage of knowledge, I call you my due. What he first taught to early men, You now impart, teaching even better than then. His sacred name, a title you bear, With the Word and God's grace, beyond compare. Through you, Father, the golden ages arise, And once again, man's true gift will reprise. In the dawn of ages, renewed and divine, Through your counsel, humanity again will shine. 3. Lodovico Enoch Lazzarelli of Sanseverino, once a poet but now by new regeneration a son of the true wisdom, sends greetings to Giovanni Mercurio of Correggio, and wishes him peace and grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. My dear father and most benign teacher Giovanni Mercurio, when under your guidance and by the grace of Almighty Jesus Christ I set foot on the inscrutable ways of true wisdom, I took my leave from the fountains of Aganippe and Pegasus, which had never quenched my thirst, and while as a hart that is thirsting after Zion's green fields, I tried to reach that sweetest fountain that wells up from the mouth of God and of the Lamb, towards that inaccessible and most lucid darkness of God, it happened that among the old books of godlike men which I sedulously explored I quite unexpectedly fell upon a goblet of nectar filled with all sweetness, which I do not doubt has emanated from the divine and immense mixing-bowl of Hermes Trismegistus, that is to say: a Greek booklet titled the Definitions of Asclepius. And when I read it through I was wonderfully impressed by its brevity and the mystic way in which it renders our tradition of divine wisdom. For while I read it, it filled me with that sweetness which I have often (and with joy and pleasure) tasted in a pure supper, without animals, at the table of the Lamb, shared out by your generous and gracious mind, far away from prying eyes. And since it seems to me that the delight of a son and disciple cannot be complete if he does not share it with his father and teacher, I have translated this little Greek work into Latin for you —not with great sophistication, but rather without any verbosity or embellishments, word by word according to the Greek. I took into account that the Greek interpreter (whoever he may have been) who first rendered this work from the Egyptian idiom into his native tongue did this the same way. For it does not smack of Greek eloquence, but looks more like some

EPISTOLA ENOCH of Lodovico Lazzarelli, translated by Wouter J. Hanegraaff

Enoch —the first-born child and little one of the Lord, steering clear of the tree and wisdom of death, and thus, in the blood of the Testament, walking through Paradise with God, in whom alone is all the bread of life and understanding and all the water of saving wisdom, joyfully sprouting virgins from the living fountains of the Redeemer according to the riches of the power of his glory, wherein he has more than overflowed towards us in the whole of the tree and the wisdom of life—make known this sacred mystery to the nations, that somehow we may be a beginning of his creation. To all the peoples, tribes, and tongues and nations, and to all the kings: sanctification, peace, and grace in the Holy Spirit, the fruit of Life and truth, and an eternity of supreme bliss, from our God and Father and his son Christ Jesus. 

If the deeds of the ancient sages are recorded in the annals with great care and the highest attention, so that their memory may be passed on to posterity and be most helpful to mankind, and may by various examples caution us what each of us should do or leave undone, what then could hold me back, who witnessed these things today? What could deter my soul, that I would lay down the pen and pass over in silence a thing wholly new and full of wonder—a thing, I say, that is worthier of everlasting than of endless memory, a thing glittering with the light of mysteries, that was seen (not without disturbing the souls of many) in our own days in the City of Rome; something that, if it will be transmitted to posterity, will certainly (and easily more than all other stories) dim the majesty of all the ancient prodigies? 

We have read many stories of the Egyptians, of the Greeks, the Latins, the Hebrews and of other peoples; but we cannot remember that we ever had before our reading eyes and contemplating mind a more marvelous mystery, a more memorable portent. With great acumen, we have studied (not to mention other things) the mystic sayings and wondrous and portentous actions of the Hebrew theologians or prophets, who surpass the sages of all other nations in divine inspiration. 

We have read how Jeremiah ran through all of Jerusalem with a yoke of wood and then one of iron; again how he brought a linen loincloth to the Euphrates in Syria, where he hid it in a hole in the rock until it was marred, to destroy the pride of Jerusalem and Judah; and how to the valley of the son of Hinnom he took an earthen vessel, which he broke to pieces in the sight of many, as a sign of the dispersion of Jerusalem and Judah. We have also seen Ezekiel, who drew the city of Jerusalem on a tile and laid siege against it, who ate bread defiled with cow-dung for 390 days, and who divided the hairs shaved from his head and beard into three parts: the first he burned in the center of the city, the second he cut to pieces with a sword in its outskirts, the third he dispersed in the wind. He also broke through the wall of his house as if he were moving out and, having emerged through it in the sight of the people, carrying his movable goods on his shoulders, he covered his face so as not to see the ground, as a sign for the house of Israel. 

We noted how Isaiah walked naked and barefoot, to be a sign and portent upon Egypt and Ethiopia for three years. We also know of a tradition about another son of the prophets, who by the word of the Lord ordered someone to smite him and, as soon as he had received a wound, disguised his eyes and mouth with ashes, so that he would not be recognized, and then went and waited for the king of Israel, and finally, in a prophetical speech, invoked the inevitable judgment of God upon the king and people of Israel. Somebody else appeared to the kings of Israel and Judah with iron horns of a bull, as a token of their victory. And I could continue with many others who were wholly aloof from common custom and the wisdom and glory of this world, and who publicly came forward to warn the people by way of divine and uncommon portents. 

But far above all others, and with more wondrous and portentous apparel, a more mystic order and prophetic speech, in this final state of our unhappy and dark age we have seen that divine, Christian man appear, of whom we are about to speak. And certainly not without reason, believe me, if rightly perceived. For since in God’s wisdom the world did not know God by wisdom, it has pleased God, as is written, to save those who believe by the foolishness of such a prophecy. Therefore, God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise; and the weak things of this world he has chosen to confound the mighty; and the base and despised things God has chosen, and those that are not, to destroy the things that are: that no flesh should be proud in his presence.

 So it is no wonder at all if this man, like all the other pious, pure, holy, and sacred prophets, has been treated by the foolish with calumny and quite a bit of disrespect. For those who in this world dedicate themselves to divine and spiritual wisdom do not like the multitude, nor does the multitude like them; they are laughed at and considered insane, at times they may even be hated, maltreated, or murdered. 

Was not the very Creator and Savior of this world, Jesus the Nazarene, the Son of the Living God and Son of the Virgin, considered to be insane and to have a demon, because of his unusual and portentous deeds and his allegorical speeches, by which he revealed things kept secret from the foundation of the world; did not the Pharisees call him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners? And finally, through the verdict of the godless, this immaculate Lamb was nailed to the cross, as a robber, a blasphemer, and a rebel against the law. 

Stupid and carnal men have always been hostile to wisdom; and the righteous, the sons of divine wisdom, whom the world does not deserve, are usually held in derision and treated as an object of reproach. But in the end, the wise shall stand and shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars in eternity everlasting, for their reward is with the Lord, and the thought of the Most High is with them; therefore they will receive a kingdom of splendor from the hand of the Lord and a beautiful crown from the hand of their God, giving praise to Him who has called them thus out of the darkness of this world and into the heavenly kingdom.

Therefore, if you delight in thrones and scepters, you kings and peoples, devour this book and this bread of the elect and drink this chalice of wisdom, forsake your childishness, wake up a little, flee the darkness of this world, raise up your spirit and lift up your minds. Remember the stories of famous men, and enter into the hidden recesses of the words. Take a deep breath and come to your senses. Return to the fountain of life. Embrace Him who will lead you into the portals of truth. Investigate the secrets of the portents and explore the hidden meanings of the parables. There you will find a shining light that knows no darkness. There no one will be raving in intoxicated dreams, but all will be sober and awake, and with their mind’s eyes will clearly see Him that wants to be seen. The ear cannot hear Him, nor the eye behold Him, nor can speech describe Him. Only the mind can see Him; only the mind can preach Him. 

But first we must take off that tunic that we are wearing, that garment of ignorance, that pillar of depravity, that bond of corruption, that veil of darkness, that living death, that sentient corpse, that portable tomb. That thing that hates us when it loves, and envies when it hates. Such is the fiendish covering by which we are enveloped. It draws us downwards to itself so that we may not — by seeing the beauty of truth and the good that is close by — hate its depravity and perchance perceive the traps it assiduously lays against us. It blunts and numbs the sharpness of our interior senses, suffocates them with dense matter and makes them drunken with an abominable and disgusting lust, so that we may neither hear nor see what we should rightly hear and see first of all. 

For it is impossible, brothers, for the soul of a man to assume a divine form while lying in the waste of the body; nor is it permissible to look at the beauty of God if one has not first been transformed into a god. For the supreme good of those who come to know themselves is to become a god. They join the legions of the powers, and having become powers they enjoy God. So rise up, rise up, behold and consider what above all the Almighty might want to make clear with this example. I shall only give you a plain and unadorned account of the incident, without any interpretation.

In this year 1484 since the incarnation of God’s Son, on the 11th day of April, the feast of Palm Sunday, on which the entire Orthodox and Catholic Church of Christians remembers that great sign of veneration bestowed upon Christ Jesus when the children of the Hebrews took olive branches and went out to meet Him; when Sixtus IV was Pontifex Maximus and Frederick III was Emperor of the Romans, a man appeared openly to the Pope, the bishops, the priests, the princes, and all the people in the city of Rome, in the sign, the name, the word and spirit of the Universal and Terrible Judge; and for many days thereafter, with wise words, a kind face and a pleasant demeanor, he daily conversed with many. 

He looked about thirty-three years old, of medium height and with a graceful and erect stature, lively and very intelligent, with a thin and venerable face, a beard, and all of his body hairless. His eyes were vivid; his chestnut-colored hair hung down like waving curls; he had never learned grammar or rhetoric but was a good and eloquent speaker, not a rascal or a rabble-rouser, and deeply averse to the leaven of the Pharisees, that is to say to the hypocrisy and sheep’s clothing of the Antichrist. He was burning with zeal for the worship and honor of God, and while nobody had taught him, he was most erudite in the doctrines of the faith, through the inspiration of the spirit that is in us from God; gentle in admonition, terrible in rebuke — someone loved, admired and respected by his audience. To make you understand more clearly the manner of this appearance, and put it more vividly before your reading eyes as I myself have seen it, I will describe the whole thing from the start. 

The sun had already risen when this man we are talking about mounted a black snorting horse; he was clothed in a silvery grey silken tunic and a black robe, girt with a golden girdle, wearing red boots and a purple mitre. Next, he went to the Vatican, preceded by two servants (the designs that were embroidered on their tunics, which were in harmony with this prophetical occasion, will be described below) and followed by two more on horseback. From there he returned through the center of the city and reached the Caelimontine Gate, known as the Asses' Gate or the Gate of Saint John, so that the numerous crowd that met him could rightly infer that the person who accomplished such a marvel — driven by the Spirit of the Lord — had not completely lost his sanity. 

After that, outside the gate known as Marcano's, on the other side of the river, on a grassy bank, he got off his horse, put sandals on his feet, and dressed and robed himself in bloodstained linen. His hair, parted in the middle after the fashion of the Nazarenes, he crowned with a bloodstained crown of thorns, on top of which was fixed, in front, a silver-plated disc shaped like the crescent moon, on which the following mystical oracle of the Holy Spirit was written: 

This is my Servant Pimander, whom I have chosen. This Pimander is my supreme and waxing child, in whom I am well pleased to cast out demons and proclaim my judgment and truth to the heathen. Do not hinder him, but hear and obey him with all fear and veneration; thus speaks the Lord your God and Father of every talisman of all the world, Jesus of Nazareth. 

Then he hung an inkwell from his reins, and took a reed-staff with seven knots like a scepter in his hand. Engraved on a black field on his chest, and on a blue field on his back, on round golden discs more than one palm in diameter, after the fashion of the breastplate of judgment and the shoulder pieces of Aaron, he wore a thau: the name and symbol of the Lord on High. And if I would even begin to relate what was engraved and symbolized thereon, my mind would fail me, nor would there be words capable of describing the magnitude of these sacraments. Immortal God! What secret mysteries and stupendous oracles were laid open there. 

That you would receive, O sons of wisdom, the faculty to fly with me on the wings of your mind to the summit of this lovely and hidden mystery! O most happy sight, my brothers, O most blessed vision: to comprehend in one single moment the whole range of the stars, the motionless maker in motion and the hidden world made manifest. 

This is an image of the mind, or, more exactly, a translation or downpouring of all things that are governed and accomplished in the mind of God. And if I am to speak more clearly, this image is truly a temple of our faithful God, an image always sacred and well-beloved of God, which by its bond with God is truly the only drawing-down of the gods to earth, and the teacher of holiness and piety. This is the birth-chain of the world, the reformation of all good things and the most holy restitution of nature itself; not — like the miracles of a prophet — through nature alone, but like the miracles of God’s fullest majesty, that shine and shimmer without end — so that even the world itself seems admirable and miraculous, and God, the Maker and Redeemer of that great work, and also his eternal power and divinity, will be celebrated with frequent benedictions and effusions of praise by the people living now. 

For this is the splendor of the power of God on High, and veritably like a true emanation of the luster of Almighty God. This is the brilliance of the light eternal, the spotless mirror of God’s Majesty and an image of his goodness. This is the book of Enoch, the vision of Hermes, Noah’s Ark, the sign of the Covenant of the Lord, the rod and tabernacle of Moses. This is the Ark of the Testament, the shield of Joshua, the sword of Gideon, Deborah’s heaven, the stone and sling of David, the mercy seat of Solomon; this is the engraved tile of Ezekiel, the gray and primary stone of Zorobabel, of the diviners and driving the soothsayers to frenzy; causing the wise men to turn back and turning the wisdom of the magi to folly, awakening the word of his servant and bringing to fulfillment the counsel of his heralds. Regarding specific points, I speak within the bounds set to humans and imposed by due respect for God. But let us return to the story where we left off. 

Dressed like this, that divine man withdrew himself a little from his servants, knelt down in the grass, lifted his eyes up to heaven, raised up his mind to God the Father of all, and offered up a silent prayer. When that was completed, he — who only a little before had spurred on his fiery and warlike horse — humiliated himself and mounted a slow, white, cheap ass belonging to someone else. 

From the shoulders of that little donkey hung two saddlebags, one on each side: the one on the right carried a round wooden box that was painted sky-blue, the one on the left a black one. On the blue one was written in golden letters: “full for those who are full, empty for those who are empty.” And on the black one: “empty for those who are empty, full for those who are full.” Also, from the left shoulder of the ass hung a basket that contained a dry dead man’s skull. 

Then he ordered his servants, who earlier had marched in front of him on foot, to mount their horses. They were clad in sky-blue tunics, on the front of which rose an embroidered mountain consisting of six small hills with eyes on top, from the summit of which a shining star emitted six rays that threw a storm and fiery flashes all around the mountain. And at the foot of the mountain was written: “All in all abiding through all of the powers." On the back again three such mountains met the eye, ordered in the form of a triangle. And when they had mounted their horses, one took his place on the right-hand side and the other on the left. The one on the right sat on a large and beautiful horse, his tunic covered by a black mantle somewhat after the fashion of the apostles; and with his right hand he held up a book, not without great and mystical emphasis. But the one on the left rode a swift and warlike horse, his tunic was visible, and in his right hand he held a sheathed sword, as an omen of things to come. When everything had thus been put in order, the man on the ass in between the two horses made the sign of the cross and began moving forward at a good pace, murmuring a silent invocation against the city; and having entered the Caelimontine Gate from the east, he appeared before the gates of Saint John’s of the Lateran. Then he lifted his eyes up to heaven, and from the bottom of his heart, he silently called upon God Almighty; and again he made the sign of the cross. Then he cast his gaze all around him and loudly called three times: “Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. From where the sun rises to where it sets, from the south and from the north, come hither and hear, and give heed you hosts of heaven."

And when a great concourse of people had gathered, for the fourth time he evangelized the word of the kingdom to all: 

Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. Fear God and give him glory and honor, and worship him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and the fountains of the great deep. For verily, verily I say unto you, as it pleases the Lord God himself, the God of the Christians: judgments are prepared for those who scorn him, and hammers to crush the bodies of the foolish. Fire, prison, famine, and plague, all these are created for punishment; the teeth of wild beasts and scorpions and snakes and swords to bring the godless to ruin.

They shall not harm or murder any of my holy people, says the Lord your God. For the house of God will be filled with a cloud by the majesty of the Lord through the splendor and substance of the power and the glory of the Living God, from whose terrifying face and the eternity of judgments heaven and earth shall flee, and death and hell will be cast into the lake of burning fire and brimstone, where the beasts and all the impure and deceitful spirits and devils will be tortured day and night for all eternity. And I will not spare them any longer when transgressions, abominations, and lies are committed — save those who, from the beginning, have been chosen and written in the book of the supper of the Lamb, who has covered me with the robe of salvation, and has dignified me with the crown of kingship and the staff of virtue to reduce to nothingness death and the bridle of the devil that is in the jaws of the people."

 And the living shall know that the Lord rules in the kingdom of the demons and will give it to whomever he pleases, putting the humblest of men in charge over it thus (for it is He, He, the supreme and sublime Ruler, the Lord God of Hosts, who sends me to you — Jesus, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob who is the living and immortal Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and final creator of all things, the Judge and Ruler most high, who lives in eternity, and whose holy name lives on high and in the holy, and with the contrite and humble spirit") that in this high and admirable sign and name of the majesty and glory of Him, whose name is every name and whose image is all of nature, the power of Behemoth will soon be broken, and the monster that is in the sea will be killed, and the crown of Leviathan’s pride shall be wholly smashed and destroyed unto the end. 

The kingdom, however, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom that is below and above the whole of heaven, shall thus be given to the people of the servants and sons of the most High, who themselves as well will follow the Lamb wherever he goes, riding on snow-white asses, being regenerated not from corruptible but from incorruptible seed by the word of God, that lives and abides forever and ever. 

 But you, little children, spiritual men and eagles of heaven, come hither, hasten and flock together from everywhere, from East and West and South and North, and give and you shall be given, give and you shall be given, give and you shall be given the thau: this sacred and ineffable name and sign of the Son of God and the Son of Man, that has power over all plagues of the wrath and fury of God Almighty, which leaps down from heaven, thus carrying with it from the royal seat the true kingdom of God, soon reaching and penetrating unto the very depths of hell, exalting the soul and illuminating the eyes, giving health and life and a blessing to kill death, eternal peace, a joyous kingdom and a supercelestial light and future to you, and to all things that they in their needs shall protect with it according to His way. 

 And when he had almost reached the end of his prophetic speech, with his left hand he took the dry human skull from the basket, struck it three or four times with the reed-staff and shouted:

 Vengeance! Vengeance! Vengeance this is of the Lord God the Father; this is the price exacted by the Son of God and Son of the Virgin, the judgment of retribution of the Holy Spirit. He who does not believe acts faithlessly, and he who is a spoiler spoils: the curse will devour him. 

Having said these things he took several sheets of paper from the basket, on which was written down what he had just said, and he scattered them amongst the people as if they were flying leaflets. And on them was written the following title and inscription:

 Giovanni Mercurio of Corregio, the Angel of Wisdom Pimander, in the highest and greatest ecstasy of the Spirit of Jesus Christ evangelize loudly unto all this water of the kingdom for the few.  Then he left, always accompanied by a great crowd of people bearing palm branches which they had just received at High Mass, and directed his steps through the center of the city towards the Vatican, where the Church of Saint Peter’s and the Palace of the Popes rise to the sky, and while moving forward he often spoke these words to the crowds he met:

Unto you, O men, I call and my voice is to the sons of wisdom. From where the sun rises to where it sets, from the North and the South, come hither and hear, and give heed, you hosts of heaven. All that are born of the earth and sons of man altogether, both rich and poor, boys and girls, old men and young, all of you. That the earth may listen and its vastness, that the sea and all its waves run hither. 

But the crowds that passed him by, that followed him or came to meet him, were of various opinions. Some said he was mad, some said he did it in fulfillment of a vow, but some — closer to the truth — acclaimed him as a prophet. But when he reached the square that is called the Campo de’ Fiori, he halted in the middle for some time, and with prophetic voice spoke as follows: 

Unto you, O men, I call and my voice is to the sons of man. From where the sun rises to where it sets, from the North and from the South, come hither and hear, and give heed you hosts of heaven. Fear God and give Him glory and honor, and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and the fountains of the great deep. For verily, verily, as it pleases the Lord God, Jesus Christ Almighty, here I am, descending from heaven with eternal power and majesty, in the sign, name, word, and spirit of this very Son of God and Son of the Virgin, who is and who was and who shall be coming like this to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire.

Then he continued his journey and often addressed the crowds the way we have described. But at last, quite suddenly, he reached the final stage of his progress when, on the square in front of the Church of Saint Peter’s, he seriously disturbed the troop of men on horseback that stood waiting for the bishops to return from the service; and someone, fearing a popular disturbance that had been predicted by astrologers some days before, loudly started yelling “Shut those doors! Shut those doors!" 

And our man, fearing nothing of the sun, confiding in his prophetic weaponry, murmured some godly prayer in a low voice. At this, it was as if suddenly the Spirit of the Lord invaded the armed mercenaries who were keeping guard over the Palace of the Pope; they took the arms and staffs with which they usually make way for the Pontiff, and likewise with reverence preceding him they shielded him from the crowd, and with great honor kept his way free on all sides. 

As soon as he had passed the first gate, he stopped before the inner doors of the sanctuary. And there, having called the people from the four corners of the earth three times, just as he had done at the Lateran, he announced the reign of the Gospel to everyone a fourth time, in the same words; and not without causing great astonishment among the onlookers he dug up his dead man’s skull from the basket, admonishingly struck it with the reed-staff at the last words of his sermon, and spread those fateful words through the crowd, which were written on many sheets of paper, to prevent them from being lost. After that the two servants descended from their horses and led the ass by hand to the threshold of the sanctuary. Then this spiritual man jumped from the ass and entered the church surrounded by a dense crowd of people, and came to the holy altar of Saint Peter’s. There he right away took off his mystical apparel and offered on the altar the linen shirt, the girdle, the crown, and also the sacred thau on its black and blue boxes, the reed-staff, the ink-well, the dry dead skull and a paper whereon was written “The Eternal Gospel." 

On bent knees he lifted his eyes and both his hands up to heaven, and gave abundant heartfelt thanks to God the Almighty Father and His Son Jesus Christ. And when all these things had been scrupulously done he left the church and went back to his lodgings, riding his horse as before, preceded by the two servants and followed by two others. And for many a day he was listened to with admiration by many who were thirsting for knowledge and had come from everywhere. Thereafter he returned to Bologna to his wife and children, where he is still living with his family. 

So that you may all be able to consider and understand this more clearly and fully: this is the same man who, about three years ago, on the 12th of November, when the cardinals were coming together for a gathering (a so-called consistory), appeared on the stairs of the palace, holding a sacred Bible mystically closed with seven seals, on the front cover of which this sacred oracle could be read: Verily, verily, it is done and finished. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let the earth hear, and all you heavens hear what I speak, hear you torrents of rain. Be silent, deep forests, and winds come to rest. Now be quiet, deep seas, and be still. Let the Lord's immortal cycle hear the hymn of regeneration. Let all the abyss of death and hell tremble, fear and shiver now for his Eternal Testament. For this is my beloved son Mercurius, whom I have chosen, Mercurius my dearly beloved and waxing son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him and obey him, all you works of my hands," speaks the Almighty 

Behold, I have given my words in his mouth and see, I have protected him in the sign and spirit of my mind, and have established him today as my god, my guide and my teacher, over all peoples and all kingdoms of nature, to uproot and destroy and disperse and demolish, to build and to plant the heaven and the earth, the sea and all things that are therein, and the fountains of the great deep." 

And he will say to Zion: “You are my people," and the Word has become flesh and so this image of God is filled by a cloud from the majesty of the Lord, and by the substance and splendor of the power of my glory, says the Lord God Jesus — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, who alone does great, inscrutable, and wondrous things without end," who makes the heavens and the earth’s foundations” and forms from them the body of the inner man, giving him the spirit, life, understanding, and the breath of the Almighty God who makes all things and sees all things hidden in the secret places of the earth, and even my deep things," speaks the Almighty. 

For the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. And as the Father has life within himself, likewise has He given the Son to have life within himself, and has given him authority to pass judgment, since he is the Son of Man. He shall sprinkle many nations, and shall rule them with a rod of iron and shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

For he has put on righteousness as a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation is on his head, which has a written name that no one knows but he. He has put on the garments of vengeance, and is clad with zeal as a cloak. As in vengeance retribution to his adversaries and recompense to his enemies. And he treads the winepress of the fury and wrath of God Almighty. He will lift up his hand against the nations, and will raise his banner to the people; he will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he will slay the godless. In the blood-smeared vesture that he wears all the world is contained, and the magnificence of his children. By way of the judgment of the breastplate and the shoulder pieces, remembering the oaths with the fathers and the glory of the testament, he will judge among the nations, he will fill them with ruins, and will shatter heads in many lands. His lips are full of indignation; and his breath is like a torrent of fire overflowing the heathens up to their necks, to destroy the nations and the bridle of error that is in the jaws of the people

 So hear him, hear him, and serve him with all fear and veneration, all you creatures of the Lord, all that is born of earth and sons of man altogether, kings and princes. For he has said this truly and without a lie, and it shall most certainly be done, says the true and faithful ruler, the Lord God of Hosts, the God of the Christians — who is and who was and who shall thus return, triune and one, the exalted and sublime Lord God and Father of the whole talisman of all the world, who lives in eternity, and his holy name lives on high and in the holy, and with a contrite and humble spirit, that he may thereby illuminate the spirit of the humble, and vivify the heart of the contrite with light and a kingdom of everlasting bliss. 

Thus he called out fearlessly to all and sundry who entered the halls of the Pope, walking up to them with the book held up high, so that all could hear him: Hear, see, and believe, I tell you, and reign.

 And when I with astonished eyes had witnessed the sacred mystery of this unprecedented and enormous event, I pondered the matter attentively and with all the power of my mind and, in order not to waste any more time, I left the Parnassian hills and everything else, and right away followed him to Mount Zion — the first of his pupils. 

So what has been from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have witnessed with our own mind, and have touched with our very own hands regarding this admirable and portentous appearance of a new and divine prophet: this we have announced, testified, and made known to you all, that you too may take part with us (sitting above the twelve tribes of Israel) in the great marriage supper of the Lamb, eating your fill and drinking of the fruit of the vine in the kingdom of the apostles and sons of God, whom the Lord God Jesus has endowed like this: a dukedom to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Hosea and Amos and Micah and Joel and Obadiah and Jonah and Nahum and Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, who is also called the Angel of the Lord, with joy and delight leading them from the four corners of the earth and the animals of the heavens out into the light of His majesty — not because of the works of justice that we may have done, but according to his mercy and the justice that is his own, for they have the sign of salvation to remember the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it. THE END

I. Ludovico Lazareus says, GO forth, book, with me... If it pleases you, this name is taken from the duty (Ir). II. HERMES, the father of theologians, magicians, and alchemists, in one context of words: He revealed the secrets of theology, magic, and alchemy to his sons... We will finally place, in the second part of this book, some ancient opinions leading to the supreme secret of theology (ir-2r). III. Now here firstly, it must be said about the invisible sulfur, which is the great mineral stone. From Raymond's discovery, I will literally present about the invisible sulfur. Let him who has ears to hear, hear what the spirit says to the sons of philosophers. The science begins to show... And thus is the end of this work: Praise to the Creator, Christ. Amen. Truly and faithfully, as it lay, I wrote (2r-8r). IV. The Treatise of Master Raymond Lull to his dearest nephew on the investigation of the stone begins. Know that the wise have set many operations in the miracle of the stone... Because in the knowledge of universal causes, the wise and the ignorant are sometimes equal. In the application of those causes to their own proper and adequate effects, the difference from ignorance to vast wisdom is great. t^Aoq (8v-16v). V. [Chemical Tables] (17r-18r). VI. Some excerpts here and there from the books of Raymond which are extremely useful. According to the universal science arising from chaos, which we will indicate here for A., the primary matter created by the eternal God... Then add the fire dissolved in its element, doing with the said the imbibition ['‘imbevere" added, referring to the next page] (18r-32v) [an unknown number of pages is missing here; 33r continues as follows:] with slow fire until all moisture exits... Because if you were to leave it in the first vessel due to the constriction of the salt, the vessel would break (33r). VII. ARCANUM, the elixir of the invention of Master Joannis Rigaudii de Branchis: which he himself made in the city of Siena in the company of Master Albertus Perusinus, physician, in the year 1494, a year before the advent to Italy of Charles the Eighth, King of France. The secret was revealed to me by Master Joannis with great generosity from his own mouth. He first took the juice of lunaria distilled seven times. Then refined it with colcotar and the foolish dancing... Because the more the operation of dissolution and exuberation is repeated, the greater it leads imperfect bodies in weight according to the number of the algorithm towards perfection. THANKS BE TO GOD (33v-34r). VIII. [Chemical tables] BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE TABLES THAT ARE BELOW. First Table with its chambers... Of the Fifth Table below Figure s. (34v-35v). IX. [a sonnet about alchemy] Dissolve the bodies in water I tell everyone... will be lord of that which is another's secret (36r).

O book, my secret friend in toil and flight,

A name bestowed through duty's earnest might,

Whether I roam or stay, in rest or stride,

With you, dear tome, forever I'll abide.

On bed or table, you’ll be close beside,

In all my deeds, my steadfast, trustful guide.

Unveil the nature's power, secrets deep,

Into the caves of God’s word, you do seep.

Step by step, nature’s wonders line my trail,

As through the stars, your wisdom does unveil.

Declare aloud that all is one, one is all,

That heaven's here, and God’s in every thrall.

Keep thieves and liars far from your embrace,

For those who touch you without me, disgrace.

So go forth, book, forever by my heart,

Your name, through duty, shall never depart.

HERMES, the father of theologians, magi, and alchemists, has revealed the secrets of theology, magic, and alchemy in one brief statement to his children when he said: "What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like what is above, to accomplish the miracles of the one thing. Its father is the Sun, its mother is the Moon." A dictum which was quoted by Aristotle in the Secret of Secrets to Alexander, where he says: "And our father Hermogenes, who is Threefold in philosophy, gave an excellent prophecy and said:

THE TRUTH is as follows, and it is beyond doubt, that the lower things respond to the higher, and the higher to the lower, etc." These three mysteries are none other than what Picatrix says in his book that is called the Key of Wisdom, namely the conjunction of a body with a body, the conjunction of a soul with a body, or the conjunction of a soul with a soul. The conjunction of a body with a body is the conjunction of the heavenly flesh, namely the quintessence, with the body of a virginal and purified earth: the result is the philosophers’ stone, and this is the natural magic about which all the alchemists speak. The conjunction of a spirit with a body is the conjunction and attraction of the spirits of planets into appropriate corporeal images, from which result marvels in nature; and this is the celestial magic in which Zoroaster excelled, and which was also taught by Thebith, Cembes, Ptolemy, and several others. The conjunction of a spirit with a spirit is the conjunction and harmony of the Spirit of God with the spirit of man, and this is the sacerdotal and divine magic of which all Sacred Scripture speaks in parables. But most of all, the Teacher of Truth, or rather Truth itself, Christ Jesus, spoke about this in his gospels and passed it on as his legacy to his disciples. Saint Matthew reminds us of it in his gospel with the words of the prophet Asaph: “It was written about Him: 'I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.'" That chosen vessel, Saint Paul, admonishes us in his Letter to the Corinthians that this admirable conjunction of God and Man is not just a possible transformation, but an easy one as well, and one that is, so to speak, innate and natural to us; and (so that people would not lose heart because of the greatness of the thing) he says: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" So we will leave the heavenly magic aside, which is disapproved of by the holy fathers, and in this book called Vade mecum we will first of all speak briefly of alchemy, which is a natural magic and is called terrestrial Astrology by Aristotle, the secret of which I owe to Joannes Ricardus de Branchiis from the province of the Netherlands called Labourgogne in popular speech. He was my master in these matters from the year 1495 onwards. He again had it from the books of Raymund of Mallorca and Arnold of Villanova, and from very long practice. Raymund had it from Arnold, and Arnold from a certain master Peter. Finally, in the second part of this book, we shall give some sayings of the ancients which will introduce you to the greatest secret of theology.

The poet Lodovico Lazzarelli of Sanseverino to his teacher Johannes.

Renowned both in name and reality, Bonus, the esteemed son whom all of Ferrara celebrates, has completed his work. I, the poet Lodovico, have transcribed it and now present it to you, Johannes. I ask that you remember me. No one is more deserving than you to be the custodian of this book, for only you possess the knowledge of this sacred mystery. As Plato imparted his wisdom to Aristotle, there is no law, Johannes, that prevents you from imparting it to me, your poet-disciple. The glory of the student reflects back upon you, the teacher, and the poet's work in turn praises you. The devout songs of the prophets often find favor with Jupiter and the gods. Therefore, I urge you to grant my request.

CRATER HERMETIS, by Lodovico Lazzarelli, Translated by Wouter J. Hanegraaff.  
Rendered the Poetry into English by Mo.

After I had long stood in inner doubt between the many diverse and contrary opinions of both ancients and moderns regarding the road that leads to life, and had asked myself in what way our inconstant and wavering faith could in this life become certain regarding the conquest of felicity; and whilst I had poured out many an anxious prayer to God, many a sigh from my breast, and many a true tear from my eyes, at last the heavenly help did not forsake me from Him who stretched out a helping hand to the drowning Peter, who created the earth before all time, who by His sacrifice restored this world when it was failing under the burden of sin, who as the Messenger of Great Counsel illuminates our minds with true Light, who as the Prince of Peace conciliates man and God, whom we profess to be truly God and truly Man, and whom we expect as the Father and Judge of the Coming Age. He that was Pimander in the mind of Hermes has deigned to take up residence within me as Christ Jesus, and has consoled me by illuminating my mind with the light of Truth, being the everlasting Consoler. And I thought you worthy, King Ferdinand, to come and share this happiness of mine: you who in these latter days of your life have left the reins of government to your eldest son Alfonso and, intent on contemplation and pious works, have devoted yourself to attaining peace of mind. You seem to be at leisure now, and capable of examining the things that I will speak with you about; nor do I wish to exclude Pontano from our discussion, if such be your pleasure. I will not exclude from my secrets someone whom you have accepted as your principal secretary. Pontano: Do not mind me. If my presence causes problems I would rather go. Lazzarelli: I beg you, please stay. You will add spice to our dinner, as the saying goes. Ferdinand: You are a very good speaker, Lazzarelli. By these splendid words of yours, you have made my mind so willing and so anxious to learn, and have so much awakened my curiosity, that there is nothing I would rather hear. Lazzarelli: I am not out to seek verbal elegance here, Your Majesty, like the ancient Greeks, but to express the active power of the words, like the wise Egyptians. It is the active power of a word and not its harmoniousness that will make us realize by which road we can reach out to the good. If we were to speak of oratory here, it would rather be a matter for Pontano, who is the most eloquent of men. Ferdinand: Well then, continue. Tell us what we have to do in order to obtain that felicity of yours. Lazzarelli: You know that, according to ancient tradition, a man who had asked the Delphic Apollo what way will lead to happiness received the following answer: “If you get to know yourself,” and on the front of his temple was written Γνῶθι σεαυτόν, that is, “know thyself.” Ferdinand: So you are saying we should believe the Delphic Apollo? Lazzarelli: Not in all things, but we do when he speaks according to the truth; and he has said many true things in his oracles. If you would have a look at Porphyry's Philosophy of the Oracles you would know that for a fact. But to leave the rest aside: I would like to call your attention to an oracle he gave about the blessed life, which I could quote according to the Greek verse, but for the sake of brevity will express in Latin: Very hard is the road, and closed by bronze-clad gates, that opens life to us and gives us bliss; nor is it easy to tell in words or to make clear whereto it leads. The first of those who began to pass on the tradition were those who drank the clear waves of the Nile. From there it passed to the Phoenicians, and also was dear to the Assyrians; but most famously of all, the Hebrew nation knew and received it. And what could be more true than this oracle? Ferdinand: It seems so. But tell me, please, have these Egyptians tasted something of the truth? Lazzarelli: They not only tasted it, they were practically gorged with it. To leave the rest for what it is, what shall we say of Hermes? He explored the whole way of wisdom and left monuments of true wisdom to posterity, that are scanty in words but immense in meaning; so I venture to suggest that it was by way of him that wisdom reached the Hebrews. For Moses, who was a Hebrew born in Egypt, transferred it to the Hebrews by way of his Pentateuch, and we read in the Acts of the Apostles that he was most learned in all the arts of the Egyptians. Pontano: You seem to be a hermetist, Lazzarelli; you give the man so much praise that no one would be wiser. Lazzarelli: I am a Christian, Pontano, but I am not ashamed to be a hermetist as well. If you would study his teachings, you would find that they do not clash with Christian doctrine. This is the man, my most learned of Poets, whom the poets of Antiquity said was born of Maia: the interpreter of the gods, the god of eloquence, the inventor of the lyre, and perfect in many arts. All of ancient theology takes its origin from him. For even if we do not speak of many of his works which are now lost, what godlier books could we find than those we do possess, in which he gives such a consummate expression of God’s triune nature that he who understands him rejoices to have found the truth? That is why I would like to call this dialogue of ours the Chalice of Christ as much as the Mixing-Bowl of Hermes. For everything that we shall here investigate regarding true felicity, we will draw not only from the doctrine of the Gospel, but also from the teachings of Hermes. Pontano: So please go on; I am burning to hear what you have promised to tell us. I, being a Christian, hope to become a hermetist as well, just like you. Perhaps Your Majesty could tell us what you would like to hear first? Ferdinand: Let us come right to the point and leave aside what is superfluous. So tell me please, how would I be able to know myself? Lazzarelli: When he was asked that question, Pimander answered Hermes: “Embrace me with your mind, and I will teach you everything you wish to know.” And Truth itself has said: “Without me you can do nothing”; and the Prophet said: “In thy light shall we see the light.” So first of all we will pray to God, that He may shine His light upon us: the ancients ordained that there should be prayer at the beginning of everything, and in his book on the Names of God Dionysius the Areopagite required this to be done especially in matters of theology. Therefore, since we will be speaking about a mystery of theology we shall first of all say grace. May I please have your attention? Let us open up our minds whilst I invoke God with the following words.

Poem 1.
O You, who sit above the cherubim bright,
Residing high on the throne with might,
You judge the world with a gaze so fair,
To heaven, O Lord, I send my prayer.
With humble words from a heart that's meek, 
To the invincible God of Hosts I speak.
Father of gods and men, so dear,
Lend me, I pray, a kind and listening ear.
I beg you not to take away,
The splendid rays that light my way.
O King, O God of Israel's land,
Fill this house with your radiant hand.
Make this place a dwelling true,
Chase darkness away, let light ensue.
God of might, dispel Hell's bane,
Transport me high on your holy flame.
Join with me, O Father divine,
As the moon with her brother's rays does shine.
So let me shine with your glorious face,
In your light, may I find my place.
Take away the Tree of Knowing's snare,
Guide my feet to the Tree of Life, so fair.
Let me taste the eternal Good,
With you forever, as I should.
Your light, O Lord, let me see today,
Reveal it to your children on their way.
Though I tremble at my lack of piety,
Your love calls me, "Fear not, come to me!"
You justify the sinner's heart,
With mercy and grace, you set us apart.
To know you, God, is the truest salvation,
The path to the heavens, our destination.
See, you are my son in whom I'm pleased,
Be bold, my child, let all judgment be seized.
My words I give, to create anew,
Heaven and sea, all vast and true.
The clouds shall bow, fish and bird will heed,
At your voice, they tremble and proceed.
In the sky, erect your dwellings high,
While earth's axis you build, reaching the sky.
Zion calls you Lord above,
Sinai and Tabor, in reverent love. 
Jordan's waters agile and free,
Shall hail you, God's own progeny.
Behold, my kingdom comes so soon,
Reign with Christ, beneath the moon.
Sanctify the saints who stay,
Let steadfast faith light your way.
I shall rejoice in my Lord, the King,
Who on David's throne, forever to sing.
His servant crowned, in glory abide,
With wisdom and faith, our guiding tide. 

So, now we have prayed. Perhaps Your Majesty could repeat what in particular you wanted me to speak about? Fred. That prayer of yours, so rich with holy sayings, has so distracted my mind that I would first like to understand many of the things you said in it. Pontano. The student of divine mysteries mentioned things in this prayer that we should better look up in those Fasti of his, which he recently dedicated to Your Majesty. Lazzarelli. When we come to the end of the discussion that we are about to start, you will understand these things clearly, and many others as well. But now we are at the beginning, and to bring that back to mind, I will repeat what I have just said. But let me say this, to make clear that I do not take an oracle of Apollo as my point of departure, but the teachings of Hermes.
Hermes says that God, having created all things in the beginning, exclaimed: “Increase, grow up and multiply, all you seeds and works of my hands. And you, who have been given an inheritance of mind, recognize your origin and take heed of your immortal nature, and know that love of the body is the cause of death.” And that matches what Moses says in the book of Genesis. These words of Hermes contain the tree of life, by which we live, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which brings us death.” And as you see, the main point of this precept is that we should know ourselves.”
Ferdinand: I must turn away from the question that I asked you. To begin with, I would like you to tell me, if that is possible, what was the tree of life and what was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One finds hardly any explanation of these things in the expositors of the Holy Bible, or else an extremely involved one; and it really amazes me that something on which the ruin of our entire race would seem to depend, and which is basic to all of Holy Writ, would remain wholly unknown and undefined. Pontano. You might add, Your Majesty, that that commandment has devolved from Adam (in whom we were in our beginning) upon us, his kin, so that the same penalty for disobedience threatens us. For we cannot avoid what we do not know. We read in the Holy Book that that tree was corporeal (like all other trees), But it does not say what kind of tree it was, nor do we read that God withdrew the commandment after it was broken.
Lazzarelli:. I, on the other hand, have read a statement in Philo of Alexandria’s first book On Agriculture, Pontano, which contradicts what you just referred to, and says: “The cultivation of the plants of Paradise, too, is consistent with what we have just said. For it is said:‘the Lord God planted Paradise eastward of Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.’ Therefore, to think that these were vines and olive trees or apple trees or pomegranates, or trees like that, is sheer and incurable folly.”
This Philo was a Jew and very wise, and according to Saint Jerome in his Lives of Illustrious Men, he lived around the time of the Apostles; he was a close acquaintance of the prince of the Apostles, Peter, and of Mark the Evangelist. He says that because of his deep speculative doctrine, the Greeks had a saying: "either Plato is following Philo, or Philo is following Plato," and his entire investigation on the foundations of philosophy is based upon the oracles of Sacred Scripture.
But Your Majesty compels me to investigate things that the learned have left undecided (because human knowledge tends to err when it touches upon things divine), so I would like to make clear from the start that in these things, as in others that may follow, I wish to assert only what the Church will approve of. Pontano. You are absolutely right. For if Plato ordains us in his Laws not to add innovations to any of the things that were received from the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, or Ammon, or that have been asserted by an ancient tradition based upon visions and divine inspirations, how much less then should we innovate the things that have been handed down by the prophets and elect of the true God, or even by Jesus himself, who is truly God and truly Man! Again, if he admonishes us in the Timaeus that it would be impossible not to trust these men whom he calls the sons of gods, even if their sayings are not proved by necessary or even likely reasons, then should we not have even more faith, without doubt or reservations, in the oracles of Jesus himself, the true God, and in the precepts of the prophets and elect?
Ferdinando. Dear Pontano, you might even add that it is only fair that we should submit all our words and deeds to the Church, as God has given us so many boons and blessings through her and her servants. But you, Lazzarelli, proceed with what you intended to tell us. Lazzarelli. You will often have heard and, no doubt, read in Holy Scripture that God created all things for the benefit of man, but man for himself. Ferdinando. Indeed, I have heard that more than once, and often read it.
Lazzarelli. So, as God has created man for himself, that he would follow God’s will, he has given him an inheritance of divine intellect, that through its workings he should contemplate the divine and through that contemplation draw the rays of its transcendent splendor down unto himself, by way of which he would inherit wisdom as well as eternal life. And this is what mystics allegorically call their “beloved,” and Moses calls the “tree of life.” Ferdinando. It seems to me that you say something essential here. What do you think, Pontano?
Pontano. Not just essential, but even pious and in accordance with the truth. No wise person would ever disapprove of this. Ferdinando. So you say that the tree of life is the contemplation and knowledge of things divine, Lazzarelli? Lazzarelli. That is indeed my opinion, and I do not doubt it for a moment.
Ferdinand. And what benefit did man get from that contemplation, apart from happiness of mind? Lazzarelli. No small thing. For apart from the happiness of mind that came from this wisdom, he had made himself into a pure and worthy temple in which the spirit of God could dwell, and had the shining angels as his life’s companions. And by virtue of this fact, he could, by God’s grace, eternally have evaded the death that was his natural condition, and could have always attained whatever he wanted. Many other good things were dependent upon it as well, which can be found in the Holy Scriptures. Ferdinando. These were tremendous things, dear Lazzarelli, and such as everybody should wish for. But because we have lost them by tasting from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as Holy Scripture says, I would next like to know what was this tree, so full of doom.
If you understand what the tree of life is, you can easily understand by yourself what was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: when one of two contraries is explained, the other is explained as well. Ferdinando. Yes, I think I can more or less see it, but I expect you to make me understand it more clearly. Lazzarelli. Well, listen then.
Just as the love, the contemplation, and the knowledge of things divine is the tree of life, so the desire for and searching after imperfect and material things may be called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ferdinando. I do not think that is sufficiently clear: I find it difficult to believe and wholly incredible that God would have forbidden man to look at things He created Himself. No artisan would prohibit his works from being seen, considered, and cherished; and I find it even harder to believe that because of that interest man might have incurred death. What do you think, Pontano?
Pontano. Exactly my opinion, Lazzarelli. But the Creator God has not forbidden man to look at his works, but to focus on them only, and to cherish them as the ultimate goal. Thus the ancients called the heaven and the sun, the moon and the stars, the elements, and even some animals gods. But the Almighty wants and ordains us to look intelligently at all these things, in such a way that by degrees, as it were, our mind will finally form an image of him, and the human soul eventually comes to an eternal rest in the consideration of his divine being. For, as the Apostle says, ever since the creation of the world, the invisible things of God, as well as his eternal power and divinity, are perceived by the intellect by way of the things that are made.
And Hermes says: “So if you want to see God, look at the Sun, my son, watch the course of the Moon, and observe the order of the rest of the stars.” Dionysius spoke likewise in his book Of Divine Names, where he states: “Perhaps it is correct to say that we do not know God from His own nature (for that is unknown and goes beyond all reason and sensation), but that we ascend, according to our best ability, from the orderly structuring of all things as it has been created by Him, which shows certain images and likenesses of His divine exemplars, thus forming a way and an order to that which transcends all things.”
That is the way the Supreme Artisan wants us to look at the things He has created, and thus the correct order shall be served; for, to recall our starting point, the Almighty created all things for the benefit of man, and man for Himself.”
Ferdinando. Now I see what you mean and completely approve of your assertion. But perhaps you could provide some testimonies from wise men (if you have any), so that what you have said will stick more firmly in my mind.
Lazzarelli. We have many such testimonies, hidden in allegorical speech, and if I were to begin to commemorate them all, I would bore you to death, and the Sun would go down while I would still be speaking. But I will name a few.
Ferdinando. You should do it in such a way as is required by the time, the place, and the present business of those who are dependent on us. If we wish to please God, who has shown us the way, we must keep our eyes on our subjects like a shepherd on his flock, so that they may be governed in the best and most equitable way. But I do not want you to omit anything that we must know to reach true happiness; therefore, we shall postpone everything for this business.
Lazzarelli. In Proverbs, Solomon says this of divine Wisdom: “She is a tree of life for those who lay hold upon her: and happy is he that retaineth her.” He calls her the wife of our youth, saying: "Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth." In the beginning, man lived happily enjoying eternal life, like a man conjoined with his woman. The same source states: “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister’; and call understanding your beloved, that she may keep you from the strange woman and the one who belongs to another, the woman who flatters with her words.”
And elsewhere, he says as follows: "That you may be delivered from the woman who belongs to another, the stranger, who uses sweet words, and who has forsaken the guide of her youth, and has forgotten the covenant of her God. For her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the gates of hell.”
You can also read there that wisdom had built a house and hewn out her seven pillars; she had sacrificed animals, mingled her wine, prepared her table, and said: “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine I have mixed for you. Leave behind childishness and live”; and a bit later on: “A foolish and clamorous woman, full of illicit lures, and knowing nothing at all, sits at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city, to call to passers-by on the road, and to those pursuing their way: ‘Let the little ones come to me,’ and she foolishly says: ‘Stolen waters are sweeter, and bread eaten in secret is more delicious’; but then he knows not that there are giants down there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.” For he who goes in to her descends to the depths, and he who turns away from her shall be saved.
So Solomon calls divine wisdom the tree of life and the wife of our youth; the wisdom of the flesh and the contemplation of material things he calls a foolish and clamorous woman, full of illicit lures, who knows nothing at all, a foreign and adulterous whore. Therefore, the Apostle exclaims and admonishes us: “If you live according to the flesh, you shall die; but if you mortify the deeds of the body by way of the spirit, you shall live.” And Hermes tells us: “The love of the body is the cause of death.” For he who clings to the body, with ill-directed love, will err in the dark and reap the evils of death.
For that wisdom, which Solomon introduces as having built a house and secured it with pillars, is the love and contemplation of things divine, and the wife of our youth, which Moses thinks of as the tree of life. Hence, she is said to have exclaimed: “Leave behind childishness and live.”
The foolish and clamorous woman, who is allegorically depicted as calling out in the high places of the city to everyone, symbolizes the concentration on created and material things: the wisdom of the flesh, an adulterous and foreign whore of whom the Apostle has said, “For the knowledge of the flesh is foolishness with God,” and whom Moses calls the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is why Adam was told of it, “The day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.” He who turns towards her will go down to the depths of hell.
In the Psalms, it is said: "For behold, they that stray from you shall perish; you have destroyed all those that go a-whoring from you.”
Ferdinando. With the above, you have established a sufficiently strong connection between your opinion and the Scriptures, so that I am convinced and no longer in doubt; but if possible, I would like to understand what the stolen water is and what the bread eaten in secret is, and why the foolish woman is said to call out in front of her house to everyone.
Lazzarelli. I would gladly delve into this, but we might be led too far from the subject.
Ferdinando. I would like you to do it anyway. We have all the time in the world, and do not let the waiting crowd influence you; their business will be dealt with tomorrow. After we have explored this a bit further, we shall quickly return to the subject. So explain what I asked you.
Lazzarelli. Solomon admonishes us in Proverbs that we should remain steadfast in divine wisdom with these words: “Drink the waters from your own cistern and running waters from your own well.” So, when the knowledge of things divine is our wife and our well, going into a strange one would give us stolen waters and bread eaten in secret; for adultery is called theft, and the water of our cistern is the understanding of divine wisdom.
The stolen waters represent the intelligence of carnal wisdom, as elsewhere both kinds are symbolized by wine. And the wine of divine wisdom is the one the Messiah offers us, of which Zechariah speaks as follows: “For what is His goodness, and what is His beauty, if not the corn of the elect and the wine that sprouts virgins?” For by being made virgins and not defiled with women, we shall follow the Lamb wherever He goes, and we alone will be able to sing a hymn, as is said by John in Revelation. But the Apostle forbids us to taste of somebody else's wine: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.” For just as we are made chaste and turned into virgins by the wine of wisdom (for chastity is the procreation of those that seek the Lord), we are made adulterers and fornicators by the wine of the stranger.
So she who is said to be calling out in front of her house wants to be reputed wise even though she knows nothing at all because she is striving for the wisdom of the flesh. Therefore, she cries out in public and holds disputations in the squares, armed with tricky sophisms; but he who speaks as a sophist is hateful and will be thwarted in all things. He does not receive God’s grace, for he is deprived of all wisdom, as we read in Ecclesiasticus.
But please let us not stray any further, Your Majesty; rather, let us return to the subject. For I am burning, Sir, to reveal to you, at the end of our discussion, the greatest of all secrets, which is the ultimate and perfect fruit of the tree of life, such that there is nothing more a man could wish for in this life.
Ferdinando. That would be great, and I am quite eager for it. But not to leave unfinished the little that remains, would you please explain what those giants are who accompany the whore, and who are these women with whom the virgins should not defile themselves?
Lazzarelli. Those who follow divine wisdom are called pygmies, that is, little ones. St. Jerome has interpreted this as follows: “Pygmies known to God or knowing God, of whom the Savior said: ‘Suffer the little ones to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”
And in the Psalms, it is said: “The disclosure of your words illuminates and gives understanding to the little ones.” In contrast, those who cling to material things are, in a true sense, giants.
Therefore, it is said in Proverbs: “The man who strays from the path of understanding shall dwell in the congregation of the giants.” These were the ones who built the Tower of Babel, of whom the poets said that they heaped mountains on mountains and tried to conquer the kingdom of heaven; who, when finally defeated, were crushed by those same mountains; those of whom it is said in Ecclesiasticus: “They did not pray for their sins, the old giants, who were destroyed while they relied upon their own strength.” And Isaiah speaks as follows: “O Lord our God, other lords beside you have had dominion over us; but only in you will we remember your name. They are dead, and shall not live; they are giants, and shall not rise again. Therefore, you have visited and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.”
That is why they are depicted as serpent-footed, for they are tied to things of the senses, to material things, only creeping on the ground, not flying upwards toward the divine. They believe things to be true only when they are approved by the testimony of the senses.
Ferdinando. Well, I am fully convinced. How about you, Pontano? You look so lost in thought.
Pontano. All the things that he has told us seem so wondrous to me, Your Majesty, that I am not only astounded but completely at a loss for words. Not only do I now understand what those giants are and why they are serpent-footed; I have even found a way to understand the myth handed down by the poet Hesiod of the woman Pandora, who opened the pot given to her by Jupiter, from which all good things flew away, so that only expectancy remained on the rim of the pot. What else can Pandora (that is to say, everyone’s gift) mean, if not the knowledge of material and sensual things: a knowledge that, when it opens the pot of our brain and takes up residence there, causes all good things to fly away, so that nothing is left but expectancy, that is to say, hope? For we are always hoping for good things to happen but never get what we hope for; for through her, we are estranged from the tree of life.
Lazzarelli. That is a very good interpretation, Pontano; although I have spoken differently in my Fasti, where it is said:
Not Epimethea, who took the lid off the jar, brought disaster, but Eve, who believed the snake.
But there I asserted it not in an absolute or dogmatic manner, but only because I wanted to allude to the myth of Hesiod. Pontio, I cannot stop marveling at the way the myths of the poets correspond with the truths of theology. Small wonder, Pontano, for Hermes, the king of ancient theology, wanted theological truth to be hidden in such myths. Nowadays, everybody just sees them as mere fables. And, foreseeing that this would happen, Hermes gave a rueful prophecy and said: "O Egypt, Egypt, of your religion, only stories will remain, and these will be incredible to your own children! Only words cut in stone will survive to tell of your pious deeds."
Even the holy theologians of the Christian religion, whom we call prophets, have made use of poetical myth. You would see that this is true if you would go through the oracles of these prophets sometime, of which Saint Dionysius speaks as follows at the beginning of his book on the Celestial Hierarchy: "So that we too may not be misled by the error of the common crowd and think indiscriminately that the celestial spirits (who are endowed with an image of the divine) have many legs and many faces. We must not be so foolish as to start imagining that they are formed after the stolidity of oxen, the fierceness of lions, the hooked beaks of eagles, the variegated plumage of birds, or like fiery wheels and material seats, which the divine principle would apparently need to sit above the heavens. Or like many-colored horses, armed escorts, captains, and more of the kind, as we were told in a visible and expressive variety of signs in most holy sayings. For theology constantly uses such poetical fables to describe these spirits, being aware (as we have said) of the weakness of the human mind, and benignly provides an appropriate and natural way for it, by which it is led upwards, clearing us a route for such ascension in the Holy Scriptures that is fitted to its capacity."
So far Dionysius. And Rabbi Moses of Egypt seems to express the same thing in his book called Mallachim when he says: “The prize above all prizes and the good beyond which there is no good. That which all the prophets craved for, Holy Scripture calls by many names, such as the mind of God, the tabernacle of God, his Holy Place, the Holy Mountain, the Hall of God, the Sweetness of God, the Temple of God, the House of God, the Gate of God: the learned call it the Supper or the Coming Age.” And Macrobius, in On the Dream of Scipio, also hints at the same things with these words: “Divinities have always preferred to be known and worshipped in the fashion assigned to them by ancient popular tradition, which made images of beings that had no physical form, represented them as of different ages, although they were subject neither to growth nor decay, and gave them clothes and ornaments, although they had no bodies. In this way, Pythagoras himself, and Empedocles, Parmenides, and Heraclitus spoke of the gods.”
But as our soul, as this same Dionysius says, is moved by spiritual actions up to the intelligibles, Pontano, the senses are quite as superfluous as the things that can be sensed. Now I remember that Jupiter, whom the poets call the father and king of gods and men, is said in the myths to bring with him clouds as companions, rainstorms, winds, flashes, thunder, and lightning, and the rest that is said in ancient myths about the so-called gods, all of which I think must have been said not without a certain hidden meaning. Lazzarelli. You are quite right. For as Plato says in the Alcibiades, the whole of nature itself is a poem full of enigmas, and not just anybody can read her correctly. Perhaps you have read, Pontano, whence the art of poetry was born. Just as the ancient and wise men wanted the temples of the gods to be built in a grander style than the dwellings of men, they wanted the manner of speech in which the hymns and praises of the gods were sung to be loftier than daily speech. And it was thus, they say, that poetry was invented, in which a certain truth lies hidden, although covered by the colors of fable. Pontano. I have often heard this and read it in the ancients. Ferdinando. How pleasant, entertaining, and illuminating is the conversation we have today: it makes the day seem shorter than it is in midwinter (although the Sun is already in Gemini, so that the day is quite long). So go on, Lazzarelli. Now that you have explained who those giants are, tell us as well in what manner we shall understand the women who were mentioned.
Lazzarelli. The women with whom those that follow the Lamb have not defiled themselves are the seductive enticements of the senses and the various passions that Moses in his book of Genesis calls the daughters of men, unto whom the sons of God—or angels—came in. And the human soul, which had distanced itself from the monad and divided itself into innumerable parts, as Philo says, gave birth to these daughters with great pain. For through the eyes she brings forth deceptive images, colors, and desires, and through the ears, she gives birth to words of seduction. Thus she is oppressed by the multitude of daughters surrounding her, and at that stage, the sons of God—or angels—came in unto her.
For as long as the pure rays of wisdom shine into the soul, by which we perceive God and his powers, no messenger of lies will enter the understanding, but all such will be forced out towards the place of purgation. But when, through the increasing distance from the essential One, the dim light of our mind is weakened, the companions of darkness seize the opportunity and couple with the effeminate and broken passions that Moses calls the daughters of men.
These, however, give birth for themselves, and not for God. Our spirit, however, has been ordered to give birth for God and not for itself, just like Abraham begat his son Isaac for God and not for himself, and therefore was willing to offer him to God as a sacrifice. But Adam, leaving the tree of life (that is to say, the contemplation of the monad) for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (that is, the investigation of sensual things), fathered many daughters; and thus, having lapsed from justice and dignity, incurred the corruption of death.
Therefore, Moses asserts that God spoke of him as follows: “See, Adam has become like one of us, knowing good and evil,” and in the book of Psalms, it is said: “A man who is in honor does not understand; he is like the stupid beasts of burden and has become like them.”
And Hermes says in the Pimander: “And when in his father he had seen the procreation of all things, man wanted to create something too, and thereby he has fallen from the contemplation of the father into the sphere of generation;” and a bit further down: “Man is above the cosmic harmony, but having fallen into that harmony he has become a slave.”
Ferdinando. You would not believe how pleased I am with this explanation of yours. How about you, Pontano? Pontano. It pleases me too, and I approve of it with all my heart. For although many other pious and excellent interpretations could be given, it seems to me that this is the marrow of the Scriptures, indeed their very soul. Ferdinando. A great longing has been born in me to ask you questions about many things, but I will abstain from it, so that we may not wander too far from the subject of our discussion. Lazzarelli. We should indeed abstain, Your Majesty, if we wish to attain the goal we first intended. For this present discussion is like the Hydra of Lerna: whenever you cut off one head, many others appear. We could also find occasion here to ask what Adam was, or Eve, or the serpent, and so on; but let us leave all those things aside and return to our point of departure, if you agree.
Ferdinando. Indeed, that is what we will do if first, you tell us this one thing: how is it that man incurred death by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Lazzarelli. When man was a radiant temple in which dwelled the spirit of the Lord, of whose presence came immortality—not by nature (for he was composed of discordant elements) but by grace (for the indwelling divine splendor imposed peace upon the elements)—it came to pass that where the light withdrew, offended as it was by our transgressions, darkness took its place. And so the temple of the shining virtues has become a dwelling of darkness.
So that not only is the discord of the elements given free rein but due to the impure powers, we are galloping head over heels into perdition. Countless illnesses were born at that time, as well as old age. So that Moses can describe how shortly after their transgression man used to live to a very great age; but when in the subsequent period, spurred on by darkness, one transgression was heaped upon the other, life has become much shortened.
That is why Moses makes God say: “My spirit shall not always stay with man, for he is flesh. And his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.” But now, my king, the life of man has shrunk so much that, alas, almost no one reaches his hundredth year. Yes, even so, throughout our lifetime (miserable creatures that we are!) the companions of darkness dwell in us, and the remedy of circumcision has not been able to deliver us. And although baptism redeems us from the impure powers—when the priest breathes upon us and says: "Go out from him, thou impure spirit, and make way for the Holy Ghost"—still by our sinful acts they move back in, and almost forcibly compel us to all kinds of scandalous acts.
Hermes foresaw this, which is why he exclaimed in his prophecy: “There will be a mournful exodus of the gods from mankind; only the baleful angels will remain, who, when they mingle with humans, seize the wretches and drive them to all kinds of outrageous crimes—war, looting, and all sorts of things that are contrary to the nature of souls.”
Ferdinando. Do you think that man shall ever return to his original state of happiness? Lazzarelli. When we speak of eternal life, many unbelievers are scandalized and draw back, and so Truth itself, Christ Jesus, has said: "Does that offend you if the Son of Man will return to where he was before?" And Rabbi Joseph affirms in the Sepher Zohar, that is to say, the Book of Splendor: "We would in no way know death if Adam had not sinned. But because he listened to the serpent, he brought death in both of its forms upon himself, his children, grandchildren, and descendants. Because of that sin, creation has remained imperfect, and she shall not know consummation until the coming of the King Messiah. And then the stain of such great disobedience and intemperance will vanish away, and men will return to their pristine nature, such as the divine Mind intended it." So I think that mankind will indeed return to its former bliss. But in the meantime, we poor creatures have to carry the weight of the original crime as well as our own sins.
Ferdinando. So the unhappy state of man is truly to be deplored, for what is innate in us by the act of Adam is made actual by our own activities. We all eat daily from the forbidden tree. There is no one who looks upon God, no one who seeks Him: "no one,” as the prophet says, "no, not one." Lazzarelli. It is most deplorable, as you say, and truly worth tears and a sad complaint. So may I have your attention, please, whilst I sing this sad complaint.

Poem 2.
How futile are the labors of men,
Their efforts vain, time and again.
Departed from their sacred God,
They’ve cast aside the path once trod.
How forgetful of glory they once held,
A gift from the Father, now dispelled.
The divine image, from heaven sent,
Defiled in shadows where they went.
They see the shadow as their kin,
Forgetting light that dwells within.
Once born from a luminous flame,
They’ve lost the dignity of their name.
No good deeds now do they pursue,
Not even one in all they do.
None seek the Lord with honest mind,
None their true Father do they find.
Alas, idols hold their gaze,
Chasing vanity’s empty praise.
Bound in Babel’s bustling streets,
The holy city they’ve left to weep.
Contaminated by a whorish wine,
They spurn the call of the virgin’s line.
Zion’s daughter laments her kin,
A widow’s cry amidst the din.
“Why be swayed by the harlot’s song,
Beneath death’s heel, where you don’t belong?
You leave behind what’s pure and sweet,
For poison disguised in honey’s retreat.
She offers wine that muddles minds,
Leading you to sinful binds.
She sets traps with hidden bait,
Ambushes you to a woeful fate.
Her allies are giants, fierce and wild,
Building Babel, defiant, reviled.
But in tempest flames they fall,
Supper served in a pool, bitter for all.
Come back to me, your Mother true,
Who nursed and nurtured, caring for you.
I mix for you wines pure and rare,
Fit for those who seek God’s care.
Heed these final words I share,
Embrace the light, Christ’s light to bear.
Keep your glow away from blight,
For I call with love each night.
Yet, to my voice they turn away,
Ignoring guidance day by day.
They wallow, refusing to see,
The marshy depths they choose to be.
Rejecting the waters pure and clear,
They stay in mire, captive to fear.
My call remains, a constant plea,
For them to return and be free.”

Well, Sir, we have reached the end of our complaint; could you please repeat the question you asked me at the start of our discussion?

Ferdinando. I remember it well and have it firmly in mind: you told us that knowledge of oneself is the road to happiness, and I wanted to understand in what way we could know ourselves.
Lazzarelli. Please give me your attention. Just as we cannot recognize the image we see in a mirror or on a coin if we do not first know its origin or to whom it refers, likewise, unless we know God, we cannot in any way know ourselves. These things are interconnected; when you do not know one, you do not know the other. For we are the image of God, as can be read in the Sacred Scriptures—although many people assert that there is a difference between being after an image and being an image, I have discovered that they mean the same thing.
Ferdinando. Perhaps you could provide some proof of that, if you have it.
Lazzarelli. We have already strayed too far from our subject, and now that we have just regained our course, you want us to digress again. You should really take me at my word, Sir, if you still want to hear the secret that I mean to tell you. I have given much thought to these matters, digested what I have thought out, and finally stored the results in the treasury of my mind. You must believe in order to learn, as almost everyone has said.
Ferdinando. Of course, I believe, but if I could hear some testimonies of the ancients, your discourse would take firmer root, and my soul would find richer pastures. So, after you fulfill this one request, we will return to the subject at once.
Lazzarelli. When Philo, in his second book *On Agriculture*, explains the words of Moses: “Let us make man after our image and likeness," he says: “But the great Moses has called human nature a species similar to no other creature; he calls it the image of the invisible and divine, of God." And Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for he is the image and glory of God."
Because both Moses and Paul have spoken by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit cannot contradict Himself, when Moses says that man is after the image, whereas Paul says that he is the image of God, they no doubt wish to convey the same meaning. In this connection, you should also see what Hermes says in the *Pimander*: “But the Father of all, the Intellect, who is life and splendor, brought forth a man in likeness to Himself, and loved him as His own child.” And elsewhere he states this, speaking of God: “Whose name is all names and whose image is all of nature." So if all of nature is an image of God, so much more is man, for whose sake all things were made.
Pontano. This argument seems superfluous and irrelevant to me. I suggest that we leave those commonplaces as they are and return to the question of His Majesty, for the ability to know God seems problematical to me, beyond the powers of the human mind. For Truth itself has said: "No one knows the Son but the Father, and no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son has chosen to reveal Him.”
Lazzarelli. What you are saying, Pontano, is just a partial response to what I said earlier: that is, if we do not know God, we cannot know ourselves. You, on the other hand, affirm, supported by Holy Writ, that God cannot be known.
But I am not sitting here, my dear Pontano, as a poet on the tripod of the Muse, half-wittedly pouring out whatever comes to my mind; no, I strolled every day through the woods and shades of Mount Zion and the flowering meadows of the Tempe valley, as befits a Christian, and was instructed in these divine precepts. Therefore, I have come to know everything that I will tell you here, first by reason and then by manifest experience as well. I am well aware that nothing we experience through our senses can be positively said about God. For everything that human intelligence knows by defining things is infinite in God.
Thus, I do not claim here that we should be able to know God in His transcendent being, in His all-encompassing enclosure of Himself within Himself, or as He is in the extreme and solitary retractedness of the profoundest depth and darkness of His divine being, nor that we could know what His essence is; that is exceedingly difficult, indeed impossible, for the human intellect cannot reach that high.
When Plato attempted this—although it is beyond the powers of the human mind—and finally beheld the inexpressible excellence of God, he fell into a terrible and deadly error by claiming that God does not mingle with humans. If that were true, unhappy human nature would shrivel away, left alone in the grip of darkness. But the entirety of our Christian faith contradicts this: for we profess that God has become flesh, takes part in us, and is intimately connected with us.
Therefore, we should know God in such a way as Dionysius tells us in his book *On Divine Names*: “For all divine things that are laid open to us can only be known by participation. No sense can perceive how they are in their origin and in their own foundation; no substance and no knowledge can penetrate that far. Whether we call this transcendent, hidden God the Life, or the Sustainer, or the Light, or the Word, we understand nothing but the participations and forces that emanate from Him to us, by which we are lifted up into God and which give us substance or life or wisdom.” There are many divine things, as he also says in the *Ecclesiastical Hierarchy*, which are unknown to man but have very venerable causes that are known to the more exalted orders of beings. Many things are hidden even from those most exalted substances, which are known only to the life-giving God. Human knowledge has defined steps and limitations, which we cannot overstep.
Ferdinando. All very true, but I would still like you to tell me in what way we should know God.
Lazzarelli. As God is an incomprehensible intellect that is beyond anything, as Dionysius says in his *Mystical Theology*, inexpressible beyond any speech, beyond any determination or exclusion, affirmation or negation, we should firmly believe and simply profess that God is One in His Trinity and Three in His Unity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Even the Hebrew sages agree with us in this, as we read in the *Beresit Rabba* of Rabbi Moses Adersan: “God, the origin of all things, the light, eternity, the holy one, who is called Ab, that is, Father, the Lord your God, depth, wisdom, the fountain out of which all things are made and brought forth, also goes forth from the first origin and is called Ben, which means God the Son, the root of the heart and the fulfillment of the will, or one will for both, and he is called the congregation of the vision of God; and all are of the same perfection and one amongst themselves, nor do they differ from each other, but they are all one.”
See how clearly in these words the Holy Trinity is asserted. Some of the Hebrews, however, either overcome by ignorance or driven by malice in matters divine, pertinaciously attack the Trinity; but we must firmly proclaim it if we wish to follow the Truth and attain immortality.
We should believe all the things regarding the divinity that are defined by the holy Fathers through their established teachings, and if we wished to recall those here and now, it would become a very long speech. But this would make us fit and perfectly disposed to hear the mystery that I am about to reveal: to contemplate that God is the cause of all things and the creator of all things, which He created because of the divine and primary living being—that is, man. For as Hermes says, when God formed man, He conceded all His works to his use because He was enamored of His own form; and among all living things, He revealed Himself to man alone.
Therefore, struck with admiration, the prophet exclaimed: “Lord, what is man that Thou shouldst notice him, and what is the son of man that Thou shouldst be mindful of him?” God has magnified man so much that He descended from eternity into time and, taking on a covering of flesh, became man. Thus, God magnified man, the work of His hands, for He is worthy to be magnified. The very great craftsman is well aware of how much His handiwork is to be esteemed. For just as, by their image—that is, light—the heavens accomplish things that even fire can scarcely effect by its natural quality, so God, by His image—that is, man—perfects things that the world itself cannot accomplish by its innate power: thus Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and the other prophets and saints of God were resplendent with the greatest powers.
Ferdinando. What you say is quite true, but tell me, if you please, what is the soul of man?
Lazzarelli. I shall not give you the answer according to the opinion of Aristotle, that it is the form of the organic body, nor according to the various opinions of the philosophers, which define it as the essence, or a moving number, or a harmony, or an idea, or the five senses acting in harmony amongst themselves, or a subtle spirit that is dispersed throughout the whole body, or a vapor, or a spark of the essence of the stars, or a spirit that blends with the body, or a spirit that dwells in the atoms, or fire, or air, or blood, or something composed of the fifth essence, or of both earth and fire, or of earth and water, or of air and fire. Perhaps even all these things are true in their various respects.
But I, Your Majesty, shall answer you according to the Hebrew mecubales or kabbalists, that the Light of God is the soul of man, or, as Philo puts it in his book *On Agriculture*, that the soul of man is made after the image of the Word, the cause of causes and first exemplar, and that it is shaped by the substance and seal of God, the imprint of which is the everlasting Word.
Or I shall provide you a precise answer with the same words that Pimander spoke to Hermes: “What sees and hears in you is the Word of the Lord; your mind, however, is God the Father (and there is no distance between them): their union is Life.”
Ferdinando. These are stupendous things, and rarely heard of.
Lazzarelli. Indeed, these are stupendous truths, and you will know them to be so when you have clearly and perfectly understood my whole discourse.
Ferdinando. I hope I will, and I eagerly wish for it; but please go on.
Lazzarelli. I would like you, excellent King, to ponder these things in your mind and come to see how they are connected in such a way that from the knowledge of God you can descend to the knowledge of yourself.
Thus, you will come to understand the excellence of your own essence and will in no way disparage yourself, despise yourself, or trample upon your own supper, but you will rise out of the body, free from yourself and from all things of the senses, ascending absolutely and purely to fly to that transcendent and most shining darkness where God dwells, to take your place among the number of the Powers; and having been received among the Powers, you shall enjoy God, and henceforth, begetting a divine offspring, you will procreate for God and not for yourself. Because like is always produced by like.
Ferdinando. But indeed I do that, and shall do it often.
Lazzarelli. And I, pious king, will seriously admonish you to persist firmly in this sacred work. —but not after the manner of the priests, who sign the populace with ashes and say: “Remember, man, that you are dust and shall return to dust (for they admonish the exterior and worldly man, and compel them towards good works by fear, as if they were slaves). I will win you over according to your interior and essential humanity, as a son of God, with enormous love, using these words of Hermes: “Remember, man, remember that light and life are God, and the Father, from whom man is born. Therefore if you see yourself as being composed out of light and of life, you will again ascend to light and life.

Ferdinando. I feel wholly changed by your words today, Lazzarelli, wholly in ecstasy, wholly beyond myself. How about you, Pontano? Pontano. I feel so changed by today's discussion, my gracious king, as Glaucus in Antedon of Euboia must have felt when he ate dog's-grass (as they say) and felt how he was being changed into a sea god. Lazzarelli. You experience an excellent transformation today, for you are gradually being regenerated by the divine light and transformed into true men; and the true man, as Hermes says, is even greater than the gods that dwell in heaven, or at least as powerful.

Ferdinando. But who can truly be called a true man? Lazzarelli. Someone who does not break the divine order, and reaches the goal of his creation: one such as Abraham was, who in a book that the Hebrews call Aboda Zara is said to have started at the age of fifty-two as a true man and worshipper of truth to teach in the city of Harran the true observance and the cult of God, and taught it for eight consecutive years. And Dionysius in his letter to the priest Caius speaks about our Lord Christ Jesus as follows: “We do not see Jesus by human reason —for he is not just a man, nor could anyone be transcendent who would be just a man—but he is a true man.

In order to reach this truth, you, Sir, and you too, Pontano, should pursue these divine things for a long time, with frequent wonder, prayer, praise, and contemplation; and Hermes says that it was in order to make it easier for man to reach that goal that the Muses descended to man. So direct all the powers of your Muses towards that goal, Pontano, and you, blessed king, apply thereunto all your spirit’s strength. Pray, wonder, praise, and contemplate the divine; thus you will prepare yourself in the right way for the tremendous and god-creating mystery that I am about to tell you. Even heaven and its inhabitants take pleasure in these things, as Hermes says.
Ferdinando. We will do as you say, and will be found adequately prepared for the god-creating ray which the Almighty pours down upon us. Lazzarelli. So be present with all the longing of your mind, whilst I sing the hymn of contemplation. Consider its words and perceive their meaning with intense meditation. Ferdinando. Carry out your intention: we will be with you and are waiting anxiously, with all our mind's powers.

Poem 3.
Rise up, my mind, and now reflect,
On wonders vast, we must respect.
Who brought forth all from void and space?
Just the spoken Word, full of grace.
Blessed be the Father's Word,
Praise it, all things, let it be heard.
Who set the stars in their eternal flight,
To guide the world through day and night?
Only the Mind, from God it came,
Praise Pimander, in His name.
Sing, O mind, the Mind so grand,
Creator of the sunlit land.
 Who made the Sun, that glowing sphere,
A beacon bright, to us so near?
It's the light from the Father's birth,
Blessed be the light on Earth.
Who ordered the Moon and stars afar
To borrow light from the Sun, their star?
God, who gives light to all that glows,
Blessed be the source that flows.
Let the stars sing a song of praise
To Him who set the heavens ablaze.
Who taught the planets their backward dance,
And set them all in ordered stance?
Only God, the world's true Maker,
Blessed be the world's caretaker.
All ye bodies, in harmony, sing,
For the power of life that He does bring.
God, the life for all things bright,
Blessed be the Father's light.
May all that lives express their cheer,
To He who made the world appear.
Who raised man's eyes to heaven's view,
Above all beings, a gift so true?
The Father who created we,
Blessed be He who set us free.
Speak, born of Earth, in grateful tone,
A hymn to the Father, well-known.
Who, to man, did grant both mind and speech,
The truthful image, within reach.
Blessed be the Mind and Word,
By whom the world's design was stirred.
Who perfects creation, raising man,
Drawing us to the divine plan.
Praise the spirit-giving God,
Who fills the world and casts the rod.
Sing for Him, who cleanses with breath,
Delivering from corporeal death.
Blessed be He, our temple's core,
Sing His praises, evermore.
Who, when man strayed the wrong way,
Led him back to the light of day?
Born of a Virgin, the Son's embrace,
Blessed be the Virgin's grace. Odes,
O man, sing for the child,
The holy dispensation mild.
Who, when man defiled again,
Reached out a hand to cleanse the stain?
The Holy and Righteous of Israel's fame,
Blessed be the Redeemer's name.
Behold, He restored the domain,
When all was lost in a shadowed plain.
Who gifts a new age to this place,
Rising from the stench's trace?
The Mind of God, alone, is He,
Blessed be the Father's decree.
In all ages His hymns shall rise,
Resounding praise to the skies.
Behold, who restores us to splendor's throne,
Submitting all to the Son, alone?
The Counsel of the Father on high,
So rise, my mind, break chains and fly.
Sing for the Father, right and just,
Sing for the Son, with love and trust,
Sing for the Holy Spirit's source,
Offer tunes with heartfelt force.
Blessed be He, mover of all,
Three and one, answering the call.
In unity, let praises blend,
For Him, the beginning and the end.

Lazzarelli. Until now we have been theorizing, but now we will turn our attention to what remains.
Ferdinando. By that hymn of yours, I have been set afire with an enormous love of God, who has privileged man with such blessings. Do you not feel the same,
Pontano? Pontano. I am not just burning with love, but almost in ecstasy too, by a stupor similar to what people experience who happen to touch an electric fish. This hymn is such that, in my opinion, it far excels Tynnichos of Chalcis’s hymn in praise of Apollo. It is not just inspired by the Muses, as they used to say, but by the true divinity of God, so that I am overwhelmed by both love and amazement.
Lazzarelli. Henceforth, we must take care that this love persists and grows stronger every day. For such love turns inferior to superior things, and both unites and connects them to each other. In truth, first contemplation excites love, and then love turns the human mind to God; and, having been turned, it is molded by God in such a way that it reassumes its innate vigor, which it had lost by its chasing after material things, and by its wholly restored power performs even greater and more wondrous things than the heavenly nature itself. Ferdinando. We shall persist in the love of God, as you urge us; but tell me please, what works can be done by a human mind thus molded?
Lazzarelli. A very sensible question, Your Majesty, for no one will correctly perform a thing he is ignorant of. So please give me all your attention now, that you, whom God has constituted a king while in this body, may remain a king even in the kingdom of eternity, when you will have flown from the body by death. Now we are in the outer court of the darkness where God dwells. So listen, that you may freely enter God’s most lucid darkness. Ferdinando. I am listening, and burning for you to hasten my entering there.
Lazzarelli. It behooves us to understand that God is fertile beyond anything else, for He is the maker and begetter of all things. That is why Hermes calls him of both sexes and overflowing with fertility. Orpheus too asserts that He is both male and female; but, so that you may believe this more strongly, listen to what He says of Himself through Isaiah: “Shall I, who cause others to give birth, not give birth myself? Shall I, who make others bear offspring, be sterile myself? sayeth the Lord thy God."
Likewise, Dionysius says in his book On Divine Names: “For because in the beginning love was most excellently in the good, it never permitted itself to remain infertile within itself, but moved itself to operation, generating everything through its excellence.” Ferdinando. Who will doubt that it is as you say, Lazzarelli? But what, most of all, do we gain from this knowledge of divine fertility?
Lazzarelli. You shall soon hear it, good King. Now that you have come to understand and know the fertility of God, the next thing you should understand is that, since mankind is the glory and the image of God, it too is furnished with the fecundity of both sexes, as Hermes puts it. Ferdinando. But everybody knows that from common experience. Not just mankind, but all other living beings as well, are seen to be fertile. If it were otherwise their race would not have lasted through so many generations.
Lazzarelli. This indeed everybody knows, as you say. But what I am now trying to make you understand is hardly known to anyone. Ferdinando. But what is it? Come on, hurry up and tell us; I am very excited, and almost unable to bear even the smallest delay. Lazzarelli. I am not speaking about the fertility of the body which you have mentioned, but about the fertility of the mind, which also affects the body. Ferdinando. But what is that fertility of the mind? Lazzarelli. Now, please, direct all your intelligence to what I am about to say, otherwise my words will be completely lost on you. Ferdinando. I will do all I can; you go on now.
Lazzarelli. Because the human mind is the image of the first mind, it has received from the latter not only fertility, but also immortality: these two main gifts are given by that mind itself to its image, that is to say, to the word. That is why Hermes says that the mind and the word are as precious as immortality, and why he admonishes us that whoever uses these gifts the way he should is in no way different from the immortals — he even says that through them he is finally brought into the choirs of the blessed. These two things combined, Your Majesty, bring forth a divine offspring.
Ferdinando. I do not doubt that is true, Lazzarelli, if you mean to suggest that the sciences and arts are children of the mind, which were first conceived by the mind and (as a kind of childbirth) are passed on to the exterior senses by the word, finally to be preserved for posterity by writing. Lazzarelli. Both arts and sciences are indeed children of the mind, but they are produced by generation in a metaphorical sense only. But I am speaking here of a literal generation of the mind, the way a son is identical with his father. For it is literally true that like is always produced from like. Ferdinando. I beg you: what do you mean? Stop beating about the bush!
Lazzarelli. Consider this, Your Majesty, if the body has so much power that it can produce a body similar to itself, what could prevent a mind from generating a mind, since it is more excellent than the body? Ferdinando. Perhaps you mean to say that the mind of the son proceeds from the mind of the father, Lazzarelli? Lazzarelli. That is not what we are talking about. We are speaking of that generation of the mind that quite dumbfounded Asclepius, when Hermes revealed it to him, because of the thing's incredible magnificence—causing him to exclaim that he was greatly confused, and making him say that he considered humankind most fortunate to have received such a gift.
Ferdinando. It is not necessary to strain my mind with such circumlocutions, Lazzarelli, for quite like a barrel filled with new wine and lacking an outlet the pressure almost makes me burst asunder. So hurry up and say what you mean! Lazzarelli. Behold, good King, beloved of God: I admonish you not to lend your ear to Socrates' daemon, but to the spirit of Jesus Christ, who dwells in those who worship Him; and I will not exclude you, Pontano.
 
See, both of you are called to the supreme felicity of mind. Behold, now the joys of paradise are opened to you, the heavenly city stands revealed: the road is clear that leads to the mountain, the tabernacle, and the house of God. Behold, the kingdom of Israel, which poets call the Golden Age and for which Christ Jesus taught His disciples to pray, is set before your eyes. The six days of work and labor have gone by, the Sabbath day of rest is drawing near, and truth and wisdom are quickly coming to meet us. See, from the groves of wisdom the treasure of immortality is dug up for you. Look, the nectar, the ambrosia, the manna, the sacrifices, and the feast of the Lamb, to which the birds of heaven congregate, will feed you as guests and invited friends. The tree of life shall henceforth be an aromatic balm to you. You will suffer no more, nor will your soul know weariness.
So be attentive with all your soul's powers, whilst I sing the hymn of divine generation, compelled by the spirit of God. For thus will you be made partners in the ineffable mystery. Ferdinando. We are ready with both ears and mind, and ready to meditate.

Poem 4.
Oh Father, where do you transport me now,
To the realms of Enoch, who followed your vow?
Is this the place where he found delight,
In walking your path, in your holy sight?
Are these the peaks of Horeb or Sinai so grand,
Where prophets like Moses once took their stand?
Hidden to bring down the laws from above,
The sacred commands, given with love.
Or do I stand by the river divine,
Where sins were washed, in waters that shine?
Is this the mountain, holy Tabor's crest,
Where man witnessed glory, divinely blessed?
He shone brighter than snow's pure gleam,
Whiter than clouds in a heavenly dream,
From there your voice declared with power,
Your son of old, born before the hour.
Love tears me apart, fueled by your fire,
Opening secrets, lifting me higher,
Revealing the heavens to your children true,
Guiding the faithful in all that they do.
No humble request or mortal song,
But wonders to share, to souls they belong.
Forbidden to ancients, now told clear,
In verses to teach, for all to hear.
In the end days, it is sung in the light,
Revelation will come, in piety's sight.
Listen, I begin, silence will fall,
As divine words flow, answering the call.
This novelty shines, a miracle great,
Man knows of God and the divine state.
As the Lord creates, so does true man,
Bringing forth souls, fulfilling the plan.
Prophetic dreams, and help in need,
Punishment for the godless, the rewards decreed.
They follow the will of the Father above,
Responding to fate with wisdom and love.
Man's mind like God's, with speech to proclaim,
Creating as gods, in the Father's name.
Happy is he, who knows fate's gift,
Among gods, his spirit will lift. 

Lazzarelli. You have heard what has been revealed by God's inspiration: this may certainly be called the secret of secrets, as we read in the Holy Books of the Sabbath of Sabbaths, the Holy of Holies, and the Song of Songs. I am not only convinced of this through the authority of the sages and reasonable proofs, but I know it from tangible experience. And if you do not give up, you will clearly know this too. But in the meantime, I beg you to keep enclosed within your conscience what emanates from the pure well of truth, so that no unbelieving, unqualified, or profane person may hear it.
Pontano. We must do as you ask, Lazzarelli. For it is said that the Eleusinian goddesses were angered at the philosopher Euvenius because, in his curiosity for hidden things, he stepped out in public to interpret the mysteries of Eleusis; and so much the more would the Supreme Craftsman be scandalized (if one may say so) if His secret mysteries were spread all over the place.
Ferdinando. What shall I say now, Lazzarelli? I am so overwhelmed with love, admiration, and joy that I am almost beside myself in ecstasy and do not know where I am.
Lazzarelli. No wonder, happy king. For if every new thing, however small, has an impact on our senses, this will be done all the more, and in a more excellent way, by a thing that not only strikes our senses but also fully numbs the mind’s eye with its extraordinary sublimity.
Ferdinando. I would like you to tell me, Lazzarelli, in case you know, who among the ancient or modern sages has spoken about this matter.
Lazzarelli. Just as, from the beginning, only a few have been granted such an enormous gift by God, likewise only a few have been able to speak about it. For nobody can teach clearly and fittingly what he does not know.
Ferdinando. But who are these few?
Lazzarelli. I will mention the ones I know. To start with, Hermes covertly speaks about these things in all the dialogues that we now have of him. But in the dialogue with Asclepius, called the TeXeioc; Xoyoc;, he speaks of them more openly. Likewise, the wise men of the Hebrews say that Enoch, in a book he wrote, makes mention of the higher and the lower king; and the one who unites them both will daily harvest the gladness from above. And in my opinion, that is exactly the heart of this mystery.
Abraham too, in his book entitled Sepher Yetzirah—that is to say, the Book of Formation—teaches that this is how new men are formed: one must go to a desolate mountain, where no beasts of burden graze, and from its midst, one must dig up Adama, that is to say, red and virginal earth; then a man must be formed from it, and letters must be ritually inscribed on his limbs. In my interpretation, this must be understood as follows: the desolate mountains are the godly sages, who are desolate because they are despised by the multitude, according to the words of Wisdom: “We fools have esteemed their lives insanity."
And Hermes says: “Those who in this world devote themselves to wisdom do not like the multitude, nor does the multitude like them: they are considered insane and are laughed at; at times they may even be hated, maltreated, or murdered.”
And Plato speaks as follows in his Phaedrus: “Standing apart from the busy doings of mankind, and cleaving to the divine, he is abused by the multitude as if he were out of his mind. But it escapes them that he is full of God."
According to the interpretation of Philo, the beasts of burden are the corporeal senses, which he says are seven in number. These beasts of burden do not graze on the mountains, for the godly sages are not tempted by the lures of the senses. And Adama, the red and virginal earth, is the mind of the wise itself, which has been made virginal by the wine of the Messiah that germinates virgins. A new man, having been created in this manner, is brought to life by a mystical disposition of letters on his limbs. For the divine generation is most perfectly accomplished by a mystic utterance of words composed of the letters of the alphabet. That is why they are the mountains we must visit for the divine formation. For only the minds of the wise are capable of divine generation. In my opinion, it is in this way that Abraham preserved this great mystery for posterity in the form of a riddle.
But far above all others, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Messiah, taught this by His words and accomplished it in His deeds, as was prophesied of Him by Asaph: “I will open my mouth in parables, and will utter dark sayings of old.”
And it is said in the Book Breschit Rabba of Rabbi Moses Aderson that there was a debate on sacred things amongst some Talmudists, and when Rabbi Jonah mentioned this secret, basing himself on the authority of Enoch, Rabbi Symeon both laughed and cried, and finally said: “This is the will of God, which He does not want to be revealed to any generation until the King Messiah has come, who will give permission for these mysteries to be revealed.” Thus, more than all others, Jesus Christ has revealed this secret, as we have already said.
But the day is near that in the fullness of time He will make it manifest more clearly, so that it may be fulfilled what He Himself has spoken of: “And I have other sheep which are not of this fold: them also I must bring. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” In all the sacred books of the Old and the New Testament, you could find something on this subject, though with quite some difficulty. Apart from these, Your Majesty, I do not remember having read anybody who has spoken of this either explicitly or in a veiled manner.
Ferdinando. If it does not go against God’s will, I would like you to explain in what way and by what means such a great work will be accomplished.
Lazzarelli. This too I intend to do, so that you may have from me the complete consummation of the divine work. For this is a divine and royal thing, and it befits a divine and pious king like yourself. For if, as Plato tells us, there have been times when the kings of Persia were brought up in the service of the gods (that is to say, were taught Zoroastrian magic), then should not the Christian kings, all the more, be taught the true and real service of God, which is opposed to the false one?
But the Sun is already declining towards the western sea, Your Majesty, and a great many conditions must be observed regarding what you ask; and if I were to go on and enumerate them, it would take a long time, so that the night would wholly surround us. Already my mind is so tired by the length of the present discussion and the magnitude and difficulty of the whole subject that it craves rest. So we will postpone it until some other time, in a more secluded and solitary place, after the fashion of the Hebrew sages.
Regarding the saying in Genesis: “And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, but to the sons of the concubines, he gave gifts,” the kabbalists say that what was given to the sons of the concubines were the Shemot Shel Tumah, that is to say, the names of impurity, namely the magical arts. But the things that were given to Isaac were certain divine secrets, which they call Kabbalah (because they are passed down from mouth to mouth). And that name is beginning to be known to some people in our days. But the way it works is wholly hidden from everyone, with the exception of one only. But you, blessed king, and you too, my dear Pontano, keep faithfully in mind what I have said, and at the end of our present discussion, give thanks to God, who has, by my mediation, called us unto so great a gift.
Ferdinando. That would seem to be something for you, Pontano, excelling as you do in eloquence.
Pontano. I will do as you command, Your Majesty, but in this act of thanksgiving, I will use not my words but those of Jesus Christ, so that our prayers may be more pleasing to God Himself and more sacred.
Ferdinando. Do as you think fit.
Pontano. I thank You, O Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou hast hid these things from the prudent and the wise, and hast revealed them unto us babes. And it would seem fitting, Lazzarelli, if you, too, would end your teaching with some hymn of praise, as you have done throughout all our discussion today.
Lazzarelli. I will do as you wish, Pontano, especially on this occasion. I never get enough of saying thanks to God, so I will praise Christ Jesus under the name of Pimander, which is explained by Hermes as the Mind and the Word of divine power. You, however, be intent of mind, and in all humility, adore with me the creator of all things, the Word itself.
Ferdinando. We are already on our knees, stretching out our folded hands to heaven, waiting until you begin to speak.

Poem 5.
Light of the Father, radiant and bright,
Pimander's wisdom, an eternal light.
Fountain of all things, maker of dreams,
Power and triumph in your glowing beams.
With feet that tread on shadows, dark and deep,
You unravel the snake's curved creep.
Praise to you in honor and might,
Glory and dominion, beauty in sight.
Your Word revives the humid lands,
As birds tend eggs with gentle hands.
Elements flow from your holy breath,
In your power, triumph over death.
All creation dances to your tune,
Life's vibrant orchestra, a sweet boon.
Fire, water, earth, and air,
Praise to you, beyond compare.
Join the human race with divine light,
Turn us to gods, fill the night.
Dissolve the darkness with your grace,
In your triumph, we're embraced.
Lost powers restored to starry skies,
Flesh transformed by virgin eyes.
Praise to you, for all creation's length,
Glory and dominion, beauty and strength.
When fallen again, your gaze returned,
Prophets spoke of lessons learned.
Praise to you, in wisdom's flow,
Glory and triumph, all shall know.
Oracles speak, both great and small,
Admonishments no more, we heed your call.
Praise to you, for all things right,
Glory and dominion, beauty and light.
The six days' work shall pass away,
Sabbath's stillness in earth's sway.
Joined with the mind, mankind shall be,
In your power, eternally free.
Voice of God, we all shall hear,
From human lips, silence near.
Earth becomes a holy ground,
Praise to thee, with triumphant sound.
All will rise in former glow,
Kingdom's near, as you foreknow.
Praise to thee, eternal guide,
Glory and dominion by your side.
What was two becomes one flock,
One shepherd leads, their path unlock.
In green pastures sweet and pure,
Praise to thee, forever sure.
Drink from wells of living streams,
Harm and fear are washed in beams.
Praise to you, in love's embrace,
Glory and dominion, beauty and grace.

When this effusion of praise had concluded, the king withdrew into the royal chambers, feeling more cheerful and happy due to the discussion. He prayed that another sun might grant him a day like this again. However, Lazzarelli, having reverently greeted the king (as good manners demand), promised his assistance for another occasion and left deep in the night.