CHAP. III.

The two Dragons of colour yellowish, blew, and black like the field.

LOoke well vpon these two Dragons, for they Page  65 are the true principles or beginnings of this Phy∣losophy, which the Sages haue not dared to shew to their owne Children. Hee which is vndermost, with∣out wings, hee is the fixed, or the male; that which is vppermost, is the volatile, or the female, blacke and ob∣scure, which goes about to get the domination for ma∣ny moneths. The first is called Sulphur, or heat and drinesse, and the latter Ar∣gent viue, or cold, and moi∣sture. These are the Sunne and Moone of the Mercurial source, and sulphurous ori∣ginall, which by continual fire are adorned with royall habiliments, that being vni∣ted, and afterward changed into a quintessence, they Page  66 may ouercome euery thing Mettallick, how solid hard and strong soeuer it bee. These are the Serpents and Dragons which the ancient Aegyptians haue painted in a Circle, the head biting the tayle, to signifie that they proceeded from one and the same thing, and that it alone was sufficient, and that in the turning and cir∣culation thereof, it made it selfe perfect: These are the Dragons which the ancient Poets haue fained did with∣out sleeping keepe & watch the golden Apples of the Gardens of the Virgins He∣sperides. These are they vp∣on whom Iason in his ad∣uenture for the Golden Fleece, powred the brothe or liquor prepared by the Page  67 faire Medea, of the dis∣course of whom the Books of the Phylosophers are so full, that there is no Phylo∣sopher that euer was, but he hath written of it, from the time of the truth-telling Hermes Trismegistus, Or∣pheus, Pythagoras, Arte∣phius, Morienus, and the o∣ther following, euen vnto my selfe. These are the two Serpents, giuen and sent by Iuno, (that is, the nature Mettallicke) the which the strong Hercules, that is to say, the sage and wise man must strangle in his cradle, that is, ouercome and kill them, to make them putri∣fie, corrupt, and ingender, at the beginning of his worke. These are the two Serpents, wrapped and twi∣sted Page  68 round about the Cadu∣ceus or rod of Mercury, with the which hee exerci∣seth his great power, and transformeth himselfe as he listeth. He, saith Haly, that shall kill the one, shall also kill the other, because the one cannot die but with his brother. These two then, (which Auicen cal∣leth the Corassene bitch and the Armenian dogge) these two I say, being put toge∣ther in the vessell of the Se∣pulcher, doe bite one ano∣ther cruelly, and by their great poyson, and furious rage, they neuer leaue one another, from the moment that they haue seized on one another (if the cold hin∣der them not) till both of them by their slauering ve∣nome, Page  69 and mortall hurts, be all of a goarebloud, ouer all the parts of their bodies; and finally, killing one ano∣ther, be stewed in their pro∣per venome, which after their death, changeth them into liuing and permanent water; before which time, they loose in their corrupti∣on and putrifaction, their first naturall formes, to take afterwards one onely new, more noble, and better forme. These are the two Spermes, masculine and sae∣minine, described at the be∣ginning of my Abridge∣ment of Phylosophy, which are engendred (say Rasis, A∣uicen, and Abraham the Iew) within the Reynes, and entrails, and of the opera∣tions of the foure Elements. Page  70 These are the radicall moy∣sture of mettalls, Sulphur, and Argent viue, not vul∣gar, and such as are sold by the Merchants and Apothe∣caries, but those which giue vs those two faire & deare bodies which wee loue so much. These two spermes, saith Democritus, are not found vpon the earth of the liuing: The same, saith Auicen, but he addeth, that they gather them from the dung, ordure, and rotten∣nesse of the Sunne and Moone. O happy are they that know how to gather them; for of them they af∣terwards make a triacle, which hath power ouer all griefes, maladies, sorrowes, infirmities, and weaknesses, and which sighteth puis∣santly Page  71 against death, leng∣thening the life, according to the permission of God, euen to the time determi∣ned, triumphing ouer the miseries of this world, and filling a man with the ri∣ches thereof. Of these two Dragons or Principles Met∣tallicke, I haue said in my fore-alledged Summarie, that the Enemy would by his heate inflame his ene∣my, and that then if they take not heed, they should see in the ayre a venomous fume & a stinking, worse in flame, and in poyson, than the enuenomed head of a Serpent, and Babylonian Dragon. The cause why I haue painted these two Spermes in the forme of Dragons, is because their Page  72 stinch is exceeding great, and like the stinch of them, and the exhalations which arise within the glasse, are darke, blacke, blew, and yel∣lowish, (like as these two Dragons are painted) the force of which, and of the bodies dissolued, is so veno∣mous, that truely there is not in the world a ranker poyson; for it is able by the force and stench thereof, to mortifie and kill euery thing liuing: The Philoso∣pher neuer feeles this stinch, if he breake not his vessels, but only he iudgeth it to be such, by the sight, and the changing of colo•rs, pro∣ceeding from the rotten∣nesse of his confections.

These colours then signi∣fie the putrefaction and ge∣neration Page  73 which is giuen vs, by the biting and dissoluti∣on of our perfect bodies, which dissolution procee∣deth from externall heate ayding, and from the Pon∣tique fierienesse, and admi∣rable sharpe vertue of the poyson of our Mercurie, which maketh and resol∣ueth into a pure cloud, that is, into impalpable powder, all that which it finds to re∣sist it: So the heate working vpon and against the radi∣call, mettallicke, viscous, or oylie moisture, ingendereth vpon the subiect, blacke∣nesse. For at the same time, the Matter is dissolued, is corrupted, groweth blacke, and conceiueth to ingender; for all corruption is genera∣tion, and therefore ought Page  72 〈1 page duplicate〉 Page  73 〈1 page duplicate〉 Page  74 blacknesse to be much desi∣red; for that is the blacke saile with the which the Ship of Theseus came back victorious frō Crete, which was the cause of the death of his Father; so must this father die, to the intent, that from the ashes of this Phoe∣nix another may spring, and that the sonne may bee King. Assuredly hee that seeth not this blackenesse at the beginning of his opera∣tions, during the dayes of the Stone; what other co∣lour soeuer he see, hee shall altogether fayle in the Mai∣sterie, and can doe no more with that Chaos: for hee workes not well, if hee pu∣trifie not; because if he doe not putrifie, hee doeth not corrupt, nor ingender, and Page  75 by consequent, the Stone cannot take vegetatiue life to increase and multiply. And in all truth, I tell thee againe, that though thou work vpon the true matter, if at the beginning, after thou hast put thy Confecti∣ons in the Philosophers Egge, that is to say, some∣time after the fire haue stir∣red them vp, if then, I say, thou seest not this head of the Crow, the blacke of the blackest blacke, thou must begin againe, for this fault is irreparable, and not to be amended; especially the Orange colour, or halfe red, is to be feared, for if at the beg•nning thou see that in thine Egge, without doubt, thou burnest, or hast burnt the verdure and iuelinesse Page  76 of thy Stone. The colour which thou must haue, ought to bee intirely per∣fected in Blacknesse, like to that of these Dragons in the space of fortie dayes: Let them therefore which shall not haue these essentiall markes, retire themselues betimes from their operati∣ons, that they may redeeme themselues from assured losse. Know also, and note it well, that in this Art it is but nothing to haue this blacknesse, there is nothing more easie to come by: for from almost all things in the world, mixed with moysture, thou mayest haue a blacknesse, by the fire: but thou must haue a blacknesse which comes of the perfect Mettallicke bodies, which Page  77 lasts a long space of time, and is not destroyed in lesse than fiue moneths, after the which followeth immedi∣ately the desired white∣nesse. If thou hast this, thou hast enough, but not all. As for the colour blewish and yellowish, that signifieth that Solution and Putrefaction is not yet fini∣shed, and that the colours of our Mercury are not as yet well mingled, and rot∣ten with the rest. Then this blacknesse, and these colours, teach plainly, that in this beginning the mat∣ter, and compound begins to rotte and dissolue into powder, lesse than the A∣tomes of the Sunne, the which afterwards are chan∣ged into coator permanent. Page  78 And this dissolution is by the enuious Philosophers called Death, Destruction, and Perdition, because that the natures change their forme, and from hence are proceeded so many Allego∣ries of dead men, tombes, and sepulchres. Others haue called it Calcination, Denudation, Separation, Erituration, and Assation, because the Confections are changed and reduced into most small pieces and parts. Others haue called it Re∣duction into the first mat∣ter, Mollification, Extracti∣on, Commixtion, Liquefa∣ction, Conuersion of Ele∣ments, Subtiliation, Diui∣sion, Humation, Impasta∣tion, and Distillation, be∣cause that the Confections, Page  79 are melted, brought backe into s•ed, softned, and circulated within the glasse. Others haue called it Xir, or Iris, Putrefaction, Cor∣ruption, Cymmerian darke∣nesse, a gulfe, Hell, Dra∣gons, Generation, Ingression, Submersion, Complection, Coniunction, and impreg∣nation, because that the matter is black & waterish, and that the natures are perfectly mingled, and hold one of another. For when the heate of the Sunne wor∣keth vpon them, they are changed, first into powder, or fat and glutinous water, which feeling the heate, flyeth on high to the Pou∣lets head, with the smoake, that is to say, with the wind and ayre; from thence this Page  80 water melted, and drawne out of the confections, go∣eth downe againe, and in descending reduceth, and resolueth, as much as it can, the rest of the Aromatical confections, alwayes doing so, vntill the whole bee like a blacke broath somewhat fat. Now you see, why they call this sublimation, and volatization, because it flyeth on high, and Ascen∣sion and Descension, because it mounteth, & descendeth within the glasse. A while after, the water beginneth to thicken and coagulate somewhat more, growing very blacke, like vnto pitch, and finally comes the Body and earth, which the enui∣ous haue called Terra foeti∣da, that is, stinking earth: Page  81 for then because of the per∣fect putrefaction, which is as naturall as any other can be; this earth stincks, and giues a smell like the odour of graues filled with rotten∣nesse, and with bodies as yet charged with their naturall moysture. This earth was by Hermes called Terra fo∣liata, or the Earth of leaues, yet his true & proper name is Leton, which must after∣ward bee whitened. The Ancient Sages that were Cabalists, haue described it in their Metamorphoses, vn∣der the History of the Ser∣pent of Mars, which had deuoured the companions of Cadmus, who shew him, percing him with his lance against a hollow Oake. Note this Oake.