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EDMUND SPENSER AND THE OCCULT TRADITION:
THE INTENDED STRUCTURE OF TTIE FAERIE QUEENE
by
Lois Cudworth-Diakoff
Ph.D. Thesis
(Draf t)
Submitted September 19Bl
to
Professor James Mirollo
Chapter
I.
II.
III.
TABLE OF CONIENTS
INTRODUCTION
A
The
Structural Debate
B.
ArgumenL
TIIE
OCCULT SCIENCES AI(D RENAISSANCE ARTS
A Preliminary Discuss ion
R, Extra-Iiterary Occult Designs
1.
Architecture: Re*creation
of God's Creation
2.
Music
3.
Painting and Sculpture
4.
The Emblem or Impresa
C.
Occultism and Renaissance Literature
1.
Du Plessis Mornay, Dee and Bruno
a.
Philippe du Plessis Mornay:
Non-magical Hermetism
'Magia,
b.
John Dee: Cabala,
and Alchlzmia'
c.
Gi-ordano Bruno
D.
The Millennj-um Won Through Magic
1.
Brunian Talismanic Images
2.
Allegory: Sidney and Puttenham
a.
Sir Philip Sidney
b.
George Putterrlram
ALCHEMY
General Information
1.
2.
R.
The
1.
History
Basic Concepts
Great Work (ltagnum Opus)
Preliminaries
a.
First Matter and First Agent
1) Prima Materia
a) The ldenLification
of Prima Materia
b) The Securing of
Pri-ma Materia
c)
The Purification
of Prima Materia
I
11
L4
L4
43
43
6L
63
5B
lz
75
75
76
B3
103
111
TI4
L23
I36
L70
L70
L70
L77
lBB
193
193
193
193
L94
L9s
Chapter
2)
lgnis InnaLuralis,
or Firsl-Aileut
b.
'lh.e Two Vesseis:
Iigg and Athan,:r
')
Alchr::mica I Trans; f or:mations
a.
Otrc and Twor rl)r UnitY
versus Dual:i-ty
b.
Ti"rree versus-i l'"orl
J.
Times
TV. SPENSAR
A.'Anchora $pei''Ivlon;tr tli'crr:gl.ypltica'
B.
Creation iDescendinq
RedemPliorr (Ascending
C.
The Booh*Irtonths
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
EPILOGUE
REFERENCI'S
Janu;:ry
Ilcl:ru.arY
Iuiarch
aPril
l"lay-'June-July
Air) versus
Jiire )
199
205
2L3
213
225
235
255
265
301.
3r0
310
317
333
348
364
403
408
Chapter
2) IEni s Inni:Lrrralis ,
or Firsi: Agen'L 199
b, lfhc Two Vessel.s:
IIgg and Athatro:: 205
) Alchemical Trans formations 2L3
a.
rJne and 13vo, or Unity
versus Duality 2L3
b.
Three versusi lrour 225
3.
'l']-lTIe s 23s
XV. SPENSHR
265
A.
'Anchora Spei' 'Monas ilieroglyphica' 265
B.
Creation (Descending A5"r) versus
Redemption (Ascending Firr,: ) 30l
C.
The Rook-Months 310
1. January 310
2 " Fehru;rry 3L7
3.
M;rrch 333
4.
April 348
5.
May-June-July 364
EPILOGUN
403
RETERENCES
408
CHAPTER I
fNTRODUCTION
A. The Structural Debate
The long and bitterly joined debate on the organization's of spenser Faerie eu-eenemay most generalry
be dividedinto two opponent camps, the first comprising those who maintain that the poem is either
deplorably or deliciously devoid of an effective unifying pattern (variously attributed to the author's
carelessness, incompetence, or excessive exuberance), and the second contending that the epic conforms
to a more or less rigorous theoreticar design. Among the former, by far the more numerous group, I
should include those critics who perceive in the Faerie gueene at best an unconscious, inconsistent or
disconnected structure; as well as those who detect only aabortive, prj-mitive or extremely flaccid
outline (e.g., one recognizing as the 'unity'poem's sole Arthur's rather disconnected quest for Gloriane)
or else one so vague as to establish merely a unity 'not of plot but of m-ilieu,; or, finally, one
that'unify'limits spenser's attempts to his work to its (rarger or smaller) subunits (e.g., Lewis' theory of
'allegorical an core' at the heart of each book) (1-20). By and Iarge, those denying the poem a conscious
and carefurly elaborated conformation tend to em.phasj-zeits incompleteness, thereby dismissing as
futire--vrhether explicitry or implicitly--the search for an overall abstract design (2L-23).
Interspersed among the generations of skeptics, however, there have always been a few who have
defended the work's essential unity--with increasing frequency as well as ingenuity as we approach the
present day. Even during the period of allegory's greatest decline, the ,neoclassical' r8th century, there
were tose who, like upton and Hurd (24,25) , argued for consistency of design, while coleridge praj-sed
it 'that for being nearest approach to a perfect Whole, ds bringing the greatest possibre variety into
compleat unity by the never interrupted interdependence of the parts' (2G). Perhaps inspired by the
current vogue of 'structural' criticism, structurar analyses of the Faeris-eueene have proliferated in recent
years; yet none has, to my knowledge, satisfactorily--not to say exhaustively--explicated the epic 's most
likely design in the context of the conceptual patterns available to or even favored by the artist. fn
character these latest proposals have ranged from the conservatism of, sdy, a John Arthos, who
supported Hurd's 'unity 'unityof design' over of action' (27), to the moderate originarity of A. c.
Hamilton's sensibre analyses (28) , to the remarkable ingenuity of an Alastair Fowler (29). That the
virtues spenser depicted progress, not unrike those in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, from most private
to increasingly public, has now been widely accepted, though there is still disagreement as to whether
Chastity is I ns.i -'-*-a | v! 'public, ' as how the 'public' r/!rvqus ^+ and to various 'private' and virtues are
related to one another. fn addition, there is a noticeable tendency among these 'order,' scholars, with
their insatiable desire for to conclude that the work is complete as it stands, in six books with or without
the concluding fragrnent (30-37). Of considerable interest in this debate is the recent critical contest
between those who regard the extant structure as constituting a pair of triads (31,35,36) and those who
regard it as rather a triad of pairs (L2,38;cf .37) The advocates of neither position have convincingly
buttressed their assertions by joining to a thorough structural analysis of the poem itself a comparable
examination of the conceptual patterns characteristic of the artist and age that produced it. For example,
in support of a triadic design one might cite, in addition to the wealth of internal evidence, the frequency
of triplets in traditional theological and philsophical patterns of thought (e.9., the divine trinity and the
theological virtues of faith, hope and charity; the tripartite divisions popular among Neo-Platonj-sts of ,
for example, a) the human soul into senses, reason and intellect; b) modes of life into the pleasurable,
the active and the contemplative; c) love into the desire for physical beauty, spiritual goodness, or divine
wisdom; d) governrnent into monarchy, oligarchy or democracy, etc.), as well as such peripheral
evidence as the poem's publication in three-book installments, and the same artist's earlier
apportionment of the twelve eclogues of his Shephear.d_esCalender ' j-nto three formes or ranckes.' A
paired design, orr the contrary, frdy reflect the obsessive syncretism of a Renaissance humanist intent
upon reconciling body with spirit (39), classical philosophy with Christian soteriology (4O,4L), the
order of nature with that of grace (42) and/or the feminine with the masculine, as in the alchemical Opus
(43-46). Moreover, it might betray the influence of Peter Ramus' analytical method, so popular in
Spenser's dty, according to which 'everything was divided by twos' (47) . Of greatest interest, though at
first sight least plausible, are those schemes suggesting a reconcilj-ation between triads and pairs.
Richard Neuse, for example, perceives a negative progression from the beneficent world order of I and
II to dissolution in III and the commencement 'dark 'schemeof comedv' in Book IV (34). A neo-
Hellenistic for the divisions of liter.ary tr-e.a.ti.ses' into poesis (Books and lf)-pg"*r. (fff and lV)-poeta
(V and VI) has been advanced by Harry Berger (38), while Northrop Frye has proposed a proto-
Hege1ian' thesis-antithesis-synthesis' arrangement of Books I-III and IV-VI, respectively (31). In any
event, as Woodhouse correctly observed in his 'Nature 'aesthetic and Grace,' patterning' in the 'based
Renaissance generally tended to be on ideas,' founded 'conceptualon thinkj-ng,' and Spenser's was no
exception. Subsequent critics, though of a more conservative cast than those just mentioned, have
demonstrated the excellent Iikelihood that an abstract, Iogical and analytical order, rather than a
representative narrative one, underlies the organization of at least. certain individual legends, and
possibly the whole of the Faerie Queene (48-52). Not only 'the was Spenser, in Douglas Bush's words,
first modern English poet, in whom critical theory supports and controls imaginative expnession' (53),
but As an artist Spenser was conscious at all tj-mes of whrat he was doing and how he was doing it. He
had definite intentions which he wished to realize through his art f-ogm; hence a study of his art foJ:m,
as well as of his age and personal environment, is necessary in order to realize fully his intentions (54).
'allegorist, ' 'Allegory, For Spenser was an and if it is properly conceived, must be conscious in the
artist's mind' (ss). Although explicit declarations of Spenser's aesthetic theories are deplorably scarce,
there is nevertheless considerable evidence to support Lhe contention that such formulations const.ituted
one of his favorite pastimes. For example, in tJre Argnrment to the October eclogue E. K. 'insuggests
that Spenser has analyzed his art his booke called the English Poete, which booke being lately come to
my hands, I mynde also by Gods grace upon further advisement to publish' (56). Whether God withheld
His glrace or Lhe 'advisements' were discouraging, no such treatise has survived; and while we may not
unreasonably conjecture, with Louis Friedland, that the work most likely resembled Sidney's Defense in
its principal arguments (57) , in the 'structural' absence of this text we must support our extrapolations of
Spenser's intentions by referring to such overt expressions of critical tlreory as those addressed to
Harvey and Raleigh, in addition to allusions in various poems--e.9., in the October ecologue of
The.Shephear9es Ca.lendar, as well as in E. K.'s introduction to that work as a whole; The Teageg gf.
_the Muses; The Ruines Coli.ngf. Iime; Clouts 9ome Ho;meAgain; the FowEe llvmnes; and in such
hints scattered throughout the extant Faerie Queene as those contained in the proems and conclusions to
each book, ds 'allegorical weII as in the significant passages designated cores' by Prof. C. S. Lewis (58).
Finally, in our examination of the evidence offered by Spenser himself I think we can dispense with
W.J. B. Owen's conjectures that the poet was Loo stupid, or busy, or tired, or Lazy, or blue , or some
combination, to give proper attention to the structure of his poem, vftich as a result, he concludes, is in
deplorable state of confusion (59,60,23). 'two For example, the Fowrg H.ymnes (1596) oppose to
Hymnes of earthly or naturall love and beautie, two others of heavenly and celestiall' (Smith and De
Selincourt, p. 585). 'consists The Ruines of Time (159I) of seventy stanzas of seven lines each; the two
sets of visions are comprised in twenty-eight stanzas, in each set six visions followed by an made up of
twenty-eight seven-line stanzas and seven envoy rejecting the vain world and looking to heaven. Six are
the days of and change ceas'is this es.' mutable Similarly worldi 'in on the severls, ' seventh God rests
Daphnai.da (I59I) "complairrts, " each seven stanzas long' (51). In The Te.ares of the Muses (1591), 'A
introduction of nine stanzas leads into the nine complaints, the whole consisting of an even hundred
stanzas' of six lines each (51) . Moreover, close examination of this last suggests a progression from past
(first three) to present (middle three) to future or immortal (last three)--each triad being subdivided into
pursuers of virtuous action, of intellectual wisdom, and of pleasurable love, respectively. The twelve
eclogmes of Th.e Shepheardes Cglender {L579), as E. K. carefully explains, follow a 'general' 'division'
'into three formes or ranckes' (three ' recreatiue , ' four ' Plaintiue ' and five 'Moral ' ) , while 'in 'seasons
corresponding particular' to the (four) of the ' 'according twelue monthes, begj-nning with January: to
tradition of latter times . observed both in government of the church, and rule of Mightiest Realmes'--the
whole 'a comprising Calender for euery yeare' that shall endure as 'general' 'particular'Iong as time' (cf.
Spenser's vs. B analysis of his epic design in the letter to Raleigh). The lyrical Amorett-i (1595) has also
been variously analyzed as 'natural' conforming to either a biennial calendar, beginning or 'liturgical' in
January (62), else to the briefer, span of roughly three months--from Ash Wednesday (0e1 to Easter
Sunday, ox perhaps even to Ascension Day (9 Ittay), L594 (64-66). Its culmination, in any event, is
generally agreed to occur in the elaborate temporal design of the Epithalamion (1595), in whose twenty-
four stanzas, representative of the twenty four hours of Spenserrs mid-summer wedding-day, all time is
'for harmonized and even, short time,' transcended (67-69). A temporal preoccupation has likewise been
observed to pervade the Prothalamion (f596) (70). 'microcosmic' On a leveI, Spenser's consuming
interest in artistic design down to its smallest details is evident in the enthusiastic experimentation with
language, meter, rhyme-scemes, stanzaic patterns, and poetic genres that is one of the most striking
features of his unique art-His 'formal' youthful interest in such considerations is reflected, for example,
in his participation in the efforts of the Areopagus to introduce classical meters into English verse, ds
witnessed in the fj-ve letters he exchanged with Gabriel Harvey in l5B0; to which may be added the
extraordinary versatility of both imagination and organization displayed in the consLruction of his
Shepheardeg Calende.r (L579). Indeed, throughout his career Spenser evinced not only an apparently
inexhaustible fecundity of technical inventiveness but an equally intense passion for symmetry and even
closure on every structural level. Since the appearance of Professor Hieatt's famous study (67) the
Epithalamion has probable enjoyed the most uncontested reputation among Spenser's works for detailed
ingenuity of design. Mention should also be made of Spenser's inno.rative tightening of the traditional
sonnet-form by linking the rhymes of octave and sestet and concluding with a summarizing
epigrammatic couplet. It is by a comparable interlocking of the rhyme-scheme and modj-fication of the
terminal couplet that Spenser transformed the traditional ottava rima of Ariostean romance to the
'spenserian stanza' of the Faerie Queene, with its eight decasyllabic lines and concluding alexandrine. A.
c. 'is Hamilton believes that the unity of the poem as a whole gained by the three interlocking rhlzmes:
these are held together ]:y the middle rhlzme, which links the first three lines to the middle of the stanza,
where it repeats itself to form a centre for the whole, and then carried into the seventh line brings the
third rhyne in its turn back to the 'the centre.' Thus three rhlzmes converge toward the centre of the
stanza, its wtrole movement being centripetal,' thereby suggesting the image of a fixed globe with a
radiating 'Moreover, center of meaning (28). its internal harmony suggests the kind of allegory which
the poet writes, that is, an integration of multiple meanings j-nto a perfect whole (S,t5uctu.r-e .of
Al,Ie.gory, p. L4) . Perusal of Spenser's other poetic productions quj-ckIy reveals a habit of meticulous
to rigorous structural 'form' 'frame' patterning, from the overall or of the whole to Lhe smallest details of
metrical construction. Numerological designs are the rule (with concomitant resonances of a
geometrical, musical and/or astrological character), and their stated or implied association with various
temporal cycles serves to und.erscore the poignant tension between transitory mortality and God's
eternal Sabbath that constitutes Spenser's perennial argument. The actual resolution of this conflict, ot
the poet's ultimate attainment of immortality, is usually presented as a st.ilIdistant prayer or hope; but
the route to its accomplishment is outlj-ned in the'course'or'structure'of the poemin question as well as
symbolized in a variety of internal-images. Commonly he reconciles opposing tensions in this world,
when at all, in terms of marridge, or in a syncretic matrimonial design (as in the Fowre_Hrzlrns: male
with female, high with low--as adumbrated in the analysis of his 'Time' 'Eternity' epic mailed by Spenser
to Raleigh). versus is usually discernible in the structural patterning. fts 'Action' 'Change' complement is
the motif of or (e. g. , 'Space'), 'Peace' 'Rest'-movement through versus quiet or 'immobility' 'salvation.I
the of immortality' achieved with t1
B. Arcrument
#
The argument of this paper--that Spenser's Faerie 'magical' Qseene is fundamentally in intention and
desj-gn-has of course been anticipated in numerous scholarly works, from the 17th century analyses of
FQ II.Lx.22 by William Austin (L637) (7f) and Kenelm Digby (L644) (72) down to the more
contemporary'numerological' observations inspired by Prof. A. Kent Hieatt's famous study of
Epithalamion, Short Tj-me's Endless Monqment (19601 $7). Most notable among the 'Numerical latter,
of course, is Prof. Alistair Fowler, whose Composition in TFQ" (73) and Spenser and the Numbers of
Ti,me (L964) (29) seem to have given rise to a new Lrend in medieval and Renaissance scholarship,
perhaps best exemplified in Prof. Fowler's later (1970) volumes Triumphal Forms and g"rfent poetrvt
EssaJs .Ln_ltlmeroloqi-cal Agalvsis (74,75) . Among the even more recent attributions of magical
intentions 'Spenser's to the poet Spenser are Suzanne MacRae's essay on Epithal.amium as a Verbal
Charm' (76) (disputed, interestingly enough, in an ensuing essay by Prof. HieatL (1111, and such
intriguing doctoral dissertations as R. J. R. Rockwood's 'Alchemical Forms of Thought in Book I of Sp's
(L972) E9' (78), William Blackburn's 'The Poet as Protean Magician in the Works of Marlowe, Jonson
and Spenser' (L977) (79), 'Magic and Visj-on in the Poetry of ES' by Norma Greco (1978) (80), and R.
A. Ferlo's 'The Language of Magic in Renaissance
L2
England: Studies in Spenser and Shakespeare' (L979) (Bf)-to name but a few.
What follows is an admittedly cursory survey of the
influence of the occult sciences on Renaissance artistic
production generally--from architecture, painting and music,
to the literary productions of Spenser's immediate predecessors
and contemporaries. The object is to demonstrate that a
preoccupation with the occult was part of the spirit of the
time--a spirit so pervasive that Spenser would have been
hard put to avoid it even had he wished to. Particular
'device'
attention is drawn to the popularity of the Hermetic
'impresa, ' 'monas
or related to John Dee's magical
'
in which the effective powers of number,
&E$LlJ.phicg,
geometry, language, astrology and religion had syncretized
and concentrated.
After that is an introduction to the history and
'alchemy,'
philosophy of the lowest and probably least,
'three'
familiar of the disciplines outlined above. It is
'alchemy'
suggested that be regarded as not only rel,ate9 Lo
the higher magical disciplines explored by Walker, Yates,
Fowler, et dl., but (in true Hermetic fashion) as their
'metaphor.'
humble 'ref lection' or even For, to cite the
'Quod est
very rnotto of Hermes Trismegistus: superius est
'What is
sicut id quod est inferius,' or above is just like
what is below' (82).
Finally, turning to Spenser himself, attention will be
l3
paid to the species of 'mona,s hi.eroqlvphica' that prefaces
each published triad of his extant epic (cf. the emblems
to the 'January' and 'June' eclogues in his SC, with their
respective glosses), as well as Lo such explicit clues to
the poet's intention as those contained in the cantos
desrgnated FQ VII .vri and IV.x.
L4
CHAPTER II
TI.IE OCCULT SCIENCES AND RENAISSANCE ARTS
A. Pre limigary_Discuss io.n
Several years ago Prof. D. P. Walker observed that
'Magic
during the Renaissance was always on the point of
turning into art, science, practical psychology , or, above
all, religion' (83). More recently Michael Levey has
remarked:
If one speaks of Nature in the widest sense as
itself something of a gigantic vas hermeticum to
which the artisL and the-natura-i5alFf5il-ffie
astronomer and the botanist, all turned to
discover some secret or germ, then the sixteenth
century does perhaps represent the IasL age in
which real affinities existed between these
'great,
various students of creating Nature' .
The artist could . well hold his own
beside the other magus figures; . where so
much remained to be known, his knowledge and
vision could themselves be contributions to
comprehension of the universe. Paracelsus
constantly laid stress on what man can achieve
through his imagination, which he compared to the
sun with its active, kindling power. . . . As
evidence of what man can achieve, the operations
of artists-*those, as it were, honorary natural
magicians--were certainly among the most wonderful
(Hiqh Renaiss.ance, p. 210) (84) .
Elsewhere (e!. cit., p. f56) he complains:
Indeed, what the lure of antiquity had been in
earlier years, the combined magical-scientific
urge seems to become for the later period. And if
1s
sometimes too much stress has been laid on the
effect of classical antiquity on the arts, not
enough probably has yet been made of Lhe
affinities between magic and the arts
--despite the brilliant researches of Frances Yates into
'affinities'
those very for more than a decade (85-87) .
'Order
in the universe, order in society, order in the
arts' was the prevailing dictum, founded on tJ:e belief that
'Underneath
Nature's most freakish behaviour there was
detectable a divine harmony and pattern':
All things, wrote Spenser, directly echoing Plato,
'A
have been fashioned in accordance with goodly
'which
Paterne' wlrich is perfect beauty, all men
adore.'
Pattern, order, harmony--all of which can
include touches of the irregular, the disproportioned
and the dissonant within their overall
stability--inspired a great deal of High
Renaissance art (Levey, High Renais.sance, p. 213) .
'orders'
The immutable archetype whence all the inferior
derived was supercelestial, residing in the timeless
'Sabbaoth' 'Kingdom';
of God's eternal at the other extreme
'lowest' 'lowliest'
is the of the created orders, with its
representatives--submerged or subterranean'shadows' of God's
solar splendor in Lhe uncertaj-n realms of minerals, plants
and savage beasts.
'vertical
The hierarchy' thus ranged from the heavenly
'point' 'pinnacle'
or spiritual of ldeal Unity, to the
sprawling rustic diversity that circles round its base:
'highest' 'lowest'
is thus tied to by means of a vast,
unbroken chain of golden links of ever-increasing size (BB)
(upon d.escent) , in which are vividty expressed 'the
unimaginable plenitude of God's creation, its unfaltering
order, and its ultimate unity' (89)--as well as the sunlit
ladder of spiritual re-ascent traveled by the enlightened
'horizontal
soul back to his celestial origins. The range'
'corresponding
of planes' seems to concentrate rather upon
a reconciliation of opposites (e.9., high and low, inner and
outer, male and female, etc.) in novel numerical and
'Order'
geometrical configurations. '1!3 motion' circles or
'beloved'
spirals about a central value or authority: it is
symbolized by the dance, music, or astronomy, and also,
'a1chemy,'
perhaps, by which Tycho Brahe labeled
'terrestrial
astronomy' (Levey, High Renaissance, pp. 2OL
2O2) (cf. alchemy's alternative identification as a species
'celestial
of agriculture') .
Now, that Christian theology, classical philosophy, and
political and/or natural history were, in that order, man's
principal studies upon earth had long been a humanist
commonplace, as may be seen in the following passage
addressed to the young Sir Philip Sidney by the venerable
Hubert Languet in L574:
Next to the knowledge of the way of salvation,
which is the most essential thing of all, and
which we learn from t-l:e sacred scriptures, next
to this, I believe nothing will be of greater use
to you than to study that branch of moral
philosophy which treats of justice and injustice.
f need not speak to you of reading history, by
which more than anything else men's judgements are
shaped, because your own inclination carries you
to it, and you have made great progress in it (90).
L7
'I'ne
Hermetist, in contrast, sought not only to know but
also to iJrf]uen_c-e, to move, to control in these ttrree areas.
Nevertheless, regardless of the poetic devices employed
by the theologians, philosophers and historians of aII times
'poets,'
and places, these alone do not make them according
to the newly developed aesthetic standards of the Renaissance.
'right
On the contrary, what Sidney labeled poetry' is a
separate universe, analogous to that fashioned by the divine
Creator though not restricted by it, which by transcending
the former's perfection rises to the eminence of the a1lemlcracing
discipline of theology--and beyond, to the throne
of the Deity Hj-mself (cf . Sidney's demonstrations of Poetry's
superiority to Philosophy and History, and its essentially
divine character, in the Defense) (9f). Such a vision of
the poet's craft j-s demonstrably Hermetic in character, in
contrast to the comparatively humble ambitions of the pure
humanists and scholastics of prior generations.
Such syncretism, in other words, was hardly the invention
of Spenser or of any oLher individual philosopher or poet
of the sixteenth century. Rather it was in part the legacy
of their medieval forebears, q/ho had believed in a mathe
'ordered
matically universe arranged in a fixed system of
hierarchies but modified by man's sin and the hope of his
redemptiorr,' to use E. M. W. Tillyard's description of the
'world
picture' inherited by the Elizabethans:
Now the Middle Ages derived their world picture
from an amalgam of Plato and the OId Testament,
IB
invented by the Jews of Alexandria and vivified
by the new religion of Christ. It was unlike
paganism (apart from Platonism and some mystery
cults) in being theocentric, and it resembled
Platonism and other theocentric cults in being
perpeLually subjected to the conflicting claims
of this and another world (89).
To ttris Renaissance humanism contributed its extravagant
respect for the writers of antiquity, along wittr the further
syncretisms so necessitated:
The great forward movements of the Renaissance all
derive their vigour, their emotional impulse, from
looking backwards. The cyclic view of time as a
perpetual movement from pristine golden ages of
purity and truth through successive brazen and
iron ages still held sway and the search for truth
was thus of necessity a search for the early, tJ:e
ancient, the original gold from which the baser
metals of the present and the immediate past were
corrupt degenerations. . Progress was revival,
rebirth, renaissance of antiquity. The classical
humani-st recovered the literature and the monuments
of classical antiquity with a sense of return to
the pure gold of a civilisation better and higher
than his own. The religious reformer returned to
the study of the Scriptures and the early Fathers
with a sense of recovery of the pure gold of the
Gospel, buried under later degenerations (Yates,
Bruno, p. 1).
'classical
The humanist' was thereafter under obligation to
demonstrate the fundamental compatibility of pagan philosophy
and Christiani-ty rnlherever possible, and to devise some
compromise whenever not (e.9., on the issue of polyttreism),
'so thaL [his] own religious and philosophical beliefs might
'religious
coincide' (92). A contemporary reformer,' on Lhe
'Ancient
ottrer hand, would very probably be influenced by the
' 'Orpheus, ' 'PytJeagoras,
Tlreology' of 'Hermes Trismegistus, and
who were wrongly supposed by many early Fathers (e.9.,
l9
Lactantius, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius) to have been
the earliest theologians/ deriving from Old Testament
Patriarchs (e.9., Adam, Enoch, Noah, and especially Moses)
and/or from the sage Magi or High Priests of ancient
'Egypt,'
and culminating in the wisdom of Plato as well as
'revelations'of
in the the New Testament (e.g., monotheism,
the Trinity, the creatj-on of the world out of nothing through
the Word, etc.). Ficino revived this error along with the
prisca theoJoqi-a itself (which in reality dated from the
Gnostic Alexandria of ca. A.D. 100-300) when, aL the behest
of Cosimo d' Medici in L462, he translated the Corpus
'main
Hermeticum--which he regarded as Plato's source' (93)
--even
before he supplied his age with Latin versions of
Plato's surviving works (L484), Plotinus' (1490), the largely
magj-cal writings of later Neoplatonj-sts, and those of the
mj-sguided early Greek Fathers mentioned above.
In the Renaissance this theologico-philosophic
tradition was usually accompanied by various
other beliefs and ideas, mostly already present
in its sources: good natural magic and astrology,
numerolog'y, powerful music, patriotic national
history (so that, for the English and French, the
Druids may become Ancient Theologj-ans ) , the
assumption ttrat deep truths must be veiled in fable
and allegory, and, together with these, Biblical
typology. Since they were more concerned with
finding similarities than differences between
various philosophies and religions, Renaissance
syncretists tended to be tolerant and liberal in
their outlook, both with regard to the several
Christian churches and to good pre-Christian or
exotic pagans.
The magj-cal strand in the tradition of the
Ancient Theology was of the greatest importance
duri-ng the Renaissance. . The dividing line
between magic and religion, between Lheurgy and
theology, is a hazy one, and the two overlap and
inLeract (Walker, The Ancient Theoloqy, pp. 2-3) .
So divine a magician would aspire to rise above time and
reflect the whole universe of nature and of man in his mind,
'Unless
for you make yourself equal to God, lou cannot
understand God, ' says the Corpus Hermet_icum XI: 'If you
embrace in your thought all things at once, times, places,
substances, qualities, quantities, you may understand God.'
'achieve'
So to the "'Eg'yptian" experience, to become in true
'
gnostic fashion the Aion, havi-ng the divine powers within,
one must understand and imprint on one's memory Variety's
'order'
underlying (i.e., the unity of the celestial forms),
and through this insight power will be gained (Bruno, pp.
r9B-199).
Spenser's epic, conforming ideally to the Hermetic brand
of Neo-Platonism popularized by Ficino--and embodying
a triumph of "decompartmentalization
--endeavored
not only to fuse, instead of merely
reconciling, the tenets of Platonic and pseudo-
Platonic philosophy with ChrisLian dogma . but
also to prove that all revelation is fundamentally
one; and . that the life of the universe as
well as that of man is controlled and dominated by
a continuous "spiritual circuit" (circuitus or
circutis spirilualj-s) that leads from God to the
world and from the world to God. For Ficino, Plato
is bottr a "Moses talking Attic Greek" and an heir
to the wisdom of Orpheus, Hermes Trismegistus,
Zoroaster, and the sages of ancient Egypt. The
Neo-Platonic universe is a "divine animal, "
enlivened and unified by a metaphysical force
"emanating from God, penetrating the heavens,
descending through the elements, and coming to its
end in matter" (94).
2L
On its way down to earth this "splendor of divj-ne
gfoodness" is broken up into as many rays as there
are celestial spheres and terrestrial elements.
This accounts for the diversity and imperfection
of the sublunary world . in contrast to
"pure forms" . . . i but it also accounts for its
inherent unity and nobility because the same
descent from on high which individualizes, and
thereby limits, all earthly things keeps them
--through
the intermediary of the "cosmic spirit"
(spiritus mundanus)--in constant touch with God
'influence '
. /whose ts/a preter-individual
and preter-natural power which acts from below to
above as well as from above to below (94).
'Se_e!e' 'begj-ns with
So Bruno's claims to divine
inspiration' :
AIl descends from the above, from Lhe fountain of
ideas, and to it ascent may be made from below.
'How wonderful would be your work if you were to
conform yourself to the opifex of nature if
with memory and intellect you understand the
fabric of the triple world and not without the
things contained therein.' These promises of
conformity with the opifex of all nature recall
the words in which Cornelius Agrippa describes the
Hermetic ascent through the spheres as the
experience necessary for the formation of a Magus(Yates, Art of_Memory, p. 255).
Brunian philosophy similarly postulated (and cf. FQ II.
proem) that
The universe is infinite, for the infinite divine
power would not produce a finite wor1d. The earth
is a star, as Pythagoras said, like the mffi and-
other planets and worlds which are infinite in
number. In this universe is a universal providence
in virtue of which everything in it lives and moves,
and this universal nature is a shadow or vestige
of the divinity, of God, who in his essence is
ineffable and inexplicable. The attributes of the
divinity he understands--toqether with the
theologians and the greatest philosophers--to be
all one. Ttre three attributes of Power, Wisdom,
and Goodness ("Potenzia, Sapienza Bonta")
e are
the same as mens, intellectus, and amor ("mente,
intelleto edEreTT.@, p. 35ol-6phasis mine) .
'diagrams,'
fn her examination of three Brunian found
'variations
to represent on the theme of intersectinq
circles,' Yates reveals that
The text definitely states that the first of
these is a figure representing the universal mqqs;
the second represents the intellectus; and the-
third is the "figure of toiFf-ffiaing
contrarieties and uniting many in one. These
three figures are said to be most "fecund", not
only for geometry but for all sciences and for
contemplating and operating. These three figures
thus represent the Hermetic trinity, as defined by
Bruno in the "Thirty Statues". The third one, the
one vrhich is the qmoris fiqiura, actually has the
word MAGIC written in it in letters on the diagram.
. These three figures are referred to in the
text under the following abbreviations:
Fignrrae Mentis nota
Figurae Intellectus
Figurae Amoris
The first two of these are signs for the sun and
moon, and the third is a five-pointed star (Yates,
Bruno., p. 3L4).
'ten 'are
Moreover, the sefiroth' of the Cabalah grouped
into three trj-ads. The first grouping is called the
intellect-world; the second, the soul or emotional world;
the third, the nature world' (Western $ystical TraditioJr,
'a
p. 274) (95). This in turn parallels threefold application
in the cosmology of the (Cabalist) Sefer Ietzirah--to time
'year'),
(in the form of to space (in the form of macrocosm),
'
and to human organj-sm (in the form of microcosm) (Western
Mystical Tradition, p. 27O).
Analogously, the three basic aspects of the Elizabethan
'world
picture,' as outlined by Tillyard, are in rough but
convincing agreement with the 'three worlds' (elemental,
celestial, and intellectual) of Cornelius Agrippa's
influential De o.cculta philosophia--realms through which the
Creator's heavenly 'virtues' filter in their progressive
'descent,' and whereby the Magician hopes to 'reascend,'
manipulating '1ower' 'virtues' in order to draw 'higher' ones
down to aid him. The design is shared by several other works
of the period, of implicit as well as explj-cit Hermetic
persuasion, and mention will be made of them as we proceed.
For exanple, the Bembo of Castiglione's Courlie_r
'created'
recognizes three legitimate realms: the celestial
'macrocosr[,' 'microcosm, ' 'second
the human and artificial
nature' :
Behold the constitution of this great fabric of
the world, which was made by God for the health
and conservation of every created thing, the round
heaven, adorned with so many divine lamps, and the
earth in the center, surrounded by the elements
and sustained by its own weight; the sun, which in
its revolving illumines the who1e, and in winter
approaches the lowest sign, then by degrees climbs
in the other direction; and the moon, which
derives her light from Lt, according as it
approaches her or draws away from her; and the
five other stars which separately travel the same
course. These things have an influence upon one
another through the coherence of an order so
precisely constituted that, if they were in the
least changed, they could not exist together, and
the world would fall into ruin; and they also have
such beauty and grace that the mind of man cannot
imagine anything more beautiful.
Think now how man is constituted, who may be
called a little world: in whomwe see every part
of his body precisely framed, necessarily by
skiIl, and not by chance; and then the form taken
as a whole is so beautiful that it would be
difficult to decide whether it is utility or grace
that is given more to human features and the rest
of the body by all the parts.
Leave nat,rre and come to art: vileat is so
necessary in ships as the prow, the sides, the
yards, the mast, the sails, the helm, the oars,
the anchors, and the rigging? Yet all these
things are so comely that to one who looks upon
them Lhey appear to be devised as much to please
as to be useful (96);
and likewise with certain architectural features, such as
'columns 'middle
and architraves,' as well as roofing's
'mediator'
ridge.' The human microcosm is here the fulcrum or
'over-' 'under-world. '
between an and an
However, each of these levels mav be further subdivided
'triplets'
into subordinate
So, in his excellent survey The Occult Sciences in the
Renaj-.ss.q$Se: A Sl-9dv iq Intell_ectual Pattgrns (L9721 (97)
,
Wayne Shumaker distinguishes three basic kinds, or levels,
'magic. '
of
'spiritual
Highest is identified as magic':
It uses rites, incantations, cabalistic na.rnes,
mystical characters and s1zmbo1s, fumigations, and
significant objects of various kj-nds, and the
magician may invoke not merely the members of the
Holy Trinity but also other "gods " through vrhom
the High God was supposed to perform His will.
The operator's state of mind may be of crucial
importance, so he may prepare himself by
repentance, expiation, fasting, ablutions,
solitary meditation, and other ceremonies. Indeed,
he must sometimes "sacrifice" (Occul.t gciences,
pp. 108-109) (cf . FQ I.x).
'Hermetic
Associated wittr this was the philosophy' derived
from the cult of 'Hermes Trismegistus' uihose history and
various manifestations have been carefully explored by D. P.
25
Walker (83,98) and Frances Yates (85-87). Otherwise known
'ceremonial' 'religious' said to
as or magic, it may be
'the
include even sign of the cross' and'the use of a ring
in marriage rites,' as well as numerology; geometrical
figures; musical and other sounds; numerical harmonies in
the human body and soult the divine names; God's members,
adornments, and ministersi the language of angels; mants
soul; planets, intelligences, and celestial choirs;
purifications, expiations, vows, sacrifices, petitions; and
related topics (Occult .Scien-ces, pp. vii, 109, L34-L57, 2OL
248) . Its ultjrnate expression is said to occur in Cornelius
Aggrippa's De occulta philosophia libri trsq of 1531 (ibid-).
On an intermediate level was 'celestial or astronomical
magic' :
This is not excluded from natural magic, since
as a part
astrological forces could be construed
of nature, but its emphasis might shifL toward
ceremony if the heavens were thought--as Ficino
thought them--not merely to exert influence by
means of rays and heat but also to be endowed with
intelligence and will (Occult Ssiences, p-109).
The subject of Agrippa's second book and of Ficino's De vlta
coqlitus com.pa.randa(1489), it might otherwise be called
'astrological magtic.' Its topics include: the attraction
and repulsion of celestial influences; man's soul and the
World-Soul; planetary domination of terrestrial objects; the
choice of influences and how to invite them; spirit as the
mediary between anima and matter; the use of talismans; odors,
foods, plants; words, songs, gestures, dances (Occg$ Sclences,
pp. vi-vii; LOB-I57; 1-59).
Finally, on the lowest level is 'white magic' or 'magia
naturalis, a pre-modern form of natural science,' as
discussed in Giovanni Baptj-sta Della Porta's Maqiae naturalis
libri viqinti (f589). Otherwise known as 'alchemy,'
it operates through occult properties and qualities,
but it is natural because the forces through which
it achieves its effects are objectively present in
nature: elements, qualities, properties, "virtues"
of several kinds, "forms, " proportions, and
intrinsic sympathies and antipathies. No invocations
are offered, [o implorings made; wtratever
consciousness exists in non-human nature is not
constrained by ceremonies to be helpful (Occult
Sciences, pp. vi-vii; 108-119; 160-198).
However, it will be remembered that
If at the beginning alchemy was a goldsmith's art,
it soon became more anrbi-tious and, in time,
developed two distinguishable traditions. One of
these was . experimental, the other
philosophical or meditative. Holmyard
characterized the latter as a kind of poetical
alchemy whi-ch had nothinq to do with laboratory
operations but was rather an imaginative equivalent
concerned reallv with the purification of the soul
(Occult Sciences, p. 170).
It will be conceded that, to a purist in such matters,
these ttrree domains of magical endeavor might be regarded as
quite separate and distinct. For the purposes of this study,
however, they are conceived as hierarchically related, ds
described, since resonances of all three color, and indeed
define, Spenser's epic design.
In the words of Cornelius Agrippa, 'The universe is
divided . into three words, the elemental wor1d, the
celestial world, the intellectual world,' of which
Each world receives influences from the one above
it, so that the virtue of the Creator descends
through the angels in the intellectual-ffid,-to
the stars in the celestial world, and thence to
the elements and to all things composed of them in
the elemental world, anjmals, plants, metals,
stones, and so on (Yates, p. 131) .
Ere,
Conformably, Aggrippa divided his De occultq philosophia
into tl:ree books:
The first book is about natural magic, ot magic in
the elemental world; the second is about celestial
magic; the third is about ceremonial magic. These
three divisions correspond to the divisions of
philosophy into physics, mathematics, and theology.
Magic alone includes all three (yates, p.
E€W,
131 & ff.).
So it is that
Magicians think that we can make the same progress
upwards, and draw the virtues of the upper world
down to us by manipulating the lower ones. They
try to discover the virtues of the elemental world
by medicine and natural philosoS>hy; the virtues of
the celestial world by astrology and mathematics;
and in regard to the j-ntellectual world, they study
the holy ceremonies of religions (ibid. ) .
Now, in the first of his three books Agrippa treats of
'natural
magic,' corresponding to the lowest philosophical
'physics.' 'virtues'
sub-specie, The of the elemental world
are to be sought by medj-cine and natural philosophy, and the
'natural
magic recommendedis essentially Ficino's magic'-
'through
i.e., occult stellar virtues in natural objects'-
though rather bolder with respect to reaching beyond the
'star 'rays'),
images' (or up to the World Soul and even as
high as Lhe divine ldeas themselves for more and more
'virtues.'
powerful Different kinds of potions, scents,
light,s and colors, gestures, humors, emotions, etc. are
z6
analyzed in relation to planets, divinations, geomancy,
hlalromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, and so on. Finally, tJ.e
po\^/er of words and names is dj-scussed, including the virtues
'The
of proper names, and those of a star or of a divinity.
final chapter is on the relation of the letters of the
Hebrew alphabet to the signs of the zodiac, planets, and
elements which give that language a strong magical power.
Other alphabets also have these meanings but less intensely
than the Hebrew' (Bruno, pp. 133-134).
'celestial
Book II concerns magic,' corresponding to
'mathematics' 'philosophers, '
the of the which along with
'astrology' 'abstract' 'virtues'
may be used to discover the
'middle
of this realm. Related sciences' include: music,
'real'
geometry, optics, and mechanics; all are more and
'natural'
hence superior to sciences. He discusses the
virtues of numbers and number groupings, from one to twelve,
as well as the potent numerical values of the letters of
the Hebrew alphabet. He next turns to geometry, particularly
'magic
squares' and their accordance with planetary numbers
'virtues. ' 'Then
and comes a treatment of harmony and its
relation to the stars, harmony in the soul of man, the
effects of music rightly composed in accordance witJ.
universal harmony in harmonising ttre soul.' There follows a
long discussion of images in celestial magic' (talismans,
etc.), including images for planets, images for zodiacal
signs, and so forth (as well as those of the 360 decan
demonsl). The conLinual movement of the earth as things
'Lhe
grow and diminish is cited as proof that earth is
alive'; and Lhe Sun is worshipped with solar Orphic
incantations as the ambitious Magius' greatest single source
of power (gp. cit., pp. L34-L37). Yates' introduction to
ttris Book-
Mathematics are most necessary in magic, for
everythj-ng which is done through natural virtue
is governed by number, weight, and measure (gp.
cit., p. L34)
--echoes
Georgre Puttenl:am's opening to the second of his
three-book treatj-se on English which is devoted to
.Poesie,
'Proportion'
rules of :
It is said by such as professe the Mathematicall
sciences, that all things stand by proportion, and
that without it nothing could stand to be good or
beautiful. The Doctors of our Theologie to the
same effect, but in other termes, sdy that God
made ttre world by number, measure, and weight;
some for weight. say tune, and peraduenture better.
. Hereupon it seemeth the Philosopher gathers
a triple proportion, to wit, the Arithmeticall,
the Geometricall, and the Musicall (99).
'ceremonial
Agrippa's third book concerns magic,' the
'theology.' 'ho1y
Hermetic equj-valent of philosophical The
'intellectual
ceremonies of religions' are studied in the
world,' "'with that part of Magic which teaches us to seek
and know the laws of Religions, " and how by following tJ-e
ceremonies of religion to form our spirit and thought to
'priestly 'the
know the truth.' His is a magic,' entailing
performance of religious miracles,' under the guidance of
'Love,
Hope, Faith.' However, he employs as well the Orphic
'gods,' rnumerations'
the (i.e., the Sephiroth) of the
'powers'
Cabalists, and the angelic of Pseudo-Dionysius:
The influx of virtue from the divine names comes
Lhrough the mediation of angels. Since the coming
of Christ, the name IESU has all the powers, so
that the Cabalists cannot operate with other names
(Sp. ci!. PP. L37-L43).
'ideal' 'priestly
Yates' summary of Agrippa's Magus' is quoted
on pages 24 and 25: in him are perfected all three levels
of Magia.
Agrippa had maintained that only Magic embraced all
three realms, perfecting the knowledge and power of each,
and imbuing an artifact on every leveI with supernatural-
if not downright divine--life and strength. But Sidney quite
clearly makes the same claim for poetry in his Defenss (91),
as does Puttenl:am in English Poesie (99) , wherein Book I
'priestly 'ornamental'
corresponds to magic' and III to the
'graces' 'attractions' 'natural
and of humble magic.'
Now, Frances Yates has summarized Cornelius Agrippa's
perfection of priestly magic as follows (Brlrno, p. L42) =
The highest dignity of the Magus is seen to be
the Magus as priest, performing religious rites
and doing religious miracles. His "marrying of
earth to heaven" with Magia, his summoning of the
angels with Cabala, lead on to his apotheosis as
religious Magus; his magical powers in the lower
worlds are organically connected with his highest
religious powers in the intellectual world.
fn short, . here is something . very
like the ideal Egyptian, or pseudo-Eglptian,
society as presented in the Hermetic Asclepius,
a theocracy governed by prj-ests wtro knffimsecrets
of a magical religion by which Lhey hold
the wtrole society together, though they themselves
understand the inner meaning of those magical rites
as being, beyond the magically activated statues,
really the relj-gion of the mind, the worship of
the One beyond the A11, a worship percei-ved by
the initiated as rising beyond the strange forms
of its gods, activated by elemental and celestial
manipulations, to the intellectual world, or to
the Ideas in the divine mens.
This part of Magic, he claims, "'teaches us to seek and know
the laws of Religions, " and how by following ttre ceremonies
of religion to form our spirit and thought to know the truth'
(gp. cit., p. 137). One and three are its essential numbers
(e.9., the Trinity or Lhree faces of one God; cf . three
theological virtuesi nine ranks of Angels, etc.), and thus
four is its resolution (e.9., four points of ttre cross, etc.);
seven are the days of the Creation, BS well as tJ:e number
of sacraments, while Christ's dicsciples were twelve in
number.
So, in the two principal books of the Cabalah, the
'Sefer Yetzirah' ('Book of Formation') and the 'M,'
'creation' is effected 'bv means of . thirty-two acts of
wisd.om' :
The figure thirty-two is arrived at by combining
the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet and
adding the first ten numbers which are designated
"sefiroth," or emanations. The first of the
sefirottr corresponds with the holy spirit or the
word. The second of the sefiroth contains the
twenty-two letters of the alphabet which have but
a single essence in the form of air. The third
is condensed air whose form is water, from which
from which arises a garden. The fourth is fire,
from which God fashions his divine throne and the
seraphim and angels who comprise his holy dwelling
place. The remaining sefiroth are made up of the
points of the compass--east, west, north, south-
together with height and depth. In ttris wdy. the
universe and all contained therein are brought
into being, one emanation arising from the other
and more and more materj-ality being taken on the
farther the emanations remove themselves from the
source.
The twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet
straddle the border between the world of corporeality
and the world of intellectuality. Since these
leLters are allied with air as the essence of the
second emanation, they contain the same sounds
found in alI oLher languages and present an
unalterable aspect of ttre intellect (95).
'In
other words, God is cognized through the twenty-two
'P1ato's 'a
letters [analogous to ideas,' or guiding
intelligence in the world' that can be ascertainedl and makes
himself known in the physical universe bv means of ttre
letters':
Three categories are assigned to the letters:
ttrey are grouped into three mothers (Aleph, Mem,
Shun)/ seven double signs (i.e., with dual
pronunciations), and twelve simple signs. The
three mothers correspond to the three elements
(viz., air, water, and fire), the seven double
signs to the planets, and ttre twelve simple ones
to the signs of the Zodiac. This division has a
threefold application in the cosmology of the
sefgr (e!. cit., pp. 270-27L).
let?irglr
'maternal,'
In the first, or triad,
Fire and water act as opposing forces wittr the
element of air serving as the intermediary between
the two. Air is able to reconcile these antagonistic
forces because of the domination iL holds
over them. The number three then has its counter
part in the cycle of the seasons, with . the
combination of spring and fall marking tJre temperate
season. This triad is also manifest in the corporeal
nature of man through the head, heart, and stomach
(ibid-)
'All-inclusive' 'Elj..gi9g, ' 'Virtue'
We are reminded of the
'Learning'
and with which the Rosicrucian'Mpd_eE' began,
and whence, in theory, its remaining nine accomplishments
derive.
'The seven double signs,' on the other hand, 'connote
opposing forces' (e.9., both good and bad planetary
influences):
The week has seven nights and seven days; the
human cranium has seven apertures: eyes, nostrils,
ears, and mouth; and lastly, there may be seven
happy and seven unhappy events which occur in the
life of an individual (ibid., p. 27L).
FinalIy:
The twelve simple signs have their correspondence
in the twelve signs of the zodiac, the months of
the year, the main parts of the body, and "to the
most important attributes of our nature: sight,
hearing, smeIl, speech, nutrition, generation,
action or touch, locomotion, anger, laughter,
thought, and sleep" (ibid. ) .
In Spenser's extant epic the most vivid depictions of
these elements and seasons, of the seven planetary deities
and the twelve zodiacal signs, occur in the second
'Mutability'
canto. designated FQ VfI.vii(.13-59) . Moreover,
VII.vii.L-I2 would appear to represent a succinct outline of
the characters of the first twelve ('Ethical') Books.
Turning from the sacred to the secular realm, w€ find a
'philosophies'
similar struggle to reconcile classical with
each other, and with Christian soteriology:
This attempt to combine the best of all the
philosophies within a predominant Christianity,
the intimacy with vhich the various borrowings are
mi-ngled, and the occasional confusion which results,
are typical of the time, not only of the poets,
but also of professed philosophers. The men of
the Renaissance . were not seekinq for a
simplification. . The curious mixture of
schools, and the loose handling and uncertain
application of terms and formulas taken from
various and often from conflicting sources,
resulted from the attempt to gather and reconcile
all the philosophies and to relate the mass to
Christianity (4L).
Glimmers of Christian truth were likewise thought to be
contained in pre-Christian philosophic tracts, especiatly
(of course) those of (meo-)PIatonic descent (e.g., gnosticism),
but increasingly those of a misread or a pseudo Aristotle as
well--not to mention the pre-Socratj_cs (fythagoras and his
foll-owers in partj-cular), in addition to the later Epj_curus
and his Latin disciple Lucretius, the stoics and Cicero.
'the
fndeed, Aristotelian and neo-Platonic views are not
clearly opposed and compared, but are rather contarninated
by each other and by many more influences as well. Aristotle
himself was sometimes misinterpreted in a sense which brought
him very close to Plotinus' (C. S. Lewis, Enqlish Lite.rature
ilr the_Si.xj._eenth Century, p. 32I), as well as to Pythagoras
in several Hermetic forgerj-es. However, the new respect
'magic' 'a
for suggests psychological change of the greatest
importance' :
For, while the medieval philosopher had been
willing to contemplate and investigate the world,
he had thought that the wish to control or operate
j-t
could only be inspired by the devil. For the
Renaissance philosopher, steeped in the occult
learning of the Hermetica which had been approved
by at least some of the great fathers of the Church,
magic, and therefore operation (i.e. the actual use
of a man's knowledge and his power over nature)
seemed both a dignified occupati-on and one approved
by the will of God. . There can be little
doubt that the influence of the Hermetica explains
some of the extraordinarily wiaeFpffi-BEliei in
magic, astrology and the theories of alchemy among
many of the greatest scientific minds of the
sixteenth century (100) .
'theology' 'synthesis'
If the end of is a perfect of
'the 'the 'philosophy' 'celestial'
All' in One,' that of on a
'abstract' 'EgalysiS'
or relatively level is, on the contrary,
'whole'
of a into the sum of its component parts.
'Philosophy' 'nobler'
of the sort, therefore, may be
divided into two classes: On the one hand there were
'astrology' 'astronofty, ' 'lsfgnlif
and or high and low ic'
explorations of the movements of the heavenly spheres, aided
by arithmetic, geometry, music, and iconography:
Underlying the work of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and
Kepler was the Plat_onic assumptj-on that the world
could be explained in mathematical terms. But
this assumption had been held to apply primarily
to asLronomy, that is, to the eternal motions of
the incorruptible, weightless celestial spheres
and bodies. Aristotle, however, had not applied
mathematics in any real sense to the heavens
(Koenigsberger and Mosse, Europe i.n jEhe Sixteenth
Centurv, p. 359).
On the other side we have 'moral philosophv' (viz.,
'Politics'and 'Ethics'),
or an outline of the ideal
'courses'
to be pursued by a Prince and/or King throughout
'active'
his life--given in arithmetic, geometric, musical
'painterly,'
pi_cJ'u.r.a.
and imagistic (i.e., as in ut pgesis)
proportions (the source Spenser cites for these is
'Aristotle'
in his Letter to Raleigh:). Both are further
'high' 'low'
separated into versus reflections, the Solar
sphere being to Politics what the Lunar is to Ethics; whence
subdivision proceeds by three and by four, to yield a final
'two'
sum of twelve basic units for each of the cycles
(Bruno, pp. 134-137). Three and four, ds well as their sum
(seven) and their product (twelve), draw their significance
from several sources, not least of which are both the solar
and lunar divisions of the year, season, month, week, and
d-y, not to mention the phases of Creation, the stages of
man's U-fe, and so on.
Finally, the third, ot lowest, leve1 is that of palpable
visibility and sensual delectation. Composed of the four
elements (earth, water, air, fire) on the three experiential
planes--e.g., nature's mineral, vegetable and animal
kingdoms, or the appetitive, passionate and intellective
faculties in man--our common sublunarv existence tends toward
riotous variety of vivj-d expression in its colors, images,
gestures, signs, names, words, letters, alphabets, etc.;
'sciences'
but these may be said to fal1 into two principal
'gS,'
and two truth-giving likewise of high versus low
degree. 'The Hermetic science par excellence is alchemy,'
Frances Yates has maintained (Bru]r.o, p. 150), and next to
'Physic (s) ' 'Medicine. '
this was or According to Aristotle,
'physics,
the science of terrestrial nature, was sharply
distinguished from mathematj-cs' :
For Aristotle, mathematics could not adequately
describe terrestrial motion because terrestrial
objects did not move in abstract Euclidean space.
It was a consequence of this view that Aristotelian
physics was concerned with the quality of. and
change in, objects and therefore tended to be
partly chemistry (i<oenigsberger and Mosse, p. 359).
'nature'
Such an'analysis' of contrasts with the alchemist's
'synthesis' 'natural
of perfection' out of the base materials
'ether'
of the former (as the quintessential perfects the
four commonelements). The li.terary counterpart to the
alchemist's transmutation of base metals to gold, or the
physj-cian's transformation of illness to health, consists j-n
'Historj-es' 'literal'
the outward that comprise the Ievel
'moral'
of traditional medieval allegorical exegesis (the
'allegorical' 'philosophy'
and Ievels, pertaining to and
'theology'
respectively, are discussed above, pp. 16 & ff.,
though in inverse order).
'Magic' '1ow,' 'mean'
may thus be said to be of or
'high'
degree, depending on whether its realm is sublunary
(and corruptible), superlunary (and cyclic), or supercelestial
(and immutable). The sublunary realm is traditionally
considered to consist of minerals, plants, and animals--i.e.,
of three subspecies, in ascending order of sophistication;
and of the four elements in Lheir perpetual mutual transfor
'conflict'
mations from one to another, vacillating between
'balance.'
and The superlunary domain is that of the seven
planets as well as of the eighth, or starry sphere, populated
by the twelve zodiacal sj-gns. The supercelestial sphere,
finally, is thaL of the religious Magus, associated with the
3B
'Ether'--which
quintessential is the abode of the Angels
'five'
(conversely, some writers place at the bottom, for
'five 'three' 'Trinity').
the senses,' and at the top for the
'supercelestial'
A perfect Magus, one of attainments (like
the Merlin of Spenser's Fqerie Queele, in contrast to the
false Magus represented by Archimago in Book I), may practice
as well the arts of the two inferior spheres, on the principle
that the superior may contain within itself, and not simply
jmmediate
surpass, its inferiors.
'three
However, these same principles' may be somewhat
differently regarded as the three component aspects of any
'living 'sphere.'
complete organism' or unified experiential
Of the latter there are customarily four: the individual
'Body
Microcosm, made up of spirit, soul, and body; the
' 'high, ' 'mean, ' 'Iow'
Politic, comprising and social ranks;
Nature's great Macrocosm, composed of Platonic ldea(1),
'mysterious,
Manifested Creation, and the subtle life
energy . which sustains all that lives' (De Rola, p. 19) ;
and tJ.e Godhead, embracing Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It
is by no means implausible that Spenser employed a similar
scheme in his organization of the twelve books of his
projected epic.
The salne themes and structural syncretisms pervade
Rosicrucian literaure, when-and wtrerever it has appeared.
For example, in 'A Modell of a Christian Society' (1619):
The Head of the society is a German Prince, a man
most illustrious for his piety, learning and
integrity, who hath under him twelve Colleagues,
his privy Counsellors, every one eminent for some
gift of God (r01).
'twelve
His colleaques' are all
specirfilt= in different branches of study though
the concerns of the first three are all-inclusive,
namely Religion, VirLue, Learning. The rest, in
groups of three, are as follows: a Divine, a
Censor (concerned with morals), a Philosopher, a
Politician, a Historian, an Economist, a Physician,
a Mathematician, a Philologist. If translated into
the language of the Fama, these specialists would
sound not unlike the R. C. Brothers in their
groupings under Christian Rosencreutz (ibid.) .
'Philosopher' 'predominantly
The is subsequently identified as
a natural philosopher who "looks carefully into both worlds"'
(ibid. vftite
) ,
The Mathematician Iis] a man of wonderful sagacity,
who applyes the instruments of all Arts and
inventions of man: his businesse lies about number,
measure and weight: he knows the commerce that is
between heaven and earth; here is there as large
a field to be till'd by human industry, ds in
nature: for every part of Mathematicks requires
a severall and that a most laborious Artist, which
neverthelesse must all aim at this mark, namely
to contemplate the Unity of Christ among so many
admirable inventions of numbring measuring and
weighing, & to observe the wise architecture of God
in Ltre f abrick of this Universe. Hitherto will
the Mechanicks assist with their slights and
subtilties, which are not so ignoble and sordid as
the Sophisters pretend, but rather set forth the
use and practice of Arts, and therefore very
partially disesteem'd in comparison of loquacity.
But it is part of a true Mathematician to adorn
and enrich them with the Rules of Art, whereby mens
labours are diminished and the prerogative of
industry and the strength and dominion of reason
made more manifest (Yates, p. 153).
38,
It is here suggested that Spenser's twelve patrons were
assigned twelve analogous occupations, although not necessarily
in the same sequence as that established by the Rosicrucian
'Mode11.'
'twelve
Analogously, the flowers of authority' assigned
by Enguerrand de Coucy to the twelve points in the cj-rclet
'Order
of his of the Crown' are given by Barbara Tuchman as
'Falth,
follows: Virtue, Moderation, Love of God, Prudence,
Truth, Honor, Strength, Mercy, Charity, Loya1ty, and
'life's
Largesse shining on all below (102). Conformably,
span was 72 years, consisting of twelve ages corresponding
'according
to the months of the year,' to an anon)zmous poem
of the mid-l4th century' (op. g!!., p. 559). OnIy ten
months, or March-December, are given, however--with which
comparison is invited wj-th the ten sefiroth of the Cabalah,
viz. ,
Crown, Wisdom, Understanding, Mercy, Force, Beauty,
Victory, Glory, Foundation and Kingdom. .
Foundation, the ninth of the emanations, is
often likened to the genitals of God, containing
both the male and female principles. FoundaLion
is also the residing place of the Messiah, wtrj-le
the tenth emanation is the place of the Shekinah
which incorporates the concepts of Sabbath, peace,
and the community of f srael (Western Mvstic.al
Tradition, p. 274).
In like manner the influential Rosicrucian manifesto of
L6I4, Fama Fraternltatis, recounts how Brother Christian
Rosencreutz began to organize helpers to assist in the
'Universal
and General Reformation of the whole wide world,'
'beginni-ng
with three only':
After this manner began the Fraternity of ttre Rosy
Cross, first by four persons only, and by them was
4I
made the magical Ianguage and writing, with a
large dictionary, which we yet daily use to God's
praise and glory" (Yates, ,
pp. 42-44) -
The travelincr brethren were to attend upon the sick (cf. FQ
I.x.35-35, 'Mercy"s 'seven Bead-men') and 'to meet once a
year at their House of the Holy Spirit' (ibid.; cf.
Gloriana's 'annual feast' to be held aL 'Fairv Court'.
'Rosicrucianism' is thus
a ne\^i. or rather new-oId philosophy, primarily
alchemical and related to medicine and healing,
but also concerned with number and geometry and
with the production of mechanical marvels. It
represents, not only an advancement of learning,
but above all an illumination of a religious and
spiritual nature. This new philosophy is about
to be revealed to the world and will bring about
a general reformation. The mythical agents of
its spread are the R. C. Brothers (Yates,
Rosicrucian Etligrhterunen!, pp. 45-45) .
Of course,
Spenser was acquainted with Bruno's
E-p,acc:ic, a
vision of a new society on earth in which the
existing vices and cowardices are superseded by
justice and truth. The scene is Ollzmpus, where
the aging Jove, dreading inevitable change, yet
prays to Fate while knowing that it cannot alter,
and finally resolves on a reformation. . On
the anniversary of the fall of giants he assembles
the gods who . are to institute a fresh chart
of the firmament. "In the sequel there is every
kind of guerilla warfare against Jewish and
anthropomorphic theology; but the chief aim is to
construct a new ideal of human ethics. The old
stars and constellations merely blaze out the
rapine and amours of the gods. The sign of
Hercules is a witness of Jove's adultery, and the
sky is thus filIed with slzmbols of squalid vices,
moral and intellectual. Altogether, these make
'the
up Triumphant Beast' rniho has to be despatched.
,Jove goes steadily through the work of degrading
each of them and promoting its contrasted excellence
(103).
'general
Such a reformation' of a millennarian description
will bring the world back to the state in which
Adam found it, whrich was also Saturn's golden age.
So, . the general reformation is said to
'a
presage great influx of truth and light' such
as surrounded Adam in Paradise, and which God will
allow before Lhe end of the world. And . this
millennium, this return to the golden age of Adam
'the
and Saturn, is said to be assisted by high
society of the Rosicrucians' who wish to turn all
the mountains into gold (yates, Rosicrucian
Enlightenment, p. 57; cf. pp. 45-58)
'the
It goes without saying that riches which Father
Rosencreutz offers are spiritual' (Yates, op. cit., p. 45).
'Adept, '
As for the
'he
doth not rejoice that he can make gold but is
glad that he seeth the Heavens open, and the angels
of God ascending and descending, and his name
written in the Book of Life' (cf . FQ I.x.56-59 ff .).
'scientific
Since it was then believed that advance
leading to an extended knowledge of the universe would also
lead to a wider knowledge of God, its creator, and thence to
'science
an extension of charity,' the of the members of
the "Societas" is infused with Christian charity, " although
'any
the virtual absence of mention of intellectual labours'
'a
imparts strongly pietistic atmosphere to the group'
(Yates, pp. 153-154).
BE,
lr/hen the ludibrium of the invisible, fictitious
R.C. Fraternity translates into something real,
'Societas
it becomes the Christiana,' an attempt
to infuse into dawning science a new outpouring
of Christian charity (Yates, S, p. I54).
Yates concludes that:
'Societas
The culture of the Christiana' is
evidently very like that of the city of
.+5
Christianopolis, a scientifj-c culture, based on
mathematics, and oriented towards technology and
'Societas',
utility. The when developed,
would become, like the city of Christianopolis,
a group of mystical Christians contemplating the
works of God in nature, but with a very practical
hard core of scientific and technological
expertise (opl. cit. , p. 153) .
B. Extra-Iiterarv Occult Desiqns
ft is hardly our intention to trace in this study the
imprint of Hermetism upon the wealth of nonverbal artistry
that flourished throughout the Renaissance--a task that
would require the labor of many specialists over many
Iifetimes. Rather we shall touch briefly upon some of the
extra-literary expressions of Hermetic values and patterns
in Renaissance art, bearing in mind that all such art--along
'creation,'
with the rest of human and divine alike-'
poet' 'matter'
supplied the contemporary with and influenced
'form.'
his choice of
1. Architecture: Re-creation
In her exploration of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry in
The .Rosicru_cian Enliqhtenme.nt (pp. 206-2L9), Frances Yates
'secret '
observes that the tremendous interest in societies
during the 17th century must have derived from some 16th
'it
century antecedent(s). She submits that was in
'in
Elizabethan England' that these sects actually began,
association with cults of the Queen and of the Dee movement,
with which Philip Sidney was associated':
In Elizabethan England, bound together by a
revived chivalry and by Renaissance esoteric
movements, and spiritually organized to resist a
dangerous enemy, it seems tikely that there would
have been secret groupings (ep. ci!., p. 2L5).
'When these movements moved abroad,' she pursues, they
probably
included, not only English chivalrous ideas and
English alchemical ideas, but also the idea of a
kind of pre-masonry, for which ilohn Dee may have
been partly responsible, just as he was
responsible for so much else in these movements
(ibid-)
'Augustan
Indeed, it was Dee who first revived the
'the 'speculative
style' of great VITRUVIUS,' with wtrich
masonry' is believed to have begun, in his preface to the
English Euclid of L57O. And, of course, it was Dee who,
'Rosj-crucian
according to Yates, formulated the alchemy'
epitomized in the 'Monas hieroglyphica' of L564, that so
influenced future generations of Hermetic philosophers both
at home and abroad. Other conLributing factors included:
the cult of Elizabeth, and her revival of the 14th century
chivalric Order of the Garter (which, according to Paul
Arnold (104), influenced boLh Rosicrucian manifestos and
'had
Book I of Spenser's Faeri.e Qu-e_ene);Giordano Bruno, who
visited England, vrhere he had probably been in contact with
Sidney, and had shown himself slzmpathetic to the more
esoteric aspects of the Elizabethan chivalric cult'
1
(Rosicru.cian Enlighten4rent, p-2L6; Bruno, pp' 275 ff ') t
Bruno,theintenselyHermeticphilosopher,who
propagated throughout nurope in the late sixteenth
an esoteiic movement which demanded a'
""rrtuiy reformation of world, in the of
general the form
'Egyptian' and good magic,
a return to religion
may have formed a secret society, the
'Giordanisti,'
among Protestant circles in Germany, and perhaps in England
as well (Rosicru.cian-EnliqhteJm9nt, p. 2L6); as well as a
'the
Family of Love,'
tolerant Dutch secret society known as
whose extensive and distinguished membership was especialty
widespread among Protestant priJrt-ers of the day (ibid.).
It would appear from the researchers of Paul Arnold
(RE, pp.
(Histoire .des Rose-Croix, Paris, L955) and Yates
206 ff.) that no actua] Rosicrucian society existed during
'groups
of people
the Renaissance--although somewhat later
. tried to form themselves into societies,' so that the
'reality' 'the of first of
of Christian Unions' the half
'j!!ctig'
the LTLb century in fact emerged from the earlier
'the
of R.C. Brothers':
would appear
The IRosicrucian] manifestos to -be
prociamations of enlightenment in the form of
-utopist an
myth about a world in which enlightened
beings, almost assimilated to spirits, go about
doing good, shedding healing influences,
sciences
disseminating knowledge in the natural
and the arts, and bringing mankind back to its
-
the FalI (o,P' clt' , P' 2O7;
Paradisal state bef ore
Yates later conjectures that the R.c. brethren are
perhaps 'in the nature of fairies, beings who
p' 211) '
lon.te-y tlt" gift of second sight,'
is not identical:
Freemasonry, though closely related,
Freemasonry combines an esoteric approach to
religion with ethical teaching and emphasis on
philanthropy, and j-n these ways it follows the
pattern of the R.C. Brothers. but, as A. E. Waite
pointed out, it differs from that pattern in not
being interested in reforms of arts and sciences,
in scj-entific research, or in alchemy and magic,
and in many other ways. From the great reservoir
of spiritual and intellectual power, of moral and
reforming vision, represented by the Rosicrucian
manifestos, Freemasonry drew off one stream;
other streams flowed into the Royal Society, into
the alchemical movement, and in many other
directj-ons (gp. cit., pp. 2LB-219).
fn a late lTth century pamphlet the two are said to be
'the
dining together, along with Modern creen-ribbon'd
'the
Caball' (a Whig club of the ITth century) and Hermetick
' 'on 'invisibly'I
Adepti, the 31 of November next'--albeit
'geometry' 'architecture'
Legend attributed the discovery of or
(tfre two are consj-dered indistinguishable) to Thoth-Hermes,
or Hermes Trismegistus, v/ho is identified with Euclid, though
placed at the dawn of Egyptian history and motivated by a
des j-re to cope witl'r the inundations of the Nile.
'masonic' 'Manuscript
So, in the oldest Constitutions
of Masonry' (ca. LAOO),
masonry, or building, or architecture is identified
with geometry. One account maintains that geometry
was discovered before the Floodi another states
that Abraham taught the Egyptians geometry. fn yet
another version of the invention of geometry drawn
from a classical source (Diodorus Siculus), geometry
is said to have been invented by Lhe Egyptians in
order to cope with the inundations of the Nile.
The invention is attributed to Thoth-Hermes,
otherwise Hermes Trismegistus, who is identified
with Euclid. Thus the origins of geometry, or
masonry, and therefore of Freemasonry, recede into
a most distant Hebraic or Egyptian past. . In
the masonic mythology, the true ancient wisdom was
enshrined in ttre geometry of the Temple, built by
Solomon with the aid of Hiram, King of Tyre. Thre
architect of the Temple was believed to be a
certain Hiram Abif . whose martyrdom forms the
theme of slzmbolic enactment in masonic ritual
(Yates, RE, pp. 2L2-213).
'mysticism
Now, concerning the proportions of Solomon's
Temp1e underlies early Italian Renaissance architectural
theory' (R. Wittkower, Architectural--lrinciplgs in the Aqe
of Humaniq]lr,pp. 9L, 106, 135) (f05). Most histories of the
'building,
subject survey builders, and buildings in the
'non-Biblical
Bible' before moving on to architecture':
'the
First, royal art of architecture' spread from
the Hebrews to the Greeks. Then Rome learned the
art, and became the centre of learning and j-mperial
power, having its zenith under Augustus Caesar in
whose reign was born God's Messiah, the great
'the
Architect of the Church'. Augustus encouraged
great VITRUVIUS, the Father of all true Architects
to this day'. Augustus was Grand Master of the
masonic lodge at Rome and the founder of the
Augustan style (Yates, p. 2L3).
S,
'John Dee,'
Moreover, it was
the f amous Hermet j-c philosopher, author of a
famous preface to an English translation of Euclid
'the
in which he praised great VITRUVIUS' and
urged the revival of Euclid, architecture, and all
mathematical arts,'
'a
who in L57O erected most memorable monument to the sacred
' 'heralding
art of geometry, wtrile the revival of classical
architecture in England long before Inigo Jones' (YaLes, RE,
p. 2L4).
Tn her Art of Me.m_ory(86) and Th.eatqe of the World (87),
alnong other works, Frances Yates has explored Hermetic
features in Renaissance architecture--from secular and sacred
4B
buildi-ngs, to landscaped parks and gardens, to plans for
towns or cities.
In small or large ways, the architect has the
opportunity to re-make a piece of the world. To
shape the environment of just one person is to
assume a significant responsibility. In his
Quattro libri (1570), Palladio speaks of
the original evolution from private houses to
public buildings, and how man realized that he
'the
needed company of other men', and thus
cities came to be built (tevey, Hiqh Renaissance,
p. 233).
The proliferation of popular architectural treatises
'wish
competed in their to impart and impose the best "rules"
for architecture, public and private'; and most counselled
'Nature's ' 'beneficial'
adherence to excellent ru1es, as most
'the
for health and life of men' (op. cit., p. 234). Whether
simply'ornamental' or solemnly'monumental,'
Ttre building of something was, for the Renaissance,
very much more than a selfish or vainglorious art.
Positive, practical, and--hopefully--beautiful, it
was also ethj-caI. . The analogy of building
with self-improvement aptly came to Fulke Greville
when he described Sir Philip Sidney's eagerness to
'In
make his life great and good: which Archi
tectonicall art he was . a Master' (Hiqfr
Renaissance, p. 234).
'wheel'
One of t-l:e most admj-red designs mimics the of
Lhe zodiac, wherein are inscribed the four triqola, or
equilateral triangles, of the astrologers (105). This was
the plan of the classical theater described by Vitruvius,
reconstucted in the Roman Theater of Palladio (Yates, Art of
Memory, Plate 9a), and analyzed by Daniele Barbaro in his
'mandalas'
commentary of 1556. Similar have dominated
construction in countless times and places. Plutarch's
Roma, for example, is a 'Roma quadrata, a square city. For
him, Rome was both a circle and a square' (Man.a.ndHis
SJ4rbols (f06) r cf . the alchemical quadratura circuli, or
stone, called the stone.' Very similar plans were
squaring of the circle, gp. cit., pp. 277-278 & ff.). Its
two main arteries intersected at the mundus, or ancestral-
spiritual center of the city, which was covered by a great
'soul
followed for medieval cities, with a church or cathedral at
the point of intersection of the two arteries, symboltzi-ng
God's immediate presence at the center of His celestial
capital:
The inspiration of the medieval city with its
quarters was the Heavenly Jerusalem (in the Book
of Revelations), which had a square ground plan
and walls with three tj-mes four gates
'approximately
in its circular' perimeter (MaL and His
Egbg.lg, pp. 269 & ff .). The all-pervading Hermetism of
'operative'
Renaissance Neo-Platonism was to alter the
'speculative'
guilds of medieval masonry into fraternities of
masonry, wherein'Freemasonry' presumably originated,
with its slzmbolic use of columns, arches, and
other architectural features, and of geometrical
symbolism, as the framework within which it
presents a moral teaching and a mystical outlook
di-rected towards the divine architect of the
universe (Art o.f Memorv, pp. 303-307; gruno,
pp. 274, 4L4-4L6).
By way of illustration, Iet us exanine in some detail
'the
memory theatre of Giulio Camillo' explored at length by
Frances Yates in Chapter VI of her Art of Memorv (pp. L29rse).
According to Yates, 'Camillo's Theatre represents the
universe expanding from First Causes through the stages of
creation.'
'the
ft follows that planet images, and the.characters
of the planets, which are placed on the first grade are to
be understood, not as termini beyond which we cannot rise,
but as also representing, as they do in the minds of the
wj-se, the seven celestial measures above them ' (ibid . ; e .g. ,
'Lhe
names of the Sephiroth and angels with which Camillo
associates each planet' ibid.).
'Ttreatre
Camillo's rises in seven grades or steps,
which are divided by seven gangways representing the seven
planets' (Yates, Art of Mqmory, p. f36).
'Diana,'
Camillo's planets are identified as follows:
tMercuryr t 'Venusrt 'Apollo, "Marsrt 'Jupiter, ,'Saturnt
(cf . Spenser's in FQ VII.vii.4B-55, where the last two are
transposed; and cf. FQ V.proem).
Camillo's seven figures clearly correspond, not only
to the seven planets and their associated days of the week
(vtz., Monday, Wednesday, Friday; Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday,
Saturday) , lcut also to the f irst seven months of the
conventional calendar--as suggested in Alistair Fowler's
analysis of Spenser's epic design in his Spenser and t]-g
Numbers_of Time (29)
'The
Moreover, seven are more than planets in the
astrological sense; they are divine astral beings.'
'second. grade' 'The
Camillo's has Banquet' as its
'5mage ' :
Homer feigns that Ocean made a banquet for all
'nor
the gods, was it wit-l:out lofty mysterious
meanings that this lofty poet invented this
fiction.' The Ocean, explains Camillo, is the
waLers of wisdom which were in existence before
the materia pfjma, and the invited gods are the
ideas existing in the divine exemplar [cf. Iliad
'Camillo
L, 423-425. may have in mind Macrobius's
interpretation of the myth, that the gods who go
with Jupiter to feast with Ocean are the planets.
See Macrobius, ,
trans. W. H. Stahl, C.olumbia, L952, p. 2LB,'
Yates, Art of Memory, p. 139, n. 32J. Or the
Homeric banquet suggests to hj:n St. John's Gospel,
'In
the beginning was the Word' ; or the opening
'In
words of Genesj-s, the beginning.' In short,
the second grade of the Theatre is really the
first day of creation, imaged as the banquet given
by Ocean to the gods, the emerging elements of
creation, here in their si:nple unmixed form
(ftia'I
'The
third grade will have depicted on each of its
gates a Cave, which we call the Homeric Cave to differentiate
'
it from that vihich Plato describes in his Republic.
In the cave of the Nlzmphs described in ttre
odvgs_ey, numphs were weaving and bees were going
in and out, which activities signify . the
mixtures of the elements to form the elementata
'in
. accordance wi-th the nature of its
planet.' The Cave grade thus represents a further
stage in creation, when the elements are mixed to
form created things or elementeta. This stage is
illustrated with quotation from Cabalistic
commentary on Genesis (op. cit., pp. 139-f40) .
It is here proposed that, ds in Cabalistic writings,
Ttre first of the sefiroth corresponds with the
holy spirit or the word. The second of the
52
sefiroth contains Lhe twenty-two letters of the
alphabet which have but a single essence in the
form of air. The third is condensed air whose
form is water, from wl:ich arises a garden. The
fourth is fire from which God fashions his divine
throne and the seraphim and angels who comprise his
holy dwelling place (Western Mystical Tradition, p. 27O).
But
After tJ:e Seven Governors have been created and set
in moLion there comes in the Pimander the account
of the creation of man, vrhicrr-ffi radically
from the account in Genesis. For the Hermetic man
is created in the imfficoa in the sense that he
is given the divine creative power. When he saw
the newly created Seven Governors, the Man wished
'permission
also to produce a work and to do this
was given him by the Father'. . Man's mind is
a direct reflection of the divine mens and has
within it all the powers of the SeT&--covernors.
When he falls into the body he does not lose this
divinity of his mind and he can recover his full
divine nature . through the Hermetic religious
experience in which the divine light and life
within his own mens is revealed to him (Yates,
Art of MemorI, Fl-Iao).
'the
According to Camillo, three souls in man' are
'symbolised
by the Gorgon Sisters in the Theatre':
We have three souls, of which the one nearest to
God is called by Mercurius Trismegistus and Plato
mens_,by Moses ttre spirit of life, by St. Augustine
'In
ffi-frigfrer part, by David light, when he says
thy light shall we see light' , and Pythagoras
'No
agrees with David in that celebrated precepL,
man may speak of God without light.' Which light
is called by Aristotle the inte]lsctss aqen.s, and
it is that one eye by wtrichffirgon
Sisters see, according to the slmbolic theologians.
And Mercurius says that if we join ourselves to
this mens we may understand, through the ray from
God which is in it, all things, present, past, and
future, all things, T say, which are in heaven and
earth (vates, Art of_Memory, pp. 149-150).
'With
the fourth grade we reach the creation of man, or
rather the interior man, his mind and soul':
"Let us now rise to the fourth grade belonging to
the interior manf the most noble of God's creatures
which He made in his own image and sjrnilitude"
(Camillo, p. 53, transl. by
@,
Yates, Ar.t of. Memory, p. 140).
'leading 'Gorgon
Its image' is that of the three Sisters'
'described
by Hesiod [Shield of Hercules, 23O] ralhohad only
'Because
one eye between them.' Camillo adopts from Cabalist
sources the view that man has Lhree souls' :
Therefore the image of the three sisters with one
eye may be used for the fourth grade which contains
'things belonging to the interior man in accordance
with the nature of each planet' (ibid.).
'will
To such images be attached volumes containing
things and words belonging, not only to the interj-or man,
but also to tlre exterj-or man and concerning ttre parts of
his body in accordance with the nature of each planet' (ibid.).
'On the fifth grade, the soul of man joins his body.
This is signified under the image of Pasiphe and the Bull':
'For
she (Pasiphe) being enamoured of the Bull
signifies the soul which, according to the
Platonists, fal1s into a state of desiring the
body.' The soul in its downward journey from on
highr passing through all the spheres, changes
its pure igneous vehicle into an aerial vehicle
through which it is enabled to become joined to
the gross corporeal form. This junction is
slzmbolised by the union of Pasiphe with the 8u11.
. The last image on each of tJ:e gates of
this grade is to be that of a Bull alone, and
these Bulls represent the different parts of the
human body and their association with the twelve
signs of the zodiac (ibid.).
'In
the Theatre,' Yates pursues,
the creation of man is in two stages. He is not
created body and soul together as in Genesis.
rffior
First there is the appeaiance of the
54
manr on the grade of the Gorgon Sisters, the most
noble of God's creatures, made in his image and.
similitude. Then on the grade of Pasiphe and the
BuII man takes on a body the parts of which are
under the domi-nation of the zodiac. This is what
happens to man in the Pi.mander; the interior man,
his mens, created divine and having the powers
of the star*rulers, on falling into the body comes
under the domination of the stars, whence he
escapes j-n the Hermetic religious experience of
ascent through the spheres to regain his divinity
(Yates, Art L46-L47) .
,of }4emory, pp.
'The
sixth grade of the Theatre' is slzmbolized by
'the
Sandals, and other ornaments, which Mercury
puts on when he goes to execute the will of tJ.e
gods, ds the poets feign. Thereby the memory will
be awakened to find beneath them all the operations
which man can perform naturally . and without
any art' (Yates, Art of MeFory, p. 141).
FinalIy,
'The
seventh grade is assigned Lo all the arts,
both noble and vile, and above each gate is
Prometheus with a lighted torch.' The image of
Prometheus who stole the sacred fire and
taught men knowledge of the gods and of all the
arts and sciences ttrus becomes the topmost image,
at the head of the gates on ttre highest grade of
the fLreatre. Ttre Prometheus grade includes not
only all tJ.e arts and sciences, but also religion,
and law (iniA.; .
Of course, as we know from FQ Il.x.70--v/hich echoes an
'Prometheus' 'first
alchemical tenet--it was who . did
create'
A man, of many partes from beasts deriued,
And then stole fire from heauen, to animate
His worke, for which he was by Ioue depriued
Of life him selfe, and hart-strings of an Aegle riued.
'ttre
So, classical ttreatre, ds described by Vitrivius,
reflects the proportions of the world':
The positions of the seven gangways in the
auditorium and of the five entrances on to the
stage are determined by the points of four
equJ-latera1 triangles inscribed within a circle,
the centre of which is the centre of the orchestra.
These triangles . correspond to the trigona
which astrologers inscribe within the ciffi-E
the zodiac. The circular form of the theatre thus
reflects the zodj-ac, and the seven entrances to
the auditorium and the five entrances to the stage
correspond to positions of the twelve signs and of
the four triangles connecting them (yates, Art of
Memory, pp. L7O-L7L; cf . n.25, where it is
explained that John Dee 's 'Monas Hi,eroqlvphica' ,is
a composite slnmbol of the sEv&-ffi on
the character for Mercury'i compare FQ VII.vii.4B
viii.2).
First is the appearance of the simple elements from
tJ:e waters on the Banquet grade; then the mixture
of the elements in the Cave; then the creation of
manrs mens in the image of God on the grade of the
Gorgon Sisters; then the union of man's soul and
body on the grade of Pasiphe and the Bull; then
the whole world of man's activities; his natural
activities on the grade of the Sandals of Mercury;
his arts and sciences, religion and laws on the
Prometheus grade (ibid. ) .
'three
With the latter four compare the main branches
on the "Tree of Sins"' ('the other vices being only twigs of
these branches') established by St. Bonaventure, on the
strength of I John 2:L6, in his Speculum aniJnae (cited by
'superbia,'
Panofsky, R & R, p. 92). First is or'spiritual
Pride,' usually typified by Sisyphus,
because his stone, always rolling to the bottom
{-lra {-an
as soon as it had been carried to ""I" slzmbolizes Lhe fate of the tyrants who, "quant
iLz se sont bien hault montez, LLz en trebuchent
soubdainemenL".
'Tantalus 'the
vainly reaching for the water' is greatest
miser in ttre world' ; and the two-headed lxion on his wheel
'guilty '
is of an attempt to violate iluno, and so represents
'Levd.ness'
(op. cig. , pp . 9L-92) .
'Tityus,'
To them is sometimes added a fourth,
'punished
for having attacked Latona, the mother of Apollo
and Diana, and his punishment was similar to that of
Prometheus, only that his "immortal liver" was devoured by
a vulture instead of by an eagle' :
The liver supposedly producing the blood and
therefore being the seat of physical passions
(Petrarch, like many others, considered it the aim
of Cupid's arrows), it is easy to see how the
punishment inflicted upon the unfortunate lover of
Latona came to be interpreted as an allegory of
'tortures
the caused by immoderate love'.
'The misery of the lover,' according to Bembo,
'grows
because he feeds his tortures with his own
self . This is Titlzus who with his liver feeds the
'Tortures
vulture,' and Ripa's allegory of the of
'a
Love' consists of sad man . with his breast
open and lacerated by a vulture' (107) .
'opposite' 'Ganymede,' whose ascent 'to
The of Heaven
on the wings of an eagle symbolizes the ecstasy of Platonic
'Tityus'
love,' d.escent into the torments of HeIl bears
'Fall
certain analogj-es to the of Phaetl:ron (gp. cit., p.
2LB) .
'Aquarius,' 'water-
Jove, of course, had placed his
'cup-bearer, '
carrier' or among the stars (Graves, The Greek
Myths, voI. 1, pp. 116-117). Though in the Middle Ages
Ganlzmedewas the archetypal practitioner of homosexual love
'January'
(cf . the eclogue of the SC, and gloss),
It is significant that the Renaissance glorified
the same Ganymede as the classic representaLive
of that ascent of the soul Lo the absolute by
means of beauty which was the central theme of
Neo-Platonism, the very name being derived from
and r.\t.; , "to enjoy" and "the mind"
(Panofsky, R&R, p. 78, n.1; St. fcon., pp. 2L3
ff., Figs. t5B, 169) .
Thus, following the custom in ancient theatres
in which ttre most important people sat in the
Iowest seats, Camillo has placed in his lowest
grade the seven essential measures on which,
according to magico-mystical theory, all things
here below depend, the seven planets. Once these
have been organically grasped, imprinted on memory
with their images and characters, the mind can
move from this middle celesLial world in either
directj-on; up into the supercelestial world of
the ldeas, the Sephiroth and the angels, entering
Solomon's Temple of Wisdom, or down into the
subcelesti-al and elemental world which will ranqe
itself in order on the upper grades of the
Theatre (really the lower seats) in accordance
witJ. the astral influences (yates, Ar.!_gE-..l{elplL,
pp. 138*139).
'Solomon in
So it is that the ninLh chapter of
Proverbs savs that wisdom has built herself a
ffiana rras founded it on seven pillars. By
these columns, signifying the most stable
eternity, w€ are to understand the seven Sephiroth
of ttre supercelestial world, which are the seven
measures of t].e fabric of the celestial and
inferior worlds, in which are contaj-ned the fdeas
of all things bottr in the celestial and in the
inferior worlds' [quoted by Yates from L'Idea
dela p. g, in her a5t_of-ytemorTlll-I371 .
Theatro,
Camillo is speaking of the three worlds of the
Cabalists, as Pico della Mirandola had expounded
them; the supercelestial world of the Sephiroth
or divine emanations; the middle celestial world
of the stars; the subcelestial or elemental world.
'measures'
The same run through all three worlds
though their manifestations are different in each.
As Sephiroth in Lhe supercelestial world they are
here equated with the Platonic ideas. Camillo is
basing his memory system on first causes, on the
Sephiroth,
'eternal
on the Ideas;
places' of his
these are to be
memory (ibid.).
the
Moreover, the 'celestial figures of the second part' of
Brunors Imaqes are given as 'Lwelve tremendous
5B
principles which are said to be the causes of all things,
under the "ineffable and infigurable Optimus Maximus".
These are' :
JUPITER (with Juno), SATURN, MARS, MERCURY,
MINERVA, APOLLO, AESCULAPIUS (with Circe, Arion,
orpheus), sol,, LUNA, vENUs, cuprD, 1ELLUS (with
Ocean, Neptune, Pluto). These are the celestial
ones, the great statues of the cosmic gods. With
these main figures, Bruno arranges large numbers
of talismanic or magic images, presumably to
assist in drawing their powers into the psyche
(yates, Art o_fMemory, pb. 296-297).
'Fiquration
Thus, in his of A_ristotle',s Physics,' for
'to
example, Bruno cj-tes such mythological figures be used
as the memory images' as
Lhe Arbor Ollzmpica, Minerva, Thetis as matter,
'superior
Apollo as form, the Pan' as nature,
Cupid as motion, Saturn as time, ,Jupiter as the
prj-me mover, and so on. Such forms as these,
animated with the magic of divine proportions,
would contain Bruno's philosophy, would themselves
be the imaginative means of grasping it (Yates,
Art of Memory. p. 2BB).
'horoscope-Iike'
When placed around a wheeI, 'we realise
that the images are supposed to be magically animated,
magically in contact with cosmic pov/ers' (ibid. ) (1586) .
Listed ninth,
MINERVA is an important Statue. She is the mens,
the divine in man reflecting ttre divine universe.
She is memory and reminiscence, recalling the art
of memory which was the discipline of Bruno's
religion. She is the continuity of human reason
with divine and demonic intelligences, representing
Bruno's belief in the possibility of establishing
such communications through mental images. By
the LADDEROF MINERVA we rise from the first to
the last, collect the external species in the
internal sense, order intellectual operations into
a whole by art, ds in Bruno's extraordi-nary arts
of memory (yates, Art of Memory, p. 29O).
'the
Final1y, just as Vitruvius and Romans had columns
calculated after the dimensions of man and woman,' represen'
an
ting archj-tectural transformation and glorification of
'catanthrophic
the human body,' so Renaissance designs became
rather than epanthropic: dimensioned in analogy to the
relative proportions of the human body, not scaled with
reference to the absolute size of the human body' (ibid).
Mediaeval architecture preaches Christian
humility; classical and Renaissance architecture
proclaims the dignity of man (Panofsky,
Ba$,
p. 2e).
In passing, it is worthy of note that a widespread
Renaissance tradition inferred not only a correspondence
between macrocosm and microcosm from the Vitruvian inscription
of tlre human figure within a circle (cf . II.ix.2L-26), but
also connects the height, width and depth relationships
within the human body with the djmensions of
Noah's ark (300:50:30) and very seriously equates
particular proportions with the antique musical
intervals, for instance:
Iotal
length : length minus the head = 9:B (tonus)
=
Length of torso : length of the legs 423
(diatessaron)
Chest (from pit of throat to navel [or crotch,
'center'
depending on where the circle's is
locatedl) : abdomen = 2zL (diapason)
(Panofsky, Meaning -in Artg, p. 9L, n.65)
}he Yisual
(1oB)
Drawing from Leone Battista Alberti's De Statua via
Francesco Giorgi's Harmonia lnun9i totius (1525), Albrecht
Durer is quoted by Panofsky:
"Attention must be paid to the measurements which
certain microcosmographers apply to the human body
itself. They divide it into six feet . and
the measure of one of these feet they call
exempeda. This measure they divide into ten
parts Iqradus, called unceolae by Alberti]; so
that six feet total sixty parts, and each part
into ten smallest units [minuta, the authentic
Albertian term] ." T'l:e author himself , however,
prefers a division into 300 rather than 600
miluta, in order to preserve the aforementioned
. correspondences between the human body and
Noah's ark (gp. cit., pp. 100-102, n.92) .
The same works are cited as Agrippa of Nettesheim's sources
'he
for his De, o_ccg,lta_philosophia (1531), since in it refers
to the "Exempeda" system' (ibid.; 'The term "Exepeda" is
'"
supposed to derive from the verb r . /,i , ("to observe
strictly"); according to oLhers, it is intended to convey, in
somewhat questionable Greek, the idea of a "six-foot system",'
op. cit., p. 95, n.B0).
Yates' conclusion that the plan of such Hermetically
designed Renaissance theaters as the Globe 'is based on a
hexagon as the external form of the theatre. Within the
hexagon is inscribed a circle (the outer wall of the
galleries). Within the circle are inscribed four Lriangles
(art of ivtegr.ory,p. 357 & ff .):
I believe that Fludd is stating through the shapes
of the five column bases the geometrical forms
used in the construction of the Globe, namely the
hexagon, the circle, and the square (ep. ci.t.,
p. 355).
Moreover, in his comments upon the ViLruvian theater(s),
John Dee remarked:
And Musike he (the architect) must nedes know:
that he may haue understanding, both of Regular
and Mathematicall Musike. . Moreouer, the
Brasen Vesels, which in Theatres/ are placed by
Mathematicall order . under the steppes
and the diuersities of the soundes . are
ordered according to Musicall Symphonies &
Harmonies, being disLributed in ye Circuites, by
Diatessaron, Diapente, and Diapason (quoted in
Yates, Art-of Memory, p. 362).
2. Music
'geometry'
Contrasting with the static of architscture
'harmony'
is the dynamic of music (and,/or dancs). As
'ideal,' 'astron
relatively pure reflections of the same
'arithmetical'
omical' and desj-gns, both arts enjoyed higher
praise during the sixteenth century than those restricted to
more literal , or conventional, ' j-rnitations' of Nature (Levey,
High- Renaissanse, pp. IB0-181, 2L3-258). It was only in the
'architect'
most abstract or general sense that and
'musician'
were obliged to reflect the orderly spheres of
'Space'
(e.9., real or imaginary global maps, celestial
atlases, etc.) and'Time' (e.g.,'calendars' ), r€spectively
(ibid.) . Comparable freedom of invention is claj-med, of
'poet'
course, for the by Sir Philip Sidney in his
influential Defense.
'epitome'
Perhaps the most frequently cited of the age's
'degree 'repeated
vision of in motion,' on the different
levels of existence,' is Sir John Davie's Orchestra (1596).
'Time
Here and all its divisions are a dance' (Tillyard.,
Elizabethan Worl|Plcluqe , pp. 101-106 ) :
fire stars have their own dance, the greatest
being that of the Great Year, which lasts six
thousand years of the sun. The sun courts tJ.e
earth in a dance. The different elements have
their different measures (ep. cit., p. LA4)
--like 'loadstorre ,' 'the
the which always seeks north,' or
'the
like vine,' which twines itself around the sturdy
trunk. Moreover,
Kind nature first doth cause all things to lovei
Love makes them dance and in just order move.
'Love'--wtrose 'kind
In other words, own 'f irst cause' is
rcause'
nature'--becomes the primary of (music and) dance:
'causes' 'civilization,'
which in turn according to
'In
Tillyard (ibid.): human existence dancing is tJ:e very
become one' (109) . Similarly, the of Alchemy' has been
foundation of civilisation' (cf. the prefatory adulation of
the 'civilizing' music of Amphion, Orpheus, Linus, et al.
during mankind's feral infancy in the literary treatises of
Minturno, Daniello, and Sidney).
Now, 'the whole Ialchemical] art' has been described
as 'based on divine love, through vilrich heaven and earth
'Art
'often
called the Art of Music'--perhaps because of its
analogous ability to bring harmony out of discord. The
Pythagoreans, of course, held music in the highest esteem,
and purified their souls by means of it--as they purified
'art' 'Medicine'
their bodies via the yet baser of (the
'the
plrysica,l analogue of art of alchemy').
'music'
Exalted is traditionally represented by Apol.l-o,
with his seven-stringed lyre and nine attendant Muses, his
gifts of healing and of prophecy. As Sol he likewise
personifies ttre Sun, while his sister l,una is Lhe Moon.
'music,'
H,qqble on the other hand, is embodied in a rustic
fig.r-rre, sporting cloven hoofs and a tail, and playing on a
pipe or some other species of wind instrument. In certain
depictions he is clearly Hermes' son Pan (e.g., De RoIa,
Plate 44; cf. Plate 45); in yet others he is even more
'Timon's
thoroughly besLj-al--as, for example, in the guise of
'True
Ass,' or the Matter of the Sages' (Caron and Hutin,
Fignrre on p. Bl):
Behind the ass, symbolizing the mark of Saturn
on Prj-me Matter, a Horn of Plenty, symbolizing
the treasures that may be forthcoming. (Cf. the
"TaIe of the Ass-skin.") Since alchemy was also
"The Art of Music, " the ass is playing the
trumpet and setting ttre curious "Monkeys of Nature,
the alchemists, to dancing (legend, p. B0).
3. Paintinq_ and Sculpturs
On yet another level, Panofsky traces how during the
'the
fifteenttr century function of painting,'
hitherto confined to a reproductive imitation
of reality, extended to the rational organization
of form--this rational organization
dominated by those "just proportions" the secret
of which was held to have been revealed in the
lost "doctrine of ttre ancients". And in the
same decades the function of architecture,
hitherto confj-ned to the purposeful assemblage of
structural materials, was extended to a
re-creative imitation of nature--this re-creative
imitation dominated by the same "just proportions"
(Renaissance gnd Rena.scences in_Westeq! pp.
.4.I!,
27-28).
';!m:i.!3!!g'
Though more closely bound by the laws of
to the actual phenomena of Nature, Renaissance sculpture
and pqintinq may perhaps betray traces of a general Hermetic
'proportions'
influence in their perfected and revised
perspectives. Recollecting the Renaissance belief that
'statues
ancient Egyptian priests were able to devise and
'proportions'
images' (Bruno, p. 133) of such sublime that
'animated'
they became divinely and could foretell Lhe
future, we perceive a potential alchemical intention in tJ-e
'proportion'
feverish attention to among tJ:e visual artists
of the sixteentJ: century.
The stat.ue, or sculptur.e , represents a def iance of tirne
and death (cf. Michelangelo's Night and Day on the tomb of
Giuliano de' Medici), and a desire for the physical, earthly
eternity of one's most individual characteristics. Such
'Art
not only fixes for posterity how a person looked when
alj-ve Iitself a Renaissance achievement in portraiture,
vihether sculpted or paintedl but can convey something of
that person's fame and even the reasons for it' in the fixing
of 'a scene from the person's life' (Levey, @,
'Enduring
pp. 105-107, I2B, 156). monuments' of this sort
'renascence'
reflect the desire for li-teral echoed in the
'And
fervenL prayer or assertion: though . worms destroy
this body, yet inmy flesh shall I see God'--for they are
'cast'
in the most durable of substances (e.9., marble or
bronze; op. cit., pp. 156, 116). As the image of a deity, a
6s
Hermetic statue or sculpture would be expected to partake
'original"s 'powers' 'virtues.'
of its or Essentially it
'microcosm' 'body'
represents the of a human endowed with a
species of ' jmmortality.'
Tn the admittedly Hermetic writings of Giordano Bruno
(e.g., the Ars reminiscendi or Sea1s, 1583; and the Lampas
triqi.nta. statugrum, or Statues of 1587), "'Phidias the
Sculptor" stands for the sculptor of the memory, moulding
memory statues within'-
as though in this inner moulding of significant
memory statues, this drawing out of tremendous
forms by subtraction of the inessential, Giordano
Bruno, the memory artist, were introducing us to
the core of the creative act, the inner act which
precedes the outer expression;
'release'
for his method, like that of Michelangelo, is to
'from the inform chaos of memory' (cf . 'tl:e formless block
of marble ' ) 'the form wtrich he has seen within it' (art of
Memory, pp. 253-254, 2819, 292-293). Tasso too cites
Phidias, along with Praxiteles (cf . FQ fll.pto.2), as a
'universal 'perfect
sculptor in whose works the Beauty' of
proportion' is captured for all Time (s) --as in the works of
'statues'
Nature herself (fIO). It is clear that the of
'the
Bruno's Lampas illustrate power of the imagination
to grasp the universe through images' (Art o{ Memory, p. 289)
The parallels with Sidney's argument regarding tfte signifi
'idea
cance of the , or fore-concei-t' of a work of art, as
well as with his eloquent defense of the imagination against
the Puritans in his Defense of PoeFrg (1583) are readily
apparent.
If the sculptor 'can build or sculpt with such vitality
as to challenge death and oblivion,' the painter can in
'catch
addition wit]: new subtletv facets of the natural
world, itself being freshly explored, a cosmos recognized as
bizarre, even alien, but with secrets to be discovered':
More than ever, drt pursues a quest for absolute
beauty, rich, complex, ideal. And pulsing strongly
under all these manifestations is the steady
belief that art possesses divine creative energy
and in its perfection can conquer Nature.
'macrocosm'
Able to encompass the entire of Nature, the
'imagery' 'talismans'
painter's held obvious attractions as
'charms'
or as magically potent ; and indeed, several
Renaissance painters (e.g., Parmigianino) are known to have
studied alchemy and to have employed Hermetic symbols in
their works (Levey, High Renaissgnge, pp. 62-63, L66 & ff .,
201 & ff .).
In its encyclopedic range, ds well as in its supposedly
'slzmbolic
inspirational origins, painting became of a1l art's
'art
image-making power'--particularly that of the of poetry'
'art
on the one hand, and of the Hermetic of memory' on the
other.
'Ut
pistgra po.esis,' vaguely adumbrated in Aristotle's
Poetics and elaborated by Horace in the was
4rt-_g.t_Poetry,
the dictum on which the Renaissance based i-ts theories of
poetry and painting--an era vrhen the poet was commonly said
'play
to the painter,' and when painting could be labeled
'silent
poetry' (mudg pogsia) by Camoens. Elizabethan
'most
writers were probably impressed by the new art' :
fn references to specj-fic, Lf often imaginary,
pictures and in the use of metaphors and similes
drawn from painting, there is a constant sense of
a new art discovered for literary purposes--not
perhaps replacing music as the richest source of
analogy but certainly offering the possibility of
fresh affinities. The contemporary critic and
'E.K., '
friend of Spenser, finds comparisons
'the
between his work and most exquisite pictures'
(t evey, High 96) .
S.enaissan_ce, p.
'pictorial,'
If Spenser's poetry is Sidney was most seriously
'aware
of paintj-ng as a distinct art, analogous to poetry
I
yet with its particular achievements and effects, as
'specific
witnessed by references in the Arcadia and the
Apolsr.ql/ for Pg+.ry which suggest a connoisseur's eye for
'can
pictures.' Shakespeare, in turn, often invent his
'perggone.
own,' as witnessed in the dramatic or comparison
of painting and poetry' that opens his Timon of Athens:
When the Poet speaks of his concept of Fortune's
'more
hilt, the painter expostulates that,
pregnantly than word.s', can painting convey such
images. Most significant of all for High
Renaissance aesthetics is the compliment that his
piece of painting (perhaps a portrait of Timon)
'It
elicits from the Poet: tutors nature' (op.
cit., pp. 82-103) .
According to Plutarch, however, it was Sjmonides, the
j-nventor of the magical art of memory, who first equated
poetry with painting, because of their analogous reliance
'intense
upon visualization.' To tlris, ds well as to
'the
Horace's ut picture p-oesis, Giordano Bruno related
6B
Aristotelian dictum "to think is to speculate with images"
whi-ch had been used in the scholastic conflation of
Aristotle with "Tullius" on the classical memory and is
'
often repeated in tJ:e memory treatises. He is embodied
'Zeuxis
in the Painter' (cf. FQ III.pro.2):
Zeuxis, the painter, painting the inner images
of memory, introduces a comparison of painting
with poetry. To painters and poets says Bruno,
there is distributed an equal power. The painter
excels in imaginative power (phantastlcg virtus);
the poet excels in cogj-tative power to whj-ch he
is impelled by an enthusiasm, deriving from a
divine afflatus to give expression. Thus the
source of the poet's power is close to that of
the painter.
Whence philosophers are in some ways painters
and poets; poets are painters and philosophers;
painters are philosophers and poets. Whence
true poets, true painLers, and true philoso
phers seek one another out and admire one
another.
j-s
For there no philosopher who does not mould and
'to
paint; uihence that saying is not to be feared
understand is to speculate with images', and the
'either
understanding is the fantasy or does not
exist without it'.
And thus, through Zeuxis the Painter who is
the painter of images in memory, whro stands for
the classical rule 'use images'. IBruno] arrives
at the vision of the Poet, the Painter, and the
Philosopher as all fundamentally the same, all
painters of images in the fantasy, like Zeuxis who
paints the memory images, expressed by the one as
poetry, by the other as painting, by the third as
thought (Art of Mgmory, pp. 252-253; cf . pp. 28,
to-7L).
A The Emb1em or Impresa
'poetry'
Before turning to itself, we should note in
' jmage' 'Iangfuage'
passing a curious hybrid of and that
enjoyed a tremendous vogue during the sixteenttr century.
'emblem,'
This was the which, ds defined by Claudius Minos
in his introduction to Andrea Alciati's Emblemata, first
published in the Lyons edition of L57L,
partakes of the nature of the symbol (on1y that
it is particular rather than universal), the
puzzLe (only that it is not quite so difficult),
the apothegm (only that it is visual rather than
verbal), and the proverb (on1y that it is erudite
rather than comm"onplace (111) .
As succinctly defined by the Marechal de Tavanes, well-known
'emblems' 'devises'
general and admiral of Francis T, and
are one and the same; and
Today the devices are distinct from coats-of-arms
in that they are composed of body, soul and spirit;
the body is the picture, the spirit the invention,
the soul the motto (1f1).
'Proportion'
Thus Puttenham includes under in his Arte
of Enqlish (Smith €d., ii, p. 106) something that
.Peesie
'The Greekes call . Emblema, the ltaliens Impresa, and
we [English] , a Deuice' :
these be the short, quicke, d.rid sententious
propositions. such as be at these dayes all your
deuices of armes and other armorous inscriptions
. and commonly containe but two or three
words of wittie sentence or secrete conceit t.ill
they [be] vnfolded or explaned by some interpretation.
For which cause they be commonly
accompanied with a figure or purtraict of ocular
representation, the words so aptly corresponding
to the subtilitie of the figure that aswel the
eye is therwith recreated as the eare or the mind.
'Device, '
he pursues, is
a term which includes in his generality all those
other, vLz. liueries, cognizances, emblemes,
enseigns, and impreses. For though the termes be
diuers, the vse and. intent is but one, whether
they rest in colour or figure or both, or in
word or in muet shew, and that is to insinuat
some secret, wittie, moralI, and braue purpose
presented to the beholder, either to recreate
his eye, or please his phantasie, or examine his
iudgement, or occupie his braine, or to manage
his will either by hope or by dread, euery of
which respectes be of no litle moment to the
interest and ornament of the ciuiIl life (o€. cj-t.,
p. LL2).
'emblem,' 'one
The of the most characteristic of
'hieroglyph,'
Renaj-ssance phenomena,' evolved from the of
vrhich it was a species of expanded versj-on (Vates, Ery,
'hieroglyph'
p. 163). The immense popularity of the among
Renaissance humanj-sts dates from the discovery in I4L9 of
another supposedly ancient Egyptian but really Hellenistic
work, the H.ier-gql.yphi,ca of Horapollo, vrherein tJ:e hieroglyph
'a
was misrepresented as slzmbol with hidden moral and
religious meanings.' Supposedly invented by Hermes
Trismegistus (according to Ficino and his followers) before
'a
the dawn of history, the hieroglyph was deep way of
stating hidden truths in the sacred Egyptian writing' (ibid.)
'simultaneous
in a period that saw a rise of Eryptomania and
emblematism' (Panofsky, Meaning in the Vis_ual Ar.ts. p. I59):
A set of symbols surrounded with tJ:e halo of
remote antiquity and constituting an ideographic
vocabulary independent of linguistic differences,
expansible ad libitum and intelligibte only to an
internationil em-ould not but capture the
imagination of the humanists, their patrons and
their artist friends (ibid.).
'talisman,'
Un1ike the which is a natural object or group
'tool,'
of objects designed to be a potent magical a
7L
'hieroglyph ' rcharacter'
is but a linguistic element or and
'magical'
so need not be (Bruno, p. 163).
On the other hand, emblems are allied to several
'art
Hermetic traditions, such as the of memory':
Amongst the most characteristic types of
Renaissance cultivation of imagery are the emblem
and the impresa. These phenomena have never been
looked affi*ttre point of view of memory to
which they clearly belong. The impresa, in
particular, is the attempt to remember a spiritual
intention through a similitude; the words of
Thomas Aquinas define i-t exactly (Art gf msmory,
p. L24).
In a later discussion of the relationship subsisting between
Giulio Camillo's 'Memory Theater' as a whole and its
ornamentaf images' in particular, Yates further remarks:
Another manifestation of the Renaissance with
which the tone of the T{:eatre is in keeping
'oratory' 'architecture']
Ii.e., after and is
the slzmbolic statement in the form of the
impresa or device. Some of the images in the
Theatre are very like imprese, the fashion for
wtrich was being particularly developed in Venice
in Camillo's time. The j-mpresa is related to
the memory image, . and in commentaries on
imprsse there is frequently to be found a blend
of Hermetic-Cabalist mysticism like tJ-at which
inspires the Ttreatre (Art of Memorv, pp. L69-L7O) .
'extending' 'elaboraLing'
By vastly or upon a basic
'hieroglyph' 'device'
or one enters the realm of classical
'rhetorical
theory,' which, ds is well known, assumed that
'oratory
is closely bound up with poetry' (Art o_f Memory,
'Memory, '
p. 169). traditionally one of the (five) principal
'Rhetoric,'
parts of was transferred by medieval scholastics
'Ethics'
to throucrh a mistaken conflation of Cicero's De
inventione and De oratore with the pseudo{iceronian Ad
Herennium. Briefly, it was through Cicero's definitions
'that
of the (four cardinal) virtues in De_igventione the
artificial memory became in the Middle Ages' one of the
'of
(three) primary parts the cardinal virtue of Prudence'
(gjl. ci!., p. 20). By the time of the revival of Ciceronian
'the
oratory during Venetian Renaissance of the early
sixteenth century' (led by Cardinal Pietro Bembo), the
'art 'found
entirely transformed by Magms of Memory,' Giordano
apparently classical of memory' is associated
with a mystico-magical artificial memory' (op. cit., pp.
165-166), as Camillo's 'Theater' vividly illustrates. By
the end of the century this same mnemonic art had been
'the
Bruno:
As in Camillo's theatre the occult memory was
thoughL of as giving magical power to the rhetoric,
so Bruno aspired to infuse his words with Power.
He wished to act upon the world as well as to
reflect it, as he poured forth in poetry or prose
his Hermetic philosophy of nature and the Hermetic
'Egyptian'
or religion which he assocj-ated with it
jrnminent
and of which he prophesied in England the
return (op. cit., pp. 3O7, 308).
In other words, a poem, emblem or hieroglyph could, by the
last few decades of the sixteenth century, combine maqical
with purely mnemonic and/or aesthetic intentions.
C. Occu.ltis8 and Renaissa.nce Li_tgralure
As witJ-the j-nfluence of Hermetism upon the whole range
IJ
of Renaissance architects and composers, sculptors and
painters, designers and wits, its impact upon lj-terary
production--if only in the Ellqland of Elizabeth f--has yet
to be adequately explored. No single study could cover so
vast and difficult an investigation with anybhing approaching
completeness--least of all the present one, whose object
is, in any case, quite different. We shall confine ourselves
here to a cursory perusal of selected contemporaries and
friends who, being themselves susceptible to ttre wide-ranging
appeal(s) of Hermetism, most probably exerted an influence
upon Spenser's thought and work. Most significant of these,
for Spenser as for Elizabethan culture generally, was of
course Sir Philip Sidney, who was the principal conduit of
Hermetic as of so many other intellectual developments to
his native court in the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
The influence upon him of a French, a Welsh, and an Italian
Hermetist will be sketched.
Frances Yates identifies two waves of Hermetic
influence among sixteenth century English writers. First,
at the very dawn of the century,
The adaptation of Catholic theology and philosophy
to Neo-PlaLonism and the prisca t_heologia made a
beginning in England with fhomas More, John Colet,
and their circle.
Colet admired Ficino and wrote a treatise on the Pseudo-
Dionysian angelic hierarchies, while More published a Life
of Picus in 1510 and described in his Utgpia (1515) a society
1A
of prisci theoloqi, or of proto{hristian 'religious
' Hermetists. The ensuing religious upheavals stifled this
early movement; and the violent intolerance of successive
ascendant religions (Protestant, then Catholic under Mary,
and finally Puritan under Elizabeth) discouraged its
'private 'Sir
revival until such circles' as Philip Sidney's
group of courtiers studying number in the three worlds with
'John Dee' took it up again toward the close of the century
'public'
(when it was still too controversial a topic for
'officially
discussion in established circles in Church or
University'). Sidney, w€ are told, was familiar with at
least three types of Hermetism:
He knew the non-magical type expounded by Du
Plessis Mornay; he knew Dee, who was a Magms, but
a Christian one, also a genuine scientist having
a genuine maLhematical understanding of the
Copernican theory;
and he knew Giordano Bruno, who resided in England during
the years 1583-1585 (Bruno, pp. 185-lB9; 2O5-29O).
These were the crucial years, the germinal years,
for the inception of the English poetic Renaissance,
ushered in by Philip Sidney and his group of
friends. It was to this circle that Bruno addressed
himself, dedicating to Sidney the two most
significanL dialogues, the Eroici furori and the
Spa.c.cio. Surely Bruno's impact on England
must have been the supreme experience of these
years, a sensation closely associated with the
leaders of the English Renaissance (Art o! Memory,
pp. 318-3re).
1.
Du PIeSsis MornaI, Pee and Bruno
a.
Philipps du Plessis Mornay:
Non:maqic a 1_ Herme tis!
Philippe Du Plessis Mornay 'was known to Sidney as a
friend' (dating from Mornay's sojourn in London in L577
1578) (112); and the Frenchman 'was undoubtedly his favourite
theologian, as evidenced by the fact that Sidney began to
translate into English' his De la veEite d.e_la rsliqion
'making
chretienne (1581) --a Protestant work a large use of
Hermetism,' though of a purely mystical and theological
(i.e., non-magical) variety. The translation was j-nterrupted
by Sidney's death, though it was finally completed and
published by Arthur Golding in L5B7 (Bruno, pp. 176-L79).
'by
By undertaking this translation, as well as representing
'as
Pamela, Musidorus and Pyrocles' in the Arcadia saved
pagans, ds pre-Christians who have reached religious truth,'
Sidney--according to D. P. Walker-
puts himself in the liberal camp, and contributes
to the survival of Platonizing theology in
Elizabethan England, where the religious climate
was
on the whole unfavourable to it, and thus, in
some measure, also contributes to its eventual
flowering with the Cambridge Platonists. The
influence of Mornay's book R?y, f think, have been
considerable. It is a remarkably eloquent and
lucid work, which transmits fully and persuasively
the
theological t,radition of Bessarion and Ficino
(The Ancient Tlreology, p. 153) .
Mornay's book attests to the truth of J. Dagens' conclusion
'La
that fin du XVIe siecle et te d5but du XVIIe siecle ont
ete 1'age d'or de I'hermetisme religieux' (113) in France,
and that there religious Hermetism developed largely without
macric.
'I'lag.ia, Cabala,
b. ,John PSe: and Alchvmia'
Dr. ,fohn Dee (L527-L608)--'the great magnrs or
'the
"archemaster", as he was called'--was leading English
exarnple of a scientist with occult interests' (l,evey, Hiqh
'true
Renaissance, p. L94), though his spiritual home' lay
'in
religious Hermetism' in the opinion of Frances Yates
'Renaissance
(Bruno, p. 18B). Historically a typical magus
'combined
of the later Rosicrucian t1pe,' Dee "Magia, Cabala,
and Alchymia" to achieve a world-view in which advancing
science was strangely mingled with angelology' (Rosicrucian
Enlj-ghtenment, p. xii) .
'His
life and work divide into Lwo halves' (gp. cit.,
p. 22L)z
First, there was his career in England as the
magus behind the Elizabethan age, the mathematical
magician who inspired the Elizabethan technical
advance, and the more esoteric and mystical side
of whose thought inspired Sidney and his circle
and the Elizabethan poetic movement vrhich they led.
'Dee's
In 1583, however, striking and very influential career
in Elizabethan England came to an end . when he left
England for the continent, where he was extremely influential
in stirring up new ['religious'] movements in central Europe,'
of an'alchemical-cabalist' description,'sensationally
advertised through the reputed successes of Edward Kelley
in transmutation' (op. cit., pp. xii. 22L). His work and
influence in England are our principal concern, however, and
these have been thoroughly investigated by Peter French in a
recent (L972) book entitled John Dee (fI4).
Accused of practicing sorcery against Queen Mary, Dee
was acquitted and later became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth,
'astrologer
to whom he was in chief--though she never gave
him the endowed position for the prosecution of his studies
for which he pleaded--and a set of intellectual courtiers,
led by Philip Sidney, chose him as their teacher in philosophy'
(Bruno, p. fBB). For his sovereign he designed
hydrographical charts and geographical maps of the recently
circumnavigated globe, complete with newly discovered lands-as
remarkable for their aesthetic appeal as for their
mathematical precision (oee himself remarks upon the
popularity of such scrolls as ornamental wall-hangings in
his Preface to Billingsley's Euclid, L57O, cj-ted by Levey,
Hjgh R-enaissanc_e,p. 181). 'He also made calculations in
preparation for adoption of the Gregorian calendar in England,
which he vainly sought.'
Saturated in the Renaissance occult influences, Dee,
like Bruno, was an ardent practitioner of the magical
recj-pes in Cornelius Agrippa's De occulta philosophia. His
attempts to research medieval traditions by rescuing
manuscripts from England's ruined monasteries brought him
7A
'conjurer,'
under suspicion as not only a but as in slzmpathy
witJ: the papist past (Bruno, p. lBB). Alone and unaided,
Dee was attempting . to effect in England
that Renaissance transformation of medieval
traditions which belonged naturally into Italian
'Neoplatonism'.
Renaissance Dee may weII have been
tJ:e only representative in sixteenth-century
England of the Renaissance revival of Lullism .;
he no doubt shared the Renaj-ssance assumptions about
Lull [i.e., that he was a Hermetic-Cabalist
alchemist or Magusl. And Dee is the kind of person
whom one would expect to have been interested in
the cognate subject of the arL of memory in
Renaissance transformations (ar! of_ lqemorv, pp.
262-263, 190-191).
As evidence one might cite Dee's lengtJry preface to the
first English translation of Euclid (1570), mentioned above,
wtrerein
Dee surveys aII the mathematical sciences, both
from the point of view of Platonic and mystical
theory of number and also with the purpose of
being of practical utility to artisans (ert of
Memo.ry,p. 361),
'Lhe
in what amounts to a compendium of Renaissance theory
of number' (gp. cit., p. 362). Among Dee's numerous quotations
from Vitruvius are his references Lo Vitruvian man (inscribed
'Man
within a square inside a circle) as the ideal model for
'the
as the "Lesse World"' ; to Vitruvian theory of architecture
as Lhe noblest of the sciences and of the architect as ttre
universal man who must be famj-Iiar, not only with the
practical and mechanical aspects of his profession, but with
all other branches of knowledge' as well; and to the belief,
'perfect
filtered through Alberti, that architecture' is
'immaterial':
'The
hand of the Carpenter is the Architectes
'in
Instrument', carrying out what the architect
'And
minde and Imagination' determines. we may
prescribe in mynde and imagination the whole
formes, all materiall stuffe beyng secluded'
(eP. cit., p. 361).
Yates is also convinced that Dee 'knew Daniele Barbaro's
commentary on Vitruvius, the book which contains Palladio's
'it
reconstruction of the Roman theatre'i and that was Dee
(and not Inigo Jones) vfto was the first "Vitruvius
Britannicus, "' responsible for the'Vitruvian influences'
in subsequent Elizabethan architectural designs (cp. cit.,
pp. 363-36s).
Finally, the Mqnas. hj-eroqlyphigg of 1564 apparently
represented to its author
a unified arrangement of significant signs,
infused with astral power, vrl:rich he would believe
to have a unifying effect on the psyche, composing
it into a monas or One, reflecting the monas of
the world;for,
in its images and characters, ds well as in underlying
assumptions, it is analogous albeit not identical to
Camillo's planetary Theater and to Bruno's astral mnemonic
art (Art of Memory, p. 263). The monas was thus propaedeutic,
in some respect, to Bruno's memory systems; and Dee's pupils
included Sidney, Fulke Greville, and Edward Dyer.
'hieroglyph'
The itself appeared as follows on the
title page of his work. with the inscription: De rore
Sa.eli
( 'God
et_ pin-quedine terrae tibi Deus give thee of the
9e.t
dew of heaven and of the fatness of ttre land,' Genesis, 27'),
,l,lii
BO
'a
Itis on
the n.25) ,
and alchemical,
and
to
the highest. spheres' (Rosicrucig,n_Enlightenment, p. xii) :
fn the lower elemental world he studied number as
technology and applied science and his Preface to
Euclid provided a nritfiant survey of th;ffiematical
arts in general. In the celestial world,
his study of number was related to astrology and
alchemy. . And in the supercelestial sphere,
Dee believed that he had found the secret of
conjuring angels by numerical computations in
the cabalist tradition (ibid.).
In the first thirteen theorems of the Mo@
'monas'
Dee expounds the composition of his sign,
how it includes the slzmbols of all the planets,
how it absorbs into itself the zodiacal sign,
Aries, representing fire, and therefore alchemical
processes, how the cross below ttre symbols for sun
and moon represents the elements, and how different
formations of the four lines of this cross can turn
it into a sign for bot-le three and four, both
triangle and square, thus solving a great mystery
. The mysterious sign and its parts
B1
could include all the heavens and the elements,
the sacred figures of triangle, circle, and
square, and the cross (Rosicruc ian En_lightenmen!,
p. 46) .
'monas' 'is
Dee 's sign enclosed within the outline of an
' 'which
e99, symbolizes the universe' (o.p. cit., p. 83 & n.2)
Yates proposes two distinct, but conceivably
complementary, origins for the 'Red Cross' of Rosicrucianism:
'both
an exoteric chivalrous applicatj-on of "Rose Cross, "
and an esoteric alchemical meaning, Ros Crux' (op. cit.,
p. 69). As the former'it referred to the red cross of St.
George of the Order of the Garter, and the roses of England' ;
'from 'a
the latter, in contrast. derives Ros, dew,'
(supposed) solvent of gold,' 'and Crux, light,' to illustrate
'the
theme of the descending dew (ros) uniting heaven and
'rosy
earth' (op. cit., pp. 46-47, 69). The chivalric cross'
'red' 'royal' 'sword'
may also signify the or with which the
'egg' 'cut,'
cosmic is to be while its alchemical counterpart
might suggest the bloody crucifix of Chrj-st's sacrifice and
the Tree of our salvation--as Ficino implies in his
'the
discussion of cross as a kind of talisman' introducing
his list of talismanic images in Ds_vita coelilus compgranda
(see Bruno, pp. 72-73, cited on p. 113, below).
8lA
Fiqures derived from Deels monasmake s iEnlficant appearancesin
the works of other Hermetic writers, as Yates ll lustrates ln PIate l9 of
her Roslcrucian Enl iqhtenment:
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la1,s&i:*tE:,ri.. ta
'monas, ' 'an
Dee's in short, ds alchemical form of the cross'
(Rosj-cruci.aJr Enl_ig.htenment, p. 69; Bruno, pp. 4L9-420 & n.I)
,
'Egyptian
is clearly identical to the or Hermetic cross'
'Hermes
supposedly invented at the dawn of time by
Trismegistus.' The crux ansata ('with a handle'), or anlctr,
'a
is labeled most potent amulet':
It was a "character" fabricated with marvellous
skill after the pattern of nature and showing
the way to the one light; and Marsilio Ficino has
described its power (Brunq, pp. 4L9-42O).
[magical]
c. c. Sill says of it:
The Coptic Christians living in Egypt used it
frequently and believed it to have special
protective power. It is the amuletic cross of
the Western worId, worn by the sick in the hope
of recovery from illness (A .Iland.bgok of. Svnrlcols
in Christian p. 32) (ff5).
Art,
Its intimate link with the Rosicrucian Confessio, ds
well as with all other Rosicrucian productions, have led
'Eeges' 'at
Yates to conclude that Dee's was the heart of
Rosicrucian mystery' when-and wherever it appeared; that,
'hieroglyph' 'wouId
indeed, his be the origin of "Rosicru
'chivalrous
cianism" in the alchemical sense,' though with
overtones as "Red Cross"' (gp. cit., pp. 69, 83).
'
For example, the Confessio's author ('Philip a cabella,
'monas'
pub. I6t5) appears obsessed with Lhe mysterious
figure in his introductory Consideratio brevis--though he
'stella, '
substitutes perhaps because a woman holding a
B3
star concludes and seems intended to sum up Dee's whole
work (op. cit., p. 46). In Atalanta. fugiens (1618) Michael
Maier attains a high point of artistic expression, exploring
'spiritual
the subtle themes of alchemy' by means of
'emblems,'
each with its own philosophical commentary and
musical accompaniment. His apparent antithesis, Robert Fludd
(Historv oF th.e Macrocosm and the Microcosm , L6L7-L6L9) ,
seeks to 'build' a weighty and complete philosophical system,
'under architecture as the queen of the mathematj-cal
sciences.' Nonetheless, 'their philosophies have the Dee
influence in commonand an intense Hermetic basis' (_gp. cit.,
pp. 70-90). These English Adepts, like their even later
successors, such as Elias Ashmole (L6L7-L692) and Isaac
Newton (L642-L727), were followers of what YaLes has termed
' "Rosicrucian" alchemv' :
By this f mean alchemy as revised and reformed by
John Dee and of which his 'monas hieroglyphica'
was the mysterious epitome. This alchemy included
an intensive revival of the old alchemical
tradition, but in some ways added to the basic
alchemical concepts notions and practices deriving
from Cabala, the whole having also a mathematical
formulation. The adept who had mastered these
formulae could move up and down the ladder of
creation, from terrestrial matter, through the
heavens, to the angels and God. . A man of
'monas'
genius like Dee . made the above all a
statement of unity, a vision of the One God behind
all creation (gp. cit., p. I9B).
c. Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno (t548-1600), if Frances Yates is to be
B4
believed, contal-ns, and even transcends, most prior (and
many later) Hermetic developments.
During his sojourn in England (1583-1586) Bruno composed
and published four major works: l) Ars rsFilriscendi, et ip
phantastico exarandi (abbreviated by Yates as Seals),
_cqmpo
l5B3; 2) the Cena. d.e le- ceneri, or 'Ash Wednesday Supper,'
in 1584; 3) De q1i ero.ici fur.ori ('on Heroc TransporLs' or
'Enthusiasms'),
1585; and 4) the Spaccio della bestia
trionlante ('Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast'), Iikewj-se
1585. The first and last of these are treatises on
artificial memory, while the others are literary productions
j-n which the mnemonic systems are reflected to varying
degrees. The last two are dedicated Lo Sir Philip Sidney
'in
terms of passionate admiration,'while a, if not the, most
prominent figure in the prandial drama of the Cena is
generally understood to represent that same gentleman.
Seals shares numerous features with the two memory-
treatises Bruno had published j-n France only a year before
(1582)--vLz., De umbris idearum ('On the Shadowsof fdeas'),
( 'Song
and the Cantuq_!_f rggegs of Circe' ) . In it Bruno
endeavors to present the principles and various techniques
'through
of his art little slzmbolic pictures, with titles'-'
but magicised, complicated with Lullism and Cabbalism,' and
'two (Art
combining sets of ideas, memory and astrology' of
Memory, pp. 246-25L).
Briefly, the 'Art of Ramon(d) Lull(y)' (ca. L232
B5
'classical' 'scholastic'
ca. 1315) departed from or mnemonic
'spiritual
tradition--which sLressed the clothing of
'strikj-ng 'images'
intentions' in and emotionally powerful'
('corporeal sjmilitudes'), 'linked to one another
'Platonic'
associatively'--j-n its desire to base Memory on
philosophic'Realities' :
'nine'
lLre Divine Dignities [the narnes or
attributes of Godl form into triadic structures
reflected from Lhem down through the whole
creation; as causes they inform the whole
creation through its elemental structure. An
Art based on them constructs a method by which
ascent can be made on the ladder of creation to
the Trinity aL its apex (art of l,teJngry, pp . L73,
L75, L77-L79)
'Names' 'Goodness,
(the are given as: Greatness, Eternity,
Power, Wisdom, Will, Virtue, Truth, Glory'). Working witJ:
'letters'
abstract geometry and algebraic in lieu of
architecture and'emotionally stimulating corporeal
'lhe
similitudes,' LuIl designed three basic fign:res: 1) A
'The T
figure'; 2) fignrre'; and 3) the combinatory figure,
'A'
or A plus T-*his most celebrated form. shows B to K
(minus J, the initial of 'Jesus') 'set out on a wheel and
joined by complex triangulation':
This is a mystical figure in which we meditate on
the complex relations of the Names with one another
as they are in the Godhead, before extension into
the creation, and as aspects of the Trinity (-9p.
cit., p. l8l).
'T' 'shows
the relata of the Art (differentia, concordia,
co.ntrarietas; principium, medium, f inis; major j-ta.s,
equ.alit-as, minoritas) set out as triangles within a circle,'
B6
wtrereby its'Trinitarian structure is maintained on
every level' (s!. cit., pp. 181-fB2) . In the renowned ars
'The
combinatoria outer circle, inscribed BtoK,is
stationary and within it revolve circles similarly inscribed
and concentric with it. As the cj-rc1es revolve, combinaLions
of the letters B to K can be read off.'
The Art uses only three geometrical figures, the
circle, the triangle, and the square, and these
have both religious and cosmic significance. The
square is the elements; the circle, the heavens;
and the triangle, the divinity. f base this
statement on Lul1's allegory of the Circle, the
Square, and the Triangle in ttre Arbor scientiae.
circle is defended by Aries ana ffi
by Saturn and his brotl:ers as the figure most like
to God, with no beginning or end. Square
maintains that it is he who is most tike to God
in the four elements. Triangle says that he is
nearer to the soul of man and to God the Trinity
than are his brothers Circle and Square
(intellect, wiIl, and memory being the equivalent of the
'rational
Trinity withj-n the Augustinian souf i gp. cit.,
'movement'
pp. 182-lB3). This is the first appearance of
in the history of tJ.e Arts of Memory (e!. cit., p. L76)-a
most significant developnentl
Bruno tries to reconcile 'classical' 'imagery' with
LuIl's abstract algebraic and geometric 'formulae.' using
'the astrological system' --vLz.,'magically potent images,
"semi-mathematical" or magical places, and ttre associative
orders of astrology' (ep. cit., p. 25L). Whereas in
'he
Shadows began with the unified vision and passed down
from thence to the unifying processes of the memory system,'
'Seals
reverses this order, beginning with the memory
systems and ending with the "Seal of Seals",' giving a total
'seals'
of thirty in all (ej?. ci.t., p. 255).
After Bruno's opening claims to divine inspiration, we
'A11
are told that descends from above, from the fountain of
j-deas,
and to it ascent may be made from below':
'How wonderful would be your work if you were to
conform yourself to the opifex of nature if
with memory and intellect you understand the
fabric of the triple world and not without the
tJ:rings contained therein' (ifia. 1.
--his'Hermetic
Bruno's'religion' experience,' or
'inner 'four
mystery cult'--is conducted by gmides':
Love by which souls are raised to the divine by a
divine furor; Art by which one may become joined
to the soul of the world; Mathesis which is a
magical use of figures; Magic, understood as
religious magic. Following these guides we may
begin to perceive the four objects, the first of
which is Light (art oF it'tglmorv,pp. 258-259)
'combination
"Tt:Ie four objects' clearly echo Ficino's of
sun mysticism with magical solarianism' in the 'hierarchical
light series' of his De sole, wherein 'the Sun is called the
statua Dei and is compared to t]-e Trinity':
The Sun is first of all God; then Light in the
heavens; then Lumen which is a form of spiritus;
then Heat vrhich is lower than Lumen; then
Generation, the lowest of the series (c!. ci!.,
PP. L5I-L52)
(the divine leve1, being transcendent, constitutes an
'fifth' 'quintessential' 'grade
exalted or of knowirlg,'
'contemplation' 'magi-cal
concerned with mystical and
'the
religion'). Indeed, Bruno conceived of whole process of
BB
'one,' 'one'
cognitj-on' as a unified and regarded that as
'an 'four
fundamentally imaqinative process,' with grades
'sense,
of knowing' (viz., imagination, reason, intellect'),
'magician,
derived from Plotinus. As one, artist, poet,
'vital
(and) philosopher' create and living images,'
'the
reflecting vitality and life of the world,' within the
're' , via the jmaqingtion;
and he has in mind both magically vitalised
astral images and the living and striking images
of the 'Ad Herennian' memory rule--unify the
contents of memory and set up magical correspondencies
between outer and inner worlds
(gp. cit., pp. 254-257).
'Images
In addition, must be charged with affects, and
particularly with the affect of Love,'
for so they have power to penetrate to the core
both of the outer and the inner worlds--an
extraordinary mingling here of classical memory
advice on using emotionally charged images,
combined with a magician's use of an emotionally
charged imagination, combined again witJl mystical
and religious use of love imagery. We are here
within range of Bruno's Eroici furori with its
'the
Iove conceits which have-fr68 Eo open black
diamond doors' within tJ:e psyche (ibid.).
'exercises
Bruno's in Hermetic mnemonics have become the
spj-ritual exercises of a religion':
The religion of Love and Magic is based on the
Power of the Imagination, and on an Art of
Imagery through vrhich the Magrus attempts to grasp,
and to hold within, the universe in all its ever
changing forms, through images passing ttre one
into the other in intrj-cate associative orders,
reflecting the ever changing movements of the
heavens, charged with emotional affects, unifying,
forever attempting to unify, to reflect the great
monas of ttre world in its image, tJre mind of man
(cp. cit., p. 260).
B9
Examples of his 'Sea1s' are: 'The Field, ' 'The
Heaven,' 'The Chain'; 'The Tree,' 'The Wood,' 'The Ladder';
'Zeuxis 'the
the Painter', representing principle of using
images in the art of memory, is Seal 1,2; 'The Table,' 'The
' 'Daedalus, ' 'The 'images
Standard, Numerator' (who forms
for numbers with objects whose shapes resemble the numbers';
'letters'); ' 'Squaring
ditto wiLh 'The Century, of the
Circle,' 'The Potter's Wheel,' 'The Doctor,' 'The Field and
Garden of Circe,' 'The Peregrinator,' 'The Cabalistic
' 'Combiner' 'Interpreter'
Enclosure ; ftZe1 and (#30) (gp.
cit., pp. 248-25L).
'is
The Cena de le ceneri a set of dialosues with lively
and well characterLzed interlocuters, the philosopher, the
pedants, and others,' commencing with a journey through
London by Bruno, .fohn Florio and Matthew Gwinne, and
concluding with their eventual arrival at ttre desired house,
careful seating at table. and their sharing of a lavish
Supper c.uF discussion of Copernical heliocentricity with
'The
four other guests. journey is something in the nature
of an occult memory system through which Bruno remembers
the themes of the debate at the "Suptr>er". . He is using
"London places" . on which to remember the themes of a
debate about the Sun at a Supper, ttremes which certainly
have occult significances relating in some way to the return
of magical reli-gion heralded by the Copernican Sun' (op.
ci.t., pp. 309-313; Bruno, pp. 235*256).
'affords
Though not a 'memory system,' the Cela an
example of the development of a literary work out of the
procedures of the art of memory,' which contributed the
dramatic personae and settings.
Another interesting feature is ttre use of
alleqory within a mnemonic setting. Making Lheir
way along the memory places towards a mystical
objective, the seekers meet with many Islzmbolic]
impediments. They try to save time by taking an
old creaking boat; this only brings them back to
where they started, and in a worse case. .
And when they do at last arrive at the Supper
there is a lot of formality about vil:ere tJ:ey are
to sit. And the pedants are there, argnring about
the Sun, or is it about the Supper? (ibid.)
The Eroici furori beqins with an explanation that the
'love
poetry in this work is not addressed to a woman but
represents heroic enthusiasms directed towards a religion
of natural contemplation.' The four degrees of fgror,
derived from Plato's SlErposium via Ficino, are: 1) poetic
inspiration (under the Muses); 2) religious furor (under
Dionysius); 3) prophetic f.uror (under Apollo); and 4) the
'the
furor of love (under Venus: sununit, at which point
soul is made One and recovers itself into the One') .
The pattern of t-l:e work is formed by a succession
of about fifty emblems which are described in
poems and discussed in commentaries on the poems.
The images are mostly Petrarchan conceits about
eyes and stars, arrows of Cupid, and so orr, or
jmpresa shields with devices on them. These images
are strongly charged with emotion.
These love-emblems do not constitute a memory system, but do
'traces
represent of ttre memory methods in a literary work':
'pouring
out the images of his memory in poetic form,' Bruno
is 'the Philosopher as Poet' (cf. 'images' of Actaeon; of
Amphitrite) (Bruno, pp. 275 & ff .; Art of Memortz, pp. 3133L4)
.
'magic
The Spaccio, on the other hand, is a memory
system' like the De funbrj-s idearum of L582, though in design
it most closely resembles the last work he published,
De iqaqi.nqm, giqnorwn et idga.rum comp-ositione (f591), in
'the
that to images of the forty-eight constellations of
the sky, the northern constellations, the zodiac, and the
southern constellations' Bruno attaches a scheme of ascending
virtues and descend j-ng vices by means of which 'the gods
'a
reform the heavensi whence universal religious and moral
reform' is brought about (Art_of Memory, pp. 3L4 ff .; Bruno,
pp. 2o5 ff.):
In the dedication to Sidney, Bruno explains that
the gods represent "Lhe virtues and powers of the
soul, " and that, since "in every man . there
is a world, a universe, " the reform of t-he heavens
is ttre reform, or the production, of a personality.
Jupiter says . that the reform begins in the
minds of the gods themselves, who are to "place
themselves in the intellectual heaven" within them,
to "drive from the heaven of their minds" the bad
quali-ties and replace them with good qualities.
It is this interior reform of the gods themselves
which is reflected all round the vault of heaven
as the vj-rtues rj-se to replace Lhe vices in tkre
forty-eighL constellations. It is thus a
personality which is being formed in the Spaccio,
a personality whose powers are being formed into
a successful whole. .
Bruno has developed the Ficinian magic,
directed towards the formation of a personality
in vrl:ich Solar, Jovial, and Venereal influences
predominate and the bad influences of the stars
are kept at bay, into a fully "Eglzptian" or
Hermetic ettric or religion, in which reformation
or salvation is achieved in the cosmologiical
setting, the "triumphant beast" of the sum of
ttre vices, the bad influences coming from the
stars, is cast out by their good opposites, and
the divine virtues or powers rrredominate in the
reformed personality (Bruno, pp. 22O-22L, 222).
In the later De j8aqinum the whole scheme is constructed
'twelve
around central "principles" or powers,' commonly
represented in 'the twelve Ollzmpian gods wtrom Manil j-us
associates with the signs of the zodiac' (Brujlc, pp. 326
327). These, along with their associated mythological,
'shadows'
emblematic, etc. figures, are the of the divine
'Sun'),
intellect (whose brightest visible reflection is the
'an
toward whose light all men incline through intention of
the will' (intentiones, or a seeking by the spirit of the
'celestial
source of divine light). It is by means of these
images' that the accomplished Magus may expand his mind,
'an
indeed, his entire being, to reflect wiLhin himself
infinite god and an j-nfinite universe according to Bruno's
'magic
memory system.'
Finally, by "'the composition of images, signs and
ideas" . j-s meant, the composition of magic or
tali-smanic imase' :
To each of the principles, there are attached
a number of talismanic or magic images which
have been made up, or composed, for a special
purpose. This purpose is, or so I believe, to
attract into the personality through imaginative
concentration on these images, these twelve
principles or powers (only the good aspecLs of
them) and so to become a Solar, Jovial and
Venereal Magus, the leader of the magical
reformation.
Bruno
cites Arj-stotle on "to think is to speculate with
images". Aristotle's statement is used by Bruno
as support for his belief in the primacy of the
imagination as the instrument for reaching truth.
Later, he quotes Ithe late Hellenistic Neoplatonist]
Synesius' defence of Lhe imagination in his work
on dreams (using Ficino's translation). Synesius
is defending imagination because of its use by
divine powers to communicate with man in dreams.
Bruno seems to fail to realise how totally
opposite are the Aristotelian and the Synesian
defences of the imagination.
This confusion belongs to Bruno's transformation
of the art of memory from a fairly rational
technique using (Aristotle's sensory) images
into a magical and religious technique for
training the j-magination as the instrument for
reaching the divine and obtaining divine powers,
linking through the imagination with angels,
demons, the effigies of stars and inner "statues"
of gods and goddesses in contact with celestial
things . [for t]re simulacrum has the powerl
for drawing down the favour of the gods through
occult analogies between inferior and superior
things "whence as though linked to images and
similitudes they descend and communicate
themselves. "
'In
composing images,' Yates continues,
. Bruno has been influenced by astrological
talismans, but diversifies these with normal
mythological figures, oy combines the talismanic
with classical figures, or invents strange
figures of his own.
The figure and its images was to be "reflected
in the soul". . Such remembered images unified
the multiplicity of individual thinqs, so that a
man coming out of his house with such images in his
mind saw, not so much the spectacle of indivj-dual
things, ds the figure of the universe and its
colours. This was exactly Bruno's aim, in his
eternal efforts to find the images, signs,
characters in living contact with reality which,
when established in memory, would unify the whole
contents of the universe.
It is thus possible that--although it comes
so late in time--Bruno's De rmaqjnum, signor.um et
idearup compositj-one may be an important key to
the way in which the Renaissance composed images,
and also to the way in which it used images
(Bruno, pp. 190-337).
In yet another work, Fiquratio Aristotelici phvsici
'
auditus ('The Figuration of Aristotle, 1586), Bruno
incarnated Aristotelian Physics with mythological and
'magically
zodiacal figures in a animated' memory system,
'in
contact with cosmic powers' (Art of_Memory, pp. 284-289) .
For this there was ample precedent in the writings of the
'Pseudo-Aristotle,'
alchemical author of the didactic
'Tractatus
ad Alexandrum Magnum,' among other works, in
'Virtues'
which Aslr_al or Solar are infused into living,
'images' 'Empire,'
potent of depicted in various resolutions
'three' 'four' 'seven,'
of and (vtz., as either or more
'twelve') 'wheel(s)'
commonly, within self-consuming of
'circumarnbulation.' 'The
ritual Thus spirit (or spirit and
'of
soul)' the Magnesia', which is the object of alchemy's
'circular
distillation,' is defined as
the ternarius or number three which must first
be s6pffifrom its body and, after the
purification of the latter, infused back into
it. Evidently the body is the fourth. .
I{hunrath refers to a passage from Pseudo-Aristotle.
where Lhe circle re-emerges from a triangle set
in a square. This circular figure, together witJl
the Uroboros--the dragon devouring itself tail
first--is the basic mandala of alchemy' (Jung,
Psycholoqv L24-L26) .
and $.Ighemv, pp.
'quadrate'
AI1 is accomplished through the revoluLion of the
tcrosst :
or
"Through Circumrotation or a Circular
Philosophical revolving of the Quaternarius, it
is brought back to the highesL and purest
Simplicity of the plusquamperfect Catholic Monad.
. Out of the gross and impure One ttrere
cometh an exceeding pure and subtile One" (gp.
cit., p. L24) .
'Aristotle'
It is not inconceivable that the referred
to by Spenser in his letter to Raleigh is this same alchemical
'Pseudo-Aristotle,'
as re-represented by Bruno.
We are reminded that both Bruno in his Sea1s and Fludd
in his HJslory of the Two_W_o.r1dsemployed two different
'round 'magicised
types of art: the art' (ars rotunda), using
or talismanic images, effigies of the starsi "statues" of
gods and goddesses animated with celestial influences;
images of virtues and vices, as in the old mediaeval art,
but now thought of as containing "demonic" or magical
'square 'using
power'; and the art' (ars quadrata), jmages
'of 'engaged in
of corporeal things,' men or of animals'
'of
actions of some kind,' and inanimate objects,' with
quadrangular 'build j-ngs' or 'rooms ' used as 'places . ' Taken
'the
together, celestial memory with astral images' encloses
'square
the system composed of memory rooms,' the latter
'feigning
made by as need reguires edifices' : it is a
'double
simultaneous picture' of
a round building representing the heaven wittr
a square layout inside it, a building reflecting
the upper and the lower worlds in which the
world as a whole is remembered from above, from
the unifying, organising, celestial level
'AIta
(in the central temple of Astra,' in Bruno's case;
Art of MeFg.rv, pp. 293-3027 32O-34L).
EIsewhere,
The wheel turns into the wheel of the sun rolling
round the heavens, and so becomes identical with
the sun-god or -hero who submits to arduous labours
and to the passion of self-cremation, like Herakles,
or to captivity and dismemberment at the hands of
the evil principle, like Osiris. A well-known
parallel to the chariot of the sun is ttre fiery
chariot in which Etijah ascended to heaven.
Accordingly Pseudo-Aristotle says: "Take the
serpent, and place it on the chariot with four
vlheels, and let it be turned about on the earth
jrnmersed in
until it is Lhe depths of the sea, and
nothing more is visible but the blackest dead sea".
The image used here j-s surely that of the sun
sinking into the sea, save that the sun has been
replaced by the mercurial serpent, i.e., the
substance to be transformed.
The circle described by the sun is the "line
that runs back on itself, like the snake that with
its head bites its own tail, wherein God may be
discerned." Maier calls it the "shining clay
moulded by the wheel [rota] and hand. of the Most
High and Almighty Potter" into that earthly
substance wherein the sun's rays are collected
and caught. This substance is ttre gold (gp. cit.,
pp. 378-389).
'an
The opus circulatorium is thus seen as image of the sun's
'=,]orr*rtion':
course,' for botJ: serve the same purpose of
"The wheel of creation takes its rise from the
pri$a materia, whence it passes to the simple
elements. " Enlarging on the idea of the rota
phi.losophic.a ., Ripley says that the wheel
must be turned by the four seasons and the four
quarters, thus connecting this slzmbol with the
pereqrinaSio and the quaternity (ibid.).
Compare Fludd's distinction in his Ars Memoriae
'between
two different types of art, which he calls
respectively the "round art (ars rofuld4) ", and the "square
art (ars qujrdrata) "' (Yates, p. 327) z
38,
'round
The art' . uses magicised or talj-smanic
'statues'of
images, effigies of the stars; gods
and goddesses animated with celestial influences;
images of virtues and vices, ds in the old
mediaeval art, but now thought of as containing
'demonic'
or magical power (yates, o{_@ory,
$!
p. 327).
According to Fludd,
'common place'
The of the ars rotunda . is
'the
ettrereal part of tfre ilffidfGf is the
celestial orbs numbered from the eighth sphere and
ending in the sphere of the moon'. . This
'natural'
represents . a order of memory places
based on the zodiac, and also a temporal order
tJrrough the movement of the spheres in relation to
time (gp. cit., pp. 329-330).
'e j-ghth' ( 'zodiacal'
The ) sphere surrounds tlre seven
'at
planetary circles, while the centre' is'a circle
representing the sphere of the elements' (ibid.).
The 'square art, ' in contrast,
uses images of corporeal things, of men, of
anjmals, of inanimate objects. When its images
are of men or of animals, these are active,
engaged'sguare'
in actlons of some kind
because using buildings or
. and
rooms
perhaps
as
places (ibid. ) .
In other words,
For the complete perfection of the art of memory
the fantasy is operated in two ways. The first
way is through ideag, which are forms separated
from corporeal things, such as spirits, shadows
(umbrae), souls and so on, also angels, which we
chiefly use in our ars rotunda.
this word 'ideas ' i?iTnfffie-way
We do
that
not use
Plato does,
who is accustomed to use it of the mind of God,
but for anytJ:ring which is not composed of the four
elements, that is to say for things spiritual anC
simple conceived in the imagination; for example
angels, demons, ttre effigies of stars, the images
of gods and goddesses to whom celestial powers are
attributed and which partake more of a spiritual
ttran of a corporeal nature; similarly virtues and
vices conceived in the imagination and made into
shadows, which were also to be held as demons
(yates, Art of_Memory, p. 327) .
9B
Analogous ly,
Tl-replan of Christianopolis is based on the
square and the circle. A11 its houses are built
in squares, the largest external square enclosing
a smaller one, which in turn encloses a smaller
one, until the cenLral square is reached which is
dominated by a round temple. Officials of the
eity often have angel names, Uriel, Gabriel, and
so on, and a Cabalistic and Hermetic harmony of
macrocosm and microcosm, of the universe and man,
is expressed through its slzmbolic plan (Yates,
BE,
p. L47; cf. pp. f40-155) .
' The Hermetic{abalist, magico-scientific atmosphere
of the City of the Sun is repeated in Christianopolis' (Yates,
RE, p. L49) z
The combined divinity and philosophy taught in the
city is called theosophy. It is a kind of
divinized natural science, quite contrary to
Aristotle's teachings, though people without insight
prefer Aristotle to the works of God. Theosophy
deals with the service of angels, highly valued in
the city, and with mystical architecture. The
intrabitants believe that the Sup:remeArchitect of
the Universe did not make his mighty mechanism
haphazard but completed it most wisely by measures.
numbers, proportions, and added to it the element
of time, distinguished by a wonderful harmony.
His mysteries he has placed especially in his
'typical
workshops and buildings', though in this
'cabala'
it is advisable to be somewhat circumspect
(Yates, pp. L47-L4B) .
3E,
'The
Moreover, in this City study of mathematics and
number is completed by the study of "mystic number"' (ibid.).
fn addition,
The works of God are meditated upon in the city.
particularly through profound study of astronomy
and astrology; in the latter study it is recognized
that man may rule the stars, and they recognize a
new sky where Christ is the moving influence. The
'For
study of natural science is religious duty,
we have not been sent into this world, even the
most splendid theatre of God, that as beasts we
should merely devour the pastures of the earth'
(ibid).
Of immense importance in the city is music,
and to enter the school of music one must pass
through those of arithmetic and qeometry; musical
instruments hang in the theatre of mathematics.
Religious choral singing is taught and practised
. in imitation of the angelic choir whose
services they value so highly. These choral
p,erformances are given in the Temple, where they
also present sacred dramas (Yates, p. 148).
E.
'Christianopolis
Indeed, in some respects sounds like
an exalted kind of technical college (and indeed there is
a "college" at the centre)' (ibid.).
'Imaqeq' 'two
In his work on (1591), Bruno reconciles
systems'--'the memory rooms of the first part and the
celestial f ig.rres of the second part'--in
a round building representing the heaven with a
square layout inside it, a building reflecting
the upper and lower worlds in which the world as
a whole is remembered from above, from the
unifying, organising. celestial IeveI. Perhaps
this system carries out the suggestion in SeaI L2
'Zeuxis ']
of Seals [ the Painter , rarhere Bruno says
thaETne knows a double picture' for memory, one
the celest.ial memory with astral j-mages, the other
'feigning '
by as need requires edj-f ices . This
'double
system would be using the picLure'
simultaneo'usly, combining the round celestial
system with the square system composed of the
memory rooms. . The lettering on the central
circle of the diagram, which is nowhere explained
'Alta
in the text . [reads] Astra'. . Is
this the memory temple of an astral reliqion?
(Yates, Art of Memorv, p. 297).
'magical
Fludd's memory system' was based on Bruno's,
'htr
For Bruno's aq& as memory rooms, I'ludd substitutes
'theatre;T
his as memory rooms, as the architectural
'sguare'
or side of a system used in conjunction
'round '
with the heavens (gp. cit . , p. 335; cf .
pp. 326-367, passim) .
100
To paraphrase Yates (ag-t of Memory, p. 334):
'common place'
The main is the heavens with
wtrich are connected the theatres as memory
rooms. What about the second aspect of memory,
'images '?
'theater'
(cf. the use of the hexagon in Renaissance
construction, described by Yates in Art of Memogy).
So, Spenser, like Fludd and other Hermetists, uses
'Lullian
combinatory systems with the astrologised and
magicised classi-cal art of memory' (the latter 'using
places in "edifices,"' for a "double picture" of the two
'Zeuxis
kinds of memory')--for the Painter' (#LZ among
'Seals,'
Bruno's and cited by Spenser in FQ Ifl.proem.2)
'represents
the principle of using images in the art of
memory' (Yates, Art of Memory, p. 249). According to Yates
(gB. cit., p. 289),
Zeuxis or Phidias, painting or sculpturing
tremendous and significant images within t-l:e
memory, represent Bruno's way of understanding
the living world, of grasping it through the
imagination
(cf . FQ Vf .passim) .
So it is that
Memory can only be artificially improved, either
by medicaments, or by the operation of the fantasy
towards ideas in the round art, or through images
of corpoffi-things in tl:e square art (yates,
A.rt of Memory, p. 327).
'medicaments'
An example of such occurs in FQ X.ix.l9,
where Prince Arthur and St. George exchange
goodly gifts, the signes of gratefull m1md,
And eke as pledges firme, right hands together ioynd
(r.ix.18.B-9).
t0t
Prince Arthur gaue a boxe of Diamond sure,
Embowd with gold and gorgeous ornament,
Wherein were closd few drops of liquor pure,
Of wondrous worth, and vertue excellent,
That any wound could heale incontinent:
Which to requite, the Redcross knight him gaue
A booke, wherein his Sauebu;J-testament
Was writ with golden letters rich and braue;
A worke of wondrous grace, and able soules to saue
(I.ix.r9)
'Fide1ia' 'Speranza' of
(cf. the and FQ I.x.L-22).
From the foregoing alone it will be apparent that
Bruno's work is a rather paradoxical combination of
scholarly syncretism and striking originality, summation and
exaggeration, orthodoxy and heresy.
For example. like Mornay he is said to be basically
'religious'; 'Egyptian'
but unlike him, Bruno permitted
'Magia' 'Christianity' at his
to replace the core of
theology!
With Bruno, the exercises in Hermetic mnemonics
have become the spiritual exercises of a religion.
And there is a certain grandeur in these efforts
which represent, at bottom, a religious striving.
The religion of Love and Magic is based on the
Power of the lmagination, and on an Art of Imagery
through which the Magus attempts to grasp, and to
hold within, the universe in all iLs ever changing
forms, through images passing the one into the
other in intricate associative orders, reflecting
the ever changing movements of the heavens. charged
with emotional affects, unifying, forever attempting
to unify, to reflect the great monas of the world
in its image, the mind of man (Art of lttemory,
p. 260).
Like Dee's, Bruno's influence was profound both on the
continent and in the England of Elizabeth--although in
Catholic and Protestant realms alike both scholars crained
LO2
enemies as well as friends, fallj-ng under suspicion of
'religious'
sorcery and suffering variously from
inquisitions and persecutions. Bruno's enthusiasm for
antiquarian studies, for new voyages of discovery, ds well
as for Copernican (heliocentric) astronomy (and astrology)
'revolutions,'
and new measurements of temporal was
generally more extreme than Dee's--as was his fate. He
believed the universe to be infinitely large, containing an
'worlds,' 'motion'
infinite number of which by their proved
'alive'
themselves to be (cf. FQ Il.proem); and he foresaw
a millennium in wtrich all the lands of the earth would be
'vast,
joined in a single mystical universal empire' under
the combined secular and ecclesiastical sovereignty of Queen
'Astraea,' Virgin the (Eden
symbolic of Golden Age (ff6)
'Egypt' 'thrice-great
seen as ancient under Hermes'--priest,
'an
philosopher, and king), whom as imperial or universal
'Amphitrite'
ruler' he celebrates under the name of
'her
('Elizabeth as the One')--associating mystical empire
with the Amphitrite seen in the vj-sion of "natural" divinity
in the Eroici furori as the ocean of the fountain of ideas,
the A11 as One' (Bruno, p. 289) (116.LL7). To this he joined
'antiquarian
a passion for studies' more inclusive than
'British
Dee's, which had been restricted largely to
'
antiquities.
'transmuta-
Bruno was thus as firmly committed to the
'reformationr' tmacrocosm'
tion,' or of a corrupted as Dee
'microcosm':
had been to that of the through the power of
'art'
his he hoped to restore Paradise on earth, ?s well as
within the individual being of the micro-'Cosmic Man' (a
'the
type of Adam, or Christ as Second-Adam). 'Just as real
object of the alchemist's quest' is said to be
the metamorphosis, the unfoldment of the human
being, the releasing and manifesting of the
I'Igyql't
higher self , the man within man, with all
that this implies (118),
'the
and not changing of base metals into gold' (118), so
'roy.al' 'SgElg'
the real aims of a would necessarily entail
the perfection of his/her own domestic government ('kingly'
'metamorphosis'
role), and its into an ideal world-rule
'time'
('imperial' role) of such splendor that it transcends
'space'--uniting 'spiritual' 'temporal'
as well as as well as
authority in a single monarch.
D. The Mills.plium_ Wo.n Throuqh. Magig
The national monarchies had inherited the tradition of
'sources'
imperialist mysticism from an assortment of ancient
(e.g., virgil's Caesar Augustus), via such early Renaissance
thinkers and writers as Dante, and at length from the Holy
Roman Emperors, many of whom, like Charles V (1519-1555),
were fanatically persuaded of their imperial destiny as well
as of their apocalyptic mission to convert aII races to
Christianity before the (imminent) Last Judgment (1f9). In
a sjmilar spirit Savonarola (d. L49g) had declared Florence
LO4
to be the nucleus of the coming millennial world (98);
Spain and Portugal hotly vied for hegemony in the New World;
and a succession of French monarchs, urged to emulate
Charlemagne from the fourteenLh through the sixteenth
centuries, delivered at last to the seventeenth the glorious
' R o i S o l e i l . ' E n g l i s h a c t i v i s t s ( a m o n g t h e m S i d n e y ,
Raleigh and Spenser) (119) encouraged a like aggressive
imperialism on the part of their Queen.
Clearly, although the basic inspiration for all such
'Utopi-an' 'and
elaborations of the classic millenarist text,
there shall be one fold, and one shepheard ' (;ohn x.l6), was
'was
unquestionably chiliastic, its appeal not confined to
quiet, meditative scholars, but was equally attractive to
visionary, active millenarists, such as fGiovanni] Nesi; such
as Ficino's admirer and contemporary, the Hermetist Ludovico
Lazarelli and his extraordinary master Joannes Mercurius de
Corigio; such as the seventeenth-century reviver of Ficino's
magic, Tommaso Campanella' (Walker, TIre Ancient Theology,
p.
sB).
Giovanni Nesi 's Oraculum de Novo Saeculo (L496 -L497),
is
a solar vision in three parts: the first depicts
'the 'the
Savonarola as Christian Hermes, ' or "Ferrarese
'the
Socrates,' mediating between triangularly moving rays'
'grace '
'elect ';
of God 's and the Florentine
in the second,
'the
'heavenly
Florence, navel of ltaly, ' is seen as a type of
'dominated
Jerusalem ' on earth,
by the Cross '; and, finally,
105
the millennium is achieved when Savonarola, in the guise
'flies
of an eagle or phoenix, up witJr its nest to the sun'
'symbol 'its
(a typical for God, ' as are rays for His grace, '
'PLatonic-Christian
in mysticism, and . particularly
p r e v a l e n t i n F i c i n o ' ) --v | z . , u p t h e ' a s c e n d i n g h i e r a r c h y o f
six kinds of philosophers, all of whom on different levels
contemplate Lhe divj-ne sun' (gp. cit., pp. 52-58) . This
solar character of an ideal governor/government--whether it
be the advent of Christ's millennium (transcending time and
space), or world -amperium, or rule of the seas, or Utopian
'City
kingdom, or of the Sun, ' etc. --is traced by Yates to
'slzmpathetic
the medieval Arabic compendium of and astral
magic,' the Picatrix, with its solar city Adocentyn (Bruno,
pp. 49, 54, 370):
Hermes was the first wtro constructed images by
means of which he knew how to regulate the Nile
against the motion of the moon. This man also
built a temple to the Sun, and he knew how to
hide himself from all so thaL no one could see him,
although he was within it. It was he, too, who in
the east of Egypt constructed a City twelve miles
(milaria) long within which he constructed a
castle which had four gates in each of its four
parts. On the eastern gate he placed the form of
an Eaglei on the western gate, the form of a Bull;
on the southern gate the form of a Lion, and on
the norther gate he constructed the form of a Dog.
fnto these images he introduced spirits which spoke
with voices, nor could anyone enter the gates of
the City except by their permission. There he
planted trees in the midst of which was a great
tree which bore the fruit of all generation. On
ttre summit of the castle he caused to be raised a
tower thirty cubiLs high on the top of which he
ordered to be placed a light-house (rotunda) the
colour of which changed every day until the seventh
day after which it returned to the first colour,
106
and so the City was illuminated with these
colours. Near the City there was abundance of
waters in which dwelt many kinds of fish. Around
the circumference of Lhe City he placed engraved
images and ordered them in such a manner that by
their virtue the inhabitants were made virLuous
and withdrawn from all wickedness and harm. The
name of the City was Adocentyn (gp. cit., p. 54).
On this, Yates insists, are based Campanella 's CittS
'
dei Sole (1602), with its priestly ruler whose name meant
the Sun (in the manuscripts, the naJne is represented by the
symbol of the sun, a circle with a dot in the center), and,
in our language, Metaphysics ' (op. cjI -t., P. 369); and the
'Heliopolis,
or "civitas So1is ", the City of the Sun ' of
Athanasius Kircher 's Oe.dipus Aeqvptiacus (L652) (gp. cit.,
pp. 4L6-420) --to name only two. To these we might add
Raleigh 's 'quest for the dream -world El Dorado ("City of
Gold")' in his Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Bgqtiful
_
'go1d'
Emp.i.re of (f596) (the symbol for being
.Guiana
'sun, '
identical to that for the vLz. ); and the
Cleopolis of Spenser 's FQ I.x.53 -59 (cf. the Panopolis of
'
'
Zosimos ; the 'New Jerusalem of Revelat. i4; Augustine s
'City
of God,' etc.).
Its temporal corollary, of course, is the revolving
'wheel'
of the recurring cycles of hours, days, \ueeks,
monttrs, seasons, years, marking the Time (Life), Fortune,
and Fate or Destiny of macro-and microcosmic organisms
('Created' beings) alike. Examples include the two Semaines
(1578; L5B4) of Du BarLas; Paracelsus ' (L493 -L54L) treatise
L07
De vila lonqa, rrzherein immortality is distilled from
circular motion; the Centuries (1555) of Nostradamus; and
the Zodiacus vjlge (1534) of Palengenius, whose Hermetism
'reflected
is in his presentation of his ethics in the
cosmological setting of the zodiac' (Bruno, pp. 223-225) ,
after the explicitly magical example of the pagan Metrodorus
of Scepsis (Art of Memorv, p. 20 and passim). This potent
'The
solar sign recalls famous saying that God is "a sphere
of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference
nowhere, " . in fact first found in a pseudo-Hermetic
treatj-se of the twelfth century, and . transferred by
Cusanus to the universe, ds a reflection of God, in a manner
which is Hermetic in spirit' (Bruno, p. 247). As an emblem
'basic
of cosmic harmony it was for Bruno, for whom the
innumerable worlds are all divine centres of the unbounded
'the
universe' ('earth' havj-ng long been regarded as womb
of the whole universe'--until the Copernican displacement;
Levey, High-Renais.sance, p. L94) .
The solar hieroglyph was thus also applied to monarchs
of exceptional brilliance and imperial promise, ds were,
analogously, solar emblems and devices of all descriptions,
'heliotrope
ds, for example, in Ruscelli's turning towards
the sun ' (Yates, Art of MeFofy, p. 170). Sun -imagery vras,
of course, of primary significance in Dante 's Commedia, ds
well as in other medieval works (its prominence in Nesi's
depiction of Savonarola, for example, has already been
IOB
outlined). Puttenham similarly describes the devices of
Augustus and other ancient Emperors, ds well as those of
'King
Charles V, Lewis the twelfth,' and assorted other
'English
chiefs of state in Book II of his treatise on
Poetry '--as will be more carefully examined below (pp. 136ff.).
Here we shall note only that England's Elizabeth in
particular was the focus of a veritable cult of solar
imagery and Hermetic worship, as Raleigh demonstrates in
what appears to be the start of Book XII in his Book of the
O_cgan t_o Cyntlria:
My days' delights, my springtime joys fordone,
Which in the dawn and rising sun of youth
Had thej-r creation and were first begun
Do in the evening and the winter sad.,
Present my mind. which takes my time's accompt,
The grief remaining of the joy it had.
My times that then ran o'er themselves in these,
And now run out in others' happiness,
Bring unto those new joys and newborn days.
So could she not, if she were not the sun,
Which sees the birth and burial of aIl else,
And holds that power with which she first begun,
Leaving each withered body to be torn
By fortune and by times tempestuous,
Vihich by her virtue, once fair fruit have born;
Knowing she can renew and can create
Green from the ground, and flowers even out of st,one,
By virtue lasting over time and date.
(120)
Bruno, of course, participated with enthusiasm.
In England, Bruno joined with the courtiers in
calling the anti-Spanish Virgin Queen "diva
Elizabetta". He prophesied for her some Dantesque
I09
united monarchy in which this One Amphitrite
should reign supreme. The atmosphere of
imperialist mysticism surrounding Elizabeth I
. is a transfer to the Tudor Monarchy of the
sacred imperial theme. Uni-ting, as it, did, the
spiritual and temporal headship, this monarchy
might well have qualified as "EgypLian". Bruno
knew of the mystical cult of the English queen
in the revival of chivalry and joins in it in the
Eroici furori (Bruno, p. 392).
'heroic
The enthusiasts' of this last work enter
'a
bearing set of emblems of imprese . in the form of
'presented
shj-elds,' in imitation of the knights who shields
with devices on them to Elizabeth' durincr her annual
'Accessi
on Day Tilts ' :
Bruno, who elsewhere shows himself in slzmpathy
with the Elizabeth cult, fldy have been intentionally
linking his philosophical dialogues with the
chivalrous
( 1 2 1 ).
romance woven around the Virqin Queen
Indeed, anyone wishing to study 'the kind of abstruse
meanings which might be drawn out of an impresa shield'
cannot do better than read what Bruno has to say
oh, for example, a shield bearing a Flying
Phoenix with the motto Fata obstant; or on one
which showed an oak, wiffirtffiE ut robori
roburr; or, still more profound, orr LEe one on
which there was nothing but a sun and two circles
with the one word Circu.!! (Bruno, p. 29O).
'which
However, the Ievel of his Egyptian religion is
cultivated under the marvellously complex and beautiful
imagery of the nqgf-cr furori' is that of "natural
'by
contemplation, " which the divine light, wtrich shines in
things, "takes possession of the souI, raises it, and
'the
converts it into God"'; and darts which wound. ttre hearL
I10
of the lover are "the innumerable individuals and species
of things, in which shine the splendour of the Divine
Beauty "' (Bruno, p. 278) z
The sun, tJre universal Apollo, the absolute
light, is reflected in its shadow, its moon, its
Diana which is the world of universal nature in
which the enthusiast hunts for the vestiges of
the divine, the reflections of the divine light
in nature, and the hunter becomes converted into
vlhat he hunts after, that is to say, he becomes
divine (ibid.).
'dogs '
Devoured by his ('thoughts of divine things '),
Acteon
becomes wild, like a stag dwelling in the woods,
and obtains ttre power of contemplating the nude
Diana, the beautiful disposj-tion of the body of
nature. He sees A11 as One. He sees Amphitrite
the ocean which is the source of all numbers, the
monad, and if he does not see it in its essence,
the absolute light., he sees it in its image, for
from the monad which is the divinity proceeds this
monad which is the world (ibid. ) (cf . FQ VII.vi) .
Similarly Raleigh celebrates the ability of his own
mens to contemplate the divine in all things-
to rise through the innumerable species, in their
astral groupings, to tJre unity of the divinity,
and Lo the fountain of ideas above nature (ibid.)-
'regenerative'
vil:ere, o.t the crater (bowl) of knowledge, he
e x c h a n g e s h i s ' b e s t i a l ' f o r a s e m i -d i v i n e , o r ' h u m a n r ' ' f o r m '
(Fiye Courtieq P o e t s , p p . 6 o e -6 r o ) :
Praised be Diana's fair and harmless light;
Praised be the dews wherewi*r she moj-sts the ground;
Praised be her beams, the glory of the night;
Praised be her power, by which all powers abound.
Praised be her nymphs, with vrhom she decks the woods;
Praised be her knights, in whom true honor lives;
Praised be that force, by which she moves the floods;
Let that Diana shine, which all these gives.
111
In heaven queen she is among the spheres;
In aye she mistress-like makes all things pure;
Eternity in her oft change she bears;
She beauty isr by her the fair endure.
Time wears her not, she doth his chariot guide;
Mortality below her orb is placed.
By her the virtue of the stars down slide,
fn her is virtue 's perfect image cast.
A knowledge pure it is her worth to know;
With Circes let them dwell that think not so. (f20)
'That
(Bruno's) reception into (elizabethan) inner
circles was not entirely an invention of his own is
indicated by the fact that some of the most recondite
productions of Elizabethan poetry use hj-s imagery' (Bruno,
p. 2eo).
1. Brunian Talismanic Imaqes
Bruno's use of assorted other signs and symbols, such
'letters, ' 'figures ' 'hieroglyphs, '
as and is as complex
and impassioned as his use of imagery. For example, contrary
'Bruno
Lo (agrippan) tradition, nowhere mentions the
superior power in magic of the Hebrew Language, but he does
devoLe a significant passage to praise of the Eqyptian
language and its sacred characters r:
The sacred letters used among the Egyptians were
hieroglyphs which were images . taken
from the things of nature, or Lheir parts. By
using such writings and voices (voces), the
Egyptians used to capture with marvellous skill
tJ.e language of the gods. Afterwards when letters
of the kind which we use now with another kind of
industry were invented by Theuth or some other,
this brought about a great rift both in memory and
in the divine and magical sciences (quoted in Bruno,
p. 263).
LL2
'language
The true of Hermetic memory,' of course, is
';igter.nal, ' 're,'
engraved within the exalted and this
was the original language of the Eglrptian Magi.
Moreover, Bruno had some rather unorthodox views
regarding tfre Egyptian and the Christian (as well as the
'OId
Testament') forms of the cross, whj-ch he based on the
passage in Ficino's De vita coeJ-itus comparanda. Briefly
Bruno argued that
the Egyptian cross was ttre true cross,
representing ttre true religion, powerful in
magic, which the Christians had changed and
weakened its magic . r and the Egyptian cross
'charact€F', 'seal'
would become the sign, the the
of his own message (Bruno, pp. 352 -353).
He complained that
the cross on which Christ was crucified was not
in the form shown on Christian altars, ttris form
being in reality the sign which was sculptured
on the breast of the goddess Isis, and which was
"stolen" by t?re Christians from the Egyptians.
To the Inquisitors he explained tlrat the trtre cross differed
'form' 'painted '
in from the way j-n wtrich it is usually :
I think that I have read in Marsilio Ficino that
the virtue and holiness of this character
("carattere", by which he means the cross) is
much more ancient than the time of the Incarnation
j-t
of Our Lord, and that was known in the tjme in
which the religion of the Egyptians flourished,
about the time of Moses, and that this sign was
aff ixed. to the breast of Serapis, and that the
planets and their influences have more efficacy
. when they are at the beginning of the
cardinal signs, that is when the colures intersect
the ecliptic or the zodiac in a direct line, whence
from two circles intersecting in this manner is
produced the form of such a character (that is the
form of the cross) (Bruno, pp. 351 -353).
113
'that
From the foregoing Yates has concluded Bruno
tJrought that Christ was crucified on a "tau" cross, the cross
used by the Christians being really the Egyptian "character"'i
'representations
and she goes on to mention certain of the
Crucifixion in which the form of the cross is the "tau" or
T form' (op. cit., p. 352, n.1). c. c. SilI equates this
'I' 'Old
Greek letter with the Testament Cross' (A Handbook
of_Syrnb_o1sin p. 32):
_Chgi,sti.an AJ:t,
According to legend, this form was used by the
Israelites to mark their identity in blood on
their doorposts during the Passover. It is
thought that Moses raised the brazen serpent on
a pole shaped like a tau cross i
'the
and she def ines Eg-yptian anl<l: or crux ansata' as but
'a
variation ' of the T--ra tau cross with a looped handle. '
'T'
The initial is later said to stand for Theos, or God
(gp. cit., p. 66).
Now, Ficino had prefaced his list of planetary talismans
in chapter XVIII of his D.e vita c.oelitu.s with
_co$paraqda
'some curious remarks on the cross as a kind of talisman':
The force of the heavens is greatest when tfte
celestial rays come down perpendicularly and at
right angles, that is to say in the form of a
cross, which to them also signified the future
life, and they sculptured that figure on the
breast of Serapis. Ficino, however, thinks that
the use of the cross among the Egyptians was not
so much on account of its power in attracting
the gifts of the stars, but as a prophecy of the
coming of Christ, made by them unknowingly. Thus
the sanctity of the Egyptians as prophets of
Christianity through their use of the cross as a
talisman (is) . an appropriate introduction
to the list of talismanic images (Bruno, pp. 72-73)
r14
And John Dee had devised his influential Mona,s hierogltrphica
'as
(L564) a form of the Egyptian cross, ' aceording to such
later adherents of the tradition as A. Kircher (Obeliscus
Pamphitius, Rome, 1650, pp. 364 -378; Brunq, pp. 4L6 -423).
2. A11e.qor)z: Sidney and Puttenlram
religious, moral and/or natural During the
'Places ' and ' j.mages, ' 'letters ' and musical 'numbers '
are, it was widely agreed, best conjoined in 's-erioss poeLr.y,
under vlhose attract,ive 'surf ace ' are concealed profound
'truths.'
'seri.ou.s 'Bfk-9og&il, '
Renaissance poetry' was by def inition
'not
the men of that era believing only that all myths and
hieroglyphics hide a profound meaning but also that this
ancient pagan under-meaning is really in agreement with
'images'
Christianity'--Christian and pagan being but two
'parallel' 'forms 'Divine
of the same inspiration' of the
Wisdom' (L22) . Such a perspective was not only well suited
to the defense of poetry against the charges of frivolity or
even blasphemy leveled agaj-nst it by Plato in the Republic,
as well as by Calvinists and post-Tridentine Catholics; but
it is also admirably expressive of the humanist-age's
obsessive slmcretism on the one handr drrd of its essential
Hermetism on the other (e.9., in its belief in the
'unity'
fund.amental of all creation; in its theory of
'correspondences';
in the acceptance of pre-Christ,ian prisci
115
Lheo.l_oql; and so forth) .
The 'Allegorical' appeal derives from the Horatian and
medj-eval assumption that all poetry is allegorical, and that
all allegories encompass all knowledge (a. C. Hamilton, The
Slructure of A1leqorv. in The Faerie Queens, pp. L6 -L7 ) (28).
In the words of E. A. Bloom,
At the root of the allegorical concept is the
traditional notion that it is an essentially
didactic device whose responsibility it is to
delight wtrile it teaches (55) .
As Dante defined it in his Tenth Epistle (to Can cgandg),
as well as at the beginning of part two of the Convito, true
'allegory' 'simple,
is not but is rather to be called
polysemous, that is, having many meanings':
fhe first meaning is the one obtained through
the letter; the second is the one obtained
through the things signif ied by the letter. The
first is called literal, the second allegorical
or moral or anagogical. [For example, ] . if
we look to the letter alone, the departure of the
children of Israel from Egypt in the tj-me of Moses
is indicated to us; Lf to the a1legory, our
redemption accomplished by Christ is indicated to
us; if to the moral sense, the conversion of the
soul from the woe and misery of sin to a state of
grace is indicated to us; if to the anagogical
sense, the departure of tl:e consecreated soul from
the slavery of this corruption to the liberty of
eternal glory is indicated .,
j-ons;
in accordance witJ. exegetic tradit for , he concludes,
though these mystic senses may be called by various names/
they can all generally be spoken of as allegorical, since
they are diverse from the literal or historical' (Dante
'allegory'
having mistakenly derived from the Latin alienum,
l15
'diverse')
or (123) .
The following synoptic analysis is advanced by The
Princeton_ Encyclopedia of PoetI)z_and Pogtics :
We begin with the "liLeral" meaning, which simply
tells us what happened; this narrative illustrates
certain principles which we can see to be true
crggas, as a popular tag had it), and this
!qu.i.=d
is the allegory proper. At the same time the
narrative illustrates the proper course of action
(quid agas); this is its moral meaning, and is
particularly the meaning aimed at in Lhe exesp,llls
or moral falle used in iermons and elsewh6€TiEwhi-
ch is also employed a good deal by Dante,
especially in the Purqatorio. Finally there is
its anagogic or universal meaning, its place
within the total scheme of Christian economy, the
Creation, Redemption and Judgrment of the world.
These last two meanings may also be called
allegorical in an extended use of the term.
'Allegorical '
habits persisting throughout both
'the
medieval and Renaissance cultures included: allegori
zation of classical myth, ' although with a shift in emphasis
to Latin literature (e.9., commentaries on Virgil and Ovid) ;
'for
allegory used educational purposes, ' popular from
Martianus Capella's Marria.qe of-$ercqrv and Philosophy
(early fifth century) through Stephen Hawes' Passtlzme .of
'Courtly
Pleasure (ca. 1510); the secular allegory of Love,
which employed an elaborate system of parallels to religion,
its God being Eros or Cupid, its Mother Venus, its great
Iovers saints and martyrs, and so on '; and finally,
Allegory also of course pervaded the plastic
artsr dod the emblem books which became popular
in the l6th c. are an example of the literary
absorption of pictorial iconology (ibid.).
'The
allegorical conception of poetry, ' dominant in
LL7
Italy from the time of Dante. Petrarch and Boccaccio right
through the sixteenth century (it appears in Tasso's defense
'
which,
of his Jerusalem Dqliveqed, for example), was the one
more than anything else, colored critical theory in
Elizabethan England ' (125) . It is articulated, for example,
in Thomas Wilson 's Ar.te of Rhetorique (1553), Webbe 's
Discourse of Poetrie (1586), and Puttenham 's Arte of
Enqlish
Enqlish Poesie (1589); in reply to Stephen Gosson 's School
oJ Abuse it is invoked by Thomas Lodge (Defence of Poetry,
L579) as well as by Philip Sidney (Apoloqv, cd. 1583;
published 1595). The latter, contrary to popular belief,
did not oppose but rather incorporated the allegorical
'fiction' 'supplements
tradition, maintaining that the Word
'traditional
of God. ' However, he was not a allegorist '
like Lodge, who perceived under the person of Aenaeas in
Virgil the practice of a diligent captaine, ' as is clear
'in 'the
when we compare Sidney 's discovery Cyrus ' of
perfect patter.n of a prince' (Hamilton, Structure of
Alleqory, p. 22t cf . Spenser 's letter to Raleigh) . The
allegorical argument was also, understandably, a favorite of
thetranslators _-€.9.,ArthurGo1ding(ovia'sEE@.g,
'Preface '
1565), Sir John Harington (cf. to his version of
Ariosto's Orlq_qd_o_Egqi_e_g-1591) o,, and George Chapman (Homer's
Iliad and Odyssey, L6f0 -f6f5). Indeed,
The conception of major poetry as concealing
enormous reserves of knowledge through an
allegorical technique was widely accepted in
tkre Renaissance (Princeton Encyclopedia, p. L4) .
IIU
'Allegorical '
fn addition to this
appeal from Plato 's
'mimetic')
condemnation of all representational ( arts in the
Repub.lic, the Renaissance marshalled two others--one
'Aristotelian, ' 'Neo -Platonic '
and the other in origin.
Aristotle 's Poetics increasingly influenced the defense
as weII as the practice of imaginative literature from about
154.0 oh, thanks largely to the proselytizing efforts of the
Italian critics Minturno (1559) and Scaliger (1561), from
whom Sidney learned the Aristotelian aesthetics that he
'Poetry,'
introduced to Elizabethan England. according to
'imitation 'does
Aristotle, is an of nature, ' though it not
copy the particulars of Nature; it disengages and represents
her general characteristics . it reveals the universal
and is thus more scientific ( j ) than history '
(C.
S. Lewis, English Literaturs in the Sixteentl: Century,
'the
p.
319). Expressing general and the typical rather
'consequently
than the speci-fj-c and particular,' poetry is
. not to be judged by canons of truth or falsehood'
(Princeton Encyclopedia, p. L4).
The full articulation of the Neo-Platonic notion that
'idea,
the poet creates from a mental image (e.9., Sidney 's
or fore -conceit '), or out of the plenitude of his own
'divine ' 'Imagination, '
awaited Plotinus in the third century
A.D.: "'If anyone disparages the arts on the ground that
they j-mitate Nature, w€ must remind him that natural ob jects
are themselves only imj-tations, and that the arts do not
ll9
simply imitate vrhat they see but re-ascend to those
principles ( ) from which Nature herself is derived. "'
In the works of Plato himself,
Dialectic leads us up from unreal Nature to her
real original. But the arts which imitate Nature
'the
lead us down, further away from reality, to
copy of a copy. '
'ArL
Among the Neo-Platonists and Nature thus become rival
copies of the same supersensuous origj-naI, and there is no
reason why Art should not sometimes be the better of the t\nro'
(C.
S. Lewis, Englj-sh Li.teratur,e i.n 3he Sixtgenth Cen$ury,
'free
pp. 319-320). The artist is therefore to exceed the
limits of Nature ' (ibid.).
Despite their apparent mutual antipathy, these
'Aristotelian '
and 'Neo -Platonic ' perspectives became
contaminated, misinterpreted, mingled and confused during
the course of the Renaissance. For example, Aristotle's
'immanent
universal--the general character in situations
'that
of a given kind' was confused with a Plotinian notion
while other writers give us the naked fact (rem), the poet
gives us Lhe form (ideam) clothed in all its beauties
(pulchritudinibus vestitqm) "vlhich Aristotle calleth the
'
vniuersal. "
Aristotle was also contaminated by the late and
vulgarized version of his own poetics which
appears in Horace 's Ars Poetica. Here the
doctrine of the univ6FaTT-a-s-Shrunk into a
doctrine of fixed theatrical Lypes, arbitrary
rules abound, and the seed of neo-classicism is
sown. Side by side with this, the medieval
doctrine of alleqorical interpretation throve
L20
with unabated vigour, and with it the old error
. which treated poems as encyclopedias. Added
to all this, and forming the most characteristic
common mark of the whole school, was the Platonic
theory of inspiration. On this Politian (in the
Nutricia), Ficino (De Fqrore peslico), Scaliger,
fasso, Spenser, and@, and
Horace 's rationalism is ignored (ep. c j-t . , pp.
3 2 O -3 2 2 ).
'The
Platonic theory of inspirationr in fact derives from at
least two conflicting traditj-ons-*viz., from PIato himself ,
and from Neo-Platonic Hermetism. In the fon and Phae.drus,
'denied
for example, P1ato had that poetry was an art':
ft was produced in a divine alienation of mind by
men who did not know what they were doing. The
non-human beings who were its real creators showed
this by sometimes choosing as their mouthpiece
the worst of men or even the worst of poets (C. S.
Lewis, Enqlish Litgra -ture ., pp. 319 -3201 .
'descent'
In contrast to this of the divine spirit into the
'mind'
sub-rational depths of a humble poet's is the human
'ascent '
spiri -t's Hermetic to the pinnacle occupied by
Divine Sapience, within the bosom of God on high. Thus,
'The
according to Scaliger, poet maketh a ne\M Nature and so
maketh himself as it were a new God ' (eoet.I.i) --and:
It will be remembered how closely Sidney follows
him. The poet, unlike the historj-an, is not
'captiued
to the trueth of a foolish world' but
can 'deliuer a golden ' (ibid.).
'Imagination, ' 'Allegory ';
of course, is at the heart of
and both, according to Jung (Psvcholoqv qnd A]chemv, pp. 276
'Alchemy. '
2BO), are essential to Ruland 's Lexicon defines
'Imagination
imaginatio, for example, ds follows: is the
star in man, the celestial or supercelestial body '; and
L2T
'astrum' 'quj -ntessence,'
('star'), a Paracelsan term for the
'the
is defined as virtue and power of things . acquired
through the preparations' of the opus--namely, the
'concentrated
extract of the life forces, both physical and
'Quinta
psychic ' commonly known as the Essentia ':
The concept of j-maginatio is perhaps the most
important key to the understanding of the opus.
. The soul . is the vice-regent of God
(sui locum tene]rs seu vicg Rex est) and dwells
in the life-spirit of the pure blood. It rules
the mind . and this rules the body. The
soul functions (opsratur) in the body, but has
the greater part of its functj-on (operatio)
outside the body (or, we might add by way of
explanation, in projection). This peculiarity
is divine, since divine wisdom is only partly
enclosed in the body of the world: the greater
part of it is outside, and i-F imaqi.Es far hiqher
thinqs than tlre body of the world can co€eive
(concipere). And these things are outside nature:
God 's own secrets. The soul is an example of this:
it too imagines many things of the utmost
profundity (profundissima) outside the body, just
as God does. True, what the soul imagines happens
only in the mind but what God imagines
happens in reality. "The soul, however, has
absolute and independent power . to do other
things [alia facere] than those the body can
grasp. But, when it so desj-res, it has the
greatest power over the body ., for otherwise
our philosophy would be in vain. Thou canst
conceive the greater, for we have opened the gates
unto thee" (ibid.).
'allegory ' 'the
And it was to that old masters ' most readily
'the
resorted in order to convey real secret of the
magisterium,' for it was effectively protected from profane
'method
curiosity by the alchemists' of explaining the
obscure by the more obscure ' ('obscurum per obscurius ')
(9. cit., PP. 34 -35) . Indeed, dS already remarked, many
L22
interpreted the allegorical foreground quite literally,
attaching excessi-ve importance, for example, to the physical
'symbol'
or chemical transformation, which was merely a of
'a
parallel psychic process ' (ibid.). Something of this
'Imagination'
relation between Hermetic and Spenser's
allegory is adumbrated in Isabel MacCaffrey's Spgnser's
Allegory, subtitled The. Anatomy of Imaginatlog (f26).
Meditatio, in contrast, j-s identified as the complement
and antecedent of ilnaginati_o, and the Lexicon. alchemiae
'"The
defines it as follows: word meditatio is used when a
man has an inner dialogue with someone unseen. ft may be
with God, vrhen He is invoked, or with himself , or with his
good angel ".' Jung elaborates:
The use of the term "meditaLion" in the Hermeti-c
dictum "And as all things proceed from the One
through the meditatj-on of the One" must therefore
be understood in this alchemical sense as a
creative dialogue, by means of whj-ch things pass
from an unconscious potential state to a manifest
one. . Therefore, to "meditate" means that
through a dialogue with God yet more spirit will be
infused into the stone, i.e., it will become still
more spiritualized, volatilized, ot sublimated.
I*runrath says much the same thing:
'Therefore
study, meditate, sweat, work, cook
so will a healthful flood be opened to you which
comes from the Heart of Lhe Son of the great World,
a Water which the Son of the Great World pours
forth from his Body and Heart, to be for us a True
and Natural Aqua Vitae ' (op. c3t., PP. 274 -275).
Finally, as Claude Frollo, the deacon, exclaims in
'GoId
Notre-Dame-de-Paris, is the sun: to make gold is to
'maker'of 'golden
be God.' Surelv the a world' is no less
L23
'golden,' 'divine'i 'The
or Moreover, idea that art
can make something higher than nature is typically
alchemicdl,' according to Jung (A.lchemical Studji-es, p. f35).
So, of course, are the allegorical mode, the belief in
divine inspiratj-on or possession, and the desire to confer
immortal life upon mortality. ft seems inconceivable that
Sidney could have been ignorant of the tradition whence all
these attitudes derived, and which he was so influential in
transmitting to his fellow Elizabethans.
a. Sir Philip Sidnev
A similar mingling of disparate authorities, both
classical and Hermetj-c, is characterj-stic of Sidney's
profoundly influential Defense of Poesie (1583), as in the
'right
following definition of poets' (Gilbert, pp. 4L5-4L6)
These . be they vihich most properly do
imitate to teach and delight, and to imitate
borrow nothing of what is, hath been, or shall
be; but range, only reined with learned
discretion, into the divine consideration of
what may be and should be. These be they that,
as the first and most noble sort may justly be
termed vates, so these are waited on in the
excellentest langnrages and best understandings,
with the fore-described name of poets; for these
indeed do merely make to imitate, and imitate both
to delight and teach, and delight Lo move men to
take that goodness in hand, which without delight
they would fly as from a stranger, and teach to
make them know that goodness whereunto they are
moved, which being the noblest scope to which
ever any learning was directed, yet want there not
idle tongrues to bark at them. .
And that moving is of a higher degree than
teaching, it may by this appear, that it is well
L24
nigh both the
For who will
desj-re to be
that teaching
doctrine) as
cause and the effect of teaching.
be taught, if he be not moved with
taught, and what so much good doth
bring forth (f speak still of moral
that it moveth one to
it doth teach? For, ds Aristotle
not gnosis but prax.is must be the
be moved to do ttrat which we know,
with desj-re to know, op3g, hic
4og
(cilbert, pp. 4IB , 4L6, 426 -427) .
The syncretism is even more striking in
'general'
of his arguments in poetry's favor,
'particulars'
preceding his shift to such as
do that which
saith, it is
fruit . to
ot to be moved
Labor es!
the summation
immediately
the assaults
on the art advanced by Plato as well as by the religious
purists of Sidney 's own day:
Since then poetry is of all human learnings ttre
most ancient and of most fatherly antiquity, as
from whence other learnings
beginnings; since it. is so
learned nation doth despise
natj-on is without it; since
gave divj-ne names unto it,
have taken their
universal that no
it, nor no barbarous
both Roman and Greek
the one of prophesying,
the other of making, and that indeed that name of
m_aking is f it for him, considering that whereas
other arts retain themselves within ttreir subject
and receive, as it were. their being from it, the
poet only bringeth his own stuff
learn a conceit out of a matter
for a conceit; since neither his
his end containeth any evil, the
cannot be evj-l; since his effects
and doth not
but maketh matter
description nor
thing described
be so good as
to teach goodness and delight
since therein (namely in moral
of aII knowledges) he doth not
historj-an, but, for instructing,
comparable to the philosopher,
the learners of it;
doctrine, the chief
only far pass the
is wellnigh
and for moving
leaves him behind him; since the Holy Scripture
(wherein there is no uncleanness) hath whole parts
in it poetical, and that even our Savior Christ
vouchsafed to use the flowers of it; since all his
kinds are not only in their united forms but in
their dissections fully commendable, I think (and
think I think rightly) the laurel crown appointed
for triumphant captains doth worthily (of all other
learnings) honor the poet 's triumph (cp. cit.,
pp. 435 -436).
L25
'antiquity '
Clearly, Sidney 's stress upon the great
of poetry recalls Ficino's p.rjsca theoloqla; and his all-
embracing art mimics that of Cornelius Agrippa, wtro had
'Magic
boasted that alone includes all three' realms of
experience (v:'z., those of the intellect, the will, and the
body; cf. Bruns), p. 131). Indeed, dt present as in antiquity,
'general'
poetry is said to be of three kj-nds: religious
(Ofd and New Testanent hlzmns, as well as the contemplative
'Gentile'
devotions of the poets of ancient Greece and Rome);
philosophi.cal (including 'moral, ' 'natural, ' 'astronomical, '
and/or 'historical' instruction); and '.ri-ght.,' which, Ers just
defined. ' jmitates' in order to 'ry' future readers to
'imitate' 'images'
in turn its feigned of virtue in their
actual daily lives--in dynamic cooperation with the divine
plan for mortal perfection, prepared in Genesis and fulfilled
in Revelation. Sidney concludes that this last poet,
with that same hand of delight, doth draw the
mind more effectually than any other art doth.
And so a conclusion not unfitly ensueth, that,
as virtue is the most excellent resting place
for all worldly learning to make his end of, so
poetry, being the most familiar to teach it, and
most princely to move towards it, in the most
excellent work is the most excellent workman
(cp. cit., p. 430) .
This three-part division of the poetic genus would
appear to have been as standard during the Renaissance as
'Allegory'
were the four parts of outlined above, for both
are prominent features in such contemporary critical
treatises as those of Puttenham (1589) and Harington (1591)
L26
(cf . Elizabethan Cr.iti.cal Essays, ed. by Smith, vo1. 2,
pp. 25, 158 -159, 2AL -2O3).
Sidney's subdivision of these three types into wtrat he
'particular' 'genres'
perceived to be the entire range of is
'special
instructive. He lists six kinds ' in the following
order (cp. cjt., pp. 43O -436) z pastoral; elegiac, imabic,
and satiric verses; comedy; tragedy; lyric (e,.g., songs in
'virtuous 'moral
praise of acts' ; songs on precepts and
'raiseth
natural problems '; albeit sometimes the poet up his
voice to the height of the heavens, in singing the lauds of
the immortal God') ; and, finally, heroic. Further examina
tj-on reveals that these constitute two sets, the first of
'humble' 'exalted'
and the second of station, each made up
of an action-narrative. wise-lyric, and a delightful
histrionic spectacle, as follows:
'Base and 'High
Iow matters '; subjects ' i
negative j-nstructj-on positive instruction
action
(1) Pastoral (6) Epic, ox Heroic
(narEat_ive )
wise
(2) EIegy, iamb, satire (5) Songs of praise, etc.
(Ivric )
|
preisfrg
(3) Comedy (4) Tragedy
(histrionic
)
(numbers correspond to order of appearance). Mediating
'low' 'high'
between these and extremes, however, are three
'composite'
genres to which Sidney alludes rather casually
at the outset of this detailed analysis of poetic types:
L27
Now in his parts, kinds, ox species, ds you
list to term them, it is to be noted that some
poesies have coupled together two or three kj-nds,
as the tragical and comical, whereupon is risen
the tragic-comical. Some, in the like manner,
have mingled prose and verse, as Sannazaro and
Boethius. Some have mingled matters heroical
and pastoral. But that cometh alI to one in
this question, for, Lf severed they be good, the
conjunction cannot be hurtful (e!. cit., p. 430).
There are thus nine basic genres in Sidney's system,
corresponding to the nine Muses of classical antiquity.
'the
Now, according to Frances Yates, borderline
between magic and art is as hard to trace in this period as
the borderline between magic and religion' (Bruno, p. L75).
'Poet '
And indeed, Sir Philip Sidney 's enjoys such
supernatural favor and power that he is hard to distinguish
'Magus'
from the quasi-divine as Bruno conceived of him
(vtz., as a sj -ngle potent Adept made up of Priest,
Philosopher, and Artist, in imitation of the divine
Trinitarian One) . He is vastly superior, for example, to
'historian' 'moral
the in conveying the philosophy' so
'virtuous ')
essential to the orderly (i.e., conduct of human
affairs:
Every understanding knoweth the skill of each
artificer standeth in that idea or fore-conceit
of. tlre wort<. and in theFFk-itEEffi
}.ot.
that the poet hath that idea is manifest, by
delivering them forth in sFfr excellency as he
had imagj-ned them; which delivering forth also
is not whol.Iv imaq_inative, as we are wont to say
by them that build castles in the air; but so
far substantially it workeLh, not only to make
a Cyrus, which had been but a particular
excellency, as nature might have done, but to
bestow a Cyrus upon the world to make many Cyruses,
t2B
if th-ey_will learn aright wLry and how that
.
'natural
He similarly outstrips the philosophers,' who
'quantities ' 'times '
merely measure the and underlying
Nature's' order' (e.g., astronomers, geometricians,
arithmeticians, and musicians), in the seductively rich
'second
surface of the nature ' he creates:
Only the poet. disdaining to be tied to any
. subjection, Iifted up with the vigor of
his own invention, doth grow in effect into
another nature, in making things either better
than nature bringeth forth, or, quite anew, forms
such as never were in nature -; so as he
goeth hand in hand with nature, not enclosed
within the narrow warrant of her gifts but
freely ranging within the zodiac of his own wit.
Nature never set forth the earth in so rich
tapestry as divers poets have done. . Her
world is brazen, the poets only deliver a
golden.
Indeed, this Poet 's only peer is the Deity Himself -
the divine Creator, Redeemer, and Inspirer*-lnihom he has come
to resemble (9. cit., pp. 4L2 -4L4):
Neither let it be deemed too saucy a comparison
to balance the highest point of man's wit with
the efficacy of nature; but rather give right
honor to the heavenly maker of that maker, who,
having made man to his own likeness, set him
beyond and over all the works of that second
nature; which in nothing he showeth so much as
in poetry, when with the force of a divine breath
he bringeth things forth far surpassing her
doings, with no small argument to the incredulous
of that first accursed fall of Adam, since our
erected wit maketh us know what perfection is,
and yet our infected will keepeth us from reaching
unto it-But these arguments will by few be
understood, and by fewer granted. Thus much, I
hope, will be given me, that the Greeks with some
probability of reason gave him the name above all
names of learninq.
L29
After refuting critical objections to poetry in
general and, in particular, after surveying its development
in England to date, Sidney closes with an impassioned
exhortation to his English-speaking readers:
I conjure you all that have had the evil luck
to read this ink*wasting toy of mine, even in
the name of the Nine Muses, rro more to scorn
the sacred mysteries of poesy. . -i but to
believe, with Aristotle, that they (poets) were
the ancient treasurers of the Grecians' divinity;
to believe, wj-th Bembus, that they were first
bringers -in of all civility; to believe, with
Scaliger, that no philosopher's precepts can
sooner make you an honest man than the reading
of Vergil; to believe, with Clauserus, the
translator of Cornutus, that it pleased the
heavenly Deity, by Hesiod and Homer, under the
veil of fables, to give us all knowledge, logic,
rhetoric, philosophy, natural and moral, and
quid non? to believe, with me, that there are
many mysteries contained in poetry, which of
purpose were written darkly lest by profane wits
it shoul-d be abused; to believe, with Landino,
that they are so beloved of the gods that
whatsoever they write proceeds of a divine fury;
Iast1y, to believe themselves vrhen they teII you
they will make you immortal by their verses
(-qP. gi! . , pp . 457 -AsB) .
Yates appears firmly persuaded that S5-dney
quite deliberately pursued and absorbed Hermetic teachings
in religion, philosophy and aesthetics; and Walker, as we
have seen, seems inclined to agree with her. He undertook
to translate Philippe Du Plessis Mornay's religious-Hermetic
treatise; together with his friends Fulke Greville and
'their
Edward Dyer, he chose Dee to be teacher in philosophy'
(Art of 263); and it was to Sidney that Bruno
.Memory, p.
enthusiasticallv dedi-cated the Hermetic treatises he composed
130
on English soil. Further, it was upon Sidney that Bruno's
'in
devoted student, Alexander Dicson, served attendance,'
'presumably
in those years around I5B4 when [the Scotsman]
made himself conspicuous as a master of the art of memory,
and tlre disciple of that other master of the art, Giordano
Bruno' (Art of Memory, p. 283).
Fulke Greville relates an anecdote in his Life of Sir
Bh.i.lj-B Sidnev that presents the poet's Hermetism as quite
serious indeed: As Sidney lay dying he asked to have told
ntm
the opinion of the ancient Heathen, touching
the immortality of the soul; First, to see what
true knowledge she retains of her own essence,
out of the light of herself; then to parallel
with it the most pregnant authorities of the
old, and new Testament, as supernatural
revelations (I27).
Moreover, the names of several of his fictional
'astral
characters betray an acquaintance with Brunian magic'
and an apparent desire to exercise it via a potent poetic
'image, ' 'star -loving '
such as the Phillsides of the Old
Arcsrdia (f2B). Even more significant is the pursuit of a
'SteIIa' '4-@_L'
vj-rtuous lady by the enamored Courtier
in the famous sonneL sequence (1582), and his subsequent
adoption of the latter epithet as his own personal pseudonym
'Colin
(similar to Spenser 's adoption of the name Clout ')
'rustic' 'courtly
in the context of Love' and its lyrical
expression(s). How serious or frivolous Sidney may have
been in these selections is less siqnificant than the fact
13I
of the choj-ces themselves. And indeed, several of the
lyrics in his sonnet-sequence are of a palpably Hermetic
character (e.9., #26, #52, #7L, etc. ) (129) .
Of course, Sidney was also 'closely identified with
'Power
Ramism,' whose Puritanical opposition to the of the
'Art
Imagination' and of Imagery' at the heart of Brunian
mnemonics exploded in the assault upon Alexander Dicson's
'c.
De_umbra ratjlo]ris by P. Cantabrigiensis' ('William
'
Perkins, ' a Puritan divine, of Cambridge, ' 'a stronghold of
Ramism') in 1584. It was in that same year that Sir William
Temple of Cambridge dedicated his edition of Ramus'
Dialectiqae libri duo to his friend and fellow scholar, Sir
Philip Sidney (130).
'must
That Sidney have found some way of conciliating
these opposite influences' (Art of Memory, pp. 283-284)
cannot be doubted, though one suspects j-t was at Ramus'
expense.
Most importantly, Sidney 's Defence of Poetrie (f583) -
'the defence of the j-magination against the Puritans, the
manj-festo of the English Renaissance'--cou1d not have been
'a
written by pure Ramist' (Art of_Memory, p. 284). Indeed,
'places ' 'images '
he even praises the and of the classic
art of memory, arguing that verse is more easily remembered
than prose:
They that have taught the art of memory have
showed nothing so apt for it as a certain room
divided into many places. well and throughly
L32
known; now that hath the verse in effect
perfectly, every word having his natural seat,
which seat must needs make the word remembered
(Gilbert, p. 437).
Such a position is far from that of an orthodox Ramist I
Briefly, the Logic of Peter Ramus (1515-L572) became
established in England during the period L56B-L577. His
major departure from Aristotle and Cicero lay in strictly
separating the domains of dialectic (invention and
arrangement) from those of rhetoric (style and delivery)
'Although
in theory; but the teaching of the two arts would
be kept separaLe, logic and rhetoric in practice would
combine and work together ' (13J.,L32). The (almost
mathematically) parallel treatise on rhetoric (Talaeus'
T.nsF,i.tutions.s Oratoriae, Paris, 1544; La Rheto-rique Fralcojse,
1555) enjoyed its first successes in England at Cambridge
U n j -v e r s i t y w h i l e S p e n s e r s t i l l r e s i d e d t h e r e ( 1 5 6 9 -f 5 7 6 ) .
Indeed, it was Gabriel Harvey, a Ciceronian 'orator' of the
school of Bembo, and inLimaLe friend of both Sidney and
Spenser, who introduced him there in 1573. Moreover, the
lectures Harvey delivered in L575-L576 and published in L577
are the first heavy commitment by an Englishman to the logic
and rhetoric of Ramus and Talaeus (f33), By the end of the
sixteenth century the French-Calvinist school of Ramus and
Talaeus was completely triumphant over the German-Lutheran
influence of Melanchthon and Sturm in England (f34).
'One
of the chief aims of the Ramist movement for the
133
reform and simplification of educatj-on was to provide a new
and better way of memor:-zj.ng all subjects':
This was to be done by a new method whereby every
'dialectical
subject was to be arranged in order '.
This order was set out in schematic form in which
'general'
the or inclusive aspects of the subject
came first, descending thence through a series of
'specials,
dj-chotomised classif ications to the or
individual aspects. Once a subject was set out in
its dialectical order it was memorised in this
order from the schematic presentation--the famous
Ramist epitome (AIt .of. Memo.ry, p. 232) .
Echoes of this technique are clearly evident in
Spenser's analysis of his projected epic in the letter to
Raleigh.
Worthy of notice are: f) Ramus ' characteristic
'bifurcative'
analytic technique:
Ramus' habj-t of dividing a sub ject j-nto two main
parts, ds illustrated by . his treatment of
logic and rhetoric, led to the assumption that
for him the natural method is essentially the
method of dichotomies--of proceeding always to
separate a logical class into two subclasses
opposed to each other by contradiction, and to
separate the subclasses and the sub-subclasses
in the same wdy, untj-I ttre entire structure of
any science resembled a severely geometrical
pattern of bifurcations (Howell, L.ogic & Rhetoric,
pp. L62-Le7).
'opposed ' 'subclasses '
The tend to consist of paired
counterparts--e.9., sun and moon, man and woman, cause and
effect, etc. (Xoenigsberger and Mosse, Eu5ope. ilr the
Sixteenth_Century, p. 289). 2) Ramus could dj-spense with
'his
memory as a part of rhetoric because whole scheme of
the arts, based. on a topically conceived logic, is a system
of local memory ' (135) 3) Finally, by asborbing memory
into logic, Ramus identified the problem of method with that
of memory (136). Though Howell and others have asserted
'Whenver
that the word "method" appears in the writings of
the late sixteenth century in Eng1and, it amounts almost to
a confession of the author 's awareness of Ramus ' (130,135),
'the
others have perceived search for method' as a major
characteristj -c of this period in all disciplines (137).
'memory' 'the
Yates identifies as instigator, the originator,
the conrmon root of all this effort after method' (Art of
'method'
Memory, pp. 24L, 369), for even Ramus thought his
'ancj-ent j-nto
to be a revival of
wisdom'--'an insight the
nature of reality through which he can unify the multiplicity
'a
of appearances.' Indeed, Yates has demonstrated close
'alone
connection between Ramism and the art of memory,' which
might suggest a connection betveen the hisLory of memory and
the history of method' :
The word was also used of Lullism and Cabalism
which flourished in the Renaissance in close
association with memory. To give one example
out of the many which might be cited, there is
'circular
the method' for knowing everything
described by Cornelius Gerffnain his De arte
cvclo.crnomica which is a compound of Ilfffi,
Hermeti-sm, Cabalism, and the art of memory. This
work may have influenced Bruno who also calls his
'method'
procedures a (Art olF MemoEV, p. 369) .
'was
Moreover, according to Ramus, Prometheus the first
to open ttre fountains of dialectical wisdom whose pristine
waters eventually reached Socrates'
(Art of_Memery, p. 24O;
'ancient,
cf . Ficino's prj-s,ci the.oloqi). The
truer a.Dd
135
natural dialectic ' was, however, corrupted by Aristotle 's
'artificialitv. '
Ramus conceives it as his mi-ssion to restore the
'natural '
dialectical art to its form, its pre
Aristotelian, Socratic and pristine nature. This
natural dialectic is the image in ttre mens of ttre
eternal divine light. The return to dEl6ctic is
a return to light from shadows. It is a way of
ascent and descent from specials to generals,
from generals to specials, which is like Homer's
golden chain from earth to heaven, from heaven to
'golden
earth. Ramus repeatedly uses the chain'
image of his system, . and extols his true
natural-dialectic as a kind of Neoplatonic
mystery, a way of return to the light of the
divine mens from the shadows. .
By imposing the dialectical order on every
subject the mind can make the ascent and descent
from specials to generals and vice versa. The
Ramist method begins to appear almost as mystical
as the Art of Ramon Lull, which imposes the
abstractions of the Divine Dignities on every
subject and thereby makes the ascent and descent.
And it begins to appear not dissjrnilar in aim from
Camillo's Theatre which provides the unifying
ascent and descent through arrangements of images,
or from Bruno's method in Shadows of seekinq the
unifying system by which tG-h-in-d may returi to
the light from the shadows.
And, in fact, many were to labour at finding
points of contact and amalgamation between all
such methods or systems (gp. ci.t., pp. 24O-24L) .
'formal'
The obsessions of Ramism lead inevitably,
'abstract
again, to the questions of design,' and their
'imagery, '
representations in arithmetic and geometry, ds
well as in language or linguistic elements (e.9., names,
letters, etc.), in addition to habits of thought. Sidney,
'proportj-on';
for example, does not explicitly explore
'thesis
however, his classification of genres into a
'two
antithesis -synthesis ' pattern (i.e., in one ' 3)
suggests a Ramist influence, as does his overall progression
136
'general ' 'particular '
from more to more Lopics.
b. Georse Puttenham
'general'
Puttenham too begins with the most
'Of
considerations Poets and Poesie ' (Book I), and concludes
'particulars'
"with the of surface and stylistic ornamentation
(Book III) (99). Mediating between them is a book entitled
'Of
Proportion Poetical,' which is declared at the outset to
'rest ' 'in
fiue points: Staffe, Measure, Concord, Scituatj -on,
and Figure ' {viz., stanzas, meters, vocal harmonics, rhyme schemes,
d.nd geometric designs). Not announced is the lengthy
discussion of classical (quantitative) metrics and their
possible adaptation to vernacular prosody with which Book II
closes.
We are here principally concerned with Puttenham's
'Of 'Figure, '
f ifth proportion, that Figiure-' however,
'a
proves to be of three sorts: a) qeometrical; b) figure
'create ' 'the
or purtrjrict of ocular representation ' to €y€ ';
'figure ' 'figure
and c) a ve or of speech ' ('conceit '),
Fal
'the
words so aptly corresponding to the subtilitie of the
'recreate' 'the
[visual] figure that' they eare or the mind'
(Smith edition, ii, pp. 105 -f06). Interestingly, however,
all of (b) and most of (c), up to the rather deprecatory
'courtly
apology for encouraging such trifles,' appear only
in eight unnumbered pages that are inserted in the British
Museum copy of Puttenham's treatise.
137
The first section, therefore, consists of an intriguing
'forms'
review of geometrical in which poems may or should
'metaphysical'
be cast, in anticipation of the experiments
of the following century. They are Ij-sted as follows:
'Rompgg' 'Turbot'
1) 'Tlr.e Lozange,' also called or after the
'Fuz.i_
f ish (or e' if exaggeratedly compressed along its
'a
vertical axis), is described as quadrangle reuerst, with
his point vpward like to a quarrell of glasse,' and is
'water.' 'halo, '
symbolic of (1fl:en employed as a the
'lozenge, '
which may also be represented as a hexagon, is
'to
said distinguish the Virtues or allegorical figures, Old
Testament and Pre-Christian figiures of noble life,'
A of. Slzmbols in Christian p. 60). 2) The
llandbook .Art,
'Triang1e 'an
or Triquet' is defined as halfe sguare, Lozange,
'the
or Fuzie parted vpon the crosse angles,' signifying
'Spire
ayre. ' 3) the or Taper called Pvramis ' (or
'Obeliscus '), 'the 'six
representing fire, ' is as taII as
'six'
ordinary triangles' and does not exceed feet at its
'Hope ' 'Ttre
narrow base . ft is said to slzmbolize . 4)
'mosL
Pillsr, PiEaster, ot Ci4inder ' is considered
beawtifull. in respect that he is tall and vpright and of
one bignesse from the bottom to the toppe':
Tn Architecture he is considered with two
accessarie parts, a pedestall or base, and a
chapter or head; the body is the shaft. By
this figure is signified stay, support, rest,
state, and magnificence.
These last two mav be desiqned to read from the bottom
13B
up or from the top down, depending on the sense.
'Ttre 'appropriat
5) Roundetl or Spheare,' to the
heauens,' is treated by Puttenham as follows:
The most excellent of all the figures Geometrical
is the Round, for his many perfections. Fj-rst,
because he is euen and smooth, without any angle
or interruption, most voluble and apt to turne,
and to continue motion, which is the author of
life: he conteyneth in him the commodious
description of euery other figure, & for his ample
capacitie doth resemble the world or vniuers, &
for his indefinitenesse, hauing no speciall place
of beginning nor end, beareth a similitude wittr
God and eternitie. This figure hath three
principall partes in his nature and vse much
considerable: the circle, the beame, and the
center. The circle is his largest compasse or
circumference; the center is his middle and
indiuisible point; the beame is a line stretching
directly from the circle to the center, &
contrariwise from the center to the circle. By
this descrj-ption our maker may fashion his meetre
in Roundel, either with the circumference, and
that is circlewise, or from the circumference,
that is like a beame, or by the circumference,
and that is ouerthwart and dyametrally from one
side of the circle to the other (gp. cit., pp.
10r-102).
There folIow two illustrative poems, the first outlining
'A
g.enerall resemblance of the Roundell to God, the World,
'A
and the Queene,' while the second focuses on special and
particular resemblance of her Maiestie to the Roundell' :
A11 and whole, and euer, and one,
Single, simple, eche where, alone,
These be counted, as Clerkes can telI,
True properties of the Roundell.
His still turning by consequence
And change doe breede both life and sence.
Time, measure of stirre and rest,
fs also by his course exprest.
How swift the circle stirre aboue,
His center point doeth neuer moue:
All things that euer were or be
Are closde i-n his concauitie.
t39
And though he be still turnde and tost,
No roome Lhere wants, nor none is lost.
The Roundell hath no bonch nor angle,
!{hich may his course stay or entangle.
The furthest part of all his spheare
Is equally both farre and neare.
So doth none other figure fare
lfhere natures chaLtels closed are:
And beyond his wide compasse
There is no body nor no place,
Nor any wit that comprehends
Where j-t begins, or where it ends;
And therefore all men doe agree,
That it purports eternitie.
God aboue the heauens so hie
Is this Roundell; in world the skie;
Vpon earth she who beares the bell
Of maydes and Queenes is this Roundell:
A1l and whole, and euer alone,
Sj-ngle
, s ans peere , s imple , and one .
And its companion reads:
First her authoritie regall
fs Lhe circle compassing all,
The dominion great and large
Which God hath geuen to her charge:
Within which most spatious bound
She enuirons her people round,
Retaining them by oth and liegeance
Within ttre pale of true obeysance,
Holding imparked, ds it were
Her people like to heards of deere,
Sitting among ttrem in the middes
Where she allowes and bannes and bids,
In wtrat fashion she list and when,
The seruices of all her men.
Out of her breast as from an eye
Issue the rayes incessantly
Of her iustice, bountie, and might,
Spreading abroad their beames so bright,
And reflect not, till they attaine
The fardest part of her domaine.
And makes eche subiect clearely see
What he is bounden for to be
To God, his Prince, and common wealth,
His neighbour, kinred, and to himselfe.
The same centre and middle pricke,
Inlhereto our deedes are drest so thicke,
From all tJ.e parts and outmost side
Of her Monarchie large and wide,
L40
Also fro vilrence reflect these raves
Twentie hundred maner of ways,
Where her will is them to conuey
Within Lhe circle of her suruey.
So is the Queene of Briton ground,
Beame, circle, center of all my round.
'Square
6) The or Q]radrangle equilater,' 'egal and
'for
direct on all sides, ' is his inconcussable steadinesse
'
lj-kened to the earth, and is cited by Aristotle in Book
'a
of his Ethics as the image of constant minded man'
('hominelr qua_draluF, a square man') . The poet employing
'should
this figure keepe & not exceede the nomber of
twelue verses, and the longest verse to be of twelue
sillables & not aboue, but vnder that number as much as he
wi1l.'
'Geometricall
7) Puttenham concludes his survey of
'the
figures' and introduces that of Deuice or Embleme'
'fisure
with the curious Ouall ':
This figure taketh his name of an egge, and also
as it is thought his first origine, and is, as it
were, a bastard or imperfect rounde declining
toward a longitude, and yet keeping within one
-
line for h j-s per jferie or compasse as the rounde;
and it seemeth that he receiuth this forme not as
an imperfection by any impediment vnnaturally
hindring his rotunditie, but by the wisedome and
prouidence of nature for the commoditie of
n
generation, j-such of her creatures as bring not
forth a lieuly body (as do foure footed beasts),
but in stead thereof a certaine quantitie of
shapelesse maLter contained in a vessell, which,
after it is sequestered from the dames body,
receiueth life and perfection, as in the egges of
birdes, fishes, and serpents (arte of Enqlis!
Poe.sie, Smith edition, ii, pp. 104 -105).
'oval'
After some further discussion of the proprietv of an
14l
'womb,'
contour as symbolic of a Puttentram concludes:
Such is the figure Ouall whom for his antiquitie,
dignitie, and vse, f place among the rest of the
fignrres to embellish our proportions: of this
sort are diuers of Anacreons ditties, and those
other of the GreciaffiIffi who wrate wanton
amorous deuises, to solace their witts with all;
and many times they would (to giue it right shape
of an egge) deuide a word in the midsL, and peece
out the next verse with the other halfe (ibid.).
It will of course be remembered that the three most
potent geometrical figures of Hermetic or alchemical
tradition are the circle, the square and the triangle.
Spenser's familiarity wittr t-l:is tradition is, moreover,
most vividly apparent in the famous stanza 22 of FQ If.ix.
'Geometricall
In other words, the discussion of figures'
'Anacre_
ends as iL began, with an allusion to ons eqqe' (cf .
page 95 of Smith €d., voI. ii; note also the reference to
'the
Courts of the great Princes of China and Tartarie' in
'devices'
the next sentence on page 95, whose similarly
'emblem '-section, 'egg '
conclude the pp. 110 -111). The
conformation is thus the only form with which we are familiar
'vulgar')
from ancient Greek and Latin (and perhaps modern
'wanton'
poets, and it is associated with a species of
love-Iyric, devoted wholly to the pursuit of amorous
'pleasures.'
The remainder of the forms derive from exotic
oriental models, we are told, glg an Italian acquaintance
'China '
viho had traveled extensively in and Tartarie.
'types'
Although only seven of geometrical figures are
listed, these are shown to be subdivisible by halving,
L42
inverting, elongating, etc., to give a final total of
sixte-en individual forms (viz., 4 lozenges, 3 triangles,
2 s p i r e s , 1 c y l i n d e r ; 2 c i r c l e s , 2 s q u a r e s , a n d 2 o v a l s ) .
'seven'
Nevertheless, the choice of basic types is
somewhat curious. Traditionally only three--the circle,
quadrangle and triangle--were acknowledged, even in many
(relatively primitive) Hermetic treatises, and admittedly
the present figures could be reduced to variations upon these
'trigona').
three basic forms (cf . the Vitruvian But why
seven? The answer is to be found in the rather more
sophj-sticated Hermetic traditions that had evolved by the
latter part of the sixteenth century. These insisted that
're-Creation'
the magical work be designed as a of the
totality of God's cosmic patterns and according to His divine
'proportions,'
as Puttenham clearly indicates in Lhe opening
'Second. Booke:
paragraph of his Of Proportion Poetical':
It is said by such as professe the Mathematicall
sciences, that all things stand by proportion,
and tJ at without it nothing could stand to be good
or beautj-ful. The Doctors of our Theologie to the
same effect, but in other termes, say that God
made the world by number, measure, and weight;
some for weight say tune, and peraduenture better.
. Hereupon it seemeth the Philosopher gathers
a triple proportion, to wit, the Arithmeticall,
the Geometricall, and the Musicall. And by one of
these three is euery other proportion gnrided of the
things that haue conueniencie by relation, as the
visible by light, colour and shadow; the audible by
stirres, times, and accents; the odorable by smelles
of sundry temperaments; the tastible by sauours to
the rate; Lhe tangible by his obiectes in ttris or
that regard (g!. cit., p. 67) .
Now, it was universally agreed during the Middle Ages
L43
and the Renaissance that the CreaLion consisted of three
distinct, albeit linked and mutually reflective, planes of
being: the sublunary (conceived as a crystalline sphere
containing all four elements), the celestial (the heavenly
sphere(s) of the seven planets), and the super-celestial
(sphere #8, that of 'the fixed stars,' containing the
twelve signs of the zodiac) -Each plane, in other words, is
'rank' ' 'mean,'
furtfier subdivided according to ('high, and
'low ') 'horizontally, '
as well as in accordance with Jung 's
'space-time 'the
quaternio' (cf . Aiola, pp. 252-253), where to
three qualities of time--past, present, future--. static
space, in which changes of state occur, must be added as a
fourth term '.
'Lozange,'
Thus, the whose explicit identification with
'water'
(Puttenham, Smith edition, ii, p. I04) is underscored
'Turbot'
in its association with the fish called (from the
'top, ' 'reel, ' 'spind1e, ' 'storm '
Latin turFo, meaning or
'commotiotl ' 'a
, as well as movement in a circle, dlt eddy, a
whirling round ' [Cassell 's NSrwLatiJr Dictionary, L959, p.
619] ), represents Diana, mistress of the Moon 's mutations,
of the descending dews, of the tidal ebbs and fIows, etc.
'Triangle, ' 'air, '
The signifying is presumably
'Mercy5y' (conceived as a type of 'Eros ') , while ttre 'f iery'
'Ob.eliscl:,s.' -'
Tatr)er, signifying hope ' -
is 'Sggg. ' By
'Cylinder' is meant 'th'Earth, oo adamanLine pillers
founded' (Spenser, Hrzlrneof Heavenlv Bgalz.tie, 1.35) --i.e.,
L44
'Satq.rn,'
in the golden reign of before The FalI and/or
after the Last Judgment.
The three remaining forms--the circle, square and oval-suggest
respectively the hieroglyphs for Ap,ollo So-1 ( .,
.o-r-) ,
'auspicious,
Jupiter ( ), and Venus ( ), the three most
of planets in their influences upon the intellective, active,
and sensual (or appetitive) aspects of human existence
'Mj -nerva, '
('Venus ' seeming often a mystical species of or
"natural Wisdom ') .
Taken together, Putterrtram's seven figures correspond
'sesquitertian
to the general
proportion, 3:4 ' (gp. cit.,
p.
25!) i and in particular they are suggestive of tfte seven
'celestial '
planets of the level of Creation.
'seven
Following the planets' is a most remarkable list
'emblems ' 'devices, '
of twelve (3 X
4) or all of a strikingly
Hermetic
character and arranged, it would appear, in
'Scepsian'
accord with the signs of the zodiac (denounced
by the Cambridge Ramist William Perkins in 1584 as the
'impious
artificial memory' system of Metrodorus of Scepsis,
as well as of the Brunian occultists of hj-s own day) .
'the
First treated are fignrres and inscriptions the
Romane Emperours gtaue in their money and coignes of largesse,
and in other great medailles of siluer and gold,'
as tJ.at of the Emperour Augustus, drr arrow
entangled by the fish Remora, with these words,
Fest"ina leqte, signifying that celeritie is to
ffied ilIffi-oerfteration; all great enterprises
beinq for the most part either ouerthrowen with
L45
hast or hindred by de1ay, in which case leasure
in th'aduice and speed in th'execution make a
very good match for a glorious successe (e!. cit.,
p. 106).
Like the sun, then, Puttenham commences his journey
processes well (Rosicrucian Enlj qhtenmen!, 46 47, 83),
round the horoscope-wheel in the sj-gn of Aries--whose symbol
( , ). 'representing fire, and therefore alchemical
'
as -pp.
'point ' 'head ' 'trident '
resembles that fiery or of Cupid 's
'arrow' 'sword')
(and,/or of Mars' ttrat pierces to the very
'navel, ' 'womb, '
core ('heart, ' etc.) of its appointed
'victim'
without delay.
'swj-ft' 'arrow'
Now, if tJ:e is indicative of Aries, the
'entangled
fact that it is by the fish Remora' (meaning
'delay,
hindrance, ' according to Cassell 's New Latin
D_ictionary, p. 5f3) implies a retarding in, or moderating
j-nfluence by, Pisces' two fishes (cf . the Turbo! that
accompanied Putteni:am's first planetary figure) -P;Ls-ces,
of course, immediately precedes A4.es (as February precedes
March), and signals the end of the solar year so soon to be
'entanglement'
renewed by its martial successor. By is
'netting,' 'net'
implied a though here a fish is the and
'arrow.'
the quarry a warlike It is quite possible that the
'precession
allusion is to the of the equinoxes,' because of
which
each of the zodiacal signs has, in the passing
of 2,000 years, moved backward 3Oo and now is in
the constellation west of that to vihich it,
properly corresponds. I'or instance, the sign
Aries is in the constellation Pisces. The
entire circuit of the heavens, to restore
coincidence of signs and constellations, will
require about 25,800 years (Columbia
uncycJppe4i_a, p. 2384) .
ft was to rectify this accumulation of surplus time, whereby
the vernal equinox had been displaced from 21 March (the
date set in tJ:e fourth century by the Ju1ian calendar) to
11 March by the sixteenttr century, that John Dee had
struggled, without success, to institute the Gregorian
calendar (devised by Pope cregory XIII in 1582) in England.
The fulI name of the common fish alluded to is Echeneis
-'distinguished
remora. It is sa jd to be by a large, f lat,
oval-shaped sucker on the top of the head,' by means of
'it
which attaches itself either to a larger fish or to Lhe
ship's bottom and in this wise is transported about the
world ' (Aign, p. 140). Extremely small (no more than six
inches, or semipedalis, in length) and perfectly round, it
'centre
is reputed to reside at the very of the ocean'
('ocean' being here symbolic, according to Jung, of the
'spirit
anjr-mjrmundi, or of the world') , and at its deepest
'litLle ' 'mighty
point. However, though in length, it is in
' 'its
strength. taking name from the fact that it holds back
a ship by cleavi-ng to it, so that though winds blow and
storms rage, yet the ship seems to stand still as if rooted
in the sea, and cannot be moved.' The atrraction it exercises
on ships
could best be compared with the influence of a
magtnet on iron. The attraction, so the historical
L47
tradition says, emanates from the fish and brings
the vessel, whether powered by sail or oarsmen, to
a standstill.
'Because
of its radiar structure, this creature comes into
the same class as the starfish and the jelry-fish,' emanating
,arcane
a powerful magnetic attraction from its center,'
comparable to that exerted by the North po1e, or by sal
'point. '
ammoniac, or by the Gnostic
Its startling
reputation, and consequent alchemical significance, derive
ultimately from Pliny, who describes with amazement how
'the proud frigates' of the Emperor Caligula and of Mark
Antony had been brought to a standstill in mid-ocean shortly
before the assassination of the former and the latter,s
'the
fatal naval engagement with Augustus: at the least,
Echeneis turned out to be an omen, (Aion, pp. L4O-I54).
The motto, an apparent paradox, translates 'hasten
'accelerate
slowly, ' or in a leisurely
('deliberate ')
'leasure
fashion, ' which Puttenham summarizes: in th 'aduice
and speed in th'execution make a very good match for a
'paradox '
glorious successe. ' The
evaporates, however, when
we observe that Puttenham is here referrj_ng to the three'
Time '
headed slzmbol of (viz., past, present and future)
associated with the Egyptian sun-god serapis and described
by Macrobius (f3B) --rather as in the 'titulus ' surrounding
Titian's Allegory of Prl-rdence: "EX PRAETERITO/PRAESENS
_
PRVDEIflIERAGIT & NI FVTVRA ACTIONE DETVRPET, "From Lhe/
experj-ence of the,/past, the present acts prudently, lest
L4B
it spoil future action."' (108).
'emblem
Indeed, in the course of the rage for books'
following ttre discovery of Horapollo's Hieroglyphica in L4L9,
'the
the Serapis monster, wound up in the coils of serpent
as a slrmbol of time or a recurring period of time' (Panofsky,
Meaniqq in the Visual_Alts, pp. L54-L57) , became associated
with two distinct iconological traditions. In Piero
Valeriano's H.isFoqlyphica of 1556, for example, it appears
twice:
first, under the heading "So1, " where [Macrobius'
Sun-Godl is depicted as . an ultra-Eglptian
character, bearing the three animal heads upon
tJ:e shoulders of his own nude body; and, second,
under the heading "Prudentia." Here Pietro
explains that prudence "not only investigates
the present but also reflects about the past and
the future, examining it as in a mirror, in
imitation of the physician who, ds Hippocrates
'knows
says, all that is, that was and that will
be"'; and these three modes or forms of tjme, he
addsr dre hiero.ql.vphice expressed by a "triplehead"
(tricipitiwn) combining the head of a dog
with those of a wolf and a U-on (ep. cit., pp.
160-164).
'this
By the 1580 's and 1590 's, Panofsky pursues, "triple
head "
--now,
as should be noted, a group of heads
entirely divorced from any body, serpentine,
canine or human--was firmly established as an
independent symbol, a symbol that lent itself
to a poetic (or affective) as well as to a
rationalistic (or moral) interpretation, according
to whether the element stressed was "time" or
"prudence " (ibid.).
'affective'
As an example he cites Chapter One, Book Two
'Time '
of Gj -ordano Bruno 's Eroici Furori (1585) in which is
I49
'as
depi-cted an unending sequence of futile repentance,
'moral '
real suffering, and imaginary hopes '; its counter
part, however, he draws from Cesare Ripa 's lconologia (1593),
-'
in which Valeriano 's 'triple head is conflated with 'the
pseudo -Platonic definition of "\nrisecounsel " (: i : )
'
'as
a combination of memory, intelligence and foresight,' as
'idea
well as with the related of prudence ':
"Good Counsel" is an old man (because "old age
is most useful in deliberations "); in hj -s right
hand he holds a book on which an owl is perched
(both long-accepted attributes of wisdom); he
treads on a bear (slzmbol of anger) and a dolphin
(slzmbol of haste); and around his neck he wears
a heart suspended from a chain (because, "j-n the
hieroglyphic language of the Eglzptians, " good
counsel comes from the heart). fn his lefL hand,
finally, he carries "three heads, a dog 's facing
's
right, a wolf facing left and a lion 's in Lhe
middle, all attached to one neck." This triad
signifies, says Ripa, the "principal forms of
time, past, present and future "; it is, therefore,
"accordj-ng to Pierio Valeriano, " a simbolo della
Prude.nza: and prudence is not only, "according
to St. Bernard, " a precondition of good counsel
but also, "according to Aristotle, " the basis of
a wise and happy life: "good counsel requires,
'tJ:eoretical']
in addition to [ wisdom as represented
by the ow1 upon the book, ['practical'] prudence as
represented by the aforementioned three heads"
(ibid. ) .
'the 'the
Like whale, ' "great fish " of the Old
Testament story of Jonah (,lon. LzLTi 2zL, I0) ' (Sills,
'dolphin' 'became
Handbog-k, p. 27), the a symbol of the
'salvation
Resurrection' as well as one of for those who
keep their faith in the Lord ' (ibid.):
Because of its strength and swiftness, the
dolphin slzmbolizes resurrection and salvation,
carrying the souls of the blessed across the
150
river to the fsland of the Dead. When combined
with an anchor, another slzmbol of salvation, it
signifies controlled speed or prudence. Vfhen
combined with a trident. it becomes a symbol of
the Crucifixion (Sp. cit., p. 19).
'messianic '
In its significance.
the "fish" was used as a name for the God who
became a man, who was born as a fish and was
sacrificed as a ram, who had lL2l fishermen for
di-sciples and wanted to make them fishers of
men, who fed the multitude with miraculously
multiplying fishes, who was himself eaten as a
fish, the "holier food, " and whose followers are
l-ittle fishes, the "pisciculi" (Jung, p. 92) .
A@,
The Greek letters IXOYC ('fish') are Lhe initials for
'Jesus
Christ, Son of God, Savior ' (Si11, pp. 2O -2L, 66),
'the
and it may appear on the table of the Last Supper as
food that bestows (immortal) life,' or the sacramental meal
'religious
consumed at the feast ' called Agape. It is
'baptism,' vrhose 'bath'
likewise a symbol of was a piscinjr
(f ish -pond) (Aion, p. 94, n.85) :
Since water is essential for the life of tl:e fish,
and baptism j-s essential for the life of the
redeemed Christian . a single fisherman is a
slanbol of Christ. The fish he catches refer to
the faithful, and a fj-shermanls net becomes a
symbol of the Church. . As a general attribute,
it is attached to those renowned for converting
and bapt5z:ng (SiIl, pp. 2O -2L) .
It is further an attribute of Tobias in the Apocrypha (cf.
,Jung, Aion, pp. 89-94) .
Ttre Christian,/Adept must appreciate that
it is the "fowls of the air and the fishes of
the sea and whatsoever is upon or beneath the
earth" that point the way to the kingdom of
heaven [motif of the "helpful animals "]. In
Isl
Lambspringk's symbols the zodiacal fishes that
move in opposite direcLions slzmbolize the arcane
substance [which], as its attributes show,
refers to the self, and so, in the . sayings
[of Jesus], does the "Kingdom of heaven" or the
conjectural "city" (4S, pp. L4O*L45) .
He must, in other words, acquire the rqmere's power of
vertical maqnetism and turn them on the Echeneis itself, so
learning that
through this teaching the One and All, the
createst in the guise of the Smallest, God
himself in hj-s everlasting fires, may be caught
like a fish in the deep sea. Further, that he
may be "drawn from the deep" by a eucharistic
act of integration. . . r and incorporated in the
huma:rbody (ibid.).
This is accomplished by the descent of the alchemist-hero
to the very nadir of the dangerous, watery region, wherein
'treasure
is hidden the precious hard to attain.' Like
the mythical hero who is devoured by the dragon or swallowed
by the whale, he is tormented inside the bel1y of the
'hidden
monster by a fire ' of hellish flames (cf . Christ 's
descent to helI) . .Tung labels it a form of morLificatio,
concluding:
The philosopher makes the journey to hell as a
"redeemer." The "hidden fire" forms the inner
antithesis to the cold wetness of the sea. In
the "Visio" this heat is undoubtedly the warmth
of incubation, equivalent to the self-incubating
or "brooding" sLate of meditation . (whose)
aim . is . transformation and resurrection
(Jung, pp. 333 -339).
Similarly,
As t-l:e grain of fire lj-es concealed in the hyle,
so the King's Son lies in the dark depths of the
sea as though dead, but yet lives and calls from
L52
the deep: "Whosoever will free me from the
waters and lead me to dry l-and, him wiII T
prosper with everlasting riches"
(cf. the myth of the barren kingdom of Lhe Rex marinus of
'not
Arisleus and others). So to serve the King would be
only wisdom but salvation as wel1,' with the alchemist cast
'redeemer 'on 'night
in the role of a perilous sea journey,
whose end and aim is the restoration of life, resurrection,
and Llre triumph over death' (Jung, pp. 327*33L). The royal
'Son 'he
seeks to save is a rejuvenation of the Father -King 's
'spirit, '
while the material body ('Logos ') in which the
'Physis. "
youth is sunk is a maternal
In Chrstian astroloqy, on the other hand, ?s outlined
by Jung (Aion, p. 114):
Since the Fishes stand for mother and son, the
mythological tragedy of the son's early death
and resurrection is already implicit in them.
Being the twelfth sj-gn of the Zodiac, Pisces
denotes the end of the astrological year and also
a new beginning. This characteristic coincides
with the claim of Christianity to be the beginning
and end of all things, and with its eschatological
expectation of the end of the world and the coming
of God's kingdom. Thus the astrological characteristics
of the fish contain essential components
of the Christian myth; first, the cross; second,
the moral conflict and its splitting into the
figures of Christ and Antichrist [bird, snake
and fish being ambj-valent slzmbolsl ; third, the
motif of the son of a vi-rgin; fourth, the classj-cal
mother-son tragedy; fifth, the danger at birth; and
sixth, the saviour and bringer of healing.
'the
Thus, designation of Christ as a fish ' relates to
'dawning' 'new I
the of a aeon.
And indeed. the age of the Emperor Augustus, commonly
153
'universal
held to have been an era of peace, ' began in
Pisces, or with Pisces ceding to Aries, in the broader
'great
temporal system of years.' It was to Augmstus that
Vj-truvius, like Virgil, dedicated his masterpiece, and it
'daies' 'our
was in his that Heauenly Archemaster was borne'
'Geometrie, '
(John Dee, Preface to Euclidian L57O, cited by
'in
Yates as an echo of Daniele Barbaro's which time Our
Lord Jesus Christ was born, ' A.rt of Memory, p. 363, n.44).
'Shepherd,
Moreover, ram, and lamb symbolism coincides with
'In
the expiring aeon of Aries' ; while the first century
of our era the two aeons overlap, and the two most important
mystery gods of tl:is period, Attis and Christ, are both
characterized as shepherds, rams, and f ishes ' (,fung, Aj-on,
p. 103):
To the extent that Christ was regarded as the
new aeon, it would be clear to anyone acquainted
with astrology that he was born as the first
fish of the Pisces era, and was doomed to die as
the last ram ( , lamb) of the declining
Aries era. Matthew 27:L5 hands down this
mythologem in the form of the old sacrifice of
the seasonal god (op. cit., pp. 90 -91) (cf .
Adonis).
'the 'written
ft is thus that time was fulfilled' as in the
heavens by projection' (in a leftward, or counterclockwise
motion) . Jung concludes:
The northerly, or easterly, fish, which the
spring-point entered at about the beginni-ng of
our era, is joined to the southerly, or westerLy,
fish by the so-caIIed commissure. This consists
of a band of faint stars forming the middle
sector of the constellation, and the spring-point
gradually moved along its soutl:ern edge. The
L54
point vihere the ecliptic intersects with the
meridian at the tail of the second fish coincides
roughly with the sixteenth century, the time of
the Reformation, vihich as we know is so
extraordinarily important for the history of
Western slzmbols. Since then the spring-point has
moved along the southern edge of the second fish,
j-n
and wj-ll enter Aquarius the course of the
third millennium. Astrologically interpreted,
the designation of Christ as one of the fishes
identifies him with the first fish, the vertical
one. Christ is followed by the Antichrist, at
the end of time. The beginning of the enantiodromia
would fall, logically, midway between the two
fishes. We have seen that this is so. The time of
the Renaissance begins in the immediate vicinity of
the second fish, drrd with it comes that spirit
which culminates in the modern age (Aion, pp. 92-94).
According to Jung, Nostradamus and others of his age
'the
accurately predicted course of our religious history,
. both as regards tjare and content, from the precession
of the equinoxes through the constellation of Pisces,' as
outlined above (Aion, p. 95). Modern astrological speculation
is in agreement and likewise associates the Fishes with
Christ:
The fishes . the ir*rabitants of the waters,
are fitly an emblem of those whose life being hid
with Christ in God, come out of the waters of
judgment without being destroyed lcf. the fishes
did not drown in the Delugel and shall find their
true sphere where life abounds and death is not:
where, for ever surrounded with the living waLer
'shall
and drinking from its fountain, they not
perish, but have everlasting life. ' . Those
who shall dwel1 for ever in the living water are
one with Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Living
one (139).
'arrow' 'entangled'
That the of Aries is in such a
'fish'
implies a retarding of the son by the mother, or of
'seed ' 'womb. ' 'almond, '
the within the Mandorla, Italian for
155
'refers
to the seed or womb, a similar shape, ds well as
. an oval frame enclosing an important figure' (e.9.,
'Christ
in Majesty with the four animal symbols of the
'In
Evangelists '). Moreover, Latin the mandorla is called
the vesicjr piscis, or fish bladder, another oval shape'
(Si11, A HaJrdFookof Srzmbols, p. 60).
'halo' 'the
A m-andorla-frame or traditionally encloses
'the
Virgin in Glory, ' bqdy of Mary or Christ, ' or else
'Christ
in Majesty with the four animal slmbols of the
Evangelists ' (Sill, Handbook, pp. 44, 53, 60). The flowering
'almond' 'a
isalso sign of divine approval, originating in
the OId Testament story of the miraculous blossoming of
Aaron 's rod, signifying Aaron as God 's choice to be priest
''
of the Lord ' (Num. L-lzB; cf . St. Joseph 's f lowering staff
that seals his betrothal to the Virgin Mary). It is worthy
of note that the hero of Spenser's epic--whose armor had
'bold
been fashioned by that Enchaunter' Merlin,
r*,
air'ti"Tl;"*r"'ll::T,,u*tdi"3lgi"u"speIr
(rQ I.vii.36)
--wears '
on his head a helmet ('the helmeL of salvation,
'crest '
according to Ephensians 6zL7) whose resembles the
all-embracing Uroboros-drgcg. ('For all the crest a Dragon
'
did enfold, FQ I.vii.31), while
Vpon the top of all his loftie crest,
A bunch of hairs discolourd diuersly,
With sprincled pearle, and gold full richly drest,
Did shake, and seem'd to daunce for iollity,
Like to an Almond tree, lzmounted hye
t56
On top of greene Selinis all alone,
With blossomes bTEGGE'ecked daintily;
of or (e.g., the of
Whose tender locks do tremble euery one
At euery little breath, that vnder heauen is blowne
( F Q r . v i i . 3 2 ) .
The 'almond' or mandorla-frame may likewise represent a
'mirror.' Most commonly, however, it suggests the fecund
' w o m b ' ' s u b s t a n c e ' ' m a t t e r ' ' C h a o s '
aJ -J..\/r _-36) Oesl _gned
,
by the wisedome and prouidence of nature for
the commoditie of generation, in such of her
creatures as bring not forth a liuely body
(as do foure footed beasts), but in stead
thereof a certaine quantitie of shapelesse
matter contained in a vessell ., as in the
egges of birdes, fj-shes, and serpents
(Puttenham, Smith ed. ii, p. 105) .
'mandorla'--whose
The appearance in certain paintings
by Parmigianino alone sufficed to confirm Michael Levey's
'alchemist'
suspicions that the artist was an (Hiqh
Renaissance, pp. 2OL -2O2)--as a 'qiglg, ' is suggested in
several significant lines of the extant FaerigQueene (e.g.,
I.pro -4.2; II.pro.4.6.-9; fII.pro.5; VI .pro.5-6i VII.vii.6,
etc. ) --from which we gather that this op]ts was intended to
're -creation '
be a speculum natfirae, or a of God 's original
'encyclopedia. '
Moreover, during the Middle Ages the slzmbolical value
'the
of the mirror became somewhat similar to that of
'Luxury '
hourglass or clock, ' vLz., ds an attribute of both
'Death '
and ; but
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the
mirror became an attribute of Time, because,
L57
'Tempo,' 'del
according to Ripa, s.v., no. 1,
tempo .so1g il p$esente si ved.e e_ha l.'essere,-il
quale ger anc-ora. e tantg breve inc.erto che non
S
avanza la falsa imaqine dello specchio.'
to draw a
curtain from a mirror to reveal the gradual decay
of health and beauty ., and the mirror finally
became a typical slzmbol of transience equally
frequent in art ('Vanitas ' pictures) and in
Iiterature, as is sufficiently evidenced by
Shakespeare's Sonnets fII and L)C(VJI, as well as
by the magnificent mirror scene in Richard II,iv.l.
Whether tie empty roundel carriea riffital
Bernini drawing Ithat also depicts Father Time
'to
carrying an Egyptian obelisk indicate the
Iapse of months, years, ot centuries '] was
destined to hold a mirror or a clock is a matter
of surmise (Panofsky, Studies in lcoqoJoqy, pp81-
83, & rr.50).
Thus, contained within the mirror's oval frame is the
'an
lemniscate outline of hourglass' formed by two inter
'wreaths' 'vines, ' 'the
twining or symbolic of destruction
of life by each day and night. ' (op. cit., pp. B0 -81) .
Puttenham's $11g3g.!gg is then followed by another
'Romane Emperour,' whose solar figure describes the
'earthly '
transition from Aries to the more Taurgs, whose
'passions ' 'eclipse'
have been known to his heavenly
brilliance ( )
Ttr'Emperour Heliogabalus, by his name alluding
to the sunne, which in Greeke is Heliosr gdu€
for his deuice the celestial sunne, with these
words Soli inuicto: the subtilitie lyeth in the
word soli which hath a double sense, vLz. to the
sunnel--ilf,d to him onely
'Pasj-phae and 'fifth'
(cf . the BulI' on the grade of
CamiIIo 's magical theater, discussed on pages 49ff., above)
Sharing the same emblem is England's imperial Queen
158
Elizabeth, for whom the motto is revised:
We our selues attributing that most excellent
figure, for his incomparable beauty and light,
to the person of our Soueraigne lady, altring
j-t
the mot, made farre passe that of Th'Emperour
Helloqab.atus. both for subtilitie and multiplicitie
E-ffilEus, So.ti nu.nquam deficienti, T6 her
onely that neuer failes, vlz. in bountie and
munificence toward all hers that deserue, ot else
thus. To her onely whose glorie and good fortune
may neuer decay or wane. And so it. inureth as a
wish by way of resemblaunce in Simile dissimile,
which is also a subtillitie, timi Fffitie
to the Sunne for his brightnesse. but not to him
for his passion, which is ordinarily to go to
glade, and sometime to suffer eclypse (Smith
edition, ii, pp. I06 -f07).
Her mortal and immortal perfections are linked side by side
'the
(ff or, ), like Dioscuri ("boys of Zeus "), the sons
of Leda, who were conceived by a swan and hatched out of
an egg' (Aion, p. BI), and with whom the Greeks equated the
sign of ggrqin! (May)
.
Hard on Elizabeth 's heels is one of her ancestors,
'King
Edwarde the thirde, her Maiesties most noble progenitour,
t^r'l.r n
first founder of the famous order of the Garter,
gaue this posie with it, Honi sor.! qui m-a.ly
pense, commonly thus Englished, fII be to him
that thinketh i11, but in mine opinion better
thus, Dishonored be he who meanes vnhonorably.
There can not be a more excellent deuise, nor
that could containe larger j-ntendment, nor
greater subtilitie, nor (as a man may say) more
vertue or Princely generositie. For first he
did by it mildly & grauely reproue the peruers
construction of such noble men in hi-s court as
imputed the kings wearing about his neck Lhe
garter of the lady with whom he danced to some
amorous alliance betwixt them, which was not true.
He also iustly defended his owne integritie,
saued the noble womans good reno\^ilne, which by
159
Iicentious speeches might haue bene empaired,
and liberally recompenced her iniurie with an
honor, such as none could haue bin deuised greater
nor more glorious or permanent vpon her and all
the posteritie of her house. ft inureth also as
a worthy lesson and discipline for all Princely
personages/ whose actions, imaginations, counLen
ances, and speeches should euermore correspond in
alt trueth and honorable simplicitie (ibid.).
Indeed instituted by Edward, cd. L346, the Order of the
'oldest
Garter is the and most important of ttre orders of
knighthood in England' (Columbia Elcyclop.e9i.a, p. 797),
originally comprising 26 knights. In addition to a blue
'an
and gold ribbon worn on the member's left leg or arm,
elaborate gold and enamel collar, or a blue ribbon from
which hangs the emblem of St. George, the patron saint of
this order, ' adorned the neck (ibid.).
'a
There was great revival of the Order, its ceremonies,
processions, and ethos, during the reign of Elizabeth, who
had used it as a means of drawing the noblemen together in
'the
conunonservice to the Crown,' (121,140) to fight Dragon
of Wrong' and to defend England's Monarch. The precise
occasion for this revival is uncertain, but A. E. Waite (L4L) ,
among others, has proposed the historical gathering described
in the curj,ous apocalyptic-prophetic work of Simon Studj-on
'a
entitled Naometria (f504) as at the very least basic source
for the Rosicrucian movement.' According to this work,
there was a meeting at Luneburg on 17 iluly 1586,
between 'some evangelical Princes and Electors'
and representatives of the King of Navarre, the
King of Denmark, and the Queen of England. The
obiect of this meetinq is said to have been to
160
'evangelical'
form an Ieague of defence against
the Catholic Leagirre (then working up in France to
prevent the accession of Henry of Navarre to the
throne of France). This league was called a
'Confederatio
Militiae Evangelicae' .
The Rosicrucian movement was rooted in some
kind of alliance of Protestant slzmpathizers,
formed to counteract the Catholic Leagrre. .
The date 1586 for the formation of this Militia
Evangelica' would take one back to the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, to the year of Leicester's
intervention in the Netherlands, to the year of
Philip Sidney's death, to the idea of the formation
of a Protestant Leagnre which was so dear to Sidney
and to John Casimir of the Palatinate (Yates, The
Rosicruci_an Enlightenmen!, pp. 34-35) .
'a
Waite even claims that crudely shaped rose design, with
a cross in the centre,' contained in Lhe manuscript of the
'is
Naometria the first example of Rosicrucian rose and
cross srzmbolism' (Brotherhood, p. 64L).
The alchemical character of this fraternity is
irrefragable, ds is its profound debt to the great English
magrLls, Dr. John Dee (see above, pp.75 & ff .), ref lected
throughout the two manifestos (Fama, L6L4; Confessio, 1615)
and the romance (The_ChemjcaJ-_Weddinq of CFristign
Rqsqngreu.Lz, L6L6) that launched the Rosicrucian furore.
In the manifestos, Christian Rosencreutz was
associated wit-Jr an order of benevolent brethren;
in the wedding, he is associated with an order
of chivaLry. The R. C. Brothers were spiritual
alchemists; so are the Knights of ttre Golden
Virgin dubs the captains of the visiting
Stone (Vates, Rosicr.uci.an En_lightenment, p. 65) .
T h e ' G o l d e n S t o n e ' i s o f c o u r s e t h e P h i l o s o p h e r ' s S t o n e ,
and it is as 'Knights of the Golden Stone' that the royal
'twelve' 'ships'
on the Seventh (and final) Day of the Chemical Wedd.ing.
161
But Christian RosencreuLz, with his red cross and roses
(symbols of St. George of England and of the Order of the
'is ' 'allusions
Garter) , also a Red Cross knight, for to
tl:e Garter are behind the composite allusions to chivalrous
feats and ceremonies of initiation':
The Red Cross of the Order of the Garter, the
Red Cross of St. George of England . reappear
'Ctrristian
as Rosencreutz ', with his red roses
and his Red Cross ensign (e!. ci.t., p. 66) .
Even closer to the chivalric Order of the Golden Stone
'the is knight, of the Golden Fleece,' \^ho 'would transfer
very easily' into the former society. Indeed, 'it was usual
to interpret the Golden Fleece of the Jason legend as having
alchemical reference to the Philosopher 's Stone ' (e.g.,
Natalis Comes, Mfth.ol-oqiae, V, B; cf . Michael Maier's Arcana
arcanissjma, L6L4, pp. 61 ff.) (ibid.). So, contrasting
with Cancer's fraternal gallantry is the leonine ferocity of
Puttenham 's ' fifth ' fiqure:
Charles the fift Emperour, euen in his yong
yeares shewing his valour and honorable-ambition,
gaue for his new order Lhe golden Fleece,
vsurping it vpon Prince lason and his Argonauts
rich spoile brought from Cholcos. But for his
deuice two pillers with this mot Plus ultra, as
one not content to be restrainea ilffii?fEE
limits that Hercules had set for an vttermost
bound to atl-lffiEuailes , viz. two pillers in
the mouth of the straight Gibrjrltare, but would
go furder: which came fortunately to passe, and
whereof the good successe gaue great commendation
to his deuice; f or by ttre valiancy of his
Captaines before he died he conquered great part
of the west Indj-as, neuer knowen to Hercules or
any of our world before.
'Emperor
This of ttre West' is followed, logically, by
L62
'Emperor
a contemporaneous of the East':
In the same time (seeming that the heauens and
starres had conspired to replenish the earth
with Princes and gouernours of great courage
and most famous conquerours), Selim, Emperour
of Turkie, gaue for his deuice a croissant or
new moone, promising to himself increase of
glory and enlargement of empire til he had
brought all Asia vnder his subiection, which he
reasonably well accomplished. For in lesse then
eight yeares which he raigned he conquered all
Syria and Eglzpt, and layd it to his dominion.
'Virqo' 'Astraea, ' 'Just
This lunar is perhaps that Virgin
'reformed
of the Golden Age' with whose and purified
imperialism' the Protestant Queen Elizabeth was so lavishly
associated.
'lunar'design
As with the'solar'image, so too the
is shared by another royal aspirant, with modification of
'motto '
the :
This deuice afterward was vsurped by Henry the
second, French king, with this mot, Donec totum
comp-lea! orbem, till he be at his fuII; meaning
it not so largely as did Seljm, but onely that
his friendes should knowe how vnable he was to
do them good and to shew benificence vntil he
attained the crowne of France, vnto which he
aspired as next successour.
Scorpio, like Libra, is represented by a French monarch:
'King
Lewis the twelfth, a valiant and magnanimous prince,'
being surrounded by powerful and hostile neighbors,
aswell to offende as to defend, and to reuenge
an iniurie as to repulse it, he gaue for his
deuice the Porkespick with this posie, pres &
loign, boLh farre and neare. For the Purpentines
nature is, to such as stand aloofe, to dart her
prickles from her, and, if they come neare her,
with the same as they sticke fast to wound tJ.em
that hurL her.
163
Ninth, a rampant equestrian figure found during the
'ransacke' 'Cities' 'by
recent of two West Indian the
'
prowesse type,
of her Maiesties [English]men, ' is clearly a
of Sagittarius:
a deuice made peraduenture without King Phillips
knowledge, wrought all in massiue copper, a king
sitting on horsebacke vpon a monde or world, the
horse prauncing forward with his forelegges as if
he would leape of, with. this inscription, Non
sufficit orbis, meaning, as it is to be conceaued,
EFat one ffioi^e world could not content him. This
jmmeasurable
ambition of the Spaniards, if her
Maiestie by Gods prouidence had not wittr her forces
prouidently stayed and retranched, no man knoweth
what inconuenience might in time haue insued to
all the Princes and common wealthes in Christendome,
who haue founde them selues long annoyed with his
excessiue greatnesse.
'divine
Elizabeth here plays the not unaccustomed role of
Providence' in the eyes of her devoted subjects, combatting
the greed of the Catholic League, both in Europe and in the
American colonies.
'goat-horned ' 'the
The C_apricorn ( or ) , labeled
goat -fish ' ( ) by ,Tung (Aion, p. 92), offers a
further exemplum of the theme of overweeninq ambition:
Atila, king of the Huns, inuading France with an
army of 300000 fighting men, as it, is reported,
thinking vtterly to abbase the glory of the Romane
Empirer gdue for his deuice of armes a sword with
a f irie point and these words,
@,
with sword and fire. This very deuice, being as
ye see onely accommodate to a king or conquerour
and not a coillen or any meane souldj-er, a certaine
base man of England, being knowen euen at that
tjme a bricklayer or mason by his science, gaue
for his crest: whom it had better become to beare
a truell full of morter then a sword and fire,
which is onely the reuenge of a Prince, and lieth
not in any other mans abilitie to performe, vnlesse
L64
ye will allow it to euery poore knaue that is
able to set fire on a thacht house.
'brotherhood,'
Ttre allusion is clearly to another Hermetic
'@onry., '
that of while the device recalls the impress
'Without
of Pythagoras (vtz., fire nothing works, ds with a
warrior lacking arms ') .
Without break or interruption, Puttenham's pursuit of
the foregoing theme leads hjm smoothly to the fate of his
'Tamerlan' 'Tartary':
eleventh exemplum, the Emperor of
The heraldes ought to vse great discretion in
such matters: for neither any rule of their arte
doth warrant such absurdities, nor though such a
coat or crest were gained by a prisoner taken in
the fieId, or by a flag found in some ditch a
neuer fought for (as many times happens), yet is
it no more allowable then it were to beare the
deuice of Tamerlan, drr Emperour in Tartary, who
gaue the lightning of heauen, with a posie in
that language purporting these words, Ira Dei,
which also appeared well to answer hj-s fortune
[cf . pp. 95, 97*98 of Smith, vol. ii, for other
Tartar mcnarchs]. For from a sturdie shepeheard
he became a most mighty Emperour, and with his
innumerable great armies desolated so many
countreyes and people as he might iustly be called
the wrath of God. It appeared also by his strange
ffie787 E m midst of fris greatnesse and
prosperitie he died sodainly, a left no child or
kinred for a successour to so large an Empire, nor
any memory after him more then of his great
puissance and crueltie.
And indeed, the hieroglyph of Aquarius ( ) closely
'the
resembles lightning of heaven'--vrhich suggests the
'fiery
point' on the Saqittarian weapon ( ) brandished by
the representative(s) of Capricorn. The Capricorn-fi9ur€,
reminiscent of Christ's warning that he had come to bring
'not
peace but the sword, ' reflects his dual nature as a
16s
'basely' 'king
humble common mortal as weII as the sublimer
'Prince'
or conqueror' destined to be of Heaveni similarly
'meane' 'shepeheard'
the Aquarian combines two roles (as a
'a
and as most mighty Emperour') and is a transmitter of
'Old
divine retribution, though this tjme of an Testament'
aspect. The latter, in short, resembles the Hebraic
'prophet, ' 'law-giver, ' 'miracle-worker, '
and Moses--the
Old Testament prefiguration for Jesus Christ, the Messiah'
(Sill, Handbook of Slzmbols, p. 151) .
Figure L2, at last, represents Pisces ' two fishes as a
pair of serpents, concluding thereby the circle begun with
'colden
Augrustus' (occidental) Age' by linking it with its
'oriental'
counterpart and complement:
But that of the king of China in the fardest
part of the Orient, though it be not so terrible,
is no lesse admirable, & of much sharpnesse and
good implication, worthy for the greatest king
and conqueror: and it is, two strange serpents
entertangled in their amorous congresse, the
Iesser creeping with his head into the greaters
mouth, with words purporting ama & time, loue &
feare. !{hich posie with maruellous much reason
and subtillity implieth the dutie of euery subiect
to his Prince, and of euery Prince to his subiect,
and that without either of them both no subiect
could be sayd entirely to performe his liegeance,
nor the Prince his part of lawfulI gouernement.
For without feare and loue the soueraigne authority
could not be vpholden, nor without iustice and
mercy the Prince be renowmed and honored of his
subiect. A11 which parts are discouered in this
fi-gure: Ioue by the serpents amorous entertangling;
obedience and feare by putting the inferiours head
into the others mouth hauing puissance to destroy.
On th'other side, iustice in t-l:e greater to prepare
and manace death and destruction to offenders i and
if he spare it, then betokeneth it mercie, and a
grateful recompence of the loue and obedience which
the soueraisne receaueth.
L66
ft is also worth the telling how the king
vsetfi the same in pollicie; he giuetJe it in his
ordinarie liueries to be worne in euery vpper
garment of all his noblest men and greatest
Magj-strats & the rest of his officers and seruants,
which are either embrodered vpon the breast and
the back with siluer or gold or pearle or stone
more or lesse richly, accordj-ng to euery mans
dignitie and calling, and they may not presume to
be seene in publick without them, nor also in any
place where by the kings commission they vse to
sit in iustice, or any other publike affaire;
whereby the king is highly both honored and serued,
the common people retained in dutie and admiration
of his greatnesse, the noblemen, magistrats, and
officers euery one in his degree so much esteemed
& reuerenced. ds in their good and loyall seruice
they want vnto their persons litle lesse honour
for the kings sake, then can be almost due or
exhibited to the king him selfe.
I could not forheare to adde this forraine
example to accomplish our discourse touching
deuices. For the beauty and gallantnesse of it,
besides the subtillitie of the conceit, and
princely pollicy in tJ:e vse, more exact than can
be remembred in any oLher of any European Prince;
whose deuises I will not say but many of them be
loftie and ingenious, many of them louely and
beautS-full, many other ambitious and arrogant, and
the chiefest of Lhem terrible and ful of horror to
the nature of man, but that any of them be
comparable withr it, for wit, vertue, grauitie, and
if ye list brauerie, honour, and magnificence, not
vsurping vpon the peculiars of the gods--in my
conceipt there is none to be found
(please consult the discussion of Pisces in conjunction with
Aries).
In this final figure Puttenham perceives a universal
emblem--a reconciliation of oppositions, a combination of
disparate fragments, a resolution of numberless parts into
an infinite One. Sunrise is here joined to sunset (viz.,
East to West); low with high stations, love with fear (on
'low ' 'high ' 'Ends '
both and planes) , Ethics with Politics,
L67
'Begj-nnin9s, '
'Means'.
with and both with Thus Hermes and
'the
Pythagoras illustrated correspondence of microcosm and
macrocosm in the harmonic structure of the universe'i thus
'round
too Alberti 's imitations of forms ' in nature ('for
"nature is God"') dominated Lhe subsequent construction of
Renaissance churches (cf. R. Wittkower, Architectusal
Principles in the Aqe.o_f Humanlsm, PP. 4, 27) as well as of
'World
all the Elizabethan Theaters ' (e.9., Shakespeare 's
Globe) arranged, like RoberL Fludd's, after an occult system
'principles,'
of twelve diurnal and twelve nocturnal zodiacal
'Art' 'round'
according to a syncretic that combines (based
'heavenly, ' 'zodiacal, ' 'planetary '
on
and/or ideas) with
'square ' 'architecture, '
(from man 's angular with its
'places ' 'images ' 'buildings ')
concrete and in actual
'stage ' ( like
mnemonic disciplines. Its is located ' the
'
at
(Yates,
a l t a r i n a c h u r c h ' ) a t t h e e a s t e n d o f ( t n i s ) t h e a t r e ' -v
r z . , ' a t t h e t o p ' o f t h e h e a v e n l y d i -a g r a m , w i t h ' o c c i d e n s '
'
the bottom ' Art of Memosy, pp. 320 -367).
'winged ' 'unwinged ' 'serpents '
These are the and of
alchemy; the basic duality within the single cosmic serpent,
Ouroboros; the two snakes adorning Hermes' cadgceus; images
of Day and Night as well as of Life and Death (one white, the
'brazen
(rrlum. 2Lz9)
other black); the serpent' of Moses and
'golden ' 'Old '
the one of the crucified Christ (i.e., vs '
'Wisdom ');
New Testament '
and much else besides, ds will be
explored in another place.
168
'coda ' 'Proportion
As a kind of to his analysis of in
Figure,' Puttenham appends a brief consideration of the
'Anagrame,
or Posie transposed' (Smith edition, ii, pp. LL2
116) --i.e., of the letters and words that constitute the
'mottos' 'pictures'
brief usually accompanying the emblematic
'abstract
or patterns ' just reviewed:
One other pretie conceit we will impart vnto you
and then trouble you with no more, and is also
borrowed primituely of the Poet, or courtly maker
we may terme him, the posie trgnsposed, ot in one
word a transpose, a thing if it be done for
pastime and exercise of the wit without superstition
commendable inough and a meete study for Ladies,
nej-ther bringing them any great gayne nor any great
losse, vnlesse it be of idle time. They that vse
it for pleasure is to breed one word out of another,
not altering any letter nor the number of them, but
onely transposing of the same, viherupon many times
is produced some grateful newes or matter to them
for whose pleasure and seruice it was j-ntended:
and bicause there is much difficultie in it, and
altogether standeth upon hap hazard, it is compted
for a courtly conceit no lesse then the deuice
before remembred (ibid.) .
There fol1ow several illustrative examples: First and
foremost is
LvcoBhron, one of the seuen Greeke Lyrickes who
when they met together (as many times they did)
for their excellencie and louely concorde were
called the seuen starres, pleiades, this man was
very perfit & fortunat in these transposes, &
for his delicate wit and other good parts was
greatly fauoured by Ptolome king of Egypt and
Queen Arsinoe his wife,
'converted'
whose naJneshe had into flattering epithets by
'transposition
an ingienious of their component letters. Next
'Val1ois,'
cited are two members of the regal House of
'this
attesting to the recent popularity of pastime' at the
L69
'this
French Court; and it is observed in passing that
'well 'Italie '
conceiL ' was allowed of in as well. Thereby
encouraged, Puttenham undertakes to flatter Elissabet
Anqlorum Regina. in like fashion, though using Latin rather
than Greek, French--or Englj-sh.
Two anagrams struck him instantly, with the forceful
clarity of a divine inspiration:
Both which resultes falling out vpon the very
first marshallj-ng of the letters, without any
darknesse or difficultie, and so sensibly and
welI approprj-at to her Maiesties person and
estate, and finally so effectually to mine own
j-s
wish (which a matter of much moment in such
cases), I took them both for a good boding, and
very fatallitie to her Maiestie appointed by
Gods prouidence for all our comfortes;
'any
subsequently no amount of effort availed to produce
other, dt least of some sence & conformitie to her Maiesties
estate and the case ' (ibid.). The reader begins to suspect
that, despite his own admonition, Puttenham himself is not
'without
superstition' in his manipulations of these
'figures, ' 'images, '
and potent linguistic elements. And if
so, perhaps his extreme diffidence in excusing such
'courtly
frivolities as these so -called trifles '--along with
'scholastical
the toyes . of the Grammaticall versifying
of the Greeks and Latines' in the ensuing discussion--is
not perfectly ingenuous, or is at very least purposely
mis leading.
L70
CHAPTER III
ALCIIEMY
The shared preoccupation of the aforementioned writers
with such issues as unity versus diversity, ttrree versus
'Lozange, ' 'Triangle ', 'Spire '
four (cf. Puttenham 's and
'Piller ' 'Roundell, ' 'Square ' 'Oua1l '
vs. his and i or the
seven -stage construction of Camillo 's theaLer), the magical
power generalty of well-proportioned designs (be they
talismanic images, architectural constructions, or harmonious
musical or poetic compositions), and the twelve zodiacal
signs is reflected in alchemy 's (as well as Cabala 's)
'recreate ' 'purify ' 'microcosm '
traditional concern to or both
'macrocosm, ' 'time. '
and as weII as to conquer That these
same issues were central to Spenser's Weljlanschau-ung will be
argnred after a brief survey of the history and philosophy of
Alchemv.
A. General Information
I. Historv
'Alchemy'
or something very like it has been practiced
by so many peoples in so many unrelated times and places
L7L
that C. G. Jung concluded, not without justification, that
it constituted a body of universal archetypes (43 -45,82,LO6).
Traditj-onally alchemy's origins were believed to be
extremely ancient, highly mysterious, often even divine. In
medieval Europe, for example, many believed that God Himself
had given Adam, the first man, knowledge of alchemy, or that
Ham, Noah's third son, had invented it; while an even older
'the
tradition whispered that secret of the works of Nature
had been betrayed by angels who had become enamored of mortal
'adepts, '
women ' (Caron and Hutin, p. LO2). Most however,
'claim
an Egyptian origin for alchemy, deeming it a "sacred
art" practiced in the temples of the Pharaohs from the very
beginni-ng of history' :
Other exegetes attributed the invention of alchemy
to the god Hermes (tfre ngyptian god Thoth) , a
master of the arts and sciences of ancient Egypt,
or to Isis, Osiris, or Cheops, the king of the
Fourth Dynasty vrho built the largest of the Great
Pyramids (c. 2800 B.C.). In alchemical literature
we find frequent invocation of ttre name Hermes
Trismegistus, "thrice-great Hermes" i some authors
claim he is a divine savior, others a privileged
mortal, the first possessor of awesome secret
knowledge (gp. cit., pp. LO2 -103).
In Plato's Phaedrus Socrates relates how the ancient
'ibis, '
Egyptian god Thoth or Theuth, whose sacred bird is the
'numbers
was the first to invent and arithmetic and geometry
and astronomy, also draughts and dice, and, most important of
all, letters':
Now the king of all Eqfpt at that time was the
god Ttranms, who lived in a great city of the upper
region, which the creeks call the Egyptian Thebes,
L72
and they call the god himself Ammon. To him
came Theuth to show his inventions, saying that
j-mparted
they ought to be to the other Egyptians.
But Thamus asked what use there was in each, and
as Theuth enumerated their uses, expressed praise
or blame of the various arts which it would take
too long to repeat; but when they came to letters,
'This 'will
invention, O king, ' said Theuth,
make the Egyptians wj-ser and will improve their
memories; for it. is an elixir of memory and wisdom
'Most
that I have discovered. ' But Thamus replied,
ingenious Theuth, one man has the ability to beget
arts, but the ability to judge of their usefulness
or harmfulness to their users belongs to another;
and now you, who are the father of letters, have
been led by your affection to ascribe to them a
power the opposite of that which they really
possess. For this invention will produce
forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to
use it, because they will not practise their
memory. Their trust in writing, produced by
external characters which are not part of
themselves will discourage the use of their own
memory within them. You have invented an elixir
not of memory but of reminding; and you offer your
pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom,
for they will read many things withouL instruction
and will therefore seem to know many things, when
they are for the most part ignorant and hard to
get along with, since they are not wise, but only
appear wise (LAZ)kf . Eumnestes & Anamnestes, FQII.x)
'ancient
This Egyptian practice of the memory' impressed
'a
Giordano Bruno as most profound discipline ': so, his
disciple Alexander Dicson, drr intimate acquaintance of Sir
'
Phitip Sidney (ca. 1584), propagated in England Bruno 's
Hermetic and "Egyptian" version of the artificial memory
as an "inner writing " of mysterious significance '; and the
concept 's enduring influence is illustrated in Robert Fludd 's
Historv-of Twg Worlds (1619), where it is symbolized by an
'obelisk '--'referring
Egyptian to the "inner writing " of the
art which will overcome the confusions of Babel and conduct
L73
its user under angelic auidance to retigious safety ' (Yates,
Art of Memogv, pp. 38, 266 -286, 326 -327).
Etlzmology appeared to confirm this attribution to an
Egyptian origin:
The Arabic el-kiqya (alchemv) is said to be
-l6me
derived rroil'-G@ypTGn (btack earth) .
This "black earth" naturally refers to
something more than the life-giving soil deposited
by inundations of the Nile, foc according to the
Alexandrian alchemists it is the original matter
to which all metals must be reduced before beinq
turned to gold (Caron & Hutin, p. f16).
Among the more recent theories is one emphasizing the
sacred rites peculiar to archaic metallurgy, the prerogative
'possessing
of a small elite privileged knowledge of
techniques for working metals, and celebrating thaumaturgic
rites related to the use of fire, a necessary tool in
metallurgy ' (e!. cit., p. f03) . According to Rene Alleau,
'The
origins of alchemy are to be found in the pursuit of
theurgical knowledge, the privilege of a priesthood ' (143).
And Mircea Eliade has demonstrated the survival in Western
alchemy of several ancient telluric beliefs, expressed in
myths of Divine Fire and the Earth-Mother, similar to those
of the Cabiri (a people of metalworkers believed in Homeric
times to date from the earliest antiquity), inhabitants of
Samothrace (tfre island where Jason, the Argonauts, Pythagoras,
and Orpheus were initiated into the mysteries, according to
legend) (L44). Supporting this is an etlzmology deriving
'alchemy ' a Greek word 'casting, ' 'commingling, '
from meaning
'the
and referring to art of melting and mixing' (Caron *
L74
Hutin, lhq Alchemists, p. LL7).
'alchemy'
Of course, as already remarked, the that was
to enjoy so startling a revival during the European
Renaissance was synthesized in the Alexandria of the first
'had
three centuries A.D. by Greeks who assimilated what was
best in Oriental, Egyptian, Babylonian, Iranian civilizations,
'yearned
and who now for salvation and purity.' The most
obvious influences on Alexandrian alchemical theory included:
'Greek
philosophical speculation--pre*Socratic (Heraclitus,
Empedocles) ; classical (Platonists and Aristotelj-ans) ; and
post -Classical (Neo -Pythagorians and Neo -Platonists) ' ;
'magic
certain practical Egypt,ian recipes, as well as
formulas, symbols (the serpent Ouroboros, for example),
metaphysical doctrines particular to Pharaonic esoterism' ;
'primordial
the Persian myth of the man' ('Gayomart') and
his dismemberment; the Chaldaean planetary symbolism of
'via
metals; and perhaps certain Chinese and Indian elements
t h e " s i I k -r o u t e " ' ( C a r o n & H u t i n , p p . L L A -L L 7 ) .
The discipline itself was 'an extraordinary amalgam
of mysticism and praxis, of rigorous observation and pure
s p e c u l a t i o n ' :
Religious historians have demonstrated the
strict parallelism between gnostic illumination
and alchemical research. We find in the latter
all the essential tendencies of gnosticism, both
the gnostj-cism of Christian sects and that of
pagan "cells" worshiping Hermes Trismegistus.
The prime concern of Alexandrian alchemists is
the search for salvation through illuminative
knowledge (gnosis). . The search for
redemptive gnosis did not of course exclude
practical "recipes " (ibid. ) .
L75
Ttre sources of its appear to the christian humanists
of the later era are immediately apparent--particularly when
one adds the covert Christian components and Ficino's
portentous misdating of the Corpus with which
.Hermeticum,
subsequent
j-nfluence
hj-storicar exigencies conspired
of the 'thrice-great Hermes, and
to
all
spread the
that he
i m p l i e s .
Of course, the men of the new age did not hesitate to
annex yet other rerigious and mythorogicar traditions. For
example,
The philosopher's stone was said
affinities with the mysteries of
of the Apocalypse, d.rid more than
to have
Genesis or
one author
those
was
to go so far as to claim that the latter book was
a poem inspired by alchemy, celebrating its glory
alone. The mark of the philosopher's stone was
seen in Ovid's Melggcrpboseg and the Odyssey as
wetr. rt was a@ by eandG-G-box,
Jason 's golden fleece, the rock of Sisyphus,
Pythagoras' golden thigh, and other Hellenic myths
(ep. cit. , p. f 03)
So, Prof. William Nelson has summarized Spenser,s
diverse literary models for the extant books in The poetry
of EdFund Spsnses (p. 140) as follows:
The Legend of St. George echoes the saint's life
in fhg Golden Leqend. Sir Guyon is a hero of
crffi Aeneas ana oaysseus.
Britomart and Florimell inevitably recall
Ariosto's Bradamante and Angelica. The titular
story of Cambel and Triamond in the Legend of
Friendship is based on Chaucer's unfinished
Squire 's Ta1e, and reminiscences of that story
and the one told by the Itright recur frequently
throughout the book. Artegall is compared
directly with Hercules, Bacchus, and Osiris, the
mythical founders of civilization. The adventures
of Sir Calidore are of the type found in the Greek
176
romances and imitated by Sidney in the Arcadia.
The fragmentary Cantos of Mutabilitie clearly
imitate Ovid' s Metamorphoses.
It is here proposed, however, that the succession of
models follows a carefully constructed, preconceived Hermetic
des ign .
In analogous fashion, according to Wayne Shumaker:
Hermetism was basically a Greek contemplative
mysticism d.eveloped on Egyptian soil. Its
sources were mainly in popular Greek philosophical
thought--Platonism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism;
but details appear to have been borrowed from
Judaism, Persian religion, and, more doubtfully,
from Christianity. . The only unmistakable
references Lo Christianity appear in the Asclepius
at the point (24-26) where the subversion of
Egyptian religion by foreign invaders is prophesied.
-''
'
L_ibellus IV of the Corpus, entitled the. t", '.
'" : i -r: ': : i'"1'i'r"h'i
oi-gEsTn, suggests Christian baptism ( ':
"Dip yourseli: "1, and the . title of CH XIII,
"secret Discourse on the Mountain, " may remind us
of the Sermon on the Mount. . Jewish
influences appear especially in CH I and III, wtrich
contain accounts of the creation evidently affected
by the Septuagint. . Clear Mithraic influence
is shown, f think, in CH I,25-26, in which Lhe soul
is said to be purged of a different sin as it
passes through each of the seven celestial spheres
on its way to the eighth, or Ogdoad, where it
becomes a Power and sings hlzmns to the Father
(Occult Sciences, pp. 2LL*2L2; cf . o!.. ciF., pp.
'punistrments
2ffitwelve t7 plus 5l of
'good
matter,' opposed by the three powers,' Good,
Life, and l-,ight) (cf . FQ vII .vii -viii).
Moreover, Shumaker concludes,
The seven degrees of enlightenment in Mithraism,
which appear to be related to the seven spheres,
offer an obvious paralleI [to the lists of seven
vices in CH I and CH XIIII, and the breakdown of
the attempt to oppose Powers to Punishments--or
Virtues to Vices--may reflect an inability to
adjust the notion of the Decade and Dodecade
together to the number of spheres through which
the illuminaLed soul ascends to blessedness (-g!..
cit., pp. 23L-232).
L77
Finally, on the technical plane: techniques improved
over the course of centuries, accretions being transmitted
from generation to generation and undergoing the influence
of a variety of tradj-tions, some esoteric, some not. In
general, however, the trend was toward an intensified
allegorization of alchemical texts, whose method of
explanation is identified by Jung as "obscurum per obscurius,
ignotum per ignotius" (the obscure by the more obscure, the
unknown by the more unknown)'; whence Jung concludes that
'alchemy perished in its own obscurity' in the course of the
'spirit
eighteenth century--with whose of enlightenment' it
was incompatible (Psychgl.ogy gnd A.Ichemy, p. 227) . Mysticism
retreated before the new scientific rationalism of the
'modern'
age a fuIl century earlier, according to Frances
Yates (Brr{ro, pp. 398 ff .), who dates the shift from
Casaubon's correct dating of the Hermetic writings in 1614.
In either case, they and all other hisLorians of the subject
'golden
are agreed that the age 'of alchemy in the West
occurred durinq the sixt,eenth century.
2. Basic Concepts
The alchemists' practical experiments aimed at
demonstrating t-Jre unity of all matter and exploring the
possibilities of transmuting it:
The idea of a living substance played a decisive
role: the conception of the life of matter
L/6
domj-nated the end.eavors of alchemy. The mystic
drama of God--His passion, death, and resurrection
--was projected upon matter to transmute it.
Matter was treated in the same manner as God is in
the mysteries: mineral substances s.uffeL
91!g,
and are reborn to another mode of being. This
transcendental mode transforms matter into gold,
the symbol of immortality, and ttris transmutation
is equivalent to a redemption.
Thus the alchemist, to whom the true mission
of redeeming the whole cosmos has been entrusted,
must engage himself entire in his work. Authors
emphasized the spiritual import of this work by
demanding that the artist be pure, humble, patient,
chaste, intelligent, wise--able to meditate and to
pray.
The eternal dream of man is to collaborate in
the perfecting of Matter, to assume himself the
role of Time and thus assure his own perfection
(Caron & Hutin, pp. 105 -106).
'The
In Eliade's words: concept of alchemical
transmutation is the fabulous crown of the faith tftat deems
it possible to change Nature through human work':
Alchemy has given tJ.e modern world rm:ch more than
a rudimentary chemistry: it has bequeathed it its
faith in the transmutation of Nature and i-Ls
ambition to master Time. . The alchemist
perpetuated the behavior of archaic man, for wtrom
Nature was a source of sacred mysteries and work a
ritual (L44).
In a useful little compendium entitled Alchemv: The
Secret Art, Stanislas K. De Rola has given the followj-ng
definition of alchemy:
The sacred, secret, ancient and profound science
of alchemy, the royal or sacerdotal art, also
called the hermetic philosophy, conceals, in
esoteric texts and enigmatic emblems, the means
of penetrating the very secrets of Nature, Life
and Death, of Unity, Eternity and fnfinity (46).
He elaborates:
The mysterious doctrine of alchemy pertains to a
hidden reality of the highest order which
L79
constitutes the underlying essence of alI truths
and all religions. The perfection of this essence
is termed the Absolute; it can be perceived and
realized . only if consciousness is radically
altered and transmuted from the ordinary (lead-Iike)
leve1 of everyday perception to a subtle (go1d-Iike)
level of perception, so that every object is
perceived in its perfect archetypal form, which is
contained within the Absolute. The realization of
the eternal perfection of everything everlnvhere
constitutes the Universal Redemption. Alchemy is
a rainbor,v bridging the chasm between the earthly
and heavenly planes, between matter and spirit
( i b i d . ) .
O p p o s e d t o ' t r u e ' a r e t h e ' f a l s e ' a l c h e m i s t s :
True alchemy consists in perfecting metals, and
in the maintenance of health. False alchemy in
destroying both the one and the other
jmitates
The first employs Nature's agents and
her operations. The second works on erroneous
prj-nciples and employs the tyrant and destroyer of
Nature as her agent. The first, from a small
quantity of vile matter, fashions a most precious
thing. The second, from a most precious matter,
from gold itself, fashions a matter most vile,
smoke and ashes. The result of the true [alchemy]
is the prompt cure of all iIls afflicting humanity;
the result of the false consists in those same ills
that commonlv befall puffers.
Alchemy has fallln into disrepute since a
great number of bad artists have, with their
iwindles, deceived the gultible and the ignorant (28).
Having been misled, either by ignorance or greed, into taking
'puffers'
the wrong road, these clearly are Lhe ancestors of
our modern military and industrial scientists, who,
comparably misguided, have transmuted our golden planet into
'smoke
one of and ashes.' Moreover, such may not derive
enlightenment from the texts of the alchemists, who conceal
'the
their truth from tJ-e eyes of unworthy' behind an
'allecrorical' 'veil'
# of bewildering paradox, ingenious
180
imagery, obscure symbols, emblems, myths, and hieroglyphs.
'celestial
True alchemy has also been likened to a
agriculture, ' dependent upon 'celestial influences,
atmospheric conditions and all manner of waves and variations'
just like its sublunary counterpart (Oe Rola, Alshemv, p. 20).
'true 'celestial '
The alchemists, ' like farmers, ' know Nature
and its operations, and make use of this knowledge to reach,
a s S t . P a u I s a y s , t h a t o f t h e C r e a t o r . '
To reach the knowledge of the Creator is to part
the veil and transmute the obscurity of ignorance
into the light of wisdom. To attain thaL supreme
wisdom is consciously to become one with God in
love (Oe Rola, Alche$y, pp. 13-14).
But this can be achieved only when true innes knowledge
is paired with true understanding of all the outer world:
Any descent within oneself--any look within--is
at the saJne time an Ascent--an Assumption--a look
towards the true reality without. The renunciation
of oneself is the source of all humility, ds well
as the basis of any true ascent. The fj-rst step
is a look within, an exclusive contemplation of our
very self. But he who stops there remains halfway.
The second step must be an efficacious look without,
an active, autonomous and persevering observation
of the outside world.
We shal1 understand the world when we
understand ourselves i for it and we are inseparable
halves of one whole. We are children of God, divine
seeds. One day, we shall be what our Father is
(Novalis, transl. in De Rola, Alchemy, p. L4).
De Rola concludes his outline with a quote from Lama Govinda:
"To the alchemist who was convinced of the profound
parallelism between the material and the immaterial
world, and of the uniformity of natural and spiritual
laws, [the] faculty of transformation had a
universal meaning. It could be applied to inorganic
forms of matter as well as to organic forms of life,
and equally to ttre psychic forces that penetrate
181
both. Thus, this miraculous power of transformation
went far beyond what the crowd imagined to
be the Philosophers' Stone, which was supposed to
fulfilt all wishes ., or the Elixir of Life,
which guaranteed an unlimited prolongation of
earthly life. He who experiences this transformation
has no more desires, and the prolongation of
earthly life has no more importance for him who
already lives in the deathless.
Whatever is gained by way of miraculous
powers loses j-n the moment of attainment all
interest for the adept, because he has grown
beyond the worldly aims which made the attainment
of powers desirable. In this case, ds in most
others, it is not Lhe end which sanctifies the
means, but the means which sanctify the end by
transforming it into a higher aim" (De Rola, pp.
2 L -2 2 ) .
In the words of a seventeenth century adept: 'Alchemy is
not merely an art of science to teach metallic transmutation,
so much as a true and solid science that teaches how to
know the centre or all things, which in the divj-ne language
is called the Spirit of Life ' (f45) .
fn other words,
'For
the traditional alchemist, the oratory and
the laboratory were indissolubly related: the
great originality of alchemical gnosis is the fact
that it is founded upon an absolute correspondence
between progressive stages of illumination and
successive material operations ' (Caron & Hutin,
p. 1s5).
Most alchemical texts, of course, are (or appear)
primarily concerned with the arduous preliminary processes
leading to the preparation of minor medicines and the
Philosopher's Stone (whose property it is to transmute base
metals into gold). Those that have transcended this stage
'true
are the alchemists, ' who,
L82
disdainfuf of wealth and worldly honours, have
actively sought the Universal Medicine, the
Panacea, which, ultimately sublimated, becomes
Lhe Fountain of Youth, the Elixir of Life and
the Key to Immortatity in both a spiritual and
a mysterious physical sense. The Elixir would
not only cure all ills by uprooting the causes
of disease, but it would also rejuvenate and
finally transmute the human body into an
'body
incorruptible of light. '
'he
The Adept (adep3us, who has attained'
the cift of God) would then be crowned with the
triple crown of Enlightenment: Omniscience,
Omnipotence, and the Joy of Divine Eternal Love.
But . very few among the few have succeeded
in reaching the ultimate goal. These are the
Brotherhood of Light, and are Alive (De Rola,
Alchemy, p. B).
Just as in poetry, then, alchemy requires both the
idea ')
concrete ('jmage ') and the abstract ( ' ; for,
the transmutative process, without being the
final end, is an indispensable part of the Great
Work--the MaqJrumOpus--which is, at one and the
, a material and a spiritual realization.
:T "
It is essential to keep in mind that there
are precise correspondences, fundamental to alchemical
thought, between the visible and the
invisible, above and below, matter and spirit,
planets and metals. Gold, because of its
incorruptible nature and its remarkable physical
characteristics, is to alchemists the Sun of
matter, dn analogy Lo the ultimate perfection
which they themselves seek to attain by helping
'base '
metals to reach the blessed state of gold.
As gold is also, in a sense, the shadow of the Sun,
the Sun j-s the shadow of God (De Rola, p. B).
As Lynn Veach Sadler has pointed out (146), both alchemy
'medicine. ' 'Well
and poetry were believed to be related to
established among theoreticians of poeLry ' in Spenser 's era
'that
is the view poetry is medicinal as well as moral, that
it has "Physick, as well as Ethick meanings ".' Sir John
IB3
'Tasso, ' 'in
Harington cites who his excellent worke of
Jerusalem Lib.erata likeneth Poetrie to the Phisicke that men
giue vnto little children when they are sick ' (L47).
Now, according to Gabriel Harvey, Alchimy can
A n a l o g o u s 1 y , i n C h a r l e s J . T h o m p s o n ' s c l a s s i c w o r k
o n A l c h e m y ( f 4 B ) , m u c h i s m a d e o f S p e n s e r ' s r e f e r e n c e s t o
' m e d i c j -n a l p l a n t s ' a s w e l l a s h i s ' f r e q u e n t m e n t i o n o f s a l v e s
and other methods of administration used in the leechcraft
o f h i s t i m e ' ( o p . c i t . , p p 2
7 8 * 2 7 9 ; e . 9 . , F Q f . x . 2 3 -2 7 ; V I . v i )
'True
alledge much for her Extractions and quintessences; & true
Phisique more for her corrections and purgations' (Sadler,
'esoteric ' 'higher ' 'meets
p. 72). But or alchemy poetry
on the level of reliqious fervor' :
Neyther let it be deemed too sawcie a comparison
to ballance the highest poynt of mans wit with
the efficacie of Nature: but rather giue right
honor to the heauenly Maker of that maker, who,
hauing made man to his owne likenes, set him
beyond and ouer all the workes of that second
nature, which in nothing hee sheweth so much as
in Poetrie, when with the force of a diuine breath
he bringeth things forth far surpassing her
j-ncredulous
dooings, with no small argument to the
of that first accursed fall of Adam (Sidney,
Ambix 72 -73).
Thus, according to Puttenham,
the poet helps Nature as the physician his patients
and the gardener his plants. . "The Phisition
by the cordials hee will giue his patient shall be
able not onely to restore the decayed spirites of
man and render him health, but also to prolong the
terme of his life many yeares ouer and aboue the
stint of his first and naturall constitution. "
Since Puttenham's next paragraph overtly mentions
r'lnhamrr
g
!v r lvllr
it is difficult not to believe that he is
alluding here to the fact that, from the earliest
]' ,
LB4
times, one of the great purposes of the alchemist
was to find the E1ixir to prolong life. The
Iongevity of the Patriarchs was attributed to their
having the secret of the Philosopher's Stone and
the Elixir (Sadler, Ambix, p. 7L).
'The
In the words of Wayne Shumaker, great age of the
patriarchs was clear testimony to the existence of the
Elixir ' (Occult Sciences, p. IBB): that is, it acted as a
'Medicine' 'Adam
source of supernatural by means of which
and the other patriarchs . were enabled to secure constant
health, and a long life, and to provide for themselves great
'
wealth (op. ciF. , p. 187) :
Through this Spirit the Seven Sages invented the
Arts, and gained riches. With His aid Noah built
the Ark, Solomon the Temple, and Moses the
Tabernacle; through Him vessels of pure gold were
borne into the Temple; through Him Solomon gained
his excellent knowledge, and performed mighty deeds
(ibid., transl. from The Golden Aqe Restored).
'the
Moreover, action of the Stone or the Elixir is
'our
like the redemptive mission' of Christ, Lord and
Saviour ' :
"His descent into hell, His glori-ous and most
holy Resurrection on the third d.y, and His victory
and triumph over sin, death, Devil and he1l." The
sufferj-ng of Christ is likened to the agitations of
the chemicals, the solidification into the ugly
Raven to the descent into Hell; the transformation
to brilliant whiteness is equivalent to the
Resurrection, and the action of the Stone or the
Elixir j-s tike the redemptive mission (gp. ci!.,
p. IBe).
'The
"incorrupt medicarnent, " the lapis, says Dorn,
can be found nowhere save in heaven, for heaven
"pervades all the elemenLs with invisible rays
meeting together from all parts at the centre of
the earth, and generates and hatches forth all
185
creatures. " "No man can generate in himself, but
[only] in that which is like him, which j-s from the
same Iheaven] . "
We see here how Dorn gets round his paradox:
no one can produce anything without an object that
is like him. But it is like him because it comes
from the same source. ff he wants to produce the
incorrupt medicament, he can only do so in
something that is akin to his own centre, and this
is the centre in the earth and in aII creatures.
Tt comes, tike his own, from the same fountainhead,
which is God. Separation into apparently dissimilar
things, such as heaven, the elements, man, etc.,
was necessary only for the work of generation.
Everything separated must be united again in the
production of the stone, so that the original state
of unity shall be restored. But, says Dorn, "thou
wilt never make from others the One which thou
seekest, except first there be made one thing of
thyself "' (Jung, Aion, p. f70)
'a
The stone is thus transcendent unity'
Dorn recognized the identity of the stone with the
transformed man when he exclaimed: "Transmute
yourselves from dead stones into living philosophical
stones l " . he succeeded in explaining the
magnetic attraction between the imagined symbol-the
"theoria"--and the "centre" hidden in matter,
or in the interior of the earth or in the North
PoIe, ds the identity of two extremes. That i-s why
the theoria and the arcanum in matter are bottr
called veritas. This truth "shines " in us, but it
is not of us: it "is to be sought not in us, but
in the i:nage of God which is in us" (Jung, Aion,
pp. r70-17r).
'Dorn
thus equates the transcendent centre in man with
'makes
the God-image'--an identification which it clear why
the alchemical symbols for wholeness apply as much to the
arcanum in man as to the Deitv.'
Indeed, Dorn goes even further and allows the
predicate of being to this truth, and to this
truth alone: "Further, that we may give a
satisfactory definition of the truth, w€ say it
is, but nothing can be added to it; for what, pray,
can be added to the One, what is lacking to it, or
I85
on what can it be supported? For in truth
nothing exists beside that One. " The only thing
that truly exists for him is the transcendental
self, which is identical with God (ibid.).
A parallel treatise by one Rosinus declares (Aion,
p. 168):
"This stone is something which is fixed more in
thee [than elsewtrere], created of God, and thou
art its ore/ and it is extracted from thee, and
wheresoever thou art it remains inseparably with
thee. . And as man is made up of four
elements, so also is the stone, and so it is [dug]
out of man, and thou art its ore, namely by working;
and from thee it is extracted, that is by division;
and in thee it remains inseparably, namely by
knowledge. [To express it] otherwise, fixed in
thee: namely in the Mercurius of the wise; thou
art its ore: that is, it is enclosed in thee and
thou holdest it secretly; and from thee it is
extracted when it is reduced [to its essence] by
thee and dissolved: for without thee it cannot be
fulfilled, and without it canst thou not live, and
so the end looks to the beginning, and contrariwise. "
From this apparent commentary on Morienus we learn:
that the stone is implanted in man by God, that
the laborant is its prima materia, that the
extraction corresponds to the so-called divisio
or separatio of the alchemical procedurel-1il?-Ehat
through his knowledge of the stone man remains
inseparably bound to the self. .
The old master saw the alchemical opgs a s a
kind of apocatastasis, t}re restoring of an initial
state in an "eschaLological " one ( "the end Iooks
to the beginning, and contrariwise") (,Jung, Aion,
pp. 16B-16e).
So it would appear that
the prima mjrteria i-s found in the mountain where,
as Abu 'I Qasim . says, everything is upside
down: "And the top of this rock is confused with
its base, and its nearest part reaches to its
farthest, and its head is in the place of its back,
and vice versa. .
There was a feeling, often expressed in the
literature, that the secret was to be found either
Ie7
in some strange creature or in man 's brain. The
prima mat-eria was thought of as an ever-changing
the essence or soul of that
sufstaffi,-E else as
name
substance. It was designated with the
''MercurilfS,., conceived paradoxical
and was as a
double being called monstrum, h.ermaPJ.rrgditus,-9rparallel
establishes
rebis. ] rft" 1uffi-gfiilst
an fralogy between-:Elff-transforming substance and
Christ
the influence of the doctrine of transubstantia
tion . Mercurius is likened to the serpent
cross (,lohn 3 :14) ' , to mention
hung on the
onlf one of the numerous parallels (Jung,
Psvcholoqv-and Alche[rjr', PP. 433-434) '
Thg Glorv of the_world, Th_esophic HydSolilh, and other
'second 'scriptural
cite as a warrant '
alchemical treatises
Matth ew (2L242) cites
references to stones. ' For example,
'Did
from Psalms (LLB:22) Christ 's query: ye never read in
the Scriptures?:
.The Stone which the builders rejected, the same
is become the head of the corner" Again, Acls 4
(:11) , 'This is the stone which was set at nought
ofyoubuilders,whichisbecometheheadofthe
'it
corner, ' and Romans 9(:33), is written, Behold '
I 1ay in Sion-E-ffimtrlingstone and rock of offence:
be ashamed''
and i,vhosoever believeth on him shall not
Or . 'Therefore thus saith the Lord God:
,'Behold, I lay Ln Zion for a foundation a Stone, a
tried Stone, a precious corner Stone, a sure
foundation "' (rsaiah 2B:L6) (g!.. c.it ', p' lBB)
(cf. the Cabalistic Sephiroth, the ninth of which is called
'Foundation '
).
spenser's Prince Arthur, then, may be said to embark in
search of
the marvellous stone that harboured a pneumatic
it the substance
essence in order to win from
that penetrates all substances--since it is itself
the stone-penetrating "spirit"--and transforms all
base metali into noble ones by a process of
coloration. This "spirit -substance " is like
IBB
quicksilver,whichlurksunseenintheoreand
must first be expelled if it is to be recovered
of this penetrating
in substantia. itt. possessor
other substances
UercTfiiEJE "project" it into
into the
and transform them from the imperfect
perfectstate.Theimperfectstateislikethe
lleeping state; substances lie in it like the
chained in Hades" and are awakened
"slelpeis
as from death to a new and more beautiful life by
the divine tincture extracted from the inspired
stone (Jung, Psychglog"y and Alchemy, p' 297) '
'with this red stone, ' 'said to be ignited by water and
(Walker, The Ancient Theoloqy'
used by the Magi for divination'
cf . the ,jet' or .lignite' from Pliny, N.aL. Hist.
p. 56, n.2;
36zLAL;cf.FQIT-::x-24;IV-ii.3O-iv'L4),'thephj-losophers
above all others and foreLold the future
exalted themselves
.notonlyingeneralbutalsoinparticular.Thusthey
judgment the end of the world must
knew that the day of and
come..ThusthephilosophershavebeheldtheLast
Judgrnent in this art, nanrely the germination and birth of
this stone, which is miraculous rather than rational':
f o r o n t h a t d a y t h e s o u l t o b e b e a t i f i e d u n i t e s
with its formei body through the meditation of
-
(,lung,.Algh emical
the spirit, to eternal glory
Studies, pp . 297 -2gB; quoteS exteisivef,E -).
a
The Great Work (Magnulq--qpgEl
'Alchemy a
' describes
It is generally agreed that
process of chemical transformation and gives numberless
(Jung, Psvch-o1og)zand
directions f or its accomplishment'
to be no agreement
Alchelry, p. 228), though there would seem
tB9
on its precise course or on the number and sequence of its
stages.
'only
Tn effect, two general procedures are employed
to obtain tlee philosopher's stone: the "humid path" and the
"dry path, "' summarized by Helvetius in the Veau d'Or as
follows:
They Ii.e., the adepts] call the following
operation the humid path. Philosophic Sulphur
and Philosophic Mercury are decocted over a
moderate fire in a sealed vessel until the latter
becomes black; when the fire is made hotter, it
becomes white; a more violent fire, finally,
tinctures it red.
The dry path (which is not much esteemed)
consists of taking celestial SaIt, which is
Philosophic Mercury, mixing it with a terrestrial
metallic body, and putting it in a crucible, over
an open fire; in four days the work is finished
(Caron and Hutin, pp. f5B -I59).
'Sacerdotal 'Path
The latter, also known as the Path 'or of
the Humble,' is short but treacherous, basing its whole
'on
alchemical art divine love, through which heaven and earth
become one, in the chaste incest of sulphur and mercury'
(gp. cit., pp. 150, 154-155):
Basil Valentine thus guides his disciples toward
a sort of gnosis, which will make them aware of
the analogy that links the material realm to the
realms of the human and the divine. While matter
in the f irst realm is consi-dered to be an intimate
compound of "sulphur, " "mefcuf1zr " and a "salt, " in
the second realm the body, the spirit, and the soul
are principles which shape man. Three persons in
one, the Trinity, form the God of the third realm.
From this ternary principle Lhere follows the
alchemical rule: Use only one vessel, one fire,
one instrument.
'humid' 'Royal
In contrast, the former or Path' is the
190
' l o n g e r ' b u t c o m p a r a t i v e l y ' s a f e r ' o f t h e t w o r o u t e s , m o s t
commonly represented in the iconography of the day in the
' ' ' t h e '
person of Hermes Trismegistus (i.e., thrice great ).
'one ';
The operation is variously regarded as or as a
'unity ' 'twelve '
made up of distinct subordinate operations
'four
governed by the twelve zodiacal signs; or else as a
stage' labor (of three steps apiece), leading from preparation
of the matter, to decoction in the philosopher's egg, to the
operations needed to bring the stone to maxj-mumstrength
(fixation and fermentation), to ultimate transmutation or
final projection (gp. cit., p. L59), j-n a progression
'material, ' 'formal,,
reminiscent of that governing Aristotle 's
'eff ' ' 'causes. ' 'Great
icient, and f inal ' This is the Work '
proclaimed by Eliphas Levj-as:
above all things, the creation of man by himself,
that is to say, the full and entire conquest of
his faculties and his future; it is especialty
the perfect emancipation of his will, assuring him
universal dominion over Azoth and the domain of
Magnesia, in other words, fulI power over the
Universal Magical Agent. This Agent, disgn-rised by
the ancient philosophers under the name of the
First Matter, determines the forms of modifiable
substance, and we can really arrive by means of it
at metallic transmutation and the Universal
Medicine (De Rola, p. B) .
For, say Caron and Hutin (The Alchemists, cited above,
p. I78),
TLreeternal dream of man is to collaborate in
the perfecting of Matter, to assume himself the
role of Time and thus assure his own perfection;
'alchemy
and it was to Renaissance man thaL . bequeathed
. its faith in the transmutation of Nature and its
191
'
ambition to master Time.
rn addition to the two ('humble'vs. 'royal') divergent
'pathsr' 'routes', ,priest' ,King,'
or of
vs. there are two
distinct 'Magisteries '--a 'Lesser ' 'Greater '--depending
and a
on the character of the goar. Thus, for example, ,The Lesser
Magistry, or transmutation into silver ' (caron & Hutin, p. L42)
is feminely 'passive, ' 'mercury, '
emproys a volatile and
'lunar ' '
forl -ows a schedule. The Greater, ' of course,
'actively ' 'fixed '
manipulates 'surphur ' with heroic
virility, deriving from his 'sorar ' guide the ,circular ' (or
'process
helicar) of generation' whereby base metals might be
transmuted into,gold' :
Light and gold are sometimes considered to be
,'materiaLize,,
fire in its concrete state: to
this gold, which is sown profusely throughout
the world, one need only condense its widelv
scattered atoms.
, Properly speaking, gold is not a metal--gold
is 1i9ht. Nicholas Flamel . extotled
telluric fire, the fire of volcanoes, smoldering
beneath the earth 's crust since the creation of
the world. In a more poetic vein Magistri (whom
Victor Hugo quotes) believed that gold could be
extracted from fire by simpry pronouncing certain
feminine names, names "of a sweet and myiterious
charm. " "Gold is the sun: to make qold is to be
Godl " (Caron & Hutj _n, p. 1-64).
At rength all warring principres--Feminine and Masculine,
Moon and sun,
Mercury and sulphur, water and Fire, Dark and
'ho1y
Light, NighL and Day, Death and Life--are joined in a
wedlock' whose perfect 'harmony'
lies in the conception and
birth of their androgynous offspring:
Wh11e mercury brings form or system (req+me),
sulphur, the goal of the second Opus on tfre
theoretical plane, is said to bring light and
color. The union of sulphur and mercurv forms
EETI. Mercury is related to prime matt6r, but
sulphur is related to mercury, although it may
also be considered as a prime matter in itself.
Its importance is attested by the fact that it
is described as "male, " "active, " or "fixed, "
terms which make it the complement of mercury,
which is described as "fe.maIe, " "passive, " and
"volatj-le " . . "In the union of mercury and
mineral sulphur, furthermore, sulphur behaves in
the manner of the masculine seed and mercury in
the manner of the feminine seed in the conception
and birth of a child" (op. cit., p. 161).
A parenthetical word of caution: My analysis is
extrapolated from several primary (L49) as well as numerous
secondary references, between no two of which is full
agreement discernible on any significant level. The
alchemical texts themselves are often hopelessly obscure;
and where they are not they appear to conflict with one
another regarding the ultimate goal(s) of their art and how
best to achieve them:
The alchemists apparently differ among themselves
as regards the choice of substances to be used;
their opinions on the method of performing Lhe
MagnumOpus also vary. Certain "artists " see in
it one single phenomenon; others prefer to analyze
it step by step, and hold that emission of vapors,
changes in the color of the matter, its condensation
or calcination, are separate stages that are
absolutely independent (Caron & Hutin, p. I55).
'one
So, Bernard of Treviso considered the Humid Path to be
operation, but Dom Pernety, for one example, divides it into
twelve separate and distinct operations' corresponding to the
twelve signs of the zodiac (gp. cit., p. I59). As Jung has
explained,
193
Every original archemist buirt himself, as it.
were, a more or less individuar edifice of ideas,
consisting of the
dicta of the phirosophers and
of miscerlaneous anarogies to the fundlmentarconcepts
of alchemy. Generalty these anal0gies
are taken from arl over the place. Treatises were
even written for the purpose of supplying
-rrr5 the
artist with anarogy-making materiai. method
of archemy
is one of boundless amplification
(prsycho.loqy and AlchemI, p. 2Bg) .
The
method of Jung (rike that of spenser) being simirar,
we
are
driven to consult secondary authorities with more
coherent, finite perspectives,
in order to get a crearer
notion of such matters as the number of stages in the
alchemical process (,lung
says that at first it was four,
but by the fifteenth century it had become three,
etc.).
BUL if
,Jung somehow manages to embrace a1l possibilities,
other scholars tend to champion one reading
at the expense
of arl others, resulting in further discord
and confusion.
The following is an attempt at a compromise.
1 .
Preliminaries
First Matter. and First_AqenL
1)
Prima Materia
a )
The fdentifi-cation
of Prima Materia
The first labor of the disciple is the quest for the
Prima Ma.teriq, whose identity is one of alchemy 's darkest
secrets.
Among its apparently almost countless synonyms
Jung lists:
L94
quicksilver, . ore, iron, go1d, lead, salt,
sulphur, vinegar. water, air, fire, earth, bLood,
water of life, poison, spirit, cloud, sky,
!*,is,
dew, shadow, sea, mother, moon, dragon, Venus,
chaos, microcosm (op. cit., p. 317).
'Stone
j-s 'subject '
This lapis, or of the Philosophers, ' the
'Philosophers'
of the art and not to be confused with the
'object, '
Stone, ' its or the ultimate perfection of
transmutative power into which it is at lenqth transformed.
Descriptions of the Prima Materia in the alchemical
literature are rare or misletrding. De RoIa, for example,
could extract only the following:
t itl is said to have an imperfect body, a
constant sou1, a penetrating tincture and a
clear transparent mercury, volatile and mobile.
It bears within its breast the gold of
phj-losophers and thre mercury of the wise
(Alchemy, p. I0) .
Since the whole of the Work is prepared and achieved with
this single subsLance, knowledge of its identity is
essential; but without God 's help, we are told, none can
'The
understand it. So, mate.ria lapidjls may be found by
'Sometimes
divine inspiratj-on'; or the nature of the coveted
substance will be revealed in a dream' (Psychology and
--i.e., 'the ' 'that
Alchemy, p. 315) Hermetic trance, or
sleep of the senses in which truth is revealed' (B.runo, p.
452) (cf. Prince Arthur's, as described in FQ I.ix.f -f5).
b)
The Securinq of
Prima MaLeria
'identified,'
Once
this essential but paradoxical
195
'secured'
material must be
before the Work can be begun, for
'the
whole of the Work is prepared and achieved with this
single substance ' (De Rola, p. 10). Most writers agree that
it is to be found in the humblest, or lowest, or basest of
abodes:
.Tust as, in Christianity, the Godhead conceals
itself in the man of low degree, so in the
"philosophy" it hides in the uncomely stone. In
the Christian projection the descensus sp_iritus
sancti stops at the living bo.dy of the Chosen One,
ffi-TJ at once very rnan ana very God, whereas in
alchemy the descent goes right down into the
darkness of inanimate matter (Jung, Psvcholoqy
and Alchemy, p. 304).
There is, however, some difference of opinion as to its
accessibility. Some believed it was ubiquitous, requiring
only a heightened power of perception for the philosopher
to recognize it everyr,vhere:
The
English alchemist Sir George Ripley (c. L4L5
L49O) wr j-tes: "The philosophers tell the j-nquirer
that birds and fishes bring us the lapis, every
man has it, it is in every place, in you, in me,
-
in everything, jn time and space." "It offers
itself in lowly form. . From it there springs
our eternal water (aqua permajqens)" (gg. ciL.,
pp. 323 -324).
According to other accounts,
it is essential to journey to the mine, and to
take possession of the raw subject. This is no
small undertaking in itself, and the casting of
a horoscope is necessary to determine the most
favoura]:Ie time (De RoIa, p. 10).
c )
Th-e Purif ic.a{ion
of Pri-ma Materia
Finally, according to De Rola,
L96
As a preliminary to the Work itself, the subject
must be purified, rid of its att1e. This is done
by means well known to matallurgists, which does,
however, we are told, require great ingenuiLy,
patience and labour (pp. cit., p. 10).
The precise nature of this operation is far from clear,
although it often seems to concern the extraction of a
'spirit' or 'soul' ('pneuma,' divine breath, 'aer,' wind,
'substances '
eLc.) from the basest of earthly (vLz., a
'lifeless ' 'stone '). quotes the advice of the ancient
Jung
alchemist Ostanes:
Go to the waters of the Nite and there you will
find a stone that has a sPirit (" ''
Lhis, divide it, thrust in your hand and draw out
its heart: for its soul ( rl, ':i i ' ) is in its heart.
(an interpolator adds:) Thbre, h€ says, You will
find this stone that has a spirit, wtrich refers to
the expuls j-on of the quicksilver (Psvcholo.qv-gnd
p. 295).
Alchemy,
'first 'the
So, in the process of solution, ' king and
queen remove the impurities from each other until they stand
L97
naked' (De Rola, Alchemv, Figs . 2'7, 28) . The three stages
of this process ( ' Identif icaLion of P.rima Materia' via
' d i v i n e i n s p i r a t i o n ' ; ' S e c u r i n g o f P . _ r i m aM g t e r i a ' b y ' d e s c e n t
'; 'Purif
into Hell and ication of PriJng Materijr' with the aid
'the
of
secret fire ' of Hermetic tradition) result in the
'separatio.n' 'E1ements' '@t:ion. '
alchemj-cal of all the of
The sepa.ratio is effected, be it added, only to facilitate
'generati -on. '
's.eqaratj-o,
' 'conjunc-
Following the alchemical
then, is
tion or perfect solution: the two bodies are made one as
they dissolve into the liquid state' (De Rola,
Alg.lLry,
Figs. 27, 28) .
'The
Indeed, whole perfection of Lhe magistery consists
' --a 'mingling
in the taking of conjoined and concordant bodies
'marriage ' 'male
of tkre subtle with the dense'--in a of and
' 'nothing
female, without which
is born ' (Jung, Aion, p. L67,
'The
n.50). And alchemist . knew definitely that as part
of the whole he had an image of the wtrole in himself, the
"firmament " " " Paracelsus cails it. This
O l o r y m p u s , a s
interior microcosm was the unwitting object of alchemical
r e s e a r c h ' ( o p . c 3 t . , p . L 6 4 ) .
Rather more metaphorically, we are told in The Golden
Tripod that 'gold is subdivided into its parts and made "what
it was before it became gold, " the "seed, the beginning, the
middle, and the end--that from which our gold is derived."'
198
At a later point Mercury is imprisoned "under the
ward of Vulcan"--is enclosed in a vessel and
heated--until he is liberated by a woman. Then
Saturn (lead) declares that Mercury must indeed be
i-mprisoned until he dies and is decomposed. This
sentence is confirmed by Jupiter (tin, or perhaps
magnesium; or, possibly, God), and Mars gives his
sword (iron) to Vulcan (ttre fire), so that Mercury
may be slaj-n and burned to ashes. While this is
being done, the Moon (silver) begs that her husband,
the Sun (gold) be liberated from the prison in
which, by Mercury 's craft, he has been confined;
but she is not heard, for more operations must be
performed (O_ccul! Fciencs:S, pp. L92-f93) .
Put somewhat differently,
a compounded substance must be decomposed by
something else, and the two substances will then
separate into purer forms; the volatile part, ar
vapor, will occupy most of the vial. Afterwards
the "swarr, " the whitish material part, will be
absorbed by the condensing vapor, or will absorb
it--a reaction meLaphorized as eatinq and sexual
unj-on (Occult gciences, p. I92) .
'marriage'
Worthy of note is the pivotal significance of
'interpreted
in the alchemical processes, often slzmbolically
as an experience of the mystic marriage of the soul,' as in
The of Ch.ristian Rosencreu.tz (Yates, The
_Clremical Wedding
Rogicrucian Enlj-qhtenment, pp. 59-69) -The latter describes
a gathering of twelve knights in twelve (zodiacatly
emblazoned) ships to attend a seven-day Roya1 Wedding,
'Fame,
heralded on Easter Eve by a vision of trumpet-wielding
'monas'
wtro delivers an invitation engraved with Dee's secret
slzmbol alongside verses beginning:
Thj-s d.y, this day, this, this,
The Royal Wedding is.
Art thou thereto by birth inclined,
And unto joy of God design'd?
Then may'st thou to the mountain tend
!{hereon three stately Temples stand
And there see all from end to end.
L99
Yates concludes:
Basically, it is an alchemical fantasia, using
the fundamental image of elemental fusion, the
marriage, the uniting of the sponsus and the
sponsa, touching also on the theme of death, the
niqredo through which the elements must pass in
the process of transmutation. Contemporary
alchemical emblems . provide visual illustrations
of the alchemical wedding, ttre alchemical
death, of the lions and virgins who typify, or
'chlzmists.'
conceal, the operations of the The
alchemical basis of Lhe story is underlined by
the fact that one Day is devoted to alchemical
work [Day #5] (ibid.) .
2) Iqlis-Innaturqlis,
or First Agent
D e R o l a c o n t i n u e s ( p p . 1 0 -1 1 ) :
Another operation is the preparation of the
secret fire, fqnis Lnnaturalis, also caIled
the natural fire. This secret fire , oy First
Agent, is described by alchemists as a dry
water that does not wet the hands, and as a
fire burning without flames.
The substance is subsequently identified by the same author
'a
as salt, prepared from cream of tarLar by a process razhich
requires skill and a perfect knowledge of chemistry. The
process involves the use of spring dew, collected by
'
ingenious and poetical means and distilled. rt will here be
'Rosy
recalled Lhat one interpretation of Cross' proposed by
'Ros ' 'dew ' 'Crux '
Frances Yates translated as (Latin) and
'light ' 'Iight ' 'fire '
as (cf. the confusion of and/or with
'gold, '
Caron & HuLin, p. L64). ft will also be remembered
'berth
that Belphoebe's was of the wombe of Morning dew,/
And her conception of the ioyous prime' (l'.e fIf .vi.3) .
It will be noted that the paradoxical habits of
perception that characterized treatment of the Prima Materia
have persisted. 'Agent,'
The we are told, is both unnatural
'
and natural; it is at once f ire ' and its antithesis, 'water '
(cf. the comparable union(s) of 'earth ' with ,air '
or
pnegma). It is distinct from the prima Materia, ds De Rola
impU-es, or identical with it, as suggested by Eliphas Levi,
,the
who sees it as determinj-ng f-qEns of modif iable
substance.' Accordinq to ,Juncr:
Besides ttre idea of the priJna mate.ria, that of
water (aqua permalens a?r,r--EaF6EEre (iqnis
-pGy )
nosteg) anEportant part . Although-fhese
two elements are antagonistic and even constitute
a typical pair of opposites, they are yet one and
the same according to the testimony of the authors.
Like the prima mat_eria the water has a thousand
naJnes; it is even said to be the original matcrial
of the stone. In spite of this we are on the other
hand assured that the water is extracted from the
stone or prima ma.teria as its life-giving soul
(agiFe) . The-philosophical witer j-s the
stone or the prima mategia itself; but at the same
time, it is also its solvent (psychol.oqy and
Alc.hemv, pp. 232-235) .
'vrfr
As witness he cites the Exercitatio in Turbam,, where
it is firmry and eraborately asserted that no matter what
' n a m e s ' a l c h e m i s t s a p p l y t o t h e , b e g i n n i n g ' a n d , e n d ' o f
their opus,
the whole work and the substance of the whole
work are nothing but the water, and . ttre
treatment [reqimsn] of the same also takes place
in nothing but the water. . I call it
"philosophical" water, not ordinary water
1vulq"rl
but aqu.a mercurialis, whether it be siinpTe or
composite. For both are the philosophical water,
20L
although the vulgar mercury is different from
the philosophical. That [water] is simple Iand]
unmixed, this [water] is composed of two
substances: namely of our mineral and of simple
water. These composiLe waters form the
philosophical Mercurius, from which it must be
assumed that the subsLance, or the prima materia
itself, consists of composite water. Some
Ialchemists] put three togettrer, others, only two.
For myself two species are sufficient: male and
female or brother and sj-ster. . But they
also call the simple water poison, quicksilver
[?rgentum v.ivuml , cambar, agua permangne, gurn,
vinegar, urine, sea-water, dragon, and serpent
(ibid. ) .
'Naas,
Now, the Naassenes considered the serpent, to be
their central deity, '
and they explained it as the "moist substance, "
in agreement with Thales of Miletus. who said
water was the prime substance on which all life
depended. Similarly, all living things depend on
the Naas; "it contains within itself, like the
horn of the one-horned bull, ttre beauty of all
thingis. " ft "pervades everything, like the water
that flows out of Eden and divides into four
',,
sources " ( i .. ). "This Eden, they say, is the
brain. " Three of the rivers of Paradise are
sensory functions . . ., but the fourth, the
Euphrates, is the mouth, "Lhe seat of prayer and
the entrance of food. " As the fourth function it
has a double significance, denoting on the one
hand the purely material activity of bodily
nourishment, vrhile on the other hand it "gladdens,
feeds, drrd forms . the spiritual, perfect
( ) man. " The "fourth " is something
special, ambivalent--a daimonion. A good example
of this is in Daniel 3: 24 f., where the three
men in the burning fiery furnace are joined by a
fourth, whose form was "like a son of God" (Jung,
Aion, p. f99).
The word "perfect" gives the sense of the Greek
I r correctly only when it refers to God.
But when it applies to a man/ who in addition is
in need of rebirth, it can at most mean "whole"
or "complete, " especially if . the complete
man cannot even be saved unless he passes through
this door.
202
The father of the "perfectus" is the higher
man or Protanthropos, who is "not clearly formed"
and "without qualities. " . He is called Papa
(attis) by the Phrygians. He is a bringer of
peace and quells "the war of the elements " in the
human body, a statement we meet again word for
word in medieval alchemy, where the filius
philoFoph.orum "makes peace between eil6ffiG or the
elements " (Jung, A:ig, pp. 2L2-2 f 3 ) .
Jung conjectures that
The extraordinary importance of the water in
alchemy goes back . to Gnostic sources:
"And water i-s honoured, and they believe in it
as if it were a god, going almost so far as to
allege that life arises therefrom" (Epiphanius,
Panarium, IXIII, cap. I) (Aion, p. L59, n.24).
Spenser in effect does no less in, for example, Fg I.i.2Lz
As when old father Nilus qins to swell
With timely pride ffi i.he eeqyptian vale,
His fattie wiues do fertile Efffiffi-twe1l,
And ouerflow each plaine and lowly dale:
But when his later spring gins to auale,
Huge heapes of mudd he leaues, wherein there breed
Ten thousancl l;.indes of creatures, partly male
And partly female of his fruitfull seed;
Such vgly monstrous shapes elswhere may no man reed
(FQ r.i.21)
(cf . FQ II.ix.2I-26; III.vL.B-9,47; TV.x.passim; YI.x.L2;
'spring'
VII .vii.L2,3:..,43,58). The of line 5 having read
'ebbe' 'men
in 1590, w€ are reminded that are born from the
ebb, and qods from the f low' (,Jung, Aion, p. 2O9)
'As
formulated, the water symbol continually coalesces
with Christ and Christ with the inner man'; and this is
'Christ
hardly surprising when it. is considered that as the
"Word" is indeed the "living water" and at the same time
the symbol of the inner "complete" man, the self':
The water of the Euphrates is the "water above
the firmament, " the "living water of which the
Saviour Spoke, " and possessing . magnetic
properties. It is that miraculous water from
which the olive draws its oil and the grape the
wine. "That man, " continues Hippolytus, ds
though still speaking of the water of the
Euphrates, "is without honour in the wor1d."
This is an allusion to the ' i' ,
Indeed, this water is the "perfect man, " the
I ,. 1' . ,. , the Word sent by God. "From the
living water we spiritual men choose that which
is ours, " for every nature, when dipped in this
water, "chooses its own substances . and from
this water goes forth to every nature that which
is proper to it. " The water or, as we could sdy,
this Christ is a sort of panspermia, a matrix of
all possibilities, from which the t" r' .,
chooses . his idiosyncrasy, that "flies to
him more [quickly] than iron to the magnet." But
the "spiritual men" attain their proper nature by
entering in through the "true door, " .Tesus
Makarios (the blessed), and thus obtaining
knowledge of their own wholeness, i.e., of the
complete man. This marl, unhonoured in the world,
is obviously the inner, spiritual man, who
becomes conscious for those who enter in through
Christ, the door to life, and are illuminated by
him. Two images are blended here: the image of
the "strait gate, " and Lhat of John L4:6: "I am
the way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father but through me" (Jung, Aion,
pp. L9e -200).
'From
the centre of the "perfect man" flows the ocean
(where, ds we have said, the god dwetls). The "perfect " man
is, as Jesus says, the "true door," through wtrich the
"perfect" man must go in order to be reborn' (perhaps derived
from John 7:38--'He who believes in me, as the scripture has
said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water) ':
So Spenser concludes his proem to Book VI with an appeal
to XII's Queen:
204
Then pardon me, most dreaded Soueraine,
That from your selfe f doe this vertue bring,
And to your selfe doe it returne againe:
So from the Ocean all riuers spring,
And tribute backe repay as to their King.
Right so from you all goodly vertues well
Into the rest. which round about you ring,
Faire Lords and Ladies, which about you dwell,
And doe adorne your Court, where courtesies excell
(vr.pro.7)
(cf . VI .proem.passim) .
'kingdom
Ttre long and eagerly awaited of God' is thus
said 'to be souqht within man' (Jung, Aion, pp. L9B -2O2).
From the earliest Gnostics, down through the Christian
fathers, and, eventually, to medieval HermetisLs and
and Renaissance Neo-Platonists alike,
the idea of the cosmic correspondence of the
"spiritual inner man" was something quite
familiar: in his first Homily on Genesis
[Origen] says that God first created heaven, the
whole spiritual substance, and that the counterpart
of this is "our mind, which is itself a
spirit, that is, it is our spiritual inner man
which sees and knows God" (Jungr Aion, p. 2L5).
'Logos, ' 'Archantl:ropos, '
And this or ralhommen's souls
follow to "the doors of Helios and the land of dreams, " is
'Hermes, '
a species of ultimately identified as "Oceanus,
the begetter of gods and men, ever ebbing and flowing, now
forth, now back. " Men are born from the ebb, and gods from
the f low' (,Jung, Aion, p. 2O9).
'hidden
The and mystical Logos is likened to the
phallus of Osiris --"and they say Osiris is water. "'
Although the substance of thi-s seed is ttre cause
of all things, it does not partake of their
nature. They say . "I become what I will, and
j-s
I am what I am." For he who moves everything
himse lf unmoved .
205
An alternative synonym is that of 'the ithyphallic Hermes
K y l l e n i o s ' :
"For they say Hermes is the Logos, the
interpreter and fashioner of what has been, is,
and will be. " Ttrat is why he is worshipped as
the phallus, because he, like the male organ,
"has an urge [ , ,,' ] from below upwards" (Jungf,
Aion.. pp. 2OL -2O2).
'the 'the
Called by the Naassenes polymorphous Attis,'
'Adonis,
young dying son of the Great Mother, ' as well as
Osiris, Adam, Korybas, Pan, Bacchus, and . shepherd of
white stars,' this deity is the invisible, undivided mid-point,
'the
"grain of mustard seed" that grows into the kingdom of
God,' the punctum salignj;--the 'utterance of God' in 'human
f o r m . '
b. The Two Vessels:
-
Eqq and Athanor
In a mortar of agate or other very hard substance, the
'pulverized
Prima Materia is with a pestle, mixed with the
secret fire, and moistened with dew ' (Oe Rola, p. f I) .
'compost'
The resulting is then enclosed in a
hermetically sealed vessel or
@,
j-n
which is pliced the
the Philosophers (ibid.l .
The Athanor is ideally so devised as to keep the Egg
within it at a constant temperature for long periods of time:
The outward fire stimulates the action of the
inner fire, and must therefore be restrained;
otherwise, even if the vessel does not break,
the whole work will be lost. In the initial
stage the heat is compared to that of a hen
206
sitting on her eggs. (fn more ways than one,
the natural process through which chickens are
lorn is
( i b i d . )
comparable to the alchemical process.)
Though an instrument, the vas Hermetis is A V A S
mirabile to the alchemists:
Maria Prophetissa says that the whole secret
lies in knowing about the Hermetic vessel. ,'Unum
est vas " (the vessel is one) is emphasized again
and again. It must be completely round, in
imitation of the spherical cosmos, so that the
influence of the stars may contribute to the
success of the operation. It is a kind of matrix
or uterus from which the filius philosophorum,
the miraculous stone, is to be born. Hence it is
required that the vessel be not only round but
egg-shaped. The vessel is . a mystical
idea, a true symbol like aII the central ideas of
alchemy. Thus we hear that the vas is the water
or aqua permanens, which is none-6Erer than the
Mercurius of the philosophers. But not only is
it the water, it is also its opposite: fire
(Psychology and Alcherny, pp. 236-238) .
Its synon)ims too are legion: e . g. , kingdom, island,
city, house. vessel (bowl, grail, cup, etc.), castle,
church; wheel (rota) , horoscope as a 'wheel of birth, ' and
so on. ft was circular or spherical and commonly made of
glass.
Labeled rotundum q11bile ('round bridal bed') by
Trevisanus (150) and 'the omega element, (' by Zosimos,
)
'rotundum ' 'the
may well signify head ' ('head ' al -so means
'beginnihg, ' ,head
as in of the Nj _le '): some writers
'the 'the
identified skulI ' as vessel of transformation,,
and the "philosophers" styled themselves
"children of the golden head, " which is probabty
slmonlzmous with "fi-lii sapientiae. " The vas is
often synonlzmous with the lapis, so that ffire
207
is no difference between the vessel and its
content; in other words, it is the same arcanum
(Aion, pp. 238-239) .
'Tt:e
true philosophical Pelican' distilling vessel par
excellence, is named for a bird believed to nourish its
young with its own heart's blood, and is thus an allegory of
'with
Christ, blood pouring from the lance wound in his
breast ("flumina de ventre Christi "
The round Hermetic vessel in which the mysterious
transformation j-s accomplished is God himself, the
(Platonic) world -soul and man 's own wholeness. It
is, therefore, another counterpart of the Anthropos,
and at the same ti-me the universe in its smallest
and most material form (gp. cit., pp. 24L -242) .
'Error '
The f ignrre of in FQ f .i.11 -28 is an unmistakable
parody of the alchemical 'Pelican,' while a more devout
version--indeed, a species of 'HoIy Grail' (cf. the frequent
m e d i e v a l c o n f u s i o n o f C h r i s t ' s G r a i l w i t h a h o l y ' S t o n e ' ) --
is implied in the f igure of '@b.er, ' who 'in his hand a
broad deepe boawle . beares;/Of which, he freely drinks
an health to all his peeres' (FQ VIf .vii .4L) . The last
interpretation is reinforced by a (not unnatural) conflation
'December' 'Wint_er'
of with the of FQ VII .vii.31, from whose
'purpled 'duIl 'As
bill' drops' from a limbeck did adown
'
distill.
In Jung's own sketch of the Pelican purportedly
'Tractatus
described in the aureus,' alpha "'is the inside,
as it were the orj-gi-n and source from which the other
letters flow, and likewise the final goal to which all the
others flow back, as rivers flow into the ocean or into
the great sea, "' (cf . F,QVf .pro.7) as follows
i ,
'-fpir,
where the small central circle is designated
(Ai-o.n,
p. 24o).
The alchemists describe the "round element" now
as primal water, now as primal fire, or as pneuma,
primal earth, oy "corpusculum nostrae sapientid€, "
the little body of our wisdom. As water or fire
it is the universal solvent; as stone and metal it
is something that has to be dissolved and changed
into air (pneuma, spirit) (gp. cit., pp. 237 -238) .
'There
is one stone, one medicine, one vessel, one method,
one
disposition ' (op. cj-t., p. 239, n.53) .
'vessels
However, alchemical of transformation' are
divided by ,Jung into those that emphasize (relatively
'containment '
static)
wilhin a closed djmension --e.g., in a
castle, church, house, vessel, etc.; and those that stress
'rotation' 'ritual
a mobile throuqh a cycle of circumambu'
wheel '
lation, ' as in the case of the (rota) of the year,
the zodiac, Fortuna, and the like (ep. cit., p. 224; cf . his
'space -time '
systematization of
co -ordinates, pp. 35t -354).
'Pelican, '
So a the distilling vessel of the alchemists and
'an
allegory of Christ,' is sketched by Jung as consisting
essentia11yofacircu1ar.body,(the'ro.tu.ndum.of'@,
'circle '--the 'soul'
or Prima Mater.ia) . A smaIler, central
--represents 'alpha' 'omega'
at once ttre and of the former's
being (in this case, apparently, the twenty-four letters of
tJre Greek alphabet). Mediating between them
are the vertical
and horizontal axes wherebv the mvstical divisio and
separatio of the composite
are accomplished:
The separation or unmixing enables
the alchemist
to extract the or spir+tus from the prima
"."lln?
----._
materi-a. ourin$Es opffiEn-trre rreipiui
J errv rrvlvlql
Mercuri-us
appears with the dividing =woid (used
also-by the adeptl), rarhich the sethians refer
to
Matthew LO:34:
"f came not to send peace, but asword-" The resurt of the unmixing is that what
was previously mixed up with the ',other" is now
drawn to "its own place" and to that which is
',akin', ,'Iike
"proper,, or to
it, iron to the
m a g n e t ( c ! . c i t . , p . 1 8 7 ) .
They are like 'the invisible rays of heaven meeting together
at the centre of the earth, . there . shining with
a " h e a v e n l y l i g h t l i k e a c a r b u n c l e " , ( v ! 2 . , r a d l i l ; i b i d . ,
'magnetic
n.12).
The agent, must then extract the aqqa
permanens 'silver
from the water'of the united rays of both
sun and moon.
clearry, ds in the case of (passive, feminine) Matter
and (active, masculine) Agent --or 'substance ' ,form, -
and
the alchemical 'Vessef is simultaneously ,One ' ,Two,:
and
'Athanor,'
'Egg'
with a womb-rike at its core. Jung
translates Pseudo-Aristotle 'circulation
on the of spirits
or circular distillati -on '
within the Vessel as follows:
that is,
the outside to the i-nsid.e, the inside
to the outside, likewise the rower
and the upper,
and_wlren they meet together in one circler
lou
could no l0nger recognize what was outside or
inside, or lower or upper;
but aIl would be one
thing in one circle or vesser. For this vesser
is the true phirosophical perican,
and there is
no other to be sought for in a1l the world
(psvcholoqy
and Alchemv, p. I2B, n.44).
The diagram reproduced above irlustrates this process, with
tJ-e accompanying explanation:
2LO
The little circle is the "inside, " and the circle
divided into four is the "outside": four rivers
flowing in and out of tlee inner "ocean" (ibid.).
El-sewhere (alchemical Studi_e,s, p. 79) Jung explains such
'unity'
cosmic as the result of a reconciliation of
diametrj-cally opposed forces:
Two principles balance one another, active and
passive, masculine and feminine, which constitute
the essence of creatj-ve power in the eternal cycle
of birth and death. This cycle was represented in
ancj-ent alchemy by the slzmbol of the uroboros,
the dragon that bites its own tail. Self-devouring
is the same as self-destruction, but the union of
the dragon's tail and mouth was also thought of as
self-fertilization. Hence the texts say: "The
dragon slays itself, weds iLself, impregnates
i t s e l f . "
The 'dual' aspect may be underscored in related images:
e.9., two serpents or dragons (one black and one white)
engaged in combaL and/or copulation; the hermaphroditic
ideal of Plato's Symposium (likewise a circle, made of two
complementary halves), and so forth.
'hermaphrodite'
ft is here worth noting that the figure
is central in alchemical iconography where, according to
Jung (A.lchemical Studies, p. 32O), it symbolizes the pivotal
'man ' 'prince ' 'water ' 'treer '
or who, along with and is
'stone. '
synonlzrnous with the alchemical
"Thus the stone is perfected of and in itself.
For it. is the tree whose branches, leaves,
flowers, and fruits come from it and through it
and for it, and it is itself whole or the whole
. and nothing else. " Hence the tree is
identical with the stone and, like it, a slzmbol
of wholeness (gB. cit., pp. 319 -320).
'Herqgphlodite,'
The according to Kathleen Williams (151)
2LL
is the symbol of marriage, as 'vrierl as of the necessary
'concord
of opposites on which the world depends, and
individual human werfare also.' The frequent appearance of
-s
th jf igure in Spenser's Fasrie eueeng can hardly be
dismissed as coincidental (cf. Fg rrr.xii, old ending;
IV.x; VTI.vii.5) .
Now, if instead of the vas Hermetis the vas natu,rale
-
is the matr jx, ,it is ttre
"One in which there are three things, namely
water, air, and fire. They are three glass
alembics, in which the son of the philosophers
is begotten. Therefore they have named iL
tincture, blood, and egg.',
The three alembics are an allusion to the Trinity' (aion,
p. 24L; citatj-on from Aurora consurqens, Art. aurif I,
.
p. 2o3i illustration from p. 249 of l5BB edition of pandqrE
reproduced in Alchemi_cal_s$,udies, plate 94 of ,paracelsus'),
signifying'three -in -one.,
In other words, as in Cabalist tradition,
Fire and water act as opposing forces with tJee
element of air serving as the intermediary
between the two. Air is able to reconcil_e these
antagonistic forces because of the domination it
holds over them (Western Mystical Tr-adition,
p. 27L).
So, in'Alchemy,
Fire and Water are united through their qualities,
heat and moisture; ttris union takes place in Air,
and is achieved by Mercury (Oe Rola,
A&&Ey,
legend to Fig. 36; cf . Amorgtti #60; FO III.vi.B -9,
47 ff .; VrI.vii.53 -56 ffif
We therefore conclude thac Lhe Hermetic vessel is
212
perfectly round or sptrerical, divisible into
four equal
'seed'
quarters, and animated by the quintessential of a
divine 'spirit' at its core (pather, crucified Son, and
HoIy Ghost, respectively). The natural vas, in contrast, is
'egg'-shaped or ovoid and subdivides by three, of vvtrich the
'son, '
j-ntermediate term will be the lapis--the the herma'
E.gg, '
phroditic offspring of Sol and Luna-The of course,
is the 'womb' or 'matrix' of life (variously identified as
Earth, Natura, Chaos, Christ 's Virgin Mother, etc.), wherein
Fire and Water conjoin in the germination of a composite
pneum-a (respective reflections of the HoIy Spirit, Father,
'inspiring ' 'Air ' 'Love '
of that
and Son -as -Logos) --the
mediates between inferior and superior domains of subterranean
'salt'
and supercelestial Beauty, like the knot of binding
volatile 'mercury' to f ixed 'sulphur' in the alchemical
opus. The circular design suggests ttre first and final
Ideal Pattern of God's Creation, pre-FalI and post-Judgiment:
essentially masculine, the form suggested is that of a
Celtic cross ( ) within the spherical contours of a
|
'cruciform 'redemption the
halo,' ( " ) slzmbolic of through
'when or God and
Crucifixion used behind the head of Christ
christ in one' (lI5). The oval frame, on the other hand, is
'almond, ds in
a mandorla (the
signifying divine approval,
the miraculous blossoming of Aaron 's rod in Num. L7zB,
'priest
signaling his choice as of the Lord ') or else a
vesi-ca piscis ( 'f ish bladder') emblem of feminine fertility'
:
2L3
'enclosing
usually the body of Christ or of Mary' (our
'intercessor ,
heavenly for the fIesh, as John is for the
'the
spirit), and representing as such Virgin in Glory, (94).
In her reside all Trinitiesr in hj-m Quaternj-ties.
2. Alchemical Transformations
a. Ory. qnd Two, or Unjltv v_ersgs Dualitv
'unity
The ultimate of the A11 in the One' has been
'a
termed by Yates basic tenet of Hermetism,'
a most solid foundation for the truths and secrets
of nature. For you must know that it is by one and
the sarne ladder that nature descends to the
production of things and the intellect ascends to
the knowledge of them; and that the one and the
other proceeds from unity and returns to unity,
passing through the multitude of things in the
middle;
and elsewhere:
The summgmbonum, the supremely desirable, the
supreme perfection and beatitude consists in the
unity vrhich informs tJre all. . May the gods
be praised and may all living beings magnify tJ:e
infinite, the most simple, the most one, the most
high, the most absolute cause, beginning and one.
(Bruno, p. 248) .
De Rola summarizes (op. cit., p. L4)z
Everything comes from the One and returns to the
One, by ttre One, for the One. Thus speaks,
reassuringly, Ouroboros (a snake or dragon eating
its own tail), the eloquent symbol of the Infinite
Eternal One, which represents perfectly the Great
Cyc1e of the universe, as well as the Great Work
whi-ch reflects i-t: perfect stillness and perfect
motion.
And Jung elaborates as follows:
2L4
The dragon in itself is a monstrum--a symbol
combinifrg the chthonic prffir the serpent
and the aerial principle of the bird. It is
a variant of Mercurius. But Mercurius is tl:e
divine winged Hermes manifest in matter, the god of
revelation, lord of thought and sovereign psychopomp.
flre liquid metal, arqe_ntym vi_rrum--"living silver, "
quicksilver--was the wonderful substance that
perfectly expressed the nature of the :
that vrhich glistens and animates within. When the
alchemist speaks of Mercurius, on the face of it
he means quicksilver, but inwardly he means the
world-creating spirj-t concealed or imprisoned in
matter. The dragon is probably the oldest
pictori-aI symbol in alchemy of which we have
documentary evidence. It appears as the ,
the tail-eater, in the Codex Marcianus, which dates
from the tenttr or eleventJ: century, together with
the leqend: ; (the One, the A11) . Time
and again the alchemists reiterate that the opus
proceeds from the one and leads back to the one,
that it is a sort of circle like a dragon biting
its own tail. For this reason the opus was often
called circulare (circular) or elseEa (the
wheel) .-Giffius stands at the befrIfing and end
of the work: he is the prima materia, ttre caput
corvi, the nigredo; as dragon he devours himself
and as dragon he dies, to rise again as the lapis.
j-s
He tJ.e play of colours in ttre cauda pavonis and
the division into four elements. He is the
hermaphrodite that was in the beginning, that
splits into ttre classical brother-sister duality
and is reunited in ttre coniuqctio, to appear once
again at the end in ttreffiEorm of the lumen
novuln, ttre stone. He j-s metallic yet liguia;matter
yet spirit, cold yet fiery, poison and yet
healing draught--a symbol uniting all opposites
(Psvcholo.qy and Alchemy, pp . 29L-295) .
_
'dragon'
Ttre Greek word draco or dsakoll means both and
'snake'
or rserpent.' Later tradition distinguished the two,
'dragons'
and by the time of the Renaissance had become rather
consistently associated with evil, Satan, and HelI, whereas
'serpent'
the remained ambivalent. On Lhe one hand, of
'represents
course, it evj-l, drrd Satan, who tempted Eve in
2L5
this sinuous form (Cen. 3:1) In Eden the serpent is wound
around the trunk of a tree, pointing its head to the apple.
It sometimes has a woman 's face. '
The snake equates with evil and death because
of the venom of its tongue and it,s ability to
strike quickly, silently, and mortally.
Traditionally, the snake sheds it skin annually
and emerges with regained youth, once again able
to seduce the unsuspectj-ng. .
A serpent with an apple in its mouth
j-s
encircling the globe a symbol of the sin of
man which Mary conquers with the Immaculate
Conception. Mary stands on top of the globe
trampling the serpent beneath her feet. It was
believed that all snakes stayed in their holes on
Augmst 15, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.
On the other hand, 'snathe ke' 'is the symbol of wisdom,'
and 'A snake with its tail in its mouth, making a circle,
represents eternity.' fn addition,
A serpent wound around a cross is a slzmbol of
Christ crucified, in reference to the Old Testament
story of Moses and the Brazen Serpent (wum. 2l:B).
A small snake emerging from a chalice is an
attribute of St. John [the Evangelist] (ibid.).
Iconography and interpretation of the reptilian contours
'Unityt
depend upon whether emphasis is on or on the
'Diversity'
it contains, and, secondly, oo whether the
'Diversity '
is in a state of conflict (nrig) or one of
concord (Bros). Representations range from pure geometrical
patterns (e.9., circles; e99s, etc.), to symbolic substances
'water'; 'earth,'etc.),
(e.g., streams of bodies of and
their shadowy embodjments in the animal (fishes, snakes,
birds, etc.), plant (rose; vine, etc.), and mineral (gold;
'natural'
mercury) kingdoms of Lhe lowly realm. The latter,
2L6
along with their brighter planetary (seven spheres) and
zodiacal (twelve signs, each with three images and ten
'decans, ' in a
for a total of 360, or the number of degrees
'ladder '
circlel) reflecLions, suggest a kind of from nadir
to apex of Creation. Imagery draws upon religious ceremonials;
astronomy and astrology; music and dance; the power of
language, words, names, alphabets; natural philosophy,
physics, and medicine--indeed, upon every area of human
knowledge and experience.
'Unity '
Perfect is classically depicted as a perfect
'sphere ' 'circ1e, '
or as De Rola illustrates in the Uroboros figure
of his first plate:
The dragon feeding on its own tail is an emblem
of the eternal, cyclic nature of the universe
('from the One to the One ') . Here as in all
alchemical art the colouring is part of the
message: green is the colour of the beginning;
red is associated with the goal of the Great Work
(alchemv, pp. 32 -33).
'nature ' 'royalty, '
The colors are those of and of
'duality-in-unity'
respectively; and to this basic are added
'three ' 'four '
horns and legs1 (Compare Puttenham 's final
'love
emblem symbolic of and hate' on the private leveI,
'justice
and mercy ' on the royal plane.)
Sometimes the inner circle is represented by a central
point. Thus, Plotinus says of the individual man,
the soul's natural movement is not in a straight
line. . On the contrary, it circles around
something interior, around a centre. Now the
centre is that from rvhich proceeds the circle,
that is, the soul. . The soul will therefore
2L7
move around the centre, that is around the
principle from raihich she proceeds . for
divinity consists in being attached to the
centre. . Anyone who withdraws from it
is a man who has remained un-unified, or who
is a brute (L52) .
Likewise, in the Timaeus Plato proposes that when the
celestial waters ('spirit in alchemy almost invariably has
a relation to water or to the radical moisture, ' as Jung
explains in Alchemical Studies, p. 75) were first animated
by the spirit, they fel1 immediately into a circular motion,
from which arose the perfect spherical form of the anima
'End' 'beginning'
mundi. and are alike represented at the
'means'
pivotal center, while the sum of the particular
medi-ating between them is symbolized by the circumference.
The resulting form is the 'so1ar hieroglyph' : -:.1.
When the whole is methodically quartered by the
' s w o r d -l i k e ' ' c r o s s ' o f t h e v e r t i c a l a n d h o r i z o n t a l a x e s
'radii '), 'crucifixion '
(i.e., four primary the of Christ
'the
Son 'is implied, and the emblem t i'l becomes symbolic
'Trinity'
of the divine (Father in the periphery, Holy Spirit
'Earth ').
at center) --among other things (e.g., Christ thus
'snake'
undoes the evil of the Satanic circling the tree
trunk in the prelapsarian Garden, in an emblem reminiscent of
the therapeutic symbol of the Roman god of
medicine Aesculapius, which has survived to
modern times as a sign of the medical profession.
This was originally a nonpoisonous tree snake;
as we see it, coiled around the staff of the
healing god, it seems to embody a kind of mediation
between earth and heaven (Man an4 His S)zmbo1s,
pp. 153-155).
2LB
'Egyptian
A principal icon of Religion,' its meanings are
explored by 'Hermes Trismegistus' in the influential
Asclepjus (also known as The Perfecj. Word, ot 'On the Divine
'
Will, according to Yates, Bruno, pp. 20, 35 & ff .) --tfre
'divine
second of the two books' of the Corpus Hermeticum
translated by Ficino at the end of the fifteenth cenLury.
According to the Paracelsan school, on the other hand,
'serpent'
the is the feminine elementum primor_dial_e or
maternal increatug, endlessly providing substance (s) for all
'womb'
Creation. It is that dark, primordial of inchoate
'matter' 'magic' 'word'
into which God breathed his in the
Book of Genesis. The Emerald Tab1e likens the pr.ima materjla
'the
to state of the world at the beginning of Genesis,
before the constitution and sepa-ration of all things into
distinct elements '--which is to sdy, it is a dea mater,
equivalent to the Deity Himself. Hers is the darkness over
'broods '
which the Holy Spirit in Genesis I:3, and which has
ever since been ubiquitous:
According to Ripley the prima materia is water;
it is the material principle of all bodies,
including mercury. It is the hyle wtrich the
divine act of creation brought forth from the
chaos as a dark sphere. . The chaos is a
massa confusa that qives birth to the stone. .
meT-)ffiater c6ntains a hidden elemental
fire. . . According to Hortulanus, the stone
arises from a massa confusq containing in itself
all the elemenffihe wor-]d came forth
from a chaos confusum, so does the stone. .
The cosmogony of Empedokles is also relevant:
here the (spherical being) springs from
the union of dissimilars, owing to the influence
ot '..i . The definiLion of this spherical
2L9
t'r':ttthe
i'tl"',
being as " u"'"i: r'-'''' most serene
God, " sheds a special light on the perfect,
,'round,'
nature of the lapis, which arises from,
and constitutes the primal sphere; hence the
trrilna materia is often called lapis. The initial
state is the hidden state, but by the art and the
grace of God it can be transmuted into the second,
manifest state. That is why the prima mgteria
sometimes coincides with the idea of the initial
stage of the process, the niqredo. It is then
the black earth in which the gold or the lapis is
sown like the grain of wheat. It is the black,
magically fecund earth that Adam took with him
from Paradise, also called antimony and described
as a "black blacker than black" (niqrum niqrius
niqro) (ep. cit., pp. 323 -327) .
According to ,Jung in Psychology aqd-Alclrgmy (pp. 319-323),
this unique (unica) materja is a great secret
having nothing in common with the elements. It
fills the entire reqio aethgre.a, and is the mother
of the elements and of all created things. Nothing
can express this mystery, nor has it been created.
. This uncreated mystery was prepared
(praeparatum) by God in such a way that nothing
will ever be like it in the future nor will it ever
return to what it was. For it was so corrupted as
to be beyond reparat,ion (which presumably refers
to the FaII).
Only the conceptj-on of the Christ child in the womb of His
Virgin Mother by an inflation of the Holy Spirit can be
'beginnings '
cited as comparably mysterious (i.e., the of
both Testaments).
The dea mater, or Physis, becomes enamored of the perfect
beauty of the Holy Spirit as He bends down over her
'in
reflecting waters, and quickly locks Him a passionate
embrace.' According to Christopher Steeb,
The brooding of the Holy Spirit upon the waters
above the firmament brought forth a power which
permeates all things in the most subtle wdy, warms
them, and, in conjunction with the lighL, generates
220
in the mineral kingdom of the lower world the
mercurial serpent, in the plant kingdom the
blessed greenness, and in the animal kingdom the
formatj-ve power; so that the supracelestial
spirit of the waters, united with the light, may
fitly be called the soul of the world (f53).
'an
He is thus the spirit hidden in matter, avatar of
' 'an
the divine 4ggg, and incarnation of the Logos by
"pneumatic" impregnation.' He becomes the indivisible
central point, the pivotal gleam of go1d, whose meanings
have been summarized by Jung as follows (Aion, pp. 22O-22L) z
The symbol of the point is found also in alchemy,
where it stands for the arcane substance; in
Michael Maier it, signifies "the purity or
homogeneity of the essence. " It is the "punctum
solis" in the egg-yo1k, which grows into a chick.
fn i{runrath it represents Sapientia in the form
of the "salt-point"; in Maier it symbolizes gold.
To the scholiast of the "Tractatus aureus" it is
the midpoint, the "circulus exiguus" and "mediator"
which reconciles the hostile elements and "by
persistent rotation changes the angular form of
the square into a circular one like itself. " For
Dorn the "punctum vix inteltigible" is the starting
point of creation. Similarly John Dee says that
all things originated from the point and the monad.
Indeed, God himself is simultaneously both the
centre and the circumference, In Mylius the point
is called the bird of Hermes. In the "Novum lumen"
it is spirit and fire, the life of the arcane
substance, similar to the spark. .
From these citations we can see how Chri-st
was assimilated to symbols Lhat also meant the
kingdom of God, for instance the grain of mustard-
seed, the hidden treasure, and the pearly of great
price. He and his kingdom have the same meaning.
A perpetual'beginnihg,' or natura perpetua et infinita
like the increatum of Paracelsus, is signified by an
'Egg-shaped' primordials
periphery, in which the elementum
-cate
is commonly framed to ind jits formlessness. Like a big
22L
'Zero, ' 'nonbeing,
it is equivalent to symbolic of potential
force, like the egg' (Si11, A_Handbook of Slzmbols, p. L37) .
A tree, a branch, or other arboreal appendages are often
'serpentine'
woven through it, in Ioops and spirals. In
'circular '
Now, both these are perhaps most remarkable
c o n t r a s t , o f c o u r s e , i n t h e v i r i l e l y U r o b o r o s
discussed above, the 'ovoid' must be regarded as a radix
ipsius, comprising only the head and tail of the self-
devouring serpent, which expands into several things and at
length returns again to the one.
'unities'
for their unique ability to so merge or fuse diametrical
opposites that at length the two foes share a single
identity. Dry and moist, hot and cold, male and female, sun
and moon, gold and silver, mercury and sulphur, round and
square, water and fire, Volatile and solid, soul and body,
superior and inferior, first and last, inward and outward,
'Rebis'
etc. are among the tradj-tional components of such a
''
('fhing -Two, or Two Things in One ') .
Here two serpents are required, so the ca.duceuq of
Hermes (or Mercury) fittingly replaces the sign of Aesculapius
as better illustrating life 's high vs. low, masculine vs.
feminine extremes, that engage alternately in murderous
combat and sexual intercourse with one another. In these
'they
engagements signify, according to their posi-tion,
either the fixation of the volatile or the volatilization of
the fixed ' (Caron & Hutin, The Alchemists _, pp. L4L -I42).
222
-'
Alchemy 's microcosmic 're creation of the (original)
'process 'effected
of creation ' is thus conceived as by the
interplay of forces symbolized by two dragons, one black and
one white' (De Rola, Alchemy, pp. L6-L7) , which are
Iocked in eternal circular combat. The white
one is winged, or vo1atile, the black one
wingless, ar fixed; they are accompanied by the
universal alchemical formula solve et coagula.
This formula and this emblem ffiEofTZe-Eet
alternating role of the two indispensable halves
that compose the Whole . alternate dissolution,
which is a spiritualization or sublimaLf6i-Esolids,
with coaqulation, that is to say a
re-materialization of the purified products of the
first operation. Its cyclic aspect is clearly
'Solvite
expressed by Nicolas Valois: corpora et
-
'Dissolve@
colqulate s-piritum' :
coagulate the spirit. '
'strife, '
Eris, or being Cupid 's elder brother, acts
'extremes '
first to establish conflict(s) between antithetical
(e.9., between masculine and femine; or between a prince and
his subjects). A fourteenth century adept's commentary on
this process of division is translated by De Rola as follows
(el _cheJny,p. 16):
'He
(Hermes) says this because the Stone is
divided into two principal parts by the Maqister.ium
[the Work], j-nto the superior part that rises
above, and the inferior part that remains below,
fixed and clear.' [Here reference is made to the
separation from the original chaos of two principles,
the volatile or essence, which rises in the vessel,
and the fixed or dense matter. The former is
often called the spirit and the latter body.l
'And
however these two parts are concordant
l-n virtue. And for this he says that what is above
1q
like what is below.
'rhlFTiils6n-Ts
certainly nece ssary. To
perpetrate the mir_ac.les of one thinq, that is to
say the Stone. For the inferior part is the Earth
which is called the nurse and ferment; and the
223
superior part is the soul, which vivifies and
resuscitates the whole Stone. And for this the
separation is made, the conjunction celebrated,
and many miracles come to be perpetrated and
done within the secret work of Nature.'
'retort'
fn other words, if the in question is regarded
'One '
as in essence, it is related to the cosmic Uroboros,
or to 'Baal' (sometimes spelLed 'Eg!' --cf . 'Bel,/phoebe ' I )
'ruler 'source
who was of the universe, ' of life and
'the
fertility, ' as well as mightiest hero, and the lord of
'tjme-Serpent, '
war' in the ancient Babylonian pantheon. The
originally depicted as enfolding the tricephalous monster
that traditionally accompanied the Egyptian solar deity
'Apol1o'
Serapis, subsequently joined images of as well as
'Prudence ';
of and the draco of Asclepius (l,atin:
Aescglgpius; cf. the influential work by that name in the
Corpus. Hermeticum) wound around his staff.
'legendary 'son
This last Greek physician' was the of
Apollo and Coronis ':
His first teacher was the wise centaur Chiron.
When he became so skillful in healing that he
could revive the dead, Zeus killed him. Apollo
persuaded Zeus to make Asclepius the god of
medicine. . The serpent and the cock were
sacred to Asclepius (The.
_Col}mb-ia -Encyclopedi.a,
p. tI6).
The sick were treated in his temples, with medicines,
massages and baths. Spenser describes his woeful fate in
44
FQ I .v.36 -.
The alternative is a linking of tw.o serpents, ds in
Puttenham's description of the Chinese Emperor's device,
224
which was a traditional slzmbol of alchemical process as
well as of Hermes ' caduceus. Mercury 's'snakv -wreathed
Mace, whose aufull power/Ooth make both Gods and heltish
'
f iends af fraid (FQ VIf .vi.18) is a
wing-topped staff, with two snakes winding about
it, carried by HERMES,given to him (according to
one legend) by Apollo. The slzmbol of two
intertwined snakes appeared early in Babylonia
and is related to other serpent symbols of
fertility, of sun -gods, of wisdom, and of healing.
This staff of Hermes was carried by Greek heralds
and ambassadors and became a Roman slzmbol for
Lruce, neutrality, and noncombatant status. The
caduceus . since the 16th cent. has largely
replaced the one-snake slzmbol of Asclepius as a
slzmbol of medi-cine (Colulnbia Encyclopedia, p. 3L2) .
These are the two Alchemical Serpents (cf . FQ IV.ii-;i.42,
VII.vi.18), which may alternatively appear as a hybrid monster
'Melusina,'or
(e.g., the snake-woman,as in4"I.i.14 aff.;
' 'Beast '
the f ixed -and -volatile ' of FQ I.xi.B & ff .; cf .
Pythagoras' emblem, page 222 6,5sys1, or as two paired
'two
animals (e.9., the grim lyons ' of FQ IV.iii.39), of
'horses '
whj -ch one is often black, the other white (e.9., the
'rats '
of Plato 's Timaeus and in VfI.vi.B -g; the of
Q
'Night ' 'Dry, ' 'garland '
and FQ VII.vii.44 -47); or else as a
'leaves, ' 'flowers, '
made up of one or more flourishing
'fruits, ' 'branches, ' 'vines, ' --showing, 'the
etc. as in
alchemical illustraLions the opus as a tree and its
phases as the leaves ' (Jung, Alchemical Studles, pp. 25L -349,
esp. p. 313; cf. Panofsky, Studies in lconqloqy, pp. 69 -93).
225
b. Three versus Four
It should be borne in mind throughout that the physical
'allegory'
procedures of alchemy represent as weII an of
metaphysical disciplines of varying complexity as well as
solemnity.
De Rola gives a useful summary of the basic alchemical
operations on pages LL-L2 of his handy Alchelnv, which I
shall here further condense and paraphrase.
'three
He recognizes stones, or three works, ot three
degrees of perfection, within the Work. '
'The
I) first work ends when the subject has been
perfectly purified (by means of repeated distiltation and
'
solidification) and reduced into a pure mercurial substance.
'The
fhis is accomplished in the following manner: two
principles within the }La}eria Prima--one solar, hot and
ma1e, known as sulphur, the other lunar, cold and female,
known as mercury--interact' with murderous hostility within
'sepulcher'
the of the Egg, resulting in their mutual
'separation, ' 'is
destruction. Death, here symbolized by
followed by a long process of decay which lasts until all
is putrefied and the opposites dissolved in the liquid
'No
niqrsdo': for, there is generation without corruption.'
The nigredo phase ends with the appearance on the
surface of a starry aspect, which is likened to
the night sky which told shepherds and kings that
a child was born in Bethlehem. And so the first
work, the first degree of perfection. nears
completion uzhen, from Lhe mutual destruction of
226
conjoint opposites, there appears the metallic,
volatile humidity which is the Mercury of the Wise.
'The
2) second degree of perfection is attained when
our same subject has been cooked, digested and fixed into an
incombustible sulphur.' It is achieved as follows:
The volatile principle of Mercury flies through
the alchemical air, within the microcosm of the
'in
Philosophical Egg, the belly of the wind ',
receiving the celesLial and purifying influences
above. It falls again, sublimated, on the New
Earth which must eventually emerge. As the outer
fire is very slowly intensified, the moj-st yields
Lo the dry until the coagulation and desiccation
of the emerging continent is complete. V0hile this
is happening, a great number of beautiful colours
appear, corresponding to a stage known as the
Peacock 's Tail.
'second
The end of the work' comes with the
appearance of the Whiteness, albedo. Once the
Whiteness is reached, our subject is said to have
acquired sufficient strength to resist the ardours
of the fire, and it is only one step more until
the Red King or Sulphur of the Wise appears out
of Lhe womb of his mother and sister, Isis or
mercury, Rosa Albg, the White Rose.
3) 'The third stone appears when the subject has been
fermented, multiplied and brought to the Ultimate Perfection,
a fixed, permanent, tingent tincture: the Philosophers'
' S t o n e .
The third work recapitulates the operations of
the firsL, with a new significance. It begins
with the pomp of a royal wddding. The King is
reunited in the Fire of Love (the salt or secret
fire) with his blessed Queen. Just as Cadmus
pierced the serpent with his spear, the red
sulphur fixes the white mercury; and from their
reunion the ultimate perfection is effected, and
the Philosophers' Stone is born.
Jung's survey is basically the same:
The nigredo or blackness is the iniLial state,
r:ither present from the beginning as a quality
227
of the primg mategia, the chaos or massa confusa,
or else produced by the separation (solut.io,
separ.aLio, divisio, putrefactio) of the elements.
If the separated condition is assumed at the
start, ds sometimes happens, then a union of
opposj-tes is performed under the likeness of a
union of male and female (called the conjlgglum,
matlinlslium, coni]:nctio, coitus ) , totT@trre
death of the product of the union (mortiEicatio,
calci,natio, putrefactio) and a corresponding
niqrsdo. From this the washing (abIu.tio, b.aBti.sma)
either leads direct to the whitening (albe-do) , or
else the soul (anima) released at the "death" is
reunited with the dead body and brings about its
resurrection, or again the "many colours" (re
,
colores) or "peacock 's tail " (cauda payonis),
lead to the one white colour that contains all
colours. At this point the first main goal of the
process is reached, namely the albedo, tinctura
alba, terra alba foliata, albus, etc., hi ghly
-lap,is
prized by many alchemists as if it were the
ultimate goal. It is the silver or moon condition,
which still has to be raised to the sun condition.
The albedo is, so to speak, the dal4creak, but not
ti11 the rubedo then follows direct from the
albeQo as-EETesult of raising the heat of Lhe
EfTo its highest intensity. The red and rarhite
are King and Queen, who may also celebrate their
"chlzmical wedding" at this stage (Prsvcholoqv and
Alchelnv, pp. 230 -232) .
'the
Other alchemical trj-plets include: a) three
unrealized principles or potentialities of the Great Work'
contained in the Chaos or Prima Materia: sulphur, salt and
'Trinity 'Spirit,
mercury (the of Matter '); b) Body and Soul
'Father,
in the Microcosm of Man'; and c) Son and Holy Ghost
in the Macrocosm of God ':
fn each of the three regi-ons, the three principles
(tne rrinity) are three aspects of one thing:
UN] -EV.
This unity is unmanifested and therefore
unknown, just as the fundamental uniLy of the three
kingdoms (animal, vegetable and mineral) is
unknown. The Great Work consists in a manifestation
of this fundamental unity of the three kingdoms,
228
in the three kingdoms. It consists in makinq
known or visible what is occult, subtle and
invisible, and in making occult, subtle and
invisible what is known and visible (Oe Aola, pp.
Le_20) .
To these we might add the three theological virtues of Faith,
Hope, and Charity, ds well as their lesser reflecti_ons in
'Three
pagan mythology (e.9., Venus ' Graces '; the inexorable
'Three
Fates, ' etc.); and the three basic temporal divisions,
viz., past, present, and future, oy begi-nning, middle, and
end. The triad is praised by George puttenl:am in The Frte of
Enqlish Poesie (smith edition, vol. ii, p. 7L) as forlows:
euery number Arithmeticall aboue three is
compounded of the inferiour number, ds twise two
make foure, but the three is made of one number,
videl. of two and an vnitie.
However, premedieval European alchemists had
distingn-rished fogr basic stages of their work, corresponding
'the
to original colours mentioned in Heraclitus: melanos.is
(blackening), leukosis (whitening), xanthosis (yellowing),
and iosis (reddening). This division of the process into
four was called . the quartering of the philosophy' (op.
cit.. p. 229). Though Jung maintains that around the
fifteenth or sixteenth century these colors were reduced to
three (xanthosis being
dropped), he admits that viridilag
continued to make unsanctioned appearances after the nigredo
(p-229), so that--even if only illegitimatery--a tetrameria
of colors corresponding to the quaternity of elements (earth,
water, fire, air), to the four qualities (hot, cold, dry,
229
moist), ds well as to the four seasons (wiLh which compare
'Spring, ' 'Sumrner,'
t-he respective association of Spenserts
'Autumn ' 'Winter ' 'gold, ' 'green, ' 'yellow '
and with and
'purple ' 'red '
or in FQ VII.vii.28 -31) might well have
survived as a sort of secondary tradition into the Renaissance.
Caron and Hutin, indeed, take this possibility for granted in
their consideration of Dom Pernety's twelve-part operation
cum zodiacal svnchronizaLions:
lVhen so conceived, the Magnum Opus apparently
had four stages: the preparation of the matter;
the decoction in the philosopher's egg; the
operations needed to bring the stone to maximum
strength--fixation and fermentation; transmutation
or final projectj -on (The Alchemists, p. 159).
'the j-n
Of course, arrangement of the stages individual
authors depends primarily on their conception of the goal.'
sometimes this is the white or red tincture
(agua permanens) ; sometimes the philosophers'
stone, vlhich, ds hermaphrodite, contains botLr;
or again it. is the panacea ("1ry potabile,
elixir vji.tae), philosophical gold, golden glass
mallelble grass (vitrum malreabils)
@),
The conceptions of the goal are as vague and
various as the individual processes. The lapis
philos-ophorum, for instancl, is often tfre
@
mateJ:ilr, or Lhe means of producing the gold; or
again iL is an altogether mystical being that is
sometimes called Deus terrestris, Salvator, or
fitius macrocosmi, a rT@ we can-oilF6mpare
ffinthropos, the divine original
man (Psychologv and Alchemy, p. 232).
'the
Alchemy is commonly defined as science of the Four
p. L7); and Flamel is translated (ibid.) as declaring
Elements. . Ttre whole practice of the art is simply the
conversion of these Elements into one another' (De Rola,
' t h a t
this science is knowledge of the Four Elements, and of their
seasons and qualities, mutually and reciprocally changed one
into the other: on that the philosophers are all in
'hermetick
agreement.' Thus Robert Boy1e contends that
'the
philosophers ' ('that is, ' he explains, followers of the
Aristotelian doctrine'--with vftich compare Spenser's much
debated reference to Aristotle in his letter to Raleigh:)
'to
desired prove that all "mixt bodies" are compounded of
four elements --earth, air, fire, and water '(I54).
The corollary is described by Pseudo-Aristotle as a
circle reemerging from a triangle set in a square, of which
'Thj-s
Jung declares: circular figure, together with the
Uroboros--the dragon devouring itself tail first--is the
basic mandala of alchemy' (Psvchgloqv and A1chemv, pp. L25
L26) .
In the conventional alchemical hierarchy of elements,
'prj-mary' 'secondary'
of course, and alchemical elements are
'Sulphur ' 'Mercury'
and :
While mercury brings form or system (reg.ime) ,
sulphur, the goal of the second Opus on the
theoretical p1ane, is said to bring light and
color. The union of sulphur and mercury forms
salt. Mercury j-s related to prime matter, but
sulphur is related to mercury, although it may
also be cons j-dered as a prime matter in itself .
fts importance is attested by the fact that it,
is described as "maler " "active, " or "f ixedr "
terms which make it the complement of mercury,
which is described as "female, " "passive, " and
"volatile". . "In the union of mercury and
mineral sulphur, . sulphur behaves in the
manner of the masculine seed and mercury in the
manner of the feminine seed in the conception and
23L
birth of a child. "
On the theoretical level, sulphur designates
the igneous principle within being, and mercury
the matrix on which this igneous prj-nciple
acts. .
Sulphur is often called the "father" of
metals and minerals by reason of its active "hot
nature"; mercury, which has a passive ,'cold
nature, " is their "mother" (Caron & Hutin, The
Alchemists, pp. 160 -161).
According to Jung (Alch_emical Studies, pp . 29O-29L) ,
'Sulphuf ' 'blessed
signifies that rose-coloured blood' or
'sweat' 'whereby
divj-ne the world wilr be redeemed from its
'
,purple,)
Fa1l, men from their diseases (cf . VII.vii.3I: ,
and impure metals from their adulterated forms.
'Mercury ''s
role is further elaborated (Caron & Hutin,
The Alchemists, p. 160):
Mercury is considered to be the universal solvent,
thanks to which the alchemist can look forward to
the molecular decomposition or "death" of
imperfect metals and the extraction of a kernel
which is called "metallic sulphur" and corresponds
slzmbolically to its "breath" or "spirit." Thus
the properties of mercury gave it these slzmbolic
names: prime work (premier oeuvre); k"y; solvent;
attractant; Air; Fool; Rok -Bird; Lantern; Serpent;
winnowing-basket; wind; Fountain of youth;
pilgrim; tap -root (pivot); sword; spirit of
magnesium; Alabaster; Swan 's-head; Diana; blessed
Water; sharp-water; igneous water; torch; white
jelty; Ermine; Saltpeter; Foolish -Motheri Fool 's
bauble; aqueous fire; Grind-stone; Fickle
(fnconstant) ; Fleeing -Stag. .
The "third" and fourth" . are water and earth;
these two elements are thought of as forming the
lower half of the world in the alchemical retort,
and Hippolytus likens them to a cup. . This
is the divining vessel of ,Toseph and Anacreon: the
water stands for the content and the earth for the
container, i.e., the cup itself. The content is
the water that Jesus changed into wine, and the
water is also represented by the Jordan, which
232
signifies the Logos, thus bringing out the
analogy with the Chalice. fts contents give life
and healing, like the cup in frI Ezra (L4:39-4O)
(Jung, Psychol.ogy and. Alchemy, p. 468) .
'Water ' 'Elixir ' 'Panacea. ' 'Earth '
is thus the or vlhile is
'vessel, t 'H. ' 'stone, ' 'horn ' ( 'corn t
the maternaf ) ,
'mountain ' 'Paradise '
or that contains it.. In this
connection, according to Jung (Psvcholoqy-and AlchemJ, pp.
466-468), Hippolytus wrote of the teachings of the Naasenes:
The Greeks called "Geryon of the threefold body"
'heavenly
the horn of the moon.' But Geryon was
the "Jordan, " the "masculo-femj-nine Man in all
things, by whom all things were made " (op. cit.,
pp. 466 -467).
fn the same summary Hippolytus referred to the cup of Joseph
and Anacreon:
The words "without him was not any thing made"
refer to the world of forms, because this was
created without his help through the third and
fourth [members of the quaternity]. For this is
the cup from which the king, when he drinks, draws
his omens [i.e., the cup of Joseph in Gen. 4424 -5J.
The Greeks likewise alluded to this secret in the
Anacreontic verses:
My tankard tells me
Speaking in mute silence
What I must become.
This alone sufficed for it to be known among men,
namely the cup of Anacreon which mutely declares
the ineffable secret. For they say Anacreon's
cup is dumb; yet Anacreon affirms that it tells
him in mute language what he must become, that is,
spiritual and not carnal, if he will hear the
secret hidden in silence. And this secret is
the water which ,Jesus, dt that fair marriage,
changed into wine. That was the great and true
beginning of the miracles which Jesus wrought in
Cana in Galilee, and thus he showed forth the
kingdom of heaven. This [beginning] is the kingdom
of heaven that lies within us like a treasure, Iike
233
the "leaven hidden in three measures of meal"
(sp. cit., pp. 467 -468) .
fn contrary fashion, first in Spenser 's hierarchic
'quatternio ' 'Earth '
ranking of the elemental is (FQ VlI.vii.
17-Ie):
And first, the Earth (great mother of vs all)
That only seems vnmov'd and permanent,
And vnto Mutabilitl not thrall;
Yet is she chang'd in part, and eeke in generall.
For, all that from her springs, and is ybredde,
How-euer fayre it flourish for a time,
Yet see we soone decay; and, being dead,
To turne again vnto their earthly slj-me:
Yet, out of their decay and mortall crime,
We daily see new creatures to arize;
And of their Winter spring another Prime,
Vnlike in forme, and chang'd by strange disguise:
So turne they sti1l about, and change in restlesse wise.
As for her tenants; that is, man and beasts,
The beasts we daily see massacred dy,
As thralls and vassalls vnto mens beheasts:
And men themselues doe change continually,
From youth to eld, from wealth to pouerty,
From good to bad, from bad to worst of all.
Ne doe their bodies only ftit and fly:
But eeke thej-r minds (which they immortall call)
SLill change and vary thoughts, ds new occasions fall
(vrr.vii.17 -19) .
Ne is the water in more constant case t
Whether those same on high or these belowe.
For, th 'Ocean moueth stil, from place to place;
And euery Riuer still doth ebbe and flowe:
Ne any Lake, that seems most still and slowe,
Ne Poo1e so small, that can his smoothnesse holde,
When any winde doth vnder heauen blowe;
With which, the clouds are also tost and ro11 'd;
Now like great Hi1ls; and, streight, like sluces, them vnfold.
So likewise are all watry liuing wights
Stil1 tost, and turned, with continuall change,
Neuer abyding in their stedfast plights.
The fish still floting, doe at random range,
And neuer rest; but euermore exchange
Their dwelling places, ds the streames them carrie:
Ne haue the watry foules a certaine grange,
Wherej-n to rest, rre in one stead do tarryt
But flit.ting still doe flie, and still their places vary
(vrr .vii -2o -2I)
234
'Air ' 'Fire '
Last in Spenser 's sequence are the and :
Next is the Ayre: which who feeles not by sense
(For, of all sense it is the middle meane)
To flit sti11? and, with subtill influence
Of his thin spirit, aII creatures to maintaine
In state of life? O weake life 1 that does leane
On thing so tickle as th'vnsteady ayre;
Which euery howre is chang'd, and altred cleane
With euery blast that bloweth fowle or faire:
The faire doth it prolong, the fowle doth it impaire.
Therein the changes infinite beholde,
Vitrich to her creatures euery minute chaunce;
Now, boiling hot: streight, friesing deadly cold:
Now, faire sun-shine, that makes all skip and daunce:
Streight, bitter storms and balefull countenance,
That makes them all to shiuer and to shake:
Rayne, hayle, and snowe do pay them sad penance,
And dreadfull thunder-claps (that make them quake)
With flames and flashing lights that thousand changes make
(wr.vii.22 -23)
Last is the fire: which, though it liue for euer,
Ne can be quenched quitet yet, euery dry,
Wee see his parts, so soone as they do seuer,
To lose their heat, and shortly to decay;
So, makes himself his owne consuming pray.
Ne any liuing creatures doth he breed:
But all, that are of others bredd, doth slay;
And, with their death, his cruell life dooth feed;
Nought leauing but their barren ashes, without seede
(vrr. v:-L.24)
'Mutabilitie' concludes her argument regarding 'the ELements'
a s f o l l o w s :
Thus, all these fower (the which the ground-work bee
Of all the world, and of all liuing wights)
To thousand sorts of Change we subiect see.
Yet are they chang'd (by other wondrous slights)
fnto themselues, and lose their natiue mights;
The Fire to Aire, and th'Ayre to Water sheere,
And Water into Earth: yet Water fights
With Fire, and Aire with Earth approaching neere:
Yet all are in one body, and as one appeare.
So, in them al1 raignes Mutabilitie:
How-euer these, th;t coG-86'Effies do call,
Of them doe clai-me the rule and soueraintv:
235
As, V.estar, of the fire aethereall;
Vu.tcag, of this, with vs so vsuall;
g,g-, the earth; and Iuno of the Ayre;
ffituqg "f , of Seas; and uffi-hes ,-?f Riuers all '
For,-ilf those Riuers to me subiect are:
And all the rest, which they vsurp, be all my share
(vrI.vii .25 -26) .
such a presentation of the four elements, along with
the emphasis on thej-r interconvertibility, betrays an
worthy of
unmistakable alchemical bias. Moreover, it is
remark in passing that sir Kenelm Digby, in his analysis of
'Triangular 'the
FQ Il.tx -22, assigns Spenser 's Fignrre ' to
' 'angles '
' 3 or because
body, conceived as composed of lines '
May not these be resembled to the 3 great
cofrpounded Elements in mans bodie, to wit, SaIt,
Sulfnur and Mercurie, which mingled together make
the naturall heat and radicall moysture, the 2
qualities whereby man liveth? (Vari-orum II,
Appendix xi, p. 474).
Times
There is general agreement that 'The work may only be
begun in the spring, under the signs of Aries, Taurus and
Gemini (the most favourable time to begin being in Aries,
the celestial hieroglyph of which corresponds, in the
esoteric or steganographic language, to the nalne of the
'hieroglyph '
prima) ' p. 10). The in
Materia (De Rola,
questi-on is the sign of Ariesr or 't'
, which Frances Yates
'fire, ' 'expressive
one of
identifies as a symbol of and
alchemical processes .'
'Aries, '
ft is in March, of course, under that Lhe Sun
236
'Natural' 'year'
renews its annual cycIe, recommencing the
of planting and harvesting. For,
just as in agriculture,
one is dependent upon the seasons to plough,
sow and. reap. It would be absurd to expect
results should one be demented enough to disregard
'Just
the natural order of things. as God
produces the grain in the fields, and it is then
for us to make it i-nto flour, to knead it and to
make bread from it, our art requires that we do
the same ' (De Ro1a, p. 20) .
'Egyptian' 'Magi'
We must also remember that the ancient
'the
revered the Sun as visible God,' a belief they transmitted
to their Renaissance disciples (e.9., Bruno) --who altered it
to suit their own purposes. Is it for a related reason that
Spenser commences his procession of the months in FQ VfI.vii.32
with 'March' (supported by the primacy of the 'Ram' in
F Q V . p r o e m . 5 ) ?
Sometimes, however, 'the casting of a horoscope is
necessary to determine the mosL favourable time' (De Rola,
p. 10).
Though March is by far the favorite beginning, December
'Argnrment'
is preferred by E. K. in his prefatory
on the
grounds that Christ's incarnation heralds a far greater
'rebirth ' 'time '
of
than does any other event. An ecclesi '
natural'
astical calendar may thus be preferred to a one.
'September'
Reference is also made by E. K. to as the month
'the
revered by Aegiptians' (here
indistinguishable from the
Hebrews) as that in which God first made the world--so an
argument might well be made for commencing in September.
237
As for the age of alchemist hi-mself , some scholars
'springtime'
insist he embark on hj-s HermeLic career in the
of his youth if he is to be successful, while others
'Dawn'
disagree. is recommended as the ideal hour to begin
by some, whereas others prefer to set out shortly after
midnight. More often than not hours, days, weeks, months,
years, eras, etc. are alI meanL at once, though hierarchically
arranged, and narrowing and expanding with the alchemist's
level of ambition.
In addition, the duration of the magistery varies with
the ultj-mate goal, ds well as from author to author
ostensibly in pursuit of identical goals. Caron and Hutin,
for example, listz 40 days, 282 days, 365 days, 4 days, 7
days, L2 da1 '5, months or years (pp. L46, L54, I59, L7L), to
mention but a few. A magic potj-on taken just after midnlght
is said to be able to cure a king in one day of a month-long
illness; in twelve days of a year-long malady; and in a month
of
lifelong chronic disease (op. cit., p. 170). commonly,
'doctor '
therefore, the alchemist was a species of or
'phys j-cian ' 'stone '
(e.9.,
Paracelsus), and his a curative
'potion'
or alexipharmic conferring health and prolonging
life.
'One
Indeed, of the best-known slzmbols of the goal of
alchemical research is the "elixir of long life, " . also
'a
called "potable gold, "' defined as "reduction of the
'the
philosopher 's stone to mercurial water, "'
and labelled
23e
"Universal Panac€d," which cures all ills ' (op. cit., pp.
f6B-169). Some imbibers remained content
to live out their
allotted span in excellent health, like Denis Zachaire:
To remain ever in good health, it lthe elixir]
must be taken at the beginning of autumn and
the beginning of spring in the form of a honeyed
electuary. And in this fashion Lhe man shall
live ever in perfect health to the end of the
days God hath given him, as the philosophers
have written (e!. cit., p. 170).
But others planned to use it to prolong indefiniLely their
life on earth, ot to restore youth. oF to
confer one or
another species of immortality' on body
and/or spirit-
'offspring '
whether of themselves or of their
(cf. the
appeal with which Spenser concludes hj-s EpiShalalqion; compare
'poem '
'brain -child, '
the itself as
as suggested in the
'December'
codas to both Epit]ralamion and the eclogue of the
SC--suggesting that such works of art are species of
'alchemical
'homunculi, '
men ' or
fabricated in imitation
of God 's Creation by the Neo -Promethean artist [e.g.,
Paracelsusl ) (op. gj,!., pp. L7O -L7L) . By the sixteenth
century there was widespread belief in individual palingenesis
(ep. cit., p. L73) , and even (especially in Hermetic circles)
in
apotheosis.
'macrocosm'
There was also, however, a temporal that
intrignred Hermetic historians, Utopians, astrologers,
prognosticators, and theologians of a chiliastic persuasion.
'birth, ' 'Iife, ' 'death ' 'rebirth '
Here the questions of and
take on broader significance--from the perspective of a
nation's development from germ to empire, to that of all
'Time'
itself, from Genesis to the time of Christ and from
'Sabbath. '
the Reformation to the millennium of God 's timeless
The precession of the equinoxes was calculated to complete
a full cycle (360 ") in 25,725.6 years; the Platonic year was
reckoned as 36,000 years, which Tycho Brahe revised to
24,I2O years (Aion, p. Bl). And it is in this that
Nostradamus' prophecies of religious history in the West
(ca. 1558) belong (aiolr, pp. 95 -LO2).
Time, which commences with birth or creation and ceases
'Life, '
at death, has thus a dual face: as it is the crown
o f a l c h e m y ' s m o s t c h e r i s h e d d r e a m --v L z . , a n ' i m m o r t a l i t y '
t o r i v a l t h e D e i t y ' s i a s ' D e a t h , ' o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , i t i s
that crucial moment of transformation from a lower to a
higher existential plane for whj-ch the entire opus is a
preparation. The less ambitious, of course, experience their
'
'deaths,
mj-niature metamorphoses in Iess serious, symbolic
'Iife '
while the extensions of they seek take the form of
temporal fame, or of progeny, or of a longer span, or of
sound health within their allotted years.
'Time'has 'two
That faces'or a'double nature'was
established j-n classical antiquity, first in the quarrel
between Aristotle and Plato on the nature of Time, and later
by the figure of Janus, who in Roman mybhology presided over
'the ' 'dragon
Year, represented by Macrobius as a biting its
tail ' (Saturng:l. r, 9, L2) (Panofsky, Studies in
Iconoloqy,
240
pp. 74, 69-93).
Typically, Aristotle disagreed with plato with regard to
the 'Time, ' 'past, 'future '
nature of dismissing and as out
of existence and according reality only to the 'Now,' which
alone we can gfrasp:
Yet Time cannot be held to be made of Nows. A
Now is not a part of Time, for a part ffitte
measure of the whole. As the end of Lhe past
and the beginning of the future, Now is a kind
of link. Time and motion, he conffides, are
interrelated. Things not affected by the passage
of Tj-me must be outside it. As Space exists only
in so far as there are bodies that occupy a
certain place, so Time exists only in so far as
there are bodies that at different Nows are in
different places or states. Time is the number
of motion according to "before" and "after. "
number being that which can be counted.
The recognition of Time involves a perception
of before and after in motion, and a numbering
process based on this before and after. Without
some mind or soul to nGffiit, tEFcan be no
Time. . The movement of the heavenly bodies
provj-des the numbers of Time (155).
Plato, on the contrary,
did not dismiss Time as an illusion, but accepted
it as "the moving image of eternity. " He acknowl
edged two forms of existence: Being, belonging
to eternity, and Becoming, a characteristic of the
natural world. What is revealed to our senses is
an imperfect changing representation of an
unchanging eternal model. It is the ordered
regularity of Tjme that makes it possible for us
to accept it as an image of Eternity.
Time, cominq into existence with the universe,
has reduced--or is reducing--chaos to order, making
the motion of the universe harmonious and intelligible,
bringing Becoming nearer to pure Being.
The Lc:rrporal world is a kind of compromise between
pure Being and a meaningless multipl-e Becoming.
Tjme can be identified with the periodic movements
of sun, moon, and planets, created "to distinguish
and guard the numbers of time" (op. cit., pp. 136L37).
24L
Classical iconography was similarly divided between
two distinct traditions inherited from ancient art:
On the one hand . are representations of
'Kairos; '
Time as that is, the brief, decisive
moment which marks a turning-point in the life of
human beings or in the develotrxnent of the universe.
This concept was illustrated by the figure
vulgarly known as Opportunity. . He was
equipped with wings both at the shoulders and at
the heels. His attributes were a pair of scales,
originally balanced on the edge of a shaving knife,
and, in a somewhat later period, one or two
wheels. His head often showed the proverbial
forelock by which bald-headed Opportunity can be
seized. . Kairos or Opportunity . survived
up to the eleventh century and afterwards Lended
to merge with the figure of Fortune, this fusion
being favoured by the fact that the Latin word for
'Kairos, '
vLz., occasio, is of the same gender as
fortuna (Panofsky, ibid. ) ;
The image of Kairos could also be used to
represent Time in general, but instances seem to
be rare [e . g. , ] the f amous relief 'The
Apotheosis of Homer where winged Time carries
Iliad and the Odyssey (ibid., n.4) .
'fusion
The subsequent of Occasio and Fortuna' came to
represent a pivotal moment in time (Panofsky, St. _IcoJ:r.,
p. 72, n.5):
The resulting image of a nude fs]nale equipped wiLh
the attributes of Kairos (forelock, sometimes
shaving knife, etc.), and balanced on a sphere or
wheel which often floats in the sea, practically
superseded the masculine Kairos in later mediaeval
and Renaissance art (ibid., n.5) .
The result was that by the late Middle Ages a female Occasio,
balanced on a sphere or wheel which floaLed in the sea, had
Iargely replaced the Kairos-fign:re and usurped most of his
aLtributes. This feminine replacement is constantly found
wherever emblematic art wished to illustrate the concept of
242
'
Occasio, Panofsky remarks (gp. cit., p. 72, n.5); and he
cites as particularly influential Emblema C)C(I of Andrea
'fortunam
Alciati 's Emblemata, with the significant phrase
vel occasionem in pila volubili statuens ' associated with
r_ESepr-gram.
On the other hand, the exact opposite of the
'Kairos '
idea is represented in ancient art,
'Aion;'
namely the Iranian concept of Time as
that is, the divine principle of eternal and
inexhaustible creativeness. These images are
either connected with the cult of Mithra, in
which case they show a grim winged fignrre with a
lion 's head and lion 's claws, tightly enveloped
by a huge snake and carrying a key in either hand,
or they depict the Orphic divinity commonly known
as Phanes, in which case they show a beautiful
winged youth surrounded by the zodiac, and
equipped with many attributes of cosmic power; he
too is encircled by the coils of a snake (ibid.).
'Phanes
Iconographically the Orphic figure is used for an
allegory of Alcheffiy,' as Panofsky illustrates in his juxtapo
sition of a Hermetic (figure 37) and a traditional (figure 36)
representation of the deity (Studies in Iconologv, Plate )C(II):
The inscription: 'Hoc monstruE generat, tgm
perEicit icrnis et a%?rrT-mffis-tffia !iloduces
raw matter, while fire and mercury perfect it
(the united action of fire and quicksilver being
believed to transform raw matter into the
'philosopher's
stone') (gg. cit., p. 73, n.7) .
'Aion,'
The Mithraic god as depicted in the frontispiece
to Jung's book of the same name, is palpably the Greek
divinity 's Persian cousin. His name (in Greek) may signify
'age
a person 's or time of life '; or
the Lat. AEWM, a space or period of time, a
lifetjme, life. 2. of longer periods, an aqe
qeneration, period. 3. an infi.nilell lonq space
243
o€ time, et_ernity (Lidde11 and Scott, Abridged
LeJcicon, p. 23) .
The last is by far the commonest reading, as Yates suggests
in her s1'noPsis of Giordano Bruno's De umbris idearum (Bruno,
pp. I9B -l9e):
By engraving in memory the celestial images,
archetypal images in the heavens which are shadows
near to the ideas in the divine mens on which all
things below depend, Bruno tropesff-believe, to
achieve this "Egyptian" experience, to become in
true gnostic fashion the Aion, having the divine
poweri within him.
'gnosis '--rarhich 'consists
Such in ref lecting the world within
the mind, for so we shall know the God who made it'--is a
'the 'the
part of work of regeneration ' (vrz., infusion into
')
the soul of di-.ri-ire Powers or Virtues whereby a Magius may
'Eternity,
become the Aion'--according to the Pimander of
''
Hermes Trismegistus (sp. cit. , p. 33 ) :
Eternity is the Power of God, and the work of
Eternity is the world, which has no beginning,
but is continually becoming by the action of
Eternity. Therefore nothing that is in the world
will ever perish or be destroyed, for Eternity is
imperishable. .
Unless you make yourself equal to God, you
cannot understand God. . Raise yourself
above all time, become Eternity; then you will
understand God. . If you embrace in your
thought all things at once, times, places,
substances, qualities, quantities, you may
understand God.
The intellect makes itself visible in the
act of thinking, God in the act of creating (gp.
cit., pp. 31, 32, f9B).
'destroy '
Of course, Time must Falsehood if it is to
'reveal' 'verilAq
Truth; and the classical phrase &fiq
'rebirth' 'the
temporis' suggests, among other things, a of
244
ancient and true philosophy (of the Egyptians) after its
agelong burial in dark caverns ' (Yates, p. 238; cf.
Eruno,
'the
return of Protestant Truth from Catholic darkness
'Death ' '(Re -)Birth '
under Elizabeth '). must precede much
as Night precedes each new Day. This is confirmed by Caron
and Hutin as follows (rhe alche4ists, pp. 154*155):
"Nothing can be reborn to a better state, unless
it has first died and gone through a period of
dissolution and pub:ef,action of its previous
principl€s, " a contemporary alchemist, Auriger,
remarks in the course of a commentary on the
Fourth Day of the Ch]zmic,al Wsddiqq of Christian
Rosenkreuz.
Evet:r the "elixir of long life" can assume a
wholly symbolic interpretation. . In one of
its possible meanings the "homunculus" corresponds
exactly to what Saint Paul meant by the "new man"
as opposed to the "old man. "
'
fn the words of Macrobius, So1 temporis auctor ' (cf.
'
FQ III.vi.9); and, elsewhere, Ex his apparet Sarapis et
'Serapis
solis unam et indiuiduam esse naturam ' (i.e., and
the sun have one indivisible nature, ' Saturnalia f.20, 13 ff.)
Serapis, one of the greatest gods of HellenisLic Egypt, was
a solar deity accompanied by a tricephalous monster,
encircled by a serpent (slzmbol of time, oy of recurring time-
periods, and an attribute of SaLurn, god of time), which bore
( 'devouring'
on its shoulders the heads of a wolf pes.t
'memory ') 'hope '
, a dog ('pleasing ' for the future) and a
'fervent ' 'action, '
lion ('sLrong ' and present between past
and future) . f n the Macrobian perspective (ca. 399 -422 A.D.),
thj-s zoomorphic triad was the equivalent of the anthropomorphic
245
'3I99rc,'
one associated with the cardinal virtue of vj-a
'Apo1l-o'--w?ro
Petrarch's substj-tution of the classical was
'physicians'
not only a sun god but also the deity of and
'leader 'protector
healing, of the Muses, ' and of seers and
poets, who, thanks to him, "know all that is, that will be,
and that was"' (Panofsky, in Meaning in the Visual
$rts,
pp. 15I -161). In these respects, as well as in his
'@!y,'
resplendent Apollo had become, of course, a
'Christ'
type of by Lhe second half of the sixteenth
century.
'Time, ' j-n
The foregoing leads to a consideration of
'transference
view of the fact that a of the Descent into
Limbo scheme to the Time and Truth subject was not uncommon
' 'Innocence
in sj-xteenth century art, where in one instance
is rescued by Justice, who carries a sword and a pair of
scales, and whose gesture is purposely identical to that of
Christ rescuing souls from Hell, while winged Time, with an
hourglass perched on his shoulder, embraces "a young girl"'
'Truth ' 'Time '
(viz. , ; Panofsky, St. Icon., pp. 83 -84) may
a l s o b e e x p e c t e d t o ' u n v e i l ' ' T r u t h , ' ' v i n d i c a t e V i r t u e , '
and/or 'justify Innocence' against Ca1umny, ' in a demonstra-
' t w o f o l d ' ' d e s t r o y e r ' a s
tion of its function as the well as
t h e ' p r o c r e a t o r ' o f ' a l l t h i n g s ' ( P a n o f s k y , S t . I c o n . , p p .
6 9 -9 L , B & R , p . 1 6 9 ) .
In short, when perceived as 'a universal and inexorable
power vlhich through a cycle of procreation and destruction
246
causes what may be called a cosmic continuity ' ('thou
'
nursest ali and murder 'st all that are, " to use
Shakespeare 's words, Rape of Lucrece, I. 929; Panofsky,
'Time '
ibid., pp. 82, 7L -73, LL2 -tl3), conforms to a
'pollnnorphous
. daemon of time, determining the fate
of the world and therefore closely associated with Pan
(whose name was always, even in mediaeval times, believed
-l' f i ' 'Aion '
to signify the universe, ), ' was
compared to a frivolous child playing a game of
chance: "In order to show that fthe ruler of the]
universe is a child and through time governs all,
'Time
he [Heraclitus] says what follows: is a
plavful chil{ ifrroginq dice; the kingEffi nefongs
to a child"' (Panofsky, Renai.ssance and Renascences,
p. 16e).
In addition to wings, snake, and tail, the contrast between
his
genitals conspi,cuously exposed by the "barbarian"
trousers (very appropriate to a divinity of
Iranian origin) and the poppies on the belt (timehonored
slzmbols of sleep and death) may serve to
express Time's twofold function as procreator as
well as destrolzer of all things:
"Do not I, t1nne, cause nature to augment,
Do not I, tyme, cause nature to decay,
Do not I, tyme, cause man to be present,
Do not I, tyme, cause dethe take his say"?
This very superabundance of attributes is in itself
characteristic of "maniform Aion" in such Late
Hellenistic renderings as the so-called "Mithraic
Aion " and the Orphic Phanes (ibid.).
'Pan' 'somewhat
is notable for his youth and his tipsy
gaiety.'
'Time'
The ancients, in short, depicted of either sort
as youthful figures: in none of their representations do we
247
'the
find hourglass, the scythe or sickle, the crutches, oy
any signs of a particularly advanced age.'
In other words, the ancient images of Time are
either characterized by symbols of fleeting speed
and precarious balance , or by slzmbols of unj-versal
power and infinite fertility, but not by slzmbols
of decay and destruction (Panofsky, Studies in
Icono]ogy, p. 73).
'nude' 'winged' 'Father
The and Time' of Renaissance
'associated
and Baroque art, with o1d d9€, abject poverty
and death, ' draws from both Kairos -Occasio ('fleeting
moment' ) and Aion-Phanes ('creative Eternity' ) traditions-though
these traditional images have been radically
transformed in the comparatively sj-nister refashionings of
Time's figurae during the Middle Ages. It began with a
'the
confusion of Greek expression for time, Chronos,' wittr
'the
name of Kronos (the Roman Saturn), oldest and most
formidable of the gods. A patron of agriculture, he generally
carried a sickle'--an agricultural or castrating implement,
'a
later interpreted as slmbol of t.empora quae s,icut EaIx i!
se recurrunt'; to which subsequent iconographers added the
hourglass; a snake or dragon biting its tail, or the zodiac;
a staff or crutch indicative of old age; sundial, clock,
mirror i one black and one white familiar, slzmbolic of night
and day; and so on. From the Nous, or Cosmic Mind, of the
'the
Neoplatonists, father of gods and men' evofved in the
course of the Middle Ages into a figure that
may act, generally speaking, either as a
Destroyer or as a Revealer, or as a universal
and inexorable poraier which through a cycle of
procreation and destruction causes what may be
called a cosmic continuity (-g!. cit., pp. 1q -AZ).
A clerical error that had substituted qaleatum for
'caput
qlauco in the Virgilian glauco amictu coopertum'
'the
transformed tragic Saturn, the god of solitude, silence
'veiled
and deep Lhought,' traditionally with a bluish-or
greenish-gray kerchief,' into 'an elderly and somewhat gloomy
s o l d i e r , h i s h e a d " b e h e l m e t e d " ' ( R * n , p . 1 O 5 ; c f . F Q
V f I . v i i . 2 8 . 7 -9 , 3 2 ) . M o r e o v e r , t h e e n t i r e ' m o d e r n c o n c e p t i o n
of genius' is claimed by Panofsky to have originated in
'Saturn ' 'as
Ficino 's designation of the celestial patron of
"intellectuals"' (R g n, pp. IB7 -189):
Never before had Plato's doctrine of "divine
fTeyrzy" , fused with the Aristotelian notion that
all outstanding men are melancholics and with the
astrological belief in a special connection
between the humor melancholicus and t]-e most
ilt*bod.ing iffigffiE august of the
seven Planets, produced the concept of a Saturnian
"genius " pursuing his lonely and per j-lous path on
a high ridge above the multitude and set apart
from ordinary mortals by his ability to be
"creative" under divine inspiration.
Generally Saturn, coldest, driest, and slowest of
planets, was associated with old age, abject
poverty and death. In fact DeaLh, like Saturn,
was represented with a scythe or sickle from very
early times. . Saturn was held responsible
for floods, famines and all other kinds of
disasters. . It was not until the last
quarter of the fifteenth century that the
Florentine Neoplatonists . reverted to the
Plotinian concept of Saturn, deeming him an
exponent and patron of profound philosophical and
religious contemplation, and identifying Jupiter
with mere practical and rational intelligence. .
Ttris Neoplatonic revival . was ultimately to
result in an identification of Saturnine melancholy
with genius (St -Icon., pp. 76 -77) .
249
'father 'Chronos,
From of gods and men,' he became the
"father of all things, " the "wise old builder ". . . .' By
'Nous,
the Neo-Platonists, he was interpreted as the Cosmic
Mind,' tnlhile his son Zeus or Jove was likened to its
'emanatiofr, ' the Psyche, or Cosmic Soul.' He later acquired
such atLributes as 'the snake or dragon biting i-ts tail, .
m e a n t t o e m p h a s i z e h i s t e m p o r a l s i g n i f i c a n c e ' ; h i s ' s i c k l e '
was reinterpreted as a slzmbol of time running back upon
itself, and the devouring of his children came to signify
'devours
that Tjme whatever he has created ' (op. cit., p. 74).
'The 'February'
As such he is Husbandman' (cf . eclogue of
'who
the Sg) is cultivating the field of memory' (Yates,
Art of Memory, p. 254).
In miniatures and prints illustrating the
influence of the Seven Planets on human character
and destiny--a favourite subject of fifteenth-
and early sixteenth-century art in ftaly, but even
more so in the northern countries--the qualities
'children'
of Saturn's abundantly reflect the
'fattrer:'
undesirable nature of their the
pictures show an assembly of poor peasants,
lumberjacks, prisoners, cripples, and criminals
on the gallows, the only redeeming feature being
a monk or hermit, a lowly representative of ttre
vita contemplativa (Panofsky, SLudies in lconology,
p-7e)
A conflation of the medieval French illustration of
'Temps'--'with
three heads (to designate the past, the
present, and the future), and with four wings, each of vrlhich
stood for a Season, while each feather slzmbolized a Month'
'the
(gp. cit., p. 79) --with the image of mighty, relentless
destroyer imagined by Petr4rch,' with sickle, scythe, spade,
250
staff, crutch, and devouring motif, had produced a novel
illustration:
That this new image personified Tj-me was
frequently emphasj-zed by an hourglass,
and sometimes by the zodiac, or the dragon
biting its tail (op. cit., pp. 77 -BL).
Other attribuLes are the sundial, clock, mirror, and pair
of (black and white, for Night and Day) familj-ars (gp. ci.t.,
pp. B0-83).
'the
But often in Renaissance iconology fignrre of Father
Time is used as a mere device to indicate the lapse of months,
'Bernini 's
years, or centuries, ' as in projects where he is
made to carry an Egyptian obelisk ., and in innumerable
allegories of an antiquarian or historical character' (op.
'Chronos
cit., p. 82; in one Vatican mural, carries on his
wings the book into which Clio makes her entries, ' ibid., n.47)
So Martianus Capella (N-up!. Philoloq. et Msgcujf., T-7O)
'the
and Macrobius (S.a.turna.1., I, 9, L2) suggested that
' 'it
dragon biting its tail signifies the Year, whence would
be possible that it originally belonged not to Saturn, but
to Janus ' ; nevertheless,
'seemed
a monster which to devour itself is also
connected with the lranian Aion . and in this
case its original meaning would have been that of
Endlessness or EterniLy, as was mostly assumed in
later times (op. cit., p. 74) .
In The Faerie Queene, according to James Nohrnberg,
'AION' is 'Demogorgoh, ' at once the 'a1pha ' 'omega '
and
'figure 'inLo
of Renaissance theogony,' which the poem was
25L
'In
have ultimately gathered itself ' (156) . Spenser,
Demogorgon is coexistent with Night, that theogonic Night,
the most ancient grandmother of all, whose existence antedates
the genesis of the house of the celestial gods, or the
heavens, "rarhich men call Skye". . Like Night, Demogorgon
"sawst the secrets of the world vnmade" (I .v.22), for
Demogorgon 'rThe hideous Chaos keepes, " "Farre from the view
of
Gods, and heauens bliss" (IV.iL.47)' (ibid.).
'Time'
The issue of in the works of Spenser has, of
course, always preoccupied critics, though interest in the
topic has greatly intensified since the publication of
A. Kent Hieatt 's Short Time 's Endless Monument in 1960 (68),
followed in L964 by Alistair Fowler's Spenser and the Numbers
of. Tirpe (29) .
In basic outline this thesis is in asreement with that
of Z. B. Bilaisj -s
(157):
Plato used the spiral as an analogue for
intellectual process, deriving it from the
spiral paths of the planets which determine
time. The spiral becomes the central
structural pattern in The Faerle Queene and
determines Lhe detairsffi
'establish
The guest of the Red Cross Knight is said to the
'past,
paradigm': on the
Mount of Contemplation present,
and future coalesce. This vision forms the center of the
s p i r a l ' ( i b i d ) .
But, in 'Mutabilitie'
The spiral seems to disintegrate, and time almost
destroys the fiction which intends to solve the
252
problems time poses to man. However, Nature's
verdict on Arlo Hill re-establishes the eternal
as source and end of movement and asserts the
poem's spiral as valid paradigm of movement
toward the divine. The spiral reverses outward
movement and returns to its source--the qreat
Sabbaoth God (ibid.).
'The
Comparison is invited with Circle of Love' outlined
by F. W. La Cava (f5B):
The combination of the Circle of Love with the
circles of the day and year is the basis of both
structure and meaning in the Sfreph.eardes C.alender
and the Mr-rtabil.itJ Ca.ntgs (ibid.).
'the
Moreover, history of the cosmos and the machinery through
which it functions is examined in the Garden of Adonis and
in tJ:e Fowre ' :
llymnes.
The Garden represents the point at which time
touches eternity. The Hlzmnes are a unified
description of the relationship of divine and
human love. The first two describe the downward
and outward. movement of creative, generative love,
and the second pair describe the upward movement
of redemptive perfective love (iniA.1.
In the course of its journey through life,
The entrance of the soul into the body is
described as a fall which causes the soul to
forget for a time its origin and goal. The
turning point at the bottom of the Circ1e is a
defeat for the soul vuhich forces it to recognize
its dependence on divine aid. This point is
frequently described in terms of a literal low
place such as a dungeon or descent into the
underworld (ibid.) -
'the
afLer which upward part of the journey begins with a
period of intense self-examination and education. The
result of this education is the reward of a vision of the
end and goal of life' (ibid.) . La Cava concludes that Book VI
'exemplum
provides the most comprehensive of the vil:ole
journey of the Circle of Love'--in the 'career of
P a s t o r e l l a . '
S p e n s e r ' s o b s e s s i o n w i t t r ' t i m e , ' a s w e l l a s h i s e n d u r i n g
ambiLion to conquer or transcend the temporal, is reflected
in the Hermetic design of his epic as a who1e, which would
have afforded an extraordinary synthesis of the seven days
'lunar '
of the week (cf . Camillo 's Theatre) along with the
twelve-month selar_ round (cf. SC and Amoretti; compare the
nine-month gestation of the human fetus, adumbrated in
'Teares
of the Muses') , as well as the nocturnal-diurnal
cycle of 24 hours as in Epitha.lamien.
Moreover, Spenser's epic calendar represents a striking
attempt at a comprehensive synthesis of numerous traditional
temporal des j-gns.
As Robert A. Durr has contended, the distinction
between the natural and the religious year in the Shepheardes
Calendgr yields a darker, more dualistic view of nature than
that revealed in FQ VII.vii (159). Sherman Hawkins agrees,
'beginning
contending that with March allowed Spenser to
harmonize nature and grace as he had already done in the
figure of Nature herself in Book VII; and he concludes that
'synchronizes
this calendar the life of Christ with the
progress of the seasons, the cycle of grace with the cycle
of nature, "renewing the state of the decayed world" in both
a spiritual and a physical sense. The same Providence is at
254
work in Lhe cycle of natural tjme and in the progress of
redemptive history' (160) .
What precisely all this means is not immediately
apparent, and the critics do not specify how Spenser manages
to accompU-sh so remarkable a synthesis by the simple
expedient of 'beginning with March.'
According to Robert Graves:
When and where the Zodiac originated is not
known, but it is believed to have gradually
evolved in Babylonia from the twelve incidents
in the life-story of the hero Gilgamesh--his
killing of the Bull, his love-passage with the
Virgin, his adventures with two Scorpion-men
(the Scales later took the place of one of these)
and the Deluge story (corresponding with the
Water Carrier). .
The orj-ginal Zodiac, to judge from Lhe out-of
date astronomical data quoted in a poem by Aratus,
a Hellenistic Greek, was current in the late third
millennium B.C. But it is likely to have been
first fixed at a time when the Sun rose in the
Twins at the Spring equinox--the Shepherds'
festivalr in the Virgin who was generally
identified with Ishtar, the Love-goddess, at the
Summer solstice; in the Archer, identified wit-Jr
Nerga1 (Mars) and later with Cheiron the Centaur,
at the Autumn equi-nox, the traditional season of
the case; in the resurrective Fish at the Winter
solstice, the time of most rain (f61).
But by the time of the Zodiac's adoption by the
'the
Egyptians (ca. t6th century B.C.), precession of the
equinoxes had already spoilt the original story':
About 1800 B.C. the BuIl was . pushed out of
the Spring House by the Ram. This may account
for the refurbishing of the Zodiac myth in honour
of Gilgamesh, a shepherd king of this period; he
was the Ram vrtro destroyed the 8u11. The Crab
similarly succeeded the Lion at the Summer
solstice; so the Love-goddess became a marine
deity with temples by the sea-shore. The He-goat
also succeeded the Water-carrier at the Winter
solstice; so the Spirit of tJre New year was born
of a She-goat. The Egyptian Greeks then called
'Golden
the Ram the F1eece' and recast the Zodiac
story as ttre voyage of the Argonauts. .
The archetype of Gilgamesh the Zodiac hero
'Tammuz',
was a tree-cult hero of many changes;
and the thirteen-month tree-calendar seems more
primitive than the twelve-month one . the story
it tel1s is more coherent than those of Gilgamesh
or LTason. . The tree-alphabet, with the Twins
combined in a single sign, does coincide with the
Zodiac as it stands aL present, with the Fishes in
the House of the Spring Equinox (16f)
(cf . FQ V.proem.passim; V.i.5 -I2).
As Shumaker explains,
Because of the precession of the equinoxes, .
the zodiacal band changes its positi-on relative
to a given point on the ecliptic by one sign in
about 2,OOO years. . Ptolemy, who made
observations between about 121 and 151 A.D., in
order to get rid of the inconvenience invented an
arbitrary zodiac bound to the equinoxial points
so as never to vary (Occu1t Scienc -es, p. 15) -
with a resulting discrepancy of one to two full zodiacal
'a
signs: e.9., man said by astrologers to have been born in
Aries was actually born in Pisces or Aquarius ' (ibid.).
Spenser gives a comparable explanation in LO V.proem.4,
'a11
where we are told that thinqs in time are chaunqed
arri aL+ |.
\aq!yrt 9
.
Ne wonder; for the heauens reuolution
Is wandred farre from where it, first was pight,
And so doe make contrarie constitution
Of all tl:is lower world, toward his dissoluti-on
(11.6-e)
'cycle'
A five-stage is traced as follows in FQ
v .proem .5 -6 :
256
For who so list into the heauens looke,
And search the courses of the rowling spheares,
Shall find that from the point, where they first tooke
Their seLting forttr, in these few thousand yeares
They a1l are wandred much; that plaine appeares.
For that same golden fleecy Ram, which bore
Phrixus and Helle from their stepdames feares,
Hath now forgot, vil:ere he was plast of yore,
And shouldred hath the Bull, vil:rich fayre Eur:opjr bore.
And eke the Bul1 hath wiLh his bow-bent horne
So hardly butted those two twinnes of Ioue,
That they haue crusht the Crab, and quite him borne
fnto the great Nem.oean lions groue.
So now all range, and doe at rand.on roue
Out of their proper places farre away,
And all this world with them amisse doe moue,
And all his creatures from their course astray,
TilI they arriue at their last ruinous decay (st. 5.4i 6.4 -9).
And if to those AEgyptian wisards old,
Which in Star-read were wont haue best insight,
Faith may be giuen, it is by them to1d,
That since the time they first tooke the Sunnes hight,
Foure times his place he shifted hath in sight,
And twice hath risen, where he now doth West,
And wested twice, where he ought rise aright.
But most is Mars amj-sse of all the rest,
And next to hlh-:5ld Sai_gg4e, ttrat was wont be best (V.pro.B).
,F
(cr . r-Jr-. r-ra. 30-46, , Phoebus in Love , etc . ) .
"o.l[-a.rrr.
Indeed, the temporal succession of Spenser's epic as
conceived in 1590 is far from clear; but the emphasis in L596
j-s 'beginning' 'March.'
clearly on a in Consider, for
'the
example, procession of the months' given in FQ VfI.vii.
32 -43 z
First, sturdy March with brows full sternly bent,
And armed strongly, rode vpon a Ram,
The same whi-ch ouer Hellespontus swam:
Yet in his hand a spade he also hent,
And in a bag all sorts of seeds ysame,
Which on the earth he strowed as he went,
And f ild her womb wi-t]-fruitfull hope of nourishment.
257
Next carne fresh ApriE full of lustyhed,
And wanton as a Kid whose horne new buds:
Vpon a BuIl he rode, the same which led
Europg floting through th'Argolick fluds:
His hornes were gilden all with golden studs
And garnished with garlonds goodly dighL
Of all the fairest flowres and freshest buds
Which th'earth brings forth, and wet he seem'd in sight
With waues, through which he waded for his loues deliqht
Then came faire May, the fayrest mayd on ground,
Deckt all with dainties of her seasons pryde,
And throwing flowres out of her lap around:
Vpon two brethrens shoulders she did ride,
The twinnes of Leda; which on eyther side
Supported her like to their soueraine Queene.
Lordi how all creatures laught, when her they spide,
And leapt and daunc't as they had rauisht beenel
And Cupid selfe about her fluttred all in greene
And after her, came iolly fune, arrayd
A11 in greene leaues, as he a Player werei
Yet in his tjme, he wrought as well as playd,
That by his plough-yrons mote right well appeare:
Vpon a Crab he rode, that him did beare
With crooked crawling steps an vncouth pase,
And baclctvard yode, ds Bargemen wont to f are
Bending their force contrary to their face,
Like that vngracious crew which faines demurest grace
Then came hot IulJ boyling like to fi-re,
That all his garments he had cast away:
Vpon a Lyon raging yet witJ: ire
He bo1dly rode and made hjm to obay:
It was the beast thaL whylome did foray
The Nemaean forrest, till th'Amphytrionid.e
Him slew, and with his hide did him array;
Behinde his back a sithe, and by his side
Vnder his belt he bore a sickle circling wide.
The sixt was A.ugust, being rich arrayd
fn garment a'ilFgold downe to the ground
Yet rode he not, but led a louely Mayd
Forth by the lilly hand, the which was cround
With eares of corne, and full her hand was found;
That was the righteous Virgin, which of old
Liv'd here on earth, and plenty made abound;
But, after Wrong was lov'd and lustice solde,
She left th'vnriqhteous world and was to heauen extold.
25A
Next him, SeptemFer marched eeke on foote;
Yet was he heauy laden with the spoyle
Of haruests rj-ches, which he made his boot,
And him enricht with bounty of the soyle:
In his one hand, ds fit for haruests toyle,
He held a knife-hook; and in th'other hand
A paire of waights, with which he did assoyle
Both more and lesse, where it in doubt did stand,
And equall gaue to each as lustice duly scann 'd.
Then came Oct-obes full of merry glee:
For, yet his noule was totty of the must,
Which he was treading in the wine-fats see.
And of the j-oyous oyle, whose gentle gust
Made him so frollick and so fu1l of lust:
Vpon a dreadfull Scorpion he did ride,
The same which by Dianaes doom vniust
SIew great Qrio4: and eeke by his side
He had his pTorffii-ng share, anb coulter ready tyde.
Next was Negernbes, he full grosse and fat,
As fed wf6GF, and that right well might seeme;
For, he had been a fatting hogs of late,
That yet his browes with sweat, did reeke and steem,
And yet the season was full sharp and breem;
In planting eeke he took no small delight:
Whereon he rode, not easie was to d.eeme;
For it a dreadfull Centaure was in sight,
The seed of Saturne,E-d-Filre NaiS, clri.ro.n hight.
(rQ vrr.vii .32 -40)
'ninth ' 'King
(cf. Puttenham 's device, representing Philip, '
'sitting on horsebacke vpon a monde or world, the horse
prauncing forward with his forelegges as if he would leape
of, with this inscription, Non s u f f i c i t o r b i s , meaning,
that one whole world could not content him,' cited above).
And af ter him, carne next the chill December;
Yet he through meruy feasting whi-cE-G-IG-de,
And great bonfires, did not the cold remember;
Hj-s Sauiours birth his mind so much did glad:
Vpon a shaggy bearded Goat he rode,
The same wherewith Dan loue in tender yeares,
They Sdy, was nouriffi ITTh'I4aean maya;
And in his hand a broad deepe boawle he beares;
Of which, he freely drinks an health to all his peeres.
(FQ vrr .vii.4t)
2s9
Then came old fanuary, wrapped well
In many weeds to keep the cold away;
Yet did he quake and quiuer like to quell,
And blowe hj-s nayles to warme them if he may:
For, they were numbd with holding all the day
An hatchet keene, with wtrich he felled wood,
And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray:
Vpon an huge great Earth-pot steane he stood;
From whose wide mouth, there flowed fort-l: the Romane floud.
And lastly, came cold Febr.uarl, sitting
In an old wagon, for F-ddffi not ride;
Drawne of two fishes for the season fitting,
Which through tJ:e flood before did softly slyde
And swim away: yet had he by his side
His plough and harnesse fit to til1 the ground,
And tooles to prune the trees, before the pride
Of hasting Prime did make them burgein round:
So past the twelue Months forth, and their dew places found.
(FQ vII.vii .42 -43)
With the equinoxes and solstices compare the four
'seasons
of the yeare that faII ' (FQ VII.vii.27 -31 I ff .):
First, lusty Spring, all dight in leaues of flowres
That freshly budded and new bloosmes did beare
(fn which a thousand birds had built their bowres
That sweetly sung, to call forth Paramours):
And in his hand a iauelin he did beare,
And on his head (as fit for warlike stoures)
A guilt engrauen morion he did weare;
ThaL as some did him loue, so others did him feare.
Then came the iolIy Sonlmer, being dight
In a tJ.in silken cassock coloured greene,
That was vnlyned all, to be more light:
And on his head a girlond well beseene
He wore, from which as he had chauffed been
The sweat did drop; and in his hand he bore
A boawe and shaftes, as he in forrest greene
Had hunted late the Libbard or the Bore,
And now would bathe his limbes, with labor heated sore.
Then came the Autumne all in yellow c1ad,
As though he ioyed in his plentious store,
Laden with fruits that made him laugh, full glad
That he had banisht hunger, which to-fore
Had by the belIy oft him pinched sore.
Vpon his head a wreath that was enrold
With eares of corne, of euery sort he bore:
And in his hand a sickle he did holde,
To reape the ripened fruj-ts the which the earth had yold.
260
Lastly, came Winter cloathed all in frize,
Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chj-ll,
Whil'st on his hoary beared his breath did freese;
And the dull drops ttrat from his purpled bill
As from a limbeck did adown distill.
In his right hand a tipped staffe he held,
With which his feeble steps he stayed still:
For, he was faint with colA, drid wEak with eld;
That scarse his loosed limbes he hable was to weld.
'Spring ' 'Whrrior'
ff is a who is both feared and loved,
'su-rnmer,' 'H]rnter '--'the
in contrast, is a hunting of wird
'denoted
beasts' having since Roman times manls everlastinq
struggle against evil ' (panofsky, R & R, p. 9f ) . 'Autumn'
is engaged in 'Farming' or 'Agriculture ' (cf . 'alchemy' as
'celestial
a agriculture '), for
ft was legitimate . to combine a
representation of the Labors of the Months,
which j-ndicate the processes of nature,
with a copy after the hunting sarcophagus of
St. Lusorius, which slzmbolizes man's moral
struggle (Panofsky, R & R, p. 9l).
Finally, 'winter' patently 'limbeck'
alludes to t-he alchemicar
'Pelican ' '
or (the superior squared circle, ' or ,head,,
'
Iqotrrndum cubile, etc., described above) , as well as to
Hermes I 'tipped staffe ' ( 'Caduceus ,) (cf. Hermes ' 'ibis ' ;
'stella
also, alchemy 's maris ') .
Note should also be taken of Spenser's coupling of 'Day,
'Night. ' 'Life ' ,Death '
with and with in Fe VII.vii.44 -46:
And after these, there came the Day, and NJqht,
Riding together both with equall pase,
Throne on a Palfrey blacke, the other white;
But Niqht had couered her vncomely face
With a blacke veile, and held in hand a mace,
On top whereof the moon and stars were pj_ght,
And sleep and darknesse round about, did trace:
But Day did beare, vpon his scepters hight,
The goodly Sun, encompast all with beames bright.
26t
Then cane the Howres, faire daughters of high foue,
And timely Niqht, the which were all endewed
With wondrous beauty fit to kindle loue;
But they were Virgins all, and loue eschewed,
That might forslack the charge to them foreshewd
By mighty loue; who did them porters make
Of heauens gate (whence all the gods issued)
Which they did dayly watch, and nightly wake
By euen turnes, rre euer did their charge forsake.
And after all came Life-, and lastly Dgath;
Death with most grl-ii'-Jnd griesly vi=-ge seene,
ffis he nought but parting of the bieath;
Ne ought to see, but like a shade to weene,
Vnbodied, vnsoul' d, vnheard, vnseene.
But Life was like a faire young lusty boy,
SuchEthey faine oan cup*id t5 haue-beene,
FuIl of delightfull healLh and liuely ioy,
Deckt all with flowres, and wings of gold fit to employ.
(vII.vii .44 -46)
(cf . Epithalamion 's sequence of 24 hours).
So Fow1er divided the hours 'in "equaII justice" between
day and night; the diurnal hours being allotted to the sun,
the nocturnal to the moon' (Numbers of Tjme, pp. 96 -97), as
expressed in zodiacal signs. Thus, the six 'Iunar ' signs
'Aquarius ' 'Cancer, '
descend from to whereas their comple
mentary 'solar ' counterparts ascend from 'Leo ' to 'Capricorn '
'The
on high. journey began at the two tropical signs,
Capricorn and Cancer, inlhich were named "the portals of the
sunttt :
Souls are believed to pass through these portals
when going from the sky to the earth and returning
from the earth to ttre sky. For ttris reason one is
called the portal of men and the other the portal
of gods: Cancer, the portal of men, because
through it descent is made to ttre infernal regions
(gP. cit. p. 99) .
,
It goes wiLhout saying that
'eastern' 'western'
The and or day and night
theatres introduce time into a svstem which is
262
atLached Lo the revolution of the heavens. It
is of course a highly occult or magical system,
based on belief in the macrocosm-microcosm
relationship (yates, Ar.t of Mepory, p. 33f).
rseven
The planets' are then given as follows in
st. 50-53: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Phoebus, Mars, Saturn,
and ,fove.
According to Robert Graves,
Since the seven pillars of Wisdom are identified
by Hebrew mystics with the seven days of Creation
and with the seven days of the week, one suspects
that the astrological system which links each day
of the week to one of the heavenly bodies has an
arboreal counterpart. The astrological system is
so ancient, widespread and consistent in its
values that it is worth notinq in its various
forms (lhite Goddess, p. 259) .
Graves lists the seven as follows: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury,
Jupiter, Venus, Saturn--to which he appends the following
qualification (s ) :
In Aristotlers list, Wednesday 's planet is
ascribed alternatively to Hermes or Apollo,
Apollo having by that time exceeded Hermes in his
reputat,ion for wisdom; Tuesday's alternatively to
Hercules or Ares (Mars), Hercules being a deity
of better omen than Ares; Friday's alternatively
to Aphrodite or Hera, Hera corresponding more
closely than Aphrodite with the eabylonian Queen
of Heaven, Ishtar (ibid. ) .
Comparison is invited with Alistair Fowler's breakdown
'seven'
of the books of Spenser's extant epic in Spenser and
the Numbers of !i4e (29) .
With these compare the seven planets AS outlined in
-thouqh
FQ VII .vii .50-53 -read baclcvsards. In other words,
'Dan
the foue ' of st. 53, associated with the element of
263
'Air, ' 'Janus ' 'January ' 'grim
or ; the Sir Satqrne ' and
'Mars 'February '
thaL valiant man ' in st. 52 echo and
'March ' (cf 'eclipsed ' ,phoebus, '
. st. 43 & 32) ; while the
'Venus'and 'Mercury'discussed
fair in st.51 reflect
'April, ' 'May ' 'June '
the months of and in the foregoing
'Cynthia '
stanzas 33 -35. Logic then suggests that the of
'July '
st. 50 corresponds to the described in st. 36 --with
'December '
st. 55 reserved for (cf . st. 4L).
'Eternity '
Ultimately, of course, Spenser shows
'Time, '
triumphing over as in Petrarch 's Trionfjl. So, dt
'Legend
the end of the fragmentary of Constancy,
'Mutabi]itie'
concludes her suit by laying claim to the
'Seven
heavenly realms of the Planets, ' as well as to the
'Fixed ' 'Stars '
domain of the so -called in FQ VII.vii.48 -56 -
arguing:
Onely the starrie skie doth still remaine:
Yet do the Starres and Signes therein still moue,
And euen it self is mov 'd, as wizards saine.
But all that moueth, doth mutation loue:
Therefore boLh vou and them to me I subiect proue.
( \ r u r . v i i . 5 5)
'Nature'
But delivers the following judgment:
I well consider all that ye haue sayd,
And find that all things stedfastnes doe hate
And changed be: yet being rightly wayd
They are not changed from their first estate;
But by their change their being doe dj-late:
And turning to themselues at length againe,
Doe worke their owne perfection so by fate:
Then ouer them Change doth not rule and raigne;
But they raigne ouer change, and doe their states maintaine.
264
Cease therefore daughter further to aspire,
And thee content thus to be rul 'd by me:
For thy decay thou seekst by thy desire;
But time shall come that all shalt changed bee,
And from thenceforth, none no more change shall-see.
So was the Titaness put dovme and whist,
And loue confirm 'd in his imperiall see.
Then was that whole assembly quite dismist,
And Natur's selfe did vanish, whither no man wist.
(vrr.vii. sB -59)
To which the wistful poetic speaker appends (VII.viii.L-2) z
When I beLhinke me on that speech whyleare,
Of Mutability, and well it way:
Me seemes, that though she all vnworthy were
Of Heav 'ns Rule; yet very sooth to say,
In all things else she beares the greatest sway.
Which makes me loath this state of life so tickle,
And loue of things so vaine to cast awalz;
hihose flowring pride, so fading and so fickle,
Short Time shall soon cut down with his consuming sickle.
Then gin I thinke on that which Nature sayd,
Of that same time when no more Change shall be,
But stedfast rest of al1 things-ffi61y stayd
Vpon the pillours of Eternity,
That is contravr to iviutabilitie:
For, all that mouetrr@ delight:
But thence-forth all sha1I rest eLernally
With Him that is the God of Sabbaoth hight:
O that great Sabbaoth God, graunt me that Sabaoths sight.
(cf. Puttenham's'Architectural"Piller, Pillaster, or
'stay.
Cillinder, ' signifying support, rest, state, and
magnificence ') .
265
C}APTER IV
SPENSER
A. 'Anchgra. Sp _ei '_']4onasHieroglyphjlca '
Now,
as hiayne Shumaker acknowledges:
A Platonizing poet like Spenser might perhaps
draw in Hermetism alonq with much else from
Ficino and his school (Occult Sqiences, p. 24O).
He eschews such an investigation, however, as "too
complicated '--'since in poetic, and especially in allegorical,
transformation Hermetic ideas may be scarcely recognizablel
But a comparison of Spenser's most general objectives
with basic alchemical concepts outlined above reveals a
homology too detailed to be accidental.
Briefly, careful examintion of the extant cantos of
Spenser's Faerie Queene, in conjunction with the letter to
Raleigh and in the context of his other productions, suggests
a double patterning of duodecimal cycles by means of which
all 'Time' as well as the Macrocosm and the Microcosm are
simultaneously structured and unified, in imitation of
the universe in all its ever changing forms,
through images passing the one into the other
in intricate associative orders, reflecting
the ever changing movements of tJ-e heavens,
charged with emotj-onal affects, unifying, forever
attempting to unify, to reflect the great monas
of the world in its image, the mind of man (Yates,
Art of Memory, p. 260).
266
'the
As must already be apparent, alchemical process
is a microcosmic reconstitution of tlre process of creation,
in other words a re -creation ' (De Rola, p. 16) .
're -creation, '
But such Iike its immortal prototype(s),
must observe correct 'proportion ' :
Renaissance theory of proportion was based on
'universal
the harmohy', the harmonious proportions
of the world, the macrocosm, reflected in
the body of man, the microcosm (Yates, Art gf
Memory, p. 156).
This homology in proportion and design of the macrocosm and
the microcosm, with the participation of the zodiac, has
been amply documented by historj-ans of Renaissance art (cf .
Panofsky, Renaissance ansl Renascences in Western Art, pp. 27
29; Meaninq in visual pp. 55 -f07).
.ths l.rts,
A, if not the, paradigrmatic delineatj-on of this all-
embracing harmony in Spenser is afforded j-n the famous 22nd
stanza of FQ fl.ix:
The frame thereof seemd partly circulare,
And part triangulare, O worke diuine;
Those two the first and last proportions are,
The one imperfecL, mortall, foeminine;
Th'other immortall, perfect, masculine,
And twixt them both a quadrate was the base
Proportioned equally by seuen and nine;
Nine was the circle set in heauens place,
All which compacted made a goodly diapase.
The two principal interpretations have been summarized
as follows in The Variorum Spenser (It, Appendi-x xi, pp.
472-485) z
the mystj-cal, neo-Platonic one, which discerns
in the stanza an allegory of the mystical
relations of soul and body, form and matLer,
267
male and female; and the more literal one,
which sees in the stanza only a description of
proportions and dimensions of the human body.
The first
accepted
by Morley
Robin.
was urged
by Ki-tchin;
and Child;
by Digby
the secothe two
and Upton, and
nd was proposed
are combined by
While the present analysis is in basic agreement with
Robin's, I should like to carry his argument even further,
'Alma 's
perceiving in the basic Castle ' design a structural
framework for the epic as a whole.
After noting the classical alchemical conjunction of
the male with the female; of triangle, quadrate and circle;
as well as of the Cabalist numerals 7 and 9--1et us turn to
the analysis of one of Spenser 's earliest exegetes, William
Austin (ref . 7L), as paraphrased by Carroll Camden (!if,N 5e:
262-26s, L943) (162):
In chapter five of his work, Austin examines the
form of the human body, especially the female
body, which must be excellent because God gave his
own form to it. The exact architecture of this
building, however, may be questioned: it may be
square, triangular, round, or in the shape of the
letter H. Austin believes that all of these
conformations fit the human body, which actually
"is mad.ein all the Geometricall proportions/ that
are, or can be imaginffi-as the units of
measure are derived from the various dimensions of
the human body (feet, inches, digits, cubits, etc.),
so the body may be made to conform to all fignrres.
For illustration, Austin discourses upon four
figmres: the square, the triangle, the circle, and
the astronomical f ig.ure of the twelve houses.
Austin points out that if the body stands upright,
with the feet together and the arms stretched out
"in the manner of a Crucifix, " the result is a
perfect square, the ffi-between the tips of
the middle fingers being equal to that between the
top of the head and the feet. This construction,
according to Austin, is a geometrically proportioned
268
square, "which was the form of the Templg,
and of the mysticall chr , ir th"@*gio^. "
Similarly, without moving the body, draw lines
from the tips of the fingers to the feet, and a
triangle is produced, "which is a fiqure of the
Trinitie." And if the arms be dropped a little,
ffie legs stand straddling, the-navel serves as
the center of a circle formed by the tips of the
fingers, the toes, and the head, "which is a true
f-lqure of the Earth." Fina1ly, with the bodliremainj-
ng in this posit,ion, raise the arms stiffly
until the tips of the fingers are at the same
height as the head, and the design is a "true form
of the twelve houses of the seven Planets in
Heaven
'a
This fiqure is likened bv Austin to Saint Andrews Crosse'
(i.e , a saltire or X-shaped cross)
Immediately following occurs the statement that
in the geometrical art these proportions "signifie
things both diving and hum.ane." Austin then goes
on to say that although the Roman H is perhaps the
hardest letter for a single individual to reproduce,
it is very simple for a man and a woman to make
this one letter by joining hands in marriage, making
"their eaven, Heaven. "
'crude
Fowler supplies us with illustrative diagrams,'
reproduced below (Spgnssr and the Num,bers of TimS, Appendix I,
p. 26L).
Now, vrhile it pleases Alistair Fow1er to dismiss Austin
'something 'fanciful
as of an ass ' and to deride Mor1ey 's
'naive'
and ridiculous literalism' as impossibly (Spenser
and the NumbeLE_o!_U_tI4e,Appendix T, pp. 26L-262), he is by
no means correct in his assertion that these early interpre
'fallen
tations have justifiably into disrepute' in our more
sophisticated critical age. Quite the contrary: Critics
such as Priscilla H. Barnum (f63) and Vincent H. Hopper (L64),
268A
(FromFowler, Spenserand tlre |'JumbersTime, Appendix 1, p. 261).
of
269
much like Morley (165) and Edward Dowden (166), readily
'that
concede a human body is intended' (164) in FQ II .tx.22
--even
while asserting that other psychological and/or
philosophical meanings are slzmbollzed as we11. Moreover,
Fowler hj-mself makes covert use of Austin and Morley in his
own analysis of Alma 's Castle (cp. cit.1; and, as (it is
hoped) will be shown below, it is only by accepting the basic
premises of these early critics that any sense or significance
can be derived from Fowler's own observations published
in MLN, RES and HLQ in 1960 and 1961 (L67-L69).
Rather more sophisticated than those submitted by Fowler
are the 'Vitruvian figures in a cosmic setting' featured in
ttre works of da Vinci, Agrippa and Fludd (among others), as
illustrated in Frances Yates' Theatre of the World (p. 18):
270
T: ;:::
p''
g
.t;
t q
iii
, l
<
t1 I
t t fll .r
t , i l
I t / /
l ;
,)
l i
t.l
t
\T!' =}.-".fl:
l l t t : , ' " t t I
, l ) c : i i , j j F i r , i i l l j . {
.: i -r,r'. , i.r.:,i.
. . -\ : l , t : i . . t
fLrese figures are of course s)rmbolic of 'a god or a godlike
' human being, a p r i n c e .
27L
'Vitruvius'
The reference to is of course significant.
'body'
It reminds us that the human was often conceived of
'house' 'temple' 'theater, ,
as a or or even and that these
latter constructions were hermetically patterned after the
divine macrocosmic plan throughouL the Renaissance (see
above, pp. 37 -53; cf. also refs. L7O -L7L).
Moreover, it will readily be observed that the magical
'monas
higroqlvphi.ca' devised by John Dee is but a stylj-zed
rerendering of this same Vitruvian figure (see above, pp. 687L).
And it is from this figure, it is contended, tJ:at the
'ANCHORASPEI'
elaborate device prefacing each three-book
installment of Spenser's published epic derives:
The kinship of this figmre to that described in FQ II.ix is
immediately apparent.
272
Like the divine architect, then, the poet creates an
'monument'
enduring that will survive throughout the ages-
longer, indeed, than can more perishable works of metal or
'Ruins'
stone (cf . Spenser's poems; compare the conclus j-ons
'emblem'
to S.Cand Epithalami.o.n). The is a sotidly
concrete symbol--comparable, perhaps, to a commemorative
'monumental '
edifice, statue, urn, etc. --of the poem 's
function. The design of Spenser's emblem, moreover, is
'monas'-shape
further reflected in the ansated of his
opening dedication:
To
The Most High
Mightie
And.
MagnificenL
Empresse Renowmed
for Pietie, Vertve,
and all Gratiovs
Government Elizabeth by
the Grace of God Qveene
of England Fravnce and
freland and of Virginia,
Defendovr of tLre
Faith, &c. Her Most
Humble Servavnt
Edmvnd Spenser
Doth in all Hv
militie dedicate,
pre sent
And consecrate these
his labovrs to live
with the Eternitie
of her
Fame.
This verbal construction reminds us that throuqhout the
Cabalistic Sefer Yetzirah
273
there is the intimation that the letters placed
in different juxtapositions to one anothel, that
is the forming of words, is analogous to the
constructing of objects in the universe from their
elements. Therefore, a letter-mysticism arose
whose principal function was to form God's name
from tl:e different combinations of its triad of
letter articulations (WeSter.n Mystica.l Tradition,
pp. 27L-272).
'three
Of the resulting types of letter mysticism,' one,
'@ra!,' rmeans
called the forming of a new word by
'transposes,
transposing its letters ' (ibid.; cf . Put,tenlram 's
d i s c u s s e d a b o v e ) .
L e t u S , t h e n , c o n s i d e r S p e n s e r ' s m o t t o , ' A n c h o r a s p e i '
( ' I s t i l l h o p e ' ) , w h i c h i s e s s e n t i a l l y u n c h a n g e d f r o m t h e
'Anchora speme' that had been 'Colins Embleme' in The
Shepheas_des Calendjrr of L579 (cf . January, June, December).
'Colin
Clout' (cf . Colin Com.eHome Aqaln, L595;
9louts
FQ.V], L596) denotes Spenser in his very humblest capacity,
as a low1y private subject, Irish rusticr drid strictly
'pastoral '
poet (cf . FQ I . proem.l with Sh.eBheardes galendar,
'transposingsr
passim). Even without Puttenham's we should
expect a punning intention behind these elevel letters,
containing as they obviously do the noun 'ANCHOR' (c1ear1y
'Anchor 'SPIR3, '
of Hope '), as well as which Puttenham has
d e f i n e d a s a f l a m e -l i k e ' T a p e r , ' ' P y r a m i s , ' o r ' O b e l i s c u s '
'signifyj-ng hope' (Smith €d., ii, p. 99) . We are reminded
of Giovanni Nesi's first vision of Savonarola as the
-
'Christjan
preaching Hermes,' with its sharply elongated
'trj-angnrlar
traffic of rays.' ANCIIEASPIRO, of course,
274
'I
'aim 'I
signifies that too aspire (after, ' dt, ' or: too
'aspirate '
'live ')
breathe, ' (implying (cf. Puttenham 's tlare
'spires,'
Smith edition, II, pp. 99 -101).
'fire,'
Albeit associated witft Hermes was also a
'wind -god ' 'Time ' 'Revealer ' 'Truth, '
and a deity of (as of
'martial ' 'Reason ')
etc., he is a sternly as well a s a
'Allegory. ' I
symbol of Moreover, ds
, o r
'leader '
'Cupid. '
of
the three Graces, he is a type of He
'turbid
may either dispel or cut through clouds' with the
aid of his powerful wand (the caduceus) (Panofsky, Renaissance
and Renascences in Western Aq!, pp. L93-2OO), with which he
'Life ' 'Death '
governs and (cf . FQ VII .vii .46) .
As mentioned, Spenser's new motto is one letter short
of the full complement of twelve introduced in Colin's emblem
'Anchora
of L579, vLz.,
speme '--apparently in accordance with
the poet's maturer policy of stopping short of full temporal
closure (e.9., Amoretti and Epi_thal3rnionr cf . SC). The
'M'--#13,
significant letter dropped is
or the midpoint of
our alphabet and, according to the letter to Raleigh, this
'A'
letter should be assigned to Book XII, along with and
'2. '
-
The later Rosicrucian manifestos (e.9., Fama, Confej;s j o,
brevis, Chemical_Wsddiqq), of course, likewise emphasize a
'Rota' 'Book
13-part, and a centrally buried of Lj-fe' called
'the
Book M' (Thg Rgsicrucia-n Enl.Lqhten[ent, pp. 4L-69) .
Other tantalizing possibilities include the following
'transposes ': 'image
Hermetic
1) fcON SPHAERA(E), or of the
275
'sphere';
globe' or 2) HORAESPICAN: the Hours (or Seasons)
furnished with a) spikes or ears, or b) thorns or corn-ears
(the tuft or head of a plant resembling an ear of corn, and
the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, are both
'Thus
signified by spica); 3) SIC PAN HORAE, or (I present)
' 'anldr
all Time (Hours, Seasons) '; 4') SERAPI(S) ANCH, or t-l:e
of Serapis' ; 5) SEROPANACIA, which may be read either as
'I
sow (plant, beget, spread) the panacea,'or'T link (join,
connect, braid into a wreath or garland) the panacea';
'Apis 'captain, '
6) (H)E ARcHoNAPISt ot the King ' ('ruIer, '
'chief '). 'Apis, '
moreover, is the sacred solar bull of
Egyptian religion, believed to be an incarnation of Osiris,
'particularly
and important during the Roman Empire' (L72)t
'bee '
lower case apis, of course, is Latin for (cf. the
concluding lyrics of Amoretti); 7) OS ARCHEI PAN offers a
wide rangfe of meanings: r'': so, thusi asi thatt oh thaL!;
howl; : (he, she, it) begins (of , with, from) ; rules,
is leader of ; 7o I : the Arcadian rural god (Fa,unus in
Lat,in) depicted with goat's feet, horns, and shaggy hair;
whole, entire, all; all tJrings, the whole (cf . the deity
'Pandora'
addressed in SC, 'January and December; also the of
'Polyhlzmnia '
in Teares of tbe _lALses, 1. 578).
'Pan'
Though the rustic pagan deity first appears in
Spenser's works in the very first eclogue of his SC
(,ranuary, 1. L7), it is not until his reappearance in 1. 54
'Maye' 'gloss'
of that E.K. undertakes to explicate him in a
276
Great pan) is Christ, the very God of all
shepheards, which calleth himselfe the greate
and good shepherd. The name is most rightly
(me thinkes) applyed to him, for Pan signifieth
all or omnipotent, which is onely the Lord Iesus.
And by that name (as I remember) he is called of
Eusebius in his fifte booke de Preparat. Euangt
vrho thereof telleth a proper storye to that
purpose. Which story is first recorded of
P1utarch. in his booke of the ceasing of oracles,
and of Lauetere translated, in his booke of walking
sprightes. lVho sayth, tJ.at about the same time,
that our f,ord suffered his most bitter passion for
the redemption of man, certein passengers sayling
from ltaly to Cyprus and passing by certain lles
called Paxae, heard a voyce calling alowde Thamus,
Thamus (now Thamus was the name of an Egyptian,
which was Pilote of the shi-p, ) who giuing eare to
the cry, was bidden, vyhen he cane to Palodes, to
tel, that the greaL Pan was dead: which he
doubting to doe, yet for that when he carne to
Palodes, there sodeinly was such a calme of winde,
that the shippe stoode still in the sea vnmoued,
he was forced to cry alowd, that Pan was dead:
wherewithall there was heard suche piteous
outcryes and dreadfull shriking, ds hath not bene
the like. By whych Pan, though of some be vnderstoode
the great Satanas, whose kingdome at that
time was by Christ conquered, the gates of heII
broken vp, and death by death deliuered to
eternall death, (for at that time, as he sayth,
all Oracles surceased, and enchaunted spirits,
that were wont to delude the people, thenceforth
held theyr peace) and also at the demaund of the
Emperoure Tiberius, who that Pan should be,
answere was made him by the wisest and best
learned, that it was the sonne of Mercurie and
Penelope, yet I think it more properly meant of
the death of Christ, the onely and very Pan, tJ-en
suffering for his flock (Smith & de Selincourt,
p. 43e).
'Anchora
Now, the central image of Spenserrs spei'
' m o n a s ' depicts a 'hand' emerging from a cloud and grasping
a ' r i n g ' a t t h e t o p o f a v e r t i c a l s h a f t ( o r i n v e r t e d o b e l i s k ) ,
whj-ch descends to become a hybrid union of a 'cross' and an
'anchor.' Twined about the latter pair are two leafv vines
277
in lemniscate conformation, and the wtrole is contained
'egg-shaped'
within the oval or frame of a mandorla, symbolic
of the
vas her{neticum, a slzmbol of one-ness as well as
FtEe-ffi used in alchemy, egg-shaped rather
than round because it slzmbolizes the matrix, or
womb, containing the germ of everything. The rose,
the stone and f ire are further alchemical slzmbo1s.
. The Litany of the Virgin ca1ls her a
mystical rose and a vessel of honour, a spiritual
vesselr d singular vessel of devotion .i the
Virgin is herself a vas honorabile since her womb
once contained the dffinlGffieverything
(1,t. Levey, Hiqh Renaissqnge, p. 2OL) .
In other words, tJ.e emblem appears in general to reconcile
the principles underlying Hermes' and Pythagoras' impresas,
'Egyptian '
reproduced below, as well as Dee 's and Bruno 's
steganographic'devices.'
Thus, dt the heart of Spenser's emblem is a fusion of
'crosses. '
three discrete antique
1) The uppermost third is clearly none other than the
'Egyptian
or Hermetic cross' praised by Ficino as both
'g1rnas';
prophetic and talismanic; adapted by Dee for his
and exalted by Bruno as the oldest (dating supposedly from
'Moses '), 'ideal '
the time of the truest (to the patterns of
nature and true religion), and magically the most potent
'the
cruciform figure ever devised to point up way to the
one light' and to draw down divine strength from above (see
'alchemical
pp. 76ff. & 265ff., above). This is of course the
form of the cross,' most commonly known as the crux ansata
('cross with a handle ') or Egyptian anld:. As in Bruno 's
277A
1
!
H*vir|lc !nt\lcs.(t oj Hcrnet cntl l'-r'|hagottrt
/ ir,',4 ,'rd/cj!J'"r l{crmetic Garrteni.
(the Iimpresasr of l-iermesand Pythagoras, reproduced from Caront Hutln,
The Al chemlsts, rr4).
278
'seaI.'
Supposedly invented at the very dawn of time by
'Hermes Trismegistus' as both a 'sacred sign' and a
'powerful
amulet,' it had been sculpted on the breast of the
Sun-God Serapis (a mingling of Osiris with Apis, the Bul1),
'astral' 'virtues'i
the better to manipulate and Coptic
'amulet' 'by
Christj-ans adopLed it as an
to be worn the
sick
in the hope of recovery from illness.' Moreover, the
' ''
' aJrl<}r ' s ignif ied the fgture li-fe to the anc ient Egyptians ,
'in
who designed it the form of a cross joining the four
'ring '
cardinal points. ' Its
slzmbolizes eternity and God as an eternal force,
and Heaven because of its perfect slzmmetry and
its unvarying balance. As an emblem for God, it
suggests His perfection, His uninterrupted power
(Si11, Handbook, p. 2O2) i
'General
and it is also a
symbol for an urrlcreakable union,
o r f o r e t e r n i t y ' ( o p . c i t . , p . I 3 3 ) .
Spenser underscores the significance of the ansa, or
' h a n d l e , ' o f h i s a n s h b y f i l l i n g i t w i t h a ' h a n d ' --t h u s
suggesting 'tJ:at past, present and future are, quite Iiterally,
"in the hand of God"' (Panofsky, Meaning in the Visl:.a.l Arts,
p. 160 & I'ig. 139). We are here reminded once again of the
tricephalous Time-monster, bound within tJ:e coils of the
Serpent Uroboros, that accompanied the Sun-God Serapis, and
'Prudentia'
later Apo11o, ErSwell as (see above, pp.
'Occasion,' 'Oppor-
Moreover, 'a'ns.a's figurative meaning is
tunity' --recalling the Renaissance representaLions of Time
'I(airos'--i.e 'the
as
" , brief , decisive moment which marks
279
a turnj-ng-point in the life of human bei-ngs or in the
development of the universe' depicted in the winged and nude
figure called Opportunity (Panofsky, Stugies in lconoloqy,
pp. 7L -74 r cf. Letter to Raleigh, FQ II.iv, etc.).
'The
fn a later (L62O) Rosicrucian treatise entitled
'
Rig.ht Hand-of Chri-s.tian J,orze Offered,
'this
The author reaches out hand of faith and
Christian love to all and everyone of those, who
being experj-enced in the bondage of the World,
and wearied with its weight, do desire with all
their hearts Christ as their deliverer. .'
It is possible that the dextera porrecta, ot the
Right Hand offered, becail5-ETfgnffiembership
in this society (Yates, Rosicrgcian Enlightenm.ent,
p. Ls4).
Not since the days of Suger of St.-Denis, who
transferred the light metaphysics of the Pseud-
Areopagite and ,John the Scot from the world of
God-created nature to that of man-made artifacts,
had sculptors and painLers [and, now, poets] been
credited with the priestlike task of providing that
'manual
guidance' (manuductio) which enables the
human mind to ascend "through all things to that
Cause of all things lrfhich endows them with place
and order, with number, species and kind, with
goodness and beauty and essence, and with a1I
other grants and gif ts " (Renaiss,ance and
Renascences, pp. LB7 -IBB) .
'head ' 'circle
In addition to a human (the set in
'9'
heauens place ' representing either the of Fe II.ix.22
'10'
or the of stanza 44) , some other possible meanings for
'handle ' 'ring ' 'we11, '
the or ansated include, (a) a
'fountain,'
and/or'A garden, enclosed or walled' (So1.4:L2);
'A ' 'alludes
(b) closed gate, which to Mary 's virginity ' (as
'Unicorn '
does any walled city, island, realm) ; and (c) a
(slzmbolic of 'chastity ' and of 'Christ '), vrhich 'may appear
2BO
in Annuciation scenes ' (Sill, Handbook of Symbols, pp. L26
're -echoed ' 'anchor '
L27) . These themes are in the
component of the hvbrid cross.
Also suggested are (d) one or more stars (cf.
laq{ -ariclr'\.
t.
Stars, in a group of twelve around Mary's head,
used in the Immaculate Conception, derive from
the Apocalypse (Rev. 12:1). A single star is
seen as Mary's virginity--she bore Christ without
loss of her chastity as a star sends out its
light at night without losing its force and
brightness. One star also is the attribute of
Mary as SLar of the Sea, as Star of ,facob (Num.
242I7) (Si11, Handbook, p. L27).
'five -petalled ' 'wild
Finally, (4) as a rose ' it betokens
The Chrj-stmas rose, a hardy white f lower with
five petals that blooms at Christmas when the rest
of the garden is dormant, is a slzmbol of the
Nativity and the coming of the Messiah. The Rose
of Jericho, or Rose of the Virgin, also known as
the Resurrection plant, is supposed to have sprung
up wherever the Holy Family stopped during the
F1ight into Egypt. It is said to have blossomed
at the Nativity, closed at the Crucifixion, and
reopened at Easter.
The rose is a frequent symbol for the Virgin Mary,
who is called a "rose without thorns" since she
was free of original sin. This may refer to St.
Ambrose's legend that Lhe rose grew, without
thorns, in the Garden of Eden. After the Fall, it
became an earthly plant, and the thorns appeared
as a reminder of man's sins and fall from grace.
The scent and beauty remained as a poignant
reminder of the lost perfection of Paradise (Sill,
A Handbook of Slanlols, p. 52) .
'rose'
Comparison is invited with the luminous of Dante's
Paradiso (173), as well as with the alchemical Roman de Ia
Rose of Jean de Meun (L74)--the latter author being generally
conceded to have been an alchemist (2L,L75).
2eL
fn Christian art, the white rose is a symbol of
purity, the qold or vSF-rG*a sl.mbot of
impossible perfection and papal benediction, and
the red rose a symbol of martyrdom (ibid.).
In English history, of course, Queen Elizabeth would be the
'golden 'red 'and 'white '
rose ' in which the flowers of
'Defendor
Lancaster and York are ideally reconciled--in the
of the Faith' chosen by God to guard His True Church, ds well
as to govern the secular imperium girdled by the earth's
'Oceans, ' j-nspire 'Iove '
and to in her domestic subjects a
'purity' 'virtue '
f or pr j-vate and (s) . The f ive-pointed
'star(s)'
subsume the influence of SJln and Moon alike, and
'spiritual '
are as five senses,
With whose sweete pleasures being so possesst,
Thy straying thoughts henceforth for euer rest.
(ulzmne of Heavenly Beautie,
11. 300-3 01)
It is worthy of remark that in the Celtic tree-calendar
described by Robert Graves (Vfhjlte Goddess, pp. 1-32-133, LB4'
The
185) . twelfth . is . the whitten, ox guelder -rose '
(vtz., 28 October -24 November), ident.if ied as 'an appropriate
introducLion to the last month fv:z., Decemberl which is the
t r u e e l d e r ' ( i b i d . ) .
Now, 'The lapis-Christ parallel was presumably the
bridge by which the mystique of the Rose entered into alchemy,'
beginning in the latter half of the thirteenth century with
the Rosari-um of Arnaldus de Villanova:
In the spiritual sense the rose, Iike the hortus
afomatum (garden of spices) , horJu,s cgnsruFand
rosa mystica, is an allegory of Mary, but in
the worldly sense it is the beloved, the rose
of the poets, the "fedeli d'amore" of that
time. . Mary is allegorj-zed in St. Bernard
as the medium terrae (centre of the earth), in
Rabanus Maurus as the "cit!, " in Godfrey
as tfie "fortress" and the "house of divine wisdom,
and in Alan of Lille as the acies castrorum (army
with banners ) (,:ung, atcfremiGFst[ET{il-F . 2922
e 6 ).
God Himself has instructed one adept regarding the 'ring':
"Look at my heart, and seel " A most beautiful
rose with five petals covered his whole breast,
and the Lord said: "Praise me in my fj-ve senses,
wtrich are indicated by this rose" (ibid.)
'the
(the five senses are later explained as vehicles of
'
Christ's love for man, ibid. ) . The five petals are also
'equated
with the five joys of Mary and the five letters in
'Generated
her name Maria.' on the top of mountains lin
' 'stone
capite montiu]nl , this is found in the head of a
'
snake or a dragon, or is the "head element" itself (ep.
cit., p. 29L) . Mimicking Christ, the Adept
will sweat a redeeming bIood, but, as a
"vegetabile naturae, " it is "rose -coloured ";
not natural or ordinary blood, but slmbolic blood,
a psychic substance, the manifestation of a
certain kind of Eros which unifies the individual
as well as the multitude in the sign of the rose
and makes them whole, and is therefore a panacea
and an alexipharmic (gp. cit., p. 296) .
With this red stone the philosophers exalted
themselves above all others and foretold the
future . not only in qeneral but also in
particular. Thus they knew that the day of
judgrnent and the end of the world must come,
and the resurrection of ttre dead, when each soul
will be united with its former body and will no
more be separated from it for ever. Then each
glorified body will be changed, possess incorruptibility
and brightness, and an almost
unlcelievable subtlety, and it will penetrate all
283
solids, because its nature will then be of the
nature of spirit as well as body. Thus the
philosophers have beheld the Last Judgiment in this
art, namely the germination and birth of this
stone, which is miraculous rather than rational;
for on that day the soul to be beatified unites
witft its former body through the mediation of the
spirit, to eternal glory. . So also the old
philosophers of this art knew and maintained that
a virgj-n must conceive and bring forth. . The
philosophers also knew that God must become man
on the last day of this art, rarhereon is the fuIfilment
of the work; begetter and begotten become
altogether one; old man and boy, father and son,
become altogether one; thus all old things are made
new. God himself has entrusted this magj-stery Lo
his philosophers and prophets, for whose souls he
has prepared a dwelling place in his paradise
(Jung, Alchemical Studies, pp. 297 -298).
Petrus Bonus (early fourteenth century, Ferrara) thus
'di scovered that the alchemical opus anticipated, feature
for feature, the sacred myth of the generation, birth, and
'convinced
resurrection of the Redeemer'; and he was that
the ancient authorities of the art, Hermes Trismegistus,
Moses (sometimes confused with Musaios, the teacher of
Orpheus, considered an alchemist), Plato, and others, knew
the whole process long ago and consequently had prophetically
anticipated the coming salvation in Christ ' (ibid.). The
'golden
final goal, of course, is the attainment of the
'golden
stone' or rose' of eternal beatitude above the
'clouds'
that veil the Light of Truth from mortal sight.
'December'
Comparison is of course invited with the of
'winter '
FQ vII .v),i.AL, as well as with the of stanza 3I.
2) Descending to the next level, the Hebraic T, or tau
'used
cross, had been by the Israelites to mark their identity
284
in Ilamb 's] blood on their doorposts during the Passover '
(nxod. L2:27), and it was on a tau pole thaL Moses raised
the alexipharmic serpent of brass over his afflicted
followers in the desert (wum. 2L:9) . According to Bruno.
-
Christ was actually cruc j f ied on a T-cross.
'This
Moreover, according to William Pavitt, form of
the cross is to be found in all known religions of both
hemispheres, and has ever been regarded as the slzmbol of
eternal life and of reseneration ':
ft was also i.n" *rr:. mentioned in Ezekial rx.A
which was set in the foreheads of those destined
for exemption from Divine punishment in 'Jerusalem.
. It also figured on the roll-call of the
Roman Legions, a Tau Cross being placed against
the names of all those who had survived the battle,
and a TheLa against LLre slaj-n (176)
(cf. Giovanni Nesi 's first vision as described by Walker,
Ancient Theology, pp. 52-54) .
A cross with a small circle at the diameter 's point of
'Celtic 'Cross
intersection is termed a cross ' or of fona '
'it
because of its Irish origins, and appears throughout
Europe at crossroads and marketplaces, made of local stone
and often handsomelv carved with scenes of the Passion'
(Si1l, Handbook, p. 32). A cross within a (large) circle,
'cruciform 'used
on the other hand, is a halo' which, when
'suggests
behind the head of Christ or God and Christ in one,'
redemption through the crucifixion ' (cp. cit., p. 60). It
'the
also, of course, represents squaring of the circle '
svmbolic of the alchemical process.
285
According to the old view the soul is round and
the vessel must be round too, like the heavens or
the world. The form of the Original Man is
Icomparabfy] round. Accordingly Dorn says that
the vessel "should be made from a kind of squarj-ng
of the circle, so that the spirit and the soul of
our material, separated from its body, ffidy raise
the body with them to the hej-ght of their own
heaven. The anonlzmous author of the scholia to
the "Tractatus aureus" also writes about the
squaring of the circle and shows a square whose
corners are formed by the four elements. In the
centre there is a small circle. The author says:
"Reduce your stone to the four elements, rectify
and combine them into one, and you will have the
whole magistery. This One, to which the elements
must be reduced, is that little circle in the
centre of this squared figure. It is the mediator,
making peace between the enemies or elements"
(Aion, p. 239).
Either figure could be designed to conform to the circle
reemerging from a triangle set in a square described by
'This
Pseudo -Aristotle, of which Jung has said: circular
figure together with the Uroboros--the dragon devouring
itself tail first--is the basic mandala of alchemy' (Psvcholoqv
and Alshemy, pp. L25 -L26) .
'vessel ' 'the
The so described is of course true
philosophical Pelican, ' discussed by ,Jung as follows:
From the circle anC quaternity motif is derived
the symbol of the geometrically formed crystal
and the wonder*working stone. From here analogy
formation leads on to the city, castle, church,
house, and vessel. Another variant is the wheel
(rota) . This leads easily enough to a
relationship to the heavenly Pole and the starry
bowl of heaven rotating round it. A parallel is
the horoscope as tl:e "wheel of birth. "
The image of the city, house, and vessel
brings us to their content--the inhabitant of the
city or house, and the water contained in ttre
vessel. The inhabitant, in his turn, has a
relationship to the quaternity, and to the fifth
as the unity of the four. The water appears
as a blue expanse reflecting the sky, as a lake,
as four rivers ., as healing water and
consecrated water, etc. Sometimes the water is
associated with fire, or even combined with it as
f ire-water (wine, alcohol) .
The inhabitant of the quadratic space leads
to the human f j-gure. Apart from the geometrical
and arithmetical symbols, this is the commonest
slzmbol of the self. It is either a god or a godlike
human being, a prince, a priest, a great man, an
historical personality, a dearly loved father, dri
admired example (aio.n, pp. 224-225) .
The 'cross ' is an j-mage of
Christ, Christianity,
salvation, as well as of His reflections in the heroes of
history and legend--and particularly in ttre archetypal
'Cosmic Man
' of all national mythologies (e.9., Adam; the
Pers ian Gayomart, etc.), who seems to unite in his origins
and/or destiny the four quarters of the globe. ft is a
' t y p e ' o f L h e a r b o r v i t a e ( ' T r e e o f P a r a d i s e ' o r ' T r e e o f
L i f e ' ) , or liq3um vitae (with knots, bark, and flourishing
' '
sword.
branches), as well as a dividing (or quartering)
'rays ' '1ight '
It represents of to attract contemplative
a s c e n t , d s w e l l a s d e s c e n d i n g ' d e w ' o f g r a c e . I t s u g g e s t s
the four Evangelists, the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
'the
and axiom of Maria,' whereby the fj-rst coincides with
the fourrLh: i .e . , 'One becomes two, two becomes three , and
out of tJle third comes the One as the fourth' (Aion, p. I53)
As paraphrased by R. J. R. Rockwood ('Alchemical Forms of
Thought in Book f of Spenser 's Faerie Queene, ' Diss. Abst.
3355-3356A, L972)z
Alchemical theory is concerned with what we would
describe as the separation and synthesis of psychic
287
opposites. . The entire unconscious
(personal and collective) is slzmbolized by the
hermaphroditic Mercurius, who can be separated
into opposites and analyzed according to the
alchemical axiom of Maria Prophetissa: One (Una)
becomes two (Duessa); two becomes three
(Archimago); and out of the third comes the one
as the fourth (erthur) (ibid.).
As Jung has observed in Aion,
The quaternity is an organizing schema par
excellence, something like the crossed threads in
a telescope. It is a system of coordinates that
is used almost instinctively for dividing up and
arranging a chaotic multiplicity, as when we divide
up the visible surface of the earth, the course of
the year, or a collection of individuals into
groups [e.9., marriage classes and settlements],
the phases of the moon, the temperaments, elements,
alchemical colours, and so on (p. 242).
It is perhaps in recognition of this fact that Spenser
assigned stanza 4 of his portentous canto Vff.vii to
'Natures
Sergeant,''Orderr' whereby tlne dLzzying multitude
'creatures ' 'weII
of is disposed ' and arranged. It will
'Tela/morrd,' 'perfect(ed)
further be remarked that the or
world' of Book IV has as its central symbol a species of
'marriage
quatternio' made up of CambeI and Canacee, Cambina
and Triamond.
The visible world is thus essentially quadratic, for
it was by separating the primal chaos into its basic four
components thaL the Lord of Genesis made it. Moreover, the
'complexio
quaternity best signifies the oppositorum' of the
human condition--wedding young to old, and male to female;
'the
combining positive (or vertical) with the negative (or
horizontal), life with death, the spiritual (vertical) with
2BB
'
the worldly (horizontal) (Sifl, A Handbook of S.ymho.ls, pp.
_
'square'
30 -31). Its commonest figures are, of course, the
(. 'cross' ( l,l.
and the
.l t
'square 'identifies
A halo, ' for example, a living
'an
1>erson, ' the square being earthly slzmbol, inferior to
Heaven ' (Si11, Handbook, pp. 32, 57 -60, 65 -66). Thus, the
significant fact that Aristotle had praised such a man l-n
the opening book of his Ethics had not escaped the notice of
Elizabethan writers, as Puttenham witnesses in his Arte of
EngIiSh PoetrV:
The Square is of all other accompted the figure
of most solliditie and stedfastnesse, and for his
owne stay and firmitie requireth none other base
then himselfe, . so is the Square for his
inconcussable steadinesse likened to the earth,
wtrich perchaunce might be the reason that the
Prince of Philosophers, in his first booke of the
Ethicks, termeth a constant minded man euen egal
ffi'-AEect on aII sides, and not easily ouerthrowne
by euery little aduersitie, hominem quadratum, a
square man (Smith ed., ii.I04).
Presumably, the four cardinal virtues of classical philosophy
'square. I
would be best arranged at the corners of a
lfuL
For a Renaissance thinker iL was self-evident
that the four forms of matter slzmbolized by the
four rivers of Hades could only be the four
elements, Acheron standing for air, Phlegethon
for fire, Styx for earth, and Cocytus for water.
On the other hand, these same four elements were
unanimously held to be coessential with the four
humours which constitute the human body and
determine human psychology. And these four humours
were in turn associated, alnong other things, with
the four seasons, and with the four times of day.
Thus, while the four River-Gods depict the
fourfold aspect of matter as a source of potential
evil, the four Times of Day [dawn, midday, dusk,
midnightl depict the fourfold aspect of life on
earth as a state of actual suffering: and it is
easy to see the j-ntrinsic connection between the
two sets of figures (Panofsky, St. p. 206
-Icon.,
& ff .).
'the
Alternatively, the four rivers represent water
that flows out of Eden and divides into four sources ':
Three of the rivers of Paradise are sensory
functions (eison equals sight, Gihon equals
hearing, Tigris equals smell), but the fourth,
the Euphrates, is the mouth, "the seat of prayer
and the entrance of food" (,Jung, Aion, pp. L992
O O ).
Moreover, among other thl-ngs, alchemists called
'the 'the 'Les
themselves pious, ' poor, ' and poures hommes
el 'anqelis _ans ' (Jung, P & A, p. 394, & n.f53). So the
Four Rivers of Paradise, or four fountains,
which flow from a mountain on which Christ
stands, slanbolize the good news.
'bearers' 'pyang.!i"E',
Their are the four
The word qospel comes from the Anglo-Saxon
"god -spell, " i.e., the life of Christ with
His message of redemption (Silf, A Handbook
of Symbol-s, P' 44) '
Other symbols include:
four scrolls placed in the angles of a Greek
cross, or four books, the books of the Gospels.
. The Four Creatures, later attributes of
the Evangelists, originate in the mystical vision
of Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:5ff.) as a composite four sided
creature made up of a lion. a calf, a man,
and a flying eagle, known as a te$morph. (Rev.
426-8). Tetramorphs may hold a book and stand on
a wheel (ibid.).
'The
Analogously, four degrees of furor, or enthusiasm,
by which the soul re-ascends to the One' are summarized bv
290
Bruno as follows:
first the furor of poetic inspiration, under the
Muses; secbTil-religious furoi, under Dionysius ;
third, prophetic furor, under Apollo; fourth the
furor of love, under Venus. In this last and
ETffist of the four degrees of inspiration, the
soul i-s made One and recovers itself into the One
(ibid.; cf c!,. _ pp. -'mathesis '
. g i!., 296 297 for
'Idiota 'Pythagorean
as or numerology'
Eiumphans_,'
Mordente
under the guise of ' 's compass ' [cf . I'O II:
'Mordant, ' 'Alma 's '
i-ii; Castle in x] ) .
Now, according to Jung (AlqhemicaI Studies, pp. 332-333;
'the 'the
315 -317): tree of paradise ' supplied cross of
'the
Christ ' ; and tree possesses a quaternary quality by
reason of the fact that it represents the process by vrhich
the four elements are united ':
The tree also appears as a slzmbol of transformation.
. " [cod] hath determined to snatch the sword
of his wrath from the hands of the angel, substituting
in place thereof a three-pronged hook of goId,
hanging the sword on a tree: and so God's wrath is
turned into love. " Christ as Logos is the two-
edged sword, which slzmbolizes God's wrath,as in
Revelation 1:16.
The somewhat unusual allegory of Christ as the
sword hanging on a tree is almost certainly an
analogy of the serpent hanging on the cross. fn
St. Ambrose the "serpent hung on the wood" is a
"typus Christi, " as is the "brazen serpent on the
cross " in Albertus Magnus. Christ as Logos is
synonymous with the Naas, the serpent of the Nous.
. The Logos-nature of Christ represented by
the chthonic serpent is the maternal wisdom of the
divine mother, which is prefigured by Sapientia in
in the Old Testament (cf . gP. cit., pp. 25L -349,
passim) .
'As
the seat of transformation and renewal, the tree
'Pandora, '
has a feminine and maternal significance ' (cf.
Isis, Sapientia, etc.); on the other hand, it can also
'the
represent fruit that is "not cast into the fire, "' or
29L
'the
man who has stood the test '--'the "pneumatic " man of
'the
the Gnostics' (a synonlzm for the lapis as inner,
'
integrated man, or "frumentum nostrurfl, " our grain) (g.
cit., pp. 3L7-319; 3I0) .
"This magistery arj-ses in the beginning from one
root, vihich afterwards expands into several
substances and then returns to the one. " Ripley
likens the artifex to Noah cultivating the vine,
. and in Hermes the [tree is the] "vine of the
wise " (Jung, Alchemical Studies, pp. 3L4 -3f5).
A hybrid cross may be variously regarded: e.9., ds the
rPhilosophical '
Tree (cf . Jung, Alchelnical Studies, pp . 25L
3 4 9 ) i a s a ' M o u n t a i n ' o r ' L a d d e r ' i a r c h i t e c t u r a l l y a s a
' P i l l a r , ' ' S p i r e , ' ' C y l l i n d e r ' o r ' O b e l i s k ' ; a s a ' w a n d ' o r
' s t a f f ' ( c f . c a d u c e u s o f H e r m e s ) ; a n d a s a w e a p o n , s u c h a s a
' d i v i d i n g ' ' s w o r d , '
etc. According to Sill,
The tree in general represents the cosmos with its
cyclical processes and its regenerative blooming.
It also represents immortality, growth, and
creative power. Because of its tall vertical
shape, it symbolizes an upward surge, like the
ladder or the mountain, and is looked upon as a
link between the world of Heaven and that of Hel1.
(fne roots reach into the underworld of Hell; the
trunk is the earthly link to the spreading foliage
of Heaven") The tree also corresponds to tJre Tree
of Life, and the Cross. The tree in the Garden of
Eden is seen as a prophecy of the Cross.
'rr?ro nhrrciCal
cOndition Of the tree indicates
its symbolic meaning. A flourishing tree means
life, hope, holiness, goodness, and health --positive
virtues. A withered or dying tree suggests
diminishing forces and death.
On the third day of Creation God brought forth
trees and other vegetation.
The Tree of Life (arbor vitae) was a decorative
and iconographical motif in the ancient Middle East.
ft is the tree of the immortals, or the tree of
living. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was
the tree of mortals, the tree of knowing. Thus
I,IIfJ.
292
when Adam succumbed and ate "the fruit of the
tree which is in the midst of the Garden" (Gen.
3:3), he deprived man of eternal life on earth.
Sometimes when the two trees are represented,
tJ:e Tree of Life is depicted in bloom while the
Tree of Knowledge is dry, withered, and on the
verge of (A H_an9boo_kSlzmbols, p. 2O4).
death of
'the
Elsewhere Jung explains tree as a metaphorical
form of the arcane substance,'
a living thing that comes into existence according
to its own laws, and grows, blossoms, and bears
fruit like a plant. This plant is likened to the
sponge, which grows in the depths of the sea and
seems to have an affinity with the mandrake
(the one bleeding; the other shrieking upon being torn up;
Alglremical studies, pp. 290-291; cf . the Ech.eneie Re,mo.ra).
'water' 'tree'
That and are comparably related and significant
slzmbols in Spenser's epic design is attested in numerous
appearances (e.9., FQ I.ii.28 -44, vii.3L -32; II.i.35 -ii.10,
vii.53 -66; If I .Li: --.22; fV.x -xii; Vf .proem, x.6 -7, and ix -xii
passim; VfI .vi.36 -55, vii passim), but perhaps most
'well' 'tree
eloquently in FQ f .xi.29-50, wherein both the and
of life ' are described.
'a
Slzmbolizing living process as \^/ell as a process of
'the
enlightenment, life of the tree represents the opus/
which . coincides with the seasons' ('The opus begins in
the spring'):
The fact that the fruits appear in the spring and
the flowers in the autumn may be connected with
the moLif of reversal (arbos inveg.sa I ) and the
opus contla naluram. . "Again, plant this
tree on the stone, that it fear not the buffetings
of the winds; that the birds of heaven may come
and multiply on its branches, for thence cometh
293
wisdom. " . The tree is the true foundation
and arcanum of the opus. This arcanum is the
much-praised thesaurus thesaurorum. Just as the
tree of the m ts) has seven
branches, so also has the tree of contemplation,
as a treatise entitled "De arbore contemplationis"
shows. There the tree is a palm witJl seven branches
and on each branch sits a bird. . The alchemists
. contemplated their tree in the retort,
where, according to the Chemical-Weddinq, it was
held in the hano of an affipp. 3r4-3r5)
'sevenLh
'the
Moreover, the
circle' is said Lo show
relation of the "verba divinitatis" and the
seven planets
to the eighth circle, which contains the golden tree':
The author . would rather keep quiet about
the content of the seventh circle, because
this
is where the great secret begins, which can
be
revealed only by God himself .
The golden tree in the eighth circle shines
"like lightning. " Lightning in alchemy
signifies sudden rapture and illuminations (ep.
cit., pp. 316-3L7).
'root '
Though normally composed of a (Mercurius '), a
'trunk'
(Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus composing both
'head '
trunk and branches), and a ('sun and
moon ' contributing
l e a v e s , f l o w e r s a n d f r u i t s ) ( , f u n g , o p . c i t . , p . 2 7 5 ) , i t m a y
become 'inverted' (qr&qq inversa) , i n s t e a d t a k i n g ' r o o t ' ' i n
t h e a i r , ' o r 'in the "glorified earth" . of paradise or
'planted'
in the future world' (op. cit., p. 311). Firmly
'on 'tree
'tree
the stone, ' the of contemplation, ' like the
'seven
'held
of
the metals. ' has branches, ' and is in the hand
'according
of an angel' within the alchemical retort, to
the Chtzmical wedd.iJ:g ' (op. cit., pp. 3L4 -315).
'Magician' 'Mer1in'
The great therefore explains to
'Bri -tomart '
:
294
For so musL all things excellent begin,
And eke enrooted deepe must be that Tree,
Whose bj-g embodied braunches shall not lin,
Till they to heauens hight forth stretched bee.
For from thy wombe a famous Progenie
Shall spring, out of the auncient Troiaq blood,
Which shall reuiue the sleeping memE6Of
those same antique Peres the heauens brood,
Which Greeke and Asian riuers stained with their blood.
(FQ rrr.: -ji.22)
'inverted 'the
The tree' resembles mandrake' :
"the root of its minerals is in the air and its
head in the earth.". Ripley says that the
tree has its roots in the air and, elsewhere, that
it is rooted in the "glorified earth, " in the earth
of paradise or in the future world (S.. c_it., p.
3rr).
In Jung 's words,
Taken on average, the commonest associations to
its meaning are growth, Iife, unfolding of form
in a physical and spiritual sense, development,
growth from below upwards and from above downwards,
the maternal aspect (protection, shade, shelter,
nourishing fruitsr source of life, solidity,
permanence, firm-rootedness, but also being "rooted
to the spot "), old d9€, personality, and finally
death and rebirth (A1ghe4igel Stg4:-es, p. 272).
'anchor, '
3) The according to G. G. Sill, was an
'Early
Christian slzmbol for the Cross, for salvation, hope,
constancy ' (ugndbqo}, pp. L2B, 32, 153 -L54); while the
'disguised ' 'anchor
primitive or cross ' showed Christ 's
c r u c i f i x g r o w i n g l i k e a ' t r e e ' o u t o f t h e c u p , b o w l , o x
c r e s c e n t m o o n o f h i s V i r g i n M o t h e r ' s ' w o m b . '
'The Ship' (cf . the Hermetic 'Argo') has been identified
by Pavitt (ref. L76) and others as
a symbol universally used to represent the Church,
and signified the belief of its wearers in thej-r
salvation and safety from temptations of the flesh.
It was frequently used in combinatj-on wiLh other
slanbols (eoot qf Tali_eme4q, p. 103).
_
'in
It often, for example, appears combination with the Tau
Crosst :
This Cross vrhen placed upon the top of a heart
signified goodness, and was at the same time
regarded as a Talisman for protectj-on from evil.
It was the monogram of Thoth, the Eglzptian god of
Wisdom, and when used with a circle at its base
signified the eternal preserver of the world.
The Cross with four arms symbolises the four
Cardinal Points, or Universe, the dominion of the
Spirit. .
The combination of Lhe Hand and the Cross as
a Talisman is one of the most remarkable of all the
composition charms of ancient times against the
EviI Eye (gp. cit., pp. 104 -105) .
'ship ' 'anchor ' 'Agnus Dei
Said or is related to the ' cross
or talisman, which
consists of a Lamb carrying a flag and cross .
with the motto "Ecce Agnus Dei" (gehola the Lamb
of God) g!. cit., p. I07) .
Commonearly Christian slnnbols for the separate
parts of the Trinity were the Hand of God for God
the Father, the Lamb or Cross for the Son (Christ),
and the Dove for the HoIy Ghost. These three were
rarely combined into one image [sic], but one or
two rnight be used in conjunctj-on with a human
figure. Another type of Trinity was three persons
in human form of identical or varied ages, such as
three kings seated on separate thrones (Handbook
of. Svmbols, pp. 207 -208).
In the conception itself, the HoIy Ghost
may be represented by the dove, or by rays of
light supporting a tiny infant bearing a cross,
prophecy of the Crucifixion. The fncarnation
is the moment when the Holy Ghost enters Mary's
body and Christ is conceived. Divine rays
leading to Mary's ear indicate "that the word was
made flesh" (John 1:14) (Si1f , A Handbo_okof
S.ymbols, pp. 119 -120) .
296
'the
The allusion to Crucifixion' is hardly accidental, ds
it was popularly held that Christ's sacrifice occurred on
'Annunciation'
the very same day as the miraculous to His
Virgin Mother--for a cycle of perfect slzmmetry in Christ's
'Incarnation. '
'life '
It is implied Lhat is a perilous, uncertain, at
best continuously fluctuating voyage--as we have seen it to
be regarded by the alchemj-sts as well. Spenser, in the era
of discovery, exploratj-on, and long and daring journeys to
'empire,'
expand Elizabeth's was noticeably susceptible to
this nautical body of imagery (e.9., gg II .pro.2; xii.passim;
Vf.xii.L -2). Moreover, it suited his chronic discontent
'mutability'
with the of mortal existence, as illustrated
'anchor, '
by the Flood (cf . Ps. 69:L-2) . Such an like the
'arrow'
Echene_is remgra with the described above, provides
an opportunity for complete stillness, quiet, statis--even
'in
the middle' of the deepest and most turbulent Ocean.
'anchor'
Of course, the was a tradiLional slanbol of
'Hope.' for which Biblical precedents are not wanting: for
-20
example, in Hebrews 6.L7 we are told that
God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the
heirs of promise the immutabj-lity of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things, in whj-ch it
was impossible for God to lie, we might have a
strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to
lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as qn anchor of Lhe ggg-1,
both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into
that within the vail;
!{hither the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the
order of Melchisedec (Cideon Bible, p. 22L) (L77).
297
Spenser offers one illustration in the fignrre of spe.r.anza
in FQ I.x.L4,22, etc. This in turn recalls a traditional
rtalian nautical term of uncertain derivation--the qncora di
'sheet
spgl'gn_za or dj!-salveFza, vzhich is Englished as either
'shoot
anchor' or anchor' and defined as follows bv the
O-.E _.D.(p. 1870):
1. A large anchor, formerly always Lhe largest
of a ship's anchors, used only in an emergency.
2. (f:q.) ftrat on which one places one's reliance
when all else has failed (L524) (178).
Thus Dr. Mountagu (acts and Monuments, L642) exclaims
'Wherein
yet Christ is the Shoot-anker of salvation'; C.hrist
'Casting
in Arn, verse 14.xviii (1658) speaks of one 's out
'sheath -anchor ')
his sheat anchour (1669, of hope '; and in
her Ear1y Diary (B ptayi L775) l4rne.D 'Arblay discusses ,The
great sheet-anchor, upon urhich we are to depend in our voyage
'
through lif e (Comple.te O. E.P. , ii .27 BO).
A possible source for the anchor and motto is John
'Co1in
Skelton 's conclusion to Clout, ' whence, after all,
'man
Spenser borrowed his in the street' pseudonlzm (though
E.K. attributes it to Marot as well at the start of his first
gloss to TIre. Shepheardes
[January] -Calendar):
Now to withdraw my pen
And now a while to rest
Meseemeth it for the best.
The forecastle of my ship
Shall glide and smoothly slip
Out of the waves wild
Of the stormy flood
ShooL anchor and lie at road
And sail not far abroad
TiIl the coast be clear
And the lode-star appear
My ship now will I steer
Towards the port salu
Of our Saviour Jesu
Such grace that he us send
To rectify and amend
Things ttrat are amiss
Where that his pleasure is.
Amenl
As an image of the Virgin, the anchor may be interpreted
'bowl ' 'crescent
as the of the moon ' (cf . Solomon 's song,
6:10), in which Mary stands in compositions representing ttre
Immaculate Conception (cf. !2zL), or in which Christ
Bev.
stands (cf. the cross) in images of the fncarnation (cf. John
'womb' 'the
L:LA: it was in her that word' of the Holy
'divine 'flesh ').
Ghost was transformed from rays ' into
Alternatively, Lhe cross may represent the Virgin's Gird1e,
whereby her body was raised to heaven ('The Assumption') by
'down
God, while she lowers the nether end to St. Thomas, who
'the
requested proof of her assumption'--emphasizing role of
Mary as mediator for human beings on earth who hoped for
'inter-
salvation within the protection of the Church'--our
'qirdle'
cessor for the flesh.' As such the of Marv \^/asalso
'Chastity '
a symbol of (cf . Florimell 's girdle, FQ IV.iv -v).
'The
bowl*shaped altar is of course . a retort or
'called
other vessel, ' "the place of punishment " because
the alchemical materials were supposed to suffer in the
'The
operations.' metaphor of combat' is common (Occu1t
Sslences, p. L92). So it is that G. R. CrampLon has
'topost
identified in both Chaucer and Spenser the of
'protagonist
as sufferer,' in imitation of the Passion of
(179). 'through
Christ FQ IfI.iv, for example, a climactic
series of lyric complaints, comprises a minor key theodicy
emphasizing man's perception of self as sufferer. .
Thus . the topos proves to be an analytical tool helpful
in making salient formal aspects of aesttretic design' (179) .
'cross'
But yet another species of is suggested in the
'Saint
intertwining vines--namely the saltire (X-shaped) or
Andrews Cross,' here represented as a species of broken
'fign:re
B ' ( c f . t h e f i g u r e f o r i n f i n i t y ' ; H o p p e r ' s i n s i s t e n c e
that 'B' is the 'diapase,' equivalenL to the completed
' o c t a v e ' i n m u s i c ; a n d F o w l e r ' s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f ' B ' a s ' t h e
a.fj-thpet_ic mgan be.tween 7 and 9,' Numberg, p. 285). This is
Asclepius' healing staff or the caduceus of Hermes, perhaps
'ggg, ' 'Seals '
borrowed from Dee 's or else from the and/or
'Tmages' 'World
of Giordano Bruno. fts slmonyms are:
mountain, world-axis, world-treer d.rrdhomo maximu.s' (,fung,
Alchemical Stu4i.es, p. 29L, n.9) . The traditional interlocking
serpents (cf. Book of Talismans, pp. 91-93) are replaced in
Spenser's device by a pair of vines, one presumably so1ar,
the other lunar--as will be argued below.
Put somewhat differently,
As ttre farmer weds his elms to vines, even so
does the macfLiswed earth to heaven, that is,
he weds lower things to the endowments and
powers of higher things (eico, transl. by
Neuse, p. 69).
'emblem, ' 'lnonas, '
fn short, Spenser 's Iike Dee 's is
300
'egg'
inscribed within the outline of an on the title page
'm.aqnur-n
of his opus,' and it is constructed according to the
'a
same basic principles and for the same basic purpose:
composite slzmbol of the seven planets, based on the character
'a
for Mercury,' it constitutes formula for a combined
cabalist, alchemical, and mathematical science which would
enable its possessor to move up and down the scale of being
'
from the lowest to the highest spheres.
's
Arthur peFecrrinatjo is therefore analogous to the
'water/serpent,/Logos' -metaphor(s)
of alchemical literature,
or else to the serpentine twinnings of one or more rope,
wheel, garland, branch or vine. His quest is dynamic and
'
cyclical, commencing with a (six -stage) descent ('into HelI,
in imitation of Christ and a considerable assortment of
pagan heroes of deaLh -and -rebirth: e.9., Osiris, Orpheus,
'Gayomart';
Hercules, and Dionysus; the lranian man-god Aion,
Adonis, Attis, Mithra, Phanes, et a1. lcf . Jung, Psycholo.qv
and Alche.mv, pp . 2O6-2L4, 306-3O7 & ff ., 327 -396 , etc. ;
Panofsky, Studies in Icoqqlogy, pp. 69-9L; Reneissange
,and
Renascenqes, pp. L49 -L52, 165 -L69, 186 -2LO, etc.l ), wtrich
should then be inverted in the ascending course described by
Books VII-XII-
Like the alchemists, therefore, the designer of The
'uni-ty
Faerie Queene intended to demonstrate at once a of
'the
matter' (in his single epic hero, Arthur) and possibil'
images' 'private'
ities of transmuting it' (from knightly of
301
'regal'
Ethics to an exalted paradigm of Po]itics) Such
'duality ' 'unity '
an impeccable reconciliation of in recalls
'Ouroboros'
the
alchemical wherein a callow ('green') young
'verdant'
manhood, represented by a inner circle, is shown
'crimson 'ring
at length to cede to an outer, of a fully
'sovereignty'
achieved
in the course of maturation.
R
Creation (Descendi Ar_r
Redemption (Ascendi
fn
analogous fashion
Ficino describes in his De vita coelitus comparanda
drawJ-ng down the life of
the
astral currents pouring down from above and
using them for life and health. The celestial life,
according to the Hermetic sources, is born on air,
or spiritus, and it is strongest in the sun which
is its chief transmitter. Ficino therefore seeks
to
cultivate the sun, and his therapeutic astral
cult is a revival of sun worship (Art of Me.mory,
p.
t5r) .
'Egyptians' 'to
Just as the
were said animate their statues
by drawing into them the divine, or demonic, powers of the
cosmos ' (ibid.), thereby turning them into 'gods, ' Ficino
and
others believed talismanic imagery, musical and poetic
incantations, architectural designs, painting, ds welI as
emblems, devices and imprese, could alike be infused with
'spi-ritus, ' 'proportioned '
potent astral if in strict
'the 'the
accordance with rules ' of celestial harmony. '
'interpreted
Giulio Camillo likewise
the magic of the
Egyptian statues in an artistic sense; a perfectly proportioned
302
statue becomes animaLed with a spirit, becomes a magic
statue ' :
'f
have read, I believe in l,lercurius Trismegistus,
that in Egypt there were such excellent makers of
statues that when they had brought some statue to
the perfect proportions it was found to be animated
with an angelic spirit: for such perfection could
not be without a soul. Similar to such statues, f
find a composition of words, the office of which
is to hold all the words in a proportion grateful
to the ear. . Which words as soon as they are
put into their proportion are found when pronounced
to be as it were animated by a harmony' (A.rt of
M-emory,p. 156).
And in his famous Theater Camillo
proposed to show how Man, the great Miracle, who
could harness the powers of the cosmos with Magia
and Cabala as described in Pico's Oration on the
Dignity of Man, might develop magical powers as an
orator by speaking from a memory organically
affiliated to the proportions of the world harmony
(e!. cit., p. L69) .
'In
Of course, it goes without saying that ancient
rhetorical theory, oratory is closely bound up with poetry,
as Camillo, hjmself a Petrarchan poet, wo.s fully aware ' (ifiO.; .
'among
And indeed, Yates continues, Ariosto and Tasso were
the hosts of Camillo 's admirers ':
In Ariosto 's Orlando furioso, Giulio Camillo
'he
appears as who showed a smoother and shorter
way to the heights of Helicon ' [46.L21 . And
Torquato Tasso discusses at some length in one
of his dialogues the secret which Camillo revealed
to the King of France, stating that Camillo was
the first since Dante who showed that rhetoric is
a kind of poetry q_CveletLa s l-a
ti,e -qVe-qg__de__Ig
de la poesia toscanal (Art of
Conformably, 'The celestial harmony not only governs
' the universal whole but is creative, asserts Shumaker in his
303
'discussion '
of harmony, music, and concords (concentus),
'mainly 'numerical'
turning on proportions,' and developing
themes. For example,
Of the four classical modes, the Dorian related
to water and the first of the humors, phlegm; the
Phrygj-an to fire and cholerai the Lydian to air
and blood; and the Mixolydian to earth and black
bile (Occ!1t Scj-e.nces, p. f45) .
Moreover, it was said to follow that
The proportions, measure, and harmony of the human
body, since man is a microcosmos, resemble those
of the unj-verse . Temples, houses, theaters, ships,
machines, even such parts of these as columns,
capitals, and pedestals were anciently built on the
model of the body, ds was Noah 's Ark (cp. cit.,
pp. L45-L46)
'Ark ' 'the
(cf . Noah 's as a type of ship Argo, ' near which
'is
the raven, perched on Hydra (the great sea serpent) ,
represented in the old sculptures immersed in the waves of
ocean on which the Ark was floating,' cited in The Book of
Talismans, p. 236). It is worthy of note that Noah is said
'the 'after ' 'and
to have built Altar' leaving the Ark, in
fact in ttre smoke from the A1tar, is the bow of Sagittarius'-
'God,
regarding which after the savour of the Altar had
reached him, said: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and ir
shall come to pass when I brinq a cloud over the earth that
bow shall be seen in the cloud"' (Book of Tali€mans, p. 236) .
Like Camillo and others, Spenser adopted,/adapted
'Ficino 's 'occult
astral magj -c' Lo his memory system ':
'spiritus '
Ficino 's magic was based on the magical
rites described in the Hermetic Asclepius throucrh
304
which the Egyptians, ot rather the Hermetic
pseudo-Egyptians, were said to animate their
statues by drawing into them the divine, oy
demonic, powers of the cosmos. Ficino describes
in his De vita coelitus compar.ands ways of
drawing , oi capturing
the astral currents pouring down from above and
using them for life and health. The celestial
life, according to the Hermetic sources, is borne
on air or spiritus, and it is strongest in the sun
which is its chief transmitter. Fi-cino therefore
seeks to cultivate the sun and his therapeutic
astral cult is a revival of sun worship (Yates,
A r t o f M e m o r y , p . 1 5 1 ) .
D e s i g n e d a s a s p e c i e s o f ' m o n a s hj!-erogly-phica,' the FQ
is thus similarly devoted to 'drawinq down the life of
t h e s t a r s , . capturing the astral currents pouring down
from above and using thern for life and health' (Yates, Art
of Memory, p. 151. To be even more specific, Spenser was
'to 'image ' 'statue '
attempting animate ' the or of his
'beloved, ' 'deep ' 'by
erected within his mind, drawing into '
'the
it divine, or demonic, powers of the cosmos ' (ibid.) .
'the
So, in his discussion of slzmbolic mode ' of the
'Epithalamion, ' 'twofold
Richard Neuse has identified a
typological [ "figural "] symbolism '
of whj-ch one is essentially Biblical: the
temple imagery, that is, draws upon the Solomonic
temple and the pleromatic temple of the New
,Jerusalem (Revelation, 2L) , and the architectural
(and other) imagery applied to the bride in
stanza 10 is based upon the "epithalamium" of the
Song of Songs. The second. kind consists of the
typology of the day or time and is essentially
liturgical, though it might also draw on a text
like Ephesians 5: 13 -16:
For vihatsoever is manifest, that same is
light. Wherefore he sayth: Awake thou that
slepest, and stond uppe from deeth, and Christ
shall seve the liqht.
305
Take hede therfore that ye walke
circumspectly: not as foles: but as wyse
redemynge the tyme: for the dayes are
evyll (Tyndale 's translation, L534) in
Spenser, Berger €d., p. 58).
Moreover,
Both kinds of slzmbolisrn, biblical and diurnal, are
combined in the bride, who rises in a gradual birth
out of darkness: 11 . 93ff.. , LABff. As type of
rising evening star, moon, sun (fl. l5l, L54ff.)
she participates in the celestial masque of Hymen.
At the same time, the bride 's existence as real
woman is established by the realistic social context
projected: lt. 159ff. (ibid., n.13) .
'The
fn Epithalamion, ascent from physj -cal ' ('AI1 her
'to
body like a pallace fayre, ' I. f7B) spiritual and moraI,
into the inner chamber to see "that which no eyes can see,,/The
'Ascending
inward beauty of her liuely spright " (11. 185 -186;
vppe with many a stately stayre,/To honors seat and chastities
'is
sweet bowre, ' 11. 179 -fB0), moreover, directly
paralleled to the entry into the actual temple' described
in Epj -tha1. , 11. 2O4 -2L4
Palace, royal throne of the mind (1. L94), and
temple images fuse into the image of the bride as
at once real woman and saint in her own temple, a
physical, moral, and spiritual exemplar in one
(cf . FQ II .ix.passim; ibid.) .
'Epitbalamion'
might be regarded, therefore,
as a poetic analogue to the religious sacrament
whose signs "function to transform man and the
world on a supernatural level. " Like the sacrament,
the poem may itself be regarded as a
dramatic performance taking place in the poet's
soul, in such a way that "the meaning of the
slnnbolic words, acts, . are not only brought
to mind but are effected, caused, actually happen"
there.
',June' ( 'Cupid ' 'a
So the ) of VII . vii.35 is calIed
Player ' :
And,
So,
pri-vation,
'indicates
305
Thus Hlzmen, invoked for the unique occasion of
this particular day, comes to participate in the
'
reality and power of the sun s daily passage from
night to day. In this sense, it is another way
of looking upon the event of dawn (Neuse, in
Berger, p. 58).
Cupid stands for Love by definition; but the
bundle which he carries instead of his customary
weapons is a well-known slzmbol of unity (Panofsky,
St, Icon -., p. f61) .
The day of the solstice itself is, then, the most
perfect embodiment or analogue of the poem. It
signifies the apex of Time's plenitude, and as a
turning point in the annual calendar wtren the sun
(and thus time) seems temporarily to stand still,
it represents an ecstatic moment which
afforded an extraordinary perspective on the veqf
rhythm of nature and the eternal pattern or powers
controlling its course. As in the poem, therefore,
men experj-enced their existence as participating
simultaneously in a timeless, eternal order and in
a temporal one. This conjunction may be the
essence of the holy. . These feelings found
formal expression in the festival, which enacted
the cosmic event by participation, as it were.
Through ritual release from the profane time of
everyday, the celebrants returned to a "mythical
drearn-time . located simultaneously at the
beqinni.nq and outsjde of evolution." The ritual
varied, but had two typical features: Dionysian
revelry, excess; and ceremonial gesture, invocation,
dance.
The solstitial holiday heightens the festal
nature of the wedding and gives it an added
dimension. The Dionysian excess in stanza L4,
"Poure out the wine without restraint or sLay, /
Poure not by cups, but by the belty fult " (11. 250 -f)
implies release and festj-ve immersion in . the
plenitude of the sun's energy (Neuse, in Berger,
€d., Sp., pp. 58-60).
'is
the FQ, like Epithalamion, born of a sense of
and the Orpheus simile' with which it opens
what is to be its major task ':
307
to invoke, by the magic of its music, the
presence of the bride. . The wedding song
brings to fulfilment what has been a "failure"
in the sonnet sequence. The image of the beloved
that the sonneteer cultivates in his ourn soul-"
Her temple fayre is built within my mind, /In
which her glorious image placed is,/on which my
thoughts do day and night attend" (22) --reflects
in its development his growth in love fother
'inner
image ' sonnets are #,s B. 45, 51, 6L; cf.
Ficino's "amarts amati figuram suo sculpit in
animo. Fit itaque amantis anjmus speculum inquo
amati relucet imago, " 9p. cit., p. 50 and n-AJ .
But at the point when he needs it most to sustain
him, the image fails him. The crisis, foreshadowed
in Sonnet '78, comes to a climax in Sonnet BB (Neuse,
in $p., €d. Berger, p. 50).
Richard Neuse explains that the FQ, tike the Epithalamion,
'wil1
deal with and make up for the predicament on which the
Amoretti had "foundered. "'
It wil-l assert an image of the bride that will
outlive the night of separation and the vagarj-es
of time. How can it do so when the sonnets have
already declared the inadequacy of the image? It
will do so by means of a poetic mode especially
designed to come to terms with, if not to "conquer, "
,1,r ma
The poem [is made] into a slrmbol of alI time,
"a Calendar for euery yeare. " Now, this framework
of an ideal time fits in exactly with a cardinal
feature of the Pythagorean aesthetic, namely the
hidden or implicit harmony which the artist was
supposed to impose upon his work. Thus the
numerical-symbolic structure of the Epithalamion
serves, in Pythagorean fashion, to e$iG-EEsecret
affinity with the mathematical order of the
universe and functions as a means of invoking
quasimagical powers.
For combined with its demand for an abstract
structure or pattern, Humanist Pythagorism had a
conception of artistic production as a kind of
magical af:s mjlnj-s.tra naturae. The artist's
imagination must enter into, become identified
with Nature's generative course, and produce images
as by her agency. .
The embodiment of this Humanist dream of
fllan's power over nature was the poet-magician
308
Orpheus. . The zodiacal motion in the poet's
wit is in harmony with that of the heavens (Neuse,
gp.,
in ed. by Berger, pp. 5L -52) .
Orpheus, it will be recalled, enjoyed an almost unique
importance during the Renaissance as perhaps the ultimate
combination of mythical hero, r€ligious teacher, philosopher
and poet (walker, Ancient_Theoloqy, p. 22) z
First, he was believed to be the founder of an
esoteric mystery religion . providing the
fundamental sacred writings of his own. ft is
also important, for Christian syncretists, that,
according to Diodorus Siculus, he learnt his
religious rites in Egypt. Though Diodorus and
others specifically connect these with Dionysus,
he was also regarded as the source of all esoteric
'A11
Greek religion; as Proclus says, the Greeks '
theology is the offspring of the Orphic mystical
doctrine'. Among the sects thus connected with
Orpheus the Pythagoreans are particularly
important. . It was from disciples of Orpheus
that Pythagoras, and through hj-m Plato, had learnt
that the structure of all things is based on
numerical proportj-ons. .
Secondly, we must bear in mind Orpheus as the
type of the ethically influential, effect-producing
singer. . He was a divinely inspired poetic
teacher, possessed by Platonic furor, who reformed
'the
and civilized his barbarous contemporaries,
stony and beastly people ', as Sir Philip Sidney
calls Lhem (op. ci!., pp. 22 -23).
Ficino considered him
to be possessed not only by the poetic furgr,
but also by the religious (Bacchic), prophetic
and amorous ones. . It was a characteristic
of such inspiration that the poet received
supernaturally revealed knowledge of human and
divine things ' (ibid. ) .
'whose
He was frequently compared with David, music was
powerful enough to cure Saul's madness, and who also wrote
divinely i-nspired songs of a religious content ' (ibid.) .
Moreover,
309
The main religious truths which Ficino and his
followers found in the works of Orpheus
were: monotheism, the Trinity, and the creation
as recounted in Genesis (c!. cit., p. 25) .
fhus, James Neil Brown has identified three species of
'Orpheus'
employed by Spenser in his FQ ('this Brittane
Orpheus: The Orpheus Myth in the Poetry of ES, ' doct. diss.,
L973) z
Perhaps the most popular treatment was that of
Orpheus the civilizer, slzmbol of the humanistic
ideal of verbal eloquence popularized by Boccaccio
and Comes. This Orpheus, who could control aII of
nature with his music, who civilj-zed the beastly
and stony barbarians around him, was a culture-hero
whom all men could recognize as superi-or and as
necessary to civilization. Such a figure was a
perfect model for a poet uiho wished to influence
society by reasserting the social value of poetry;
and the figure of Orpheus is therefore the archetype
on which Colin ClouL and the narrator of The
Faerie Queene are modelled. The poet of ffi 1590
Fae'EA-G-ne unequivocally and suntty chooses
Orpheus as hj-s poetic antecedent. What Orpheus did
for ancient civilization, he will do for England.
And he writes an inspired poem of praise, creating
a transcendent world in which Elizabeth will be
deified, and men will be inspired in virtuous and
gentle discipline.
'the
Contrasted is Neoplatonic allegorization of Orpheus
as priscus theologus, w€llspring of mystical truth and
source of aII Greek theoloqy ':
From Ficino especially comes the Orphic theogonic
view (complementary to that of Christian betief)
that Love or Eros or Phanes created the cosmos out
of Chaos, and ordered all the discordant elements
of that creation into harmonious concord.. Spenser's
mythological and cosmological delineation of his
created universe as sexually dichotomous but united
and harmonized through love is explicitly Orphic.
'Juxtaposed with this Orphic poet of love who creates a
world in which all elements are ioined and harmonized bv love
310
are demonic Orphei, figures from the demonic underworld of
Night,
Chaos, Disorder, who seek to subvert natural harmonv
by tempting men to lust' :
Lust is antithetical to love: lust makes men
less than human as love inspires men to aspire
to be more and more godlike. These demonic
Orphei--Archimago, Acrasia, Busirane--are all
enchanters, creators whose art is directed to
undoing the order of the cosmos and unmaking men.
'Book
Brown
concludes that VI . climaxes i-n an
affirmation of the visionary ability of the Orphic poet. .
An Orphic poet is indeed "a God or godlike man"' (fBO) .
C. The Book-Months
1. January
So described, it is contended, is the epic hero 's
'Janus' 'January'
descent from Book I, conceived as or the
'Contemplation '
of
FQ VIr.vii.42 (cf . the of Fg _I.x.46ff .);
'Fixed 'tips
or as Air' posj-tioned at the of the fingers' of
'the
the microcosm's right hand raised to same height as
the head ' as in Austin 's schematization (see above, pp. 267 -268)
'June, '
This descent concludes in or, more accurately, in a
'May '-'June '-'July ' cluster, presumably assigned to
'feet ' 'base '
'July,,
Books
V-VII at the or of the figure.
o f c o u r s e , s i g n a l s t h e s t a r t o f t h e h e r o ' s r e a s c e n t , o r
'redemption,' as the spiral devolving from 'January' has
m i m i c k e d t h e d i v i n e ' c r e a t i o n . '
311
Likewise signified, as in Epithalmion, are the hours
from 1:00 -6:00 a.m. (stanzas L-6; cf . stanzas I3 -lB)
,
followed by the (morning, or daylight) hours of 7:00 a.m.
to noon (cf. st. 7-L2i compare st. L9 -24).
rt would further appear that the twelve projected books
of The Faerie-eueens are adumbrated by spenser in the
pregnant stanzas rg vrr.vii.L-L2--with the miraculous
'transfiguration '
occurring in 7.7 .7:
The total design is illustrated in duplicate on the
following page, using both DaVinci's Vitruvian figure and
,monas,
Spenser 's Dee -Iike as orqanizinq frames.
So,
Then came o1d Ianuary, wrapped well
In many weeds to keep the cold away,
Yet did he quake and quiuer like to quell,
And blowe his nayles to warme them if he may:
For, they were numbd with holding all the day
An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood,
And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray:
Vpon an huge great Earth-pot steane he stood;
From whose wide mouth, there flowed forth the Romane floud.
(cf . 'Winter ' of ,stone '
the VII.vii,31). The of the
'AquarS-an'
sign is identified in Ths Bo.ok -Talismans as
of
'garnet' 'Re _
the red (op. cit., pp. 263 ff .; cf. dCross,).
similarly. scudamore in Fe rV.x, having secured his
'shield 'Tilr
of Love,' advances to the Briges vtter gate r
'
came (FQ IV.x. f 1) .
Th'one forward lookinq, th'other backeward bent,
Therein resembling fangs auncient,
lrlhich hath in charge the ingate of the yeare:
And euermore his eyes about him went,
As if some proued perill he did feare,
or did misdoubt some i11, ralhosecause did not appeare.
(rv.x.12)
3L2
look |, Janu-l)ock Xl, November,
6ry, FixedAir MutableFire
[]ook ll, Feb., ffiPs;*,-;Book X, 0ctober,
Mutai.:lel '/ater 'f_i #-tr-aTJ: i Fixed Water
, ;o
oooK
i
ii:, ; i ok ll1l i,.|4e;ich,l
ll:, .wtq,rcn,
i'' i' ,q"rdinaiCi'lei E Book i
'
f", i ix, s"p'terr,sel'i;card i nai I
qi't,
;'.;Ati.'\ ','
BookVl ||, ;.'\*.i
,',.,i i ii-i BeioklV, Aprll,
August, MutableEa
,Fiied Earth
DookVll, July',
Book I, rlay,
Flxed F Ire
i ' r u t a b l eA r i r
B o o kV l ,
June,
Cardinal
Water
ook XlI
Book I Book XI
Book il Book X
Book , Book lV
BookVl I Book V
-.
* ..: : !;i:.-_
Book VI
313
'the
Scudamour brandishes shield which I had conquerd late,'
'Doubt' 'kend
whereupon it, streight, and to me opened wide'
'shield ').
(st. LAi cf . the importance of Red Cross 's
'two -headed ' rJanus '
Thus, the of FQ IV.x.I1ff. repre '
The
sents, in addition to Year,' a synthesis of the ruthless
'judge, ' 'Jahve ' 'Jehovah ' 'Creator '
Old Testament or (cf. the
'Moses '
of
Genesis; ['Hermes Trismegistus '] on Mount Sinai,
'Ten
where the Commandments' were inscribed on sLone tablets
'Last
by God's divine finger), with the .Tudge' promised at
'end 'Book
the of Time' by the New Testament's concluding of
'tree(s) '
Revelation. ' The figure further introduces the
described in FQ I.i & xi, while adumbrating Una's imperial
'double
father as he is presented in FQ l.xii. The face, '
'Th'one
forward looking, th'other backeward bent,' recalls
'Truth 'Una
" s (i.e. , " s) principal enemy throughout Book I,
'two -faced ' 'Duessa. ' 'Doubt '
the witch, Moreover, in
'Porter, '
IV.x.11
re -echoes Lhe figure of Orgoglio 's
'Ignaro, '
in l.viii, while at the same time
recalling
S
'the 'Fradubio,'
human tree,' of FQ I.ii.2?ff. --'a not
uncommon figure for man captive to sin and therefore
spiritually dead' (Ne1son, The .Poelry of Edmund Spenser,
p.
L62).
'second'
Comparison is invited with the month of Graves'
'first '
Celtic calendar (the month, ds E.K. would readily
'December '; s 'theater '),
agree, being actually cf. Camillo '
'quiclclceam ("tree
which is identified with the
of life"),
3L4
otherwise known as the quicken, rowan or mountain ash.'
'prophylactic
A against lightning,' its magical red berries,
'guarded
by a dragon, had the sustaining virtue of nine
meals; they also healed the wounded and added a year to a
'rowan
manrs Iife.' The berry, with the apple and the red
nut' are described as 'Food of the gods'--'tabooed except
at feasts in honour of the dead.' It could 'deaden' as well
'quicken, ' 'oracular ' 'divinatory
as and it had or usesr as
well.
'Prophecied' 'Lhe
is imminent return of the Egyptian
religion through the revolution of the "great year of Lhe
world "t :
The revolution of the great year of the world
is ttrat space of tjme in which, through ttre most
diverse customs and effects, and by the most
opposite and contrary means, it returns to the
same again (transl. by Yates, Br]lno, p. 279).
'For
since the states of tkre world go by contraries; when it
is in a very bad state it may expect to return to the good
state. Vihen it is in a very good state, ?s once in Egypt,
the fal1 into darkness is to be expected' (ibid.; cf. FQ
V.proem.passim) .
So it is ttrat
The authorship of the first Gospel is ascribed.
to St. Matthew . who is supposed to have
wriEEffi-I . f or his fetlow-,Jews in Egypt and
Ethiopia or Persia. He was present at the
Ascension. His symbol is the winged man, or angel,
since his gospels trace the genealogy of Christ
and emphasize Christ's jmmortality and humanity to
his fellows. Other attributes may be the sword or
ax by which he was martyred, or a purse for tax
money (Si11, Handrbo.ol<o.f. Strmbols, pp. 44-45) .
315
'saturn
In certaj-n ninth century manuscipts is shown
splitting the firmament with an ax' due to a misinterpreta'
Kronos
tion of a classical Greek text meaning castrating
'Kronos
Uranus' as cutting, or spliLting the sky' (Panofsky,
St]r.dies in lconology, p. 76). With him compare the
'alchemist ' 'divides ' 'the 'sword.r
who world -egg ' with his
'Tamerlan,
Puttenham's drr Emperour in Tartary'--who
'from
a sturdie shepeheard . became a most mighty
'successour
Emperour,' though he died without . nor any
-as 'emblem '
memory after him ' (see p. L64) -his
gaue the lightning of heauen, with a posie in
that language purporting these words, Ira Dei,
which also appeared well to answer his fortune
., and witn fris innumerable great armies
desolated so many countreyes and people as he
might iustly be called the wrath oJ Go9 (Smith ed.,
ii, p. 110).
Si-milarly, Spenser deplores the uncertain lot of
'AXr€:''s'creatures'
:
Rayne, hay1e, and snowe do pay them sad penance,
And dreadfull thunder-claps (that make them quake)
With flames and flashing lights that thousand changes make.
(r 'o vrr.vii.23.7 -9)
'sj-gn'
(see above, p. 234) . And indeed, the of Aquarius
'lightnihg. '
( ) suggests a species of
'Lightning
Of course, as already mentioned, in alchemy
'
. signifies sudden rapture and illuminations.
'Jupiter
Now, according to Yates, as a planet is
associated with the element of air' (Art of l,tsmory, p. 141).
'Jove
But in the Orphic theogony contains,/Extended aether,
316
heav'n's exalted plains' (Walker, Ancient Ttreol.oqv, p. 36) ,
representing a symbol of the Christian Deity, or the
Trinity. The Orphic Hvmn of. rfoys ttrus begins:
Zeus is the first, Zeus ttre Iast, high-thunderer:
Zeus the head, Zeus the middle; from Zeus all
things spring; Zeus is male and immortal brid.e.'
'fire
Then are enumerated: and water and earth
and aether, night and day, and Wisdom, first
creator and sweet Love'i all these lie in Zeus'
great body (or palace) (ibid.).
'equates
So Ficino Jove with the anima mundi,' and elsewhere
'the
refers to him as mens mundi, "who creaLed all things
therein, containing the world in hi-mself ' :
This interpretation, repeated by Agrippa, comes
j-nto
near to making .fove the creative Logros, God
the Son (gp. cit., p. 37) .
It is worthy of note that
Epiphany or Twelfth Night, orr ilanuary 6, commemorates
the appearance of Christ to the Gentiles in
the Adoration of the Magi, his divinity at Baptism,
and his first miracle at the Marriacre of Cana. The
color is green, suggesting Spring (Si11, Handbook,
p. 2Ls).
Jove is thus adumbrated by Spenser ir VlI.vii.l:
S.
Ah: whrither doost thou now thou greater Muse
Me from these woods and pleasing forrests bring?
And my fraile spirit (tfrat dooth oft refuse
This too high flight, vnfit for her weake wing)
Lift vp aloft, to tell of heauens King
(Thy soueraine Sire) his fortunate successe,
And victory, in bigger noates to sing,
IrThich he obtain'd against Lhat Titanesse,
That him of heauens Empire sought to dispossesse.
'Spirit ' 'Air '
is often a not -so -veiled reference to an sign.
So, in 1590 Spenser introduced his infant epic with the
following stanza (gg I.proem.l):
3L7
Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske,
As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds,
Am now enforst a far vnfitter taske,
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds,
And sing of Krrights and Ladies gentle deed.si
Whose prayses hauing slept in silence long,
M€, all too meane, tfte sacred Muse areeds
To blazon broad amongst her learned throng:
Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall noralize my song.
It is hardly coincidental that Spenser's epic, Iike the
basic Rosicrucian manifestoes, Eerna fraternitatis and The
Chemical, W_e.dd.ing,opens wittr a winged fignrre blowing a
'blast on her trumpet.' The resemblance is to 'Lhe
conventional allegorical figure of Fame ' (cf. I.xi.5 -7i
Yates, BF, pp. 42, 48, 60 -61).
'Rosicrucian' 'prominent
Thoroughly is this winged
angel, blowing a blast on a trumpet, and crowning
[the
sovereignl with a wreath of fame as the founder of this
famous Society. . One cannot help . wondering
whether it could be an allusion to "under the shadow of
Jehova's wings," and whether the trumpeting angel was meant
to recaIl the Fama' (Yates, RE, p. L92).
2. Februarv
Now, at least since the publicatj-on of A. C. Hamilton's
'Like
article Race to Runne' in 1958 (1Bl) it has generally
,
been conceded that FQ Book I and Book fI have parallel
structures and, in consequence. are in some sense to be
'companion'
regarded as legends. Thus, according to Maurice
Evens (182):
318
If Book I corresponds to the Scheme of
Redemption ., Book II presents the successful
struggle of Adam and Eve after the FaIl to avail
themselves of the offered Grace. The two processes
are inseparable and the two knights represent the
dj-fferent
same humanity looked at from angles.
Together ttrey make up the full story of Christian
Redemption (Evans, in Berger, 96).
-9p,., p.
'The
distinction is clearly between that knowledge
which comes from an authentic glimpse of the divine truths
'Una '
lcf . in X.xii.2Lff .1 and that which results from
studying the record of human experience and learning the
lessons of past actions' (cp. cit., p. 89).
Helpe then, O holy Virgin chiefe of nine,
Thy weaker Nouice to performe thy will,
Lay forth out of thine euerlasting scryne
The antique roIles, which there lye hidden still,
Of Faerie knights and fairest Tanaquill,
Whom that most noble Briton Prince so long
Sought through the world, and suffered so much ill,
That f must rue his vndeserued wrong:
O helpe thou my weake wit, and sharpen my dull tong.
(FQ r.proem.2)
And Book II is indeed concerned with the 'antique history'
o f ' F a e r i e k n i g h t ( s ) ' a n d t h e ' f a i r e s t T a n a q u i l l ' s o u g h t
throughout 'the world' by Prince Arthur, as attested in
FQ II.ix-xii, passim, as well as throughout its proem--
e . g . , ' A n d t h o u , O f a i r e s t P r j -n c e s s v n d e r s k y , / I n t h i s
faire mirrhour maist behold thy face , /And thine owne realmes
in lond of I'aery, /And in this antique image thy great
'
auncestry, II .pro .4.6 -9) z
Yet sj-th I needs must follow thy behest,
Doe thou my weaker wit with skill inspire,
Fit for this turne; and in my feeble brest
Kindle fresh sparks of that immortall fire,
l{hich learned minds inflameth with desire
319
Of heauenly things: for, who but thou alone,
That art yborne of heauen and heauenly Sire,
Can tell things doen in heauen so long ygone:
So farre past memory of man that may be knowne.
(Fg.vii.2)
So,
The Palmer represents our reason in its special
capacity to distinguish between right, and wrong;
he is the power vrhich God of his grace restored
to Adam after the FalI, enabling him still to
retain a glimpse of the divine truth. The
Palmer's rod, like that of Cambina, is made of
the same wood as Mercury 's Caduceus (II.xii.4L) ,
and Mercury was the leader of the Graces and
master of the sacred Hermetic knowledge. Steering
by the Palmer is steering by "a stedfast starre, "
and without him Guyon, for all his skill, is like
a mariner
When foggy mistes, or cloudy tempests have
The faithfull light. of that faire lampe yblent,,
And cover'd heaven with hideous dreriment,
Spenser habitually describes the eclipse of reason
and virtue in terms of mists and clouds which
obscure the light, and when Guyon's light is
hidden by them, he has to make do with the inferior
guidance of his map and compass (II.vii.l; in
Berger, €d., Sp., p. 89)
(cf. II.proem.l -5) .
Analogously, according to Pauline Parker, ' all -inclusive '
'Virtue '
is def ined as
the ability to act, as virtue requires, because
all the natural powers and qualities are held in
due subjection, so that they all work harmoniously
together, and none assumes an irrational domina-
tj-on, . that virtue of exquisite balance which
ancient Greek educational theory aimed at, and
which Aristotle summarized in his doctrine of the
m e a n ( 1 8 3 ) .
S h e , o f c o u r s e , h a s a s s o c i a t e d s u c h ' V i r t u e ' w i t h
'Temperance. '
'Justice,
But Platonists interpreted not as a "particular
virtue juxtaposed to Prudence, Fortitude and Temperance, "
but as that fundamental power in the soul which assigns to
each of them their particular function ' (Panofsky, St. Icon.,
p. L39, n.30):
It is only by leading a truly active and a truly
contemplative life, ruled either by iustitia or
religio, that men can escape from the vicious
EE-G--of mere natural existence and can attain
both temporal beatitude and eternal immortality
(st. rc.ol. , p. 2o9) .
-
Of this more will be said jn another place.
Panofsky cites a similar coupling of illustrations in
Remigus of AuxerreIs C,ommentarllon Martianu.s Capelrla
(Reqaissance .and Rsnasc.enc_es,p. 85):
Jupiter is represented in the guise of a ruler
enthroned, and the raven which . belongs to
him as his sacred bird of augury is surrounded by
a neat little halo because the illustrator
involuntarily assjmilated the image of a ruler
enthroned and accompanied by a sacred bird to that
of Pope Gregory visited by the dove of the HoIy
Spirit. Apollo . rides on what looks like a
peasant's cart and carries in his hands a kind of
nosegay from which emerge the figures of the Three
Graces
(also described by Panof sky in MeaJri.n%in the Visual
Arts,
p. 48, where Jupiter 's raven is likened to 'the eagle of
St. John the Evangelist ').
'like
So, Sir Guyon 's race ' (II .i.32) , though also
hibernal, is considerably more aquatic than St. George's-
'odyssey '--and
resembling an particularly in FQ fI.xii,
'Boteman'
where the Fairy Knight is piloted both by a (or
'Ferrlzman ')
, and bY his caduceus -wielding'Palmer' (II.xii.3B
4Li cf . st. 3, 9-11 , L'| , 2L, 37, etc.) .
32L
'lofty
Having lost his steed ' in canto ii, Sir Guyon
'could
also not ride ' for much of his adventure. Since
'Humility'
'a
was traditionally depicted as proud horseman
falling off his mount ' (Panofsky, R & R, p. 95; cf . Puttenham
ninth device, for King Philip of Spain), February and Sir
'proud' 'course'
Guyon are anything but (cf . the of
progressive humiliation, or descent into Hell, pursued here
by Arthur). In fact, maintains St. Bonaventure, they are
'avarice '; 'Tantalus
especially susceptible to and vainly
'the
reaching for the water' is gireatest miser in the world.'
'avarice'
Indeed it is to that Mammonappeals in
lI.vii,
'ensample
and Tantalus himself surfaces in st. 57-60 as an
'high
. of mind intemperate' to men of degree,' though
'to 'the
remaining submerged the vpmost chin' in
riuer of
Cocytus deepe.' where he shares his punishment with Pontius
Tree
P i l a t e / a r n o n go t h e r s ( s t . 6 L -6 2 ) . I n f a c t , i n G u y o n ' s c a s e
t h e g r e a t e s t t e m p t a t i o n t o ' g r e e d ' w o u l d b e ' i n t e l l e c t u a l , '
'
i.e., a renewal of Adam 's sin when confronted with the
of Knowledge of Good and Evil.' Comparison is invited with
'golden
'Gjrrdin
the apple-tree' in the o.f Prosperina'
'garden '
(ff.vii.53 -56, 63, etc.) --a
which, as Harry Berger
'Winter '
has justly pointed out, signifies the
season (fB4):
Significantly, 'Mammon ' boasts (II.vii. B) :
God of the world and worldlings Ime call,
Great Ma.mmon,greatest god below the skye,
That oF my pfenty poure out vnto all,
And vnto none my graces do enuye:
Riches, renowrnef and principality,
's
322
Honour, estate, and all this worldes good,
For which men swinck and sweat incessantly,
Fro me do flow into an ample flood,
And in the hollow earth haue their eternall brood.
'night-sea
As models of the journey,' or of the redemptive
'descent
into He1I, ' among the most traditional are: Adam,
Noah, Jonah and Christ. The association of Noah with
Vitruvian macrocosm-microcosm djmensions, outlined on pp. 266
27I, is especially pertinent in the light of the elaborate
measurements propounded in FQ 1I.ix.2Lff.
'horse'
The exchange of the of chivalry for a species
'boat ' 'February '
of is shared by the of VII.vii.43 as well
'Delay'of
as by the IV.x.15, as follows:
And lastly, came cold F_ebrua.fy, sitting
In an old wagon, for he could not ride;
Drawne of two fishes for the season fitting,
lVhich through the flood before did softly slyde
And swim away: yet had he by his side
His plough and harnesse fit to tiII the ground,
And tooles to prune the trees, before the pride
Of hasting Prjme did make them burgein round:
So past ttre twsl-us MonLhs forth, and their dg:t places found.
(vrr .vii .43)
But by no meanes my way I would forslow,
For ought that euer she could doe or sdlr
But from my lofty steede dismounting low,
Past forth on foote. beholding all the way
The goodly workes, and stones of rich assay,
Cast into sundry shapes by wondrous skill,
That like on earth no where f recken may:
And vnderneath, the riuer rolling still
With murmure soft, that seem'd to serue the workrnans will.
(rv.x.ts1
'Fixed 'Janus, '
So, the designated companion of Air, ' or
'Mutable 'Pisces, '
is Water ' under the sign of here
'Delav.'
identified with as will be recalled from Puttenham's
'Festina
'March,
lente ' device, or his linking of wj _th
'February, ' 'March '
'haste, '
the fiery was held to signify
'deray'
while his
watery companion symborized (see above,
pp. L45ff). Moreover, James Carscallen has identified as
Guyon's princj-par foe throughout Book rr 'Time in a female
form, Time invi-ting to fear and denj_a1' (lB5)--variously
'Occasion,
depicted as Fortune, Venus, and Circe, (186).
'February,'
coincidentally, was of focal importance in
the calendars devised by both Julius caesar (according to
E.K.)
and the Christian Church --'secular, and 'sacred '
'Empire,'
models of
respectively. fn the former system
every fourth year was a 'leap year, ' designated 'Bissextilem
Annum ' ('twice six ') because in that year 'the sixth of the
Karends of March' (i.e., t]re 24th of Febn€rv) was counted
Lwice--bringing to twenty-nine the number of days in an
otherwj-se perfectly symmetrical four-week month (four times
seven equalling Lwenty-eight days i cf, Dee and the issue of
calendar reform in the 15th century). rn addition to Lenten
observances, furthermore, the ecclesiastical calendar
'candlemas
designated 2 February
Day,' or the day on wtrich
the candles for use in the ensuing year are blessed. The
'candremas'
name is derived from the procession of candles,
inspired by the words of Simeon, 'a light to lighten the
Gentiles' (Luke 2232) . rn Lhe western (Roman and Anglican)
churches it represents the Feat of the purification of the
Blessed virgin (the nastern churches, in contrast, celebrate
324
the Presentation of Christ in the Temple on that day).
As the final , ot twelfth, month in the natural 'solar'
year, 'February' represents tfte 'L2 , ' or the evil 'duodenarius '
of immersion, in matter and in beasL-like forms,--as the
unholy arliance of the five senses and the seven deadly
sj -ns ir S If .ix will attest (cf . refs. LB7 -1BB). As such
it is related, though as a parodic j-nversion, 'rong'
to the
'Humj -' 'Royally ' ,active
dPath of the virtues ' (i.e. , it
presents the vices rather than the virtues).
'Fixed 'Mutable
From Air, then, we descend to the
I 'pisces, '
waters of February under the sign of conceived as
at the tips of the fingers of the right hand herd at the
level of Lhe chest or heart, as in the figure of the
crucified christ. so it is that 'the theme of the descending
dew (_j-s
roS.)uniting heaven and earth' here irlustrated as
effectively as on the titte page of John Dee's Monas
hier-oq1yphic.a, recalling the Rosicrucian inscription'God
give thee of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the
Iand' (from Genesis 27; Yates, Rosicrucian Enlightelment,
pp. 45-47). Compare James Nohrnberg's discussion of the
'mediating' 'dew'
in The Analogv of TF.g, pp. 166-178
(Princeton press,
university Lg76) as welr as the prevailing
'men' 'ebb'
alchemical belief that are born from t]le of the
heavenly waters, while 'gods ' 'arise ' from the 'flow ' (cf.
'flow '
Fg I.i.2l). Said occurs directly opposite, during
the month of 'Fixed Water, ' or 'October, , under 'Scorpio.,
325
'tau'
Together they form the manual limits of the cross on
which Christ was believed by Bruno to have been crucified,
'two
and so conceived provide ample explanation for the
'twin
sources' or fountains' detected by Fowler in tJ:e
(refs 169) 'February, '
imagery of Book II . 29, L67-. then,
'descendj-ng 'Mutable
or the fountain' of Water' is thus the
'penitance ' 'deatJr, ' 'scorpio '
stream of or while supplies
'life. '
the elixir of Reproduced below are illustrative
'fmage
f igmres from Fowler's of mortality published in HIQ
in Le6L (169).
'Temperance ' 'Water '
The association of with was, of
course, traditional:
Temperance holds two vases, or may be pouri-ng
from one to another, "an even measure"; or she
may hold a clockr d. rn€dslr.r€of time, or a bridle,
all references to balance and restraint (Sil1,
A Handboo_kof SJmbols, pp . 2L2-2L3) .
'odyssey'
Conformably, Book II. which resembles an more than
a chivalric adventure (Nelson, ThS. P_oelry of ES, p. LAO),
_
'The
has been identified by Fowler with Rj-ver Gihon' (called
'fountain
a of repentanc€, ' MLN 75: 289 -292, 1960; also a
'fons 'Emblems of
voJ-_untatis' in Temperance in TFQ, Book II,'
Revj -ew of English Studies 11: L43 -L49, 1960). As further
'The
elaborated in Image of Mortality: TFQ II.i-ii'
(Hunti.ngton L.i_blary QuarJ.e.rly 24: 9I-II0, L96L) and Appendix I
to Spenser and ths N]rmbers .o.f(L964, pp. 260-288) , these
_Iime
'twin
fountains' are conceived as the bleeding hands of the
'Palm,/er' ) 'Tau
crucif ied Christ (cf . stretched out on the
326
rF;
327
' 'baptism is a dying life, '
cross . Since essentially into
"We are buried then with [Christ] , " writes Paul,
"by baptism into his death . our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin." What is the burial of the Mordant-Amavia
but a burial of the "old man"?
Since the death of the old man is the
beginning of a new life free from the domination
of sin and death, Spenser has set over against the
image of mortality an image of rebirLh (HLQ 24.
98, 1961).
'Flowing
Further, water was . a very familiar traditional
slanbol for the divine law' (cp. cit., p. 95); whereas the
'Bacchus ' 'October ' 'era
of is associated with the of Grace '
'wine' 'honey'
contingent on the invention of and (cf .
rErrn'lr.ari q{
I ?\
-1.
'streams'
This interpretation of the tvro is reinforced
'eleventh '
by Graves 's discussion of his Ce1tic month (N.8.
--vLz.,
that in our system 'October ' would occur 'tenLh ' the
Pythagorean'decad'orperfect'denariuS':)in@
Goddess (pp. 183-184). There he explains that
Dionysus had two feasts--the Spring Anthesterion,
'Flower-uprising';
or and the autumn Mysteriolrr
'uprising
which probably means of toadstools'
'food
(mykosterion was known as Amgr_osia, or of
Lhe gods ') ;
'the
and elsewhere he insists that autumnal Dionysus
must be distinguished from the Dionysus of the Winter
'ity, '
Solstice who is really a Hercules ' (ifia.1. The tree
'autumnal
of the Dionysus,' is identif ied as slzmbolic of
'resurrection. '
Moreover, it wilt be remembered from pp. 170ff. above,
32e
'water'
that was of paramount significance in alchemy,
'the
frequently coalescing with inner man'. Thus, according
to Bruno and his young English admirer Alexander Dicson
(De umbra rado11is, 1 5 8 4 ) :
unless the mens is present and men are immersed
in the nowl-(ilater) of regeneration in vain are
they made glorious with commendatj-ons (Vates, Art
of 27L).
.Memo.ry,p.
The reference is
to Hermetic regeneration, to that immersion in the
regenerative bowl (crater) which is the theme of
the fourth treatise of the C.orpus Her3qeticuq,
'Hermes
Lo Tat on the crate@bid.).
It is only via Hermetj-c regenerative experience that
the soul escapes from the dominatj-on of matter,
'punishments'
described as twelve or vicesr d.rrd
becomes filled with ten powers or virtues. The
experience is an ascent tJrrough the spheres in
which the soul casts off Lhe bad or material
influences reachj-ng it from the zodiac (the
duodenarius), and ascends to the stars in their
pure form, wit-l:out the contamination of material
influences, where it is filled with the powers or
virtues (the denarius) and sings the hlzmn of
'duodenarius'
regeneration-. The of immersion
in matter and in beast-like forms is to be driven
'denarius'
out by the wtren tkre soul becomes filled
with divine powers in the Hermetic regenerative
experience (gp. ci.t., p. 27O) .
fn Alexander Dicson's De umbra rationis
The insistence on the beast-like forms of men
unregenerated by Hermetic experience may have
some connection with Bruno's Circe in which
's
Circe magic seems to be intffiteA as morally
useful by making evident the beast-like characters
of men (Yates, Art of Memory, p, 27Oi Bruno, p. 2O2)
'Bower
(compare especially Acrasia 's of Bliss ' in II.xii).
'Prospera
In an important letter entitled in_fqlg
fortuna vera in virtute felicitas' ('good luck is determined
by fate, true happiness is found.ed on virtu€'), Ficino
'all
demonstrated that the heavens are within ourselves'
'
(Panofsky, R & R, p. 186). The 'mind ' is thus able to
remember tJ.e universe by looking down upon it from above,
from first causes, ?s though he were God'; for, accord.ing to
Hermetic tradition,
The microcosm can fully understand and fully
remember the macrocosm, can hold it within
his divine mens or memory (Yates, Art of
ivremory, pp.-fr7 -l4B) .
'inner
Such an writing of the art of memory'
represena" profundity and spiri-tual
insight, "gynaian it Egyptian regenerative
carries with
experiences as described by Trismegistus, and
is the antithesis of the beast-like manners,
tJ.e creek frivolity and superficj-ality, of
those who have not had the Hermetic experience,
have not achieved the gnosis, have not seen the
vestiges of the divine in Lhe fabrica rulndi, have
not become one with it by rerlffi-iFffirrin
(Vates, Art oF-Memory, p. 272).
Otherwise men remain
beasts in human forms, for the true form of man
is the mens and these men, through neglecting their
true form have fallen into ttre forms of beasts and
come under 'punishments matter'
the of (vindices
materjae) (gp. cit., p. 269)
'G.r.ill ' 'reprobate '
(cf . the of FQ II.xii.85 -B7i compare the
'damned' 'turned
or souls, vlho are to beasts, slzmbolic of
'
various vices, in Nesi's f irst vj-sion, described by Wa1ker,
Aqc.ient Tlre.oloqy, pp. 52-53) .
'the
Note should here be taken of circular nature of
'
the deity, for
330
God says of himself , in the first as in the l_ast
'last' 'Chapter
chapter of Revelation [the being
xxii'1, that he is Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. . St. John had to use Greek
letters since he was writing in Greek, but as the
language of Cod was Hebrew, Lhe text ought to have
'I
read: am Aleph and Thau ' (189).
Moreover, J. L. Mills has demonstrated the association
'temperance'
of the number 22 with moderation or (N_-_g_Q..2I2z
456-457, 1967) , and A. Dunlop has accordingly atigned sonnet
'the
#22 of Amog:etti with Ash Wednesday, or first day of
Lent ' (13 February L594; N. & Q. 16: 24 -26, L969; & in
Silent P.o.etrv, ed. A" Fowler, London, L97O, pp. 153 -169).
Significantly, the Hermetic core of Book fI occurs in IT..ix.2?,
suggest,ive of the 2.2 lett_e.rs of which the Hebrew alphabet is
composed. So it is that
St. Augustine had
books (tne number
organized
of letters
the
in
De Civ.
E6ffir,il-
Dei in 22
alphabet), and, as he explains himself, the book
should be bound in two volumes: one containing
10 books of refutation (in imit.ation of the
Decalogue), the second containing the last 12
books of positive doctrines (in imitation of the
Apostolic evangelization of the world (189).
And, indeed,
St. Augustine 's descriptj -on of the world as God 's
poem is no mere metaphor r to hj-m the book of God' s
words and the book of his works were parallel
texts in the most literal sense. He assumed that
God is the author of the Bible as well as of the
universe, that the two are constructed in much the
sarne manner, and that the divinely inspired poet
would imitate the creative procedure of the Deity.
The technique employed had been defined by
Solomon .z omnia in mensura, et numeeo, €t
pon{ege aispo.su.iEffTwFadnT7rl-tgrc.,-F. 33) .
'Vi-rtually 'Cabalistic
. conmonplace' was the
'according
thought' to which the act of creation was achieved
331
through the letters of the alphabet'--suggesting that
God is a fountain or river whence issue all
creatures and everything that is good
j-n
an ordered sequence, and the letters serve
as a key to the divine influx which penetrates
a1l who listen to the hlzmn (nlstvig, .op.. cit.,
p. 52).
'February,' 'death'
then, is paradoxical union of and
'Iife, ' 'black' 'white'
the two fishes resembling the and
serpents of alchemical processes (cf. I'Q VII.vii.44 -46).
'end ' 'course ' 'year '),
The of the magical solar (or it
suggests as well the mournful Lenten season on the ecclesias'
Ash
tical calendar. We are reminded of the Wednesday
Supper' described in Bruno's Cenp. 4e(published in
-1e ,cg.ns5i
E n g l a n d i n 1 5 8 4 ) a s w e l l a s C h r i s t ' s ' L a s t S u p p e r ' w i t h t h e
T\lllelve Apostles on the eve of his 'redemptive' 'Agony.'
W h e t h e r a s ' w a t e r r ' ' w i n e r ' ' b I o o d , ' e t c . , o r a s ' f l e s h o f
fish,' the 'banquets' of Pisces are seen to be at once
' f a t a l ' a n d ' 1 i f e -r e s t o r i n g . ' T h e ' p l o u g h a n d h a r n e s s e f i t
'February'
to til1 the ground' point up the readiness of to
'sturdy
assist his successor, March ' (VII.vii.32) , while
with 'tooles to prune the trees 'he is equally equipped to
Augustine's interpretation of the two fishes in the
aid his predecessor (vff .vii .42) -
To explain the spectacle of 'the twc fishes lying on
' tJ:re waters, yoked like oxen for ploughing, ,Tung invokes
'St.
miraculous feedinq of the five thousand':
for him ttrey represent the kinqly an9 the
p.r.i.est.Iy person or power, because, like fishes
surviving the tempests of the sea, they outlast
the turbulence of the multitude. T{rese two powers
are united in Christ: he is the king and priest
(Aion, p. L47).
'the
So it is that 'Pisces 'portends new sLate of the
brotherhood of all men' foretold by the Old TestamenL
Prophets (e.9., Noah; Jonah; Moses) -
when all men should be taught of God, should
unlearn the art of war, beat their swords into
plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks,
and enter into the kingdom of God, the kingdom
of unity and peace (folstoy, On Civil Disobedience
and Non -Violeqce, p. 275) (190).
'February'
Now, the equivalent of in Graves's Celtic
'ash,' 'the
system is likened to the identified as tree of
sea-power, or of the power resident in water' ('the wet
'The
element'), for third month is the month of floods,' and
'was
so sacred to Poseidon, the second god of the Achaean
'In
trinity ' (op. cit., pp. 168 -169). British folk -lore the
ash is a tree of re -birth. '
At this point Graves remarks:
fn these first . months the nights are
longer than the days, and the sun is regarded
as still under the tutelage of Night. The
Tyrrhenians on this account did not reckon them
as part of the sacred year (ibid. ) .
'Pisces '
By definition, then, signals the return of a
'peaceful'
millennarian Roma (or Troia) qenascens--a new
'Augustan
Age, ' as promised in Revelation 2O:L -7, to be
signalled (according to Nostradamus and others) by the
birttr of a new Virgil, a new Vitruvius, and a new Christ:
Christ is followed by the Antichrist, at t-he
end of time. Ttre beginning of the enantiodromia
333
would fall, logically, midway between the two
fishes. We have seen that this is so. The time
of the Renaissance begins in the immediaLe
vicinity of the second fish, and with it comes
that spirit which culminates in the modern age
(Jung, Ai.on, p. 94) .
March
The same watery, nocturnal world is dwelt upon in
stanza 2 of tlre EpillraJamion, vil:rich begins:
Early before the worlds light giuing lampe,
His golden beame vpon the hils doth spred,
Hauing disperst the nights vnchearefull dampe
'hasting
But hard on its heels comes the Prime,'
'the
equated by Graves wj-th alder,' wtrich he clajrns is
'principally
. tfte Lree of fire, the power of fire to
free the earth from water; and the alder-branch . is a
Loken of resurrection --its buds are set in a spiral. ' This
monttr'
marks the drying up of the winter floods by the
Spring Sun. It includes the Spring Equinox, when
the days become longer than the nights and the
Sun grows to manhood. As one can say poetically
that the ash trees are the oars and coracle-slats
that convey the Spirit of the Year through the
floods to dry land, so one can say that the alders
are the piles that lift his house out of the floods
of winter (ep. ci!., pp. 169 -173) .
As' the inventor of fire,' Prometheus,/ehoroneus/Fearineus
'the
is God of Spring to whom annual sacrifices were offered
on the Cronian Mount at Olynpia at the Spring equinox':
His singing head recalls that of Orpheus whose
'growing
name is perhaps short for Orplruoeis on
the rivei -bahi, ' i.e ., ' themFTibid. ) .
'The
Athenians,' on the oLher hand,
celebrated their Cronos festival early in July,
in the month of Cronion or Hecatombeion ('a hundred
dead') originally also called Nekusion (corpsemonth)
by the Cretans, and HyacinLhion by the
Sicilians, after Cronos' counterpart Hyacintl.t. The
barley harvest fell in July, and at Athens Cronos
'John
was . Barleycorn,' who first appeared
above the soil at the Spring equinox and whose
multiple death they celebrated cheerfully at their
harvest-home. He had long lost his connection with
the alder, though he still shared a temple at
Athens with Rhea, the lion-guarded Queen of the
Year, rarhowas his midsummer bride and to whom the
oak was sacred in Greece (Graves, White Goddess,
p. L72, n.1).
'that
The foregoing suggests an influence of peculiar
brand of Epj-curean Evolutionism which had found i-ts
conclusive expression in the fifth book of Lucretius'
De Rerum Natu€g, and which conceived of humanity, not in
terms of divine creation and supervision, but in terms of
spontaneous development and progress' (Panofsky, gqlqigs in
Ico.nologv, p. 40). The theory recurs in Vitruvj-us' De
architectura and is successively transmitted by Boccaccio's
14th century Genealoqy, Poggio Bracciolini in L4L4, and
Albertj-'s De.archj-tecj.ura some three or four decades later;
but j-t was only toward the end of the 15th century that
the theory became extremely popular, perhaps as a result of
its depiction orr several canvases by Piero di Cosimo.
The theory itself attributes the development of 'human
c i v i l i z a t i o n ' t o t h e d i s c o v e r y a n d a p p l i c a t i o n o f ' f i r e , '
and it
bears some resemblance to t-l:e theological division
of human history into the era ante leqem, the era
335
s3-b leqe, and the era-s.ub qJa.tifa' Using the sane
pt"S6fti""=, w€ could-$eE[-oFan era a]t'e,
iqtlanum, dr era sub-vsl?a?o'^?ttd an era sub
'"Eb.Eacchg'
promffio lthe faEilfEEF-rather reo-
rerl ; the an-arogv oF ideas holds
ffi ;t
in both cases the inaugurator
the exrent th;t
;;"4-t"
ofthethirdphaseiscrucifiedforthosewhomhe
to save (Panofsky, in
was destined .{jtudiqs
'
IcgJroloqy, PP. 55-56)
before advent of Vulcan'
,The priscorgm hominum vita the
'dawn'
of
antecede the
Lucretius and Vitruvius believed to
,civilizaLion,, contingent on the discovery and application
of,f.Lr-e.'Thelordofthiseraisdepictedinawoodcut
'vulcanus'
De Archi.tectfira as a "
in an edition of Vitruvius'
raginginthewoods,"whileman'notyetbefriendedbyhim'
sharestheexcitementsandfearsofanimalsandhybrid
'human beings
period, in fact'
monsters.' ouring this
on equal terms, d.IId cohabited with them
fought with animals
produce such monsters as human-faced swine'
so as to
p' 57)'
iJ:.Iconoloqy'
(Panofsky, R & R, p. 180; St-udieE
Yates reveals in her Art of Memgry that under the
336
'Luna' 'the
i-nf luence of Mars series . uses Vulcan as
the image of fire ' (p. L43) .
At work where others are sti11 asleep fVirgil,
'Vulcan,
in fact, had characterized the zealous,
'already
early-rising workman' as at work "in
mid-career of night, now largely spent"'] and
vigorously assisted by the wind 9od, Aeolus, the
fire god prod.uces and demonstrates an inconspicuous
but new and very useful metal tool while some of
his e,ager disciples proceed with the erection of
such buildings as can be constructed, to use
Vitruvius' phrase, "by putting up unsquared trees
and inte:r,veaving them with branches" (B_jt3,
p. 180; St. fcon., p. 4e)
'March'
(cf. the of III I'BriL/o/r;rarLl conjoined with
'Cardinal
Air ') .
'ignis 'Vulcan' '
This elemgntatgs, ' or of the 'f ire
'with vs so vsuall ' (FQ VII.vii.26 '), is defined by panofsky
(_q!:JSgIL p. 50) as 'the physical fire which enables mankind
'
to solve its practj-cal problems.
'young
Now, the Vulcan, precipitated from Mount Olympus
onto the Island of Lemnos, was there raised (nutritus, or
nourished)--depending on which reading of Servius'
on
Commsnta.ry o.n Virgil is chosen --'absintiis ' ( ' wormwood ') ,
'qb 'ab
or simiis ' ('by apes '), or nimphis ' ('by nymphs ')
(S:fr:rdies .in Iconology, p. 37) .
'p_riscoru.m homi.num .vita'
The is concluded by an
enormous forest fire:
that very forest fire which, according to
Vitruvius and other classical authors, gave man
his chance to outgrow his original bestiality by
capturing some of the fleeing animals and by
employing the burning logs for a first "hearth"
(R ,& R, ibid.).
_
337
'It
is the dawn of a newdaywhich, a,t the same time,
slzmbolizes the dawn of civilization' (St. Icoq., p. 48)
'sub
Their successor is equivalent to the era Bacc.ho'
'su! 'added
or gratijr,' which to the means of meeting the
necessiLies of life the simplest and most natural means of
enjoying it, wine and honey. Both . are gifts of Bacchus'
(R S pp. 180 -181). compare FQ v.i.L -22
_R,
Though vertue then were held in highest price,
fn those old times, of wtrich I doe intreat,
Yet then likewise the wicked seede of vice
Began to spring which shortly grew fuII great,
And with their boughes the gentle plants did beat.
But euermore some of the vertuous race
Rose vp, inspired with heroicke heat,
That cropt the branches of the sient base,
And with stronq hand their fruitfull rancknes did deface.
(v. i.1)
(cf . the tree -trimming 'January I of VII .vii .42) .
Such fj-rst was that with furious might
Paqc4us,
A11 th'East. before vntam'd did ouerronne,
And wrong repressed, and establisht right,
Which la*lesse men had formerly fordonne.
There lustice first her princely rule begonne.
Next Hercules his like ensample shewed,
who aFffi=west with equall conguest wonne,
And monstrous tyrants with his club subdewed.;
The club of Iustice dread, with kingly powre endewed.
(r 'ov . i.2)
'Cardinal 'March,'
Ttre Fire' of slzmbolic of Book fII,
'punctum solis
is thus the 'at the 'heart 'of the alchemical
'Pelican'--slzmbolized
by the pierced heart of Amoret in
'kindly
! ' u r r r . x a r , d s w e l l a s b y t h e f l a m e ' ( c f . r e f . 1 9 1 )
of lV.proem.2 tftat acts as the 'seed' (cf . the 'March' of
V I I . v i i . 3 2 ) o r ' r o o t ' ' o f h o n o r a n d a l l v e r t u e . ' A s t h e
'Chastity'
conclusion to Book III clearly implies, is the
338
'sgparatio' 'coniuncFio'
alchemical without which the pivotal
'louers
would not be possible (cf. the deare debaLe' referred
to in lV.proem.l.5 as constituting the subject of tl:e
preceding Book).
j-s 'that
Also indicated fained dreadfull flame,fi,ihich
'enchaunted
chokt the porch' of Busirane's gate/ena passage
bard to all, that thither came' of III.xii.43, whose approach
is described in III -x:-.21ff . as follows:
But in the Porch, that did them sore amate,
A flaming fire, ymixt with smouldry smoke,
And stinking Sulphure, that with griesly hate
And dreadfull horrour did all entraunce choke,
Enforced Lhem their forward footing to reuoke (st. 2L).
'Mars, ' 'March ')
So Britomart ('-mart ' for or considers it
'daunser
vaineilto haue assayd/That cruell element, which
all things feare , /TIe none can suffer to approchen neare'
(cf. VII.vii.24). Addressing her companion Scudamour, she
inquires:
What monstrous enmity prouoke we heare,
-
Foolhardy as th'Earthes ch jldren, the which made
Battell against the Gods? so we a God inuade.
Da,unqer without discretion to attempt,
Tnglorious and beastlike is . (st. 22 -23).
Scudamour succumbs to despair and advises that Lhey give up
the enterprise, but Britomart rebukes him:
Perdy not so; (said she) for shamefull thing
ft were t'abandon noble cheuisauce,
For shew of perill, without venturingi:
Rather let try extremities of chaunce,
Then enterprised prayse for dread to disauaunce.
339
Therewith resolu'd to proue her wtmost might,
Her arople shield she threw before her face,
And her swords point directj-ng forward right,
Assayld the f1ame, the wtrich efLsoones gaue place,
And did it selfe diuide with equall space,
That through she passed. . (st. 24, 25).
With this episode, and with the enchanter Busirane
'torments ' 'day
himself (who Amoret and night. ' fII .xi.L7),
'Daunger'
compare the titanic of IV.x.L6-2O, who stands
'the
guard over second gate, '
The Gate of gogg deseg:}, whose goodly pride
and @long here to ielate.
The saJne to all stoode alwaies open wide:
But in the Porch did evermore abide
An hideous Giant, dreadfull to behold,
That stopt the entraunce wit-l: his spacious stride,
And with t].e terrour of his countenance bold
Ful1 many did affray, that else faine enter would.
His name was D:runger dreaded ouer all,
V'/hoday and night did watch and duely ward,
From fearefull cowards, entrance to forstall,
And faint-heart-fooles, whom shew of perill hard
Could terrifie from Fortunes faire adward:
For ofLentimes faint hearts at first espiall
Of his grim face, were from approachi-ng scard;
Vnworthy they of grace, whom one deniall
Excludes from fairest hope, withouten further triall.
Yet many doughty warriours, often tride
In greater perils to be stout and bold,
Durst not the sternnesse of his looke abide,
But soone as they his countenance did behold,
Began to faint, and feele their corage cold.
Againe some other, that in hard assaies
Were cowards knowne, and litle count did ho1d,
Either through gifts , or guile, or such like waies,
Crept in by stouping low, or stealing of the kaies.
But T though meanest man of many moe,
Yet much disdaining vnto him to lout,
Or creepe between his 1egs, so in to 9oe,
Resolu'd hi-m to assault with manhood stout,
And either beat him in, or driue him out.
Eftsoones aduauncing that enchaunted shield,
With all my might I gan to lay about:
Which when he saw, the glaiue which he did wield
He gan forthwith t'auale, and way vnto me yietd. (tv.x.16 -19),
340
A distinct resemblance is detected between the fiery
'Daqnge.r'
of Book III and the f igure in plate 18 of DeRola's
Alchemy depicting a knight in fuIl chivalric panoply, not
'March'
unlike the of FQ VII.vit.32, wtro straddles two
'weIIs'
and bears upon his rufous shield in letters of qold
the i-nscription 'EX DUABUSAQUIS UNAI4FACITE 6C.'3
Twin fountains signify the two waters which (in
an alchemical ense) are sulphurous (red) and
mercurial (white). These are united by a unifying
principle (tfre Nnight), who wields a sword (ttre
secret fire). The colours of his armour --black,
white, transitional yellow, red and gold-*summarj'ze
the Work
'magicalr rarmor'
(cf . the of Arttrur as described in
FB I .vii.29 -36) .
'intended' 'marriage'
But, as already pointed out, the
of Book III, as explained in the first canto of Book IV, was
'Da-unger'
aborted by the figure, resulting instead in a
'separatio. '
Nonetheless, a new era, or a new opus, is
'Daunger '
begun once the ('March ') figure has been passed:
'fallen'
From here we descend, in short, into the world of
'Fall '
physical nature (Rdstvig dates man 's and Christ 's
crucifixion to Friday, 22 ApriL [ref. LB7; cf. man 's descent
'Pasiphae
into the body associated with and the Bul1' [cf.
'March '
FQ VII.vii.33l in Camillo 's theater). is thus a
pivot, a turning-point, a new beginning, as in alchemyl
'March' '(for
Now, was a month which etlzmological as
wel-l as empirical reasons) was also associated with the
awakening of amorous instincts in the "male animal"'
34L
(Panofsky, R & R, p. 89). fndeed, the sign of Aries ( i' ) is
'fire -barbed
symbolic of sexual potency (e -g., Cupid 's arrow, '
Panofsky, 3, pp. L94 -L95, 94 -96) --'the classic example of
LA
this kind being the Spina.r_io' :
Visible throughout the Middle Ages and placed
high upon a column (so that the conspicuous
exposure of its genitals caused the observers to
interpret it as an image of Priapus) , this figure'
constitutes what has been called "the idol par
.
excellence ", and it persistently recurs in
m&EeVil-art not only as an idol in the narrower
sense of the term but also, e.9., as a personifi catj-
on of sickness, folly, vice in general (the
latter transfixed, in one case, by the crosier of
a pious bishop), and as a personification of
March (op. cit., p. 89)
('an idol in the strictest sense of the word is defined as
"statue plus column"; . in . renderings the columns
themselves tend to retain a relatively classical shape, that
is to say, an organization into base, shaft and capitaf i and,
'Idolatry
in one representation, carries, on an enormous
'in
column, a triad of idols ., ' ibid., n.1). Since the
De. Sole, the Sun is called the statga Dei and is compared to
'th 'Idole
the Trinity ' (ibid.; cf. of her makers great
magnificence' in FQ II.iL.4O-4L) , Yates concludes that the
'Golden 'solar ' 'rays '
Chain ' of such potent descends in the
following sequential stages:
The Sun is first of all God; then Light in the
heavens; then Lumen which is a form of spiritus;
then Heat vrhich is lower than Lumen; then
Generation, the lowest of the series (cited above).
, 'dove' 'tongue
Aries' symbol ( ) suggests t-he or of
'Holv
flame' characteristic of the Ghost.' On the other
342
hand, it also recalls the barb, spear, sword, arrow, and/or
'the 'A
Herculean club slzmbolic of secret f ire' : for,
threefold sublimation by means of the secret fire effectively
reduces
the subject to its root or radical state,' thereby
'Mercury' 'outer
freeing
from his impurities' (De Rola,
Alc.hemI, legends to Fj -gs. 2, 3).
'First
Likewise signified are the Agent' of alchemical
'Time'
processes and the astrologically optimal to embark
'Aries 'further
upon such an 'Opus. ' signals the beginning
'Year
of the Christian era, described as the of Incarnation'
'Year
or the of Grace' (Hawkins, pp. 305-306) i and
'ecclesiastical
renovation' j-s promised, along with ttre
'conversj
portentous
-on of the great year, and momentous
changes
in the periods of the stars' in the third vision of
(TheAncienj. pp.
'ttre '
Giovanni Nesi _-Theoloqy, 55-57) when once
sun enters the house of Aries.
So, i-n alchemy, the opus should be begun in the spring,
'when
the conditions are most favourable . and the
"element
of the stone is most abundant. "
It seems as though the rose-coloured" blood of the
alchemical redeemer was derived from a rose
mysticism that penetrated into alchemy, and that,
in the form of the red tincture, it expressed the
healing or whole-makj-ng effect of a certai-n kind
of Eros. . The soul of the stone is in its
blood, [and] the stone represents the homo !o!qs.
. He is the arcanum, and the stonE-l-nd-ffiparallel
or prefiguration is Christ in the garden
of Gethsemane (gp. cit., p. 295) .
'Aries ' 'first '
fndeed, is the sign in the vernal triad
traversed bv'the wheel of the sun rollinq round the heavens'
343
(Jung, P. q a, pp. 378 -389) .
'reliueth '
The solar year each March (cf . E.K. 's
'Argument' 'the
to the SC, wherein he cites olde Astrolgers
and Philosophers, namely the reuerend Andalo, and Macrobius
in his holydayes of Saturne . obserued both of Grecians
-
and Romarrs,' Oxford €d., p. 4L9) -whence the ancient
'Eg'yptian' 'rebirth'
observance of Osiris' in that month.
So, at the outset of IV.x Scudamour identifies hj-s
'place
destination, a of periIl, ' as
. a temple faire and auncient,
Which of great mottrer Venus bare the name,
And f arre renowmed thrilg-h-exceeding f arne;
Much more then that, which was in Pgphgs built,
Or that in Cyprus, bottr long since*ETs-same,
Though all the pillours of the one were guilt,
And alI the others pauement were with )4rory spilt (fV.x.S1 .
rAnd it 'wal -l'd
was seated in an island strong, ' by
s 'stately '
nature " pillours, fram 'd after the Doricke guize,
'a 'a
forming bridge' at one end, while defended by castle'
at the other.
Before that Castle was an open plaine,
And in tJ.e midst thereof a piller placed.;
On which Lhis shield, of many sought in vaine,
The shield of Loue, whose guerdon me hat-l: graced,
Was hangd on high with golden ribbands laced;
And in the marble stone was written this,
With golden leLters goodly well enchaced,
Blessed Lhe man that well can vse his blis:
(rv 'x' e1'
'Cupids
Much later Scudamour--a self-proclaimed man'
in search of 'Venus ma$' (IV .x.54) --unve j-ls said shield, orr
'emblazond' 'Cupid
which we learn there is an image of wittr
'
his killing bow,/And cruelI shaf ts (IV.x.55 r cf . I . proem.3 ) .
344
'Cupid'
The indistinguishability of this type of from
'Mars '
was recognized early in Spenser 's epic:
And thou most dreaded impe of highest loue,
Faire Venus sonne, that with thy cruell dart
At tfraE-ffia knight so cunningly didst roue,
That glorious fire it kindled in his hart,
Lay now thy deadllz Heben bow apart,
And with thy mother milde come to mine ayde:
Come both, and with you bring triumphant Mart,
fn loues and gentle iollities arrayd,
After his murdrous spoiles and bloudy rage allayd (I.proem.3)
Of course,
The idea of love is . the very axis of Ficino's
philosophical system. Love is the motive power
which causes God--or ratl:er by which God causes
Himself--to effuse His essence into the world, and
wtrich, inversely, causes His creatures to seek a
reunion with Him. According to Ficino, amor is only
another name for that self-reverting current
(circuitus spiri_tualis) from God to the world and
from the world Lo God (Panofsky, St. Icon., p. LAL).
'giuides ' 'furores ' tArtr t
Of Bruno 's four or ('Love, '
'Mathesis ' 'Magic ') 'Love '
and , was primary, as
the living virtue in all things, which the
magician intercepts and which leads him from the
lower things to the supercelestial realm by divine
furor (Yates, Bruno, p. 272) .
'Alchemy' 'Art '
itself was known as an of Love, since
The whole art . is based on divine love,
through which heaven and earth become one, in
the chaste incest of sulphur and mercury (Caron
and Hutin, The Alchemists, p. 150).
'Love '
So, in FQ III.iii.l, Spenser apostrophizes as
follows:
Most sacred fire, that burnest mightity
fn liuing brests, ykj-ndled first aboue,
Emongst th'eternall spheres and lamping sky,
And thence pourd into men, which men call Loue;
Not that same, which doth base affections moue
345
In brutish minds, and filLhy lust inflame,
But that sweet fit, that doth true beautie loue,
And choseth vertue for his dearest Dame,
Whence spring all noble deeds and neuer dying fame
(cf . IV. proem .passim) .
'temporal' 'March'--as
The pivotal role of in alchemy,
'creator' 'Garden
combining at once the functions of (cf. the
'destroyer '--is
of Adonis ' in III.vi) and variously
emphasized in VfI.vii. For example:
Now, at the time that was before agreed,
fhe ;
As well those that are sprffi-g-of heauenly seed,
As those thaL all the other world doe fill,
And rule both sea and land vnto their will:
j-nfernall
Onely th' Powers might not appear;
Aswell for horror of their count'naunce ill,
As for th'vnruly fiends which they did feare;
Yet P-lut_o and PI-ose.rp.ina were present there (Vf f .vii.:;
--which 'descent
signals the inuninent into Hell.' And, of
course,
First, sturdy Mgrch with brows full sternly bent,
And armed strongly, rode vpon a Ram,
The same which ouer Hellespontus swam:
Yet in his hand a sffient,
And in a bag all sorts of seeds ysame,
ltThich on the earth he strowed as he went,
And fild her womb with fruitfull hope of nourishment.
(vrr.vii.32)
'Cadmus,'
Likewise slzmbolized here is of course the alchemical
'Christian
a species of Hermes.!
'first
So, in Giovanni Nesi 's and central vision, '
'Savonarola 'shown
the preacher' is as the Christian Hermes':
He stands above the moon, with the rays of the
sun shining on his head; in his lefL hand he
holds a winged rod, later called a caduceus, in
his righL hand serpent's teeth, whi&-EilffiI1
sow, like Cadmus, to raise up disciples. A winged
346
cup-bearer dips an eagle's father into a golden
cup of nectar and with it anoints the preacher's
fiery tongue and mouLh. .
The divine oracles he utters are changed, not into
strings like the words of Lucian's Gallic Hercules,
j-nto
but rays of supernatural power, which beat
down on to the eyes and ears of the men on earth.
The greater number of t-l:ese have starnped on their
forehead, by a divine imprint, the.letter theta
(which certainly sLands for , death) ; a
few of them have the letter tau, the mark of the
saved in Ezekial ix,A. The effect of the
preacher's rays on the former, the reprobate, is
to blind and deafen them, and mark them with an
obelisk. Many of them are turned into beasts,
s1zm-Effic of various vices, and, others are afflicted
with allegorical diseases. Some are turned to
stone, and shape themselves into letLers of the
alphabet; this is a mystery which the picus refuses
to elucidate. . When the rays strj-ke the
elect, they melt the wax in their ears, take away
the darkness from their eyes, and mark them with
an asleFisk. These then fix their eyes on the sun,
glrow wings, fly up to it, and there feast on
nectar and ambrosia. fhrence they return to men,
still gazing at the Sun, which sends back their rays
to the preacher. There is thus a triangular
traffic of rays: from the preacher to the elect,
from these to the sun, from the sun back to the
preacher (D. P. Walker, The Anc.ient
lheol_oqy,
pp. s2 -s3).
'frr
Now, according to Fowler, Pythagorean thought the
decad was a slzmbol of perfection; being mystically identified
with the monad, and revered as the number in ''nlhich the
multiplicity of the digits returned to divine unity'
(Numbers of 3ime, p. 55). Ten, claimed Porphyry, is
a perfect number--rather, the most perfect, of
all numbers; comprehending in itself, ds it does,
every numerical difference and proportion (ifia.1.
'January'
As in Cabalah, then, may be perceived as the
'decad '--in 'monad '.
perfected addition to the perfect As
347
'Moses'
such, as suggested, it is an image of on Mount
'Ten
Sinai, receiving the Commandments' (cf . the Renaj-ssance
c o n f l a t i o n o f ' M o s e s ' w i t h ' H e r m e s T r i s m e g i s t u s ' ) .
Moreover, J. L. Mills has demonstrated the association
of the number 22 wLLh moderation or temperance (N. & Q_. 2L2z
456-457, L967) , and A. Dunlop has accordingly aligned
zuqqqe@i, sonnet #22, with Ash Wednesday, ot the 'f irst day
of Lent' (N'__*A 161 24-26, L969; & in Silent €d.
3o-e!r.y,
A. Fow1er, London, L97O, pp. 153 -169). Significantly, the
Hermetic core of Book II occurs in IT.ix.2Z, suggestive of
Lhe l! lettgrs of which the Hebrew alphabet is composed.
'Janus ' 'Decade ' 'February, '
Addition of as to or
'Temperance, ' '22 '
as the alphabetical number (10xf + 1lx2),
'cabalistic' 'creation, ' 'by
thus yields the number of means
of . thirty-two acts of wisdom,' as follows:
The figure thirty-two is arrived at by combining
the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet and
addinq the first ten numbers which are desiqnated
"sefiroth, " or emanations (Western M)zstical
Tradition, p. 27O).
'32, '
The resulting sum, or is, significantly, the number
'March'
assigned to ttre stanza introducing in the procession
of the months described in FQ VII.viii
We are encouraged in such computations by Fowler's
'Masque
observation thaL the of Cupid' concluding Book fII
'33 '--'the
is made up of elements that continue to total
34A
Ptolemaic nrunber of Taurus' (Numbers of Time, pp. L49ff .),
and, conformably, the number of the stanza assigned to
' A p r i l ' ( u n d e r t h e s i g n o f ' T a u r u s , ' i t g o e s w i t h o u t s a y i n g )
in FQ VII.vii. As happens frequenLly in the Faerie Queene,
canto xii of one book thus serves as a species of introduction
to the Legend that follows.
4.
Apri!
Next came fresh Aprill fuII of lustyhed,
And wanton as a Kid whose horne new buds:
Vpon a Bull he rode, the same which led
Europa f loting ttrrough th'Arg.olic-k f luds:
His hornes were gilden all with golden studs
And garnished with garlonds goodly dight
Of all the fairest flowres and freshest buds
Which th'earth brings forth, and wet he see'd in sight.
With waues, through which he waded for his loues delight.
(FQ vII .vii.33)
'Ar-g.o.1ic.kfluds,'
The of course, recall the voyage of
,Jason and his companions in the Argo, searching
For that same golden fleecy Ram, which bore
Ph-rixl-rs and I{S:1Ie from their stepdames feares
(rq v.pro.5.6-7).
As already mentioned, ,Jason was widely regarded as the
archetype of Ltre alchemist.
So it is that
The knight of the Golden Fleece would transfer
very easily into a knight of the Golden SLone
(the Philosopher 's Stone). It was usual to
interpret the Golden Fleece of the Jason legend
as having alchemical reference to the Philosopher's
Stone (Yates, RE, p. 66, n.f).
To return to Scudamour's narrative in fV.x:
349
fhus hauing past all perill, I was come
Within the compasse of that Islands space;
The urhich did seeme vnto my simple doome
The onely pleasant and delightfull place,
That euer troden was of footings trace.
For all that nature by her mother wit
Could frame in earth, and forme of substance base,
Was there, and all that nature dj-d omit,
Art playing second natures part, supplyed it. (fV.x.2I a ff.)
As A. Kent Hieatt has remarked, the locus amoenus of Book IV
is formed by the ideal cooperation of nature and
art, probably in the sense that natural love is
reinforced by tfre art of friendship and the
intelligent molding of free spiritual partnerships
between man and woman and man and man (L92),
'married
Indeed, it might be added that the friend.ship which
augrrnents the sexual union with a union of minds' (193)
between man and woman is suggested in FQ \Il.x .2L-25, while
'friendship' 'man and
the spiritual between man' is touched
upon in stanzas 26 -28 (cf. refs. L94, 195).
But farre at^Jayfrom tl:ese, another sort
Of louers lincked iJr true harts consent;
llhich loued not as these , for like intent,
But on chasL vertue grounded their desire,
Farre from all fraud, or fayned blandishment;
V'lhich in their spirits kindling zealous f ire,
Braue thoughts and noble deedes did. euermore aspire.
(rv.x.26)
Such were great H_ercu1eg, and Hvfas deare;
Trew lonatl:an, and Dauid trustie tryde;
stouiffi, and ffittrous his feare i
P.t}a_deEffibre ste s-E-ffiJEyde ;
Myld Titus and Gesippus without pryde;
Dapon and Pythi.as whom death could not seuer:
A11 these and all that euer had bene tyde
ln bands of friendship, there did liue for eueri
Whose liues although decay'd, yet loues decayed neuer.
(rv.x.27)
'second
The paradise ' described in IV.x.2L -2a is thus
'perfect ( 'Tela,/mond')
world' of its titular hero--the
350
'Lhree-in-one, ' 'Trinity 'marriage
or in Unity' (cf . the
quatternio' of Triamond, Canacee, Cambel and Cambina in
IV.iii.38-52) of the sacred Pythagorean tetrad, which is the
'root' 'fourth'
true of all numbers. As the it recalls the
'square, '
and is Lhus suggestive of Puttenham's (or
'square
Aristotle 's) ideal man. ' fts element, logically, is
'Fixed
Earth'--thus completing the sublunary complement of
'four
the elements. '
This second Eden is principally described in fV.x.22-25
'trees ' 'flowers. '
in terms of its vealth of and Significant
in this context are C. J. Thompson 's citations of Spenser 's
'interesting
allusion to trees and their uses in his time'
(a -lchemy, pp. 279 -282) (148) --€.9., ir F'9 r.i.7 -9i r.ii.27ff .i
I.xi .45 -5O; II .vi.16 r II.vii .52 -56 [cf . IV. pro.3 ] . The
'b1ack
Hellebore ' of fI.vii.52 (cf . SC, July) is identified
'a
as drastic purgative with which tradition states
Melampus, the great soothsayer and physician, cured the
daughters of Proetus, King of Argos, of madness ' (ibid.,
'The
p. 2gL). Moreover, ancient name for hellebore was
melampus root, hence the name melampode,' employed by
'Morrel ' '
my madding kiddes to smere ' (SC, JuIy, 11. B5 -BB) .
'golden 'bore' 'Helle'
Compare the fleecy Ram' that and her
'Phr1a<us' 'Hellespont'
brother across the in FQ v.pro.5 as
well as in VJI.vii.32 -33.
So, in Chapter 24 of The Arte_ojE EnqEsh Poesie ('lhe
'airs ' 'the
Forme of Poeticall Lamentations '), Puttenham
351
contemporary controversy over the efficacy of Ga1enj_c versus
Paracelsian Lreatments' :
In opposition to the herb treatments of the
Galenists, Paracelsus established chemical
therapy, grounding his approach in the claim of
folk medicine that "like cures like". Witft his
recognition that smal1 doses of poison can
become anLidotes, he also associates himself
with poetical and alchemical contrasts between
"physic " and poison (Sadler, p. 73) (f46).
'the
Exploring Paracelsian doctrine of the "overplus":
. death and burials, . th'aduersities by warres,
and . true loue lost or ill bestowed are . sorrowes
that the noble Poets sought by their arte to remoue or
appease . similia similib$;, making one dolour to expell
another, and, in this case, one short sorrowing the remedie
of a long grieuous sorrow ' (ibid.):
Yet it is a peece of joy to be able to lament
with ease, and freely to poure forth a mans
inward sorrowes and the greefs wherewith his
minde is surcharged. This was a very necessary
deuise of the Poet ., besides his poetrie
to play also the Phistian, and not onely by
applying a medicine to the ordinary sicknes of
mankind, but by making the very greef it selfe
(in part) cure of Lhe disease (gp. cit -, p, 74).
'Paracelsian
Thus Scudamour parodies methods of
'true 'making
consolation' for love lost'--a lamenting poet
the very greef it selfe (in part) cure of the disease'
(Sad.ler, Ambix, pp. 73 -74i cf. FQ IV.v,x). As with Donne 's
'Triple
Foo1e,' tJ.is Spenserian speaker
is a Petrarchan lover who, because this Romeo-
Rosaline kind of love has soured, would dose
himself with an overplus of grief (re-telling the
affair in verse), surfeit, and be rid of love.
352
fSpenser's] norm for the poem, however, is not
Petrarchan love but real love. Accordingly, he
would not destroy love root and branch, as would
ttre persona, but rather apply the purgative
process to induce balance and normalcy. In this
context, normalcy means that the speaker must
learn to accept false love(s) as a necessary stage
on
the way to true (ibid.).
'Paracelsian
Moreover, like the overplus,' Scudamour's
'mental suffering ' (fiI.xj -j-.45; fV.v) r or 'despaire, ,
'breaks 'and
down the old and sinful' character prepares the
way for regeneration'--'comparable to spiritual alchemy.'
'overplus'
The prepares him, in fact, for a species of
'marriage 'marriage
with the Lamb.' Said. with the Lamb,'
n
however, ffidy have been 'parodied j-. earlier relationships
and . may parallel the alchemical marriage and
'
the androgyny (Christ in spiritual alchemy) (ibid. ) .
'Progressively
described as a dragon, Errreagle and a phoenix,'
'hero'
Spenser's too is charactertzed. by the symbols for
stages of the "Great Work", the rengenerative process of
spiritual alchemy'
(ibid. ) .
'The
So it i-s that esoteric alchemist could soar to
. mystical heights ., where Christ is the Philosopherrs
Stone, tincturing witJ. his blood and regenerating man in the
furnace of affliction with the fire of sufferinq until the
Old Adam is dead '
(Ambix, p. 73).
'the
Conformably, "ring-finger" is another name for the
leech finger ' :
The fourth finger is thus used as the ring-finger
because the prophylactic wedding-ring, made of
353
gold in honour of Apollo, controls the heart
which is the seat of enduring 1ove. The artery
legend lfrom Appian via Macrobius, Lo the effect
that an artery runs from this finger directly to
the heartl is also quoted in a medical conLext by
the sixteenth-century German humanist Levinus
'the
Lemnius who records that ancient physicians
from raihomthis finqer derives its name of
"physic-finger" used to mix their medicarnents and
potions with it, on the theory that no poison can
adhere even to its extreme tip without communicating
itself directly to the heart (craves, tnlhiFe
Goddess, pp. L96 -I97).
'healing' 'Friendship'
The power of is perhaps most
vividly expressed in the person of the powerful Enchantress,
Cambina:
In her right hand a rod of peace shee bore,
About the which two Serpents weren wound,
Entrayled mutually in louely lore,
And by the tailes together firmely bound,
And botJ-were with one oliue garland crownd,
Like to the rod which Maias sonne doth wield,
lVherewith the hellish fiends he doth confound.
And in her ottrer hand a cup she hild,
The vil:ich was with NepentJ:e to the brim vpfild.
Nepenthe is a drinck of souerayne grace,
Deuized by the Go,ls, for to asswage
Harts grief, and bitter gall away to chace,
Which stirs vp anguish and contentious rage:
fn stead thereof sweet peace and quiet age
It doth establish in the troubled mynd.
Few men, but such as sober are and sage,
Are by the Gods to drinck thereof assynd;
But such as drinck, eternall happinesse do fynd
(rv. iii .42 -43)
'Natu{es ' '9a5]91,'
Compare Sergeant, in VII.vii.4.
'the '
Now, Graves elucidates Cauldron of Inspiration,
'Sweet
or the cauldron of the Five Trees' invoked bv the
'Chief
Poet of Wa1es ' as follows:
'holy
The Pythagoreans swore their oaths on the
tetractys', a figure consisting of ten dots
arranged in a pyramid. . The top dot repre
354
sented position; the two dots below, extension;
the three dots below those, surfacei the four
dots at the bottom, three-dimensional space. The
pyramid, the most ancient emblem of the Triple
Goddess, was philosophically interpreted as
Beginning, Prime and End; and the central dot of
this fignrre makes a five with each of the four
dots of the sid.es. Five represented the colour
and variety vrhich nature gives to three-dj-mensional
space, and which are apprehended by the five senses,
'the
technically called wood'--a quincunx of five
trees; this coloured various world was held to be
formed by five elements--earth, air, fire, water
and the quintessence or soul; and these elements in
turn corresponded with seasons. Slzmbo1ic values
were also given to the numerals from 6 to 10, wtrich
was the number of perfection. The tetractys could
be interpreted in many other ways: for instance,
as the three points of the triangle enclosing a
hexagon of dots*-six being the number of life--with
a central dot increasing this to seven, technically
'Athene',
known as the number of intelligence,
health and light (gp. cit., p. 189, n.1; see above
p. 350).
'
Similarly Camillo 's vast Memory Theatre '
gives us true wisdom from whose founts we come to
the knowledge of things from their causes and not
from their effects. . If we were to find
ourselves in a vast forest and desired to see its
whole extent we should not be able to do this from
our position within it for our view would be
limited to only a small part of it by the
immediately surrounding trees which would prevent
us from seeing the distant view. But Lf, near to
this forest, there were a slope leading up to a
high hill, on coming out of the forest and
ascending the slope we should begin to see a large
part of the form of the forest, and from the top
of the hill we should see the whole of it. The
wood is our inferior world; the slope is the
heavens; the hill is the supercelestial world.
And in order to understand the things of the lower
world it is necessary to ascend. to superior things,
from whence, looking down from on high, we may
have a more certain knowledge of the inferior
things (L 'fdea del lheatrg, pp. LL -L2, transl.
by Yates, Art of Memory, p. 143)
(cf . FQ I.i.7ff ; V.proem.passim, i.L -2; compare FQ VI.x.L -Lz
355
w i t h V I I . v i i . l -1 2 ) .
'The wood' of 'our inferior world' is represented in
the descent of Prince Arthur into 'Hell'--in imitation of
'fall '
Christ 's redemptive suffering; or of the of man 's
'divine 'gross
mens' into a corporeal form' (symboLLzed, in
Camillo's Theater,' under the image of Pasiphe and the
'Europa
Bull '; cf. and the bull ' of FQ VII.vii.33) --under a
'Taurus ' 'total ' 'Order '
suggestive of the ('Telanond ')
'squared
(\IlI.vii.4) of a circle. ' As FQ V.proem clearly
'the 'the
implies, slope' of heavens' is essayed by
'Arthegall' j-n 'Legend 'August'
the of Justice' (cf . the of
'Astraea, ' 'Amphitrite '
VlI.vii.37 as an image of or of as
'pauilion'
symbolic of Book VIII; compare the of FQ VII.vii.B
'hill' 'the
and VI.x.6) . Finally, the slzmbolic of super'
Capricorn'
celestial world' is therefore reserved for
'circle '
(VII .vii.41) as the set in heaven 's place, II.x .22) ;
with which compare FQ VII.vii.L2) . It is wort-hy of note,
'December'
in passing, that may also be regarded as occurring
'ninth' a 'April':
in system beginning with and indeed, ds
we have already shown, Spenser clearly signals the sLart of
'order'
a new at the conclusion of his Book III (cf . IV.proem;
V.proem) .
'Two
Expressed somewhat differently, rampant goats
'single
act as supporters to the tree device': the horn' of
'he-goat' 'forms 'turning
the a crescent moon,' while by her
'she
head in the opposite direction' (to the left) a goat"s
356
'horn 'is
forms a decrescent moon' and claiming tJ:e first
three branches. She has a fulI udder, appropriate to this
season, because the first kids are dropped abouL the winter
'
solstice.
A boat-like new moon swims above the trees, and
a group of seven stars, tJ.e seventh very much
brighter than the others, is placed beside the
she-goat; which proves her to be Amalthea, motJ:er
of the horned Dionysus. The he-goat is an Asslmian
counterpart of AzazeL, the scape-goat sacrificed
by the Hebrews at the beginning of the agricultural
(ibid.; 'Capricorn, ' 'UnigsII '
year cf . Spenser 's
'Cornucopia '
and in FQ VfI.vii.4L,33 and 37; SC:
April, August & December, as well as E.K. 's
'AEglogues' 'Goteheards '
definition of as tales,
'Theocritus'
on the authority of at the start of
'Generall
his Argument ') .
'April, ' or
So it is that in Graves 's Celtic calendar
'The '
the 'f ifth' month, is identif ied with willow, or osier,
'in
which Greece was sacred to Hecate, Circe, Hera and
Persephone, all Death aspects of the Triple Moon-goddess.r
'The 'A
Moon owns it. ' tree sacred to poetsr '
The willow is the tree of enchantment and is the
fifth tree of the year; five (V) was the number
sacred to the Roman Moon-goddess Minerva. The
month extends from April 15th to May 12th, and
May Day, famous for its orgiastic revels and its
magj-c dew, falls in ttre middle. It is possible
that the carrying of sallow-wiIIow branches on
PaIm Sunday, a variable feast vrhich usually fal1s
early in April, is a custom that properly belongs
to the beginning of the willow month (g!. ci.t.,
pp. L73-L74).
'A
Moreover, famous Greek Picture . at Delphi
represented Orpheus as receiving ttre grift of mystic eloquence
by touching willow-trees in a grove of Persephone' (ibid.).
And:
357
The willow (heljlce in Greek, salix in Latin) gave
its name to Helicon, the abode of the Nine Muses,
orgiastic priestesses of the Moon-goddess. .
According to Pliny, a willow tree grew outside the
Cretan cave where Zeus was born; and . A. B.
Cook . suggests thaL Europe who is . shown
['on a series of Cretan coins '] seated in a willow
tree, osier-basket in hand, and made love to by an
'she
eagle, is not only Eur-ope, of the broad face',
'she
i-e. the Full Moon, but Eu -rope, of the
flourishing willow-withies' --alias Helice, sister
of Amalthea. The wearing of the willow in the hat
as a sign of the rejected lover seems to be
originally a charm against the Moon-goddess's
jealousy. The willow is sacred to her for many
reasons: it is the tree that loves water most, and
the Moon-goddess is the giver of dew and moisture
generally; its leaves and bark . are sovereign
against rheumatic cramps formerly thought to be
caused by witchcraft. The Goddess's prime
orgiastic bird, the wry-neck, or snake bird, or
cuckoo's mate--a Spring migrant which hisses like
a snake, lies flat along a bough, erects its crest
ralhenangfry, writhes its neck about, lays white e99s,
eats ants, dod has v-markings on its feathers like
those on the scales of oracular serpents in Ancient
Greece--always nests in wiIlow trees (ibid. ) .
Significantly, the ancient hero or demi-god Cadmus
'Aqie _s'
(cf. ) while pursuing the abductor of his sister
'Europa ' 'Taurus '),
(cf. was advised by the Pythoness
at Delphj-to follow instead a cow (marked on each flank with
a white fuIl moon) until she sank down for weariness; and to
plan to build a city on that very spot. Having done just
so, he sent his companions for lustral water to the Spring
of Ares (the Castalian Spring) , vrhere all were slain by the
serpent that guarded it. Cadmus took revenge by crushing
its head with a rock' (for which he was later sentenced by
a divine court to become Ares' bondman for a Great Year).
Athene, to whom he sacrificed the cow, then appeared and
358
'to
ordered him sow the serpentrs teeth in the soj-l. When
he obeyed her, armed Sparti, or Sown Men, at once sprang up,'
of which only five survived the brawl Cadmus incited by
'a
tossing stone' amongst them.
After his eight years' bondage to Ares, Cadmus built
Thebes with the help of his 'Sown l{en' and Athena's
'into
cooperation. Then, following his initiation the
'married
mysteries which Zeus had taught Iasion,' he
Harmonia,
the dauqhter of Aphrodite and Ares.'
'the
Now, from the Ovide moralise onward, story of
Europa abducted by the bulI and holding on to one of hj-s
'the
hornsr was held to signify redemption of the soul,
steadfast in faith, by Christ '
(Panofsky, R qR, pp. 186, 190)
'Heliogabalus' 'gial_l.us
As in Puttenham's system, was a
'Virgo 'the
(priest)' of the coe-lestis' (? thousand-eyed
shepherd of glittering stars '?).
'shepherd -priest, ' 'Taurus ' 'gentle '
So, as is a figure
--a 'Pan' t
species of ('Faunus' ), or'Sun -plus -Moon.
'Kid 'horn,' 'Uni,/corn,'
The aureate like that of the
"s
'I@.,' 'Egypt"s
is a holy while his mount is inrnortal
'Bull, ' '$pis. ' 'Taurus, '
solar The hieroglyph of vi-2. r ,
'sun-and-moon-united, '
is an embl-emof as in the slzmbols for
'Geryon, ' 'Osiris -plus -Isis ' 'Ser/apis ')
or for
(cf . .
'Kid, '
The then, of FQ VII.vii.33 recalls the parable
'the 'Piers'
of the fox and credulous kidde' wtrereby
('Plovrnan ':) illustrates the superiority of the ProtestanL
359
'Palinodie'
over the Catholic ministry of in the May
eclogue of the SC. E.K. explicates as follows:
By the Kidde may be vnderstoode the simple sorte
of the faythfull and true Christians. By hys
dame Christe, that hath alreadie with carefull
watchewords (as heere doth the gote) warned his
little ones, to beware of such doubling deceit.
By the Foxe, the false and faithlesse Papistes,
to whom is no credit to be giuen, nor felowshippe
to be vsed (Smith and de Selincourt ed., p. 44O).
'transportation'
T!:e Kid 's ' intoxication' suggests the
'
of St. Luke -as -artist bv a Furor poeticus ':
as Luke the Evangelist obeys the dictates of the
Holy Spirit, so does Luke the painter, like every
true artist, obey the dictates of Plato's "divine
frer,zy,' (-W. ) .
" i!.
Compounding St. Luke's preoccupation with Christ's
'Atonement' 'Apri1"s
is significant relegation to stanza #33
of FQ VfI.vii--the age of our Redeemer at the time of
Crucifixion.
'patron
St. Luke, saint of artists, physicians, butchers,
'Acts
and goldsmiths,' was author of the of ttre Apostles' as
well as of the ttrird Gospel:
His Gospels . are the most poetic and beautiful
of all. SL. Paul, whom Luke accompanied on his
missionary journeys, called him "our beloved Luke
the Physician, " and refers to him in his letters
as "my only companion. " Traditionally Luke was also
a fine painter, dfrd. produced portraits of Mary and
Jesus, though none survive. He is often portrayed
as an artist painting the Virgin and Infant Christ,
or holding a portrait of the Virgin in his hand.
His attribute is a winged ox, a reference to tJ.e
beast in the Book of Revelation. A sacrificial
animal, the ox relates to the emphasis Luke's
Gospels place on the atonement of Christ. The ox
represents Christ's sacrifice (Si11,
Eandb.o*,
pp. 46 -47.
360
'St.
The image of l,uke slaughtering his beast' traditionally
'represents
a priest of the OId Law (possibly Zachariah, the
father of John the Baptist, with rarhosestory this Gospel
begins) '--a reading 'confirmed by the fact that . the
skin of the animal is painted in red.--an obvious allusion
to the vacca rufa from Numbers 9:2 which . seems to have
come automatically to the mind of twelfth century authors
when they discussed the contrast between tJ:e blood sacrifice
of the Old Law and the Eucharist' (Panofsky, pp. 98-99)
U_3,
'kid' 'bull'
In such linking of with Panofsky detects
'bIood
a deliberate antittresis between the sacrifice'
practiced by OId Testanent priests and prophets, and
Christianity's eeqqgm gacrifiqium of Holy Mass--especially
'the
when ritual killing of animals is placed d.irectly beneath
a representation of the Wedding of Cana so closely resembling
a Last Supper (of wtrich Christ's "first miracle" had been a
tflpus)' (Ren-aiss.ance and pp. 9B-100i cf. F.Q
ReJ:ascences,
VII ,vii .L2:) .
'the 'not
The horn is healing cup,' unconnecLed with
the "cup of salvation," the Eucharistic Chalicer ?rrd with
'heavenly
the vessel used in divination.' Osirj-s as the
'is
horn of the moon' (cf . Sophia, Adam, Attis; tr4ercurius)
'bow-bent
closely connected with the unicorn' (cf. the
horne'
of
the Bull in FQ V.proem.6.1).
'Unicorn'
The singular shaft of tJ.e "'acts as an
alexipharmic, because it expels the poison from the water,
361
and this refers allegorically to the baptism of Christ [i.e.,
the consecration of the baptismal waterl: rightly is it
applied to Christ baptized, who, like the chosen son of
unicorns, sanctified the streams of water to wash away the
filth of all our sinsr" as Bede says' (,fung, Ps)Lc4oloqv ap4
A]chemy, p. 443, n.2Li cf . pp. 435 -472, passim) .
'the
Generally, horn of the unicorn signifies the health,
strength, and happiness of the blessed' (op. cit., p. 44O) .
'His
From the blessing of Moses in Deut. 33. L3,L4,L7 (e.9.,
glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and His horns are
like the horns of unicorns: with them He shall push the
people together to the ends of the earth'), Tertullian
concludes of Ctrrist that "'His glory is that of a buII, his
horn is that of a unicorn "'; and
"Christ was named the buII on account of tv;o
'wild, '
qualities: the one hard I feru,s., untamed
'
as a judge, the other gentle [mansu,etus , ' tame ]
]
as a saviour. His horns are the ends of ttre
cross (Sp. ci!., p. 44O).
Alchemica1ly,
The horn as an emblem of vigour and strength has
a masculine character, but at the same time it is
a cup, which, ds a receptaele, is feminine. So
we are dealing here wiLh a "uniting s1zmbol" that
expresses the bipolarity of the archetype (Jung,
P & A, p. 47L).
In other words,
the unicorn is . endowed with an androglmous
quality. fts connection with the phoenix and tJ.e
dragon also occurs in alchemy, where the dragon
stands for the lowest form of Mercurius and the
phoenix for the highest (oP. cit., p. 466).
362
According to Graves,
,the
the unicornrs single exalted horn represents
upper pole' which reaches from the king directly
up to the zenith, to the hottest point attained
by the sun. The unicornts horn in EEgpLian architecture
is the obelisk; which has a square base
tapering to a pyramidical point: it expresses
d.ominion over the four quarters of the world and
the zenith. In squatter form it is the pyramid.,
and the dominion originally expressed was not that
that of the Sun-god, who never shines from ttre
nortJr, but that of the Trj-ple Goddess whose white
marble triangle encloses her royal sonrs tomb from
every side (!fl:ite Godd.ess, p. 411).
'The
Further, unicorn probably had a spatial as well as a
temporal meaning . roughly corresponding with the
Eglptian pentad ' (v5 'z., Osiris, Horus, fsis, Set and
'The
Nephthys): five regions are the four quarters of the
earth, and the zenith ' (op. cit., pp. 4LO, ALL).
'the 'an
Allegorically, Yates pursues, obelisk' is
Egyptian symbol referring to the "inner writing" of the arL
which will overcome the confusions of Babel and conduct its
user under angelic Auidance to religious safety' (ifia.1.
So it is that in Theatre of_lhe _l{qrld (1969, pp. L4O
155; cf . Art of Semory, pp. 326ff .), Frances Yates identifies
'fj-ve 'Tobias
the Microil''" memory placest as: first,
'the 'On
and the Ange1,' followed by Tower of Babel'; the
central place is an obelisk' (identified by Puttentram with
'fire, ' 'hope '); 'a
and said to signify last are ship, '
'the
ensuing which is Last Judgement' (cf . Thealre of
ltre
tIorl9, plate #18). The sequence may be understood as
likewise representing that governing the descending spiral
363
of
Spenser 's first five booksz viz., Book I ('Holiness ')
'Tobias
as a species of and the Agenl,' while the relation
'the
Argolick
of Book If to Tower of Babef is expliciLly mentioned
in II.ix.2l and the 'Cardinal Fire' of Book III occupies the
'central' location identified with the 'obelisk' of 'hope.'
B o o k I V , a s a ' b o w 1 ' o r ' v e s s e l , ' i s a s p e c i e s o f ' s h i p '
'
(the
fluds ' mentioned in VII.vii.33 recalling
'Argo,'
Jason's alchemical ship, the which in turn was
'Ark'
slznrbolic of Noah's ) ; and Book V deals indeed wi-th
'Judgrnent 'I
Thus St. Augustine, in De Civitate Dei XV.xxvi and xxvii,
'Noah's
explains how Ark signifies Christ and
his Church in all things.' This was because the
dimensions of the ark signified the ideal proportions
of a man's body., ' in which the Saviour was
prophesied to come', Christ being also the Ark of
Salvation. . And the ark was made of all
s.qlrare ryood, signifying the unmoved constancy of
the Saints; for cast a cybe or _s.qugre body which
way you wi!L, it will eJ4el g!+ld f.ism (gut1er, in
Silent Poetry, pp. 15 -16).
'Ark,'
Noah's of
course, was traditionally slmbolized
'ship, ' 'Argo, I
'the
by ,Jason 's the by which Church ' was
signified (Book
of Talismans, pp. 236, 103) --as also was
'The
'consists
Talisman known as the Agnus Dei,' which
of
a Lamb carrying
a flag and cross, . with the motto "Ecce
Agnus Dej-" (Sehold the T,ambof God) ' (op. cit., p . 107)
'Taurus ' 'April'
(cf . the
or of VII.vii.33; 33, of course,
being Christ 's age at the time of his crucifixion; cf.
Fowler, Nl4lbgqq__oE Time, pp. 150 & ff .).
364
Moreover, after leaving the Ark, Noah is said to have
'and
built 'the Altar ': in fact in the smoke from the A1tar,
is the bow of Sagittarius, and corresponding with this we
read that God, after the savour of the Altar had reached
him, said: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall
come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that bow
shaIl be seen in the cloud"' (Bo.ok oF T_a.lismans, p. 236i cf .
FQ IV.x.37-38). Comparison is invited with the alchemical
'rainbow. '
5. Mjrv:{une:,J91y
'Both
Now, in the words of C. S. Lewis, Spenser's
veiled Venus (fv.x.at) and his veiled Nature (vf f .vii.5)
. are to be regarded as symbols of God,' Spenser'g
'veiled
Imaqes of Life, p. L6; cf. the Una ' of FQ T.L.4
'Veiled
and xii.2Lff .) -And Nature' is presented as follows
in FQ VII.vii.5:
*"" forth issewed (great goddesse) great dame Nalure,
With goodly port and gracious Mai-esty;
Being far greater and more taIl of stature
Then any of t-he gods or Powers on hie:
Yet certes by her face and physnomy,
Whether she man or woman inly were,
That could not any creature well descry:
For, with a veile that wimpled euery where,
Her head and face was hid, that mote to none appeare.
'Nature'
Is this a lowly, veiled reflection of the stellar
Sagittarius (note their relative positions in our diagrams,
pages 268A & ff.)?
365
'Natura'
Now, as H. N. Shirk has pointed out, is the
rartist 'physical
and maker of creation': existence becomes
'The
her handiwork'i and profuse blooming at Natura's
j-s
presence the result of Spenser's utilization of the
'Flora
iconography of the Flora-figure' (196) . But the
figure' is most closely approxirnated in FQ VII.vii, for
'May'
example, by the of stanza 34:
Then came faire May, t-Jee fayrest mayd on ground,
Deckt all with d.ainties of her seasons pryde,
And throwing flowres out of her lap around.
Vpon two brettrrens shoulders she did ride,
The twinnes of Leda; which on eyther side
Supported her like to their soueraine Queene.
Lordl how all creatures laught, when her they spide,
And leapt and dauncrt as they had rauisht beenel
And Cgpid selfe about her fluttred all in greene.
'Iunor ' 'of '
Clearly, she is Queen the Ayre, as specified
i n F Q V I I . v i i . 2 6 ( c f . s t . 2 2 -2 3 ) .
Clearly adumbrated here is the profoundly alchemical
' P o r t e r ' t o V e n u s ' T e m p l e i n F Q I V . x . 3 1 -3 6 & f f . , i d e n t i f i e d
'Concord '
as (cf . Jung, pp. L99, 2L2 -2L3i Westerl
Aion,
MvStical .Tr,adition, pp. 270-271; Ocsu.lt, Sqiences, p. L23):
'much
While admyring that so goodly frame,' Sir
'approcht' 'Unto 'which
Scudamour the porch,' open stood.':
But therein sate an amiable Dame,
That seem'd to be of very sober mood,
And in her semblant shewed great womanl:ood. (tv.x.31).
rConcord'
Ttre whose description occupies FQ IV.x.3I-35
'tempers ' 'Hate ' 'Love '-
and
Yet were they brethren both of halfe the blood
Begotten by two fathers of one mother,
Though of contrarie natures each to other (tv.x.32r.
366
Concord she cleeped was in common reed,
-ffi
peac.e,
of blessed arrd Friendship trew;
They both her twins, both borne of heauenly seed,
And she her selfe likewise diuinely grew;
The which right well her workes diuine did shew:
For strength, and wealth, and happinesse she lends,
Andstrife, and warre, and anger does subdew:
Of little much, of foes she maketh frends,
And to afflicted minds sweet rest and quiet sends.
By her the heauen is in his course contained,
And all the world in state vnmoued stands,
As their Almightie maker first ordained,
And bound them with inuiolable bands;
Else would the waters ouerflow the lands,
And fire deuoure the ayre, and heIl them quight,
But that she holds them with her blessed hands.
She is the nourse of pleasure and delight,
And vnto Venus grace the gate doth open right (tv.x.34-35),
'Ladie, ' ralho 'friended'
This helpful Scudamour ' In
'retrate '
entrance ' and alike (fv.x.57) ,
. twixt her selfe and Loue did let me pas;
But Hatred would my entranEffiaue restrayned,
And with his club me threatned to haue brayned,
Had not the Ladie with her powrefull speach
Him from his wicked will vneath refrayned;
And th'other eke his malice did empeach,
Till f was throughly past the perill of his reach (fv.x.:e1
'Concord' 'mother'
is thus the of the two precedj-ng
'March' 'April,'
Books, identified with and here conceived
'twins'i
as as well as of the two succeeding brethren,
'Love ' 'Cupid ' 'Hate '
('June ' as in VII.vii.35 as Book VI) and
',July '
(the ragj -ng of VII.vii.36, representing Book VII) .
'March'
The rather paradoxical identification of with
'Peace, ' 'Eris ' 'Eros, '
with is made explicitly by Spenser
himself in the proem to Book IV, and is further reaffirmed
in his inverted citation of his Books to date in his naming
'Litae' 'did
of the that vpon Mercillaes throne attend' in
V.l-x.JZZ
367
Iust Dicg, wise Eunomie, myld Eirene,
And tGfr-amongs{E;-glorie tdffiend,
State goodly Temperance in garments clene,
And sacred Reuerence, yborne of heauenly strene.
The sequence, clearly, is: 'Justice ' (Book V) , 'Order ' (the
'Friendship ' 'Peace,
of Book fV as defined in VTI.vii.4),
'Temperance '
(eook fII), (Book II, by definition) and the
'Holiness '
of Book I.
'Concord'
As such, is a composite figure who, taken
'NaLura'*-the
alone, is presumably synonymous with central
deity of Book V.
'On
So, according to Yates (a.lct of ivts,Tory, p. 141):
the Banquet [second] grade in the Jupiter series, tlre image
of Juno suspended means air as a s5mp1e element,' albeit
This image was anciently interpreted as an
allegory of the four elements; the two weights
attached to Juno's feet being the two heavy
elements, earth and water; Juno herself, air;
Jupiter the highest fiery air or ether (s!. cit.,
p. L4L, n.43; cf . F. Bufflere, Les mythes d'Ilomere
et_ la p-ensee q.r,ecgue, Paris, 1956, p. 43)
'The
(cf . FQ VII.vii.22 -23, 25 -26). So, Sadler cites fighLs
among Homer 's gods, ' which
are to be deciphered as Lhe "naturall Contrariety
of the Elements, and especially of the Fire and
Water, which as they are tempered and reconciled
by the aire, so Igno (which signifies the aery
region) reconciles & accords the warring Gods. . . . "
(Ambix 24 (2), 7L, L977) .
Likewise in alchemy:
Fire and WaLer are united through their qualities,
heat and moisture; this union takes place in Air,
and is achieved by Mercury (De Rola, Alchemy,
legend to Fig. 36t cf . AmoretE, #60; FQ III.vi.B -9,
-
47if . ; vrr.vii. s3-56 & EJ .
368
Compare the 'Mercilla' of FQ Y.ix.37, flanked by the
' t w i n s ' ' A r t h u r ' a n d ' A r t h e g a l l ' : ' s h e p l a c e d t h ' o n e o n
th'one,/llne other on the other side, and neare them none.'
S o e x p r e s s e d i s , o f c o u r s e , t h e ' e q u a l i t y ' o f ' A r t h e g a l l '
'Arthur.'
with But is not something else implied as well?
'idol ' 'Isis, ' 'Equity, I
Namely, the of f igure of and
'Justice'
central emblem of ttre of Book V as explored in
'Isis
V.vii. According to Conti, ds quoted by Maclntlzre:
brought laws, by which [the Egyptians] were deterred from
unlawful slaughter, whence she is called lawgiver, because
she first found out laws. Osi-ris and Isis are said to have
offered rewards and honors to those who had thoucrht of
anything useful to human life ' (197).
'Air'
This lunar goddess, Iike in alchemy, straddles
'the 'the 'Crocodile'
ground' with one foot, and water' (a
being a watery creature) with the other (V.vii.6 -7). fn
Britomart ' s vis ion, however, the goddess j-s ' sodainely '
'lransfigured ' :
Her linnen sLole to robe of scarlet red,
And Moone-like Mitre to a Crowne of gold (V.vii.I3).
And in the midst of her felicity,
An hideous tempest seemed from below,
To rise through aII the Temple sodainely,
That from the Altar all about did blow
The holy fire, and all the embers strow
Vpon the ground, which kindled priuily,
Into outragious flames vnwares did grow,
That all the Temple put in ieopardy
Of flaming, and her selfe in great perplexity.
369
With that the Crocodile, which sleeping lay
Vnder the Tdols feete in fearelesse bowre,
Seem'd to awake in horrible dismay,
As being troubled with that stormy sLowre;
And gaping greedy wide, did streight deuoure
Both flames and tempest: with which growen great,
And swolne with pride of his owne peerelesse powre,
He gan to threaten her likewise to eat;
But tl:at the Goddesse with her rod him backe did beat.
Tho turning all his pride to humblesse meeke,
Him selfe before her feete he lowly threw,
And gan for grace and love of her to seeke:
Which she accepting, he so neare her drew,
That of his game she soone enwombed grew,
And forth did bring a Lion of great might;
That shortly did all other beasts subdew (V.vii.L4-LG).
T'l:e vision is later explicated as follows:
that same Crocodile doth represent
The righteous thight, that is thy faithfull louer,
Like to Osvris in all iust endeuer.
For ttratGe-crocodile osy.rjs is,
That vnder Isis feete doth sleepe for euer:
To shew thaffiemence oft in things amis,
Restraines those sterne behestsr a.rrdcruell doomes of his.
Then shalt thou take him to thy loued fere,
And ioyne in equall portion of thy realme.
And afterwards a sonne to him shalt beare,
That Lion-lj-ke shall shew his powre extrearne:
So blesse thee God, and giue thee iolzance of thy dreame
(V.vii .22,23)
'Crocodile ' 'signify ' 'the
Watery (Osiris, said to
'Dionysus'
Sunne,' V.vii.4, though he was also called by the
Eglzptians, ref . 197) --1ow1y, sleepy, 'Vnder the ldols feete
'clemence'
in fearelesse bowre,' emblematic of (see Lerch
'Charity,'
on Book VI as a species of 198), who becomes
'Cupid'
tempestuous and amorous--may be seen as a kind of or
'June ' -figure:
370
And after her, came iolly Iune, arrayd
A11 in greene leaues, as he a Player werei
Yet in his time, he wrought as well as pla$,
That by his plough-yrons mote right. well appeare:
Vpon a Crab he rode, that him did beare
With crooked crawling steps an vncouth pase,
And baclcvlard yod.e, ds Bargemen wont to fare
Bending their force contrary to their face,
Like that vngracj-ous crew which faines demurest grace.
(vII .vii .3 5)
'Love, ' 'Concordr 'May ';
This is one of the offspring of or
'Brother' ',fuly,'
and his is the fiery presented in
VII.vii.35 as follows:
Then came hot Iuly boyling like to fire,
Ttrat all his garments he had cast away:
Vpon a Lyon raging yet with ire
He boldly rode and made him to obay;
It was t-l:e beast that vrhylome did forray
The Nemaean forrest, tilI th'Amphytrionide
Him slew, and with his hide did him arrayi
Behinde his back a sithe, and by his side
Vnder his belt he bore a sickle circling wide.
These representatives of Books VI and VfI, respectively,
are thus adumbrated in FQ VII.vii.6&72
That some doe say was so by skill deuized,
To hide the terror of her vncouth hew.
From mortall eyes that should be sore agrized;
For that her face did like a Lion shew,
That eye of wight could not indure to view:
But others tell that it so beautious was,
And round about such beames of splendor threw,
That it the Sunne a thousand times did pass,
Ne could be seene, but like an image in a glass (st. 6)
(cf. VI,proem, suggestive of Puttenham 's'quadrangle reuerst,
with his point upward. like to a quarrell of glasse',
'monas'
according to our diagram) .
That well may seemen true: for, well I weene
That this same dty, rnlhen she on Arlo sat,
Her garment was so trrigftt and woiTl6us sheene,
That my fraile wit cannot deuize to wkrat
37I
It to compare, nor finde like stuffe to that,
As those three sacred Saints, though else most wise,
Yet on mount Thabor quite their wits forgat,
When they their glorious Lord in strange disguise
Tr.an-sfiqur'd sawe; his garments so did daze their eyes.
(st. 7)
'new 'dawn of
This day, ' or civilization, ' is likewise
reflected in stanzas 6 and 7 of Epithalami.on.
Binding the three books (V, \II and VII) together is the
motif of ttre sub jugation of wild. beasts. Thus V.xii concludes
by introducing the Blatant Beast, whose restraint will
become the object of Book VI. And Book VII is introduced in
j-n
Vl.xii the following terms:
Or like the helI-borne Hydra, which they faine
fhat great Alcides rarhilome ouerthrew,
After that Tffi-fr-labourd long in vaine,
To crop his thousand heads, the vrhich still new
Forth budded, and in greater number grew.
Such was the fury of tJ:is hellish Beast,
Whilest Calidore hjm vnder him downe threw;
who nathffiffis heauy load releast,
But aye the more he rag'd., the more hj-s powre increast.
(st.32)
Like as whylome that strong TiJ:v.nthia_n swaine,
Brought forthr with him the dreadfull dog of hell,
Against his will fast bound in yron chaine,
And roring horribly, did hjrn compell
To see the hatefull sunne, that he might teIl
To griesly P]uto, what on earth was donne,
And to the other damned ghosts, which dwell
For aye in darkenesse, which day light doth shonne.
So Ied this knight his captlmre witfi like conquest wonne.
(vr.xii.ss;
j-nvited
Comparison is of course with Scudamour, who compares
'Daunger'
the assaults of against himself and AmoreL to those
'Ce.rberu,s,
of when Orpheu.s did recourer/ttis Leman from ttre
'redemptionl
Stygian Princes boure ' (IV.x.58; cf. Calidore 's
372
o f P a s t o r e l l a i n V I . x i ) .
flre new 'Hercules' is of course most likely the
'Eglrptian Hercul€s, ' whose 'strength' is identified by
'based
Krause as on his povers of eloquence, noL on his
brawn ' (199).
'that
So, a caricature suggestive of "unlroly" music,
the practice and enjoyment of which were generally cond.emned
as a manifestation of curiositas verging upon the sin of
'the
Idolatry,' represented by lyre-playing Hercules'
('HeF-cules_Musar.um'), or else by 'Apollo' as ta god in the
' 'g
guise of a youth with a harp in his hands, or even
gn:i.se d.e danze!' (Panofsky, R & R, p. 96), is illustrated by
Panofsky in a twelfth century diptych, suggestive of Calidore:
the upper section of which shows David and his
musicians making sacred music. The lower section
shows, in contrast, a monstrous being (probably
not a bear but an actor dressed up as a wild man
and thus impersonating the devil) beating a drum
while other figures contribute to this unholy
music and still others engase in acrobatic dancinq
enjoyed by idle spectators (Re.naissancg a.nd
Renascences, pp. 92 -93, n.3).
'Justice'
A11 three are, of course, aspects of in the
sublunary sphere, diagrammed in FQ V.xii.1 as comprising
'dread 'lawes
of God, that deuils bindes '; of men, that
'bands
common weales cont4ine'; and of nature, that wilde
'faith, ' 'loue, '
beastes restraine ' (under trust, ' and
respectively) .
Now, Josephine Waters Bennett has divided the Neo-Platonic
'Creation '
as d.epicted in Spenser 's Mutabilitie Cantos into
373
three ranks or degrees (cf. Panofsky, Eq4gissance agd
Renascences in Western Art, pp. LB2-LB4) z
According to the Christian Platonic Scheme which
Spenser followed there were three worlds, "one
below the moon, a second which included the nine
'heavens'
spheres of the or celestial world., and
a third beyond the limits of the visible universe."
According Lo the Neo-Platonists, the act of
creation was not single or final but proceeded by
"emanations" from highest to lowest. "The first
stage, or emanation, is pure thought, wtrich, ds it
embraces the Platonic fdeas, furnishes a pattern
for the rest of creation. The second stage is ttre
universal soul, which has two phases. As it. is
turned in the dj-rection of pure thought, and as it
contemplates the fdeas in the Mind of God, Plotinus
-
calIed jt the world soul; but as it is turned in
tl:e direction of the world, it acts as t]-e creative
force and is called Nature. According to this
scheme, Nature is the immediate creator of the
visible universe, the personification of the active,
creative force emanating from the super-celestial
world. .
Since everything existing in the highest world
appeared in lessening degrees at lower stages,
there would be three phases of the Venus emanation.
In t:tre supercelestial world Venus is identical
with Sapience. There is an account of the earthly
Venus i-n Faerie Queene 4.LO.39ff . Nature is
evidentl@inciple of the intermediate
or celestial world. Furthermore, Spenser, following
Neo-Platonic tradition, did not look upon the
three stages of the Venus emanation as distinct
and independent. He represented them as differing
in name but telescoping in functj-on.
"Plotinus described the raying downward of
the divine influence as like the sun and its rays,
so that both the lion face (a lion was the symbol
of the sun, since the sun is native in the house
of Leo) and the great brilliance of face are
natural attributes of this demiurgic Aoddess.
Cartari has a picture of the sun as a lion-headed
deity (see 7.7.6.4) ."
The alternative suggestj-on of tfte great
brightness and beauty of Nature's face is even
nearer to the Plotinian idea that the Divinity is
an intellectual sun which far surpasses the material
sun in brightness. Nature, as the transmitLer of
374
the divine effulgence from the super-celestial
world to the created universe, would, of course'
shine with a splendor surpassing the physical sun
a thousand tirnes, for she would receive the full
blaze of beauty from the divine Wisdom and
radiate it upon the world below. It is as agent
's
of j-mmortal Truth that Nature beauty is so
bright it can be looked upon only indirectly'
'lj -ke an image in a glass' (7.7.6.9), i-e., as it
is reflected in the material universe -
Nature's agelessness and maternity are
convenLions. . Her description as "sti1l
movj-ng, yet unmoved" associates her with the
priml_rmm_obile, the beginning of material creation.
-rcmer
-significant characteristics of
Neo-Platonic Nature are:) beauty, great brightness,
double sex, her cosmic position as primum mobiJe
and as immediate creator and ruler of the universe,
the attendance on her of lesser gods and all
creatures, and her identification with Justice (200)
Now, according to Graves,
Botticelli's Birth of Venus is an exact icon of
her cult. ta@ed, blue-eYed, Pale-
faced, the Love-goddess arrives in her scallop-
shell at the myrtle grove, and Earth, in a flowery
robe, hastens to wrap her in a scarlet gold-fringed
mantle. In English ballad-poetry the mermaid
stands for the bitter-sweetness of love and for
the danger run by susceptible mariners -in
fcrrairrn ports: her mirror and comb stand for
vanity and heartlessness (-g!. clt., P. 395)
'Stilla ' 'Myrrh
st. ,Jerome praised the Virgin as Maris, of
the Sea' (ibid.).
Graves quotes D. W. Nash on the Taliesin poems:
The Christian bards of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries repeatedly refer to the
Virgin Mary herself as the cauldron or source
of inspiration--to which they were led, as it
seems, partly by a play on the word pair, a
cauldron, and the secondary form of that word,
on assuming ttre soft form of its initial mair,
which also means Mary. . Ttre motkrer of
Christ, the mystical receptacle of the HoIy
Spirit, and Pair was the cauldron or receptacle
and fountainFchristian inspiration (vfhite
Goddess, pp.393 -394).
375
Similarly Shumaker summarj-zes Robert F1udd's depiction
of ttre Goddess Natura in his Utriugque_gosmi mai.oris
scilice! gt mino.ris meLaphysisa (f619) in his Occult
Sciences (p. L23'), as follows:
At the top, God's hand holds a chain which
descends to the figure of a nude virgin Nature,
pictured with starry hair in order to prevent
identification as a pagan goddess. From her
left hand, in turn, the chain descends to an
dP€, a symbol for Art; along the chain God's
powers and effects are transmitted. Nature guides
the primum mobile and turns the fixed stars. .
Althmiffiffi-on one of her breasts, the sun
is Nature's heart, and her belly is filled with
the moon's body. . The life and vitality of
elemental creatures are born from her breast,
which also feeds (lac!a3) the creatures constantly.
The earth under Nature's right foot stands for
sulphur, the water under her left foot for
mercury; the joining of these through her body
slzmbolizes their union in whatever is generated
or grows. The dP€, Art, is "born from man's
talents" and helps Nature by means of secrets
learned from diligent observation of her ways.
'Ape' 'Artr
This of is the undisguised topic of Book VI
'Courtesy'
(cf . VI.x), wtrose has been widely conceded to be
'Justice'
a further modification or refinement of the theme
of the preced.ing book (2OL-2O2). It is adumbrated in the
' i o 1 l y d q n s , ' o r ' C u p i d ' -f i g i u r e o f V I I . v i i . 3 5 , a s w e l l a s
in the s o l a r ' i m a g e i n a g l a s s ' o f V I f . v i i . 6 ( c f . V I . p r o e m ) ;
'fayrest 'at
in IV.x it is represented by Amoret, ' the
Id.oles feet apart'--'Like to the Morne, when first her
shyning facer/Hath to the gloomy world it selfe bewray'd
(IV.x.4B,52r cf . VI .x.28; Epithalalnion, st. 6) . She is the
'dawn 'dawn of
of a new day, ' signaling the civilization 'l
376
'Nature'
From in the conduct of human government to
'nature ' 'roote
as the of ciuill conuersation ' (VI.i.1),
'NATURA' of
we pass to the cosmic Book VfI (cf . VII .vi.6ff ) :
Nature as a whole cannot suffer annihilation;
and thus, at due times, in fixed order, she
comes Lo renew herself, changing and altering
all her parts; and this it is fitting should
come about with fixity of succession, every
part taking tJre place of all the other parts. .
And there is notJring which by natural fitness is
eternal but the substance which is matter (O. Elton,
in Variorum 6-'J, p. 391).
As Aubrey de Vere points out,
"To the undiscerning eye things seem to pass
away; to the half-discerning they seem to revolve
merely in a circle; but the motion is in reality
upuard as well as circular." Things approach the
sabbath rest of their Creator. Spenser held with
Plato the theory of eternal patterns or ideas to
ralhich the phenomenal world was merely a serj-es of
approximations. Thus here "the cyclical revolutions
of time present an image of eternity. " Man
also ascends through mutation and pain to victory
and peace (var. 6-7, p. 390) (203).
'ttre
So, according to Graves, tree-alphabet, with the
Twins combined in a single sign, d.oes coincide with the
Zodiac as it stands at present' (white Goddess, p . 3 B l ) ,
'The 'the
while in Chapman's poem entitled amorous zodiack'
poet-sun dwells on the sign Gemini for three stanzas instead
of two; thus alluding to the fact that the astronomical sun
does in reality remain in this sign longer than in any other'
(Fowler, Numbers .oF Time, pp. 249-250). Might we even
conjecture ttrat these three Books, or May-June-July, together
'Ttrree
constitute the Graces ' described in FQ VI.x.2L -24?
'Book
As L. G. Geller has declared: \Il emphasizes the
377
Graces . as slanbols of liberality
. and in their
'
relation to Apollo and the poetic process. The last
Grace in particular (here identified with the solar figure
'Ju1y'
of in Book \ruI, who commences the soul's reascent to
'illustrate
the Empyrean) is said to
the special providence
of God, who can lift an individual from base to noble
position [and] also shows the order of art
comparable to the
order of the heavens and that of social relationships' (2O4).
'the
ft might here be noted that Graces played an
j-
enormous role n Ficino 's philosophy, ' and
so in Spenser 's
as well: they
symbolized, hosoever defined, a triad of qualities,
two of them opposites reconciled by a middle term,
which make the soul capable of amor divinus and
thereby worthy of deif ication 1ffifffilS :,
p. 191, n.3).
'Graces'
are a "Trinity" of which Venus was the "Unity"
(cf. 'Concord'):
they were held to embody the threefold
aspect of Venus, i.e., supreme Beauty, in
much the sarne way
as God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are considered
the threefold aspect of the Deity' (Panofsky, Studi,es in
'Beauty'
Iconolgcv, pp. 158-169). Thus, as a crowned young
'Venus
woman may be identified as ej-ther Verticordia' (who
'opposes j-
and removes from the soul mmodesL desires
and turns
the mind of maidens and wives from carnal love to purity,'
'Marita1
gp.. cit., p. 168) accompanied by Affection,/paith'
'Chastity' 'Grace
and (two ninfs:); or else as Pulchritudo,'
'Castitas' 'Voluptas'
accompanied by her sisters,
and (op.
37A
'reverses '
c_iF., p. 169). The former her direction, like
'Mercury'
the in Botticelli' s Primavera (Reqej!-ssance a.Fd
'June '
Renascences, pp. 193 -L94), or
like the in Spenserrs
'tJre
FB VII.vii.35, who turns from many' blandishments of
'Love, 'the 'wortJry '
Spring and Beauty 'to only one '
of
'matrimonial union'l The latter is the l of the
Greeks, or Hermes (Mercury) as 'Logos' (r-atio et or_atio,
o r ' R e a s o n ' p l u s ' E l o q u e n c e ' ) .
'Gemini, ' 'tJ:e ' 'two
Compare
or TVins, as Pillars
'
joined at the top and base (II) (e.g -, Castor and Pollux)
(Book of
talisntans, p. 161):
It was believed that among other achievements
they cleared the neighboring seas of pirates,
and when the Argonauts were in distress from a
violent tempest, two lambent flames descended.
from the clouds and settled upon the heads of
and Pollux, a calm immediately ensuing.
:":a:r
They were regarded as protectors of navigation,
it being inferred that whenever both stars were
visible it was a harbinger of fine weather, the
appearance of one star only signifying storms and
tempests. .
As a rule the seas are calm when the Sun is
in Gemini, and it was at this period of the year
ttrat the forty days' rain of tJ:e Deluge ceased
(ep. cit., p. L62).
'Gemini'
The
thus assigned by J. H. Wa1ter to Book III
(205), and by Fowler to Book IV (N3nbe.re of Titne., p. L69),
are in this system given as a
unit to Book V, though
subdivided into individuals in
Books VI and VII. Comparison
'pillars
'July'
is invited with the
of Hercules' assigned to
'H'
by Putterrtram, as well as with
the zodiacal f igure
discussed by Austin.
379
So, in the Book of Talismans (w.T. & K. pavitt, No.
Holl1zr,vood,Calif ., L9L4; reprinted, Aquarian Press, L97B) we
'Gemini
learn that is . slzmbolized by two Pillars joined
at the top and base (II), which is a diagrammatic represen
tatj-on of the T\,vins seated side by side wj-th embracing arms'
'pillars' 'were
(p. 161) . Said . believed to typify the
two pillars set up by King Solomon in the porch of the
Temple, which were quite distinct and apart from the building
itself and were not for any structural purpose, their use
being entirely slzmbolical' :
One was named "Jachin, " meaning "He will
establish, " and the other "Boaz, " signifying
"In Him is strength"; also they denoted the
union of fntellect and fntuiLion (ep. cit.,
P. L62).
So, in the words of Scudamour,
fnto the inmost Temple thus T came,
Which fuming all with frankensence I found,
And odours rising from the altars flame.
Vpon an hundred marble pillors round
The roofe vp high was reared from the ground,
A11 deckt with crownes, and chaynes, and girlands gay,
And thousand pretious gifts worth many a pound,
The which sad louers for their vowes did pay;
And all the ground was strow'd with flowres, ds fresh as May.
An hundred Altars round about were set,
A11 flaming with their sacrifices fire.
That with tJ.e steme thereof the Temples swet
Which rould in clouds to heauen d.id aspire,
And in them bore true louers vowes entire:
And eke an hundred brasen caudrons bright,
To bath in ioy and amorous desire,
Euery of which was to a damzelt hight;
For all the Priests were damzels, in soft linnen dight.
(st.37-38)
'Irt
Thus, Graves pursues, Crete, Greece and the Eastern
380
Mediterranean in general sacred trees are formalised as
pillarsi so these five trees may be the same as the five
pillars with vertical and spiral flutings which a man is
shown adoring in a Mycenaean cylinder seal' (ibid.):
To judge from a design on a glass dish of the
Seleucid epoch, showing the facade of Solomonts
Temple as rebuilt by Zerubbabel on Lhe original
Phoenician model, the spirally fluted pillars
correspond wj-Lh Boaz, Solomon's right-hand pillar
dedicated to growth and the waxing sunr the
vertically fluted with ,fachin, hj-; Ieft-hand pillar
dedj-cated to decay and the waning sun. The
slzmbolism became confused wtren Lhe Jews made Lheir
New Year correspond with the autumn vintacre
'Boaz
festival . but the tradition remained
is to Jachin as . blessinq is to cursins'
(lf,rite Goddess, pp. 189 -190, i'r.Z).
Conf ormably,
When the Byblians fj-rst brought their Syrian
Tempest-god to Eglzpt, the one who, disguised as
a boar, yearly kilIed his brother Adonis, the god
always born under a fir-tree, they identified him
with Set, the ancient Egypti-an god of the desert
whose sacred beast was the wild ass, and who
yearly destroyed his brother Osiris, the god of
the Nile vegetation. . This rmrst be what
Sanchthoniatho the Phoenician . means when he
says that the mysteries of Phoenj-cia were brought
to Egypt. He reports that the two first inventors
of the human race . consecrated two pillars,
to fire and wind--presumably the ,fachin and Boaz
pillars representing Adonis, god of the waxing
year and the new-born sun, and Typhon, god of the
waning year and of destructive winds. The Hyksos
Kings . sjmilarly converted their Tempest-god
into Set, and his new brother, the Hyksos Osiris,
alias Adonis, alias Dionysus, paid a courtesy call
ffiTfs eelasgiffi-Edunterpart, Proteus King ot
Pharos (craves, White Goddess, pp. 277-278).
'Jachin ' 'Typhon '--'god
By extrapolation, or of the
j-n
waning year and of destructive winds'--as described the
spiralling descent likewise suggests the darkest hours of
3Bl
'Ni -ght ' 'King '
(1:00 -5: 00 a.m. ) , while Proteus recalls
Death with most grim and griesly visage seene,
Yet is he nought but parting of the breath;
Ne ought to see, but like a shade to weene,
Vnbodied, vnsoul 'd, vnheard, vnseene (VII.vii .46) .
' ' 'representing hBoaz '
In contrast, the f ire pi1lar or
'Adonis, t
god of the waxing year and the new-born sun,
'Eour =' 'Day ' 'Life '
signifies the of and of (VII.vii.44 -46) .
'Epimetheus'
Clearly suggested are the Hermetic brothers,
'Prometheus ' ( 's j-xth ' 'seventh' 'grades, '
and and respectively,
'Theater')
in Camillo's .
'endowing
Note Paracelsus' of original matter with the
fliaster, the constructive force drawing it Lo perfection,
and its constant combatting of Cagaster, the destructive
'comparison
force,' affording with the conflict of good and
evil ' (Ambix, p. 73) .
'May ' 'unlucky '
So, in Graves 's Celtic calendar is the
'month ' 'the
',/'tree represented by whitethorn or hawthorn
or may, which takes its name from the month of May' (cp. cit.,
pp. L74-L76). Throughout this period there were taboos on
'the
new clothes and all sexuality ('may ' is thus tree of
'washing
enforced chasLity '), with the object of and
c l e a n s i n g . t h e h o l y i m a g e s . ' f n t h e w o r d s o f O v i d ,
'Until the fdes of June' [the middle of the month] there
i s n o l u c k f o r b r i d e s a n d t h e i r h u s b a n d s ' :
'Until the sweepings from the Temple of Vesta
have been carried down to the sea by the yellow
Tiber f must . not comb my locks which I
have cut in sign of mourning, nor pare my nails,
nor cohabit with my husband though he is the
Priest of Jupiter. Be not in haste. Your
daughter will have better luck in marriage when
Vesta 's fire burns on a cleansed hearth. ' The
unlucky days came to an end on June 15 (ibid.).
fn fact,
May was the month in which the temples were
swept out and the images of gods washed: the
month of preparation for the midsummer festival.
The Greek Goddess Maia, though she is represented
'ever
in English poetry as fair and young' took
'grandmother';
her name from maia, she was a
malevolent treIffie whose son Hermes conducted
souls to Hell (ibid.) .
'Amongst
the Romans the month of May was sacred to
Maia the goddess of Sterility, and this month was, therefore,
considered by them a most unfavourable time for marriages'
(e!. cit., p. 163; cf . A. Dunlop, Notes & Queries, Jan. L969,
pp. 24 -26, and in Silent Poetry, 153 -169; as well as O. B.
Hardison, Jr., Eng. Lit. Ren. 2: 2OB -2L6, L972, for theory
'Ma!, ' 'clouding '
that Amoretti in fact breaks off in when the
o f t h e p o e t ' s r s t a r ' s i g n i f i e s ' s t o r m s a n d t e m p e s t s , ' B o o l <
o f I a l i s m a n s , p . 1 6 2 ) . T h e u n l u c k y ' w e d d i n g o f M a r y Q u e e n
of Scots to Bothwell on the 15th of May, 1567' is advanced
as evidence (eook of Talismans, p . L 6 3 , c f . F Q V . i x . 3 8 f f ) ;
'the
while fortunate number of the Gemini type is 5,'
which was considered to have peculiar virtues
as a Talisman by the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks
because it unites the first even and odd numbers
2 and 3. ft was often inscribed over doors to
keep out evil spirits. .
In Astrology there are five principal aspects
of tJ:e planets which rule the good, or bad fortunes
of the subject; AIso in Masonry the grand scheme
is five points of fellowship (sp. cit., pp. I63 -L64)
383
'Isis, '
Thus, in her simplest aspect, as the veiled
'May' 'maia ' 'Concord '
or as or in FQ VIf .vii.5 and 34 , is
'Natura, ' 'Equity '
depicted as the human of Book V:
Most sacred vertue she of all the rest,
Resembling God in his imperiall might;
Whose soueraj-ne powre is herein most exprest,
That both to good and bad he dealeth right,
And all his workes with fustice hath bedight.
That powre he also doth to Princes lend,
And makes them like himselfe in glorious sight,
To sit in his owne seate, his cause to end,
And rule his people right, as he doth recommend (V.pro.lO)-
'The
instrument whereof loe here thy Arteqa1l ' (V.pro.ff.9).
Thus, Bruno
classifies the good kinds of enthusiasts, or
enthusiastic contractions as being of two kinds.
In one kind the divine spirit may enter an
ignorant person whc becomes inspired without
himself understanding his inspiration. In the
other kind, persons "skilful in contemplation and
possessing innately a clear intellectual spirit
. come to speak and act, not as vessels and
instruments, but as chief artificers and experts. "
Of these two "the first are worthy, as is the ass
which carries the sacraments; the second are as
the sacred thing", that is they are divine (ep.
cir., p. 281).
The contrast is clearly between the pure inspiration of
Book I ('Contemplation ') and the applied doctrine ('Mercy ')
of Book V.
'Maia ' 'Natura, '
is thus the terrestrial goddess
reflecting the celestial governing force as expressed in the
conduct of human affairs (cf . F.a VII.vii.13ff .).
'Natura' 'idol'
Let us compare the of FQ IV.x. Scudamour
expiains:
'Right
in the midst the Goddesse selfe did stand' (st.
384
'veiled ' 'Idole ' 'Hermaphrodite
39) --a of the Venus ' upon a
' g l a s s -l j -k e ' ' a l t a r ' ( I V . x . 3 9 -4 2 ) , ' b o t h h e r f e e t e a n d l e g s
together tv4zned,/. . . with a snake, whose head and tail were
fast combyned.' This figure
. in shape and beautie did excell
All oLher ldoles, which the heathen adore,
Farre passing that, which by surpassing skill
Phidias did make in Paphos Isle of yore,
wm_ffiich that wretEEffireke, that life forlore,
Did fall in loue: yet this much fairer shined,
But couered wiLh a slender veile afore (IV.x.40
( c f . g g I l . p r o e m . p a s s j m f o r ' v e i l ' ) .
' A f l o c k e o f l i t t l e l o u e s , a n d s p o r t s , a n d i o y e s , ' ' l i k e
'all
to Angels playing heauenly toyes,' about her necke and
shoulders flew ':
The whilest their eldest brother was away,
Cup.id their eldest brother; he enioyes
The wide kingdome of loue with Lordly sway,
And to his law compels all creatures to obay (fV.x.42).
'lover' 'brake
So, the voice of a tormented then forth,
that all the temple it did filf in FQ fV.x.44 -46. His
prayer concludes:
So all the world by thee at first was made,
And dayly yet thou doest the same repayre:
Ne ought on earth that merry is and glad,
Ne ought on earth that louely is and fayre,
But thou the saJne for pleasure didst prepayre.
Thou art the root of all that ioyous is,
Great God of men and women, queeJre of
_th'ayre,
Mottrer of laughter, and welspring of blisse.
O graunt that of my loue at last I may not misse (fV.x.47).
'at
But (pQ fV.xii.48 -58) , the ldoles feet apart '
'spyde ' 'all
Scudamour a bevy of fair ladies, seated a round
in seemelv rate: '
385
And in the midst of them a goodly mayd,
Euen in the lap of Womanhood there sate,
The uihich was all in lilly white arayd,
With siluer streames amongst the linnen stray'd;
Like to the Morne, when first her shyning face
Hath to the gloomy world it selfe bewrdy'd,
That same was f ayrest AmoF.et in place,
Shlming with beauties tight, and heauenly vertues grace.
( r v -x .s z1
'Orpheus' 'His
Like rescuing Leman from the Stygian
'by
Princes boure ' (fV.x.58v cf . VI.xii.32,35) , Scudamour
the lilly hand her labour 'd vp to reare ' (IV.x.53,55) .
So, Month #7 in Graves's system, the equivalent of
'June,' 'takes 'Midway
its name from Juppiter the oak-god.'
comes St. John's Day, June 24Lh, the day on which the oak-king
was sacrificiatly burned alive. The Celtic year was divided
into two halves with the second half beginning in July,
apparently after a seven-day wake, or funeral feast, in the
'nadir '
oak -king 's honor ' (cf. Spenser 's wedding on 11 June;
of all his calendars; St. Barnaby 's Day) (op. cit., pp. L76 L7e).
Midsummer is the flowering season of the oak,
which is the tree of endurance and triumph, and
'court
like the ash is said to the lightning
flash' . fts roots are believed to extend as
deep underground as its branches rise in the air
. which makes it emblematic of a god whose
law runs both in Heaven and in the Underworld.
The Zeus of Ammonwas a sort of Hercules with
a ram's head akin to ram-headed Osiris, and to
Amen-Ra the ram-headed Sun-god of Egyptian Thebes
( ibid. ) .
'Janus, ' 'Stout 'with
Like a guardi -an of the door ' his
head pointing in both directions, '
386
Duir as the god of the oak month looks both ways
because his post is at the turn of the yeart
which identifies him wittr the Oak-god Hercules
who became the door-keeper of the Gods after his
to be identiried with
:":t:'-E3ut3rnffi3":::,?t=o
'grave ' 'was '
whose in a vault built in honour of ,Janus.
Geoffrey of Monmouth writes:
'Cordelia
obtaining the government of the Kingdom
buried her father in a certain vault wtrich she
ordered to be made for him under the river Sore
. and which had been built originally under
the ground in honour of the god ,Janus. And here
all the workmen of the city, upon the anniversary
solemnity of that festival, used to begin their
yearly labors. '
'Wakes, ' 'mourning
June is a month of in for the dead
'After
King.' But this Janus shall never have priests again.
His door will be shut and remain concealed in Ariadne's
'
crannies (cf . FQ VI .x . 13) :
f n other words, the ancienL Druidic religj-on based
on the oak-cult will be swept away by Christianity
and the door . will languish forgotten in the
Castle of Arianrhod, the Corona Borealis (ibid.;
cf . FQ VI.x.12-13).
'cardinalis, ' 'also
As Cardea (cf. applied to the four
'ruled
main winds'), the goddess over the Celestial Hinge at
the back of the North Wind around which the mill-sLone
'her
of the Universe revolves'--thus portraying complementary
moods of creation and destruction' (and elsewhere she is
'nine -fold ')-'was
She too addressed by her celebrants as
"Postvorta and Antevorta"--"she vtho looks both back and
'the 'was
forward. " As ancient hero, !{hite One' buried in a
boat-shaped oak-coffj-n in his fatkrer's honour (cf . ru VI.xi.xii)
J6t
he was a sort of Osiris (his rival "Victor son of Scorcher"
being a sort of Set) and came to be identified with King
A r t h u r . '
Graves concludes:
Thre sacred oak-king was killed at midsummer and
translated to the Corona Borealis, presided over
by the White Goddess, which was then just dipping
over the Northern horizon. But from the song
ascribed by Apollonius Rhrodius to Orpheus, we
know Lhat tkre Queen of the Circling Universe,
Eurlmome, alias Cardea, was identical with Rhea
of Crete; thus Rhea lived at the axle of the mill,
vil:irling around without motion, ds well as on tl:e
Galaxy. This suggests that in a later mythological
tradition the sacred king went to serve her at Lhe
Mill, not in the Castle; for Samson after his
blinding and enervat,ion turned a mill in Delilah's
prison house.
Another name for the Goddess of the MiIl was
Artemis Calliste, or Callisto ('Most Beautiful '),
to whom the she-bear was sacred in Arcadia.
The Great She-bear and the Little She-bear are
still the names of the two constellations that
turn t-l:e mill around. In Greek the Great Bear
Callisto was also called Helice, which means boLtr
'that 'vflI&
which turns' and ranch'--a reminder
that the willow was sacred to the same Goddess
(ibid. ) .
Note the occurrence of these themes in FQ, Book VI:
'Callisto '
Corona Borealis in VI.x.13; Eurynome in VI .x.22;
o r ' M o s t B e a u t i f u l ' w i t h t h e t i t u l a r h e r o , ' C a l i d o r e ' ; t h e
'bear' motif of \tI.iv; the 'turning' with 'Mutability,' to
be defeated at long last in Book VII.
Next, 'The eighth tree is the holly, which flowers in
July' (B ,fu1y-4 August) . fn the lrish Romance of Gawain and
the Green Knj-gh'!,
The creen Knight is an immortal giant whose club
is a holly-bush. He and Sir Gawain, . a
typical Hercu1es, make a compact to behead one
3BB
another at alternate New Years--meaning midsummer
and mj-dwinter--but, in effect, the Holly ltright
spares the oak Knight. . since in mediaeval
practiseSt.JohnttreBaptist,wholosthishead
on st. John's Day, took over the oak-king's titles
and customs, it was natural to let Jesus, as John's
mercifulsuccessor,takeovertheholly-king's.
trre trotly was thus glorified beyond the oak (vrhi.ts
G-o9de.ss,PP. 179-180) :
'Of that are in the wood,/The Holly bears
fndeed, all the trees
'Holly-T.ree ' and
the crown, (cited from the Ca5o1, ibid.);
"Hol1y " means "holY "' :
The scarlet-oak, or kerm-oak, or holly oak, is the
-t"tgt..n t-win of the ordinary oak' It has prickly
leaves and nourishes the kerm, a scarlet insect
not unlike the hollyberry ., from which the
and
ancients made their royal scarlet dye an
. 'Jesus wore kerm-scarlet
apfrioaisiac elj-xir.
,Jews (l'tirtttrew )o(vII , 28) .
when attired as King of the
we may regard [.fte letters D and t as twins:
'the lily itftit. boys clothed all in green ol' of
qhich
the mediieval cree*n nffeilg-q-song. D is the oak
rules the waxifrfl!#ffihe year--the sacred
Druidic oak, th; oak of the Go.l4en.BoYgh' T
the evergreen oak vrhich ruleFttre waning part' the
bloody oik (oP. ci!., PP. IB0 -181)
The identifj-cation of the pacific Jesus with the
'he he had
holly-oak applies only insofar as declared that
come to bring not peace but the sword':
The tanist was originally his twin's executioner;
it was ttre oak-king, not the holty-kl-ng' who was
crucified on a t-shaped cross (inia '1 '
160 A.D.)
Indeed, Lucian (TFial ji.n the-Couft of Vowels, cd.
'curse Cadmus . f or introduc ing Titu
declares that men
into the family of letters; they say it was his body that
shape that they imitated, when
tyrants Look for a model, his
set up the erections on which men are crucified
they
gibbet named stauros after
that shape which he gave to the
389
him by men ' (ibid.):
And in a Gnostic GosrFl of T!om.as, composed
at about the same date, the same theme recurs
in a dispute between ,Jesus and his schoolmaster
about the letter T. The schoolmaster strikes
Jesus on the head and prophesies the crucifixion.
In Jesus's time the Hebrew character Td.v, the
last letter of the alphabet, was shaped like the
Greek Tau (gp. ci!., p. lBI) .
'The 'Mgrs '/'March '
Gospel of St. Mark ' (cf . the of XII)
begins with the words "the voice of one crying in
the wilderness" (Mark 1:3), which is likened to the
lion 's roar, and emphasizes Christ 's royal dignity,
which was like that of a lion. Mark is associated
with the lion at tl're Throne of God mentioned in
Revelation and Ezekiel. .
Mark is . thought to have been the young
man who ran away naked from Christ when he was
arrested in Gethsemane.
Mark is thought to have been the spokesman
for St. Peter, who converted him and called him
his son, and with whom Mark spent much time in
Rome, ds well as on missionary journeys. .
Named Bishop of Alexandria by Peter, Mark met his
martyrdom there. . Venice claimed [his relics]
j-n
because Mark once took refuge its lagoons during
a storm, d.rrd an angel appeared to him and said,
"On tkris site a great city will arise in your
honor. " He is the paLron saint of Venice, and his
symbol, the winged lion, is its emblem. He is
sometimes portrayed in bishop's robes. He is also
the patron saj-nt of notaries and glaziers (SiII,
Handbook, pp. 45-46) .
Similarly, Putter:3ram's f if th 'deuice ' (cf . Spenser 's
'July ' 'two
in FQ VII.vii.36; cf. VII .vii.7) consists of
pillers with this mot PIus ultra, ds one not content to be
restrained within tfie limits that Hercules had set for an
vttermost bound to all his trauailles, viz. two pillers in
the mouth of the straiqht Gibraltare, but would go furder
(smittr €d-, p. 108)--with which compare the 'Sabbaoth "rest '
'Vpon
the pillours of Elgsy1i'l-rzt promised in VII.viii.2,
S
390
B
as well as in VII .vii .7 -.
Moreover,
In tJ:e Chvmicaf Wedding, d.s in the royal arms of
England, lion and unicorn are combined .i both
are slzmbols of Mercurius in alchemy, just as they
stand for the inner tension of opposites in
Mercurius. The lion, being a dangerous animal, is
akin to the dragon; the dragon must be slain and
the lion at least have his paws cut off. The
unicorn too must be tamed; as a monster he has a
higher slzmbolical significance and is of a more
spiritual nature than the lion, but . the lion
can sometimes take the place of the unicorn (gp.
c j.t., pp. 463 -464)
',fuIy '
(cf . the of VII.vii.36 as representative of Book VII).
'watery' 'mirrour
We are reminded of course that the
'of
sheene' of Book \ru is designated many meanest' (VI.proem;
xii.41 --signifying simultaneously 'middest ' 12067 as well
lowest
as ' '); while in VI.x.2B the poetic speaker begs his
sovereign to permit him
To make one minime of thy poore handmayd,
And vnderneath thy feete to place her prayse,
That when thy glory shall be farre displayd
To future age of her this mention may be made.
Indeed, in III.vi we were informed that Lhe poet's
'Amoret' 'planted'
beloved had been (cf . VI.pro.3'4) within
'Garden of
the Adonis ' (fff.vi.28 -29, 51 -53)
To be th'ensample of true loue alone,
And Lodestarre of all chaste affectione
To all faire Ladies, that doe liue on ground (fff.vi.52)
'rescued' 'Temple
Subsequently, of course, she is from the
'faithful '
of Venus ' (ttl .v: -.52 -53; IV.x.48 -58) by her suitor
'Scudamour,' 'Orpheus' 'His
not unlike redeeming Leman from
the Stygian Princes boure.' She is separated from him,
391
'Enchauntour
however, by the wicked Busvran' on
The very selfe same day that she was wedded,
Amidst the bridale feast, whj-lest euery man
Surcharg'd with wine, were heedlesse and iIl hedded,
A11 bent to mirttr before the bride was bedded,
Brought in that mask of loue which late was showen:
And there the Ladie ill of friends bestedded.,
By way of sport, ds oft in maskes is knowen,
Conueyed quite away to liuing wight vnknowen (fV.i.:1.
'lovers
Since heaven must passe by sorrowes hell'
'Spenser
(IV.vi.32) , matches Florimell 's suffering with that
of Amoret ' in IV.i.1:
Busirane keeps Amoret prisoner for seven months;
Proteus holds Florimell thrall for the same length
'Amoret's
of time. improsonment' inevitably
recalls her torture at the hands of Busirane in
the final episode of the Legend of Chastitie. The
reader of the 1590 edition of The Faerie Queene
would have known that torture
@r
love under the domination of the armed Cupidi now
in the fourth book he learns for the first time
that Busirane's rape takes place on the night of
Amoret's marriage to Scudamour (Ne1son, The Poetry
of rlS, Columbia University Press , Lg63 , T, T
'night, ' 'rape, '
The true locus of that that that
'masque of
Cupid,' is thus seen to be Book VI, here assigned
'June.'
to The successful dalliance there of Calidore with
Pastorella is symbolic of Spenser's own mstic courtship
of Elizabeth Boyle in freland.
Conformably,,fohann Valentin Andreae's Che4ical Weddiqg
of Christian Rosencreutz (1616)
is a romance abouL a husband and wife ulho dwell
in a wondrous castle full of marvels and of images
of Lions, but is at the same time an allegory of
alchemical processes interpreted symbolically as
an experience of the mystic marriage of the soul--
an experience which is undergone by Christian
Rosencreutz through the visions conveyed to him in
392
the castle, through theatrical performances,
through ceremonies of initiation into orders of
chivalry, through the society of the court in the
castle (gp. cit., p. 60; cf. pp. 59 -69, L4O -L55,
passim) .
The latter (cp. cit.., pp.59 -69) summoned 'twelve 'ships for
'seven'-day 'Easter
a wedding celebration (commencing on
'day 'theatrical
Eve'), of whj-ch #4' was devoted largely to a
'merry 'in 'day
performance ' or comedy ' seven acts, ' while #6 '
'is
devoted to alchemj -cal work ' (RE, pp. 60 -65).
So in the Republicae Chrj-St-ianopolilana.e Descr.ip.lio,
a preface disparaging tJ.e Rosicrucian Fraternity as a mere
'1u.dib_rium,
or a play scene' (RE, p. f40) is vitiated in its
rthe j-s
final paragraph, where reader invited to enter a boat
and set sail for Christianopolis ':
The safest way will be . for you to embark
upon your vessel which has the sign of Cancer for
its distj-nctive mark, sail for Christianopolis
yourself with favorable conditions, and Lhere
investigate everything very accurately in the fear
of God (Yates, BE, p. L46).
'The
Elsewhere we are told that island on which
Christianopolis stood was really discovered by Christian
Rosencreutz on the voyage on which he was starting at the
end of the Chemical (Yates, pp. L46-L47).
lVedding' BE,
'Pharos, ' 'King 'commanded
Of course, under Proteus, '
the mouth of the NiIe, and Greek sailors would talk of
"sailing to Ogygia" rather than "sailing to Eg1zpt,"' since
'Ogygia was the earliest name for Egypt' ('Ttre Nile is called
Ogygian by Aeschylus') --which
393
suggests that the Island of Orygia ruled over by
Callzpso daughter of Atlas, was really Pharos where
'The
Proteus, alias Atlas or Sufferer ', had an
oracular shrine. . Ttre waters of Styx are also
called Ogygian by Hesiod, not (as Liddell and
Scott suggest) because Ogygian meant vaguely
'primeval',
but because the head-waters were at
Lusi, the seat of the three oracular daughters of
Proteus (ibid.).
"
'Pharos' 'an
is of course island in the bav of
'li.gthth.ouse'
Alexandria,' which later became so famous for its
that its name became synonymous with it (Liddell & Scott,
Abridged Lexicon, p. 752). A second definition, however, is
'a 'a
cl-oth, ghee'!, web: sail -cloth '; II. wide, loose cloak
or mantle, worn as an outer garment, also used as a shroud'
'sheet -anchor, '
(ibid.); cf . pages 296 & ff .
'King Proteus,' of course, is a maniform deity described
by Spenser as the
. Shepheard of the seas of yore,
And hath the charge of Neptu.nes mightie heard;
An aged sire with head all frory hore,
And sprinckled frost vpon his deawy beard (ftr.vii.30).
'Thamus' 'king'
It will be recalled that was at once the
'god' 'of
and all Egypt,' to whom Thoth or Theuth (vj-z.,
Hermes Trismegj-stus) was believed Lo have presented his
inventions (e.g., mathematics, geometry, astronomy, dice, and
'Ammon'
especially letters), and who, ds the solar divinity
'Amen ') 'Ra ' 'a
('Amon, ' or presided from great city of the
upper region, which the Greeks call the Egyptian Thebes (cf.
'Tammuz,'
the Babylonian wtrose annual disappearance is
mourned by the women of Jerusalem, according to Ezek. B:14).
394
'He is frequently represented as a ram or as a human with a
r a m ' s h e a d ' ( C o l u m b i a E y c y c l o p e d i a , p . 6 8 ) , l i k e A n d r e a
Riccio's Moses 'in the grrise of ,Jupiter Ammonl (though
'traditionally
"horned",' presumably because of an early
'ray' 'horn,'
confusion of the Hebrew word for with that for
'never 'equipped
Moses had before' been with rams' horns'
(Panofsky, RenaiFs.ance and Rensacenqes, p. 186; Freud,
Mose.s and Monotheis$, passim) .
'Sgg€,'
Comparison is invited with the British river
with whose wedding Spenser is preoccupied in FQ fV.xi as
well as in an early (1580) letter to Gabriel Harvey (Smith
and De Selincourt ed., p. 6L2) where he describes a projected
'Sweete
Epithglamign Thamesis (cf. the association of
TLrenrlmes'with the double marriage of Prothalamigq as well) .
'Thebes'
Moreover, was a sacred city of both Egyptian
and Greek antiqui-ty, being at once the seat of the sun god's
worship (i.e., AmmonRa 's and Ismenian Apollo 's) and the
royaL/Lmperial capitol. The Egyptian Thebes, which sometimes
'the
enjoyed autonomy under sacerdotal rule, contained
necropolis urhere the kings and nobles were entombed in great
splendor in crypts cut into the cliffs on ttre west bank of
the Nile' ; the Boeotian city, having been mysteriously
founded and populated by the inspired Cadnms of Greek
mythology, was to become the prototypical Hermetic locus
before the 16th cenLury.
'the
E.K. explains that word Nlzmphe in Greeke signifieth
395
Well water, or otherwise a Spouse or Bry4_e_(ibid.; 'cf .
FQ If .ii.1 -1I; Vrr.vii.2O -2L,26; Vrr.vi.36 -55; Vr.x.7) .
Ladyes of the lake) be Nlzmphes. For it was an
olde opinion amongste the Auncient Heathen, that
of euery spring and fountaine was a goddesse the
Soueraigne. !flriche opinion stucke in the myndes
of men not manye yeares sithence, by meanes of
certain fine fablers and lowd lyers, such as were
the Authors of King Arthure the great and such
like, who tell many an vnlawfull leasing of the
Ladyes of Lhe Lake, that is, the Nlzmphes (Oxford
edition, p. 434).
'Nlzmphes and
Comparison is invited with the Faeries' by the
'gentle 'at
flud ' of FQ VL.x.7, whose location the foote 'of
'Helicon, ' 'is
a high hill recalls E.K. 's which both the
name of a fountaine at the foote of Parnassus' (home of the
'Virgin ' 'Apollo
nine Muses, daughters of and Memorie '; cf .
'and
VI.x.2B) , also of a mounteine in Baeotia, '
out of which floweth the famous Spring Castalius,
dedicate also to the Muses: of which spring it
is sayd, that when Pegasus the winged horse of
Perseus (whereby is meant fame and flying renowme)
strooke the grownde wit-le his hoofe, sodenly
thereout sprange a we1 of moste cleare and
pleasaunte water, which fro thence forth was
consecrate to the Muses and Ladies of learning
( ibid. )
(cf . FQ II.ii.I -11; VI .x.passim) .
'April '
So, in his gloss to the eclogue, E.K. explicates
'Cloris'
as
the name of a Nlzmph, and signifieth greenesse,
of whome is sayd, that Zephyrus the Westerne wind
being in loue with her, and coueting her to wyfe,
gaue her for a dowrie, the chiefedome and
soueraigntye of al flowres and greene herbes,
growing on earth (Oxford €d., p. 434).
'November '
According to E.K. (gloss to eclogue of Sg,
Oxford edition, p. 463) z
Though the trespasse of the first man brought
death into the world, as the guerdon of sinne,
yet being ouercome by the death of one, that
dyed for al, it is now made (as Chaucer sayth)
lhe qr.ene patb waI te lvf_e .
So (fff.vi.34), it was held by HermeLic philosophers
'the 'radical
that root of all things is green'--the true
'radical '
state' being synon)zmouswitll moisture, according
to the Arab philosopher Haly:
This is the prepared raw subject, unripe yet ready
to progress. The seven green poppies will eventually
become one golden bloom, . (when) the
redness of the King's robe is the sign of the
state of perfect fixation and fixed perfection
which is known as the Red Rose (De Rola, legend to
Figure s 25, 26) .
The Green King must die. . The Three Fates
are about to end his life; Atropos cuts the thread
spun by Clotho and measured by Lachesis. This
king represents the root, the primordial source
from which all things grow (op. cit., Iegend to
'ttre 'June '
Fig. 56; cf . green lion' of alchemy i
in FQ VfI.vii.35, and IV -proem.passim).
'verdant ' 'June ' 'blindly '
So the f igure of
'retrogresses, ' 'Night,
as do his iconographic cousins,
Slmagogiue, infidelity, Death and Fortune (the classical
' 'Kairos '
caeca Forgrna) (cf . the conflation of ['Time ' as
'Opportun j-ty' 'Occasio' 'Fortuna'
I with the feminine and/or
(Panofsky, St. Icon., p. 72). All these were traditionally
represented as:
blind both in an intransitive and in a transitive
sense. They were blind, not only as personifi
cations of an unenlightened state of mind, or of
a lightless form of existence, but also as
personifications of an active force behaving like
397
an eyeless person: they would hit or miss at
random, utterly regardless of d9e, social position
and individual merit. lNote 5']: In addition
Cupid was known to spell death in a spiritual
sense . Ridewall's picture of Am_orfatuus
'MORESDE ME CRESCIT'.1
bears the inscription
(Studies _in Ic.onoloqy, p. Ll-z').
So, 'The first of the Fraternity to die, died in England,
and the miraculous discovery of the vault in which Brother
Rosencreutz is buried is an event of momentous significance:
The descri-ption of this vault is a central feature
of the Rosencreutz legend. The sun never shone on
it, but it was lighted by an inner sun. There were
geometrical figures on its walls and it contained
many treasures, including some of the works of
'artificial
Paracelsus, wonderful bells, lamps, and
'Rota '
songs '. The Fraternity already possessed its
'the
and Book M.' The tomb of Rosencreutz was
under the altar in the vault; inscribed on its
walls were the names of Brethren.
The discovery of the vault is the signal for
the general reformation: it is the dawn preceding
'There
a sunrise. . will now be a general
reformation, both of divine and human things .;
for it is fitting that before ttre rising of the
Sun there should break forth Aurora, or some
clearness or divine light, in the slqz ' (cp. cit.,
p. 44t cf . FQ VI.xi) .
Moreover, in Rosicrucian tradition,
The opening of the door of the vault symbolizes
the opening of a door in Europe. The vault is
lighted by an inner sun, suggestj-ng that entry
into it might represent an inner experience, like
the cave through iaftich the light shines in Khunrath's
AmphrltheatrSm Sapisntiae (Yates, p. 49).
E,
398
'The
role of Jove (embodiment of power and a kind of grace)
. represents a striking parallel to that of the poet.
The poet has performed a similar if lesser feat in
incorporating the wedding day--his day--in the timely-timeless
structure of his poem ' (ibid.) .
'the
In Ep.ithalamion bride is compared to Maia, "when
as loue her tooke/tn Tempe, lying on the flowry gras,/TwLxt
sleepe aqd. wake "' (11.307 -309);
and as Jove descends and takes Maia, so the poet
has conjured the Muses, and through them the bride,
out of "sleep" and awakened her to life in his
soul as in his poem (Neuse, in Sp., ed. Berger,
p. s5).
'Maia, ' 'mother ' 'Hermes '
be it noted, was the of or
'Mercury' j-n 'Cupid'
classical mythology (cf . the of FQ
VII.vii.35) .
'With
Alcmena ,Jove momentarily made time stand still as
he extended one night into three [and made it fruitful].
'fru j-t'
The of Jove 's tripled night with Alcmena , of
'Hercules.'
course, lies in the birth of the demigod
'Thus
"Hercules" is seen to be also another name for
Osiris whose yearly death is st,ill celebrated in Egypt'.
Moreover,
Plutarch carefully distinguishes Apollo (Hercules
as god) from Dionysus (Hercules as demi-god).
This Apollo never dies, never changes his shape;
he is eternally young, strong and beautiful.
Dionysus perpetually chang€s, like Proteus the
Pelasgian god (craves, White Goddess, p. L34r.
The stase is thus seL for a contrast between the Protean
'Cardina1
'June, '
deity of Book VI (tfre Water' of exemplified
'wandering' 'out
by the of Calidore of course' [Vf .xii.2.31
'Fixed
throughout most of his adventure) and the Fire' of
'Herculean' 'Constanci-e '
in VII .
'identity' 'Prima
So, the of the Materle' having been
'divinely 'Hermetic
disclosed' to the deserving Adept in a
'dream, ' 'sleep
trancer ' or analogous of the senses in vhich
'purged'
trutkr is revea.led,' the princely spirit is in its
'that 'past
descent through sad house of Penaunce,t where it
the paines of hell, and long enduring night' (FB I.x.23-32).
'Redemptionr 'Coe1ia,'
His is then supervised by whom Yates
'the
identifies with natural goodness as expressed in the
order of nature, the symmetry of the stars, the natural
order of heaven directed towards a good end, Bruno's search
in the fabrica mundi for the vestiges of the divine; aided
'Vesta ' 'moral
'Venus '
by as the goodness ' of Book V, and by
'Cupid' 'unifying
with as the force of love, the living
'
spiritus of the living world, in Book Vf (Art of MeJnorv,
p.
2eo).
The bitterness and despair expressed in FQ VI.xii.22-4L
recall the sentiments, and inconclusive terminations, of
'June'
Amor_etti #86-89 and in SC, not to mention stanzas #6
and #18 of Epjllhal:rlrion (dawn and dusk, respectively) . In
all, the natura] course of the 'Sun' is inverted by the
protagonist's career: just when the heavenly 'Sof is at
'solar
its pinnacle, the hero' of the alchemical quest
'submersionr
reaches the nadir of his ('descent into HeIl, '
j-n
etc.). ]t is this light that Fe \rl might best be read,
with its persistent emphases on humilLLy, rusticity,
buffoonery, and bestiality (the elatant Beast being but a
parody of the Apocalyptic Beast); and the relentless
depredations of malicious gossips and slanderers could tLren
be attributed to a conscious desj-gn that Spenser followed
with unswerving consistency.
To summarize: Like John Dee, Spenser has designed a
'qonas
hieroglvph.ica' about which he has constructed his most
ambitious work. His opus thus
opens with a diagram of the Pythagorean Y, and
applies this to two possible ways which a ruler
'tyrants,'
may take, one the broad way of the
'adepti'
other the straight and narrow way of the
or inspired mystics (Vates, p. 58).
3E,
're-creation'
The alchemist's of the Old Testament
'Creation ' 'air ' 'spiritus '
deity 's thus descends along the or
',Tanuary' 'May'
vine from to (cf . the emphasis on Old
'justice '
Testament in Book V), as mirrored in FQ VII.vii.l -5,
as well as in the corresponding stanzas of Epi.thal_amion.
'redemption'
A Hermetic reworking of Christ's is signified
in the complementary reascent up the solar vine stretching
from July to November (FQ \III.vii.7-LLr cf. the corresponding
stanzas of Epithalamion) .
'male 'Cardinal
The fiery seed' occurs in the Fire' of
'March' 'female'
in Book IfI, while its counterpart is
'September'
reserved for in Book D(--in accordance with the
40L
'Garden
conjunction in the of Adonis ':
There is continuall spring, and haruest ttrere
Continuall, both meeting at one time (III.vi.42.L -2) .
'March ' 'Phanes, '
represents a species of or endless
'september '
recurrence (as in III.vi.47 -49), while the of
'Kairos. '
VII.vii.38 is clearly an embodiment of the fleeting
So, Graves writes:
Omega ('creat O') seems to signify the world-egg
of the Orphic mysteries vrhich was split open by
the Demiurge to make the universe: for the
majuscular Greek character for Omega represents
the world-egg laid on the anvil and the minuscular
character shows it already sp1it. in halves. The
majuscular Omicron ('little O') and the minuscular
Omicron both show the egg of the year waiting to
'red
hatch out. The glain, or egg of the sea
serpent', which figured in the Druidical mysteries
may be identified with the Orphic world-egg:
for the creation of the world, according to the
Orphics, resulted from the sexual act performed
between the Great Goddess and the Wor1d-Snake
Ophion. The Great Goddess herself took the form
of a snake and coupled with Ophion; and the
coupling of snakes in archaic Greece was consequently
a forbidden sight--the man who witnessed
'female
it was struck with the disease': he had
to live like a woman for seven years, which was
the same punishment as was permanently inflicted
on the Scythians who sacked the Temple of the
Great Goddess of Askalon. The caduceus of Hermes,
his wand of office vrhile conducEfrffi5fils to Hell,
was in the form of coupling snakes. The Goddess
then laid the world-"gg, which contained infinite
potentiality but wtrich was nothing in itself until
it was split open by the Demiurge. The Demiurge
was Helios, the Sun, with whom the Orphics
identified ttreir God Apollo--which was natural,
because the Sun does hatch snakes' eggs--and the
hatching-out of the world was celebrated each year
at the Spring festival of the Sun, to which the
vowel Omicron is assigned in the alphabet. Since
the cock was Lhe Orphic bird of resurrection,
sacred to Apollo 's son Aesculapius the healer,
hens' eggs took the place of snakes' in Lhe later
Druidic mysteries and were coloured scarlet in the
Sun's honour; and became Easter eggs (t{hi.te G-oddess,
pp. 248 -24e)
402
(cf. the coupling serpents emblematic of Puttenham's
'February, '
twelfth, ot implesai note the 'Seuen monethes'
of captivity and punishment endured by Amoret and Florimell
alluded to in FQ IV.i. ) .
'cup
Finally, the of forgetfulness' is indeed drunk by
'Cancer,'
Calidore under the sign of while apotheosis is
'Cha1ice ' 'Capricorn '
surely promised in the of (VII.vii.4l;
'limbeck ' 'Winter '
cf. the of in VIf.vii.31), wherein
'marriage
ultimately lies the soul's true with the Lamb':
Was neuer so great ioyance since the d.y,
That all the gods whylome assembled were,
On Haemus hill in their diuine array,
lo 6ffi6Fate the solemne bridatl cheare,
Twixt Peleus, and dame Th_etis pointed there;
Where .@q self , thaE-ffi-of poets hight,
They sESffi=sing the spousall hlanne full cleere,
That all the gods were rauisht with delight
Of his celestiall song, and Musicks wondrous might.
(vrr.vii. t2 )
EPILOGUE
Amongst the numerous (and perhaps all too obvious)
difficulties of putting together this paper was the
persistent temptation to rearrange the Books of Spenser's
Fae.ri_e Queene, in the same order along the same micromacrocosmic
frame, but beginning with Apri1. The appeal of
'Holiness ' 'Argo, '
assigning to the alchemical and the
betrothal of Red Cross and Una to the sign representative of
June Player )
tlre mystical 'marriage with the Lamb,' is readily apparent;
a s i s t h e c h a r m o f a s s i g n i n g t h e ' M a y ' f i g u r e o f V I f . v i i . 3 4
t o ' T e m p e r a n c e ' ( c f . M e d i n a a n d A l m a ) , a n d t h e ' V e r d a n t '
',June ' f ig-ure of VIf . vii.35 (cf . 'Masque of Busirane ' in
' ' ' '
ffI.xi -xii with as to the position of
'green ' 'roote ' 'of 'twinship '
honor and all vertue. ' The
of June and July would likewise do much to explaj-n the
intimate linkage of Books IfI and IV.
It is conceivable that Spenser intended this transition
by the tj-me of his 1596 edition, offering the following
-x
explanation in FQ IV. j. I-2 :
Hard is the doubt, and difficult to d.eeme,
lVhen all three kinds of loue together meet,
And doe dispart the hart with powre extreme,
Whether shall weigh the balance downer to weet
The deare affectj-on rrnto kindred sweet,
Or raging fire of loue to woman kind,
Or zeale of friends combynd with vertues meet.
But of them all the band of vertuous mind
Me seemes the qentle hart should most assured bind.
For naturall affection soone doth cesse,
And quenched is with Cuglgg greater flame:
But faithfull friendsffiT5th them both suppresse,
And them with maystring discipline doth tame,
Through thoughts aspyring to eternall fame.
For as the soule doth rule tl:e earthly masse,
And all the seruice of the bodie frame,
So loue of soule doth loue of bodie passe,
No lesse then perfect gold surmounts the meanest brasse.
'May'
If , in other words, the of Book II represents
'naturall 'vnto
'twins '),
affection ' kindred sweet ' (cf.
'.Tune'
'quenching'
while the in III represents the of II
'with 'faithfull
Cupids greater flane,' then friendship doth
them both suppresse,/And them with maystring discipline doth
tame , /Through thoughts aspyring to eternall fame' in tJ.e
'Hercules '
'T,ion' ( 'JuIy'
f igure of taming the
/'Leo') in
VII.vii.36
('Telamond 'i cf. Graves ' equation of the hero
'Telamon ' 'Hercules ')
with .
The argument for this new positioning could be framed
as follows:
There has long been widespread critical agreement that
'intrapersonal'
Books I-III describe virtues, wtrile IV-VI
'public' 'irlLqrpersonal'
advance to the more realm of
'Friendship, ' 'Justice ' 'Courtesy '
and (cf . R. A. Horton,
The UJri.t.v_of TF9 , 1978, pp. 209-210 for a survey of the
405
literature on this topic). fn other words, we are deating
'macrocosm,'
here, by definition, not with the but wj-th the
'microcosmic ' 'personal '
sphere --first in its (I -III), and
'collective'
then in its (fV-Vf ) aspects (n. ,f . R. Rockwood
'unconscious '
so divides man' s in hi-s Ph .D . dissertation
'Alchemical ' '
Forms of Thought in Book I of Spenser s
4.,
U. of
Florida, L972). Such a breakdown is clearly analogous
to that of the second and third triads of virtues in the
'ModeLL '--vJ -z., 'Divine,
Rosicrucian "Moral Censor ' and
'Natural
Phi -Iosopher ' i followed by 'Politician, "Historian '
'Economist. '
and
In Spenser 's procession of the montJ:s in
FQ VII.vii.32 -43, these would appear to correspond most
closely with'April' -',June' (vII.vii.33 -35), followed by
',July ' -'september ' (VII.vii.36 -38), respectively (note the
'the
common cri-tical attribution of Nemaean lion and the
'Astraea 's
implied death of Hercules ' in st.36, as well as of
abandonment of "th 'unrighteous world "' in st. 37, to the
',Justice '
of
Book V lH. Berger, Jr., in Spenser, €d. by
'Spenser 's
Berger, 1968, p. L7O & n.22i J. Maclntyre,
Herculean Heroes, ' Humanities Assoc. 8u11. L7z 5-L2, L9661) '
all 'dissolution '
So described is this lower world, ' whose
'wandering' 'the
is ascribed to the of heauens reuolutiorr,'
'in
time '
(V.prome.4) .
'heavens, I 'macrocosmic'
Said or the domains governed
'fixed
by the seven planets (gook VfI), the stars ' (Book VIfI),
'Primum
and the Mobile' (Book D(), are assigned in this system
406
'October, ' 'November ' 'December '
to the and of FP VfI.vii.39
4L, with assumed correlations to the final Rosicrucian triad
'Physician,
composed of "Mathematician ' and 'Philologist '
(cf. 'Mutabilitie 'with 'a
Berger 's identification of cosmic
rather than a microcosmic vision,' in Spense5, €d. by Berger,
Englewood Cliffs. Prentice-Ha11, 1968, p. L7L) . Significant
'gods'
here is Macrobius' dictum to the effect that are
'born' 'spring'
from the upward 'f low' of the sacred slzmbol jzed
'Fixed 'October,'
by the Water' of as well as the theory that
the third and last stage in the history of human civilization
will be the era sub Bacsho or s-ub Prom.etheo, subject Lo
'Vesta, 'B$can,
of the fire aethereall' rather than to of
this, with vs so vsuall ' (Fg Vffi.vii.26; cf . V.i.L -z) . Of
immense appeal in this arrangement is the fact ttrat the
'Philologist' 'December'
resident in does indeed correspond
'circle
with Book D(--'nine' beinq the set in heauens place'
(rr.ix.22) .
'gpreI, ' 'gggggsruLc, '
Finally, this or sphere is
'rounded 'closed 'by 'alI -inclusive '
out 'or the addition of
'Religionr ' 'Virtue ' 'Learning '--assigned
and to the
'January, ' 'February' 'March'
representatives of and (FQ VII.
vii.42,43,32) as the fir,q! three months in the conventional
Christian calendar defended by E.K. in his preface to the
SC, and corresponding to the first three hours after midnight
'hourglass'
in the nocturnal-diurnal round depicted in
'Fixed '
Epi.thalamion. In this proposed structure Air,
407
'Mutable 'Cardinal 'Religion '
Water ' and Fire ' slzmbolize as
the Pythagorean 'd.enarius, ' or 'perfection of number' (eook X)
'Virtue' (eook Xt) as the long, 'Humid' or 'Royal Path' of
the 'active virtues' (cf . Macrobius: 'men are born from the
'Learning' 'punc:F.umsol
ebb'); and (eook Xff) as the _is' at
'Pelican '--the 'beginning, ' 'mean '
heart of the alchemical
'end 'of
and all the work, as well as the Rosicrucian
'noontide
of learning. '
But this would be another paper, supported, on the
whole, by somewhat less evidence than the arrangiement
initially proposed.
408
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