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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