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Antonio Persio’s Trattato intorno all’Ingegno dell’Huomo

By Iulia Millesima

trattato ingegno dellhuomo persio page 25Genius, motion and sound.

And in addition it can emit sound and motion, as claimed by Platonian. The spirit moves and takes pleasure from motion, a great pleasure, therefore loves musical and regulated sounds, since it gets motion from them. From the spirit each part of our body receives movement and the sense of hearing.

Mutual relation of Geniuses.

And it is true that we feel to make the spirit feel, we move us to make it move, and let it moving all parts of our body wherever he likes. To the point that if the substance of the spirit was not in our body, we could not move. Neither stand. If any particle of the spirit, localized in any part of the body, gets injured, it is immediately rescued by the universality of spirit.

Genius as mirror.

Galenus says that from the spirit it will be made two spirits, animal and vital, and then three with the addition of natural. But Persio adds that the spirit which Galenus clothes with the nature of air and then nature of fire, is the father, source and roots of our genius. In our body different forms of genius are being born, like a mirror: the cleaner, and clearer, is the mirror the more easily it receives imprint and likeness of image.

Comparison with gold.

You could make a comparison with gold assay, in short, you purchase gold of wisdom, and can expect to be purified in the fire of spirit, which is a hot and animated substance. Pindar says that gold has the virtues of fire. Many wise found that gold, as the spirits, has the virtues of the Sun and Jupiter.

Potable gold.

And if you want to make it very thin and well purified so that one can drink it, and because of that it has been called potable gold, to recreate the power hidden in our hearts. With gold one can buy another, very precious.

Mind to not let your pores too open.

But pay attention your skin pores are not too open, because in this case the very thin spirit will fly towards the Sun, his father, as it has been seen in some who were left deprived of everything, if not dead, they are little different from the dead.

The sleep of the initiated.

In fact it is said of Epimenides Cretan who for 50 years was believed to be in sleep, so Pythagoras for ten years and Zoroaster for 20. Even without moving Socrates was seen in several places. If Archimedes had spent his genius to take refuge in a protected place his life would not end so soon.

Genius as microcosm.

Many say that this system is not very different from having a soul sown and scattered by the sun throughout the universe. And where this universal spirit expands, it interweaves with all the parts of universe as well as in all parts of body, where more where less, and for this it is called little world or microcosm.

How Genius can acquire solar virtue and why he should.

And if you find the person who will be able to discern the most full parts of spirit so to make it an elected wine, very white sugar, balsam, gold, precious stones and other things that shine and smell, and especially the warm, moist substance, and it will be like when in order to well feed the brain, or liver, they eat the same parts of a noble animal, the same way you do for the heavenly spirit. For example if we wanted to make the spirit solar, or participant in the solar virtue, then we would use solar things proceeding from the less perfect to the more perfect, till us, and this would be the most perfect.

Spirit-Sun multiplies himself.

So is it true that the world is living in every place, which is evident from motion and generation, so it is proved that the hot Sun can pull the vapors from the earth and make them very subtle, but also forms the same animal souls. So the spirit is widespread all over the universe while, in the same time, being in every little part within the universe, his action generates different forms and make up different spirits. Plotinus pointed at the difference between great and little spirit, universal and particular. But there isn’t the same difference, because spirit, warmth of the sun and sky do not feed the essence of things below, but rather for himself, because it is fitted out with the ability to multiply himself.

Apollonius of Thiana and the seven rings.

Apollonius of Thiana said that one should not marvel at Apollo’s ability to deify, in fact this was caused by the spirit inside him, in fact Apollonius comprehended the language of birds. An Apollonius ancestor had seven rings called by the name of certain constellations, every day he wore on his finger one according to the name of the days.

Warm as source of Spirit motion.

Aristotle said that cold was its principal danger. Indeed the spirit is much more agile when it will be warmer, and thus agile when in motion. And being very free and fast for his tenuous nature, it will easily impress the image of this thing.

Genius/Spirit prefers dwelling in the upper parts of the earth.

The nearest air movement towards the sky, is located on the top of the mountains, or upper parts of the houses. And it is also good practice to change places, fleeing from the swampy ones.

Genius/Spirit prefers dwelling in the upper parts of bodies. How to overwhelm the human nature by hitting ones head.

Like Minerva’s being born, they say that Vulcan beaten with an ax Jupiter’s head and Minerva came out, who with her voice shakes heaven and earth. The spirit’s headquarters lie in the upper parts of the body, especially in the head. Jupiter’s golden rain on Rodian people means the deposition of spirit particles.

There were great wise who wished to operate with the genius, but genius while operating created unease to their body. These men overwhelmed the human nature and were deified after their death, and all this could not have achieved if they had not hit well the head and brought out many good fruits of genius, with this system is the way to acquire again the already had.

Genius color as gold turning purple.

The genius color must be that of gold, and his whole body the same, though turning to purple, as the wise say, in fact, he who wants to buy very pure gold must be careful it has the actual gold color, which was created by the Sun. And as the fire makes and refines gold by heating it and lights it as well with his motion, so the genius lit by its own motion becomes red, hot and shiny, in the same way the celestial arc is represented by its various colors.

Spirit/Genius dry property.

The spirit generated by the well-tempered heat becomes thin and pale, like brandy and leaks out from the narrow meatuses of his well organized body, so subtle it ascends yet warm with his own motion in within that nourishes the spirit, for this reason food is digested and spirit recreates and constantly contemplates his own, from which has never separated, investigates things and judges, and once judged, he keeps them for a long time, this ability to retain is called memory. And we will say with Democritus: lux sicca, anima sapiens, or a dry light makes a wise soul. That is, it came from the heat.

The embryo as mother’s flesh and blood.

Do not listen to Aristotle’s blatancy about mothers been only uterus. I say that not only woman’s seed is important, but the embryo is mother ’s flesh and blood of the mother, here I say as Galenus that children get more from their mother than father. In fact, children love more their mother, this is what Greeks call sympathy [This is vey similar to the alchemical marriage, in fact we know that mercurius, symbolically female, compose almost entirely the embryo (at least in most wet ways)].

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Filed Under: Alchemy & Philosophy Tagged With: Persio Antonio, Telesio Bernardino

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