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Chaldean Oracles- English and Latin Translations

English translation by Thomas Stanley (1701 version)

Latin translation by Francesco Patrizi

Taken from the 1701 edition of Stanley's History of the Chaldaick Philosophy

THE ORACLES OF ZOROASTER	ZOROASTRI ORACULA

MONAD. DUAD. TRIAD.	MONAS, DYAS, TRIAS.

Where the Paternal Monad is.	Ubi paterna Monas est.
The Monad is enlarged, which generates Two.	Ampliata est Monas, quæ due generat.
For the Dyad sits by him, and glitters with Intellectual Sections.	Duitas enim apud hunc sedet, & intellectualibus fulget sectionibus.
And to Govern all things, and to Order all things not Ordered,	Et gubernare cuncta, & ordinare quodcunque non ordinatum.
For in the whole World shineth the Triad, over which the Monad Rules.	Toto enim mundo lucet Trias, cujus Monas est princeps.
This Order is the beginning of all Section.	Principium omnis sectionis hic est ordo,
For the Mind of the Father said, that all things be cut into three.	In tria namque Mens dixit Patris secari omnia,
Whose Will assented, and then all things were divided.	Cujus voluntas annuit, & jam omnia secta suere.
For the Mind of the Eternal Father said into three,	In tria namque dixit Mens patris æterni,
Governing all things by the Mind.	Mente omnia gubernans.
And there appeared in it (the Triad) Virtue and wisdom,	Et apparuerunt in ipsa Virtus & Sapientia,
And Multiscient Verity.	Et Multiscia Veritas.
This way floweth the Shape of the Triad, being præ-existent.	Hinc fluit Triadis vultus ante essentiam,
Not the first (Essence) but where they are measured.	Non primam, sed eam quæ mensuratur.
For thou must conceive that all things serve these three Principles.	Principiis tribus hisce capias servire cuncta.
The first course is Sacred, but in the middle.	* * * *
Another the third, aerial; which cherisheth the Earth in Fire.	* * * *
And Fountain of Fountains, and of all Fountains.	Et fons fontium, & fontium conctorum.
The Matrix containing all things.	Matrix continens cuncta.
Thence abundantly springs forth the Generation of multivarious Matter.	Inde affatim exilit generatio multivariæ materiæ.
Thence extracted a prester the flower of glowing Fire,	Inde tractus prester exilis ignis flos,
Flashing into the Cavities of the World: for all things from thence	Mundorum indens cavitatibus. Omnia namque inde.
Begin to extend downwards their admirable Beams.	Incipit deorsum tendere radios admirandos.

FATHER. MIND.	PATER ET MENS

The Father hath snatched away himself; neither	Seipsum rapuit pater neque suæ
Hath he shut up his own fire in his Intellectual Power.	Potentiæ mentali claudens proprium ignem.
	Non enim a paterno Principio imperfectum quid rotatur.
For the Father perfected all things	Cuncta namque perfecit pater,
and delivered them over to the second Mind,	Et menti tradidit secundæ,
Which the whole Race of Men call the First.	Quam primam vocat omne genus homnum.
Light begotten of the Father; for he alone	Patrogenia lux, multum namque sola
Having crop't the Flower of the Mind from the Fathers Vigour.	E partis robore decrepens mentis florem.
For the Paternal self-begotten Mind understanding [his] Work,	Opera enim intelligens paterna mens ese genita,
Sowed in all the fiery bond of Love,	Cunctis inseminavit vinculum ignis gravis amoris.
That all things might continue loving for ever.	Quo omnia meneant, tempus in interminatum amantia
Neither those things which are intellectually context in the light of the Father in all things.	Neque omnibus quæ patri mentaliter contexta monstret.
That being the Elements of the World they might persist in Love.	Ut in amore maneant mundi elementa manentia.
* * * *	Habet ipsa intelligentia paternam mentem indere omnibus fontibus & principatibus.
For it is the Bound of the paternal Depth, and the Fountain of the Intellectuals.	Est enim finis paterni profundi, & fons mentalium
Neither went he forth, but abode in the paternal Depth,	Nequa progressus est, sed mansit in paterno profundo,
And in the Adytum according to Divinely-nourished Silence.	Et in adyto, per Deo-nutriens silentium.
For the Fire once above, shutteth not his Power	Non enim in materiam, ignis trans primus
Into Matter by Actions, but by the Mind.	Suam potentiam claudid operibus, sed mente.
For the paternal Mind hath sowed Symbols thro' the World	Symbola enim paterna mens seminavit per mundum
Which understandeth Intelligibles, and beautifieth ineffables.	Quæ intelligibilia intelligit, & ineffabilia exornat.
Wholly Division and Indivisible.	Tota partitio, & impartibilis.
By Mind he contains the Intelligibles, but introduceth Sense into the Worlds.	Mente quidem continet intelligibilia, sensum vero inducit mundus.
By Mind he contains the Intelligibles, but introduceth Soul into the Worlds.	Mente quidem continet intelligibilia, animam vero inducit mundus.

MIND. INTELLIGIBLES. INTELLECTUALS.	MENS, INTELLIGIBILIA & MENTALIA.

And of the one Mind, the intelligible (Mind)
For the Mind is not without the intelligible; it exists not without it.
These are Intellectuals, and Intelligibles, which being understood, understand.
For the Intelligible is the Ailment of the Intelligent.
Learn the Intelligible, since it exists beyond the Mind.
And of the Mind which moves the Empyræal Heaven.
For the Framer of the fiery World is the Mind of the Mind.
You who know certainly the supermundane paternal Depth.
The intelligible is predominant over all Section.
There is something Intelligible, which it behooves thee to understand with the flower of the Mind.
For if thou enclinest thy Mind, thou shalt understand this also;
Yet understanding something [of it] thou shalt not understand this wholly; for it is a Power
Of Circumlucid Strength, glittering with Intellectual Sections. (Rays).
But it behooves not to consider this intelligible with Vehemence of Intellection,
But with the ample flame of the ample Mind, which measureth all things
Except this Intelligible: but it behooves to understand this.
For if thou enclinest thy Mind, thou shalt understand this also,
Not fixedly, but having a pure turning Eye [thou must]
Extend the empty mind of thy Soul towards the Intelligible,
That thou mayst learn the Intelligible, for it exists beyond the Mind.
But every Mind understands this God; for the Mind is not
Without the Intelligible, neither is the Intelligible without the Mind.
To the Intellectual Presters of the Intellectual fire, all things
By yielding are subservient to the persuasive Counsel of the Father.
And to understand, and always to remain in a restless whirling.
But insinuating into Worlds the Venerable Name in a sleepless Whirling,
Fountains and Principles; to turn, and alwayes remain in a restlesse Whirling.
By reason of the terrible menace of the Father.
Under two Minds the Life-generating Fountain of Souls is contained;
And the Maker, who self-operating framed the World.
Who sprang first out of the Mind.
Cloathing Fire with Fire, binding them together to mingle.
The Fountainous Craters preserves the flower of his own fire.
He glittereth with Intellectual Sections, and filled all things with Love.
Like Swarms they are carried, being broken,
About the Bodies of the World.
That things unfashioned may be fashioned,
What the Mind speaks, it speaks by understanding.
Power is with them, Mind is from Her.

JYNGES. IDÆAS. PRINCIPLES.

These being many ascend into the lucid Worlds.
Springing into them, and in which there are three Tops.
Beneath them lies the chief of Immaterials.
Principles which have understood the intelligible Works of the Father.
Disclosed them in sensible Works as in Bodies;
Being (as it were) the Ferry-men betwixt the Father and Matter.
And producing manifest Images of unmanifest things,
And inscribing unmanifest things in the manifest frame of the World.
The Mind of the Father made a jarring Noise, understanding by vigorous Counsel,
Omniform Idea's; and flying out of one Fountain
They sprung forth; for, from the Fathers was the Counsel and End,
By which they are connected to the Father, by alternate
Life from several Vehicles.
But they were divided, being by intellectual fire distributed
Into other intellectuals: for the King did set before the multiform World
An intellectual, incorruptable Pattern; this Print through the World he promoting, of whose form
According to which the World appeared
Beautified with all kinds of Idea's; of which there is one fountain,
Out of which come rushing forth others undistributed,
Being broken about the Bodies of the World, which through the vast Recesses,
Like Swarms are carried round about every Way.
Intellectual Notions from the paternal Fountain cropping the flower of Fire.
In the point of sleepless time, of this Primigenious Idea.
The first self-budding fountain of the Father budded.
Intelligent Jynges do (themselves) also understand from the Father:
By unspeakable Counsels being moved so as to understand.

HECATE. SYNOCHES. TELETARCHS.

For out of Him spring all
Implacable Thunders, and the Prester-receiving cavities
Of the Intirely-lucid strength of Father-begotten Hecate.
And He who beguirds (viz.) the flower of Fire, and the strong
Spirit of the Poles fiery above.
He gave to his Presters that they should guard the Tops.
Mingling the power of his own Strength in the Synoches,
O how the World hath Intellectual guides inflexible!
Because she is the Operatrix, because she is the Dispensatrix of Life-giving fire.
Because also it fills the Life producing Bosom of Hecate.
And instils in the Synoches the enliving strength
Of potent fire.
But they are guardians of the works of the Father.
For he disguises himself, possessing
To be cloathed with the Print of the Images.
The Teletarchs are comprehended with the Synoches.
To these Intellectual Presters of Intellectual fire,
All things are subservient.
But as many as serve the Material Synoches
Having put on the compleatly-Armed Vigour of resounding Light.
With triple strength fortifying the Soul and the Mind.
To put into the Mind the Symbol of Variety.
And not to walk dispersedly on the Empyræal Channels;
But stiffly
These frame indivisibles, and sensibles,
And Corporiforms, and things destin’d to Matter.

SOUL. NATURE.

For the Soul being a bright fire, by the power of the Father
Remains Immortal, and is Mistress of Life;
And possesseth many Complexions of the Cavities of the World:
For it is in Imitation of the Mind; but that which is born hath something of the Body.
The Channels being intermixed, she performs the Works of incorruptible Fire
Next the paternal Conceptions I (the Soul) dwell;
Warm, heating, all things; for he did put
The Mind in the Soul, the Soul in the dull Body.
Of us the Father of Gods and Men imposed,
Abundantly animating Light, Fire, Æther, Worlds.
For natural Works co-exist with the Intellectual
Light of the Father, for the Soul which adorn'd the great
Heaven, and adorning with the Father.
But her Horns are fixed above,
But about the shoulders of the Goddess, immense Nature is exalted.
Again, indefatigable Nature commands the Worlds and Works.
That Heaven drawing an eternal course may run.
And the swift Sun might come about the Center as he useth.
Look not into the fatal Name of this Nature.

THE WORLD.

The Maker who Operating by himself framed the World.
And there was another Bulk of fire,
By it self operating all things that the Body of the World might be perfected,
That the World might be manifest, and not seem Membranous.
The whole World of Fire, Water, and Earth,
And all-nourishing Æther,
The unexpressible and expressible Watch-words of the World.
One Life by another from the distributed Channels.
Passing from above to the opposite Part,
Through the Center of the Earth; and another fifth Middle:
Fiery Channel, where it descends to the material Channels.
Life-bringing fire.
Stirring himself up with the Goad of resounding Light.
Another fountainous, which guides the Empyreal World.
The Centre from which all (Lines) which way soever are equal.
For the paternal Mind sowed Symbols through the World.
For the Centre of every one is carried betwixt the Fathers.
For it is in Imitation of the Mind, but that which is born hath something of the Body.

HEAVEN.

For the Father congregated seven Firmaments of the World;
Circumscribing Heaven in a round figure.
He fixed a great company of inerratick Stars.
And he constituted a Septenary of erratick Animals.
Placing Earth in the middle, and Water in the middle of the Earth,
The Air above these.
He fixed a great Company of inerratic Stars,
To be carri'd not by laborious and troublesome Tension,
But a settlement which hath no Error,
He fixed a great Company of inerratic Stars,
Forcing Fire to Fire.
To be carried by a settlement which hath not Error.
He constituted them six; casting into the midst,
The fire of the Sun,
Suspending their Disorder in well-ordered Lones.
For the Goddess brings forth the great Sun, and the bright Moon.
O Æther, Son, Spirit, Guides of the Moon and of the Air;
And of the solar Circles, and of the Monthly clashings,
And of the Aerial Recesses.
The Melody of the Æther, and of the Passages of the Sun, and Moon, and of the Air
And the wide Air, and the Lunar Course, and the Pole of the Sun.
Collecting it, and receiving the Melody of the Æther,
And of the Sun, and of the Moon, and of all that are contained in the Air.
Fire, the Derivation of fire, and the Dispenser of fire;
His Hair pointed is seen by his native Light;
Hence comes Saturn.
The Sun Assessor beholding the pure Pole;
And the Ætherial Course, and the vast Motion of the Moon
And the Aerial fluxions.
And the great Sun, and the bright Moon.

TIME.

The Mundane God; Æternal, Infinite.
Young, and Old, of a Spiral form.
And another fountainous, who guides the Empyræal Heaven.

SOUL. BODY. MAN.

It behooves thee to hasten to the light, and to the Beams of the Father;
From whence was sent to Thee a Soul cloathed with much Mind.
These things the Father conceived, and so the mortal was animated.
For the paternal mind sowed Symbols in souls;
Replenishing the Soul with profound Love.
For the Father of the Gods and Men placed the Mind in the Soul;
And in the Body he established you.
For all Divine things are Incorporeal.
But bodies are bound in them for your sakes.
Incorporeals not being able to contain the bodies.
By reason of the Corporeal Nature in which you are concentrated.
And they are in God, attracting strong flames.
Descending from the Father, from which descending, the Soul
Crops of Empyreal fruits the Soul-nourishing flower.
And therefore conceiving the Words of the Father
They avoid the audacious wing of fatal Destiny;
And though you see this Soul manumitted,
Yet the Father sends another to make up the Number.
Certainly, these are superlatively blessed above all
Souls; they are sent forth from Heaven to Earth,
And those rich Souls which have unexpressible fates;
As many of them (O King) as proceed from shining Thee, or from
Jove Himself, under the strong power of (his) Thread.
Let the Immortal Depth of thy Soul be predominant; but all thy eyes
Extend upward.
Stoop not down to the dark World,
Beneath which continually lies a faithless Depth, and Hades
Dark all over, squalld, delighting in Images, unintelligible,
Precipititous, Craggy, a Depth; always Rolling,
Alwayes espousing an opacous idle breathless Body.
And the Light-hating World, and the winding currents,
By which many things are swallowed up.
Seek Paradise;
Seek thou the way of the Soul, whence or by what Order
Having served the Body, to the same place from which thou didst flow.
Thou maist rise up again, joyning Action to sacred speech,
Stoop not down, for a Precipice lies below the Earth;
Drawing through the Ladder which hath seven steps, Beneath which
Is the Throne of Necessity,
Enlarge not thou thy Destiny.
The soul of Man will in a manner clasp God to her self;
Having nothing Mortal, she is wholly inebriated from God:
For she boasts Harmony, in which the mortal Body exists.
If thou extend the fiery Mind
To the work of Piety, thou shalt preserve the fluxible body.
There's a room for the Image also in the Circumlucid place.
Every way to the unfashioned Soul stretch the Reins of Fire.
The Fire-glowing Cogitation hath the first Rank.
For the Mortal approaching the Fire, shall have Light of God.
For to the slow Mortal the Gods are swift.
The Furies are stranglers of Men.
The burgeons, even of ill matter, are profitable good.
Let hope nourish thee in the fiery Angelic Region.
But the Paternal Mind accepts not her Will,
Until she go out of Oblivion, and pronounce a Word,
Inserting the rememberance of the pure paternal Symbol.
To these he gave the docible character of Life to be Comprehended.
Those that were asleep he made fruitful by his own strength.
Defile not the Spirit, nor deepen a Superficies.
Leave not the Dross of matter on a Precipice.
Bring her not forth, lest going forth she have something.
The Souls of those who quit the Body violently, are most pure.
The ungirders of the Soul, which give her breathing, are easie to be loosed.
In the side of sinister Hecate, there is a fountain of Virtue;
Which remains entire within, not omitting her Virginity.
O Man the Machine of Boldest Nature!
Subject not to thy Mind the vast measures of the Earth;
For the plant of Truth is not upon Earth.
Nor measure the Measures of the Sun, gathering together Canons;
He is moved by the Eternal Will of the Father, not for thy sake.
Let alone the swift Course of the Moon; she runs ever by the impulse of Necessity.
The Progression of the Stars was not brought forth for thy sake.
The ætherial wide flight of Birds is not veracious.
And the Dissections of Entrails and Victims all these are toyes,
The supports of gainfull Cheats; fly thou these,
If thou intend to open the Sacred Paradise of Piety
Where Virtue, Wisdom, and Equity are assembled.
For thy Vessel the Beasts of the Earth shall inhabit.
These the Earth bewails, even to their Children.

DÆMONS. RITES.

Nature persuades there are pure Dæmons;
The burgeons, even of ill matter, are profitable and good,
But these things I revolve in the recluse Temples of my mind,
Extending the like Fire sparklingly into the spacious Air
Or Fire unfigur'd, a Voice issuing forth.
Or Fire abundant, whizzing and winding about the Earth,
But also to see a Horse more glittering than Light.
Or a Boy on [thy] shoulders riding on a Horse,
Fiery or adorned with Gold, or divested,
Or shooting and standing on [thy] shoulders.
If thou speak often to me, thou shalt see absolutely that which is spoken:
For then neither appears the Cœlestial concave Bulk,
Nor do the Stars shine; the light of the Moon is covered,
The Earth stands not still, but all things appear Thunder.
Invoke not the self-conspicuous Image of Nature;
For thou must not behold these before thy Body be initiated.
When soothing Souls they always seduce them from these Mysteries.
Certainly out of the Cavities of the Earth spring Terrestial Dogs,
Which show no true signe to mortal Man.
Labour about the Hecatick Strophalus
Never change Barbarous Names;
For there are Names in every Nation given from God,
Which have an unspeakable power in Rites.
When thou seest a Sacred Fire without Form,
Shining flashingly through the depths of the World,
Hear the Voice of Fire.