Aristeus Pater

The printed source for this verse translation is a Latin alchemical poem, Verba Aristei Patris ad Filium, ex Caractere et Idiomate Schitico, Latino Rithmo Donata, published anonymously by the French courtier, diplomat and alchemist Alexandre Toussaint de Limojon de Saint Disdier (1630–1689), in his Lettre d’un philosophe, sur le secret du Grant Oeuvre. Ecrit au sujet de ce qu’Aristée a laissé à son fils, touchant le magistere philosophique. ¹ Although the Verba Aristei Patris had circulated for at least seventy-five years (see below), it was first given prominence in Limojon’s Lettre, where it is the subject of a detailed explication. The “letter” of the title is ostensibly from Limojon (who identifies himself only in an anagram on the title page) to another alchemist, who had sent him the Aristeus verse text for his perusal. Dated 9 May 1686, it excerpts passages for analysis, in the course of which Limojon cites a host of alchemical authorities: Synesius, Arnaldus de Villanova, Flamel, Basilius Valentinus, Paracelsus, d’Espagnet, and the Cosmopolite (Michael Sendivogius). The letter is followed by the whole text of the Latin poem, with a French prose translation on facing pages (42–61), both texts being divided into 50 numbered sections.