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 neoHellenistic 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 protoHege1ian' 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 twentyfour 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 pseudoPlatonic 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 andother 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 thethird 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. EW, 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'

(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 ancestralspiritual 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,' 'waterJove, 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' ), rspectively (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: ''r\ iii I lr.tl ii,,,\.lli. .;", i , f&rillin|,$oi'clrclq, r, .S$rftti4dn tiCnrguJllanrrii6 ti?br6dlr,:,.,1i,i., *Jr{r0uftFrf;ltf}lctttoQre{|q,,il rnbfn, m :; h,r .llf i'^F1jl:i'*j/';m,I t-, 'r, io oa,rrrt! liunf-nf.drlrfttubriilxp1;,rr.d.r$ !r,tj;ft,JIi; Sldrsii.dibti+rlifx'ubr{bri:l/bsdlnr*iq6rU;ino*erliei ntt tmrfirkdl/ Riri,rfi,rrtdieth;llaitrir lur,r'1"... Si tdf bur$ru{4r:r}*i ff, rtif lriAl y,r;.rri *rrf : 'i*cr:in1r* trcfqubidl r*l !ia,r,,igri}r ",i,f$rirlrry1nq)il*fla6ot/ :r,r@i4i1r11rtuikr a g. fisr(f ra. rlcru.iynul lyrrlr , lIflnr6,iifrr"s{fio$ltf:r fi"1t)ld*$trr5gr.4rhrfrxi; + ilori@orr6lt[jr,:rnf4tf..ftg,*r -F *):-rgfourt''tl]i rlrrr-,,*ri',rl't {t{P filer{ur}rrcultn:rrl firbrnI Srfilr4itir{.}rl'rj*.;;rlelrl)en. "S'uqd1d6*u(ril$)f{ibll l,itr'4dlt/

9!!trrrihrltltttcttfin${ 6*r:fii t\rr JJsdj(rf l',,1|ir lib,rbiu. (i$;rf f,rtnrtri,i(nrrre'rdJ!t 4rirt1id1n*rtliill{rii1il' i.lirulr;n1[ingiSptrlmtt Spor{.t, Sc ii*n*nOiglnfilr{tS11qf,f!nirI11tr;'ir"",, ",.0.tilir6enfi${li:brstil}trtliliit:4iidl ql[ir$tn1r,Ii I -' -'' l$ag t * u r0 I t ttl nir r kr f;; ft * $ il;r"rrr'ipl,I I I t r !t,ll!tn,[,ltltb(r*[,rDaun*b n'rrl rdJ :Wt rJltr l'*tr tirF$t{{*rseikltd{(,d4($tbiri;ir;'!1I l:ti'i lilll: rI r fitfrerr$;$imgnsi$tmdrtb;:rii(u0i$.ti iif-'.,r ?i iri t' ar r; r:l {d) l.wii, !iliict.ctpon ! t*n;lerlr' ,r;:rr',. td the l.qrtcr, and t'rir.ltin"u. i,: ii;r r{er"e Ficld, irt{ioldtni.titci .. tr'.:;:ld thc loiioiviliriVr,r'fts l"rl'irt-en. T'i:i:da1,,thi: "lt"y,1fii.,,rlt.:: "l'i;':)i4al l'l'rllrrg u. t1t i ttltts t:ttt tt, !,y ]iit't/l; t:.icit;t'i'.. a4,ti urta.1;S r;i $'ud l, $g'i'"i, '.! t.,e.+m,ry'.7i t!:Et ta ti.,: /\'fr*:i!,i: ' !:i:::!r lltit,rt:t;trlilr {t;r:ti1'"l"r:ii[,ler:, q , li,tl ti;ert ltt: ,ril lt,rt't tt;ti tt. cra :\-rfi, tl',ririt, ,1,,,:i1t.i;i, I t 7 !'rl "' p'.'il,|. ', 7) il, fi ;rir lt,l:!i,;',,t,tt rl ;;r l.r:trilf , "l i't i?'t'i,i.i,..u.,14.,r'tt!.:t i:.;rtttlrl. i . I lell ,la,:;nt.'r.'.f !,,i'.r t!;,i: i;:': 'i' .: t

I. tt iti,n inr,ai r. 1,'gllrl t tlttt 7e1 .,"" i..l;iillr;;e;tlt f co,1 .(;',"rlriA;iri -; r,"t ,Ilu<irtait,ri';i'ril'r' { . l,r'rt i.r t. t I 1J;,' llo.,.i t, I t ; i,';i..i 1':,':: :. "" '.i.iirl,:trli'I",,11: ; ':t,:'. , l:'e ijirir.,: e,: i,] r r; \'t:r't"' i,' i ic . ' :i ;, f,crJi,r i , , . ', . i ;',li;;:{ iI,..: i',1 't. ::f , ... -::j 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 memorytreatises 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.

'transmutaBruno 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 'RoiSoleil.'Englishactivists(amongthemSidney, 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

'charactF', '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 elsewh6TiEwhich 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 coeive (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 allembracing 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, 2spires,1cylinder;2circles,2squares,and2ovals). '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 (FQr.vii.32). The 'almond' or mandorla-frame may likewise represent a 'mirror.' Most commonly, however, it suggests the fecund 'womb''substance''matter''Chaos' 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, pp8183, & 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) . The'GoldenStone'isofcoursethePhilosopher'sStone, 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 speculation': 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 implies. 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 (ibid.). Opposedto'true'arethe'false'alchemists: 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, asSt.PauIsays,thatoftheCreator.' 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 Analogous1y,inCharlesJ.Thompson'sclassicwork onAlchemy(f4B),muchismadeofSpenser'sreferencesto ' 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 ofhistime'(op.cit.,pp2 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': foronthatdaythesoultobebeatifiedunites 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

'longer'butcomparatively'safer'ofthetworoutes,most commonly represented in the iconography of the day in the '''the' 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, ' 'conjuncFollowing 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 Olorympus,as interior microcosm was the unwitting object of alchemical research'(op.c3t.,p.L64). 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 'names'alchemistsapplytothe,beginning'and,end'of 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 Kyllenios': "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 form.' 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 (ibid.) 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 magnet(c!.cit.,p.187). They are like 'the invisible rays of heaven meeting together at the centre of the earth, . there . shining with a"heavenlylightlikeacarbuncle",(v!2.,radlil;ibid., '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 itself." 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 mustardseed, 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 contrast,ofcourse,inthevirilelyUroboros discussed above, the 'ovoid' must be regarded as a radix ipsius, comprising only the head and tail of the selfdevouring 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' 'Stone. 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, 'that

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' asfollows: 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 FQV.proem.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 Panacd," 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 ' torivaltheDeity'sias'Death,'ontheotherhand,itis 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 principls, " 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 timeperiods, 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 alsobeexpectedto'unveil''Truth,''vindicateVirtue,' and/or 'justify Innocence' against Ca1umny, ' in a demonstra'twofold''destroyer'as tion of its function as the well as the'procreator'of'allthings'(Panofsky,St.Icon.,pp. 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

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'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 soldier,hishead"behelmeted"'(R*n,p.1O5;cf.FQ 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) .

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'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, . meanttoemphasizehistemporalsignificance';his'sickle' 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 fifteenthand 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,

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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 spiral'(ibid). But, in 'Mutabilitie' The spiral seems to disintegrate, and time almost destroys the fiction which intends to solve the

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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 Pastorella.' Spenser'sobsessionwittr'time,'aswellashisenduring 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

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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 :

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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.

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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.

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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 allembracing 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 bodliremainjng 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; tq iii ,l < t1 I t t fll .r t,il It// l; ,) li t.l t \T!' =}.-".fl: lltt:,'"ttI ,l)c:ii,jjFir,iillj.{ .: 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

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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 discussedabove). LetuS,then,considerSpenser'smotto,'Anchoraspei' ('Istillhope'),whichisessentiallyunchangedfromthe '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 ,or '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'ring'atthetopofaverticalshaft(orinvertedobelisk), 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, orforeternity'(op.cit.,p.I33). 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,' 'OpporMoreover, '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 PseudAreopagite 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 trueelder'(ibid.). 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

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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

'type'ofLhearborvitae('TreeofParadise'or'Treeof 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 ascent,dswellasdescending'dew'ofgrace.Itsuggests 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 twoedged 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

349)iasa'Mountain'or'Ladder'iarchitecturallyasa 'Pillar,''Spire,''Cyllinder'or'Obelisk';asa'wand'or 'staff'(cf.caduceusofHermes);andasaweapon,suchasa 'dividing''sword,' 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 leaves,flowersandfruits)(,fung,op.cit.,p.275),itmay 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 crucifixgrowinglikea'tree'outofthecup,bowl,ox crescentmoonofhisVirginMother's'womb.' '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).

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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 'intersalvation 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'(cf.thefigureforinfinity';Hopper'sinsistence that 'B' is the 'diapase,' equivalenL to the completed 'octave'inmusic;andFowler'sidentificationof'B'as'the 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-XIILike 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

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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

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'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 Talimans, 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, ArtofMemory,p.151). 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.

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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 ':

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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, rligious 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,

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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, wllspring 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

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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. ofcourse,signalsthestartofthehero'sreascent,or 'redemption,' as the spiral devolving from 'January' has mimickedthedivine'creation.'

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' of'Faerieknight(s)'andthe'fairestTanaquill'sought 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 dominatj-on, . that virtue of exquisite balance which ancient Greek educational theory aimed at, and which Aristotle summarized in his doctrine of the mean(183). She,ofcourse,hasassociatedsuch'Virtue'with '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 thegreatesttemptationto'greed'wouldbe'intellectual,' ' 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 Febnrv) 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. rndslr.rof 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,ilDei 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 Englandin1584)aswellasChrist's'LastSupper'withthe T\lllelve Apostles on the eve of his 'redemptive' 'Agony.' Whetheras'waterr''winer''bIood,'etc.,oras'fleshof 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 Natug, 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 civilization'tothediscoveryandapplicationof'fire,' 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 reorerl ; 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 !'urrr.xar,dswellasbytheflame'(cf.ref.191) of lV.proem.2 tftat acts as the 'seed' (cf . the 'March' of VII.vii.32)or'root''ofhonorandallvertue.'Asthe '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 catjon 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 conflationof'Moses'with'HermesTrismegistus'). 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 'April'(underthesignof'Taurus,'itgoeswithoutsaying) 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 RomeoRosaline 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

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'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:

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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

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'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

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'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.' BookIV,asa'bow1'or'vessel,'isaspeciesof'ship' ' (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 'twins''Arthur'and'Arthegall':'sheplacedth'oneon th'one,/llne other on the other side, and neare them none.' Soexpressedis,ofcourse,the'equality'of'Arthegall' '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

ofPastorellainVI.xi). flre new 'Hercules' is of course most likely the 'Eglrptian Herculs, ' 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, Palefaced, the Love-goddess arrives in her scallopshell 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 jand 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, or'Reason'plus'Eloquence'). '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

cleansing.theholyimages.'fnthewordsofOvid, 'Until the fdes of June' [the middle of the month] there isnoluckforbridesandtheirhusbands': '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 ofthepoet'srstar'signifies'stormsandtempests,'Bool< ofIalismans,p.162).Theunlucky'weddingofMaryQueen 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 (cf.ggIl.proem.passjmfor'veil'). 'Aflockeoflittleloues,andsports,andioyes,''like '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 Arthur.' 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; or'MostBeautiful'withthetitularhero,'Calidore';the '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 ram'shead'(ColumbiaEycyclopedia,p.68),likeAndrea 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 changs, 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; asisthecharmofassigningthe'May'figureofVIf.vii.34 to'Temperance'(cf.MedinaandAlma),andthe'Verdant' ',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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4L2 of_.The Faerle Queege, ed. by K. J. Atchity. Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, L972, pp. 2O -4L. (34) Neuse, R. Book VI as a conclusj -on to The Faerie Queene. ELH 35: 329 -353, 1958. 'Borne

(35) Gezari, J. to live and die, ' in Eterge in MuSabili.tie: UFiFv oE The Eaerie Queene, d. by Ihe K, J. Atchity. Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, L972, pp. 42 -59. (36) Reames, S. L. Prince Arthur and Spenser 's changing design, in Eterle in_Mutabllitiei The_Ijrritv of_The Fae5ie Queene, d. by f. J. Atchity. Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, L972, pp. 180 -206. (37) For an excellent recent review of these issues, see: Horton, R. A. Th_eUnitv of The F.aeris Queene. Athens, Gd., University of Georgia Press, L978. (38) Berger, H., Jr. A secret discipline: the Faerie

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426 New York, Oxford University Press, 1961, vol. 3, pp. 430 -492. (L74) De Meun, J. lbg*Bprnenqe of_!!re Rose, transl. by H. W. Robbins. New York, E. P. Dutton, 1962. (175) Waite, A. E. Alghemists Thrsggh thg A,qss. Blauve1t, N.Y. , R. Steiner , L97O, pp. 90 -92. (176) Pavitt, W. The Book gf Talisma:ns, Amulets anll ZodiacaJ Gems (1914). No. Holl1zr,vood,Calif ., Aquarian Press , I97O, pp. 23 -25. (L77) The Kinq Jgmes .Bible. Chicago, Gideons InLernational, 1958, p.22L. (I7B) The Shorter OxforSl Enql:Lgh Di-ctiolary, revised & edited by C. T. Onions. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 3rd edition, 1959, p. 1870. (Lle1 Crampton, G. R. The Protagonist as Sufferer: A Critical Inquiry inLo a Topos in Chaucer and Spenser. University of Oregon, L967.

(180) Brown, ,.T. N. Thj-s Bryttane Orpheus: The Orpheus Myth in the Poetry of Edmund Spenser. University of Massachusetts , L973. 'Like (fB1) Hamilton, A. c. race to runne ': The parallel structure of The Faerie Queene, Books I and II. PMLA 73: 327-334, 1958. (182) Evans, M. The fall of Guyon, in Spenser, d. by H. Berger, Jr., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice -Hall, 1968, pp. 88 -96.

427 (fB3) Parker, M. P. Th_eA4eqor.v o.f the 'Faefie eugene'. Oxford, 1960. (184) Berger, H,, Jr. The Alleq_otrical_Temper: and Yisiol Realitv in Booh II of Spenser's Faerie Quegng. YaIe University Press, Anchor Books, L957, p. 25. (185) Carscallen, J. The goodly frarne of temperance: The metaphor of cosmos in The Faerie Queene, Book II. University of Toronto Quarterly, 37: 136 -155, L967. (186) Hughes, M. Y. Spenser 's Acrasia and the Circe of the Renaissance. ,filI 4: 3BI -399, L943. (187) Holloway, ,J. The Seven Deadly Sins in The Faerie Qqee.ne, Book If . RES 3 : 13 -18 , 1952 . (1BB) Fox, R. C. Temperance and the Seven Deadly Sins in The Fagrie Book II. RES L2z L-6, 1961. 9uee.ns, (189) Rostvig, M.-S. Structure as prophecy: The influence

of biblical exegesis upon theories of literary structure, iJr Silent Poetrv: Egsavs in_ NuJnerologica! Analvsj-g, d. by A. D. S. Fowler. London, Routledge & Kegan PauI, I97A, pp. 33 -72. (190) Tolstoy, L. On Civi.l Disobedierrqe and Nqn-Vio1e4qq, New York, Berg'man Publishers , L967 , p. 275 (Translator not identified). (I91) Roche, T. P., Jr. The Kindlv A Studv_of f'lame:. -Lhe TIrirSL and*Fourth_Books of Spegser's Faerie Queene. PrincetonUniversityPress,L964. (L92) Hieatt, A. K. Schudamour's practice of Maistrye

428 upon Amoret. PMLA 772 509 -510, L962

(193) Brereton, P. A. Book IV of Spenser 's FEerie gugene: A Ramistic Analysis of Friendship. UCLA L975. (L94) Stow, E. G. "Such an Excellent Mystery ": SomeMajor Symbols in Spenser 's Faerie Queene. Emory University, 'the L97O: stresses sacrament of marriase ' as the PrimarY symbol in SPenser 's ePic. 'the (f95) For a general discussj -on of garden ' in Spenser, see Giamatti, A. B. The Farlh1v_Paradisg and the Relaissance Epic, Princeton University Press, Lg66, pp. 232 -294. (196) Shirk, H. N. Iconography of the Goddess Natura in Spenser 's Faerie Queene. Bryn Mawr, L973. (I97) Maclntyre, ,f . Spenser's Herculean heroes. Humanities Assoc. Bul1., 1966, pp. 5-L2. (198)

Lerch, C. A. Spenser 's ldeal of Civil Life: Justice and Charity in Books V and VI of The-Fasr1e,lqeene. Bryn Mawr, L967 ( 199) Krause, J" J. Elizabeth and Isis: Spenser 's Vision of The FAerie Queene. Ohio University, L975. (200) Bennett, J. W" Spenser 's Venus and the Goddess Nature of the Cantos of Mutabilitie, in Variorum vol. 6, pp. 4LO -4L6. (2OL) Culp, O. W. The Bands of Civility: A Study of Spenser 's Theory of Courtesy. Columbia, L967. (2O2) Dixon, A. L. "So Faire a Patterne ": Spenser 's

429

Legend of Courtesy. Southern fllinois University, L974. (203) De Vere, A. Spenser as a philosophic poet. In Variorum, vols. 6-7, p. 390. (2O4) Celler, L. G. The Three Graces in Spenser 's Faerie Queene: Image and Structure in Books III and fV. UCLA, L969. (205) Walter, ,J. H. fLre Faerie Qgeene: AlteraLions and structure. MLB 36, L94L. (206) Baybak, M., Delany, P. and Hieatt, A. K. Placement 'in the middest' in. The Faerie Queene. In Essential Aqtr-qlqs fpti the Stgdy of EcXloqndSpenser, d. by A. C. Hamilton. Hamden, Conn., L972, pp. 389 -394.