[The Dragon kills the woman, and ſhe kills it, & togther they bathe in the blood]
E
PIGRAMMAL.
Alta uenenoso fodiatur tumba Draconi, Cui mulier nexu ſit bene uncta ſuo: Ille maritalis dum carpit gaudia lecti, Hæc moritur cum qua sit Draco tectus humo.
Illius hinc corpus morti datur, atque cruore Tingitur: Hæc operis ſemita ueratui est
D
ISCOURSEL.
The Manſion of Dragons is in Caverns of the Earth; but of Men upon the Earth, in the Immediate Air; which two Elements are contrary and yet are appointed by the Philoſopher to be joined together, that one may act upon the Other. But by the Woman, Others underſtand the Eagle, as Baſil in his Second Key, for tis not convenient ( ſays he ) for an Eagle to place her neſt upon the Alps, becauſe her Young ones would die by the coldneſs of the Snow upon the top of the Mountains, but if you add to the Eagle a cold Dragon, that hath a long time had his Habitation in the rocks, and is crept out of the caverns of the Earth, and put them both into an infernal Cell, then will Pluto blow, and by his laſt, draw a Fiery Volatile Spirit from the cold Dragon, which with its great Heat will burn the Eagle's Feathers and Excite a Sudorifick Bath, as will melt the Snow upon the top of the Mountains, and turn it into Water, from whence a Mineral Bath may be well prepared, to contribute health and Fortune to the King.
This reward is wonderful, that a cold Dragon ſhould Yield a fiery Spirit, yet Experience declares it to be true: in Burnt Serpents that ſend forth a venomous flame, poiſoning thoſe that ſtand by it. Nor is it without reaſon that preſervers of the Chemical treaſures ſhould be called “Flaming Dragonſ”; and “Keepers of the Golden Fleece”; [of] “The Garden of the Heſperideſ”; and that of Cadmus and others.
For this Dragon lives in Strait places of Subterranean Rocks, which you muſt take [of or from] there, and join it to the Eagle, or Woman to her in her grave, or to the Other ( if you would rather have it ſo ) in her neſt. For tis the Nature of the Dragon ſometimes to lie in wait for the Eagle's Eggs, and wage Mortal war with the Eagle. There are Some Greek writers that Report that in times paſt, a Dragon fell in love with a Maid, and lay with her. What wonder then if the Philoſophers would have their Dragon Shut up in the ſame cavern with the woman? Greverus joins Red and Black Dragons together in the Deep gulf of the mountains, and burns them with fire, and the black ones periſhing he ſaith, " The Keeper of the mountain Searcheth for them everywhere, and he brings them to the Mountain. " Merlin, in his Viſion, if it be not Suppoſitious, makes Mention of a White and Red Dragon. Theſe Dragons, whatſoever they be, whether one be a Woman, or female Dragon, do act Mutually until they both die, and Emit blood from their wounds wherewith they are both Embued.
But hereby the Dragon is underſtood [to be] the Element of Earth and Fire; and by the Woman thoſe of Air and Water. Whence the Clangor Buccinæ ſaith, “The Dragon is the Matter remaining in the Bottom, after the water is diſtilled from it.”
And according to Hermes, “The water of the Air, being between Heaven and Earth, is the Life of Every thing, for that water diſſolves a body into a Spirit, and makes a live thing of a dead thing, and conſtitutes Marriage between Man and Woman, for it makes the whole Benefit of the Art.” And of the Earth he ſays thus, “And moreover, underſtand that the particular earth which we tread upon is not the true Element: Yea, it is Elemented from its true fifth Element. Nor doth the fifth Elemental Subſtance recede from its Elemented Body from which the Earth is formed.” And a little after, “But the Virgin and true Element, which Fire cannot burn, is in the Center of the earth. This is the Dragon whereof we ſpeak, inſinuating itſelf, even into the Center of the earth, where the heat being great, it conceives within itſelf a Flaming heat, wherewith it burns the woman or Eagle.” But the woman or Eagle is an airy water, which ſome call the white or Celeſtial Eagle, and Endeavour to make it the Common Mercury or Sublimed Salt, for there Men that feign themſelves as Quick Sighted as Lineus, [are] but indeed blind in this Art. But Count Bernard ſays in his Epiſtle, “Verily I ſay unto You, that No water will diſſolve a Metallic Species by Natural reduction, but that which continues with it in matter and form, and which the Metals themſelves can recongeal, and a little after. Nor doth that water pertain to bodies in Solutions which doth not remain with them in congelation.” And not far after, “Verily I ſay unto you, that the Oil which Naturally incerates and joins Natures together, and Naturally introduces the Medicine into Other bodies that are to be tinged, is not compounded of any Other Extraneous thing, but only of the Bowels of the Body that is to be diſſolved.”
The Eagle therefore and the Woman, as likewiſe the Dragon with almoſt all the Severals of the whole Art, are Underſtood by theſe precepts; which by opening the Boſom of Nature We have perhaps ſo far Explained and declared to the Sons of Learning, that ſo Glory might be given to God.