Egyptian-Hebrew stream·Jabirian Corpus·Book of Stones according to Balīnās, Part 2·Book of Stones according to Balīnās, Part 2

p. 159 (leaf n164)

Balinas in the Works, and we have already mentioned to you also the intensity of our need [for that] in the precise sciences and the subtle influences for the Balances in the Works according to what Balinas mentioned and the paucity of our need for that in the transfer of the bodies and their dissolution. As for us, we said: the animal has a Balance, and it is that we made the first rank ten dirhams, then we doubled it for what is above it and diminished it for what is below it. Then we made for the plants in seven. Then we doubled it in what is above it and diminished it in what is below it. And we made the Stone in five and increased it in what is above it and diminished it to what is below it according to need. And that is indeed our opinion and our belief in the outward Work and it does not depart upon verification as Balinas did. As for Balinas, he made the rule in the three kinds one and argued in that by what Socrates mentioned, so he said: if the product of the kinds is that they are under the Natures, then it is evident therefore that there is no difference in the Balance; this is the speech of Socrates. And he made the first rank in seven hundred thousand thousand and seventy thousand thousand and six hundred thousand dirhams, and that is because this man — I mean Balinas — needed the division of the fifth so he made it in ten, then raised it upwards until it reached what it reached of what we mentioned in (the first part

p. 160 (leaf n165)

From this book () even if he worked in the experiment as Socrates worked he would not have sufficed. Hear O (........) (٣) what Socrates said .. and God Almighty - + from what follows that a spot + (........) (٤) [٢٧٣] and I have relieved you of the toil and labour by extracting the precise Balances which Socrates mentioned therein. And that is because he made all the Balances come out from one dirham and one daniq in the first, so he said: We make the first degree one dirham and one daniq, the second degree three dirhams and a half, the third degree six dirhams less one daniq, the fourth degree nine dirhams and two daniqs; and we combine the first step as half a dirham, the second step a dirham and a half, the third step two dirhams and a half, the fourth step four dirhams. And we combine the precise from the first degree as two daniqs and a half, the precise from the second degree one dirham and a quarter, the precise from the third degree two dirhams and one qirat, the precise from the fourth degree three dirhams and a third. And we combine the second from the first degree as two daniqs, the second from the second degree one dirham, the second from the third degree one dirham and four daniqs, the second from the fourth degree two dirhams and four daniqs. And we combine the third from the first degree as one daniq and a half, from the second degree four daniqs and a half, from the third degree one dirham and a quarter, from the fourth degree two dirhams.

p. 161 (leaf n166)

And we always sum the fourth from the first rank, and in the second rank half a dirham, and in the third rank five daniqs, and in the fourth rank one dirham and two daniqs. And we sum the fifth in the first rank as one qirat, and in the second rank one and a half daniqs, and in the third rank two and a half daniqs, and in the fourth rank four daniqs. So look — may God not separate you — at the subtlety of this man in knowledge and his station therein and the excellence of his analogy. And know also that he set aside the proportion from the sixty, and the reason for that is that he claimed our saying that the rank is sixty degrees is only a convention, and if we wanted to make everything above something else more excellent than it by one or by more and that which is beneath it likewise we would only be as we made the proportion from the sixty. And that was only made upon the sixty in order that the calculation be brought near and that there occur in it few fractions, [so know]. For it is a thing that is subtle and minute, so know that, if God Most High wills, and analogize upon it. And we have made for these Balances an example to be worked upon in all that is needed of it, and I shall set forth the matter of the Balances in this my book upon those Balances, I mean upon what we have already mentioned from Socrates. So if you wish to work upon it then work, and if you wish to work upon what Balinas mentioned then work, for both are one; and if you wish [to work] upon our opinion then work by it, and it differs from them because it is a thing by approximation.

p. 162 (leaf n167)

[Table of the Third Degree in the Four Natures] Heat | Cold | Dryness | Moisture Rank: — | 10 dirhams and half | 5 dirhams and half | 5 dirhams and half Degree 5 | 2 dirhams and half | 5 dirhams and quarter | 5 dirhams and quarter Minute 2 | 5 dirhams and third | 5 dirhams and third | 5 dirhams and third Second 5 | 2 dirhams and half | 2 dirhams and half | 2 dirhams and half Third 5 | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half Fourth 5 | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half Fifth 5 | — | — | — [Table of the Fourth Degree in the Four Natures] Heat | Cold | Dryness | Moisture Rank: — | 10 dirhams and half | 5 dirhams and half | 5 dirhams and half Degree 5 | 2 dirhams and third | 5 dirhams and third | 5 dirhams and third Minute 2 | 5 dirhams and quarter | 5 dirhams and quarter | 5 dirhams and quarter Second 5 | 2 dirhams and half | 2 dirhams and half | 2 dirhams and half Third 5 | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half Fourth 5 | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half | 1 dirham and half Fifth 5 | — | — | —

p. 163 (leaf n168)

[Upper table, Balance of the Part / Signs / House / Return:]
Degree: — | 1 dirham 1 daniq | 10 | 1 dirham 1⁄2 dirham | — | 5 | 1 dirham 1⁄2 dirham | — | 5 | 1 dirham 1⁄2 dirham
Second degree: 5 | dirham | 2 | 21⁄2 daniqs | 5 | 21⁄2 daniqs | 5 | 21⁄2 daniqs | 5 | 21⁄2 daniqs
Third degree: 2 | 2 daniqs | 5 | 2 daniqs | 5 | 2 daniqs | 5 | 2 daniqs | 5 | 2 daniqs
Fourth degree: 5 | 1 daniq | 1 | 11⁄2 daniqs | 2 | 1 daniq | 2 | 1 daniq | 2 | 1 daniq
Fifth degree: — | qirat | 5 | qirat | 5 | qirat | 5 | qirat | 5 | qirat
[Lower table, second rank of the Balances, same column order with corresponding numerical variants as transcribed.]

p. 164 (leaf n169)

It has been established and made necessarily binding with clear necessity that whenever we see one of Alif or Ba or Jim or Dal, it is not devoid of being in the first rank or the second or the third or the fourth in the thing whose Balance we wish to determine; and nothing occurs as b j d except for ranks, and we do not exceed that it be a dirham and a daniq, or three dirhams and a half, or five dirhams and five daniqs, or nine dirhams and two daniqs. And that is shown in the Book of the Result and our first Book of these books, namely in the spelling of the discourse and the ranking of its degrees and what lies beneath their stations and the dropping of its redundancies. So give each thing its due, for it is the nearest of paths and the clearest of them. And it is the right of my master—were it not that these books bear the name of my master (the blessings of God be upon him)—that you would never reach a single letter of that until the end of time, nor would anyone else, save at vast intervals of time. So praise God greatly, who has made clear to you this path and has manifested to you the Truth—for He does whatsoever He wills and provides for whom He wills without reckoning—so blessed be God, the best of creators, and may God bless our master Muhammad, master of the first and the last, and upon his chosen righteous family. Let us return to our intended object concerning which we were speaking, and say: it has also become clear and established from our statement after the ranks that whenever you see h w r ʿ, it is not devoid of being in the first rank or the second or the third or the fourth in the thing whose weight is required; therefore it is indispensable to arrange just as it was indispensable to arrange in the matter of the ranks.

p. 165 (leaf n170)

Nor does any excess occur except according to the degree, just as no excess occurs except according to the ranks; nor does any exceeding of the degree occur save that it be either half a dirham, or a dirham and a half, or two dirhams and a half, or four dirhams. This too is shown in its place in the Book of the Result, that is, in the sevenfold, the eightfold, the ninefold, the tenfold, the sixfold, the fivefold, the fourfold, the threefold, the twofold and the single. Thereby the stations of the ranks become clear to you, that is, by the statement of the ninefold and the tenfold and what follows it. Now, by God the Mighty, the way we desire in the science of the Balance has become clear. So give each thing its due in setting up the way, if God wills. It has also become clear, after the ranks and the degrees, that whatever you have seen of them does not lack being from the first ranks or the second or the third or the fourth in the thing whose Natures’ Balance you wish to know; nor do they occur except according to the minutes, just as the preceding ones occur only according to what we have ruled; nor are the minutes without being two minutes and a half, or a dirham and a quarter, or two dirhams and a qirat, or three dirhams and a third. The ruling in these additions falls only upon the discourse; thus according to the length of the word and its shortness occurs the delimitation by the Work together with the increase in the quantity and the decrease from it. So know this, and do not assign to the first rank or anything of its parts what has already been ruled for the second rank or anything of its parts, lest some part enter into another part and what you wish to correct turn into [another] chapter.

p. 166 (leaf n171)

Corruption and what you wish to corrupt belongs to the chapter of rectification, and this is a remote contradiction, so know it, if God Most High wills.

٣It has been established that whenever you see something of it, it does not depart either from being one of the four ranks; so if it is of the first, you judge it by the first, and if it is of the second, you judge it by the second, and if it is of the third, you judge it by the third, and if it is of the fourth, you judge it by the fourth. And it does not exceed the seconds and is not devoid of being two daniqs or one dirham or dirhams and four daniqs or two dirhams and four daniqs. So give each thing its due and do not raise what is low nor lower what is high, and understand that.

٩And it is not devoid, in it, either of being one of the four ranks, nor devoid of being a daniq and a half or four daniqs and a half or a dirham and a daniq and a half or two dirhams, so set it down according to what its spelling requires in the thirteenfold, ninefold, eightfold, sevenfold, sixfold, fivefold, fourfold, threefold, twofold and odd. And it is necessary that you know that in it are the thirds.

١٥It has become clear after that that in it are the fourths and that they also divide into the four ranks, and are not devoid of being one of these.

p. 167 (leaf n172)

the four. And it too is never without being either always or half a dirham or five daniqs or a dirham and two daniqs. So we restore it according to its spelling in accordance with what has been prescribed for it by the setting-up of the Path, if God the Exalted wills. ٣ There remains the seventh division, which is the last of the science of the Balance. Our aim in that is only to explain to you the science of the Balance and the figures that precede this place so that no doubt remains for you concerning it. The seventh division therefore, according to what the rule of reflection and the analogy of the letters of the alphabet require, is dh d t gh; and they too are distributed over the four ranks among the four Natures just as their sisters were distributed. It is evident and known that dh d t gh do not exceed being, each one of them by the weight, either a qirat or a daniq and a half or two daniqs and a half or four daniqs. The thing by which the Balances are produced—I mean what Nature requires, whether it is the qirat or what is after it—is the spelling and knowledge of the rule in the ten examples, I mean in the pointed one and what is below it. So know that and measure by it; the Path has become clear to you. ١٢ An example of that is that we set down letters however they occur and say: 10 b h-gh d[prompt-injection-filtered]-gh. It is evident and known that whenever we see the alif it is never without being either a dirham and a daniq or three dirhams and a half or five dirhams.

p. 168 (leaf n173)

and five daniqs or nine dirhams and two daniqs. By my saying “it is not devoid” I mean: if the alif occurs in a word that requires the first rank, then one dirham and one daniq; ٣ and if it occurs in a word that requires the second rank, then three hundred seventy-five dirhams and a half; and if it occurs in a word that requires the third rank, then five dirhams and five daniqs; and if it occurs in what requires the fourth rank, then nine dirhams and two daniqs. Likewise the baʾ that follows the alif which we have made an example, and likewise the jim which is the eleventh letter. It is also evident that the mim belongs to the category of the daraj and is not devoid of being, as we have said, in one of the four ranks, either half a dirham in the first, or ٩ one dirham and a half in the second, or two dirhams and a half in the third, or four dirhams in the fourth. The khaʾ belongs to the rawabiʿ, and it too [sahha] is not devoid of one of four forms as we have exemplified together with four weights; for it [sahha] has been given that. ١٢ After the khaʾ comes dhal, which belongs to the khawamis, and it has four examples and four weights and measures; the rule is according to what is verified of that in respect of the spelling, so let each of its divisions be given its measure that its weight may be completed and one not enter into another. ١٥ After the dhal comes sad, which belongs to the thawalith >and it has four positions< and four examples and four measures; let its position, example and measure be given so that it may be truly verified thereby. After the sad comes kaf, which belongs to the daqaʾiq and has four positions and four examples

p. 169 (leaf n174)

And four quantities, and they are of differing weights, for each station a weight separate from its companion. And if every single thing of the stations is not given its due from the quantities, its action is nullified and it is not sound. ٣ Let one beware in it of error and oversight. And after k r, and they are from the thirds, and to them ٣ what + look that they are from the fourths, so let one act according to what we have drawn of their completion and their correction, so that what we have said may be completed. And after r z, so let one act as we have said, and likewise in each single one of what remains s j m d gh. ٦ So we say: We need only to make these letters all from the first rank or the second or the third or the fourth. So if they are from the first rank, then let their total weight by the weight reach six dirhams and four daniqs and a half, and that ٩ is that the alif is a dirham and a daniq, and b a dirham and a daniq, and h a half dirham, and gh a daniq, and z a qirat, and sy a daniq and a half, and k two daniqs and a half, and r a daniq and a half, and z a half dirham, and sy two daniqs, and j a dirham and a daniq, and m two daniqs, and n two daniqs ١٢ and gh a qirat, and the sum of that is six dirhams and four daniqs and a half. And likewise in the case of the remaining two-thirds of the ranks. ١٥ And we now need to show you that by figures in the Balances of the golden Stones to which need is urgent at the beginning of the Work — and they are gold and silver and copper and iron and lead and tin — so that you may know the reality of the letters of these.

p. 170 (leaf n175)

All things. It is therefore necessary first to know that every one of these stones possesses seventeen powers, and it is either [75] red or white.

٣If it is white, it possesses from heat one first rank, and from cold three first ranks, and from dryness five first ranks, and from moisture eight first ranks. If it is red, then the contrary of that, namely that it possesses from cold one first rank, and from heat three first ranks, and from dryness eight first ranks, and from moisture five first ranks. The product of the quantity in number — and it is in this place upon the page, meaning for these seventeen —

٩is that the first rank, whether from heat or from cold — and they are, or b — is one dirham and one daniq, as we have already said concerning that. The three first ranks — and they constitute a second rank — and they are, or b also — are three dirhams and a half from the sum of three first ranks, or a second rank in itself is one and it is three dirhams and a half.

١٢Therefore in the weight of the agents it is four dirhams and four daniqs. The eight from dryness or moisture — and they are j d — are either the sum of eight first ranks and they are nine dirhams and two daniqs, or one fourth rank and it is nine dirhams and a third.

١٥As for five ranks of dryness and five of moisture — and they are also j d — then that is either

p. 171 (leaf n176)

The sum of five first ranks is therefore five dirhams and five daniqs, or else one third rank, which is five dirhams and five daniqs. Thus the sum of the seventeen in the red is that heat is either three first ranks or a second rank, which is [1] three dirhams and a half in all, and one rank of coldness >which is< one dirham and one daniq, and five ranks of moistness, which are five dirhams and five daniqs; and likewise if it is a third rank, which is three, and eight ranks of dryness, first or one fourth rank, which are nine dirhams and a third, and this is it. * Therefore the sum of the seventeen in the red of everything in the world according to the correct Balance in the fine and the coarse among the three genera and among the talcs and others of the remaining wonders is nineteen dirhams and five daniqs, and likewise it is in the white. One must therefore know. As for the place of difference in the white and the red, it is only in the increase of coldness in the white and the decrease of heat therein, and the contrary of that in the red, and the increase of dryness in the red and the decrease of moistness therein and the contrary of that in the white; so know it. And whenever one wishes to weigh anything of all things one must know what is in it of that which the natures require and consider how great the amount of that is and relate it to the dirhams >to< those which are the amount of the seventeen.

p. 172 (leaf n177)

(Coldness): ٣ what is second from the first rank according to what the judgment requires in the quaternary, so its total with the weight is two daniqs; and the judgment in coldness is that it be a first and fourth rank from the third rank—or a degree and a second or two first minutes—and the total of that with the weight is two dirhams, so one dirham and one daniq for the rank and five daniqs either for the fourth from the third rank or for the degree and the second from the first rank or for the two minutes from the first rank. What comes out for us as the h-baʾ is two daniqs, so there remains one dirham and four daniqs, and it becomes corresponding to what is in it of heat. (Bitterness) ٦ three ranks and it is expressed by the third rank, and that is clear and evident; its weight with the weight is five dirhams and five daniqs; as for the heat, it is complete in the red. (Moisture) ٩ a degree from the second rank according to what the judgment requires in the quaternary, so its total with the weight is one dirham and a half; and the judgment required, if it is for the red, that it be five ranks and it is opposite a third rank from this ever + it is almost, rather it is equivalent to the stones, and the total of that with the weight is five dirhams and five daniqs; and what came out for us as the h-baʾ is one dirham and a half, so there remains four dirhams and two daniqs to reach seventeen, if God the Exalted wills, Him alone. (Dryness) ١٢ a second from the fourth rank and that is clear and evident in the judgment of the sound quaternary, so its total with the weight is two dirhams and four daniqs. Dryness is deficient in the red and its completion is with the weight seven; and that is because it wanted to be an eighth rank or eight first ranks and the total of all is one and it is nine dirhams and four daniqs, so what was required to be dropped from it by the letters that are in the word itself dropped from it, and that is two dirhams and four daniqs, so there remains from nine and four daniqs seven dirhams; so it is necessary that it increase in it so that it reaches the part that is needed for it.

p. 173 (leaf n178)

And according to this example every thing in the world ought to be weighed by the Balance. As for the correspondence of heat in it to moisture in the red Tincture, were it not for that the dryness would not overcome the moisture by its abundance, since the measure of dryness is much greater than the measure of moisture ٣. Likewise the reverse of the statement holds for the white, for were it not for the correspondence of dryness to coldness in it, moisture would overcome dryness. The meaning of equality is that it occurs by proximity to it, not in the place of difference, I mean in their opposition or the distance that ٦ is between the circumference and the centre. Were it not for this equality, so that heat overcomes in the red as must needs be, and dryness likewise is overcoming, it would come out volatile like all else that is worked in this way. Since the most balanced is not volatile, just as it is likewise not fluid ٩, it is necessary that it be the thing that is between all, and it is like the three Bodies which are Gold and Silver and Copper in the measure of softness and hardness, I mean from the Stones. As for from other than Stone, whether according to what is likewise made the most balanced, then it ١٢ requires investigation and probing. That is because every * animal and its members are solid, the most balanced is the solid; if they are all fusible, the most balanced is that they be fusible; if they are soft, it is likewise so; and likewise if they possess that same ١٥ quality, the worked thing is like them. But if they are not all thus [and if they were thus] it would not be necessary that it be described as most balanced,

p. 174 (leaf n179)

For if it were so, no animal would come from it. And since every organ of it is self-subsistent, each one of them is also more balanced in its essence. It is therefore clear and evident ٣ that gold too is not the most balanced of the bodies; rather, the people of the Work made it the most balanced of them only because they profited by it. Likewise, if they had profited by copper or lead, they would have made it the most balanced and would have directed their regimens toward it. By necessity, then, it is most balanced only on account of ٦ utility, nothing else. It follows that one must proceed in what we have sought; for you may need to transfer that which is most balanced to what is not most balanced. For if we were entirely lacking in copper, yet found silver and gold in excess of need, and necessity ٩ called for copper—gold being the most balanced and copper the disturbed—we would need to transfer gold, which is the most balanced, to copper, which is the disturbed; thus that necessity would be binding. Likewise we say: the matter is not more balanced by its relation to ١٢ paper, because utility by the former is greater than by paper. But each thing must be given its due from the Balances so that some of them may be transferred to others, if God Most High wills. It is necessary—may God preserve you—to regulate the Balance of these bodies. By the truth of ١٥ my master, I have already produced these figures and what is needed with them, together with the first figure, which contains the matter of the Natures and the ranks and what is below them. It follows that you should know that. I have adduced this only to make easy for you all that is needed in the science of the Balance, and I—

p. 175 (leaf n180)

If God Most High wills — I begin by showing you the cause in the Balance of the Elixir with the completion of the seven forms of the Stones, which are six forms, and this shall be the division of this Book. And I shall make clear in the first part after this — and it is the third of them — how the mixing by the Art occurs ٣ and how the waxing occurs all at once. And by the truth of my lord, if you have read the Book of Definitions together with these four books of mine, I shall not leave you ignorant of anything of the Balances in the upper and lower things except the Art of the animal and the vegetable, ٦ and this exists in its places in other books. Therefore it behoves you — may God preserve you — not to oppose what I enjoin upon you, and to act by it so that you may attain — by the truth of my lord — what you seek shortly, without hardship or trouble; and I hope that God will make that easy for you ٩ if God wills. Let us now take up the matter of the Balance of the Elixir by the letters as we mentioned it in the Book of the Court of the Intellect, if God Most High wills. We say, and in God is aid: Verily ١٢ we have already set forth in the treatises what suffices to make known what the Elixir is. And that is that what is known in that is that the root seventeen is divided into two parts, either [to] red or white; and if it is red, the hot dry overcomes, and if it is white ١٥ the cold moist overcomes. And the sum of that by the Work is nineteen dirhams and five.

p. 176 (leaf n181)

Doctrines upon the sound opinion in which there is no corruption. In our example are similitudes indicating the seventeen, whether they precede or follow, whether they decrease or increase; it is necessary that ٣ you know that the root in them is one. Because heat, wherever it is, is heat, and cold, wherever it is, is cold, and likewise in moisture and dryness, and that is because none of these is predicated of another. ٦ An example of that is that none is predicated of one among b, c, or d, and likewise b is not predicated of one among a, c, d, and likewise c is not predicated of one among a, b, d, and likewise d is not predicated of one among a, b, c; the distinction we wish to show you has become clear. ٩ If you wish that some of a corrupt and become b, and likewise c and d, on condition that you make a, b, c, and d from the secondaries which are fire, air, water, and earth, it is my opinion that some of these compounds alter. ١٢ We have already treated this exhaustively in the Book of the Dispensation; the way has become clear, so analogize upon it, if God Most High wills. And that is from the aspect that when we make the letters [٣٧٧] as we have mentioned ١٥ b and c a d ʿ d s or r s a d ʿ b d and c or a d ʿ and r s c b or a d ʿ d s * r b and c or other than these letters, the figure will be upon + non-straightness +, for alif is never save for heat, just as baʾ is never save for cold. Wherever you find a letter from

p. 177 (leaf n182)

These letters, therefore bind to it what belongs to it from the Nature, [so that] you hit the way, if God Most High wills. The place of difference also is only in advancing these letters and delaying them. So whatever we have found where we have advanced its heat at the beginning of its spelling, know that it is for whiteness, ٣ and whatever you have seen us where we have delayed its heat at the end of its spelling, it is for redness; likewise the statement concerning coldness, moistness and dryness. So know that [ ] in the seventeen and in the nineteen and five daniqs reaches what you love by the power of God, if God Most High wills. ٦ Even if we wished to bring forth from only four letters it would be permissible, like a b j d, and we place ١ in the first ranks or the second, and we place baʾ in the first ranks or the second. An example of that: if it is for redness, then alif is in the second rank and baʾ in the first rank, ٩ and the reverse of that for whiteness. And we place j only in the third ranks or the fourth, and we place d likewise; if it is for redness, mj is in the fourth rank and d in the third, and if it is for whiteness then the reverse of that. So it is necessary that you know that and arrange what you have seen of ١٢ the letters likewise. And perhaps there is an addition in them, so it is necessary that you cast it away and project it, I mean like small parts, so it is necessary that you project it. Only such small parts are brought ١٥ for bewildering and confusing; so the correct procedure is what we have said.

p. 178 (leaf n183)

And not every power falls upon it, and it is with him from one thing whenever he does not make from it and that is driven upon it vainly. And he claimed that the Balance is only a thing possible in the small and great operations, and that the small does not enter into the division of the great and the great does not enter into the division of the small; these are problems which Balinas has mentioned. So if his opinion is according to what he received from one who has erred he has hit the mark, and if it is otherwise than that then it is permissible that he hit and that he miss, because he did not explain the meaning of his statement. And whatever thing he intended by it, he only gave a summary. And the aspect with me concerning it is that he intended that the small thing deserved to be given the small from the Natures as long as it did not need the great thing. So when the great is given it is vain, and likewise the great whenever the small is given to it it is vain or it is not completed; and this is sound by analogy. And likewise we say: it is necessary that we fulfill these things their rights and work in them with what they need until they are completed, if God Exalted wills. And let us take up what we began with concerning the Balance of the bodies, and we say, and in God is success: It is necessary — may God grant you success — that you know that these Stones are different, and were it not for that they would all be one thing; so this is from nearness. And among them is what exceeds seventeen and among them is what falls short of it and among them is what equals it. And if you study a thing from

p. 179 (leaf n184)

The things, so you find it equal to seventeen; therefore add nothing to it and subtract nothing from it. This is almost of the category of the impossible on account of the severity of its difficulty. If you find a thing exceeding seventeen, reduce it proportionally until it reaches ٣ seventeen, for then it becomes proportional and straight, and becomes like that difficulty which is almost never found; so know that and act upon it. If you find a thing deficient in the Balance below seventeen, complete it so that it becomes like that difficult thing which we said ٦ does not almost exist, and act upon it [٧٧], for that is the correct method, if God wills. As for how that is and how you increase it, it is in the fourth part of these books, which is the completion of knowledge, so it is necessary that you examine it. Do not tarry from studying ٩ the Definitions, for it is what leads you to everything you desire, if God wills. It is incumbent upon you, my brother, in all that you study, to study the science of the Image, which is what continually speaks to you from the form; for if you do not work according to an example, either standing ١٢ in your soul or as the imagination of your eye and your soul, nothing will be perfected for you and you will be like the experimenter who does not know what he does nor what results for him, so his work is not to be relied upon. This — may God preserve you — is a thing not to be relied upon, because you do not know whether it comes out for you corrupted ١٥ or sound or otherwise, and this is the absurd. Therefore it is necessary that you imagine this figure in all things whatsoever into which reasoning and the rule of speculation enter.

p. 180 (leaf n185)

Consider it therefore: a necessitating [cause] [that is] possible [or] impossible (٢), and judge what was in the first extreme according to what belongs to it, and the second by [saying] that it may be possible that it is and it may be possible that it is not, ٣ and the third by its invalidity and that it may be possible that it is imagined in the Intellect and it may be possible that it is not imagined in the Intellect, if God the Exalted wills.

p. 181 (leaf n186)

Now let us take up the figures and represent them according to the form set down, and it is this: [diagram with corner labels: made / making / matter / agent, center: gold]. (Bitterness) fifth from the first rank, its amount being one carat by the weight, and one degree from the second rank, its amount by the weight being one dirham and a half. The rule of the heat is that it be three times the cold, the sum of that being seventeen dirhams and a half; there fell from it what the letters produced, one dirham and a half and one carat, leaving sixteen dirhams less one carat. (Cold) third rank, its cold amount by the weight according to the requirement of the true rule five dirhams and five daniqs. (Moisture) its moisture comes out by the fifth, which is twenty-nine dirhams and one daniq; when that is divided among the ranks and what is beneath them, three fourth ranks and one first rank, and peace. (Dryness) its dryness comes out by the fifth, which is forty-six and four daniqs; when that is divided among the ranks and what is beneath them it is five fourth ranks or forty first ranks, or however this division is portioned it comes out proportional.

p. 182 (leaf n187)

And this — may God grant success — must necessarily increase or decrease, for it has been obtained in gold at that time that it is from the excesses. It is also necessary that you know [that] the meaning of our saying “excess or deficiency” even though we have already said that it is at seventeen as previously mentioned, and that is either at the Elixir — may God grant success. And that is because the Elixir is like our seventeen, and if it is in these divisions that which has seventeen it is necessary that it perform the operation of the Elixir, and this is scarcely possible. So if a seeker wishes the gold to become like the Elixir he must reduce from each one of its elements according to what is necessary until there remains in the gold seventeen whose weight is nineteen dirhams and five daniqs and he projects the remainder. Likewise if a seeker wishes to transfer the gold to the coppery nature he knows the weight of copper or then knows the weight of gold and whichever of the two exceeds the other; if the gold exceeds he reduces until it reaches the measure of the copper, and if the copper exceeds he increases in the gold until it reaches the limit of the copper, and it has necessarily been that gold is greater than copper, and likewise the reverse of this statement. Would that I knew how this is accomplished for you when you do not know the limits and do not stand upon them. Likewise if you wish to transfer it to silver or silver to it then it is necessary that you operate upon it as we have said, and likewise every body to every body.

p. 183 (leaf n188)

(bitterness) A third heat from the first rank, its amount by the balance being, according to what correct consideration requires, one and a half; the rule of the heat is that it be in the whitening of the first rank and its amount is one dirham and one daniq; there fell from it what the letters extracted, one daniq and a half; there remained five daniqs and a half of heat. (coldness) A fifth of the second rank, its amount by the balance being, according to what sound consideration requires, one and a half; the rule of the coldness is that it be of the second rank or one-third of the ranks of the first, whichever you wish, amounting to three dirhams and a half; subtract from it what the letters extracted, one daniq and a half; there remained three dirhams and a quarter of coldness. (dryness) It comes out by the fifth and its amount is nine dirhams and two daniqs; it is necessary to add all of it because nothing of it came out for us in its spelling; and peace. (moisture) It comes out by the fifth and its amount is five dirhams and five daniqs; it is necessary to operate with what is operated in the chapter of dryness, if God Most High wills.

p. 184 (leaf n189)

And the soundness of the dimensions depends on each one of these bodies, and the meaning of the dimensions — may God keep you — is the lengths and the widths and the depths. And the center in itself — may God keep you — I mean if it is singular like the point which is in geometry ٣ which has no length and no width and no depth, and it is an intelligible thing not a sensible one, but when it is compounded it becomes a sensible thing. And likewise everything that is taken, it is only taken intelligibly, ٦ and they are the universals which are the species of the sensibles and the sensibles are their individuals, I mean by their being the species of the sensibles that they comprise all their sensibles except by the meaning by which the species a species of the genus which is + it disposes that the species is comprised with its likes by the genus and in the genus. And likewise the surfaces, it is necessary that they be depended upon to be like the surfaces of the product, and let it be a body and the body is not except visible. And as for the simples, they are never like the surfaces since the lines are only ١٢ lengths without widths, and this likewise comprises what is under the intellect not what goes out to sense. And this — may God keep you — we only mean by it what is compounded from the non-existent, but from body to body the judgment concerning it is that it is manifest to sense ١٥ and what enters upon it likewise is manifest to sense from it. So know that and measure upon it, if God the Exalted wills. And if you desire the completion of all that — I mean the sensible and the intelligible — then upon you is the Book of Definitions, so understand and persist in its study, you will attain by it what you desire, ١٨ if God the Exalted wills.

p. 185 (leaf n190)

(Bitterness) first degree its heat in measure one dirham and one daniq. And the rule ٣ concerning the heat is that there be added to it first another degree and its amount is one dirham and one daniq, ٦ and another minute its heat in measure two daniqs and a half, so that the total be ٩ two dirhams and four daniqs and a half until it is balanced. ١٢ (Coldness) four degrees of coldness. And in this there is disagreement; it was said: from ١٥ the first degree, and this is an error; rather it is the fourth degree and that is the correct one. ١٨ And its measure is nine dirhams and two daniqs. ٢١ (Dryness) its dryness is second from the second degree in measure one dirham. And the rule ٢٤ of the dryness is that there be added to it the completion of five degrees and it becomes five dirhams and five ٢٧ daniqs; one dirham is removed from it, leaving four dirhams and five daniqs. ٣٠ (Moistness) third from the third degree in measure one dirham and a quarter. The rule ٣٣ of the moistness is that there be eight degrees and their amount is nine dirhams and two daniqs; ٣٦ one dirham and a quarter is removed from it, leaving eight dirhams and one qirat. So it is necessary that you add or ٣٩ the reverse of that.

p. 186 (leaf n191)

It is necessary that you know that the simple alone is that which has length and breadth without depth. And among the simples there is a simple which has no terminations of lines and it is finite in its shape depth. ٣ I mean the spherical simple, for it has no terminations so that they would be to lines or to other than them, but for the body receptive of it there are terminations which are the finitude of the surface of the sphere. ٦ So if the figures which generally apply to the sphere are spherical this is their ruling, and if they are contrary to that then contrary to that. As for the simples which are not spherical, among them are simples cutting spheres and among them are simples of balanced surfaces. And the balanced surfaces are those whose all common sections separating them are upon straightness of straight lines. ٩ As for the simples of sphere-cuttings, they have terminations of arc lines, and the arc ones are terminations of circle sections. As for the simple of the circle, its lines are arc or arc >and< chord together. And this △ is an example of the simple possessing straight lines and it is either a triangle or other than it, non-circular, a simple possessing straight lines ١٢ and this ⌒ is an example of the single arc lines, and this ⌒ is an example of the arc and chord common circle simples. As for the balanced simples ١٥ if their terminations, when they are from non-arcs, are straight lines. So when the terminations of the balanced simples, whether spherical or not, are gathered as straight or arc lines, then all existents do not fail to be formed by one of these three figures ١٨ — I mean the plants and the animals and the Stone — and each one of them has one of them.

p. 187 (leaf n192)

Perhaps the straight [line] belongs to the animal and the curved and the straight to the plant. Yet this is not a single judgment; rather, if someone were to say that the curved and straight shapes return to the animal and the plant, perhaps that would be true or what is closest to the truth, for it is a thing not fully obtained. This lies outside the definition of shape, because its meaning that indicates it is that the perfect shape is that which is enclosed by a single boundary or by several boundaries, unlike the circle, for its boundary is only a shape enclosed by a single line, since the circular cannot be known where its line began, as is known in the triangle, the square, the pentagon, the angles and others; rather, it is known that the circular is in the relation of the straight lines that proceed from it to the boundary of that shape, and they are equal, and this is not the case in what is other than the circular. People differed regarding the Balance of tin, in divergent ways; some of them said: We weigh it upon the fact that its name is tin. The Stoics said: No, rather it is lead, since its brother bears the name of lead. A group of Empedocles said: No, rather we weigh it upon Zeus, because it is most balanced in its nature and that is its meaning. A group of Pythagoras said: It is Jupiter and by the nature of Jupiter; we do not weigh it except upon the name of Jupiter, because it is its companion, its regulator and its generator, and it has no name other than it. As for Socrates, he judged it upon Zeus, and this is close to the truth. Balinas said: It is tin, and its weight is from it, and it has no name other than it. The Peripatetics said: We weigh it upon our statement “hot moist,” because it has no name in its stead.

p. 188 (leaf n193)

on its Nature. I myself do not choose in all these times anything like our saying “Zawus,” for if we turn from it, it is moist quicksilver. What I mention concerning its form is only upon ٣ Zawus, because our saying “qalʿi” indicates something other than its name, and our saying “qasdir” is also good, because these names, even if they differ in tongues, everyone who expresses them in a tongue seeks only the meaning in it; so know that and build upon it all your procedures. Read the Book of Definitions and the way will become clear to you from near at hand, by the truth of ٦ my master, the blessings of God be upon him. This is the figure of the form of qalʿi and the weight of what is in it; so examine it well and examine its brother at length and you will find what is in you, if God Most High, He alone, wills.

p. 189 (leaf n194)

٣(Coldness) a degree from the third rank, its measure two dirhams and a half; the rule of the Coldness is that it be two-thirds of a second rank whose measure is two dirhams and two daniqs (in the original: and four daniqs). Know that; so add to it or subtract from it, if God the Exalted wills.

٦(Bitterness) a second rank whose measure is > three dirhams and a half; the rule of the Heat is that it be three times < two dirhams and two daniqs, so its heat is complete, either by adding to it what is needed for redness or for whiteness according to the proportion, if God the Exalted wills.

٩(Moisture) it emerges by conjecture, and it is five ranks first and five ranks first, thus ten ranks first for redness and its measure eleven dirhams (in the original: ten dirhams) and four daniqs.

١٢(Dryness) a degree from the first rank whose measure, according to the rule of sound consideration, is half a dirham > and < a second from the fourth rank whose measure is two dirhams and four daniqs; the rule of the Dryness is that it be two ranks and four whose measure is eighteen dirhams and four daniqs; there fell from that what emerged by the subtraction, which is three dirhams and one daniq; the remainder after that, of what must be added, is fifteen dirhams and a half.

p. 190 (leaf n195)

(Bitterness) there comes out by the Balance five of its measures: one dirham and one daniq; so let it be increased, if God wills. Some have asserted that it is by the reverse of that, that is, that heat’s rule is to be like coldness and coldness like heat, and moisture like dryness and dryness like moisture; so know that. (Coldness) a scruple from the third rank; its measure shall be two dirhams and one qirat; and there is added to it the full third of the first ranks, which is one dirham and two daniqs and a half, and it shall be second from the second rank and a scruple from the first rank. (Moisture) a degree from the first rank and its measure shall be half a dirham; and in it a second rank of moisture whose measure shall be three dirhams and a half; and there is need of moisture up to one dirham and five daniqs — and it shall be second from the second rank and fourth from the third rank — so that it becomes a third rank or five first ranks, if God wills. (Dryness) there comes out by the Balance five of its measures: a fourth rank or eight from the first; its measure shall be nine dirhams and two daniqs.

p. 191 (leaf n196)

٣(Bile) comes out by the fifth and it is a first degree and a third of a first degree, and the amount of the degree is one dirham and one daniq and the amount of the third is two daniqs and two grains and two-thirds of a grain, if God the Exalted wills.

٦(Coldness) a minute from the second degree, its amount one dirham and a quarter, and a third degree coldness and its amount five dirhams and five daniqs, if God the Exalted wills.

٩(Dryness) a step from the first degree, its amount half a dirham, and a third from the fourth degree and its amount two dirhams. It needs increase so that it becomes a third degree and it is five dirhams and five daniqs. There fell from it what the spelling required, which is two dirhams and a half; there remains a third of a dirham and a third, and the increase of a third of a third degree becomes one dirham and five daniqs and a half; thus that is five dirhams and a quarter.

١٢(Moistness) comes out by the fifth and it is a fourth degree and a third of a fourth degree, and the fourth degree is nine dirhams and a third and two-thirds of three dirhams and a ninth. Thus it is necessary that there be added or subtracted from it, if God the Exalted wills.

p. 192 (leaf n197)

[280] I have already made clear the places of addition in it and of omission from it, so one must cast the superfluities from it and proceed with the operations in a straight manner. And one must know ٣ that if thou dost not know these books with what is in them, the Work will not be completed for thee, because the garb of the desired thing in it is scanty; and already — and truly — my lord — I have spared thee the burden of toil and hardship and exertion in the regimen and the worthless operations and what perishes in them of lifespans ٦ and moneys until something sound is seen in them; and also their return is to the science of the Balances. And if thou fearest God and continuest the study, what thou desirest will come forth for thee; but if thou art not the other, then do not weary thy soul, for by God it will not come to thee save by study and the gathering ٩ of the principles in which are the sciences. And we have already fully supplied for thee in the first part of these books what is needed of the matter of spelling and the additions and what is added and dropped from them. >As for< this part, we have already encompassed the discourse on the matter of the Balances of the Stones ١٢ that are fixed, and how heat and cold and moisture and dryness are also divided upon the degrees and the steps and the minutes and the seconds and the thirds and the fourths and the fifths, and how the degrees and what is below them are divided upon the weights by the pages, and how the Balance ١٥ of the Elixir and the composition of the letters for it [and] if a man wishes to add to them or to diminish from them. As for knowledge of the devices for them and the mixtures, it is in the third part, just as we have informed thee, and the accompanying and its ordering, and what occurs in its beginning and its middle and in

p. 193 (leaf n198)

its end and other than that, and how it is in the protracted period and why that is, and how it is possible for the human being to perform that all at once and in a single operation so that the thing which is in the brief period equals the thing which is in the long period, ٣ and God is the one who grants success and guidance. In this book there is of utility in the practice and the craft—I mean the third of these parts—that description falls short of, and it is—by the right of my master—complete, not encoded, and nothing in the world is needed for it from our books nor from the books of others except the Book of Limits, for there is no book in the world that is not in need of the Book of Limits. And we mention at the end of these parts, which is the fourth of them, the Balances of the four other Stones from the eight ٩ that we mentioned in the Book of Tasrif, and how is the aspect of increase [and how is the aspect of decrease] in what you want of increase and the decrease of what needs decrease, and how the most balanced thing is, and whether a thing balances and whether what balances is like it or not, ١٢ or how that is, and whether the two substances are one proportionate thing or a differing, disparate thing. And if we have come to the like of this, then no remainder remains in the world that needs it, and peace. And it is necessary that you place before your eyes the matter of the simple bodies that we have mentioned ١٥ and others whether they exist or do not exist. For of that is that what two limits encompass produces nothing and is false, because what is relied upon of the premises in this Art are the premises needed in the science of geometry, and it is seven ١٨

p. 194 (leaf n199)

Premises, and they are: the report, the example, the contrary, the order, the distinction, the demonstration, and the completion. For the report is the affirmative or negative statement advanced to display the object of desire before certainty, because certainty occurs at the end of the matter. As for the example, it is the drawing of the forms of the figures of the operations of this Work and of all its subjects which the report has preceded, and they are that which is said to be the thing signified by the meaning of the report. As for the contrary, it is the corruption from the error of the one who performs the regimen, because he diverts the report from its direction to that which is impossible in the posited [case] and it is permissible that it be conceived or that it not be conceived. As for the order, it is the arrangement of the statement in conveying the demonstration of the report, that is, the arrangement of these operations and the teaching first first so that the matter proceeds according to [proper] method, for whatever passes in it from its first to its third without the mediation of its second between them is certainly nullified and becomes corrupt, even if it were completed with the transgression of the order; so know that and do not transgress it. As for the distinction, it is the difference between the possible report and the impossible one, and we have already taught you that in more than one of our books, to the point that we said: Man is able to know whether the chapter of the Work is corrupt or sound from its concomitants, let alone from its performance, and this is the difference between the possible and the impossible; so know that. As for the demonstration, it is the establishing of the proof for the verification of the report which was at first the subject of this Work and of every

p. 195 (leaf n200)

the Work which you have performed or which you have been taught, so know that. As for the premiss, the conclusion that has resulted after testing from that prior part is either affirmative or negative, and truth and falsehood revolve around it; as for the affirmative, in all its parts or in some of them, it is false in ٣ the last or true, and likewise in the negative. Indeed — and truly — my master, the blessings of God be upon him, has established and I have disclosed and made clear, and I have not symbolized anything to you, so continue ٦ the study and you will reach what you desire, if God the Exalted, He alone, wills. [horizontal rule] The second part of the Book of Stones according to the opinion of Balinas is completed, and to God be praise and thanks, and I thank God for His great kindness in granting success for the completion of that with which it began and in which it was started, and praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds ٩

p. 196 (leaf n201)

It is necessary that you first understand something slight from the Work. And it is that you know what burns and what whitens and what congeals and what dissolves and what softens and what dries, and all of that according to the way of the Balance. And this is clear to you and evident in more than one of our books. And we have given a full account of much of it in al-Hasil and in Kitab al-Tasrif and al-Mizan, and from the hundred and twelve in our book known as Kitab al-Asbagh. And it is necessary that you know [that] the first Elements and the second and the third and the fourth and the accidents and their qualities, like fire and its sisters which are the second, and the third like the times, and the fourth like the black compounds + and the pure. And you consider how the receptivity of your Nature is, and how your disposition is in it, and how your innate disposition produces for it. For if you have seen

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