Zosimus, Act IIΖωσίμου πρᾶξις βʹ
Zosimus of Panopolis Zosimus, Act II PDF
Act II is an alchemical treatise written in Greek by Zosimus of Panopolis around 300 CE. It forms part of his larger, mostly lost corpus known as the Authentic Memoirs. The work is structured in five passages and blends precise technical instructions with spiritual allegory. It details practical laboratory operations such as distillation and the use of specific apparatus, while also expounding foundational alchemical theories, including the composition of metals from sulfur and mercury. A central theme is the pursuit of the "divine water" or philosopher's stone, conceived as the ultimate agent of material and spiritual transformation.
Composed in late Roman Egypt, a period of significant religious and philosophical syncretism, the treatise synthesizes earlier craft knowledge with Gnostic and Platonic thought. Zosimus frames the purification and transmutation of metals as a direct analogy for the purification and liberation of the human soul, elevating the technical art into a spiritual discipline. The original Greek text does not survive intact. It is known only through fragments and excerpts preserved in later Byzantine manuscript compilations dating from the 7th or 8th century onward, as well as through Syriac and Arabic translations that transmitted his ideas into the Islamic world and subsequently to medieval Latin Europe.
| 2.116 | ΖΩΣΙΜΟΥ ΠΡΑΞΙΣ Β Μόλις ποτὲ εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ἐλθὼν τοῦ ἀναβῆναι τὰς ἑπτὰ κλί μακας καὶ θεάσασθαι τὰς ἑπτὰ κολάσεις, καὶ δὴ ὡς ἔχει ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν, ἤνυσα τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ ἀναβῆναι. Διελθὼν δὲ πολλάκις ἀνῆλθον ἔπειτα εἰς τὴν ὁδόν. Καὶ δὴ ἐν τῷ ἐπανέρχεσθαί με ἀπέτυχον πάσης ὁδοῦ, καὶ ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ πολλῇ γενόμενον, μὴ ἰδόντος μου πόθεν ἀπελθεῖν, . |
| 2.116 | ἐτράπην εἰς ὕπνον. Καὶ θεωρῶ κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον μου ξυρουργόν τινα ἀνθρωπάριον ἠμφιεσμένον στολὴν ἐρυθρὰν, καὶ βασιλικὴν ἐσθῆτα, κα ἱστάμενον ἔξω τῶν κολάσεων, καὶ λέγει μοι· «Τί ποιεῖς, ἄνθρωπε;» Ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔφην· «Ἵσταμαι ὧδε ὅτι πάσης ὁδοῦ ἀστοχήσας ὑπάρχω πλανώμενος.» Ὁ δὲ λέγει μοι· «Ἀκολούθει μοι.» Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐξελθὼν ἠκολούθουν αὐτῷ· πλησίον δὲ γενομένων τῶν κολάσεων, θεωρῶ τὸν ὁδηγοῦντα με, ἐκεῖνον ξυρουργὸν ἀνθρωπάριον· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐνεβλήθη ἐν τῇ κολάσει, καὶ ὅλον αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἐδαπανήθη ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρός. |
| 2.116 | Ἰδὼν ἐγὼ ἐξέστην καὶ ἐτρόμαξα ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου, καὶ διυπνίσθην, καὶ λέγω ἐν ἑαυτῷ· «Ἆρα τί ἐστι τὸ ὁρώμενον;» καὶ πάλιν διεσάφησα τὸν λόγον, καὶ διακρίνων ὅτι ὁ ξυρουργὸς ἐκεῖνος ἄνθρωπος ὁ χαλκάνθρωπός ἐστιν, [ἔχων] ἐσθῆτα ἐρυθρὰν ἐνδεδυμένος, καὶ εἶπον· «Καλῶς ἐπενόησα, οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ χαλκάνθρωπος· δεῖ δὲ πρῶτον ἐμβα λεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς τὰς κολάσεις.» Πάλιν ἐπεθύμησεν ἡ ψυχή μου τοῦ ἀναβῆναι καὶ τὴν τρίτην κλίμακα. Καὶ πάλιν μόνος τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπορευόμην, καὶ ὡς ἐγενόμην τῶν κολάσεων πλησίον, πάλιν ἐπλανήθην, μὴ εἰδὼς τὴν ὁδὸν, ἱστάμενος, ἀπονενοημένος. Καὶ πάλιν τῷ ὁμοίῳ τρόπῳ θεωρῶ πεπολιωμένον γηραιὸν λευκὸν πάνυ, ὥστε ἐκ τῆς πολλῆς λευκότητος αὐτοῦ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἀπεμαυρώθησαν. Τὸ δὲ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκαλεῖτο Ἀγαθοδαίμω ν . Καὶ στραφεὶς ὁ πεπολιωμένος ἐκεῖνος θεωρεῖ με ἐπὶ πλείστην ὥραν. |
| 2.117 | Ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτον ἐπεμελούμην· «Δεῖξόν μοι εὐθεῖαν ὁδόν.» Ὁ δὲ πρὸς . |
| 2.117 | μὲ οὐκ ἀνεστράφη, ἀλλ’ ἤνυσεν τὴν ὁδὸν αὑτοῦ σπουδαίως· καὶ διερχόμενος δὲ ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν ἤνυον σπουδαίως τὸν βωμόν. Ὡς οὖν ἤνυσα ἄνω ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ, θεωρῶ τὸν πεπολιωμένον γηραιὸν, καὶ ἐνεβλήθη ἐν τῇ κολάσει. Ὦ οὐρανίων φύσεων δημιουργοὶ, εὐθὺς ὅλος ὑπὸ τῆς φλογὸς πυρίφλεκτος γέγονεν· ὃν καὶ τὸ διήγημα, ἀδελφοὶ, φρικτόν· ἐκ γὰρ τῆς πολλῆς βίας τῆς κολάσεως οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ πλήρεις αἵματος γεγόνασιν. Ἐπηρώτησα δὲ λέγων αὐτὸν· «Τί ἐνταῦθα κατάκεισαι;» Ὁ δὲ μόλις ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὑτοῦ ἔφη μοι· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ μολυβδάνθρωπος καὶ βίαν ὑπομένω ἀφόρητον.» Καὶ οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ πολλοῦ φόβου διυπνίσθην, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἠρεύνων τοῦ πράγματος. Καὶ πάλιν διέκρινα καθ’ ἑαυτὸν καὶ εἶπον· «Καλῶς ἐπενόησα ὅτι οὕτως δὴ ἐκβαλεῖν τὸν μόλυβδον, καὶ ἀληθῶς τὸ ὅραμά ἐστιν περὶ τῆς συνθέσεως τῶν ὑγρῶν.» |