Transcript

from the remains of a very rare, ancient manuscript. It was written with large golden letters on a long, rolled-up parchment in the old monkish script. It was decorated with beautifully painted and partially gilded figures that represented the ancient Temple of Wisdom.

Note: In the intervening time, a foreign hand of a more recent period had added several passages from Holy Scripture.

A special stroke of luck allowed me to copy it.

THE ANCIENT TEMPLE OF WISDOM BY F. GOTTFRIED, CANON OF STENDAL, SACRED TO THE MOST HOLY FATHER BENEDICT OF THE HOLY CHURCH.

The ancient temple of wisdom, whose sanctuary it is a crime to approach with unwashed hands, reflects the concave form of heaven, resting on seven columns. Wisdom of Solomon 7:17, 21, 22.

On the front of the temple, the key to the entrance is bound with a Gordian knot and reveals the command: Know Thyself original Greek: "το ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ". Indeed, the eternal fate of wisdom has hidden the greatest treasures within man. 1 Corinthians 1:28.

In the middle of the temple, a winged goddess with seven breasts is seen. Above her head hangs the sun, and the moon lies beneath her feet. Song of Solomon 5:10-11. Clasping a cornucopia in her left hand and holding a mercurial caduceus in her right, she points with her index finger to a fountain flowing from herself. She seemed to signal that one must draw from here: Job 28:4. The water of life truly costs nothing.