Le tableau des riches inventions qui sont representees dans le songe de Poliphile

...curious, and there is much more to it: you should consider yourself very fortunate to have found this place, which is almost unknown to the world. I recognize that the sovereign Archee the ruling vital principle or Architect my father has led you here, after having introduced you to the legitimate paths that lead to this desirable cave. And to tell the truth, it is not easy to arrive here so opportunely, no matter how much effort one employs. Furthermore, truly having the favor of my father’s will, which I follow exactly, I would communicate nothing to you without this good fortune. Now know that my father alone has given me all the intelligence that I wish to share with you, and no one can have access to the holy limits of the great secret except by means of the ordinary tradition. This tradition is now held as if attached to the tongue of the wise Oboel a symbolic name for a keeper of secret wisdom, who today has his dwelling far removed from the regions where the curious travel. He keeps himself hidden in the winding recesses of the grotto of LITIE Lethe or Oblivion, and it is not easy to approach him, especially in his current mood, being pressed by the regret he feels that malice reigns so much in the world. He laments that malice has more credit and authority than goodness, which formerly was the nurse of noble hearts who kept it busy with legitimate occupations. For this cause, I see a misfortune that, being quite shaken, is ready to fall and cause a most prejudicial damage: if Oboel persists in his disastrous opinion, as it seems he will, this beautiful chain of cabale secret oral tradition would be broken to the detriment of good intentions. Foreseeing this, the great Archee, who takes pity on benign souls, has remedied it, so that by means of a new link, it might remain for the relief and consolation of faithful hearts. For this reason, he permitted me to surprise him while he slept and to snatch his memory, which I extracted from him. I read there, as in a painting, all his doctrine and remembrance regarding the affairs of the excellent Olo-cliree Total Glory, representing the lady Polia, who is, as I know, O dear ally, the unique object of your affections. I then applied this memory to my own intelligence; having received the entire impression of what was in that abundant memory, I put it back in its place before he woke from his sleep. This is how there is a way to restore what was about to be lost, for he would have extinguished with his life the knowledge he possessed, which perhaps could never have been recovered from the folds where oblivion would have eternally wrapped it. Having given us this salutary discourse, she led us further into the Palace of Prudence, and showed us several symbols of the mysteries most admired by the laborious ones who sigh day and night after philosophical sweetness: as much for the eternal memory due to the father of the sages, as to attract

hearts capable of instruction. The figures that we saw had been preserved according to the statutes of the first Doctors. On the left side is the figure of the Patriarch likely referring to Hermes Trismegistus or Adam as the first alchemist, who was the first among mortals to practice the occult encounters of the science of perfection. The appearance that we shall describe original: "deduirons" will perhaps enable the following and progress of the same true subjects that we have to propose. The seat of this great Philosopher was represented by a beautiful marble worked in Mosaïque mosaic style and spotted with mosaic gold, of which Jupiter, King of Crete, was formerly the inventor. We shall see it according to its design in the hermitage of the Maiden, if God grants us the grace to lead you there. Inside resided peacefully the venerable image of a beautiful old man, having a long beard in the Nazarienne Nazirite fashion. The rest followed in both features and grace. From his mouth spoke a crescent moon, whose horns pointed toward Heaven; at the bottom and between his feet, we noticed the figure of the Sun. His robe is extended here and there according to the majesty of the drapery that serves as ornament to his magnificence. This representation holds in its arms upon its knees the book of glory, strewn with flames and tears, in which the whole book is written. Such elements form the two exact intelligences containing the two hieroglyphic designs of the fatal Rainceau branch or scrollwork, which is naturally produced from two substances. This mystery made us attentive to seek where the opening of the volume was, which truly in this place was a real book, not a painting, and thus the only thing desirable. It was attached to the neck of the figure, hanging by a chain formed of the true gilded plate of the terre fueillee leafy earth, an alchemical stage of the sages. What incited us further to this first desire is one of the principal Sophismes Sophisms or riddles of the ancients, of which we learned a little, not yet to be enlightened by the truth, but to know what such Sophisms properly are. Through the good Nephés Vital Soul or Breath, they were interpreted to us as "True Lies" or "Lying Truths." And as we were attentive to these tears and flames, which we could not well understand, she told us this parable:

Whoever has sometimes seen the drop of mastic change, and by pressing it
makes a limpid tear come out, let him take heed and he will see, at the
prefixed time of the gentle pressure of the fire, a similar substance
issue from the philosophical subject: for as soon as its violet blackness
is excited for the second time, there will arise from it something like a
drop, or flower, or flame, or pearl, or other likeness of a precious
stone, which will be diversified until it flows in very clear whiteness,
which afterwards will be capable of clothing itself in the honor of
beautiful rubies and ethereal stones, which are the true fire of the soul
and light of the Philosophers.
She still had these beautiful words on her lovely lips when the great serpent Orthomandre the Spirit of the World or "Right-ruling" serpent leaped from his water, and causing a great noise, he drew us