Æs Philosophorum hydropicum est, & vult lavari septies in fluvio, ut Naaman leprosus in Jordane

Michael Maier, 1618 “Æs Philosophorum hydropicum est, & vult lavari septies in fluvio, ut Naaman leprosus in Jordane.” Atalanta Fugiens, Emblema XIII, page 61, the motto printed over the engraving.

Symbolica, 2026 Maier’s Latin, put into English here: The philosophers' brass wants washing seven times in the river.

Michael Maier, 1618 “Prae tumido languens aes turget hydrope Sophorum,
Inde salutiferas appetit illud aquas.
Utque Naman Jordane leprae contagia movit,
Abluitur lymphis terque quaterque suis:
Ergo praecipites in aquam tua corpora dulcem,
Moxque feret morbis illa salutis opem.” Atalanta Fugiens, Epigramma XIII, page 61, the six lines printed under the engraving.

Symbolica, 2026 Maier’s epigram, put into English here: The copper of the Sages, sick, swells with a bloated dropsy, and so it seeks out healing waters. As Naaman drove off the taint of leprosy in the Jordan, and is washed three and four times in its waters, so throw your bodies headlong into the sweet water, and it will soon bring the help of health to their sickness.

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1. Primary motif
2. 1The Waterthe river the bather sits beside, with the town on its far bank

The bather in the river, a walled town on the far bank. By eye

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