Polygraphiae libri VI (Basel: Furter & Petri, for Haselberg, 1518)

Six Books of Polygraphy, by Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Saint James of Würzburg, formerly of Sponheim, addressed to Emperor Maximilian.

With grace and privilege of L. D.

Johannes Trithemius.

To the divine Emperor Maximilian: the letter of Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Saint James of Würzburg, on the Polygraphy.

I was wavering in mind, most unconquered Emperor Maximilian, and for some little while I doubted within myself whether I would be doing something worth the effort if I dedicated the volume of my Polygraphy to your imperial majesty. For among the great you are the greatest, among the more powerful the most powerful, and among all the wise by far the wisest; for that reason nothing should be inscribed to you unless it is great, nothing dedicated unless it has been elaborated with the highest learning. But I, having attained no, or little, literary learning, hesitated, not without reason, whether I ought to present my trifles to so great a majesty, since I am neither fit by talent to compose anything, nor adorned with the necessary charm of expression. For I know, and cannot deny, how scanty is my equipment, how untrained my talent, and how I have no vein of eloquence in speaking; for which reason, after due consideration, I paused for some time and feared to appear before your glorious majesty as an inept writer. For since after God you are by right lord of the world, it is no wonder if I, an unlearned man and the least of monks, fear the judgment of so great a majesty, and dread to offer those writings of mine which I know are not worthy of your hands. And while I was turning these matters over in my mind, a messenger arrived with letters sent by your highness, in which you summoned me to Cologne, the necessary expenses for the journey having already been sent through another. But when I had read again the letters of your serenity, confidence at once overcame shame, and consideration of your inborn gentleness drove fear away. For I know your disposition to be most mild: since you are the most modest of all, and are accustomed both to grow gentle toward the humble and to resist the proud. You do not know how to be vainly puffed up, nor, after the manner of tyrants, to despise the humble who are devoted to your highness; for just as on earth you have no way to become greater, so no envy will penetrate your mind. You are the greatest; you have also accomplished many and great things, no less bravely in peace than in war, by which you have both obtained an eternal name and are celebrated, with the reverence of highest honor, by the affection and favor of all your subjects. These are the riches of princes: the love and favor of the people, and doing justice to each person according to the commandment of the love of God. Since, therefore, all bear your name to the stars with praises, and all proclaim you most mild and most humane, there was no reason thereafter for me to suspect that you would be especially severe toward me, particularly when by a letter you deign to entice me to write. Thus, finally encouraged by weighing these things, I laid aside all fear, and great [unclear] concerning what is innate in you

Wolfgang Sedlius acquired me in the year of the Lord 1538.

I have taken confidence from your gentleness. For indeed, since all draw confidence from the fountain of your piety, why should I alone not approach trustfully? You, who are always merciful, mild, and pious to all, certainly cannot be cruel to me alone. Therefore, with that humility which is fitting, and which I both ought and am able to show, prostrate on the ground I approach the throne of your most excellent majesty; I devotedly offer the aforesaid work of Polygraphy; and I humbly commend my littleness to your serenity, as a servant to his lord. Now therefore, most merciful Caesar, receive the very small little gift which I bring; in it may you deign to weigh my mind, most subject to you, not its value. In the signs set beneath our Polygraphy, however, there are in certain places some mysteries wrapped in enigmas, lest the deeper meaning of the art which lies hidden should become manifest to the understanding of all. Just as not all things befit all people, so also not everything always suits everyone indiscriminately. There are therefore certain mysteries shut up here, which in my judgment can be more useful and more necessary to none than to princely men. For the more numerous the matters to which they attend, the greater caution of secrecy must be applied to their counsels. For this book teaches princes to command secrecy over their hidden affairs. But because your Caesarean majesty, occupied with many things, does not have time to examine those matters which lie wrapped in mysteries, lest you be deprived of the fruit of my labor, I have appended a little explanatory book of the whole work, which I have entitled the Key of Polygraphy; with it as guide you will more easily understand everything obstructed here by figures. May God preserve you unharmed for our salvation. I wrote this on the twenty-sixth day of the month of April, in the year of Christ 1508.

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Register or Index of the Works of Johannes Trithemius, first abbot of Sponheim, and afterwards of St. James at Würzburg.

Johannes Trithemius the abbot was born in the village of Trittenheim, in the diocese of Trier, on the banks of the river Moselle, on the first day of the month of February, at the eleventh hour and the thirtieth minute after noon, in the year of the Lord's nativity 1462, in the tenth indiction of the Romans; his father was Johannes von Heidenberg, and his mother was called Elisabeth von Longuich. This was, namely, the year in which the city of Mainz, in the dissension of two pontiffs, was captured, lost its liberty, and found servitude, many of its citizens having been driven into exile; it was the fourth current year of Pope Pius, the second of that name, and the twenty-second of Emperor Frederick III. In the year of the Lord 1482, however, in the monastery of Sponheim in the diocese of Mainz, on the first day of February, that is, on the day on which he had once been born, he put off the secular habit and there assumed the monastic habit under the rule of the divine father Benedict, according to the observance newly introduced. In the following year, which was the eighty-third above the four-hundredth and the thousandth, after Abbot Johannes von Colenhusen had been transferred by canonical postulation to Seligenstadt, Johannes Trithemius, by the common election of the brothers, was promoted and ordained abbot of the aforesaid monastery of Sponheim on the fourth day before the Kalends of July, and presided for twenty-three years, one month, and nineteen days. When these had elapsed, not without many labors, provoked by the rashness of certain rivals, he accepted the abbey of St. James at Würzburg, which was being offered to him, and of his own free will resigned Sponheim, full of useless cares. In both places he wrote several little works; of these, he recently recorded for me in his own hand on a sheet the works written below. When you have their titles from me, for the memory of our friend and teacher, you may hold it more firmly from consideration of such great labors of his. And first, indeed, I shall record the titles of those works which he laboriously composed while he was abbot at Sponheim. First of all he wrote the constitutions of his order, which were made in provincial chapters by order of the presidents, one book. On the Visitation of Monks, one book. On the Rule of Saint Benedict, two books. Homilies and Exhortatory Sermons to His Monks, two books, which he dedicated to his predecessor. On the Temptations of Cloistered Persons and the Remedies for Them, two books. To Nicolaus the Priest

the Mernicensem, On the Priestly Life, one book. Against the Private Property of Monks, one book. On the Vanity and Misery of This Life, one book. A penthic work, that is, a mournful one, On the Ruin of His Order, one book. On the Illustrious Men of His Order, four books. Praises of the Order of the Carmelite Friars, two books. To Gerlac, abbot of Deutz, Praises of Manual Writers, one book. To Johann Dalberg, bishop of Worms, On Ecclesiastical Writers, one book. On the Praises of Saint Anne, Grandmother of the Lord, one book. To the questions of Rutger Sicamber, canon of Dumetis, one book. Chronicle of His Monastery of Sponheim, a volume of no small size, one book. Chronicle or Annals of the Monastery of Hirsau, two large volumes. Chronicle of the Succession of the Dukes of Bavaria and Counts Palatine, to Philip, Count Palatine, prince-elector, one book. The Life of Saint Hirmina, Nun, First Abbess in Horrio, at Trier, one book. On the Misery of Cloistered Prelates, two books. Praises of Saint Andrew the Apostle, one book. Praises of Saint Joseph, Foster-father of the Lord, one book. Praises of Saint Benedict the Abbot, one book. Praises of the Monastic Life, one book. Praises of True Penitence, one book. Praises of the Study of the Divine Scriptures, one book. Monologue of a Man Devoted to God to Himself, one book. On the Miracles of Saint Mother Anne, one book. To Ulrich, canon of Cologne, On Questions on the Gospel of John, one book. To the same, On Questions of the Psalms, one book. To the presidents of the annual chapter concerning the Bursfeld Observance, he abridged the statutes of the same union, one book. Spiritual Exercise of Monks, one book. An epitome or breviary of the same, one book. On the Ecclesiastical Computus, one book. On the Illustrious Writers of Germany, to Jakob Wimpfeling of Sélestat, one book. Sponheim Letters to Various Persons, four books. Orations in chapters, twenty, which make one book. He wrote sermons to his brethren of the Sponheim monastery, forty in number and very fine, one book. Sermons to the people on feast days, one book. Several supplicatory prayers to God and the saints, one book. From the Greek language he translated into Latin Maximus the abbot On the Incarnation of the Lord. Also the anathemas of Saint Cyril, archbishop of Alexandria, against the heretics, promulgated in the third synod at Ephesus, and certain letters of the same synod. He also wrote, for the edification of monks, a notable work, which he entitled On the Threefold Region of Cloistered Persons, three books. He wrote certain other smaller works, the titles of which he did not indicate to me.

These, most beloved brother Nicholas, are the Trithemian little works which, while abbot for twenty-three years, he composed by lamplight at Sponheim, to the honor of God, amid cares and the continual occupation of household business, reading or writing day and night whenever he was able to steal leisure for himself. He brought into the Sponheim library the greatest treasury of books in every faculty during the years in which he presided over it, not only by the art of printing but also by the hand of scribes. For when I was with him for the space of one year, to learn Greek and Hebrew letters from him, I counted two thousand volumes in the library, of which at least eight hundred had been decently written with the pen on parchment and paper. I often heard from his mouth that he had paid out more than two thousand florins for books; he had not taken these from the substance of the monastery, which was always very meager, but, since he was known and dear to many princes, he paid out for books, for the most part, the gifts with which he was honored by them. For he is the greatest lover and guardian of books above all whom I know living in the flesh today. It is said by many, however, that his successor, who is now abbot in Sponheim, has alienated many volumes; whether this is true, certainly, is by no means established to me.

In the year of the Lord 1514, when a fierce war had broken out between the realm and Philip, count palatine, Trithemius, through fear of the enemy, with his library and the goods of the monastery, [went] to Kreuznach, the nearest town; and I likewise returned to my own affairs. But in the year 1506, in the month of October, Trithemius himself, spurred by the envy of certain men, accepted the abbacy of Saint James at Würzburg and resigned that of Sponheim. In quiet he writes various works, whose titles, when asked, he recently sent me as follows. To Maximilian Caesar he added a wonderful work, which he entitled Polygraphia, six books. To the same, a key to the same Polygraphia, one book. Answers to eight questions of the same Caesar, one book. To the same, on the seven intelligences that move the spheres, one book. To Joachim, margrave of Brandenburg, prince elector, twenty books of various questions, speeches, and propositions. To the same, on foreknowledge lawful and unlawful for a Christian, two books. To the same he wrote that wonderful and laborious work of Steganography, eight books; which that rash Bouillus, not understanding it, criticized most ignorantly and most falsely. To the same prince, a book of letters, one book. To the same, against malefactors and all arts and superstitions prohibited by the Church, five books. To the same, on the causes and cure of the falling sickness and of spells, three books. To Jacobus Trithemius, his brother, an itinerary of his life, two books. To Burghard von Horneck, physician, on the property of nuns, one book.

He wrote a history or annals on the origin, kings, and deeds of the people of the German Franks, three large volumes, beginning the narrative with King Marcomer, who in the four hundred thirty-third year before the incarnation of the Lord led the people from the borders of Scythia into Germany, to the mouths of the Rhine, down to the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth year of Maximilian Caesar. To Laurentius, bishop of Würzburg and duke of Eastern Franconia, he wrote an epitome or breviary of the histories of those same three volumes, three books. To the same, on the dukes and bishops of the Franks of Würzburg, one book. On the miracles shown at the memorial of Our Lady Saint Mary at Dettelbach, two books. On the miracles of the same shown in the nettle-grove at Heilbronn, six books. An apologetic work against Carolus Bouillus, who slandered things he did not understand, one book. On the origin and kings of the Franks, one book. A chronicle of his monastery, over which he now presides, of Saint James at Würzburg, one book. To Albert, of the margraves of Brandenburg, archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, the life of the divine Rabanus, arch-prelate, three books. On the translation of the same from Mainz into Saxony, one book. To Johann, count palatine and duke of Bavaria, count in Sponheim, residing at Simmern, on the origin, kings, and dukes of the Bavarians, together with the counts palatine of Sponheim, four books. He has in hand a laborious work on demons, profane arts, malefactors, and superstitious persons, which will have twelve books; in these he casts out, confounds, and overturns all the tricks of the diabolical arts. Of Würzburg letters, which he wrote in that abbacy, [unclear]: such as offices, a rosary, a missal office, various prayers, together with proses or sequences on Saint Anne, grandmother of our Savior. He wrote praises, prayers, and a rosary on Saint Mary Magdalene. A rosary on Saint Joseph, foster-father of the Lord. A rosary on Saint Peter the Apostle. A rosary on Saint John the Evangelist. At the request of Johann, archbishop of Trier, a sequence on Anne, which begins, Jesu coelorum regis, to the melody Ave praeclara. Another to be sung on her feast, which begins, Exultent in hac die. A third for the Carmelite province at Augsburg; it begins, Iubilemus in honore. A fourth on Saint Hildegard, virgin, which begins thus, Laus fit tibi rex aeternae gloriae. A fifth on Saint Rupert, duke of Bingen, which begins, Exultent in hac die. A sixth on Saint Joseph, foster-father of the Lord; it begins thus, Cantemus inclyti. A seventh on Saint Rabanus, archbishop.

The eighth, on the wounds of Christ, which begins thus: “Let us adore Jesus Christ; let us lament him crucified.” The ninth, on the compassion of blessed Mary ever virgin; and it begins thus: “Come, let us weep with devout mind, sharing the suffering of the blessed Virgin Mary,” namely to the melody “Ave praeclara.” The tenth, on Saint Joachim, father of our Lady, which begins thus: “Let us adore the Trinity, let us praise together the unity of Father, Son, and Spirit.” The eleventh, on each person’s own good angel. The twelfth, for the proper Mass of each priest. The thirteenth, on Saint Maximus, bishop of Mainz. The fourteenth, on Saint Martha, virgin, Christ’s hostess. The fifteenth, on Saint Mary Magdalene. The sixteenth, on Saint Mary of Egypt. The seventeenth, on Saint James the Greater, apostle. The nineteenth, on Saint Benedict, abbot. The twentieth, on All Saints. And of each of the named commemorations and saints, two [unclear].

The Mirror of Heavenly Doctrine, serving in no small degree the compunction of the mind, one book, which begins thus: “The beginning of human salvation.” Also many very devout meditations and prayers on our Lord Jesus Christ, on his most holy mother the Virgin Mary, and on various saints, composed with beautiful variety, together with very many other things, which all devout posterity will see and marvel at.

These, my dearest Nicolaus, are the volumes of our Abbot Trithemius, which for nearly thirty-two years he has worked out in continual study, apart from those which, not yet completed, are in hand under the anvil, unknown to me. Farewell; from my house at Duraclusium, the fifth day of October, in the year of our salvation one thousand five hundred fifteen. Johannes Duraclusius.

Here ends the index of the works of Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Saint James of Würzburg, from the letter of Johannes Duraclusius, his disciple, to Nicolaus Hamerius Emelanus.

Preface of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Saint James of Würzburg, in the Polygraphia, to Caesar Maximilian.

We have read that very many wise men of the ancients, philosophers, kings, and princes, once devised various and manifold methods by which they might safely entrust to messengers sent to more remote places the secrets of counsel, and whatever mystery of secrecy should occur to be confided; so that they might be fit in carrying them and safe from every assault of the wicked, lest either the simplicity of the cabalists should lay bare the mystery, or the innate curiosity of the bacucei should bring harm to apostolic affairs.

Great among these, Augustus Caesar of the Romans, desiring in difficult matters to use the service of messengers in a darkened way, changed the breathings of the conceived voice from clear things into obscure ones; their barbarousness, resisting his wishes, he made, by the dance of metathesis and by a beautiful invention, to agree at his nod. And that receptive and, as it were, perpetual order, nevertheless subject to will and to the account of time, although it preserves the messengers safe on the road from the assault of the bacucei, yet leaves them anxious for their own affair.

Archimedes of Syracuse, easily the chief mathematician, took a white bird suited to his instructions, bare at head and feet, and fastened it around to a staff cut into the form of a tetragon; and, the attendants having been arranged in due proportion, he entrusted the work to the winged instrument, until the image of the white bird appeared changed into a magpie. When this had been duly performed, he loosened what had been fastened with his own hand; and when he had allowed it to fly away, there suddenly occurred among the familiars of the inner chambers a great separation of appearances, and soon there arose the previously too-wandering monster of a twisted monastic image; at the sight of it no one was able to think what it was. Nor did the disagreement of the bubones come to rest before the image of the master had skillfully bound the magpie again with a similar tetragon.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, the eloquent orator, using talent and art, changed the small details of phrase into signs, and set the careful working, or character, of his will in place of the customary phrase. Indeed he used such abundance in this very novelty that his invention could suffice for almost all things in the world. To these heralds of mysteries, moreover, the institution of the art gave a marvelous agility, so that, beyond the nature of all things, they use solid steps of the feet, and not by small points or moments, but by whole degrees they observe the good will of the master. Their service a king can always use very safely, although not without great labor and the manifest suspicion of the bucachei.

But Cyprian, the most holy bishop and martyr of the church of Carthage, wishing to provide for the benefit of Christians, enlarged the very teachings of the Ciceronian institution by no small amount, and added what had been lacking to our customs. Pharamund also, the forty-third after Marcomer,

A most powerful king of the Franks in Germany, when, in the four hundred and twenty-fourth year of the Lord’s nativity, he powerfully entered the borders of the Gauls, in order that everything might be done safely, bound foreign minutiae to his secrets.

Clodius, also called Crinitus, the elder son of Pharamund, succeeding his father in the kingdom of the Franks, and after he had violently subjected all Gaul to his rule, ordered all the Gauls, as conquered slaves, to be shorn and shaved as to the beard; but the Franks, the victorious lords of the Gauls, he commanded to let the hair and beard grow. Hence he was called Crinitus. In imitation of his father, he wrapped the mysteries of his counsel in signs of his own and foreign ones.

Charles the Great, surnamed [unclear], the sixtieth king of the Franks after Marcomer, who first of the Franks ruled over the Romans, with Nanno the grammarian as his teacher, desiring to adorn the German language, which was his native tongue, with grammatical rules after the pattern of Latin, began an arduous work, which nevertheless, being entangled in many affairs and overtaken by death, he did not complete. He bound [bubones] with various, numerous minutiae; greater than him Brabant, or Namur in Germany, had not produced. To the individual prefects of the kingdom he assigned individual [bubones] by art.

The Northmen, having gone out from the borders of Gothia, when once they were cruelly devastating Gaul, summoned [bubones] from Greece and prepared a safe hiding-place for their secrets, which today is known to few. Our Bede, a monk in England, not ignorant of the deed of the Northmen, described many inventions of the ancients similar to these, by which they made bright the path that was dark with mysteries. He first commended artrology to the memory of posterity; he invented dactylology. There were those who distinguished minutiae by visible accidents, by whose prudence night was turned into day; without the service of [bubones], light shone in darkness. But concerning these matters of our steganography, when the illustrious count palatine, prince elector, was once solicitous, he received from us a manifest proof of a tested document.

Others, multiplying minutiae by regulated division, after the manner of barbarians, overturned the figures of nature; in darkness, with the shadow of things coming into being keeping the secret dances hidden, where the secrecy of counsel required it, they supplied a cabala to the absent through [diapyrata]. In these things there is great labor and a long exercise of the mind over many years, in which no one suddenly becomes skilled for use. Necessity bears all things. There were also those whom the heavenly harmony taught to compose foreign sounds; for those who understood there was a twofold use of these, while one suspends the sense, the other [raises it?] into the ethereal mind. God can do all things. Many tried to seek light in shadow without light; nevertheless they could not, because the fire lies buried in ashes. Some, practiced painters of masks, divided one wind exactly into two, of which one [misophos] in

one always lies hidden in darkness, but the other, a philosopher and lover of light, hates darkness, loves light, and guards the secret by means of the owl. Again, as Bede attests, there were some whose purpose, advancing to broader things, bound the wind, invisible to the eyes, to visible things, and compelled many growing things, and no less stones and shrubs, which lack voices, to speak with a human tongue. Why should I mention brute animals, since all things obey art? This secret is rightly preferred to all discoveries thus far, through which hidden things assume the strength and power of mysteries. Yet reason bids us hide the great in the small, and by no means entrust pearls to swine. From nothing nothing is brought back. The known multitude of visible things is great; but invisible things remain remote from us, if these are prudently fitted to them, the enlightened mind of man would know and behold wondrous things. But to discuss these matters at greater length is not the purpose of the present work; since they are greater and weightier, they require another work and another time. Matthias, the most powerful king of Hungary, and a hammer harder than adamant of the Turks, who in our age waged many victorious battles with the enemies of the cross of Christ, discovered many things by wonderful talent and art; he adorned owls with paraphrases, held his own mysteries, secret in manifold variety, and by manifest industry destroyed the counsels of his enemies. He preferred wisdom to gold; therefore he always triumphed as a glorious victor.

A sound mind is present in a wise man in a well-ordered body; borne upward by desire for higher understanding, when through the likeness of the binary it has returned from the ternary into unity, thereafter it will now easily rise to the denary. Pythagoras of Samos, that philosopher, warned his disciples not to forget the quaternary, in which the first perfection of numbering is comprehended. For thus we count: one, two, three, four. Halt your mind, for you have ten. For the denary is the head of perfection. What are eleven, except ten and unity? What is thirty? Three times ten. What is forty? Four times ten. You have a hundred, and you have by no means departed from the quaternary. And what is a hundred, except ten times ten? Deep mysteries lie hidden in these things, and they are manifest to few.

For love of brevity we pass over many in silence, who, assisting nature by art, applied prudence to secrets, and what seemed impossible to many who did not know, by keen study brought into easy use. A cultivated mind can do great things, and he who cleaves to God becomes higher than the world in understanding. Many are the mysteries of kings, and counsels full of cares, in which confidence and faith are required; and rare faith harms the believer, and doubt, even when present, more often admits [unclear]. Therefore it will have been most advantageous for all princes to be philosophers, and endowed with singular wisdom, just, gentle, benevolent, and distinguished by munificence, so that they themselves may not wish to deceive others, nor easily be able to be overthrown by others. Justice alone, the companion of prudence, makes a prince glorious. glorious.

At the urging of the aforementioned prince and lord elector Philip, count palatine and duke of Bavaria, I, Johannes Trithemius, now abbot of the monastery of Saint James at Würzburg, but then of Saint Martin the bishop at Sponheim in the diocese of Mainz, began to write eight books of mysteries in steganography. But while I was already continuing my night-work on the third book of the same work, an incident occurred, which I shall relate briefly if I can.

In the year of the Lord’s nativity 1499, in the second Roman indiction, when Arnold Bostius, a Carmelite of the town of Ghent, asked me by letter what new thing I was putting forth, or with what studies I was occupied, I wrote back to him as to a friend, through merchants, on the day after Palm Sunday: that I had under the hammer a new and wonderful work of steganography; and I set out in order what was contained in each of the books. But before my letter had reached Ghent, Bostius passed from this life to Christ during the days of Easter. The prior of that place received the letter, opened it, and read it; and, astonished, as I think, by the novelty of the promises, at the request of many others he shared it to be read and copied out. Hence it came about that this very letter of mine, published in a short time through almost all Germany and Gaul, and repeatedly copied out by many people, turned many very learned men also to astonishment and wonder, to such a degree that they hesitated over what they ought, with truth, to think about me. Among these there were some who steadfastly asserted that the promises I had made in the said letter were frivolous, impossible, and false, and had been shamelessly devised by me for the sake of empty glory. Others, however, said: “This abbot Trithemius promises great wonders; if he can perform them, he can do so only by the ministry of demons, since they seem far to exceed the limits of nature. But if he cannot, who will doubt that he is a liar and deservedly to be rejected by all good and learned men?” But let both be far from me, since I promised natural things. Of all those who rashly judged matters unknown to them, the most rash, and at last the most unjust appraiser of things, came forward in public: Charles de Bovelles, a Picard by nation. When, after travelling through the upper parts of Alsace, he had come to me for hospitality at Sponheim, intending to return to Gaul through Trier, I treated him with such courtesy as I could, and showed him all the kindnesses of hospitality, so long as he was with me, with a cheerful face. And since, as is usual among friends, especially those devoted to the study of letters, I showed all my things to my most welcome guest to be seen, among the others the aforementioned work of steganography, not yet completed at that time, also presented itself. Bovelles saw it and read it cursorily, his mind occupied elsewhere; he said he admired the invention, and praised it, but did not take care to understand the manner in which it was to be understood. Hence, when he sought the key of understanding, he did not deserve to hear or perceive anything of what was contained in that night-work of ours.

After this he returned to France and repaid us evil for good, and shamefully violated the bond of Christian friendship. For when he was asked by Lord Germain de Ganay, a mutual friend and later bishop of Orléans, what he had found in my possession and seen at Sponheim, he wrote back falsehoods instead of truths and lies instead of favors, condemning and rashly judging things that he was quite unable to comprehend with his understanding. For since, through envy and falsehood, he believed that the palm of learning would be conferred upon him, he wrote back to the aforementioned most learned man a letter full of falsity, lies, wrongs, and many insults; in it, making mention of steganography, which he had not understood, he proclaims me, falsely, mendaciously, and with too injurious a rash presumption, to be devoted to depraved arts, a magician and necromancer. To his most mendacious wrongs and blasphemies, God having mercy, I shall reply briefly, so that all posterity may understand both that I am innocent and that Bouillus is impious, cruel, rash, and in this matter a liar. I steadfastly affirm, I truly say, and I confidently swear upon my soul that I have never had any commerce with demons, nor with depraved or pernicious, magical or necromantic arts; but that each and every thing that I have either written or promised that I would write is pure, sound, natural, and in no respect at all contrary to the Christian faith. Hence I do not fear to submit my promises for examination before good and learned men, whenever and as often as there shall be need; I in no way intend to resist their determination. There was a reasonable cause why I inserted this history of Bouillus’s rashness into this preface of mine: that all may understand that it was done with mature deliberation that the work of steganography has thus far remained buried in darkness, not because I fear Bouillus’s rash judgments, but lest I seem to give cause to more men of the same sort to suspect similar things about me. Indeed, as far as I am concerned, I would rather appease my rivals by silence than irritate them with letters or provoke them to madness by writings. For I judged it better to condemn all marvelously discovered things to perpetual silence than to incur, even by the false estimation of men, the mark of magical or necromantic pernicious superstition. Let steganography therefore lie hidden in darkness, and let [unclear] not be made [unclear] of Bouillus [unclear] of a good man [unclear] by the lust of depravity. Nevertheless, at the urging of friends, so that our rivals, together with Bouillus, may understand how rash and fabricated an injury he has done us, while steganography remains within its own limits, we consent to bring into the light the work placed below, which we call the Polygraphia, divided into six books. Let those who wish read it, and let friends read this volume without resentment; when they have understood all its hidden mysteries, let them themselves be judges, without envy, whether they are natural or superstitious. For I know and am certain that all things are syn-

... pure, natural, and removed from every pursuit of evil superstition. But whenever the discourse that precedes is more obscure, it is done for this reason: lest a madman abuse, to destruction, the sword of defense which a man sound in mind and spirit carries for his own protection. Yet for that reason nothing evil is contained in it, since the perverse abuse even good things for evil. Whoever, moreover, presumes to condemn this edition of ours is himself conscious and witness against himself that he has never truly understood it. Mysteries are hidden under [unclear], lest the secrets of owls be made manifest in any way to [unclear]. If it delights anyone to know these things, let the reader approach with envy put far away. For I am a Christian, I am a priest under the rule of the divine father Benedict and a monk; I love Christ, and with whatever sincerity of mind I can, I devoutly adore him always. I have no dealings with demons, I have had none, and with God as my protector I shall have none; no pursuits in magical, necromantic, or profane arts; no occupations, no teachings. Whoever thinks otherwise of me thinks wrongly, does me injury, and defends Bouillus’s open lie. But now let us dismiss these matters, and let us set forth in order what is contained in each book of our Polygraphy.

Table Or Index Of The Things Which Are Treated In The First Book

In the first book of this Polygraphy of ours we have arranged and distributed, according to the order of our ternary, the words of the Latin language, as many as are to be seen; by whose use and service all princes throughout the world will find safe obedience in any secret matters whatsoever, which, without danger to the mystery, without mark, and without suspicion of [unclear], will remain forever hidden. It is certain that by these means the journey is safe for owls, never to be violated by any investigation of anyone. Knowledge of the hidden matter is granted to two only, [unclear] when he knows, is brought back to the monad. Ignorance is the mother of error; and he who has scorned to learn the good thing which he does not know, loves blindness. The periphrases themselves are set forth in the manner either of one admonishing or of one supplicating; these we can vary for every visible material thing of this world. For individual [unclear] are suited to mysteries, and the secret matters of the Greeks are not followed but ours are preferred. When you have understood the things that you see, do not rashly despise the hidden things that you do not see. Accidents are perceived; the substance remains invisible. Hence greater things lie hidden, while lesser things are open to those who behold them. Since this is done with reason, no good man will take it for evil, since everyone suitable can from these things, if only he wishes, advance to higher things. But at this point it does not please me to bring forth higher things into the light [unclear].

[unclear]: since an inopportune time seems to stand in the way. I have placed the letters of the Latin alphabet in order before the individual words, so that the operator may have an easy method in the proposed matter, and the reciprocal party, in reporting, may be relieved of excessive labor. The paraphrases that are placed outside the straight order of the lines are not devoid of the mystery of the art, since they serve light-flowing propositions for the consummation of necessary perfection, not obscure ones. Therefore whatever are employed in the former are neglected in the latter. For these are the certain means by which every suspicion of an adversary is removed. All things have been set down with reason, so that not even a proposition is introduced idly. The farther, for example, the sun advances from the equinoctial circle, the more the day is lengthened for those dwelling in those regions. Therefore, so that unity may advance in the right order, by means of the ternary, into the binary, the paradigm that we hand down must be observed rather carefully. And first, with prior consideration, let the intelligent operator of his intention observe what he is going to assign to the ternary through the binary; let him divide day with night into minute parts, and distinguish the minutiæ of the winds by a supposition of phrase that is not foreign but proper. In any mystical business let him take careful heed not to overturn the established order of the art, nor put one paraphrase in place of another, nor grant to one what is due to another; otherwise unity does not admit the binary, and the whole operation will be confused and useless. Let night not be wandering through excessive length, unstable, advancing beyond the limits appointed to it by art; let curiosity not change water into snow, nor let him sleep by day who keeps watch at night. Let the mind, solicitous in intellect, also use art, lest the hand by its own levity commit an error, which, slight and small in the monad, is accustomed to appear [always?] great and very large in the binary. One paraphrase from any order is admitted only into the service of the secret; for it, after the example of the keeper, whenever a particle of daylight has required it, one phrase similarly adhering is taken up, not several. These things must be [commended?] to a vigilant mind, and care must be taken that the wind not be animated. After this a rule is prescribed for the one approaching the practice of the art: that, so far as he can by mystical art, he imitate the one person of a human being, consisting of two natures, namely the soul surpassing visible things and the flesh remaining visible. For just as the soul is not seen, although it is placed in a visible body, so the secret of the mind, in order that it may remain secret and nonetheless operate at will, requires the guidance of light, while continuing in its workshop of darkness. Therefore, as often as the body serves the soul, the servant the master, the will reason, see that the virtue of the principal power in the light of the paraphrase is preserved in its natural vigor. For by this lesson of the Peripatetics the first will duly [pass] to the second, and the monad will enter the binary. Consequently we likewise admonish the one who wishes, that

as often as a leaf is moved by the wind, he may discern the property of each nature, compare night itself with day by degrees and minutes, and conform darkness to light. But if Phoebus has encroached upon night, or night upon the sun, through which the confusion of an eclipse would arise, either let unity resume the binary which it sent forth in the light, or let the shadow of night be brought back to the first line of the sun. Keep fixed in memory whatever has anywhere been produced in number, weight, and measure. Therefore, when you have cut the knot of the difficulty mentioned, count the minutiae of night, note also the paraphrastic expressions of daylight, and so adjust the one by the other that the necessary proportion may follow the operation. Take care not to interrupt the necessary labor while the eclipse of the sun lasts. Attend no less to being mindful of the ancient fathers, Thuyscon, who, Noah's grandson, is the father of the Teutons, and Marcomer, who is read to have first led the people of the Franks from the borders of Scythia into Germany, to the mouths of the Rhine. For the Franks are brothers of the Greeks, and, mingled with the Germans, once made two languages from one. Hence, according to the oracle, g.g.g. are taken up by those who have lost one g. Finally, student and [inquirer?] of polygraphy, you are warned that, after you, being eager for these inventions, have obtained the true method of operation, you should carefully guard everything, and not pour it out indiscriminately into the knowledge of all, especially filthy men. For this reason do not ask, since you know that there is nothing in the world so good and holy that the wicked do not rather often abuse it for evil.

An index of the things treated in the second book of the Polygraphy.

In the second book of the Polygraphy, nothing new is composed apart from the first; in it only the paraphrastic expressions of the day are varied. Therefore, whatever we said must be observed in that book, we warn must also be kept in this one. For the symbols of both books have been arranged in the same order under the path of light, and necessarily changed only in the signification of the paraphrastic expressions. In both books multiple progressions can be made, according to the capacity of human intelligence, when words are varied by metathesis. The [feronomata?] are also changed at will, whenever the minutes are converted into whole degrees. When this is done, a marvelous work in every respect will arise in the art, and the world, produced in an image in light, will stand, and there will be no fear at all of [unclear] for the operator. I could have given these matters a more beautiful face, if I had approached the task induced to write them either by some hope of profit or by the use of my own advantage. But since none of these things induced me to write, it seemed enough to have given those who desire it the occasion and the material to add more polished things to our inventions, and to adorn art with art.

An indication of the things that are contained in the third book of the Polygraphia.

In the third book of the Polygraphia, having passed beyond the prescribed limits of our nation by the counsel of reason, we are led to foreign things; placed [unclear] in the midst of the Franks, we wander farther through images and likenesses of barbarians. For with almost four thousand mythological phrasmata arranged in order by art, we [unclear] a very easy path for the artificial unity, by which it will communicate symbolic notions to its binary more safely at every time. Here the binary is harder for the unity; unless our philologist is clear-sighted with prudence, he will make the binary contrary to the monad. For only the ternary, which proceeds from unity and the binary, connects both within itself as a palindrome. But if the necessary utility of reason extends beyond the limits of the proposed matter, then as often as necessary the paraphrasmata would [unclear] by minutes from the beginning of the day, until the minutes establish a degree or point in the smallest things. The face of this image knows perpetual silence, nor does it fear the deceits of the bacucei. It is extended in whatever abundance you wish; it is varied without number.

A little index or tablet of the things that are treated in the fourth book.

In the fourth book of the Polygraphia we have put much trust in the binary, which, after all obstacles have been removed, without the labor of difficulty, at first sight we have reduced to unity. Hence here we use a circle in great matters, a line or point in the smallest. Nor does it matter if night surpasses day, or if light does not accord with darkness, because a circle receives no end, and fullness admits no void. For they are contraries; as often as they succeed one another, one is corrupted by the other. He hands down in this fourth book of the Polygraphia a singular mystery useful to the binary, since that airy base itself, the old composer, is never designated in anything other than the binary. But in that part the levity of owls is always suspect to us in difficult matters. The construction of this thing makes paraphrasmata with infinite atoms.

Index or tablet of the things that are treated in the fifth book.

In the fifth book of the Polygraphia we have written in order on two tables the letters of the Latins, which we Germans use; one of these speaks straight, while the other is called reversed. Beneath these we have placed ancient dances, so that what we seek with labor among alien things we may see without difficulty in our own. For besides those things that have been placed openly by us, many more secrets still lie hidden in the inner parts; through understanding them the path for the worker is opened to greater things, which nevertheless are by no means proposed to everyone. We have subjected letters to numbers, by which hidden things may be made manifest according to our will. Hence, by the skilled operation of this book, they securely hand over all messages to cabalistic persons, although the mysteries are not free from suspicion of the bacucei. For every form of metathesis of signs generates suspicion in the observer, although it brings no harm to the owls. But you, who have attained the understanding of this work, will easily penetrate every transposition of letters among our Latins.

A Little Index, or Table, of the Things Contained in the Sixth Book

In the sixth book, which is the last book of our Polygraphy, after introducing mental narration, we have set out in order almost all the minutiae of the preceding signs and degrees, and, with arithmetical distributions, have drawn the functions of the letters into the service of a cabalistic operation. One thing lies hidden here in the bark, and another is found in the common operation of the signs. For just as the spirit in the blood gives life to the human body, so the hidden power in the art commends the operation. Therefore whoever needs knowledge of this invention should open the eyes of his understanding, so that he may comprehend what is the property of each operation. For we desire all things to be pure for good men in such a way that, if it were possible, they should never become manifest to the wicked. A cause compelled us to fit Latin letters to numbers, lest, if we were too obscure, the intention of our mind should be plain to no one. Yet this novelty, lest it should become public without reasonable cause, had to be mystically concealed under unknown signs and marks of numbering. For [unclear], nocturnal things are stronger than diurnal ones; and just as night in its order overtakes day, so light shrinks from darkness. What nature denies, no one successfully dares. We ask the reader not to condemn this laborious work of ours before he understands it, but, that he may be a judge without rashness, let him prudently remove the bark, until he comes to the hidden kernel. The work is good and natural, capable of being turned to good use or bad, according as the desire of each one’s will is moved. The sword is a good instrument, and it too is turned to a good use whenever it is carried for defense without injury to one’s neighbor. But if it is stretched out unjustly to harm anyone, by abuse a good thing is relaxed into evil. Therefore, so that good men may have something by which they may prudently attend to their affairs, Polygraphy is written by us; and lest it furnish the wicked with an occasion for sinning, the kernel is hidden in the bark under various enigmas. He who is good does not abuse the good for evil; rather, if he can, he turns evil into good.

What Are the [unclear] of This Work

We undertook the labor of the present work, rare and arduous as it is, for no other reason than to provide for the utility of those in need. I say “in need” not of food, not of drink, but of assistance in the preservation of mystical things without danger. We therefore judge it worthwhile if we briefly note the uses and advantages that may come to those using these inventions of ours. For indeed, since in our private affairs there are no matters such that we need these doctrines for the concealment of secrets, we have certainly labored for those whose [command?] had to be obeyed. The first advantage is that a complete understanding of this work gives the person in need an easy method by which you will make the secret of your mind known, safely, secretly, and without any suspicion on the part of any observers, to one who knows the skill of the art, however widely there may be need, at whatever distance of places, by regulated speech. What lies hidden in these things, the work of Steganography brings out, for it does not require a messenger who knows the secrets he carries. It would be otherwise in matters admitting the light, according to the common custom of us all. Do not take the matter otherwise than it is. The second advantage is that, by the service of this work, in the space of a short time, a man ignorant of the Latin language, provided only that he

who knows how to read and write in his mother tongue, you will teach him to write in the Latin tongue as you wish, ornately or concisely, and to conceal and hide all the secret mysteries of his will, and by the art and knowledge to announce them, to whomever he pleases, very widely, safely, secretly, and without suspicion. Again I warn you in advance, lest you understand us to have promised, or to be promising, otherwise. The third benefit is that you will teach one ignorant of the Roman speech, not only in a few hours, as we promise, to write and read, but also to understand, if you prudently apply the duty of the office; this we have thought should not be rejected without reasonable cause. For the disciple of the new art will write in whatever tongue he has known, and, with the Latin discourse composed under regulated instruction, he will understand and interpret it, if you yourself help him word for word; that will suffice. Finally, this instruction can be extended to all the things and affairs of the world. How these things can be done, if anyone wishes to know from me, let him first remember to show himself such that he deserves to receive them. For all things are not owed to all, but one man is to be preferred to another. The fourth benefit is that, by extending the likeness of the thing received, all these things can be extended into any language whatever, the binary instruction being reduced to unity. Yet not just any man can do this, but only he whom God, going before him with his special grace, and art and nature have dignified. The fifth benefit is that, by imitation of likeness, we can communicate by the art of our invented knowledge whatever secrets of our mind we wish, to whomever we wish, in many ways and very widely, by various methods, which can be known or observed by no other person. Here is given a manifold speech without voice, through which safely, securely, very widely, with all suspicion removed, we shall be able to indicate most fully to those who know the art all the conceptions of our mind, however difficult. And this marvelous invention has innumerable progressions, capable of all mysteries. The sixth benefit is that, through understanding this work, you will be able to discover any regulated metathesis, or transposition, of letters, and nevertheless to form them in such a way that it serves only those who know the art, and absolutely no one else in the world. And great is the power of metathesis in form, and likewise in operation, since it both has several modes and is varied in many ways. The seventh benefit is that, through understanding this volume, a very great faculty is given to those who desire to enlarge their memory without labor, whenever the seeds of minutiae are placed in their proper degrees. All things, for the sake of goodness, lie hidden, wrapped in the secrets of words and figures; if anyone desires to understand them more fully, let him call to mind that unrelenting labor conquers all things. For it will have been enough for me to have handed down the principles of the invented art, and the rude, and deliberately unformed, method of writing symbolically. For there was neither time nor reason for our inventions to be shaped in a more polished form, lest honey produce vomiting in those who are nauseated, or truth produce hatred in those who are indignant. Every time must be valued according to its own merits, and swine are not to be adorned with pearls, nor loaded with precious gems. All things are unsuitable that do not accord with customs and the time.

of mortals upon whom they are thrust. Many of the noblest talents of men have existed in times not their own, and more new things are found almost every day in times not suited to them. What did the wonderful invention of the nautical art profit the distinguished [artificer?] Bartholo under Pope Innocent VIII, which in a certain little book he promised for sale for one hundred thousand ducats, when neither the supreme pontiff himself, nor the Venetians, nor the Genoese, to whom he proposed that his device be bought, deigned even for a small sum to come to terms with him? For he promised that within thirty months, by his art, he could preserve a ship unharmed in the middle of the sea, repair it when broken, and recover without danger whatever had been cast into the deep. But no one cared. Nor does it escape me that many have perished, with Naso, through their own talent. It is therefore better to set a limit to knowledge than, without profit, to expose oneself to the hatred and detraction of many, for whom it is more familiar to despise any knowledge whatever than to have learned it.

Here is the end of the preface, on the seventh day of April, in the year of the Lord’s nativity 1508.

The First Book of the Polygraphia, addressed to Caesar Maximilian, by Johannes Trithemius, abbot of [Paeapolis?], formerly of Sponheim.

Twenty-four are the letters, or characters, of the signs of the Latin language; when set in order before just as many significant words, they serve most abundantly in all respects, according to the wish of each person working in this art, for secrets. These paraphrases are arranged artificially in such a way that they make a wholly Latin discourse, if only one is taken from each order. And it should be noted that, by reason of our German speech, the twenty-fourth letter, the letter w, is taken at the end of the alphabet, since all the rest perform service for both languages. We have placed the co-signifying words with such industry in order that, whichever one you take from each line, once the total reckoning has been made, agreement will remain. Yet circumspection is needed, so that from any line of syntax you take no more than one, and no unit do injury to the binary. Provision must also be made that, as often as you approach the cabalistic operation, you first count the minutes of the night, each and every one, and join them in due proportion to the degrees of the following day. But if the minutes, by the secret institution, do not suffice to the end for the degrees of the day, the windy runner must by prudent counsel be led back to the arch-measurer [unclear].

Nor does it matter if by chance night falls back upon the head of the day, since a prudent operator in the art can withdraw by voluntary addition from the front by as much as he sees the night exceed the light of the day. And this is to be understood throughout the whole work of the Polygraphia concerning the individual chapters. Yet we say that this consideration must be assigned to the unit, by which the binary is certified by the known little sign of return, lest it happen to go astray. From the monad, according to what has been established, the binary will stand, and the monad is produced. Nothing is put here in vain, nothing alleged without cause or idly. Therefore we necessarily warn everyone who wishes to transcribe this work of our Polygraphia, either in whole or in part, that he first take diligent care not to depart in anything from our archetype, nor skip, neglect, or transpose any word whatsoever. Indeed, if he has omitted one letter or word in substantial matters, if he has changed a word contrary to its nature, he has made the course of the whole work useless. Therefore let him either transcribe it exactly, or not transcribe it.

There follow the words of the first order, with the minutes, toward the degrees.

1

B t

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29 30

31

32

33 34

35

36

37

38

39

20

41

42

43 44

45

46 48

Accumulation concerning words in the first book of the divine [unclear]. Its title is: On the Word and on Truth.

But that a word has only one signification, but many modes of application, that is, sometimes to place, sometimes to time, sometimes to person, sometimes to number, sometimes to case, sometimes to accidental words, sometimes to a preposition, sometimes to substantives, sometimes to a participle, sometimes to a pronoun, sometimes to a negative word, sometimes to a doubtful word, sometimes to an interrogative word, sometimes to a conclusive word, sometimes to a [unclear] word, sometimes to a concluding word, sometimes to a continuing word, sometimes to a containing word, sometimes to a terminating word, sometimes to a compelled word, sometimes to a prohibited word, sometimes to a necessary word, sometimes to a possible word, sometimes to possible words, sometimes to an impossible word, sometimes to words of certainty, sometimes to a certain word, sometimes to an uncertain word, sometimes to the word “formerly,” sometimes to the word “while,” sometimes to the word “now,” sometimes to the word “today,” sometimes to the word “nevertheless,” sometimes to the word “therefore,” sometimes to the word “because,” sometimes to the word “if,” sometimes to the word “as,” sometimes to the word “that/as,” sometimes to the word “therefore,” sometimes to the word “but,” sometimes to the word “also,” sometimes to the word “toward,” sometimes to the word “against,” sometimes to the word “then,” sometimes to the word “still,” sometimes to the word “afterward,” sometimes to the word “when/since,” sometimes to the word “surely not?,” sometimes to the word “nor,” sometimes to the word “and also,” sometimes to the word “just as,” sometimes to the word “thus,” sometimes to the word “so,” sometimes to the word “to have,” sometimes to the word “to be,” sometimes to the word “will seem,” sometimes to the word “seems,” sometimes to the word “will have seen,” sometimes to the word [unclear], sometimes to words of truth, sometimes to the word “will be judged,” sometimes to the word “is judged,” sometimes to the word “will be judged,” sometimes to the word “is judged,” sometimes to the word “is known,” sometimes to the word “will be known,” sometimes to the word “may be known,” sometimes to the word “to know,” sometimes to the word “to be believed,” sometimes to the word “will be believed,” sometimes to the word “believed,” sometimes to the word “to be hoped for,” sometimes to the word [unclear], sometimes to the word “to be despised,” sometimes to the word “would despise,” sometimes to the word “let him despise,” sometimes to the word “let me despise,” sometimes to the word “let them be despised,” sometimes to the word [unclear], sometimes to the word “you despise,” sometimes to the word “he despises,” sometimes to the word [unclear], sometimes to the word “he will despise,” sometimes to the word [unclear], sometimes to the word “I despise,” sometimes to the word “despise,” sometimes to the word “you may despise,” sometimes to the word “despise,” sometimes to the word “you will despise,” sometimes to the words [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], “will have awaited,” “will have awaited,” “will have sought,” “it is expedient,” “it would be expedient,” “it will have been expedient,” “to be expedient,” “it will be expedient,” “they will be dispatched,” “quickly,” [unclear], “they dispatched,” [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], “they would have been expedient,” [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], “they had been expedient,” [unclear], “you would be expedient,” “you will be expedient,” “expedient,” [unclear], [unclear], “expedient,” [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear], [unclear].

49

of the creator of the maker of the savior of the fashioner of the redeemer of the liberator of the deliverer of the mover of the maker of the judge of the king of the ruler of the emperor of the governor of the life-giver of the illuminator of the lord of the preserver of the administrator of the moderator of the disposer of the ordainer of the adorner

50

51 52

53 54

55

56

54

59 60