Polygraphia first printed 1518; this source witness is the 1600 Strasbourg/BSB edition.
Source witness
Argentoratum, 1600 (BSB)
Text origin
Machine translation
Human review
No complete human review documented
Editorial state
Provisional reading text
Automated QA
Full machine audit · 136 / 136 chunks (100%). Automated checks are triage evidence, not human certification.
Other editions
This text survives in 3 editions in this corpus, each OCR’d and translated independently from a different source scan:
Basel, 1518 · Francofurti, 1550.
Reading time
~12 hours
About this work
Polygraphiae libri VI — "Six Books of Polygraphy" — is Trithemius's openly technical cryptographic manual, the first printed book on cryptography in the West. Dedicated to Emperor Maximilian I in 1508, it appeared in print in 1518, two years after his death. Its method is stated plainly rather than veiled as in the Steganographia: substitution alphabets, the "Ave Maria" tableau by which any plaintext is recast as a Latin invocation, and the long combinatory tables of the later books, culminating in the polyalphabetic tabula recta.
This is the 1600 Strasbourg edition — the third and longest-paginated of the three Polygraphiae witnesses in the corpus (1518, 1550, 1600), the same six-book text in a different print. The Latin was re-OCR'd from the page scans and translated by GPT-5.5; The dense cipher grids are only approximately captured by the source scan and are preserved as honestly as the OCR allows — for the tables themselves readers should work from a facsimile of an original edition, or from the dedicated cipher renderings on the 1518 and 1550 witnesses in this corpus. No complete English translation of the Polygraphiae exists; it circulated mainly through Gabriel de Collange's French Polygraphie (Paris, 1561), and in English only as Philip Neal's partial translation of the preface.
English translation
Text layer
Six Books of Polygraphy
By Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Würzburg, formerly of Sponheim
Addressed to Emperor Maximilian I
This edition also includes the Key, Adolf von Glauburg’s observations, and Trithemius’s booklet On the Seven Secundeans, or Intelligences Moving the Spheres after God.
Strasbourg: Lazarus Zetzner, 1600
The Printer to the Reader, Greeting. When, at the urging of certain persons, candid Reader, I had resolved to publish anew, at my own expense, the Polygraphy of Johannes Trithemius, I diligently applied myself to this: that it might come forth both more correct and enlarged by a new addition. And so, having sought out various editions from everywhere, I diligently compared them with the most recent; and besides, I added also a manuscript exemplar of Jacob Trithemius, brother of Johannes, and, a collation having been made with the remaining editions, I found it nearly similar to them, a few [readings] excepted. Secondly, I appended the same author's booklet on the Secundeans, or Intelligences moving the sphere after God. It is yours, kind Reader, to take in good part this our endeavor, such as it is. Farewell.
Dedication to Emperor Maximilian
The letter of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Saint James at Würzburg, on the Polygraphia
I was wavering, most unconquered Maximilian Caesar, with an uncertain mind, and for some little while I doubted within myself whether I would be doing something worthwhile or not if I dedicated the codex of my Polygraphia to Your Caesarean Majesty. For among the great you are greatest, among the more powerful most powerful, and among all wise men by far the wisest; and for that reason nothing is to be inscribed to you unless it is great, nothing dedicated unless it has been composed with the highest learning. But I, having attained no, or only little, literary learning, not without reason hesitated rather long as to whether I ought to bring trifles before 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 rough my talent, and that I have no vein of eloquence in speech; for which reason, also with due consideration, I held back 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, unlearned and the least of monks, fear the judgment of so great a Majesty of yours, and dread to offer those compositions of mine which I know are not worthy of your hands. And when I was turning these things over in my mind, there arrived one sent by your Highness with letters, by which you summoned me to Cologne, the expenses necessary for the journey having already some time before been assigned through another. But when the letters of your Serenity had been reread, confidence soon overcame shame, and the consideration of your innate gentleness drove away fear. For I know that your disposition is most mild: since you are the most modest of all, you are accustomed to be gentle to the humble and to resist the proud. You do not know how to be vainly puffed up, nor, in the manner of tyrants, to despise the humble who are devoted to Your Highness; for just as you have no room to grow on earth, so no envy will penetrate your mind. You are the greatest, and you have also accomplished many things, and great things, no less bravely in peace and in war; by these you have attained an eternal name, and with the highest reverence you are honored, with the love and favor of all your subjects. These are the riches of princes: the love and favor of the people, and to do justice to each person according to the commandment of the love of God.
Since, therefore, all carry your name to the stars with praises and all proclaim you most gentle and most humane, there was henceforth no reason why I in particular should suspect you to be more severe, especially when in your letter you deign to entice me to be enrolled among yours. Therefore, at last encouraged by the weighing of these matters, I laid aside all fear and assumed great confidence in the gentleness innate in you. Indeed, since all draw confidence from the fountain of your piety, why should I alone be cruel [unclear]. Therefore, with that humility which befits me, and with which I ought and am able, I approach the throne of your most excellent Majesty, prostrate on the ground; devotedly I offer the said work of Polygraphia, and humbly commend my littleness to Your Serenity as a servant to his lord. Now therefore, most merciful Caesar, accept the very small little gift which I bring, in which may you deign to weigh my mind, most subject to you, not its value.
There are, moreover, in the appended system of the Polygraphia, in certain places, some mysteries wrapped in enigmas, lest the meaning of the more inward art, which lies hidden, should become manifest to the understanding of all. Just as not all things befit all persons, so not all things everywhere and always suit everyone. Therefore certain mysteries are enclosed there, which in my judgment can be more useful and more necessary to none than to princely men. For the more matters they attend to, the greater caution of secrecy must be applied in their counsels. For this book teaches princes to command secrecy over their secrets. But because Your Caesarean Majesty, occupied with many affairs, does not have time to search out the things that lie hidden, wrapped in mysteries, lest you be deprived of the fruit of my labor, I have appended a little book that extracts the kernel of the whole work, which I have entitled The Key of the Polygraphia; with it as guide you will more easily understand everything shut up here in figures. May God preserve you unharmed for our salvation. I wrote on the twenty-sixth day of the month of April, in the year of Christ one thousand five hundred eight.
Index
Table or Index of the Works of Johannes Trithemius, first Abbot of Spanheim and afterward of St. James at Würzburg
Johannes Trithemius, 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 thirtieth minute after noon, in the year of the Lord’s Nativity 1462, in the tenth Roman indiction: his father was Johannes de Heydenberg, and his mother was called Elisabeth de Longouico. This was the very year in which the city of Mainz, in the dissension of two pontiffs, was captured, lost its liberty, and found servitude, many of the citizens being driven into exile; in the fourth current year of Pope Pius II, and the twenty-second of Emperor Frederick III.
In the year of the Lord 1482, however, in the monastery of Spanheim, in the diocese of Mainz, on the first day of February, that is, the day on which he had once been born, he laid aside the secular habit and there took up the monastic one under the rule of the blessed 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 de Colenhusen had been transferred by canonical postulation to Seligenstadt, Johannes Trithemius, by the common election of the brothers, was promoted and adorned as abbot of the aforesaid monastery of Spanheim on the fourth day before the Kalends of July, and presided for twenty-three years, one month, ten days, and nine. When these had passed, not without many labors, provoked by the rashness of certain rivals, he accepted the abbacy of St. James at Würzburg, which was offered to him, and of his own free will resigned Spanheim, full of useless cares.
In both places he wrote a number of little works, from which recently he set down for me in his own hand the items written below on a sheet. Since you, as a friend, ask me for their titles, I gladly yield to your wishes, so that from consideration of such great labors of his you may hold the memory of our common friend and teacher more closely. And first indeed I shall set down the titles of those works which, while he was abbot at Spanheim, [unclear] of his order, which were made in provincial chapters by order of the presiding officers: one book. On the Visitation of Monks, one book. On the Manner of Holding a Provincial Chapter, one book. On the Rule of St. 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 Their Remedies, two books. To Nicholas, priest of Mernic, 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 Gerlacus, abbot of Deutz, Praises of Manuscript Writings, one book. To Johannes Dalburgius, bishop of Worms, On Ecclesiastical Writers, one book. On the Praises of St. Anne, Grandmother of the Lord, one book. To the questions of Rutger Sicamber, canon of Dumetis, [unclear] book. A chronicle of his own monastery of Spanheim, not a small volume, one book. A chronicle or annals of the monastery of Hirsau, two large volumes. A chronicle of the succession of the dukes of Bavaria and the counts palatine, to Philip, Count Palatine, prince elector, [unclear] book. The life of St. Hirmina, nun and first abbess in the horreum at Trier, one book. On the Misery of Cloistered Prelates, two books. Praises of St. Andrew the Apostle, [unclear] book. Praises of the Life of Abbot Benedict, [unclear] book. Praises of True Penitence, [unclear] book. Monologue of a Man Devoted to God to Himself, one book. To Ulrich, canon of Cologne, on questions concerning the Gospel of John, [unclear] book. To [unclear] on questions concerning the Psalms, one book.
J. Trithemius.
For the presidents of the annual chapter concerning the Bursfeld observance, he abridged the statutes of that same union, one book. The Spiritual Exercise of Monks, one book. An Epitome or Breviary of the same, one book. On Ecclesiastical Computation, one book. On the Illustrious Writers of Germany, addressed to Jakob Wimpfeling of [unclear], one book. Spanheim letters to various persons, four books. Orations delivered in chapters and elsewhere are twenty-four in number, making one book. For his brothers of the monastery of Spanheim he wrote forty very beautiful sermons, one book. Sermons to the people on feast days, one book. Several supplicatory prayers to God and the saints, one book. From the Greek tongue he translated into Latin Maximus the Abbot on the incarnation of the Lord; also the anathemas of St. Cyril, archbishop of Alexandria, promulgated against heretics in the third synod of Ephesus, and certain letters of that 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 also certain other smaller works, the titles of which he did not send on to me. These, dearest brother Nicholas, are the Trithemian works which, during the twenty-three years in which he was abbot, he composed at Spanheim for the honor of God, amid cares and the continual occupation of domestic business, reading or writing day and night whenever he was able to steal some leisure for himself.
Lucubrations II.
During the years in which he was in charge he brought into the library of Spanheim a very great treasury of books in every field, not only through the art of printing but also through manuscripts. 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 eighty had been decently written with the pen on parchment and paper. I often heard from his mouth that he had spent more than two thousand florins for books, which he had not received from the substance of the monastery, which was always very meager; but since he was both known and dear to many princes, the gifts with which he was honored by them he very often spent on books. For he is the greatest lover and cultivator of books beyond all whom I know living in the flesh today. It is said by many, however, that his successor, who is now abbot in Spanheim, has alienated very many volumes.
In the year of the Lord 1504, when a fierce war had arisen between the interregnum and Philip, Count Palatine, Trithemius, fearing the enemies, withdrew with his library and the monastery’s possessions to Kreuznach, the nearest town, and I likewise returned to my own affairs. In the year 1506, in the month of October, Trithemius himself, spurred by the envy of certain persons, accepted the abbacy of St. James at Würzburg and resigned that of Spanheim. There, in quiet, he writes various works, the titles of which, when asked, he recently sent me as follows.
Of Trithemius.
To the emperor Maximilian he published a remarkable work, which he entitled Polygraphy, six books. To the same man, the key of that same Polygraphy, one book. Replies to eight questions of the same emperor, one book. To the same man, On the Seven Intelligences Moving the Spheres, one book. To Joachim, margrave of Brandenburg and prince-elector, twenty books of various questions, orations, and propositions. To the same man, On Prognostications Permitted and Not Permitted to a Christian, two books. To the same man he wrote that remarkable and laborious work of Steganography, eight books, which that rash Bouillus, not understanding it, criticized most ignorantly and most falsely. To the same prince, one book of letters. To the same man, Against Sorcerers and All Arts and Superstitions Forbidden by the Church, five books. To the same man, On the Causes and Cure of the Falling Sickness and of Sorcerers, three books. To Jakob Trithemius, his brother, an Itinerary of His Life, two books. To Burkhard von Horneck, physician, On the Peculium of Nuns, one book. He wrote a History or Annals on the Origin, Kings, and Deeds of the People of the Franks and Germans, three large volumes; he brought the narrative from the incarnation of the Lord, in the year 433, from the borders of Scythia into Germany at the mouths of the Rhine, down to the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth year of the emperor Maximilian. To Lorenz, bishop of Würzburg—
Lucubrations He wrote, for the bishop and duke of eastern Francia, an epitome or abridgment of the same volumes, three books of histories. To the same man, on the dukes and bishops of the Franks of Wurzburg, 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-bed at [Helprunnam], six books. An Apologetic against Charles Bovillus, 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 Wurzburg, one book. To Albert, of the Margraves of Brandenburg, archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, the life of the divine chief-prelate, three books. On the transfer of the same from Mainz into Saxony, one book. To John, Count Palatine, Duke of Bavaria, and Count in Sponheim, residing at Simmern, on the origin, kings, and dukes of the Bavarians, together with the Counts Palatine and of Sponheim, four books. On demons and profane arts, he attacks, confounds, and overturns sorcerers and superstitious [unclear]. Of Wurzburg letters, which he wrote in that abbacy, four books. He also wrote many other smaller works, suited to his own devotion and that of his friends, such as courses, a rosary, a missal office, and various prayers, likewise 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 John, archbishop of Trier, a sequence on Anne, which begins, “Jesus, king of the heavens,” to the melody “Ave praeclara.” Another, to be sung on her feast, which begins: “Let them exult on this day.” A third, to the provincial of the Carmelites at Augsburg, begins, “Let us rejoice in honor.” A fourth on Saint Hildegard the virgin, which begins thus: “Praise be to you, Lord, king of eternal glory.” A fifth on Saint Rupert, duke of Bingen, which begins: “Let them exult on this day.” A sixth on Saint Joseph, foster-father of the Lord, begins thus: “Let us sing, renowned men.” A seventh on Saint Rabanus, archbishop. An eighth on the wounds of Christ, which begins thus: “Let us adore Jesus Christ, let us mourn the crucified one.” A ninth on the compassion of Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, begins thus: “Come, let us weep with devout mind, sharing compassion with the blessed Virgin Mary,” namely to the melody “Ave praeclara.” A tenth on Saint Joachim, father of Our Lady, which begins thus: “Let us adore the Trinity, let us together praise the unity of Father, Son, and Spirit.” An eleventh on each man’s own good angel. A twelfth for the proper mass of each priest. A thirteenth on Saint Maximus, bishop of Mainz. A fourteenth on Saint Martha the virgin, Christ’s hostess. A fifteenth on Saint Mary Magdalene. A sixteenth on Saint Mary of Egypt. A seventeenth on Saint James the Greater, apostle. An eighteenth on Saint Andrew, apostle. A nineteenth on Saint Benedict, abbot. A twentieth on All Saints. And for each of the named memorials and saints he composed individual new offices of the mass, conformable to the divine scriptures. He wrote besides a little work of meditations and prayers on the Lord’s incarnation, nativity, life, Passion, and death, suited to devotion, in two books. The Mirror of Heavenly Doctrine, serving in no small measure for compunction of mind, one book, which begins thus: “The beginning of human salvation.” He also composed many very devout meditations and prayers on our Lord Jesus Christ, on his most holy mother the Virgin Mary, and on various saints, with beautiful variety; together with many great other works, which all devout posterity will see and admire. These, my dearest Nicholas, are the volumes of our abbot Trithemius, which over almost thirty-two years he has composed in continuous study, apart from those which, not yet completed, are in hand on the anvil, unknown to me. Farewell, from my house at Durach, on the fifth day of the month of October, in the year of our salvation 1515. Johannes Duraclusius.
From the letter of Johannes Duraclusius, his disciple, to Nicolaus Hamerius of Emel.
17
Preface of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of St James at Würzburg, to the Polygraphia, addressed to Maximilian I, Caesar
We 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 their messengers, when they were sent to more distant places, the secrets of counsel, and whatever of secret mystery occurred that had to be confided, so that they might become fit for carrying them out and secure from every assault of the wicked, lest either the simplicity of the cabalists should lay bare the mystery, or the inborn curiosity of the Bacucei should bring harm to apostolic matters. Great among these, Augustus Caesar of the Romans, wishing in difficult affairs to use the service of messengers in obscurity, changed the breathings of conceived speech from clear forms into dark ones; and by the dance of metathesis, with a fine invention, he made their barbarousness, though resisting his wishes, accord at his command. And that receptive and, as it were, perpetual order is nevertheless subject to will and to the reckoning of time; although it keeps messengers safe on the road from the assault of the Bacucei, still, since it does not keep the regulated bounds of itself, it will make all who look on anxious with suspicion of the matter.
18 Preface to
Archimedes of Syracuse, easily the chief mathematician, fastened round about a white bird suited to his designs, bare about the head and feet, to a staff cut back into the form of a tetragon; and when the servants had been arranged in due proportion, the work of the white bird appeared changed. When this had been duly performed, he loosed with his own hand what had been fastened; and when he had allowed it to fly away, there suddenly arose among the familiars of the inner chambers a great separation of appearances, and soon there arose a monster of a tortuous monastic image, formerly far too wandering, at the sight of which no one could think what it was. Nor did the dissension of the owls 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 minutiae of phrase into signs, and put the diligence, or character, of his will in place of the customary phrase. In this very novelty, indeed, he used such abundance that his invention could suffice for almost all things in the world. But upon these heralds of mysteries the institution of the art bestowed a wonderful agility, so that, beyond the nature of all, with solid steps of the feet, and not by minutiae or moments, but by whole degrees, they serve the good will of the master. A king can always use their service most safely, although not without great labor and manifest suspicion on the part of the Bacucei. But Cyprian, most holy bishop and martyr of the Church of Carthage,
19 Maximilian I, Caesar.
wishing to provide for the benefit of Christians, enlarged in no small measure those very lessons of the Ciceronian institution, and added what had been lacking to our customs.
Pharamund also, the forty-third after Marcomer, most powerful king of the Franks in Germany, when in the four hundred twenty-fourth year of the Lord's nativity he was forcefully entering the borders of the Gauls, in order that all things might be done safely, bound foreign minutiae to his secrets.
Chlodio Crinitus too, Pharamund's elder son, succeeding his father in the kingdom of the Franks, after he had violently subjected all Gaul to his rule, commanded that all the Gauls, as conquered men and slaves, be shorn and their beards shaved, but ordered the Franks, conquerors and lords of the Gauls, to grow their hair and beard; whence he was also called Crinitus. In imitation of his father, he wrapped the mysteries of counsel in signs both proper and foreign.
Charles, surnamed the Great, the sixty-third king of the Franks after Marcomer, who was the first of the Franks to rule the Romans, with Nanno the grammarian as his teacher, wishing to adorn the German language, which was his paternal tongue, with grammarians after the manner of Latin, began an arduous work, which, however, involved in many affairs and overtaken by death, he did not complete. He bound owls with varied and many minutiae; greater than whom Brabant, or Namur in Germany, had not produced. To each prefect of the kingdom he gave single owls by art. The Northmen, having gone out from the borders of Gothia, when
Preface to Maximilian I Caesar
...when once they were cruelly devastating Gaul, they 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 Normans, described many inventions of the ancients similar to these, by which they made a dark road bright with mysteries. He first commended artrology to the memory of posterity, and invented dactylogy. There were those who, by visible accidents, discerned minute things; by their prudence night was turned into day, and without the service of bubones light shone in darkness. Concerning these things, moreover, the illustrious Count Palatine, Prince Elector, once the requester of our steganography, received from us a manifest proof of instruction.
But others, multiplying minutiae by regulated division, after the manner of barbarians overturned the patterns of nature, concealing in darkness the dances of arising shadows, and, where the secret of counsel required it, supplied the cabala to the absent through diapyromata.
Great labor is involved in these things, and [unclear] long exercise of the mind, in which no one suddenly becomes skilled for use. Necessity endures all things. There were also those whom celestial harmony taught to compose foreign words, of which there was a double use for those who understood: while one sense holds in suspense, the other lifts the mind into the ether. God can do all things. Many have tried to seek light in shadow without light, but they were quite unable, because the fire lies buried in ashes. Some practised painters of phantoms divided one wind into two at a point: one of them, a misophos, always lurks in darkness, while the other, a lover of light, a philosophos, hates darkness, loves light, and guards the secret by means of a bubo. Again, with Bede there were some witnesses whose advancing intention bound the wind, invisible to the eyes, to visible things, and compelled many plants, and no less stones and fruits, which lack voices, to speak with a human tongue. Why should I bring in brute creatures, when all things obey art? This secret is rightly preferred to all inventions thus far, through which the hidden mystery will gain strength for the small, and by no means commit pearls to swine. From nothing, nothing is brought back. The known multitude of visible things, if these are prudently adapted to them, the enlightened mind of man would know and behold wonders. But to treat more fully of these matters is not part of the present purpose; since they are greater and weightier, they require another work and another time. Matthias, the most powerful king of Hungary, a hammer harder than adamant of the cross of Christ, victorious, waged battles; with wondrous ingenuity and art he discovered many things, adorned bubones with periphrasmata, kept his own mysteries, secreted them with manifold variety, and by manifest industry destroyed the counsels of his enemies. He preferred wisdom to gold; therefore a wise, sound mind in a well-disciplined body, driven upward by desire for a higher understanding, when by the likeness of the binary it has returned from the ternary into unity, will thereafter easily rise to the denary.
Pythagoras of Samos, that philosopher, warned his disciples that the quaternary must not be forgotten, in which the first perfection of numbering is contained. For thus we count: one, two, three, four. Stop your mind: for you have ten. For the denary is the head of perfection. What are eleven, except the denary and unity? What is twenty? Twice ten. What is thirty? Three 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? In these things mysteries lie hidden in abundance, and they are manifest to few. For love of brevity we pass over many in silence, who, aiding nature by art, applied prudence to secrets, and what to many who did not know seemed impossible they brought by shrewd study into easy use. A cultivated mind can do great things, and he who cleaves to God becomes, by understanding, higher than the world. Many are the mysteries of kings, and their counsels are full of cares, in which confidence and faith are required; rare faith harms the believer, and often admits even doubt when it is present. Therefore it would be worth the trouble and risk for all princes to be philosophers, and endowed with singular wisdom: just, gentle, benevolent, and distinguished in munificence, so that they cannot easily be overthrown by others. Justice alone, the companion of prudence, makes a prince glorious. To the aforementioned Prince and lord Elector...
To Emperor Maximilian I.
At the urging of Philip, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria, I, Johannes Trithemius, now abbot of the monastery of St. James at Würzburg, but then of St. Martin the Bishop in Sponheim, in the diocese of Mainz, began to write eight books of mysteries in the Steganography. While I was already continuing my night-work on the third book of the same work, I am going to tell the matter 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 by letter what new work I was bringing forth, and with what studies I was occupied, on the second day of Palms I wrote back to him through merchants, as to a friend, that I had under the hammer a new and wonderful work of Steganography, and I reported in order what was contained in each of its books. But before my letter had reached Ghent, Bostius, in the days of Easter, passed from life to Christ. The prior of that place received the letter, opened it, read it, and, astonished, as I think, by the novelty of the promises, shared it, at the request of many others, to be read and copied. Hence it happened that my letter itself, within a short time, was spread through almost all Germany and France, and was copied many times by many people; it brought even many most learned men to amazement and wonder, to such a degree that they hesitated as to what, in truth, they ought to think of me. Among these were some who steadfastly asserted that my promises in the said letter were frivolous, impossible, and false, shamelessly devised by me for the sake of empty glory.
Preface to
Others said: “Great and wonderful things this abbot Trithemius promises; if he can do them, he can do them only by the service of demons, since they seem to far exceed the bounds of nature. But if he cannot, who will doubt that he is a liar, and deservedly to be refuted by all good and learned men?” But let both be far from me, since I promised natural things.
Of all those who rashly judged what they did not know of mine, the most rash, and finally the most unjust appraiser of things to burst forth in public, was Charles Bovillus, a Picard by nation. After he had traveled through the upper parts of Alsace, he came to me at Sponheim for the sake of hospitality, intending to return to France by way of Trier. I treated him with all the courtesy I could, and, as long as he was with me, showed him all the benefits of hospitality with a cheerful face.
And since, as is usual among friends, especially those devoted to letters, I had displayed everything of mine for my most welcome guest to see, among the other things the aforementioned work of Steganography, not yet completed at that time, also presented itself. Bovillus saw it and read it cursorily, his mind occupied elsewhere; he said that he admired the invention, praised it, and took no care to understand it. Thus, since he did not ask for the key to understanding, he deserved to hear or grasp none of the things contained in that work of ours. After this, having returned to France, he repaid us evil for good and shamefully violated the covenant of Christian friendship. For when he was asked by Lord Germanus de Ganay, our common friend, later bishop of Orléans, what he had found with me and had seen in Sponheim, he wrote back falsehoods for truths, lies for benefits, condemning and rashly judging those things which he was quite unable to comprehend with his understanding.
To Emperor Maximilian I.
For since he believed that the palm of learning would be bestowed upon him through envy and falsehood, he wrote back to the aforementioned most learned man a letter full of falsity, lies, many injuries, and insults. In it, making mention of the Steganography which he had not understood, he proclaims me, falsely, mendaciously, and far too injuriously, with rash presumption, to be devoted to wicked arts, a magician and a necromancer. To his most lying injuries and blasphemies, God having mercy, I shall shortly respond in such a way that all posterity may understand both that I am innocent and that Bovillus is impious, cruel, rash, and in this matter a liar.
I steadfastly affirm, I truthfully say, and I confidently swear upon my soul, that I have never had any commerce with demons, nor with wicked and pernicious magical or necromantic arts; but that each and all the things which I have either written or promised that I would write are pure, sound, natural, and in no respect at all contrary to the Christian faith. Therefore I do not fear to submit my promises for examination before good and learned men, whenever and as often as there is need; and I in no way intend to resist their determination. That I have inserted this history of Bovillus’s rashness into this preface of mine had a reasonable cause: that all may understand that it was done by mature counsel that the work of Steganography has thus far remained buried in darkness, not because I fear the rash judgments of Bovillus:
Preface to Emperor Maximilian I
but lest I seem to give more such men cause for suspecting similar things about me. Indeed, so far as I am concerned, I would rather appease rivals by silence than irritate them by letters, or provoke them to defamation by writings. For I judged it better to condemn to perpetual silence all things wondrously discovered, than to incur, even through men’s false estimation, the stigma of magic or of the pernicious superstition of necromancy. Let the Steganographia, therefore, lie hidden in darkness, and let it not become common to the lying Bovillan company, which is accustomed to judge matters unknown to it, and to corrupt the reputation of a good man out of the mere lust of depravity. Nevertheless, at the urging of friends, so that our rivals, together with Bovillus, may understand what a reckless and fabricated injury he has done us, while the Steganographia remains within its own bounds, we consent to bring into the light the present work, which we call the Polygraphia, divided into six books. Let those who wish read it, and let friends read this volume without ill feeling; when they have understood all its hidden mysteries, let them themselves, without envy, be judges whether they are natural or superstitious. For I know, and am certain, that all things are sincere, pure, natural, and removed from every pursuit of evil superstition.
Whenever, however, the discourse proceeds rather obscurely, this is done for the reason that a madman should not misuse for destruction the sword of defense which a man sound in spirit and mind carries for his own protection. Yet nothing evil is contained in it on that account, since perverse men misuse even good things for evil. Whoever presumes to condemn this edition of ours is himself conscious and witness that he has never truly understood it. Mysteries are concealed beneath enigmas, lest the secrets of the Bubones become in any way manifest to the Bacuceans. If it delights anyone to know these things, let the reader approach with envy far removed.
For I am a Christian; I am a priest; I am also a monk under the rule of the holy father Benedict. I love Christ, and with whatever sincerity of mind I can, I always devoutly adore him. I have no dealings with demons; I have had none; and, with God as protector, I shall have none. I have no pursuits, no occupations, no teachings in magical, necromantic, or profane arts. Whoever thinks otherwise of me [unclear], and defends the open lie of Bovillus. But now let us leave these things aside, and let us set forth in order what is contained in each book of our Polygraphia.
Table or Index of the Things Treated in the First Book
In the first book of this Polygraphia of ours we place and distribute, according to the order of our ternary, the words of the Latin language, as many as are seen; by their use and service all princes throughout the world will find safe assistance in any secrets whatever, which, without danger to the mystery, without mark, and without suspicion of the Bacuceans, will remain forever hidden. For the Bubones, by these means the path is known to be safe, and never to be violated by any investigation of anyone. Knowledge of the hidden matter is granted to two only, if the binary is skillfully brought back to the monad. Ignorance is the mother of error, and he who scorns to learn the good he does not know loves blindness. The periphrases themselves are extended in the manner either of one admonishing or of one supplicating, and they can be varied for every visible subject of this world. For they are suited to individual mysteries, and are set before the secrets of the Greeks no less than before our own; when you have understood the things you see, do not rashly despise the hidden things you do not see. You perceive accidents; substance remains invisible. Hence the greater things lie hidden, the lesser things are open to sight. Since this has been done with reason, let no good man take it in a bad sense, since from these things every capable man could, if only he wished, advance to higher matters. For me, however, on this occasion
Index of Book I
For the moment it did not please me to bring higher matters into the light, since an inconvenient time seems to stand in the way. I have prefixed the letters of the Latin alphabet in order to the individual words with this consideration: that the operator may have an easy method in the proposed task, and that the reciprocal party in the relation may be relieved of excessive labor. The paraphrases that are set opposite, outside the straight order of the lines, are not without a mystery of the art, since they serve the light-bearing propositions for the completion of the necessary perfection, not the obscure ones. For this reason, too, they are employed in the former and neglected in the latter. For they themselves are fixed means by which every suspicion of opposition is removed. All things have been set down according to reason, so that not even one proposition is introduced idly. For example, the farther the sun advances from the equinoctial circle, the more the days are lengthened for those who live in those regions.
Therefore, so that unity may proceed in the proper order, by means of the ternary, into the binary, the paradigm that we hand down must be observed with rather great care. And first, after he has taken prior account with intelligent consideration of his intention, let the operator observe what he is going to grant to the ternary through the binary; let him divide the day with the night by minutes, and distinguish the minute particulars of the winds, not by an alien but by the proper supposition of the phrase. In any mystical business let him diligently beware lest he overturn the established order of the art, or substitute one paraphrase for another, or grant to one what is owed to another; otherwise unity will not admit the binary, and the whole operation will be confused and useless. Let the night not be wandering through excessive length; not advancing, it will stand beyond the limits appointed to it by the art; let curiosity not change water into snow, nor let him sleep by day who keeps watch at night. Let the mind, solicitous in its ingenuity, also use art, lest the hand by its own levity commit an error which, though slight and small in the monad, is always accustomed to appear large and very great in the binary.
Only one paraphrase from any given order is admitted to the service of the secret; and, following the example of a servant, as often as the little particle of light has required it, one phrase similarly attached is taken up, not several. These things must be commended to a watchful mind, and care must be taken that the wind not be animated. After this a rule is prescribed for one approaching the practice of the art: that, as far as he can, by mystical art he imitate the single person of a man 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 established in a visible body, so the secret of the mind, in order that it may remain secret and nevertheless operate at will, requires the guidance of light, enduring in its workshop of darkness. Therefore, as often as the body ministers to the soul, the servant to the master, the will to reason, see that the principal virtue of the paraphrastic power in the light is preserved in its natural vigor. For by this instruction, the first of the Peripatetics will duly enter into the second, and the monad into the binary.
Likewise, consequently, we warn the one who wishes it that, as often as the leaf is moved by the wind, he should discern the property of each nature, compare the very night of [unclear] by degrees and minutes, and conform the light-darknesses. But if Phoebus should prejudice the night, or the night the sun, through which a confusion of eclipse would arise, either let unity resume the binary which it sent away 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 encountered the knot of the difficulty mentioned, count the minute particulars of the night, and also mark the paraphrases of the daylight, and so [unclear] the one from [unclear], so that the necessary proportion may follow the action. Beware lest, while the eclipse of the sun lasts, you interrupt the necessary labor.
No less attend to this: that you be mindful of the ancient fathers, Thuysco, who, the grandson of Noah, 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 intermixed with the Germans, once making two languages from one. Hence, according to the oracle g.g., those who have lost one g. receive [unclear]. Finally, diligent investigator of Polygraphy, you are warned that, after you, eager for these discoveries, have attained the true method of operating, you should guard everything prudently and not pour it out everywhere into the knowledge of all men, 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.
An indication of the things that are treated in the second book of the Polygraphy
In the second book of the Polygraphy nothing new is composed beyond the first, in which only the paraphrases of the day are varied. Therefore we advise that whatever we said must be observed in that book must also be kept in this one. For the symbols of both books are arranged under the path of light into the same order, and are necessarily changed only in the meaning of the paraphrases. In both, according to the capacity of human wit, manifold progressions can be made, when the words are varied by metathesis. The [unclear] also are changed at will, if at any time the minutes are converted into whole degrees. When this has been done, a marvellous work in every respect will arise in the art, and the world, brought forth in image, will stand in the light, and there will be no fear at all of the Bacuceans in the operator. I could have put a more beautiful face upon these matters, if I had been 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 opportunity and the material to add things more polished to our inventions, and to adorn art by art.
An indication of the things that are contained in the third book of the Polygraphy
In the third book of the Polygraphy, having by the counsel of reason overstepped the prescribed bounds of our nation, we are led to foreign things, and, though set essentially in the midst of the Franks, we wander farther abroad through the images and likenesses of barbarians. For with almost four thousand mythological paraphrases arranged in order by art, we show a very easy way to artificial unity, through which it will communicate symbolic notions to its binary securely at all times. Here the binary is harder than unity, and unless our philologist is sharpened by prudence, he will render the binary contrary to the monad. For only the ternary, which proceeds from unity and the binary, connects both in itself like a palindrome. But if the usefulness of necessary reason is extended beyond the bounds of the proposed matter, let the paraphrases be counted by minutes from the beginning of the day as often as needed, until the minutes establish the degree in which night is equal to day. The face of this image knows perpetual silence and does not fear the deceits of the Bacuceans. It is extended to whatever abundance you wish, and is varied without number.
A brief index or table of the things that are treated in the fourth book
In the fourth book of the Polygraphy we trust in the binary, which, with all obstacles 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 exceeds day, or if light does not agree with darkness, because the circle does not receive an end, and fullness does not admit a void. For they are contraries, and whenever they succeed one another, the one is destroyed by the other. A singular mystery conducive to the binary is handed down in this fourth book of the Polygraphy, since the airy wind itself, the composer, is never designated in anything other than the binary. But in that part the lightness of owls is always suspect to us in difficult matters. The construction of this matter makes paraphrases with infinite atoms.
Index or table of the things that are treated in the fifth book
In the fifth book of the Polygraphy we have inscribed in order, on two tables, the letters of the Latins, which we Germans also use; one of these is called the straight table, while the other is named the reversed table. To these we have set beneath windy dances, so that what we seek with labor in foreign things we may see without difficulty in our own. For besides those things that have been set down by us openly, still more secrets also lie hidden within; through understanding of them a path is opened for the operator to greater things, which nevertheless are by no means proposed to all. We have also subjected letters to numbers, by which hidden things may be made manifest according to our will. Hence through the skilled operation of this book all messages are safely delivered to cabalistic persons, although the mysteries are not free from suspicion of the Bacuceans. For every form of signs in metathesis generates suspicion in the beholder, although it brings no harm to the owls. But you, who have attained understanding of this work, will easily penetrate every metathesis of letters among our people and the Latins.
36
Index or table of the things contained in the sixth book
In the sixth book, which is the last of our Polygraphia, after introducing a mental narration, we have set out in order the minute details of almost all the preceding signs and degrees, and, with arithmetical distributions, have drawn the functions of letters into the service of cabalistic operation. One thing lies hidden here in the bark, and another is found in the common operation of signs. For just as the spirit in the blood gives life to the human body, so the vigor hidden 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 proper character of each operation. For we desire all things to be open to good men in such a way that, if it were possible, they would nevertheless never become manifest to the wicked. A reason compelled us to adapt the letters of the Latins to numbers, lest, if we were too obscure, the intention of our mind should be clear to no one. Yet this novelty, so that it might not be made public without reasonable cause, had to be mystically concealed under unknown signs and marks of numbering. For the winds of the night are always stronger than those of the day, and just as night intercepts day, so light shudders at darkness. What nature denies, no one ventures upon successfully. We ask the reader not to despise this laborious work of ours before he understands it, but, so that he may be a judge without rashness, prudently to remove the bark, in order to arrive at the hidden kernel. Good and natural is the work that can be turned to good use or to evil, according as the desire of each person's will is moved.
A sword is a good instrument, and is turned also to good use whenever it is carried for defense without injury to one's neighbor. But if it is unlawfully extended to the harming of anyone, through abuse a good thing is loosened into evil. Therefore, so that the good may have means by which they may prudently provide for their affairs, the Polygraphia is written by us; and so that occasion for wrongdoing may not be furnished to the wicked, the kernel is concealed in the bark under various riddles. He who is good does not abuse good for evil; rather, if he can, he turns evil into good.
What are the causes, and at the same time the uses, of this work of ours, the Polygraphia.
We undertook the labor of the present work, both rare and arduous, for no other reason than to provide for the usefulness of those in need. I say those in need, not of food, but of aid in preserving mysteries without danger. Therefore we judge that it will be worth the trouble if we briefly note the uses and advantages that can come to those who use these inventions of ours. Indeed, since in our private affairs we have no business such that we need these teachings for concealing secrets, we have certainly labored for those whose command had to be obeyed. The first use is that the complete understanding of this work gives an easy method by which you will safely, secretly, and without any suspicion on the part of any observers make known the secret of your mind, through the industry of the art, as widely as there may be need, to any distance of places, in regulated speech. What lies hidden in these things the work of Steganographia brings forth, which requires neither letters nor a messenger aware of the secrets he carries. It would be otherwise in matters admitting the light, according to the common custom of all our people. Do not take the matter otherwise than it is. The second use is that, by the service of this work, in a short space of time, you will teach a man ignorant of the Latin tongue, provided only that he knows how to read and write letters in his mother tongue, to write in Latin as you wish, elegantly or neatly, and to conceal and hide all the secret mysteries of his will, and to announce them, to one who knows the art, as widely as he pleases, safely, secretly, and without suspicion. Again I warn you beforehand not to understand us as promising otherwise than we promise. The third use is that I shall teach one unskilled in the Roman language, not only in a few hours, what we promise: to write and to read, but
The Advantage of the Work.
but also to understand, if you have prudently applied the duty of your office, that we have not thought it should be reserved without reasonable cause. For the pupil of the new art will write a language that he did not know, and will understand and interpret Latin speech composed under regulated instruction, if you command it, adequately word for word. Finally, this instruction can be extended to all the affairs and business of the world. If anyone wishes to know from me how these things can be done, let him remember first of all to show himself such that he deserves to receive it. For not all things are owed to all men, but one is to be preferred to another. The fourth advantage is that, through the extension of the likeness of the thing received, all these things can be extended into any language whatever, when the binary of the instructor has been reduced to unity. Yet not just any man can do this indiscriminately, but only he whom, God preceding him with his special grace, art and nature have made worthy. The fifth advantage is that, by imitation of likeness, we can communicate to one who knows the art of our invention any secrets whatever of our mind, as abundantly, variously, and widely as you wish, in diverse ways that cannot be known or noted by anyone else. Here is granted a manifold speech without voice, by which safely, securely, most 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 wonderful invention has innumerable progressions, capable of all mysteries.
The Causes and Advantages of the Work.
The sixth advantage is that, through the understanding of 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 they serve only those who know the art, and absolutely no one else in the world. And great is the power of metathesis in form and also in operation; it has several modes and is varied in many ways. The seventh advantage is that, through the understanding of this volume, very great capacity is given to those who desire to enlarge the memory without labor, whenever the seeds of minute things are set in their proper degrees. All things, for the sake of the cause of goodness, lie hidden wrapped in the secrets of words and figures; if anyone wishes to understand these more fully, let him recall to mind that unremitting labor conquers all things. For it will have been enough for me to have found the principles of the art and to have handed down a rough and deliberately unformed manner of writing symbolically. For there was neither time nor reason for our discoveries to be formed in a more polished way, 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 burdened with precious jewels. All things are untimely which do not agree with the manners and times of the mortals upon whom they are pressed. Many most noble talents of men have existed in unsuitable times, and almost every day more new things are found in times not their own. What did the wondrous invention of nautical art profit the excellent versifier Bartolus under Pope Innocent VIII, which in a certain little book he offered for sale for one hundred thousand ducats, when neither the Supreme Pontiff himself nor the Genoese, to whom he proposed that his matter be bought, deigned to come to terms with him even for a small sum? For he promised that by his art he could keep a ship unharmed in the middle of the sea for thirty months, repair it when broken, and recover without danger anything thrown into the deep. But no one cared. Nor does it escape me that many, with Naso, have perished by their own genius. It is therefore better to set a limit to knowledge than fruitlessly 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.
End of the Preface, on the seventh day of April, in the year of the Lord’s Nativity 1508
Key to the Polygraphy of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of St. James at Würzburg, formerly of Spanheim, of the Order of St. Benedict, of the observance of the Fathers of Bursfelde
In Explanation of the Whole Work of the Polygraphy of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Würzburg. Preface
No one who reads these things will, I trust, judge me either proud or superfluous because I myself have commented on the Polygraphy recently composed by me, especially if he can weigh with precision what cause induced us to speak obscurely. For whatever, when made public, can do harm had reasonably to be concealed in mystical speech. But the subject that we treat in the Polygraphy, for the benefit of the commonwealth
...a method among good men is very good, useful, and honorable; and for that reason, persuaded by a rational cause, we wrote it, so that by its service we might make good men secure from the investigation of the wicked when communicating their secrets to one another. But lest an occasion be given to the depraved and perverse, who even more often abuse good inventions, for deceiving the simpler and less cautious, we set forth in it mystical or hidden [methods] of writing, and covered the truth lying hidden in the marrow with certain veils of figures. Yet we by no means doubt that any industrious man, desirous of these matters, will easily grasp everything, if he applies even a little persistence in investigating. For the things that I have transmitted are not so difficult, nor wrapped in such great mysteries, that they cannot be wholly penetrated by a studious man. For everywhere we have so tempered the enigmas of our words that they are easily accessible to learned and studious men, while nevertheless remaining inaccessible to sluggish men of darkness. But after it pleased me to offer the work of the Polygraphia itself, dedicated to the most serene and most unconquered Maximilian, Caesar of the Romans, ever august emperor of the world, I thought it would be worth the effort if, with a few brief explanations, I made it bright and open, lest the mind of the sacred Majesty, which is daily stretched by many affairs and cares, be drawn back from understanding it by the obscurity of the mysteries. For unless my opinion deceives me, the work will be the more pleasing and useful to his majesty the briefer and clearer it is. First, therefore, with the Lord granting it, we shall briefly explain the meaning of our intention, which is contained in the Prologue wrapped in various enigmas; then, through the individual books of the Polygraphia, we shall succinctly unfold, according to the order, the methods of working, the rules, and the distinctions, and the necessary matters that remain, to the best of our ability. All these things, so that they may more quickly become accessible to those wishing to know, we shall forthwith show by examples, and we shall be briefer insofar as the matter and reason permit.
Key to the Explanation of the Polygraphy of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of [unclear].
Explanation of the Prologue
Our whole intention in the entire work of the Polygraphia turns upon this purpose: that we should transmit certain methods of writing secretly, by which kings and princes, nobles and commoners, priests and laymen, learned and unlearned alike, may safely, without any suspicion of a hidden secret, communicate to one another, and to any friends, even those far distant from each other, by the service of letters, whatever concept of their minds they need, as often as there is need. And lest we seem to have presumed to be either the first or the only ones to do this, we forewarn the reader that formerly many of the ancients, especially tyrants, princes, and kings, moved by a similar consideration, devised for themselves familiar and various methods and canons of writing, by which [unclear] that which they themselves attempted universally. From their number, for the sake of an example of the matter proposed, we first introduced Caesar Augustus; understand his hidden method of writing, made manifest, in this way. He changed the breathings of the conceived voice from clear signs into obscure ones, whose resistant barbarism of sound, by a certain beautiful invention, through the dance of metathesis, he made suitable to his command. That is: the great Caesar Augustus, so that he might write secretly and safely what he wished, changed the letters of the alphabet by varied transposition, so that he put B for A, C [for B], and so consequently for each letter. And so that the writing might remain more secret by twisted teaching, according to his own judgment he transposed the letters and transferred them through a long [unclear] to whatever order, number, place, and distance.
Mystery. And this receptive order, as if perpetual, subject to the will and to the reckoning of time by whatever force, preserves messages sent from the assault of the [unclear], yet having regulated limits, all
makes those who encounter it anxious with suspicion of a hidden matter. Explanation. Although no one can easily comprehend with the understanding a hidden secret mystery concealed under a transposition of letters, nevertheless this writing makes those into whose hands it comes suspicious about the hiding-place of the matter enclosed within. Mystery. Archimedes, that Syracusan, easily the foremost of mathematicians, his white bird, suited to his instructions, bare through head and feet, etc. Explanation. Archimedes had two little rods of one length and thickness shaped, round or square; one he kept for himself, the other he entrusted to his absent friend. And whenever he wished to write something more secret to the other, he wound his white bird, that is, a sheet of papyrus of small breadth but of the length of the rod doubled, around the wood, and fastened it below and above with wax. Afterwards he wrote on the sheet, joined continuously along the sides into a heap, artfully, whatever he wished; then he loosened the sheet from the rod, and at once so great a distance appeared between the letters that not even one word cohered. He turned it; similarly he wrote. Nor was there anyone ignorant of this device who could have discovered the secret. But the man who had the other little rod, when he had received the sheet, attached it and restored the letters to their former order. Mystery. Marcus Tullius Cicero, [unclear]
On the Prologue.
[unclear] eloquent orator of the Romans, using ingenuity and art, changed the small elements of speech into signs, and the rest. Explanation. He wrote a book of notes for his son, which the blessed martyr Cyprian later enlarged for the use of Christians, namely in the manner of a dictionary, where according to order first the characters are designated, afterwards the words designated by the same characters are set before them. With these notes or characters we once saw the whole Latin Psalter, beautifully written, in the library of the greater church of Strasbourg, to which some ignorant judge of things had placed outside this title: Psalter in the Armenian language. But he was mistaken, since it should rather have been written thus: Latin Psalter written in Tullian characters. For each character represents one Latin word. Nor does my judgment deceive me, since I have in my possession the very dictionary of Cicero, corrected by Saint Cyprian, written complete and uncorrupted in an ancient volume, which I have seen nowhere else. And so great is the abundance of notes or characters, with the words subject to them, that they suffice entirely for writing in the Latin language whatever you wish. Mystery. Pharamundus, the forty-third from Marcomer, king of the Franks, when in the four hundred twenty-fourth year of the Lord’s Nativity he powerfully entered the borders of the Gauls, and the rest. Explanation. Of the Franks
Explanation
...their kings, from the time when, in the year 430 before the Nativity of Christ, they left the Scythian borders with their people and settled at the mouths of the Rhine, where Guelders now is, waged continual war with the Gauls for almost nine hundred years, and at last violently made them subject to themselves, as we wrote in the first volume of our Annals. Of these, the aforesaid King Pharamund, in order to send messengers securely, used not a few but many new alphabets, which no one [understood?] without his voluntary instruction.
Mystery. Clodius Crinitus, son of Pharamund and after him king of the Franks, who subdued all Gaul to himself after destroying the Romans whom he found in it, used his father’s inventions in secret writings.
Explanation. This king devised alphabets of his own, new ones, and gave one to each of his leaders, while he alone retained knowledge of them all in his own possession.
Mystery. Charles, surnamed the Great, the sixty-third king of the Franks, who first among the Franks wore the diadem of empire, and the rest.
Explanation. This man, the elder son of King Pippin, is read to have been born duke of Brabant in the county of Namur, adjoining the people of Liege, although some assert that he was born in the village of Ingelheim, not far from Mainz. He too invented various modes of writing, and, with the grammarian Nanno providing assistance, devised different alphabets, by which he communicated secrets to the individual governors of the kingdom, each in a distinct manner.
In the Prologue.
Mystery. The Normans, who once came out from the borders of Gothia, when they were devastating Gaul in a cruel invasion, summoned owls from Greece and prepared a safe hiding-place for their secrets, and the rest.
Explanation. The Normans, wandering through Gaul, as the monk Bede in England bears witness, in order to write their secrets safely among themselves, substituted Greek numerals for Latin letters, from A, the first, as far as the twenty-fourth point, namely w or gu, according to the custom of the Gauls. This mode of writing is altogether most beautiful: in it all the letters are Greek, and according to the Pelasgian order of numbering they designate our Latin letters, as A, 1; B, 3; D, 4; E, 5; [unclear], 6; G, 7; and so consequently as far as w, which is 24. Neither a Greek nor a Latin will understand this writing unless he has first learned the method and the art of the practice.
Mystery. Our Bede, a monk in England, not ignorant of the Normans’ deed, described several ancient inventions similar to these, by which they made a way luminous in mysteries obscure. He himself [wrote on] artrology and the rest.
Explanation. This monk Bede, in his little book on the inventions of the ancients, reviewed many and various ways of writing and marking secretly, by which they safely announced their secrets to friends and spoke without voice to those present. He was the first of all to commit artrology and dactylogy to writing; by their use one person most securely discloses to another whatever secret he has, which none of those sitting by will notice, and much less understand. Bede himself taught that this same thing can be done in many other ways as well; since we have written nothing about these in the Polygraphy, we rightly decline to say more about them here. We long ago assigned the proper place for these difficult matters in the Steganography, which we do not yet think of publishing. And who could set forth all the methods of secret writing used by the ancients? For some had as familiars in the service of the art set forth above owls called Philophoti; others had Misophoti; others summoned both into practice according to the art. Again, some transposed the known letters of the common alphabet; others, under the form of barbarian letters, devised characters of their own for themselves. Again also, some used the service of visible letters, writing with minium or common encaustic; others formed invisible characters at will according to their pleasure. But the modes of visible characters for secret writing are exceedingly many and wholly innumerable, and to mention them all is neither within our will nor within our power. Among mortals today, however, three kinds of invisible characters are more commonly practiced. The first is called Dormatic, which is a certain artificial writing made on the back of messengers, visible only through washing with a certain liquid; no one can penetrate it who does not know the secret of the art. The second is called Hyphasmatic, by which writing is done on cloth with certain substances; when it has dried it can by no means be seen,
On the Prologue.
not at all, until it is seen to have been moistened in cold water. The third kind is called Aleotic, which is manifold and varied, both in form and in material, and has almost innumerable methods of writing secretly. Its writing is done on paper or without paper, with [unclear] and [unclear], with [unclear], [unclear], and various other things. Letters are likewise written and hidden in various ways and places, as under [unclear], under [unclear], in [unclear], in [unclear], in [unclear], [unclear], in [unclear], in [unclear], and in other similar places almost infinite in number. But because none of these things has served our purpose on this occasion, it is therefore fitting that we proceed to the matters which we [unclear]. There is also another kind, dactyletron, not of writing, however, but of signs, by which one person can very subtly communicate to another the conception of his mind. This too is varied by so many differences that there is no one in the world who could enumerate all the species of so great a mystery. In the principal method at once, and in many others descending from it, artfully, while sitting at table, or in any other place whatever, very quietly and without anyone’s suspicion. Finally, that you may announce the secret of your mind without letters to one absent, even without the knowledge of the very person who performs the office of messenger, remains assigned to the inventions of Steganography. For indeed, since many affairs arise for kings and princes, of which they sometimes do not trust themselves to give knowledge safely enough by ordinary letters to their deputies far away,
it would be worthwhile for each of them to have certain special methods of writing and reporting, by which they may be able to make their secrets known most safely to friends, especially in these times, in which, with license for sinning prevailing, nowhere in the world is fidelity found safe. The messengers of princes are seized everywhere, are plundered by savage robbers, beaten, and very often killed; nor do the impious plunderers spare even the letters of kings, sealed and closed with rings. Hence it would be necessary for your commonwealth, O most glorious Caesar Maximilian, that you put on the skin of Hercules, wield the club in your hands, and purge for yourself from these savage monsters the world entrusted to you by God. There will never be peace in the kingdom unless [unclear] are removed from its midst. He who disturbs the peace of the kingdom shows himself to be the king’s enemy. These are the robbers who beset the roads of travelers, seize the property of others; with them the earth today is full, and nowhere is the road safe for those who walk.
Brief Explanation of Those Things Which Seem More Obscure in the First Book of the Polygraphy
Although nothing obscure is contained in the first book of the Polygraphy, nevertheless, lest its composition perhaps seem profound to simpler persons, we briefly explain those things which are thought more difficult. We have distributed the words of the Latin language in order through nine [unclear] under almost four hundred alphabets, so arranged in sequence that, if from any alphabet one only is taken after another from beginning to end, cohering with one another, they will make a fitting Latin sentence. For it will be a very suitable method of writing, most secretly, whatever we wish, since each word represents the letter placed before it at the head. Nor let it trouble you, reader, that a multitude of words in the open contains a brief sense in secret, since in this childish arrangement of ours there lies hidden a loftier method of writing more broadly and much more secretly whatever you wish, which public reason has forbidden us to make plain to all. But he who is endowed with talent, and applies the powers necessary for inquiry, will find subtler things among the doctrines hidden in these matters, and will clearly understand more wondrous things, marvelously unknown before. Nevertheless, this open method of writing
Exposition.
the method will suffice for everything, since you can repeat it as many times as you wish, and the repeated narrative will always be varied. For if, as we have said, you take one word from the first alphabet, likewise one from the second, and so consequently one from each, and one from those inserted outside the ordered line, as far as the period or the end of the book, a Latin and sufficiently coherent discourse will arise for you. Care must be taken, however, that at one time, all at once and at once, more than one word not be taken from one alphabet, and that the writer, through negligence or excessive haste, not skip over some alphabet and confuse the narrative. By “day” understand the open narrative, but by “night” the hidden and secret one, which should not be too long but brief. The examples that follow in the text, concerning the invisible soul and the body that is seen, pertain to both narratives, the hidden and the manifest. Whenever “the leaf is moved by the wind” and the rest occur, we advise that you so number the secret narrative against the open one that both may end together at the close of any given period. But if anything remains over from the secret matter, let it be enlarged with such moderation that both narratives end at one point, lest a confusion of eclipse be produced. The other things that follow in the first instruction of the explanation of the Polygraphia are also implicitly referred to all the things we have said. But it must be noted that under the order of the alphabets there is no idle word; rather, each one represents the letter placed before it at the head. Since the reader may lack perfect knowledge of this matter, let us explain the meaning by an example.
Of Book I
Let us suppose the case that a wicked man seeks through you to be advanced with some friend of yours; but you, in order to cut off his importunate requests and yet not advance an unworthy man, decide to write more secretly to your friend by means of the very man who is asking, so that he may not understand: “Beware of that man, for he is a thief and a very bad scoundrel.” Go to the first alphabet; write the word Conditor, which signifies C; in the second, clemens, which gives A; in the third, decernens, which represents V; in the fourth, mundana, which signifies E. Now you have in the hidden narrative: caue. Consequently, also through the other alphabets, [unclear] signifies: “the seraphic pleasantness with all his saints in heaven, amen. The gentleness of the most glorious prince, to be remembered everywhere reverently by the saints, by the best precepts exhorts us, most abject sleepers, because of the reverence of the director of good men, to leave the present things behind, and with every affection, according to our powers, to await the glory of perpetual rest. Therefore receive instruction, O vain mockers, so that you may be able to enter, most happily adorned, into the most blessed dances of the archangels of the rewarder of the orthodox. Rise, therefore, from the most filthy honors of this pilgrimage, since you are about to enter, most holily, into the joys of the kindly savior of the ages, most blessed.” In this public narrative written above there is contained this sentence, hidden in secret, namely: “Beware of that man, for he is a thief, a very bad scoundrel; but keep silent, I beg you.”
Exposition of Book I
The same order must be followed in all other cases whatsoever, beginning from the head as many times as necessary until you have manifestly enclosed the hidden narrative of your secret. But the words that are placed outside the alphabetical order designate no letter and do not serve the hidden narrative, but have been inserted because of a lack of synonyms, so that the sequence of Latin speech might be completed. For we could not always have so many signifying words, especially among pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections, that we could have made an alphabet in place of the twenty-four wandering letters, as is clearly evident after the eighth alphabet, where we placed two words outside the order, lest we leave the discourse defective. For thus we placed: “with all,” and thus: “with all together.” The writer may take whichever two of these he wishes, whenever he finds similar ones. Let him do likewise in other cases, which we often need in our German language. For one who is ignorant of Latin speech may write his hidden secret in German beneath a Latin discourse without any difficulty.
Se-
57
Now follow the rules or cautions to be observed in the operation of this book
The first rule or caution advises you that the secret of your mind, which you wish to announce to an absent friend who knows the art and has the book of the Polygraphia, you should write as carefully as you can on a sheet, in the Latin language or the German, or in any other you wish that can be represented by Roman letters. Then place the sheet so written before you, so that for each individual letter of the secret you may be able to fit an appropriate word. For, as we have shown, in this practice of writing a whole word is taken. We gave an example a little earlier in the foregoing.
II. The second caution instructs you that, as has been said, you should not take more than one word at the same time from an alphabet in one narrative of the public Latin discourse; otherwise you would both confuse the open sense and entirely draw away from understanding the mystery the friend to whom you had written.
III. Third, one must take the greatest care not to skip any alphabet through negligence, without taking from it one word fitting the secret. Likewise one must provide that, whenever one or more words occur outside the sequence of the alphabet, you take the whole upper line or the lower one, and not both.
58 Cautions of the Operation.
IIII. Fourth, care must be taken that whenever the discourse of the open speech has been brought to a complete sentence, the next should take its beginning from a larger, thickened letter, according to the form of the preceding example, in which, according to the sense of the Latin discourse, we took large letters at the beginning and small ones for the rest, in the common manner. When the secret of your mind is lengthy, so that it exceeds the narrative of the open discourse, if much remains you should begin again from the beginning; if little, let the discourse be recalled from any place at will. For no one even moderately skilled in this technique could fail to know where you have begun again. Nor is there need to fear the consonance of the speech, which will always be varied in the manifest narrative together with the hidden one; and whenever it is begun from the beginning, a new appearance of the discourse will follow. Continuation can also be made from the end of the first book through the second.
V. Fifth, we advise that whenever you wish to write on a difficult matter by this art, prepare for yourself a small booklet in which you write your secret mystery in manifest discourse. Whoever sees or reads this booklet will judge that no secret is hidden, and even if he has a suspicion, he will not be able to find any of the things that you write.
VI. Sixth, it must be noted that if you transpose the order of the words throughout the whole Polygraphia, changing it by metathesis in each alphabet, and have written two volumes according to it, one for yourself and the other for any friend, you will write between yourselves with complete security whatever you wish, nor is there anyone living on earth who can penetrate your secrets. This transposition, however, can be done in infinite ways.
VII. Seventh, we forewarn you that one must write polygraphically in one way to a man ignorant of the Latin language, in another to one skilled in it. For the former all words must be written out whole, without abbreviation, distinct, complete, handsome, and entirely legible, without partition, without division, and without confusion, lest, deceived by error, he either think one word to be two or judge two to be one. The things that are set down must be listened to.
VIII. Eighth, provision must be made that the person to whom you write mystically by this art should have a book in every respect like yours; otherwise you would write in vain and fruitlessly to one who does not understand.
IX. Ninth, if you wish this technique to remain forever secret and hidden, write out the Polygraphia anew, but do not set the letters of the alphabet before it, and no one will easily suspect the principle of the secret. But so that no difficulty may confront the writer and the reader of the mystery, let the letters of the alphabet be written on a sheet in the order corresponding to the words, and let [a movable one?] be fitted to the heads of the same. The letters can also be engraved on a copper plate, so that they may be moved from one order into another.
X. Tenth, it must be known that although we do not use the Pythagorean T in German and Latin words, we have nevertheless admitted it on account of the Greek language, so that we might have the doubled twelvefold number. Likewise we have accepted the doubled w as the twenty-fourth letter, which is altogether necessary for us in the German language.
XI. Eleventh, let him who receives letters written from the Polygraphia know
Cautions of the Operation
to be read, since understanding is needed in reading. And therefore, whenever he receives a sheet or little book written polygraphically, let him go to a secret place, and, with the book of Polygraphy opened, which he must have with him, let him examine each word throughout all the alphabets, and note most diligently with chalk on the table, or with ink on paper, what letter each one represents. And when he has inspected the whole letter in this way, let him compose the letters into words, and he will easily understand what lay hidden in concealment.
XII. Twelfth, kings and princes should note that, if they have many deputies in different places, it is not prudent to write to all of them with one kind of hidden narrative. Therefore, so that they may have for each person his own secret mode of writing, let them change the order of the words as many times as they wish to have separate modes. Thus they themselves will possess the modes of writing of all, and none of their subjects will understand the mode of another. For the variable modes of writing more secretly by this art are infinite.
XIII. Thirteenth, it should be noted that we, in order to stop the mouths of those who speak wickedly, [have shown?] the possible truth of this new invention of ours, placing the words in the alphabets of the first [book?] so that they cohere with one another and produce a fitting Latin prayer in the manner of an exhortation and supplication offered to God. Beneath whose hidden narrative [unclear], and to write in such a way to a friend skilled in the art that, if all the men of the whole world came together in one place, they could never find the secret lying hidden beneath the open discourse, provided it had been rightly arranged.
XIIII. Fourteenth, it should be known that in this very invention of our Polygraphy there still lie hidden certain things far better than those written above: namely, how you will be able, in a few days, not to say hours, to instruct a man ignorant of the Latin language so that he knows how to write, read, speak, and understand Latin, not indeed universally in all things, but in a certain manner whatever he needs in his affairs concerning any subject whatever. Likewise, how you may make known to your friend, far absent and knowing the practice of the art, all the conceptions of your mind without writings, and with the messenger unaware, securely, safely, and most secretly, sometimes even without a messenger, naturally and without any superstition, danger, or fear. But let those things remain buried in their hiding places with the rest. The reason has moved us, since it neither pleases me nor is at all advantageous to cast precious stones to the wind and to accomplish difficult things without the fruit of gratitude. Finally, beneath these things there lie hidden no small mysteries of subtlety concerning medicines, herbs, plants, precious stones, rivers, the members of the human body, brute animals, cosmography, astronomy and the seven liberal arts, and also concerning all those things that are in human use, and concerning the universal world, both of visible and invisible things. And, lest we be more prolix than is right, all things that are in the world, by extension of the likeness of the previously shown art of Polygraphy, serve a mystical lesson.
XV. Fifteenth, note that all these things that we have handed down as discovered in the Polygraphy are certain small introductions in comparison with those that still remain to be discovered and written in this very faculty; concerning them we pass over in silence, lest we seem to boast in vain. For we have given to suitable minds an occasion for discovering greater things than we have either written or perhaps been able to discover. Let him who can add, for the completion of this invention, those things that he knows to be useful; but let him who cannot, by no means rashly judge the things he does not understand.
An explanation of those things which seemed rather obscure in the second book of the Polygraphy
In the second book of the Polygraphy, apart from the order and sequence of the words, nothing new is handed down from the first; and therefore one and the same manner of operating will apply in both, and we carefully admonish that all things which we said must be observed in the first must also be observed in the second. Only in the narrative of the prayer is an evident difference seen to have arisen, since that one is composed concerning our Lord, the Son of God, but this one to the mother, the ever-untouched Virgin
Book II
is raised to the Virgin. In the second book there are three hundred and eight alphabets set before the words in order, though under different subjects. For from the beginning the narrative of the discourse is directed to our Lady herself; afterward the Lord’s Prayer is expanded under twenty-four alphabets; then the Angelic Salutation is added, next the Salve Regina, and lastly a brief prayer concerning Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. In all the books of the Polygraphia care must be taken that one word not be repeated in any alphabetical order, that is, not be placed twice, and that none be omitted, because it would cause great confusion for the reader. Therefore the utmost care must be taken that the copies be in every respect emended and corrected exactly, lest, when writing, you fall into error. But if, through the negligence of the scribe or the carelessness of the printer, you find some word duplicated under one alphabet, erase the last one and put in its place another suitable one, which has not occurred earlier in the same alphabet. Know also that these two books of our Polygraphia serve sufficiently for the promised operation: by means of them you will not only be able at all times to write and announce to friends whatever you wish, very safely and securely, but also, without any suspicion, to make one who is wholly ignorant of the Latin language, provided he knows how to form letters, a participant in and learned in this art, something which we believe was previously unheard of in such a manner. But since this manner of writing secretly, under a long narrative of open discourse, comprises fewer sentences of the hidden intention, perhaps for that reason it will be usable only in great and difficult matters, especially among those to whom leisure is pleasing and labor displeasing. We shall therefore give, in the four following books, easier ways of writing, although they shrink from the suspicion of most observers. In the Steganographia, however, there are richer methods of writing most secretly and without any suspicion, where not a word represents a letter, but each word represents another whole word suited to the mystery. Let us set down an example of this: if you wish to forewarn a friend about some imminent danger, under such a narrative of words: “Melancius, Tiberius, John, and Peter, servants of the Count of Asoto, have conspired for your death, and on the fourth day after Lawrence’s day, at night, they will surround your house; see what you should do.” The Steganographia veils this secret thus: “I beg you, dearest friend, to send me by the bearer of these presents ten florins as a loan, because they are very necessary to me for the construction of a certain building; I shall faithfully restore them to you.” Who would believe, or suspect, that this secret lay hidden in the discourse written above? Let us set the same thing under another narrative as well: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who willed to become man, to suffer, and to die for us, have mercy on me, an unworthy sinner, now and in the terrible hour of my death.” Behold, you now have one hidden sentence of your heart veiled under the bounds of Steganographia by a double narrative, in discourse brief but faithful, which the whole world will not even be able to suspect, nor, if it should search for a hundred years, to discover in any way, even if all the learned should come together. Finally, the aforementioned Steganographia teaches you to hide this very secret sentence of your heart not only by one or by the two narratives written above, but in almost infinite ways, and, if you wish, to announce it very safely, very secretly, and very securely. All the methods of this sort of invention can also be changed by metathesis in infinite alternations, and all things can be written and announced through them. Why, however, the work of the Steganographia remains buried in silence has been said sufficiently at the beginning of our Polygraphia, and therefore it did not have to be repeated here.
Let it therefore lie hidden, lest it be seen by the ungrateful.
An explanation of the obscure matters contained in the third book of our Polygraphia
In the third book of the Polygraphia we have transmitted a newly devised method of writing secretly, indeed sufficiently safe and secure, but suspect, to all who look on, of a hidden secret. For no one, however learned, [unclear] hidden mystery without peri-
Explanation
will find [unclear] of the tradition, since indeed he cannot understand even open writing. We have arranged the fabricated words so that they contain nothing in themselves, but merely represent the letters of the alphabet placed before them; through them you will be able to write and make known all the secrets of your mind to a friend, however far absent, with the greatest security. But those unskilled in and ignorant of the art, when they see the writing, will think it is some foreign language, and will be wholly ignorant of what it contains. But when you wish to write or report something to an absent person by the method of this book, take care first of all that you properly distinguish each and every word from the others, so that each can be very clearly discerned from another, lest the person to whom you write take one for two, or two for one, because that would produce a great error. Let us set down an example of this matter: Abrin madon badis, cadulur pasu, adin loroff masara damis, boda omo dromidrus vares mastron phosat, galos, prosol fane lemoros, aro soca bilneso, hamol heliet rhamil festa doron hubor rodex. In this narration of an invented discourse there is contained this brief secret sentence of a friend warning a friend about danger: Do not come to court, because the king is angry with you. You see how easy, safe, and secure this method is of writing and reporting whatever you wish to a friend who understands it. In all things, however, you must know that care is to be taken, as was said before, that you take no more than one word from each alphabet, and again that you skip no alphabet.
Of Book IV
Whenever you have brought the narration of the invented discourse to the end of the book, if the secret of your mind has not yet been completed, begin again from the beginning, and do this as often as will be necessary. Nevertheless, each person will be able at his own discretion to change these words of ours, improve them, and add more, provided, however, that you avoid a consonance that breaks out disgracefully into sounds.
Explanation of the Fourth Book of Our Polygraphy
In the fourth book of the Polygraphy we have placed words fabricated by us in alphabetical order by a similar method, but in one point alone we deliberately differ from the preceding book. For in the preceding book the words contain nothing else of any proper meaning in themselves, except that they represent the letters placed before them at the head. But in the fourth book, which we now have in hand, the individual words designate the letters placed before them. They have within what they display without, because the second letter of each word always serves the hidden mystery, as we shall make clear in the following example. Ecorach hanasar dulay semalas, chorion suriel anephor scabaras busarat vimalo tropen tumelech amasar. For understanding this mystery, take only the second letter from each word, and you will find this hidden meaning: Beware this man. For the second letter in Ecorach is C, in hanasar A, in dulay V, in semalas E; join these four letters and they will make this word: Beware. And so let one proceed in the rest as far as the end of the book. If any hidden mystery remains to be written, one must return to the beginning as often as necessary, until the secret has been completed in full. In this very secret method of writing, if someone has been trained by long practice, he does not need the book, but will readily compose on the spot words suitable for his purpose. But one who is less practiced in composing necessarily requires a copy of the book from which to write. A copy of the volume will not be necessary for the reader, since without the book he can easily find the hidden secret everywhere through the second letters. Yet in great, difficult, or dangerous matters, this method of writing would not be trusted as sufficiently safe, because the skill of an experienced man could by chance find out the hidden mystery. But this method of writing can be changed by an intelligent man, so that the signifying letters are placed in the third or fourth position of the word, with the words altered.
A brief explanation of the fifth book of our Polygraphia
In the fifth book of the Polygraphia we have presented various methods of writing secretly by transposition of ordinary letters, arranged in such an order that, under their covering, we shall be able safely to write and communicate everything to an absent friend. Now, to speak in our own manner, the progression of the transposition of letters is almost infinite, since from one alphabet by metathesis countless forms arise. First we described a straight table containing twenty-four alphabets; by understanding it, as many alphabets will be able to be composed as there are stars counted in the firmament of heaven. For as many characters as there are in that table, so many times, by the art, hundreds of thousands of alphabets arise in order. After this we set out a reversed table distributively, which will arise so many times into another as often as we have changed the first letter at the head. In the first straight table the [unclear] letter is B, and in the reversed one Z. As often as you put any other changed letter in their place, so often you will find a table new in every respect, and so on to infinity. Then we expanded the first straight table, placing at the head of each transposed black letter, in minium, the letter which it represents, so that we might furnish the reader with an easier method of writing.
Explanation
This, then, is the method of writing: in the first black alphabet take one letter of the hidden sentence, from the second another, from the third a third, and so on consecutively to the end. When you have reached it, remember to return each time to the first order, until by concealing you have completed the secret mystery of your mind. But so that you may see the order, let us set down an example. Hxpf gfhmczfueib gmbt gx hsr egerbd qopma wvz. fxeqk ak tnr qxyz. The meaning of this mystic speech is: Beware this man, because he is evil, a thief, deceiver, liar, and unjust. You now perceive what a wondrous transposition of the letters of the alphabet this table provides, since there is no one who, without knowledge of it, can penetrate this secret. For this method of writing surpasses every common transposition of letters, since each letter is always changed from one series of the alphabet into another. From the reversed table also, which we have expanded in order by a similar distribution, let us set down such an example by way of introduction. Rdkt, ftz nyb, teuqz, fu zf, fd. drgh, vfd. Its hidden sense is this: Beware this man, because he is evil. And note that under the example of the straight table already set down, we make the hidden series from the beginning through the reversed table, and again the circle, as you see, to the beginning of the straight table. Hence it must be considered that one series of writing can be drawn through both tables, just as we have already done in the demonstration of the first example, or, if you prefer, through one alone, as we have shown sufficiently in the reversed table. Nor will it create difficulty for the reader to whom you send the hidden message; he will easily understand everything if he has had even a little experience in the art. The strongest proof, moreover, which increases knowledge, is practice repeatedly exercised in any art.
After the expansion of the tables, certain orchemata follow, in which there is not only a transposition of all the letters, but also a passage of one ordered over another. For orchema in Greek is called transilitio in Latin. And first we marked the leap of the letters in the expanded form; afterward we reduced it into an orchema. In the operation of this orchema, however, a wondrous leap is made. There are twenty-four alphabets in it. In the first no letter stands between. In the sixth, three. In the fifth, two. In the seventh, six. In the eighth, seven. In the ninth, eight. Finally, in the tenth, ten, and so consequently up to the twenty-fourth alphabet, in which twenty-three letters stand between; afterward a return by likeness is made to the beginning. The method in the orchemata for writing a mystery is similar to that which is observed in the tables of transposition of letters: namely, when one is going to write according to the rule of the orchema, from any black alphabet one is to take only one letter, which, once written, the minium shows at the head. For the understanding of this, let us set down an example.
Explanation of Book V
[unclear]. Its meaning is this: Beware this man, because he is evil. When, in writing, you have come to the end of the orchemata, and the begun secret of your heart has not yet been completed, you should know that you must return to the beginning as often as necessary, until the mystery has been completed in every respect. And know that from one orchema of letters there are composed as many alphabets as the diligent investigator may wish to have. Finally, this method of writing by orchemata, that is, by transpositions and leaps, is the safest of all, because there arises a transposition of letters that is not uniform, but varied in many ways. And it should be noted that the true and perfect knowledge of the tables and orchemata, if you are industrious and studious, [unclear] the understanding of all writings which are written out in any way by transposition of letters; and it is a great secret which few know: to be able to find all meanings concealed in any transposition of letters whatever.
Brief Explanation of the Sixth and Last Book of the Polygraphia
In the sixth and last book of the Polygraphia we have gathered together certain characters of the ancients, which they used in place of letters, so that, if anyone wishes to employ from them an alphabet of his own, he may be able to do so, although a moderately skilled person, if he wishes, can devise finer characters for himself. All the synthemata of this book are sufficiently open and clear; therefore they need no explanation, or only a brief one. Yet those things which stand forth as newly invented by us require a definite declaration, lest perhaps they seem to have been set down without reason.
First of all, we made all the letters of the Latins numerical, after the manner of the Hebrews and Greeks, thinking it shameful for us if we should be found inferior to them in this respect. For what of the fact that we doubled certain letters, so that they might suffice for an infinite number, when the Jews long ago did the very same thing, compelled by necessity? And the Greeks, because of the deficiency of letters, admitted certain marks into the number, since they could not double the letters. But we, because we are pressed by a like deficiency of letters, admitted two marks, namely this one, &, which our scribes put for “and”; nor does it matter whether it is written thus, &, or thus, et, provided that it represents six in number. We added another, 9, which our people write indifferently in abbreviation for con and com, and here, in the order of numbers, it represents six hundred.
But by the same necessity we doubled two letters, namely r, z, s, of which r signifies ninety, while the curved z signifies one hundred, the long s two hundred, and the closed s three hundred. Moreover the doubled w, which we placed in the order of the alphabet on account of the nature of the German language, represents the last letter, and in the series of numbers one thousand. Let us set down a tabular example of this new invention of ours for the reckoning of numbers, so that anyone who wishes to know the method may have a definite instruction before his eyes. For what has always been easy for both the Hebrews and the Greeks will not be impossible for us. The table of numbers follows.
Numeral sign
Value
Numeral sign
Value
Numeral sign
Value
Numeral sign
Value
a
1
f
7
ia
11
if
17
b
2
g
8
ib
12
ig
18
c
3
h
9
ic
13
ih
19
d
4
i
10
id
14
k
20
e
5
—
—
ie
15
l
30
&
6
—
—
i&
16
m
40
n
50
o
60
p
70
q
80
r
90
curved r
100
long s
200
closed s
300
t
400
u
500
con/com sign
600
x
700
y
800
z
900
w
1,000
—
—
The printed table continues the same compound system into the thousands and millions. The distinctive curved and closed letterforms are described in the preceding paragraph; they cannot be represented faithfully by ordinary modern type.
Explanation of Book VI
We have shown a sufficient method of counting by Latin letters after the manner of the Hebrews and the Greeks, which we have reasonably placed here by way of digression, although it is also found earlier in the sixth book. But by the fact that, as we proceed, we have here brought our number to a close at thirty times one hundred thousand, we plainly declare that it can be carried on to infinity. If this method of numbers displeases anyone, he will easily be able to devise a better one. Also, in imitation of the Northmen, from the aforesaid numerical letters we have arranged a new alphabet, by which you will safely be able to write to an absent friend and report whatever secret you wish. This manner of writing is indeed so secret, as well as new, and seems never to have been seen or heard of before us, that it appears impossible that it could be understood by any servant of the teacher. But now let us set down its alphabet.
Numeral sign
Letter
Value
Numeral sign
Letter
Value
Numeral sign
Letter
Value
Numeral sign
Letter
Value
a
a
1
f
g
7
ic
n
13
ih
t
19
b
b
2
g
h
8
id
o
14
k
u
20
c
c
3
h
i
9
ie
p
15
ka
x
21
d
d
4
i
k
10
i&
q
16
kb
y
22
e
e
5
ia
l
11
if
r
17
kc
z
23
&
f
6
ib
m
12
ig
s
18
kd
w
24
Behold, you now have here an alphabet from Roman numerical letters, in imitation of the Northmen, with which you will be able most safely to write and report to an absent friend whatever you wish; and no eavesdropper will be able to penetrate your secret except one who knows the secret of the art. For all who see the writing will think that the letters have been transposed, and they will labor in vain in reckoning them. Let us set down an example. laaihid ifeib, ieifeigeicchkib, cakeibid. i kahb gidibid. eigih ieeigigh .kif. iaahifid ibeidaka.eih. iceikai b. The hidden meaning of this writing is as follows: Beware the bearer of these presents, because he is a very bad man, a thief, a robber, a liar, worthless. By the demonstration of this example it is easily given to be understood how safe and secure this manner of writing is universally, in every language known to the writer, in every cause or business, however difficult, secret, great, or lengthy. Nor do I think that there is any man living in the world who, by his own wit and without a teacher, could read this very writing. For all who see it will think nothing other than that the letters have been transposed; and since they have been unable to obtain an understanding of them, at last, wearied by despair, they will cease from investigation, and whatever you have written will remain hidden. For no one, as I think, will weigh out this contrivance of writing secretly by his own powers just as it is, unless he has either the Polygraphy, or this key to it, at hand, or has been instructed by another. From these numerical letters, too, many other alphabets can be given according to the order of counting, when the beginning for writing alphabetically is taken not from one but from any following number. But in that progression you should know that care must be taken lest more than two numerical letters be taken to represent one letter. Hence, when you have come to 1000, that is, ten times one hundred thousand, halt your step and do not wander farther, lest the multitude of letters, by marring it, confuse the beauty of the writing. For after one has been excluded and ten times one hundred thousand letters included, there are enough for almost thirty individual alphabets. Yet the method of the first alphabet, beginning with one, is the more beautiful for wrapping secrets in writing in proportion as it is shorter and simpler. In short, it renders the writing less tortuous.
We have also arranged another alphabet, with Latin letters distributed in a flowing order and transposed without a rule, in imitation of which nearly numberless others can also be made; and its likeness is now set down.
group 1
group 2
group 3
group 4
group 5
group 6
group 7
group 8
o
a
t
g
c
n
q
u
p
b
h
i
k
x
y
z
q
c
w
l
r
d
f
s
i
e
x
m
g
z
v
w
Let us also set down an example of this alphabet. Gquog, ozuqi, ykar, din, vc, qacquxua, riqdik v99i, aqqurixrlz, skci,
The Apology of Johannes Trithemius, Prefixed to the Steganography
It is the opinion of many that the ancient philosophers and wise men of art and nature, if they had discovered any secrets, concealed them by various methods and figures, lest they should come to the knowledge of wicked men. The more learned among the Jews also affirm that Moses, the most famous leader of the Israelite people, in his account of the creation of heaven and earth, covered ineffable secrets of mysteries with simple words. Saint Jerome too, the most learned among our own, says that in the Apocalypse there lie hidden almost as many mysteries as words. I pass over the wise men of the Greeks, men of no small repute and glory among their own people, who, applying themselves to the writing of fables, by prudent invention handed down one thing to the unlearned and another to learned men in the course of a single narrative. Although, because of the slowness of my intellect, I cannot perfectly imitate these most zealous lovers of wisdom, yet I judge it a beautiful and glorious thing to admire them, and, with what diligence I can, to read and venerate them. Thus, when I consider that they, by their own study, discovered great things beyond other men, I may, applying a certain violence to myself, impel myself to some imitation of them, even among the very latest.
Apology
Nor, as I think, has my opinion wholly deceived me, since through the continual study of reading I have both learned many things that I had not known before, and opened an entrance for my thoughts to investigate more secret matters. For if I am not of such great learning or industry that I dare profess that I have grasped that method of the ancient sages for concealing mysteries, nevertheless I have devised certain methods, not altogether to be despised, as it seems to me, of writing secretly and concealing [whatever you wish], entirely without any suspicion; and these, at the urgent request of the most serene prince, lord Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, and Prince Elector of the Roman Empire, the wisest Maecenas of philosophers, than whom no one has seemed to me more worthy to have this great secret revealed to him, I have committed to writing and reduced into the present volume, not without immense labor, lest this great secret should come to the ears of common unlearned men or of wicked persons. I beg you, reader, whoever you may be in the future, to remember how many evils could be done in the commonwealth by evil and wanton men through this science, if it came to the knowledge of many: adulteries, fornications, conspiracies, betrayals, homicides, robberies, and countless evils. For just as a good and honorable man can, whenever he wishes, securely and without any suspicion from anyone, for private or common advantage, make known and express the secret of his will to another who knows this art, so any perverse, wanton, malicious person, with every obstacle entirely removed, however shamefully, [unclear] of his pleasure, will be able to communicate his evil desire without any suspicion. Nor could trust among married persons any longer remain safe thereafter, since a woman, though previously ignorant of the Latin language, made most learned through holy and chaste words of any language or idiom, could understand very fully the evil and immodest will of her lover, even while her husband reads and praises the letters, and in the same way could send back to him her own desire, as broadly as she wished and most securely, in quite eloquent speech. Indeed, although this science may seem childish to some, nevertheless, if it were made public, the whole order of the commonwealth would be disturbed, public trust would perish, letters, documents, writings, and finally all the very speech of men would be turned into perpetual suspicion. No one would any longer trust letters, however good, honorable, and holy; no one would put faith in epistles, since, however holy and chaste the words might be, nevertheless deceit, fraud, and evil deception would always be thought to lie beneath them; and men would become fearful in all things, and no less suspicious of mutual conversations than of any letters. Nor can anyone become so learned and experienced in this very science of writing secretly and most hiddenly [unclear] sufficient for all things, which he himself has not yet grasped. For this science is a chaos of infinite magnitude, which no one can comprehend. Because, however learned in this
Of Trithemius.
...however experienced you may have been in this art, nevertheless what you understand is less than what you do not know. For it is the property of this science always to make the pupil, provided he is diligent and willing, incomparably more learned than the master.
There follows the exposition of the most illustrious man Adolf von Glauburg, patrician of Frankfurt, with examples of those things which were either passed over by the author or treated less clearly.
Magnus, from among these, emperor of the Romans.) On this method of writing one may consult Suetonius Tranquillus in the Life of Augustus, ch. 88, and in the Life of Julius Caesar, ch. 86. “There are extant,” he says, “also to Cicero, likewise to his friends, on private matters” (letters, that is), “in which, if any things had to be conveyed more secretly, he wrote them by signs, that is, with the order of the letters so arranged that no word could be formed; if anyone wished to investigate these, he should substitute the fourth letter of the elements, that is, d for a, and so likewise exchange the rest.” Moreover Isidore also makes mention of a letter of Augustus to his son, in which he writes thus: “Since innumerable matters continually arise which each of us ought to write to the other, and to keep secret, let us have signs between us, if you wish, such that, when anything has to be written by us, for each letter we write the following one, in this way: b for a, c for b, and then the rest in the same manner. But for the letter z one must return to double aa.”
Archimedes of Syracuse.) Similar to this is what is read in Gellius, book 17, chapter 9. When the ancient Lacedaemonians wished to disguise and conceal letters sent publicly to commanders, so that, if they were intercepted by enemies, their plans might not be known, they sent letters made in this fashion. There were two rounded, rather oblong rods, of equal thickness and the same length, smoothed and prepared in like fashion. One was given to the commander as he set out for war; the other the magistrates kept at home, with their authority and with the seal. When there was need of more secret letters, around that rod they wound a long strip of leather of moderate thinness, or as much as was sufficient for the matter, in a simple round coil, so that the edges of the leather that was being folded, joined closely on every side, met together. Then they inscribed the letters on that leather across the transverse edges of the joins, in lines proceeding from the top.
When the strip had thus been written over with letters, they unwound it from the rod and sent it to the commander, who was aware of that device. The unwinding of the leather likewise rendered the letters broken and mutilated, and the strokes and points of their parts were scattered into very different places. Therefore, if that leather fell into the hands of enemies, they could conjecture nothing at all from it. But when the man to whom it had been sent received it, taking the matching rod which he had, he wound it around to the end, just as he knew it ought to be done; and so the letters, coming together along the same circumference of the rod, again met, and supplied an intact and uncorrupted letter, easy to read. The Lacedaemonians call this kind of letter a skytale. See also Plutarch in the Life of Lysander.
There is another method of concealing letters, no less ingenious, described by Jerome Cardano in his book On Subtleties. Take two equal sheets of parchment, ruled for writing, and in the very lines make holes scattered here and there, opposite one another in each sheet, small, but nevertheless according to the size or height of the letters. Some will contain seven letters, some three, some eight or ten, so that all together, when all the spaces that can be written in are joined, they contain [unclear]. You will give one of these to the man to whom you wish to write. But when there is need, first write the sentence which [unclear] contains less, with [the sheet?] placed beneath the holes; you will write that sentence, and likewise in one and another [place], and finally fill the spaces of the first parchment by completing sentences, filling them until the sense
Explanation
[unclear]. You will complete this second sentence on the second membrane, in such a way that the words of the sentence seem to cohere; on the third also you will fit it so that, with the first letters unharmed, the whole sentence, the number and size of the words, may stand firm and retain a certain neatness. When this has been done, place the exemplar which you cut out over a membrane of equal size, and at the ends of the openings mark the very finest points as far as the letters extend which you desire to write. Then take the third membrane, and write the letter in continuous words, with proper order and size of spaces, and also of letters, so that the first sentence and its words are contained within the limits of the points. Therefore no suspicion of trickery then remains: the other person, when he receives it with the exemplar laid over it, immediately understands the meaning of your mind; nor can anything equal to this device, though it is no slight labor, be found for communicating one’s meaning to one’s friends in dangerous times.
Marcus Tullius. The meaning is that Cicero devised individual particular characters for individual Latin words; with these, if necessity demanded, he wrote an oration however lengthy with very few signs and very secretly. And in this way, they report, Cato’s speech, that the conspirators should be punished, was preserved and committed to writing, when Cicero as consul appointed very swift writers to capture spoken words by notes of this kind. That the ancients also followed a certain similar method for writing words quickly and concisely, so that often a single letter signified a word, is attested by Valerius Probus, Petrus Crinitus, Angelus Decembrius, and also by the very ancient monuments most diligently collected by Petrus Apianus and Bartholomaeus Amantius. But this artifice of writing will be treated more carefully hereafter.
Our Bede in England. On reckoning and speech by the fingers. This invention is found in Bede, concerning the divisions of times. When you say one, bending the little finger on the left hand, you will set the joint in the middle of the palm. When you say two, you will place there the second from the little finger, bent. When you say three, you will likewise bend down the third. When you say four, you will likewise raise the little finger similarly. When you say six, you will nevertheless lift the third, with only the middle finger, which is called the ring finger, fixed in the middle of the palm. When you say seven, you will place only the little finger, the others being lifted, upon the root of the palm. Next to it, when you say eight, the ring finger. When you say ten, you will set the nail of the index finger in the middle joint of the thumb. When you say twenty, you will put the tip of the thumb between the middle joints of the index and middle fingers. When you say thirty, you will join the nails of the index finger and thumb in a gentle embrace. When you say forty, you will draw the inner parts of the thumb over the side or back of the index finger, both only being upright. When you say fifty, you will bend the thumb, curved like the Greek letter called [unclear], toward the palm. When you say sixty, you will carefully gird from the front the thumb, bent around as above. When you say seventy, you will fill the index finger, bent around as above, with the thumb inserted, with only its nail standing upright across the middle joint of the index finger. When you say eighty, you will fill the index finger, bent around as above, with the thumb stretched lengthwise, namely with its nail fixed in the middle joint of the index finger. When you say ninety, you will fix the little nail of the bent index finger into the root of the thumb; thus far on the left hand. But one hundred you will make on the right hand as you make ten on the left; two hundred on the right as twenty on the left. In the same way also the rest up to nine hundred. Likewise one thousand on the right as two on the left, and the rest up to nine thousand. Two thousand on the right as three on the left. When you say the rest, you will place the left hand highest on the middle of the breast, with only the fingers raised toward the neck. When you say twenty thousand, you will place the same hand spread broadly over the breast. When you say thirty thousand, with the same hand prone, but raised, you will put the thumb into the cartilage of the middle of the breast. When you say fifty thousand, with the same hand prone but raised, you will place the thumb on the navel. When you say sixty thousand, with the same hand prone, you will grasp the left thigh from above. When you say seventy thousand, you will place it upon the thigh. When you say eighty thousand, the same hand prone
Exposition.
...for you will place it upon the thigh. When you say ninety thousand, you will in the same way grasp the loins, with the thumb turned toward the groin. But from one hundred and two hundred thousand up to nine hundred thousand you will complete it in the same order, on the right side of the body. And when you say ten times one hundred thousand, you will interlock both hands with the fingers inserted. And so much for expressing numbers by the gesture of the fingers.
To these the same author immediately adds: From the very computation that I have set out above, a certain manual speech can be practiced, both for exercising the wit and for playing a game; by it, when the letters are expressed one by one, a man may convey to another, who also knows this technique, even if he is stationed far away, the words contained in those letters, to be read and understood; or he may, through these signs, indicate necessary matters more secretly, or mock the unskilled as though by divination. The order of this game or speech is as follows. When you wish to indicate the first letter of the alphabet, hold one with the hand; when the second, two; when the third, three; and so the rest in order. For example, if you desire to warn a friend placed among ambushers to act cautiously, show three, one, twenty, nineteen, five fingers; for the letters of this order signify “to act cautiously.”
Thus far the example of dactylogy according to Bede, which is varied in many other ways. For, as was also said before, let the sign of unity be taken to signify the letter A, and so thereafter in order. Let there be assigned on the left hand: one on the thumb, two on the index finger, three on the middle finger, four on the ring finger, or the third from the thumb, and five on the little finger. Likewise on the right hand there will be understood: two on the thumb, three on the index finger, four on the middle finger, five on the third from the thumb, and six on the little finger. With these things so established, let us observe which numbers arise from the addition, multiplication, or division of which numbers among themselves. For example, twelve arises from the addition of one to eleven, of two to ten, of three to nine, of four to eight, of six to six, of seven to five. In multiplication, however, twelve is produced by the leading of four into three, or of two into six. In division we have twelve if twenty-four is divided by two.
Furthermore, when the fingers are merely raised, it signifies addition; but when we touch one with another, multiplication. But if we bend one and raise the other, it must be division. Therefore, wishing to show the letter M, which occupies the twelfth place, I indicate the number twelve, either by addition, or by multiplication, or by division. First, by raising the two little fingers of both hands together with the thumb of the left hand; for the thumb signifies one, while one of the other fingers designates five, the other six, and this number shows the letter M. By multiplication in this way: let us touch the third finger from the thumb of the left hand with the index finger of the right, since three multiplied by four makes twelve; or let us touch the little finger of the right hand with the index finger of the left, which is the same thing, for twice six gives twelve. It could also be done in another way, namely by the contact of the index finger of the right hand and the middle finger of the left, which show six. These again, by the contact of both thumbs, or of the index finger of the right hand with the thumb of the left, signify multiplication of the prior number by two; but twice six makes twelve.
By division thus: first we shall indicate twenty-four, the division of which number by two yields twelve. The gesture about which I was speaking above represents division by two, namely if two thumbs are shown, one raised and the other bent; likewise the thumb and little finger of the left hand, and the index finger of the right bent. For they signify the partition of six by three, that is, two; and twenty-four divided by these shows twelve.
So much for dactylogy, or the speech of the fingers, which can be handled otherwise in infinite ways, by assigning to fixed places vowels, consonants, semivowels, double letters, mutes, and liquids, according as it has seemed good to each person to handle such things. Although these matters appear ridiculous, nevertheless they have very great use, if by a certain analogy they are transferred to other matters. But there are some things of which the author makes mention partly in the exposition of this passage, partly at the end; but since it pertains to the treatment of steganography, let them be deferred for a little while, until that point has been reached.
The first dermatic kind. This stratagem is commonly known even to soldiers. Pliny, unless I am mistaken, transmits something else in book 26. “Tithymalus,” he says, “our...
94 Exposition.
...our people call it the milky herb; others call it goat’s lettuce. And they report that, when its milk has dried on the written surface, if ash is sprinkled on it the letters appear; and so, indeed, they preferred to address adulteresses rather than by little tablets.
The second kind, Hyphasmaticon. The most learned man Theodorus Bibliander has “hyphalmicon,” for this reason, as I suppose: that in this sort of concealment nothing of the letters appears before the paper has been immersed in water, as when we write letters with alum; water poured over it will make the paper darker with the letters, which otherwise could not have been read.
Letters are likewise written in various ways. Herodotus, book 7, near the end. After Xerxes determined to undertake an expedition against Greece, Demaratus, who was at Susa, when he had learned this, judged that the Greeks ought to be informed. But since he could not do it otherwise, since it was dangerous lest he be caught, he devised this thing: having taken a pair of writing-tablets, he scraped off the wax from them. Then on their wood he engraved the king’s plan. When this had been engraved in letters, he covered it again with wax, so that the tablets would present no difficulty among the guards on the roads for the man to whom they were being carried. When the Lacedaemonians [unclear] to interpret it, before, as I understand, Gorgo, daughter of Cleomenes and wife of Leonidas, warned them, interpreting the matter itself, bidding them break off the wax, for they would find letters in the wood. Thus, listening to her, the Lacedaemonians found the letters and read them over, and then sent them on to the Greeks.
Gellius
Exposition.
95
Gellius, in book 17, chapter 9: “There is also,” he says, “in the records of Greek affairs another deep and unexpected hiding-place, devised by barbarian cunning. There was a man named Histiaeus, born in a place in Asia that was not undistinguished. At that time King Darius held Asia under his rule. When this Histiaeus was in Persia at Darius’s court, he wanted to announce certain secret matters to a certain Aristagoras by a furtive writing. He devised this admirable covering for letters: on his slave, who had for a long time had diseased eyes, [unclear] his head bare, and he fitted it into the forms of letters. With these letters he wrote out what he had wished. Afterwards he kept the man at home until his hair grew back; when this had happened, he ordered him to go to Aristagoras. ‘And when you come to him,’ he said, ‘say that I have instructed him to shave your head, just as I myself recently did.’ The slave came to Aristagoras as he had been ordered and reported his master’s command; and he, thinking that what had been commanded was not without purpose, did what had been ordered. Thus the letters were delivered.” Herodotus writes almost the same thing; and in that author, too, in book 1, it is read: When Astyages was harsh toward the Medes, Harpagus, insinuating himself among each one of them, persuaded the leading men that Astyages ought to be removed from the kingdom and Cyrus chosen. When Harpagus had carried these things through and prepared them, then at last, wishing to disclose his mind to Cyrus, who was among the Persians, since he could not do so otherwise, inasmuch as the roads were guarded, he devised this sort of thing. Having gutted a hare, which he had cleverly obtained, so that nothing at all was cut away, he put in a little book in which he had written what he pleased; and after sewing up the belly, he gave the hare together with nets to a certain huntsman of his household, a most trustworthy man, and, instructing him by his own mouth that when he gave the hare he should tell Cyrus to open it with his own hands, and to do this without witnesses, he sent the man off into Persia. When the messenger had carried this out, Cyrus opened the hare he had received and read the little book that he found inside it. See Justin, book 1. Historians likewise report that doves served as messengers in difficult affairs, so that letters tied to their necks and feet were sent in the siege of Mutina by the consul Hirtius to Decimus Brutus, and by Decimus Brutus to Hirtius, when, with food placed in certain very high spots, he had trained doves, previously shut up in darkness and affected by very great hunger, to fly from one place to another.
Some, to avoid suspicion, write on paper with ink, as if they wished to communicate something to a friend about household matters; afterwards they write what is secret in the spaces with urine. Others use the juice of lemons or onions; others use crushed sal ammoniac with water poured over it. Writings made in letters of this kind remain hidden before they have been brought near fire.
Some follow the poet’s advice: “When she can conceal bound papers in her bosom, and carry flattering notes under her joined foot. The guard will have taken care of these; instead of a knowing paper let her offer her back, and on her own body she will carry the words. Safe too is the letter, and it deceives the eyes, made from fresh milk; touch it with charcoal powder and you will read it. It also deceives, what is made with a moist needle—”
Exposition.
with the point of flax, “the little tablet will bring forth the hidden marks,” etc. There are also other techniques, as when they paint letters on flint with the fat of a goat or ox; when it has been placed in vinegar for some hours and then taken out again, it presents to sight what had been written on it. Likewise, they write with the white of an egg and dip it into ink; when this is scraped off, the letters become visible. Finally, in this place he wraps many things in obscure words, by no means accepted in common usage, lest he provide wicked men an opportunity either to misuse these things or to devise worse ones. He wrote “race,” with the syllables reversed, for “cera,” just as “Roma” for “amor,” “nemilua” for “alumine,” “raphocam” for “camphora,” etc. But since such matters, for the public good, must be treated rather sparingly, and do not belong to our undertaking, let us omit explaining everything. For it is enough if one understands what he intended to signify by this third kind of letters.
“There were also, as Bede bears witness.” The sense is: the ancients not only wrote or spoke by means of words, as we do, but also transferred whatever the world contains, and whatever can be grasped by us, by a certain artifice to the things signified. Diodorus Siculus, book 4: “The letters of the Egyptians,” he says, “are very like various living creatures, and the extremities of human beings, and instruments, especially those of craftsmen. For their words are not expressed by the composition of syllables or by letters, but by the form of images, their signification having been handed down to men’s memory by use.” Indeed they write the hawk, the crocodile, the serpent, the human eye, hands, face, and other things of this sort. The hawk denotes a thing done quickly, since this bird is almost the swiftest of all; this notation is transferred to household affairs that are done swiftly. The crocodile signifies evil. The eye is interpreted as the guardian of justice and the watchman of the whole body. [unclear] designates freedom, but the left hand, with [the fingers?] compressed, tenacity and avarice. In the same way also of the other parts of the body, the right hand with fingers spread [unclear] writing, which, preserved in men’s memory by long use and meditation, they recognized at once, from the trace, what those things expressed. Petrus Crinitus too, in book 7, chapter 2, writes that this kind of method of writing existed among the Egyptians. Concerning the letters of the Egyptians, which are called hieroglyphic, there is mention among ancient authors, and this can still be observed on obelisks, on which those figures and images of diverse living creatures, plants, rivers, and trees are carved, signifying the philosophy of that people, as Strabo and Pliny, most weighty authors, testify. For on the obelisks of the kings [Sedotis?] and [Sennosornius?], which were brought from Egypt into the city, the interpretation of the nature of things was marked out by symbols of this sort and by hieroglyphic signs. For in this way the philosophy of the Egyptians is believed first to have been made manifest. This is handed down by the same Pliny and by others. Among other images, however, they were accustomed to mark scarabs, bees, rivers, oxen, and other things of that kind. Further, by the very image of the bee the symbol of a king was indicated, because in fulfilling the duties of life he ought to have no less the sting of justice than the sweet clemency of honey. In the vulture they indicated the genius and majesty of nature, because among these birds females only are found, etc. They also painted many other signs in place of words; on these see Horus Apollo on hieroglyphic letters. See Pliny, book 36, chapter 11, where, according to the more correct reading, “Sesostridis” is found in place of “Sesotidis,” and “Phaeron” in place of “Nuncoreus.” Moreover Strabo, book 17, Cornelius Tacitus, book 15, Caelius Rhodiginus, Antique Readings, book 29, chapter 26, and Volaterranus, book 33, mention letters of this kind, although he writes that they have as yet been discovered by no one.
“There were those who by accidents.” The meaning is that whatever exists in the whole nature of things, whether perceived by the intellect or by the senses, can be turned to the use of signifying in the same way as words do. Hence it is that one may secretly, without suspicion and without obstruction by any person, signify the will of our mind to another in countless ways: through words; through signs that mark words, as through light, colors, shadows, sounds, odors, tastes; through qualities that affect touch; through shapes, sizes, numbers; through the motion or position of any things whatsoever, such as parts of the body; through gestures of the fingers
Exposition.
[unclear] movements of the eyes, etc. All these things, if they are handled correctly and arranged according to letters, syllables, words, and speeches in a fixed order, with numbers assigned to them, furnish human beings with admirable powers, the more excellent in proportion as one is more skilled and practiced in those disciplines which deal with the principles, causes, and accidents of sensible things. Such is catoptrics, which teaches how to present visible signs of things to the sight in an instant, by means of certain images projected far from us outside mirrors into the air, devised to signify some speech; these are easily understood by one who has knowledge of the signs. But in what manner it can be brought about that all things are transferred to the use of signs is not the subject of this undertaking, but belongs to the Steganographia, the contents of which work the most learned man Johannes Trithemius sets out in a certain letter to Bostius in these words, etc.
I now have in hand a great work which, if it is ever published, which may it not be, the whole world will marvel at; the title of its first book is Steganographia. There will be four books, and each will be divided into at least one hundred chapters. I began this work at the urging of a certain great prince, whom there is no need to name. You ask what this work teaches: things astounding and incredible to all who do not know them, which have never been heard since the beginning of the world. For the first book contains more than one hundred methods of writing secretly whatever you wish, without any suspicion, without transposition of letters, without any fear, so that there is no man in the world who by natural skill could know, or even suspect, what is contained in my letters, except the one who knows the art from me, or from him whom I have taught. The words are plain and familiar, free from every suspicion; but [no one?] will ever be able to perceive my intention without the art, however learned he may be. It is a truly astonishing thing. The second book will contain many more wonderful things. By fire, namely, in this art I can make the conception of my mind known to one who knows my art at any distance whatever, at one hundred miles or more, safely, without words, without writings, without signs, through any messenger whatever. If he is seized on the road, if he is questioned even under the harshest tortures, he cannot confess anything about my message, because absolutely nothing is known to him about it. Whatever may happen, my message will always remain hidden, nor could all the men of the whole world, if they were gathered together, trace it out by natural power. I can also do this without a messenger whenever I wish. I can also make my will known to one who knows the art, even if he is silent in prison, though I am far absent, however closely he is guarded, even if he were sitting three thousand [miles?] under the earth. And all these things, most broadly and universally, whenever and as often as I wish, I can do naturally, without any superstition or aid of any spirits whatsoever. I admit they are wonderful, but hear things still more wonderful. The third book teaches an art by which I can teach an unlearned man who knows only his mother tongue, who has never known a word of the Latin language, in two hours to write, read, and understand Latin quite elegantly and eloquently, as much as he wishes, so that whoever sees his letters will praise the words and understand that they are composed in Latin. The fourth book contains many astonishing experiments, but purely natural ones. Namely, I can make my mind known to one who knows my art while eating or sitting with others, without words, without nods, as extensively as I wish, even while speaking, preaching, playing on the organ, or singing, without hindering any other action whatever, so that while preaching good things to one who knows, with eyes closed, [unclear]. The fourth book will contain many other secrets which are not to be brought out in public. All who hear these things marvel at them; among them are many noble and very learned men, who think that these things are either impossible or wholly supernatural. To them and to you I answer what I have answered many: that many things are possible naturally which, to those who do not know the powers of nature, seem impossible or even supernatural. And behold, I speak before my God, who knows all things, that those marvelous things which I have foretold, however much you may be able to write or believe, nevertheless are all purely natural, without any deception, without superstition, without magical art, without
Exposition.
[unclear], without the invocation or ministry of any spirits whatsoever. I have said this so that, if perhaps at some time a report should reach you that I can do wondrous things, you should not, I say, think me a magician, but a philosopher. For what happened to Albert the Great, that most profound investigator of natural things, namely that because of the marvels he performed by the hidden power of nature he was regarded by the common people as a magician, I am certain can happen similarly to me. If you ask whence I have these things, which no one knows, listen. I did not learn these things from a man nor through a man, but by the revelation of someone I do not know. For when, at a certain time in the present year, I was thinking what new thing I might be able to discover that would be hidden from everyone, I began to consider whether I could devise those wondrous things which I have mentioned. After a long imagining, when I despaired utterly of it as an impossible matter, I retired to sleep that night, laughing to myself at my own foolishness, that I had attempted to seek out such impossibilities. That same night someone stood by me, saying: “They are not vain, O Trithemius, the things which neither you nor another with you will be able to discover.” And I said to him: “If, then, they are possible, tell me, I beg you, how they are done.” And opening his mouth, he taught me each thing in order, showing how the things over which I had thought in vain for many days could easily be done. Behold, before God, I do not lie but speak the truth: I have so far taught these things to no one, although many, promising great things, have often asked me, except one prince to whom I write, whom by a clear proof I made more certain of the possibility of the art. Nor is it fitting that others know these things than princes; otherwise many evils would be done through them: betrayals, fornications, and whatever else evil men might wish. But those who use the art well could do many things through it for the commonwealth. Moreover, I can teach all these things in every language of the whole world that I have heard. I wished to make these things known to you, Bostius, for this reason: that you should not think me idle.
Thus far the words of Trithemius. Finally, there are other immense uses of these books of the Polygraphia, which we shall treat in our books on the method of teaching and learning; for whatever these things may seem to be, they nevertheless have more hidden within than they promise on the surface. On the Steganographia, whose principles lie concealed in these books, God willing, we shall treat separately.
The First Book of the Polygraphia
There are twenty-four characters of the signs of the Latin language, which, set in order before the same number of significant words, serve most abundantly in all respects, according to the desire of each person working in this art, for secrets. But the paraphrases are so artfully ordered that they produce entirely Latin discourse, if only one is taken from any given order. And it should be noted that, by reason of our German language, the twenty-fourth letter, w, is taken at the end of the alphabet, while all the remaining letters perform the service of both languages. We have placed the signifying elements in order with such skill that, whichever you take from each line, once the deduction of the sum has been made, concord will remain. Yet care is needed, so that from any line of syntax you take only one, and the monad does no injury to the binary. One must also provide that, whenever you approach the cabalistic operation, you first count all the individual minutes of the night and join them in due proportion to the degrees of the following day. But if the minutes, according to the secret ordinance, do not suffice to the degrees of the day right to the end, the windy runner must by counsel be brought back to the prudent chief-measurer. Nor is it an obstacle if by chance night falls back upon the head of day, since a prudent practitioner in the art can, by voluntary addition, recede from the front by as much as he sees night exceed the light of day. And this is to be understood of the individual chapters throughout the whole work of the Polygraphia. Yet we call that consideration unity, by which the binary, by a known little sign of return, may be made certain, lest it happen to go astray. From the monad, through what has been established, the binary will stand, and it becomes a monad. Nothing is set down here in vain; nothing is adduced without cause or idly. Therefore
we necessarily warn that everyone who wishes to copy this work of ours, the Polygraphy, either in whole or in part, should diligently take care first of all not to depart in anything from our archetype, nor to skip, neglect, or transpose any word whatever. For indeed, if he has omitted one letter or word in essentials, if he has changed a word contrary to its nature, he has made the whole course of the work useless. Therefore let him either copy it properly, or not copy it.
There follow the words of the first order, with the small letters, according to degrees
Polygraphy, Book I
A God A merciful
B Creator B most merciful
C Founder C pious
D Maker D most pious
E Lord E great
F Ruler F exalted
G Comforter G greatest
H Arbiter H best
I Judge I most wise
K Enlightener K invisible X-
L Illuminator L immortal
M Ruler M eternal
N King N everlasting
O Emperor O glorious
P Governor P most strong
Q Maker Q most holy
R Fashioner R incomprehensible
S Preserver S omnipotent
T Redeemer T peace-bringing
V Author V compassionate
X Prince X most compassionate
Y Shepherd Y all-powerful
Z Moderator Z magnificent
w Savior w most excellent
A creating A the heavens
B ruling B heavenly things
C preserving C supercelestial things
D moderating D the world
E governing E worldly things
F ordering F men
G adorning G human things
H embellishing H angels
I establishing I angelic things
K directing K the earth
L producing L earthly things
M beautifying M time
N stabilizing N temporal things
O illuminating O an age
P instructing P age-enduring things
Q admonishing Q all things
R confirming R everything
S guarding S the universe
T discerning T the globe
V distinguishing V the stars
X illuminating X the sun
Y fashioning Y the star
Z saving Z life
w making w living things
Book I
A may he bestow A upon all
B may he confer B upon everyone
C may he give C to all universally
D may he grant D to believers
E may he concede E to us
F may he pardon F Christians
G may he bestow G upon the faithful
H may he distribute H to those who ask
I may he repay I to those who seek
K may he contribute K to those who pray
L may he indulge L those who entreat
M may he exhibit M to those who request
N may he provide N to those who demand
O may he offer O to those who seek
P may he defer P to Christ-worshipers
Q may he show Q to those who inquire
R may he reveal R to those who require
S may he manifest S to those who investigate
T may he intimate T to those who desire
V may he breathe upon V those who long for
X may he restore X to those who prefer
Y may he return Y to those who await
Z may he administer Z to those who hope
w may he favor w those who desire
Of the Polygraphy
A life A abiding
B pleasantness B eternal
C delight C everlasting
D consolation D heavenly
E joy E supercelestial
F glory F perpetual
G happiness G most blessed
H blessedness H angelic
I vision I seraphic
K jubilation K immortal
L rest L ineffable with all
M repose M incomprehensible with
N dwelling N inestimable to all
O habitation O luminous
P recreation P splendid
Q enjoyment Q most bright
R light R most pleasant
S exultation S lasting
T brightness T X endless
V peace V sweetest
X tranquility Y perfect
Z contemplation Z future
w security w A holy
Book I
A with the saints A in the heavens M A
B with the elect B in heavenly places D
C with the beloved C in supercelestial places E
D with the most holy D eternal F
E with the just E perpetual G
F with the justified F everlasting H
G with the predestined G ages of ages I
H with angels H a holy age K
I with archangels I an age L
K with lovers K in the kingdom of heaven M
L with worshipers L in the highest places N
M with his friends M in the heights amen O
N with his apostles N in paradise amen P
O with prophets O in Olympus Q
P with disciples P paradisiacal R
Q with martyrs Q Olympic S
R with sanctifications S with flashes T
S with dominations T with felicities V
T with beloved ones V glorious X
V with citizens X in honor Y
Y with servants Z in perpetual light W
Z with ministers W in the heavenly fatherland
A Majesty A of the highest
B Goodness B of the great
C Sweetness C of the greatest
D Charity D of the supreme
E Wisdom E of the exalted
F Power F of the best
G Compassion G of the most bright
H Kindness H of the most holy
I Gentleness I of the most powerful
K Excellence K of the most wise
L Piety L of the strongest
M Sweetness M of the mildest
N Brightness N of the highest
O Clemency O of the strongest
P Mercy P of the omnipotent
Q Divinity Q of the all-powerful
R Loftiness R of the everlasting
S Deity S of the most glorious
T Immensity T of the ineffable
V Virtue V of the invisible
X Strength X of the immortal
Y Love Y of the inaccessible
Z Munificence Z of the most eminent
w Perfection w of the most merciful
A crea-
Polygraphy
A our A gate
B your B entrance
C of good men C access
D of saints D return
E of the just E passage
F of the elect F entry
G of believers G ingress
H of orders H regress
I of the faithful I progress
K of the humble K ascent
L of the upright L climbing together
M of the pious, through which M doorway for us to
N of the devout, through which N road for us to
O of minds O way
P of souls P path
Q of the saved Q bypath
R of Christians R power
S of Christ-worshippers S guidance
T of penitents T confidence
V of the orthodox V passage
X of Catholics X leading by the hand
Y of mortals Y migration
Z of the living Z emigration
w of men w introduction
A life [unclear] A three
Book II
A life A is given
B light B lies open
C joy C lies open [unclear]
D happiness D lies open
E pleasantness E will lie open
F consolation F is opened
G blessedness G is prepared
H delight H is restored
I participation I is granted
K communion K is bestowed
L communication L is contributed
M tranquillity M is shown
N reward N is ministered
O dwelling O is repaid
P exultation P is reformed
Q possession Q is allotted
R inheritance R is returned
S abode S is given
T enjoyment T is given back
V brightness V may be referred
X glory X is displayed
Y rest Y is shown
Z vision Z is declared
w quiet w is shown
A eternal-
Polygraphy
A eternal A O blessed
B everlasting B O holy
C age-enduring C O untouched
D perpetual D O bright
E apostolic E O perpetual
F supercelestial F O inviolate
G inaccessible G O blessed
H unchangeable H O undefiled
I endless I O uncontaminated
K superessential K O most blessed
L unfading L O most holy and
M supernatural M O most bright and
N O venerable and
O of apostles
P O most lofty
Q O beautiful
R O gracious
S O admirable
T O venerable
V O most gracious
X O most glorious
Y O most beautiful
Z O thrice most holy
w O four times holy
A most pi-
Book II
A most pious A mother
B splendid B nurse
C most dutiful C guide
D sweetest D lamp
E everlasting E light
F most kind F patroness
G most merciful G advocate
H most splendid H helper
I most shining I mediatrix
K most honorable K promoter
L most lovely L assistant
M most happy virgin M defender
N most chaste N preserver
O most adorned O conserver
P most serene P intercessor
Q most illustrious Q refresher
R most noble R consoler
S most beautiful S savior
T most modest T liberator
V most clement V lover
X most innocent X lady
Y most fruitful Z supporter
w mildest w empress
A ino-
Polygraphy
A of the needy A to vice
B of exiles B to fault
C of those weeping C to offense
D of the faithful D to sin
E of the poor E to stain
F of the destitute F to guilt
G of all G to excess
H of everyone H to crime
I of the humble I to accusation
K of believers K to sin
L of all people L to wickedness
M of Christ-worshippers, who M least of all to fault
N of Christians, who N never to blemish
O of supplicants O to disgrace
P of those shedding tears P to malice
Q of the infirm Q to displeasure
R of the compunct R to negligence
S of the contrite S to transgression
T of penitents T to indignation
V of those mourning V to temptation
X of the living X to vanity
Y of mortals Y to the wrath of God
Z of men Z to offense
w of the frail w to pleasure
A subject-
Book II
A pure
B clean
C innocent
D immune
E harmless
F unstained
G most pure
H most bright
I most clean
K most luminous
L blameless (through
M most just and ever-
N inviolate ever-
O most holy and
P most innocent
Q immaculate
R uncontaminated
S most shining
T most beautiful
V fairest
X most splendid
Y beautiful
Z fair
w bright
A forti-
Polygraphy
A fortified A you lived
B strengthened beforehand B you supported
C fortified together C you remained
D preserved D you endured
E most preserved E you remained
F most reserved F you persevered
G most strongly fortified beforehand G you shone forth
H most thoroughly fortified H you flourished again
I most firmly confirmed I you shone
K immune K you flourished
L most remote L you shone out
M most alien M you existed from all
N most free N you were from all
O most exempt O you endured
P remote P you glittered
Q alien Q you flashed forth
R far away R you endured
S free S you gleamed
T guarded T you were bright
V defended V you advanced
X segregated X you shone forth
Y confirmed Y you escaped
Z privileged Z you shone
w you shone back A stain
563. The Second Figure of the Expansion of the Straight Table
[expansion grid of letter-pairs, as printed]
In this second figure of the expansion of the reverse table the alphabets are six in number, in the first of which k, in the third i, in the fifth h, are not changed. And since the norm has so given it, it makes no difference; for in so great a multitude of variety no one, even the most expert, will be able to weigh out the constancy of a single mark or character.
Continuation of the table. [N 2]
564. The Third Figure of the Expansion of the Reverse Table
[expansion grid, as printed]
In this third figure of the expansion of the reverse table there is nothing new of its kind except the metathesis, which is common to all in degrees almost infinite. Six alphabets are transposed. In the first t is eclipsed, in the same g, in the third s, and c, r, and e—the cause of which thing the norm teaches.
Continuation of the table.
565. The Fourth Figure of the Expansion of the Reverse Table
[expansion grid, as printed]
In this fourth figure of the expansion of the table several errors of the defect of letters concur according to the canonical reckoning; which, since they can easily be emended, I did not wish to depart from the norm of the system. In the first q and d, in the fifth c, in the fifth also b, are not changed.
Continuation of the table.
566. The Fifth Figure of the Expansion of the Reverse Table
[expansion grid, as printed]
In this fifth figure of the expansion of the reverse table there are only two alphabets—the first in order—looking upon it[self], in the number of which a is eclipsed in the first. But the remaining four [are left] for forging new ones at will.
ORCHEMA.
a c a y a e a q a p a o
b c b s b f b r b q b p
c g c o c g c s c r c q
d i d k d h d t d s d r
e l e f e i e u e t e s
f n f b f d f x f u f t
g p g a g c g y g x g u
h r h x h b h z h y h x
i t i r i a i w i z i y
k x k n k o k p k m k w
l z l i l p l o l a l m
m a m c m q m n m b
n w n u n r n c n b
o b o q o s o d o c
p d p m p n p k p e p d
q f q h q m q i q g r f
r h r d r l r h r g s h
s k s w s g s t i s g
t m t z t w t u k t i
u o u t u z u d x l u k
x q x p x y x c y m x l
y s y x y z b z n z m
z u z g z t z b z m
w y w c w u w a w o w n
In the present Orchema a manifold alphabet is handed down by transposition and leap, both by the rule of order and by the position of the letters. All these things suffice as an example for those who cannot be content with the arrangements already given, so that they may have a method and form for discovering the remaining ones, since they can be varied without number, as the following expansion of the Orchema clearly teaches.
Expansion of the Orchema.
z. 3. 4. 5. 6.
A A b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v x y w z
b c d e f g h j k l m n o p q s t u v x y z
c d e f g h ij k l m n o p qr s t u v x yz
d e f g hij k l m n opqr s t u vx y z
e f g hijklmnoqrs tuvx y z
f g hijk lm nop qrstu vx y z
g hij kl mopqrstuvx y z
h ijklmo pqrst uvxz y z
i jklmopqrstuvxz y z
j klmnopqrstuvxz y z
k lmnopqrstuvxz y z
l mopqrstuvxz y z
m nopqrstuvxz y z
o pqrstuvxz y z
pqrstuvxz y z
q rstuvxz y z
r stuvxz y z
s t u vx y z
t u vx y z
u vx y z
v x y z
x y z
y z
z
Expansion of the Orchema.
12.
a g b i c m d p e q f t g x h w k l m n o p r s t v x y z
Continuation of the expansion.
m s w g wh wi wk M
z d z c z f z g z h z k
y b y c y d y c y f y z
x w x a x b x c x d x e z
o p o r o p q o r o p q r o p q
n h n i n k n l n m n n o p r t v x y z t w x z k
g a g b g a b l g a b m g a b
f e f t f e v f e v f x f y f z f a f b f y f z f a
c o c p c o p r c o p r c e c v c e v c e v c x c y c z c a c b c y
b o b o b o b o p b o p r b o p r b e b v b e v b e v b x b y b z b a b c b y
d s d s d s d s p d s p r d s p r d e d v d e v d e v d x d y d z d a d b d y
q u q u q u q u p q u p r q u p r q e q u p e v q u p e v q e v q x q u p y q u p z q u p a q u p y z a
Expansion of the Orchema.
18.
a n o p q r b s t v c x y d z w e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u v x y z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q
Continuation of the expansion.
Expansion of the Orchema.
24.
a t a v a x a y b w b a b b
b z c m c a c b c e d f g h k l o p q r s t u v x y z
Johannes Trithemius [Peapolitanus?] to the reader.
Since all the letters of the Greeks and Hebrews are numerical, I have often wondered that the painstaking Latinity of the ancients did not also make its own letters serve for the reckoning of numbers. The Hebrews established twenty-eight signs of certain duplicated letters, sufficient for every number. The Greeks, however, with like foresight remedied this deficiency of letters by the addition of four characters. We, therefore, having twenty-four letters, why do we not make ours numerical too, since we can likewise find four duplicated ones? Let us give four as an example, and that will be sufficient for every number: m and final iij; likewise r and final 2; likewise long s and final, or closed, s; likewise closed v and open u. When we add these to the twenty-four letters in common use, we have twenty-eight characters sufficient for all numbers.
And it will be no very laborious matter to grasp this method of numbering for those who already know the letters, if they once commit it to memory. For this invention of ours will be able to comprise many thousands upon thousands in number, all of which can be distinguished and understood at first sight, more clearly than light, without any calculation. Many, less experienced in the art of reckoning, think that this cannot be done so easily by the figures of the algorism, especially in large numbers. For as soon as you have inspected with your eye a number, however great, you will be able both to understand it fully and to express it without circumlocution or division of speech. Since this is so easy, it is fitting that we set down the letters themselves reduced to number.
I wrote this on 16 March, in the year 1508.
Order
The booklet of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim, on the celestial intelligences governing the spheres after God.
It is the opinion of very many of the ancients, most wise Caesar, that this lower world is governed, by the ordering of the first intellect, which is God, through secondary intelligences. Agreeing with their opinion, the Conciliator of the Physicians says that seven spirits were set over the seven planets from the beginning of heaven and earth. Each of these governs the world for three hundred and fifty-four years and four months in order. I make this position known to Your Most Sacred Majesty, not by affirming it, but only by reporting it.
[unclear]
The first angel, or spirit of Saturn, is called Orifiel; to him God entrusted the world to be governed from the beginning of creation, and his rule began on the fifteenth day of the month of March, in the first year of the world, and lasted 354 years and four months. Orifiel, however, is the name of an office, not of a nature, attributed to the spirit by reason of his action. Under his rule men were rude and rustic, dwelling in solitude after the manner of beasts. This needs no proof from me, since it is made plain to all from the text of Genesis.
The second governor of the world is Anael, spirit of Venus, who after Orifiel began to rule the influence of his planet in the year of the world 354, in the fourth month, that is, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of June; and he governed the world for 354 years and four months, down to the year 780 of the created globe, as is clear to one who calculates the age. Under the rule of this Anael men began to be more cultivated, to build houses and cities, to discover manual arts, weaving, [laxificium], and things like these; also to indulge more abundantly in the pleasures of the flesh, to take beautiful wives for themselves, to forget God, and in many things to depart from natural simplicity, to invent games and songs, to play the cithara, and to devise whatever belongs to the principle and cultivation of Venus. This wantonness of life endured among men until the flood, taking the occasion of its own depravity.
On the Secondary [Intelligences]
The third, Zachariel, angel of Jupiter, began to govern the world in the year 780 from the creation of heaven and earth, in the eighth month, that is, on the twenty-sixth day of the month of October; and he governed the world for 354 years and four months, down to the year 1063 of the created globe inclusive. Under his governance men first began to claim lordship for themselves over one another, to practice hunting, to make [sentoria], and to adorn their bodies with various garments; and a great division arose between the good and the wicked, the good calling upon God, like Enoch, whom the Lord translated, while the wicked ran after the enticements of the flesh. Under the rule of this Zachariel men also began to live more civilly, to endure the laws of their elders, and to grow tame from their former savagery. Under his leadership, too, Adam, the first man, died, leaving to all posterity the testament of necessary death. Finally, various inventions and arts of men emerged at this time, as the historians have set forth more clearly.
The fourth ruler of the world was Raphael, spirit of Mercury, who began in the year 1063 from the creation of heaven and earth, on the twenty-fourth day of February, and presided for 354 years and four months; and his dominion lasted down to the year of the world 1417 and the fourth month. In these times writing was first invented, and letters were first devised after the manner or form of trees and plants; these, however, later with time took on a more cultivated ornament and the appearance of characters, to their own
Little Book
... the nations changed their own judgment. The use of musical instruments also began to multiply under the rule of this Raphael, and the first exchange of merchandise was invented among human beings. The rough daring of navigation, too, was first ventured in these times, and many other things of that sort.
[unclear]
The fifth governor of the world was Samael, the angel of Mars, who began on the 26th day of the month of June, in the year of the world 1417, and governed the world for 354 years and 4 months, until the year 1771, as is clearly evident from the history of Genesis. And it should be noted that the ancient philosophers handed down that whenever Samael, the spirit of Mars, is ruler of the globe, so often a notable alteration of monarchy arises. Religions and sects vary, laws and principalities are changed, and kingdoms are transferred to foreigners, as we can easily discover in order from histories. But Samael does not immediately from the beginning of his rule manifest this [unclear]; the same is to be understood concerning the spirits of the other planets, as is evident in histories, all of whom, according to the properties of the nature of their stars, influence and act upon the lower things of this world.
[unclear]
The sixth governor of the world was Gabriel of the Moon, who began after Samael of Mars on the 28th day of the month of October, in the year of the world 1771, in the eighth month, and governed the globe for 354 years and 4 months, until the year of the world 2126.
On the Secondary Intelligences
In these times human beings were again multiplied and founded various cities. And it should be noted that the Hebrews say the flood occurred in the year of the world 1656, under the rule of Mars. But the Seventy interpreters, Isidore, and Bede confirm that it occurred in the year 2242, under the governance of Gabriel, spirit of the Moon; and this seems to me more consonant with the truth, by reason of the multiplication, which it is not the present time to explain.
The seventh governor of the world was Michael, angel of the Sun, who began on the 24th of February, in the year of the world, according to the common computation, 2126, and governed the globe for 354 years and four months, until the year of the world's age 2480 and 4 months. Under the rule of the angel of the Sun, as histories agree with the truth, kings first began to exist among mortals; among them Nimrod was the first, through lust for dominion, to seize tyrannical rule over his companions. The worship of gods was also instituted by human folly, and lesser men began to adore their princes as gods. Various arts too were invented by human beings at this time, namely mathematics, astronomy, magic; and the worship of the one God began to be offered to diverse creatures, and knowledge of the true God gradually passed into oblivion through human superstition. In these times, too, architecture was invented, and human beings began to use more refined customs and institutions.
The Origin of Kings.
The Source of Idolatry.
Next, in the eighth order, Orifiel, angel of Saturn, again began to govern the world on the 26th day of the month of June, in the year from the origin of the world 2480 and four months; and for 354 years and four months he governed the globe a second time, until the year of the world 2834 and the eighth month. Under the governance of this angel, peoples were multiplied, the earth was divided into regions, many kingdoms were established, the Tower of Babel was constructed, the confusion of tongues occurred, human beings were scattered over all the earth, and human beings began to cultivate the earth more carefully, to institute fields, sow grains, plant vineyards, set trees in the ground, and acquire with diligence whatever pertains to food and clothing. From this time the distinction of nobility first began to be made among human beings, when men who excelled the rest both in character and in ability received marks of glory from the greater men of the earth according to their merits. From this point the whole globe first began to come into human knowledge, since, as peoples were multiplied everywhere, many kingdoms also arose, and various differences of languages followed.
In the ninth order, Anael, spirit of Venus, again began to govern the world on the 29th day of October, in the year of the creation of heaven and earth 2834, in the eighth month, and presided for 354 years and 4 months, until the year of the world 3189. In these times human beings, consigning the true God to oblivion, began to worship and honor the dead and their statues as God; this error occupied the world for more than two thousand years, introducing the increase of idolatry.
On the Secondary Intelligences
[unclear] curious adornments of the body and various kinds of musical instruments, men again pursued lust and the pleasure of the flesh excessively, and in these times men also set up and dedicated statues and temples to their gods. Incantations and sorceries were devised in those times by Zoroaster, first king of the Bactrians, though others say differently, whom Ninus, king of the Assyrians, defeated in war.
In the tenth order Zachariel, the angel of Jupiter, again began to govern on the last day of the month of February, in the year from the creation of heaven and earth 3189, and governed, as usual, for 354 years and 4 months, until the year of the world itself 3543 and the fourth month. These were joyful times, which could truly be called golden, in which he brought abundance of all things and increase to the human race, and gave the world its greatest adornment. Likewise at this time God gave Abraham the law of circumcision, and first promised the redemption of the human race. Under his rule the patriarchs, founders of justice, shone forth in spirit, and the righteous were separated from the impious by their own will and deed. In these times also Jupiter was illustrious among the Arcadians, whom [Lisania?] calls the son of Heaven and of God, a king who first gave laws to the Arcadians, made them very civil in their customs, taught the worship of God, built temples, instituted priests, and procured many useful things for the human race; because of these things he was called Jupiter by them, and after death was held to be a god. Moreover, he took his origin from the sons of Heber, namely [Jerari?], as the histories report. Prometheus also, son of Atlas, under the rule of this angel was said to have made men, because from rude men he made them learned, humane, gentle, and polished in morals and knowledge; by art he made images move by themselves. He first devised the use of the ring, and likewise invented the sceptre, the diadem, and royal insignia. Other Jovian men also flourished in these times, very wise men and women, who by their own genius handed down many inventions useful to the human race; and because of the greatness of their wisdom, after death they were thought to have been numbered among the gods: namely Phoroneus, who first established laws and judgments among the Greeks, Sol, Minerva, Ceres, Serapis among the Egyptians, and many others.
In the eleventh order Raphael, the spirit of Mercury, again undertook the governance of the world on the first day of the month of July, in the year of the world 3543 and the fourth month, and presided for 354 years and 4 months, until the year from the creation of heaven and earth 3897 and the eighth month. In these times, as is clearly evident from the histories of the ancients, men devoted themselves more to wisdom; among them were these most illustrious men: Mercury, Bacchus, Omogyrus, Isis, Inachus, Argus, Apollo, Cecrops, and many others, who by their inventions benefited both the world of that time and the later world. Various superstitions too in the cultivation of idols were established by men in these times, and incantations and the arts of diabolical images were increased in a wondrous manner; and whatever subtlety and genius is usually attributed to Mercury was then being increased. Moses, a very wise leader of the Hebrews, skilled in many matters and arts, a worshipper of the true and one God, vindicated the Hebrew people from the slavery of the Egyptians into freedom. Around this time Saturn, who taught that fields should be fertilized with dung, was held as a god. Cadmus, inventor of letters, first reigned in Italy; after him Saturn, who was powerful under the rule of this Raphael, angel of Mercury. He gave the law to his people through Moses in writing, which bears manifest witness to the future birth of Christ in the flesh. A wondrous diversity of religions also arose in the world. Many Sibyls too flourished in these times, prophets, soothsayers, haruspices, magi, seers, such as the Erythraean Sibyl, the Delphic, the Phrygian, and the others.
In the twelfth order, Samael, the angel of Mars, began again to rule the world on the second day of the month of October, in the year of the world 3892, in the eighth month; and his rule lasted 354 years and 4 months, down to the year 4252. Under his rule occurred that great and most famous destruction of Troy in Asia Minor, and there took place a remarkable change of monarchy and of many kingdoms, and the founding anew of many cities, such as Paris, Mainz, Carthage, Naples, and many others.
The destruction of Troy.[unclear]
Paris.[unclear]
Mainz.[unclear]
Booklet.
Many kingdoms also arose anew, such as those of the Lacedaemonians, the Corinthians, the Hebrews, and very many others. In these times there were very great wars and battles of kings and peoples throughout the whole world, and various changes of empires. From this time the Venetians reckon the beginning both of their people and of their city from the Trojans. And it should be noted that very many other nations, both in Europe and in Asia, claim that they took their origin from the Trojans; I have judged that only so much credence should be granted them as they themselves will be able to persuade me, by sufficient testimony, belongs to the truth. Frivolous are the things they adduce about their nobility and antiquity, wishing openly to boast, as though there had not been peoples in Europe before the destruction of the Trojans, and as though no one among them were ignoble.
Likewise, under the rule of this planet Saul was made the first king of the Jews, and afterward David, whose son King Solomon built in Jerusalem the temple of the true God, most famous in all the world. From this time the Spirit of God, illuminating his prophets with a fuller light of his grace, caused them to foretell not only the future incarnation of the Lord Savior, but many other things as well, as the sacred histories testify. Among them were Nathan, prophet of King David, Gad, Asaph, Ahijah, Shemaiah, Azariah, Anan, with many others. Homer, the Greek poet and writer of the destruction of Troy, Dares the Phrygian, and Dictys of Crete, who were present at that destruction and likewise described it, are read to have been alive in these times.
Origin of the Venetians.
Saul.
Homer.
[unclear]
On the Secondary Intelligences
[unclear]
In the thirteenth order, Gabriel, the spirit of the Moon, again took up the rule of the world on the thirtieth day of January, in the year from the origin of the universe 4252, and he presided in his empire for 354 years and 4 months, down to the year of the world 4606 and the fourth month. In that time many prophets flourished among the Hebrews, namely Elijah, Elisha, Micah, Obadiah, and very many others. And there were various changes in the kingdom of the Hebrews. Lycurgus gave rights and laws to the Lacedaemonians. Capetus Silvius, Lyberius Silvius, Romulus Silvius, and Numitor, kings of Italy, flourished under this spirit. Many new kingdoms also took their beginnings under him, such as those of the Lydians, the Medes, the Spartans, and others. The monarchy of the Assyrians failed with Sardanapalus. Likewise the kingdom of the Macedonians came to an end. Various laws were imposed upon men, and the worship of the true God was neglected; the religion of false gods was propagated exceedingly. The city of Rome was built under the rule of this spirit in the year 1484, which was the 239th year of the rule of Gabriel himself in this order; and the kingdom of the Silvii of Italy failed, and that of the Romans began. In these times also Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Bias, and Pittacus, the seven sages, flourished in Greece, and from then on philosophers and poets began to be held in esteem. The first to rule at Rome was Romulus, founder of the city, for 37 years, a fratricide and cultivator of sedition. After him Numa Pompilius ruled for 42 years; he enlarged the worship of the gods, in the time of Hezekiah, king of the Jews
Little Book
12
[unclear] kept the kingdom in great peace. Near the end of the government of this spirit of the Moon, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Jerusalem and destroyed King Zedekiah, and led all the people away captive. Jeremiah the prophet flourished, who foretold this destruction, and likewise the future liberation from Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar.
Zedekiah.
Jeremiah.
After Gabriel, Michael, spirit of the Sun, again assumed the fourteenth rule of the world; it began on the first day of the month of May, in the year of the world 4606, in the fourth month, and he ruled the world in his order for 354 years, until the year 4960 from the creation of the world, and 8 months. In the time of this governance Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, restored liberty and a king to the people of the Hebrews, under the direction of Michael, who, Daniel writes, stood for the people of the Jews, to whom they had been committed by God. Likewise in these times the monarchy of the kingdom of the Persians began; its first king was Darius, and the second Cyrus, who utterly destroyed that most powerful kingdom of Babylon in the days of Belshazzar, as Daniel and the prophets had foretold. In these times the Cumaean Sibyl flourished; she offered nine books to King Tarquinius Priscus to be bought for a price, in which was contained the sequence of future warnings and the rationale of the whole commonwealth of the Romans. But when the king refused the price, the Sibyl burned the first three books in his sight; for the remaining six she asked the same price. When he again refused it, she also handed three others over to the fire to be burned,
On the Secondary Intelligences
which she would have done with the last ones as well, had not the king, persuaded by the counsel of his men, redeemed them from destruction by paying the price that had been demanded for all. Likewise, after abolishing kings, the Romans established two consuls for each year. Phalaris the tyrant occupied Sicily in those times. Magic too at those times was held in great esteem among the kings of the Persians. Pythagoras the philosopher and many others among the Greeks then flourished. The temple and city at Jerusalem were rebuilt. Ezra the prophet restored from memory, using it as his archetype, the books of Moses burned by the Chaldeans, who were also called Babylonians. Xerxes, king of the Persians, led an army against the Greeks, but accomplished little. Rome was taken, burned, and destroyed by the Gauls, except only the Capitol, guarded by a goose, which roused the weary fighters. The very famous wars of the Athenians also took place in those times. Socrates and Plato the philosophers lived at that time. The Romans, again abolishing the consuls, established tribunes and aediles, and in these times were involved in many calamities. Alexander the Great also, after the governance of Michael had been completed, reigned in Macedonia. He destroyed the monarchy of the Persians in Darius, and subjected all Asia, with part of Europe, to his rule. He lived 125 years and five months; after his death endless wars and many evils followed, and the monarchy was divided into four. Among the Hebrews contention began over the high priesthood. The kingdom of Syria began. After-
Booklet.
After Michael, fifteenth in order, now for the third time Orifiel, the spirit of Saturn, took up the government of the world on the last day of the month of September, in the year of the creation of the universe 4960, month 8, and he presided for 354 years and 4 months, until the year of the world 5315. Under his government the Punic War began between the Romans and the Carthaginians. The Punic War. The city of Rome was almost utterly consumed by fire and water. The calamity of Rome. The Colossus, a cast bronze image 126 feet high, fell in an earthquake. The Colossus is destroyed. In this one year there was peace for the Romans after the Punic War; for 440 years they had never been without war. Jerusalem, together with the temple, was burned and destroyed by Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus Epiphanes. The history and wars of the Maccabees took place. In these times, in the year 606 from the founding of the city, Carthage was destroyed and burned for 17 continuous days. Carthage is destroyed. In Sicily there was a conspiracy of 70,000 slaves against their masters. In those times great portents were seen in Europe: domestic animals fled to the woods; blood flowed; a fiery globe flashed from heaven with a crash. Many portents. Mithridates, king of Pontus and Armenia, waged war with the Romans for 40 years. Mithridates. The kingdom of the Hebrews was restored, which had been interrupted for 575 years, from the time of Zedekiah until Aristobulus. Likewise the German Teutons invaded the Romans, and after many battles are said to have been defeated, and 160,000 slain, besides innumerable others who killed themselves along with their households, under the consuls Caius and Manlius. The Teutonic disaster against the Romans. Nevertheless many of the Romans had previously been destroyed by them. Finally the civil wars, which lasted 40 years, greatly wore down the Romans.
On the Secondary Intelligences
Three suns appeared at Rome; not for long, but soon they were reduced into one. A few years later Julius Caius Caesar usurped the empire of the Romans; after him Octavian Augustus enlarged it and united Asia, Africa, and Europe into one monarchy. He ruled for 36 years; through him God bestowed peace on the whole world. In the year from the founding of the city 751, in the 42nd year of Octavian Caesar Augustus, in the 245th year and 8th month of the prescribed government of Orifiel, the spirit of Saturn, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of December, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judaea. Note how beautiful is the ordering of divine providence. For the world was first created under the government of Orifiel, and also under the third was mercifully redeemed, restored, and renewed, so that it may seem to furnish a harmony for this description of the sevenfold government of the world. For in the first government of Orifiel there was one monarchy of the whole; under the second, as we said above, it was divided into many. Again under the third, as is seen, it was recalled into unity; although, if we measure rightly, it also becomes manifest that in the second government of Orifiel there was one monarchy of the whole world, when the tower of Babylon was being built. From this point the kingdom of the Jews was taken away, and the victims and continual sacrifice ceased; nor will liberty be restored to the Jews before the third revolution
Booklet.
the [unclear] of the spirit Michael; and this will take place after the birth of Christ in the year 1880, month 8, that is, in the year of the world 7170, month 8. In those times many of the Jews and gentiles took up the Christian religion, while very simple and rustic men preached, whom not human instruction but the Spirit of God had illumined. Then the world began to be recalled to the first innocence of simplicity, while Orifiel, the spirit of Saturn, governed it throughout. Heavenly things were mixed with earthly; many Christians too, for the faith which they preached, were cruelly slain by the rulers of the world. Around the end of Orifiel's rule Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the Jews were scattered over all the earth, 1,100,000 being killed and 80,000 sold; the rest fled, and so the Romans utterly destroyed Judea.
[unclear]
Sixteenth in order, after Orifiel, Anael, the spirit of Venus, resumed the governance of the whole world for the third time on the last day of January, in the year from the creation of heaven and earth 5315, but from the birth of Christ 109, and he governed the world for 354 years and 4 months, up to the year of the world 5669, month 4, and of the Lord's Nativity [unclear] 463. And it should be noted that through almost the whole time of this rule of the Angel of Venus the Church of the Christians flourished and prevailed amid persecutions, with countless thousands of men slain for the faith of Christ. Finally, several heresies began to sprout in the Church in these times, which in due course were extinguished not without the labor and blood of good men.
On the Secondary Intelligences.
Many men shone in those times, most learned and most eloquent in every kind of knowledge: theologians, astronomers, physicians, orators, historiographers, and the like, not only among the gentiles but also among the Christians. At last the persecution of unbelievers against the Church ceased, after Constantine the Great Caesar took up the faith, in the year of the world 5539, after the midpoint of the rule of Anael himself, the Angel of Venus; although even afterwards it was at times disturbed in part by the impious, nevertheless on the whole it remained very quiet for a long time. From then on the human race, which from the time of King Ninus had miserably wandered for 2300 years in the worship of idols, was mercifully recalled to the knowledge of the one God. Various arts of subtlety were increased in these times, and through the correspondences of nature took on adornment and growth. For men's customs change with time, and lower bodies are disposed according to the influence of the higher. The mind indeed is free, and does not receive the influence of the stars unless, through the excessive commerce which it has with the body, by inclining itself it stains its own affection. For the angels who are the movers of the spheres destroy or overturn none of the things which nature has established. A comet of unusual magnitude preceded Constantine's death. The Arian heresy disturbed the holy Church in many places at the end of this rule. In the time of Julian Caesar crosses appeared on the linen garments of men.
Booklet.
In Asia and Palestine wars, plagues, and famines followed in those places in which the crosses had appeared. In these times also, around the year of the Lord 360, the Franks had their beginning in Germany; afterwards, when they had devastated Gaul, they called the conquered land Francia after their own name. The origin or beginnings of the German Franks. The description of Francia was great in length and breadth; its metropolis was Mainz, but now only Würzburg. Mainz, formerly the metropolis of the Franks. Bavarians, Rhinelanders, Saxons, Thuringians, and the surrounding bishoprics today occupy a great part of Francia in Germany. Likewise, in year 280 of this Anael's governance, the Roman Empire began to decline, when the city was captured and burned by the Goths, the imperial seat having previously been transferred under Constantine into Greece; this was the beginning and cause of the whole decline of the monarchy. The decline of the Roman Empire. For around the end of this rule of Anael there arose Radagistes and Athaulf, kings of the Goths; likewise afterwards Genseric of the Vandals, and Attila of the Huns, who miserably tore the empire apart, as is clear in these histories. Invasions of the Goths, Vandals, and Huns.
[unclear]
After Anael, seventeenth in order, Zachariel, the spirit of Jupiter, resumed the universal governance for the third time on the first day of June, in the year of the world 5669, month 4, but of the Lord's Nativity 463, month 7; and he presided for 354 years and four months, up to the year of the world 6023 and month 8, but of the Lord 817. Many in these times, out of love for Christian philosophy, betook themselves to the desert; many portents also appeared,
18 On the Secondary Intelligences
A comet, an earthquake, a rain of blood. Merlin. Arthur. Thirty kingdoms served Arthur. The orders of monks. Boethius. The disturbed condition of the Church and the empire. Clovis, good king of France.
A comet, an earthquake, a rain of blood. Merlin, born in [Tumba?], foretold wondrous things at the beginning of this rule. Arthur, whom in the common tongue they call Arthur, the most famous king of Britain, conquered the barbarians, restored peace to the Church, victoriously fought many battles, enlarged the faith of Christ, and subjected all Gaul, Norway, Denmark, and many provinces to his empire. He was the most glorious of all the kings of his time; after many splendid deeds had been accomplished, he appeared nowhere, though the Britons expected him to return for many years. Concerning him the mimes once produced marvelous songs. While he reigned, England was in flower, and thirty kingdoms served him. In these times the orders of monks began to multiply in the Church of God. Theodoric, Arian king of the Goths, possessed all Italy and killed the consul Boethius. Everything was full of disturbance, the empire and the Church alike. The emperors Zeno and Anastasius, Arians in the East, Theodoric and his successors in Italy, and Honorius, king of the Vandals, in Africa, were exercising no small tyranny. At last Clovis, king of the Franks in Gaul, having become a Christian, both overcame the Goths and imposed peace, though not everywhere on earth, in the time of Saint Benedict, in the five-hundredth year of the Christians, or thereabouts, at the beginning of this rule of the angel Zachariel of Jupiter, whose special property it is to change spirits, empires, and kingdoms; that this was done in this revolution the histories declare in many ways, and what the angel Raphael himself could not do
Little Book
...was almost submerged by the waves of the sea, and more than 100,000 persons perished. The Tartars devastated Hungary and Poland, after first overcoming Greater Armenia and many regions.
The discovery of a book by a Jew. In the year of the Christians 1244, a certain Jew at Toledo, while digging, found a book in which it was written: “In the third world Christ will be born of the Virgin Mary, and will suffer for the salvation of men.” Soon believing, he was baptized. The third world was the third revolution of the spirit of Saturn, of which mention was made above; at its beginning Christ was born of the Virgin.
Frederick deprived of the empire. The Roman pontiffs, removing Frederick from the empire, said that it had been vacant for twenty-eight years [unclear] Wilhelm, count of Holland; Conrad, son of Frederick; Alfonso, king of Castile; and Richard, count of Cornwall, brother of the king of England; and evils were multiplied on the earth.
The confederation of the Swiss. At this time, around the year of the Lord 1260, the confederation of the Swiss first began: a people small in number, which grew with time. They killed many of the nobles, and drove others from their territories; warlike men, whose commonwealth is known to all the peoples of Germany.
Rudolf of Habsburg. Origin of the dukes of Austria. In the year of the Christians 1273, Rudolf of Habsburg was made emperor by the election of the princes, and he ruled for eighteen years: a man in every respect prudent and excellent, from whom all the later dukes of Austria descended. The Tartars...
On the Secundei
[unclear] the lands of the Christians, invading Constantinople and Greece, they inflicted great losses on the Christians. The Saracens occupy many cities in Asia, and kill more than four hundred thousand Christians.
When Rudolf had died, Adolf of Nassau was elected king and ruled for six years; afterward Albert, son of Rudolf, defeated him in battle near Worms, killed him, and was elected emperor in the year 1298. He ruled for ten years and was killed by his brother's son. The Order of the Templars is destroyed by order of Pope Clement V. The island of Rhodes was taken by Christians from the hands of the Saracens, in the fourth year of the siege and of continuous war against them. After Albert was killed by his nephew, Henry VIII, count of Luxembourg, was appointed emperor; he ruled for five years. When he had died, Louis IV of Bavaria ruled for thirty-two years, beginning in the year 1315; to him the Roman pontiffs gave the crown. Frederick, duke of Austria, opposed him, but was defeated by him.
After Louis, Charles IV, king of Bohemia, was appointed emperor; he raised the bishopric of Prague to an archbishopric, and ruled for thirty-one years. There were very great earthquakes. This Charles newly instituted many things concerning tolls in favor of the prince-electors. Gunther, count of Schwarzenburg, calling himself king, opposed Emperor Charles, but prevailed in nothing against him. After Charles, his son Wenceslaus ruled for twenty-two years; after him Jodocus, margrave of Moravia, succeeded Sigismund, brother of Wenceslaus.
Little Book
Wenceslaus was deposed. Leopold, duke of Austria, fighting in battle with eight counts and more than 4,000 men, was killed by the Swiss. Under Wenceslaus, king of the Bohemians and emperor, the doctrine of the Hussites took its beginning. When he had been deposed, Rupert, count palatine of the Rhine and duke of Bavaria, was elected and ruled for ten years. In the year of the Lord 1369 the Christians brought war upon the Saracens, but it turned out badly because of the arrogance of the French, since more than 100,000 of our men perished, besides captives, among whom was John, duke of the Burgundians. There were many wars in these times.
In the year 1407 Sigismund becomes emperor for twenty-seven years. He attempted to lay waste Bohemia for the extirpation of heresies, but made little progress. The kingdom of France is cruelly ravaged and afflicted by the English and Burgundians. When Sigismund had died, Albert, duke of Austria, his son-in-law, succeeded him in the year of the Christians 1438, and ruled for only two years, a very excellent man and worthy of empire. When he had died, Frederick III, duke of Austria, [son?], was appointed emperor by election of the princes, and ruled for fifty-six years, a man divine in intellect and peaceful in spirit. He began to reign in the year of the Lord 1440.
In the year of the Christians 1453 Constantinople is taken by the Turks through the betrayal of a certain Genoese, and gradually all Greece fell away from the Christian faith. Moreover, in this time many kingdoms and provinces of the Christians are ravaged and seized by the Turks. The Christians [unclear] much wars
On the Seven Seconds, little book
There remain seventeen years until the end of the government of Samael, in which figures signifying the beginning of evils will be given. For in the year of the Christians 1525, the crosses seen on men's clothing before the decade that has passed will show their effect; but thirteen [years] from now, duly summoned, you will give place to one who does not know; greater after death you will rise again, although you may be sent, covered in cloud.
In the twentieth order Gabriel, angel of the Moon, will receive the government of the world, in the year of the world 6732, in the fourth month, on the fourth day of the month of June, in the year of the Christians 1525, and he will govern the world for 354 years and 4 months, until the year of the world 7086 and the eighth month; but of the Lord's nativity, 1879, and likewise 11 months. The future course of this revolution requires prophecy.
I have not written these things assertively, most sacred Caesar; they are in no way to be believed, since that would be an injury to the orthodox faith. There are, however, those who have reckoned the months in these matters as lunar months; if you should judge that they are to be agreed with, those things which I have written otherwise must be changed. With my own hand also I protest, and with my mouth I confess, that in all these matters I believe nothing, I admit nothing, but reject and despise them as vainly devised and superstitious.
Praise to almighty God.
END
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Cite this translation
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Fabin, Ian Carlos (2026). “Six Books of Polygraphy” [Polygraphiae libri VI]. Machine-assisted English translation of the Argentoratum, 1600 (BSB) edition. In Trithemius Corpus. https://trithemius-corpus.github.io/Trithemius-Corpus/works/prdl-24391_polygraphiae-libri-vi.html
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Key corrections: "Abbot of [unclear]" → "St. James’s Abbey, Würzburg"
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Key corrections: "Wimpfeling of [unclear]" → "Schlettstadt"
Removed a vision-model hallucination loop (the token 'CHEMISTRS' and spelling variants repeated 295 times) from [segment 120] of latin-ocr.txt. The source page is illegible in the scan (the paired English chunk already carries the illegible-page marker); the loop was model babble, not page text.
Segment 136 reprinted the closing prophecy material after the genuine FINIS (chunk 0135: 'Laus Deo omnipotenti. FINIS.' / 'END.'). Replaced chunk 0136 with a removal marker and truncated english.md at 'END.'. (Audit finding M1.)
2026-07-11 — crypto-occult spot-check fixes
Swept two straggler OCR variant tokens ("CHEMICS", "CHEMIES") that survived immediately before the 2026-07-09 CHEMISTRS-loop removal note in latin-ocr.txt segment 120.