The king, swimming in the sea, calling out in a loud voice:
He who saves me will get a tremendous reward.
EPIGRAM XXXI
The king, on whose head the crown pressed heavily,
Swims in the wide sea, and continually calls in a loud voice:
Why do you not come to my rescue? Why do you not all rush forward,
You, whom I can make happy, once I am saved from the waters?
Take me back to my realm, if you are sensible,
And no poverty nor bodily disease will vex you any more.
Like all alchemical imagery, the meaning is multifaceted: we find Jungian archetypes, spiritual guidance, reasoning about chemical formulae, and social commentary — perhaps even a parody of a contemporary king.
H. M. E. de Jong describes this device:
“But what should be done with the king after he has been saved? Then he should be freed from the water he has swallowed and this has to happen by means of sudorifics [sweating]; from the cold, he should be freed by the heat of fire, from the stiffening of his limbs by means of moderately hot baths, from hunger by a sensible diet and from other external complaints by medicines with an opposite effect. After that a royal marriage should be provided for, from which, in due time, the much desired offspring will be born, which, very beautiful and fertile, will surpass all ancestors in power, in royal wealth, in the possession of nations and treasures; and it will conquer its enemies, not by wars, but by humanity, not by ambition, but by tolerance; a tolerance which is inherent in it.”
Among the various types of “water” of which the alchemists speak, the chemical aspects of this emblem indicate the “aqua regia” or “King’s Water.” A mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, aqua regia is able to dissolve gold and platinum — very useful to a monarch who wishes to conceal their true riches against plunder!
During World War II, the Nobel Prizes of German physicists Max von Laue and James Franck were dissolved in aqua regia to hide them from the NAZI regime. After the war, the gold (alchemically associated with the heat of the sun) was precipitated (“sweated”) out of the “king’s water,” and re-cast as Nobel medals once again.
Atalanta fugiens, an alchemical emblem book, was published in 1617; alongside images, poems, and discussion, it included fifty pieces of music in the form of fugues, the form itself being a pun on Atalanta "fleeing."
The Latin reads:
EMBLEM XXXI
The king, swimming in the sea, calling out in a loud voice:
He who saves me will get a tremendous reward.
EPIGRAM XXXI
The king, on whose head the crown pressed heavily,
Swims in the wide sea, and continually calls in a loud voice:
Why do you not come to my rescue? Why do you not all rush forward,
You, whom I can make happy, once I am saved from the waters?
Take me back to my realm, if you are sensible,
And no poverty nor bodily disease will vex you any more.
Like all alchemical imagery, the meaning is multifaceted: we find Jungian archetypes, spiritual guidance, reasoning about chemical formulae, and social commentary — perhaps even a parody of a contemporary king.
H. M. E. de Jong describes this device:
“But what should be done with the king after he has been saved? Then he should be freed from the water he has swallowed and this has to happen by means of sudorifics [sweating]; from the cold, he should be freed by the heat of fire, from the stiffening of his limbs by means of moderately hot baths, from hunger by a sensible diet and from other external complaints by medicines with an opposite effect. After that a royal marriage should be provided for, from which, in due time, the much desired offspring will be born, which, very beautiful and fertile, will surpass all ancestors in power, in royal wealth, in the possession of nations and treasures; and it will conquer its enemies, not by wars, but by humanity, not by ambition, but by tolerance; a tolerance which is inherent in it.”
Among the various types of “water” of which the alchemists speak, the chemical aspects of this emblem indicate the “aqua regia” or “King’s Water.” A mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, aqua regia is able to dissolve gold and platinum — very useful to a monarch who wishes to conceal their true riches against plunder!
During World War II, the Nobel Prizes of German physicists Max von Laue and James Franck were dissolved in aqua regia to hide them from the NAZI regime. After the war, the gold (alchemically associated with the heat of the sun) was precipitated (“sweated”) out of the “king’s water,” and re-cast as Nobel medals once again.