THE LIFE OF PARACELSUS ' 19 



why should the man be despised who goes in search of 

 it? Those who remain at home may live more com- 

 fortably, and grow richer than those who wander about ; 

 but I neither desire to live comfortably, nor do I wish to 

 become rich. Happiness is better than riches, and happy 

 is he who wanders about, possessing nothing that requires 

 his care. He who wants to study the book of Nature 

 must wander with his feet over its leaves. Books are 

 studied by looking at the letters which they contain ; 

 Nature is studied by examining the contents of her 

 treasure-vaults in every country. Every part of the 

 world represents a page in the book of Nature, and all 

 the pages together form the book that contains her great 

 revelations." 



So little has Paracelsus been understood by the profane, 

 that even to this day he is supposed to have advocated 

 the very superstitions which he tried to destroy. For 

 instance, far from encouraging the superstitious practices 

 of the star-gazers, he says : " The planets and stars on 

 the sky neither build up a man's body, nor do they 

 endow him with virtues and vices, or any other qualities 

 whatsoever. The course of Saturn lengthens or shortens 

 nobody's life ; and although Nero was of a martial 

 temperament, he was not the child of Mars, nor Helena 

 the daughter of Venus. If there had never been any 

 Moon on the sky, there would be nevertheless people 

 inclined to lunacy. The stars force us to nothing, they 

 incline us to nothing ; they are free for themselves, and 

 we are free for ourselves. It is said that a wise man 

 rules over the stars ; but this does not mean that he 

 rules over the stars in the sky, but over the powers that 

 are active in his own mental constitution, and which are 

 symbolised by the visible stars in the sky" {Philosophia 

 Occulta). 



Paracelsus did not read or write much. He says that 

 for ten years he never read a book, and his disciples 

 testify that he dictated his works to them without using 



