Cleopatra the alchemist is active in Alexandria, Egypt c. 300 AD. She may be contemporary to Zosimos, who mentions her in his writings. In the 17th century Michael Maier writes about her. Some suggest Cleopatra is not one person but various writers under one name.
Generally she's treated as a single individual. The Book of Comarius is written in Greek but thought to be a translation of older work. Amid the activity of Alexandria, Greek is a common language, with Latin edging into writings of Christianity, learning and philosophy.
Other titles of the Book of Comarius include Comary and Comario Book. The author is inscribed as "Philosopher and High Priest who taught Cleopatra the Divine the Sacred Art of the Philosophers' Stone."
The Philosophers' Stone is not so named until early medieval period in Europe, when the term lapis philosophorum is first documented. Talk of a mystic stone as in Zosimos' "a stone that is not a stone", goes back to ancient Greek philosophers such as Democritus.
The Book of Comarius includes later additions such as a fervent Christian prayer at start and various notations by readers. Commentaries, rebuttals and philosophical inquiry contribute to the alchemical gems of literature, at the same time hopelessly confusing those who follow.
Like Cleopatra herself the author of the Comario Book is not well known historically but it seems to have been written by one person, of the male persuasion. The author says:
"I begin this book with the story concerning silver and gold that was transmitted by Comarius, the philosopher, to Cleopatra, the learned woman. The book in question does not include demonstrations regarding lights and substances. The book is about the teachings of Comarius, the philosopher, addressed to Cleopatra, the learned woman."
The author has a knowledge of "lights and substances", optics or study of light. As this discipline in Europe again goes back to the ancient Greeks, coming from Euclid (c. 325 - 265 BCE), the remark doesn't help much to identify the author.
Comario starts with a concise cosmogony before shifting to more practical topics like metals, colors, and apparatus. Comarius, the philosopher, shows mystical philosophy to Cleopatra.
"Comarius sits upon a throne, devoted to mystical philosophy. He has spoken to those who understand mystical intuition, and with his hand has indicated how everything is one and consists of four elements."
"These things," he says, "are like earth and fire, in relation of heat to fire, and dryness to earth. The waters that are found on the tops of mountains are like air in relation to cold, water to its humidity. Look, from one pearl, Cleopatra ... and from another you get all dye."
He says: "The earth has been placed on the waters, the waters on the tops of the mountains. Now take the earth that is on the waters, Cleopatra, and make a spiritual body with it, the spirit of aluminite."
Following this, a cohort of philosophers (referred to as scientists) emerges, and Cleopatra imparts to them the wisdom she has acquired from Comarius.
"Cleopatra took what Comarius had written and began to put into practice the instructions of other philosophers, to divide into four parts this beautiful philosophy, the one [that teaches] matter was derived from natural things, just as it has been taught and discovered, and an idea of the operations of their difference.
Thus, searching for the beautiful philosophy we have seen that it consists of four parts, and thus we have discovered the general idea of their nature, the first being black, the second being white, the third being yellow, the fourth being the purple or cemented.
"On the other hand, each of these things does not exist by itself in the elements generally, but they depend generally on the elements; we have a center in which we can proceed systematically.
"Therefore, between the black and the white, the yellow and the purple or cemented, there is the maceration and washing of the species. In white and yellow there is the technique of gold casting, and between white and yellow there is the duality of the composition."
Alchemy is known for its symbolism and cryptic language. This is already the style in Alexandria and becomes a vast jumble of self-indulgent esoterica by the end of the Renaissance.
Cleopatra says:
"From now on I will say clearly where the elements and plants are found. But first I will speak in riddles: Climb to the top of the ladder, to the mountain covered with trees, and look: there is a stone at the top. Take the arsenic of the stone and use it to whiten the divine form.
"And look: in the middle of the mountain, under the arsenic, is his wife, with whom he unites and in whom he finds pleasure. Nature enjoys in nature, and outside there is no union. He descends to the Egyptian Sea and brings from the sand, from its bowels, the so-called natron.
"Join these substances to it and they will make all the beauty of the color emerge; outside of it there is no union, because the handcuffed one is his At the same time, nature corresponds to nature, and when you have mixed everything in an equal proportion, then natures conquer natures and enjoy each other."
"Look, scientists, and learn," Cleopatra says. "Here is the realization of the technique of bride and groom united and merged into one. Here are the plants and their varieties. Look, I have told you the whole truth and I will tell it to you again.
You must look or understand that clouds rise from the sea carrying the blessed waters, and that they refresh the earth and make the seeds and flowers grow. In the same way, our cloud, coming from our element and carrying the divine waters, refreshes the plants and the elements and does not need anything else produced by any other soil."
Cleopatra replied: "The philosophers were right in placing it [art] where it had been placed by the Demiurge and the Lord of all things. And behold, I tell you that the pole will run as a result of the four elements, and will never will stop.
"These things have been arranged in our country, in Ethiopia, and from here the plants, the stones and the sacred bodies will be taken; the one who put them here was a god, not a man. In each one the Demiurge placed the seed of power."
"One greens, another does not green; one is dry, the other moist; one tends to unite, the other to separate; one dominates, the other is subordinate; and when they meet, one dominates the other.
"Thus the only resulting nature seeks and dominates all natures, and this One conquers the nature of fire and earth and transforms its entire nature. And behold, I tell you what is beyond all of this: when it is in perfection, it is like a deadly drug that runs through the body."
"Because just when it enters your body, it circulates in [other] bodies. Through decomposition and heat, a drug is obtained that travels freely through all types of bodies. "The art of philosophy has reached this point."
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