Atalanta Fugiens · Emblem XIII
Aes Philosophorum hydropicum est, et vult lavari septies in fluvio, ut Naaman leprosus in Jordane.
The bronze of the Philosophers is dropsical, and wants to be washed seven times in the river, like Naaman the leper in the Jordan.
Emblem XIII
The motto borrows the story of Naaman from the Second Book of Kings. The cure is not one dramatic act but the same humble washing, repeated seven times.
A question to carry
What needs to be done again, patiently, rather than once?
Emblem of the day
Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens (1618), with the Latin motto, a translation and a reading for each plate.
Engraving in the public domain.