Source / Original Latin for: To Dare, To Will, To Know, To Keep silent

Raul Vieytes

2023-05-05 18:10:10 UTC

...

the 'original' Latin wording is "Scire. Potere. Audere. Tacere. ZOROASTER"
according to
http://cybertempli.mysteria.cz/alchy4.htm
which is a site composed completeley in Tchechian, a language I don't
understand -- but it seems that it attributes that wording to a certain
FULCANELLI.

from 'argotique' (the French 'argot' is a language whose words are
obtained by permutations of groups of letter with euphonic effects) we
have 'art gotique'. ...

Yes, that seems to be right; the Czech title given for the source
seems to mean "The Mystery of Cathedral(s)". Our library contains
a 1964 edition of this book, originally (the book says) published
in 1922; the full title is
Le myste`re des cathe'drales et l'interpre'tation e'sote'rique
des symboles herme'tiques du grand oeuvre
(and "Fulcanelli" is listed in the catalog as a pseudonym).
These four (not quite) Latin words occur, with attribution to
"Zoroastre", as the epigraph to the "Conclusion" (page 223 in
this edition); no further source is given. "Fulcanelli" clearly
does write "potere" and in bold letters translates it into
French as "POUVOIR".
Considering the profusion of pseudonyms used by authors in this
sort of "occult" writing, I think it unlikely that the "Zoroaster"
involved here is the ancient Persian writer.
William C. Waterhouse
Penn State

Well, I'm argentine and got this book of “Fulcanelli” in Spanish, titled “El misterio de las catedrales”, nice edition by Plaza & Janes, Barcelona (first 1967; mine, the sixth, 1973). But is not here where I’ve found that formula first written, but in a pretty former text, “Dogme et rituel de la haute magie”, published in 1861 in Paris, by Germer Baillière Ed. You can download it at https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_lxQRrFze2A0C/page/n1/mode/2up?q=taire. There, some “Éliphas Lévi”, another pope of esotericism, says (Page n116): “Savoir, oser, vouloir, se taire, voilà les quatre verbes du mage qui sont écrits dans les quatre formes symboliques du sphinx”. So is probable that it was first French, then traduced to Latin to make it look archaic, then Fulcanelli changed “vouloir” to “potere”… But why? Who knows, mistery :P Maybe in the 1960s there were more fascination about the “Power” -a post atomic bomb symptom- and in 1861 the occultists believed the “Will” was more intriguing pour les bourgeoises (the huge influence of Schopenhauer, at the time?).