do so. So precious a thing must be preserved in secrecy. For if one of the great of the world should hear of such a man, he would wish to seize him and make him a prisoner for life. Therefore must these men be silent."
5. Meanwhile, I see that some of those who had been scorched were meeting together and listening to them. I hear that they were discussing the failure of their endeavours among themselves. One laid the blame on the philosophers, saying that they taught their art in too involved a fashion; another complained of the frailty of the glass implements; a third pointed to the untimely and unfavourable aspect[1] of the planets; a fourth was angry because of the earthly and dim ingredients in Mercury;[2] a fifth complained of the insufficient expenditure. On the whole, they had so many excuses that they knew not how to defend their art. I saw this. And then, as one after the other went out, I also went thence.
