The Second Book Of Occult Philosophy, or Magic
by Henry Cornelius Agrippa
Annotated by Donald Tyson
Chapter V
Of The Number Of Two, And The Scale Thereof.
The first number is of two, because it is the first multitude, it can be measured by no other number besides unity alone, the common measure of all numbers: it is not compounded of numbers, but of one unity only; neither is it called a number uncompounded, but more porperly not compounded: the number of three is called the first number uncompounded: but the number two is the first branch of unity, and the first procreation.1
Hence it is called generation, and Juno,2 and an imaginable corporation,3 the proof of the first motion, first form of parity: the number of the first equality, extremity, and distance betwixt, and tehrefore of peculiar equity, and the proper act thereof, because it consists of two equally poised:4 and it is called the number of science, and memory, and of light, and the number of man, who is called another, and the lesser, world:5 it is also called the number of charity, and mutual love, of marriage, and society, as it is said by the lord, two shall be one flesh.6
And Solomon saith:7 it is better that two be together than one, for they have a benefit by their mutual society: if one shall fall, he shall be supported by the other. Woe to him that is alone, becauswe when he falls he hath not another to help him: and if two sleep together, they shall warm one the other; how shall one be hot alone? And if any prevail against him, two resist him.
And it is called the number of wedlock and sex; for there are two sexes, masculine and feminine: and two doves8 bring forth two eggs, out of the first of which is hatched the male, out of the second the female. It is also called the middle, that is capable, that is good and bad, partaking, and the beginning, of division, of multitude, and distinction, and signifies matter.
This is also sometimes the number of discord, and confusion, of misfortune, and uncleanness, whence saint Hierom against Jobianus9 saith, that therefore it was not spoke in the second day of the creation of the world, and God said, that it was good, because the number of two is evil.10 Hence also it was that God commanded that all unclean animals should go into the ark by couples:11 because as I said, the number two, is a number of uncleaness, and it is most unhappy in their soothsayings, especially if those things, from whence the soothsaying is taken, be saturnal, or martial, for these two are accounted by the astrologers unfortunate. It is also reported, that the number of two doth cause apparitions of ghosts, and fearful goblins, and bring mischiefs of evil spirits to them that travel by night.
Pythagoras (as Eusebius reports)12 said, that unity was God, and a good intellect; and taht duality was a devil, and an evil intellect, in which is a material multitude: wherefore the Pythagoreans say, that two is not a number, but a certain confusion of unities. And Plutarch writes,13 that the Pythagoreans called unity Apollo, and two, strife, and boldness; and three, justice, which is the highest perfection, and is not without many mysteries.
Hence there were two tables14 of the Law in Sina, two cherubins15 looking to the propitiatory in Moses, two olives16 dropping oil in Zachariah, two natures in Christ, divine and human; hence Moses saw two appearances of God, viz. his face, and backparts,17 also two testaments, two commands of love,18 two first dignities,19 two first people, two kinds of spirits, good and bad, two intellectual creatures, an angel and soul, two great lights,20 two solsticia,21 two equinoctials,22 two poles, two elements producing a living soul, viz. Earth, and Water.23
The Scale Of The Number Of Two
| In the Exemplary World |
|
The names of God expressed with two Letters | |||
| In the Intellectual World | An Angel | The Soul | Two Intelligible Substances | ||
| In the Celestial World | The Sun | The Moon | Two Great Lights | ||
| In the Elemental World | The Earth | The Water | Two Elements Producing a Living Soul | ||
| In the Lesser World | The Heart | The Brain | Two Principle Seats of the Soul | ||
| In the Infernal World | Behemoth | Leviathan | Two Chiefs of the Devils | ||
| Weeping | Gnashing of Teeth | Two things which Christ threatens to the Damned | |||
Notes - Chapter V
1. first procreation -
Some among the numbers are called absolute prome or incomposite numbers;... They are the only indivisible numbers; thus none of the numbers other than unity (monad) can divide 3 in such a way that 3 could result from their multiplication. Indeed one times 3 is 3. Likewise, one times 5 is 5, ones times 7 is 7, and one times 11 is 11. ...Also, only odd numbers can be prime and incomposite. Indeed the even numbers are not prime or incomposite; it is not only unity which measures them, but other numbers also. For example, the dyad measures 4 because 2 times 2 makes 4; 2 and 3 measure 6 because 2 times 3 and 3 times 2 make 6. All other even numbers with the exception of 2 are likewise measured by numbers greater than the unity. The number 2 is the only one among the even numbers which is similar to the odd numbers in having only unity for its measure. Indeed one times two is two. Because of this it is said that the number two has the nature of the odd numbers because it has the same property as the odd. (Theon fo Smyrna Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato 1.6, trans. R. and D. Lawlor from 1892 French edition of J. Dupuis [San Diego: Wizards Bookshelf, 1979], 15-6) [hereafter cited as Theon]
2. Juno - The Roman form of Hera, wife of Zeus and second only to him among the Olympians.
3. corporation - Embodiment.
4. equally poised - "The first increase, the first change from unity is made by the doubling of unity which becomes 2, in which are seen matter and all that is perceptible, the generation of motion, multiplication and addition, composition and the relationship of one thing to another" (ibid.2.41 [Lawlor, 66]).
5. lesser, world - Microcosm
6. one flesh - Genesis 2:24.
7. Solomon saith - Ecclesiastes 4:8-12.
8. two doves - Perhaps a reference to Horapollo's Hieroglyphics, 1.8, although the birds referred to here are crows, or ravens, not doves.
9. against Jovianus - Adversum Jovinianum libri II, written by Jerome in 393 at Bethlehem to denounce the supposed revival of gnostic ideas by Jovinianus.
10. two is evil - Genesis 1:6-8. Concerning the second day, the great Jewish commentator Rashi writes:
And why was the expression "that it was good" not said on the second day? Because the work of creating the waters was not completed until the third day; for He had only begun it on the second; and a thing that is not completed is not at its perfection and at its best; on the third day however, when the work of creating the waters was compelted and He began and completed another work of creation, the expression "that it was good" was there repeated two times. Once for the completion of the work of the second day and the other for the completion of the work of the third day.(The Pentateuch and Rashi's Commentary 1, Genesis [Brooklyn, NJ: S. S. and R. Publishing, 1949], 6)
11. by couples - Genesis 7:9.
12. Eusebius reports - In Praeparatio evangelica, a collection of classical quotations and pagan beliefs in fifteen books.
13. Plutarch writes - "They likewise called the unit Apollo; the number two, contention and audaciousness; and the number three, justice, for, wrongingand being wronged being two exremes caused by deficiency and excess, justice came by equality in the middle" (Plutarch Isis and Osiris 76, trans, William Baxter [Goodwin 4:133]. The ancients incorrectly derived the name Apollo from a Greek word meaning "one." See Plutarch's The E at Delphi 9 (Goodwin 4:486-7).
14. two tables - Exodus 31:18.
15. two cherubins - Exodus 25:18.
16. two olives - Zechariah 4:11-2.
17. face, and backparts - Exodus 33:11, 33:23.
18. two commands of love - Matthew 5:43-4.
19. two first dignities - First principles, namely heaven and Earth. See Genesis 1:1.
20. two great lights - Sun and Moon.
21. two solsticia - The summer and winter solstices.
22. two equinoctials - The spring and fall equinoxes.
23. Earth, and Water - Genesis 2:6-7. About this passage Rashi says: "He caused the deep to rise and the coulds to water and soak the earth and Adam was created. Like the baker who puts water in the dough, then kneads the dough, so here 'and He watered' then 'He formed' man" (The Pentateuch and Rashi's Commentary 1:20).
In the same vein Thomas Vaughan writes:
I am now to speak of Water. This is the first element we read of in Scripture, the most ancient of principles and the Mother of all things among visibles. Without the mediation of this, the Earth can receive no blessing at all, for moysture is the proper cause of mixture and fusion. (Vaughan Anthroposophia Theomagica. In waite 1888, 17)