Folio 94r - fire-bearing stones, continued. De lapide adamas; Of the adamas stone
On a certain mountain in the east, there are fire-bearing stones which are called in Greek terrobolem; they are male and female. When they are far from each other, the fire within them does not ignite. But when by chance the female draws near to the male, the fire is at once kindled, with the result that everything around the mountain burns.
For this reason, men of God, you who follow this way of life, stay well clear of women, lest when you and they approach each other, the twin flame be kindled in you both and consume the good that Christ has bestowed upon you. For there are angels of Satan, always on the offensive against the righteous; not only holy men but chaste women too.
Finally, Samson and Joseph were both were tempted by women. One triumphed; the other succumbed. Eve and Susanna were tempted; the latter held out; the former gave in. The heart, therefore, should be guarded and guided by all forms of divine teaching. For the love of women, which has been the cause of sin from the beginning, that is from Adam to the present day, rages uncontrolled in the sons of disobedience.
Of the adamas stone
Physiologus says: There is a stone called adamas found on a certain mountain in the east. Such is its nature, that you should search for it by night, not day, since it shines at night where it lies, but it does not shine by day, since the sun dulls its light. Against this stone, neither iron, fire or other stones can prevail.
The prophet says of it: 'I saw a man standing on a wall of adamant
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Commentary
Text
The fire-bearing stones which ignite when near each other. Iron pyrites provide the geological basis for this account. The adamas stone.
Illustration
The adamas stone on a mountain.
Comment
The twelfth-century hand ends half way down the page and the text resumes in a late thirteenth-/early fourteenth-century script. There is a hastily painted sketch of a hill with a circle or rock on top. The upper initial is type 2. The lower initial represents the start of the later series of initials, type 4.
Folio Attributes
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Transcription
Sunt lapides igniferi in quodam monte orientis qui\ Grece terrobolem dicuntur masculus et femina.\ Isti quando longe sunt ab invicem ignis in eis non accen\ditur. Cum autem casu appropinquaverit femina masculo,\ statim ignis accenditur, ita ut ardeant omnia que sunt cir\ca illum montem. Unde et vos homines dei qui istam vitam\ geritis, separate vos longe a feminis, ne cum appropinquave\ritis adinvicem, accendatur in vobis ille ignis geminus, et con\sumat bona que Christus contulit in vobis. Sunt enim angeli\ Sathane qui semper impugnant iustos, non solum sanctos viros,\ sed etiam feminas castas. Denique Samson et Joseph ambo\ per mulieres temptati sunt. Unus vicit, alter victus est. Eva\ et Susanna temptate sunt, hec vicit, illa victa est. Custodi\endum est igitur cor et divinis preceptis omnimodis monendum.\ Nam amor feminarum quarum peccatum ab inicio cepit,\ id est ab Adam usque nunc, in filios inobedientie debachatur.\ De lapide adamas \ Phisiologus dicit:\ Est lapis qui dicitur ada\ mas et in quodam monte orien\tis invenitur. Ita tamen ut noc\te queratur, non die, quoniam noc\te lucet ubi fuerit, per diem autem\ non lucet, quoniam sol obtundit\ lumen eius, hunc lapidem non\ ferrum non ignis nec alius lapis contra eum potest\ prevalere. De hoc lapide adamante dicit propheta:\ Vidi virum stantem super murum adamantiumTranslation
On a certain mountain in the east, there are fire-bearing stones which are called in Greek terrobolem; they are male and female. When they are far from each other, the fire within them does not ignite. But when by chance the female draws near to the male, the fire is at once kindled, with the result that everything around the mountain burns. For this reason, men of God, you who follow this way of life, stay well clear of women, lest when you and they approach each other, the twin flame be kindled in you both and consume the good that Christ has bestowed upon you. For there are angels of Satan, always on the offensive against the righteous; not only holy men but chaste women too. Finally, Samson and Joseph were both were tempted by women. One triumphed; the other succumbed. Eve and Susanna were tempted; the latter held out; the former gave in. The heart, therefore, should be guarded and guided by all forms of divine teaching. For the love of women, which has been the cause of sin from the beginning, that is from Adam to the present day, rages uncontrolled in the sons of disobedience. Of the adamas stone Physiologus says: There is a stone called adamas found on a certain mountain in the east. Such is its nature, that you should search for it by night, not day, since it shines at night where it lies, but it does not shine by day, since the sun dulls its light. Against this stone, neither iron, fire or other stones can prevail. The prophet says of it: 'I saw a man standing on a wall of adamant
