34
Norton F. W. Hazeldine translation
From those fair points the [22]five great truths, by which we're raised by master hands, Their secrets then within the man are placed, guard well! For once revealed no more can they be hid! Thus born of fire the cause of life supreme, in earth your soul was cast, in air thy thoughts took wing. And from the brooding waters, knowledge took shape and came, as the means of man's deliverance from birth and from the grave. This triple knowledge has been told how EARTH the body is, and fire the soul, air is life's thoughts, and the waters the sacred lore contain. Earth the infant, fire the youth, the waters enlightened manhood, and air the carrier to the great unknown beyond the grave. Of which death is the messenger, not the sting, and the grave the separation of life's elements, and hence the victory of all living things.