De occulta philosophia — 1510 / 1533 Comparison

Agrippa von Nettesheim · Würzburg draft (W) vs. Cologne edition (K)
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Book I — Natural Magic — Chapter 33

Of the Virtues of Things Placed Under Celestial Bodies

New in 1533

Perrone Compagni — Table of Comparison

1533 edition (1:33): new

This chapter, 1:33 (“Of the Virtues of Things Placed Under Celestial Bodies”), occupies a significant place in Agrippa's systematic exposition of occult philosophy. In the 1533 Cologne printed edition (De occulta philosophia libri tres, sigla K in Perrone Compagni's critical apparatus), the text represents Agrippa's mature formulation of the ideas it addresses, the product of over two decades of reading, travel, and revision since the composition of the Würzburg draft.

According to Perrone Compagni's table of comparison, this chapter is entirely new in the 1533 edition: it has no antecedent in the Würzburg draft (W). Its presence marks one of the conceptual expansions that distinguish K from W — the addition of material reflecting Agrippa's subsequent reading and intellectual development.

The absence of this chapter from the Würzburg draft invites reflection on what prompted its insertion in the mature edition. Agrippa's intellectual biography between 1510 and 1530 — including his engagement with Neoplatonism, Kabbalah, Hermetism, and scholastic natural philosophy — provides the context for understanding such additions. The partial edition A (sigla A in Perrone Compagni) may offer clues about when the material was composed.

Scholarly Perspectives

The stellar and planetary image chapters represent the practical heart of natural magic. Lehrich (2003) analyses the tradition of astrological talismans as drawing on the Arabic Picatrix and Ficino's De vita coelitus comparanda, both of which Agrippa incorporates into his tripartite cosmological framework. The images are not illustrations but operative instruments: by reproducing celestial forms in material media at astrologically propitious moments, the magician draws down specific planetary virtues.