Of the Computation of Hours
Perrone Compagni — Table of Comparison
1533 edition (1:49): W, 2: 49 + many additions
This chapter, domibus et elementis distribuantur (“Of the Computation of Hours”), 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.
This chapter derives from W 2:49 of the Würzburg draft, but has been substantially expanded — Perrone Compagni notes many additions. The scale of interpolation suggests Agrippa rethought and broadened the original argument considerably; the 1533 text is in essence a new development of the earlier material rather than a simple revision.
The extent of revision in this chapter illustrates the dynamic character of Agrippa's rewriting process. Rather than simply updating facts, he appears to have substantially reconfigured the argument. Comparison with the partial edition A — which represents an intermediate stage — may reveal whether the additions were introduced gradually or in a single later revision.
Scholarly Perspectives
Lehrich (2003) characterises Book I's project as the systematic 'reading and writing' of the natural world — deciphering the hidden signatures inscribed in things by God and employing them in magical operations. Daniels (1964) identifies the epistemological foundation as empiricist: occult virtues are known through experience and accumulated testimony, not rational demonstration. Van der Poel (1997) situates the whole of Book I within Agrippa's Neoplatonic theology of divine immanence, in which nature is not merely a collection of objects but a continuous disclosure of divine presence.