planetariarum
ComplexPerrone Compagni — Table of Comparison
1533 edition (2:34): , new
This chapter, planetariarum, 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.
Perrone Compagni's table of comparison indicates: “, new.” This relationship between the 1510 Würzburg draft and the 1533 printed edition reflects the complex evolution of Agrippa's thought across two decades.
The stability of this chapter across the manuscript and printed versions suggests it belongs to the secure core of Agrippa's natural-magical argument as it was constituted by 1510. Such chapters allow scholars to reconstruct the intellectual foundation on which the more elaborate structures of the 1533 edition were built.
Scholarly Perspectives
Book II is described by Lehrich (2003) as 'Mathematical Magic' — the celestial level of the ascending programme, in which Pythagorean and Neoplatonic number theory reveals the proportional structures that organise the cosmos. The transition from Book I's elemental correspondences to Book II's mathematical ones marks a shift from observation of particular things to understanding of universal principles. Miles (2008) notes the paradox: Book II's elaborate systems of sacred names and numerical characters appear to endorse a 'natural language' theory of magical power, but this reading is complicated by the deeper qualifications Agrippa introduces in Book III.