Of the Characters of Geomancy
Revised & ExpandedPerrone Compagni — Table of Comparison
1533 edition (2:38): W, 2: 6 + a short addition at the end
This chapter, 2:38 (“Of the Characters of Geomancy”), 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 corresponds to W 2:6 in the Würzburg draft, with shorter additions in the 1533 text. The core argument is preserved from W, but Agrippa refined it with supplementary passages, qualifying or extending particular points.
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
The character and image chapters of Book II develop the sigil-construction programme that Lehrich (2003) identifies as Agrippa's most complete attempt to make mathematical structure generate magical writing. The planetary tables (magic squares) of chapter II:35 are the model: written characters derived from the path of a spirit's name through a numbered grid embody celestial virtue in a transferable form. Miles (2008) reads this programme as appearing to endorse natural-language theory while being complicated by the theoretical qualifications of Book III.