---

The Comte De Gabalis

By Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars

---

The core of this book is an anonymous English translation of a French 'novel of ideas' originally published in 1670. The Abbé de Villars, the author, was a French clergyman born in 1635 in Alet, near Toulouse in the south of France. He came to Paris in 1667, where he wrote a number of books, most of which other than this work which have been forgotten or lost. He was assassinated in 1673 or (by some accounts) 1675 while on the road from Lyons to his native Languedoc.

The book describes an encounter with a mysterious Comte de Gabalis, who is a master of the occult sciences. Gabalis initiates de Villars into the secrets of the elemental beings: the Sylphs of the Air, the Undines of the Water, the Gnomes of the Earth and the Salamanders of Fire. The Abbé is not sure whether the elementals are demons, while Gabalis encourages him to symbolically (?) marry one of the elementals.

Of course there is a lot more going on here than the dialog would indicate. There are profuse classical and esoteric references. This particular edition wraps the translation in a heavy cloak of parallel commentary, footnotes, endnotes and sub-footnotes. The additional material will be of much interest by itself, as a miscellany of esoteric topics including a whole section of prophecies. And even though there are hints, neither the original text nor the commentary ever discloses exactly who the Comte de Gabalis is...

Production Notes. The first portion of this edition, the 'Discourses' section, has commentary on facing pages; these were turned into footnotes instead of trying to reproduce the page layout. For a number of reasons, it was impossible to run a full spellcheck on this text, so there are undoubtedly more OCR errors left in this text than usual. As usual, I welcome any comments about typographical errors.

Title Page and Front Matter
The Book
Abbé N. De Montfaucon de Villars
Contents
Chaper I. Discourse I
Chaper II. Discourse II
Hermes
Chapter III. Discourse III
Chapter IV. Discourse IV
Ancient Persian Monument
Chapter V. Discourse V
Chapter A. Map of the Horoscope
Chapter B. Harmony of the World
Chapter C. Numbers of Pythagoras
Chapter D. Sylphs of Cardan
Chapter E. Averroes
Chapter F. Saint Paul an Initiate
Chapter G. Plato, His Place as a Philosopher
Chapter H. Benvenuto Cellini Sees a Salamander
Chapter I. Book of Enoch
Chapter J. The Egg and Serpent Symbol
Chapter K. Those Reserved For Greater Things
Chapter L. Panic Terrors. Origin of the Term
Chapter M. The Great Pan is Dead
Chapter N. Jansenists
Chapter O. Jean Bodin
Chapter P. Moses And Elias Fasted Forty Days
Chpter Q. Bacchus and Osiris the Same
Chapter R. Muhammed
Chapter S. King Saul
Chapter T. The Oracle of Dodona
Chapter U. Divine Power of Letters
Chapter V. Oracle of Celius Rhodiginus
Chapter W. Sambethe, Daughter of Noah
Chapter X. Justin Martyrs Statement
Chapter Y. Temple of Hercules in Armenia
Chapter Z. Plato on Mans Place in Nature
Chapter AA. Sir Thomas Browne on Mans Place in Nature
Chapter BB. Curtius Rufus
Chapter CC. King Rodriguez Warning
Chapter DD. The Inmates of the Cave, or the Story of the Seven Sleepers
Chapter EE. Sleep
Thotmes III
Chapter FF. Behemoth and Leviathan
Chapter GG. The Holy Language Described by Emmanuel Swedenborg
Chapter HH. Moses an Initiate
Chapter II Book of the Wars of the Lord
Chapter JJ. Sacred Fire
Chapter KK. Noah, Vesta and Egeria
Chapter LL. Prince de Mirande and the Cabala
Chapter MM. Japhet
Chapter NN. Nymph of Stauffenberg
Chapter OO. Magdalen of the Cross
Chapter PP. Cassiodorus Renius or Reyna
Chapter QQ. Gertrude, Nun of the Monastery of Nazareth in the Diocese of Cologne
Chapter RR. Romulus
Chapter SS. Servius Tullius
Chapter TT. Hercules
Chapter UU. Master Defined
Chapter VV. Roman Worship of a Supreme Deity Without Image or Statue
Chapter WW. Recent Tidings of the Elementary Peoples?
Chapter XX. Tyresias
Chapter YY. Merlins Prophecy of the Conquest of the Air and of Aerial and Submarine Warfare
Chapter AAA. Cherubim
The Birth of Jesus as Related in the Koran
Chapter BBB. Proclus On Prayer
Chapter CCC. Lord of Bavaria
Chapter DDD. The Sabbat
Chapter EEE. Zedekias
Chapter FFF. Karoli Magni Et Ludovici Pii Christioniss:--Capitula
Chapter GGG. Magicians Sent by Grimaldus, Duke of Beneventum
Chapter HHH. Bishop of Lyons
Seven Ancient Prophecies
First Prophecy The Magis Prophecy of World Peace and a Universal Language
Second Prophecy The Sibylline Prophecy of World Peace and the Reign of Justice
Third Prophecy Enochs Prophecy of World Peace and the Giving Forth of Books
Fourth Prophecy Micahs Prophecy of World Peace and Freedom of Religion
Fifth Prophecy Elder Edda Prophecy of World Peace and Return of the Ancient Wisdom
Sixth Prophecy Bible Prophecy of World Peace Declaring the Manner of its Accomplishment
Seventh Prophecy Merlins Prophecy of World Peace and Enlightenment
Muhammeds Prophecy of Truth
Israels Prophecy of Justice
Prophecy of the Messenger and the Stone set up in Egypt
Hymn To The Sovereign Sun