He bemoans the weakened state of chrysopoeia, blaming it on the fact that we live nowadays in an “enlightened” world, in a time when every sixteen-year-old boy is already a champion of criticism and a persecutor of superstition and antiquity. They revile their forefathers who believed too much, who debated about many things they did not understand, and who (to their shame) affirmed many things for which they could not declare a reason—save that they believed. Thus the grandfather is dishonored in his grave by his grandson, and the father by his son, and whosoever can say such things without
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