Ratzo Rizzo and the Poet Virgil as Transmuting Agents

Similar chemistry occurs in the purification of antimony from stibnite through heating with metallic iron. It is also noteworthy that when metallic ( red ) copper and antimony are alloyed (e.g., 6% Sb), the resulting metal looks very much like gold. The following is from a Syriac manuscript dating from the Crusades  

Throw in with red copper some antimony roasted in olive oil and it will become gold-like. 

Venetsky, On Rare and Scattered Metals—Tales About Metals, (translated from the Russian by N.G. Kittell), Mir, Moscow, 1983, p. 83. 

RATZO RIZZO AND THE POET VIRGIL AS TRANSMUTING AGENTS  

Putrefaction, as the first step toward transmutation to gold, is loaded with religious symbolism. The idea here is total abasement before salvation can begin. Impurities and imperfections must similarly be removed from metals in order for them to transmute to gold. Humans must remove their imperfections to achieve a state of grace. In The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri must first be guided by 

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