JlllillS AfricallUS aIld tIle EarI)'T C:hristia11
View ot- Magic hv,
Francis C. It rfhcc
J. C.B.
Mohr (Paul Siebeck) Tiibingen 19H4
-fhff, F"~J~d~ C. R.: lulius Africmus and the earlv, Chrlsd:fln 'i1~"'" . ofmJ:gjc;' by Fra.nds C. H. Thee. - TiibEngen: Mohr. JW}4l (Hl:'rmt=no:utisch(" Umcr!:iuch ungcn zmfht'oJogie; '9) ISl-lN .3-16-144552-X IS SN 0440-71 80 NE:GT
©J. C. B. Mohr (paul Sieb~ 1St es ;luch n.ich[ gC'!'if.:l [tel da~ BllI:h odcr T eik: ail filllS ;lU f photOl"ncchiifdscheHl Wegl' (Ilhotokol-'k'. .'.i'ho kQpic) ?u ....c;r ..·id f.l]t&gen. Printed ill German~" Satz una Druck: Gulae-Druck GmbH, Tubingcn. Emb2nd: H~inrich I
Koeh. GroB buchbind-erei, Tlihingen.
To PauJ. and Yetta.
and To Mary end Paul
TA13LE OF CONT!-1r!'S Page: Ll~"'1'
OF
It·L'!JS'.ttl't~'I'IOIm
.
ACKNOl'l'lZIXrv.ENTS •
xi
INTRODUCTiON . . .
1
Statement of the Problem. . . . . . • . ABJle ct g o:f" the problem Statement of the thesi~ Working Definition of Magie Introduetion.
1
8
Definition, and related tenDs
Chapt.er I.
THE STUDY OF JULIUS AFRICA1{US AND HIS KESTOT ~
11
and B,yzantin~ R~ference5 . . . Greek and related ecclesiastica.1 sources Syriac ecclesiastical sources
13
An~ient
Semlle.r sources Surnma.ry Early Studies . • . . . . . .
~
A
n~
32
. . . . • •
Sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Nineteenth a.nd early twentieth centuries Recent Contributions . . • • _ . A ne-" era
. . .. . .
.'
.
..
..
aPlJroach?
Variant vievs other ~pe-cula:tions Sta:t.U6 of the q'UeBtion
The new era renovated F.esults of the nevera Summary and Cone 1 usi ons .. • • .. .. .. .. .. • • II.
TRAlfSL!\Tlm~
OF THE ICEST:Ql FRAG}.fENTS .. .. • , • ..
Si.gla . • • • . .. • •
•
1;
•
•
Ke~tos
,IJI.
•
..
..
. 100
•
1
102
• .. ,.
"..
+
"104
105
The Kestoi Fragm~ntSt The Kestoi Fragments t II; Ext~A~ts concerning Military Matt.era • • • • • . + • • " + + .. The Kestoi Fragments, I II ; Ertr8.ct Ii concerning lii.:ep1at.1"1 Cil. • • • • + 156 The Kestoi Fragroent B. I1l~ Concerning Weigllt5 and Measures... . . . .. ...... + , ... . . 173 +
•
•
~,
.... i1
'WI
1'
• • •
•
?
~
"",.",'1'.
..
.,
...
It
viii
Contents
Chapter II.
Page
The Kestoi Fragments tV: Pa.pyrus Oxyrhynchu,S 412. . • • The Kest01 Fragments .. VI; KestQs 13 ~ Cha.pt'IH· 22.. • The Kestoi Fragments:> VIIi Concerning Cinnamon . . • . . The Kegtoi Fro.gmentl3 t VIII; Concerning Dyeing
• 180 · 183
The Kestoi Fragnlents
· 186 · 191
w
Appendix; TIl.
w
•
•
•
Citat i on:e . .. • • + • • Selected Frasmenta or the Chrobograpqy . • t
IX:
· lB4
· 185
M'UCANUStg VIEW' OF MAGIC.
..
Pasaages to be Considered. • .
• . 193
From the
w
193
K~stoi
F:r-olIl the fhronogra.pl,rr . . . . • . . . ..
KnO'oi'l edge 0 f Mg,gi c ..
199
Pentagon paSS&g@"s Zoological passages Humat') t:iubst e.nces
Plant pas !;oages
Miot!ral and siJ!u.lar substances Charms and rites Gods and daemons
Other featlU'es Pu!-pOSE!6 of theuaes Summo..ry of Afrl c anus "s Knowledge of Nagic", Areas of magi c Types of" pro and he cites or names all the other llOrks attributed to Africanus by modern scholars, 1. e., the letters to Origen and to Aristides,. and tbe Kestoi.
In tl'le In the
Chronicle~
Prefaee~
he lists
FusebiuB refers to Af'ricanus three tilD:l!.'s. Atri~anU8 betwe~~
Clement and Tatian as
emong those who place M03es in the t.11Jle of Inachus, fiTst year oC Macrlnus be e;ites, as an opinion at thi5l point, ttAbgar, e. venera.ble
:nten
1.
BJld under the
or Afric.anus t.hat. 11
(tirsan~tug) ruled
lEusebiu5 Werke lIi.ebenter Band, Dil!' Chronik des Hieronymus,. ed. Rudolf Helm. Die Griechischen Christlichen Schrif'tstelle!" der ersten Ja.1lrlnmdel"te'lo 2d ed. (Berlin; Aka.d~mie-Ve:rlagt 1956) 'Ii P 7:> lines. 10-18+ (Hereafter cited as Chronik, folloved by pag~ tlnd line I
p
nut:nbet' 5.
)
Study of Africanus Ede.Gsa."l
The third reference is more s'libstantiaJ..
lieliogabalus III (=an. Abr.
em.
2231, p.
At OlYlDpiad 250,. 1 t
22l) " Eusebius testifies,
In Palestine.~ NicQpolis, vhich was tortDerly called EmJn.aus J was constituted iL (':ity t :a legation having been dilig~r.Jtl:y undertaken for it by Julius A:fricanus, the chronological 'W"riter (scriptQl"e t empp rum ). 2 Further infoI'lIlB.tion is providell in the !celesil!Lstical History. Thl! moat 1l:lportan.t reference
OCC\ll"S
in
describes Africanus and his writings.
6.
31 .. where Eus~bius brien;;r
It occurs in the generEtl con-
text of the diacussion or the life) llOrks,. and aasociate5 of {whiCh ext~nds through mc~t or book
6).
Orig~n
This chaptert headed "Con-
cl!'rning Af1"iciLnus,.'1 says ..
About this time also, AfrlcanuB t the writer of th~ work entitled Kestol bece.tDe knowlL A letter of' his . . vr1 tten to Origen t is prese-:rved,. questioning whether the story concE!'rntng Susann.a in Daniel is s.purious and fictitious. Orlg~n 'W"I'ote a most full reply to this. .And of the same Ai':r i ea:nU5 a1 so fLnoth~.:r ;,rork ,the fl'\1'@ in m.m'ber of the ChronoAr:fj,phia,. c elZle to u.s; an. a~-eurately produce-c. l~bor. In it he ~aY!;l he himst!'lt undertook iii. journey to Alexandria 051 account or the great t.ame of: Hera.clas (who inde~d in philosophi.cal matters: and in th~ other Gr@ek learning really vas 1!'.IOst dist.ingui;slhed J the oversigbt of tho@' church there being put in hi s hands as we he.ve shown). And also eo further ~oIork of thE! s.ame AfrleanuB is preserved, lI. ll!!t.ter to Aristides, concerning the a;pparent. di ssananc,e of th~ gemHl.1ogies of Christ in Matthe~
and Luke.
In .an earlier
bOok~
IAn. Abr. 223~, Englisb translation present vriter.)
h~re ~
1. 6. 2 t Eusebiua mentions an o:piniotl. of
p. Chr. 218; Chronikl' 21b. 5-6. (The el se\l'here in thi So c hapt er, is by t htl
and
2Chron1k, 214. 20-24. Bes.ides these,. Eusebius gives lo~g extraets from Africanus' I:l ChrOn{)gre.phia in his Preparation for the GQSpe-,l (10. lQ....-perioda or historybe:fore tbe Olympiads).. and in the hoc r or t.he Go spel (8. 2--an extract from the- Fi fth Book, cone err-ing Daniel~s p~phecy of the Seventy W~eks [Daniel 9~2~-27J). Eusebius cites theSIS!' opinions vith :resp~cts though he goes on to differ 'With
them.
Ancient and ByzantiDe References
I)
A:f'ricMUS,. describing him in passing as I'not t.he ordinary historian • ..,l
JerOUle produced a Latin edition of" Eusebius I s £hronlcle (which today fOr:ll:ls our major 80urce for it) ~ s..nd in addition refers
to Africa-nus in three paseages in his own vritings. in one of his epistleEi.. (no. 7(;) Ad Ml1gnum., in section I~, Jerome lists the "'Titers of the church from Quadratus to the Capps.docia!1Ei.
Aft.er naming Hi'Ppolytus e.nd Apollon1us .. he says, nThere:
are extant also Julius Africar..us' B books, whi-ch he ".l1"ote a history of the times. II 2 lShortly thet'ea.fter, in 1. 7 .,Eusebiu5 gives a long extract Africtl.J1us':s letter 'Ib Arist1des. This citation is- our major sou:rhie arnenienne de Saint-Laz.are. 18~1}" l:168-7l; Des Mosea von Chore:~e Geschichte Gross-Armerdens. aus den Artrl!!mischen nberset2:t von Dr. l-L Lau~r (Regens'b1ll"g= G. J. Manz ~ 1869 ), p. 70 ~ the Engli sh trs.n sIs t i on given here has be en rtliLde from the Fr~nch translation eompared vith the
[email protected].
~e Chronograpnia or Malalas (later sixth centurj) continued
the tradition of dependence on Africanus (&lbei t in a. s.om.e\i'htLt corrupt to rm ) . Ext ant copi I!! S t hovever, gi ve no speei fi c data c onCE! rn i n g Africarrus·s life., since they lack the period. ho:n tara-calla to Valerian (Jofinnis Ha.lalae Chronograllhia., ed. Ludovicus D1ndol"fius, CO~~g Scriptorum Histori~e Byz~ntioae~ ed. B. G. Niebuhriu5 CBonn: £d .. Weber t 1831).
An~ient
and Byzantine References
19
Cbron icon Pascbsle
The anonymous. seventh century work knovn as the East.er Chronicle (Chronicon ~Qschalft) has several re~erences ~o Afrlcanus.
lll.St, 'Which cooTa.ngel. ,- (2: 158) . For t hi 5 reason bar Sal Hli is f"req;uently cited (usue..lly vi tb a l'e fel"ence to A.a semani, a$ e. g •.~ 'by Vieille!"ond~L~s. Cestes, p. :22,. :11. 23 rth~ point 1~ emphas3,'2.ed by an attempt to explain the origin o:f bar Salibi's errorJl as one of the Syri ac ....7 1 ters vho :lIlake A:fri o:;:anus a b1 shop. It is ~ hov-evcl'", As semani ., not bl!l.r $a.libi ~ spea..lting at thi s point.
IlU!:.US
~ilmot EB.!'"dley
W. Carr, trans. and ed.]o Gl"egol'"'i..Abu'lFa.raj) Ccr::iJl:.onl..."y Called B!lr-llebracus., Co.tt:tlliental:{ on the Gospels from the Ho:rreurn. :t-~yst.e:riorum {London; SPCK, 1925)]0 pp. 1111 t and 6. The references to li..1'ricanus occur in discussions of r~a.tthe~,.,' s geneE'.lo~· of Christ (¥p. 6, l02, 103, l05}, and, &t on~ point, Afl"icanu$ is r~ fe-rred to as "a c:ompiler of genealogies'l (p. 102). The last three: references s~eiJl clearly to be from the letter to J\J"is,tidea.; the .first, which concerns th~omiss1on. of the names o:f .Ahe.z.iah ~ Joash, aod Amaz1ah b~t Mo.t.the·.r, ~ou1.d veIl be from 6 lost portion of the letter (or from the Chronogr-aph.v).
3M;semani, Bfbl. Or .• 2:283. Though he liats both~ Ass(!'mani does not take suf"ficient cogn..i zance of the f'act t and e1Iie~·here 'Wonders whet-her Gregory do~s not cite the one WTite:r as both Af'ricanus and. Julius in various passages of" the Ho.t'1"eum (2;1.29~ \i'"hi1.e di:acussing uJ'ulius Co:mnentar. in EvangeliUJD Joannis" ....hich he f'inds as a sourCe!" of' Bal'-Cepha - s dep~ad;i so).
21
By~antine Ret~rences
Ancient and
1atte:r, Af'ricanus (accordi"pg to theeva1ua.t1on of Assemani) is Uotten
(saepe ) ,. favorably ~i ted. 1
Ebed ..T eau
This line of' trfl.dition reaches its climax in the Ca.talogus librorum omnium ecclesiasticorum of Ebed Jesu. chapters on Clel:leflt of' Rome and Episcopus RauJI.s.U9, I' saying ~ has: a
commentar.{
0.0
the
On
Chapter
6 t between the
Hippolyt'US ~ presents "Arricft..nu.z
uThe blessed Af'ricanu!3, Bishop of Emmaus ~
Mev Test8Jllent J
ana
a Chronicle. rr2
The two pec::ulie.r features of this line of tradition are the
identification of' Afrie-anus Testament cOm!Dentary t.o him. derive !'rom E\lsebi us t
~ib].
EO
a bishop and the attribut.ion of
fLS
B.
New
Gelzer specuJ.atea that the f'ortDer may
r~te!"ence
to him
a.~
proistalDenos,
3
though it is
Or., 2;310, 3139
2 Ibid ., 3, part 1 (1125)=14; c~. Jo. A1b~:rtus Fabricius, Bib110theca Gra.eca siv~ notitia. seri tQTl.l.I!I Y-ete!"'UlJI Graecorum. 3d ed. , l~ vole.. Hamburg: Ch:ristian Liebezeit, and Theodor. Christoph. Felginer,. l7l8-28)~ '5 (1723): 270 {.Fabri~iu:e-Ha.rl~s, 4tb ed., ~ (1195]: 21& 5;
1!l!.Bl 3
lO: 1, 2D L
m
Gelz(!r, Sextus, l=lO~ re Eus~bius Chron1k~ an Abr. 2237, Chronicon Li&schale, ed. Dindorf (L 499.6). It ~r be notred, bovcver .. that the Latin compiler or translator of pseudo-Abdia.s (an EaS1:.ern~r'?) n»akes Africanus, the alleged transl.ator of the work. a bishop in one re:ference (Celzer, Sextus .. 1:18~ and note 5). Anotber source of the idea. tne.ybe confusioo 'With the I1Jtliius Episcopus u vho appears at least onCe in the cate-na on John .. at 17=5 (see Balthasar Corderiu5 1o Catena MtI"UttJGraecOrutn in sanctum Joannem [Antvel"p = Ex Officina Plantiniana Ba.l.tha.saris Moreti, 16363 .. ' p~ £i09). Ass,eltlani ~ in dle.cu5s!ng B8.rCe:ph6.~ identifies this catena item as from the supposed "Julius Commentu. in Eyangelium Joannis" 'IIhich he postulates a.s ~ne .of Africanus's llorks {2: 1;29 h Gelz-er suggests it. as a scribal error for Julianus (i.e ... of HalicarnB.6sus) (1; 18). Since ,. however, the passage e.nd quotation invol'led (John 11:5) d.e&l '\11th the relationship of the J)ersons
28
Study of Africanus
Boroet 1mes supported by Origen' s a.ddress ing him 8.S tTBrot hC!"t' ~ 'I in hi s
reply to the letter
~otlcerrJing
Susanng,.
The supposition of & New
Testl!'l1i!lent cotnmentary is probablj' baged on
from the prominl!!nt citation
or
OJ].
incorrect deduction
Africanus in other commentaries, i.e.
a.t Matthew 1 (and on a fev other passages besides).
~
Similar to this
suppo9i tionof a cOm:lD.entar:t' 'by Africanus t is the attribution of a Scholiaon Matthew's
Gospe~
to him,
1
of' the Godhead, could this not p~rhaps be t"r0l!!i one of 'the- vritings of Julius I, of Rome? .Ue va.EJ" after all t deeply concerned 'iliththi!;l veT'1 question 'note also the a.ppearance of "Julius Paps,t 8JIloOtlg the sour~es of :Ba.r-Hebraeus [Assema.,.T)i, Bib1. Or.,. 2 ~ 283; see abovft t p. 26, with fi. 3J}. 1
E. g... a chapt~r ~ .tCono er-ning the app euance of Moses and. Elias to our Lord in the mo'Wl.tain; f'l"OliJ AfriCaDUS' s scbo1ig, . . . .h ich he cO.lElpo:=.ed Qn Matthe-1,,"·s GQspel," first published by Joar.ne:=. Bapt;i,oste. PitrQ~ Analect6. sacl"EL spicilegio Sol~snJ.en.aiJ 8 vols+ (vtu'ious places) 1876-91; 1st ed., 4 \!'ols.t 1876-8' .. repu.blished, Farnborough t Ha.nt9.! England: Gre gg Press Ltd., 1966 L. 2 (TJ'P is ruse ula.nis.. 188t-): 292.,. in a. Latin translatiQti communicated to him by P. Ma..""tin Cas. froc Nee-d. Syr1aco 15155 Musei Brltannici~ foL 56 a tl!rgo "'::01. 2"); it was republished in vol . .I, (Par-is: BxPubliea Galliarum Typograllheo 1883)" with both the &.f!"iac text ('lex codice addi ti.onali Musaei :Bri tannic 1 121557 fol. 56 v9 col. 2") (p. 71) UJd a nw La.tin translation (p. u
I
331 ).
In the West 10 Atricanus \tas utilized in various Greek catene.e and. scnolia-. Pitre.. published t imm~d.iate.ly :following the Syriat:: item
Just noted .. iLt.I e.xsmple of the latter (2~292; !roo codex Coislinianus 276! .fol. 162, from a coIl ectanell. by J ohn ~ B..TJ unknor.m s ev~n th C eut ury :tIlOnk (concerning Manassen t g r~pentance and escape]; cf'. Martin .Joseph Ro'Uth~ Reliquiae s&'Crae~ editio altera.. 5 vols. (Oxford: L Tj'"POgrapheo Act1:demico, 18G6-4BJ, 2~ 288, Afr. Clu'-on.. , trag. XL). As B...'l exa."IIp1.e of th~ use in the catenae,. see: Spyr. P.Lambros~ Cfl.tfl.lo£:il~ or Greek }.{anuscriI!ts on Mount Athos, :2 vola. (Cambridge:: 'lini ....ersi ty Press, 1895, 1900), 2:99 re the
ton Kes'ton. is likely in aernulatione of Clement's t.on St:romateon.
1
Peter Lambeck (Lambecius) noted the ideB of a metatbesis as part of' a
p~ces:s
of piling error on error following the original ncare-
1ess and e.bsurd n change of 2
S~kt(}s.·
t.h~
EraenoUlen Sextos to the false c0Fgl0tllen
'rhus Lambeck favored Scaliger' 5 origi;oa.l suggestion concerning
this name, but Bot the same 'time rejected the distinction and
sp~cifically
rejected V&lo1s' s
a.rg:l.Dnent~
or
authors
on this point) calling
attention to the fa.ct that Eusebius only sa.ys he- \las an ambassador
for Emma.us, not that it was his patTia, a..l1d tho.t the eaKia ne.turalis
~il. Labbe. Dissertationes p2rllologicae de scriptoribus ecclesiastic1s uos atti :it Eminentiss. S. R. E. Card. Robertus Bella-minus" 2 vols. (Faris: Seba.!;Itian Cramoi.sy, 1 ·0 ., 1=659~ 830. ~beck-K011ar~ Commentl!l:,rium. 1: col. .621., also col. 428, witb note 2 (re cod. Gr. Phil. MS eXT, pa.rt 4, containing the de r~ m1Utari fr~ the Cestus). (Lambeck's first ol!!dition appeared 1665-
19; Bee Vieilletond ..
Les
Cestes, p. 312, n. 4.)
40
Study of Mricanus
in the Ce5toi shovs that hevQs a Gen~ile.l
Lambeck also argued that
the Kestoi contained only nine book5:> Photius' 5 14 ho"') being an easy corrupt.ion from 9 {e"') ~ 'from vbich Suidaa f s 2~ vas e.. further de-
of th e error.
v~lopm.en t
2
Late r in the
BalIle'
vol ume Lambeck inc 1ude d
the text of Michael Psellus' s reSWlle of po.rt of the Kestoi. 3
J oba..rm Rudolf Wettst I!in, in hi s eM t ion
0~
Origen':s yorks ..
dealt with the quest.ion in connection nth A"fricanusTs letter to
After considering thE!' ancient re:f'erenCI!'S and the vie.....s of'
Origen.
Scaliger and Valois:> he vas
ninclin~d
'to beli.eve .. vi th Lambeck, that.
Se;:rl.us J'uJ.iu:!;l .Africanus vas that one and
t.han two. ,.1
H~
celebrated vriter rather
judged Ruf1nus' s omission of" re:f'erence t.o the Kestol
ns explainable ~flufinus may have either question~d the fact .. or he ma;y have judged the york unworthy of Afrieanus.
conjecture in an
&ttemp~
5 Wettatein himse-lf
ad.ds a
to reconcile the statements of S,yncellu6
lr.smbeck-Kollar t Commentarium.? 7 ~ coL
~29.
2
Ibid. t cOls. 1026-:27; cf. also theinde>:: ~rttry for Sert.i Julii Africani" col. 637t vhere t.h(!:'IIork 18 ca.lcled Enneabiblo. In the 8~e ent:r:v the title is described rLS Itmetapllo:ra a. v&Ii~gQ.to Venel"is cingula desumpta, tl similarly to V!l1ois I s statement.
3r..mnbeck-Kollar, COml"llentariumj. 7= cole. 476-78 (= 1st ed.~ vol. 7 t cols. 222f'f"). In ~9.rlier VQlu;mes 10 he also notes mtl.nuscripts containing ot.her of' Afric&1LUS' S \1O:rks (1 = 25~-55; 3~ 103 t 167,202; a.nd .. on 5: 623-2~, th~ falsely &scribed "NarratiO'. • . in Perside-" L
4
Origen;is dia,loms contra M!!:.Tciohitas] slve De rec:t.& in Deum :f'i de ; E~hbTta ti 0 o..d mo.:rtxrw ~ Respotls'I1m ad Afr i can i epi stolum de historis. S ~nae . . . e.dd.itis notis . . . (B8sel: J. Bert-schius, 161h "Ifotae,·· cols. 1 9-54. It might be noted that he uses S~a.li ger's recon:Eitrttl::t.ion tor Eusebius's Ch:ronicon and thus fale-ely credits sOme i te:ms 'to Euse-bi us; e. g ..~ Syncellus r s statement regarding Emms:u.s an.d the Kestoi is credited to Eusl!:bius ·'in Chronic15 pa.g. loll {=Scalig~r, Thes. temp. 1" Greek Bect1on, :p. 70} (col. 151).
5Wett5tein. Origenis, l'Notae ll " col. 152.
Early Studies (credi ted also to Eus:ebht5 ~ see preceding note);t that A:fricl91l'l1s l' S
emba.s sy was to AIexander ~ and of Eusebius in "Chron" Can. p. 204 n (Le,
etc.
~
of' 6-caliger-lo TIles. temp •• I,. Greek sectioJ)~ followed by J@rome,
l'
the.t the embe.!35)'
VELS
under Elagabalus.
He proposes"
W'h~t i:f that Africanus tlIld~rtook two B ucc es give le-ga. ti ons.. first to ElagabalUS to obtnin the building of the city, then to Alexander to give as thanks forbeneflt received the pre5entation of the book [the KestoiJ. and to ask other 'benefits? This certainly
easily reconciles Euse-bius with himself and with the others. 1
I Baac VOS!3 continued and shlttpe ned the After
I!L
discussion of the alleged
~pistl4!
"If ie'W"s
of hi s fa. ther •
or Hadrh.n to Servianlls
(occasioned by a r~f'ere-nee to Ser6.pis in a poel:! of Catullus); he coo-
The
eludes that there iG no refL.son to make three Africani of one.
v.ri te:r of the Chronogra pbx 7 the Ke stoL and the strat egfka are t h@ same (indeed., extant :f.:ra.gments or the IfLSt ~onst.it.ute the sixth and 5ev~!.lt.h
books of" the Kestoi} t but h~ lia.S a Syrian of :E:llmlB.us.. not a
Libyan {Q mistake" d-u.e to his name Af'ricanus}. Q. c:e-sto
Veneris.
~d.
this tit.s its contents, but nothing
rieanus from being a Chri.stian.
fL.rts~
hiTJder~
A:f-
"rhe- reported contents of the Kestoi
a.nd the Ad Servlo.num illuminate efL.ch other ~ dieted to magic
The Kestoi .!§.. named
nativities; etc.
JI\S.fl.y
Christians vere ad-
In sum, pt!rsons bentioned, age.,
patri.a .. and the ancient testimonies .. all con:firm his identity.
2
lIbid~ ..
col. 153; see also the end of cOl. 1;1 a."1d top of 152. Sce.1iger had attempted to 9·o1ve the problem (eom-pounded by his fs.ilure to clearly distinguish S:''ncel1us·s testimony f'rom Eusebius's)t by charging Eusebi us vith errQr (Thes"_ telWp. ,. 2 ~ IPAninlB.d..... ersiones, n p. 212), the year of the end or the ChronograpA.V and of t.ht! elDb&ssy 1la.s the third year of Elagabalu~2!B&aC Voss1us, CaJus
Val~ri'L1S Cat.ullus: Obse1"vatlones
(London ~
Isaac L1ttlebUl",Y" 1684)IP, 30. Some ~rea.rs ear11e1"~ in Justinibis.toriarum ex Trogo Pompeio lib. XLIV (AmeterdR.."lJ: Ex Officin& Elzeviriana ~
St~dy
of Africanus
About the e,ame time, Ducange presented a variation on this view:
if' the KE!'stoi
1oI'fI.S
indeed dedics.ted to .a pagnn pri'Pce t it.s
pagan cbaracter, with no Christian Collecti~ns
and
18 little surprise.
1
More theories
de~criptions:
William. Cave
marks~
pre~ented
a
n~w
theory .. but then 'Wavered.
He
s'I.1I'"V'e'yed tl1e infoI'Ill£l.t.ion availa.bloe a.bout AfricBnusts vritings,. including the ve.l'ious theories regarding the Kestoi, and asked if there was not a middle
lItJ;y ~
"the work of our Africanus, but fro:m before he em~
bra.c~d the Christian faith?Ht...
After a.ctUAlly becoming a quam in omnibus Origenis Commente.riis et :Homiliis1t (:3 ~161) • This viev becB.nJ.e :somewhat standard for the next century . . and even to tbe present.
~il"sted. ~ 3 vols.
(Edinburgh, 1768-71); Zd ed']I 10 vols.
{EdinoUl"gh, 1778-83) •
2Ei g."te en vol s . (Dubli D: J. ~fo.o:re, 1 791- 97), 1 (1791): 228.. This seems to be the SB.!De as the 3d ed. ~ 18 vol:9. (Edinburgh, 1797). (The article also introdu~es Juliu5 Caesar (rather tha.n Je-sus Chr15t; an incorrect expansion 01' an abbreviated ,tJ. C. ,,']] as the c'::linJax of
Africanus's 5500 year
~r&
from creation.)
3Second ed.. lo 2=502. Routh 1 s 'Work, prograJIIl!!atice,11y sub-titled Sive auctorlJJD. "fere Jam 'p~rdH.orl..ur. secundi tertii-i'.1~ so.ec'tui post Chri:9turfl na:t\:otl quae SI.1per StU'! t" remB. ins in use in thi s so(! cond edition. It was originalljr pUblished in four vol~eg at Oxford. 1814-18. Routh IS cc11ec:tion still remains the frag!llen t e •
onl~r
real one .for the Chronogra.phy
Early Studies presented a t:l"ibute similar to RoaenmUller t g to Africanus· s critical
ability, and added what Cave and Tillemont.
w~s
in @ssence a modific8tion of the view of
He suggested tho:.t t·ne di vere;,ent cbaracte:r of
the Kestoi was because
it vas probably written 'Qy Af:ricanus "'bef"or-e
his habits of' ttdnking had becO!Ile decidedly Chriati.an t11 (or nbef'ore
he had devoted himself to religious 6ubjects u 2').
Fragments of the Kestoi In 1839]1 tbere appeared W'esterma.nn.I:s Parndox0Kt,8.phoi .. vhich included Micbael P~ellt1s's peri paradoxon a.nagnosma,ton.
Psel1us t in
turn, had. included summa.ries o:f many of th@ mOre '-magical" items in
the Kestel. 3
\olest.e!'Jllilnn
!lccept~d the ancient t.estimonies as to
8.utho%"Ghip]l and further aceeptE!:d the s.tt::d'but.iot.J of various excerpts
in the GeoDonica to Africanuo •• notirlg that thej' llere tvin to those
in Psellus.
4
In 1841 and for several years thereafter t A. :J. )i. Vinc(!'nt devoted part of his attention to the publication and explication of'
lGenera.l History of" the Christian Rel1£ion andChurch~ 9 vols. trans. Joseph Torrey~ rev. ed. (London = George ~ell and So~s) 1890}~ 2 ~ .Ii "9 and note. (Th e fi rst German e di tiorJ appeared i.e 6 'V'ol'Ul'rtes ~ Hwnburg~ 18:25-'52). Despite the perpett1B::tion of 6. variant of this quotati on by the EnCYC lopaed.i a Br1 tan."1 i ea (see ne-rl note), thi s vel"si on seems to be subject to the ,fIa!Ile disabili tjr as the origina..l suggestion of Ce.ve and Tillemont: the Kestoi cannot be dated earlier the.."1 the Chrono£r~h;..r, and certainly notth8tl:!lucb ea.rlier. 2EncyClopaed,i e. Brit-annica, 9th ed. (1875; a.nd continuing through subaequent editions to 1969)., s..V. trAfricElmlS, Julius." lwestcrmann t pp. xliii-xlvii, and
b
Thid., pp. x1:'Ti-:X1-vii.
1~J-46.
~
50
Study of Africsnus
ce-rtain of t.he Ke5toi texts,.
~specia11y
those rela.ting to g:jusic and
t.o e;eometry.l In 1864~ Hultsch pUblished most o~ th~ peri metron kai stathmon as two separate fragments going back to first century ( ?) Alexandrian authcrs. one a J eli. to Africanus,
2
A doz;en ye-ars
~ate1" t
fUll tens, with asc:r i pt i on
'Were- publisbed in :rapid succession by Duchesne and La.-
ga:rd~. 3
~LetteT to tile President of' the Academie des Inscriptions ~t Belles-Lettres dePari:':>t L'Institut, IP~ section,. 6 (1841)= 173-15. The! main part of t.he letter was a. trfl.Jlslation of 'Parts of chapters :2 (pentagon and musical n.otes in a poison recipe) and 76 (fire signal~) of Thevenot's ~dit10n of the ~stoi. The latter chapter is no longer credited t.cAfric£l.nus and Vincent notes i 1;.5 questiona.ble status a.t the end of tll~ letter. This lett.e:r +;las reprinted hrithout a P.S. included in l' lnsti t!.lt } under the bee.diIlg "HistoiTe du Matheroa.tics,. U Comte5 rendus he:bdOOlada.~ es des seances de l' Acad.emie des Sciences Paris ~ ~.4 lSL2 = 43~ljJ~ {and as -the last. i t~m in the fo!.lO\:ing work· Th.e full range of musical :signs in the Kestoivas di:9c:u~sed in "Extraits rl de~ Ceste3 de Jules It Afric:a5n (part of a longer article,. rtNotice sur 1.1"ois m..an.... scrits grec3 l"elatifs 180 musiqlJe,. avec une traduction U fran~aise et des commentaires ),. in Notices et ertraits odes man':lscrits de in Bibl iothe ue du. roi et autre:!; 'bibliothe Ues, voL 1.6, part. "2 Pari s 2 1847 Cpa.rt 1 pub1 i shed in 1858 J : 3~~ 110-6 3, e.c companied by nAddition: c-omDI'.miqu~e par f-L l~ Docteur Roulin relativ aux animaux mentione par Jules llAfricain,.F1 pp. 561-64. 'l'his was :follcrwed by 'tExtl"fl.i t des Cest.ee de Jules l' Africa.in" (pEL..~ of t1Ertra.its des manuscrits relati fs ! ~£I.. geooetrie pra:tiqu.e des Grecs" I. Notices etextraits 19~ part 2 Cl.858 [part 1 pUblished in lB62}); 407-15. Thi s latter contained a text and translation of "'1'0 find tbe \otidth of :li river or the height of a vall II (ch. 21.~ Thev~llot; • Vieillefond. I. 15).
e.
2Fridericus Hul tsch~ l05etrologicorum script-orill!J religuiae, ;: vols. (Lei~zig; B. G. Teubner, 186L~ 1866), 1=257-59 (no. 81), and 300-2 (no. 95). T,Jith introductory ttla.te:ria.l,. J)p. 20-21,. 80-81. 138-40, 156-61. Vol. 2 gave the Latin translation of Cal:vus de Ra.... enna (pp. lL.2-~6, with introduction, :pp. 14-16, 39- 4 3). 3 L • Duchesne~ 11111. Fra.gments metrologiques," Archivesde::s missions scientl~iques ~t l1tteraires (Paris) 3d series. 3 1~876); 318-85; raul de Lagarde, SYmmicta 1 (G5ttingen: Die'terichtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1877): 166-13.
51
Early Studies R~ferJ!'nce
YOrks
Mean\,fhile, Afriean'lls received notice in various encyclopedia.s, dictionaries,. and other Tef'eTence
works~
seculQr a.s 'Well as religious.
Generall;,', the nttmbe:r 01' books in the Kes'toi vas held to be nine (even by those 'Who "ere'
13)"
1
a.'lrtar~
or thl!' katbartika ballla. fragment from Kestos
•
though sometimes the fI.1ternatives ,. 9,
Or
~4, or 2h ,.lo·~re simpl:t
g1 ven.
The-preference for this figure
V6.S
mainly based on t\,fO 8.1"131.1-
ments:
the projection of Sy-n::,\:.'tu.s'· (sic). This 'Wa.s followed by a date of death of 'tnach l~O" (but gt'llen correctly in the body of' the .arti-:=:le).
Early Studies th~
A£ricanus's lifespan ~as given as from about 160
later article.
-~.... er 2ho. 1 to soon I:L1 of: t.he K~stoi.
59
There was al.so e. somewhat
e Paradoxa
full~r
ehare.cteri20ation
=
e10e Art von En~yklQpadi~ der rea11stischen Wisaenscharten, der angewandten Mathematik und d~:r Technik Sj::wesen :;!.u sein, z. T. e.ngefiUlt mi t kuri5s (!'n.. llppi schen. mirak'Ul-os en t tL"ld lI.ns t3s s igen Dingen (wesshalbA. o.ls Verfasser in Zvei:i'el gezogen ist). Ve:r-
5£fent.licht sind bisber Abschnitte
zurTaktik, zur Kunde
'IJ..
s. v. 2.
Med.i~in
Harnack· s last
tban a decade and vi e....~.
~
~um
Landbau,
und Veterinar-Medizin t
pronounc~@nts
Messkunde t
2tir
~urGeheimmittel-
concerning Af'ricanus came more
half later, and. presented
6o~e
modif:ication of
They 'Will, there fore, be presented belov ~ a:f'ter
eOnS iderat i
on
of" other developE:ll;mts whic:h had occurred in the int.ervening period. Gec"oonir:a and HipI2.itltrica Tbe la.st t .., lO de cade 5 of' the n i net(!-enth cent u.ry saw d;i sc lUi-
sions concerning various suggested sources of additional
from. the Kestoi.
fr~en~s
The !!'lost :notable of sUch so\.U"Ces vas the Geoponica ..
lIbid., p. 627.
2Ibid . t p~ 628. An abbreviated :form of this article appeared in Engli6h in The Nev Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia. of Religious Knovl~dget ed. Samuel J'I..acau.ley Ja.ckson, 12 vols.. {Ne1II' York and London: Fl..mk & 1r ~agnallst 190B-12)t 6 (1910): 26~-65~ s.v. IrJuli'lls AfrieMus. Serlu5. There is nO referenc~ t.o the OxyrbynChU8 papyrus, even in the BibliOgi'aphy. By!ln interesting mistranslation, this version als-o I!I8...X~S Africanus E1 ",-riter on .rlitur-giolog:,·'· (for th~ original ''MesskWldeu - 1·~nu-veyinglP). It also tones down t.he description of th.e Kestoi some-
\7ha:t, and eli.ttlinates 9. reference to Africanus as a. possible translator of Ter-tullian· &&-olo&:. Harnack's Militia Christi: die Christliche Reli ion und d~~ Soldat~nsta.nd in den ersten drei JahrhlL"lderten TUbing,en:- J ~ C. B. Moht't 1905) includes Africanus and the ta~tic!l.l sections of the K~stoi aa (exceptional) ~X!Lmples of' involve:D,znt of early Christians 'With the military (p. 13 lLnd n. 3), but does not contain any adVMCeInent of the
study of' the
K~Eitoi.
60
study of A1"ricanuB
on oce chapte:r of \fbich .. book
7~ chapter
1.la" interpreters since Boivin
had relied t.o ShOll the Christian st.e.tus of the author of the Kestoi.
In 1884 t Wilhelm Gemoll t vhile holding to 'the identity of' authorship" argued that the compiler of the Geoponlca had not u5ed Af'rieanu5 di~~ct1y,
BO
that the chapter attributions were suspect. 1
But compari-
sons of Psellus and the-Thevenot-Boi rln text. lli th the Geopon1ca aleo
suggested thg,t
'Were probably in the Ge-opon1ca. nUlnerous it.ems
th~re
from the Kestoi not
50
identified and thus impossible to distinguish
noy. 2 Eugen Odei't though presenting a diff'e:rent view of' the
.all development of the- Geoponica, last tva pointe;
reB.cb~d
the same
cOfi~lU8ion
OVeT-
on the
only one 'Passage is identl.f'ied in the text itself
as from Af'ricanus (Geop. 5. 45. 2), and compa:rison '\.li tb Psellus tLnd The'V~not-Bo1vin
show:. contra Gelzer, that the passage9 ascribed to
Af'ricanus in the lelJllI:!ata co.nnot be accept.ed vithout questio.n; but neither should
Afr1c&nu!;I.3 1dE!ntity of:
th~
Geoponica be
c~let~ly
eliminated as a source tor
On other points of A.frieania.na t Oder argued for the a.uthorshi:p~
books n must. have been
aT.!
for 24 books in the Ke-sto1 (Syncellus'E fTnine epitome:t and onewuld hardly mak~ a 9-book
~:ntersuehungef.lUb~rdi~ Quellen!l den Vl!'rfasser 'W'ld die Ab-
fassungs'ZE!'it. dt!l" Geopon:tca, Berliner Studien .fUr classische Philologie und Archaeologie, ed. Ferdinand Aseherson (Berlin; S. Calvar:l,r & Co.)?
1
(188~):
85, 86, 91-92 .. 228 (a.lso pUbliShf:!d eepo.rll.tely by Calvary?
1883) + GeIBo11 also felt that the Thevenot-Bo-i vin tt!X1. va.s not. Just from books 6 &.nd 7 of the Kestoi, but vas ~ e-xtrac"t frOlD the whole york (p~ 86). . 2
Ibid.:. pp.
81-92.
3lf.Beitrlge zur Gesc-hichte der Land\l'irthschaf't bei dt!n Griechen t" Rheinig~bes Mus~um
tOr EbiloloBie n.s. 45 (1690): 82-83.
61
Es.rly Studies
epitome of a l.l;-book l1Or-k);lI divided into four divisions of six books
each, corresponding to the contents as given by Syncellus (i.e-.
iatrikon~
ph;rsikon. SeOrgikon, &nd Ch..:i,meutikon).1
Wbile thl!!
t
B(mrCe~
'Correctly connect the title paradoxa with the Kest.oi, this is probably
the tItle of one of the divisions (-the ("..eorgika) not a. second t1 tIe of the vhole work a.s Gelozer Buggested..
.2
Ode:r mE!ntioned Gelzer' 5 pro-
posed edit.ion of the tragxnents of Africa.nus, 3 but in a. later addi tiQn
to the discu.ssion t he Ilott!d a. diviston of the
pUblice.tion~
the Kestoi
fragment.s would not be- edited by Gelzer .. but by K. K. MU1.1e-r in his edit.ion of the Greek mili tfLry 'Writers (Kriegssc:lrriftBteller).
4
Oder t s vievs ""ere seconded by Max !hm, 'Who suggested that the
chapter ascriptions in the
co~ion co~ilationt
were as trustworthy as those
or
the H1py iatrica,
the Geoponica. were untru6tvorthy or
even fraudulent. 5 Antonius Baumstark . . in addition to presenting
iI.
st1.ll d1f-
ferent vie'lol' of t.he developltlent (and reconstruction of the text) of" the Greek Geoponica, especially empha.aizing the role of the Oriental 'Versions, vas more sanguine a.bout the AfriclJ.nian ele:ments in tbe ~
2 Ibid ... p. 82. - I b i d . , pp. 81 ~ 82.
3Ibid.:> p. 82. ~
"Beltrage ~ur Gesehichte del" Lands'lK:1:rthschaft bei den Gl"iechen. III,tt Rbeinisches Mu!!eUl!l fUr_Philologie n.5. ~8 (1893): 2~ in the continuat1onof note 1 fl-om p. 1.
5nDie H1ppiatr1ca t " Rheinisches Museum fUr Pbilologie n.B.
47
(1892)~
314.
study of Africanus Ge9P9nica.
Hovever t he simply emphasized their
suggesting any real
~ethod
pr~5eoce~
rather tbab
of identifying them speeifically.
I
The study or the Geopon1ca. reached something of a plateau in the following yen with the publica.tion of a nell text by
Though continuous1y
critici~ed
for a
too-narro~
Beckh~
:2
manuscript base
and
f"ailure- to adequately consider the evidence or the Oriental versions, it has not been
r~placed.
Tvo years later Oder himself turned to the Hippiatrica. cell-
ing attention to add! tiona!. chapters credited to Af':!'"icanus in the
C~bridge codex of the Hippiatrica. 3 Alchemy A year after GenLoll l s study ~ A:fricanua t S name turned up in the history of' alchemy.
4
His
me~iber'!3hi:p
in this fraternity
vouched for by hig purch&se of the book of Souphis by Suidas's a.l~hemical
de~crlpt1on~
and
by
the
~ppearance
wnil~
""'~a5
c;
in Egypt,"
or his name in various
works 1 especially in the list 01' nthe phi1osoplJers of the
di nr,e knov ledge and art PI at the begi nni ng of an alehem t: a1 manuscript
lrtLucubrationes S~e-G:raecae,u Jahrbucher :fUr classisc'he Philolop:ie [Annalium Philolop:.ip01"UIDJ 21€J" Sup:ple~entband (~894): 404-5.
2Geop-onica
i!iViE!
Cassiani Bassi seholastici de re rusticae ec-
logae t ed. Henricus Beckh (Leip~ig~ B. G. Teubner~
lB95).
hippiatricorum codice Cantabrigiensi:>" Philolosie n.8~ 51 (1895): 57-58.
3Eugen1us Oder! I1De
Rheinisehe Museum ~
~
M[arcel Pierre Eugene} Bertbelot, (Paris: Georg~3 Steinh~il, 1885).
~s
?Reported by Syne~llus (D1ndorf 1:105).
origines
~e It&lcheoi~
63
Early St.ud.ies.
vhich Berthelot studied at the libra.ry of St. Mark (Codex Marc. 299).1 Asi.de from this, Berthelot I s viev of" A.frieanus he
"'·8.S
\fBI:;
somevhat atypical ~
a Syrian,. vho composed geogra.phical works, &s'Ilell M a his-
tor:.. . o.f ArmE!"oia. dralm from the tabularia of Edessa, fl.nd eo m.ilitary The latter ntune is analogous in meaning to the
"ork., the Kest.oL
.... word Hantliology. n":
Elsewhere Berthelot na:med Africa.r.Ius among the
pagan writers, oef'ol"'e going on to discuss the Christian nJaJority among alchemical autbors.
~ J
AfTicanus also appearea briefly in Ber-
thelot and Rue-llets collection of alchendcQ.1
~itit':lgs.
There~
he
was dated as roug.lUy contemporaneous with the morepromi nent {Chri Ei-
tian) e.lcheeJical writer
ZOSiPl1l8.
as were the pseudonymous writings
~~
attributed to Souphi5 (CbeQpa).·
lBerthelot~ Q.,rigines, p. 187. See also Catalogue des manu8e1'its alchim.iQuesf..r~£!.., 8vols~ in 3 (Brus.sels: M. Lamertin ~ 192~ 32) ~ 3 ( 19211 ~ it fo1' the fHl.~e list in an Oxford c.odex (Boil. Libr. DrOr"ille 401 [Auct • X. 2. q. 31) 1:17279], p. 126 o:f l-fS). 2
.
Origines. p. 3,8-7. The re"fere!:lce to /l.rmenia and Edessa suggests Moses. of' ChoTene a.s a partial source; the Ugeogra.phiea.l 'Works" are perhape a reference to parts 01" the ChronographJ~. {Tile r~lat1on of" Afrieanu3 to H1ppolytus r s "Liber generationian and t e:!;.p~cia11YJ his "Diameri SlJl.OJJ tes: ges rt had been much discu,ssed in the p1"'e-ceding two or three decades - )
3rbid., pp. 98-99. LM(a.rcel Pierre EugeneJ Bertbelot and Ch.-~(il~) Ruell~, Collection des B.J1ciens aJ,chimistes g:t~cs, 3vols. (Pal"is; Georges St ei nhei 1 ~ 188·6 ~ alSO., repr.. 3 vola. in 1, london; Holland Pre ss ~ 1963),. 1:202. The Greek text t with fa.csimile of the St. Mark's MS list of Nphilosophers u app-ear on pp. 110-ll (Figure 5--Pla.nche lIr)~ and a French translation of a second list,. a. ~ho.p1:.et' list not exactly ~o:r:rel;-ponding to the actual contents of tbe manuscript, is g1vE.n on pp. 17~-15. Africanu5 a.ppears a.fte.:t Hermes., Zosirtltis, o.nd Nilus in item. nO. 32 of' that list. Af'ric&nusts tl6Jlle also appeared in conneetion with brie-f statem.ents 1n the Greek text in vol. 2 (pp. 75 a..TJd 169, with t:ranslation in . . . .0 1. 3). (Also see below., Cbapter II,. in the transla.tiot) or Vieil1efond 1:8 IX ~ 2 8.Jld 3.)
64
Study of .A:fTictlnus
Religious
vri~ings
In 1889.. de .Boor publisbed Si de •s
chur~h
6~veral
f'ragmenta from Philip
The f"i rat of t.hfml 'las the B.e count of' Ai'rie anus
hist.ory.
which vas pre-sent.ed earlier in this c:::hapte:r-. ~eount
the
1
As de Boor pointed out1'
stands mid-vay 'between tha"t of E:u.aeb1us (Ch!"onic<m,. Greek
text as refiected in the Chronicon p,,"schale) and SynC'~llus~ Ni~opolis
sents the changt! in sta.tus of'
Eusebi U:$ of
a
01"
(fiB.
village
somewhat
mor~
it pre-
clearly than
which later received the right (dikaia)
city," c:ompared to the "vas founded CektistheJ e. city" of
Eusebius ~ omitted b3r Syncellus)., but shares 'iilith Syncellus the double
error of identifying Emm.o.us. with tha.t of the
Gospel!;i.~
the change of the name to Nicopolis to th1:$ time. 2
Philip' a statem(!nt, ~us-Nicopolis
11V a.1iJ
'Was
B.nd of dating
At the same time I
from E!::nmaus u (apo EIomaous en), indicQted t.ha.t
A:f'ri~anus
direct support for Valesius·
Ii
t
s hOOJe.
This seems to provid.e- the first
hypothesis. 3
The Suidas 151 statement
COTl-
c erning Atr i eMUS t s L1 cyan origin .1 s open to t.he Buspi cion tl"la. t 1t i s
a. lId sunderst o.nding., or af'alse deduction) from the n:aiD.e Af:ric anus.. Gel~er's
attempts to support it are not conclusive.
~d
ben assuming
A:frit:a.nus's knowledge of Latin,. this does not prove an origin in Latin Knovledge of Latin by an
Afrit:a.
Ea.st~rner
is much less striking thnn
a 'W.e-sterner who wrote in Greek and knew Hebre'W' and Syriac.
tbis, his
1nter~st
Egj~tians4 is
ic
in
He~etic
k~eping with
books and the
visdom of the
the mystical-speculative interests of the
l11Neue FragmeI'lt e ~., p. 169.
3Ibid . 4
s~cret
Besides
:2 Ib 1d., p. 1711 +
This point, ho'Weve.r., lias only part of Ve.lois'g viev.
Cf'. Gel~er. Sextus, p. L+
Early
8tudi~s
Lacking some vitness besides the Suidas, or a:t least e;ome
East.
in Africanus';EI works showing an
exa~t
tr8.C~S
knovledge of' the West t the tr&g-
lIIent t S e"idensit.ion (ttein
l"Literarische Texte 1!dt Ausschlufii,s d.el' c:hristlichen,t1 Archlv fur PapYrusforschung und verwandte G~biete7 ed. Ulrich Wilcken, :3 (1906): 255-99; item no. 250, "Pap_ O:xyrh. 412: t pp. 291-98", esp.
297.
.~
- HDe i 5 i daimoniaka.,M Archiv fUr R~1 i gi onslIis senseha.ft 12 (1909)~ 1-45; pp. 2-19 aTe d4;!voted to "n@r" Z.o.ubersang in do!'r Nekyis. Homers .... t
3!bid.• Ii. 3.
~Ibid.:>
5 Ibid., pp. 4 -l~.
6Ibid.) pp.
pp.
Ja~
6, 14.
15-16~
Early Studies fertiger Zaube:rs&t'Jg unverindert tt ).l ture and prosody suggest the first or
Its enremely syncretistic naBe~ond
centuries A. P.
2'
The
thirteen lines to be :found in the copy at Rome must be counted from the beginning of' the 1nt~:rpoltLtion (line 15),. not from the! beginning
of tht! Odystll!'!'y citation., thus it runs through line-
28~
but lines 29-
42 are the saII)e in viewpoint and expression as the preceding, so there is no rr;~a.gon to sepl!U'~te lin~s 22-36 into tva separate interpolations;
the Roman
copyist.~
for some reason t simply did not lt1-
elude the second half of the ~.3 The reference to Nysa in CariB in line 62, a:nd a reading of Ka:rei
line 2910 :udght suggest Nt !;I a
EiS
e (ElS
an epi 1:.h et
0
f Hee at e) in
its plMe of origin, though Weil had
suggested Alexandria and 'this would fit the reference to euolokamos
Zeus katachthonios (line
24).~
In relation to other
fra~en.ts conneet~d
contra.sting opinions prevailed. nection vith
&n.
vith tbe Kestoi,
AfricEmUB·.Ei nflme appeared. in con-
ancestor of "Greek f'ire ~ ,. though the
i· automatic
tire"
tert( Thevenot ' s chap. ~·lt) waser edi t~d by the vri ter to a 18.t e
seventh centUI"'.1 interpolation into the Kestoi. 5
Conv'@rsel)',. the
lIbid ... p. 16. This seetion (lines 22-36) lat.er a:ppeared in t,...o JIlajor collections of m.agical papyri: Theodol" Ho:pfner .. Griechis~h
AsYPt1scher Offenb~~ungs~auber~ Studien ZUT Palaeographie und Papyrus-
kunde sed.. Carl Wesse1y, vo1s. 21 and 23 t 2 'Vols. (Leipz.ig = H. H8.~ssel~ 1921 'J 192~) t 2: 15~;2 (sees. 334-38 band Ks.rl Prl!isenda.nz ,. Ps:p:'to'Ti Graecae Ma.icae; Die S2riechischen Zaube avri t 2 vols. (Leip~ig and Be:rlin~ B. G. Teubner, 192 -31 , 2= 150-51 {Pxxiii).
2wiinsch, nnei sidaimoni aka.,." p. 17. ~
above~
Ibid'
1i
3Th 1 d.,. p. 18.
p. 19; also ~ p. lOt re Carian Hecate.
p. 67s and n.
On Well see
~.
5Edmund O. VQn Lippmann, Abbandlungen und Vortrige zur Gesehichte der N&turwisgensch&ft~n.. 2 vols. (Leipzig= VeTI&g von Veit
Study of
le·
A~ric&nus
excerpt.s :from Aeneas which followed Af"l"ica.nu!;i in the manuscript
tradition
o~
wr1~ers
the military
(published by Thevenot-Boivin)
were trea.:ted by 5cho-ene as gtmuine parts of the Kestot {derived
G.anschiniet~ suggested
from Aeneas by J\1'ricanus).l Kest,oi~
viewed as
iL
'Whole. certainly (s i c h
ca.tegory of' magie.. natura11s.
~
r)
'that the
belong~d
to the
2
Meanvhile ~ the di vision of A:fricQ!1ian studies. into secw.ar o.nd religious
~ontinued;
side continued much as Ferhaps, some
l"~fel"ence
studies rel6.ted "to his mOre "religious"
~fore,
to
based essentie.l.ly- on
Preuachen-Harn~ck.
r,}eller~
loiith,
Reicbardt published
an edition of' the letters- vith extensive introduction. Iication did not involve a.reas th&t 'Iolould require a
Such a pUb-
I'"~ference
to "the
Oxyrhynehus papyrus (or to the J(~st.oi at all)~ but included several
testimonials to Africanus's sharp critical ability.3
&:
Co:ap.~
Ducne$n~ts
19061' 1913), 1;130 (in chap- 9t "Z'UI" Geschichte des Schiess-
pulvera und der
n
t eren FeueT\>"'a:ffe:n t
n
pp. 125-89).
lRichQrdus Schoene .. Aeneae 'l'actici = de Qosi_dion-e- tolera.nda commentarius,. Bibliotheca. Scriptorum Gr£L.o£!'corWl! et Romanorum Teubneria.na (Leipt.ig ~ B. G. Teubner" 1911), pp. x-xi t xiv, 115-23. This procedure 'WaS eontinued in Aenea~ Tsc:ticus .. AscleRiodotus J Ona-sander, trans. Illinois Greek Club; Lol?b Classical Library (Cmbridge: Har-
....ard University Press. 1923; London:Wrn. Reinemann t 1923). pp. 20625s which also reprinted Schoene' a text rlth certain noted chang~s from Boivin {po 206" n. 2); ~d by L. W. Hunter, AINFJJY nOAIOPKHTIKA; A(!ne.(ls on Siep:ecraft. rev. S. A. Hanford (O:xford~ Clarendon Pre:t;s.
L,
1927 pp. 2L 0- 51.. ..Append i.x Is Jull us Af'!"ic &nUS . n (Concerning th eo authe-oticity or these chapters I see the discUBsion of Ma.rtin ~ a.bove .. Qnd~ especifl.1ly" of Viei~leto(]d, .Jules Africa1n~ 1932 t below.)
~ichard Gallschinietz, t1Hippolytost Capitel 1!! 39, no. :2 {3d series" 9.
Refut. }{aer. IV 28-42 s lP
gegen die Magiel": f!.O. 2) (1913)~ 29.
3wELlt.er Reichardt, HDie Briere des Sextus Julius Af'ricanus Arist1des und Origines,. If ru 3li1' no. 3 (3d series .. 4. IlO. )) {1909). Note e.sp. pp. l~ 3~ 63; not~ 1, on the last page cit.ed, also includes a quotation of Ros~amUllerT5 contrast of Africanus and Origen. &n
Early Studies history of the early church (first published in English in 1909~ but
rlt"h origina.l tb~
pret'a~e dat~d 1905),. 'though incorporating deta.i1s from
Kestoi (fo1.1owing Gelz,l'rts 1ead but some'Whel.t
rr~b!'oidel"lngn
the
picture).l did not include re:ferenc-e to the O>:yrhynchus papyrus until
the second French edition (1906).2 Even then. only .a cc-upltl!' of biogra:pl1ical details
v~re
included.3;
The pict'UJ"e presented by Forte-seue
vas [!Jore coxnp1e-te; and general1;;" more res-trained t but essentially the
Sfl.:lne, follO\fing Ge1zcr and HiU"nack (and Jerane, with ",hom the article concludes), but with no reference to Oxyrhynchu.s.
~
The state of k.':Io""ledge at this ti1!le (at least aIOO'ng the 11theclogical 11 writers) can again be approximated by the Encl-elon,ae4ia l 1oui5 Duchesne, Early History of the Christia.n Chureh :from Its. F'oundation to the End or the Third Ce:lt~llry t trans. fro::ll. th~ lith ed., :3 v01s. (New YOTk~ Longman, Green &: Co. t 1909-2.1;),. 1: 333-34. Africa.nus, "a great huntl?t't • • • had s~oure-d 'the- forests" of Edes-l;il t SiL'l.t "tbe rl!!:main5 of Noah's a.rk" (it.alics mine) at Apa:lIlea t and "obtained 6. copJr of the Hermetic books" in Ale-xandrie.. (p. 333L His Kestoi contained "many thOUSM.d observa.tions a.nd precepts'· (shades Q f Pliny! L b1.J.t vas tainted by lJiIagi c an d Afri canus r So fami 1 i ari ty with the: Hermetic: and si1!lilar "books (p .. 33Q).
2Ib1d .,. p .. xi~ note to the second edition regarding the added tIlat el'ial ..
Aelie.~ and arrangem~nt bf
library neil%" the Pantheon" (ibid .• F. 333; italics mine). A simila.r, but I!!ven more ex'tre:m.e eXSJII];lle occurs in ottQBard~nhe'Wer's Geschit:hte de!" e.ltkirchlichen Literatur, in which t.he only immedil!l.te erf~ct of the O~rhyn chUB papyrus vas tbe settling of 'thee question of the number of books in tbe Kestoi {2d ed~t 5 vals. CFre:iburg im Breisgfl..u; Herdersche Verlagshandll.mi:. 191:2-32], 2 [1914]: 267 a.nd 269). Otherwise Ba.rden~ hewer follovs ~~l~er. 3Birth at
4Aur~an ..lI~. Fortescue,. s. v.
Ils.
. ••. Jul. i tiS A"'J.J.~eanus , The- CB.th 0 11 C .., .t:;p-
..
c¥c-lopedia,lo 15 'VClls. (Ne'W York~ App1tl!ton t 1907~12)t 8:5-65-66. He do{!s) however, speak of the K:estoi o.·s rrconstant1:'t· quotil:!dand mucb e-steeQed by the Greek Fathers 11
(
~)
(
8: 565) .
Study of Af'riC&lua
72
Britannica in 'Which another,. slightl:r revised (a.nd again slightly expanded) article a.Pl'e!U"~d inth~ 11th edition (1910).
This arti~le
re"Verse-d the previous conclusion concerning Africanus':s priesthood .. and otherwise essenti.eJ.ly f'ol101led the views of'G-elzer (and Harnack}.
The a:rt1(:le
~on~luded
with a. scant line and a. half referenci'! to a ne\t
tra.gtDentof tht! Kestol among 'the Oxyrhynebu6 papyrL
1
More 6.lcheEl,
In 1913 .. Lagercrantz published an alchemical papyrus 'W.h1ch
included tvo passages related to Aphrit1a.nos.
2
r~servations,
~reing vhicb~~re at~ributed
In the introduction" Lage-rcrantz.
su,ggested~
to an
but with
the possible identifica.tion of At'ricianua. vith the Af-
rictl.nus of the list of alchemsts in Berthelot's ms.nusc:ripts (Cod+ Marc. 299):; already identif'ied by Berthelot vi th Sextus. Juli'U51 AfrjcII;mus5
3 The namE! Atr i
publication of
CallUS
&lso appears t 'hree other t im.e-s in a la.'t er
B1che:tni~QJ.mBJ'luEicripts.
In the first, Babylonio5 ho
. 1'1'h~ Encyclopa.edie._Br1te.nnioa~ 11th erl. {19l0) ~ 1: 361, s.v. "Atrieanus;> Sextus Julius. 11 A fiVe line list of HAuthoritiea " (Routh, .AlfF:> Gel7.er;> KrUger,. 8.t:ld Jl.arnack)1IB,s added. (The article also continued the Lm1sJquotation o£ Nefind~r. ) This &rticle continuedvith only tninor changes througi) 1969; it 'Was slightly condensed in the l~th edition (1929), and slightly re~ 'V'is ed {hi rt. hplac e che.nged from Libya to Aeli.a Cap!t.olino.; Ha:rn~c:k droIJped from. the UBibliograph::r 11" end Ox;y. PM? shi fted to it) i [] the 1960 edition. :2 otto Lag~rcrantz) Papyrus Graecu~ Holmiensis (P. Holm.):: R~ e:epte fUr Silber, St~i[]e und Furpur (U!'psala: Aka.demiaka Bokbandeln t 19l3; Leip2.ig~ Otto HarraSS01iitz~19l3),. pp. 32-33 and 37 11 with translations on pp. 216 and 226. The first. is givl![] as from AphrikianQu boubl~u, the second from Aphrikia:nou ~k. boulo'l1 " •.
3Ibid.) P];I. 106-7.
Early Stuo1ies Allhrikanosappea.rs
producing
0.
80S
t.he nut-horitl for a non-alchemico.l fragment "loS'
child. of the desired sex..
appears only in 1ists.
73
1
In the othe:t' 'two,. the name
2
Some nev views
Kroll's article in Pa'U1y-Wis5OVa. not only gave an easerJtially complete sl.H!ImafJ' of scholarly views (and materials available) ~ but
suggested some important corrections to them. 3
S. Julius Africanus
origina.ted from Jerusalem, asshO'iJo"n 'by 0&. P.a;e. ~12, e.nd evidence from thE! same source shovs the Kestoi to have been vritten after 227
{the date of the completion of'the Ubaths of Alexaf.lde:r1~ in Rome)", thu~ placing it ha,,~
b~t'Ween
227 and 235.
4
Contra
connections 'With t.he royal house of
Gel~er:lo Ede~sa
while Af'ril:anus did
during t.he time of
Septi1l:lius Severus, there is really nothing to connect bim with the 1
Catalogu.e des manuscrits alch1m1gues Brees 1 (1924 h 185-86.
2 Ibid .. ~
t.
and 3;1~. The former is the Greek text of' the chapter list frOCl Berthelot's St. Markts manuscript,. the second is the Oxford manuscript list or I'Iphilosophl!rs of 'the divine science and art" (seeaoove ~ p. 63~ and nnw 1 and 4).
3w.
2~21
Kroll:- "5. Julius Africanus;> tI Pa.uly':3
Real~Encyclopadie
del'" classischen Altertums'L."issensch(ttt,. rev . . Georg Wissowa,. et al.,. 34 vols.in 66 HalbbKnder, tvo series (plua supplements) {Stuttgart: J. E. Met~lersche Buchhandlung,. 1893-1972; plus Supplements .. 1903-) 10 (1917): ~ols. 116-23 .. B .. v + .. "Juliu.s" (no. 1.17). Only s. referenc~
in
to LagercrQntz r e p05sible fra.gJrlents ~E!ems to be lB..~king. Kroll t S acceptance oC the by-name Sextus (indicated by the S. in thE! article: hea.ding) is ebIphasi 2.ed by the fact that ht:! even wonderl!!'Q i r t.he: Sextus to vhan Neptunianus ded1c~te:d his Physiks. vas not. OUT Af'rie&nus (col. 121). (This york is hereafter identified by its common designation,. Pll.u.ly-\rIiSBOVa.~ and cit.ed by i.ts abbreviElted ronal PW.) 4.Ibid.
t
cole.
11~17.
Study 1
Osrhoene campaign of 195.
0f
Africanus
Further" even if Africanus's use of
Suetonius 'We-re- est a.blisbed s 'this. vould not prove he knew Latin. BurYe:,'
or extant Kestol fragments gi ve:s
the vork and the author.
Us further
2
A
1nformati-on about
The title indica.tes that. t.he- \fork is a
miscella.ny; Valesius;s explanation of it i5 correct. only in that A~~i~anUB
probably did think of Venus's magic girdle when eeeking R
titl.e for his llork. 3
The work is
8.
mixture of sober pTinci:p~es and
magical rubbish. often Fresenting good old home-remedies
b~side
crass
supe:rstitions; man:,. belong to !:!If!.£ia natural.is ~ but others can only 11 be understood as Jokes {Scher~). The O~·rhynehus tra~ent gEner~lly preSl!nts Africanu5 in e. bad light:
he is either resFonsible for the
forged Homeric interpolation, or, even worse fOT his tion ~ was ta.ken in by it.
~ritic.al
repu,ta-
His hu."l.ting tales sound much like ta.ll
stories (Jagerla.tein); and "though he ha.s a good rhetorical education. he has put it to miguee. 5 ~oncerned~
As far as Africanus's religious status is
the Kestoi GUst be regarded as a document of a completely
s.'Ilpe:rficia.l Christianity s' such as would be able to exist in proximity to the il'!ll'erial court.
6 As far as texts Yere: concerned,. the situation
vas still in suspension,
G~l~er's
planned edition of the
Chr9nO&ra~hy
had not yet been reassigned, but K. MiUlerts collection of materials
IIbid., col. 116. 2Ibid . vie\o~
s
col. 111.
This add9 further uncer~ainty to HaTnaek's
that Africanus translated Tertullian t 5 A:pologr into G:reek.
3 . Ibld.,
001. ~20.
5Ibid ., col. 122.
4
Ibid., col. 121.
6Ibid .• col. 123.
75
F..arly Studies
of the Kestol had been colJ1lllitted to F~ Mel~er~l
(J.
Sick~nberger
contributed a.
Bupplem~ntto
Kroll's article"
dealing . . . ith Africanua.'s letters" which e-mphasi7.ed the positive aspects of Africanus'a critical ability.2)
In the first half of the next decade- ~ Adolf Hal'nac'k made some In v1ev of Afl'icanus t IS lit-
final suggest.ions concerning JI.f'rica.nus.
erary in~erest5~ Harna~k sUggested t.hat his work as arehitechton in relation to the llZlperial library in Oxy. Pap. 1,12 wastbat of 1ibrar-
ian~ not architect. 3 This viev attracted a
certain amount of
atteD~
ti.on ove:rthe :rears ~ 'but. what is perhaps 1ia:rn.EL(:k· s final judgment on Africa.."lus hag been consid.erably leas influent.ial ~
siderably more substance.
Reversing the
~hough
it has con-
more-th~~-&-century-olddic-
tU!!l of RosenmUller, lfu.rnack asserted that Arric-anus· B letter vas over-
rated and Origen ~ s answer undeITated.
Af:dtanus. was Tight ~ IIt.rOt.Z
seiner schnellfertigen .Beveisflihrung, "but the dogmatically bound Ori gen '~hat ein .Mei 8 t erst Uck philologisch-hi :atol"ischer Gelehr a.8..!JIk~it , ja e.uch guter Methode geliefert. 1
tt
4
Ibid. ~ ~ol .. li8.
3 t'.JuJ, i us It.f'rikanus]o del" 131bl i ot.h 12ktil'" des Kai sers All2xander Au£satzeFritz Milkaugeliidlnet [ed~ George LeyhJ (Leipz.ig= " K:.ar~ ,L Hierse:tnann, 1921)~ pp. 14:2-46; note esp- p •. 14~. Along the li!:le Harnack also specula.ted a.bout Africanus I s Christianity: vas there a period in Rome in which he left the church, OT" ~as his Christiani t J' of 8. ver-:r secuJ ar, liuperst1tious tY1'e7 (p. 1~4). The idea of AfricanillL a..s librarian i1to.s taken up, by Gra:nger espec1allyll in a series of IU'"ti~les in 1932-3~ (on llhich., Bee bel0\7).
Se:verus l
4 Adolf
von Harna~k" ''libel'' die S8.lIUIllung der B1"'1~fe des Origenes und s~inen Br1ef'wechse1 mit Julius Africa.nus t" Sit~ungs berichte d.el" Pre:ussischen Akademie del" 'WissenschaftefJ~ Philosoph1schHi stori sch~ Klass ~ ( Berlin) t 1925" p. 266.
Atricanu~
Study of
76 The religious view again Meanvh11e~
articles on A:fricanus as a church writer vere 10-
corporating the more recent data.
Stab~in"
in his history of early
Chri.stian literature . . still relied heavily on Gelzer end Harna.ck,..
but included significant info1"'m.a..tion from the Oxyrhynchus papyrus and. HarnB.ck 113 uBibl1othekar. ptl
While .Amann was not qui.te so up to date
bibliographieBlIy ~ he did include Qxyrm"T,lcnus in his data., and;. in addit.ion ... presented something of" the
elusions cOr.Jcernlng A:1"ri tb.e broad range
o~
but
contents of
his \lT1t1ng5 could just as easily make him a doctor, or a countryman . .Besides, in his reports of mil1.tarj stra.tagems ~ he recounts no per-
sonal experienoes. 7
PineJ.ly~ tbe report of "the ll!i.ter Syrians,
IJules Africain. pp. :xxv-liv. 3Ibid .
~
2Ibid . ~ pp. vii-xvii.
:pp. xviii-xxv J and liv-lviii.
~Ibid.
t
p.vi1i.
5Ibid.) pp. viii-ix. 6
8.
Ibid.,. pp. 1x~ x-xi ~ th
the older interpretation of
Cestes as JIITissus brod@s:=II Varietes" iLgainst Vieillefond' Be Buggestion of Talismans or Amulets.
1
Apart from the reviews t Viei11ef'ond I S "","ol"k
produ~ed
little
direct result in stimulo.·t.ion of' :ru:rt.her Af'ricanie.n studies.
The
major exception ~ bowever t appeared i nthe tolloving year, in
Q
by G-ust.ave Bardy entitled, "un encyclopediste chretien du
rIr e
study
si~cle.1f
Bardy sha.red with Vieil1efond a :shdlt1.r attitude ofrestra.int on scure points 10 but
s·OiQetitD.lI!~s
with contrasting preference.s.
ob-
He main-
tained t.he older interpr@'tatlon of Kestoi as meaning "Brod@:ries ,,3 1l
but al10W'edthe S~Ct.C6
r~tLSonablen~ss
as a sobriquet.
of Vieillefond I s suggestion regarding
4 Born a.round
religious syncreti5lIl of' tis tilD.es, Syria.n princesses. 5
His
18o~
Atriccll..nus reflected the
~specia1.1y
conta~ts 'With
that promoted by
the Edesse-ne court ma,y have
included acquaintance with .Bard-esane* with whom
~evie·.s
th~
h~
Sharl!:d an interest
in Revue: des ftudesgrecques 45 (1932); 1141, n. 1.
2Rewe aWloget).que 56 (1933): 251-71. (There is nO r~f~rence 'to Vieilll!'fon·a t s York in either of tb~ two other articles de'l/oted to Af'ricfLnus in the 19305 ~ E. H. :Blak~ney., uJuliu5 Africanus ~ A Letter to Ori,gen on the Story of' SU$B.nfla.,n TheQIO, 29 [193UJ= 164-69; lI.nd, Iel'.. Ier .. Kotsones, lHlf)(il1.oS ~ 'A,*,P1.~Q.v6s~ -np61'fOS XP\O:'[l(l..... ~S X~C\.lO... p~tOS/1 0£QAOY{a. CAthenl;iJ 15 [:1937J ~ 221-38.) lrUn e:ncy c lopedi st.e ~ PI p. 2 51 and , esp.. p. 266 .~ ta.l i sroarl or amulet is too restricted to ad@'qua.te1y represent the V"al"'iety 'Of this work.
4Ibid - ~ p. 2;8.
5Ibid. ~ pp. 258-59.
2
Recent Contributions th~ protQn~
in
sciences, though this is questionable.
1
He may have
been an officer", but there 1s no proo1' of this; vh&t is known is 11113 vide-ranging curlosi,ty--t.his curiosity brought him into conta.ctv:l.t.h
J:Dany places ~ K~stc:Ji]o
peopl.e~,
though a.lso
and sUbJects.
2
i~l'llstratedby
It is e-spec1ally shovn in the
the generaJ. topic:s and specific
dl!!velopnJentof' his other works. 3 More specifically" Afri(:anue seems to hil..ve been a
rIls.n
of good f"amily and of much
leisur~ t
who travelled
:for bis awn enjoyment ~ and who had. an untirine; curiosity about every-
.
th.ing.
4
This inte-rest included not only na'tur&l science but also
~nts
thl:! r.easontor
t
Tlla. philoGophie des -choses.
,.5
But t de:sp1te
his scientific and historical interests .. and his prove::l c:ritical. abilities~
Africanus did 'believe in magic.
ltiagical fortllula.e and invocations to
In
d~i t.ies 01"
th~
Kestoi",he reports
demons., and 'Uses
pentagons and bexagol;ls; but a. f11lly fI..ccurate evaluation of'
th~ K~st.oi
is prevent.ed by the fac't that lie only ha.ve frasments of it., fragments chosen (and recorded) according to the special interests of other Coll€!ctors. not by
th~
6 'The Kestoi was written
by a Christian (this is shown ..
Psalms citation in the Geoponlca t 'Which is proba.bly not
B.uthenti e, but 'by the order of Afri canUB 's vri t iogs ), 'but 11;. ha.s. no apolog~'tic int~nt:
all the known fragments eou1d have- bel!'r.J n1 tten
1
Ibid ... P+ 260 t Md nn. 2 &nd 3~ Parthie..n called B&rde s ane .
2
Ibid ... pp. 2~63.
~Jbid.
10
pp. 262-63.
the fr.agJDent speaks of B.
3Ibid • ., pp. 265,
26l-64~
5Ibid • t pp. 263t 269.
6Ib1d . t pp. 266-68. Furth~:rt vhile the Kestoi haa be~n compar~d t.o an eneycl oped! at! t was one wi tbout orde-r p. 265).
r
86 by
Stud)' of Africanus 6.
pa.gan.
1
The writer loved life .. and 'I(as c'\.lJ"ioua; about all things;
he treated of sc i enc e f'Qr 1ts awn sake. ~ng
Thi 6 1e.!:It made him unique
the Christian writers of' his day ~ and :for long
2
a.rte:nt8.~d.
In 19~4 .. GudJuund Bjorek presented a. largely new suggestion tovard the solution of'
th~
pastiche, "un veritable
Africanian problem:
traveBtiss~-ent.·,3
also demonstrateo t on the score
veloped
o~
At the same
Africanus's
fro~ Vi~il1etond's S~~4 that
tbe Kestoi vas a
styl~
t~e, Bjorck
as further de-
several extracts credited
to Africanus in Codex Cantaor1giensls of' the Hinpiatrica vere as authentic as any in the tacticians. 5 As to the origin strange mixture encie~
or
o~
the Kestoi~ Vieil1~fondls ~ppeal to the
ideas of Iii verse religions an.d contradictory
1:1 the third. ee-ntury
(Jul~:s
t~nd-
_Africa.in. p. xvi) is a.stordshi;ng:
ideas have: little pla.ce in the Kest.oi, e.nd religion none at all; it vas not
B.
1
question of A!'ricanusts Christianity,. 'but of his good setls.e. ThieL, pp. 269-70,
2
Ibid ... p. 270.
3PfApSy-rt.US~" pp. 22 t 24-25. Kroll bord.ered on this in some statements in his article in P&uly-Wissova. (US. Julius Africanus, ,. cols. 121, 122) but he never suggested it aQ, an bv~r-a.ll solution to the problem. 4JtAPSyrtus," p. 15+ Its characterist.ics are: Itdl!s cla.usules calculees (cretiques), des vocs.bles :rech~rch~s ~t des tournures 01"1'1.toires~ des compa.raisoos. des circon1.otut.ions et des 1"eflexions souvent I!t.Ssez foreees, enfin des re:ferences 1JJYtbologique:s il!'t l1ttera.ires. ·t
5 Thid .
On the other hand, flone of' the Geoponica 1tl!'CDS,. at
least in their present Btate, can canus {p. 18}.
6Ibid ... p.
20.
b~ ~ert&inly attribut~d
to Afri-
6
Recent Contributions Similar-ly~
Vie:illef'ond's citation (Jw.es Africa.in .. pp. xvi-xvii) of
Africanugls description of the Dead Sea in the Chronography 1a point-
less:
that is a geographical euriosity in the ancient Hellenic bia-
torical tradition t it is nothing like the prescriptions of the Kesto!. 1
Following
tl
s1J:llIm.S.t'y refe::rence: to Africanus ' s procedures
fOT
poisoning the air and tor driving \l'o:rms from a. horse by sprinkling 111th 'W'ater (c i ted f1.1 so at more length before the preceding it.~.ms},.
BJ8rck concludes. "81 Af1"iCMU5 a compose 'le plus mond!;!:' (VI.p • XV) 1es Kc 01' 0 f que
de.....ant un
pastiche.
dil~e Insolub1e." 2
flOUS
eerieus~mt!nt
du
po ssedons, slot's nous so:mme s
the- Kest.oi is a
The solution:
Bei:Lide51 the two examples s.h'eady cit.ed .. 'Which represent
t.he zoological phs.:rmacopia of the magicians and the old popular medic: i ne-,
&
third pas s age) from. the phi lologi cal realm., ON' Pa:o. 1;22 ..
seentS to -confirm this result. 3 In it., "Nous reconnaia.!;lons l?e:s:prit b i zar-re de notre auteur.. 1& contre f~on d" un j argon pseudos~i@'n'ti,fique:
poussEe jusqu' a 1a caricature I 18. precision detailH5e
d I un im.poste:UT . .,4
This passage sta."1ds in marked con,trast to his
serious discussion of the stolJ? or Susanna.
An author such as the
one who 'Wrote the letters and the ChTQnogra..:e,hy t
~speciall..v
look-out for falsifications, co'Uld bardlybe t.aken in by
8.
on the uHomeric,1
lIbid., :p. 21. 'The linguistic ugument against tlle authentici ty of Susanne. in the iPistle to OriBoen is more tYJ)1cal of AfrieMUS as historian and theologian (p.23J. :2
4
Ibid.
I
p. 22.
Ibid ... p. 23.
3roid.
study of Af'ricanus incanta.tion
1
or- s,uc'h content and form.·
propo!;lal hrlth vhich this discussion
or
Before coming to his final BJ5rek' s v1ev~ vas begun),
Bj5rck posed a rhetoric&l question vhich he to an E1wer :
admdtt~d
himself unable
di d Af'ric:e.nus intend hi s vork to be) !'rom en d to end ~ a
parody of the I!mpty polymathy of his day; vas part of 1 t more legitilll4te inst ruction;
VfLS
there
&n
e 1emeot
0
f "1' art po\U" l' art ," ac-
cor-ding "to the sophistic desire 'to present picturesq}.Je matter- in
at.!
astonishing fortll?2 Though earlier vriters (especially Kroll in Pauly-Wissoya,.
as noted) had cfl.lll?d Fl-ttention to the .facetious e.lem.ent in the Kestoi) BjQI'ck 'WaS t.he fiTst to suggeEit this as the explanation of e..ll. or
l!U"g~
ptLrte of:' the work.
In a sense .. "this made hilIl a successor
of the views of Val@sius Bond of T111eIl'.ont, in that this viev also would bave absolved the Chris,tian Af)-icanu8 of
and other cotcpletely secular belief's. 3
t'~a.l
a.dvocaey of magic
If his view had been
vind1~
cat ed! it wol.l.1d hQve dramati cally (: hanged t.he c o~l exion of' Af'ri can i an st'Udi~s.
Farrington, 'Who considered
.Bj{5r~k' s
suggested solution
vorthy of more studY, noted that it vould tra.nsform Africanus "from a bel.iev£r in magi.c tl.nd. sUperstition to a Bubtle critic
o~
these
lIbido Again Bj8l"ck' s analysis has aimilarities to Kroll t s (IPS. Juliua Africanus 1.1 col. 122), but developed ham a diri~@'r@'rl't vievpoint and thus leading to different conclusions c:onC4!'l"ning Afrlcattua·s good J;iense~
2' lrApsyrtue, n p. 24. Pe.l"'t of the 'Problem,. as Bjorck. El6'1l it:> vas the tendency t.ovard parody vithin :magic 1. tselt'; f'or this be- refer a the reader to his l&ter discussion on p. 56 •
.3n,ou,gn)
of' cours@', the mot1 va-tiona vere di:fferent. Bjorck vas atteKIPting to fit Africa.nus into 8. more na.t'Ul"al view of tbe development of human tnought (p. 22; cf+ also p. 2O)~ not to defend
his Christian status.
Rect!!tlt
errors. 130m@:
1r1
Contributions
On the other hand) LUdwig .Edelstein:o while conceding that
passages of t.he Kesto1 were not meant to be ta.K@t1 quite seriously,
rejected tbe idea that the Kestoi as a whole vas intcotlded as a parody of superstitioD =
Afrlcanu5 adhered to neloUperstitious" beliefs:t l"el-
ished 11sacred" bOoks. .eoncerning the Irsecr~t
histories.'·
~stl!:ries:o and enjoyed relating
At the B&.!Ile time ~ Edel.stein Bee-DIS to concede
that BJ5rck ' g two prime exampl.es (poisoning air and sprinkling
against llorms) fall into the category of paign~a {practical Joke9}. He concluded with the hope tha.tBjorck, vho
iiTot~
mas:ic in the last chapter of: hiS1i1;Jrk t would
so lucidly on
re~onsid~r
and allow
Af:r1canus to be "sensible" and .rsupe.ratitious" at the same time''ManY" of Julius'
eont~ori!U'ie-s were of like hue~.,2
Opposing vievs of the chara.!:te:r and. va.lue of Afric9Jlus as by"-products of' two other worke of t.he thirties.
cent and Abel t s
~us ~
apIH~EU'E:!d
The first ~ Vi!1-
appeared the same: year as Vieillefond· s. Jules
lB. Farrington, review of I'IAPSyrtUE, Julius Africanus et l'hippiatrique grecqu~, rr by GudJ:lund Bjo:rck .. in JQurnal of' Helleni.c Studies 61• (1944) = 121. ~evi~v of nAps.yrtus. Julius Af'ricanus ~t l'hlpp1a.triQue gre:cque," by Gud!nund Bj8rck., in Nnerican Journal ·of Philology 6B (1941):
~4~-t~5.
Snurin g the period aft er Vi ei11efond t Africanus !!U.s 0 fl.ppe a.red
briefly in a number of' other yorks. The chapterautgm.aton 'Pyx hapsai earned him a place in several technical YOrkS1 R. J. Forbes! Bitumen and Petrolewn in Antiqui.t.y (l,@:iden: E. J. Brill, 1936) ~ chap. 7 11 "Petrole'Um a.nd Greek Fi:re1n 'Wttf'tlre." esp. pp. 95-96,. and More Studi.es in Early Pet-TolEnVi" HistorY (Leiden: E+ J. Brill t 19:·9)!, chap. 4.. "Naphtha Goes to WQ!', It esp. p. 84 t and chart fathe s.econd of Granger' s artiC~e6 should be J .Th.S. 34 [193JJ; and: on p. 140~ J. Stro~, "Zu Quintil~i.ap,," should be omitted> it concerns a different Julius Africanus. ) 2
Berthold Alte.ner, P8.trolop~t> trans. Hilda C. Graef !roc the 5th German ed. (Nev York: Herder & Herder> 196o)l p. 236.
3See
above~
. 1. p. i2, n.
Recent squeezed out betveen
B.
more lively uAfrican }.!usic Pr and an Wlyielding
With the advent or the
"Afri c;:an Violet. n
95
C~ntributionB
Ne~
Encyclopaedia Britan-
nics. in 1974:. IitAfrieanus:> Sextus Julius" reappeared t but in an oddly distorted form= Palestine~
be vas born
and 'Wa.s
lt
'I C •
AD
IBo t u he "seLVed as prefect 11 in
reg ione.1 8.mbasssdor to Rome lt about
222~
Further"
the Kes.toi was not even m.entioned {nor. for that. !llB.tter:t the let.t~r to 01"igen. cone erning Susanna)..l T:.~e
In
1910~
He,. Bra Renovated
Vieillefond eapped off' the vork begun in 1932 'With
his full edition (;,."1 th French trannlation) of the fragments of the
Kesto1.
2
In accord with hia 'Previous ....iews, this included, in eight
sections,. the texte. frQIlJ all verifiable sources 3 (but excluding e.ny
texta from the Geoponica), and also included citations in a ninth ae"Ction.
T11e ":Et1,lde generale"
(70 pages) 'iothich preceded the text
also continued Vieillefond's balanced J somewhat conservative approach to the lire and 'WOrks or Aft"ic8.nus t but added s. ma..t or new element to
bis interpretation:
Africanus in the Kestoi was a. Jew
~iting
30 vols., 15th eo. {197~)" Micropaedia 1:126, col. 1. (The date~ abOut 180 t is p~rho.ps a distorted ref1ectior.J of use of Vieille'fond, who gave. Africl9Jlus t s birthlTbe lie'll Encyclopaedia
Brit~.J1nica.,
date as 160-180 (Jule~ Afric61n. p. ix], or before 180 (t~s Cestes~ p. 18J .. thoush it might be from Bardy C'Un enC'yC'lopedi~t~,Pr p. 258J; most other sour~es that hazard a date give i~ simply &S ~a. 170T) 2Les Ces~es de Julius Afri~~nus ~~1ted e1sevhere as Leg Cestes).
3Texts from Kestos 1 (from the military co11ec~ion5)~ other
texts from the military collections. ~ Hippiatricfl.. .. 'IIeights and measures 10 the Oxyrhyncbus ::f"J"agm.ent 10 purga.tives ~ concerning cinnamon ~ and ~Yeing.
Study of Afric:anuEi
96
1
especially tor- Jevs of the Diaspora.-
Vieillefond had indicated his belief in Africanusls Jewish ortgin. in
&
po.sslng r-e:ferenee, in his study of the :Ne:kx.1a. and 2
DaDte,.. but had not elaborated or sup-porte-d 1 t . ..
His previously Sot at ed
view, preElented in his 1933 study of the "fra.gment Inedit~r concerning cinnamon, had been thl! more genera.l {and more correct'?) vie"W of" Afrl-
as "en AsiatiqUl! du Sud-Est'- 'With Aelis. Capitolina. as his
Ca.rJ'US
birthpla.ce.
3
Vi.e-illef"ond supports the :mo:re specific conclusion by
a.ttributing it 'to Af:ricfLnus himself; to the
4J2}
in a.
"ilork
addrC!:ssed
Jews. the expression tes archaias patrido5 . .
~ould
~ssentiallj'
. eQxy.
Pap.
only Clean "notre anc1enne patrie. . . . ..4
aS8umes the Jewish address of the Kestoi, a
attempts to prove later in his study. 5
~es
Ceates l pp.
point which Vlel1lef"ond
In terms of5rpecific:
l~, 17, 41~2.
.Bll!Lsa, 8.t lea.st., had pr~'1liously suggeste d thi s ( 1ILi t ere.rische Texte ~ ~t p. 297). but the idea. seems not to have be en taken up by loater wri te1"S . 2,rne lEl Ne-kyia)" p. 4148.
3 t'Fragment 1nedi t ~ -t p + 203. ~
Les
Ceste5~
p. 17.
This interpretation also means that the
phrase does not necessariljr indicate that Afrlcanu5 himself' was born in Jeruss.lem (ibid.). t;:
, But a failw:e to clearly ea.tabliah this leaves. the argument
essentially circUlar. It iso, at best" possible" and 8~ems to be in eontlic:t with the indications from certain references by Af'ricB.nu!;I in his other ~ork6, and by Origen to .Atricanus. One of Origen" B c:~ents on Af'rica.:nuf3· 5 1inguistic argUment. agains.t SUsanfl8. might have e.igni.ficanc~ hl!'re: hI! says uYour :reason to!' at.firming that th~re is not [a possibility of a.uc:h a paronoma.:sia in the Hebrev language)" you yourself probably kno"'" (To A.fricQnI.1s 6 jo
This c.ouJ.d be Been 8.S a cQvert reference to Afr1c:anus's Jewish origin; but~ if' 80. the Question imJ!jediately arises, "Why ~overt"1n In addition" the statement 15 quite ~B.6ily under6tood .as a politl;!'~ though el%lphatic .. questioning of the ~onc:luaiveneBs of the evidence. Else"....her~ in the letter .. there i6 a consistent pattern of reference to [l!!ndJ).
Recent
ContributiQn~
97
reference by Africenus 2 besides the OxyrhynchU5 and the tt,:)ncerning cinn8JllOn if passages ~ in the cbapter on metrology (Les Cestea ~ Part IV . . line 55)
tcnn.
1
20
he ref"ers to the ~on@, "'Which we- call cabos I" a :H~br~
In :ID.Ore gener-ill evidence, the l'!entagon and
h~xagon't
mentioned
l.n several of Af'ricanus l s procedures . . tt'e also especiallyconnec::ted VJ,.·t~ ~I
J
. h e'W:!.S
mlI.g i
~.
2
Vieil1efond l s basic l'r1nc1ple of' accepting only c1e8.l"ly attested items in the reconstruction of' the
~it.'e
of Afric:anus is now
the Jevs as l'them . . 1t not only i,n corJ'trast to Origen. but also to Af'ri-
car-us
(4; 5; 9;
12-l~).
This e~ pattern is f'ou..!ld t.hroughout Africa-nuB' fI. own vriti ngs = e . g., To Or i ger.J 4 2 n in the Daniel :ree e i ved emong the J eV9" lef. Origen To Af:d.c.s:nus 9't 111n their Daniel"]; To Aristides't .,. in IsraelI th-e- nam.es of their genel"atior.rs, .. .. .. them, . . . they 20 11 a.nd later, ". . . the genealogi e s of t he Hebrews . . . I Herod . . ~ burned the rl!gist.~l"s or t.heir fflJl:ii1ies·· (. Eus. H.!. 1. 1. 2 and 13~ re 8 p eetively ]; Chror:iQg,l"fl.phy.. Routh' s fragments X.. :O::II,. XLIX.. and L (e8p. the- last.; within. it note ReI .. sacl". 2:297 20 301-2, 30~-5, and .. I!:Sp. t p. 306 t line 3L In &11 thC!:se pas serges , A:fricaI11:.l13 vrites of the J~~,.,s as a th.iTd party,. distinct. hom himself and his intended read~rs (ba.sically Chris titms)j Origen I 5 referenc es are C on5 i sten t. 'With thi 5 pattern. This might be correlated with Vieillefond' s vieW' b:1 arguing that in these cases Ml"icsnus, a Jewish. Christian, is here speaking as a Cltti st1 fIJ'1I.. dl stinct from the J evs • But 20 it so, why the neeo. for Or1gen to allude to this covertly'? one vho would se.erlling1y ,=onc@oiLl hi s J evi.s h backg:rQUDd when ,,"it i ng and be i ng '1«1 t ten to as a Chri.st.ian .. 'Would hardly vrite .ELS a Je'"rj to a Jewish audience (01" be acee-:pt.ed by them a.a one). Such a situation would suggest a.s. great Bon "id~ntlty ~risislr fot' Af"ricatLus as I!l. ChristiOJl author a.;;; is usually seen fOT him as a. seculat' one. lLes Cestes,. :p. 111. (But ka.bos is not. exclusi"'el~' Hebrew it a1 eo app ears in Arl!UIl4ic :[.9 aba' J l' and has ~ ognat!:s in other Semi ti!: le.ngua,gil! S . The forc~ of this argument dep~mds to some e:rten t on the loosti!ning of Ai'ric:tmus'a :residential ties with Palestine . . which Vi·eil1~fond does. despite the other ~vid~nc~ fOl" his ties with F.nnnQus especially.,)
r: 9ab J'.
:2
L~t; Cestes .. pp. 4z-J,la; but Vil!!ill@fond himself fo~lows this by evidence of its wider uee (;ranging h'o."Il .ancient Ba.bylon and Egypt to modern ItaliBJlee~n) (pp .. 4~-45, with n. 61 (continued on p.
46]).
Study of Af'ric:anus ~xtended
to tvo other
areas~
his residence and his profession.
Vieillefond questions the ties of Afr1canus to
Emm&us~
seeing it
basically as & client relation (Qr simply the introduction of its !"epresentatives at court) ~ rather tb~ as his residence. 1
ing AfricfLnus·s
hypothes1s
2
:prQregsioll~
Cont:ern-
Vieillefond rejects Harnackts "librarian"
{which he had lett open in
1932)~3 concluding that it is
best to assume that AfricfLtJUS was an architect .. but also interested in other area.s such as s.cience, letters t philosophy.,. and theology-.k Vieillefond rejects Bjarckis
5
-i b b ~a5tce,ut
theo~
of
th~
. t h e discUSS10n . d escrloes .~. i t as B. 1n
Kestoi as a t. vor~
on
la ~hologie p~~~nne, 1a science plus QU moins scrieuse t le bel esprit plus oU moinB humoristi~ue80 et la ~agie plus ou IIloins Jui ve se mcnent et se superposent. . • •
He concludes tha.t for Africe.nus th(! Ke:st.Oi
IThid." p. 19.
\iEUi
Vieill@fond does not .rind. a resid.ence at
&:mla.us indicated in Eusebius t. s Chronik referenr::e (e-d. R~.l.mt PR 21lJ.}. This is perhaps a. valid rejection of Vincent and Abel·E reconstruc-
tion) but Beems t.o be e:n over-reaction. Besides its fail1.U""e to do justic~ to the othtlr testimony besides Eusebiu5 (\fhich may 'be sotlle'What independent of" hilZl t e.g. ~ Philip of Side [see abo"e~ 'Pp. l7 and 64-65]) it leaves una~ked a basic question concerning Eusebius's report = 'Lfhy such B. refe'renee at all'! Is it bel:a.use of the significance to Euse'bius of Africanus" or of E:m:r:tlaus? Or is it of the 'two together, and together in a ao:mevhat substantial e.nd lasting relationship? (The ~ll!l;bora.tion of the question implies ~ OWIl answer.) 2Les C~stes, p. 21.
3Juleg Africain) p. x~ n. 2.
4Les
C~Btes~ pp. 21-22. On p. 29 t continuation of n. 31 from 'P' 28. V1eillefond also :reJ ec:te-d Kudlien' g guggesti.on that Africanus Wl"ote the pseudo-Galeni~ uHomeric Medic:ine u as r1bien arbitraire.'·
5Les Ceste s., pp. 53- 55.
6lbi d.
s
p. 5JI.
99
Recent Contributions
une r.ect'ea t 1 On]o llne d.i s trac ti on ~ ou l' element 1udi que:> propre a "toute creation intelleetuellE"]I nepeut guere B~ disa.oo1er de- tous les autre's (fiene t sentiment d!util1t~ etc.) qui dete:nninent I'oeuvre ecrite. 1 Th~ K~stoi
is not s properly
written from a purely pagl!W.
l1
gpeaking~
cl ass ic, n
gyncretistie, it is
..... ie\i"Point ~
On sent m.e~ qut Afri.canus se refus~ a superposer les registres ps.ien et jUdee-chretien alors que pourtant des associations d'idees 1 ':" conduisa.1ent naturel1ement~2
Though good taste is not the dominant quality of the canus does not violate the 1~e
of
bound~
Ke~toi!lo
A1'ri-
betveen the sacred and the profane. 3
sources of the Kestoi were many and varied--the school
pseudo-Democritus~
brotherstet al.--but
Homer, fuclid:r Herodotus) theQ,uintl1iflj}.
u en
e;fneral Af'r1ca.nus aime
a soul1gner son
origi nal i te ~ .. 4 Res tilt s of the New Era.
The nev era t vhich began and" at present ~ ends 'With Vie-i11e-
tond, has provide-d. a good base f'or further a.d'lance in Atricanian
studies:> but it has !1.ot questions.
:Eiolv~d
all the problems nor 8J'".IjJwered all the
Inde4!'d> it has raised fIJlOthe-r question .. the aLleged Jev-
ish ba.ckground 'of Af'ricanus 9.nd the Kestoi.
There 15 no longer an::,.
se:rious quest ion as to the fa.e t that the author
V8.S
a Chris ti an ,
though 'the problem of 'Wh&t kind of' Christian remains.
see:ms t.o be agreem.ent th8.t t.he Kestoi
1s~
There also
on the \fhole:o a serious
work ~ but. one vi th ent ertainment (and even humor,. in some parts) as
one 01' its
goa.l~.
lIbido
~
:p.
56.
3 Ib id .• p. 58.
2
Ibid. ) pp.
4
Ibid.]I pp.
56-51. 58~60.
study of Af'.ric£l..nuS
100
Su:nmo.r;r and Conclusions Some of' the baste objec:t1ve questionB htLve been ansvered:
hOll
many books ~re there in the Kestoi, are there explicit Chriatian
(or
Jewish) refl!'renees in the Kestoi" vas the author from Africa. was he So
bishop (or even
f1
priest)?
But others re:main:
what is the author's
n.a.tion&1 (and geograpbicsJ.) background; what else did the Kestoi
ta1n" &nd Nln further elements of it be!
r'l!"covered frOJ:!l
COl1-
known works;
Wh6t are th~ areas Q,f overlap betlleen "syncretistiC: Christianity"
and ttsyncrctistic paganism" in tbe Severo.n period, e.nd. bet1.reen an-
cient magic and ancient "Bcience"? Thus,
d~s'pite
the p:r"ogress
~
the ba.sic probll?l%I still rl!'m!lins;
hmr is the Christianity of At1"icanus to be correlated 'With the Qon-
tent s and sJ)ir i t of' the Ke stoi '7 what do the
oC ont~n,t
C"nristiani ty of
The
Or.. perha:ps bet t~rl!!L.Sked eJlother vs.:t
jo
s and spirit of the Kestoi toeII us about the
th~t:i.ml!'
qu~st1on
of Mricanus 1
c:a.nnot be- solved
by
ignoring it (an approach
vhich goes back 60S ttl.!" as Ru1"inus, and continues into the present in
I
f'or example ~ the Nev En~2
~
conjectural addition where there is no manuscript lacuna
h~
sets it
aside and even yet a.ppeB.1"s to stand in arms.
But also to spoil the vaters othervise:
tilling in
:> on • . ." (I. 15]1 lines 51e.nd 52, Les Cestes, .p. 151).
p. 159
Transla.tion
be A. and the base B., and the line rro::n the wall to us. out of arrQ·... range'lo BG.
A dioptra is bung from a. pole ('Which actually is (:Itile-d
60 'f18m.p-titandPl) ilhich is of the pole be 00.
I
fixed perpendicular
at G.
Now .. let the lice
Then, inc1ining the dioptra t I IiIpy out the top of
the vall., 'Which is A.
Going around to
th~
other sight]o on the same
A
B
s:tra.ight line I "take a point <E.
There vill be a tr i angl e> AEB,. and Therefore" whatever ratiQ
to one of the sides t AB,. GD is parallel.
65 EG has to given~
GD~
I
this EB haa to BA..
But the ratio of EGto CD has been
for each of t.hem. ha.8 been given.
been g1 V4!1l the of' EB tbe 5ts.des villturn out to him to be tvo
m.p"iad .
Bot h Syrmos the Scyth i an and Barde s ane:3 th e Parthian made
p. 183
1.20
thi$ trial, and perhaps many others also.
I myself also
observ~d,
in
(the ~ourt) of' Abgar the king 10 Mannos his son tr:ri ng 1 t many time s ,
I instruC'ting.
30 myself
He was :so s~illfUl an archer that,. 'being on a.
hunt vith us once about ~idday (actually~ r ~sel~happened also to be riding along~ not being any hunte-r, but a spe-cte.:tor
or
the hunt) ~ a
:forest bear starting up out of a certain lair, formidable to attack,.
so:ttlething terrible tQbehold .. impossible
fL.lS0
ana.
to shoot quickl:.r ~
35 everj'one being terrified and eeeking ways for fligbt,
Man/nos~
en-
couraging us to be bold, dissolved all thi! fea:r lo shooting tva arrows;
for shooting into the eyes of the befir.. he
render~d
it easily oVl?r-
come, not even seeing the hunters. II But then .Bardesanes vas
So.
ski 1 f'Ul archer:t ever.. 1 f
different) and., I knoW', shooting a. man just like a painter.
40 way was thi s :
he once atoM a man
I
The
oppos i tE!: to him., a hands Ol!le an d
strong youth vbom an artist also might grov'Weary imit.ating; and youth placed the buckler before himself .. for this~
Ilardesan~s
d1spla;y1ng his skill to us spect.ators.
paintel'~
p_ 185
S omevhat
prescribed
But he .. like a. good
tra.nsferred the one holdine: 1 t onto the shield; first
~5 he drew the head, vi. th straight arrows
tb~
the"[~
I mimicking the circle of the
head, then the flashes of the e::~.. es. hannony of lips ~ symmetry of che-~ks,
body.
and the-
r~st
of' the
maf.!.
:followed in the arre.ngement of the
He prided himself on composing a drawing by shooting. both
drQ.'1.ting '!With ahots
~
and shooting dl'a:wi.ngs; and
'V8.tchins, how the shooting va.s not 50
8.
8.
Bhield~
saw himself dra;m
Or!
while
varlike pursuit, but it was both
some",hat delightful and dan/gerous pleasure.
the
'We t!larvelled~
But he, putting dovn
his own shield. and he .,,"as pleased
1
Translation
1. 20"App.
ha.ving a. warlike port!"Q.it: this incident then 1l I
But SyrmosJ how mBY I archer J not pe.inting vith
55
arrOw
I
des~l"ibe
!!Ii.l""ro'WS
to In.&k.e var with arro\l'.
lievable.
I
no bird for their hunting will perch;
4. CQncerning Making Horses. Unable to Move Oi.Jt of the Se.me Place Whil@ industriously working on the production of the present composition,. I read in the .rPhysical1 or-
Neptunianu~
astraga.los of the right 1/ .foref'oot being tearJ) brings the chariot "to
I!l.
st.and.
~ast
that
8.
18
wolf'l$.
before a four-horse
If indeed therefore't four are
p.205
Military Extract6
151
IL'-,5,6
caused to stand, how l!luch betteX' would it be:, if J 1;7hl!:n in ba.ttle linf!) we sbould give them individua1.ly to a. ffN slingers?
5 tbese into the-
I
en~
Theyi' throving
horse" vill not injure Just one horse: vith the
one astrQ,g,uos, but as many as happen to ride neal' it-
5" Anointing for Arrovs The Scythians l;U1oint arro"oIS, the so-called "toxic" H for quick
destruction or
th~ op~s
wounded.
But by my inquiring into this, a
certain trustworthy man has given the following drug to &ccomplisb
and it is
the SaI!le operat:ion=
thi8~
wood spurge of the type which
gro\iatric:s.
and Aphrodite herael:f 1nvoke:d,
~~
put int.o a. gold necklace and
k~ep
otr all ophthalmia.
b
An"J'WV .. cutting open the spring nestlings, one lights upon
15 stones in the
g1~:tQrds,
I
of vhich the one is. multi-colored and tbe
f'avn or calf' skin f'or the "gra.ndmn..l, tI and perhaps you will
at any rate, lessen the o/!'pilept1c seizure.
cur~,
p.227
or,
But for tl1is use" it is
wait to cut it open during the moon's beginning
nec~ssaryto ~reaEdng
II
There-tore, before they touclJ earth~ bind theru up in
other clear.
~d
in-
phl!'l.se.
They say the bile of a. pa.rtridget mixed vith Attic honey t is 20 a.1 so a cure
ThE! eyes of t.he vult:ure.,
to many. t.o the
f dim 8i ght and 0 f cataract,
0
ey~s
i!ach day"doe:s riot pe.mit
will not even tl.
'bo~.d
allOl(
I
9.
fact vhi ch i
a1 so kncnm
up in pure linen and applied
dim-~ightedness"
catarac.t to develop.
B
(Llld., truly"
But its eye 'being worn in
dog skin does not pend t ophthalmia. Its bile with horehound juiee
25 and A.ttic ho~ey~ / used
CiS
an ointml!nt, r~ves every darkening and
mist of the eyes and does not permit eatarac:t. to 'begin to :form... The eyes of a li'Ving hog" l"eJJlOved and appended in a. linen rCig~
yom on the left shoulder or the neck ~ guard the
30 and if i t should even be attached to one Misfortune. taken.
i.ttIaffe-cted;
it destrdys the I
But it is necE!ssaTyto release the frog vhere it was
1 Its bile a160 is used as an ointl:llent for eye 1rrita:tion and
cataract. t1on~
5uffering~.
e~·es.
d
But nothing is great4!t' than the :follo'Wing Cor eye irrite.-
having _de a sort of .e&1ve of iVy root" put it into a box
e
158
Traoalatior.J of red copper with urine from a young 1nfa.nt, and tying it up se-
curel.v ~ bury in horse lI1allure for 40 days.
35 it off / on
8.
Then'li dra;wing it out. rub
whetstone and JIlS.ke like a sa.lve '\lith t.he 1iquid eon-
tained in it; you will be amazed at tbe action, and you will stop cataracts even beginning.
3. Of AfricaIlus: Concerning Product.ion of Hor5ea CC.H. 2~142J Hipp. Cant. 10. 8J If .. therefore, you ahouJd 'Wish horses toward the east, th!lt thoeY may
the vest bears
th~
B.
:m.ale to be borne 'Ii 'tUl"n the
El~e th~
sun vhile mating ~ for
females I e.s Mf.LtU'ousios the horse-raiser describes.
For aleo, as f I everyone reports" the sta.llions e.re harnessed by the Sun, fL.nd the fltlml!! is
5 draw
l'aght~
24
~lieved
I
the:.· say +
p.229
t{) be dl"avn by them .. but the ma:res
And properly, 1ndeE!'d, :for the Sun fo.'lors
birth of" males, but the Moon happens to be mother of t.hose of like nB:ture.
4. Of the [C.H.
Same:
Restoratives of Paver Hipp. Cant + 10. 91
2~1~2-43t
The (sweet) c i ce1y is
6.
:pla.nt eDt i re 1y
$
!.L+
iJti lar to the hem-
lock except for the flowers .. 'Which indeed are aimiltu" to it, b'lltm1.l,ch
and most pleasant in the eating.
It is found in the ara.ble regicrts.
These, he.ving c aretully ground vbo1e, 1 t i
5
ne c-e 9 sar~r to put int 0
lThehippiatricd passages accepted by Bjorck aBbeing &uthentically African-ian ("Apsy-rtus ,n "pp . 15-16) are marked vitb the notation "M." fL.fter t.he title as fL.bove.
2S
III.~,5,6
HiDpiat.rica
159
5 pure, very well bOiled:) barley gruel I and to boil together]o stirr-ing carefuJTy.
Then put in such a quantity or the
BlOst
f1"&grant wine as
nat to sa.turs.te the: gruel too nruch, and fasting. to 1nf'use+ ~y
find
1L
lrlt"hout "the th e
9
batter remedy than this for this purpose. root~
having bOiled together pig1's
Ina.l"l'"OV:o
No
OTJ.e
But if be is especially
pi nal, with gruel]o and adding wine s ittJila.r ly,. he will ha.ve a.
10 second l'e:medy for tha I
tor~gQing.
5. Of Africa-nus:
For HaNing Intercourse
Much a-nd 'Without Difficulty CC.H. 2t145; Hipp. Ca.nt. 10. 15]
It is nec:eseary to in:f'use the- animal 'Wit.h skinkts flesh in
26
mixed vine. II
6. 1m Altogether Excell ent Ai d for :Birth [C.H. 2:1115, Hipp. Cant.. 10. 16J Pol;rgonum is a. called
pl~t
!.1,+
abunda.n.'t. I!'veryvhe-re, which is a.1so
27
drosa:; 'Which, ha....ing bl!e-n bO\Uld in dog's afterbirth:) rubbed
with ointment and cleansed ae
eause of conception.
neces6ary~
and
app~nd~, b~comes ~
But in order tha.t the animal ttJay conce:ive wohat
you wish. either male or female, mercury and verve.in plants
ar~
con-
side-red to be male and female, the upright male, the spreading t.he
5 opposite. I Make the anima.l to we6..l:" theBe with the f'orJDer preparation; if one rlshes to produee
8.
male ..
male~
if" e. temale~ f'erna.1.4!.
p,131
III. 7,8,9
160
Translation j. Of' the Same:
(C.H.
2.1~5,
For Abundance of Milk Hipp. Cant. 10. l7J
The XIIi lk stone- fastened around the udder of the an1.lnaJ. draws down however T:!JUch milk is neededy
supply more milk t
infUs~
But in order that !ihe may also
the levigated milt
~tQne
itselC w1th vine
and watery
8.
Of the Same ~
For the Embryo ~lot toMis~&rry CC.ll. 2~145-~6, Hipp. Cant. 10. 18J
Sa.ilors t taking the remora. fish, preserve it, using it as. a. poW'erful dru.g both to prevent miscarr',fing and for conception. being levigated. the womb.
tb~
1/ But
ani:maJ. infused with 1 t keeps the embl")ro safe in
if one should also betLr it. living tD the belly Df
5 the mare when the stallion couples llit.h her, both t.hen s.nd sh~
This
ther~a.f'ter
\rill c:oneeiv-e I and will no't su.ffer the foremen'tloned mishap.
y.
9. Of Afl"iCQDus: F'orEarache [C.H. 2:149 t Hipp. Cant. 11. 123
that t hey may both
1 'Wi sh to ai d eaT 5 ina. double mann er r
c eaa~ be!ng pained.. and ceas i ng ~ may not be pained again. ~el'
the condition aroW1d the ear 1llaY'
bearing~
becoming like ulcers
~ots~
the pain around it
~~d
bec~
For when-
insufferable and pa.st
producing evil smellinB pus
beco~ing
~d
intQlerable, the pellitorj
5 plant ~ e-a.s 1.ly o'bta1 ned BJ'I.d gr"e»r1 ng everywhere,
I
~s
t.hough n& t
Ul' ~
gloried in its a.bundanc e. is chopped up thoroughly so t ha tit. pro-
duces much juice+
Then a little bit of Att.ic: honey Is taken t and
p.213
lfippiatrica.
:L61
not much atrong vinegar, and a small Cl.elOunt
Q fses.
Th~se ,
weed.
bl!'ing mixe"d and 'Ws,i"m@d t 'bee-ome e.e.l.....a ti on to the one atfl fet.ed ~
For Oz.aenas a.nd 'Polyps {Concerning .a Cough) rC.H. 2:151, Hip~. Cant. 13. 5J
10. Of AfricMU5:
Use
~he
root of the
~inter-~h~rr:~ mix~d ~qually ~ith
11. Of AfritHtnus: [~. 2~161,
Conce-rning
DyS'Ill"f!a.
butter.
1
Hipp. Cant. 24. 6J
It the urine of a horse is held
back~
a virgin. having loosed
30
the girdle which she weare., let her strike it abou.t ttJe fa.ce wit.h 'the- girdle, and imI!lediately it will 'W'inate much and the pa.in will (lease. II
12. Of Africanul;!.:
CC.H.
2116~-65J
FQr a Dropsi-cal Animal
p.235
Hipp+ Cant. 29. 2)
In:fuse crow fat with 20 O1JJlces of' heated "'Vine; or
jo
a hedge-hog
haViDg been burned? infuse the ashes with wine.
Conee-rning Color ot Horses 2:111-78, Hipp. C&nt. 4h. 5-6]
13. Of Af1"ic&nuG-; [~.
Colors of horseS t alao t like but color is
&l.!iO
th~1r
virtues, are different;
a. stroke of luek, and tbe })1"opel" hide gives
lBjorck, nApsyrtuS t~' p. 17, rejects this passage- specifically.
attributing it to Aelian Bri~ish manu~criptg.
d.ir~ct1y,
despite the attribution in the
III. ~3.,14
162
Translation
stateliness to the anim&1.
Some of thet!l'll
others, cert.o.itl p@rsons change for the
indee:d~
bet.t~r:>
are natural'll but
working artfully.
Some of them are fashioned by drugs 11 but others embellished with cauteries.
qy.
5
h~ving
pumi~~
Theref'ore, a horse from a tawny color may becOIIIe black
been plastered over by squill
stone
I;
and levi gated
~1th vin~gar
but wh1~e would result f~o~ the drug being ~Diled.
But ta...r.ny may come from vhi te, if .lime a.nd 11tha.rge emu1si:f1 ed i water a.nd boiled un.til it becomes .a thick.
over it for two hours. hour~,
g"LlIri
shoUld be
t'li
pla.stered
But if the ointment remains on for more
b.la.ck will result from the white.
Also t apart from colors:p
lO the fir@ forges the hair to a different appeara.'1C1!! on the animal'll
a..nd t.he horsets spott.edness 1& &itDu.l.ated. the name: of a color] hor Be is fired. round cautery t open let~er 010
ard
th~
over this way:
having t.ak etlil.
horse~
which has been bound
fast~
alter-
Therefore the outer ring is black t
original color rema.1ning apart fr OlD tho.t I s imul.a.t es a 1 eop-
body~
neck.
A ~hi'tish-gray {This is
the middle, like: the roundness of the
applying and removing.
nate:ly
150 but
apply it to the
in
cark~d
I
bs'ving been suitably disposed on both t.hi! legs and the
You may see even its face like a vild
b~.aSt.1S~
But it is
good to mark a high-spirited horse this vay, that the sviftnes5 m.a:;'
match the
gk1n~
1/
14. Of Afric8.1lus:
A Dye for Hair Which
Flemains Pel"'l:ll8Jlent.l;Y [C.H. 2;178, Hipp. Cant. 46. BJ o~ win~
.lees t o:f black aeaciat or round alum, of true
p. 237
Hippiatrica
JDai denhai r:t each
6 ounces; or oak-gall:> 2 stat ( era. ») 6
k~l"D.t (ie.) ;
1 green nut; of black myrtle'llithout the Juice ~ 1 1/2 pound; of lad.antlm) 6 ounces; of old dark wine., 5 pounds.
wine until it is boiled dovn to
6.
Boil all vith the
third) and, having cleansed the
baiT beforehand, dip. it three days and nights" a.nd you will be
5 s.mazed.
15.
or
Africanus [c. H. 2 =189, Hipp. Cant. 51. 103
The body of
8.
eea-'W:'chin smeared on a body haYing
th~ ~ge
31
produc es SQundnes.s.
16. or
[C.H.
2;193~
AfricWlUS
Hipp. Cant. 62. 2J
Dog- s brain \Ul.ites a. f:r-s.ctu:re in 1.4 days" being smeared into a
1ir.J~n
32
bandage and applied .. wool being .....ound over it.
11.
or
Concerning TUnlor s a.nd Warts and Acroeordons r: C • H. :2: 198 ~ Hipp. Cant. 67. 1 J Afr! canUEi- =
Irritating ..... arts aTe outgrowths of the body resebbling :r-ougb studs; the-y occur to me.."ly ill many places. ~:r1D.~kiai,.t1
1/
They call the condition
"...hic:h nJ!Ul.y superstitious p4!:rsons also r-egard as signs
of' some:thing which ia going to happen t.o is ma.ni :fold and proven by all.
t.h~ltJ.
p. 239
The relief fr-QlIl. thelD
Some, indeed, ws.tc hing for both by i t·self
~d
Phobio5 gives to those bitten
But the
Pho'8i~ian
called
He-mol'"rhoig,.
eooking and leV'igating it
5 and soaking it in wine I, 8lld convl!:rsely, he said t.o make use likewise of the
80S]? tOl'"
t.hose b1ttl!'n by the h@morrho!s.
For he asserts
Inaron the Libyan to ha"re transmitted that they are a rel!Jedy of one
another. II
23. An EB.silyProe.ured Counter Measure: of the Same [C~H. 2:206. Hipp. Cant. 7l. 5) Rue leaves, 20;
'1161nuts~
2; salt graTl'ule ,l 1; dried rigs., 2;
having been given beforehand in an ill:fUsion to a :faat1ng horse;, you
p_ 243
166
Trans1.a.t.ion
"'ill procure that it will be barmed by no drug or any other poi oson .
But for it not to be struck by a
SCOrpiOll
inscribe
t
abba.s
on
fL
tin
37
sheet and tie this around the throat of" the (1nimal.
24. Of Afric8nus: For the :81 t.e or Every .Beast r.C~.fL 2;207 t Hipp. Cant. 11. 9J H~ving
seed of this
levi gated
plan~,
nOS~-5martt
steeped and
plaster
l~vig~ted~
Oll
with linen; or the
put on in like manner
witt. linen.
2;. O~ the Same: For Checking Infl~tion of" a Wound by Poisonous Aquati Colooi a.. Ae1 ia Capi toli oa of Palest ine, an d i 0 ~iy"s.a 0 r Cs.r iii., llad up
to the thirtee-nt.h in Rome near the baths of' Alexander in the beaut i-
fUl library in the Pantheon which I myself designed for the Emperor,
55
Of Julius Africanus
Kestos
18 lGrenf'ell and Hunt rea.d epl:iJ po110[iJs egno-, Bond t.ransla.te,. "1 should much like to know" (Ox::rrr..ynchus. Pl!l2j'Ti ~ III s pp. 39 and 40, respectively). Vieillefond, fol~Qwing a suggestion of D~s~ousseaux, in his notes on line 49 {Les Cestes, p. 289 mg), sl~gests reading
. . . ego on • . . (ltsince I £IJll occupied in many thir)g~ s I . . . "). He omi t:3 the pa,3sag,e from his t..:ransla.tiorL on p. 2138.
p.291
Kestos
183
13~
Chapter 22
The Kestoi Fragments 1 VI; Kf!'st.05 13, Cha.pter 22
From the Kestoi of A:fricanus ....h ~.at · 15)
0
r Kestos -
13 ~
",.- ~r~: c:~
2 - I'Conce rn i ng t.he
"
I
\riatc herG • It
, frag. XI, Dyn. IV, 8 - Souphis' s sa Just sit 'tber-e,
~
Key ing!"edients or phrases are listed. in
th~!
but
only as a. place to put them; the pentagons themselves e.re not otherwise used or even referred to (prophylactically or 1e any other manner}.5
The use of' the f'igure"s does not seem to b-e for pm-poses o.f
lIbid.
50
pp. 1.1·6-47.
2 Ibid . 50 p. 49. Tne only spe-cific exuple (for the forn.er~ propr-.ylactic WZ'lu1ets) is ·'1' usage habi tuel du scea\J. dE'! Se.lolPon. H
3Ibid • ,pp. -42-45 .
.!,Contrast with this the figures ref'erred to In the London Magical. Papyri which had
50Jll.e
close cocnectitm with th.e procedures be-
ing given (:eI,QfL,d. 121. 204 9" 918;. 122+ 109 note; the first 'Was to have been found "at the beginning of the 'book"; the last occu.ra at the end of the boQk l but immediately foll~~ng a reference to it;. F. G. Kenyon [and H. 1. Bell)" Greek Pftpyri in the BT1tish Museum. 5 vols. [London = BritiBb MUlH!um 5o 1893-191j), vol. 1 (ed. Kenyon, 1893J~ 92" 113~ 120; S~~ alao p. 116).
SUnless th~ir prop~rlacti~ function is seen as that of safe~ guarding tbese items, either in i"~spect to their secrecy (1) or their potency; but Vie111efond t g discu6sion does not seer;n to be that specific as to i t.s !DeMing. Further! in the single instance where a
202
Af'ricanus I s View
r~al secrecy. In one inatance~ noted
by
beror~
info:nnatioTl 1 a given in t.be text t
inclusion in t.he pentagon (no. 3).
Vieil1efond,1 the
signiri~ant
t.lle refe-r-ence is nJa.de to .its
In another
case~
the
b8t~
2
the
identification is so self-e.. . .ident that small credit adheres to guessiog i t (lines 50-51 L
Since Africanus still proceeds to record the
information in the pentagons in these cases. there must be sOme other purpose for doing so, but what? a~oid
It doeSl'lot
rea~ly
seem t.o he to
dissipation of power b,y speaking them in advance, as
s'LI.uest.:s~3 since most not involve
~
Thi51
t.he situat.iQns involving the pentagons do
type of charm and only one involves a. spoken apell
(pentagon five). ~
vention?
01'
V1eil1e~ond
'What
could be
els~
is
J!o~gible?5
a.ssumed~
SOnJe :sort of magical con-
but there are no
port it; that is part of vhf!. t makes the s e fi gures
pa.rB..11~ls B0
to sup-
puz zl ing.
. . . .o uld 6.ppea.r that there is no blanke-t., mgico..l explanation that
It S(!'C"ICS
to fit; but to arg1:Je for a d.i:ff'erent reason in ea.ch ca.se would he 'to cr05~-reference to on~
of th~:se passages is extant (1. 13. 3~ p . lLg ~ referring to L 6. 27-28 t p. 133 {=pentagon sixl)t there is no melltiot:J of the pentag0I1; rere:renC~ is made only to "the Latin exp:ression . + • gi YEm :above (prokei ta.i ) . n 1
Les Cestes~ p. 47, u. 6~. re the serpent thrissos (T. 2. 117-
21, .p. 121}_ 21. 17. 33-34 lLIld 50-53. pp. 165 and 161.
3
Les Cestes, p. 46+
h
Spoken spe~lt 1. 5. 3-h~ p. 129, also on~ written charm (in pe~tagon 6)t I. 6. 26-28, p. 133. 5Vincent seemed to assume tha.t they funct.ioned as some sort of ta1 isman lo If vi th the 2IlUsie:!U signs :serving to Iii st·inguish them~ t1 en meme temps qu 1 i completer leurs vertus occultes n (nt~otlee sur trois manusc1"its .. 1. p. 345), but he gives no proof or e1fl.boro.1..ion. IP
Pentagon
resort to
~pecial
pleading.
in another realm. t.he vrite-:r?
Pa~sages
203
Thus s perbaFs the reason should be sought
Is it perha.ps a Ii terar.rdevice t a "conceit" of
We 11'111
hav~ oCi::as!aD
to repeat this sUggestion
l&te:r~
Musical signs In each pentagon ....as a pai r of' nms:1 cal s i g;rts .
Thes e signs,
the "voca.l" and lrinst.rumenta.1.1r signs for the sB.l!ie not.e; a.re descrihed in the
t~xt
both b:t their function in the theoretical sca.le .. a.IJ.c! by
their form (variously positioned and/or modified l(!"tters of the alpn6.bet }.
Their positions in the :pentagons are variously described..
seem not. to be signi fic·aJ1t+
1
but
The musicaJ.. vs.:lues of the notes se-em not
to be significant either, they are simpl;>r the first nine notes in
the-oreticiao·s list of erally those of the
th~
notes of the "Lydian mode."
di~tonic sca.le~
fI.
They are gen-
but they include a.lso two notes
~
of the enharmonic scale and one from the chromatic .. a. mixture that.
'WoUld not take place 111 a.ctue.l perfoI't!'lance. Over a century ago ~ thi s schola.rly
att~nt.ion
cerning the realm of
~us i
'2
cal ser i e s. had attraet ed. the
of Vincent, but. as pa.rt of
6.
broader notice con-
an~ient music. 3 Unfortunately~ this~ no core
tha.n tbe mor-e passing !"ftferences
b~. .
la.ter 'Writers ~ ~ does, not shed
any
lcrs.mmoeides enkeitai (pentagon 1); ~ra.moeides enke1tai (pentagon 1.1) j, e:r.lgegr,B.ptai (pentagon 6); ~erkeit &1 (i.e nta.gons 7 and 8).
they
2FUl"'tht'!l', s.s Vieillil!!fond points out (Les Cestes ~ pp.
~1-·b8 L.
eaeh of the 't'Wo ~nhfll'mOnic notes is musie./llly the same as the dia.toniC' note that pr~cedes it in the list . involv~
duplications;
.3vince-nt, UNotice aU!" troili mauu5crits,·' pp. 34~-59~ ~o-1l1. and table facing p. 128~ a150~ briefly, Letter to the President of the: Academi~, p. 1711. 73-74~ 100-9~
1J E.g • ., Kroll, in his generally excellent discussion in Pauly-
Africaous's View
20~
significant light on these pae.sages .. serving
on~y
to set the notes
into their c:Ot':lt.4:!rt in ancient music theory.
"But perhaps tbis lack. of progress (or even attention to finding My specific :m.a.gical s1gni:f1cance of the notes) is i t.self iOignificant..
H:~re again~
tive use made
as "With the pentagons themsel VE!lJ ~ th@re is no Mor suggested :for 5 the notes.
o~:!!
only to further identif'y the
figu]"'ea~
This conclusion
ri v~d at by Ii. -I. M!l!"rou,. V ieille fond.' s :In~nto~ i
them (in Vieillefond· swords) as
il
They seem to serve
0
'waS
also ar-
thi S &rea iI who saw
une :manIe:re de numerotation re-
cherchee E;!t savante. ,,1 Other features
Biological depic'tionG The animals and plants depicted \fill bedis,cussed individua.lly, belov~
Here it ma.y simply be noted tha.t those which can b1!!"
id~nti-
tied El2"e aJ.I such as have s.ssociation in hum8J1 thought with malevolent things
~ OT
at least are objects of &vl!rsion.
ADIong
ani~s
'Wissm.~a ~ devot.es tour lines to it ~ and his coments seeJll to S\l.gses't that he had interpr~ted th~ge passages in Atric:anus 80S thoroU8hly fl..S he d1st:UlJsed them (US. Julius Afric:anus," col. 120, line 61-col. 121 .. line 2). D~spi te Kroll's .assertions J 10 chap. 6 (of Thevenot .,Vet. math.; =Vieilli:!fond 5 1. 4),. the umus iJca.lisch :mystis..:re-e l"i"oce-
d'Ul"es seem fai:rl.v stra,lglLtfol'"Yard, rather overblown.
H
2
though the results promised sound
These results--a. spreading plague that will Yipe
out a whole camp .. or city, or nation of enemies; :a slow poisoning
causing extreme svelling" pain, and desire for death; or that will kill a running horse or knock
6
asm~ll
bi:rd from the
lIn the contra-procedure (Vieillefond, ks Cestes, p. 123 mg •• re line 13L} provided by MSS V and D (presuma.blyfrom the earlier pa.ssage mentioned in line-s 134-35}, the threat is referred to both a.s to loimikon pn~utna (or simply toupn~umatos), and as tou aer05 rJotheuo~nou. The~Qu!1t~rin& 'barrier rhos a.nti.Itache:sthai) is te. hyph' hemon gcnomenB.,. .1.e." from. the th.:tEia.t~ras. '1'111s wa.s to be aide-d by lo~at. ins t.anning pits 'U.p~nd of the ~9.I11.p to intercept "the Hcorru-ptedB.ir.u
2In t.he first,the liquid remains are used in making bread and .for coating the b&king ves.sels; in the s.econd,.. a. t'broth" J!llI.de frOlL the chopped up (Uiiqui f1 ed") whole ani:m.als is p01ll"e-d into the ene~r t S lIater S 'Ilpply; in the thir d. the ves se1 is opened U:uwind 0 f the enemy camp. If there is a.ny empirica.l basis for the f:Lrst t'lotO IlrocedU1"es y it must "fi;'"volve some sort of a.nitnal toxins and not. a. germ-caused plague (nor aba.cteria.l poison such as botuJ.i!un). Ba.cterial organisms vould be destroyed by the heat in the Cooking process~8~ but some ani:ma.l toxins {sueb as tha.t. of' certain pui"fera [use-d it!. the Ja.panese ~ stewJ t geographically distant relatives of one ctl.ndida.te for the ph:rs a 1 f.I mp 2) do Burvi ve it The sand viper, .a pos s i ole candidate for the Thr15sos-Bathanerfl.than of mp 3. kills by a hematonn\lhich causes S:YIDPt.03IlS sOlr~vhat lilt~ those descri.b~d in mp 2 (of. section dis~ussing ULand Allim.ale," bel.ow). On the other handy 'the spread of' thE:! plague described in mp 1 (lines TL.-77, and 81-84, Vi-, pp~ 117 and 11.8} r-equiree.a commu.nicable or contagious disefl..seorganism~ (But we ehou1cl not expect too much in the va:y of' "scientific lr accuracy and consistency from tb1s sort of source. even i1' theint~nt shoulQ be non-r:!Iagica.1.} (And does even e.eeking a rational exp-1.anation for such items put. the seeker in the eEl..ltlE:! .;lB.sS as tbei:rautho.r?) '0
AfricanUS'5 Viev
20B
slty"
1
-ar~
not
proc~du.re
det.a.ilg
2
espec1al~3 magieal~
though when
they~
and the involving the
pending of' a wolf" s tail t.o prevent a horse being
r1
Elp-
spooked.," b&s 'been
diacussed pre"iou:Hy, both in connection vitb those pa.ssa.ges and itl the conside-ration of th@ different 8.r.Jimal parts.
ing
thre~
references overlap to
El considelr'6bl~
2
'!\To of the re-main-
extent.
They both
presc~1be tbe use of certa.in wolf parts (especially the ast.ragalus.)
to affect the movement.s of horses. a
COTTUpt pBSSB.g(!',
'VOl VI!S ib
Af'tiCiIllUS Dotes
In mp 10 (I. 10. 1-3, p. 139) .. in sQ~thing
st~ing horses" but eJ.so in
about the effect of
t!1S.king the-m quicker. 3
For the
an invocation asvell as the giving o~ a pTeparation including frog f tongu,e. (lines 172-201, 293-303, KenyoD s Groeek. P9:rri, 1:70-11~ 1b).
6
lSa.r::iu.e-l J. Holmes, ,TIle Biology of the Frog, 4th rev. ed. (New York; Mac:=millan ComplL.:l'ly, 1938) '!I p. 123, refers to the tongue increa.s!ng greatly in !;Iize, as one or the changes in th@ m.etaJDOrphosis of the tadpole. Othe~ thtm this t references tb the tongue are absent in desc:riptions of tadpoles, even in thQ:s:e making sp~C'ia.1ril!ference to their mouth formations <e.g ... Albert H.a2:E'n Wright and Anne. Allen Wright, Handbook of Frogs and Toa.d sot the Unit ed States and Ca.nada ~ 3d ed. [Ithaca .. .N.Y.: Comstock Pub~ishine: Associates,. a Division of' Cornell University Press. 19~9J" :pp • .b6-19 .. with Pla.tes XI!-xrol).
2" Above. pp. 211 and. 217.
3The text g1·...en by V1eillefond from the MSS reads,: lykos antipathes hekaste 1sta.ta.l l'=.ai na.rKQ. to pode thatton de e.ut·OlJ ~hthoni hypo 1:;"'1'\0"-1 g,igretai. FQllet, toev1ew or-Les Cestes:t pp. 318-~9) suggests transposing and corre-ctillS to; :!yko(u) antiRa(tesas) oCle of the fatbers [e. g., Clem.. Al. Strom. l~ 21/1 43),. as \fell ~!J seculor vriters). (See Chapter IV fer a pr~s~nt2.tio[] of' Clement and the s)'st.em of citation of his vorks,) 2Hopfner characteri~es the ass as being regularly r~g&rded aa an l!lJlillla.1 of Hu."1heilvoller ~ja.cht.eu in a.ncient sU})e:rsti tion and magic ('tz-1ageia/' PW .. l~~pa..-t l (1s;t28}: col. 318~ lines ~3-44}.
3ef. Geoponica 16. 1.. 17 and 16. 3. 6 ~ both as from '·Aps~rrtus.·1
4neer and cattle' suOst.B.nces were used in va:riou's &pot.ropail:: or preve:ntiv.e procedures (cf~ Riess~ nAb.e-r'glaube .. " colg. 72 and 16}. The speeifiea.tion of the young animal might 'be in SJo"1llpat.hy vit.b the prob-
able youth~U1neSB of the victim at the first appearance or the dis~ase (or or the sour!: e 0 f the stone s ; nestl in gs ); though it might not be especially significant. Diosco1'1dee (!1:.1:1. 2. 56) ~ a possible source o:f this pe.&SS.g~, -does not specify this element (see the discussion under "Fowls t" belO\ol',. noting that this pa.ssage is not regard.E!das
certainly
au~hentic
by BJorck).
Afr1~anUS'5
View
30A; III. 1 and 12, pp .. :225 and 235; :for elepba.."1tiasis &nd dropsy);
pig
m&!"rov~
l
especially the spinal (mp 25. III . .4. 9-1.1" p. 229; an
o.lternative Bubstance to res-tore the virility of
B.
horse): hare's
blood {mpp 4~a and ~5; IX. l. :4 and 4.3" pp. 317 I!lnd 321~ to produ.ce - ,,2
B. mal~~;
·1e excret10ns . (mp Jc~k; IX. 1.. 32-34; to cause human
~a~t
elimination
3
!!i.S
a practical. Joke); a.nd bear pUdenda, and ot.her ani-
mals{' (On) (mp 44n; IX. 1. 37-38; "marvelou$ helps").
Four procedures
uti1iz~
or more specif'i.eally in at least The second of the
(.mp 2;, 1. :2, p. 119 mg) mi ght be
8.
thr~e-
\fe-50
whEtt are- pr-obably fl.quat1c 8.."1icals, thr(!~
of' them mfl.rine anime.1s.
animals said to be in pent.e.gon t",·o
tbe pbysa or "river" PhYse.los.
toad of some sort ae, di s cuss ed above ( "_hib1a.ns ,. ) 'i
it might be an aquatic
or
somE! sort.
OJ"
If it is the la.tter .. it might
be either a. "puffer" 01' som.~ tY'P-!- of medusa.
ers"
This
Va.rious types of Ifpu.t'.f_
(TetraodQntidae)" most. poisonous to some extent:lo are f'ou.'ld
around 'the globe.
4
Ont' eo pee ie-s, the Tetraoc('m tahaks." inha'bi ts the
lAelian N.A. 14. ~ (liver for elephantiasis); Pliny N.H. 30. 105 (dried flesh for dropsy}. 2The na.tural prolificness of the hare would sUggest its use to 14~4i6; per contra. t DiosoCorides (~. 2. 19J preecr1be51 its renniE!t. as So cOlltraceptive L Why it vould be e,p~ci:fic:ally connected to the 1>roductiQT\ of fa. :male is unclear" but. Pliny prescribes tb~ eating of significant parts of it by the \.I'oWl.n for this purpose (~.H. 28. 248).
prOl:1lot@ C'oncl!:ption (as . . I!:.g., Galen
3 pres uma.bly by some
typ~
of' "sympatbet:s.c n connection.
(1LA.. 3. 18) dt!Ei~r1bes a. 'Poisonous fish. p1"'Jaa1os, :fQund in thE;! Red Sea, which puffs itself' up. A 1''Pu:rfer'~ might be intended. but many of' the d~tailB seem unrelia.ble.
4Aelian
Zoological PaBsages
24l
Nile and thua would tit Afri canus I B adj ectiyes potami os 10 li t~.ra.llj' •
Severnl, &pparently llX>re poisonoUB t globe' 8.1"e utili1.ed in Ja.pa.n
1~or
speci~5
on the other
the: preparation of
sid~
~ st~,
1
of the a highly
regarded ~ but de..')gerous ~ dish. if t.he tisb &re icproperly prepared: the poi son i nvol v~d ,. t et rad.oxin s survi ring the cookj n g pro(: es s. 2 t~rnately, !:l'I~1me
type of:
~dusa
may be: the animal intended.
AJ-
Roulin
suggests this t specifically the PhysaH.a t or Portuguese man-of-var.
3
The re~nJJ.t5 portrayed by Africanus (L 2. 91-98) have some s1Inilarities to there~rult5 of an attack by-tbis organism {and 'thus might have 'b~l;!n a5sum~d
ally).
11
f"or its properly prepareli re:m.ains.
~inistered
intern-
WhElte'l.·er the ~o:t'rect identifica.tion of the creature, the roe-
s.ults promised f'rom the procedure seem t·o be based view of its natu::oally poisonous
n.at'W:'~,
Of]
I!md an e-Xpl!ctlltion that they
could be "captured" and trBJl.snri.t.te-d,. in a.n tJ.ugD1~!1t.ed
proper utiliz.&tion.
As
an exaggeratE!:d
fOnD. t
'by their
no'ted in the previous discussions of thiel, pro-
cedure, this is not necessarily magical or even Buperstitious, but
~1lysa
(citing Strabo
1.s used of a Nile fish .according to LSJ ~ 4~ and AthenaeU5 7. 312'b).
So
.v. ",OO"a"
17. 2.
'"' &::Fran~ Y.,rapp'll "Puffers ~ rl Grzimek l 5,. 5; 252. Th.is poison, how'ever'll i5 very potent and relatively quick acting t killing by :r~:spira tory pa:ralysis through depression of" the respira-tory center of the brain (ibid.).
3 In Vine ent s ttNot1 ces sur t·ro! B manusc ri t·s ~ n p. 562. lie also regards them as the creature described b:;r Aelian (3+ 18) ~ but thi 8 identification seems harder to hB.r1ll.onize with the deacription than & puffer + (Or Is Aelia.n perhaps conflating a description of the physa.lia vi th the effe'c:ts of' eating 'the puff~:r' Who vou1.dattempt to eat a physalia? Also. Aelian deacribes them as a Red Sea fish t but t.he phxsal ia occurs e.lso in th~ Medi t.l!rranean, )
4 Conversely. the description of the s'Welling or tbe body could be connected to 'the puffing up of the body of tne puffer when disturbed.
Afr i canus I' S Viev more ltd sdi l"ec ted ingenuity in the phy9 ic a1. ("s c::i ecti fic H 1) realm..
The other tbree- creatures al'e all
marin~
types and ca.n be
identified fairly confidently t at least by zoologica.l ord-l!l" (or sub-
order).
The first is the: sting-ray, 'Which .....a s 6rIciently credit.ed
'lrlth the
]:iO'We-l"
Africa-nus. a'tt:r-ibutes to it" the use of its sting in
killing treeS ([except apple] mp 17; II. 3. 2-4 .. p~ 203; cf. Aelian
N.A. 2. 36; 8. 26; and Pliny N.H.
9~
155, 32. 25).
The fish,
echeneIs t or remor~.. so called because it supposedly held ships ~ . 1 .la.st. hinderl.. ng them, thereby acquired a repute for holding other
This includes its uses for prevent.ing mis-carriage and pro-
things. It!Oting
concept-ion
~ents (mp
of
8.n
a9
reported by Africanus in the- veterinary frag-
29; III. 8, pp. 231" 233).
2
The final item is the rubbing
animal with I:t18J1ge vith the body of a Bea urchic,J (probably 50m.e
species of E~hinidae) to produce soundness (mp 31; III.
15. p. 237}. 3
All these itetIlS,. if magical at all .. 'Would seem to fall into the category of nature magic (magis, ns.turalis) 10 not the indire-et .. daemon i c:> type.
s~ procedure~
or noted above:
l
involving
fow~1~
have alresdy been discussed 4
1IIP 23c" part ri dge ga1..l", and 'Y'U.1t ure geJl and eye 5
Arist. H.A. 50S
b
19 (2. 1h); Aelian
~+ 1.
36 and 2. 11;
Pliny N.H. 32. 2. 2Cf . Pliny N.H. 9. 19; 32.
6
(or, easing childbirth, ibid.
3Cf. Ae1ian ~. lh. ~ (a..lso Pliny N.H. 32~ 61: .1 cum ea.rni bus Bui s crf:!:t'!19. t i . • .n ) • ~
L
its ash i
See above 10 p. 218" no 2" re partridge a.nd vu1 ture gB.ll. UBe of appropriat.e vulture parts in such procedures would see-III.
The
Zoological Passages
24)
as opht.hfJ.1lnics; DIP 38n., het.! l:s bro.im. for poisonous bit.es;
swan
testic1e~
a5
8.
1
mp
~O:t
colonic.
Africanus proposes two methods for capitalizing on the
vir~
tue, a.nd vi ctory ~ of c-haJnpion ga:tIle-c oc:ks {DIp J.; 1. 3" pp. 1250, 12~n.
The one suppos.es the power to, lie in
c~rta.L.":I
stones found in the
13i~-
z,a.rds of the eocks vhen sacrificed .. rathe-}- than in the cock itself. These stones were customarily 'Worn .. by soldiers and
amul.ets
2
or under the tongue; Africa-nus' 5 ovn
suggestion of" a more secure method
bJr svulo\,"ing it (line 11).
or
prepared~
~ontri'but.ion
is the
carrying the stone--apporl!'ntly
lli
is eaten by the
skeleton vhole. and then burning it+ 3
lie in th.e cock itself. con~estant..
The
keeping the
This ritual, which 'Would seel!l
to be intended to keep the virtue inta.ct,. resUlts in the: the bird's invincibility to the man. into whom he hag
wise (lines 12-17).
in
The ather method se~ to operate on an
opposi,te ass.umption:> that the virtue
cock; suitably
conteste.nts~
These two procedures; vhile
tranB:f~r
moved~
of'
virtue-
i~con:si.stent with
natural in viev of' its repute for disto.nce Bnd sharpness of sightPliny st=ems to ilJIply such a. rationale for the use of eagle ga.ll a.t the beginning of N.H. 29. 123. lBot n Hopfuer
(nM~1! ia t n col. 317) and Ort h {PI thUl11; I'
pw..
8.. ;plrt. 2 t
coL 2533} call attentIon to the signif'icance or the chicken ~ or at least the cock" in prot.ective magic (esp. in hea.~ipg; col. 2533).
For chicken brtJ.in, note Nic6nder Ther. 551~58~ 562-63 b1Jter membranes in wine») and Pli ny .li.Ji. 29 • 78 (in wi ne; Qr hen brain on 'Wound). 2
Pliny cites this as the practice of one notable champion)
Milo of' Crotona (N.H. 37. l44}.
3et . the partial parallels in other ritua.l contexts = e. g ..~ the burning of the remains-of Jewi sb BB.crif"icial fea6ts t ~sp@~iall)r the P6..s.sover lamb (Exo. 12: 10). and the maintenance of vhol~ness of the bones (though 1ndividually~ not 8.S a vhole skeleton) (Exo. 12:46 . .
as well as in the lforse tal es of ThQr I IS goats).
Af'ri canus 1 S Vie'iot each othl!l" in their
vi~.s
of
vhe-~e-in
the virtue la.y., operate on &
a ilni lar- ~"eontagio-w; magi~" princlple.
They aSS\m:Ie some 80rt of
ptphysical" transfer of -the virtue to t.he one vho uses 'the power Bouree in an appropria.te ms.nner ~
1.
Stone-s from bi~d t s g1 :uis:rds a1 so appear- in Mother po.i r 0 f
procedures ~ mp 23 a and'b (III.. 2. 11-1.9).
They follow a paragraph
d@'seribing the supposed origin and pOller of the "SwaJ.low-plant. 11 (chelidonion L
and thus presumably !'e.re~ to svallow9 also .. though
the sources e.re referredtQ only ~ "spring nestlings·' (lin-e 15).
r1
n@st11ngs·' (line 11) and
In thef1rst procedure," t'Wo stone!:!,
identified a.s being white and black ~ 2 found llhen the birds are opened wi. th a. sharp reed,
3
&l"e used as an ophthalmic pendant.
This use re-
quires the sacrifice of a vhite dove., and the invocation of Aphrodite, then tbe enclosure of tbil!" stone in a gold. oe'cklace ~
Th~se
~
a.ll suggest
1This passage tLl10ws Afric:anus se-veral rhetorical flights. that concerniog the cock as ~essenger~ not only of d~y. but of coming victory (linl! 15). It is also augmented by a. sui table Irhistorical u prec:eodent. for both procedure-s: The1!listocles'victory over the Persia.ns {lines la~21). 'l'his last is also presented in So sui tably rhetQric"al manner. e~cially
:;'ollOVing Vieillefo:nd' 51 interJ)retation; the references ~1ju1d conceivably be to their being found in both color sval10vs (see Goss ~n.. "Schwalbenund Segl er; M pw s IIA, part 1 (1.921): col. 169 ~ coneernins vhite as vell 8.5 the usual ble.ck [and 'Whi t~J swallows, Aelian reports 10 Eie~ond-htLtId ~ the e;J:isti!nce of the foraJe:r [.!L.A. 10. 34 And 11. 20 J ).
3An example or the 8.voida..'lce of the use of iron? Cf. Bjorck, ttApsyrtus .. t1 pp. 58-59 .. and Dela.tte (Her'barius 1:2
e.nd 600,
rI.
1~ 1~31.12-4~;
E. p~ Dutton &
CO'
t
bsvid Conwa.y,. The Magic of He-rbs [New York;
~973],
p. 1(9).
See also PliJ1.:tr 8 d(!sC'l"'iptions of' t.he value of various bulbs. (onions" leeks i "red bUlbs, n and bul1:)ine) in !:Jir 20. 39!; 47, 103, and 107 ~ as vell as anilIJ8..l-proo.ucts valuable for similar~. . closing vounds (eartllvonn.s. and horned 0\1'1 brains vi ttl goose grease) in If. H. T
30. 115 and 118. 4
Cf. LSJ, s.v.
n(J1''''.f! ...)ll1~
2/f
tl
lJtlA l,P8pO\l..
Ii" .and "a-1JjI't~OS,
2.. 3."
5See Grieve, Mode-rn HerbaJ., 1:133 (col . 2)t :for use of the root of
ac1osel~f
rel.at.ed species"" .Bryonia diQica..!; as
B.
sk.in irri-
tant. The berries also at'1!' 1!metic and possibly poisonous (ibid. Ceol. 1J), and thus ~ou1d h&ve been vie~ed as & counter-poi~on to anima1 toxi na ~
255
Plant Fassl:1.&es
"Wit.h the na.me- appa.rently interpreted 8.5 meaning '·prolific 1.,1 and
strengthened by a nickname:, drosa ('rdoer") 't is prescribed as a pendant. to prQ[!]ot I::! eonc ept Ion {line s 1- 3 }. gn
2
To ensUTe the product i on of
o.nimal of the desired sex, the e.P'Pl'opriate gender of merc:w:-y (~-
euri.o.lis annua and/or pereflnis"!j, or of' vervain {Verb€na officina11$ and supi. na1) shoUld be add(!d to the pendant (lines 3_7).3 /L:fl'i~e.nus
s.ttribute-s to
t.!l~
Quint ill i ..
h
the vi ev that
shells, put on theioots of trees,. dry them up (mp l7; 11. 3 . 5-6,. 1
It is described as being "abundant e'V~t'J"1oi'heren (line 1; cf". the similar opening of Grieve's description of it, u'I'h(;! Knotgrass is abunda.nt everyVhe:re~ p ' ~ n [Modern Herbal., 2; ~51]. This similarity is probably not entirely coinciden~al; note the description in ~nus Cas.tus .. Ir[thJis her"be groTN,;!,ri:tbJ ny oue::-ELl" (p. 1.l.:4; s.v. "Centenodiurr.,"
MS X.. p. 171.. line 5J). 2
It is to be appended
i~
dog's
att~rbirth,
discussed above.
n,A\~U~OvT16, ,~r·'" ",. UEPI0,~p~w~ . re. ~ _ I~" antt. On mt!:re:u.ry ~ see also: Riess .. "Aberglaube, n col.
3 Cf • LSJ ~ B.T. 111lEp
lC1iEP10V.,
II.
II
60, lines 8-12, tIJld, esp., cols. 63. 68-64. 5; Grieve, Modern Herbal, 2; 529- 30 ('·Me~~'Ury.. Dog t s," and "Mercury "A..·mual PI ) • Mercury may be dioecious Ok" monoeciotls (Grav f s r~an\lal of 13otS:J1Y" i11us., la:rg,ely rewr.
b:;,r Merritt
lyndon Fennald,. 8th LCl!'nt.e(lt.Iifl.lJ eel. CNe....• York; American Book Compa~r ~ 1950J" p. 960), usually the former ~ 'but the 8..l'I.d eX]).
d:ifferen.lblieations" 1910 (rep1". ed. of .An rJ,.l~st:ru'ted Flor6. of tbe Northern United States, C£l.nada. MQ t,he~ritjsh Possessions l Cha~'les Scribner's Sons, 1913) J t 2; 460), and they ~ertainly se(!1D no't to be t}1..ose intended by J1.frica.n'Us P s de-scription. The distin~tio[) here, asvith the vervain ,would Gee~ to be betve:en t~.rO different speciea of each of the n~d genera (cr. Diose. M.M~ ~. 59~ 60, l89 rWellmannJ conc:e-rning thevS1"i~tie-s of these plants, esp. 189. 2 concerning the female and mele varieties of linozQsti:3 and their c:orrespondillg uses).
4V1 eillefon d trac eg t hi 8 vi,e\;' to TheophrElstU5 C. Pl. 5. 15. 1 (Ires Cestes y p. 352 .. n. 16la; see also n. 163~ reo the Quirttilii). The Quintilii appear after Af'ric8Il'Us a.rn.ong the 5ta.ted sources of the Geoponica (book 1, pref.).
p. 203).
1
This ccould be connected \lith the general assoccifl.-tion of the
bean 111 th death a.nd funerary rites (cf.
pl:l~r
N. H. 18. 118).2
{Af"-
r1 canus f s ovn :pTe:ferre d met.hod is much nlOre utili t a:rian t though in
its own way a.s unrealistic
60S
the J::IJethods it replaces:
eut e',erythlng
dOlm (lines 6-9" concluding:> Ntbis indeed is a. perfect. destl"uctlon u J.)3 In the procedures against va...-rts
sents
(m;yrmekiai).,
t\!'o 'Which involve p1ants (mp 33"0; 111.
11. it B).
Africanu!;1. preThese may be
based on a IIs~at.het1cPI conn>t::ction, &1.though 'their basis cOuld beempirica.l.
In the :first (li!)~ 7), crushed squirting CllcU!Dber {Ela-
terium) is put on,. ove:rt:oming the '\ota!'t.
The habit of this p~ant
or
its ripe seeds might eause it to be regarded as having an
E'!je~ting
expulsi'V"e pOlier 'ilhich could be turned to good use (or the- .!l:pparently
irritating 5ubstances in the plant
a. -counter-irritant).
4
might hQve caused it to be used as
In the second botanic itel!l here, the pl~nt may
be of eome B.~ttia.l value, wheth~r it is c."hi~Qrj (Cichori'l.lnlintxbus) or. poesib.l..'V t pimp-ernel (An,Mallis s,J;:"Vensis) .'5
Bot.h plants have been used
lThis follows t.hc- suggested \1.5e of the sting of (II. 3. 4-5):t discussed above.
sting-l'a~..s
2Riess t ItAberglaube, H co.1. ,3~ note tLlso i ts use~ cited there" against nut trees (Geop- 10. 61. :3 Lactually 'the "\thole o~ chap. 67 is d~voted to the subject .. but se-c. 3 involves the oW"ia.1 of" the bean:)), or to prevent untimely loss among olives (Geop- 9. 121 (both th~se items are ci"te d by Geoponic:a as from uDemocl" tt us n ) • 3if'his po.rticular bit of advice t lthich relates specifically t.o 1"ruit trees, Yould seem to B.l'gue against & Jev1sh "backgroWld for Af'ri-
eanus (~f. Deut. 20;19) 20).
(The ~berration could .. of course~ be
B.ttributed t.o his "Christianization. I')
4
ct.
Gri~ve, Mode~n
5Aecording toLSJ, M. !-~. 2. 1 78 •
Heroal t 1:241.
8. v.
lI~tX~PlOV,"
it is so used in Diosc.
257
Plant Passages
against
inf1amma.tion~
freckles ..
eno
other Elkin conditions.
1
On the
other hand. if the plant intended is really t.h(!- heliot.rope (genus
Hel1otropi urn;, cf:. line 8 L. it has explieit. encient use agaiDst warts . .2 The precise identification of the plant. may be
since the proeedure
appe~Ts
pointleg:s~
hove..... e:r,
to be more magical then therap@'utie. 3
T:'le flO'-'er is to be- picked before
sunrise
11
(so its eontracted, or
sun-avoiding t pO'IoI'el"s will be at maximum .. to be transferred to 'the wat't"1),. and
t.h.e a.ffected sJ)Ot (topos) is to be
( t ri So per1gn~.''Ohe-)
j,
thri~e
eircumscribed
this viII ,.qui et U( pau.!;l eta.i) t.h~ \ttI..:rt.
Both the
circumscription and a three:fold repetition art!' recognized !IlSgical procedures. 5 ey~l8men
prescribed as a purgative+
juice is
cYclamen has a long history of use
~or
IGrieve~ Modern Herbal,. 1:198-99" 8.t.Id 2~633~ .eJ.ao,. re pi:rnpernel t Conway ~ l~agic t P' 131. Both also have a ttheliotropic:" ehQ.1"8.Cter (Grieve, 1:l97~ and 2;632; Conway, p. 131). ~ieillef'ond, .tes
Ces.tes .. p. 358,. n. 208 (citin,B Pliny 22. 61; Marcellus 19. 611; and Dioscorides Eup+ 1. 116 r.167,. WG'1...1m&nn; note esp. 161. 2]). (But iu Pliny i.t is the root,. and ir.! D1oscor1d,e5 the :fruit, :ra.ther than thetlwer~ which 1e Bp~c:!fied,)
3Un1.~BS the eircumscription actually involvt!'d more than a to:ken, light ~ont ail:: t 'With t.he skin. If.1t1 nvol.ved. sOll1e pressure so t hat the Juice :from the f'lQ\l'er (augb1e[']ted b;)f dew from the pr~-da'\n'li picking?) vaS expressed on th~ skin around. the 'Wart in the pl'o~@as, it could coJ)' 1
In thilJ caae t aince the birds are nestlings, t.he "stones"
type of sto:uy concret.ion, a bez.oar, rather than true mineral. If' 1;1;011 this might provide 8. morl!!" prosaic rea.son for the use of' a reed to open the bird--a. metal knife-, du.€ to its hard-
Yould seeIll to be some I!l
D,e-SS t eould d.amage the I' stones .11 (Thus proving the deleterious ef'teets of iron ~or such use?) But Pliny ;regards them as true stones; he says that S'val101rr6 V{! follo'lled by count.
.fL.
rether
'brief mythological ac-
This might be a. e.pell:. but AfricMus gives no direct-iona to
use it. as suc-h, so it is mol""e likely l;;.imply another of Af'l"ico..nus·
literary embellishments ~ beginning Thl!! most e-xt!!nsivC'
285-89; 0& . PaE. 412).
h~re
~X8JD.p~e of a
with an apostl"opne t.o Sleep. s:J.I<e"1l2 is in mp 42 (V,. pp.
Thi s is the iI.llr'J?lified vers ion of Odys se'J.5 '
nekyomanteia. vh1ch Afr1cfUlus reports having found in HOOIeric socripts in three widely separated libraries +
cont.:tibut~d to
B
J:IIaJlU-
Nu:merQus studie:;;l n.a.ve
the clarification of" indi.....idual points in t.he text, 3
and have indicQted the spiritual ancestry and the
B
interpol~tion process,~
mechanic~
aspects of
but have largely left the question of
Africanu5I·'s relation to it unsolved.
The opinions which vere e;-:-
pressed on this point vere regula.rly derogatory to Af"ricE;'....' lus.
He vas
lNote the Vai"ious Ir_a." fot'IUS in th.e- JDagical papyri e. g ... PLonq ~7. ~5 (Kenyon~ Greek Pa.pyri t 1;83). Variollspos5libilities f"or its origin could be sU88csted. It could be B. variation (or corruption) of "tatai n &5 an expression of pain (tSJ t St.."plement t S.v. rrTcn:aill) sthl! performer 1iaosor'b1ngU the pB.i 0 or the s u.tt'erer and then .5!J itt i n g it out (c f.. line 3) or COlJ."lte ract.ing it with the Latin formula.. It might be a corruption or developDl.ent of t.he tripl.y repea.ted na.ttJe, "Tat, Tat t To.t n 'Which appears. for "I
example~ in DMP xvii-Iff; v. 15ft; vii. llf"f (cit~d by Morton Smitb t [San Franc is co I Harp e~ &: Rov ~ Publi shers ~ 1978], p. 132.. 'lifith. note on p. 206 L It might be .. func'tionally, a sort of soothIng or distracting sound while the weapOD. is "driven i.bto {eDik:::-ousa,i}
J eSU!3 the l~a.gi c ian
the wound. rt 2Expli-oitly identified as such in lines 20 and 21 (e-paoide ..
and ep~sai. respectively).
3See the diBcussion~ IIOx:y-rhynChus and ~yond)" in Cha.pter I. above; and the:diacus6ion by Vieill(!-fond .. Lea Cestes .. pp. 280-83.
4Not-ably WGnscb~
nn.eisida.i:moniaka)" PI>.
2-19.
Charm.s and Rites charged with either forg@'ry!, or.
a forgel"Y.
1
eV~!n
269
vorse, being taken in
bjr
such
There Is no question about the magical D.fI.ture: of' the
compoaition reported by Afri eMus, an amalgam of Egyptian.. Greek 11 and
Hebrev
.
e~etr)el1t.s;
2
but hov and why" he report s 1 t are les s clear.
Its
location, hawe...er t suggests that it is a sort of grand finale for the f!!ighteenth .Kestos! ch~ry
tales
B
rhetorit:al literary flourish similar to the ar-
whichconelud~
Keatos 7.
His st.ated reason for
in~luding
it is that it is a very valuable conce-ptionof e'pic (krema [poJly-
tetlJeaterof.l epik[eJs~ l.ine 49~ p. 289).
This appears not to be be-
cause he is under arcr illusions
literary
~s
to
1t~
quality~
he has
just deseribed it a.s "overwrought lf (perier-goD t line ~5) ~ not in accord llith the dign.ity (axiOma, line L6) of the work, n:roreign" (a.11otria. ..
line ~7) to its progression.
But despite- this ~ he seems to entertai.D
no question about its &uthenticitYj the only two theorIes suggested ttl
aCCOUf,lt
f'Ol'
its a"b·sence are o-missions by the Poet b1:nself" or by
the PeiaiBtrat1des in their supposed revision (lines 45-48)+ no hint of' tbe: possibility of a l&ter interpolation.
There is
Such a lapse on
the part of" the critic vho attacked the 8.\l.thentic i ty of' Susanna is
hardly credible.
I~
is almost enough to drive one to the
alternatives~
Ie f.
Lud,wi ch.. co-is. 1502- 3 (not e. :forger. but a Jloor cri tie) ; Kroll ~ "5. ·Julius. Africanu,s 11 PI coL 122 (if' not a forger:. a very poor critic). . It m&y be Clott:!d" in defense of Africanus against Ludw-icb' s cha.racteri:z.atioll of him as udem Durchstoberer &1ter Pe.pierkorbfetzen U (col. 1503) ~ tha.t it was not Afrit:&nus but 1IIOde-rn s~hola.rs who found this s(:ra.p while going through'li8.ste pape:r. At:ricanus tells us that he found it on the shelves: in respectable I1brerif!!'s. :2See Vieil1efond,Le-s Ci!"stes ll p. 281 {and the studies ~ited there, &,;; yell eos the othere ~it~d above), andp. 288, note ]a (cont. 00
p. 290).
:27Q
/l;fricEl.tlUS I s View
either a torgery or a joke.
1
There are" however t at. least tvo other
possibilities, though neither of them neceasarily the preceding two.
"very
either of
It is possible tll8.t in designa.ting the passage
valu.ab~err Africanus is thinking of
historically or for current and could coincide with possibility is that
~xclude5
~
practice~
~ithel'
pe:r-haps
90S
!is
its magic contents, either
or bot.h.
This is not impoasible t
of the preceding two views.
Thl2' other
being a:ware of numerQUS aberra.tions in
the Homeric text. t Afrit:u.nus has coml2' to regard them as variant lines from a common er8.l.
vide~"
source~
aDd thus, finding th1a passage attested in sev-
di5tribute-d manuscripts:> had no reaaon to suspect their
au.thenticity.2
This vie-v wou1.d
J!.Qt
be inconsistent with an ironic
intent is his evaluation 0'£ the lines.
I
8m
rather inclined tOlo-a.rd
including the ironic t.\tist", but a historical regard t
this last
viev~
at least
:for the :magical contents of t.he lines is not ha.rd to inw.gine
~
of the- vriter of same of' the other passages preserved under Africanus·s lef. Kroll" '·S. Julius Ai'ric!l.nus, it col. 122. lines 37-.41; and Bjorck, I1ApsyrtUStll pp. 2L-25. ;2
Crant (UHistorical Cri ti-cism .... p. 191) ~:r-itici z·es Africa-nus· s failure to take sufficient cognizance of the diffil!rences "b-etileen the Rotnan manuscript and tbe others. On the other hand, Louis Robert C'J.,a.
bib110theque de N:o;a de Carie." Hellenica 1 (19LOJ: 1~Q-q8):I :followed tentatively by Viell1efond (Les Cestes, pp. 281-82), suggests that the three ma.nuscripts were related (thus, de-spite their geographical dist.ribution t they :r'@'Pi"esented only one vi tne-ss, 0. factor not S\l.:l;rpected
by Afric-anus).
{VieillefondTs major reservat.ion is concerned with the .ques.tion of hO'iot Q copy of the 'Work vould have gotten to Jerusa1-em (p. 262). Might it be that a transcript vas made from tbeRoman ex.amplar for tbe libra.ry of [or some individual int or~ lIho went toJ the new colony of Ai!!lia? 01" eve-n that an e:xistine; copy of the Jtde-viant II manuscript wa.s deelared sm-plu8 and disposed of in this manner? [How we-re lib:rari~s 4!'sta.blished and stocked in Roman colonies'!).)
Charms name.
1
~~d
Rites
2l!.
But a more posit 1ve:t act i ve eva.l ue.t.ion
possible.
0
f the magic is. not 1m-
Since ve dQ not h&V'e .A.f"l'iCanUS'B introduction to the passage-
to indica.te his purpose in using it and his att.i tud.e to\mi"d. it.!t our final decision can only be a subjective judgnJent based on consistency vtth the reading of' the
oth~r
Passa.ges 44 d and
j
ps.s.ss.ges.
(IX. 1. 11-13
give Ps ellus' 5 ansveron t'W'O such Items.
~nd
30-32, pp. 317
3L9}
In the former.. the mulberry
bough styptic was given its power by a secret spell aporrhetQt line 13).
&ld
(epQdjt~ni
The latter attributes certainhealings of poison
bites and eye problem!;! to
~e.rtain
pendants and u enc h8.D.tments"
{ewmasin, 1 it'l.e 32). The third pB-ssage- cited t:r--om thl!' Ch!"ono"grap& (mp 48/ch:r 31-
Routh" fra.g. XI...), con:sidl!:r~d simply in itself, migbt be :regarded as
referring to
iL
magi cal spell (Ode:).
Sine e, hovever:o the i t.em re ferred
to is lrnovn .. the 5Q-called Prayer of Manass·eh .. incident seem!'J to be ruled out.
2
this conception 01' the
Ita dee-1gna.tion as a "song" is a re-
.flex or its poetie rorm~ not really a synon:...m for epOde t "spell" or
ltt:harm. rr
Th~ only argument. for tb~ latt.er vould be
clBSsifieation of" its "miraeulous" reault
tLS
fL.....
autol:J8.ti.c
evidence of Hmagice.l n in-
tent.. 1
This vould be especially true' of" such items a.s ropp 14 ,,23a ~ and 35 (I. 17; III. 2. ll-lQ; and III. 19) ~
2This id~ntlfieQ.tion ie strengthened by the reference to the fetterB being iron (ta. desma. . • . Bid-era. onta L They are soidentified in Fr. Man. 10 (des;mti s1d~rou) .. while the Hebrew text of the Old TestM".ent refe-rence., 2 Chr. 33 ~11]o SU8Sif."ste- that they vere bronze (nahustayim}. (Pitra suggests 'that this passa.ge pTQvides o\U" earlil!!'sttestimoniU%ll to the Prflye:t'"' CAna.leeta saC";ra~ 2:292J.)
272 Inscriptions
The first, and most significant ,. use of an inscription in the preserved fragments is closely associated 'With the f'irst spell example
as noted a.bove in connection '\lith the discussion of' it. clea.rly magical
Both involve
indeed .. the present passage .. mp 1,
procedure9~
penta~
gon six (I. 6. 23-30. p. 133),. is introduced a.s an Uart 01' nature" (tee-nne
is to be
horse~
a.t
.&.
pby~eOs,.
1ine 2.4}.1
insc~ibed
particulw- time-, in
horse.
2
The inScription) to tame
vith
th~
~
bronze
p~n,
bOttom of' the
in a
l~tt
Bll
unmana.gea.ble
~&rticU1ar manner~
hoot foot. of the
It has a '·necessity of obedience ll (ananke:nechl!'i t1eitbarchias.
line 28) ~
This inscrip'tion, "a threat of Roman pr@seriptiofi ll ,1 which
'Was to be found 1.n the sixth. pent&gon, may be preserved for us in a c:ryptOgz"Bm
equal lines
Kccro/~ct'·;
in the
C~bridge
~ithin
a. lozenge
hippl6,trica codex.
Arranged in faur
UIl-
OT diamond form, i~ reads M~~/6Q~~\1
under it is the line
"~~A~XOaW~AV.n3
Using & system de-
scribed by Gardthausen .. '1iei1lefond deciphers the last line as 1 E:1 ther element of this expression could be used as a Ircode-'· \lord for ll':Iagic.
2
Compare and contrast the ~'P9taktikon charm given in f'Jpnd 121. 926-39. It vas to be engra.ved with a bronze pen on a lead~n f'le,ke frOJD a mule yoke and placed under the er.ole of the left foot of the person desiring the power. The inscription, sur:roWlded by I!I. squ.o.re and various s:rrobols . . occupies lines 931-39 (Kenyon ... Greek PapYTi,. 1:11314). Note also another charm of the same type to be worn in the right sandal {Plpnd 124. 29-3L. followed b)r approxi1l1B.tely .10 lines c:ont.a.ining four columns of names; ibid .• pp. 122-23). 3Oder-Hoppe . . C.H. ~ 2 ~225; Vieillef"ond, Les Cestes, :po ~33 mg. (re line 28). and p. 132, note c (cont. on pp. 134 . . 136. 138). OderHoppe r~ad th~ ll!l.st l~ttil!!" as Q. or .!!. rather than !!..
213
Charms and Rites
'le~O'UAalC1'O\l.,.1 The lett~rs in the figure have not yet been l;J&tisf'a~torily
expla.ined.
2
A.."'1other inscription occurs in :mp 31 (III. 23. 3-5 J p. 243). the prescription of' a tin :shel!!!t pendant e.s from scorpion a.ttack.
Q
prot.ection of an an1:mal
The in5criptiQD is. the \ford nabbal;J."
fond points out tbe Aramaic background of thi.s wQrd,. 3 vhic:h
support his viewo! AfricBJ1us's Jewish Qrigin (thOugh he
Vieille-
~ou1d
do~s. not so
1
Les Cest e s ~ p.. 138 (cQnt. of' n. .£). The syst'(!ll!l in Gardt hausen is a r.11.Jmerical variation of' athbash. It uses 'the Greek alphabet includi.:lg the three older letters: retained as. numeri!:l!I.l symbols, divide-d into three ~hcrter seriea of' nine ll!:t:ters efL~h, ~-a,. l-~, and ()........ (unit.s t tens, hundrE!'ds),. vi th the center letter of each s eri eB ,. E,. .... " and '*' t remaining un~hanged in the cipher (V. Gardthau,e,en ~
Griechiscb(!' PalQeop;ra.Dhi~, 2d ed ... 2 vols. ~ Comp., 1911-13J, 2:311).
rLe1p~1g:
Verlag von
'l/~it
2,rli~illef'ond suggests that it is a. transla.tion of Afriea.nus's Le-tin fQnnula (ibid.). In addition, ve ean p~~h&ps regard the theophylaJtton as a. 6cribal ~ue to the pToc~durE! rather than as an original part of the formula ( such e. rer~renc:c 'W'ould seem. to run cO~"Jter to the non-tneolog1 ca..l strain .in the Kestoi noted above) . 'With certain other aS8U!11i'tio:la t thismi.e;ht furnish
0.
solution to the cipher.
'The
i~sC1"iption tan be transliterated into the FtOC'la-:tl alphabet as nF'EI DOLEl/lCESO!FEE. n An nd hoc cipher co.n therJ be set up usipg th~ 24 l~tt~rs of the ROmfltL lLlphabet., having tvo grOU-P.!;l of" 9 E!'8.ch,. as in tb.e original t and then using the remaining 6as e. final group: A-I, K-S" ar.l.d T-Z. with E and 0 central and unchangea.ble in thl!' first t'YO gz-oups. Using this cipher:> the letters decode as "DEfOREASEKODEE. It Could this have been intended to represeC"Jt aomethibgsuch as "defore fl.se£.o de e (quo) • It interpreted as "to be about to b~ ¥i'antingJ fail ~ cut off from (being?) a horse"'] The solution does not necessa:ril::r~ ha.ve to be good Latin. only such as a tyro ndght ha.ve produced. This 'Would be true 'Ilhether Afri c anus got the "presc r iptior/' fr O~ someone else or concocted 1 t himself'. The latter is not outsid~ th~ realm 01" possibility; if Afric:o.nus can be suspected (even if innocent} of CO!JIposing the nekyoma.nteia it"Jterpolation!il,. such an item as this is e'J'en mo~e likely (es]J~cia11~l if' the possibility of regarding such ttems .as prf:L.Ctin or transmission.
A more elaborate procedure
could be proteeted :from apparent failure' by charging failure in some
detail of its
pe~formancet
vhat would not be disproof.
but such &
B Nlre ~onditiQn..
s~pl~
procedure .. involvicg
seems too vulner-ab1.e to empiric
2
Gods o.nd Daeltlons
or
A number daemons.
Mos.t
or
various I'JIagical
p~Bsag~5
in Africanus refer- to pagan gods
these ref'e:r-ences occur in connection with tbe
proc~dures,
yet few if any of them are directly in-
vol. ve din the proc ~dU1""eEi the;ms elve 5.
cal
pro~edures,
L~d/or
including
In this
th~ in~antations
iI.Qj'..
A:tri canue! S lI1.&gi-
and charms .. are 50mevhat
~leillefond, Les Cestes~ pp. 358-59 .. n. 21L; ]j5r~k~ 16.
.rApsyrtus .. I' p.
2This argument could apply~ o~ course l to its transmission in the ~us(lript t~adition~ but once an item entered the t~adition. unde~ the ~:uspi-ces of some nautho;ri ty liP it seems to ha.v~ been passed on by the successive scrlb~g with little real thQught of its rationale. But the original authority, presumab1Yl would shov a little more c~on scose:.
Gods and Daemons
Invocfl.tions This atyPicB.1. character is illustrated by the references to invocation o·f tne gods in Africa.nus.
'T'h@-:re- are possibly tour s.uch
references .• of' "Which one (prelude to mp ll~ prayer to Poseidon Horsetroubler; 1. 11. 16-17) p. 141) is only that ~ pagan practice in that.
r~g8.rd.
1
B.
The relation of
(passing) reference to th~
other three to
Africa-nus' s beliefs is 4!fLCh uncertain in a. different '\,fa.Jr.
first.~
The
the ad,dre39 to Sle-ep in mp 15[> {r. 1 T. 4~-4S!< p. 165} "even if it should be
tt10Tr:!
than a rheto1"ical. apostrophe. is re:.tber a challenge
than an .invocation (cf.
alsO!lIJl
l!lb; ibid." lines 30-32),. and \l'ill
t.hus be considered in the nl!tX't sect.1on belO'il+
The s4!cond.
6n
1nvoca-
tiOD of Aphrodite in eonnection w:Hb the use of stones from s:walloll neatlings (mp 23&; III. 2. 11-1~}:I!
authenticity, and .is itself practice
3S
80
OCC'Ill"S
in a passage of suspect Afri~anus's
out of keeping with
to provide support :for the.t suspicion,
2
The
usual
th1:rd~
:PIP
42 J the Oxyrhynebus fragEent of 't.he end of Kestos 18,. is definitely part. of the Africanian corpus. but tbel'e is question as to
of its inclusion:
th~
in'tent
is Af:ric:anus recommending it ase. magical
IThere is a ref'erepc(! to the sa.crifice of tl- victorious cock in mp 1 (I. 3. 7-8. p. 125), but OtLq in desc~ibingthe finding of the stones. There is no :refer~:uce 'to the invocation of e.. god .. nor any indica.t.ion that the sacrifice plays any part in the virtue of the atone. In the second procedurE!! (lines 12-1T~ p. 127}) there appears to beso:me sort of ritual. including the burning or the bones" but het'!!!! there is not even a. specific reference to the procedure as sacrifice. In mp 1 (L 6.23--JO~ p. 133, with me.:rgina.1 note on line 28), if the t.heophylakto!J should be part o:f the o:tigino.l "Le.tin expr~gsion.. ,. it still would not exactly be an invocation (and .need not be in re~ erence to e. pagan god (though orlgipa11~t so .. if from Afric8.f.lus I s
time?J.) 2
See above,., p. 245:.
~d
n. 1.
290 procedure~
O~
simply including it only as a
litera~J cmbellishment~
Homeric novelty rediscovered by his own sharp
eye~
a
1
Rivaling the gods
The goal of
mn~Y
ancient magical rites seems to have been the
attainment of divine Dr Be.r:ni-c.ivine id~ntitying
way.2
or
~asoci~ting
oneself
po\i'~r
~ith
by union . . . ith a god, or
by
a god (or the gods) in some
This is an ambitious procedure .. rele.ted in B,oroe ways to the
e.cquiring of a 1'farniliar, It e.. :eyedro5.
be rea.d as refle-cting this latter
'I"..ro lines in Africanus might
goal-~'II
desire Sleep to become
subservient tD 11tY' practice ~ that vi til me alone this master and allsubduer may dwel1 u (Elp lLb; 1. 17. 27-29 t p. 165)3_-bu1. Africa.nus's
basic att.itude to\iards the godsiLnd spiri'ts seems to be- entirely otherwise.
Rather t.han se~king union ~itb such spirits (or even their
8ervil~
subse''Tvience}, he sets hittlSelf against
them~
he seeks nothing
less than equalit.y (self-achie'l,i'ed) 'With them~ or even hOGtile 1
. See .e.bov@'11 pp. 268-71.
2
Note, ~.g,; Morton Smith~ Cleme~t of Alexandria and a Secret Gosnel of Mark (Cambridge: Harvard University Press~ 1973), PF. 220-23 Tincitiding p',Jr·~ nr. 15 ~ - 221~ on p. 221) not.e es]). p. 222.. '~fany JDagi C 801 operations 'Were designed to produce s'Ucll incarna.t.E;! deities; . . . n, and p. 226, 11Cl ailtJing to be fl. go d or a son of' a god; OT un i ted wi th some god or superna.tural entity. . • . I'; also hia argUI!lentra and eX8lI:.ples in Jesus the Magician. pp. 96-106, esp~cia.lly the rites which cla.im or are designed to achieve identity or 'Wlion vith a god! pp. 98-99 (rot-1 1. 511ff) ~ and PT 103 (PGM Til. l1Q-221), Note 8.1 so , Bjorck) nApsyrtus~n p. 6h (this occurs in the di6cussion of his passage nco 1; and cites p&ssage no. 9 11 on pp. 67-68), and compar@ the various "ego eimi'; fonnE; in ~ 46,. e.g ... lines 108-9. 113~ 145-~6 ('With not e ),. 151, 154- 55, i '56-, ·236 (wi th note}, 240; 472 ~ J.76-17 (Ken~.. on s Greek Pa~rri, 1;68-80). 'I
3But sucb an interpretation ofthes~ lines is probably excesseem to b~ only rhetQri~al e~aggeration of a personification of sleep (ct. the rel~ted lines from 15b and 14b discussed just Blve~ th~se
above) •
Gods and Daemons doodnance of the:rr:a.
of th-e- first
01"
This attitu.de is shovn in
our magical
pa~sages:
291 tb~
introductory lines.
"The victorious a.t.tribute t.he
lIa.rs of such kind to theirpe(:uliB.l' gods.
These gods a.lsQ "We will
1mi tate; spontaneous fortune by our art s will "be produced~' (I. 2. 57-
59" p- 117).
This attitude of' d~:tian~e toyard the gods is. further
manifested in regard to the horse-troubler drug (mp 11; I. 11. 17-20,
m.e.r~ make 1:.0 Pos(!oidon
(lines 16-1'1").
It is also shown in the "sleep-
lessness rr pa.ssage- reterred to Just above.
There (mp l~b) the element
Of elmUfl.tion--"I do not d.eel:1J n1y'Self lln'W'Qrthy of" the equa.lity of priv~
ilege with theI!lU (1. 11. 25-26, p. 165)--is directed toward EDen, but ltIen who had gained advfi.ntage over daimcnia/ -es t -earthbound and humble
to be 5we (line 26), but daicone-.s none the less. challenge is not to the men who conquered them,
bu~
Further t his real
to the one
~ho
had
really bound them~ Sleep .. t'he a.ll--conquering one (Merx kai pandamat6.r,
lines 28-29).
Thi 5 is the set tins for th e a.po s"trophe s to Sleep in
t.he follOYi ng line 9 (30- 32) and in mp 15b (line s Q.4-~ 5 )• ar~
probably
& literary
really conceives of
device, but if it is held that
Sl~ep
Thes e lines.
Afric~~u3
as a daem::mic being t his attitude of de-
fiance and concl!!'it (outright
hybris~ in f's,ct) is even
more striKing.
1
1 This is not !'"eally parallel~d by the desired pover to command various gods in th~ passages cited by Smith (~.g., Clement of Alexan-
.9r1&,
p. :221) t or the: attitude of fear1es.sness toyard the gods gained during the 'tz.!ithras Liturg,'," lines 555-73 {Marvin W. Meyer, ed. and trans. 1o The ''Mi;t,hras Li twsv .. n The Society of Biblical Litera.ture Te;xts &nd Trt1t.lsla.tiorHl Cno. 10) ~ Graeco-Ro-man Religions Series (no. 23 .. ed.it.ed by Hans Dieter Betoz; and Edward N. OrN~il (Missoula., Montana: Scholar S?ress, f'o:r- the Society of Biblical Literat'l.U'e,. 1976):0 pp. 8-9). II~ t."hose pas,sages the statue 1s gained by the protection and nsponsorship" of' a bigher pO\ler (TyJlho,. God of gods, king, and King
Africanus'sView
292
This theJIle of imitation of or contempt for th(! gods appears
in t\io other :references.
In a
vhich, de-spit@ its
late~ eha:pt~rt
title., Georpj.n.s :earadoxa, is not magical., Africfl.nu.:s proposes to imitate Dionysus-vho had given vine aT.Id vines to the Greeks--by pro-
viding alternative friendship eups 1"Tom othe-r pl"oduce (T. 19. 21-25 .. p. 113).
From another source 1 mp .l:7/c-hr 2 5 'We
l~arn
that Souphisl'a
book.. :pri zed by A:fri c anus, resu.1 t. ed f:rom Souphis' 9 hauteur or s uper-
cil10usness (h'z:p~:ro"tltes; RO~.ltb 2 :250+ 2~ Syncellus 1: 105. 9, ed.
Dindorf) toward
~he
gods.
~holoBical na~rat~ves Anoth~r
characteristic of magical
proe~dures
of various ages
and are.as is the use of" e. narra.tive prt!"s~nting a IImythological'· back-
ground,
fL
sort of" preternatlU"al precede-lit, for the: result proposed.
1
ael"E: 6.l80, AfrieRnus has passages t'hata.ppe.a.:r close to t.his t but Yl!!'t
Mpp 14 a 5 and "b ..and l5b, 6.l rea.dy noted :in
.are not really the same.
the preceding tV'O
pair ~ Africanus gives
associates of
Sleep~
fi
Sleep
.e.l.ree..~r
I!~
~uch
items.
III the former
rhet.oricELl del;lcript!on o·f the
and then
'Who bound 511an08 .. and 7-11:11 and 21-25).
present
di.scussions~
eit~s
anoth~r
o~
the cases
the
infll.,]en~e
Ph~'gian
or
king
hero 'Who found a satyr a.sleep (I. 11.
the latte:r t l5b ~ besides the apostrophe to
discuss.ed, he adds
&
comparie<m to an enigJnatic event
relating to the nuptials of Pasi'thea and Sleep (1. 17. ~ 5-4 7 ~ p. 165).
of gods . . in Sndth; Helios Mithras:II :in the "Mi thro.s Lit.urgyn (e1". lines ~8o-8~, p'p. 2-3; or some even higher power? 1inf!s 639-~3t pp. 14-15)}
while
African~s
1s
a~@d
only with a dead bat.
lSee. e.g.: Bj3rck t IrApsyrtus .. " pp. r'Ma.gia.~·· p. 1507 (col. 1).
6~-65,~ 69~
Hubert,
Gods and it.~8is
None of these
tual magicaJ.
op~r&tiQn
Da~ons
293
presented as being used in any vay in the 6.C-
in 1580 (lines
33-43)~
and .fit. into the cha.pteT
simply as literary embellishments such as those found throughout these cha.pters.
1
This
S'I!!ClIlS esp~eio.lly
true in the one o:f these pa.ssQ.ges
'Which has the greates,t maeicaJ. appearance (lines, 1:.15-41, in 15'0). D~5pite
their obvious strengthening of the potentially
~ymp8.thetic
or association8J. elements. in the precE!ding apostrophe (Night's Bon-
Night's bird (line .1a4);'W'ingl:!u-a. vit.lg [liir.les 4J..-45J),they a:r-e given a literary turn by the reference to Hera, leading rather to
B..ll
a.ut.hor-
1a1 "'conceit, If the ref'@renc~ to "the Kestoi" (line 48~ p. 167 L th~
to a magical applieation.
A reference to the birth of DionySliS, vitb
Fire as midvife (I. 19. 15-16~ p. 173}~ is not uaed) for example~ to @"nha.n.c:e the- power of fire and/or vine in
be a. literary embellishment. Africanu.s
a~serls is explained
BO[!]e
ritual]! but appears to
It is presented 6.S an aDoeient idea which by the improvement of wines by boiling.:2
In mp 2~ (III. 3 ~ pp. 227, 229), also,. the myt.hological :references
provi de a. "na.t ural tt rationale for the procedure.
'lthe uni vers8.11~,.
reporte-d taet that the Sun/the Flame is dra.vn by st.allions, and
Night/the
MOOn
b:,' mtLres 3 explains
why facing
horses to the ea.5t or
l E . g ., in this very chapter~ ~ine-s 1-5,12-15;
8.150.,
1.2.6-
16; T. 3. 18-21; I. 7. 6-9; I. 11. 1-15~ 1. 20; II. 4. 1-2, Ja-5; III. 22; IV. (5). 2~-30; VIr. The other I>8.ssfl.ges discussed in this section (esp. I. 9. 15-16} also illustr~te the point 3 insofar as the evidence concl!'rning them is convincing, and is independent of the conclusions concerning this pas.sage. 2But despite the rationaJ.istieexplantltion given to the myth, t.here does seem to be some ttsuperstitious" ph~.. sics involved in tht' procedure, as if the fls.me impEl.r'ted some of its quality to the vit:le (lines lL-15).
3It is not clear that this reference indicates that AfricWius
294
Africanus's
vest wile 'bre-eding produces male or
It is a sympa.thetic type
1
oper8.tion~
Vi~N
f~:lII.ale
orrs.pring .. respective!)'.
not a. verbal one.
The drench
aga.inst :m.aggota (mp 35; III. 19. p. 239) seems to require something more, and t.he poet i cline. "by a. str~alII: of pure 'lKB.te r ," could be pa,rt of' E1uc:h a. narrative to provide i t
poten~y.
nothing in the text as i.t standI;! to BUpport such elusion
si~ly
.as
fI;.
But there is, again ~ 8.
use.. and its 1n-
lite:rary ornB.IJJentation wo'Uld be consistent with
Africanusls style as sho-r,m in the preceding pa.ssages.
The Oxyrhynchus
:f'ra.gn:.ent (mp 112; Vi. ~ V) might be- considered an extensive exe.mple of su~h
a narrative, intermixed vi to supportin.g incantations:> but we do
not :rCfLl.ly kno'W'
Why
Africa-nus was citing it.
What we do ha·"e of' his
s.tatements about i t suggest purely liter6.:rY (1) and antiqua.rian interests. Da~on5
Besides the occurrence of the designation daiman for th~ gods or simi.lo.l" pers.onages in some of the pas~.Qge8 discussed above (!!IF 1) 1. 2. 6;
t!I]J
l~'b ~ 1:. 17+ 26.; DIp
1.2, V. 30), the:,' appea:r in one
believes in this
personi~icatiQn of the Sun and Night, it may be 1311:1])1)' B.."') ad hominem argurJlent to sbow that the malenesl2. of the sun and the fema.leness of' the :m:oon is comr!Jon knowledge. Is this rationale a.lSQ given because Afric~rms is consciously giving & syst~m which differs from the commonly accept~d ones1 The usual -oa.ttern f'or male-fe:nale dete1'l!linat1on \I'B.S a distinction of' right ~r le£t (e.g+~ Pliny ~+ 30. 1 49; Lactnntlus, De OF. dei 12. 3}~ or of north and south (e.g. ~ Aeli&1. U. 7. 27; Pliny N.H. 10. l8o). Was JlSr i canus 'a 6YS t em (f1. t tributed to an unkn O'lln "Ma.urcu s i O~ ~ the borse-breeder tl ) just different (pl!!:r-haps another attempt at improvenumt 1'} 0'1" 'lImS f't a. parody of the common system?
ICC the "meJ.e tt and I'te:.male- n pl&n:ts in blp 21 (III. p. 231).
6 _ J.-5 ..
:2 95
Gods (uld Daemon 5
other pe..ssa.ge~ mp 8 (1. 8. 12 .. p. 137; cf. 8.1so line 3~ p. 135).
In
this passage it is used of crea.tures mort:' like the Christian concept
of
d~ns ..
invisible,. malignant beings ~ but bei[]gs whic:l;J Bl"e
~s-
pecially associa.teo .. in accord vit.h popular belief,witb road June-tuxes (tTiodos. l.ine 13). ~
Horses,. especially those with diff"erent-
coloTed eyes {heterornmatos~ line 15},2 can see them and give warning of the danger {ape11en.
line 14).. byv.a..rious acts and SQunds.
Of
this A:fTicanus. il;> certain (pisteusoTi legonti, • . • ka1 oida pollou5
. ..,. line 12),. thQugh
he is u.ncertein of' the Free is e
It ma:,' be a. product or the
abili ty.
~ines 16-17).
SOUl,.
or it
1Il8.j
rea 5 on for the
be due to the
';,"hic'hever it is .. he seel:lls to regard 1 t &6 a noatural
phenom~nontone which can be
f"urthel' developed (ssketeo-n. line
ei th~r by teac:nng and
or by attention, respecti velj' (t.a men
ski~l
17)~
didaskalin kai tecfu;e, ta de ~hrontidi! lines 17-l8) (~r. also lines L-5:
ttthose now connnanding clea:rly need to learn divining trOll!.
horses., but they a.re inexp.erienced n (as:Gl;th~_i_s]). 3 lE.g ... the: evoca.tion 'Of "the old se1'Ving voman of" Apollonius of Tya~af' was to be performed at a spot beside a river or a lake or a triodos (PLond 125. 1- 4 , Kenyon~ Greek Papxri .. 1~1~3-2~). Compare also 'the eU5tor-l of erecting I'herms" and other shr1ne$ at crossroad$.
2
Perhap.s regarded as significant because of their "unnatura)" character (ef. Rie-ss's sixth category of superstitious belief.s ["Aher'" ) • glaube~ n col. 3fJ 3Numerous things which horses IIdivine" are given in lines 611 10 probably derived from folk beliefs; but they are at most superat i t-i QUS, not actively magical. Some of' them are pure ly natural reactions to sounds or smells inaccessible: t.o human senses,. but they s.r e i nt eTirii xed vi th the Buperst i t ious beli I!!'f's 'iii tno1lJt dist i neti on.
Otber
Featur~s
Designations of'" the I-art"
on at least
Arricanus~
nature" (ef. also mp 8; L
~ne occasion~
Tefers to the procedure
8. 18 = dl vine.t1on developed by te-at=bing
andte~hn;J).. quite proba.bly in the sense of "magical a.rt. HI. The word tecbne may be uSed in this sense in
lIij).
41 (III. 36. 8; p - 255 [ef.
111. 13.3--technoo?J; though it may simply be used in the general sense there); and in
seve:t"~
1ine-s in hi 5 s,UI:Ilary'l Psellus
adJ eet.ival f'orm, teehnike ,. to de GcTi be aom~
ha.ps re.rl~c'ting Afric8.nus t s
CMl
0
f
usedth~
the proce dure s, pe-r-
tenni:no10gy2 (IX. l~ 2., 5, 34; e.lso,
technikos, line 3; and te~hnaSltla, line lOt though tbis le.st perhaps in
&
ge-ne:r-al sense .. "device, Ii "artifice").
r1canus uses 'the t.erm simplY in the general
(Elsewhere .. however" Afs~nse
of ··cra:rt" or
nskill. .. 3)
Africanus also
us~d
the
term~eiTia
to describe bis pro-
cedur~ for ov~rCQmirJg ~leep (JI!.p 14b; 1. 1 T. 28. p. 165).
lSee above J 'P. 287. with tt. 2; also p. 265! with n. 2 .. and p. 272. n. 1. 2Sinee kfTicMUS uses t.he tonn
t!!:chth~nB.i
of generation (ot
desired sex~s) in III. 3. l~ p. 227, it may be that this and/or related fo~s_shculd be assumed as lying behind Psellus's 5ennes1s and sennethesi:!'tai in IX. 1. 2. This ,"ould provide a. neat rhetol'i~eJ. counterpoint. of the t:,.-pe favored by Afr1eanus, to the t.echnike.
3E• g . ! Vi'
l
1.2.19.. 25; I. 6.23 (the line preceding the
first ulI:I8.gieal " usage cited above); I - 1. 5 (-te~hn;;tos); III. 13. 3
(technoo) .
Other Features
297
Antipathies Various forma of the te~ UantipathyJr .are used 'by Africanus · 1D
~,
sev~r~
pa~sfiges.
one mam1Script
2
1
The a.d.jective form~ antlpathes 10 .appears- in
in the textually uncert.ain line 1n
DIp
10 (I. 10. 1;
concerning the wolf and the borse) 10 in the title of III. 23 (m.p 37,
th~ apotropai. c
against.
8 corpi
on s) :. 3 an din mp
~ 1~ f
(IX. 1. 15).
In
this last passage) Psellus uses it to d@scribe Afrfcanus's use of the Jttwo-faced plaster li {te di'Oroso'OO ewlast!.2 rfbid. against 'W'ou.nds :from poisonous beasts.
vell be in tne gene'!:"al
(01'
~
line 1.6J1&
In this case the Bnti.po.tl'Qf may
medical) rather thB.J1 the IDElgical sense
(th.ough Fsell.u.s does not seem to regard it so).
In
6.
later lice
{35; mp 4~1) ~ Psel1us also use-s the noun f·orm, o..nt.ipiI:theion ricanus I
S
ltIeans of yrodueing barr-e-!1D.esS i.n fields.
ll
of Af'~
This hI. in con-
trast to t.he technik.ID!J or ra.ther, B,oetiken. productivity he vaS sa.id t.o produce ~
!JO
presume.bly Psellus regards this operation as
being in the .eame category. 5
(The ve:r-b font. is also used in two
1
On the ot.her hand. \i'hil{!
[email protected] passages seem to invol'l,l'e "eympathet1c 1, procedures ~ t.he term is not used by Africanus to d@scribe any o:f them.
2
Lauren'tianus
Vieilletond's L (Leg
Cestes~ p.
139 mg). 3The title prC!:sU!IIEI.'bly 'Was supplied bY' the (:o1!l'piler~ but could veIl come from the introduc'tOr)r lines of" thl!! abstrs.c:te-d t~xt. The pa.ssage, however, is one of uncertain authenti~ity.
~A plaster of' such a. name i8 described by Galen (11~127~ KUhn ) t but t1Jtj.'! not be- thr:!! swne + Galen • s pll!lst~r (al so cal~ed ~ ch:r-omous) vas so-n&med because the material used in it (some type of iron c orxlpound?) appe.nrl!:d gr8.)l' on the surf'ac e,. but va s or'ange vi th1 n when it 'l,tQS C1"'.Hi he d. 5Vieill(!fond {lies Cestes:lo p.. 363 tn. 270}., hO".rever,. cOri:lpares "this ba.rrenness to II. 2' (p~ 2'03) ~ which t though partly enigmatic", is
pass-a.ges .. Ill. 30. 8" and III. 32. 34 , but apparently in the general sens/!
or
a counter-remedy [but the IfJ..'ttE!:r' is ]Jnrt o:f
DIp
38eJ}.
Ancient books
The EgyptIi1.n book a.ttributed to Soup'his,. 'the gods (.!riP L7/chr
2L,
of the
vblch Africanus purcha.se-d in Egypt, is Quite
likely to have been a
vo~k
it as one of the nercetie
evidence available.
COnt€liUler
of oceult
lore~
but the
ident5~ieation
of
~O:r'ksl is probably too speciric ~or the
AfricMus apparently had no suspicion abO'Jt the
authenticity of' this vo:rk, for he also attributed books, an anatomical 'Work ~ to an even earlier kine;, Atbothis .. the second king of tbe First Dyny.st~r
of Egypt, apparently regarding them a.s being still ertant. 2
This provides an fiddit.iona! datwn to be ta.k4!m into
con5idera~1on
in
evaluat.ions of AfricMus'.s critical abilities (and respect for tradi-
tion?) and the likelihood and/or 'Ireasonab11i ty" of his B.ccepta..""Ice of
the
nekyo~nteia
interpolations as really Homeric. Purposes of USES
The ends proposed for fiChievement by these means cover the not especially magical. A~ricanus tbere prescrIbes the cultivation of hellebOre (citing Alexander and the Alar.s as historical precedent [cf. also l r. 2. 16]) J or the 5C'W'ing of fields vith salt. The la.tter is a traditional destruct!ve technique long pra~ticed by both the Romans (cf. the treatment o~ Cartbage) and the Je'Ws (.rudg~5 9 =45)" though :mo~e .as symbolic (pel'p~tl,lal desolation on the sites of enemy cities) t.han on a large s~Qle as a strategic devic~ in &n ongoing caDPaign. 1
E. g. I by Seal i ger (Anim.e.dv., p. 251, cited and r~ j eet~d b:!.' Goar in his "&Jendationes et-Annotationes" as rep::-inted by Dindo~r,
Syncellus, 2:385)10 and Routh (Rel. s~cr. 2:386" note to 250. 2 r~it i08 also S~aliger, Not. in Or. Ells., p. 412]).
~outh, f'rag XI (Rel. sacra 2:247.3-5); SYf.lcellus 1:101"
e-d.. Dindorf.
Purpoa.ea. of Uses
299
B..l"eas of specia.l concern in magical operations t i.e-. ,
f"uJ.l rang.e of hUJll.ElJl concernl;i.. ha.rming Md helping,
and~
prett~r
much tht!
They deal with procedures for both
in the: latter area. with both passive
(protecti ve) and act! '1ft:' ID~8.rH; (healirlg. empowering ~ etc.).
The procedure:s f"or banning are onl.y
fL,
small minority of: th{!'
pas s a.s;es ; :mainly occurring in the tnili tary sect1Qn+
The:>r include
poisoning of ma.n and b~a5t hnpp 1) 2, 3), k.illing of' .....egetation (mpp
17 and ~J~])" 6topping or maddening horses (mpp 10 .. 18.. and 11), tausing sleeplessness or sleep,. either fOr S(!riOU5 h~ or as a joke {mpp 15a; 16 ~ and lIJ~p) I causing eli:tnin~tion (mp 4J~k},. changing the color
of horses as. a frau.d (mp 11), possibly
so~~ ca6es of' kindling 01"
ql.1enching love (mp 14s) .. and ca.us-ing a. thief' to convict himself (cp I
14h [harmful to the
thief~J)+
The F-rotec1j.iv~ pro~edures include cou.."ltering plague hnpp 3
mg. and h~~i); and protecting from fright (mp 9). :from scorpions (rop 37 (cf. 411g?J), from ~cnception (QP 4~c) or mi~carriage (mp 29)~ from ai~kne~s
lep~y (mp
or veaknesa (mp 21),
specifically~
from eye trouble or epi-
23 a-e [or, to heal one already suffering)) or varicose
~ei~s (4~r
[or is this healing?J).
S~e
of the procedures gave
tning or to control events.
These
poYer~ ~i~her
in~lude;
to achieve SQme-
giving aid/victory in
battle or contests (np ~}, eontrolling unmanageable animals (1 and 13
B.
and
bL
giving easy birt.h (L4c), controlling dreams (4hq).
kindling or q uenc: hi ng l-ov~ Ei
( 4~ s
L.
detel'llli.ni ng of sex cone ei ved ( 24 ~
21 ~ 448., and 45) ~ .and taking advantage of a. horse' s natural divinatory Jlowe:rs (8).
Arri~anus·I
300
s View
The. largest nU.aibil!r of procedures are concerned ".·i th tbe cure
of illnea se-s ~ vound.s, or other phy B1(: a.l problems;
cure
Oi
help t in genera.l (12
So,
1
wounds ~ frae-
b; 21; 44n); eye trouble (23 a. ~ c ~ d t
I!!:; Jabj) ~ g~ne-!'atiol'l" C'onc-!:ption. birth~
etc. (27. 29, 4~ band q; cf.
also ~4c~ above); dy5Ul"'ea (3D (if Afric.Q.."liaoJ); mange>; 'Iltl.:rts, and
maggots (31; 33, 3q; 35); soothing feet of horses (39); bavel problems) actual
po"t~n1;.ial (40. 43);. bleeding,. and .....a ricose veins
01"
(4.lo d and to); andre-storing virginity
(h~o).
2
SUlI!IIlA.r;;'( of Afri-cunul!I' s Knowledge _of Magic
While the preceding studies have lett some items undetermined. several aspec.ts of A!'ric:anus' S JDagica.1. i nt 0 rather clear focus.
proeedur~s
have been brought
The se inc: lude items :r-elated to the a.reas
of ma,gical operation.. the type:a of proced\.U"es prescribed, and a.1.so
the general type of
~1Q&l theo~/vhich
.lies behind the
procedure~
given by Africanus. Areas of Ma.gi c
The a.reas of' human endeavor and CODc:el"n for vhich Af'ricanU6
provides prescript.ions cover
.mtLny
of those
pr~sented
in the-
Vs.riOUB
sources concerned with magic]o vhether tbose makillg charges of magic:lo
lcompare th~5e vitb Bj5rck's list of conditions most susc:ep-
tibl4!!! of attempted magical. 'trea.t.nl.ent: bleeding, VenOIUOUS bitlJ!s, childbirth) and choking (,tApsyrtus 1''' p. 66). All if!xeept the last e.r~
fairly vell represented in Afric8.nus's procedures. ~!lgi9. >" p. 1495 (c 01. 2 ).
g1 ven by Hubert
Cf. also the- list
I
2p11ny refers to s. procedure {using f\Ulles or jet) to detect. attempts to s1mulatl!' viJ"gini ty (y. 36. 1~1).
SUIJmla...-ry of Knowledge
301
or those giving :magical prescriptions.
Magic was JIliainly of concern to the ancient 1t!'ga.l systems only as it involved charges ot· 'harmful acte"
malef'i~ii ~
a.nd/or as t.hey in-
volved 5ubvera.ion of affection,. especially in the erotic realm.
In
other are as of pri vat elite t medi c i tie, agri cult ure , etc., it
gen-
ignor~d fL.:S
erally
b-t!-ing
VB..S
pra.ctical question s not a legal One.
8.
Hs.ming!helping Several of A:fricsnus' v~ll
'be:
ba.sis.
~lass@d
B
proct\dures a.re of the type that could.
as male!'icii if they were practiced on an individWl.l
Most of them, however .. are prescribed 'for military use against
oppos ing armie s; and thus perhaps. can escape that label. clude procedures l .... ::3, lJ., 16-19,. a.nd possibl)r 44.!..
passed oft tLs pr.actictll
Jokes (e.g+~
158. and
~4k
These in-
So-meot-bers are
rand
p?J)~
or har=
only ind.irect-ly, 'by providing an extra (Wl.faiJ:') advantage to (~ ~d
the user
10).
Only another step removed hom this last is the apotropaic f"unction~
helping by &vert1ng
SOl:lle
threatening evil.
Most. of these
are nl.edieal; possible examples of non- or only send-medical apetropa.ic proc:edures are:
the eounter-proced"Url!!! to poison air (mp 3 mg),
and mpp 7" 9 ~ 13a., 29, 31
s
and 44 c and L
Love magic Psellus says "th&t A:f'rieanus kindles l!lIld quenche~ love (mp h4s.~ IX. 1. ~9).
His ~~reren~@ to Atr1c6nua.'e restoring o~ virginity (mp
J,4o) is somev'hat. :reltlit~d to this area) but the D~e.rest examples of th16 type of' procedure are a :few "aphrod.1sia.c" prescriptions in th~
302 ~ragments,
veterinary relatip~
to generation
e.g., mpp 25 and 26. a.~a
{The other prescriptions
birth are medical rather tban erotic
~ro
cedures.)
Medical
(a~dv~terinary)
The
l&rge~t
magic
single type
o~
Africanian procedures is the
~ed
leal one (and .....~thin that, the vet~rinn.ry). :Besides the ..... hole group
of fragC'Jents from the hippiatricfi (most of the procedures from 22 to 1,1) .. there are 6everal in the other tanc es .
receive their reputation by syc:Jpathy or antipathy,.
01"
The se last by
SOlJ:e
may
other
sort of association vith the subJect or the condition to be achieved or removed.
1
Africanu~'s
procedure5 present examples of all these types =
di T'e~t lTJ9.n:i pulat1on--mp:p 6,. :20 { '? }.. 35 ; inc antati on 5-6 ~ l5b ( 1), 42,
ql d and
j ; inscriptions--7
and 37.
The Use or
sp~cial subst~ces
is illustrated in l!Jost of the procedures, including several of those just listed.
Besides these factors, Af.ricfL.11us's procedures also involve
other considerat1ons l such as right/left, time a , and numbers {see the discu9sions of' these areas in the preceding
pages~U11der nChart!lS
Type s of Magi c
Magic is frequently divided into dir@'ct (or impersonal) and lCompa.re the discussion by Hubl!rt (l~~l!lgia., PI pp. 1501 (col. 2)1509 Ceol. 1)). though he presents the items in an order Bomeyhat the TeVerse of this 7 and derives the otbers, in ~sBence, from the sympathetic principle.
indirect (or personal, demonic) types.l
to which this distinction
~ght ~ot apply~
as to the t:ype represented it
9.pp~a!"s
The-re are som~ 81tuations
m.i~bt
2
or in Which a decision
not be possi 01 e ~ but. 1n general t
to be a va.lid d1 stinction
one that. is productive 'When
I!l.nd
applied to the Afrieanian examples.
In the-se
t.~rm9) A.f'ric~us'e
1I!Ia.gical proced'llres are essen-
tiall;Y. if not exclusively,. of" thi!! impersonaJ. type.
"While a fiUJ:)ber
of procedures are ambiguous, of such a nature tha.t they cannot be de-finitely assigned to either
ca.t.~go!'Y,
otherS are clegly of the
impersonal type (eJ1d the very 8m.'biguity tends to f'avo;r personal
int~rpretation
Only
proach seem to be
direct ~ im-
of mO!3t of the others;, if de:monS or other
per sonal beings 'Were i nvo.lved ~ some expl ic i t.. beexpected)~
e.
r~ferenc
e to the-m \rould
in a feY cases does an indirect. personal ap-
presented~ ~d~
as noted in the discus310ns above.
there are questions that arise about each
or
th~se
cases.
Direct magic At the very beginning of Africe.nus' s
I~.e.e:i{:a.lnpa..ssages,
in
lines which torn tht!" pre-lude not oc1y to mp 1, but also to 2 and 3.
~ •g .) Kirby Flower St:!Ii t n,"Magi c (Greek and ROlMn)." p. 279 ~ Hubert ~ ''Magh. ,n p. 1506 (c 01. 2). :2
Either 'because both factors :might be mixed toget.her in a system, or because t.he 61 tuat.ion proved to be even more complex. 'Norbeck. :for example ,.in disc lJ.!3sing tbe- distinetlon of
pa.rti~ul&r
Re-ligion and Magic. suggests that besides the Personal pO'We'r-I:trIpersona! power pair (vit.h the Impersonal approximating the concept of mana), there coUld alSQ be added a concept of Automatic. or Mech~n ICiI,. e-fri~ieney. This concept he regarded as approximating to the concept of cause and eff"ect seQ.uences in science (Religion, pp. 4851). If such a f'urther distinction is Justi:fied~ Africanus's position :lnight be closer to the thl'rd category.
Summary
0r
Knovledge
305
Af"ricanus p!'oPO~iI!:S to irnitB.tl!"! the god5! producing nautomati~ t()rlun~"
by his "arts tt {!,utoms.tos tyche hypo tea hemeteras technes Binetai ~ 2. 59 .. py1l7).
Vi." L
The poisoning pro~edures which follO'W' eonfi1"'l!i
this impression 01' an impersonal .. au'tom8.t1c operation,. not involving
per6ona2~ spiri~ual mediati~n.l In mp 4 t de6pite the reference to sacrifice in the first para.graph! and the ri tua.l burning of the cock skeleton in the second t
the
.ra.t1onf!.1~
presented to!' tho\! operation of the stones ia! in the
one case .. the nature of th~ stone
p.
~25), and in
in
:tDp
6. 28,
(tea
physeos tou lithou, I. 3. 8 ..
the other the cock's "virtue '1 of Hinv1.ncibili'ty'1
1 ho.s a necessity of obedien.;;:e (ananken ecbei Rei tharchitl.s! 1. p. 133).
This could :fi t in to the "pera onal'· type opel"Qti on ,
but 1 t is not spoken to a spiroi t, but vri t:te-rJ in the
8Jl:icl&l1 5 hoof.~
and there is no hint of any other pa.rties to the action than the inscriber and the animal vhose hoof" is1nscribed..
The preceding lines
also refer only to ·'him; n the recalcitrant hor5e, vith the sol~ c:ontrol instrumentality being the inscription.
139:
by th~ us~
Similarly, in mp 10, it
of h1s teeth) (cf" .. also mp 18 {Jl.
~, p.
205):
the wolf' B astragalus to stop a team). Again in
tDp
11" despite an opening
r~f'e:re:nce
to prayer and
saerifi.;;:e, Africanus's procedure is presented as in (:cntrast (and
lEven the counter-action to procedure 3 is presente~. not in terms or .spirits in conflict t but in terms of tUliles counteracting Hpestilential vind'· (pneUlD8), Or rather "corrupted aiTtt (Vi. ~ p. 123 mg).
sUp~rior)
to such
juice (or dust)
t
The procedure presC'nted~ uae of euphorbium
lIIeans,A
18 clearly udir-ect II in ope!"a.tion,. so much
only connection vi th
.ttJ&giC
8, .p. 209) ..
tbat its
is t.be placement of 1 ts identif'icQ.t-ion in
on~ of' the pentagons (pentagon eight ~ L
(II.
20
if" it 1s magical at a.1.1 t
11. 16-20, p. 141}.
1
is 01'
&
Mp 20
simils;r nature.
The active principle ir.. the sle~plesstlesS paragra.phs (mpp 14
and 15) is the
"s~'mpe.theticlr
operation of parts of the: ba.t
(~ 15a;
I. 11. 33-4 3, p. 165») the s\~rounding referen~es to Sle~p beingap-
parently rhetorical embellishments <see the discussio.n or these pas(Note also the mp 23 series ;:23
sages above" Md f'lu"thel',. below). b-eJ:t vhich" even if AfJ"icenian,.
ar~
basically sYlf.;pa.thetic procedures,.
onlY the opening item,. 23a, having any indirect connection.) The ttsympathetic H principle, based on et.ymology or similaritj'
of
6.ppefU"ance~
etc., on an earthly planes n.ot involving
any mediation
through a higber realms appears in mp 21 t pg1.ygonl..Ur. in dog's a.:fterbirth, with the possible .addition of ''male'' or ufemale 1' pla.nts (111.
6, p. 231}; mp 26, milk stone eehene~s
01"
remora (III.
as.
(III.
7,
p. 231); and mp 29, the fish
pp. 231 ~ 233).
Its counterpart, a."1tip-
Qt.by. may be involved in the latter part of mp 36~ the use of asp &)d hemorrho!s as counters to ea.ch other's poison (III. 22. ~-1 s
In passage
~ls
]J.
241).
Africanus attempts to provide a. physical ex-
ple.nation of the procedu:re io "ulceration 'bY the burning lt (III. 3c. p. 255)
6.
and in an earlier p6.ssage~ mp 8; specl.lliL:ted about. such a
s
bas iss. t"he "nature 1
01"
-the ~Jo·e s ,tr for a ho'I'se'
No~e Vieille~ond, Les
pt'obably does not
IDE! a.n
magi c .
5
e.bi Ii ty to se e demons
Cestes,. p. 35q,. n. 112;
p~~sikos here
Su::rone.ry of Knollledge
1
0.8. rrl' P' 137L
In Psel1us's
307
l$umma:~r (trip 4h; IX.
1" pp. 117-;21),.
about ha~f of the items aTe "t:uri08ities" or "paradOX~5,." se-v't!ral of
them similar to items in the Eveo in the
.magical
ite!IJs~
than strictly
Geoponica~ r~ther
m&gic~.
nothing sugge!3ts the use of "sp1:ritual"
int~~diaries.2 Indirect (daemonic) maBie? The various passages in vhich Africanus's n~eted
proced~es
are con-
io One was' or another with spiritual. beings hELve been dis-
cussed above in the section
head~d
"Gods and. DtLelDOns, rf and thus ne~d
only be recap! tu1.ated. and sU!J:I.Il!arized
h~r(!:.
Africanus believed in tbe existence of spiritual
of ..... bom, at
1east~
least~
were evil,. and with somet at.
spirits call.ed daemons (!lip 46/chr It a.rtd mp 8).
being5~
some
of thel$e evil
These same passages
indit::ate that. t.hese beings could (ar ~ in t.he pagt,. had) come into con-
taet ....nth :mankind", but that the resultQ; of those cOhtacts ·"ere evil {in
!lIp
46, 4!til resUlting in the
(1.8. 13~14 ~ p. l37J).
~&tB.cly"sJ!J; in mp
At the same time, the former passage pre-
sents these beings, th~re deseribed as tlangels
Despite these
8 ~ "the threat n
beliefs~ hovever~
7
1 •
as related to ma.gic
there are no examples of the
lEvert the alternative Buggested, B. "vork of the soUiJ 11
{~-
ches e~gon~ lines 16-17)t 15 not necesgarily di£ferent, and he re-
garded it as capable of development by teachiog and craft (lines 17-
IB).
2Unless 'the ref'erenceto incanta.tions (eJ29d{;, line 13~ epe.smasin .. line 32) is held to ne-c,essariljr involve tbat idea i but is an untenable position.
tha~
308 1n·... ol vetnen't
ced'Url!'s.
or
Such b@'ings in the
accomp~1shment
of Afrieanus' spro-
Although such beings are named ratber prominently in a. num.-
b4!r of the passages (mpp 14 a a.nd b, 15b.. 24 t and 1&2),. t.h~ are not called upon in any actual
proeedurepre~ented'by
any directions given to utilize them in asrh~torical Qr
litl!rary embroidery
or
way..
B.ny
Th~ 8.pp~ar
the accounts.
lis.o to IlIP 42 d.espit.e its clear ~haractel" as
B.
I!U"~
Af'rit:anus,. nor
:re.ther
This applies
1Dag1ce.l invocation.
Though Afric8.nus presents i t at. rather great length .. hepresenta n-o
'Programme for puttin.g i t to lIlB.8ical use.
His only surviving
r~fer~
@-nces to it aTe eon.cemed vith its literary and Inanuseript Bncestry.
This leaves only DIP 23a., the invocation and sacl'if'icl!! to
Aphrodite t as a possible &bove~
this
pass~
exe.mpl~
of daemonie magie.
'Butt
QS
noted
is not accepted as of" prove:n a:uthentic:ity by
Bjorck,l and the very reference to Aphrodite and the sacrifice seem out of' charat:te.r with the Afr-icanian outlook toi itself:
point is
it preaents.
5trength~ned
&
8.S
revealed in the
genera.lly "seculal"11 a.pproach.
Ke~-
This
by the tact that this pASsa.gestands essen-
tial.ly alone as an example afdirect .t;1.aeznon1c involveml!'nt in Afri-
canus I S magical :proc eduree;
th~am'bigu.ity',
or lack.
0 f'~vi denc e
tor
it s appearanc I!' ela e1lrh ere weaken s t be- c 80S ~ tor It s appeal"anc e bere. On the other hand, if this passage should be
thereby inerease the likelihood that such be
B@en
authentic~
it doe6 not.
daemoni~ involv~ent
should
in some of tbe other passages above oM invocation of
InApsyrtus /' pp. 15-16. The fa.ctor 'Wlder diseUSB10n may, bowev-er, hav!' influenced Bj5rek t s evaluation here. Exc:ept in oneinstance 1 he provides a rationale only for thOBoe pl!l.esages which he
accepts.
Attitudes toward ProcooUl"es
309
Aphrod.ite would be hard to correlate wit;h AtricB.nus I s Chrlstianrepu-
tat1on,. but it would be. on the surface at least" 1dolatrow;L s not me.gi-cs.l.
1
('What~ver else Psellus ma,y- think OJ:' 8ay
about Africanus]i
he does not charge him v1th that.2') Attitud~s
tovard
Thes~
Procedures
At:dcilllllil'S progrt:lJmi:1e, at least for Kl!:stos
1',
8.S
sketehed in
the 11proem '!'l to 'that book .. is an amalgfl.lll of the utili tarian ~ the eso-
teric" and t'he aesthet1c~
t1
gathering • • • fruitful. belps; (either} j
treatment of ills, or secret a.ceounts, or beautif'ul expl"e.6sions . . . n (1. proenl. 3-~, p. 103). som~t1.IDes
This mixture &pp~ars throUghout his york!,
in incongruous forma:
med1c8.1 prescriptions and military
accounts are decorated with rhetorical flourishes and augmented "With i.dea5 carefullyeearched out or fortunately &t:quired; snd fond ml!'m-
oriea of" marvelous sights are gent!'rol,l.81y Bh&r-~d., or a. "long lost"
(magica.l) passage is presented as an epic prize. But ov~rBN:hing &1.1 this is the pl"o.c:tical intent ~ fr-uittul b~lps." proc~saes,
of a
These
h~l:ps
are
:pres~nted 80S
t1
manifold
natu:ral]i Utechnical rt
~ecular natur~.
Natural Processes
Afrlc&nWi I S gene:ra.l. l!I.ttitude tOl1ud hiE!- procedures 16 Bhown
~a tever
1ts o1"1g1 n 11 it appears to be more (: losely psrBl1~1e-d by the 56.(!:rlfic~s to Poseidon (in the prelude to mp ll) 11 or to the custom&;ry sacrifice of the victorious cock (referred to in JaP ~) t than to the invocation in the ne:k;yom.arrteia. (mp 42). 2
Aphrodite doea appear in Psel1us, but only in the euphemism in the ae: ~ount of the sorgon! on (Vi., IX. 1. .la1-4b, p. 319). Thia reference itself provides a para.llel to A:!'ricanus's "literaryPl' use of pagan religious tercdnology~
3~O
by the tel'llL1nology US ed to describe them ~ .fOrmE
He uses va:r i o'U:s 'te
provides
for some of his magical pl'ocedu.i"ea is also provided for non-magical ones (e.g.!Io I .. 16. 18-20! p. l6l--the attempt to explain why his
"t.hert of Bound" procl!:dure should york). 253), h@ pro1fid~s.
atI.
Furth~:r;; in III.
ue-thie&ln explanation of' the toa.d's avoid!LnJ::e of
the light, and in part VII (Vi., p. 303), he presents eount of' the origin of cinnBJ:tlon.
last
~xplanation
33. 6 (p.
8.
botanical a~-
The only thing that sep·a.ra.testhiEi
from 'the others, yhether lfJElgi c a.1 or non-magi c::al. t is
~ote also the same variation in thl! tipat:ttyu {a.bove}.
U8~ of the teI'm lIo.n_
At.titudes to'llard Procedures
311
t.be fB.ct t.hat. in this inat.fl.r.l.ce he ha.ppens to be correct. Non-religious (Secular) Out.look
Pagan references
Afri.canus makes a number of references to pagan gods or heroes'\l but they are mainly, i:f not entirely. of a lite:t'EL.I":fs not a
religious. nature, sics.
~uch
like those of a modernetudent
o~
t.heclas-
A nUll!iberof thet!J ha.ve be-en discussed above from various "iev-
points, these a.re;
the reference to pra.yer Md sacrifice to Poseidcn
Horse-troubler before !'tI;,ces (to vhich At'ricanus presents mp 11
6,S
a
better alter-nat! ve); the references to Hypnos., as yell as. various
associates., and to legendB.ry flgUl"es (the P'hr'Jgian king and S11anos; another chieftain and a satyr) ill mp 14 a. e.nd b .. and to Night. s H:''Pnos t
Pasithea.
Eros~
Hera. aPd Aphrodite 1nmp 15b; an appeal to t.he mEJ.le
and female gender and use of' corresponding horses by Sun{:FlalD.e ond .Night/Moon inmp 2~; I!lnd, e-speci&1.ly, the l-engthy roll-call of dieties and. P0'l(~l"S from .as.t:lorted baekgrounda iIi the Nekyoma.nt.eia. (mp 42).
There are also references to Pan and a possible reference to Erinya in the context of mp 1 (I. 2. 6]o12~p.1l3.. andline78~'p. 119).
'rhe
references to these figures illustrate especially clearly the literary nature of this, type of reference in Af"ricanus; they are sillIply pe~sonificat.ions
is
alBO
of the corresponding concepts.
Besides
th@s~,
there
the reference to Dionysus a.s giving vine' a.nd 'Wine to no
peoples but the Greeks (I. 19. 17-25 .. p. 173).
VleillefQnd po1nt.s
this out as an eX8m:ple of the pagan inspiration of Afr1canus.
ILea Cestes. p. 51.
1
While
312
this 1s true,. it is jU5t as true that it. is a pagan literary, not pagan
fL.
religious~ re~erence.
Anti-pagan references Some of these 6amepassages, along, with others, contain references vhich in
on4!!
yay
pagan gods and be-liE'lfa.
l
Or
another are actu.ally derogatonr of the
In mp 1, Af'rica:nw:l will 1eimitate these
god.s1~
who are credited ~th gi~ingvictorie6 (I. 2~ 5e-59~ p. 111), and in mp 11 (I. 11. 17, p. 1~1), considers the drug he presents as sharper
"than praye-r ( t
they
0
~y have~
Pose i don" e:peci fi cally), or greater than whatever Th~ refer~nc~
to
th~po~te.
lulling Zeus to sleep (I.
17. l~ p. 163) is nothing that iIJly pagan literary man could not have SElid, but would probably find its closest parallels among the CbristiM 6.pologetirt
ltriter~.
To these E!xalIIples
~
.also be added the
functionalistic explanation of t.he mid'Wife at Di 0 n.Y' sus , s birth, in
1. 29. 15-16 (p. 173).2 Souphiglg book, which Africanus prl~ed~ yas vritten aa .a ··contemner of" the gods t1 {mp 47/chl" 2).
World-vieW' Vecto:r Summery 'While Afr! eanus 11 s
eomplet~
the surviving fragmetfts, I!Lt lel:l.s't
world. vi ev cannot be dt!duc ~d :from
th~
ana.in outline-a
or
those areElS
~ost of the sepas sage s ha.ve been noted aoove und.er the beading uRi "·al.ing the Gods. I't 2Africanus·s challenge to Sleep (mp l~b; 1. 17~ 30-32 1 p. 165)~ as di seuss ed pr~vioua.ly'Ii i sprobably rhetorical pers onif"ic ation . I.f it is held
to
be
r~S~ntat 11ft'!: 0 r
:P1Or~
than this'll it would still be more
8Ybr~6
than r'ep-
!Ion anti-p.agan atti tude. ( If it 1 s such.) th1 B at tit l1de [h:ib:dsJ might be b&E1ed on confidence in the magical procedure. but a procedure relyin8 eolelY on the D:J8.terial involved, not 0.:1 some othel"' spirit) fO'rcontrol of' and def'"entie aga.inst t.h~ on~ Challenged.)
Attitud~5
tovard Procedures
313
vhich border on magic can be sketched.
Spi:ritueJ. realm A~rlcanua
believed in the exiatence of a spiritual realm,
inhabited by at least ..!.. God (the Judaeo-Cbristian God), e.nd 'by lesser spir1 tuaJ, being!;! ~ B.f,Igels (good and bad L, and daemons.
cerned. with good and evi1 (mp46/ chi' l}.
God is co~
Thet'e are numerous refer-
ence-s to other gods, but it is uncertain vhl?ther 'they o.re vielled as
having more tha.n a literaryexistencf!' (fIJld if' so. wha.t their relation to other spiritual entities might be) ~
The evil angels were rela.ted
in some va;,r to 1JIagi c and sorcery s and taught vomen other oc(: u1tarts; from thei:r- liai'Son rlth 'Women, gh.nts nes~
bringing God t
S
v~re
'born, resulting in vicked-
judgment in the flood (ibid.).
It is not indi-
cated if their spirit.s survived and/or if the:r have connection "iiith
the daem:::;.ns. a.c~ord
DaeC'lOns do evil., bowever, and are a danger to
wlth ancient view-I;!, t.hl!!y hElve sOme
crossroads (mp
5pe~ial
IIl;S.p;
in
eonneot1on 'With
8).
P1:li> s i ca.l realm r
Besides the- no!":J:tLEil amount of infor.mation and misinformat.ion about nat.ure ~ animals
~
etc.
~
whioh Afric&nus shared with the &.."'lcieot
llo!'ld, the!'e are I!lspeet.s of his beli4!'f which are especially connected 'With occult or magical &nd antipe..thj.r, sense~
b~lie.fs.
H~
believed in the power of sympathy
though not necl!'ssarily in a.n exclusively magical
this principle vas
vi~\led
by the ancients asoperat1ng in !DB.Tl.Y
area50 (~dicine'l physics s etc.)" and is even utili zed by aafle of the churcb :fathers in explanations Q:f physical. or biologi-cal phenomena..
lLhic-anus's View
314
Insof'ar as rrcontagion'N oan be distinguished frol1J "sYIOpathy .. " Africanu.a
apparently believed in 1 t also:
power CQuld be acquired tr.r certain
atones from the birds in whicn they were found
(or~
had
alr~ady
trans-
mi tted power to them); and the power 01' th~se stones ~ and of other
suOs'ta.."lces. ~ cou1.d in turn be imlHlxted to other beings by binding them
to 'Persons or animals.
Such pover could be .inc:reased by observation
of' ce-rtain appropriate times in their acquisition o.ndlor U$e.
Also,
certain vords {or sounds}~ eitner spoken or vritten, had pOwer to cOmJIel results i'f u.aed in proper ways •
plicit indications
.ar~
At least as 'far aso.ny ex-
concerned. this result
II"e.S
expected to follow
Q..utomatical1y. without int.e-rvent.iotJ of a spirit intel"'I&ediELl"j". Civil and. social aspects
Since the main bOdy or Afriean1an "Cle..terial.s are :military strat-
a,ge:us, and many of the others a.re medical (veterinary or human J in nature, they vould be re-lati vely immune to legaJ. enqui}j'. even .at a.
period
wh~ll
magic might be regarded
not true in Atricanus ' £ day).
ag
Perhaps
actively criminal (vhich was QP~V
in the cases
o~ hQTSe-
thievery (DIp .41) and tampering vith affectionS (mp 44s) might such a charge lie.
.Afr1canus does not appear to be in any disad.... anta.ged
political group, at leastinso/ar as this 'Work (the Kestoi) is concerned.
1
Soeially, o.lso, Africanus does not appea:r to be of
Q
disad-
vantaged status" eo his interest in magio cannot be explained by such a sociological factor.
Not oruy a.re tbe-re the va:-ious persona.l
1Except; perhaps" under Vieille::fond i Ei view of hiIl'l as a. Jew W'ri t ing for Diaspora. J eWE> ii 'but that view is que at i on~bl e .
315
Attitudes toward Procedures re.ferrmees suggesting circulation in the higher eoc:it1l.. ci.rcles" even
hl!l.vine: personal contact vitb the emperor, but the nature of
\oral'
but to sportine; events &150:
the stone froJ:ll cocks (:mp 4), and
the aids for horses swi:ftness (top lO;c:f. also mp h1). 1
reference to para-8ites (putting to sleep:
modere..tely high sociaJ. level. AbO\lt tbe only
of
T'w'o of them are applicable not only
his procedures suggest this tLlso. to
SOlll.e
mp ~4p)
Further, the
would suggest
8.
2
vi~oint
t:r-om ;,;hieh AfriC&nUS ca.n be regarded
as a me:nJ.bei" of a disadvanta.ged or p~rl~ss class {and thus in ne~d of magi cal ai Ii to redl"e s s the balanc e} would be trom that of hi s human conditiQn 1o 3 p010rerless bef'ore the .forces of nature (or supernatlU'e)subject to poor crops1o
diseas~~
generation andhere-dity , etc.
wild beasts t the uncertaintlesof Inthe.Bc Boreas 10 his procedures could
be seen as an attempt to take up aOt!1e' of' the sla.ck in the nebulous
rein5 of
~'s
control of his own tate.
1
Does th.e lat.ter passB8e suggest that he JIloved in circles where making a.vay vith a good horse vas vie'INed more a.s a "dirty tric:k H than. 9. c:rinL4~1
2Thus indicating tha.t he was on a level compatible 'With the hmleiis it is viewed as a. procedure 1'01" embart'l!los:sin@: rivals,
;'hosta lP but there is nothing to suggest tbis).
30r~ possibly, as a. provincialt 8ubs~rvie-nt to Rome. But he seems to have had (or :JI18.de) ad.equate persoIlit:11 compensa.ti.ons fOT any pressures from that Area. {Or was be possibly tL nouveau bOlmle whose relation to the emperor was an ultimate- ~ompensation for ea.rly disadvanta.ge? His r.e-t@'recces to places seen, :r-e:1ation to the court of Abgar" etc:." seem to suggest not.)
CHAPTER IV THE EARLY CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MAGIC Introduction In order to
est~bl1sh
an early Christian background. with vhic:h
to c:.om;pare fLnd a.sse!3s t.he magical ideas in AfricamJ.s t it is nec:essa..ry to COllai del' the na.ture and extent of' the knowledge of t1Iagic. eJld the attitudes toward its among the
'Purpose of the
preQ.~nt
eaT~
Christia.n writers.
That is the
chapter.
In the considera.tion of magic: in the early fa.thers. s the folloving general order of discussion is observed.
The DLajor part is a
consideration of the kno.....ledge of magic: sho'loln by the various individUfl.lly or by groups.
fathers~
This area is introduced by a survey of
their references to :magic" to suggest t.he seneral attitude and i"tLnge
of knowledge of the part i cu.la.r ~ider~tion
"ill' i
ted s ) j, thi 9 i
So
followe d by a
C on-
of any passages in which magic Qr rel&ted areag are dis-
cussed; then follows a consideration of' additional
re~erences
lu.s1ons to items or areas vhic::h a.re probably related to magic:.
and all
Within the discussions, theorde-r of items and the emphaeds Y8.ries
~efe1"enC:l!!s
to pas.sages in the fath@":r's are given in in-t.ext c: 1tl9.t ions . Titles. or Greek works &r~ usually give-n~ and abbrevio.ted ~ in English translation; in the Phoenicians (Disc. l~ p. 1 .. lines b-6).1 All
-ex~ept
the last tl.tO of t.hese have definitl:!
m.agi~al
connotations t
though Tn. t hm, for the m.a:oen t, t rea t s t hem neutrally J s iClpl)r Ii st1ng them
6.5 ~ng the Hillstitutions N (epitede\UIle.) of" the Greeks. Anot.her use of' tee term ,Imagic .. " a.s a simple pejorative ~ is
il.lustra:ted in the Epist.le to Di9AAetua. ori ~ s of
",s.r iOllS
philosophers
9.9
The author s'WnS up 'the the-
to th~ n&t.ure
or
-God (fi re , \ ( 8 .tel'.
etc?) by saying, "But these things are only t·be quackeries and deceits o~ the magiciana M (terateiakai
plane
~angOeton)
(8. 4).
Di sellS s ions of' :magi c and. :related areas
Tw"o writers in this group! Justin and 'Fe.tia.n! discuss ma;;ic (and r~lB.ted.
areas) a:t
sOm~
length.
other related
arl!:8.S
eome in for
less e-xtensiYe c:onsideration by some of the other apologists.
Justin Mfi,l)iC. pra~tices
Justin seems to accept the r ea.1 it)' of" magic and
without question.
relat~d
He even appears to class himself with
those who fonnerly used JIl&gical arts (Apol. ! 14. 2).
accepts its real1 ty! he does not approve of it:
nut ~ t.hough he
its operat.ions, as
lCited according to page and line 01" Eduard Schw'&rlz. ed.! Tatiani.. ora:tio ad Craecos,"IU J~ t pa.rt 1 (1886). The translatiolls of the apologi at Bare ll:lY0Yn.
Early Christian View
330
lIell as its origins, are thorousbly control of
2Den~
de~:mic.
1
Demons attempt to gain
so:metimes 'by ap-pearancef;l in d!"ea.ms ~ sometimes by mae;-
1c::al impostures (dLa. magikon gtrophqn) (llJ. 1); it 1$ de:mons who have put forward various
he-~~tica~
especially Simon and Meno.nder ~ support-
1:og their teaching by great ;marvels 'WOrked by cagle art (:nagH:.e techne) (26. 2,. 4; 56. 1); the devil and his angels work in i1!'lita.tion of miracles.. especially' in Egypt at the time of the E:xodus ('!'ry;oho 69 - 1;
79. h);
and the Magi had been Mheld as spoil ~or the doing of all evil
deeds by the energi '2ing of that demon" (but they revolted froJI:: his do-
main by coming to \l'orship Christ) {jB. 9). did not origin&te with the
del!lOr.Js.~
Strietly
speuing~
magie
-nut ...... i th the fallen angels 'l,jho
fathered. them (Apol. II 5[4J. 2-~) t s.s one of their 1D.ee.ns of -enslaving mankind
{5.
4).2 but the fallowing lines indicate their close connee-
tion--the fallen angels end the demons become tbe goda and their offspring of the poets and l!IYthOlogists
(5. 5)-and
elsewhere Justin does
not ma.int.ain this termicoloe;ic:a.l distinction. 3
lBut in one pa.ssage he does p)"eaent s4!!"\t"~ra.l means of divina-
"tJ.on t al.ong vitb de-moni fI.C s or lIJadne ss t as '\;'i tne s s to the i:on:norta.li ty of the hUIDEUl soul (ApoL I 18. 2-5).
2 Another of their means vas tea~hing man to offer sa~rifi~es~ ine~t1sc t a!:)d libfLtions (5. 4). (Passages in Apology II are t:ited by traditional chfL.pters fQllorlng the manuscript order t but th~ alternate ehapt~:r- r.rumer-ation resulting f"rom Gra~ t S transfer o~ chap. 3 to a. position after chap. 8 :are included after them in 'P-B.rentheses/square brackets at the first reference to each. )
~ote especially Trypho 79t in vhich Old ferring to angels ~ the devil ~ and demons are all angels sinned and revolted; and 85, in 'W'hi~h the empbatically identified as the angels iLnd powers
Test&ment texts reused to sho\l that some demons of' sec. 3 are in sec. lao
Apologists Related areas.
331
Justin does not discuss the theory of
magic~
other than attributing it to the operations or ene,:rgi zings (strophon,. A~ol. I 1~. 1; ener6e1n~
e.g., 26.
2~
4}
I
of spiritual powers.
These
p01lers a.re usually preser.lted as demonic. but in Apologr I 18 10 they ELre apparently the
60uJ.S
of dead men.
He does,. however !to give some :In::for-
Pla-tioD regarding divination in "the passage Just ment10ned t 8.!)d regard-
ing exorcism in tvo
~8ter
passages,. Apology II 6 and TrYPho 85.
The passage r.el!i.ting to divination (-which is introduced as te-s'timony to 'the iJmiOrtali toY" of' the soUl} nBlIle:s its !!Il8.jar divisions ..
which serve as a sort of catalog of its preamels {modified magiketai).iI but this is standard terndnology and reveals nothing
about the actual pTocedures end resUlts. The one minor e:xc:e:ption is in regard to Christ's VJiracle6 'Which th~ opponents a.ssert~d to be phan'ts.si.!D-mf!£iken ~ aecord1ng tQ onE!' paasag~ (T.rypho 69. 1).
Early Christian Yiev
332 In
th~ ~ontinua~ion
a passing, rather
or
his discusaion t
non-commjttal~ r~r~rence
Ju~tin
also
includ~s
to the Sybil and Hystaspes
(JLpol. I 20. 1).
Justin is also awa.re of" va.rious procedures uaed in exorcism. In ApoloftY I I 6( 5 ) t he ref'er g to sue ces El fUl Chr1 st ian exorc is IZ] t
8 i!:Opl~r
in t.he ntJ.me of Jesus Christ t in contra.st to the uns'Uccess·:ful ef:forts
o.f "all the other exor-cist.s and ~nchanters and soreerers tl (eDorki stan
1';;ai epsston ka.t Eharme.keuton) (kool. II 6. 6).
This li.sting is ampli-
fied in Trypho 85 where Justin is a..rguing the 5uperiority of Christ
to Judaisrn. 'but the Jevs'
The Christians exorc15e successfully in his na."ll.e (B5. :2); SUC(:E!$S
is que-st.ionabl~. Exorcism b~t any of' their great
nemes, whether ldngs I righte-ous me.o, -prophets, or patriarchs, vill fa.11; but if anJr of them should exorcise in thi'! n8.ltle of the God of
Abraham t of" Isaac .. and of" Jacob. be might perhaps (isos) succeed. Butt in general~ the Jewish exorcists (epork1stai) use the aame craf't ( te t bne) as the Gentil es vhen they eXQTc1 se 10 employi rig both
f'1,m:U. ga-
tions and. incantations (kai thumi8.IlUJ,.si k~i };;atade5moi5 chr9n:tai) (85. 3). Magic is regarded 'by Justin as .an integral part of pa.gan. reli-
gicm and of' the heresies 1oespeciall;)r since all three are demon inspired tmd empovered.
The ref'erences to magic- in AE"olo5.Y.. I 11.1 are
part o.f the pr~ceding argument against idolatry (chaps. 9-1L}.
connection is f'Urth(!i
~mphasized
This
in ApologY II 5vhere the- f&llen
I!Ltlgels introduce not only 1IIB..gic, but also sac1"if'ice ,.
ln~ens~)
8.nd
11bations ~ in order to subdue the hu:me.n ra.ce to th~.l!lSe1 ve e (5. 1+); fLfid tbey and their- dell10n offspring
ar~
directly identified vith the
Apologists pagan gods (5. 5, 6). demo~s
ward. by
1
333
The variQusheresies result from men put for~
and gaining recognition by magic J even to the extent
of being 'iiOl"shipped, even by the pagans (Apol. I T!:Y;e.ho 120.
26+
1-4;
56.
1. 2;
6). IfPla81c does produce- mighty vorKs , albeit by d.e-
Mi.racles.
monic: power, what is the status of ChriBtian miracles?
and anavers thi.s
qu~st.i()nt di~ec-tly:t
Justin raises
in relation to Christ's workeo.
lLIIid indirectly (and perhaps lDOre
signi t'i c ant l.y ), in regard to con-
temPQrary Chr1 stian act i vi t iii! a •
The quest i.on vas 1"aised. sp@c i fi cll.lly
in Apology I 30, ''what prevents that the one who ia co.lled Christ by us. being a man fr(l!I! menjo did what we ca.l.l his mira.cles by magic art tm.agiki techni,> and appeared from this to be Son of God Of"
He ;reeog-
ni~es that mere assertion 18 inadequate. and propoees a proof
(ten
apodeixin) vhicb he thinks vill appear even to his readers as the
greatest and truest proof, the- so-called
"
proof frQln prophecy u : 2
things ha..ve happened and are happening as f'o:retold. ~ha.pters
elaborate this assertion.
T'he devil hB.s also
feit.in.g tht' things
B.p:paI"~ntly
prediete-d~
prof! t~d from prophecy. cov.nter-
though the very count.erfeiting 1s a
test iltiony to the unde-rly i n.g truth ( s) (Trxpho 69. 1). 1
If'he folloW'iag
The nat ions
Note a.l.so Apol. I 9. I--nalilea and forms of' id.ols; 66. ~--
bread and cup in Mithraic ini tiat10na demonic 1m! t.a.tion of the Eu-
charist; TrYpho 69~ To--var1ou5 ~ablee and the Mithra.ic ~steries d1 abol ic imi tatiorJ.s of prophee i e l; •
~tt!V~:t" the common JIl.od.ern assessment o:f this proof ~ it. vas apparently deci sf "I~ tor Just! rl p~rSOiJW.lly (Trypho 3-8) and be he.re expe-c t 51 it to be bi 8hly regarded even by hi 8 pagan read ers . I t was aleo used extensively by other apologists and later Christ.ian vritera. I
Early Christian View w'-:ill ultimately believe; but as to the Jews who had the propbecies when they vere fUlfilled,. "those seeing the.se tbings bein.g done asser-tedi t to b~ magical a.rt (:E,hantasian magiken)..
to call 'hi:m a :magician (mason) • . . H {69. 1}.
fOT' th~y
even dared
In this passa.ge Jus-
tin simply amplifies his previous ans......e r to the charg~:
the
11
proo f
from prop:he-cy~1 still stSIlds de-spite the counterfeiting, Md is even enbElnced by it.
.AIso!o by
th~
nature and the greatness ofh is 'W'Orks:o
Christ importuned (~QYsopei) tho~e who
Salt
them (69. 6; these- ·..rorks
are presented here &s a fulfillment of' Isaiah pre~eding s~etion).
35:1~7~
quoted in the
But this Uproof" tlpplies a!e;o to the future;
Christ;' S lIorks stand ae a. persuasion to those who will later believe (tous vill
@pt
I!I..lso
auton uisteuein mellontas):
even it ~imed in b~1y .. they
be raised "Up vl101e at the second coming (69. 7).
Justin does not
pr~sent
a discussion Or
def~nse
1
of
Christi~
2 mi rae les (i. e '!o exorc: isms ) ~ rather t he B.Gsumes them aavell knOlrn:> both to pagens and
J~s,
Bnd argue'S :from them for the power of the
name of Jesus and the v ali d1 ty of t'he Chri stl a.n faith {Awl.. II Tmho 85. 1, 2; sce- also II'Jpha 30. 3; 16. 6).
6. 6;
In the tvo cain
l.wbil e hope i 5 not proof, it e an be hi ghly l' e-r s ua.s i ve • Note aJ S,Q,. in cor.mt!!c:tion wi th the D(!rt topi c, that he env i sages the ir l'eatoration as taking place at the !"~surrect1on, not in the present. 2ThOUgh J'll6tin refers to '~ighty vorka (dyg.aIt1e-is) even now being d.one t.hroue;h Hi s name" (TryphO 35. 8) 11 exor~ i ams land the wor ldvide spread of thE: Gospel. e. g., Trypbo lIT. 5; ~21.. 2, 3) are the only 6peci:fic examples he give5~ The reference to healing in !D'Pho 39. 2 is not Jl~cesa;!U"ily an. exception to this since Justin uses this. term in relation t.o !:!~orC'1sms in Apol. II 6. 6. On. the apread of the Gospel. .1\'001. I 50. 9 eOnne ats the givi rJ.g of power to the apost lea. to their being sent and tes.cohing the nations (cf~ a.lso 31. "to pUb-
lish these things").
'1
Apologists refereDce8~
335
he implies that his readers will themselves have been ab1-e
to observe Bueb l and. further contra!;lts the Christiansl'
use of'the name of Jesus,
by the-
Jewish exorcists using
6.
5~
~he
l
t
0 th~
simply
success~
fe.i lure- of the pagan and
various traditional techniques (Apol. 11
6; Trypho 85. 1, 3!1' on which see the discussion a.bove \Utder
"Related Areas'''). .area is not
Justin'sempb.asis on Christian activity in this
a.cc:ideJ)ta2~
it lies at the beart of' his soteriology;
ChristTs c:rat1.&ns vere accused of the whole composite liBt (l. 3~
25.
6). Most COIIm:::.nly these- things
this-worldly &ct1vities
8.r~
mentioned in (:on.I1oect.ion 'Wit.h
(~spec1ally r~cruitment, r~1nforceEent
loya.lty, and seduct 1 on of fQllo'Wers., e .. ,g
T
J
of
1. 13 1-6).. but J in at T
least oce case J Irenaeus also applies the term magic to their othervorldJ.y acts. or te&chings:
Menandert for eXl3.!!lPle t was said to a.ff'inu
that the magic (!!!6ian.) he ta.ught enabled one to overcQIae tl1e angels ~ho
or
made the
wo~ld
(but even t.his
death) (1. 23+ 5).
h~s
Si~ilar ideas
a t.his-worldly goal--evasion
vere represented by the other
grOUp8 ~ though Irenaeu6 uaes, at EIlOst~ the term uinvocation '1
(~pilc.l;5i8) in oeser! bing thee! (e -S..
'!I
Ma.rcus .. l'e prophesying .. 1+ 13.
3i Marcosians. re deliverance from "the judge'1 or various principalities and povers~ 1. 13.
6
CB1mp~r
tade eipoie~J and 1. 21+
5).
I:t"enaeus Theory e.nd praxis Irens.~us
basic ally regards magi c a.s a demoni c a(:t i vi ty .
has a. demonic fwniliu ((laimona
+
+
•
pa.l'edron) (1. 13. 3, ef. also
sees. 4 and 6) .. s-tr'Jd the Simonians and Carpocratian.s operate with t.he "familiars'· and ·'dream-si!nding" spirits Doted above (1.. 23. Ji and
25. 3; SE!e .also 2. 31. 2 ~ 3 fo·r ot.her demonic a5sociations of these two groups).
At the end time, the second bea.st Qf' Revelation (13:11-
17) ",,111 uso do YOliders (si.gna) "by the working of' magic [magic&.
operationeJ
+
•
..
since the demons and apostate spirits are at his
service" (5. 28. 2, A1fF 1; 551). But
Irena~us
thesf! things.
seems to be SQJDelol"hat divided in mind rega.rding
tf'l"hi1e he recogni'lies the: ef'fecti veneSs of Marcus's activit.ies~
propagandiz.ing and seductive
and vhi1e allo\ling the like-
lihood of' delDOnic \tOr-kings, he seems to haye aome re:servat.ions about
the reality of t.hese things.
r-'arcus '·Join[s:! the buffooneries Cpaiggia)
of Anaxi1aus to the ers.ftiness [panourgiaJ of tbe Magi" (1. 13. 1 .. ANF 1: 334); Simon ,. Carpocra.tes, and others "are said to perf'cH."m
miracles" (virtutes operari dicuntur). but they" are "by :Ill8.gi cal
and they
deception a [ntagi ~.!ls ~annot
elUl~ i one s J ~ an d
free from any
d~moQS
m~ans
of
yi th uni ve:rsal deceit .. ,,1
exoept from thOSE! they themselyes
send ~ if' even this much (:2. 31. 2,. see also 3; cf'. also 2. 32. 3 in f'Act they have accomplished 8,r.J:rthing by" magic [per magicamJ
11i 1"
U ).
1AIr? 1: 407 . The charge of fraud and deceit could arise from the fact that tbese are del!Onic .. ra.ther than di....ine J acts t bUt. Irer.Jaeus's ~6J1ing seems to go beyond this to the questioning of the real! t:r of the acts themselves.
350
Early Christian View
In a.dditiQn, tbe effects prod\1ced are illusory (phantasmata; phantasiodos) and trans it ory (stat 1m ce EJsant:5. a ). not real and perm8Ilt!!!nt (~t oe
qu idem at i I I i c~ d,io te.rne.Qr1 B ..ReTseverant la) (:2 • 32. 3 t t.I). The rete-rene!!:s to incantations and. cha~s \lould support tbe
demonic explana.tion of the magic
means,
fI. uch
a,s- drugs ~
~
a~t.s,
'but -the- use also or physical
be impl i ed by' Irenael.:l.s' s use Qf the terms
philtl?:t"s and love pot.ions (?, ~ha.rms?).
or
the two specific pro-
cedures which Ir-ena..eus de-serf bes, one, cha.nging the color of a liquid ..
seems to be checically based {i.e., drugs, Eharmaka)" and Hippolytus, at
lea6t~
explains tbe other t fillies a larger cup from a
5~11eT~
in the game vay (1. 13. 2; ct'. Hipp. Ref. 6.. 35).
-
f1elated ueas Irenaeus does not
di~eU~9
collateral occult areas, but, in
the lines quoted 'from "the elder~'1 ~fa:rcus 1a ac:c\1.sed of observing
portents (teratoskopos). i. e. ~ di v-:ina.ti on, and ast rology (astrQ1 ogi-
kes . • • technes).
This is perhaps a variant manifestation of Mar-
cusls prophetic interests which Irenaeus does elaborate on (1. 13. 3 t 4) •
The Basi1idians are represented
the mathematicians, Le., astrologers ology,?) (1. 211. 7). etc'
lI
a5 following th~ id~&s of
(01"
is it some kind of
m~er~
The speculation concerning the various Haeorls .. It
with the prevalence of the numbers seven and twelve 'Would also
other systemB, but
support astrological interests in the
var1o~B
Irenaeus does not develop this &rea.
Besides this, in the general
description of the heretical
op~r&t1ons
in hi5 second book,
Iren~eu9
351
Irena-ens refers to what is some boYs,.l
{pUI!!:TOS
typ~
or
divinato:cy practice involving "mere
investes} whose sight is deceived by an exhibition of
phantast!Js (ooulos deludentes " . " phantasmata ostendentes) (2. 32'. 3; cf. Hipp. Ret'. ~" 28; a1.ao Justin ApoL 1 18. 3; contrast Tertullian
Apology 23, and £Us. lLE. 7. 10. 4). Magic
6.ll.C
other
religion~
Due to hi Ii pri:ll'.arily polemic:lo rat.her- than iLpologet-ic. pw-
p.?ses ~ Irenaeus "had li.ttle to
a.~'
.about pa.go.n religion.
He thus has
nO occasiOn to conneet it vith matic as do his predecessors and conte~orar1es, exce~t
ror the assertion that Simon Magus vas honored
as a god be cau.s e of hi s act i vi ti e 8 (L 23. 1). assert a strong
tices.
~onnecticn o~
He does.. however ~
magic and heretical beliefs and prac-
In addition~ Marcus is idetJtifie-d 6,G Hthe magician" in cOn-
nection vith bis proph~tic activities (l~ 13. 4) and after the expoaitiQ~ o~ some of his esoterie doctrine {the body of A1ethei~} (1. 14.
3); the ~arcosiB.ns use various "Hebrew" words B.Ild ot.her in...'Ocations
(1. 21. :3 • 5 ~ 6.lso ~ 1 3. 6 h t.'h~ Bas i 1 idians, a.l.ong 'Wi t.h the-i.r magi cal
:pl"ftctices. coin names as if of' the angels (1. 24. 5 L follow the practiees of the uQ.theIDB.tici:ans 1" and na:tll.e their chief Abra.xa.s (1. 2~. 7). Menander~
also, is :said to
r~pr@sent
t.bat by the magic he taught the
ang~lB vho mlI.de the world ~ould be o,vereome (l. 2]-
5).
The hereticB are I'said (dicuntur)11 to perform mil'ac1.es 1
Compare on 'this pn.ssage (and Justin ADO!. I 16. 3) the para11~1 ancient and (relati.... ~ly) modern descriptions of' divination b J• boys in John M. Hull, H~ll~nistie Magic and the Synoptic Tradition St udi I!!: S :1 n Biblical Theology, 2d ser +,. no. 28 (lfapervi11e.. Ill. = Alec R. Allenson" Ir.Jc., 1911:)" pp. 2l-2h ~ eap.21-22.
&:Lrly Christian Vic'!,;'
352
(vi rtutes >.t, but Irl!'nae~s c hall~nges them 8t.I.~ th~i!"
reau.1ts +
Or:J
the basi 51
the 1 r r'~a1. i ty
01'
They are magie8J.. deception and dec~it (magicas
elusiones, @'t universe. fraude) (2. 31. 2)~ error. mislea.ding influence (seductio), magical illusions (magica. phantasia) ~ deceit
i
demonica.1
working (ope1"atiOtH~ demoniaC'a), phantasms of idola.try {phanta.smo.t.~ idolatriae) (2. 31. 3)~ phantasms t.hat instantly cease and do not endure (phantasmata •
{2. 32. 3).
.0
5ta.tim C'essRntia. et
Those who vo rk such things
n
n~ •
&
•
perseverant-in)
strive de'),
5~ 1. 11/81.
L;
These angels ha.d
originally been pa:rtof a gre-ater hiera.rchy .. which still existed,
ordered verticallY]I from. God down to us (Strom. 7. 2/9., 3), e.nd
horiz.onta.lly", 'With various re-gime-nts over ne.tians
~d citi~a,
perhaps, 1ndividutl.ls (6. 11'/151. 5), as well as some being
Si!!'t
&nd.
over
358
Early C1tristian Vielol'
th~ pls..ne-t s
of di ,,'iDe
Theunf'all ~ a.nge Is f'unc t1 on as agents
(5. 6/31. 2).
providence~
having co-operated in the :production of' things
below (ibid.) end, so continue .. bestoving good things on the IIGnostic"
(6. ~ 7/161. 2), being 3aved and saving (i. '1'h~
2/9. 3).
evil spirits liM receive sacrif"ices may be n (Exh • 1/5.
6-V
a.y by his music, curing Sa:ul
J~).
'These spirits also operate in prediction (St.rom. 1. 21/135. 2).
Discussion of related fields
Oracles and divination The abiding hum.an interest in 'the future finds
and unofficial outlets t and Clement ...... ~E of t.n~.
In Strom&teis 1
a~are
(16/7h. 2-5)t he
Ta.tian r Ii already lIIentioned:
~a.ny
of'f"icia..l
of a very large variety
gave the list similar to
astrology (credited to the Egyptians or
to the Chaldeans). folloved by prognostication by the stars {from the Carians), then attention to the flights of' bird5~ haruspicy, &ugury~ and d1 vination b)r dreams (each derived f'rotn some barbarian nation or
tlle otber).
In the second chapter of the Exhortation; he lists the
C~e~en~
359
of Alexandria
noted pagan (mainly Greek) oracles (man1;eia; ch:r;st~:ria.l of various types and places,
1
f'ollOloted by other more individual varieties ~
e!!X-
pounders of prodigies, augurs" dream interpre'ters (teratoskopoi,
oionoskQw1 .. oneil'on kritai) ~ as well by
a9,
those divining bj' flour or
barley {.aleuromWlteis, krithomanteis)" the ventriloquists (engastri-
nJYthOUS) yet honored by many; 2 be;l;1.des the secret shrines (ad.yt.a) of the:
Egyjl:tians, and the- Etruscan Elec:romancie~s (nekyoJIl.6.nteiai) (11. 1-2). Thes~
are all insane devices (manika; the second 'Use of this sam(!
paronom&sia In the passage) .. but they reach their ~l!max (or antl-
cllmax) in the us e
0
f goats and crows (11. 3; t.he .lat.t~r ~ along vi th
the ja.ckdaw, is a.lso ridicuJ.ed in Exh. This situa.tion results from
8;
~O/104.
2).
sup~1"stitious drel'J.d of" "ira.scible-"
(euorgetous) gods that causes l!:Ien to 1;JIlS.gine all events as signs and.
causes (se!lleia . . • kai • • • ait.ia) of e"il (Strol:l. 1. 4/214+ 1,. A.NF 2: 529) .
But it is not only the igno:rant who observe such things.
CleJJ'..ent can present a long list of Gr-eek. philosophers. and thei:r decessors t who were invol....e,d in divInation.
pr~-
Jlotevorthy SJ!long them
B.r~
Fjo1:.hagoras, ""he- t1fLlwa.y3 applied his mind to prognostication,·t Zoroaster the Mede ,. Empedocles 01" AgrigefltUl!l,. and Sotrll.ti?s with his inner
l:Besides 'these he also knows, apparerl'tly 1"rom. Plutarch Caesar 19 (c:ited by StRhlin, Clemens,. 2:146, notes on lines 1~1~}~ that among the Germans ~hirloools and eddies and the noises or streams ~ere observed to predict-the f'uture (Strom. 1. 15/72. 3); and, from Aristo'c1e Pol i ty of the Phocians (now lost),. that ExecestuB" the F'hocian tyrant, wor~ tvo enchanted rings and judged propitious times by the sounds the:,.' mad.e g,gainst ~.ach other ~ but .. despite their ws.l"[']ing~ vas Dlurd.ered by treachery (Strom. L 21/133. 4) + 2As not ed above., idle women sac-ririe eo Mtl practi c:e di vin6 t i or. &.>1d ~onsortW'lth fortune tellers (,Myrtai} l!lnd goetes~ f'ro:m the 1a.tter -of whom they learn charms and incantations (phil trs. • . . kai t!'oodas) (~.
3. 1,/28. 3L
Early Christisn
360 voice-; Aristotle 1l
bov~ve-r
t
appar~mt1y
Vi~~
ha..d, :reservations about such
. 1 things (Strom. 1. 21/133. l-~ J !ill[ 2: 330).
These pt'e-dict1ons are produced by various means.
TheY' come
··to%' the most part t'rOll:i observations and pro'babill ty) just as physiclans and sootbsa;rers Judge from natural edgns 11" but others ~ome f'ro~
demons .. or from disturbances by water t or
tum.oQ's
or e.ome sort
or
air
21/135. 2, ANF 2': 331; all thi 5 inc ont l"tLs t to "t he: Hebrew
(St.%"01II.. L
prophets vho were moved solely by' th~power and inspiration of God); other pr~~titioners judge people by their Coreheads (meto~oskopOg) (Paed~
3. 3/1;. 2). The Sibyl(s) again receive spe two express its theory" and a fev suggest its 1nfl uenc e
~
at le est rhetori cal t on Chri s t ian thought.
While astrology
and magic are sometimes opposed in modern theoretical
d1seussions~
Clement preaents astrology as closely related in places of origin end in 'theory t.o the tradit.ional vievs of magic. Wit.h such a not.eworthy art t various cla.ims as to the D.onor of its origina.tion a.re- to be-
e~ected,
and Clement obliges us.
In One
passage . . app.tl.rently of compound origin, he attributes: "astrology" to
the Eg:)'"ptians, and "similarly also tbe ChaldeaD3 t
PI
while some said
"prognost.ica.tion by the st.ars" va.a invented by tbe Carians {Strom. l.
16/7L. 3). events
\f&S
But o'bs.:!r,,-at.ion 01· t.he heavenly bodies to predi~t. fut.ure: a.lso p:raetic~d by the: Indian holy met]. (3. 7/60. 4).1
wha.tever its or1.gins, it he..s been thoroughly takrm
O"Ve!"
Eut,
by the Greeks y
they "prat.teJ loftily of thE!' heavenly bodies in the PJUch v,e:u.ntE':d scienCe of' a.strolQgY' ~ not astronomy"
(!!h. 6/67.
2 .A!fF 2: 191 L and boast.
of astrology; mathematics, lllagic . . and sorcery ~ as the grea.test sciences (megistais episteroais)( Strom. 2. 1/2+ 3}.
As to du~~s
~
it 'Works" the mechanism is sympe..tby.
tvo philosophers, one in the
~inomi5
who knev
Plato introth~
course of
1!ll.1 gen eration. vhf ch oec urs by the i nstTUmentali ty- of the planet e. ~ and 1
One Qr both of the flTst two claimants are supported by other refe-renees if] Clement; thE': Chaldeans and the Egyptiana t Strom. 1. 23/153. 3; th~ Egyptians t 6. 4/35. 4.
F~rly
362 another ~ Timaeu,5 ~ who
11
Christian Viev
as an astronomer ~ Jr.new the motion ot'
th~
stare
B.T1d their 6j'1!1pathy and association (sxp;!.Eatheias tekai koinoni.a$) vi th
one' another (St rom. 1.
and
aff~cts earth~y
25/166? 1).
Thi s "sympat.hyu a1 sO ext. ends to
thingg, as Clement asserts in suggesting
th~
sy.m-
bolisJII of "the n'l.lIllbe!'" seven (while discussing "the fourth commandment). According to the mathema.t1cians, the planets a.re seven ~ and
t h~ ChaJ. deett$ thi nk
I'
all which cone erns mortal. 1 i f'e is ef'f'ect ed
through sympathYt in consequence of which things :r-esj)ecting the future II {Strom.
Magi~
b:." them
th~y
also undertake to tell
6. 16/143. 1,. ANF 2~ 513).1
and religion
In the openins chapter or the
E~hortation;
Cleoent presents
the pagan religions as intl"oduced.. a.."1d propagated by the poets:; poets famed in stOrtI and song f'or the magical povers of their musiC' (1/1.
1-2. 1}:o men possessed by a spirit of artfUl sorcery (entechnQ tini
goete i 11 daiClonon te-S ):t anti c:ing manki n d to i dols ~ 5 ubj e-c t ing them to the yoke by their songs .and incantations (~da.ii3k.ai eROda.is) (3. 1).
In
chapte~ t~o:t
the official religious oracles are indistinguisbable
~rom the popular ones
(2/11. 1-3}t and the ~steries contain hidden
sorcery (goete:la; 12. 1) and are .full of deceptive 'Wonders
kai terateias; lL. 1). the
f'ig~rative
sense or
{apates
While goeteia is quite probably used here in tri~ke~' O~ ~raud:t th~
vhole
r~int
is that
these beings .and their arts are less than divine t and there is something strange about their b4!'ing 'Worshipped. t~r tYa (esp. sees. 24-39)
is devoted to the demonstration of this
lOn uSYI!lPathy. I' compare tbe
cine .. tt belovo
Most of' the rest of chap-
di5cu~sion of "j3iolQGY and Medi-
Clement of Al.exandr fa
point in st.and.ard apologe'tic patterns.
The concluding sections of thE!
chapter turn to those asserted to be in second rank to the gods, t.he
These are gluttonous and impure
dem·ons.
any con.;::ern for man, it is: b:e-cs,use
u like
our Ii ve-li hood, tLllured by the SlEIOke n
(
(~O.
l} t and if" they have
flatterl!"}-s, they approach
q.l. 3).
Chapter three develops
thisrurther;, ell3Phas!z1n.g t'hat sup~:rstition (deie:id.aj,monia), prl!!.ached by men led asotra;)r by demons; became the source of'
wi~kedness
and re-
sulted in the multiplitationof demons (3/4~. 1-3). The Magi, tbeeponym,s of: magic, whM the Greeks
as their
Ol.l'l)
---
teo.cherl> in many areas (Exh. 5/65. 4; etc . . ) .. were originallY a r.e-ligious group .. but now employ their
Cba-l"lQ5
to enslaye
servants (~. lJ/58. 3) .. or use 1ncante.tions
hail (StrQJI!.. 6. 3/31. 2).
demons
as t.heir
and sa~rifices
to avert
Astrology- is of a piece 'Ilitb &11 these.
cons idering the un!verse, or the st~s t as gods (Exh. 6/61. 1 ,. 2).
Having originated with the Egyptians (or the ChtLld(!'ans) (Strotll+ 1.
16/74.
2}t it continues to hold a place in their worship (Strom.
6.
4/35. 4). '!'he idle vomen in Paedagogus 3. 11 are pictured vithout. distin~tionas
sacrificing and pr&cticin,g divination from
templ~
to
temple', and spending time with fortune tellers and learning .;::harms
and int:antQtionfi (for immora.l purposes) from soothsfl.yers (3. 4/28. 3). It makes no d1:tfe'!"ence whether the spirit.s tovhom s.acrificea a.re offered to avert evils are called gods or angels (Strom. 6. 3/31. 4; and a fev lines earlier they 'Were identified as demons or evil
31. 1).
a.nge18~
Further, "Buperst1tiouLi drea.d of those irascible [gods.J It
leads to these other a,upel'stitiouEl attitudes and acts:
a constant
Early Christian View
364
looking out :f'o:l' signs .and portent5) dread of inscriptions, and fear of &11. sorts of' things (vool,aa1t lumps, torche!;l:t squi1115, 1!lDd. Bulphur) "be'llitched by sorcerers ~ in certair.J impUT@ rite-s of ~xpiB.tion'l (Strom. 7. 4/2~. 1; 26. 1 ~ 2',. 4;
l!m:.
2 ~ 529).
Cl~!!'nt further illu.s-
trates thig vith linee fro!!! a comic poet ll Diphilus 'Who repeats the lo
last three items of' the list,. and also adds asphalt (26. 4, St. 10-18).
3~19.
Apparently such purifications were required by religious
scruples~ but
were perrormed by
sorce~~rs (goetes,.
Stl'om. 7. ~/26.
ThU6 J while he does not discuss it I!!xplieitly, it is quite: ~lett
frOll1 these items that Clement se,es r..O line of division bet'Ween
the ~gan religious. and magical p~actices.
(On the othe-r band ll coa-
trary to Irecaeus's views, he seems to regard the heretical sects as deviB.ting mainly in intel1.ectua1 and ethical in rna,gic ~
1
view~,
not as engaging
)
Indirectly related areas Clement includes allusions to or
dis~usaions
of other !l.reas,
Which, though not directly magical. manifest. a sow:Iewhat analogous &t~itud~1
Afric.anus ~
or
~e
related to items
o~ eigni~icance
for the
5tu~'of
The -types ofi tems V1U"Y from specimens of actual lIlisinfor-
ID&tio'Q or .Bupera.tition to what 15 simpl;:rpoor1y understood na:tura.l
.science, and. range from natill"al history to medica.l
to music.
(H. E. 2. 15 ~ 1) the ~rt ingui shing of along yith hi~, possiblY ~rom Clement's !!.ypotypos~s, book 6 (St. 3: 197. 32-198. :2); but. tbis episode probably belongs to the conclusion of H.E. 2. It" the story from Clement being only tbat i::once:r-ning the writing or the gospel of Mark. Simor. seems to 'be of no conce-m .at 8.ll to Cleme-nt. lEusebius does
Simon's power 6nd its
r~port
pl"!lctic~
d~struet1on!
365
Cletnent of Alexandria
Thl!' nlisunderstfLr.ldings,
bo'll~ve!',
could
l~ave
one
OP(!tl
to thee & K. 1 ~ ~2. 14-11).
This is a very deep and Bubtle l!ItLtt.er
(prap;mateia. bathytat.e ka1 anakechorekuis., Rxh .t-!ar. b6 ~ K. 1: 42
£
lO-ll;
in~. 1. 24 it is logo? b~thys ks.; s.Dorrheto5~ K~ 1:74. 11).
1 Though i.ncantations are t'r~qllently . ref'erre d to by Ori gerJ, namt!'s see:m to be the potent ~lements in them. 2compare also his distinction betveen belieV'ing in Jt!'S'Ils" nSJUe and believing in Jeaus ~ snd their results in Co:mnentaq on John (10.
44/[28J.
301~ 310~ 31~).
318
Early Chri stian Vit:!....~
Incantations. repor-ted.
In tlle use of inc.fI..ntations lo the
6~
result is
They are of' f'orce (energesai) only in their p1"op~r la.ngu.e.ge-s t
and are .. ine-ff'icac:iou6 and feeble (atonon k.ai ouden d:mam.~ninJ" if t!"ans-
1ated.
thus it is t:lot the thing said but
ties of vords Chai
to~ ~honon
Itth~
pgiotetes kai
qualities and pecul1a..:ri-
idiot;tes~whieh posses~
certain power" (c. C. 1. 25! ANF' 4: 2107 5 K. 1 =161' 16-22).1
a
Origen re-
ports 'this as from utbose who are 5killed in the use of inca.ntations [hoi . ill
epodon deiJi:oi J" but does not r;oeem to question its va1idi t~r
its. oWD realm, though he den i e!;l that Cnr i sti B.nS are inval.... ed in
these areas (ibid., lines 16-17), Christians are so far :from this, that, eontrary to Celsus ' s charges (e.g~,. c~c~ 6. 32~ Lo; T. 40), the::.' do cot even use the precise Scriptural names of God.. God hears them all 3-~3
-- those
2
(e.c. 8. 3r,
& ed. Johannes Qu,as'ten and Joseph C. Plum..pe", DO. 19 [Westminster Md.: The NeVll!laJl Press So 19511., London = Longmans .. Green and Co. t 195q J So p. 36), though these expressions probo.bly refer only to the grand benef:1c1~nt ordeTing oral! thine;s ~ not to individual influences by .~ympathy or whatever. Further, does .~ w
:t
•
Early Christian View
390
{Theoph11us Alex. Ep •.Synod~ £..2; cited in 1(, 5=259, at De pr,
3. 3. 3Ll Origen does attribute significance (direct OT indirect) to tvo possibly astrological itf!blS, establishing
th~
on an ecpiTice..l
Comets (such as the "star" at Jesus' birth~ C.C. 1.
basis.
to appear .. a.s
obs~rva.t;ion
shows, at til!les of gr@'at ee.rt.hly changes ~
signifying either ba.d or good things
(c.c.
1. 59 .. K. 1=110. 3-16),
On a more mundane level ~ nlunacj.r:' as phy::;icians a.ttest by
cUBsions. is eonnected to the moon. ~ver,
the
Contra~
a..""i
b~t
sympathy
irnpUl"'e sp i:r i t 'W"hi eh obs erve s th~ phas ~s
and varies his influence
moo~
their dis-
to their theories .. hoy-
it 1.5 not caused by moist. humouxs in the head moved
'Wi th the moon. but by
58) tend
accordingly~
to mislead men.
0f
If
tbis 15 so, then vhy not other spirits operating in phase vith the
other sta.rs?
So"
It is 't."Qrtb llhile ~ then. to listen to the oks, 1967),. p:p. 52 and 338) • EYst~s from
Early Christian View
Astrology itself l'eceiv~s I;lpecial e:ttention .from. Hippolytus, 1 inc:=ludingseveraJ.
magic.
2
ri!"fe~ences
connectiog its practice with
According to Hippol:rtus, the Peratics1!
their doetrineB from it, their as their eosmogony/coBmology thetic principle
"as a.bov~,
sO
especlally~
anthropo~ogy ~~d
being 'based
belo'W'"
On
b~lie:f
50teriologj'
in
derived a~
variations of the-
well Byt!!pa-
(ReX, 5. 13.. 17 [8 ~ 12)).3
Alt@rnate views as magic Probably a.t lea.st partially due to the nature of his survh"i.ng ~"Prk5~ lHppolytus
does. not. connect paga.n religion and magic as do his
fellow Christian w:rite::rs.
As noted above {uGeneral Referenc\!'s to
Magic," &nd "Spirits t1 ) , he does~ however., drs-OW" a direct cO:rJ.neetion be-
tlJrE!en many of the
h~resie5
a.nd ma.gic:=.
h
This in turn is related to e.
contam.ination or eVen Creek philoso!Jhy by it.
Many of
th~se
philosoph-
ers, in t.urn:to had (oceult,c) ~ligious roots (note, e. g .• , ~. 1. 2., on Pythagoras) •
lEe.peciallY in book four where i.t dominates the first tventyseve-n ~ hapt.ers and appears aga.i n in chaps. 46-50 . 29
~ef. 6. 39 C3bJ ~ with 55 [50J-·Marcus; 9. 14 [9J J and 10. [25]-':Eiohasai te-s (cf" . .al.50 1. ll--Democritu,l;l,).
3The pover of I;l,ympatr"y is suppo:rte-d. by the analogies or naphtha "d:ra......1ngU fire So and of magnetism and static electricity ~ in 5. 17 [12J (the- magnet &ttr~~tB iron aJ.one; tbe backbone of" 6. se& fa.lc:on ~ gold alone; and chaff is moved by amber). This latt~r triad was also us~d by the Naaaenes {5. 9 r~J and the Sethians (5. 21 (16J) in e'xplaining tbe nm~~hanicsl't of the-ir Boteriologies. (Naphtha (Indian naphtha:! appears aga.in in 1e 25 [13J in Basilides' illustration of th~ natu.r@ of the Son of the Great Arc:hon.l 4Besides the rfd'erences tbere:to note
a1soR~:r.
the Great Archon of Basilides is Abrasax; 7+27 Jesus 'Was instr-ucted 'by sages in Egj."]Jt..
1+ 26 [14),.
(15J~ Basilid~s
says
401
Hippo l.yt US
While Hippolytus took a critical a.ttitude tovard ma.ny of t.he
''magical'' displays: o:f the heretics!i he apparent.ly cou.ld not explain them all; and he
\laS,
aft!!!" BolL" still a participant in the culture
and beliefs of' his times.
H~
thus accepted the possibility of de-monic!!
as ve11 as di'Vine .. W"orkingf>.
This ambiguity is visible in other areas also. While fested. e. faiT smo1,U1t of at least l.iterary t empirical
h~
knO'lll~dge
mnniof
"scientific" ma.tters (Ref'. 4), he ~ou1d e..lso retail animal lore such
as thoBe con.cerning the dee-r and the bird!i "'cemphuli, Pf in his Cocmnentarv on Proverbs (1: 22; AlW 5:113).
Also, while ridiculing the
numeric&l f&ntasies of Pythagoreans and Marcosians 2 and the astronom-
ieal
or
labo~s
such as Archimedes .. he seems to correct the latte1"'s
figUl"es on e. Platonic b~is, because 'tThat . . . they should not be in harmony and sYlD]lhony • • • this 11:' inrpossible" (~. 4. lO .. ANF 5 ~29; vith his ovn calc\lJ.ations in. t.he next chtLpter)..
It may be that tbis
i san ad hom! ne1n argum.ent) pitt fog philosopher against philosopher (un-
less it. is
&
e:ounte-r-presente.tion of Ptolemy's view; ptolem;y
s.ppe~s
sudc1e:nly" previously unannounced, in chap. 12)!! but Hippolytus mani-
1 fests a similar sort of number myat1cisI!I elsewhere. lIn his discussion of Christ'a birth, he conclud~d that it must have been in the year 5500, for t.he dimensions of the ark of the C OVen6Jlt add up to 5 1/2 cubi t.s; f'u:rther, the end wlll e ome at 6000 .. the Bixtb day (On Daniel frag. 2. 5 and 6; cf. also 2. 1I C.AHF 5 :119) +
Early Christian View
402
Latin
Polemic~6t6
SY8temati~ers
and
Tertullian Tertulli6.n'
6
viev of JZIagic i:8 t!lUc'h like Origen· s:
there is
6.
certain real i ty to magi c ~ yet it is a. fr a.ud; 'but this 1 s a de:moni c :fra.ud upon mankind (including the ltItlgicians t etc:.) .. not human fraud.
The demons operate by various dell,lsh e means to turn men frO'lll God. p
Introduction Tertu11ian
mak~s
reference ton brQad range of magical cate-
gories and relo.ted. areas ~ viewing them all as bad.
Agtra~oge:r and.
soothsayer (haruspice~) and .augur and magus are all eqUAlly consulted
regal"ding Ca.esa.:r's life]o l!L."'ld all equally involve a.rts originated angels who sinned
(a~ange1is
things l!'l.re perversions;
desertQTibus}
'by
(ApolQSJ~ 35. 12).1 These
tho-u.gh God ci"iI!!6:ted such t.hings asiroo,
herbs, and demons (ange1i) .. He is not rerrponsible :for their use in znurd.er by iron ~ poison., or magical enchantment (ferro d~uinctionibu!3) (D~s'pec.
1
\~e!1e!10,
magicis
2. 8; Bee also De pud~ 5. 11 for further
references to murder by pQisone-rs and magicians,.. uene.nQ.l"ii • • • Dl6.p;i)
Di5~uss!ons
of ma.gic
Origin and
op~rations
p
Magic originated from fa.llen s.nge1e . . . h o taught various occult
1The Latin text bas usually been given from 9Hinti S~£timi Florentis Tertull1ani Opera 7 Corpus Christi&norum~ Series Latina~ vcls. 1 and 2', 2 vols. (ifurnhout: 'I'ypographi E:repols Edit-ores PontificU 11954) 'lo but the traditional d1viaions of Terttlllian t s texts are- short enough that ~ore precise reference has not b~~n deemed ne~essarJ in most cases. {~~ere needed]o cited as CCSL 10 with ~olume, page~ ~ld line numbers. )
~03
'rert ullian
arts (meta..llorwn 0:e:.era. • . et herbarum
in,g,~nia .
. . tot inCfLnta.tionum
uires • • • e.t...Q.mnem curi9sitatt~ ~Q..ue ad st.e1.larlllIJ. interpretationem,
CCSL 1 =344. 6-9} to 'WOmen origin. ,eM
As spirits., they do not ha·...e bodies of' such a nature tha.t they directly affect. men phys1call.y (AWl. 22. 5 and 6; et. Adv. }.'.arc.
3. B. h;. not.e also Tenull ian •s simi lar view {) f the soul:> Re!3. mort. 17. 2 ; Adv,. Prax.. 7. 8) c f. De an ima 5. 5, th~ :soul
Ir
sympa:tb i
') 1 but they can,. and do .. viththe body [passion1.U'!l communioneJ., diEiIl!!a.s~s &D.d
46.
12;
47.
Zf-S Jt
~8.U8e
distresses (Ap,ol. 22. ~-6), ar.Jd I!!Ost drefIJD5 (De anima
l~ ARol. 23. 1).
All spirits~ angels or daemons t are
'W'ing,ed and thus can be everywbe re in a =nomen t
(over e..llearth or up
to the hee,vem;:)t and thus are tlbll!' 'toa.weal" to divin~ (Af'!?l. 22.
8
Further) theY ca-use diseases so they can then appea.r to re-
and 10).
Ii evt!' them miraculously, by "new or con-traTJ' remedies" ( 22 .11),. and
they :perform the vario'Ul;i otber decePtive, mtl.gic6-1 a.cts llioted above (22. 12 ~ 23. 1).
In the case of Pj"thagoras· s recognition of Euphor-
bus's shield, Tertullian suggests various natural "Ways Pythagoras could ne.ve ga1r.Jed the necessary knowledge, but then goes on to gbre a
magical explanation (Scimus etiam roagiae licer~exp1orandis oeculti~ CCSL 2; 825. 48) which he seems to pr e:f'e:r .
There ue vaX' i ous type-s
0
r
spirits ~ catabolir:os and paredros and m.honicos; perhaps the sue daemon lih1 c h ha.d be en :in Euphorbus inhs.bi t ed Pythagortls (De ani.m.a 28. S). It is" however, only e. question of the level of
Bucb
oper~tions"
1
th~
frl!l..ud ~ all
explicitly magical or otherYise, are simply deception
On the oth~r hand,. angels ho.vethe form temporarily (De carne Chr. 6. 9 ~ lO}.
pow~:r-
of assuming 'bodily
Early Christian
406
by t.he spi:r-it.s {D~ anil'flB.. 51 .. 2}.1
~ie~
The various categories of spirits
invoked s whetb.e:rahori or biaeotbanati (51. 2 and 3} t vbether appearing as decea.sed relatives, gladia.tors,. bestill.rii, or even proph@'ts {s.ec s. 1 and (falla.ci~/-ae; sees.
81, are a.ll
2 and 6).
god:9(~ec. 5)~
or
f allf1..CY. impt:lst.ure s of daemons
But their true nature is
re:v~aled in
conflict. vi th the ChriE;tla.ns ;W'hen exorcised they Confess t.hat
the~r
.are daemons (Apo1- 23. 4).. even though they had previously pr~sented
themsel V(!s; as deceased 1"elat.ivee, etc. (De anima. 57. 5). do vhen invo.ked is what they
thl!!nlS~lves
What they
do or desire t.o do na:tut'al.ly
Incantations .. etc. Tertullian does not
gen developed.
2'
h!lv~
a theory of' incantation such
1l;J bis> discussion he simply
relating to this area..;
~J:;le5
8,S
Ori-
various common terJt.9
incanta.tionum, incsntatore:s (De cultu fem. 1.
2. 1; De idoL 9. T), f!'voeaturam~ _1nvocM'tur (Dtt anilIL8.
51. 2 s 3).
edunt. ~ invi tatorum (A:E0l. 23. 1; c:f'. De anima 57. 2, in\ritatoria oper~--
a).
tione), and de"l"iTlction1'bus (De spec:. 2.
In those
CQ,S@S ....h~re
the
context. :J:rAkes the action ly to be connected vi th eure of
disease in general:> and not specifically with exorcism.)
Miracle~
and prbphecy
Tertu11ian l"ega..rds 'the power to heal
&5
tty of Christianity (be91des the reference9 to also Scorp. 1. 3" ~; Ad Scap~ 4.
a proof of" the va.1idexorci51!1~
above, see
5-, cf'. also De or. 29. 2
'Ii
3).
He
also :reports cl!'rtain :marvels. in support of his vie'Ws abou.t the nature
of' the sOUl (De anim~ 51. objeeti vl!'ly.
6,. 7}, but he views these tbings someWhat
I! nllraele-s aril! not
fl
suf.ticient proof for Marcion' 8
Christ (Adv. Marc. ]. 3. 1) .. and .. as a.lready
ShOV11,
various apparitions
and vonders do not prove the truth of the magi cians,then holdE;!. true :for Christianity.
th~
same
wr.dle signs may be useful in argw:nent,
they cannot control our vie'" of nature (~!..~i,QfID~·.::.1~s_~ • .....:=.... .• .....:=.....LJ~n~a.!!.:t~ur~am::::: . =--=f":.,:B..:=c;=e:.:,.r.=..e non .E-ossunt: l'e anima 51. 8), and even Christ's deeds needed the port.
0
r- pr0.phe ~y
passim).
2
ij,UP-
to c:ont.i 1'1:1 them (Ad V'. M&l"c. 3. 3. 1 ~ and bk. 4,
Even beyond 'this., mi.r&cl~s are overshadowea by the teaching
1,7i th vhic hthey are conne cted., the-
S 6.1vat 1 on
of mankind (Ad v . MarC'.
4.1.13; cf. a.lso 4.8. 5). I La tel' in the chapt er,. Tertullian report ed a prophecy 0 f ?rises. furt.her exalting the pcn"er of purity" though there the result va.s visions and other revelations (DiI:! eXh.• cast. 10. 5). 2 In general t Tertul11,an use6 the IFproot from prophecyn 1IIUch th!Ul hia Greek predecessors" using it EJl.a.inly against the JeW's a.nd Marcion in his apQlogies .against them (Adv + Jud. and Adv. Marc.). There is limited utie of it. in Apol. 18-21. l~ss
Ea~ly Chri5ti~n
418
View
Minor Latin Writers Minuciu9 Felix
The Octavius
or
M1nucius
Feli:x~
rathl!'r nElturally., do!!'s not
breadth of references to magic as do the writings
include the
S~e
Tertu11ian~
but such rererences aa do occur in Minucius agree
o~
ba~icEllly
wi th the vi~vs of Tenull:i an .
The actual
GUCce~ses
of auspices and auguries or oracles are
26. 1-7);
not due to chance
C~.
lJpirits,
de~aded
from hea.venly
{26. 8);
the~e
their vonders
rather~ in5inc~re
vigor~
the.m:p
1
The Magi work
t.hou.gh Hostanest th€! first of 'the-
Beribed the true God and angels and ~ande~ing,
sl!'i!:!k also to de-grade others
a.re th~ daemons or the poets (20. 9).
by
and vandering
~a1d
the daemons
M8.gi~
de-
~ere earthly~
and hostile to ~ankind (26. lQ-ll)t a~ Plato also spoke of
fingels and daemons (26. 12).
Thes~
daemons vork through
ro~ks~
en-
trails ~ etc. (27. l):p and produc~ disease and. other evils that they
may a,?pear to cure the:t:l when they release those a.1·flic:ted (27. 2).
They produce other marvels .. such as apPi!:!a.rances of the Cast.ors on hor5es~
(27.
and pullinB a ship by a woman's girdle,
4~ al~o
chap. 7).
Not only are these
~d
~vents
other vonders
connected in one vay
or anothe.r ilith the pagan religions (as are the del!lOn-inspired auguries
B.J1d oracleEi) t but toe lllJrths piotture the gods themselves as using :Ill.ilgic and subJeet to it (22/23. 4~ Jupiter enticed by the girdle of Venus). 1
Here also, the perfortn£J.nces are "refil n (objective) yet fraudul~nt--9ui~9Uid miracYli ludunt . . . ; 1111s adspirantibus et infundentibus :ro.esti ias edunt vel Q'U.S.€ non slmt .... ideri "Tel ua.e sunt non videri Oct. 26. 10; text from Alo1s1us Va.lma.ggi~ ed. t M. M1nucii F~licis Octavi~s. Corpus Scripto~ Latinorum Paravianum, (5] [Turin; 10. Rapt. Paraviae et Sociorum (19l6)J. p. 34).
l~inor
Latin ',;'ri ters
But many of the Romans knov these things lo sin(:e the daemons confess
theil'" fraud when exorcised from their victims
by
the
Chrlstis.!le.~
dri ven out I'by the torment of our lo'ords and the fire of' our prayers
I"
flying frOlr.i the Christians when near 8.t hand (27. 5 nnd 7); even pre~ tended sods confess their t:z-ue nature (27. 6).
Co~odi.e.nus
The Instructions of CO"CIlllodiar.Jus t.ouch briefl:;· on tlle sane
major points as noted in
Minucius~
their connection to o:raeles.
the origin of I!:vil spirits a..'1d
The of'fspring of the sinning angels s.nd
They taught the arts, d,.veing of yool t
lI0Clen were giants.
h10
~tc.;
and
after dNl.th t condeJr.J1ed never to be resurrected. they wandered a.bout, subverting manYt being worsbipped and prayed to as gods (In~tr. 1. 3). They are active in various types of augu:ry and portents (1. 22~ lines
1-8;
~f.
also 1. 18, 19), God
~ing
pleased to allow the daemons to
vand~r the world for our discipline (1. 22~ lines
9-10).1
Pseudo-Tertullianica
The anonymous Adversus magic against the 2 and 3).
hereti~s
The :poet i c
'1 r"i iJ'e
O!Dl')es
haereses continued the charge of
Simon Magua
and Menander after him (sees,
Books 1n Reply to Mare i on" (Carmen aduersus
Mnrcionem) added Cerdo 8.Ild Marc tiS (bk. 1:10 lines 157-58. 165-67~ rCSL
2:lh2L-2S;
~~ ~:l~~~
aga.inst the latter
lines 198, 208-10).
It amplified the charge
along the line:s devlt!lopl?d by Jr·enaeu5 =
Mo.:rcus
lCol!E!lod1anus also bE!l.i~v~d il1 the 6000 year dl.U'ation of the earth: 2. 39/00. 8) ~ and perhaps alludes to t.h~ argument from prophecy in 1. 6. 13~ JtTherevas none that predicted his [Jupiter~sJ previous birth" (Rob~rtEr:neatWa11is, tra.ns. ~ "Co:c:rnodie.nus/' ANF lj,; 204).
Early
420
Cl~istian
View
used :rtI&gic a.rt they are
driyen out or pos s e ssed bodi e s, tortured, et ~
speech 0", hi.dden ro.aje5t Jt
P "
P
l
by
t1 0ur
voi ce and
('1uod ido.lQ.. 7: nostl"'8. uoce et oratione
maJestatis occultae,. CS.EL 3) 1;25. 5-6). The treat.ise: De
reba.:ptisma.t~
monic acts or tricker!, and of for the
ne~elisity
also presents the themes of de-
exorcia~.
Some
of fire at baptism a.nd
~laim
is unsure abOut this;
heretic~l
groups contend
to have it.
it may possibly be effected by game
The e.uthor
such
trick~
as thnse of' Anaxilaus, pe-rhaps 'by some natural means; or perhaps they only think they 6ee it; or pl!'rh&ps "the 'Work and magic:al poison of some malignant being
595 ,
c:an
force fire frOm thl!!' ...:ater rl (ehfLp. 16.
/l,lW
lEnglish tr611.s1a.tion by Ernest Wallis .. nCyprie.n'l" ANF 5;261" .~ b·J.(1. ~ t pp. 651 . . - 7. +
~,. xppen· ~ d U. , Bnu.
e
Early
111i puta:nt
~
Cln"istia...~
Vie'll
, . sf ue Mli &11 cpus et Qlasicum ui M.JS ign em 'Dote'stin
!9Ue. expritDere:
CSEL 3 1 3: 90. 5-8).
The e,ignificance- 01' invocation
of" the nillDe of Jesus is shown by the fa.ct that in that name
a~l
kinds
of poyers (in~lUding cast.ing Qut demons t Mat.t. 7: 22),. are tu::custOllled to be- 10fQrked (uinutes omnes Bolent fieri):o somet1m~s even by those outside; even evil doers may possibly do good \iOrks by t·he super-
abounding ·energy of the n8lQ~
(lHl':r' nlmitlJD .
uirtute-:tn nominis) (chap. 7:1
On the other hand., the m.racles of Christ, done-with commo.nd-
ing word and voice euerbo et uocis imper-io), c::aused the! Jews to regard hiln as a so:reerer (erlstimabant mtigunil (Quod i dola 13. CSEL 3 t 1: 29. 10-
15).
The interests and vievs of the Greek apologists of a
in regard to his
vie~s
or f..rnob1 'Us are much the sa:me as thosl!:
c~nt.u:ry
earlier.
of magic and related
This is I!!'sped.al.ly true
area~.
Magic goes back to ancient times, in
th~
East.
In a
g~eat
conflict bet'lleen the AssyriWlS and the Bact-ria.ns,. under Ninus and
Zoroa.ster, not only s'WOl"'ds and physical poyer J but. also the "magicians and tbe mysterious learning of the Chaldeans" (Ma,gicis et Cbaldaeor'llln
@ox l'econdi tis discipli:nis) were engaged in the struggle (Adversus nll.tiones [or Adv. gentesJ 1. 5,. CSEL
~:7. 15-18),1 The
Magian
Zoroaste~
lAugustus Reiff~rsc::he1d, ed., Arnobii 8duersus nationes, libri VII, CSEL,. vol. h (Vienna; Apud C. Ge~oldi Filium B1bliopolam Academiae~ 1875).
J~25
Later Writers appears alsoB.e one of
sevlI:!!'~
bl8,gicia.DS naml!'d 'Who a.re challenged to
g1 ve Jlm7er to any (B:S Christ. did)' t or e:ven to actuaJ.ly 'Work themlH!l ve~
(1. 52 L
Among t,he effects of Christ' G name are tbe overcoming of
evil spirits ~ :titus
1
.p.
8Qothsayers~
a:ugurs ~ and
l!Iagician~ (}.
46;
nox1os spi-
uatibus» haruspic:es . . . > ad1'Qga!ltimn ma.&,orum . . . ac-
ti ones ~ CSEL 4 ~ 31. 6-8). Theory and praxi a oj" magi ~
One of'Ar-no'biu8 t s longest passages on magic occurs in the text of a. discussion. of the various hi s mi racl es .
~ea.m~
Christ did not
Chri st vas as eerte d to be a magus vno
USe
\l'ork~d
~on-
in working
'by secret
a.rts t having stolen the ;names of' angels of' po'Wer :homE,gyptla.nshrines, but were his deeds re-&1ly t.he t.ricks of
arts?
(Adv. na.t. 1. 43:
daemons 6.Ild sports of'
magi~al
daemonum.. . pre..estigia..e et magicarum
nr-ti'Ul::l ludi?.. CSEL 4 ~ 28. :25~26).
Are there-
8-'1y
magi 'W'ho did anything
the lea.st similal'~ working vithout inl::'anta.t.ion (~a.nn.inum.).. or jui~e
of herb or grass (herbaru.m et "graJ:r:iJl¥ sucis),
1
'Ilithout rega.rd to sac-
rifice .. libation~ or season (S.Flcrorum l.ibaminum tep!porum?}~ {ibid. CSEL 4~28. 29-29. 1).2
In 1. 52,. he also vill allow any challengers
to use their own rites vitb 'vbatever noxious ~h!lteve:r
s
h~rbs [~efici
pO'W'l!:l"S (uirium.J tbose muttered vorda and
gramin1sJ
a.c~ompanying
lIn the area of materia.1 means,. A:rnobil.1.S elsewhere refers to tl1e IMll'Ilina..esold by Psylli .. Marsi,. and others (apparently as protection againstanakebite):> e,ppa:ently ineluding Christians 8.mQng their users ( 2 . 32 }• 2The o~nir.lg lines of' ehl9.pter bh reemphasiz.e that Christ 'Worked vi tho\lt afJ)'thingto assist t and vi thout observing any t"ite or rul~ (CSEL lj; 29. 13-1~; sto/!' ullius ritu5 obs~ruatione uel lege CliDe llj J ) •
Early
Christi~ Vi~T
spells :,ntA; n I:freltJOr ille uerborurn a.tRue ani unct;.a.e canninunJ)r, {JlNF
6: ~26; CSEl. 4; 36 . 2-J..). 1 43~ A1~ob1u5
class:
Follovi ng the brief 11 st
also gives a list of the
p~oSes
0 f
ma:teri Us in 1.
of yorks of tbis
to know the future; to inflii:t disease; to seV'e:r affections,
or impW"e love; to open loc:ks or seal lOO'lJ.th.s; OJ' in chariot raoces '\i'~n.ken 10
incite,
0:1
retard
th~
thing usefU1 3 to do it not b,y (~otestat~} of those
~
to
horses; or. if' the;r snould a.ttempt an:,.rthe1~
they invoke (I.
own force {ui), but by the q3~
CSEL
4~29.
pov~r
4-13).
But such invocations (inuocfl.ti) vo'UJ.d have to have a certa.iJ:J
fOl"oce thel:!lselves:!, i:otDpelling the gods when sUI!nII.oned fa-cciti) by their o;,m nemes by di vim::r.s (t~. 11).
Even Jupiter himself ...." as
5uppos~dly
drag,g.l2:d dOT.m (tre.-etu:m.) by cr-.arms and spells (et Quae-nan:. • - '. auoc.(J.:d ~
I?
et
no~inuw terribili~ tre~~res1
the latte-r,. CS3L 4:11;. 27-176. 1). summoned 'pO'l.rer is the
livers
(4.
12)?
o!~e
. . . ; 5. 1 and 3 J esp.
.But hov is it
knO'W11
"that "the
'Who operates in the e-ntrails, or lungs and
The ~t ~ho aTe brothers to the sooths~rers, say
that at their incantations (acci tionibus) pretended eods .frequently slip in instead of: those s'l..lWtlOned (pro accS. tis) (ibid.).
it knoioln that
th~i"e
Or,. how is
is not one onl;,' who comes in place of' all who 8.re
If anyone doubts this, he can as-x the Egyptians .. Pel"sian:s . .
invoked:?
Indi&1s, Chaldeans t Artnenianr;, iLtld a.ll others 1
2
acquainted with the core
Hamilton Bryce and Hugh Ca.Jt:pbell, t~e.ns., "Arnoc.ius .. 11 AUF
6~h03-5~O.
ZEls~here Etruria is specially noted in the origination of divination and a.ugury (2. 62; 6. 18; 7. 26}. The Etrusenns, together ~ith the previously mentioned Psy11i and Marsi (2. 32) .. repr~sent vestern (Roman} expansions of the traditional eastern (Greek) liBts of ancient~ ~·sterious r~ces credited with o~cult knovledge and poller.
427 secret arts (:inter1oribus. . . . artibus) (4. 13). Spirits
The pas sages i ntroduc ed a.bove al.l show the pl ac e in magic and related practi.ees.
0
r sp i r1 ts
In addition .. the Magi .assert. that
they ha.'J"e prayers which can llin over certain povers and mP..ke access to heaven ea.sy for SQuls {ibid .• 2. 62; this is perhaps. aimilar t.o certain mystit: rites llith a similar
purpos~
referred to earlier" '2.
J3}.
O~acles,
divination, and astrology
Va-riou8 t:lasses of
fortune-teller~-au,gu.rs ..
dream. interp.rl!!'-
ters" soothsayers! 'PTophets" enthusiast5 (baruspices . _ . ~ coniec-
tore's harioli uates e:t • . • fanatic1, CSEL
4;16. 2-4)--are pit:tured
in
Adv. nat. 1. 21~ e.s extorting contributions :from. the devotees of these
arts ~ a liveli.n.ood threatened bY" the increase of Christianity.
'They
defend themselves as a part of fft.im.e-honoured rites of institutions
once sacred" (sacrorum. auondam uet.err1:m.i ritus, ibid., line 6) (ANF
6 ~L19) ,I
l,Tarious sources of' omens are
discussions =
pres~n.ted throughout P.rnobius ' So
the e,ky Or :points of spears (2. 67)" tlru..."lderbol ts or
veins of'sacrifices (2. 69), or their entr~ils,. lungs) or liver (~- l2}. In a passage vhieh eredi ts the
the meaning in the fall
or
tbunderbolts.
EtruSC6.Tl. ~d.
Tages ·,d th discovering
in tlle veins of stlcri-
fices,. Arnobius also makes Thell.tis, the- Eg{ptiEU1, the beginning of 1A
following chapter presents something of' a roll-call of
the clasaic oracles: (Trophon1us ?), Jupiter of Dodona t or Apollo, ""bethel' Deli an t Clarian" Did:t1lleM .. Philesinn. or Pythian (1. 26; ANF 6:~19, with n. 3; CSEL 4:11. 12-17! "iIith mg. re line 12L
Early Christian Viev knowledge of (the meaning of?) the motion of the st.ars and the ~al.c:ulation of nativities (ratio • . . g~nethliQ.c:tl" CSEL 4:104. 3) (2.
other than this" Arnobiu3 makes no
69).
slgnifi~ELnt re:ference to
s,$trol0eY" af'ter his having presented it as being,. i t true. one of s~veral
possible explan8.tiona
1
f:Jt the evils of' the world (l.
8).
Further,. Arnobius seems to lend some support to the idea tha.t divination/astrology have no logical ~onnect1on ~ith magicT
discussion concerning the Numa-Jupiter
~i~ode,.
In his
he questions the ap-
prop:rio,t.eness of Jupiter-appointed means whereby ,.hat be ha.s determined may be avert~d" and npass ava.y idl...'V through tht! force of these
rit.es" (5. 2 t AJ.W 6:490~ CSEL 4:119. 19-2!J). Magi~
and pagan re1ig1on 'l'he l-iagi are still at least partially religious personages for
.Arnobius. are
B
imil&r
Part
or
'C oncerns
2. 62,. cf. 2. 13).
~o~cerns
their art
the :fate of
:2
souls~
and
th~re
in na.t i V'e religions,. e. g • 10 of Etrut'i B:. (Adv Ce-rtai n
0
T
nat.
f thil! Roman rites of avers ion Yel'e obtai ned
by l(tml8. by ebaI'JDi ng JUPiter 11 dro,gging hi m down vi tb spell s ( 5. 1). ~d
the priests have introduced relies {rellqua.) eonnected with the Ma.sian arta (magonrm. cohaerentia disctplinig) into the :ee-cret la:l,ls or the
Bs.cr~d :t"ites CT. 2J, .. CSFL
.Ie. 257 . 9-11) ,3
Augury and omen-",.-o,tching (and
IBesides bl&m1ngthem on the Christiana. 2 .But they ean soften and soothe only the lesser powers 10 not th~ true God (ZT" 62).
3A large part o~ this section o~ book a~ven is de~oted to questioning t.he r&t.ionality of 'lfB.rioul3 aspectr; of the pagan rites. This would have some implication that they are in essence Buperst1tious (magieal) .. rather th8Jl religious J 'though this is never made explicit.
Later- Writers
fl29
averting) have-been regular parts of public service (e.g., 2. 67~ though Arnobius is here arguins that times hs.ve changed).
In 2. 12 11
Arnobiu5 refers not only to the practices of kingNuma and the super6titioua observances of Though Simon Magus had
blasted by
th~
~tiquity,
tru:st~d
but also to an arch-he:reti(:) Simon,
infuse- gods, his chariot bad been
mouth of Peter, naming
th~
name of Christ, and
h~
had
fa1.len from the &ir, abandoned by th.em in theiTterror . On the 'Whole, Arnobius' s attitude tova;rd the paga.n gods is
not clear-cut.
They
~
exist t 'but if' so, they 8.re beings
to the Supreme God, and so (e. g.
I
3. 2-1; 7. 2-3).
or I!vl1 spirits)
2
1
~ill
Su.bordinat~
not desire worship belonging to lbUn
Thus Amobius has Iittle to se.y about demns
the IJ'llssa..ge cltt!'d in the preceding paragraph (2:. 12)
'bei ng sOlllewba t unusual. Christian beliefs and
practic~s
Arnobius s~ems to include himself and other Christie.ns 3 among tho'S e vho us e 'the plate s (lMmlinae; -amuJ.ets?) ~old by the Psyll i .. Marsi, &nd othi!"rs (Adv. nat. 2. 32~ CSEL ~
1
Thl!;!re is)
however~
:14. 19-23).
a large ad hominem @"le:m.ent in these paIJ:;;ages.
2 ThuS , tor exnmple t the suppo s ed giant s' bon~:s found in di f fe-rent places are t.!tken il.S proof of the bette;retate of' lIl~rJ in ancient times (2. 75); there is no attempt to connect the.BI vi to the 0 ttsprin g of t.he :fallen a."l8c!ls whose souls becam.ethe de1nQr:Js in the 'theory of other ap-ologi,sts. (Su.ch B. connection was made by the \7l"iter of the Clementine :Recognitions [1. 29;, PC 1 :122313).) The approach of Arnobi US provides a. pa.rallel to the reconstruction, abo',e, of Africa.nus • s view of the offspring or the f6l.1en PJJ1.gels 8.S being only giantB (not demon.s) ~ 8. reC'ons tructlon based pe.r'tiallyoD :8 il~nc @ • 3 HWe "li.pparentlY in contrast to t1 you" in the preceding and following passage~, though here it. may be all "'We mortal, and injury-liable
h1..lmS.ns i l in generaL
Early
Chri~tia~
View
He is Q,'I.i!lre that Jesus was charged 'With being a magician
(spec:if'ically one who YOl"lted by means of names of angels ofmigbt
stolen i'rom Egyptian shrines> follo.ins a. religious system of' mote eountry s 1.
Ch..ri st worked vit'hout material means or 1n-
(:a.~tB.tion5 (1. 43, 4~)" by audible and intelligent words (1.
1 work 'Was benef'ici.al to
mtLP'J,
to shw 'them thE!' na.t1.U""e
0
display (1. 41 ).
t a true god, not to
Further,
his work
ooa. st
h imsel:f in
continued, his inherent
ma.gicians (1. ~6).
and augurS7 and
3
In
S'WD ~
empty
pO'loier vas
to others (1. 50,. 52); 2 he even n.O'iI ap-
pears t·o righteous men .and his name causes evil spirits to sCDth5~ers
45) .. his
:not hurtful (1. 4t). to eonyincemen and
sueh that he could g1 V"~ po'iorer
.
re-
~3), but be denies the- charge) atte-mptillg to refute
i t by several arguments.
lences
So
~strates
the
~ftorts
fl~e"si-
of arrogant
ATrtobius holds that the:r-e is Unothing
magical, nothing h'l.11Jl.8n, nothing deceptive (praestigioswr.) or c:ra.i'ty (subdolumJ, nothing of .fraud in Christ II (1. 53). of the acco'U.'1ts of his deeds. is t.hat tbe such a religion in gO short .a time (1.
",hol~
The ultil:nate proof
....· orld vas filled ",ith
55).
La-etanti u.s
Lactnntius, the sometiiD(! student of Arnobius, exhibi'ts 'the
lArnobiusts knowledge of the Gospel miracles is ~athe1" broad (note t.h~ various items in 1. ~5-47]1 50; an.d 2 ~ 11) )bu"t in 1. J.6 he 1neludes so~e items that seem to be garbled accounts of the Da~r of Peotecos't and the transfiguration .. unless t.hey come frOttl othervl.sE'! unknow. apocryphal I!l.ccounts. 2Magicians cannot really effect~ by the aid of their gods~ what unlearned (rustic:i s) Christians have ort~n 8;.(:complished by as 1mple cO!llIll&nd {i 'IlSS i onibU!3 • • • nudis) (1. 52 t CSEL 4; 36.5-7 ).
3A great example of' thill poyer 1las the conf'Tontation between Simon Magus and Pete~ ~itnessed by the Romfins (2. 12).
Later Writers sene~al attitude- of
toward magie;
b31
Christians (a.nd many others) 01' thefLtlcient 'World
sorcerers (uenefici) are to be classed with various
groupings of lowest types (Div. 1nst. 5. 1. 2--sac~ilegious and
traitors; 5. 19 C20J. 30--gladiators t robbers,
thieve5~
poisoners t
harlots; 6. 2. lO--assQssin, adulterer, parricide}.l Discussions of
magi~
Lacta.ntius .. in def"ending Christls works) distinguishes them
from the things worked by
magic al tri~ks [nraestigiis ~agicis),
II
vhich display nothing true and sUbstantial," the nut of ma.gic·· {~ reagica} haYing skill of (lva.il only for l'deceiving tbe eyes" (ad circum.'ScribendoE oculos) (Div. ins.t. ~. 1.5.
n. 1]; CS'EL 19 =330. 2.. 3314.. 1 .. 2 J .2
q ~ 19; AlY'? 7 :115, and 116 [with Or.
th~ contl"iC.ry ..
Chri st -."Orked by
(apparently it) contrast to the elaborate incantations and lists ef
The Jells .. beside!3 callieg these the ",,"orks of a magician (magum s
4.
15. 1), attr1 buted thetD to demoni&eal power (l~. 15. l2).
The e.sso-
cie;tion of these ideas is natural ~ the a.rt and po",er of the Magi
~efeTences ar~ given !roc the Latin text; where the cha.pter numbers dif'fer in the English version (Div. inst. 2 and la.ter chapters of 5. and in the Epitome), these appear in the first refnwn. ed .. Samuel Brandt~ pnrt 2 .. f"as~icle 1 : Libri de opHLicio d~i et de ira. r ~ like &J.l lan-
gu.a.ge (s) 'II were essentiuly 10 "naturfl.lly, n correct as the designation of
the things designated.
1 2
2
.
Origen bimse1f called i t the Stoic vie'W, in contrast to the
Epicurean and
Ari5tot~lian
(C.C. 1. 24. K. 1;
7~.
1
10-15. 1).
The other lathe!':!;: do notrea.:lly sp~a.k to such a question,. but in general!, Beem closer to the OrigeniBtic, n a.t ural , theory, tban to the Tatianic conGpira.~y theory. ~ d-evil9..tions fro~ this position \i'Ould probably bav4! be-en 1.0 the direetion of a more Aristoteli.an, arbit,rary-s)"l%lbolizing-1n-general view J than t-mtard the mor~ specifiC'!, Gpec:i&1-daemonie-sign-S,ystem vit!V of To,tian.
Attitudes tovard Magic
Rela.tion to Their Belief Systems Spiritual realm The fathers fairly uniformly view the spiritu.a.l realm as sani~ed
Ol"-
in a sort or hierarcny of three basic levels, but vith several
variations at the middle leveL
At the top is God, the Creator and
Lord of all else" in.comparablY greatC!!r int
po~er
and/or
spe~ial int~rests
or areas of concern or
responsibility; this typology applies in general to both the good and the evil ranks.
The nature and the extent of the variations fL.t. this
level are capable of' numerous variations.. to multiply them, and to
~xpand the~
dOlm to 'the 1I1s:teria,1 r-e-a.lm.
The Gnostic groupe tended
into a continuum runnipg from God
The northodox t' vri ters tended to set!' a
sharp g9.p On @-e.ch aideo! 'this level.
Within the ·'orthodox H grO'L."P!
Origen speculat.ed the- most. about the extent and cause of the varia.t.ions,
lTh@ dat!mons were frequently identified as the souls or t.h~ gi.8nts, the offspring of th~ fallen angels and hUltlBJJ :femal.es. The distinction of t~!"minology was not a.lways conaistent-ly mainte.in~d, however, eve-n by thoee 'Who explicitly presente-d this view; so[!]etim~s the fallen angels. 'Were also called daemons.
Early Christian Viev but still ma.n~
maintainedth~
gaps separating the angels trom God and from
1
The hu:rna.n l;ipirit, \(hile on a lower
than the angels s at
1eve~
least at. the present time. is not subordinated to them. but bas direct ~!3ponsibility to
God,
and
the possibility of M!"ect communication with
' 2 Hl.tD. Thus.. though the angels and de1:lcms "ii'cre higher than man in terms o:fthe HspirituaJ." nature
or
their existence .. they were not gve:r them in
terms of po...· el' ororgani z;a t i onal structure.
They c tlul d ha.ve lim tee
cont a.c ts vi th ma:n. but only as penni. t te d or direete d by God.
Magi c:
could 'thus be viewed (as it was e~licitly 'by O.rigen)3 as a breaking of the divine order 'by
e.tt~mpt8
lo"'~r
( us uall.y the demons) tor personal,. trequen t ly
U
level
So pi :z-i.t!3
t his-\lor1d"-ly., ends.
to control, or enlist the aid of, the
Such acts were also usually regarded as being
the result of' deception bj' the demons; they a:::"e Actually the ones in contrcl~ despit~
the beliefs
~r
the practitioners&
Ma.terial realm
Insofar as magical or oomparable
proeedur~~
were
vie~ed
as
~But he tended to narrow th(! intel"oal gap between the 1'gQod" and the I!!:vil engels., :regarding the angels fl..S only re1.at1 vel)' less guilty tban the demons &t the time or the prima€'1fal rebellion (De pl". 1. praef. 6; 1.. T. 2-3, 5; 1. 8. 1, 4 L t hi S
G~'stem.st
e.g . ., Laetantius (Div. inst. 2 .. 10-11", 15-17). s ta t us was Son 01'1 gi mu. ~ause of' the ang~l i c ~ 1. e., diabol i c: a.nd :2 In some
demonic s jealousy and rebellion.
3Note C,C. 5. 5 (compare
also the discusaion in the preceding chapter of' th~ helpfUl, but limited", intermediaIJo functions of' angels in relation to prAyer and other aspects of hl..lllW.n li:fe: and vorship). p
At t i tudes toward Magic
havi rig e.ny Teali ty (apart "from l'rauduhmt proc edure-s ), they were
usually attributed to sympathetic
principles~
This principle vaSt or
course, not viewed as restricted to the realm. of 1!:Iatter, but 'the vis-
ible {and less religiously suspect.}
~xamp~eg
of it come froln this
real~.
Physics Some- prime exwnpl4!s of this principle of s:nl:lpathy are t.he
I:tl&g-
netic stone; 8ZDber 8lId chaff,. and SQ~ relat-ed items (sta.tic electri le-aders of religious groups .. both pagan
&rid hel"eticB.1.; but. auch op#;!!rations \roe-roe p:rf!'sented as proof' or the real culpa.bility and error of
persons or doctrines associated "rith
th~
them.
A:fricanus ,inaofo.:r a.s
h~
speaks explici t1.y of magic, seems to
share such e. general viewpoint. ~ but he doe's notrege.1"dhis prescrip-
tions as falling into these knowledg~~
or handy
catego:ri~s.
t~i~k8, orev~n
There is nothing cl"i.l!d nal or lov
triotic advice.
SQllI,e of" the
They fl..re ue.eful
pra~tical
valuable tactical procedures.
~ las e
here". only good pract ic al. ~ pa-
procl!dur~:s
:Iliight "be rega.rded as a bit
ribald". or subj ec t to mi suse ~ but shoul d a.n author be blem.ed to"!' t.ha.t?
His Christian colle6.gue-s \ir"Quld have ob.'ected to this type of mtl.t.eria.l~
but :from a Christian v.iewpoint; from a
6e~u1.iLr
find/or Ii ter-
ELry 'Vievpoint ,M'ricanus' s presenta.tions were re:latively mild "by the
standards of that (or- almost any other} age. m~dica.l jokes~
nature of
mu~h
of the
m6teria1~
ConsiderIng the semi-
only the excretion
pra~tical
and the horse-theft disguis(ts, are :really at issuE!' it.! stich a
discussion. Ftir:lctionB.1 values
Whl!'l.tever funct.ions .ma.gic" including divination, 2IlAY ha.ve perfomed in the 50ciaJ. e)'at.ems (pags.nistn., Gnostic1sm~ etc.) which the
early Christie.n writers attacked--guidance in ambiguous situations, l"einforcer:IJent of resolve in t.hreaten1ng situations. 'help in si tUB.t.iom~
1460
Conc lusion :
Af'ric anus in Ear.ly Chri stian ity
of' "help lessn ess .. " reass uranc e that. every thing poe.s ible had been done in si tuati one of I!lctul!Ll Or poten tial loss? --vou ld have been met ill
the-ir own conte xt by Chris t and/o l' the churc h.
Thus magic
'Il&S
not
peede d (and/ or TWas; attac ked or reject~d as pe.nd ering to eV"'il dc-si res).
Those who we-re "I!'nanared n
by' the be-re sies which
af't.er wards r~tu:rned to the chur~h did
So
used mtl.gic and '1100
becau se the "mag ical dis-
plays " we:t"~ not .reall y funct ional f'rom the persp ectiv e 01" their 'WOrld viev.
In sOllie cases they were actua lly "dysf uncti onal .. U servi ng only
to lead thOSe
"ensnared'~
into .situa tions . of' deepe r conf lict, espec ially in relat ion to their syste m of ltIoral. vaJ.u es. 2 Af'Ti Ne",.. Testmnent Apocrypha.
Preieendanz,
KArl.
papyri.
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A Select LibrB.l'Y of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fat.hers of" the ChrIstian Church. [1st ser.J Edited by Pbilip Schaff. 1~ vols. J(~v York; The Christian Litera.ture Company t 18.86-90, r'E!:print ed. Grand Rap i ds: Wm. B. Eerdmwl Ii Publ i shing Company, 1956.
A 6eleet Library of th!!' Nicene and Post-Nicene Fa.ther-s of' the Christian Church. 2d ser. Edited 'by Philip Scha.ff and Henry Wace. 14 vole::. Ne...,. York ~ The Christian Li terature Company, 18901900; reprint ed. t GraJ:ld. Rapids; WIn. B. Eerdrt1.Qns Pub1iQ.hil:Jg
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CEarly volumes add,. Collection d1rigee par H. de Lubac et J. Danielou.1 Paris: Editions du Cerf .. 19~a-.
Source-s chretlennes.
I
A.:1e i ent and
t·~ed i
eval Text 8
Indi vidua.l Authors and Texts
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On the
Charact~ristic5
SC'holfield.
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The Apostolic Fathers.
Tre.nslated by J. B. Light.foot.
Edit~d
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[The Apostolic Fathers.J The D1dac:ne,the Epistle of Bfl.l"nabas t t.he Ey i s t.les and the Mtu"t.yrdom oj' St. Pol)rcarp, the Fragments 0 f Po.pias. the Epist.le- to Diognetus. Trans.lated by Ja:me-s A. Kl~ist. Ancient Christian Write:r-s: The tJorks of the Father5 in Translatioo t ~dited by Johannes Quasten and Joseph C.
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Bibliogra.phy
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[The Apos"tQl.ic Fathers.) IgnfLee d' Antioch~, Polyea:rpe d